#so I tough out the rest of class and then go to the apartment because fuck attending marketing class

[avatar-anna]

I have a requeeestt. Would you write something where ice skater y/n has her period and she has practice and it’s just NOT her day. And she doesn’t feel super comfortable telling Harry but he figures it out and just like pure fluff 🙊💗

Grumpy

part one, part two, bonus, bonus, bonus

Harry's girlfriend was a delight. An absolute ray of sunshine. The sweetest human on the plan—

"Fuck off, Niall. I bet your 'superior athleticism' wouldn't last you one ballet class."

Most of the time. She was a ray of sunshine most of the time.

Harry looked up from his phone and saw Y/n talking to a few of his teammates. They were all snickering and laughing as if what she said was funny, which only made her fists curl at her sides, and while he would've found it rather entertaining for her to take a swing at one of them, he would rather not have his friends and girlfriend be on bad terms.

"You ready to go?" Harry asked, sliding his hand over Y/n's and unfurling her fist.

Her face was set in a scowl as she looked over at the boys she'd been speaking to. For the most part they got along great, Niall specifically. They had a sibling-like relationship and often teased one another, but Niall must've said something about figure skating, and that was one thing that would make you public enemy number one in Y/n's eyes. And if she was already grumpy? Harry met his friend's gaze and tried to send a clear message with his eyes: Cut it out.

Because Y/n could throw a punch, and while she was significantly smaller than his teammates, she had a mean right hook.

Y/n gave Harry a nonverbal grunt that she was ready to leave the rink. But she did lean into the tiny kiss he placed on her cheek, which was something.

"Yeah, Harry, take your girl home. I think she's on her period or something."

"Excuse me?"

"Okay, time to go," Harry said quickly, pulling Y/n away from his teammates and sending one final look at Niall.

As they walked to the car, Y/n handed her keys to Harry unceremoniously and slipped her hand out of his to cross her arms over her chest. He could practically see the steam coming out of her ears, so he let her stew in her bad mood for a little while. She must've had a rough training session, which could mean she messed up a lot or hardly at all, but Y/n was an extremely tough critic, so it was hard to be sure of which one if he wasn't there to watch.

Y/n's arms stayed crossed as they drove back to his apartment. Harry was fine with it, knowing the grumpiness wouldn't last. It normally didn't with Harry, a fact that he was extremely proud of. Except when he rested his hand on her thigh—close to her knee, he wasn't trying to start anything—she shook it off and shifted so her body faced the window.

"What was that for?"

"For being friends with neanderthals," she muttered. "Especially that one."

"'That one' is your friend, bub," Harry said, trying to keep the amusement out of his voice. "And wait—does that make me a neanderthal?"

"He was out of line. And no," she said, still facing the window, the last part almost an afterthought.

"I'll make sure he apologizes," he promised.

Harry leaned over at a stop light to kiss Y/n's temple. She didn't shrug him off or push him away, which was a good sign, though Harry now had a sneaking suspicion of what was going on. He didn't say anything the rest of the drive, happy to let his girlfriend be grumpy for the rest of the drive. As long as it wasn't directed at him, he was fine.

When they arrived, Harry shouldered both of their bags and handed her the keys to his apartment. "Go ahead and get in the shower. I'll meet you in there in a few minutes."

At that, he could practically see Y/n's grumpy facade start to crumble, but she nodded wordlessly and trudged up the stairs. Harry followed suit, setting their bags down and rustling through his small kitchen, trying to remember where he kept the emergency stash of her favorite snacks.

He realized that it was probably Y/n's time of the month. She became particularly moody around then, and it only took a couple minutes for Harry to put the pieces together. Should Niall have said anything? No, but the fact that he was right probably pissed Y/n off even more.

Harry grabbed a few things before heading down the hallway, the sound of water running growing louder as he got closer to the bathroom. He headed to his room first, setting Y/n's snacks and a couple other things down before kicking off his shoes and leaving to join Y/n like he promised.

"Need some help?"

Y/n was just standing beneath the spray coming from the shower head, not washing her hair or her face, the first steps in a detailed routine. She shrugged as he stepped into the shower, his hands smoothing over her shoulders before kissing the top of one gently.

"What's hurting?" he asked, continuing to snake his arms around her to hold her close.

"My boobs, my back, my ego, and I have the worst cramps," she huffed, but Harry detected the slight shift in her voice. Now that they were alone, she was trying not to cry. "He should try playing his precious sport while his uterine lining is shedding."

"I know," Harry said, reaching for the shampoo she used and squirting some in his hand. "Scalp only, right?"

Y/n nodded, some of the tension leaving her body when he started massaging the shampoo into her scalp. He worked slowly, trying to let the day wash off of her, murmuring to her and kissing parts of her body occasionally. When the actual bathing part of the shower was over, Harry turned Y/n around to face him, his kisses becoming more drawn out, sensual. His hands were soft, but firm, trying to knead away the soreness in her breasts and back.

Y/n sighed, eyes fluttering closed as she leaned into his touch. Both of them could feel him growing hard, it was hard not to give the circumstances, but neither of them said anything about it. Harry wasn't really focused on himself at the moment.

"Want me to use the shower head?" he asked.

Y/n shook her head. "I want you."

"Yeah?"

Peeking one eye open, she said, "Don't be so smug about it."

Harry chuckled softly and reached a hand up to hold one side of her face. "Me? Never."

For the first time all afternoon, Y/n grinned, but it quickly turned into a frown. "We can't."

"Baby, we're in the shower."

"Still, I think it's gross." But even as she said it, she moaned when he began to kiss her again.

They had this debate every time Y/n was on her period, but Harry always managed to find some way around it. For her sake, not his. He knew they both wanted to, but Y/n never believed him when he insisted he didn't mind if she was on her period. His solution was usually the detachable showerhead, but she didn't seem to want that this time.

"Here," Harry said, an idea sparking. He sat down, the tiles cold against his skin as he brought Y/n down with him. She didn't follow though, staying standing, her arms crossed over her body. "Would you get down here? I promise I won't even look. See?"

Harry covered his eyes with one hand, then raised them to show that his eyes were closed underneath.

"You promise you won't look?"

"Won't even watch you come, which is arguably my favorite part," Harry said, only half teasing.

He kept his promise to keep his eyes closed, so he couldn't tell if or when Y/n decided, though when he felt her settle over his lap, he had a pretty good idea. She draped herself over him, tucking herself close to him when he was fully settled inside her. Harry couldn't tell if she just wanted to sit like this or if she wanted more, but all he got was a contented sigh in his ear, which didn't really help.

"Okay, you can go now," Y/n said after a few minutes had passed, voice soft and a little slow as if she'd just woken up from a long nap.

Harry couldn't help but laugh a little. "I have to keep my eyes closed and do all the work?"

Y/n only nodded, not moving from where she was tightly hugging him. Harry was amused, but not all that surprised. She despised the term, but Y/n was without a doubt the textbook definition of a pillow princess. She had a pretty tough exterior, but once they were alone, she melted, becoming more needy and letting Harry take control. She liked being praised for taking all of him and behaving for him. His good girl, Harry once called her, and after she lit up from it, he called her that anytime they were intimate. He thrived off of it, Y/n's eagerness to please and the way she let him have his way with her.

Harry maneuvered himself a little, earning a few gasps and whimpers from Y/n. When he finally found a good enough position to hold her while not slipping on the slick tiles, he nudged the side of her cheek with his nose.

"I need at least a kiss first." He was keeping his word, so his eyes were still shut, but when Y/n slotted her lips over his and gripped the wet curls that were pressed to the nape of his neck, he grinned, focusing on the sensation of her kiss. With his eyes closed, Harry felt everything. Every shift of her hips, every clench she made around him, it was almost torturous, but he held off driving into her until he thought she was ready. "Thank you, bub. Be as loud as you want, okay?"

That only made her squeeze him tighter, and Harry took that as his signal to get started. It was slow as he tried to find the right rhythm, listening closely to how Y/n was reacting. Usually he was able to tell by the little faces she made, but he went off her sounds and how hard she squeezed her arms around his neck.

Harry murmured in Y/n's ear the whole time, letting her know how good she felt around him and to touch herself however she wanted. By the end of it, she was all molten limbs and tired, satisfied eyes, kissing all over his face as he smoothed back her hair. Harry gave her a couple minutes to come back down from her high before he helped her stand back up and let her get dressed while he showered properly.

Later that night, Y/n was sleeping in Harry's bed, a heating pad strapped to her back while she stayed tucked into his chest. They'd watched a couple movies and eaten her favorite snacks, and at one point Y/n crawled into his lap to ride his thigh when she claimed she needed another orgasm. Harry was happy to give her one, happy to let her use him how she liked, though he had to help her hips along after a couple minutes.

All the grumpiness from earlier was gone. She had nothing but kind words and sweet nothings and little jokes she mumbled to him as they continued watching a show they started together, which was when she promptly fell asleep. Harry was right behind her, he just had to send a text first.

Y/n's ballet training is at 8am on Wednesday. Be there.

Harry had promised Y/n Niall would apologize, and he couldn't think of a better way than his friend struggling to plié. He didn't need to add or else or any other kind of threat. It was unnecessary. Niall had pissed off Y/n, and he knew Harry would make him pay if he didn't make it right.

After sending the text he set his phone down and settled deeper into the pillows. Y/n shuffled around a little, then murmured, "Little spoon."

Harry understood immediately, turning over so she could wrap her arms around him and rest her cheek on his back. With that, Y/n fell back asleep, and Harry gave one last kiss to her knuckles before following suit.

[theemporium]

Oh what about sugar daddy!charles completely spoiling his girl and she just bursts into tears in the middle of a fancy shop cause she’s due on her period and all she wants is a lazy day with him

thank you for requesting!🫶🏽

.

You didn’t mean to ruin the day.

It had been a while since you had seen Charles—around two weeks to be exact. Between meetings and factory days and races, he hadn’t been able to come see you. And because of your classes and assignments, he couldn’t fly you out to join him either.

It was tough. It really was. With the time differences and just how hectic both your schedules were, it was difficult to really sort out video calls or even phone calls that lasted longer than five minutes. All your interactions with the boy had been through texts or the bouquets of flowers he kept sending you, but it wasn’t enough.

It was him you wanted.

It was him you needed.

And then just last night you were hit with a wave of pain all over your body. Your back hurt, your muscles aches and the cramps stabbing into your lower abdomen just made you want to cry. You woke up that morning to your period and you were already so done with the day. You just wanted a simple day in as your body went through the worst symptoms.

But when Charles had finally landed and drove to your apartment to spend his break in between races with you, you didn’t have the heart to say anything to him. You didn’t have the heart to say no when he came barrelling through the door, so perked up and excited and ready to spoil his girl after almost two weeks of nothing.

So, you let him drag you out of the apartment. You let him pack you up in his fancy car with their new leather seats and drive into town. You let him drag you from shop to shop as he swiped his card like it was nothing more than a wave of a wand.

But this wasn’t what you wanted. You didn’t want him spending money on you or buying you a bunch of new things. You didn’t want him making you his own little model, trying on different dresses and shoes.

You just wanted a day in with him, cuddled up on the couch with his back pressed against your chest and his hands resting on your stomach as he held you through the worst of the cramps and pain. You just wanted to be pressed up against him as close as you could be.

