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kurogane2512 · 5 months

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I can treat you better

A little concept I wanted to try for a while, I see this done with male characters a lot and I wanted to experiment on my waifus.

Game: Genshin Impact

Characters: CEO!Ningguang, Teacher!Lisa, Milf!La Signora (referred as Rosalyne) x fem!reader

Type: Fluff hcs and drabble, Modern AU

Contains: Broken marriages, infidelity (not with reader), comforting, teacher-student relationship (Lisa), age-gap (Lisa and Signora)

Marriage is supposed to be the ultimate union between lovers, a symbol of togetherness and eternal love. However, not every marriage ends as well as it began. Love shouldn't fade away but sometimes it does, or perhaps it never existed in the first place and was just a matter of convenience.....

CEO!Ningguang who owns the most successful business in the country that she started by her own efforts. A meticulous and hard-working woman who has lines of suitors but everyone knows she's already given her heart to her husband, a simple man she met in college and fell in love with. He promised to support her in her business venture and always stuck right by her side the more she built her empire.

Ningguang is highly successful in life, she has money and a loving partner- what more could one ask for? You are her secretary, her right-hand woman, who has assissted her since the beginning. The first and only secretary she has had because you are perfect for the job. You have had a crush on her for the longest time, but you knew how happy she is with her husband so you simply continue supporting her from the sidelines.

However, her marriage started becoming rocky recently. Ningguang spent too much time at work, doing overtime almost every day for the last 6 months and rarely spending time with her partner. Ningguang never stopped climbing the success ladder, she wanted more and she was determined to work for it. Her husband, on the other hand, became a stay-at-home husband because.... why does he need to work when his wife is the richest woman in the world?

Ningguang became more stressed as days passed, she was making deals with all these demanding companies all the while trying to keep her marriage at bay. Many times, you heard her arguing with him on the phone, his voice would be so loud that you could clearly make out the curses and accusations he threw at her. It frustrated you. How dare he say all that to her? How dare he think of her this way?

Ningguang was working hard for her future with him, she was not greedy for money. She wanted to give him and her eventual children the best life she could, all of this hard work was for him. Yet, he seemed to have never realized that. The more days Ningguang spent cooped in her office, the more apart she became with him. Until the day you heard her crying for the first time in your life....

"Ms Ningguang, the documents you want—" you stepped inside Ningguang's office but stopped mid-sentence as you heard her sniffle. She was seated on her table, holding her head in frustration and looking at something on her phone.

"Ms Ningguang, are you okay? What happened?" You were genuinely worried, the woman you loved was crying and you wanted to do something. Ningguang quickly wiped away her tears and switched off her phone screen before standing up and looking at you firmly, "Ah, Y/n, thank you. I had been looking for these for a while."

She avoided your question. You knew something was seriously wrong now. You wanted to ask more but decided to not pester her and continued with the work you had brought in, she came into her 'work mode' almost immediately. She always impressed you so much. The two of you finished the work for the day then you invited her to a diner for a simple meal, hoping to lighten her mood. You had a hearty meal together and drank a few glasses of alcohol to unwind, she became a bit tipsy and leaned on the bar table while you prepared to leave the place and escort her home.

"Earlier.... my apologies for avoiding your question." Ningguang suddenly spoke causing you to stop your actions and listen to her.

"N-No, ma'am, it's okay. You are not obliged to tell me everything...."

She sighed then took out her phone and scrolled to a particular photo then showed you the screen, your eyes immediately widening in shock.

"Is this.... your husband? And that woman...." Yes, it was a photo of her husband with another woman, and they looked very intimate like a couple. It could be brushed off as friends but the position was.... too intimate for friends, the woman was all over him and he was very much into her as well. Now, you realized why Ningguang was potentially crying at that time. You stayed silent and looked at Ningguang with sympathy while she simply let out a bitter chuckle.

"What do you think? They are just friends? That's what I want to believe as well but I have never seen her around him before, we know each other's friend groups well enough. Either she's a new addition during the time I have been away or...."

She trailed off and you noticed tears forming in her eyes. You felt infuriated. She did not deserve this at all.

"....I suggest you should talk to him and clear up things, having doubts and misinterpretating can lead to unnecessary conflicts between you two. You should take some time off from work, I'll handle everything for you, ma'am."

Ningguang pinched her temple and pondered for a moment before nodding, "I know, you are right. But hypothetically speaking, if this is what I think this is then.... what should I do? I....I don't know how to face him."

"You shouldn't think of that possibility, ma'am. He loves you, doesn't he? You should trust that and talk to him openly. I....don't think he would do this to you; you are amazing and so beautiful, it could just be a misunderstanding."

You wanted to comfort her and give her some hope but deep down, you weren't so sure yourself. The picture was too obvious to be misunderstood, but you didn't want to see Ningguang upset. She finally smiled a little and nodded then you helped her stand up and escorted her to her car. She was more drunk now and leaned on your shoulder, wrapping her arms around your body and snuggling into your neck.

"....It's my fault, isn't it? It's all because of how neglectful I have been, I have barely spent any time with him. Everyone says I'm married to my work now, he waits for me every day and I come home late then leave early morning without talking to him at all. This was bound to happen, it's all my fault..."

She was rambling, blaming herself for everything. You hated seeing her this way, you knew how much she loved him. "But...But I have been holding back so much as well. I also have needs! We haven't touched each other in so long....and he goes and finds someone else."

CEO!Ningguang who later talks to her husband and finds out it was a misunderstanding, the woman really was a new friend he made. The smile on her face returned and she became more relaxed, there was no greater joy for you than to see her being happy again. She thanked you for your advice and started having a better work-life balance.

You supported Ningguang even more and sent her home early so she could spend time with him; although, you never stopped doubting him because that photo was way too suspicious and you felt he was lying just to take advantage of her and her money. You became a comfort person for Ningguang, a shoulder to cry on whenever she needed it. She shared with you her personal things and regularly asked for suggestions for her love life.

You thought all things were going well until one day when you came across another photo of him with that same woman from before. Once again, Ningguang was sobbing in her office that night while holding you close and rambling. She revealed that she had planned to talk about having children with him soon and also booked a vacation to spend time together but now she could no longer go about it.

You couldn't see her this way. You comforted her and slowly told her that she should reconsider her marriage. He was cheating on her and using her money. You didn't know if his love was ever real, but you were bound to believe it wasn't. It infuriated you to see such an amazing woman like Ningguang go through this, you wanted to be there for her and help her as much as possible.

She eventually divorced and cut all connections with him and his family, even buying a separate house for herself and sending him far away. You could see her true self returning, she felt liberal and free after all this time. And she wasn't blind to ignore all the help you gave her; spending late nights in her stead to complete her work so she could enjoy.... why were you so supportive of her? She started seeing you differently and wondered if there was more to you.

"You are an idiot, Y/n." Ningguang overheard you talking with a colleague one day during your coffee break and she hid around the corner and listened in.

"Who in their right mind helps patch up the marriage of the woman she loves?! If it was me, I would have used that to come between them and taken her!" your colleague spoke with a chuckle, Ningguang's eyes widening at the statement. You loved her? You did all that.... all the while being in love with her? The time you spent advising her and helping her be with her husband.... you loved her all that time?

"Don't be ridiculous! She.... she loved him and I just wanted to see her happy, even if not with me. Besides, I'm not in her league at all. I'm fine with how things are and now that she's no longer bound to him, she can be herself and do what makes her happy."

Ningguang's heart skipped a beat, you did so much for her just to see her happy.... even her ex-husband never did that. It was always her being the giver in the relationship and she barely received anything in return from him, now she realized the true meaning of love. She realized how blind she had been, there was someone doing everything for her just the way she had been doing for him.

CEO!Ningguang who starts falling for you, seeing you as more than just a secretary or friend. She tries to be around you more, makes you accompany her to more places than before. She invites you to her house under the guise of working, just to spend more time with you because your presence is so comforting to her. She is still recovering from her broken marriage, but with you she feels loved.

She plans to confess in the near future if you don't, and till then tries to understand you better as a person. She realizes how much she has always liked you but was too blinded to see it. But what she didn't see coming was when you handed in your resignation notice one faithful day....

"Resignation? Why all of a sudden? Is the salary not up to your requirements? Is there too much work pressure? I don't see how there isn't any room for negotiation if you find something unsatisfactory here, Y/n." Ningguang was perplexed, almost on the verge of breaking down. Why were you doing this? Were you really going to bury your feelings and leave?

"No ma'am, none of that. Everything is good here; the salary and work environment, I like everything and I don't mind the work pressure either because it's very rewarding."

"Then why? I believe I deserve to hear a proper reason for this. You are one of my oldest and best employees, have you been offered a better deal somewhere else?"

Ningguang attempted to negotiate with you to make you stay; aside from how used to she was to you and your working style, she truly didn't want you to leave.

"....Are you really going to leave just like this? Without even telling me your true feelings?!" Ningguang's voice raised as she paced around the table and stood in front of you, looking at you firmly. You were confused as to what she meant, but she soon answered your doubts.

"This is how your love is, Y/n?! You'll run away without speaking a word?! You also want to leave me?!"

Your eyes widened, how did she know? And why was she being this way? You were about to say something but Ningguang grabbed your collar and pulled you into a passionate kiss, her lips kissed yours feverishly as if she wanted to own you and keep you here forever.

"Don't you dare leave me.... Is that clear?" Ningguang whispered against your lips as she pulled away from the kiss, leaving you breathless and astonished. You had no idea when she found out about your feelings but now that the cat was out of the bag, you didn't want to hold back either.

"Yes, I'm sorry. I....I love you very much, Ms Ningguang. I want to be with you and I promise to treat you well, I want to keep you happy forever."

Teacher!Lisa who is the sweetest and most beloved teacher at your university. Currently in your first year, she teaches you chemistry and let's just say the entire university has a crush on her to some extent, teachers and students alike. A kind, hardworking and sincere woman who has been teaching for 6-7 years now and has never had a complaint against her. But to everyone's vain, she's happily married for 5 years to a man arranged by her parents.

Lisa loves teaching and interacting with her students, she's always ready to put in the extra effort for struggling students and very patiently deals with problematic cases. She's usually soft spoken and pleasant to be around, but anger her and she can be quite strict and terrifying as well even if it's extremely rare to see her that way. As her student, you don't miss any of her classes due to how much you love to attend them.

