#seriously tho why would you have two doors but only one of them opens . and the one that opens is a pull instead of a push with nothing

[francisforever2014]

just went to get a chai and two beautiful women inside watched me try every single possible incorrect way to open the door before getting it but luckily i smirked a little at myself when i finally walked in showing that i have whimsy and a sense of humor and a charming personality successfully sidestepping any usual embarrassment at such a blunder

[wtfsteveharrington]

c l o s e t o y o u | carmen berzatto x reader

we've got so much history baby

description: set months after your breakup, you and carmen navigate what it means to be separated. you're trying to move on but waves always return to the ocean.

warnings: kinda angsty but also hurt/comfort. mutual pining even tho you're both trying to pretend it isn't there. miscommunication. kinda mentions of cheating if you squint but not really. no one has cheated but what to call this vibe irdk so! also mentions of using the bathroom if that bothers you!! it's quick!

smut warnings: oral/fingering reader receiving, spanking, dirty talk, hints of dom!carmy, unprotected sex but backshots for 'safety', sexting, semi public sex, lots of hickies/bruises talk bc carmy's a lil shit, multiple mentions of masturbation for both, reader has a drunk bar make out phase post breakup. reader is afab but no major descriptors used.

word count: almost 9.2k. the longest thing i've written so far!

a/n: dare i say this might be my favorite thing i've written possibly. aiming to make this a three part series but possibly could go longer.... i hope you enjoy <3

maybe you and i were meant to be / maybe i'm crazy

‧₊˚ ⋅* ‧₊✮‧₊˚ ⋅* ‧₊

Carmen’s eyes are trained on you from the second your front door opens. His hands stalled halfway through taking off his jacket, only one shoe clattering across your entryway. 

“Where’ve you been tonight?” 

Which you have no choice but to shoot him a warning glance in response. It was late, you didn’t have the energy for a fight and that’s the complete opposite reason of why you texted him to come over. “I was on a date, Carmen.” 

He physically deflated at your answer. “Oh.”

You can’t meet his eye, can’t risk seeing his reaction. Would he be upset? Indifferent? It’s hard to decide which would be worse.

When you had broken up a few months ago the roles were clear - A case of ‘right person, wrong time’. He was busy, so endlessly busy. Working late into the night and heading in randomly during the morning or afternoon if he was needed. Which he could easily decide he was.

For as long as you could remember Carmen always took Tuesdays off to spend with you and get life in order. That way he had Monday to help the restaurant recover from the weekend and could trust them to handle what was, usually, an easier day. It was a tradition you took seriously and the two of you regularly made plans together every single Tuesday. Date nights, day trips, a mixture of adventures. It didn't matter what you were doing together so long as you had Tuesday to look forward to and help get you through the week.

Yet things started picking up. More celebrity dining requests, more magazine and tv interviews, more, more, more.

And it wasn’t that you misunderstood how important the restaurant was. Far from it. There were many nights where Carmen would come home a ball of anxiety because it took an hour longer than he anticipated and he knew it wasn’t fair to you. There would be a mess of apologies as he barreled in the door, bracing himself for a fight or to see your disappointed face. All of which you happily soothed by repeating constant mantras - The restaurant was his baby; you weren’t upset; take a deep breath; we’re okay. 

Then eventually you stopped saying you weren’t upset, stopped saying you two were okay. Eventually you stopped waiting up for him at all. At first Carmen would shower and climb into bed, confused if he should attempt to hold you or not. Your sleeping (Fine, sometimes you faked being asleep too) frame with your back turned to him. The blankets pulled tight around your body acting like a shield. 

Finally he just started sleeping on the couch. 

So yeah, the fall apart came quick. It was an avalanche neither of you could control nor did either of you want. There was still love between the two of you - But again it’s the right person, wrong time. 

You avoided each other for the following weeks. Carmen threw himself even more into work and you took a week of PTO to go visit one of your friends. He wondered if you were safe, you wondered why none of the people in the bar tasted the way he did. Your friend encouraged you with every sloppy make out conquest but it always ended there. You wanted to get Carmen out of your mind but weren’t ready for him to not be the last person who fully touched you. 

It didn’t work but does it ever?

Carmen watched your Insta far more than he should have. Risking way too many glances down at his phone during his free time to see if there were any updates about how you were doing. As if you’d post photos with long captions that mimicked a therapy session but he didn’t know where else to go. Sydney would report back what your story shows no matter how much Carm insisted he didn’t care. 

Because he didn’t, okay? He was fine. He knew it was for the best. Right? 

And then you posted a photo of yourself in a low cut top laughing in a bookstore. He zoomed in to see what titles you had in your arms as if they were clues and his eyes definitely didn’t linger on the swell of your cleavage. He didn���t think about how many nights he took for granted watching as your back arched up under him and you begged for more. He didn’t think about the way you’d crawl into bed at night and his mind would instantly rid itself of anything but you. He didn’t jack off to memories of you in the shower every morning because thinking about someone else, watching porn of other people, it didn’t feel wrong. No, that wasn’t the case at all. 

You, on the other hand, turned on Google alerts for anything relating to The Bear or Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto. Most of it was just good Yelp! ratings or fluff pieces from the local papers. He wasn’t one for posting on social media, in fact you weren’t sure he used it at all but you still posted like he was, but sometimes you’d find yourself scrolling through Sydney’s feed to see if she was giving you any crumbs. Sometimes, if you were really desperate, you’d find yourself in Richie’s feed even. It was pathetic but you can’t help it. 

One late night you came across an Instagram story post Sydney had up. Carmen leaning against a pinball machine at some gaming bar downtown. His hair was pushed back, eyes crinkled up with laughter. He looked at ease, peaceful. You wondered if anyone there felt the same… Was someone whispering to their friends and trying to build the encouragement up to go talk to him? Would he respond? 

Right, it wasn’t your place to care anymore. Yet you still cried yourself to sleep and yearned for when things felt so much easier. 

Yeah, the breakup wasn’t exactly going well. 

A few weeks ago you came across Carmen at the grocery store of all places. Both of you had gotten so used to doing the shopping Tuesday mornings and, logically, you were both comfortable going to the location just like you had been weekly for months. Your breath caught in your throat and God he looked better than you remembered. The first thing out of his mouth was, “Great sale on gouda this week.” And the only thing your brain could conjure up was, “Well that’s gouda.”

You both stayed silent for a moment before bursting out in laughter. 

Laughter turned to getting lunch around the corner. 

Lunch turned into you straddling Carmen’s waist in the car while parked in the very back corner of the parking lot and riding him until your eyes watered and you couldn’t focus long enough to keep a rhythm. He wrapped his arms, such strong arms, around your waist and fucked up into you for all that he was worth. Trying to prove himself in whatever capacity you allowed. 

If he couldn’t love you like he wanted, he could at least fuck you better than anyone else would.

Once you two broke the seal of seeing each other it was hard to stop. There was almost a forbidden aspect to your relationship now that caused a small thrill to run down your spine every time you saw him late at night. You were pretty sure no one knew you started… Seeing each other again and you were both content keeping it a secret. 

So that’s how you ended up here. Standing across from him at 11 o’clock at night on a random Wednesday. You try not to wonder if he left ‘early’ the second you reached out, instead convincing yourself that it just so happened to work out he was ready to go within minutes of you sending your ‘My place tonight?’ text during this horrific blind date your co-worker set up. 

Jonathan, 6’1, finance major turned CPA for his family’s company. He was… Fine. Just fine. You left on good terms in case you wanted to call on him for back up one lonely night. The problem was no one else was Carmen no matter how hard you tried to look for him in the people that passed by.

And there he stood across from you with hair falling into his face and his eyes looking up at you like you’re crafted from Heaven. A skirt, thin tinted tights, a shirt that exposed just enough skin but not too much. The soft shimmer across your eyelids and glossy lips from the lip balm you’ve been continuously applying since you knew he was on the way. The last time he saw you like this was when you were fighting because Carmen accidentally showed up 15 minutes past when you were supposed to leave for a birthday party at your friend’s house and that night ended with you locking him out of the bedroom while he had to pretend he couldn’t hear you crying in the next room. He really didn’t mean to be late. Sometimes the nights just got taken away from him. 

Carmen hated that you were dressed up for someone else but he pretends you just threw this on for him.

Your arms cross your chest, totally not attempting to push up your breasts, and you let out a sigh while you stare at Carmen. “This has to be the last time.” His face is stoic, a perfect poker face. The last time? Break up or not he couldn’t imagine there being a last time he saw you. Half the time he forgets, still referring to you as his partner while brushing it off and refusing to correct himself. Then there’s times where he comes home to his empty apartment and realizes you weren’t there to light the long forgotten candles on the coffee table or open up the windows to air the place out. 

He closes the space between the two of you and stares at your face. Searching for answers he’s too scared to ask for. Your resolve is breaking, cracking under the weight of having him so close. Beautiful eyes staring at you, the way he smells like the cologne you bought for your last anniversary and clean laundry. If you weren’t so drunk on the sight of him you would have put it together that Carmen kept clean clothes at the Bear to make sure he could change before he came to see you. 

You’re both silent for a moment before there’s two hands wrapping around either side of your neck and Carmen’s dragging you two together for a kiss. God, he couldn’t stand the idea of someone else kissing you. Would they even do it right? Do they know the way you moan when he licks into your mouth or the way you always grab ahold of his wrists when he cups your face? Do they know the way you forget to breathe sometimes when you’re lost in it? He’d have to pull back in order to give you a second to gasp in a rush of air. Does whoever you were with tonight know any of that? 

You pull away from Carmen with a broken out moan, silva connecting your mouths and the faint taste of cigarettes on your tongue from him. Clamping your hands on his shoulders you just faintly push the two of you apart, trying desperately to collect your thoughts. Carmen crying during the break up, sobbing in your bed, living on autopilot for weeks, the way he kisses you like he’s scared it’s the last time anymore because it very well just might be. Everything coming back to you in flashes as he stands before you once again. 

“I called you here for a reason, Carm.” His eyebrow is cocked, eyes flickering down to the bulge in his jeans that started growing the second he kissed you. “Uh - Yeah? Isn’t that what… I thought that’s what we were doing?” Carmen’s leaning in again, letting his lips connect to your neck. Warm kisses being pressed in a path up to just below your ear. “No uh, oh, remember how you let me keep the cast iron?” He hums in response, teeth nipping at your earlobe while broad hands start grabbing at your waist. “Yeah, uh huh, the cast iron skillet.” Fuck the stupid cast iron. He’s much more concerned with hooking fingers in the waistband of your skirt, attempting to pull it down while you’re fighting to stay focused. 

“Well my friends came over the other night and oh Jesus.” He’s licking a strip up your neck now, only half focused on your story. “Carm, please, they were helping me clean up and someone left it soaking in hot water overnight.” That’s finally got him freezing in place, his aroused little sounds quickly turning into a groan of annoyance. “Fuck. That ruined-… I mean, the seasoning has to be ruined. Assuming it rusted?” You nod helpless, fingers dragging along his chest while Carmen stares over your shoulder.

His eye twitches involuntarily. 

There’s a deep sigh coming from his body as he steps around you, finally kicking off his long forgotten second shoe before walking further into the apartment to head towards the kitchen. 

And listen, it wasn’t that you were necessarily concerned so much with the pan. Sure the two of you had purchased it together during the first few weeks of talking. Carmen cooked breakfast with it every Tuesday morning and showed you how to care for this damn pan. It was the closest you two came to owning a pet just… In the form of a nine inch cast iron skillet. You were more curious if he would care. A simple way of testing the waters to see if he just cared about getting laid or still cared about you. The answer should have been obvious but you still had to know.

You follow behind him and wince at the stream of expletives that easily fall from his tongue at the sight of the pan in the sink. It wasn’t horrible but wasn’t ideal. “Y’know, crazy thing is I’m pretty sure I can guess who did this. They kept trying to convince me cast iron wasn’t any different from a standard pan no matter how many times I tried convincing them that just wasn’t the case.” He’s grumbling to himself while crouching down to fish out supplies from under the sink, easily navigating your apartment from memory. The two of you had bounced between your places and talked about moving in together once his lease was up. Going as far as touring a few locations but the conversation was long forgotten once the tensions started building. 

As much as Carmen claims he didn’t see it coming, he resigned his lease almost two weeks before the break up officially happened. 

You hop up onto the counter next to the sink and watch as Carmen gets to work restoring your pan. “Think it's gonna make it through? I can't believe this is how it might end for the poor thing. All because I wanted to make your chicken piccata.” A few of his recipes had stuck with you and sometimes you find yourself making them when you’re missing him extra at night. 

“Nah, it’ll be fine. Just some surface damage s’all.” You watch as the muscles in Carmen’s arm move with the scrubbing motion, your lips itching to kiss over every exposed tattoo. Snap out of it! This is just sex between two consenting adults trying to let off some steam. That’s all. You’re both just comfortable and it would take way too much effort for someone random like Jonathan to learn what you like. 

Carmen catches you staring at him, not that you were being subtle about it, and feels heat blooming in his chest. He grabs one of your kitchen towels and gives the skillet a good pat down before sitting it upside down to dry off. It’s not perfect, not yet at least, but he’s pretty sure he’ll explode if it takes any longer to finally get his hands on you. 

“You look pretty tonight.” He’s coming to stand between your knees, reaching up to you with the hem of your skirt as you hum out a small “Thank you.” It seems like every time you see him lately you forget just how blue his eyes are. So easy to get lost in them especially from this close. Your hands come up to gently trace the features of his face. Just the ghost of a touch but Carmen’s soaking up the affection. He tilts his head in order to press a kiss to your palm. 

His hands are dragging up your thighs, feeling the material of your tights under his touch. “Know how much you hate wearing these.” Your heartbeat is picking up so much it’s making you jittery, hands wrapping around the edge of the countertop to grip it as hard as you can. Keeping yourself steady. “Help me take ‘em off?” You arch your hips up off the counter as an invitation for Carmen. He’s wasting no time grabbing ahold of the waistband and dragging them down your body, groaning to himself as inch by inch your skin gets exposed to him. 

Neither of you miss the way you press your thighs together once they’re freed, hips twitching in anticipation. The tights are getting tossed across your apartment and left to be tomorrow’s problem. Carmen falls to his knees in front of you, letting them dig into the harsh tile of your kitchen while in pursuit of making his mark on you. He’s grabbing ahold of your ankles, bringing one of your legs over his shoulder while the other is brought up to his lips. 

Your eyes fall closed as Carmen starts trailing a string of delicate kisses along the length of your calf. His lips ghosting across your knee until he reaches the fleshy part of your thigh. While your hands finally escape the countertop and find their way laced into Carmen’s hair, he wraps his lips down against your thigh to start sucking a small bruise into your skin. “Carmy,” You hiss out, “What if I see Jonathan again? How am I gonna explain these?” But you’re not pulling his head away, instead doing quite the opposite by keeping his head in place. 

Carmen practically growls against your skin, a low and guttural sound coming from the man. His grip on you tights while he mumbles against you, “Fuck Jonathan.” You scrub your fingers against his scalp as Carmen finds another patch of skin on the opposite thigh to begin sucking a bruise into. His head ducking lower and lower under your skirt, the material finally getting you to pull your hands away from him.

Against all better judgment your thighs fall more open as he works his way down your thighs. There’s a series of small moans and whimpers coming out of you with no control as he reaches the top of your thigh, his nose dragging along the cloth covering your core. “D’you wear these for him? Or did you put them on knowing you’d end up texting me.” It’s impossible to answer when you feel his tongue drag along you, your hips rocking up towards his mouth. He’s bringing his hands up under your skirt now too and grabbing handfuls of where your thighs meet your hips to hold you down in place. 

“They’re purple, aren’t they?” A color Carmen had long ago decided he liked best on you. Something about the way the color compliments your skin… In all honesty, you were pretty sure he had purchased the exact pair you were wearing. You started the night with no intention of your date getting anywhere near your bed but instead being under the frame of the man who was exactly where you wanted him. 

He guides you to scoot you closer towards the edge of the counter, making sure you’re comfortable before mouthing over you once again. Hot, open mouth kisses being pressed almost exactly where you need them. One of his hands comes around your frame to grab a handful of the fleshy part of your ass while the other hooks a finger into your underwear, pulling the material to the side to expose you. 