You just wanted your Charles.

You didn’t even realise the tears had started falling until you felt warm hands encompassing your cheeks. Thumbs were gently wiping away the tears that ran down your cheeks and his face morphed into one of concern.

“Ma cherie,” he murmured in a soft voice, though his worry was evident. “What’s wrong? What’s happened? Do you not like this colour?”

But you shook your head, feeling the embarrassment wash over you for the scene you were throwing in the uptown boutique. You couldn’t help yourself as you wound your arms around him, nuzzling your face into his chest as an attempt to hide yourself.

“I don’t wanna be here,” you cried into his chest. “But you’re being so nice and I feel so bad, but everything hurts and I just wanna be at home with you. I’m sorry but—”

“Shhh, it’s okay, ma belle,” he hummed as his arms wrapped around you protectively, a kiss placed on the top of your head. “You should’ve said something. I just want you to be comfortable.”

You sniffled. “I’m sorry—”

“Don’t apologise,” Charles told you before pulling back, smiling softly when he noticed the way you stared so helplessly at him. “We are gonna pack everything up here and head home. Maybe have a bath and order that Italian food you like, hm? How does that sound?”

“Perfect,” you confessed.

“Only the best for my girl,” he mused before pulling you closer. “Let’s go back home, cherie.”

.

[leasstories]

Reputation

Eddie Munson x gn!reader

No Trigger Warning

WC: ≈0.7K

Based on a prompt by @creativepromptsforwriting : “Being touch-starved and needy was really starting to mess with their reputation as a tough guy”

Eddie has always been known to be “mean and scary” at Hawkins High. Well, his reputation, this infamous reputation that protected him is slowly crumbling. All of it started when Eddie started dating you. You are Eddie’s first partner, which means, Eddie is slowly discovering how he is as a boyfriend. What made Eddie’s reputation crumbling is not the fact that he is dating you, it is more how he acts towards you.

Eddie discovered that when it involved romantic relationships, he was touch-starved. Eddie always needs to touch you however he can, even if it’s just holding hands. When he is far from you, he is grumpy. Even in High School, he feels this need to be close to him, and that is exactly what is destroying his mean and scary reputation.

Eddie is currently impatiently waiting for you, he doesn’t even listen to what Gareth is saying, all he can think about is hugging you, having any kind of physical contact. Eddie needs to feel your body warmth.

As soon as you get out of your class, Eddie rushed to you and hug you tight.

“Missed you babe.” He says in your hair.

You chuckle. “Missed you too Eds.”

Once Eddie feels the need to kiss your lips, he stops hugging you and cup your face in his hands before kissing you breathless.

Even if your love language is physical touch and Eddie is always like that with you, you are always a little bit surprised. You never imagined that Eddie would be so touch-starved. You don’t complain though, you love being close to your boyfriend. You don’t find him too needy. You think Eddie’s like this because of his childhood. You’ve learnt that Eddie stopped having physical demonstrations of love when his mom passed away and you think that even though he would never have admitted it, it was something missing in his life. But now, he’s got you, and you’ll give him as much physical touch as he wants.

 Eddie and you head to the cafeteria, Eddie’s arm around your waste, keeping you close to him. Then Eddie sits and motion for you to sit on his lap. You obey. You sit on his lap and Eddie wrap his arms around your tummy, keeping your back pressed to his chest. He keeps kissing you during lunch, he can’t help it.

Before you guys have to part to go to your respective class, Eddie kisses both of your cheeks, your forehead and then your lips. He has a hard time letting you do, which is something you find quiet endearing. You hate having to deny him physical touch, but you really have to go to class.

“I’m sorry Loverboy, I really have to go to class.” You say giggling.

“Don’t want to let you go.” He mumbles into your hair.

“Eds, we will cuddle after class, I promise…” You promise.

He reluctantly let you go. You both go to your afternoon classes. Eddie’s missing you, he misses holding you close to him. Class now, is even worse than before, this is the thing keeping you apart from him.

After class, Eddie rushed in front of your classroom and as soon as you got out, Eddie swept you off your feet. He kisses you, not caring about people watching you. You then walk hand in hand to Eddie’s van. He opens the passenger for you and hold his hand out to help you climb into the van, once you’re sat on the passenger seat he pecks your lips, jogs to his side, sit and as soon as he is on the road, Eddie’s putting his hand on your knee, squeezing gently.

Once you arrived at Eddie’s trailer, you hurried to his bed. You put one of his t-shirts on and he takes off his jackets and pants before cuddling with you for the rest of the afternoon.

Yes Eddie is touch-starved, but we’re not going to lie, you like it. You like the way he holds you like he never wants to let you go, you love that he always kisses you breathless, you love having his hand on your knee every time he is driving. It makes you feel love, and the fact that you are receptive makes Eddie feel loved as well, so why stop having public demonstrations of affection? For others? Hell no!

[pleasoflove]

love grows best in little houses — lee jeno

roommate jeno x f reader

fluff, friends to lovers, pining, close proximity … >:)

7k words

summary: love grows best in little houses with fewer walls to separate, where you eat and sleep so close together you can't help but communicate. if we had more room between us, think of all we'd miss... love grows best in houses just like this.

authors note: this silly modern all white farmhouse quote had me thinking!!!

“I’m home,” You announce quite obnoxiously, jingling your keys and shopping bags. You made sure to shake the doorknob a little before stepping in as well, doing the courtesy of warning your roommate in case he had company over. 

Instead, you find him relaxed on the couch, a knowing smile resting on his face. He gets up to help you with the grocery bags, “I could tell.” 

You give Jeno an eyeroll, hanging your keys on the little rack by the door. “I’m doing you a favor, okay? Last thing I need is to walk in on you going at it with some chick from your lab class.” 

He laughs a quick laugh, and you get lucky enough to see his eyes form into crescents before his features relax. “Don’t worry. I think I’d warn you before starting something in here.” 

“Better safe than sorry.” 

Sometimes you find yourself squinting and having quick, fleeting thoughts like maybe I should get my eyes checked, but you’re not oblivious to Lee Jeno’s looks, whose entire being seems to have been crafted by all the angels residing in the heavens themselves. All five feet and ten inches of his existence, from the little stray hair that sticks up from the rest to the bottoms of his feet; Jeno is a sight for sore eyes. 

He’s inescapable, too. Quite literally, since you live with him in something that would be flattered to be even called a shoebox of a home. 

The front door is simply the entrance to the kitchen— there is no dining room. The wall to your left side when you walk in is essentially the side of the staircase to your little loft, where your measly mattress sits on the floor. 

Beneath your loft is Jeno’s “bedroom”, where his mattress is placed directly on the floor as well. He’s got a curtain hung up to separate the joke of his room from the living room, which barely fits the couch that the two of you snagged off someone from Facebook Marketplace. 

So, yeah, your living situation is tough, except it only gets harder when the two of you share the most crucial and, possibly, most private space that anyone could ever have. 

The bathroom. 

Oh, it was tough on your heart. It still is, sometimes, though you’ve gotten better at pretending that you can’t see Jeno’s entire naked upper body when he steps out of the shower and you dash inside to finally relieve your bladder. 

It’s not ideal, you know, but it’s the best that your money (combined) can get. Before the start of your junior year, you had been in such a slump over a breakup with your ex that you slacked off hard when it came to apartment hunting. Prices had gone up tenfold by the time you started searching, and with every single day that passed, they only rose and rose, practically laughing in your face for your earlier incompetence. 

It wasn’t until you mentioned to your friend (coworker), Mark, that it had been absolute hell trying to find a place to stay. And bless his heart, that precious boy Mark Lee, as he lifted his hand to run it through his hair, only to accidentally knock off his uniform hat off his head as he exclaimed, I got you! 

That’s how you met Jeno. A friend of a coworker-turned-friend who had been sheepishly looking for a roomie to occupy that devilishly tiny space because even though it was smaller than a suburban backyard, the rent was still so high. 

Before you moved in, your automatic gameplan with any roommate was to interact as little as possible. Stay out of the kitchen if they’re in it. Watch movies in your room if the living room is occupied. Avoid being in the same space at all. Less contact with someone you barely knew meant less conflict, less tension, less worry. You just come in and out, talk about whose turn it is to buy the paper towels and stack the dishes, then move on with your life. 

Absolutely impossible with Jeno. Firstly, he’s a kind-hearted boy. Well, not a boy— he is a man. A boy-ish one with that smile he’s got, and the tenderness behind his words yet the playful venom he spits at you whenever he gets the chance. It’s hard to stay away when his personality is so well-balanced and welcoming that you can’t help but to interact. 

That, and it’s hard to avoid someone when you’re in the kitchen cleaning up and they have to walk right past you in order to leave. The first few weeks were awfully awkward; a constant cycle of oh, sorry, as the two of you tried to get past each other but couldn’t because of how close everything was together. Jeno gave up the act quickly and began to laugh softly at these little conflicts. It made you feel better, made you feel like you too could laugh at the silly reality of your situation. The apartment felt warmer. You’re unsure if it’s because it was tiny, and the heat was trapped, or because getting comfortable felt nice and it slowly transformed your place into your home. 

“Ah. Fruity Pebbles? Someone’s tending to their inner child.”

You huff, your back pressing against his as the two of you sort the new groceries into the little storage space that you have. “They were on sale. And what about it? I’m sure baby Lee enjoyed a bowl or two. Don’t mask your inner child’s excitement with learned patronization.” 

“Someone’s been reading lately,” He shoots back, and you can hear his stupid smile through his voice. “Big words for someone like you.” 

“You know what? You can forget about the pebbles. Get your own cardboard cereal.” 

“I don’t think it’ll fit in the pantry.” 

“Laundry day?”

Yes, laundry day. The most taxing and annoying chore of all. Laundry day, where you have to haul your drawstring bag of clothes down the stairs, out of the apartment and into the hallway, all the way down to the elevator. It’s a mission, it’s quite serious. 

Jeno stares up at you from the foot of the stairs, eyeing you with humor as he sees you lug around that giant sack of clothing. Oh, how helpful he is, only making you more self-aware as he stands with his fitted undershirt and notorious gray sweats. How lovely of him. 

You try coping with the close proximity by turning your attraction to him into annoyance, only your brain does this wicked thing where it gets so annoyed you cannot help but notice all the other handsome, kind, inviting things about him to get annoyed about.

You do not, by any means, have feelings for Jeno. He’s more like that hot friend that you are so sure is out of your league that you simply give up. Yes, he’s hot. Yes, you know nothing will come out of it. Yes, you are one hundred percent okay with that. It’s just difficult when he’s got a pair of eyes and you aren’t looking your best. Human nature to feel a little self conscious, you guess. 

“Let me come with,” He offers as you finally reach the bottom of the steps, mindlessly taking the lump of clothes and bringing it into his arms like it were the weight of a newborn baby. 

“Eh?”

“I will help you,” He starts again, this time speaking slowly to mock you. He’s trying to stifle a shit-eating grin from coming up on his face. He’s so unbearable that you lightly smack at his arm. 