Lisa eventually became your class tutor and you showed utmost enthusiasm to be the class representative in order to help her, but truthfully you just wanted to be with her more. Your classmates called you a teacher's pet but you didn't care, you genuinely wanted to help Ms Lisa and care for her just like she cares for you. You eventually grow close with her as you spend time outside of classes, doing some work or the other and chatting along.

Lisa rarely talked about her family which wasn't surprising as you were just a student, but you discovered that even with her colleagues she rarely ever shared anything and seemed to dislike the topic altogether. Everyone assumed her marriage was good considering how sweet and lovable she was, she'd make a perfect wife. But little does everyone know her dark reality....

"Ah, Y/n. Do you mind opening the window? It's gotten really warm these days...." Ms Lisa sighed and fanned her face as sweat trickled down her forehead, the two of you were sitting in the staff room during afternoon. She had called you to do some work and you agreed as it was your free lecture; coincidentally, the staff room was also empty right now as other teachers had gone for classes.

You nodded to her and stood up to slide open the nearby window and let the cool breeze flow in. You then turned around to walk back to your place when you saw Ms Lisa remove her coat and pull up her sleeves which caused you to glace at a peculiar cut on her wrist.

"Ma'am, did you get hurt?" you came closer and asked in a concerned tone. She realized where you were pointing and quickly slid her sleeve back down to hide the scar before letting out a forced smile.

"Oh, it's nothing. I accidentally brushed my hair straightener there."

"....I see, please take care of yourself."

You weren't easily convinced that's all it was but you were unable to know more. You worried about her, you hoped everything was fine.

Teacher!Lisa who actually has a toxic good-for-nothing husband living off her hard-earned money. A regular drunkard who lost his job after their marriage, she was forced to marry him because he used to be well off but in reality, he was doing illegal work that eventually got him caught and put on house arrest. She is the sole breadwinner of their household and struggles every day to make ends meet.

Lisa never let anyone know the truth about her marriage, not even her parents. She knew they wanted the best for her when they made her marry him and he did appear to be nice back then. She regularly argues with him and looks after him when she comes home, all the while managing work from the university and her basic duties.

Lisa's husband recently became violent and started hitting her during their arguments. She was coming to her breaking point but she couldn't leave him; after all, she fell in love with him after their marriage. He was handsome and gentlemanly in the beginning; despite being an arranged marriage, they got along and liked each other. She hated seeing him in this state and promised to keep supporting him even when nobody else does.

But everyone has a breaking point, and Lisa was nearing hers too. She hated having to tolerate such treatment every day, she wanted to be a good teacher and be with her students who bring her joy without having to worry about going back to a dreadful home. Then one day, her husband crossed even more borders. Now she had to live with him cheating on her as well? How could she walk into her house just to find another woman in bed with her good-for-nothing husband?

Lisa had no words and packed up her essentials then left, she did not need any explanations or excuses. How could he do that? What did she not do for him? And how is she lacking in appearance or sex drive that he'd go for some random woman? She gave him everything and he never recognized it, she had enough. She found herself at a bus stop, eyes filled with tears and no idea of what to do. That's when a miracle happened.

"Ms Lisa?! What are you doing here at this hour?!" your voice called out to her from behind, and she turned around to see you walk up to her with an excited look.

"I'm just...." she trailed off and your eyes fell on the bag she was carrying, tear stains on her face.

"What happened? Are you okay?" you asked softly and stepped closer, gently caressing her arm.

"...What about you, Y/n? Why are you out so late?" she averted your question.

"O-Oh, I'm just returning from my part-time work. My flat is nearby, would you like to come?"

"Do you live with anyone else?"

"No, it's an independent flat. I.... didn't really want a roommate."

Lisa ponders for a while and eventually agrees to come with you. A humble abode perfect for a single person, she found a strange sense of calmness and comfort in your apartment. You offered her some beverage and you found out she hadn't eaten anything since afternoon, feeling appalled and immediately went to cook for her. She trusted you, she wanted to be away from her life for now.

"Uh, sorry, I don't have too many ingredients right now. I was going to go shopping this weekend, I hope you don't mind pasta...."

Lisa looked at the plate you put in front of her, a small smile appearing on her face. "Pasta is my favorite dish, actually. But it's been a long time since I had it, thank you."

You smiled back, you knew something was up. The cheerful Ms Lisa was strangely quiet, seemingly holding back a lot of her emotions. Eventually, she finally opened up to you and told you everything about her husband- from the abuse to cheating. You were terrified hearing the horrors she faced, yet presented herself to be happy at the university, nobody could guess she faced all of that every day.

You offered her to stay at your place for as long as she wants, and that she should report him to police and talk to her parents. A divorce was the obvious couse of action, but you were in no place to advice that to her. You only hoped to comfort her and provide her a home until this passed. That night, you laid in bed together and Ms Lisa held you as she cried out, eventually falling asleep in your arms. If only she knew how much you loved her, right from the first day you saw her....

Teacher!Lisa who talks to her parents the next day and tells them everything. They feel devastated hearing what their daughter went through, and they assist her in a successful divorce where she gets maintenance claims and a secret property he had. It was a messy court case given the illegal work of the husband, but she triumphed and obtained her justice.

The case went on for a few months and Ms Lisa lived with you all this time. She helped you in your studies and enabled you to become the topper in her class, though she never used any unfair means to help you. It was sometimes hard to hide the fact that you were living together, but you both made it work. Ms Lisa wasn't open for a new relationship yet, It was true she really loved him and it was hard to move on despite all the terrible things he did.

Ms Lisa and you grow closer than ever during the time she lives with you. You act like a happily married couple more than she ever did with her ex-husband. She said she'll do all household chores to pay you for allowing her to live there, though you really didn't mind either way. You cook together, watch movies, laugh and share past memories, study, have shopping dates and what not.

Lisa did not know it yet but she was deeply in love with you, she had forgotten how it felt to be treated with love and given importance. She wondered about your love life now, if you have someone you like or wish to date. You tell her you want to focus on studies and career, but there is indeed someone you like. She becomes curious, even slightly jealous realizing the gap between you and her.

One night, you were out until late drinking with some friends. You returned home in a drunk state and Lisa was ready to tend to you. While she was surprised you had this side to herself, she was more pleased to know more about you and wanted to care for you. She was already an expert in tending to drunkards, and you were unironically so adorable acting as one.

"Ms Lisaaaa~ You are so beautiful, you know thatttt?~" you slurred as she carried you to the bed, chuckling along the way.

"You teach... so welllll.... and you are so sweettttt~"

"Yes yes, I know. You have said that even as sober~" she whispered, laying you down then going to fetch some water for you. You curled up in your pillow and when she came back, you looked so cute to her.

"I love you... Ms Lisa... I love you so much...." you slurred in a drunken state, catching her by surprise.

She smiles and gives you the water then you immediately pass out while hugging her, your head laying on her soft bosom. Lisa caresses your head and kisses your forehead in return, "Say that when you are sober, I'll give you an answer you'll like~"

It was last day of your second year, you still had 2 more years to spend at the university. You wanted to wait till graduation but couldn't anymore, you wanted to confess. And it seems, Ms Lisa was having similar thoughts. Only you both knew how much you held back when you lived under the same roof. You find her in am empty classroom waiting for you.

"I love you, Ms Lisa. I have loved you since last year, and I want to date you. But um... I understand if you don't want to, so please don't feel forced to give me—"

Your words were blocked as Lisa pulled you close and connected her lips with you in a passionate and loving kiss. Her arms wrapped around your neck as she pushed you to the wall and continued kissing, her tongue already slipping in and dancing with yours.

"Took you long enough to say that, Y/n~"

"You... knew? Since when?"

"Hehe, that's my secret~" she winked at you then jumped in for another kiss, completely devouring you this time. She knew you would treat her well, she felt at home with you and she was confident she would love you forever now.

Milf!Rosalyne, a 31-year-old who is your new neighbor. She recently moved to the apartment in front with her husband and 4-year-old son. You were 16 when the family moved in, you welcomed them along with your mother and acted as good neighbors. Rosalyne was a pleasant housewife while her husband worked in the military hence often leaving her and their son home alone.

Rosalyne used to take home tuitions and manage the entire household by herself, you eventually ended up visiting her to help around and just give her company. She was lovely and overall amazing to talk to, you discovered she did the same course you were planning to do and took some advice from her.

You often had dinner at her place on the days her husband was home. You would play with her son and secretly observe how lovey-dovey they were, it was clear they deeply loved each other and nothing could come in between. You used to watch them giggle in the kitchen, cuddle on the sofa and share small kisses throughout the day.

Rosalyne often commented how you were like a helpful big sister for her son as you helped him in studies and played together, which meant she likely saw you as a child which wasn't surprising. She found you mature for your age and admitted liking your company and it was a bonus that her son did too. She was a great mother, extremely loving and supportive.

However, you moved away to another city at 18 for studies for 4 years. Now you have returned as you found a job in your hometown and decided to live in your parent's apartment as they moved out. You harbored a crush on Rosalyne back when you regularly met her, you couldn't help but feel jealous of her husband.

You reminisced your memories of your home as you climbed the steps to your apartment. 4 years passsed yet much didn't change about the place, and you were having a sense of deja-vu. The first thing you noticed was your neighbor's door, hoping the nameplate was still the name you remembered and, it indeed was. You felt happy as well as nervous meeting her again; how was she now? would she have changed in all this time?

Once you settled your things in your apartment, you decided to finally visit the woman you have had a crush on for years. You thought being away for 4 years would make you let go of these feelings, but you never stopped thinking about her. You didn't know what she thought of you, but it was more than likely she would only see you as a friend at most.

You rang her doorbell and waited in anticipation until the door finally opened, and your breath was taken away. She looked as beautiful as the day you first saw her, it felt like you fell in love with her all over again. She scanned your figure from head-to-toe until her eyes widened as she realized who was standing in front.

"Y/n?! Oh my god, it's been so long!" Rosalyne chimed and lunged forward to hug you affectionately, hearing her call your name sent butterflies in your stomach and the hug made your heart skip a beat. You were glad to see she remembered you so fondly.