There’s cool air being blown against your overheated body and your hands fly back to clutch at his back, his neck, the hair that’s exposed from under your skirt. Whatever inch of him you can find is being clung to like a lifeboat. He’s kissing the skin where your thigh meets your center, lips ghosting along the outer side of your folds. It only takes a few more pathetic whimpers before he finally takes pity on you and you feel his tongue go flat at the base of your hole, dragging up long and slow all the way to your clit. 

He groans into your core and the vibrations make you start to lose your mind. “Fuck. Fuck!” Carmen’s got your clit between his lips now, bobbing his head just slightly while he goes right to sucking on the sensitive bundle of nerves. If you didn’t want to be teased then he’d give you everything you wanted. One of his hands comes up under his chin now, a finger pressing into your tight entrance as his tongue works to lap at your clit, your folds, even dipping into you whenever his finger pulls all the way out.

A second finger slides into you while his attention focuses back to making out with your clit. You can’t keep track of the way he alternates between kissing and licking at you while his fingers push in as deep as he can get them. “So good, Baby.” Baby. It comes out of you by force of habit and it makes him twitch in his boxes. If you weren’t so drunk on him you probably would have started overthinking but he’s making sure your focus is on nothing else but his mouth for now. Carmen’s chin is slick with everything you’re giving him as he eats you out as if he’s a dying man and this is his last source of solace in the world.

“C’mon Honey.” He’s cooing against you, fingers crooked just how he knows you like it. There’s sloppy licks being delivered to your clit as his fingers pump in and out. His hand finally leaves it’s grip on your ass to apply a gentle pressure to the top of your mound, pressing down against the flesh to add yet another sensation. “Can feel how tight you’re getting. You wanna come for me so bad, don’t you? Be good for me.” 

Your hands fist around Carmen’s hair, hips rocking up against him and it doesn’t take long for an orgasm to wash over your body. You seize up at the feeling, thighs clamping around Carmen’s head as he licks you through it. He’s only giving you a moment to recover when you feel his fingers slide out of your sensitive body and he can’t help but go back to licking out the mess you’ve made.

“Gonna fuckin’ kill me, Carmen.”

He’s smirking against you but taking the hint. Your thighs shaking as he pulls back from under your skirt, taking a moment to appreciate the handiwork that was the bruises covering your thighs while you take a moment to recover. The way your pussy looks so pretty covered in the mixture of your arousal and his spit. Carmen can’t help himself but to swirl his thumb around your clit, your hips jolting up as you reach out to grab ahold of his wrist. “Need a minute please.” 

Carmen nods and stands up, wasting no time making work of unbuckling his belt. You collect your thoughts well enough to start unbuttoning his jeans for him, letting your fingers linger on his jean clad hardened length. “You, uh -” You won’t meet his eye, opting instead to start pulling his pants down his toned thighs. “You still okay not using a condom?” A roundabout way of saying ‘I’m clean, are you?’. Carmen nods as if it’s the most insane question in the world. Even if he’s not with you anymore, it’s still only you for him for as long as he can see coming. “No one but you.”

You can’t meet his eye, a wave of guilt washing over you concerning your earlier date with Jonanthan that quickly gets pushed away when Carmy grabs ahold of your jaw and brings you in for a haphazard kiss. Mindless, heavenly kissing. The two of you getting lost in the way your tongues know just how to navigate one another while your hand slides into his boxes and begins lazily 

“Gotta fuck you or I’m gonna cum on your hand like a fuckin’ teenager.” You giggle into his mouth but slide yourself off the counter nonetheless. Giving him one more tender kiss before turning around to bend yourself over the counter. It’s not the most gracious process but you’re tugging your shirt over your head on the way down, pitching it somewhere else to deal with later. 

He’s looking at every inch of you. Underwear still pulled to the side, the way the lace of your bra looks against your back. Memorizing every detail he possibly can just in case you wise up and stop letting him come over to defile you like this at night. 

Carmen is dragging the head of his cock through your folds, tapping it against your clit while you whine and rut back against him. The weight of his jeans and belt resting heavy against his ankles and keeping him grounded enough to not spill his load before he even makes it inside of you. You weren’t used to taking him all the time anymore, a thought Carmen can’t dwell on, so he goes inch by inch and gives you time to adjust to the girth of him. He was thicker than anyone you’d been with before and every random hookup together lately reminds you of the first time you felt him stretch you out. 

It burns in the best way possible and he’s so tender while you get adjusted. Waiting until you start fucking yourself against his length to take that as his sign you were finally ready for him. Carmen still starts slow, a teasing pace of pulling himself nearly all the way out before sinking right back in. “Pussy’s like heaven.” It makes you oddly proud to hear him call that out. To know you still have an affect on him after all this time.

“Think about fuckin’ you all the time.” He’s picking up speed now, “Think about how good you feel stretched around me. Such a good slut for me, aren’t you? Bending over and practically begging for it.” His words, once again, make your head spin. It was a common theme with Carmen. Your fingers lace in your own hair, desperate to grab ahold of something. “Always wanting you to fuck me, Carm. Dream about how good you make me feel.” Like you two were meant to fit together perfectly. 

There’s a lewd clapping noise coming from the way your ass smacks against his frame with each deep thrust. Eventually your arms give out, torso falling flat against the shockingly still cool countertop while Carmen fucks into you for all he’s worth. A firm slap is being delivered to your ass that causes you to yelp out, rolling your hips back against him at the same time as an act of encouragement. 

His mind is taken up with how good you feel. You’re perfectly stretched around him and leaking out around his base. So wet, so beautiful, so perfect. There’s a hand sliding up your back until it’s fisting around your hair, gently tugging at it and the new sensation has these pornstar worthy moans escaping you. Your loud and needy brain is completely empty as Carmen destroys you the way he knows how. 

“D’you think about me fucking you while you were sitting across from some asshole all night? Poor little pussy almost got fucked by someone who doesn’t know how to treat it.” His words are so casually spoken with just the right amount of bite that it’s causing your brain to melt. Jonathan didn’t stand a chance of getting within two feet of your panties, just another mindless date in your series of attempted ways to ‘get over Carmen’ which clearly wasn’t going well. He bottoms out in you, every inch of his length pressed as firmly as he can into your core. It’s so much, so full and he’s got you pinned in place. Unable to do anything but be used by him, just how you both know you love to be. “Or did you go just to make me jealous? Put on your slutty little panties and went to dinner knowing you’d text me to come fuck you tonight.” 

He’s grinding his hips into you on the impossible quest to get even deeper. It’s possessive, claiming, and you’d probably even be a little annoyed by his behavior if you were in a better state of mind. For now you’re bent over the counter with bruises blooming all over your thighs and enjoying an odd jealous streak coming from someone who, technically, has no right to be jealous. It’s making you feel dizzy and your heart throb and your pussy clenching around him. “You gonna keep talking or you gonna fuck me, Carm? ‘Cause if not I’ll call him to finish the job.” 

You liked riling him up. 

Another sharp smack is being dealt to your ass when Carmen starts to pick the pace back up. His hands are tight on your hips and his pace is brutal. There’s grunts coming from behind you that are making your head spin and if you were more coherent you’d be a bit more embarrassed about the drool sliding from the corner of your mouth as your boyfrie-….. Well, as Carmen takes care of you. He’s admiring the bloom of his handprint on your skin, brushing his hand along it before pressing firmly down to help soothe the buzzing sting of pain. 

He wasn’t fucking you as often, didn’t have you nearly as well trained anymore. These bi-weekly meetings are not doing nearly enough for your body. He used to be able to fuck you right through an orgasm and you’d keep going. So used to him working your oversensitive clit to his liking. Now you whine while grabbing his wrist and whimper out pleas for him to give you a few minutes. He hates not knowing your body as well as he used to even if he still knows you pretty damn well.

So when he feels you getting closer, he’s taking note. Keeping his pace exactly the same and letting his hand crash down against the tender flesh of your ass again. “You gonna give me another? C’mon, Honey. Can feel how bad you need it.” And you do. God you need every orgasm you’re lucky enough to get from him. 

Your hips buck and twitch and you let out a series of uncontrolled moans as your orgasm starts to wash over your body. If Carmen wasn’t between your legs then your thighs would have snapped shut while your toes curled and your heart started beating faster. You could practically hear it beating in your own ears. “S’good, so good. Thank you, thank you. Shit, thank you.” A mess but you couldn’t judge yourself. 

Carmen’s pulling out when he’s close after just a few more strokes, frantically jerking off his length to keep the sensation going. You’re rolling your hips back and riding out the waves of your own orgasm, glancing back over your shoulder to catch a glimpse of Carmen with his head tossed back and brows knitted together in concentration. “Come on me, Baby. Wanna feel every drip on my skin. Maybe I’ll let you take a picture of it dripping down all the pretty bruises you gave me.” 

That’s all it takes for him to come undone. Warm spurts of cum landing along your back, your thighs, some of it dripping down your folds. The feeling is pulling wanton moans from your mouth that send Carmen into orbit. God, he doesn’t want to come back down to Earth. Collecting his breath and trying to keep himself upright while the aftershocks of his orgasm wrack through his body. How was he supposed to stay away from you when it felt like this? Especially when you just kept calling him baby.

He stopped cumming inside of you since the breakup. It made sense, kinda. But you hated it. Felt like a waste even though you wouldn’t overstep and ask for him to go back to finishing inside of you. He would, by the way. Without a second thought he’d bury himself in until he couldn’t go any further and fuck his cum into you as deep as possible. 

You feel a finger swiping up some of his cum off your backside and soon enough it’s pressed to your lips. Without a second thought you take the digit into your mouth, swirling your tongue around it while licking him clean. He wants some of it inside of you one way or another. A subtle way of still putting his claim on you.

The two of you take a moment to recover after Carmen pops his finger out of your mouth. His hands are running a circuit up and down the side of your thighs and torso, still enjoying the view of your body relaxed against the counter in front of him. The tile was starting to become painful as your stomach bent over it but you couldn’t bring yourself to move just yet. You didn’t fully trust your legs to support your weight without the counter for support. 

Carmen’s rustling around behind you now. Reaching down to pull up just his boxes but kick his jeans the rest of the way off finally. He’s not ready for the stimulation of such a heavy material against his sensitive skin yet. There’s a clattering from the sink area as he retrieves another towel to get wet for you and a cup to fill with water. Your eyes feel heavy. Mind’s at ease having Carmen around again, not that you’ll admit it, and your body feeling languid after being fucked so well. 

There’s a glass of water being sat in front of you. “Drink.” So you prop yourself up on your elbows and nurse small sips of the water while the cool rag gets to work wiping down your backside from the mess he made. His fingers ghost along the tender flesh of your ass where he was spanking, “Feeling alright?” You hum into the cup, giving him a small waggle of your behind to reassure any concerns he had. 

He gets you cleaned up in silence, letting the both of you enjoy the simple moment. Carmen always prided himself on taking care of you. There’s warm hands, still damp from cleaning you up, rubbing up the sides of your torso before wrapping around the tops of your shoulders. His hips rub along your backside and you just feel so warm, so safe like this. “We gotta get you to bed.”

You just sigh and scrub your hands over your face. A beat of silence passes while you collect your thoughts. “Carm, I don’t think I can stand up.” Your legs are still slightly shaking and your mind has yet to catch up with your body. 

Laughter’s coming from behind you as he delivers a playful swat to your ass. “C’mon I’ll get you there.” This feels so simple. You find yourself questioning why the two of you even broke up to begin with when the good moments were this good. Easy, content, safe. Would you ever be able to find this again? Would he? 

He’s grabbing ahold of your waist while pulling you back into his chest. Your head falls back against his shoulder and Carmen allows his lips to once again find your exposed neck. A series of gentle kisses being placed as his arms snake tighter around your body. “Still feeling okay?” You let out a content hum and allow yourself to be held by him. “Feel better than I have all week. Thank you, Carm.” You feel him smile against your skin as he places another delicate kiss. “Always.”

The two of you stay intertwined until Carmen starts to encourage the shuffle towards your bedroom. He makes sure you get cleaned up and ready for bed. Brings you one of your sleep shirts while you brush your teeth and tries to not overthink when you offer him a toothbrush of his own because you just so happened to have an extra. Gives you privacy when you complain about needing to pee and you find it odd there’s a tug at your chest when he ducked out of the room. Part of you hated being that couple who left the door open or used the restroom while the other showered, yadda yadda. It was a sign of comfort and the door being pulled shut behind Carmen was a sign that comfort was long gone. 

Not that you cared. Totally didn’t care at all. 

He’s going to just tuck you in at first until you’re clutching at his frame and pulling him into bed next to you. Carmen never could say no when it came to you, especially when he feels his back sinking into your soft bed and your warm body curling up along his side. He should go. Get home before it’s too late and try to get some sleep. He’s already planning on getting to work early to avoid having too much free time to think about tonight in detail. 

But his clothes feel so far away and the long day is starting to finally hit him. You can practically hear him thinking over his options and your breathing starts skipping as you feel him begin to pull away. 

“Carmen.” Your grip on his chest tightens and it pulls directly at his heart. Since this whole… Situation started he never stayed the night when your meetings would run this late. Always picking his clothes up out of piles on the floor and mumbling something about needing to get home to get stuff together from work. You never asked him to stay anyway. Neither of you knew if that would make an already weird and complicated situation even worse. 

But tonight was different. 

There were hints of a storm in the distance you start telling yourself. If you focused you could hear thunder, somewhere, out there and you just wanted Carmen safe for his sake. That’s all. So you pathetically cling to him and hope you don’t kick yourself out of embarrassment in the morning. It takes just a moment of him looking down at you to understand what you can’t say and he’s giving you a little nod in response. His arms wrap around your shoulders, leaning in to press a kiss to the top of your head. Kissing every inch of you had to be one of his greatest pleasures in life.

“Remind me to season that skillet in the morning.” 

‧₊˚ ⋅* ‧₊✮‧₊˚ ⋅* ‧₊

Carmen, shockingly, sleeps through the night. The warmth of your body next to him coupled with your excellent sleeping experience. A comfortable bed with good pillows, a white noise machine in the corner of your room (the ice maker in the fridge at Carmy’s would constantly go off so you got used to sleeping with background noise to cover it up), it was the best night of rest he’s had in months.

Your sheets smell like home. 

He’s slowly waking up now and his first thought is how much he misses the weight of your breast in his hand. Second thought is how much he needs to pee but damn your bed is comfortable. 

Carmen allows his body to wake up slowly. Stretching his arms out above his head and letting out a satisfied grunt at the feeling of his well rested muscles. Blinking his eyes awake just enough to take in the sight of all the trinkets and items that covered your space. There’s some things he notices that he knows for a fact he purchased you. Bottles of perfume, books you keep telling yourself you need to read, cups you constantly forget to bring back into the kitchen until you’re fully out of them.

Did you keep any of the pictures? Photo strips from Navy Pier and the holiday market at Wrigley Field. Everything from the disposable camera you brought along on road trips and vacations. The polaroids that once littered a cork board in your living room that the two of you added pictures to so often. If he looked around enough would he find them tucked away safely in a box or did you pitch them when you knew the two of you were through. 

Carmen still has one. You took most of them while you packed up your things from his place and refused to let him carry any of the boxes downstairs. So stubborn, so full of hurt pride. He just spent most of the day trying to stand out of your way but always available in case you finally admitted that you needed help. Maybe a small part of him hoped that as you packed up so many memories it would trigger a ‘What are we doing?’ reaction and you’d go running into his arms. 

You never did. 

But you did take one trip down to your car with an overstuffed Ikea bag over your shoulder and balancing a box on your hip. Carmen knew he didn’t have long, and it kind of felt like stealing, but he rushed over to the box you just started packing up and rifles through the photos as fast as he possibly could. It took a moment of digging before there it was. A polaroid photo someone took of the two of you on New Year’s Eve. You’re wearing some cheesy headband and he has those tacky sunglasses on that show off the incoming year on them. His arms are wrapped low around your waist as he stands behind you, one of your hands resting on top of his while the other is reaching up and back to cup his jaw. You’re both grinning and laughing in the photos and nothing bad has happened yet. 

He hears you shuffling back up the stairs so he’s quickly throwing the box back together after sliding the photo into his pocket and rushing back to stand in the kitchen. Acting like nothing was happening. You didn’t even look over at him so it wasn’t like he had to put up much of a show anway.