You don’t understand why he would offer to tag along; the laundromat is one of the worst places to spend your free time at. The one you go to has a corner store right next to it, which is nice, but it feels boring again after you collect your snacks and choose a chair to sit in while you watch your clothes spin around and around. It’s even worse when the wall-mounted TVs play nothing but a loop of all the songs that reached top 10 on Billboard in 2013. 

But Jeno doesn’t mind. He doesn’t mind a lot of things, you think, as you reach the building and hop out of his car. He’s got so much patience in his heart that you’re not sure what could ever bore him to death. 

The two of you pick your washers and start dumping your clothes in. It’s pretty quiet, save for the low rumbling of the other machines and Katy Perry’s Roar playing softly from the TVs. The bell on the entrance door jingles as an older lady walks in with a little boy who's got a candy bar in hand. 

When you finish loading the washer, you turn to Jeno swiftly. “Want anything from next door?”

He tilts his head, thinking. “Any sour candy.” 

While you head out on your mission to bag the snacks, Jeno picks a table by the window to sit at. He zones out, mindlessly watching the music video play out on the tv, but the sound is muffled in his ears. He's not sure if it's from his lack of focus or the overpowering sound of the machines running. 

He’s pulled out of it when the little boy speeds by. With the whole laundromat to himself, he weaves in and out of the rows like it's a maze, yet dutifully obeys his grandmother’s commands to pass him the little detergent tablets on the drying table. After he passes them to her, he starts running again. 

He’s about to pass Jeno again before he trips over his own shoelaces and tumbles down to the floor. Jeno automatically perks up, worry flashing in his eyes as he looks at the boy and then to his grandmother. Her eyes are busy on the laundry, sorting out the colors and the whites, and while Jeno is internally panicking about the wellbeing of the child, the little boy simply laughs it off and gets back up on his feet. He’s a little bashful due to having an audience, but after Jeno wordlessly sees that he’s okay, they both relax. 

The candy that he was holding had slid across the floor, so Jeno takes it upon himself to pick it up and give it back. He silently inspects it of any damage, earning a laugh from the little one as he hands it to him. 

The boy carefully unwraps it then breaks off a piece to give to Jeno. 

“Oh,” He starts immediately, taken aback. “No no, you have it.” 

The boy hums a short mm-mm while shaking his head, insisting that Jeno take it. 

With a weary smile, his big hand meets the small one in front of him and he gently takes the piece of chocolate, slow and careful in case the little boy has any doubts. 

As you’re walking back to the laundromat, you can see the entire interaction through the huge windows in the front. The look that’s on Jeno’s face as he interacts with the boy is enough to make your knees weak. It’s so soft, almost loving. 

When you step back inside, you try to be as discreet as possible, but the bell on the door alerts everyone that you’re there. The two boys look at you curiously before recognition crosses Jeno’s eyes. 

You slide him his bag of sour gummy worms, and without any hesitation, he tears the corner open and spills a few into his hand. He offers his open palm to the boy, who at this point, is giddy and glowing with this new established friendship. He happily takes the worms and nods his head very firmly, “Thank you!” 

The boy isn’t there for much longer as his grandmother finishes loading the clothing and calls him over so that they can get ready to leave. He stuffs all the worms into his mouth so that he can hold the box of detergent tablets for her. 

It isn’t long before your clothes are done in the wash so that you can dump them into the dryer. You and Jeno pass time by making fun of the music videos playing on the TVs and showing each other viral cat videos. 

If there is one thing you know about Jeno, it’s that he loves cats. He’s always making comments about them in passing, showing you cute videos, texting you that he’ll be home in 10, he’s just busy looking at the cats that are up for adoption. 

He wants one desperately, it’s just that… 

“You know there’s no room.” 

He sighs, leaning back into his chair and it squeaks. “We could, like, take it for walks to get the energy out. If anything, we can get an older, lazy cat. I think it would like the space between the window and the couch.” 

You laugh, turning your head to check the time left on the dryer. “The non-existent one?” 

He throws his head back and groans. Your eyes stay focused on the way his adam's apple bobs for a second too long. “Jeno, living in a space that small feels like a crime against myself sometimes. I would not want to put an animal through that type of pain. Hell, we’re the hamsters in the cage!” 

He chews on the inside of his cheek, giving you the stink eye, but it’s all in good fun. Deep down he knows that you’re right. 

The buzzer on the dryer goes off and catches the attention of both of you. You unload everything and dump it onto the folding table, a sigh slipping out of your mouth. 

Silently, Jeno offers to help you fold. You two split the pile of clothes in half and get to work, an awful Imagine Dragons song filling the silence. 

The entire situation isn’t quite ideal. The music is bad, the laundromat’s a little too cold, and you’d very much rather spend your time doing something else like ordering food and picking a thriller movie or challenging your roommate to a game of zombie COD. 

But that’s what life is all about, isn’t it? Doing mundane and annoying things with someone that you care about. Folding your laundry with Jeno right next to you, tackling the boring tasks in life with someone by your side. He didn’t have to come help you, but perhaps he offered because he didn’t want you to suffer by your pile of clothing alone. Yeah, that’s what it’s all about. 

It’s a little domestic. Okay, it’s painfully domestic. Everything about Jeno is- you live with him, for heaven’s sake. It’s an entire domestic fantasy playing out right before your eyes. 

At this point, you’re folding all your clothes on autopilot and you don’t even realize that the both of you are done with your piles. Jeno places every article neatly in your big drawstring bag, keeping it tidy before pulling at the string. He keeps it in his arms as he guides the both of you out to his car. 

“Let’s pick up some food, yeah? And search up some good thrillers in the car?”

Upsettingly domestic. 

When something, anything, occurs in Jeno’s life that requires him to tell another person so that he can get it off his chest, you are the first person to come to mind. How can he not think about you, when you’re the first face he sees in the morning? The one he makes dinner with, the one he discusses the houseplants with, the one he has to watch get ready in the bathroom, toothbrush in your hand as you sloppily call out to him to please remember to take out the trash. 

The two of you share a life together, you share practically everything together. Your living space, tidbits of your interactions with others, news that’s spreading around the city; your unmasked heart and soul shines through every single day. It’s so candid it could almost be romantic, yet it’s anything but that. 

Well, sometimes… 

No, Jeno doesn’t go there. But he can’t help but think… 

When something happens, you’re the person he wants to tell. The most basic and foundational characteristic of love. Sharing. It transcends the physical- of course, you do find yourselves splitting dinners and breaking the last cookie in half so that the both of you can enjoy. But it’s more than that, now. You and him break apart your own beings so that the other can understand, listen, and console. It’s love, he thinks. 

Platonic love, he quickly corrects. 

He’s been so busy thinking about it that he’s barely realized he’s been staring at the one piece of paint that’s chipping off the wall for too long. The sound of the shower water hitting the tub brings him back, and he looks to the closed bathroom door. 

He rushes to it, knuckles knocking on the wood. “Can I come in?” 

“Huh?” You practically holler. He laughs to himself, imagining your confused, scrunched up face. 

“Can I come in?” 

“Oh, yeah. Be quick because all the cold air gets in!” 

So he does just that, opening the door just a crack and trying to squeeze in his muscular form so that the air doesn’t rush in.

Jeno closes the door and leans against the bathroom counter, all the heat from the shower coddling him close. It could almost make him sleepy. 

“Taeyong wants to promote me.” 

“Huh?” You call, hands freezing in your hair as you wash it. “Are you serious? To what?” 

“Assistant Manager.” 

“Assistant Manager? Are you gonna take it?” 

“I don’t know, it’s just… I’m kind of nervous.” 

A beat of silence. He calls out your name. 

“Yeah, sorry. My face was in the water. Anyway, why? Scared an old geezer is gonna chew you out for the ‘new generation’s music’?’

He laughs. You’re lucky enough to hear it over the water. 

“It’s just a lot of responsibility, you know? Like, I’m so used to just doing what I’m told but now, it’s like, I gotta be in charge and tell the employees to get off their phones when they're on the clock. It’s betrayal, you know? How can I look Jisung in the eye and tell him that this is his first warning? I can’t do that.” 

You shut your eyes and try to stifle a laugh. It’s a laugh of endearment, though. Jeno cares so much about the people around him- even if it’s his younger coworker who works part time at the record store and barely even sees him more than three times a week. 

You shut the water off, voice clear. “Jeno. You worry a lot.” You pull back the shower curtain just a little to peek out, “Can you hand me my towel?”

He obeys, holding out the towel to the edge of the shower with his eyes closed. As soon as he feels it slip past his fingers and the sound of the shower curtain rings clink together, he opens his eyes. You’re still behind the curtain, drying off. 

“I think you should go for it. You’ll get more experience. Plus, from what you’ve told me, the record shop isn’t crazy unmanageable and unorganized. And,” You add, dragging out the ‘a’, “You’ll get a raise.” 

You’re right, he thinks, tilting his head and staring off. The shop is pretty calm, the customers are mostly older regulars and the occasional teenager in search of a Harry Styles vinyl. Plus, a raise would be nice. Really nice. 

“Did you tell Mark and Jaemin? What did they say?” 

Jeno hesitates. No, he hasn’t told them yet. You’re always the first person he wants to tell. 

“No,” He starts, honest. “I was gonna tell them right now, but I wanted to tell you first. I think I’ll follow your advice anyway.” 

Your heart stops in your chest. God, that made you feel so special. You’re at a loss for words before you feel the water drip from your hair down your back. 

“Good. Now step out ‘cuz I gotta dry off.” 

He smiles and follows your every word. He remembers not to let the cold air in, too. 

Jeno is your roommate. He is also your friend, a companion, a confidant. He’s nothing more, nothing less. 

People have eyes. They’re allowed to look. In fact, it is their god given right to let their eyes linger a little longer on someone as attractive as Lee Jeno. 

Why are you so upset? You can’t just shield him, carry a curtain around and charge a fee for people to look his way. He’s a free man. A free, good looking man. 

This party was a mistake. Watching Jeno be tonight's entertainer has planted a seed of bitterness and disappointment in your stomach that you have never felt. The bitterness is towards the situation- you’re not sure if you’re disappointed in yourself for feeling this way or for how the universe has laid out the cards. You long for something to happen. You wickedly hope for that girl to spill her drink on herself and be forced to walk away. You wickedly hope for Jeno to come to his senses and ask you if you wanna go back home and crush some random 12 year old in a shooter game. 

Come to his senses? What are you, his mentor? God forbid the man has fun for one night. He’s not even doing anything that bad. Just dancing with some girl you have never seen before, lifting his hand and caressing her jaw. He’s so unbelievable and so, so, so horrible when he gently tucks her hair behind her ear. You want to vomit. 

“You okay?” Jaemin asks, making you jump as he slips into the spot right next to you. He’s got a red cup in his hand and you hold back from snatching it and downing whatever the fuck is in it. 

“Hm? Oh, yeah. I’m kind of proud, actually. I’ve never seen Jeno interact with a woman before. Not like this, at least. I always thought he’d bring girls home every night, yet he never does.” 

Jaemin’s eyes flash with something like confusion, tenderness, sorrow. You don’t see it though, busy focused on the way Jeno leans into her and talks gently by her ear. She’s giggling and sliding her hand up his chest. You’re positive she can smell the cologne you helped him pick out earlier. 

“He’s just being courteous of you.” 