"It's been long indeed. How have you been, aunty?"

"Awh, stop that. Just call me by my name, I don't want to feel old~" Rosalyne giggled and lightly punched your shoulder before holding your wrist and pulling you inside her house. Her house mostly looked the same, but there was something strangely missing that you couldn't pinpoint. She made you sit on the sofa while she brought some water and snacks for you.

"How is Ray?" that was her son's name.

"Oh, he's been fine. He's at school right now, I'm sure he'd be delighted to see you again!~"

You chatted away as you caught up with each other, you told her you are back to living her as you found a job and she seemed really happy to have you around again.

"How's uncle been? Will he be coming back anytime soon?" you asked in a casual manner, but the answer was unexpected.

"Rostam.... passed away 3 years ago. He died on a field mission."

You didn't know what to say. You observed her looking down with a sad look and touch her wedding ring, likely reminiscing about him. You apologized for speaking that but she assured it was fine, your parents never mentioned that he died 3 years ago otherwise you wouldn't have asked. You felt deeply saddened for her and wondered how she was handling things on her own all this time.

You went back to your place with a happier remark, you offered to help her whenever she required and promised to be there for her. You later on met her son in the evening and had dinner at her place, it felt just like old times for you and you were glad she was still here and you could meet her.

Milf!Rosalyne who works multiple jobs a week to make ends meet. The military provides for the housing out of respect for her husband's service, but she has to look after everything else on her own. She takes tuitions on the weekend and works as a receptionist in a hotel during the week, also doing some additional online work whenever she can.

She had wished to find a job related to her degree but all those jobs require long working hours away from home and she couldn't do that, her son was her first priority. She was fortunate to have a pretty face and a model-like figure even at her age, but it was also a curse sometimes in this field of work.

You ended up meeting her at her place of work one day, you had come there for a meeting. You were shocked to discover she had to work this kind of job now, you really wished to help her. You tried asking your boss if there was an opening but they were not hiring, and Rosalyne also denied due to the unsuitable work hours but she appreciated your thought.

Rosalyne also faced problems in dating life now. To no surprise, not many people were willing to get together with a 37 year old single mother. Some expressed disgust without even bothering to know what happened to her husband, while some were unwilling to take on the responsibilty of a child so soon. She had not moved on from her husband but she was trying for her son's sake, to give him a father. But none of the people she met made it easy for her.

It was a Saturday evening and you were planning to stay home to rest. You had been working a lot ever since you moved here and hadn't got much time for yourself, you even weren't able to meet Rosalyne as much as you had hoped to. An unexpected ring of your doorbell called you to the front door and you find none other than Rosalyne standing with a soft smile on her face.

"Are you free by any chance today, Y/n?"

"Oh, sure I am. Do you need some help?"

"Well.... want to hangout together at my place? We can order some food and just watch some movie or show if you'd like."

Your eyes widened in surprise at her invitation, you were ready to accept right away but didn't want to appear too eager.

"Ah, that would be great. But what about Ray?"

"I sent him to my mother's place for the weekend. He had been wanting to visit for some time."

You suddenly became nervous realizing you'd be alone with her at her house. You accepted and made your way to her apartment, you offered to bring some food out of respect but she assured you it was fine and that you can order whatever you like. You ordered some pizza and snacks, while Rosalyne also bought out the wine she had and offered you a glass.

Now, here you were sitting on her couch with wine in hand and watching some random movie you both agreed upon. You had not talked much all this time, you mainly exchanged some work stories and vented frustrations. Rosalyne shared some things about her son that happened to him at school, she always appeared so happy to talk about him. She really was a great mother.

Some time passed and more wine later, she was clearly tipsy. She leaned on your shoulder and was in a soppy state now as she started venting about how hard things have been for her in finding a new partner, and the constant harrassment she faces at work yet nobody is ready for a serious relationship as soon as they hear about her son.

"Tell me, Y/n.... what am I lacking? There's all these men who flirt with me all day but the moment I set up dates and reveal the truth, they all leave.... How is it so wrong for a 37 year old single mother to find someone new?!"

She was babbling in a drunken state while holding you. There was absolutely nothing lacking in her, she was perfect in your eyes and you wouldn't even think twice about dating her, heck even marrying her. You wanted to be there for her not just as a friend but more. But you had no idea if she ever saw you that way, or if she even liked women in the first place and how her son would react to that.

"I never wanted this, Y/n.... what did I do wrong? Ray doesn't deserve this, I want to give him a complete family.... I want to have a complete family.... But Rostam... he betrayed me...."

You were caught by surprise, "Betray you? What do you mean, Rosalyne?"

"He.... he cheated on me, I found out he cheated on me years ago after Ray was born. He hid it all this time.... I discovered this at his funeral.... I don't know what to think, I can't even remember him the same way anymore.... How could he?! What did I do to deserve this....?"

She was crying while holding you now. You felt anger rise in you hearing this secret, it was quite unbelievable to you he did that when you recall how lovey-dovey they used to be and Rostam seemed like a good man. Your desire to support and love her increased even more now, you couldn't bear seeing her in this state. So much happened to her while you were away, you wished you were here.

"No! Nothing is wrong with you and you are not lacking anything! You are beautiful and strong! You are an amazing mother, Ray loves you very much! You have been so resilient all this time, I actually admire you so much for doing everything on your own. I.... Please know I'll help you! In any way! Please don't put yourself down this way, Rosa!"

You chanted before hugging her tightly, trying to convery how serious you were and really wanted her to be well. You pulled away to look at her and saw her face reddened up as she gazed at you with a needy look before placing her hands on your shoulders and leaning close.

"Any way? Then.... date me, Y/n." You were shocked beyond belief but the next thing she did was worse. She leaned in and softly kissed you, it was a gentle kiss at first then you felt her push you down and straddle you then kiss deeper. You knew this was wrong, she was clearly drunk and swept away by her emotions. But the feeling of her lips on yours made you entranced, you have wanted to kiss her for so long.

"Yes... you will be good. Ray likes you too... I can explain to him.... Be with me, Y/n, please?"

She pulled you closer by your collar and went in for another kiss, you didn't expect to make out with her this way. You felt she was being desperate by choosing you this way, you could tell she likely didn't love you and wanted you just for her son's sake as you are the only one who gave her attention and expressed willingness. Rosalyne passed out before you could answer her, and you almost felt relieved.

Rosalyne apologized to you the next day for all her actions, she genuinely felt guilty for all the things she said and did. It gave you enough indication that she really didn't like you romantically and that you stood no chance. You forgave her rather easily, you really couldn't complain experiencing that. She saw you as a good friend and you'd try to maintain that.

However, your feelings started overwhelming you and you tried to make some distance from her for some time to be able to move on and remain a friend. You ended up ghosting her texts and calls, and also rejecting all her invites to spend time together by making up some excuse for work.

Rosalyne felt you were avoiding due to that day, and she hated that so much. You were the only one she had, she didn't realize when she started liking you romantically. She knew it was wrong of her to use you but she didn't mean to, she wanted to make amends and do things right. She couldn't bear being away from you.

"Y/n, may I borrow some rice?" Rosalyne came to your house one day asking for some rice like a good neighbor.

"O-Oh sure, come in." you subsconsciously let her inside and asked her to come to the kitchen. She watched you take out the rice then silently walked up to you and hugged you from behind, catching you off guard.

"R-Rosalyne?"

"I'm sorry.... I'm so sorry for that day, Y/n. I know I did something very wrong, but please don't punish me this way..... You have become so distant, so closed off, you avoid me so much. You can hate me all you want, but please don't leave me.... not you too, please...."

Her arms tightened around you and you could tell she was weeping. You hated seeing her in this state, you never wanted to make her cry.

"....I can never hate you, Rosalyne. And I'm not ignoring you because of that. It's just.... I like you. No, I love you. I love you very much, I have loved you for years. I loved you 6 years ago too.... I want to be there for you and help you, I really do. But... I need some time to move on and forget these feelings so that I can be a true friend for you...."

Rosalyne let go of the hug and enabled you to turn around to face her. Her eyes were filled with tears, a tear rolled down her cheek and you gently smiled then wiped it away and cupped her face.

"I don't expect you to love me, it's okay. But just.... give me some time. I'm not strong enough to move on from you if you keep doing these things...."

Rosalyne's heart skipped a beat and before she knew it, her body moved on it's own to push you towards the counter as her lips relentlessly seeked yours. Her arms wrapped around your neck and she passionately kissed you, this time she was completely sober and knew what she was doing. You kissed for god knows how long, you were a panting mess by the time she stopped.

".....I love you too, Y/n. I want to be together because I love you and not for Ray's sake. I want to spend the rest of my life with you...."

#genshin impact #genshin x reader #genshin women #la signora #signora x reader #ningguang x reader #ningguang #lisa #lisa x reader #genshin impact lisa #genshin #genshin impact signora #genshin ningguang #genshin lisa #la signora x reader

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rpreaperperson · 17 days

Text

MOM

Reader is a combat medic, a BIG sweeth tooth and a mother to 141 boys (dont forget can cook too) a waifu material

In case with Los Vaqueros

Masterlist

After they accomplish their mission the 141 task force will be holding a small feast with Los Vaqueros to strengthen their ties of brotherhood

All brotherhood aside...their true intention is....to taste again the meal you made, and now Alejandro and Rudy join the party

Two days before the party, reading your recipe book inside your office, knowing the boys will have a big appetite

'maybe I'll make taco for the snack...or maybe naco with guacamole..?....guhh..but what if they don't like it? I'll be making another country's cuisines, I don't want to offend them or something like that..'

Then you pick up your phone beside you texting Alejandro what they want for the meal, but then you shake your head putting back your phone beside you unfolding your laptop searching for the recipe you're going to make

"I promise them it would be a surprise after all, if I ask him he would know what Im making"

"Making what?" suddenly Kyle barged into your office with his innocent eyes, immediately snapped your laptop shut and gave him a wary smile

"Kyle!~ ohh..hoo...what are doing here hun?"

"Do I have a reason to hanging around with our beautiful Doc?"