It’s still safely tucked into his wallet. 

The sound of the front door opening and hushed whispers are finally pulling him from his half asleep, reflective state. It looks like this day is getting started if he wants it to or not. He’s tilting his head to press it into the pillow underneath him, allowing one last deep inhale to remind himself exactly what your scent smells like before forcing his body to be pushed out of your bed.

Carmen turns the corner in just his boxer briefs and you’re not convinced you aren’t still dreaming because fuck he looks good. His hair’s a mess from the combination of you playing with it all night and him sleeping so well. One of his hands is scratching low on his hips while he takes in the sight of you in the kitchen. 

Maybe he shouldn’t be so comfortable walking around your apartment half dressed still but God is this relationship situation getting messier since the day since the two of you reconnected.

“Ordered some breakfast from Yolk. Figured you were hungry and I’m sure you have to run off this morning but I uh-…. I just wanted to make sure you were fed.” You nod to yourself. Giving him an out as you start popping open food boxes. There was just over an hour until you had to get to work too so there were multiple excuses possible for this morning to end as early as it needed to. 

In an odd, roundabout, time to head back to therapy kind of way it almost feels like you’re dating your ex. 

“Yeah.” He nods to himself and desperately wishes he had deodorant, cologne, fuck even Axe body spray. Something to make himself smell better or feel more presentable for you. “Richie actually tried installing fuckin’ bidets to the toilets last night. Kept on running his mouth about how prestigious they are and he, obviously, doesn’t know how to install bidets. So the bathrooms are a little-“ He waves his hands through the air.

“Shitty?” 

Second questionable pun you’ve made lately. Pull it together. 

There’s a breathy little laugh coming out, “Yeah, shitty.” Carmen’s peeking over your shoulder as you plate up breakfast, sneaking a piece of bacon from under your arm before pressing a kiss to the top of your ear. “Thank you for ordering this.” 

You nod and try to pretend you didn’t stop breathing having him so close to you under the soft morning light. 

He leaves $60 tucked under a vase on your dining table to cover breakfast. 

————

11:52 am

[DO NOT ANSWER]: Richie put his foot down and we’re stuck getting the bidets 

[DO NOT ANSWER]: If you’re wondering how my day is going 

12:17 pm

Shockingly my day is much less toilet related. I hope it’s going well. 

4:39 pm 

[DO NOT ANSWER]: I know so much about bathrooms now

————

You laugh a little too loud as the alert illuminates your phone. There’s a fond tugging at your heart as the ‘normal’ conversations fills your chat history instead of the short “My place tn” or “I still can’t find my jacket. You have to have it”. Maybe saving him as do not answer seemed too harsh but having his contact show up as a photo of you two cuddled up with the Chicago skyline in the background, an innocent and horrifically cheesy “Baby Boy 💙” contact name modeled after Richie saying you baby him too much one night. Every time it flashed across your screen and Richie saw he gave you guys an endless amount of shit. It became a constant bit that none of you got tired of at the time. 

You were trying to separate yourself from your past with him as much as possible at first but now those lines just keep getting more and more blurred. 

One of your coworkers grabs your attention away from your phone thus leaving Carmen’s message on read. He tries to pretend it doesn’t bother him as he gets to work prepping for tonight’s service. Who wants to talk about bathrooms with their… Fuck buddy? Ex? God that’s still so weird to say. 

‧₊˚ ⋅* ‧₊✮‧₊˚ ⋅* ‧₊

Your mind was haunted by thoughts of Carmen Berzatto all day. 

No matter how many busy tasks you assigned yourself he always seemed to creep back in. You’d look around for him when a joke landed well at work and the group you were with erupted into laughter. Could easily picture his head thrown back as he scrubs over his face in an attempt to muffle the sound. When you were standing alone your mind wandered off to the way he treated you last night. So claiming. Expertly working your body the way only he could after so much time of getting to know it. 

The bed feels so much 

You throw the blanket away from your frame and watch as it bundles up beside you. Is this crazy? It feels crazy. You shake out the nerves, fluffing up your shorts and primping yourself for the photo. It takes one, two, seven pictures to get just the right angle. An image of your thighs against the bedding and your oversized sleep shorts bunched up all the way down your legs. Taking a deep breath you steel your spine and pull up Carmen’s contact.

————

11:28 pm 

Headed to bed 

ONE IMAGE ATTACHED

11:29 pm 

[DO NOT ANSWER]: Fuck.

11:31 pm

Goodnight Carmen <3

2:12 am

[DO NOT ANSWER]: Can’t stop thinking about you 

ONE VIDEO ATTACHED

————

The sun is warm against your skin as it slowly wakes you up. There’s an air purifier rattling in the corner that acts half as white noise while you sleep, half to soak up the smells of Chicago. Sometimes when Carmen’s especially exhausted you have to bring out the big boy and ask your Google home to play sleep sounds to mask him snoring all night. You typically didn’t mind the sound, knowing it’s a sign of just how badly he needed a good night’s rest. 

You’re fishing your phone out of the comforter in a haste to click off the horrific sound of the alarm and your eyes are barely open when you see the alert. A preview image popping up and you can just barely a blurry image of - “Holy fuck!” 

Your free hand flies up to clamp over your mouth as a mix of gasps and ‘no fucking way’ come out of you with zero control. With shaking hands you open up the video, half tempted to pinch yourself with a video of Carmen fills your screen. His hand rubbing over the bulge in his boxers and there’s a mess of shaky breathing coming from behind the phone. You can’t get the volume turned all the way up fast enough and you’re terrified to miss a single sound. 

And there he is. 

Fishing his cock out of his boxers and stroking himself for you. Illuminated by the lamp on his bedside table and his hand over lubricated to mimic how wet you get for him. He’s a mess of filthy moans, bucking hips, are you dreaming? 

The combination of the sun beating in and the way this video is making your body go hot is too much. You’re overheating, kicking the blankets away from you while your hand goes into your shorts on instinct. Toying with your clit even though you don’t have much time to spare as you watch Carmen get off for you.

————

8:04 am

HEART REACTED TO A VIDEO

Mine tonight?

Fuck you sound so good

Wish I would have been there to clean you up

Say my name more next time please

How am I supposed to go to work now 

————

No response. You aren’t surprised, he’s typically busy in the morning. 

So you go along your day and let yourself enjoy the thought of Carmen coming back over tonight to take care of you. You had thought letting him back in was a risky move but things seemed fine so far. Settling into the new version of what normal was going to look like. Maybe things would end up being some version of alright after all. 

A chirp from your phone catches your attention and you’re instantly uninvested in whatever task was at hand. It might be a little pathetic how excited you were but that is besides the point. 

————

10:32 am 

[CARMEN]: Busy tonight

————

Busy tonight? Go fuck yourself Carmen! 

You waited all morning and THAT’S the response you get? Were the multiple texts too much? Did you come off too clingy? Sure he just stayed the night, was two times in one week where he drew the line? 

So you leave him on read and take away the heart from his video. Change his name back to DO NOT ANSWER and instantly feel the urge to get off tonight leaving your body. Replaced by a subtle anger that only he can bring out of you. 

The workday seems to go by so much quicker as you have this internal argument with yourself and mentally pick a battle with Carmen. Maybe you were silly to think things would… What? Go back to the way they were? No, of course not. 

Ugh!

Carmen who, by the way, truly was slammed. Got stuck hosting an event for an old family friend that he barely knew but was convinced it’d be good for business. He’s overwhelmed by work and anxious with his relationship with you. The breakup was horrific. One of the worst things he’s had to experience so far which certainly says a lot. At the very least - It made sense. This though? Sleeping together, fucking when you have shitty dates and he’s your second choice for the night, taking pictures of dumb things he sees during the day because it made him think of you but never actually sending them, it made zero sense.

If only there was something the two of you could do to figure this whole mess out. 

But alas.

You bring home a salad that’s far healthier than anything you’ve eaten all week accompanied by some fresh pressed green juice nonsense you lie to yourself and mentally say is delicious. The boy detox starts now. 

The shower you take that night must last an hour. Every inch of your body gets scrubbed, your face and hair both get a mixture of treatments and masks. You primp and polish yourself up and convince yourself that this is all for you and not so you look better than ever and Carmen will have to regret his stupid and shitty ‘Busy tonight’ text because you were also just like so, so busy and -

Fuck Carmen Berzatto. 

You decide you could go the rest of your life without hearing from him and be just fine. It was his loss. You’re funny, beautiful, and excellent in the bedroom. There’s thousands of people out there dreaming about finding someone like you!

This internal argument keeps going. And you know what’s annoying? The second you fling yourself into bed you realize he left his scent all over your sheets still. It hasn’t gone away - Cologne mixed with Carmen. And you 100% aren’t hunting out the scent nor are you hunting out a reason to stay annoyed with him. Not at all. So you get back out of bed and grab the fabric freshener to spray your sheets back down with, giving it a minute to dry before falling face first into the mattress with an annoyed huff. 

So yeah, fuck him. You hope you never hear from him again and toss your phone on the other side of the bed. Forcing your eyes shut and making your mind go blank because otherwise you’ll stew all night thus continuing this Carmen induced spiral. 

————

1:47 am

[DO NOT ANSWER]: Hey

————

Fuck.

[system-to-the-madness]

Nothing Extraordinary - Dazai Osamu x Reader

Pairing: Dazai Osamu x Reader (can be read as any gender, no pronouns used) Genre: (angst to) fluff Word Count: 2 360 Warnings: use of (y/n), mentions of dying (nobody dies tho), Reader is scared Dazai doesn't love them Summary: Even after a year of dating there are three words Dazai and you have yet to exchange A/N: Happy Birthday to Dazai, even though his birthday is already over in Japan...

A soft exhale brushed over your slightly parted lips as you pressed “send” on the file you had spent the past three hours preparing. A look at the clock on your desktop screen told you, you it was only half past three, but the sun shining in through the windows of the Armed Detective Agency had already a strong orange tint.

Absentmindedly your gaze wandered over to your boyfriend’s desk, finding it empty. You wondered what kind of unimportant task Osamu had found this time to get around doing his paperwork.

Confused you tilted your head.

Taking a closer look at his desk that bordered yours, it seemed like the files Kunikida had piled on it this morning had already been moved to the “outgoing” folder, which meant he had at least made the effort to shift them around at one point. But had he actually done them?

Reaching over to his desk, you grabbed a bunch of the files out of the box, flipping them open. Indeed, they had all been processed neatly, in Osamu’s handwriting. What was wrong with him? Usually he only did them when Kunikida stood next to him, threatening him with exposing some kind of embarrassing secret of his to you.

The first time Kunikida had used that threat, Osamu had thought he had been bluffing, and thus you had learnt of the time Osamu had been ‘stuck’ in a restaurant’s bathroom for an hour straight because the clearly labelled door would have opened through pulling, not pushing. Of course you had thought Kunukida had made that up, after all, someone as clever and cunning as Osamu would never- but a glance at your then-boyfriend-of-three-weeks had revealed just how true Kunikida’s story was, the red flare of his cheeks having glowed under the cool blue light of the office’s illumination.

Ever since then Osamu knew to take Kunikida’s threats seriously. But since the blonde skill-user had not spent the better part of the day standing next to Osamu, supervising his work, you couldn’t help but wonder if your boyfriend had unlocked a new skill that allowed him to finish his paperwork within the blink of an eye.

Or maybe he was sick? No, if he were, he’d have clung to you the whole time, whining about how miserably he was feeling. Sometimes he really behaved like a huge child. Why did you put up with him again?

Because I love him. 

Yeah, only that you had never told him that. You had been dating for almost a year now, and Osamu had as good as moved in with you, but you had never told him you loved him, nor had he told you he loved you.

Of course, you made sure to express your feelings in action and a few times it almost would’ve slipped over your lips in moments when you were distracted or tired, causing you half a heart attack each time you caught your tongue in time. And as hard as it was sometimes to decipher his behaviour, you were fairly certain Osamu was at least somewhat emotionally attached to you.

But there was always this fear.

This fear that he’d pull away the moment you expressed how serious and deep your affection for him had grown. This fear that he’d take it as the sign to draw back and drop you like he dropped all these girls he had been meeting with before the two of you had almost died in each other’s arms during a mission, before he had pulled you into his chest and kissed you as if it were the last thing he would ever do before both of you suddenly had the same idea which had ended up saving your lives, before he had asked if saving each other’s lives qualified him for a date with you. As if you had been out of his league before that, when really he was the one who could barely save himself from suitors who were attracted by his intellect, his charm and of course also his good looks.

Tearing your thoughts back into the moment, you shook your head and took a deep breath, focusing back on the screen before you displaying the confirmation that your file had successfully been delivered.

Another glance at the clock. 15:35pm. You reached for the notepad besides your screen and ticked off the report you had sent just two minutes earlier. The next point on the list was… annoying. Not difficult or hard, just annoying. With a small sigh you went back to work.

Your eyes were trained on the screen, following the signs that appeared while your fingers were flying over keyboard, focusing on the words you strung together. You barely noticed the hand that carefully placed a plate with grapes and strawberries next to your keyboard, white bandages covering the skin from right underneath the thumb until they disappeared into the lazily rolled up sleeves of a dress shirt. A moment later the hand disappeared and a second, equally bandaged hand placed a cup of freshly brewed green tea next to the plate.

This time you noticed the movement from the corner of your eyes, glancing at the already retreating hand, unable and unwilling to hide the smile tucking at your lips. It didn’t happen often, but occasionally Osamu would bring you snacks while you were working. It were little things like these, the little efforts he made, every day, small things that accumulated over time which made your heart beat hard in your chest whenever you thought of him.

“Thank you, Osamu. I love you.”

The moment the last syllable had left your lips, you realized what you had just said, and froze up. There were reasons why you had never told him. You knew he struggled with forming permanent, close relationships, with opening himself up to others. If you came across as too eager, too clingy, too pushy,… he’d leave faster than you could blink.

All you could hope for now was that he hadn’t heard you, so you quickly continued typing, having barely missed a beat in your rhythm. Exhaling slowly, you relaxed your shoulders.

He hadn’t said anything, so he probably had snuck away and not heard your confession, otherwise he certainly would have snickered, or teased you. Only for you to come home to an apartment later that had been cleared of all his things. No, he hadn’t heard you. Most certainly not.

You had already typed another full line before a sudden voice right next to you startled you into interrupting your work once again, this time making you whip your head around to look at the man standing next to your desk.

“I love you, too.”

Osamu’s voice had been quiet, his eyes not fixed on you but instead a drawer of your desk, before he looked up almost hesitantly. There was something shimmering in his eyes which not even you, as his girlfriend of a year got to see often; a vulnerability and hesitancy, as if he wasn’t certain he had just trusted someone with a secret they would mock him for. You could never help but feel unsettled when this shimmer glossed over his eyes: Dazai Osamu wasn’t the kind of person to fear being mocked. Not by anyone. Not by anyone but you.

It took a moment for his words to register in your brain, until you had processed them, and you couldn’t help the way your eyes widened at the realization of his words.

“Osamu that’s- that’s not what I meant,” you quickly denied, before noticing how it had to sound to him. “I mean, I didn’t mean to pressure you into saying it back! I don’t want you to say things like that just because you feel obliged to-”

The soft smile that begun spreading over Osamu’s face irritated you enough to forget what you had meant to say.

Slowly he crouched down, placing his hand on the armrest of your chair and turned it enough to make you face him. Biting your lower lip, you watched him scan over your face, his hand subconsciously moving from the armrest to your knee. Warmth sept through the thin fabric of your fabric trousers, the elegantly cut kind Kunikida had advised you to wear when you had first started working for the Armed Detective Agency.

“It’s true though,” Osamu said, his voice so quiet that you’d be surprised if anyone but you could hear it right now. “I do. I’ve known for a while now. It’s not that kind of fleeting feeling of a crush, even though I wanted it to be only that. But the more I began to deny it, the more I realized that you have carved yourself into my heart and now it carries your name. Admitting it is scary though. What if you don’t feel the same?” He brought one of his hands up to your face, the backs of his fingers ghosting over your cheek, warm and familiarly gentle. “What if I allow myself to love you, and you leave, or get taken from me? To love you means to offer myself to the possibility of hurt and I don’t want to be hurt anymore. But I want to love you. I do love you. With all I have.”