“I guess,” You say with a lazy shrug. Deep down you know you’re only trying to convince yourself that you see him and support him as a friend; strictly a friend. And you seem to play that part pretty well, because Jaemin does not question you at all. 

“I think I’m gonna head home,” You start, checking the time on your phone. Jaemin whips his head to look back at you, “Tapping out already?” 

“Yeah. I don’t really know anyone here, only came because Jeno invited me. Plus, he recently bought some new maps in COD, so, I think I wanna try those out.” 

“You sure? I think I could introduce you to someone, help you get that midterm stress off your mind.” 

You practically snort at his offer. He’s considerate, you think, but you cannot betray your own feelings. You’d be a fool to try and trick yourself into thinking a fling with some rando will make you feel better. 

Well… you’re still a fool. Yearning from afar, not doing anything about it. 

“Nah, I’m okay. Thank you, Jaem. Get home safe, okay?” 

He nods and the two of you part ways. 

You find yourself in an uber, shooting Jeno a text that says hey, i really wanna play COD so im heading home early. please be safe lol. :_)

You’re dropped off and you walk up to your apartment, trying your hardest not to wallow in your own feelings. You head straight to the bathroom to remove all your makeup and get ready for bed before pulling yourself up the stairs. 

Your mattress awaits you like it’s got its arms open. Cozy, warm, solid enough for you to cry into. 

Your home feels your pain. It’s like everything looks a little bit darker, the cream white walls seeming to be gray, the little light fixtures and hardware looking like frowny faces. The walls absorb all your feelings, reeking of longing and hope and something else that is usually paired with those two feelings. Something so captivating and large, dark and light, something so scary yet you just have to have faith in it. Something that you would rather die than confess to yourself. 

So it sits, pent up in the walls of your home. It haunts you. This stupid apartment haunts you, traces of the life you live with Jeno everywhere. You can’t hide. You can’t run to the other side of the hallway and lock yourself in the room in the very back- it’s not there. Your life and your feelings are right in front of your face, everywhere you turn, everything you touch. It stings, it burns, and god, this home will kill you. Your close and unavoidable proximity with Jeno will kill you. 

You’re so busy moping that you almost miss the sound of the door opening. It’s quiet, slow, and you bet to yourself that Jeno is trying his hardest to be kind, to not wake you up. 

You’re scared that you’ll hear the giggle of the girl, but it never comes. Just Jeno making his way around the shoebox, using the flashlight on his phone to light the way instead of switching the lights on so that he doesn’t disturb you. Curse that stupid boy. 

Jeno shuts the door to the bathroom and turns on the shower. The sound is so calming that it lulls you to sleep. 

He lets the warm water caress at his back, lets it help him relax. He replays every single thing that happened at the party. 

He regrets leaving you alone. In the back of his mind, he knew Mark and Jaemin would take good care of you, but shouldn’t he be doing that? Taking care of you. 

He’s not obligated to, of course, and he knows that if he ever mentioned that to you, you’d snicker in his face and tell him to shuddup and let loose. But he can’t. He tried and didn’t even get that far. 

Jeno got into the bedroom and onto the bed with that girl, his body slowly pushing against hers so that she could lay down. The top few buttons of his black shirt were already popped open and his mind was so foggy he almost didn’t hear his phone buzzing in his pocket. 

He felt bad, but he knew he would’ve hated himself even more if he ignored it, so he had pulled back and checked the screen. In his heart, he knew it was you. 

Luckily, you hadn’t seemed upset, but it was like guilt took him hostage as he realized you left the party without him. You got home without him, and you spent the night alone. Jeno suddenly felt so upset and so… gross. Grossed out with himself. He tossed you to the side just like that. And for what? A fling that wouldn’t fulfill his heart like you do? Yeah, no. 

“I’m sorry,” He starts, looking from his screen to the girl’s face. She’s got a look that tells him she already knows what's coming. 

“Is everything okay?”

“Um, yeah,” He says automatically, then falls quiet for a beat. “Well, kind of. I have to go.” 

“It's okay,” She says gently, and it hurts even more because she's genuinely nice about it. “Get home safely. I hope everything’s alright.”

So now Jeno’s home but he’s a little too late. You’re already tucked away in bed and he wishes he would've just come back with you, play a few games and then crash. It's odd not to hear you tell him goodnight; it's become like a ritual between you two. Some nights the two of you stick together like packed sardines in the bathroom, brushing your teeth and poking fun at one another with a quiet and subtle joy in your hearts. 

Jeno’s finishes showering by the time he’s done thinking over all the details. He dries off fast, feeling slightly uncomfortable and alone. Every space in the apartment is so silent that it’s unnerving. 

Before Jeno slips past the curtain to get to his bed, he stands at the foot of the stairs, making out the shape of your sleeping form, face smushed directly in your pillow. The sight is so you that he cannot help but chuckle quietly to himself. 

He sees you there, at the top of the stairs, and for a second it feels like you're waiting for him there. Patient and resting as he navigates through how he feels before making his descent upwards. 

Quickly, he realizes he's too sleepy to be plaguing himself with these thoughts. Jeno pulls back the curtain and sinks into his bed, subconsciously falling in a position that would fit against your body so perfectly if the two of you shared a sleeping space. You feel so close and so far from him. It's the last thing he thinks about before he falls asleep. 

How do you tell someone that you want them without actually telling them? 

Your relationship with Jeno is built on something so fragile that he’s afraid to mess up, trip and let the glass shatter. You’re friends– real close friends, if he thinks about it. You share a home together that’s small enough to make him think that it certainly violates a number of human rights. You cannot go a day without seeing or speaking to each other. 

It's so sour and it's so, so sweet. Spending everyday together, reading each other, communicating in small ways that mean the most– his heart swells and gets clogged in his throat. He’s so close to you it's like your fingertips are brushing against his as you sit on opposite sides of the couch. And, if all goes well, he could unabashedly take your hand in his and spread kisses on the back of it. Even better, he could pull you right into his lap and smush at your face, kiss you there too. So many possibilities… 

Along with those possibilities comes the ones that are on the other end of the scale. He could open up (more than he already has) about his feelings and unintentionally make you uncomfortable. Oh, he would hate himself if you felt uncomfortable in your own home. Then it would really be bad, because you'd both need time and space but you practically share a goddamn bunk bed and a kitchen that feels like a toddler’s first real-life toy. It pains him more to think that you'd be unhappy than how he would feel to be rejected. 

Instead, Jeno’s feelings manifest into actions and touch. When you get up from putting on your shoes and your hair's a little astray, he’ll reach over and fix it for you, keeping his touch light and gentle. He insists on helping you button up your coats and tying a bow on the back of your dresses. When he sees that you’re especially tired, he’ll wash all the dishes even though it was your turn. Sometimes, when the apartment feels especially warm and the lighting is cozy and you feel so lethargic yet blissfully happy, you’ll tell him about your day with his thumb caressing your cheek. And sometimes, you’ll lean into the palm of his hand and he’ll keep you still. 

It’s not until the day where he finds you knocked out on the couch that you slip up. He had come home late from work, the shop buzzing with people looking for a Christmas gift for that one vinyl collector of a friend. He had told you he’d be late, but you thought you’d still have enough energy to stay up and wait for him so that the two of you could eat dinner and call it a night. 

Unfortunately, you did not have the energy. Finals had been consuming your life and now that it was finally over, you ended up knocking out on the couch like a baby, leaving the lights on and everything. Jeno smiled softly at your sleeping form, a familiar type of warmth crawling into his heart and nestling inside it. He quietly slipped off his shoes and made his way straight toward you, calling your name softly as a test. 

You didn’t wake at all. You were gone. 

It kind of makes him laugh; a laugh of adoration, not amusement. It’s one of those things that’s a little funny in its own way. 

It happens, he supposes, when your heart and life is so full of love that it has to escape somehow. In touch, in kisses, in laughter. 

For you, it escapes loud and clear- verbally. 

After Jeno decides to take a risk and lift you into his arms, you automatically curl into him, trusting him even in the depths of your sleep. He’s slow to walk up the stairs, careful to not let your head hit the wall as he makes his way upward. 

And it’s when he lays you down on your mattress tenderly, hands lightly pushing away all the hairs that fell onto your face, that you stir just a little bit. 

“Goodnight,” He whispers to you, using his body to block out the light he hadn’t turned off. A dopey little smile creeps onto your face. You’re euphorically sleepy, the feeling of slipping in and out of it feels so good. 

“Thank you,” You rasp a little, turning over. “Love you.”

Then you’re gone again, and Jeno is frozen in place at the top of the stairs, shoulders stiffening as the words swirl around in his head. 

Firstly, he’s upset he didn’t get to say it back. But the disappointment washes away quickly and he’s overcome with joy, practically buzzing as he descends down the steps to shut off all the lights and get ready for bed. He’s got a stupid smile on his face that he can’t even put away as he brushes his teeth, and if any medical professional were to see him right now, he’s surely be diagnosed with lovesickness. 

He whimsies all the way to his room, pulling back the curtain and plopping down on his bed like it’s a cloud and he’s in heaven. He falls asleep thinking of all the ways to say I love you. 

Winter break is lovely. It’s an abundance of warm drinks, wooly socks, sleeping in, and having an excuse to wear corny pajama sets. Your heart is at ease and the cold weather feels so nice when it bites at your cheeks- especially when you feel yourself grow a little warm around Jeno. 

For Jeno, it’s even better because there are a plethora of Christmas parties. 

And, usually, there’s mistletoe. 

“Alright, don’t get too excited. Close your eyes!” 

He obeys, shutting them and even bringing up his hands in front of his face so that you don’t think he’s pulling any tricks. 

You’ve got him sitting on the couch in anticipation as you dig through your shopping bags to find what’s so important. After a few moments of rustling and humming under your breath, he hears you sigh in relief. 

You hold up two sweaters in front of you, side to side. One is clearly bigger than the other. They’re thrifted and it’s very obvious that they were previously owned by elderly people; maybe they scream vintage a little too much, earth toned with eye-catching patterns like stripes and triangles running across the entire sweater. They’re only a little bit outdated, but painfully cute, and perfect for the season. 

“Okay. Open!” 

Jeno lays his eyes upon the sweaters and immediately breaks out into a smile, eyes forming crescents. Really, he doesn’t even look at them for long. His gaze lands directly on you. 

“You like ‘em?” 

“Very much,” He affirms, with his eyes still set on you. He’s not really talking about the sweaters. 

“Good! We’re wearing them at Hyuck’s party this weekend.” 

So the two of you wear the matching sweaters to Donghyuck’s party. When the both of you step in, Jaemin automatically makes a face at Jeno, an expression that silently screams Finally? but Jeno shakes his head. He doesn’t look solemn, though. In fact, his eyes are hopeful and bright as he nods his head at everything you say. 

He doesn’t budge from your side, either. 

(He wants everyone to see that you’re matching). 

It pays off because Renjun tells you both that you look like an elderly couple, to which he quickly corrects himself and says ‘duo’ instead. It’s kind of embarrassing with the way that he rushes off after, face a little red. You’re not sure if it’s because of the fact that he’s tipsy or because he’s worried he’s crossed a boundary. If anything, his comment makes you have to hold back a smile, and from the corner of your eye, you see Jeno biting at his cheek too. 