"Well since my sweets stock has been decreasing these last few days, Im getting more suspicious with you boys hanging around my office" You shot Gaz a look when he opened your cabinet, and beamed when he saw his favorite candy

"Thanks for calling me beautiful though"

with a mouth full of candy he faced you and gave you a thumbs-up

"Say Doc ...what is the menu for the party?"

"Well...Im just going to research about it..Alejandro, Rudy and some of the Vaqueros will come..I want to try some of the Mexican cuisine...." Gaz furrowing his eyebrow sensing a hesitation in your tone and doubt

"But?" he walks to your desk

"..well our taste buds are different from them and..well..." pursing your lips

"Doc.. Im sure whatever you're making they'll like it.."

"You..sure?"

"Positive..side's who doesn't like your cooking? Ghost always asks for more...."

"hmp...yeah...5 plates,after that he asked for a snack...no wonder he's huge I still remember that one time when the canteen almost lost its ingredients for one month" you huff at him, but because of him it eases all of your worries and you've decided that you're going to make both taco and naco for the snack, now for the main dish and drink...

'Oh well let's just make barbecue and fruit punch, good thing the boys aren't picky....and got a big appetite oh..maybe some cake or pastries would be nice~..'

Notice the beam in your eyes Gaz smiled gladly to ease all your worries

2 days after, as promised the Vaqueros came to 141 base Captain Price welcomed them followed by Gaz beside him

"Good to see you again Colonel Vargas" Price said firmly shaking Alejandro's hand

"Captain Price, you too comrade!"

"Come Soap and Ghost are waiting for you inside, let just hope they did not gobble up the food..." Price escorted them to the canteen

"I've heard Doc the one who making it?"

"Aye...along she my best medic she is the best cook here, I sure you'll love it Colonel" Price proudly boasts about you

"Can't wait to taste it then...I've heard a lot from Soap"

"heh bloke always bragging about her ..a lot" Price huffs a smirk planted against his face, as they arrive at the canteen

They could smell the barbeque....and hear the arguing of Soap with Ghost

"THE F**** Johnny! you almost burnt it!" barked Ghost furiously fanning the smoke out of his masked face

"Well WHY don't YOU try it?!" challenged Soap as he tried to undo his mistake...but alas what was already done...is done

"Both of you! please just sit down!" you intervene them before getting heated, placing your hand against Soap's chest you quickly flip all the meat and the other vegetables, ordering both of them to sit down with your 'mom stare'

Like a disobedient child they sat, but not before kicking each other legs

Price facepalming as Alejandro just chuckles along with Rudy

"Hermano! We've come!" announced Alenjadro

"Alenjandro!, good to see you again brother!" beamed Soap as he rushed to Alejandro giving him a brotherly hug

As they reunited you huffed and took care of the barbeque, really you just took a minute to take some of the sauce in the kitchen and you asked for Ghost and Soap to take care of the barbecue

"Damn...this one is burnt...oh well..I guess this one is on my plate" mutter you the ever sacrifice placed the burnt one on your plate can't let any these boys of yours eat any burnt food on their off day

"Good to see you again Doc.." greeted Alejandro, as Rudy politely nodded at you

"Ah! yes Alejandro, Rudy! sorry I little late for the prepare, damnit Soap.." you mumbled cursing for your own stupidity to leave the cooking to the boys

"You want any help Hermana?" asks the sweet Rudy, you smile kindly at him

"No need Rudy, you're the guest here-"

"I insist Doc..." he insisted with a soft look in his eyes that made you melted

"Alright then...um..ah could you pour the soda inside the fruit punch there"

"Sure thing..all of it?" you nodded and he obediently poured all of the transparent soda inside the fruit punch, Alejandro stared at you in the slideness focusing on the barbecues pleased to see you again

"Okay..Boys!! the food ready!"

Then Soap immediately rushed to your side and raised his palm, reminding him to eat the vegetables you gave him his plate as you give all of them their portions you take your plate

Rudy noticed that your portion was full of burnt BBQ, and he huffed at the ever the sacrificed you, when he offered you his good portion you refused him as you chuckled softy at him and said ‘Nah it's alright you enjoy your own I will make it again sides it brings more flavor to it’ tenderly gazing at the boys reminding you of your troublesome siblings

Damn he really want to take you away to his house and make you his wife

With so much laugh and joy they all eat, not forget the snacks and some pastries you make all of their exhaustment and the gore memory of the battle gone when they eat your cooking

"Ahh..s****...mine gone.."

"Damn Soap.. that's your third plate" grumble Ghost

"Betta’ me then you LT" Soap squinting his eyes at Ghosts who munching away his food like a hamster his cheeks storing the barbecue on his cheeks

“need more barbeque Gaz?” ask you noticing his empty plate, shaking his head Gaz takes one of the tacos on the big plate

“no need love, I’ll take the taco”

“ask me if you need more barbeque okay? I’ll make it again” smiled softly Gaz nodded, and then Price walked to you placing his rough hand on your shoulder

“Just take it easy Doc, I’ll take care of the boys just enjoy the feast yeah?”

“you sure Cap?”

“Positive” he rubbed your shoulder and pushed you gently back into your seat, both Alejandro and Rudy noticed the tender gaze from Price as he caressed your head this went unnoticed by you

Deep inside both of them felt a pang of jealousy, and then Alejandro approached you with his plate in his hand

“Evening Doc”

“Ah Alejandro! Sorry, I'm not greeting you properly...” Shaking his head Alejandro chuckles

“don't mind it Doc, I really enjoyed the feast you made though wonder Soap bragging about it” he gave you a charming smile that made you flustered (Oh God I thank you for making such a dashing creature like him)

“i-its not really something to brag about...I just love to cook for the boys thats all..” his thick eyebrow twitching

‘for the boys’...now that REALLY making him jealous of the 141 men

“Ever thinking of transfers to another team Doc?” asks Alejandro suddenly

Out of instinct, the 141 task force eavesdropped the conversation, squinting their eyes at Alejandro while Rudy quietly observed them slurping his fruit punch

“Well...”you trail..staring at your half eaten burnt barbeque (made with love by SOAP) the atmosphere becomes tense of course this goes unnoticed by you, glancing at the boys who immediately act like they didn’t eavesdrop on your conversation

Smiled at the boys you glance at Alejandro

“Nope not at all..” raised his thick eyebrows, a disappointment filled his chest alas he still smiled and faced his body towards you his gaze flickering to 141 who smiled proudly at your remark, then back to you

“...may..I ask why?”ask him

“I..enjoy the time I spend with them..well..except when we are on the mission that is..heh..and I doubt they’ll allow me to transfer to another team” After that you drink the fruit punch

“Ah..right..of course...they are deeply in love with you Doc” claims Alejandro, you bashfully chuckle while the others snap their head towards Alejandro with their eyes popping out

“yeah...more like they in love with my cooking heh those rascal..”

The 141 sighed in relief but was somehow frustrated that you didn’t take a hint

The Colonel again raised his eyebrow as he glanced at the 141 who were slightly slumped but still munching away their food, then Alejandro realized

‘she..doesn’t notice it ..does she?’

“Why the question?” ask youwhile taking a bite of your taco, Alejandro smirking wiping a speck of sauce on your cheeks with his thumb as he leans toward your face

“A-Alejandro?” your face flushed red and squeak when his nose touched yours

“If you would change your mind..would you like to become one of us? Besides..I would be at ease to have the woman I am attracted to in my team”

“W-wha?!”

A looming and rage aura came from the 141 body , Rudy just could pray that Alejandro came home safely

Suddenly Alejandro chuckles and leans away from your flushed face, booping your nose as you stare at him dazed and confused

“Kidding hermana, but really if you ever change your mind Vaqueros would always welcome you~”

“A-ah..okay..thank you..for the offer..” nomming the nachos you faced away from Alejandro, when you faced away from him Alejandro glanced at the 141 and shot them a smug smirk, Rudy just stared at him deadpan

‘oh...Ale..I hope you are back home safely..’

Note:

Arghhh..!! Sorry for the delay! Im really busy with my project and all

Coffee please?

#call of duty #call of duty x reader #mom #john soap mctavish #john soap mctavish x reader #simon ghost riley #simon ghost riley x reader #john price #john price x reader #kyle gaz garrick #kyle gaz garrick x reader #alejandro vargas #alejandro vargas x reader #rodolfo rudy parra #rodolfo rudy parra x reader #task force 141 x reader

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sufferu · 6 days

Note

Do you think Emilia suffer/may suffer from " Creator's Pet " syndrome? It seems to me she does fit two of them: Hated and despised by some fans Loved (or worshipped) by the writer(tappei),is his favorite

I think that’s her main problem, tbh — and honestly, it’s the only real writing critique that I have about Re:Zero as a whole. It doesn’t matter to me what other fans think about her character in this regard: that’s always like. A bit of a coin flip, who exactly is gonna become the widespread favorite or whipping boy. What matters to me is that Tappei 1) leans on what he seems to consider her inherent likability, often without actually justifying it to the audience, and 2) is terrified of actually making her unlikeable.

That first point first: Tappei tends to Assume that the audience likes Emilia just as much as he does, and because of this I feel like he doesn’t tend to lay the groundwork necessary to actually make that the case.

This is pretty subjective, I don’t have a whole lot of really objective moments to point to here, so someone else might think I’m totally off the mark — but I feel like sometimes we’re expected to believe that Emilia is some amazingly capable and talented person while the moments where she’s actually allowed to back it up are few and far between. Most of them are also — honestly really simple? And very much tied up in her being a super powerful fighter, instead of in her being intelligent, or quick-witted, or even in her being particularly empathetic. That last one works a LITTLE bit, because that’s basically the whole reason Subaru fell so hard for her, but even then I think I can count on one hand the number of times Emilia’s boundless kindness has actually earned her a powerful character moment/victory in the main storyline (first loop of Arc 1 + the reveal that she always stopped to help Plum, Lap Pillow Scene, Emilia’s conversation with Madelyn…?? Maybe there’s something in her conversation with Ram in Arc 4???) and otherwise it’s only really Referenced rather than Shown. And when that’s one of your LEAD CHARACTERS, it’s just not enough.

The second point, though, is the one that I actually consider more important: Emilia isn’t given enough moments where she’s allowed to be genuinely unlikeable.