Orange afternoon light caught in Osamu’s whiskey-coloured eyes, igniting his long lashes in warm auburn. Single hairs threw fine shadows over his skin, and all of a sudden you once again realized how delicate his features were, how beautiful his face, how warm his gaze.

His words echoed in your head, tumbled over one another, until you couldn’t grasp a clear thought anymore, so instead you bent forwards and gently touched your lips against his. The hand he had still placed at your cheek came to cup your chin, but he didn’t pull you closer, just held you.

Kisses like this were rare. Osamu was always excited and full of passion, and so were his kisses. And the times he wasn’t, when the shadows in the corners of the rooms got too long and deep, threatening to swallow him whole, his lips moved desperately against yours, demanding you to offer him a lifeline, a way out, a distraction from old memories coming back to claim him and pull him back into the dark.

Now he let the kiss linger, your faces close enough for your lips to touch, for warmth to be exchanged, for him to feel your pulse beneath the delicate skin of your lips. But nothing more.

When you pulled away after several seconds, you saw Osamu’s eyes had fluttered closed, and remained closed for a moment longer. While he couldn’t see, you instinctively darted your tongue out, wetting your lips; they tasted of him. Even such a short kiss was enough for him to leave his mark on you like this.

“Thank you.”

His eyes were still closed when he spoke, making you tilt your head at him.

“For what?”

“For making saying these words for the first time something… so normal. Nothing extraordinary. Just intertwined into our everyday lives. It lessens the anxiety.”

“I was scared too, you know.” You didn’t elaborate on the reasons. He didn’t have to know you thought he might not love you. But he was Dazai Osamu, always ready with another surprise up his sleeves.

“I know, my angel. I know. I’m sorry I didn’t say anything earlier.”

“No, don’t be. It’s not your fault, nor mine. It just was. Just happened like this.”

“I like the way this happened.”

When he finally opened his eyes, they were gentle and warm, and the way he looked at you was nothing short of lovingly. Yes, lovingly. And this expression had been in his eyes for a while now, when he had looked at you, you just hadn’t been able to identify it. How long had it been there already? You were not sure. Most certainly not from the beginning on, when he had ignored you entirely for your first months at the agency. But it had been there for a long time, longer even than you had been dating. You knew you had seen it in his eyes, when he had lent in to desperately kiss you that time you had almost died together. You wondered if that had been the moment he had realized his feelings for you. One day you would ask him. But not now. Now you just wanted to know-

You had already opened your mouth to ask him if he wanted to take a small coffee break with you, when Kunikida’s booming voice interrupted you.

“Dazai! File OS0346 are missing the sketches I specifically asked for!”

Osamu, still crouching in front of you rolled his eyes, making you chuckle.

“Kunikidaaa,” he whined. “Can’t that wait until-”

“Of course it can wait,” Kunikida interrupted your whiny boyfriend. “But then I’ll tell (y/n) all about the time-”

“Nope, nope, no, I got it, I got it,” Osamu quickly jumped to his feet. “Already on my way. No reason to destroy my good image here.”

“Which good image,” Kunikida growled, throwing a file onto Osamu’s desk as he passed it.

You couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped your lips, earning a playfully scolding glance from your boyfriend, who slipped into his office chair, whining dramatically while doing so.

“Just so you know, Kunikidaaa, I’m signing out at exactly 5o’clock, and so will (y/n), and nobody will be able to contact us until tomorrow morning.”

Turning your chair back to face your desk, you glanced across the room, seeing Kunikida’s reddening face as he was staring daggers at Osamu. You chuckled again and tried focusing back on the report you were supposed to write.

Underneath the desk, something bumped against your foot and a moment later hooked around your ankle. Safe from Kunikida’s or anyone else’s eyes, Osamu had linked his feet around yours, shooting you a smile and a wink before both of you focused on your work again, the small contact at your feet a constant reminder that your lives were now inseparably intertwined.

[sparklingcid3r]

are you a tim and darry shipper? if so, PLEASE share some hcs of them

YESSIR I AM‼️ oh my days i’ve been dying to yap about them bc i’ve been obsessed 🙏 i won’t go into how i think they actually found out about each other’s man-kissing tendencies bc im thinking of writing a fic abt it (if it doesn’t happen then i’ll write abt it here lol) but here we go‼️ ooc? perchance🤫

- Incredibly private relationship. Neither of them want a single soul to know

- So naturally they get walked in on by Pony

- “You said you locked the door” “It’s not the same kind of lock we got at my place” “It’s a lock” “That you never even use” “Do you know how to lock my door?” “Do you know how to lock your door?”

- (It’s not Tim’s fault tho because not even Pony remembers which way to turn it, he’s just jiggling it until it clicks. Seriously, why would anyone need to know?)

- Darry’s idea of being romanced is coming home from work to see Tim doing the dishes while playing Darry’s favorite Ricky Nelson records in the background.

- Just sweep him off his feet, Tim, why don’t you🙄

- Fr tho acts of service is Darry’s love language, catch him SWOONING when Tim says he’ll pick up Pony from school and then come back to help him dig leaves out of the gutter. Most romantic thing anyone’s ever said to him

- Idk if Tim has a love language, but maybe it’d be quality time. Even if they aren’t saying anything, he just likes hanging out and unwinding with Darry at the end of the day

- If they haven’t been able to see each other for a while because of Darry’s long ass work days, Tim sometimes visits him during his lunch break at work, just to talk and catch up. He brings two bottles of ginger ale because he knows Darry can’t drink on the clock, but could stand to crack open a cold one

- They’ll go and watch the rodeos together when Dally is jockying and Soda’s doing saddle bronc

- One time he came home to find Tim, Pony, and Soda very heatedly yelling at the soap opera playing on the television. They made him swear to secrecy before letting him join in

- Lotsss of stab wounds in the coaster next to the couch. Darry only got it after one too many accidents with Tim not remembering that the Curtis family doesn’t just bury their blades into furniture when they’re particularly emotional

- Darry actually gets along well with Angela, they have pretty similar music taste. He’s also telling her which teachers she wants for which classes, and also the best spot to park to pull out of school quick before traffic builds up

- Darry wants to spend some time at Tim’s place, but Tim refuses nearly every time. His parents are always drunken, high crash outs when they’re home and the place is just a mess. He’s a purebred hood, but he’s also the only one trying to run a tight ship around there for his siblings’ sake

- Tim bounces around from job to job, he never really found a rhythm anywhere. Darry once sat down to help him hunt, but Tim’s better suited for odd jobs anyway, so that’s where his money rolls in from

- Definition of power couple. They’re mean asl in solo fights but put them on the same team and it’s lights out

- There’s an on-going bet on the East side about who would win in a fight between them

- Darry and Tim know about this and also get into arguments about it

- Love the idea of characters who are described as things such as “feline” or “deer-like” or “spider-like” etc etc also act like those animals, so the minute Tim was described as cat-like I knew that in my head he’s taking naps and when he gets up, he does the full body, hands in the air stretch until every bone has popped and he’s got just slightly longer canines than usual, “blink and you’ll miss it” slight. Darry thinks it’s hot

- They’ve mutually agreed to never accept gifts from each other because they’re too proud but also too insecure about money and don’t want to be leeching off the other

- Tim doesn’t sleep on the Curtis’ couch unless he’s in rough shape from a fight the night before or he wants to catch Darry in the morning, but more often than not it’s because of a fight. Pony and Soda only know about a fraction of the times Tim has done this and just think “damn darry ur bf’s gay asl for u”

Gang i love them sm it’s not even funny this is so serious for me😭🙏

[narrynukezankielover]

Again these are my personal opinions or what I personally see or think as someone seeing these episodes for the first time.

To begin with the episode where Dean and Sam die and go to heaven. I love when someone else talks about Cas and only looks at Dean. The angel told Dean and Sam that god had done a lot for them but he was looking directly at Dean while saying that god had saved him, put them on a plane and brought Cas back for you. Then turned to Sam to say after everything he’s done. That sounds like god brought Cas back because he knows how much Cas means to Dean. Otherwise he would’ve been looking between the two of them.

Then the necklace. Up until now that necklace was a brotherly connection between Dean and Sam. Like I think Dean didn’t want to give it to Cas in the first place because Sam gave it to him. It’s special to him but once he gave it to Cas it meant hope. Hope that god would help. Then when they found out god didn’t really care yes it hurt Dean but what I think hurt Dean more was that Cas lost his faith in god. It’s like as long as Cas has hope Dean has hope. Then when Dean threw away the necklace the look on Sams face was like “you’re seriously throwing that out? I gave that to you.”

To me Becky represents the Jared or the J2 fans. The ones that think Jared is everything. Even the ones that ship Dean and Sam. I’m not going to lie the scene where she’s writing a sexual fan fic about them makes me want to throw up. They’re brothers fake brothers in a tv show but it’s still disgusting. Then Cas expresses how much he hates Sams voice and tells him not to ask stupid questions. It made me bust out laughing but it felt like Cas represents the other side of the fandom. I just had to put that in there because I love Cas honesty with that stuff and I had to agree with him.

So far my fave’s 2 episodes are the Jimmy episode and season 5 episode 18 which I believe is also the 100th episode. There is soooo much Destiel in it. I knew about these scenes I just didn’t realize they were all in the same episode.

Dean telling Cas to blow him got him this look. Cas kept this look for a few seconds. It’s like wait that’s a sexual thing right? Did you really just say that? The guy is really confused.

The “not for nothing Cas but last time someone looked at me like that I got laid” scene. HOLY SHIT. That was clearly flirting not a joke. Sam even gave Dean a “are you seriously flirting right now” look.

(Sorry about the stuff in that picture I took it while I was watching the episode and clearly forgot to take it off). Then Dean gave Cas this smirk and a wink which looks like it might’ve been Jensen trying to make Misha laugh which could be why Cas look became even more intense. Could’ve been Misha trying hard to stay in character. Either way that’s some serious flirting.

Later Cas got worried about Dean and what I love is that when he heard something inside the room he opened the eye door but when he couldn’t see Dean he got really worried and had to go in. If it was anyone else in there Cas would’ve said it was a trap and left them alone but he couldn’t take that chance with Dean. I’m still trying to figure out tho how Sam left to find Dean a few seconds later yet Cas found him in no time (how did Cas know where to find Dean? Suppose it could’ve been he just went to the closest religious person. I love Cas honesty here telling the guy he prays too loudly) and Sam was back at Bobbys house when Cas and Dean got back. He didn’t spend much time looking for Dean.

It’s not a sexual scene but it sure looks like it. Cas pushing Dean around telling him yet again how much he’s pissed that he rebelled for Dean so he wouldn’t have to say yes to Michael but yet here he is going to do it anyway. Dean didn’t even try to fight back. Don’t know if he knew Cas is a lot stronger than him and didn’t see the point in fighting back but knowing Dean I can’t see that being it. Or if what Cas was saying was finally getting through to his head and maybe thought he deserved what was happening and let Cas make the decision in this moment that he wasn’t saying yes right now.

I know the last episode of season 5 was supposed to be the last episode but some of it is just weird. Dean looked back at Cas sleeping and said “ain’t he a little angel.” Dean sounds so cute when he said that. It reminds me of in Good Omens Crowley calls Aziraphale angel all the time. At first it was because Aziraphale is an actual angel but over time it became a cute nickname like sweetie or honey. In this scene it felt like a cute nickname instead of just that Cas is an angel. Of course Sam ruined the moment when he said “angels don’t sleep.” Dean then looked confused and worried. The thing that pisses me off is that Sam made Dean promise to go to Lisa and have a life with her. It pisses me off because Dean didn’t say he wanted that life plus you just heard Dean saying something sweet about Cas and he thought it was a good time to bring this up. Really makes me want to punch Sam. Sam wants that life but he pushed that life on Dean in a promise. When they were in heaven Deans heaven was being with Sam but Sam’s heaven was being away from his actual family but being with a family. They really were going to let the show end with Dean liveing Sams happy ending. I’m trying to forget that shit happened but the fact that Dean didn’t want it makes it a bit easier. At least they didn’t try to say it was Deans idea.

[lemmetreatya]

idk why but I would love to see Eren, Connie, Jean, etc. working as security guards lmao! I just feel like they would be very unserious.

girl?!?!?! you already know the diabolically STEWPID shit they’d get up to 😭😭

the three of them would be the late night shifters so most the stuff they get up to would take up most of their time

have a feeling theyd be security guards for like a hotel or something so a job where most people aren’t disturbing them at that time of night

but man the antics theyd get up to?? so bold in how theyd hop into the kitchen and start cooking up a storm with the continental breakfast that’s for the customers in the morning

frying up about 5 sausages, bacon and eggs each 😭😭 drinking up all the cereal and milk whilst they play loud drill via connie’s phone in an empty cup for a speaker

since theres barely any trouble around that time, they’d watch F1 and UFC matches on the display tv in the reception area — feet kicked up on the desk as they gamble and make bets between each other

there’d only be two hotel staff onsight and most of the time hotel night workers are getting linen and press ready for the morning and working on imports, so if theres trouble within the hotel, they’re first port of call

and ofc sometimes people be smoking up in the rooms and doing things against the rules and theyd have to sort it out — and they always take that job SO seriously 😭😭

“hey, guys?”

the soft voice of the team member petra called out towards the three men who were loitering by the reception.

turning round with his thumbs round his belt loops, connie nodded upwards at her

“yo, wassup?”

shifting her weight from foot to foot, the ginger haired girl looked nervous as she said her next words

“uhm… someones smoking in room 312. i knocked for them to open up so, so that they…so i could tell them to stop but they didn’t—”

eren cuts in to put his hand up in petra’s face, his expression serious.

“don’t worry. we’re on it.” turning round to jean, eren throws him his lighter. “which plan we doing tonight?”

jean catches erens lighter with one hand whilst he places down his plate of food with the other.

“they sound hostile so maybe C. although let’s try A2 first, just to avoid filling out any risk assessment sheets.”

these men would purposely intimidate anyone who tried this shit. they’d ask the hotel staff to ring up the name of the individual who booked the rooms, they’d put their walkie talkies on loud so they could sound like cops communicating to each other — gosh they’d even rapt the doors with their knuckles, ears to the wood, and put on fake authoritarian tones

theyd definitely play good cop bad cop whilst the other confiscates shit off them, pretending to be on their side

“look if you just give me the roll ups, ill tell the staff not to put a flag under your account name, alright?”

they dont give two DAMNS about that shit, they just see it as a way to get free cigarettes/weed/poppers

although all three of them are still great guys to have as security staff! if there’s anyone in a vulnerable position that runs to them for help, they’re on it!

working in a hotel means they see a lot of people coerced into rooms and situations they either dont want to be in or not in the right mind to be in

even tho they like to play cop, when the actual cops come, they make sure they protect those who are the victim in the situation or the ones who didn’t instigate

“so you didn’t see the person who totalled the car come this way?”

connie juts his bottom lip out as he shakes his head

“nah man. as i said, i heard a loud screech, ran outside to check, saw a turned over car, but when i checked the car? nobody.”

the cop eyes connie up and down before scribbling in his notepad.

“alright, if you say so.” he pockets the book in his back pocket. “but if you see anything, you’ll say right?”

“of course officer! totally officer!” he lies

little did he know, jean was attending to the light wounds of the woman behind the desk of the reception whilst eren was using her phone to call her sister to come pick her up

all in all, theyd still do their job to the standard they should!!

they definitely conspire with each other beforehand when they each log in their timetable dates so they can be on the same shift

but theyre good pals regardless and even if its just two of them on a shift its still a vibe lool

[your-local-baguette]

Chris prince x reader

Warnings: cussing ? Angst maybe ?

The sound echoed over and over, the ball hitting your wrist again and again. It hurts...

" ANOTHER ONE!"

You yelled across the gym, in which your teammates slammed another curving ace toward you. You knee slid on the ground as you used your left foot support you body, the volleyball hitting the reddened area of your colliding wrists. You hissed at the stinging sensation, when the receive failed, you groaned and let your body fall on the cold ground, letting out heavy breath.

Your teammate quickly made their way to you, their head popping in your vision, you huffed." Thanks" they nodded before walking away" dont you overwork yourself, either way im dragging you out the gym" you sighted in defeat, lazily dragging your body up. Slow steps towards the changing rooms, massaging your shoulders on the way.