Renjun’s flushed cheeks inspire you. “You want anything to drink?” 

Jeno contemplates for a second before shaking his head, “Nah. I’ll drive us back home.” 

But he follows you to the kitchen anyways, where it’s quieter because everyone is in the living room talking over Jingle Bell Rock. You swear you can hear Donghyuck break into laughter at some point; you can already envision his happy little glowing face nuzzling up to Mark. 

Jeno leans against the doorway to the kitchen, fingers playing with the edges of his sweater as he observes you moving around to get yourself a drink. He’s thinking about a hundred things at once, and somehow, you both calm and excite him. 

You approach him, steadily holding your glass so that nothing sloshes over and spills. “You wanna try? Just a sip.”

He nods and takes it from your hand, bringing it up to his lips for a second before he evaluates the taste. You wait expectantly, and then Jeno gives you a solid nod before looking back over his shoulder and extending his arm to place your glass on the counter. When he turns back around, his hand comes up to gently rest on your arm. He very, very carefully pulls you closer. It’s gentle, slow, and so subtle you almost don’t even realize the proximity between you two getting smaller and smaller by the centimeter. “It’s pretty good.” 

“Just pretty good?” 

“Yeah,” He replies, tone so soft and far away that you immediately realize he doesn’t really care about the drink all that much. And then you realize that he’s got these beseeching love-me eyes that make your heart twist in such a pleasant way that you know you can’t escape. 

You can’t go back to how it was before. You’ll never be your old self, coexisting with Jeno in your tiny home with no care or feeling in the world towards him. You can’t go back to the days of trying to sneak past him, trying to go through the days without making eye contact and conversation. You won’t even be able to go back to the days where you merely saw him as a friend, a casual buddy that you’re glad you have a good dynamic with because you happen to share a home together. You can’t ignore how you feel, what you feel. It’s so heavy and it lingers in the air between you two now. You wouldn’t have it any other way. 

“Look,” He nearly whispers, gesturing towards the ceiling with his chin. 

Mistletoe hangs at the doorway, green and white with a red ribbon adorning the stems. It’s so predictable and awful and overall so corny that you can’t help but laugh. Your tongue pokes at your cheek as your eyes trail from the plant back down to Jeno, who looks at you expectantly. He’s mindful enough to leave enough space for you to make a getaway if you want to. 

“Well,” You start, though it sounds more like a question, prompting Jeno to lean into you. 

He dips down and slots his lips against yours, pulling a wanton sigh out from you. You’re quick to have your hands on him, fingers tightening around the fabric of his sweater and you swear you can feel him smiling within the kiss. It’s almost enough to make you pull back so you can see the look on his face, but he holds you in place, fingers softly trailing through your hair. He hums contently, the deep sound of it making the tips of your ears warm. 

Your hands travel, sliding up his chest, and the two of you break apart before you end up devouring one another at the doorway of Donghyuck’s kitchen. 

Jeno smiles down at you as I’ll Be Home For Christmas starts playing. 

You’re a little nervous, the fear that comes with love pestering you at the back of your mind. You’re scared this’ll be a big unspeakable thing, a thing you’ll have to avoid in the house with Jeno. A thing that’ll never happen again, a thing to blame on the tiny sip of the drink he had and the consequences of spotting mistletoe. 

But Jeno’s eyes ask you to trust him, that he wants this just as much as you do. Perhaps this can be a reoccurring thing, except you don’t need mistletoe or drinks. You can do this in the comfort of your own home, when he gets home from work, after you both finish brushing your teeth, when you’re both making breakfast, or maybe in bed right after you wake up. 

You dive in again, hands sliding farther up till your fingers tousle through his hair, thumbs brushing against his ears. It tickles him a little, body reacting and caving into you a bit more, his hands cupping your cheeks. You tip your head back just the slightest and he follows, looming over you. He looms over you in a way that is so warm and loving and consuming - I’m here, I’m here, I’m here. 

Yes, he’s here. Holding you tenderly, your bodies shaped so nicely against one another at last. You’re no longer sitting on opposite ends of the couch, looking at each other from the top and bottom of the stairs, eyes lingering as soon as someone turns away. He’s touching you, and this time you don’t have to shy away or cough and he doesn’t have to play it off as a mistake, a mindless brush of skin that doesn’t mean anything. No, it means everything now. 

[dmercer91]

ik you just put out be alright with luca- and this idea is kinda similar

but a hughes sister who’s going to be a freshman this year, and she’s feeling lost because all her brothers are scattered. like luke had her at home, but she doesn’t have anybody

my brother wouldn’t admit it until the grave but if i left he’d be sad

i feel like jack, luke and quinn probably kept how much they missed each other pent up and figured reader would do the same and were not expecting how hard it hit her

cause she’s even more alone than they were, and it’s not like it’s her job like it was for j,

home, 4386

“hey, y/n/n! how was your first week? know it’s been busy for me but i miss-“

“lukey,” you sobbed into the phone, hyperventilating and hardly being able to see anything

luke’s eyebrows furrowed on the other side of the phone, stomach dropping with worry.

“y/n? where’s mark, or dyl. anyone home?” you’d grown particularly attached to mark during his and luke’s freshman year, so during the summer it was decided that you’d get mackies old room in the house so that he could watch over you

quinn had lectured him, jack followed his behaviour all summer, corrected things he didn’t like, and luke dug into him for two straight years about how he’d entrusted him with you whenever one of he or one of his brothers weren’t around

“i don’t understand how you all did it,” you blurted, ignoring his question and taking a deep breath, jaw hurting from how hard you’d been clenching it

“are you at home, are you safe?” it was jack, sounding alarmed

“yeah, rowdy,” you whispered, being able to have both of them bringing you a little comfort. you tried to take a few more deep breaths, but it was like your throat was closing

“where are the guys?” luke cut in, restating his earlier question

“i took- i took a bus, to the lake house. i’m sorry, i-. m’ sorry, i needed home, but it’s not.. not home, you’re home,” jack and luke shared a look, concerned for their youngest sister

“miss you so much. how did you- how?? i feel like i’m a chore to the guys, i don’t have anyone, i need you,” they could hardly understand you, your low tone and cries muffling your words nearly beyond comprehension

the boys couldn’t truly answer the question. jack had never been at school. his rookie year was tough, but he wasn’t balancing class, and you and luke were always visiting

on top of that, he’d been anticipating it since he was young

luke had you. you were in michigan with him for the majority of the time, at a nearby high school.

you had hockey, on top of class, and none of them were nearby. visits would probably be limited, cause the all star break was hardly a break for them.

it wasn’t like last season, when you could fly up with luke every once in a while to spend the night and soak up time with jack.

quinn had been calling you every day, notably your most protective brother. you didn’t want to make him feel like his efforts were for nothing, so you didn’t tell him how you were feeling.

“i can barely skate, i’m not producing, i got a d on an assignment from history of mich sports. i’m falling apart without you,” you rushed out, sniffling harshly to try and clear your airways

“i’m so lost,” you finished, your head thudding against the wall you’d been leaning on.

“it’s gonna be okay, y/n/n. i’m gonna call mark, yeah? he’s like a fourth older brother, he’s got you. he’ll come pick you up and j and i are gonna call you every night. quinny can join too, we’ll facetime. he’ll see you next week when he’s in detroit, and the devs will be over there in no time, i promise,” luke soothed, jack silently agreeing

“ok?” you wiped your face, breathing still uneven

“ok,” you whispered,

“i love you, y/n/n.”

“i love you too, moose. n’ i love you, j,”

“love you, mini, get some rest on the way home for me, and call mamma, alright?” you smiled at the nickname, one he’d given you when you guys grew into your playing styles and he deemed you a copycat

you mumbled a promise into the phone and let them hang up, hugging your knees to your chest.

[halfmoondaze]

That’s amazing I’m proud of you 💗

I’m the same anon talking about how stressed I am about my tough situation. Right now, I’m trying to be patient with myself and be hopeful about things

Tomorrow Will Be Kinder

Y/n walked through the front door of their shared apartment. She didn’t want to admit it to herself but she was going through it.

For the past couple of days, she had been working on this group project. Everything was running smoothly at first, communication was going smoothly and everyone had agreed to do their part. And in hopes of being able to get it out of the way, managed to complete her part in three days. 

Having less than two weeks until finals week, she moved on to do her finals for her other classes. 

But then she started worrying the next day, after no one responded to her on the group chat, when she asked how the work was going. Things only got worse from there, because after the chat was crickets even after Y/N finished her Human Anatomy class, her efforts to text and call each individual of the group separately, she realized it was no use as no one was answering her calls and ignoring her messages even though they were on read.

The following day was no different, and she found herself starting to spiral, at least on the inside. She had no choice but to pull as many all-nighters as needed to finish completing the group project and the rest of her final projects.

Jack on the other hand, was worried for her. He could tell something was bothering her by how all the sudden she had stopped talking to him unless it was to acknowledge his presence with the occasional “Hi”, “Hey” or “Good morning”. 

One night, Jack got home from the studio. It was around 11:45, and the only light that was still on, was coming from Y/N’s home office. 

Jack quietly opened the door and was met by Y/N’s intense angry glare at him. 

“Hey-”

“No!” she looked down at him. 

Jack turned to look down and realized there was a pile of written papers scattered across the floor and he had accidently stepped on one of them.

“I’m sorry, I-”

“It’s fine.” She said coldly taking the paper from his hand and just carried on working on her project like if nothing happened. 

“I just wanted to see how you were doing” 

“Better than ever” she responded unenthusiastically. 

“Did you eat today?” 

“What?” she turned to him. 

“I asked you if you ate today” 

“Can we not do this right now? I still have so much to get done” She dismissed him and put her focus back on her project.

“I know. I’m sorry” he scratches the back of his head finding the right words. “I’m just worried that……. you’re wearing yourself out. You should take a break” 

“No, I can’t do that. I need to get this done” 

“Y/N” 

“You don’t understand. I’m already behind on a lot of my classes” 

“It’s not up for discussion baby” 

“For fucks sake! Can you get off my ass for two fucking seconds?!” she spat fire from her mouth as she glared at him. 

Jack was taken back but remained calm and unbothered. 

Then she turned away and remained in the same spot, with her back towards Jack. 

Jack pulled her into a hug and she broke crying into him arms. 

“Shhh shhh its ok” he held her and rubbed her back.

It was like all the stress she had accumulated for the past weeks hit her like a truck.

“I’m so sorry” she said with her voice muffled.

“Don’t mention it” he kissed the top of her head.

Eventually, she calmed down and stopped crying. 

“You ok?” he looked at her.

She nodded.

“You want to talk about it?” 

“No” she softly said. 

“Ok. I’m going to run you a bath and then I’m going to order some takeout” he said wiping away her tears. “Does Chinese sound good?”

“Yeah” she softly said. 

“Ok” 

Jack ran her a bath with her favorite body wash and ordered her favorite from their local Chinese restaurant. By the time she exited the bathroom, Jack had laid her favorite sweatpants and one of his oversized t-shirts on the bed for her to get changed.

When she got to the dining room, the food was already served. 

Y/N quietly took a seat. 

“Feeling better?” 