The whole reason why Subaru is such a beloved character is because he’s allowed to be a fuck-up sometimes. He is allowed to fall, and fall HARD, and get raked through the coals so bad for it that you can still taste the blood three arcs later. Fuck, he’s allowed to fuck up so bad that he becomes the Reason so many people straight up dropped the first season. And that makes him interesting, and multifaceted, and it makes his good moments mean so much more. This is what I consider the Secret to good character writing: if you want the audience to like that character, give them moments where they are genuinely, unapologetically ugly. This is why Bakugou is the best character in BNHA (fight me): Bakugou is allowed to be UGLY.

And the thing is: Tappei doesn’t normally HAVE this problem. Ram comes off like she’s being a fucking asshole for basically no reason, Otto is a conniving little shit, Julius introduced himself by beating the everloving snot out of the then-self-insert character, Felt abandoned Subaru to get beaten bloody in an alley in her very first scene, Anastasia, Priscilla, and Crusch all had a moment where they basically spat in Subaru’s face (even if Anastasia was trying to help it was very much a Tough Love moment), Wilhelm basically caused the Astrea Family Circus, Rem gets all of Arc 7 to throw her very carefully constructed Waifu persona completely out the window — fuck, Subaru is the MAIN CHARACTER and Arc 3 is basically just “Subaru Cringe Compilation.” So when Emilia is basically the only character who isn’t allowed to be ugly — it stands out, and not in a good way.

We have had Emilia as the secondary lead for basically eight arcs at this point (six if you don’t count the Vollachia Saga), and — look, I’m not an Emilia hater, but can you really say that she has anywhere near as much depth as Subaru does, or even as much as some of the secondary characters? She just doesn’t, or if she does then it’s not adequately explored, and it’s because she’s not allowed to be Nasty sometimes. In fact — there is exactly one moment I can think of where she’s genuinely, unambiguously allowed to be in the wrong: Arc 4, when she runs away from everyone to hide from her responsibilities currently threatening to crush her and has to be found and chewed out by Subaru. And it is one of her BEST moments. Arc 4 in general is considered Emilia’s greatest arc so far, and it is BECAUSE she was allowed to have a moment where she was WRONG.

But Tappei has basically never given us another moment like that because he wants the audience to like her, and at some point it just — look, at some point the hand of the author becomes obvious. When you have basically every character Emilia meets talk about how much they like her and have That define her kindness more than any actual Moments on her part, when you refuse to make even the most vicious of characters dislike or talk shit about her despite everyone else getting a chance to earn someone else’s ire in some form or another, when you spend two whole arcs away from her and then immediately open back in on how amazing she is without even giving us a reminder about Why she’s supposed to be so amazing (having another character describe her as amazing doesn’t count) — it becomes too obvious that Tappei just Really Wants the audience to like Emilia, and at some point That Alone becomes aggravating enough to make people biased against her just on principle.

Anyway those are my thoughts lol. This is legit the only real criticism I, personally, have of the story — but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t aggravate me a LITTLE bit. I don’t want to like Emilia, I want to LOVE her — I want to love her as much as Tappei does — but she has to earn it like everyone else, and Tappei seems a little to adverse to actually letting her Do That.

#emilia #meta #my inbox #me tag

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raccoonsandrangoons · 2 years

Text

1-800-Sorry-I’m-Distracted

Summary: After coming home from a long day of work, Eddie attempts to distract you while you’re on the phone with your sister

CW: smut (minors dni); semi-public sex (you’re on the phone with your sister); oral (f receiving); vaginal fingering

Words: 1.8K (short and sweet bby)

Notes: this is a completely self indulgent piece I wrote ages ago (srry babe) for my best friend, the moon to my sun, my sister in every AU, @jadequeen88! call it self-indulgent because I’m engaged to my waifu for laifu Steve hehe

“Hang on a minute, will ya?” you said hurriedly into the phone, placing your hand over the receiver. “Eddie” you hissed.

The curly-haired man in question hummed in acknowledgment. He had just come home from a long day of work at the mechanic’s. Usually he loves his job, but today his clients were something else. He sighed in relief that he only had a half shift and was able to run home to you. For the last two and a half hours of his shift, all he could think about was you and how he couldn’t wait to relieve all his stress.

“What is it, babe?” He was standing behind you with his arms around you. His fingers ghosted up and down your sides as his taller frame boxed you in against the wall the old phone was connected to. A Cheshire grin stretched across his face.

“You know what,” you said, nudging him with your elbow. Your voice was low in warning to your boyfriend.

Eddie faked being wounded as he stumbled back at the minimal force of your elbow. His hand over his chest like he had been stabbed. His dark, round eyes stared at you, threatening tears, as his lip trembled in a fake pout.

You rolled your eyes at his antics. Usually, you would have played back at him, but not today. You were stressed from work and attempting to build up the mental energy to have dinner with your sister and her fiancé, not spend it on your boyfriend’s distractions.

“I’m on the phone with my sister.” You turned back around with your back to Eddie and put the phone back to your ear. “Hey, you still there, hon?” you said to your sister on the other end.

Faintly through the static of the phone, Eddie could hear your sister’s bubbly voice confirming her presence as he made his way back to bothering you. He heard her light chipper as she was recounting some tale of the kids. Eddie rolled his eyes at her chirping about their shenanigans with Steve. He moved your hair to the side and opted to bury his face in your neck, placing light feathery kisses there.

You tried to shove your needy boyfriend away, but once again to no avail.

Eddie’s ringed hands had finally settled on a destination and gripped on to your hips as you nudged at him. He held you back flush against him. He pressed his body against you, and you could feel a hard bulge already through his jeans as he rolled his hips up into you.

“Just a second,” you said into the phone. You turned to Eddie and gave him the look. ‘Quit it’ you mouthed to your mischievous boyfriend.

Eddie simply winked and cracked a devilish smile before whispering low in your ear, “Just relax,” sending shivers down your spine.

You could hear his smirk before he trailed kisses along your shoulders. His long curly hair tickled your sensitive skin.

“She’ll never know,” he whispered again.

“What’s that?” your sister said from the other end of the phone.

“Nothing,” you told you. You could hear your eyes rolling in your voice. “Just, Eddie being Eddie.”

“Oh!” your sister said, “Well, tell him Steve and I say hi!”

“Sure thing. So, what about Dustin again?”

Your sister resumed her chirping about her adoptive “son” via Steve.

“Sometimes I wonder what his mother thinks. He’s always over!” she said. “When Steve says he wants six little nuggets, I tell him we already have Dustin and Erica and them. I mean sometimes Mike really gets on my nerves,” (garnering a chuckle from Eddie) “Really! It’s like Steve and I are already parents! Eddie may as well drop them off here after Hellfire!”

Eddie, sweet adoring Eddie, despite all his scary looks, who doted on the younger ones in his Hellfire club. Despite graduating, Eddie still hung around for campaigns. He claimed it was because they still needed their dungeon master but the truth of it was after the events of last spring, he wanted to make sure each one made it home after meetings, especially on nights when they ran over and the moon was high in the night sky.

Sweet, darling Eddie, who, by now, had worked a hand up your shirt and was thanking god and every other deity in the sky and below that you never wore a bra in your house. Rough fingers pinched your nipple. You let out a breath before biting your lip to keep from making any more noises into the phone for your sister to hear.

“Damn, and I thought I was funny!” your sister said.

“Sorry, sorry,” you said. “I’m a little… distracted right now.”

“You good?”

“Yeah! Yeah… it’s just work and trying to organize all the bills for reopening Benny’s. You know what they say! It takes about five years to turn a profit.”

“You wanna talk about it?”

“Not right now; I’d rather just—.” Cut off by a particularly harsh bite from Eddie. “Just not think about it,” you told your sister.

“Makes sense,” she concurred.

“Oh, don’t you worry pretty girl,” Eddie growled against your skin, too low to be picked up by the phone. “I’ll make sure we both forget all about it.”

Eddie’s other hand made its way down your pants, rubbing small circles on your clit against the fabric of your thin panties. Instinctively, you rolled your hips into his hand, grinding against his hips in the process. Eddie chuckled low as he nipped at your shoulders.

You were wet. Surprisingly so, given that you were initially disgusted by Eddie trying to bother you while you talked to your sister, but soon the disgust gave way to the thrill of not being caught—that and an animalistic desperation Eddie always managed to bring out in you.

Soon, Eddie had wormed his way around you, settling on his knees between you and the wall the phone was hooked to. He fiddled momentarily with the button on your jeans before tugging your pants and panties down together. You looked down at him with wide eyes swimming with both fear and want.

Eddie held a finger to his lips and smirked before diving between your legs and licking a long stripe across your slit. You gasped as your legs buckled and you had to lean against the wall to hold yourself up. With the phone pressed between your shoulder and ear, your now free hand instinctively shot down into Eddie’s thick mane of curls. His soft chuckles and hums vibrated throughout you.

“Are you okay?” your sister asked, bringing you back to earth.

“Yea I’m fine. I just thought I saw a bug or something, maybe. It’s outside the window though.”

Eddie continued his work. His large, ringed hands kept your legs spread enough for him to fit between but steady enough to keep you from toppling over. His tongue made slow, sinful, and sloppy movements over you. Eddie always ate you like you were his last meal, sloppily but savoring. The pleasure he got from giving you pleasure leaving you breathless.

The tip of a rough finger teased your wet entrance. As if on habit, you rocked into Eddie’s face. He hummed and moaned into your core.

“Oh hell no!” your sister shouted into the phone. Her shrill shriek halting your movements and bringing you back to a reality less focused on your boyfriend’s mouth.

Bugs were your sister’s greatest fear–ranking above the demogorgons even. You thought that the mention of a creepy crawly would keep your sister from discovering the truth of the reason behind your gasps.

“That's good he’s outside. I hate bugs so much,” your sister said.

“Yup,” you managed to squeak in agreement.

Eddie had worked a single finger into you. The cold metal of his rings was always a shocking, but deliriously delicious, contrast to your heated core. You were always so hot that it never took long for the metal of his rings to heat up and provide a different sensation. His lips had wrapped around your clit, sucking lightly before swirling his tongue against it. He alternated pressure with his tongue, switching between giving you flat long licks and little pointed flicks.