You closed the metal door of the gym not expecting anything, well yea, nothing ever goes you way anyway." Hii love!" A muscular blondie said, opening his arms, hoping to receive a hug. You lived up to his expectations, wrapping your arms around him, not even a second that he lift you up with ease. Spinning you around before letting your feets touch the ground again, now resting his cheeks on the top of your head. Its barely if he could, because you were like only two inches shorter than him. After his long awaited hug he pushed you on your lower back insisting you follow him. " Where are we going ?"

" im taking you to boue lock"

" is that allowed ?"

" i...managed."

Flashback.....

" i'll get on my knees please let me bring them here."

The jumanji egg( ego ) looked at him weirdly before sighing giving in.

He let out a little scream of joy before running out.

End of flashback

" uh ok"

...

" im guessing your tram doesn't know about this ?"

You asked, striking up a conversation.

" huuuh. They somehow found out. So try not to worry too much about that. Most of them are very respectful"

You nodded.

The car pulled in the parking, you and chris got out, you just dribbled a volleyball, these were some of the very rare occasions when it was silent with Chris. You walked at the same rythm, your steps synchronised, the halls silent before well sound of balls getting kicked ( get your mind outta the gutter ) and loud cheering. You both arrived in a stadium where a team was practicing, not very seriously but still practicing.

A ball came flying to your face which you stopped easily, throwing back toward them. Chris chuckled at your reflexes, dragging to a chair, you sat next to him, to his displease. Wish these kids weren't here and he could gave you on his lap but like the jumanji egg said' no intimate interaction'

.....

Hcs part. That because the volleyball wasn't included the way i wanted it to be.

Adores playing with you

Litteraly screams for cheering at your match

Supportive. Supportive. Supportive.

Has a copy of your team jersey with your number. Cuz yours does not fit him lol.

He had a hard time understanding how to do an underhand receive. Like why you gotta fold your thumbs over your palms. Cant you just have your hands interwined together. Side note: his thumbs pained him for five day straight.

Come to every.single.match

Does not understand how you can jump so high. Like do you remove gravity!?

Does the bandaging around your fingers/ hands.

You showed him an ace( the service ) and he was s.t.u.n.n.e.d.

Secretly practices against a wall.

Learned how to float serve just for you.

At this point more passionate than you🤨

Bought you ticket to your favorite team.

Got you a custom volleyball with your fav movie/series character on it.

You have a ton of equipment at home for volleyball.

Plays with you everyday.

If you ever have a child he wants them to learn football and volleyball ( volley when older tho )

An absolute sucker for a focused you

Hope you all enjoyed. Feel like this would also go well with lavinho. Talking about him;

I will prob do the three most popular cuz im obsessed with this man. So yea. Have a nice day. If it doesn't get enough vote i will redo it on another post cuz these are prob gon take a good amount of time. Bye bye!

[period-of-nocturne]

I keep thinking about the Virtual Singer from each Sekai and what do they mean

Like what do they represent, what and who makes them appear and what does it mean to the related character

For a long while I thought each VS was linked to a specific kid, based on the focus where they appeared and who it was related to, mostly because of Niigo because... Damn each of them got their assigned VS for a year and half pratically you all know what I mean

But it didn't quite fit all the units and it also fit Niigo less than before, so it couldn't be that

So I kept thinking and

I think each Virtual Singer represent a... "concept", some very specific feelings from each kids

The one I'm the most sure about are VBS and L/N but I just can't explain L/N because they're so obvious to me I don't have the words to express it, so I'll use VBS VS as an example

Starting with Miku

Well, it's pretty simple... Miku is the only one I don't have a clue about (But she's often related to Toya now that I think about it)

So !

Meiko is so obviously that mentor figure, like the role-model... And by that I obviously mean RADers. The way she gives huge Nagi-san and Ken-san vibe and the similarity you can notice between her and those two definitely comes from An and Akito's perception of them, I don't need to elaborate on why I think

Rin and Len are the definition of "partner". I mean, An literally said it in Len 1* side story, she don't see them as sibling or lovers, but as singing partner

And each time one of the kids has some trouble with their specific partner, it reflects on Rin and Len, without much surprise.

They probably both has a distinct meaning, I think about Len's fear of being left behind and being kinda jealous in bout for beside you that obviously fit An but also Akito (those two again, Akito and An are as easy to read as open books it seems. Funny cause they're not the one fond of reading- ahem.), But I can't fully grasp it tbh...

I think I should precise I'm only aware of the stories out on EN before I keep going

Because VBS Kaito and Luka have only one focus feat on EN rn (Vivid Old Tale is the current event) so I could be wrong or maybe I've missed something

But oh by God Miku they make me ill I have to elaborate on them

Kaito first, he appeared during SBD, an Akito focus

And the sweet tooth aside, no one would ever think he looks like Akito. You could even say he's the complete opposite, with his airhead behavior and his innate talent. I even saw some people comparing him to Toya

Meanwhile Luka appeared, or she most likely came back, during SDSC, Toya's focus

And... Well she's also an airhead, kinda. People doubt her link to Toya way less than Kaito's one with Akito, but when you look at it she's everything Toya would think he isn't. She's the carefree and emotionnal one who just go with the flow without thinking about the technical side of things much (something Kaito is way better at even he doesn't seem so). Like, she's just... Living at her fullest, you know

They are everything but alike the kid they came around for... So what does it mean ?

Well I would say Kaito and Luka are what Akito and Toya wish they were, kind of. Akito's frustation being depicted during SBD, how he was chasing after Toya all this time and still kind of do

Toya who was compared to Kaito by ppl (not in game as far as I know), and who's also some kind of talented airhead...

Toya's wish to experience new things in SDSC, that part when he mention how he "has done so little with my [his] life..." But how he would catch up now that he can

And the way how if you ask Toya, the one who made him discover than a such freedom was possible, and kind of open the door for him to this carefree world is Akito. And how he would not be here without him

Did I just typed a whole Virtual Singer analysis only to trick you and makes you read about gay parallels- Noooo, what do you mean... I wouldn't dare

More seriously yeah I have an Akitoya illiness so they're the more developped thoughts I have on the topic, but I wish and hope people would dig into this more because I can't grasp every concept by myself

Don't forget how much Akitoya are gays tho-

Bonus part do you know what happen if you swap the A and the K in Akito's name

VBS Kaito and Akito are kind of the two side of ADHD when you think about it. And that makes sense because Kaito comes from Akito so if you combined them you got the combined style of ADHD do you get me-

Anyway

[bucky-h0e]

A/n: If you enjoy this, make sure to check out my other works! If you have any feedback, then please let me know! I am taking requests for both this and separate works. This is a long-term series so be sure to check out the masterlist below for more Bucky and Alpine works! Taglist is open - just let me know if you'd like to be added.

kinda went wild at the end tho

Warnings: Fluff, questionable food combinations, incident of Alpine being followed, protective bucky

Serendipity Masterlist

Main Masterlist

How Alpine deals with stress ( + How Bucky deals with stressed Alpine)

If there is one thing we can be sure about, it's that this dynamic is stressful

Between Bucky still going on missions and dealing with the new century

and Alpine's impulsive thoughts winning 90% of the time

both parties were stressed a fair amount.

But they each deal with it in very, very different ways

Alpine is a very expressive person

very expressive

Bucky will know when she's stressed, but it does depend on the situation

for example

She had found herself caught between an argument that Sam and Bucky had been having

as much as it was definitely not appropriate

Alpine started laughing

mainly out of nerves

but hysterically

sat back in her seat, staring at the two of them, tears in her eyes

laughing

because wtf else was she going to do?

jump in front of Captain America and a super soldier?

no thank you

she likes her lungs unpunctured

not that they were actually in a physical fight

and not that they would actually hurt her either

but still

she was not about to jump in front of them like that

laughing had seemed to make them stop

they did think she was absolutely mental for it, but that was just one way in which her stress came out

not like she could help it, it was that or just cry and she preferred the laughing part

normally she did end up in tears but that was because of the pain in her chest from laughing too much

at least at the end of it she would actually start making herself laugh until she finally managed to calm down

then act like nothing had happened

This is only one way that she deals the stress

another way is ranting

she can't seem to stop talking if this is the way her stress presents itself

she has once ranted about how the human's in Wall-E were probably eating people

honestly, he stopped listening halfway through because he was confused

what the fuck was Wall-E

he's have to add it to his list of things to watch

or maybe Alpine would force him to watch it

lets be honest, it would be the second option

"SERIOUSLY BUCKY, THEY DON'T HAVE ENOUGH FOOD TO LAST THAT LONG IN SPACE, Y'KNOW?!"

"AND THERES SO MANY GENERATIONS OF PEOPLE!"

"WHERE DO THE BODIES GO BUCKY?"

"WHERE?!"

"THEY DON'T LIVE FOREVER."

Honestly, this rant all started because Bucky asked if she had a good shift at work

he wasn't going to be asking that again any time soon

but it is obvious that Alpine does NOT handle stress well

she starts spiralling

and mostly, she stress eats

mainly whipped cream

her fridge is stocked of at least 3 cans of whipped cream that she'll just eat when she's stressed

The first time Bucky saw this was when he came back from the Flag-smashers mission

she's seen Sam become Captain America on the news but got so scared when she didn't see Bucky

She sat outside his door with a can of whipped cream and a spoon, squirting the cream on the spoon and eating as she waited for Bucky to make his appearance

when he did, he sat beside her and she immediately took another spoonful

"Why don't you just cut out the spoon? seems like more washing up"

"Jesus Sarge I'm a classy woman, not an animal."

she just needed to sit with him for a little bit, to know that he was okay

so when he grabbed the can and squirted some cream into his mouth, she didn't really care

"How many cans have you had?"

"Four"

"Alpine.... that's too much whipped cream"

"THEN STOP NEARLY DYING BARNES"

"AT LEAST TEXT ME"

"I HAD TO GO OUT AND BUY MORE CANS"

As much as she does just eat the cream itself, she has stressed out to the point where she's started creating combos

not the good kind

whipped cream and cheese

whipped cream and pickles

whipped cream and a mcdonalds burger

honestly it just comforts her

and she's asked Bucky to come with her to the gym

because

"its your fault I do this, you are the main reason for my stress now, you can help train me."

If she's done something and she's stressing about it then she always assumes she's going to jail

she once entered the wrong price at the till at work and started to think her boss was gunna call the cops on her

he wasn't, he was just going to take the difference (like 50 cents) off her wage and told her just that and she agreed

but that didn't stop her from bursting into Bucky's apartment cry-laughing

"omg I'm going to jail."

"hello to you too"

"Buck, omg, i can't go to jail - i won't survive prison! I won't HAVE a bitch i will BE the bitch - I CAN'T BE THE BITCH BUCKY"

Immediately starts trying to find anything to stress eat

"Relax Al, you won't be the bitch."

"So, i'm not going to jail?"

a hopeful look

bucky sees his opportunity

"...... you won't be the bitch."

"OH MY GOD"

immediately goes back to stress eating

but there are only ever a few times where bucky will actually tease her

only in the less serious cases of her stressing would be do that to her

man is genuinely worried that she's going to have a heart attack on of these days from the amount that she stresses

like jesus christ

c a l m y o u r s e l f

but if he ever told her that, he knows he'd also get a smack

and that would only stress him out

then it would just be a competition on who is more stressed out

it's definitely Alpine

but if he was ever the cause of her stress

after the first incident

then he's always got a can of whipped cream ready

"bucky."

"hey alpine, can i just say, you are looking real pretty today, did you get your hair done? new colour? looks good."

"what did you do?!"

honestly, it makes a change because it's normally Alpine trying to work Bucky up with compliments before giving bad news

but seriously, he worries about her so much

he plays it off well, but internally he is always panicking when it comes to Alpine being in any type of danger or stressful situation

hell, she works at two bars

on the night shift, bucky doesn't sleep until she gives a small knock on the door and jingles her keys to let him know she made it home safely

is this is what having a child is like?

it feels like it is

it reminds him of always worrying if steve was getting his ass kicked in some random alley

but steve got himself into those situations

alpine would never

she would and she has, she just hasn't told bucky

seriously, one of these days he's just going to start picking her up and walking home with her

if her stress seems to be dissolving into a panic attack, bucky is all over it

there had been one occasion, on a night out with her friend and her friend's boyfriend, where alpine rang Bucky, thinking that someone was following her home

she had separated from her friend and her boyfriend, their apartments being on separate sides of the city

her friend's boyfriend had been adamant on walking her home, saying that they would just take a cab back to their flat from hers but she shook her head

her friend was out cold and needed to get home

"I'll be okay, you go. I'll call when i get home, promise. Just look after her okay? way too many jaeger shots."

begrudgingly, the pair set off, casting looks back until they could no longer see alpine.

now, alpine was in no way sober

she had drank the same amount as her friend but starting mixing water in between drinks so that she could be slightly more aware of her surroundings walking home

not comfortable with taking a cab on her own, she enjoyed the peaceful walk, taking her heels off and letting her stiff feet flatten out on the pavement

she was maybe, ten-fifteen minutes away from her place when she noticed the man following behind her across the street

chancing a glance, she saw him tilt his head downwards, out of her view and began to panic

not good

especially not good when he crosses the street

there was an alley in front

n o t t o d a y

she crosses the street, staying on the opposite side from him and calls bucky after turning the location of her phone on

"Hey kid, you -"

"Buck someone's following me"

again the man crosses the street

so does alpine

"where are you"

"like ten minutes away"

she could hear his door slamming open through the phone, he was coming

speeding up, she glances back and spots the man keeping pace, starting to get faster, not phased by her being on the phone

"i'm on my way, keep talking sweetheart, i'll be there soon"

"this guy is like a fucking track star. man must be doing some walking races or something."

he crosses again, so does she, he stops halfway and follows

he's right behind her

he's catching up, there's another alley just in front

this is it

she's going to die

"bucky he's right behind me, my legs won't fucking move any faster ... bucky i'm-"

"HEY"

she feels the relief flood her body once she hears his voice

"Get the hell away from her."

she turns back, watching as the guy backs away and begins to make his way back down the street, away from the super soldier who moved to block him from the girl

bucky clenches his jaw

debating on whether or not to chase after this creep

but one look at alpine gives him his answer

she's leaning against the brick wall, panting heavily, trying to catch her breath

there are tears in her eyes and she's chuckling nervously, fingernails digging into her palm where she clenches her fist, watching in the direction the man went

she's shaking

from the cold or from nerves he's not sure

"jesus christ. that was fucking something, never thought it would happen to me you know? you go about like thinking it's never going to be you and then boom it's happening. he didn't even care i was on the phone, normally they just leave but he was like so unbothered."

she was making her self panic and he knew he needed to stop her

"hey, hey"

"like seriously, i could've been on the phone to the police and he would have still tried to do something, what the fuck-"

"Al, kid, look at me"

her breathing sped up as she looked at the alley in front of her before back into the direction of the creep

"oh my god, i nearly,,, he was gunna..."

bucky grabs her head gently to stop it from turning back and forth, keeping her sight on him

kneeling in front of the girl he considers family

"kid!"

she stops her ranting and looks at him, eyes darting between his own, trying to level herself

"hey, that's it. just keep looking at me. are you hurt?"

she shakes her head and darts her eyes back to the direction the man went before bucky turns her head gently, forcing her to look at him again

"no but-"

"are you in pain? your feet okay?"

she nods

"i'm okay but buck, he-"

"take a deep breath for me"

she does as she's told, letting her eyes close

she does it again when he asks

and again

before she opens her eyes and lets out her final deep breathe

"you're okay kid. I got you."

carefully, he wraps her in his arms, his hand on the back of her head, guiding it to rest between his shoulder and neck

he can feel her heartbeat against his chest

her arms wrapped around him and she nods against him

"i'm okay."

she repeats quietly and bucky gently rocks them, separating once he feels her heartbeat calm down

"Let's get home. I'll leave my door open okay? you come in if you need anything"

he knows he won't be sleeping tonight anyway, too concerned about if she would be okay during the night

he is definitely walking her home on a night now, to save himself the stress and her the stress

that night, he sat with her for a little bit before they went to bed

letting her sober up

eating her weird whipped cream combos and ranting about the pixar theory

whatever that was

bucky wasn't really listening

he let her laugh the situation off before bed, hugging her goodnight and leaving

waiting until he heard the door lock before making his way back to his apartment, leaving his unlocked and sitting on his couch

he knows how to deal with her stress

he just hates dealing with it when it's caused by something like this

but she trusted him and that was enough for him

as long as she was safe it was fine

but he was still concerned by her eating habits

and so

so

confused

with her rants

[momentomori24]

Welp, I finished the Clover/Axe ending two days ago and I gotta say.... yeah, I was not surprised. But also SEE I TOLD YOU SHE WAS CRAZY WHY WOULD YOU TRUST HER JUNPEI.