“Yeah, thanks” 

He smiled at her. 

“Got your favorite” 

“Jack” 

“Yes?” 

“I’m sorry….for snapping at you” she said looking down.

Jack gently squeezed her hand.

“Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you?”

Y/n hesitated, but ultimately told him everything. 

“I’m so sorry” he paused. “Can you still drop the classes?”

“I can’t. Finals week is just around the corner”

“I understand” he paused. “Maybe we could get you a tutor, so you can manage the workload” 

“A tutor?”

“Yeah. I would tell you to drop the semester, but I suppose it’s too late for that now. But I also wouldn’t want you to see all your efforts and hard work to waste just because some morons didn’t want to put in the effort” 

“Thank you” she was relieved. 

“It’s ok”

“No seriously. You’ve been so kind and helpful to me. And I’ve been nothing but-”

“Great. You’ve been great. You’re just going through a lot right now, and I understand that. Yeah, I was taken back by your reaction. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you angry” he let a small laugh. “But I won’t hold it against you. I just wanna help you”

Y/n got up from her seat, walked over to Jack and hugged him. 

Jack hugged her back. 

“I love you so much” she whispered. 

Jack smiled to himself.

“I love you too bubs” 

Y/N pulled away and smiled at him.

“….but I think I’ll love you even more if you eat” he pointed at her untouched plate of food.

Y/N smiled at him.

That night, Y/N relaxed for once, knowing that with Jack’s help, she would find her way out of this problem. Today was a bad day but tomorrow will be kinder.

[p0mko100]

gamer boy rambles - feat. jjk men

w/c: 2k

synopsis : how it would be like if you were partners with the jjk men as gamers

info : includes (in order) - megumi, yuuji, inumaki, gojo and geto, fluff, ramble, gamer au, nb!reader

other : im so happy you all enjoyed my last fic so much!! i didn't expect it to get that much traction especially being a new writer and all, but i just got lucky i guess :D this ones super sweet and i hope you all enjoy :)

fushiguro megumi

synopsis : you and megumi live together in a city apartment and one night you find him on his PC, unable to shake off this restless feeling.

Your eyes flutter open to Megumi at his desk, headset on but scrolling on his phone. Your shared apartment feels more like a long-time home whenever it's the quiet nights like this. His sleepless eyes and rough bed hair still look flawless no matter how effortless it is. The light of his monitor reflects on his eyes and when the contrasting "Match Found!" graphics are flashing on the screen, his whole posture straightens in concentration. Kicking off the comforter and gently placing your plushie beside you, the whiplash of sitting up too fast kicks in. You make your way sluggishly to the bottom of the bed, closer behind the brightly lit corner of the room. Lightly tapping Megumi on his arm, he turns to face your half-open eyes with his sleep deprived ones.

"Can't sleep, Gumi?" You mumble.

He shrugs and looks to the Totoro clock the two of you found thrifting a while back. He was always attentive and often surprised you with little trinkets he'd pick up on his way home. The clock was something special though. A memento of the day he asked you to come live with him. He bought it after you pointed it out, and on the walking trail you always take with him, he gifted it to you muttering, "This would look good in our house wouldn't it?". He'll never forget the way you looked that day, under the scattered sunlight and the hushed wind.

"You need to go back to bed, you've got an early lecture today."

You grumble at the mention of your class and crawl into Megumi's arms, sitting in his lap with your legs sprawled over his other arm. You give him a long, desperate kiss before your head lolls to rest on his shoulder. While you were sleeping, he makes sure not to move too much or too quick, even at the behest of his teammates. Your sleep was much too important to ruin over a virtual game.

itadori yuuji

synopsis : you are cooking food for yuuji as he's on his PC in the living room, playing with some friends.

The hiss of the oil hitting the pan sliced through the humid summer air. You were making some late night omurice for you and your fiancé, who was winding down after a long day at work. When he came home, it was like his face melted into a constant strained expression. He grumbled a bit before picking you up into his arms and squeezing you tight, his tense body finding every curve of your body. He'd go on to kiss you sloppily before exhaling his worries away.

"Tough day again?" You nuzzled your nose into his and a smile started to play against his mouth.

"The air conditioner stopped working and it was like living in the 9th circle of hell! I just wanted to go home to you as quick as I could..." He exhasperated and whined like a teenager, but he never really complains.

You make a quick pass his way to see him fully engrossed in his game. There are times you feel bad, seeing as he hasn't upgraded his computer since his highschool days. The back of the chair curves outwards from it's strain against the duct tape holding it together. That doesn't matter too much, because he's always leaning forward to vaguely resemble a taco and peer intently on his slanted monitor. You've asked and almost begged multiple times to get a better set up, but every time he refuses deeming the purchase to be unimportant if his current one works 'just fine'.

"OH YOU MOTHERFUCKER."

"NO WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT-"

"I've made a serious lapse in judgement-"

Incoherent babble comes spewing out of his mouth but you pay little to no mind. It's comforting to know that you and him have come so far. The remnants of nervousness or hesitation to say anything had passed long ago, and suddenly you're planning a wedding. There's nothing quite like being in love with Yuuji. His love is like a storm and yet you remain untouched from the ruthless nature.

You call out his name and he immediately closes his game to come and help you with setting up the dinner table. He always litters your face with little quick pecks of appreciation beforehand though.

toge inumaki

synopsis : you and inumaki have just started going on dates after being mutual friends and he's showing off his room to you for the first time.

Chills creep against your back while Inumaki opens his room door for the first time. What if he has something weird? You were antsy to see what his place looked like; for him to share something so sacred and special to him was unusual but you wanted to know him on a deeper level. Before coming to his place, he asked if you could wait outside for him at a GameStop and you, of course, obliged.

When the door eases open, you finally get to see his room for the first time. He was always a secretive person, keeping his space from your mutual friends. So, when he asked if you wanted to go back to his place to play some games, you were pleasantly surprised. His bed had a grey comforter and a cute little yellow plushie that sat in front of his pillows. This little ball of golden cuteness was spotted in various spots of his room - on top of his dresser, stickers on his PC, on his desk and even as little pencils.

You gaze in amazement, partially because of how cozy it all is, and how much this reveals about himself. Inumaki slides past you to place his new purchase amongst this collection of other mini yellow plushies that are all lined up on his dresser.

"This is adorable! I didn't know you liked collectibles so much Innie! Where is this little guy from?" You ask, encouraging him to open up to you. He gives you a suprised look, a smile curling at his lips.

"This is from this game I really like and it's like the little mascot of the game and it's like this little pet that follows you around and it's just so cute I named my one in the game Bloop and I gave him little armour so he wont get hurt and it's like one of my favourite games ever I love playing it so much I have like 200 hours on it..." Periodically he'd look into your eyes to check if you're listening and your attentiveness reaffirms his trust in you.

He gives a wry smile before coming over to the edge of his bed where you're sat. He's never been one to initiate much and even less to express his feelings through physical touch. But something clicked for him. Some kind of connection, a spark, that led his hand to hold yours. Slowly, you both find each other's lips and plant your first kiss together in his bedroom. That kiss was a small budding flower of the garden that will blossom between you two.

satoru gojo

synopsis : you and gojo are partnered to work on an assignment together, but he keeps getting distracted.

Tick, tick, tick.

You stare at the blank word document on your laptop, already tired just thinking about the work you have to do. Satoru, your group partner and boyfriend, was your last saving grace from completely zoning out of your professor's class. Outside this small cafe in the corner between the subway and your campus, the frosty snow continued to drop from the grey sky. It was around this time last year when you and Satoru got together.

--

"You know, being the loudest in the room doesn't mean you're always going to get your way."

You mumbled under your breath, annoyed at this white-haired man suddenly appearing and enamouring all of your friends. Admittedly, he was beautiful. He could do the things he does because of it, and you wanted to wipe his smug expression right off his face. His eyes looked misty under the flickering street lights of the car park, selfishly taking up all the brightness that the lamp had to offer. He was your textbook definition of perfect. Call it immature, but you just wanted to see him for who he really is.

His smile wavers when looking your way and when you shoot a look his way, he doesn't look away. When everyone decided to get drinks, you opted out to be able to drive your friends when they were ready and to wind down in your own way.

" 'Toru, you comin'?"

"Nah... I, uh, I think I'm going to the gym." The string of a lie was being spun between each charismatic word his lips let out. You walked towards your car when a firm hand is placed on your shoulder. When you spin around, rife with cold shock, you're met face to face with the perfect man himself. His cold gaze scanned you meticulously, only further deepening this sense of stillness. His lips part, hesitating to speak as if it took every ounce of his being to say something that he felt true in his soul.

"You see me, don't you?"

--

"You must really like my new hair down look, huh? Keep staring at me like I'm a God~" He teases with a coy tongue out, holding your hand from across the table. You pay no mind to the time that has passed and stare at his gentle hand over yours. Veins trail their path up his forearm and into his biceps, leaving beautiful lines in their way.

"I literally have no idea what to write I'm screwed..." You whine, slumping over your laptop. "Lemme see what you have down!" You decide and spin his laptop around.

Unsurprisingly, he has 3 tabs open on his screen. One is his work in the corner, another is a stream of his favourite e-sports player and another is a game of chess. Typical.

"Noo!! Give it baaaack you're gonna waste my move!" He winges and shakes your hand in a playfully aggressive way. He's never been one to focus, even on study dates like these. Working on a project with him was going to be harder than partnering with anyone else, but you wouldn’t want it any other way.

suguru geto

synopsis : geto is crying a bit over the ending of a game and you comfort him and end in cuddles.

Your voice bounces off the thin walls of your cottage home. You'd always dreamed of having a home with it's own personality, with this little building sitting on the edge of a megacity close to work. The little scuffs on the wall from all the nights wine drunk where Suguru had to carry you to the bedroom.

The silence wasn't all that concerning. Sometimes your husband was so engrossed in the things he was doing that he'd forget the time, simply existing within this concentrated flow state. You set your feet on the hardwood floor, wandering to the warmly lit living room. There, on the couch, sat your intensely focused husband, with a headset on and what looks like end credits rolling on your TV screen.

You place your hand on his shoulder and your heart completely sinks. His face is puffy and his cheeks are lightly stained with tears. It's rare to see him broken down to his core like this. From instinct, you pull him closer to your chest, stroking his hair softly and hushing his soft sobs.

"Love, it's okay. What's wrong?" You whisper into his forehead, kissing the top of his head.

"I finished that game I showed you and-," His sentence breaks with sniffles and cries, "and my family they- ... I got the bad ending and- and they died..." He finally finishes the string of words that seemed to catch in the middle of his throat.

"It's okay my love, it's okay..." You repeat in a voice that just barely reaches a whisper.

Suguru, your usually stoic partner, has his heart pouring into you. His love spills from the gaps between your hands and you can only hold so much of him at once. You feel him unravelling in your arms and you can only do so much as to caress the weight of his emotions away. Between the softness of your touch and your voice that seems to repeat the same sentiment to no avail, he holds you like you are a lighthouse to a sailor.