“So are you and Eddie still coming for dinner?” your sister asked, filling up the small silence that had come between you.

“I don’t… uh… I don’t think so,” you said, tightening your grip on Eddie’s hair in an attempt to keep both him and yourself still. “It’s been a really stressful day, and I don’t–” A thrust from Eddie silencing you. “I don’t think I’m up to it.”

“Oh,” your sister said, her voice falling in disappointment.

“I’m actually gonna have to let you go. I don’t feel so good. Think I might be getting a fever.”

“Oh no! Yeah, you have been acting a little weird this afternoon. Well, if you need anything, let me know. I can drop it off or have Steve do it.”

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks.” You were rushing to get off the phone. “Okay. Love you. Bye.”

“Bye. I love—.”

You had already hung up.

Eddie worked a second long finger into you, curling them in a way that had you buckling into him. Now that you were off the phone, Eddie had no problem with picking up his speed, fucking you with his fingers. The obscene noises your body was making filled the room.

“That’s it, baby girl,” Eddie cooed, almost mockingly. “Let go. Cum on me.”

You obeyed, grinding yourself down on his mouth and hand and letting your orgasm wash over you and spill onto Eddie’s eager tongue.

After a moment to collect yourself, you turned your attention fully to Eddie. You yanked his head away from you, causing an unholy moan to leave the man’s glistening lips. Your own lips curled into a domineering smile and you looked down on him.

“What do you think you’re trying to play at here?” You tugged on his curls drawing another moan from the man on the floor. “Distracting me while I’m on the phone with my sister?” Another pull. Another moan. “Bad boy, Eddie. Very bad.”

Eddie shivered in delight as a devious grin spread across his angelic face.

On the opposite end, your sister hung up her phone.

“—you too,” she said slowly with her hand still on the receiver upon you hanging up abruptly on her.

“So what time are they coming?” Steve asked, turning to face her from his place on their couch.

“They’re not,” she said, mildly disgruntled. She placed her hands on her hips as she looked down at the amount of food she’d defrosted and prepped to cook.

“Twenty bucks says they’re fucking.”

“No deal! I’m not losing that much! Knowing my sister and Munson, they probably already were.” She sighed and rubbed her temples. “Just call Dustin and them while I start on this. Tell them we got extra food. Those boys eat us out of a house and home, but I’m not about to have fucking chili for a whole week.”

“Or, I mean,” Steve smirked and looked up at her through his lashes. “We could…”

“Steve!”

“Got it, okay. I’ll call Dustin!”

#Eddie Munson #eddie munson smut #eddie munson x reader #self indulgence babey #or is it?#it is

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annarielmidori · 1 month

Text

I finally finished it. This is an appreciation post. My journey through HL fandom gave me some of the best people this Earth has (of course,I met more but Gaunt has mercy on me,drawing takes time). Therefore, I present to you in my chronological I LOVE YOU way...

My lovely MC. Annariel Midori. You can read her story on wattpad and ao3 under Snake eats the kitten name.

@sabrinariverfae she is the wonder behind the most intriguing HL story on tiktok. Thank you for your patience and for always answering my calls. ❤️ Sabrina

@dvinaamesca she makes the deadliest screenshots a game can ask. Any game. Thank you for what you taught me and for being my waifu. 🫰Lisia

@tessari-the-dreamer the creative fairy that lurks in the shadows. I will forever thank you for your support and love. 😻Tess

@amberlide is such an amazing Garreth fic writer. If it's someone that can make me switch from Omi,she is. Thank you for your ideas, advice and for making me write.🥰Pen

@cesqdarque she makes spectacular dark videos about Seb and also writes fics. Thank you for your music, landscapes views, rituals and traditions and other good shares. 😏 😍Cass

#hogwarts legacy #hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry #hogwarts mystery #slytherin #ravenclaw #hufflepuff #bff #appreciation post #digital drawing #love this

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lizaluvsthis · 7 months

Text

A Chamber of Burning Souls - Chapter 1

Fanfic Written and Illustrated by @lizaluvsthis

Idea of creation by @itsajjanea

●■●

Summary: It's Prom and everyone is invited to celebrate at Square Plaza, having no partners left to find. SMG4 and SMG3 both paired together.

With Four having no experience of what Prom is at all, he happens to find himself binded with his ex rival filled with complicated thoughts.

Tags: Friends to Lovers, Sun and Moon, fluff, romance, drama, hurt/comfort, angst, gay fruits are real, LOVE IS IN THE AIR YALL

Relationships:

SMG4/SMG3

Mario & Meggy Spletzer

Meggy & SMG4

Mario & SMG4

Mario & SMG3

Meggy/Tari

Luigi/Bowser

Mario/Spaghetti¿

Bob & Mario

Chapter: 1 - A Night Bring Out

thus the sun has continued to set from the horizon as four is calmly watching the view afar, the cold breeze blew through his hair sitting outside.

"SMG4?" Mario called his bestfriend, seeing him sitting on a chair admiring the view. Mario snuck behind him, distracted "still having those gay thoughts?" He chuckled, making four bounce from his chair with a light scare from the fat italian.

"N-No I'm not!" He brushed off the dirt from his blue colored suit. Man does he love how his formal attire looked, where he can move freely and relaxed.

"You sureee????" "Yes I am." He looked away from Mario with a light pink faded blush surrounding his face. "Have you uhh found a partner?" SMG4 looked at Mario.

"I'm with bob, he said his girlfriend can't attend" "what about the others?" "Hmmmmmm" Mario did his best to remember the pairings from his team.

"Meggy is in pairs with Tari, Saiko is with Kaizo since they're both hosting a side played oncore songs, Boopkins is- he's with his waifu bed, Chris with Swag, Melony is just- sleeping-" figures. Melony is always too tired whenever she's awake, but for some reason- it feels like he won't be getting in partners with anyone else...

"Andd uhhh for Luigi- luigi is-" SMG4 shot a glance of the familiar green colored signature and ran. "Hey! SMG4?" Mario saw Four rush out of there and got back from the room to talk to luigi.

"Hey! Luigi..." "wah? SMG4? What is it?" "Do you want to be partners with me for prom?" Luigi eye-d to another side and furrowed his eyes giving him a smile. "Oh- uh- sorry SMG4 I'm already left partners with someone..."

"Oh come on! I bet I can still be as good as that partner this is bullsh-t!" SMG4 cursed out loud, hearing something approach to him was a giant... lizard-?

"Ahe- ahem!" SMG4 gulped looking upwards to reveal, it was bowser out of all people. He was tossed by a massive force by bowser across the room, with no one to notice.

"Ow..." his back couldn't move after cracking a wall. "SMG4! Are you okay?!" The voice sounded nothing like Mario, a man reached out a hand to help him get up.

"Yes I'm..." He paused, looking up to see the person. SMG3... his former ex rival... a 'friend'... is there to attend the prom as well.

He stared at his face for a moment, and boy how he felt something inside him flutter and beat. "I'm alright..." He finally gave him a reply, getting back up from the floor acting like nothing happened.

"You got yourself tossed in that room dude- you sure you're alright?" SMG4 felt distracted by looking at his 'friend' from top to bottom.

He had his hair up in a bun, (honestly- when did he missed out the part he had long hair?) His looks are still the same but it came out more handsome than the last time he saw him without a hat on, his dark purple silk suit that the light reflects on the shades, he was wearing a different gloves that has the usual roman numeral but with white color text with black gloves filled.

His magenta necktie, his long black pants, shining clean black shoes that exposed from his view. Since WHEN did SMG3 became this more of a neat character to get so- well dressed...?

Or its just four not knowing how fashion works-

"Yeah I'm hurt a little bit but I'll be fine-" he gave him a nervous chuckle, not wanting three to feel worried of him. SMG3 wanted to speak about this but he didn't find the urge to do so. Now that his soft spot might reveal a bit too much.

"You got invited too huh?" SMG3 nodded. "I uhh- couldn't find a decent partner to pair up with... not even when I enjoy less party talks yet I still come here..." He looked at the other of the members who are currently talking with the other people.

"You haven't- found a pair yet?" SMG4 asked again, he wondered why Three even came here despite knowing that he hates occassional events except for evil villain anniversaries or such as getting paid.

But for just this time, he attended anyway. "No I haven't... thats why I'm asking several of the people here- but they all already found one..." SMG3 hugged his stomach, the felt of discomfort attempting on asking for someone to be his partner and didn't work out too well when you're bad at talking in public.

More as of being socially awkward to people that gave out his anxiety... but to SMG4 however, he felt safe to be around with yet he wasnt even sure why.

His ex rival just felt too safe to be with, he didnt have complains for that. It felt nice...

Because he'd never felt needed by any other people from his life...

SMG4 is unsure at this state he's on with, he struggled and hesitated to put out the words of apologizing. He wasn't used to this type of sensitive talk.

"I also haven't found mine yet-" he started to stare at those red crimson eyes... "do you... want to be partners with me instead?" Out of the ordinary, SMG3's face lit up after hearing SMG4 say that.

Did he just hear this right. Is it actually true that Four is asking him out to be his... his... HIS... he turned red second by second.

"I-I uhh... Yeah sure whatever- just try not to mess things up- you baka..." the blue held out his hand for three to grab on, as four smiled still with three on being a tsundere. It never gets old.

Three accepted, embracing his left hand with four colliding in. With now both fingers interlocked, that was purposely done by SMG4.

"Dude- are you TRYING to make things look even more gayer?" SMG3 looked down at both of the hands then back to the man himself.

"Just- incase..." SMG4 pouted, he couldn't come up with a reason. He did this on purpose and he'd been making it a bit more awkward with this between just him and three.

The chattering went low as the host made his way out of the door and welcomed everyone.

"Welcome to the square plaza everyone! We are so excited to gather you all for our occasional prom! Now go out there and get yourself started!"

He offered to everyone by stepping aside from the open door, being a gentleman to let everyone inside.

"Well... here it goes..." SMG4 walked forward as Three followed a few steps near, little did four know is that Three kept glancing at their interlocked hands together thinking the forms of something special...

Something... something that also made SMG4 feel the same but more tensed...

SMG4 couldn't process much of the things that are currently happening to him right now. Why has this have to go very wrong yet right at the same time? Why did he have to come even tho he didn't want to?