Seriously though, that ending was wild. First we find the body of some old man who's posed as Zero-- which I do not believe for a second. I don't have any idea who he is but Zero is at the bottom of that list. Like, look at this:

This is the most obviously staged Mastermind substitute I've ever seen in my life--and I'm a Danganronpa fan. This isn't Zero, but it is worth noting that there are and were other people on this ship with us that we haven't met yet. From the blood spill, I'm pretty sure he was killed there. And it probably wasn't Clover this time either, because how? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think she was even able to go through here before us. The killer in the Submarine ending was implied to be able to roam freely even without the keys needed to open the doors, so it was probably them. Or someone with that same privilege. I think. Question is, who are they and why aren't they here? And do they even have a bracelet?

Ok, this is the one I've been itching to address-- the revelation that Seven and Santa killed Snake. I was kinda suspecting Seven of having something to do with this, but since was the one who brought up the idea that two or more people were responsible I brushed it off (also he really grew on me after a while and I didn't want it to be him). I never suspected Santa to be guilty of anything involving this. If I had a list of potential culprits he would be at rock bottom, THAT'S how much I trusted him. He stood up for Clover and Lotus after Junpei tricked them into fighting for who gets left behind even with death looming over their heads. He agreed to stay in the game instead of escaping in favour of not leaving June behind. Despite his attitude, it was clear he hated playing dirty. He did drop some sus bombs with Santa Claus story, but his sense of fairness quashed those immediately. Seven, maybe. Lotus, most probably. Hell, I could even buy Ace (with some strong evidence tho), even tho he's such a stand-up guy. A part of me is still very delulu about him killing Snake because of all of this. It literally never registered with me that he's the only other person that could've done this (if it was 2 people that did this). They both better have a good reason because I am UPSET.

Freaking Clover, man. I don't know what happened to this girl to take the turn she did, but MAN, she really did a 180 by the end, huh? Killing Santa and Seven in supposed revenge--which, fair enough-- was not enough. She just had to take down June and Junpei too. Girl, what did we do to you? Like, if you had just killed Junpei I wouldn't have been so upset (sorry dude i swear i love you), but why JUNE? That's like killing an innocent puppy, what the heck. I know that there's something wrong with both Snake and Clover, but wow. I'm dying to find out more about them because this is... well, it's something, alright. The fact that she literally made Junpei accept her hand to escape together while he was traumatised and dazed only to whack him and leave him to slowly bleed out as she happily takes off with his bracelet was crazy tho. I hope there's a reason for why she's still going for everyone that didn't kill Snake because my man did not deserve that.

Also, damn. If I had a nickle for every time a pink/red haired girl has offered to join hands and live together at the expense of everyone else I'd have 3 nickles. Which isn't a lot, but it really is so weird it happened thrice. I'd have 2 if that same girl had the potential to end up killing me at the end.

Also, with the knowledge that Snake has a prosthetic arm and there being no mention of it as well his bracelet being cracked meaning we have no way of confirming it's number 2 almost makes me believe he's alive. Almost. I'm pretty confident he's really gone but wouldn't that be a cool twist?

Lastly, the deaths.

I could be completely off the mark but I have a theory that the other 2 endings have 2 different killers. To me, the way everyone died seemed... different. In the Submarine death, the bodies of everyone were so much more bloody than in the other Bad End. The blood splatter looks more spread out in comparison. What makes me kinda iffy about this one is that both the weapon used is supposedly a knife. It could be different people regardless, because how in the world does a knife create blood splatters worse than the literal axe in the Sub ending, but I'm not sure. We know Junpei in both endings was stabbed for sure, but we can't say the same about the others with the existance of the axe and gun. Just wanted to throw that idea out there anyway.

[just-here-for-iolaus]

Hercules in the Maze of the Minotaur

The great HTLJ/XWP/YH (re)watch continues!

Real talk, I watched this March 11 (it is now June 20) and then some things happened but I'm back now to type up my thoughts and my notes don't currently make any sense, so I'm going to have to skim through the movie again to remind myself.

Before I reorient myself, I want to highlight my favourite no-context notes I made to myself:

HORSE

Dei looks HOT tits out at dinner lmao

CLips show

Now to remind myself what the hell this movie from 3 months ago was...

OH RIGHT. Okay.

So these chuckleheads traded cows for a map to this place, and they think they're gonna get the treasure of the god or something. I immediately noticed that the door was locked from the outside, and (to his credit) one of them also realizes this halfway through trying to open it, and they have a moment of debate about opening the door, but sadly the titular Minotaur busts out!

From my notes: "That guy fainted haha" Seriously IDK why the one guy just fainting while the other runs for his life tickles me, but it does.

I think the "HORSE" note was just about the massive horse that Hercules has at home because that was my reaction on this rewatch as well haha.

Hercules's sons are fighting, and when Herc tells them the rule is no fighting they argue with him that he fights people all the time. Herc says he only does that to keep people from getting hurt, and when he asks if they understand they're just like "No" and shake their heads like "you make no sense" and honestly that's such a real scene kid reaction. "I am choosing not to accept this rule, thanks!" XD

We then get the first of many extended flashbacks to prior movies.

HILARIOUSLY, it did not occur to me the first time that this was going to be a recurring thing. I was like "huh that's weird they're referencing the last movie. I guess this will be important".... Ugh.

Zeus shows up and asks Hercules if he misses adventuring. He says he does, which I thought was interesting! He first starts off saying nobody has come to him for help in a while, but then he sort of implies that he's staying at home with his wife and kids because of an agreement he made with her? I felt a bit weird about his line delivery there because I think we're just supposed to think he misses the fun of the adventures, but it comes off as a little like "well, I love my kids, but...". (Even tho in the last movie he got distracted staring at them.)

Anyway then Zeus gives him a sea serpent scale (which I was immediately very suspicious of, because I don't trust Zeus) and then we get another flashback, which I literally fast-forwarded through, and this is where I went "oh no..."

I'm not a fan of clip shows. 😅

Then we get the tits-out dinner scene I noted before. Damn, Dei is pretty (though her hair is a bit untamed here). How do they only have 3 kids?

We then get a bunch of shots of the Minotaur's lair and a few teaser shots of the Minotaur.

Then it's back to the house, Herc is putting his kids to bed. They request a story before bed, and since the first two the boys suggest didn't happen in the movies, we instead get a flashback to the movie where Herc meets Dei.

(Fast forward...)

The kids fell asleep, but Dei was into it and she takes our man to bed.

SURPRISINGLY, Herc didn't have a flashback dream overnight! So Herc is going about his morning and BAM!

Iolaus attacks him in the barn. (Playfully.) Now, can I just say, as someone coming from having watched the beginning of Young Hercules first, how nice a callback this is? Like, I realize they were conceived out of order, so the Young Hercules episode 1 scene where Iolaus attacks Herc (playfully) is a reference to this, but what a lovely little parallel! ♥ I love them. Look at how they look at each other.

They start talking about their farms, which honestly seems like exactly what they would talk about since they're both trying to manage farms? But I guess they thought the audience would be like "this is boring" because Iolaus launches into his own "remember the time"...

They then chat fireside and there's so much like, flirtatious vibes from Iolaus? Though I thought their banter was really cute, platonic or otherwise. They kinda tease each other but they're both so happy, it's really nice. I just love when characters clearly like each other this much.

But Iolaus manages to goad Hercules into a sparring match, which leads to the best line in the movie: "Mommy, what's Daddy doing to Uncle Iolaus?" And not just because it's a hilarious line, but also the little girl's line delivery is so precious.

We then get a really sweet scene where Dei and Iolaus talk privately and she confides that Herc has been going a bit stiry crazy. I really believed the worry Dei had for her spouse and her genuine grattitude for Iolaus's friendship with Herc for Herc's sake. We then find out through Iolaus confiding his own hardships to Dei that he's struggling with losing his wife and having to raise their child (I think just the one?) alone. Dei comforts Iolaus a bit. I really liked this whole part.

Then it's ruined by the original guy (who ran) coming to get help from Herc with the Minotaur.

Hercules turns down the request for help - shocking both Dei and Iolaus. And also, understandably, disappointing the dude who came for help.

Dei convinces Herc to go - more for Herc's sake than the people he'd be helping (such a good wife!). Iolaus invites himself along. (And is cute about it, trying to get Herc to admit how helpful he is.)

Another stupid flashback about the giant Herc fought.

Brief interlude where Zeus shows up, and then it's another fucking flashback. (I was fast forwarding so much, my husband thought I didn't like the movie.)

There's a little fireside scene with the three of them where Zeus mocks them for acting like kids when they have kids, and I again got this weird vibe of like "we don't like being parents" which I honestly find really uncomfortable. I understand that parenting is hard and some people genuinely don't enjoy it, but it's kind of a weird impression to give because of how into his family Herc was in the movie before this one. You can love your kids and still like adventure, no? Anyway it's a subtle thing, they don't come right out and say "I wish I'd never had kids", it's just a weird vibe that I think is more meant to convey the desire for adventure.

Zeus then gets weird when he finds out where the boys are going, and immediately fucks off after a half-assed attempt at dissuading them. By now the audience would know this means Zeus is hiding something about his involvement/knowledge of whatever is going on there.

There's a brief bit where a couple is sneaking away from town to boink and they end up in the Minotaur's lair and he captures them. It's kinda gross as we see them put into these weird coccoon things.

The boys get to town but are told there's no monster and everything is fine.

The Minotaur is then shown to be stoked Herc has arrived, and talks about how much he wants to kill him. Zeus then shows up where the Minotaur is and it's revealed that Zeus turned him into this monster as punishment for something, and that they haven't seen each other in 100 years. Zeus says he should have killed the Minotaur before, and tries to again, but just can't bring himself to do so. The Minotaur announces that he just keeps getting bigger and stronger and he won't be satisfied until he hurts Zeus (which Zeus doesn't think he can do). We as the audience know that the Minotaur is after Hercules, but does Zeus?

Then we cut back to the boys in the pub and get the worst flashback of all!!!

Iolaus apparently tells this random woman all about the plot of Movie 1, which he absolutely should not remember, because the plot of that movie ends with Hercules going back in time to NOT let the plot pan out as it had (in order to save Iolaus's life). The memory he relays is one from the series of events that was undone by the time rewind, so Iolaus should not have been telling this story.

It's bad enough to have a clip show, but the internal logic doesn't even make sense. Not that this series of movies has been really careful with "canon" anyway, but dang!!

Anyway then there's a really long fight scene where the whole pub gets thrashed and all the patrons decide to try to fight Hercules for... saying his name is Hercules. Herc wins (Iolaus also does well but gets knocked out at the end) and then takes Iolaus to bed. No, I'm just kidding, he rents two rooms, and deposits Iolaus into one before taking the second for himself.

While Herc is sleeping, some of the losers of the bar fight decide they're gonna kill Hercules, but the Minotaur kills them and frames Hercules for it. The entire town sees Hercules standing over their dead bodies holding a sword (that he literally picked up at the scene) and they mob after him.

Hercules wakes up Iolaus and punches a hole in the wall so they can escape. The mob catches up to them anyway, though, because they head down a dead-end alley (in a rural village?). Luckily the ground swallows some guy and also Iolaus and the mob is confused enough to pause. The brother from the beginning of the movie shows up and Hercules asks if he knows where the monster lives, so off they go.

They run into Zeus on the way. Zeus tries to warn Herc not to go down there, the thing is a terrible monster, etc. He reveals that it was once a very handsome man, but eventually tried to turn a bunch of people against the gods, etc. Zeus cursed him to be "as ugly as his heart". Zeus bemoans not being able to kill him when he had the chance. Hercules knows there's something more to the story, but Zeus won't say what.

Zeus then claims to have never asked Herc to do anything for him... which... I call shenanigans on? What about the previous movies? The Circle of Fire in particular comes to mind. Anyway. Whatever. Zeus wants Herc to kill the monster.

Herc enters the lair with a couple guys from town who the Minotaur kills and it's kinda gross.

Once Herc gets to the Minotaur we finally get a full reveal, and because they seem to have used practical effects, I actually think the visuals on it aged really well! His mouth moves when he talks and he really moves in the space in a believable way (which is not always the case in these movies/shows).

The Minotaur claims that Herc's been "given" everything his whole life, like fame and glory... which Herc denies, saying he's worked for what he has. I think you could probably unpack a lot there, but I think we've seen Herc's life hasn't been easy by any stretch, demi-god abilities or not.

Eventually the Minotaur reveals that he's Hercules's brother, that he's the son of Zeus and that Zeus couldn't kill him because he couldn't kill his own son. At this point, Hercules refuses to fight him, despite the Minotaur insisting.

But the Minotaur forces his hand, saying if Herc won't fight him, he's gonna kill Iolaus. This is enough for Hercules who then kills the Minotaur in a fashion similar to a death we saw flashbacked early on.

Zeus then shows up, and it's kinda cold? The Minotaur is still dying, and Zeus is just like "Sorry son" to Hercules and they just talk like the Minotaur isn't there? DYING? Hercules says he understands why Zeus couldn't tell him, and says he's just sorry Zeus had to lose a son.

I was really surprised there was no mourning for the loss of the possiblity of getting to know his brother or change his nature or anything... which I assume was why Herc didn't want to fight him a minute earlier? But whatever, they beat the bad guy...

Zeus then is like "I loved you, son" to his dying monster kid, but like, in a "and I don't now" tone. The Minotaur begs Zeus not to let him "die this way" (I think meaning ugly?) and then dies, and then Zeus turns him back into a (dead) man, and says "You're free now" and IDK MAN, it just didn't really work for me... Did not like.

Then Hercules saves Iolaus from the pods, and they let everyone else free. They decide to go home.

On the way home, Hercules remarks that he doesn't want to go on any adventures for a while, and Iolaus agrees...

...which makes me SO CONFUSED how the show ends up starting after this movie, so I can't wait to see!!

Final thoughts:

A bit thin on plot? I clocked that the Minotaur was Zeus's son right away, and it felt like a weird reveal.

Herc and Io were soooo keen on an adventure, but then came home wanting to not do that for a while... When do they decide to go on their Legendary Journeys? I'm starting to wonder if I'm stupid and these movies take place after the show chronologically haha.

On that note, Herc still has a wife and 3 kids, and Iolaus has at least one kid (no wife tho...)

Boo to clip shows. I hope there aren't many in the show proper. I kinda forgot they were a thing.

Hercules and Iolaus are a great dynamic! I love Michael Hurst.

I trust and like Zeus less the more I see of him. I don't think he will protect my boys and I don't like that haha.

What is going to happen to Dei????? I like her... I'm scared haha. Anya got written off without even an explanation just "she's gone" kinda thing.

Overall I'd say the relationships between Herc, Dei, and Iolaus were the standout bits. 🥰

Now I get to start the show proper!!

[itstaisstuff]

I heard you like Cogchamp and I've come to raise the idea of an AU where Cogchamp and the Create SMP just exist together or something

Since Cogchamp is in a mesa, they're really fucking far away, but like when Fundy or someone else goes out to explore they end up accidentally stumbling upon the Create village. Problems happen, Fundy and Ranboo steal shit, Sam should not be allowed to joke with Keralis, it's all fun.

In the end they end up making a train line between the two towns. Cogchamp becoming some odd old west styled place compared to Create's steampunk town. Why? Fuck you, that's why (I just think steampunk and old western could be pretty neat)

Mini bonus: Tangdubs unwillingly sorta adopts Tubbo but not really, Tango just mentors him a little bit <3 (there is found family just not with standard family dynamics)

Dear Sammy fruitpulsesv. We've never talked before but. Marry me right fucking now please.

I'VE BEEN STARING AT MY PHONE FOR THE PAST FEW HOURS THINKING ABOUT THIS AU. You completely destroyed the last bit of humanity in me. I hate it. Do you mind if I add my thoughts?