For a while, you two just stay there holding each other. When the sobs have quieted and the night starts to darken the evening light, you two are intertwined on the couch, revelling in the presence of each other. Moments like these are nothing short of the tranquility you've always yearned for.

a/n: hi!! this is sorta rushed and in the middle of it i started to feel a little insecure about my writing T_T i hope this still reads well and that you enjoy :)

cc: @p0mko100, please do not reupload or redistribute any of my work.

[hawkinsbnbg]

Steve's first thought when he discovered bisexuality wasn't "Oh, so there's a name for me, I'm not alone", it was "What a relief that I can still like girls" instead.

Don't get him wrong, he wasn't against being gay, it was just that girls were always an easier option for him.

He didn't need to pretend because he did like girls, like how soft and nice-smelling they were, like how they nestled in his arms and let him protect them.

But he also liked how tough and masculine-smelling boys were, like how they roughhoused and overpowered him whenever they wanted to.

He liked both and somehow, he was afraid ashamed to admit so.

Thus, while he would go out with girls and hook up with them, he would jerk off to photos of naked men on his phone when he was alone and fantasized about being pinned beneath them.

And yet, those masturbations remained as his guilty pleasure. A scandalous thing that was never allowed to see the sunlight.

Steve knew nothing was wrong with him liking boys, the world had started becoming kinder and more accepting.

But it was also difficult letting himself become the one thing that he had been taught was bad growing up.

His worldview didn't quite shatter when he first had a wet dream about one of the boys in his class, but it was a close thing.

It had made Steve dizzy and nauseous, causing him to almost have a panic attack when he thought it was over for him.

That was why he had spent his high school years sleeping around, hoping to cure himself.

It was until he met Robin that his eyes were opened.

Learning about bisexuality had finally set his mind at peace and he could never thank his best friend enough for saving him from his inner turmoil.

Still, Steve always had this secret fear that no one knew about, even Robin. But he had a suspicion that she already did and was just waiting for him to confide in her.

Thing was, Steve always wondered what he would do if the love of his life was a 'he' and not a 'she'.

Would he be brave enough to love 'him'? Or would he continue denying his feelings and stay single and unhappy for the rest of his life?

As Steve was still struggling with those questions, Eddie Munson had swept into his life like a storm.

The man took nobody's shit and was unapologetic when he told people his opinions.

He was weird and funny but also kind and a romantic at heart.

He always listened to Steve, took Steve seriously, and offered Steve comfort.

He made Steve laugh, made Steve forget all about the bad things, and made Steve float with happiness.

He was everything Steve could ever ask for in a partner.

Except, Eddie Munson was a 'he'.

And never once in his life Steve had wished to be a girl so bad.

Because if he was a girl, he could be together with Eddie without fearing his parents' disappointment or the pity and disdain people would throw his way once they knew he wasn't straight.

Nonetheless, all of that couldn't compare to his fear of losing Eddie.

Every day, the fear got worse until Steve just broke down and started bawling his eyes out in his bathroom at three in the morning because he missed Eddie so much.

After crying his heart out, he decided to just up and go to Eddie.

The older man had taken one look at him before carefully pulling him inside his apartment and wrapping him in his steady arms.

"Eddie," he sobbed, unable to keep his emotions at bay.

"I'm here, sweetheart," Eddie combed his hair gently and swayed them both slowly. "I'm here."

Everything kind of went hazy after that for Steve and when he woke up again, he found himself being tucked safely in Eddie's chest.

Somehow, the easy intimacy between them just broke something inside Steve.

He didn't know he was crying again until he heard Eddie's worried voice above him.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt somewhere, Steve?" Eddie had pulled back to get a better look at him.

"Nothing, I... I'm just scared," Steve sniffled.

"Oh," Eddie's face softened and the man started stroking his back soothingly. "What are you scared of, Stevie?"

"You," Steve admitted.

"Me?" Hurt flashed across Eddie's eyes.

"Yeah," Steve closed his eyes and dug the heel of his palm into his eyelid as he choked out. "I'm scared that I love you," his lips wobbled again, "So much, too much."

A tense silence blanketed them and Steve kept breathing shakily. He didn't dare to open his eyes not even when Eddie shifted and cradled his face softly.

"Me too," Eddie whispered. "I'm scared too."

That made Steve's eyes fly open in surprise, "Was that why you never said anything?"

"Yes and no," Eddie smiled sadly at him. "I'm always scared but never was I more scared of anything than losing you, sweetheart. I never said anything because I was afraid that I'd ruin our friendship with my stupid feelings."

"What should I do?" Steve leaned into the older man's touch and watched those dark eyes reflect his image. They were shining with many unsaid things and he wished he could keep them all to himself.

"I can't say anything for you, darlin'," Eddie caressed his cheek tenderly. "But we can be scared together if you accept me. Accept us."

Steve parted his lips to say it, but all the words just stuck in his throat and choked him with their thorns.

Eddie seemed to understand him nonetheless because the older man just gave him another sad smile before leaning closer until their lips met in a soft kiss.

"I love you," Steve murmured when they finally parted, his pointer finger tracing the line on Eddie's jaw.

"Love you too, my sweet boy," Eddie kissed his forehead and held him close again.

After that night, they had been inseparable. Despite their relationship staying secret, they had announced it to their close friends and Eddie's uncle.

Though the fear was still there and Steve might never be ready to accept himself, he felt better with Eddie by his side, always understanding and loving him unconditionally.

And Steve just knew he would be alright. They would be alright.

[pisshandkerchief]

When I got into Fall Out Boy on the tail end of last year I never imagined I'd be here. I remember learning all the lore and getting to know the band in the middle of the Stardust release cycle, feeling a little out of the loop, like I was late to the party (kind of like how I felt with MCR). but you guys have made me feel so welcomed and loved, even if I'm so much newer here than the rest of you. I'll never forget getting excited over every new song teaser, laughing and joking about every new music video and TikTok from the band, watching everyone be so supportive of Joe on his mental health break, being so happy when he felt good enough to come back. I'll never forget watching all the interviews, picking them apart with my mutuals, seeing first hand all the love and respect for each other the members of this band have. To get a little personal here, I was in a tough place in my life when Stardust was first announced. I was in my senior year of highschool, and for awhile I didn't have a phone, so I had to keep up with Tumblr at night, on a shitty old computer. At school I would listen to every song teaser in class and talk to some of my Tumblr friends on Google chat about it because it was my only option. I remember as soon as Stardust came out I downloaded it onto my old iPod and listened to it every night to fall asleep. It was so important to me to have this thing I could connect with people over. To witness this band who love each other so much, who pour that love out in every interview, who spread it to the world through the music they make, who are so open and honest about their mental health, who say that it's ok to feel despair, to be frustrated with the world, that sometimes life does feel meaningless, but you can find pleasure in the details, you can always pick yourself up and keep going, because there will always be people who want you whole: that meant the world to me. I bonded with one of my closest friends, Charlie, over Fall Out Boy. The first vinyl I ever bought was the gold special edition of So Much (For) Stardust. The first concert that I actually wanted to go to, that I chose for myself, was the Fall Out Boy show I went to with Charlie (this was also the first time I had the privilege of meeting an online friend in person. it's an experience I'll never forget, and one I hope I get to repeat).

This has gotten rambly, but what I'm trying to say is this: there is so much love in this community. Love for the band, love for the music, love for each other. I may not have been with Fall Out Boy for very long but I know this is going to stick with me. I feel so honored to be experiencing perhaps the best (and definitely the happiest) era of Fall Out Boy as it happens. I feel so honored to be experiencing it with all of you and I hope that we stay in touch. I don't have the words to describe how much this album, this tour, this band, has meant to me already. Thank you. All of you. Fall Out Boy forever 💜

[amazingmaeve]

learning to fight | prologue

daryl dixon x hannah rhee (oc)

series summary: hannah rhee never expected for the whole world to go to shit. i mean she was still learning in life she was still growing and trying to get through art school (something that it took years for her to decide to do), then the dead started to rise and hannah truly sees how hard she has to fight to survive. while trying to keep her little brother, glenn, and herself alive she comes across people that she will soon to see as her own family, one will worm it’s way into her fractured heart.

chapter summary: as hannah and glenn go about their normal lives, with him going to his job delivering pizzas and hannah going to college while working at a bar at night to help with bills and food. but as soon as the two meet up in their shared apartment everything goes to hell.

warnings: angst (also some fluff), gore, death (not reader), mentions of domestic violence (basically just them talking about it) canon typical violence, swearing, mentions of alcohol

word count: 3.8k

authors note: I’m so excited to write this and am so ready to write the rest of the series because I love this show! If anyone has any tips on writing Daryl and Ricks accents pls give some! Also if anyone wants to be tagged just comment it!

series masterlist

HANNAH RHEE let out an exasperated sigh as she entered the apartment she shared with her little brother, Glenn. This was just not her day, first she got to her classes late that day and then to top it off the project she did for this one class got a D. It was safe to say Hannah was almost at her wits end with college.

She couldn’t just drop out though, art was something she was really passionate about, plus it took some time for her to find out this was something she was really eager to do. Even though she was 29, that didn’t deter her from going to an art school. Even though her parents would argue that it wouldn’t make her much money in life, she always reassured them that she would be fine. She had everything under control.

But as it turns out she didn’t have everything under control, as school was kicking her in the ass. Maybe it was just a bad day that she had to get over. Reminding herself that it was a hot, horrible day doesn’t mean it has to stay like that.

Letting out a groan she dropped her bag on the couch, letting it fall next to Glenn who was just watching some T.V and looking at her with a concerned look on his face. He was worried, because Hannah never let anything get to her and if she was this frustrated something had to have happened. She never came to him with her problems because she never wanted to put pressure onto Glenn who would drop everything to help her.

“Hey what’s wrong,” Glenn questioned out of worry as he stood up and followed her to the tiny kitchen. She got out a cool water bottle and took a big gulp.

“Nothing just a bad day at school that’s all,” Hannah mumbled, picking at the water bottle wrapper. “Didn’t think that art school would be this tough to get through, but maybe it's a good thing to challenge me,” She commented.

“Well college is always going to be a tough thing, that’s why I never went, too much money wasted on school that would do nothing to actually help you later in life,” Glenn explained to Hannah who gave him a deadpanned look.

“Gee thanks for the vote of confidence Glenn,” Hannah sarcastically says, crossing her arms around her chest.

“Not that you won’t be successful, I mean I’ve seen the stuff you create and they’re amazing, I was just saying for me and most of the country,” Glenn stumbled out as he leaned against the kitchen counter.

“Don’t worry I get what you’re saying, I just can’t quit on this, this is something I have to do or I’m just going to be a failure at life,” Hannah says explaining her worries as her shoulders tense due to the stressful situation.

“Well hey you could be delivering pizzas to people who can’t even tip well,” Glenn gives her two thumbs up and she gives a small smile.

“Come on Glenn I know you’re going to achieve some great things in life, it may just take you some time to figure it out like I did,” Hannah tries to reassure him as she scratches at her arms.

“Let’s hope it’s sooner than later because I don’t wanna be 30 and still delivering pizzas, maybe I can be the manager,” Glenn jokes.

“Hey! I’m 29, not 30,” Hannah defends as she puts her hand up to her chest and feigns being offended.

“Literally the same thing,” Glenn laughs and Hannah lightly punches his arm.