He'd started to overthink with all of his actions that he had made. In regret...

(Why did I even came here... I should've stayed at the castle...) He clinched the hand even tighter, holding Three's.

But it had made him thought, for any other reasons it somehow made him feel glad that he was there.

"Good evening everyone! We are all gathered here for a special event- aka prom." The other host guestured their hand with the obvious sign.

"The dance will begin at 7pm, just to say you can go talk to any other people here or have some snacks while everyone enjoys their stay!" The microphone turns off, entering a soothing audio played in the background.

-A Night To Remember by beabadoobee & Laufey-

The man in purple looked at the sparkling chandelier placed right on top of the ceiling the lights that glimmered through the glass.

Swore I'd seen you before

Within the atmosphere flowing through the colors of pink, red, and purple. Mixtures of blue, the colors fading through the room.

Watched you walk through the door

The beam of light, shining across Four's face with an escape of the light. Reflecting through his blue colored eyes that took notice of the red ones.

Somethin' in your eye

Reminded me of somebody I used to know

Damn... SMG4 looked glorious... he hated that...

Three's eyes happen to gaze upon to Four's with the room surrounded by the soft sounds, they both met each others eyes.

You touched my back

I took your hand

Somethin' from your touch felt shockingly familiar

He didn't know what that feeling was, it just felt right for him to do. If this would only be only focused to him, where would his thoughts go?

And I swore I'd seen you before

Oh, I swore I'd seen you before...

They both felt so lost, but being there together with him?

Underneath the sheets

You enchanted me

And whispered sweet nothings in my ear

It felt romantic...

I shivered beneath you

All wrapped up in embers

It was a night... to remem-

"Is it just me or are you both staring goo goo eyes at each other thats super gay-" The fat italian called them both out ruinimg their silence.

"SHUT UP YOU ASS" SMG3 looked at Mario annoyed, he who had ruined their moment. "We're not gay!" SMG4 cried out loud, with the crowd bringing their attention from his scream. He smiled to fill out the apology trying his best not to disrupt them.

SMG4 turned his head back to Mario and eyed Three. "It seemed like it-" he shrugged his shoulder, drinking an orange juice from the cup.

"Look you idiot- I came here to get over with the party. I'm not saying I'm a party pooper in this, I was only trying to..." he gave a pregnant pause after realizing that he had almost revealed his words to him.

"To- uh- not miss out on the occassions and stuff..." his eyes darted towards Mario after he shot up his eyes with Four.

He checked the time...

6:55 pm

Almost seven o-clock before the dance begins, and just being in there with him... it felt like time passes by too quickly by seconds...

"Oh! I think I should go now- Mario wishes you two gay boys goodluck!" He puts a thumbs up to the both of them and headed to Bob's direction.

The two looked at each other in disbelief, had they both been staring too long? Did the song dragged them away into this...?

How can this be?

SMG4 is unsure, he was too scared about this feeling. Little does he know is that Three also scattered with the same thing as well...

End of Chapter 1...

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Previous Chapter - Prologue

Next Chapter - Sway me More [PENDING...]

#lizaluv #smg4 #smg34 #smg3 #smg4 smg3 #my art #my fic #my fic writing #acobs #a chamber of burning souls #itsajjena

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kaibutsushidousha · 9 months

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To be honest, your discussion of Minase's positive and negative qualities piqued my interest. What do you think are the main recurring fgo writers' strong and weak points? Also where would you rank the lilim harlot event?

For the sake of brevity, I'll stick to one per writer. Picking apart everyone to the extent I did with Minase would take forever and would be better done after their respective Ordeal Calls.

I hesitate to call Higashide's comedy his strong point because his huge hits are about as frequent as his huge misses. I suppose I'll go with clarity for Higashide's main strong point. Even when I think he sucked at delivering his point, I can always tell what he's trying to say, which is not something I can say about Sakurai's most compressed scripts. His weak point is his lack of ambition. It's nice to have at least one person in FGO's team who will never try to escalate things, but I can't see it doesn't make his stories more forgettable in the long run.

Minase was already detailed in his own post.

Meteo’s best quality is a tone setter. Requiem, Salem, and all his events come with an atmosphere that feels very tangibly different from what FGO usually does. Often his events are bad, but never they lack a unique identity. Which segues into his weak point, being that many of his events are comedy events and the man is simply not funny. Bullying Erice is his only consistently good joke, and when he tries other things, the results are more miss than hit. See Las Vegas and Wandjina World Tour for major examples of comedy events that failed hard at the comedy side.

Nasu is a master recycler. I don't know how he does it but the man is constantly reusing the same structures, the same themes, or the same dynamics and somehow it never feels repetitive. There is always something that makes the whole recipe feel fresh and unique despite being so easy to recognize the same usual ingredients there. And what I dislike about Nasu in FGO is how he's still stuck at the concept of selling waifus from the girls with routes days. Everyone has their list of characters who get ship tease with Fujimaru but only in Nasu's case it feels like an overwhelming majority and that some of the choices create too large of a difference between the summoned character and the character in the main story. Was it really necessary to do this with, say, Morgan? Melusine? Tenochtitlan?

And Sakurai I saved for last because one major reason this post took this long is that I was struggling to sort out what is characteristically good and bad about her. Well, even now I don’t have a simple and satisfying answer. Things can’t be simple with Sakurai, unfortunately. One friend of mine described the experience of reading Sakurai scripts as “playing chess against an opponent that doesn’t tell that you are in a game of chess” and that’s honestly a fascinating way to phrase it.

Sakurai is an intriguing combination of inflexibly ambitious and inflexibly professional. She has grand ideas for her characters and she will include them in the script without fail. But she's also strictly adherent to script size limitations. While Nasu is making Camelot and Avalon le Fae with total disregard to every possible limit, Sakurai is cramming so much into Septem's and London's microscopic file space that it becomes utterly incomprehensible. Nasu wrote Last Encore's plot as a whole ass novel and hired Sakurai to convert that into anime scripts because Sakurai is his expert in fitting a lot of stuff into tiny spaces. Tunguska was tossed at Sakurai because probably no one else could fit into its raid event constraints. And because she doesn't compromise on what goes in, her alternative is not revealing the mysteries about her characters but laying out all the hints so the players can figure it out themselves, which is a really fun thing once you're used to it (read: aware that you're playing chess against her).

And the answer to "Where would I rank the Lilim Harlot event" is 1st place.

#higashide yuuichirou #sakurai hikaru #nasu kinoko #hoshizora meteor

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rewritingcanon · 4 months

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Louis headcanons… 🤲

YASSS OKAYYYYY 😻

looks mostly like his dad with his mums colour palate. also a little more snatched like his mum and not as built as his dad. but you can TELL he’s bill’s son if you were to see them side by side

french fuckboy

grew his hair out and had a ponytail era. when he let it loose people genuinely confused him to be a girl (yes he gets hit on by LOTS of confused men and lesbians 😭)

gryffindor with dominique. only a year older than james sirius potter.

closer to dominique than to victoire but respects victoire more funnily enough. kind of like victoire is a second mum. has no problem roasting the shit out of dominique but will check himself with victoire

has begged victoire to give in and date teddy because he desperately wants a cool brother (was happier than teddy and victoire combined when they did get tgt)

is the vain delacour that molly weasley feared fleur was, except he’s masculine as hell and flexes in every mirror he sees (he still looks like a girl)

VERY pretty and could win miss universe or best waifu

he was the femboy reckoning at hogwarts but against his will. he wants women but he keeps pulling men. like that inosuke guy.

best subject was charms and DADA, courtesy of his dad being very talented and his mum being the same except also add her being a drill sergeant

nepo babied his way into interning at gringotts but got on the goblins nerves sm they fired him anyway (louis still pretended to go in because he was so scared about what his parents + victoire would say)

made a secret tiktok account for posting his thirst traps until dominique and victoire found it and he was so embarrassed he deleted it

favourite cousin is roxanne despite their age gap just because shes always so hilarious and always down to do whatever and just never takes anything seriously (also she was the cutest baby in louis’ opinion). its less a friendship and more like a one sided smittenness on louis’ side— he has a whole folder on his camera roll dedicated to her being generally goofy

people use his face for clout and to catfish people all the time. every time his girl friends need to loyalty test their man they just snap a photo of his face

that being said, he IS the man you need to loyalty test. mf has fifteen girls on the back burner that still think they have a chance with him

that also being said, hes waiting for marriage 🙏 (he wants his first time to be special guyz)

that ALSO being said, absolutely no one thinks he’s going to last that long

likes bantering with his mum a lot and getting on her nerves. she’ll start swearing at him in french when rapidly lecturing him in english doesn’t work and he finds that to be the funniest shit ever

bill weasley is such a Daughter Dad so he’ll baby tf out of victoire and dominique and then get louis to do all the household chores 💀

but louis is also the biggest diva in the family by far so bill and fleur drop more money on him than victoire and dominique combined. and then they complain about how spoilt their son is and the girls are just like “🙄 stop buying him shit then 😒”

meh at quidditch but decides he hates it because he’s not the best at it (it’s an ego thing)

really likes his maternal cousins and only allows aunt gabrielle to plait his hair

godfather is uncle percy 😭 every time its his bday louis forces percy to go shopping so he can drop some big bucks on him (whatever karma percy accumulated in his youth has taken the form of his godson now).

lucy is a year older than him and they keep feuding over her dad. think blue haired liberal versus white blond conventionally attractive man. thats the relationship, and its hilarious especially during joint family dinners.

used to be very scared of the dark and couldnt sleep by himself and so victoire was always forced to let louis sleep with her when they were younger

also always goes to victoire for hair care help and his mum for skincare and fashion help

despite being seemingly easygoing and carefree, he can hold VERY mean grudges and will never apologise for something if he doesn’t think he’s in the wrong.

also will fist fight someone over a yo mama joke (yes he’s sensitive about his mum, don’t insult her to his face)

everyone knows louis for the menace he is except grandma molly who treats him like hes the sun that the earth circles around (yes grandma molly likes bill’s kids the most, what of it?)

louis is surprisingly very sweet to old people. he does his due diligence and visits them the most, brings new presents to arthur and helps molly with chores and lets them fuss over him.

okayyyy i think ive yapped enough

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evenmorefatallyobsessed · 6 months

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What other crossover characters would you not give an Arc Mark because they are with someone else? Rarity with Spike is an example. This goes to anyone that you might draw in the future.