So i can assume they live pretty far alway so they can't really go visit each other daily? It'll take then to git from one town to another around 2 days on the trains? But they probably have a weekly train to share supplies. Create guys often give them free honey apple just because it is the best food in the world and they feel pity the other town don't have it.

Fundy and Zed would get along real quick. It's not like I already have an au for those two- but seriously tho. Fundy would bring so much more weirdness into The Cube. They are just a perfect duo. You heard it.

5up and Crumb would spend so much time at Keralis' area. Crumb having fun with the swing and 5up appreciating the chisel and bits vines and other details. They try to keep Crumb inside the house + garden walls because she always keeps running on railways lmao

Ranboo and Fundy steal a lot from Scar's chest monster. They did not know the building was his so they just started living in the moving house without even asking. Once they got caught by anyone of the Create guys they moved out but set some traps. So when Scar is back and opens his front door he may or may not see a little surprise...

They all are VERY competitive. Cogchamp guys try to do their best to impress the other crew. They do have competition like they had on the last Cogchamp day having 2 teams. My guess is Fundy Keralis Zed 5up Crumb vs Tango Tubbo Ranboo Bdubs Scar Sam. This competition is taking place twice a year and after that they always have a big festival so each of the crew could stay at different place for a bit longer before leaving home.

Cogchamp guys come over for Christmas. Visiting Create on winter holidays is the only time they see snow. So Create guys decided to make them a gift and created a snow-making machine. It did not work perfectly as they planned in mesa, but Cogchamp crew was still super impressed and were playing with it for a long time.

Yeah. Scar and Crumb are besties. Sorry. I don't make the rules.

Also?

Both Tangdubs and 5undy in one world? Damn. Sounds like a disaster.

PLEASE. THIS AU IS NEED TO BE REAL. IDC WHAT YOU WANNA DO BUT DON'T LET THIS IDEA DIE AND PLEASE KEEP ME UPDATED. I WOULD LOVE TO HELP WITH IT AS MUCH AS I CAN

[totallyuseless-ugh]

Hodge means Family for everyone

Days were getting shorter, yet the streets were brightening up along for the cold season. CJ figured it was to compensate the darkness that always came with winter. Personally, they did not like any of the cold months. It always meant wearing dozens of layered clothes, most colours temporarily disappearing to be replaced with only dark and muddy tones, and most importantly, the cold itself making it impossible to do anything.

But at the same time, they could still often appreciate the more slow and quiet times of the year. Not just for their unique themes, like how the snow made everything look almost innocent and pure. These seasons gave CJ a chance to slow down themself and reflect.

They have never been a fan of the whole Christmas aspect of the holidays since getting into college either though. It had simply lost the sweet and innocent feeling of receiving gifts and spending time with the family, as they now head to stress out every December themself over the gifts to buy.

Meanwhile Darnell absolutely loved all the things CJ disliked about the cold seasons and their holidays. But despite these differences, the couple still could enjoy the first holidays they would spend together. Both had decided to visit their families on the remaining Christmas days, reserving the 24th just for each other.

However, the year after didn’t give them the chance to repeat this. Karen had already invited Darnell in advance for a holiday dinner, together with a plus one if he wanted. It wasn’t anything new for her to say, Pico and the rest of the Flintsons have practically become an extension of the Hodge family. Thus, they often liked to celebrate some of the holidays together every now and then.

Karen always offered for Darnell to bring someone with him to these dinners, expecting to see the redhead he has known since childhood.

But he couldn’t do that this time. Not because Pico wouldn’t be able to come. Darnell didn’t want to leave his partner alone. At the same time though, Darnell knew bringing someone new to the family dinner would lead to questions. A lot of questions.

Who is this person? What do they do? How long do you know each other for already? Why haven’t we heard of them before? Do they have a partner? What about you, Darnell?

Darnell, are you gay now?

Not that his family was bigoted and intolerable towards queer people. After all, Pico was out and never hesitated to show off his boyfriend Keith. Same for Nene, telling people of her identity like it was no big deal. None of the Hodges have ever said a bad thing about the two for either of these things.

But neither were actually part of the family.

If Pico had been ‘kicked from the family’ for dating guys, it wouldn’t affect him seriously.

If this happened to Darnell, he would lose connection to probably all of his relatives. His parents, siblings, uncles and aunts, cousins, grandparents.

CJ could only imagine how scary this must be for him. They reassured Darnell that it would be okay for them to keep quiet about their relationship for a while longer. That for this first meeting, it would be alright to pretend they were just close friends and give him more time for figuring out how safe it would be to come out to his family.

*

While Darnell was already used to the sight was CJ almost overwhelmed to see how heavily decorated the Hodge family home was. Not just from the inside, but the front yard was very impressive too. It was clear that a lot of time had been spent on decorating.

Darnell wanted to take another deep breath before entering, but Karen opened the door before he got the chance for it.

“Nelly, darling! C’mere!” She laughed excitedly and pulled her son into a tight hug. Once she let go of him again turned Karen to look at the new guest. CJ tried their best to smile naturally, despite feeling like their boyfriend’s mother was about to judge them for their appearance. Sure, they were already used to people judging them for this. And even though their outfit was rather neutral and formal compared to their usual style, they couldn’t help but worry about making a bad first impression.

Her smile didn’t disappear for even a second though. It even grew a bit wider when looking back at them, opening her arms up for another hug. “Welcome to the Hodges, honey!”

CJ greatly underestimated her strength when accepting the offer. They had to suppress a loud choking sound and keep their gasps for air afterwards quiet.

“Come on in, the others want to get to know you too after all!” She chimed before turning around to head back into the living room. Darnell just grinned and soothingly rubbed over CJ’s back as they were still trying to catch their breath. “Do you hate me yet for bringing you here?”

They shook their head, chuckling weakly as they slowly stood up straight again. “I could never. A warning would’ve been nice, though.”

As the couple left the cold outside to warm up indoors instead noticed CJ the plethora of sounds. It was a wild mix of Christmas themed music, chatter, laughter, and excited children squealing. Occasionally, the sound of heels on wooden floor also got muddled up into the ambience noise.

Darnell walked ahead, letting his partner follow behind him. He didn’t mind acting like a decoy, he knew that CJ didn’t want to be the centre of attention for such a large group of new people. Their private self was far from being as confident around strangers as their stage persona.

Luckily, all of Darnell’s family first greeted him before each introducing themselves to his ‘friend’. However, CJ still struggled to tell the twin sisters apart. Their outfits were just too similar, almost like they wanted to cause confusion.

Overall, there was a nice atmosphere in the home, and CJ actually enjoyed getting to know all of the Hodge family. But after a while, they actually preferred to go into the kitchen to be with just Darnell and Karen. She was busy cooking a large meal, though it was mostly done already, giving her more room to get to know the young guitarist.

“So.. you’re one of Darnell’s new friends?”

“I mean, if.. two years counts as new to you, yes.”

Karen gasped almost offended, “Two years? Nelly, why am I only getting to know them now?!”

Darnell sunk a little into his chair and shrugged. “I’m not twelve anymore, I don’t come here just to tell you about all the new people I met..”

The sight of his embarrassed, slightly reddish face was adorable to CJ. They rub his shoulder a little as comfort and try to redirect the conversation to something else. “Your house looks amazing, Mrs Hodge. It must’ve taken a long while to decorate this all.”

“You have no idea, I was probably streaming a whole week, three hours each day,” Karen sighed dramatically and swung her wooden spoon around before using it to stir one of the pots again.

The mention of streaming made CJ furrow their brows. “Mom posts a lot on insta ‘n stuff,” Darnell explained in a low and almost raspy voice. “Also livestreams when she decorates for Christmas. Kinda became a tradition.”

That certainly impressed CJ. Not only was Karen a housewife, she also found the time to tend a social media presence. Now that they knew this, the decor of the house did remind them of the typical Pinterest style.

She hummed in response to her son’s words, like she was confirming everything he said. “That’s right. It’s a lot of fun for sure, not just sharing my ideas, but also chatting with people in the meantime.” Karen paused for a second, contemplating something before shaking her head with a grin. “Do you live around here, CJ?”

“Oh, yeah. I’m living by myself since last year, a couple blocks away from Nells.”

“And Nelly, Pico has a boyfriend now, right?”

Darnell looked over at her confusedly. “Yeah, why?..”

“Then you both could just move together! If Pico moves to live with his partner?”

CJ and Darnell’s eyes grew wide, staring at each other like they were trying to figure out if they’ve been caught. Karen shrugged with her back still turned to the couple, “I mean, if you two already spend a lot of time together, that would be perfect! After all, Lucas and Susan moved together too.”

“Mom, Lucas is married, and he has a daughter. CJ is my friend.”

“And so is Pico, yet you both already share an apartment.”

While the two were arguing back and forth was CJ still trying to process everything. Something didn’t feel right, Karen must be doing this on purpose.

Darnell eventually huffed, crossing his arms almost like a stubborn child. He refused to say anything more, just to end this conversation. But his mother took this as a win, grinning to herself almost mischievously. “Also, CJ?”

“Huh?-“ they blink a few times as they try to snap out of their thoughts.

“Did you know your instagram account isn’t set to private?”

It took them a moment to figure out why she would bring this up. “Why is that-“ Then realization hit them. Thinking that only their closest friends could see their posts, CJ had uploaded some of their favourite pictures together with Darnell. Their entire face turned red as Karen finally looked at the couple sitting in her kitchen. Her hands rested on her hips, and the knowing smirk on her face had become an unamused expression.

“How long did you plan on hiding this from me, Darnell?”

Karen always called her kids by some type of nickname when talking to them. But when she was genuinely upset, she would use their first name. Though it was still better than hearing his full name from her. That would be the equivalent of a death sentence.

Regardless, just hearing ‘Darnell’ was enough to make him nervous. “Mom, I just..” Karen raised her eyebrows as she waited for an answer. The noises from the other room were still ongoing, yet he couldn’t help but feel like he was stuck in an awkward silence. “I was terrified of telling everyone... especially dad, and even more so today.”

Darnell was growing quieter and avoided looking at either of the two in the kitchen with him. It hadn’t happened a lot since getting to know each other, but for the few times CJ had witnessed their boyfriend behaving this way, they couldn’t help but feel bad. They turn back to face him properly and took both his hands in theirs as a silent comfort.

Karen knew her son well enough for her to tell that he was genuinely scared about this for who knows how long. She eventually sighed, relaxing her shoulders before walking over and letting him rest his head against her. “Hun, why would you think that we’d get upset over this?”

“I didn’t want to disappoint you.. Lucas is like, everything you want for us. And I thought if I didn’t come home with a girlfriend, then you’d think I did it out of spite..”

Although his face was half buried into Karen’s side by now, CJ could still see a slight glimmer of tears trickling down Darnell’s cheek. Their heart sank immediately. This wasn’t the first time they had seen them cry, but it was the first time he was crying around them because he was actually upset. Not from an emotional movie scene. Just genuine fear and worry.

CJ didn’t notice that they were also starting to tear up until Karen gently held their shoulder and let them lean against her for comfort as well.

“Nelly, you could never disappoint me,” she eventually spoke again in a soft voice. “Especially when you’re happy.”

“But I wouldn’t be livin’ like Lucas then..”

“Oh baby, you absolutely can if you want. We don’t live in the 70s or som’. If you wanna marry them, then nobody would stop you. You wanna raise kids? There’s plenty of ways to adopt.”

As much as they were glad to hear Karen comforting their boyfriend, they couldn’t help but feel just a tad uncomfortable. CJ definitely loved Darnell like no one else, but marriage never was a thing they ever wanted. Just the thought of ever marrying someone made them feel nauseous. But now was absolutely not the time to say this, not when Karen was trying to reassure Darnell.

Her words seemed to be effective, seeing how Darnell soon wiped away the tears and sat upright again with a wobbly smile. “Thanks, mom. This really helped..”

“Of course, Nelly. Now, do you two wanna help me bring our dinner to the table? I don’t wanna leave anyone starving after all,” Karen pointed at the pots on the stove with a little grin. The couple nodded and soon after got up to help her carry everything into the living room. Nobody was aware of the emotional moment they were just in, so all the remaining family had to say was how they couldn’t wait to finally dig in.

Once everything was ready sat everyone down around the large dining table. Susan and Lucas tried to have their daughter Angela quiet down as the rest awaited Tyrone and Karen to have a toast as they did every year. “We’re glad to have you all gathered here with us to celebrate the holidays. While all of you are growing older and more independent, it is always a joy to spend time together again. “On this holiday, we are happy to see new faces that let our family grow. The Hodge family has an open door for everyone after all.” Karen smiled at Darnell and his partner, to which CJ smiled right back and nodded their thanks to her as Tyrone continued the little speech.

“And when you have something as wonderful as this, there is nothing else to wish for.” He looked around the table at his family, feeling very much pleased and accomplished for building a life that lead to this moment. “Christmas is the season of giving, and I already have gotten my gift,” his wife then continued for him. “It's the best gift I could ever ask for, having you all here, happy and healthy. That being said, I wish for us all that next year will be just as joyful as this has been. Now let us celebrate!”

The table clapped for the two, even Angela tried to smack her hands together like everyone else despite not knowing what for. She did, however, understand that it was time to eat right after though and squealed excitedly as her father Lucas got up to prepare her a small plate.

As the meal was being distributed among everyone present set the same chatter back in as earlier. Darnell was happy to talk and laugh with his siblings like they all still lived together, like nothing had changed over the past five years. Seeing him like this, no longer panicked but just enjoying himself, made CJ happy themself.

Although he didn’t tell all of his family yet why CJ was actually sitting at the dining table with them this year, it certainly was good to know they weren’t a complete secret anymore. Darnell would still take his time with coming out to his father and siblings. But having his mother know already made it a lot easier, especially since she supported him wholeheartedly as she always did.

[eternalstarlitwonderland]

Wrestling With Lust In Mind (Chapter Eight) (Luke x Jamie)

(Ryu x Luke x Jamie)

Jamie begins to leave the lounge in a huff, Luke and Ryu notice that Jamie left.

Luke begins to vacate the lounge and Ryu follows right behind him, he tries to reassure Jamie that he's not cheating on him with Ryu.

He wasn't convinced at first, but Luke pulled him into his arms and looked at the latter's chocolate-brown orbs.

Jamie looked up at the former's ocean-blue orbs, he pressed his lips onto Luke's lips.

Luke reciprocated the kiss and they began to make out.

*Door Closing*

"Jamie wait!"

*Door Opening*

"Luke, Jamie"

"Ryu, where are you going?"

"I got to talk some sense into those two"

"Ryu, I should have advised you not to"

"Guile, please let me talk to them"

"*Sighs* Fine"

*Door Opening*

*Door Closing*

"Jamie, please I never meant to hurt you"

"Really meathead? Ryu is all over you"

"Ryu is sad and he misses Ken so greatly so I comforted him"

"Jamie, You are the only guy I truly love, and no one else to be my true pretty boy"

*Pulled Jamie into his arms*

"Luke..."

"Jamie..."

*Kisses*

Ryu gets turned on by Luke and Jamie's passionate public display of affection, and he begins to contemplate what to do, should he join in or let them kiss each other?

The decision he has to make but being the rational man he is, Ryu observes the young men's PDA until they conclude putting their foreheads together.

He quickly commented on the two passionate public displays of affection, Ryu began to proposition the pair to go to his apartment.

"Damn, They are so hot I seriously want to fuck them so bad especially Luke"

*Luke and Jamie are passionately kissing one another*

"Should I join in or should I let them kiss away"

*Kisses*

"Damn, Pretty boy you are an amazing kisser"

"Hey I'm your top player remember"

*Giggles*

"Wow, That was amazing, I can't believe it. I'm watching two handsome men kissing each other like that"

"Hey Ryu, I didn't know you were watching us"

"Do you enjoy the show?"

"I got turned on by you two"

"Really?"

"Yeah, So do you two want to hang out at my apartment?"

"Hell yeah"

"Yeah, why not"

When they agreed with Ryu's proposition, the trio left the concert without acknowledging anyone in the VIP lounge and walked into the sparkly nightlife of Metro City.

Jamie grabbed Luke's right hand and clasped it tightly, Luke noticed and reciprocated.

Luke pulled Jamie into his arms and looked at the latter's chocolate-brown orbs, and kissed him on the nose.

*Footsteps clicking on the pavement*

"Wow the city is so bright at night"

"IKR!"