Asta and Yami's ships from Black Clover Merlin cuz she is Lord Escanors! (PRIASE THE SUN!!!) Krillin is always under 18 (Lol) Cheelai and Broly is probably the most adorble ship in the entire Dragon Ball Series Bulma and Chichi are Vegeta and Gokus... (Except for when their fused, but they don't talk about that, cuz only a fool would say no to Vegito or Gogeta) Vidal is half of Gohan's everything (Was was his everything before their precious daughter was born) Mai is Trunk's Future Hayase Nagatoro and Naoto Hachioji are the oddest couple I've ever love. Naruto and Hinata are a ship all others should strive to be (Also Tsunade, if Naruto's personal Gilf and Hinata needs a hand cuz let's face it Naruto is a walking gangbang, hell throw Shizune and Naruto's many Movie Waifus into that mix too. Maybe even Sarada just to throw a little age gap in the mix) Shikamaru and Temari are just too damn cute together for me to accept anything else. Karui Akimichi may be sorta bitchy but honest to god lets face facts she loves Choji and more importantly we know for a fact he can make parts of his body WAY bigger... Let that sink in. She is for sure a Size Queen. Gojou and Kitagawa from 'My Dress Up Darling' and if we're being honest it's cuz Gojou is just too fucking adorble of a man and a hell of a artisan. Ichijo and Orihime, I've loved this ship since forever and nothing and nobody will convince me otherwise. Bleaches best couple in my opinion. Kaguya-sama: Love Is War has made it in my mind that Shirogane/ Kaguya and Miko and Yuu are simply too pure and perfect to be with anyone else.

Ash and Serena, I never thought I would be invested in a love story in Pokémon of all series, but here we are.

INUYASHA, KAGOME AND KIKIYO, fuck anyone and everyone who can adore the former and feel bad for the later girl. The only solace is that as her reincarnation that at least to some extent Kikyo is with Inuyasha. Also Moroha is the best part of Yashahime, hands down without doubt

These are what come to me off the top of my head, any and all these are off limits period.

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burins · 4 months

Text

eisners 2024 roundup pt 1!

because I collect for graphic novels at the library I technically get to vote in the Eisners. which means that every May I read an ungodly number of comics because try as I'd like to keep up with stuff throughout the year it is impossible!

there was a lot of really good fun stuff I got to read, and also some stuff that made me absolutely furious. please enjoy the fruits of my labor and my very very long spreadsheet.

Best Continuing Series: birds of prey 1-6 (dc, kelly thompson and leonardo basto romero)

if you read my yuri zine piece you might remember that at the end of it I mentioned I hadn't read this yet because I knew that Babs was going to be Batgirl in it. Babs is Batgirl in it, but the series is still really really good. it is exactly what I want out of birds of prey – a really cohesive, fun team comic. also dinah really shines in this! I love the old school take on the art and the almost screen tone edges of the coloring, it gives it a really retro feel. also appreciate the lack, at least so far, of tons of cheesecake. I read the entirety of old birds of prey and I'm done with crotch shots thank youuuu (this is not counting issue 5 which takes a really jarring completely different artistic bent where everyone is drawn like it's 2003 and they're anime waifus. you cannot skip issue 5 for plot reasons but i did grit my teeth through it)

(continued below the cut for saving-your-dash reasons)

honorable mention: shazam 1-6 (dc, mark waid and dan mora)

I have never before cared about a Shazam comic but this was really fun.. it really leans into Billy being a kid with some real big powers and the rapport between him and his foster siblings is delightful. also I'm never going to say no to Dan Mora art

i won't get into my feelings about taylor's nightwing run AGAIN here but i resent that i had to read more of it for the second year in a row. and i especially resent that the fps nightwing issue got a nomination for best single issue.

Best Limited Series: the cull (image, Kelly Thompson and Mattia De Iulis)

another Kelly thompson! this was a cool and interesting story about a group of kids who, after a tragedy, go out to the beach to film one last short film together and discover an alien world. the plotting is sharp and quick and the character stuff hits well. hyperrealistic art isn't always my jam, but I think it does work in this instance. also quite frankly the rest of this category was pretty weak.

honorable mention: superman lost (dc, chris priest and carlo pagulayan)

I loved the start of Superman lost. I thought it was a really fantastic take on Lois and Clark and the inevitable very real difficulties that their relationship would face. I loved how it let Lois be angry and hurt without condemning her which we SO rarely see in a capes comic. and then it almost completely lost me towards the end. I thought the infidelity / pregnancy subplot was both unnecessary and frustrating (and tbh I don't love the only Black-coded character in the comic, even if she does have pink skin, being a secret villain who's trying to keep Clark trapped with her.) it felt like it fizzled and that's a bummer because boy do the first few issues put clark through the grinder.

Best New Series: Phantom Road (image, Jeff Lemire and Gabriel Hernández Walta)

this category was really hard to pick a favorite because it was full of cool shit. phantom road is a familiar narrative if you've listened to Alice isn't dead, from the Long haul truckers to the truck stops that slide into another world, to the body horror other world monsters. I think Alice isn't dead does it better, but I'm excited to see where phantom road goes. in general I really like Jeff lemire's stuff and I think this will be well done, and hernandez walta's art is tautly paneled and slides between uncanny normal into horror perfectly.

honorable mention: black cloak (image, Kelly Thompson and Meredith McClaren)

I love the worldbuilding in black cloak, but I think it's undercut by art that is too cute for the story. everything in McLaren's art is really rounded and feels kind of like a video game world where I'm collecting pets or something, rather than a fairly gritty fantasy murder mystery. still think this is worth a read though!

honorable mention #2: Local Man (image, Tim Seeley and Tony Fleecs)

I enjoyed this enough to read the second volume even though it didn't actually come out in the nomination period! the plot on this is great and although I think the trope of down on his luck superhero who has to go back in disgrace to his hometown and solve some mysteries is maybe a little overplayed (the overall plot feels a bit too watchmen lite for me) the way it's done here is interesting to read. also the diegetic comics are delightful, particularly the ones with Inga.

next category: kids 9-12. hey did ya'll know there are some really good middle-grade comics coming out right now! there are some really good middle-grade comics coming out right now. this isn't actually my collection area but too bad.

Buzzing (Samuel Sattin and Rye Hickman)

i'm usually not one for Issue Comics, even ones for kids, but this was such a lovely and sweet story about a kid with OCD who finds friends in his D&D group. the art is lovely and i wish baby me had had access to this!

Mexikid (Pedro Martín)

Mexikid is just a delight from start to finish. funny, poignant, great stuff about family and culture and the experience of going on a very long road trip with your horrible siblings who you love very much. Martín switches between laugh out loud humor and deep emotion with incredible facility. This was my picks for the category, but it was tight!

Saving Sunshine (Saadia Faruqi and Shazleen Khan)

really sweet story about a pair of twins who have to pretend to get along in order to get their phones back and end up remembering that they do, in fact, love each other.

on to the teens!

Best Teen (13-17) Danger and Other Unknown Risks (Ryan North and Erica Henderson)

I like this comic so much that I made my partner read it, and they also loved it. delightful romp of an adventure through a post-apocalyptic world in which magic has replaced all electricity. the Chosen One (and her dog) have to bring certain artifacts back to her uncle in order for him to save the world. or do they? the plot turns on this one are extremely good and the cast of characters is a delight

honorable mention: Frontera (Julio Anta and Jacoby Salcedo)

I think it is extremely good for kids, and for everyone, to read stories about the horrors of the us-mexico border. however the ghost subplot on this one really really lost me.. it felt like it took a lot away from the seriousness of the story instead of heightening it or relieving tension.

Best Humor: How to Love: A Guide to Feelings & Relationships for Everyone (Alex Norris)

I went in fully expecting not to like this at all- I assumed it would be really didactic. but it is actually both extremely funny and very sweet. it is essentially a relationship manual from the "oh no" comics person, with all of the silliness and care that that entails.

honorable mention: The Yakuza’s Bias (Teki Yatsuda, trans. Max Greenway)

what if you were a hard boiled high ranking Yakuza, and your boss's daughter got you into kpop? and you became really inspired by your bias and the way that he tirelessly works towards his dreams? delight of a manga (obvious comparison would be the way of the househusband and this is just as fun.)

Best Anthology: Deep Cuts (Kyle Higgins, Joe Clark, Danilo Beyruth, and others)

this SLAPPED. collection of loosely related comics about jazz and the joys of improvisation and the various indignities of the music industry. the art is great from comic to comic, the colors are so tasty, and this made me really emotional about collective artistic endeavor. it's good to have a jam session, and this is the comics equivalent of one.

honorable mention: The Out Side: Trans & Nonbinary Comics (ed. The Kao, Min Christensen, and David Daneman)

i'm generally pretty hit or miss on anthologies (the nature is such that there's gonna be someone in there i really dislike) but this one was actually quite lovely and the art was great. a good variety of stories and takes and a lot of nonbinary artists :)

DIShonorable mention: Comics for Ukraine (ed. Scott Dunbier)

i could have lived my whole life without seeing an Astro City take on the invasion of Ukraine. i wish this had been good! there was one single story in here that didn't make me want to go, head in my hands, hey maybe american comics writers are not like, best positioned to write about what it's like to have your country invaded! i just think. superhero comics are not always the best medium with which to tackle every issue. and that is okay! (the story, "talking to a hill," was also one of the few non-tie-in stories in the anthology and one of the few that actually like. told a ukrainian story rather than a weak allegory.)

Best Nonfiction: Last on His Feet: Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century (Adrian Matejka and Youssef Daoudi)

woof this is a killer. incredible art incredible writing incredibly nuanced take on a pretty difficult figure, famous Black boxer Jack Johnson, that does not pull any punches in its treatment of either the virulent racism he faced or his treatment of his wife. honestly probably my favorite book of the whole collection.

okay my arm is crapping out so I'll round up the rest (adaptation, international, album, academic, strips, and a few good things I read for best writer and artist) later!

#comics not even once #except comics many times this time #comics #recs

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