"Hey Meathead"

"Yeah, Pretty boy"

"Let me hold you"

"Sure"

*Kisses Jamie's nose*

The trio walked into a niche cafe and took their seats, Ryu asked the pair what they wanted to eat, and Jamie answered with the lemon meringue pie, and Luke answered with the strawberry shortcake.

Ryu was satisfied with the duo's choices, The waitress came over to their table and asked the trio what to order.

*Door Opening*

"So what you two to eat?"

"Hmm, I want the lemon meringue pie"

"I want the strawberry shortcake"

"Excellent choices boys"

"Thanks, Ryu" *Luke blushes*

"Meathead, Are you blushing?"

"Am I not!" *Luke blushes*

"Why are you blushing there, Luke?"

"Aww, Meathead had a crush on Ryu"

"I don't, Do I?"

"The way you blush at Ryu, You reacted to the sound of his voice. I think you do have a crush on him"

"Damn, even Jamie noticed that I have a crush on Ryu"

*Footsteps approaching*

"Hello gentlemen, Do you want to order today?"

"I would have the strawberry shortcake with a glass of sparkling lemon soda"

"I would have the lemon meringue pie with a glass of sparkling strawberry soda"

"I would have the cinnamon Graham crackers coffee cake with a cup of cherry blossom hot chocolate"

"Alright then, I'll come back with your orders"

"Thank you"

"Thanks"

"Thank you"

"So are you and Chun-Li dating?"

"No, We are just friends that's all"

"Oh my bad"

"It's fine Jamie"

"So Ryu, what you do think about Luke and me in the ring?"

"Hmm, Well I thought you were tricky to get used to but I learned my way around tricky wrestlers like you Jamie and I successfully won a match against you"

"Ouch!, Pretty boy you got beaten by the legendary Ryu"

"Aww shut up, Meathead"

"Oh, I almost forgot about you, Luke I thought I would have an easy match with you but I guess I was wrong and learned a lesson"

"Well, I guess I did beat the legendary Ryu"

"Hey, Don't be so arrogant, Luke"

"I'm not arrogant, Jamie I'm confident that's a difference"

"Yeah, whatever"

"Oh you two are such a cute couple"

"Really?"

"Yes, Really?"

Once again the waitress came over to their table with their orders, and she put them on the table.

They quickly thanked her for their orders, and she walked away from the trio.

Luke began to consume his strawberry shortcake, and Jamie looked at him and licked his lips.

Ryu observes the pair and the way they flirt with each other, and their playful and flirtatious banter.

He comments on the pair's flirtatious glances and obvious flirting.

*Footsteps approaching*

"Hello gentlemen, here are your orders"

*Dishes clatters*

"Thanks"

"No problem there"

*Footsteps receding*

"Yum"

"IKR"

"Really, Pretty boy?"

"Yes"

"Hmm..."

"You know what I'm not hungry right now"

"So you're not going to devour your Strawberry Shortcake, you are going to finish it later"

"I can devour you right here and right now"

"Ooh, Meathead you are freaky"

"Hmm"

"So pretty boy, are you sweet or savory?"

"Hmm I'm very savory instead of sweet"

"Hmm, I see"

"Hey meathead, are you sweet or savory?"

"Hmm I'm very sweet"

"Hmmh"

"I noticed that you two have amazing chemistry. Perhaps we should get out of this Cafe at once"

"Sure then"

"Let's go then"

The trio left the cafe, walking into a brightly lit Metro City at night.

Strolling around the sparkling metropolis and seeing the bright lights reminds them of their lives as professional wrestlers, especially Ryu reflecting on his past as a professional wrestler and thinking about his first match with Ken Masters.

Ryu smiled at himself as he walked with the boys.

*Footsteps*

"The bright lights are tantalizing"

"I know right, It reminds me of the lights of the arena"

"Oh yeah, that's my first match with Ken"

[castle-dominion]

castle 5x22 the squab & the quail

hhhhhh this episode reminds me I have work this afternoon screw that. I just prayed an entire rosary so I get to go home early

Ok wow gay servers such a thing, loud chefs, loud expo, GIVE THEM THE GOSHDARN CHIT THO squab & quail DON'T TOUCH THE PLATE LIKE THAT Spray on purpose or...? poison? Ew glass tables

that is a lot of money & pricey af the poison would not work that fast... in a situation like that, point at some SPECIFIC person & tell them to call 911

Girl he's playing a videogame pwned XD he had plans to play with Patel! it's not my mom it's worse XD so true bestie

canadian lol

lmao ew capitalism

clipped the *oof* now

RC: Last supper list. (off their look) You and a table of 12 with anyone from history. What is mine, you ask? I’m glad you did. In order it is, Lincoln, Einstein, Ian Fleming, John Lennon, Joan of Arc, Sinatra – (he notices BECKETT’S face dropping. she sighs) And you, of course. Ok but Joan of Arc MMMMM that smile from ryan XD

at least he holds up a finger nice of him ig HE KNOWS HIS BOOKS

Esposito has returned Lmao ofc it was propped open, u know how hot it gets & how many chefs smoke?

"when you're paying attention" lol

dark hair MAYBE

shouldn't be but it always is RC: Corporate raider shutters a chemical plant and ends up eating crow. Or in this case, poisoned squab. It’s poetic. Diabolically speaking.

Nice outfit on esposito. also ryan. & everyone. Like beckett.

Maybe smth from the carribbean where his family was?

I don't need to clip but Iwill, lanie <3

castle REMEMBERS the menu? maybe ryan just didn't know lol

Lucas, this is the kid who said yes chef & served the plates

Yep all this screaming. I don't want to go to work.

KB: Do you know anyone that would want you dead? Eric Vaugh: No Me: you're a rich capitalist, what are you thinking? he's actually... surprisingly,, considerate

Petra? the indian boy?

PRIVATE security

a heart in the coffee <3 <3 I could clip this but I won't RC: (scoffs) Jealous? (off her amused look) Yes. Yeah he's cool & stuff but I love YOU KB: he is not interested in me VG: hi, he wants u specifically I think it's cool how she wants to recommend specific uniformed officers lol ONLY beckett?

Hit list? clipping this jenny my beloved wow esposito's hair JE: Because at the moment he is stupid drunk. Seeing double. skfjslkdjfsdkfsj RC: To make him the best damn cup of coffee he’s ever had.

He did a background check? good afternoon <3 David Anderson (the attorney): If he gives you any trouble we can put him on investor conference calls all day.

Saxiphone Lanie my beloved freebie five?

Talented researcher bro Beckett's turtleneck <3

I like her outfit & esposito looks kind of boring but nice & ryan looks beautiful I recognize her tbh the room is too dark. The other room needs to be darker for the glass to work

castle rattling the door what is even..?? XD XD XD RC: Okay, so after two cups of coffee, a latte, and three espressos our homeless friend Mr. Hazelton over there finally sobered up. yk i'm clipping

nice transition into the building them walking, rly good

Oof right in the head like that...

OH YES THEY REMEMBERED THE ALLERGY THEY GAVE HIM IN S1 HECK YEAH KR: I’ll live, unlike Cory Harrison. Ok that reminds me, in the The Ring episode, ther was no forced entry for the first vic, they never solved that

Ey beckett is here VG: You and the boys can go back there Mr. Castle. Why kill the busboy after getting him to kill someone else? using one murder to cover up another?

Just like my mom. She trusts me, but not the ppl I'm around castle chill

RC: Let’s get to that restaurant and get some answers. CASTLE leads the way out the door but RYAN and ESPOSITO don’t follow him. They head for their desks. RC: Seriously, guys. I mean it.

is this the same hotel they used in LA?

Sussman? gun ok yeah valid but ew she's right Ooh! Thank you sir! the essential lol, booze & a pretty girl

*hits himself in the eye* you know during The Thing, she coud have said "we were that close because he did a dumb" but the champagne was already poured so it would not have been a good excuse *update* yeah castle visits the hotel at some point after champagne before The Thing

Ooooof, legit? This is new york!

She is going to reveal that!?!? not too much tho ooh architecture! You patented that? I mean,,, you have a reason,, but make it free too bro I have suffered for it XD

Gates is so pretty castle not knowing how to do stuff & ryan doing it for him jashsjdfkjsfdh also castle investigator moments, gates is probably impressed what's on his neck? KB: Oh my gosh. You’re sounding like my dad dropping me off at summer camp. Remember petra tho? JEALOUSY

Tory jdsfdsjflkh I love her See? I mentioned the neck THE PRESCHOOL I was right! POSSIBLE match

Apple XD & alexis <3 Castle don't yell at your daughter MARTHA NOT THE RIGHT THING TO SAY & alexis' shirt martha is sort of right but GIRL SHUP

Wait they said ballistics would take a few hours, why are they still at work? why is CASTLE home? He would be the one to stay as long as possible! why didn't they text the photo last time? JE: Yep. He’s a match for height, age, and placement of creepy neck tattoo.

He really is a charmer except for one thing: why won't you sleep with me? Well you could CALL castle & ask his permission... say "hey I want to sleep with him but I LOVE you & I want your permission, because I respect you & if you say no then I will not" & that might actually be the thing to drive castle to say yes bc she trusts him & loves him & will always come back to him even if she sleeps with this guy. & also castle would be able to say she slept with eric vaughn & still chose me

He dead?

Castle <3 lol she's right KB: Yeah, preferably one without windows that snipers can't shoot through.

KR: Hey Beckett, I hate to do this to you, but I need to take your statement. *taps his notebook* Beckett could have said "actually if he was there I must have been a bit farther back" also it's cool how dever gets to wear his wedding ring (with duplicates of it) on camera bc his character is canonically married. & ryan's wife's actress is married to ryan's actor. Cool af. KR: Right … (he moves to where she gestures) … here. *He looks up and realizes he’s right in BECKETT’S space. He backs up a bit and looks to the hole in the window.* *almost clocks her in the jaw* stumbled you say. ryan taking it down as if he believes her yk rly sus, eats the wrong food, stumbles at the shot, sounds like he knew what was going on. KB: He kissed me castle KR: I'M DONE HERE *leaves*

RC: Well, if he kissed you, why wouldn’t you just push him away? KB: RC: Oh. Which is why he’s not dead.

She's from a farming family? She's a lead researcher. I'm proud of her. Why else would he want toxin? Oh. nvm. rival lab. AFTER the drop? No deposit fee? I would say "one quarter now to know you're good, I give you what you want, the remainder after" or smth.

Going on a tour! WAIT WHAT? HE AUTHORIZED IT? mexicali? she believes him too much girl that's exactly how they make money.

RC: Oh Beckett. That’s what they said about Bernie Madoff. Like Madoff, it’s quite possible Vaughn’s entire empire is a house of cards. If Felder was going to visit MexiSolar he would have found out about the scam. The house of cards would collapse. Eric Vaughn couldn’t have that. And what better way to get away with murder than to make yourself look to be the intended target? Don’t you see? This entire thing is a charade.

RC: Of all the confessions over all the years, this one is going to hold a special place in my heart. the universe demands why not get ryan or esposito?

Right, he doesn't actually look at the things he signs, he doesn't oversee the day-to-day... that's how you become a billionaire. He would NOT have JUST ONE person overseeing, he would delegate. it's like when you're a chef, if you own the place you don't cook. If you are a manager you don't line cook. You delegate to your test kitchen manager, your individual establishment managers, they delegate to their sous chefs & chefs to parties, there is not (usuall) one person who owns the place & then delegates to a single manager, they would delegate to multiple people who are in charge of different things.

RC: Oops yeah digging your own grave b'y

key word: FEEL LIKE you know them right, new york is way closer to the canadian border than mexico. Ooh the music!

Tell him he's on your last supper list. I like his outfit Do you? *tries to catch him in the elevator*

viddy game & a rose. playstation specifically. HE JUST BROKE THE CORD

Just symbolic

Becks, you can ask him again.

Ok I have an extra 12 minutes. Then I have abt half an hour before I need to go to work. Which is stupid. I need to leave for work an hour & a half before my shift!?!? I mean it is a 45 minute bus ride & I need to be there 15m early to change & iron so that's an hour, but my bus either gets there 5 minutes early (or less) or 35 minutes early. So that's another 15min there, & ofc I need to give myself 15m before I leave just in case. That's more like when I stop doing whatever I'm doing & get ready to go. But I might not be able to get it done in 15m so I need to use these 10 extra minutes right now. I need to put on my binder & make sure I have my bus tickets & stuff. Then I can leave. so it's an hour & a half. ew af.

So I might not get started on the next castle, I might instead try to post some of my drafts & clips so I can get space on my phone.

Pray that I get cut early pls.

[akutails]

CONFESSING TO THEIR CRUSH. - dazai osamu & edogawa ranpo

✁dazai & ranpo and their silly attempts to confess their love for u <3 repost from @[yatsugareboyf]

┊❛ dazai osamu ❜┊

he flirts all the damn time

so you never know if he’s gonna take u seriously bcs w EVERY WOMAN THAT COMES IN THE DOOR HES LIKE

“my belladonna, do you want to accompany me in the world’s most beautiful double suicide?”

yeah. no

when he has a crush, he really wants to act like it doesn’t bother him or he acts like he’s smitten with any other woman

BUT HE’S NOT- he’s whipped and he doesn’t know how to contain it

visibly tries to flirt w other women while ur there (not to get u jealous but so he can get his mind off of the fact that you’re right there)

don’t get me wrong he flirts with you too and it annoys the fuck out of kunikida

“y/n! you’re back! i’m sure you’re tired, lovely, so let’s go sleep together forever-”

“dazai u fucking menace-”

i feel like he doesn’t do the “big event confession thing” it's more of a gradual thing?

he’ll definitely ask u out on a date, but makes it seem like it's just any other day type of date so u agree

but he invites you to so many more dates

which makes u go like “are these dates dates or just friend dates?”

then he smiles “what do you want them to be, hm?”

“huh?” you reply, squinting at dazai, who’s currently seated in front of you at a small cafe you both frequent.

“well,” he starts, taking your hand and placing it on top of his while the other runs its thumb across your knuckles, and you think it’s another stupid invitation at a double suicide, “i’ve been asking you on dates and you’ve been agreeing, so i guess these are dates?”

he’s been asking you out to dates? was this his plan all along? to make you feel like you’re the one who needs to confess to him when really he’s dying to confess to you but doesn’t want to be the first to talk in fear of rejection?

or maybe he just wants to poke fun at you for liking him back.

“i… i guess they are.”

“we’re dating! you’re so sneaky, my love, not knowing we’re dating even if you were the one to agree to it.”

“i thought it was a friend date!”

┊❛ edogawa ranpo ❜┊

there’s only two ways i see ranpo acting when he has a crush

one, he’s overly proud and boasting of his charms when his crush is around and is isnt against showing off for their approval

two, he’s embarrassed and flustered and cant even show off even if he wants to because he doesn’t want to embarrass himself in front of you. he’s quiet and weirdly normal

either way, he doesn’t want to be the one who confesses. sorry man he can’t do it

well, not that he can’t do it, he just doesn’t want to

why would HE have to confess his love when YOU can do it? i mean, he is the greatest detective of all time, who wouldn’t have a crush on him?

if u do like him, then u must be damn good at hiding it because he doesn’t know

or he doesn’t want to know, because he’s scared of knowing the truth (that maybe u just dont like him like that yknow?)

so he just stares at you when he can, but when u look at his direction and ask him what’s wrong, he pretends to be lost in thought and only coincidentally faced your way 😭🙏

he’ll be very frustrated tho, because he wants to talk to u and say that ure cute and he wants you to say that hes cute and idk

hold ur hand?? let him sit on ur lap?? all those stuff

he can’t do that when u think he’s just a friend :((

so he just does it in the most subtle way he can

“y/n!”

you look over to ranpo, whos gesturing you to sit beside him at his desk.

“hm? what is it?”

he opens up a drawer that holds all of his candy bars and sweets that have varying colors in neon and pastel, pulling out a few of them then closing it shut. he lays them in front of you then returns to his video game.

“those are for you.”

you were hesitant to receive the candy bars, but you saw the packaging and smiled. they were sweethearts and chocolate bars.

╰─▸ ❝ @[akutails]'s work is not open to reposts, plagiarism, and the likes. (09/22/22). taglist: @sips-tea-cutely, @njisano, @atsucafe.