“Ha, ha,” Hannah says with a wide grin on her face and she can’t help but feel the frustration leave her body as her and

Glenn joke around. He always knew how to help her feel better, even though he was younger than her, he always felt like the more mature one. “Don’t you have to go to said job soon,” She asks as she fans herself with a piece of paper that was on the counter.

“Hmm day off remember,” Glenn says, grabbing a can of coke out of the fridge.

“I have to go to the bar later tonight, I have the night shift today,” Hannah says as she walks to sit on the couch and opens a bag of chips and starts to indulge in eating.

“Oh I forgot to tell you, Will left you a message, asking where you were going to be tonight,” Glenn says as his tone turns to disgust.

“Ugh,” Hannah says, leaning her head on the back of the couch and staring at the ceiling. Anger starts to course through her body, but something else creeps in. Fear.

Will was her ex who she had an extremely toxic relationship with. It ranged from him cheating on her with his ex to arguments where he made her feel like shit which led to him shoving and hitting her on some occasions. Whenever that happened Hannah didn’t know what to feel, it just felt numb. She knows what she should feel though. Anger.

Hannah never thought she would be in an abusive relationship, she thought if it did though, she would defend herself or just pick up and leave him but unfortunately that didn’t happen. Everytime that happened, the next day he would be extremely sweet to her and would even get her gifts that he knew she would like.

Even though she knew she should be doing it, she went back to him.

Soon enough he kept making her feel like she deserved it, that she shouldn’t be making him angry and he wouldn’t have resorted to that. What’s worse than that, is that she believed it, she believed every word he said and felt like she deserved it.

Glenn, who had an inkling that this was happening, confronted her one night after she came home with a cut on her forehead and a bruised eye and lip. He needed to get her out of this relationship, to remind her that this asshole shouldn’t even be around anymore.

That night was filled with denial, tears, yelling and most of all, that numbness.

“You don’t deserve to be treated like this Han, this guy is manipulating you, look at you, this is not love,” Glenn says with desperation filing his voice.

“It wasn’t like that, it was an accident,” Hannah murmured as her lip began to quiver as tears filled her eyes. She kept her arms around her stomach as she looked at the ground.

“This wasn’t an accident! You don’t accidentally hit someone, when you’re angry, this was not an accident. An accident is breaking a glass and accidentally cutting yourself. None of this is an accident, it’s abuse,” Glenn says in disbelief as he stared at his older sister. His heart pounded in his chest. His sweet older sister, who helped him with anything going on in his life, his older sister who comforted him and bandaged him up after he fell off his bike, his older sister who let him cry against her shoulder after his first break up. He felt anger coursing through his veins at the thought of someone hurting Hannah, but now it's 10 times worse.

“Listen he loves me, he just-,” Hannah lets the words stumble out of her mouth with a quiver. But Glenn interrupted her.

“Hannah listen to me,” Glenn sternly says walking up to her and his touch much softer than his tone as he grabs her arm and lifts it up so she could see it. “This is not love. You don’t hurt people you love, you’re not supposed to fear the ones you love and you’re definitely not supposed to do this.” Glenn states as Hannah lets her eyes roam over her arm, which was covered in bruises, all in different colors, some that happened weeks ago.

Biting her lip, she closes her eyes as the tears finally begin to fall, Glenn brings her into his arms as she’s shaking and sobbing as the reality of her situation begins to become more and more clear to her. This was abuse. She was being abused.

“Let’s get you to the hospital,” Glenn whispers as he kisses her forehead.

Hannah would be forever grateful for what Glenn did for her. He stood by her side no matter what, helping her get out of this horrible mindset. Helping her when Will showed up to their apartment a few days later and Glenn just slammed the door in his face. This happened a few times more and with even threats of a restraining order he never stopped until Hannah actually had to get a restraining order against him

She was healing from this whole situation, but her days continued and she felt herself getting happier and happier. She had friends and a family who had been with her every step of the way. Glenn most of all.

“Isn’t this against the restraining order,” Hannah expressed as she took a drink of her water.

“I don’t know, I just told him to fuck off and never call again, or we’ll do something worse than a restraining order,” Glenn says with venom in his voice and Hannah nodded.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, because it's already been a huge headache, more will just be a full blown migraine,” Hannah grumbled.

Glenn nodded in agreement and took a sip of his coke as he looked up at the T.V. Hannah was about to ask him what he wanted from dinner when this loud alarm started to come from the T.V and she looked up and found that the show wasn’t airing anymore, it was the news, and there was a warning in capital letters at the bottom.

“What the hell,” Glenn whispered in confusion as they both stared at the television. Hannah's heart raced wondering what was going on and she shook her head and just watched the statement.

“This is not a drill. Everyone evacuate the state, grab the necessary items and get out of the state. The dead are rising. If you see anyone has been bitten or is dead run and don’t look back. This is not a drill. This is a serious situation, get out as fast as you can. Don’t try to talk to them, they will kill you or infect you. Please be safe and don’t forget-,” The newscaster stated but was cut off, as the T.V went to complete static.

Hannah and Glenn looked at each other in shock, and Hannah didn’t know if this was some cruel prank. What were they supposed to do if it wasn’t.

“I don’t understand what’s happening,” Hannah questioned, not to Glenn just thinking out loud.

“I don’t know, maybe we should try to get out of the state,” Glenn says as he stands up to go and look out of the window. Hannah watches as his posture goes stiff. “Hannah come here,” He says whispering.

Hannah rushes up to go and stand besides Glenn. She gasped when she saw people running out and around the dead walking after them. She saw one of them on the ground biting into a person's neck as they chewed through the flesh. She gulped as she shared a concerned look with Glenn.

“Pack your things, we have to get out of here before those things get to us,” Hannah orders him and he nods to go and pack a few things as Hannah was about to go to her own room but a scream came from out in the hall.

Biting her lip, she goes to the kitchen to grab a kitchen knife just in case. Looking through the peephole she couldn’t see anything and in the back of her mind she knew she was stupid to go out and look for the mysterious noise. But her decision making was blurred at the moment as the only thing in her head was keep Glenn safe.

Slowly opening the door she looked into the hall and towards the right and saw nothing and heard nothing but silence. Looking towards the left she saw one of those things kneeling down and eating one of her neighbors, Clarence. A deaf guy, who she’s had multiple conversations with and even learned sign language. A good guy who she’s helped with groceries multiple times. She gasped and put her hand on her mouth, so she couldn’t make much noise.

But it was too late. The thing lifted its head up as soon as the door opened. It looked disgusting, it was rotting and it didn’t even look like it was a human. It didn’t even have an arm. Once it heard her the thing got up and slowly started making its way towards her. It was growling from hunger as she stood in shock. This couldn’t be happening she thought as the thing limped its way over to her.

Once it reached her she finally snapped out of it, she pushed it away but it didn’t stop there and it made its way back towards her again. She raised the knife above her head and stuck it into it’s chest but it didn’t seem to matter to the thing. It just got back up. She whimpered as she stabbed it again and again but it didn’t seem to work. She tried to take off to the apartment but the thing grabbed her hair and pulled her back, she pushed it back again and fell to the ground and she was about to get up but it crawled on top of her. Hannah tried not to scream so she wouldn’t alert anymore of them but as it kept trying to bite and scratch she noticed she dropped her knife.

“Dammit,” Hannah cursed as its snapping teeth tried to bite any part of her. Fear was running through her body as the thing was trying to eat her.

Seeing the knife against the wall, she looked back at the thing and to the knife. Using one of her hands to keep the thing away from her, and using the other arm stretching it, she groaned and finally grasped the knife.

Grasping the knife tightly into her hand she reached up and stabbed it into the sides of its skull. She gasps as blood poured onto her face and the thing finally fell on top of her, seemingly finally dead.

Hannah groand out of disgust as she pushed it off her and took the knife out of its skull and even struggled with it. Before she could even calm down she heard groans coming from the stairs and stood up abruptly as she felt blood on her face and chest.

“Shit,” Hannah cursed quietly as she kept her knife in her hand. They definitely couldn’t make it out of the front of the building.

She rushed towards the door and deadbolt locked it and put the chain on even. Running towards the kitchen she grabbed one of the chairs and pushed it up against the door handle to make sure it would stick and stay put as long as it could. Putting her head against the door she could hear the dead moving. Pushing aside her fear she looked through the peephole and let out a gasp in horror as at least 20 of them walking down the hall.

Hannah leaned against the wall as she felt terror crawl its way up her body. Once she felt like she could stand, she did albeit a little shaky.

Putting the knife on the table she let out a shaky breath and tried to think back on what just happened. Running her fingers through her blood soaked hair, she took deep breaths in and out and finally calmed down. Well as calm as you can get.

“Hannah what happened,” Glenn says as he rushed out with a bag and looked at her in horror as he saw her face covered in the blood of the dead. Hannah put her finger to her lips and shushed him not wanting to alert anymore of them.

“We can’t get out through the front, so I went out to the hall and found one of those… things and killed it but I heard more, they were making their way up the stairs and I looked out the peephole and there were like 20 of them,” Hannah explained as her voice shaked alone with her hands. She didn’t know what to do.

“Okay. Okay.” Glenn repeated his words as fear dawned over him. Then an idea popped into his head. “The fire escaped,” He whispered. “We can try to make our way towards the car and get out of here,” He says.

“Great idea, let me just get a few things and we’ll be on our way,” Hannah says fastly and he nods and takes a seat on the arm of the couch trying to calm his nerves.

Slowly opening her bedroom door, so she wouldn't alert the dead. Rushing in once it was open she grabbed a bag and put a couple shirts, shorts, pants and a few dresses she loved. She knew it was a lot of clothes but at that moment she didn’t care. She was just rushing. Putting her sketchbook and pencils alongside her close, she also grabbed a few books and a flashlight just in case. Grabbing her jean jacket she tied it around her waist and was about to make her way out of the room when she noticed something in the corner of her room.

A bow and arrow. She remembers the day she got the thing, it was when she turned 18 and finally got her first paycheck and wanted to buy something cool. So when she saw a purple and black bow and some wooden arrows she got it.

Running towards it she grabbed it and put the thing that held the arrows around her shoulders and grasped the bow.

Making her way into the living room she grabbed the knife as well. Glenn gave her a look, similar to the one he had when they were joking in the kitchen.

“Why’d I know you were gonna grab that thing,” Glenn lets out a tiny chuckle.

“Oh come on I can finally put this thing to use,” Hannah joked and looked around for the keys. Hearing a jingle she looked up and saw that Glenn had them. “Thank god that almost gave me a heart attack,” she whispers.

“Come on let’s go,” Glenn whispered and they made their way towards the fire escape.

Climbing down the stairs, Hannah looked down and felt her stomach drop as she saw one of those things walking down besides the wall. Her and Glenn made their way towards the bottom of the stairs, where they only had to make a few steps down the ladder and a small jump.

“Let me do this, I already did this,” Hannah whispered to Glenn, not wanting him to get hurt. She needed to protect him no matter what.

“What! No,” Glenn exclaimed quietly, he didn’t want his older sister to die. Not after everything they went through together.

“Glenn, I’m doing this, I have to protect you just like you protected me against Will, so I’m doing this,” Hannah sternly says and moves down the ladder, putting an end to the conversation.

Once she dropped to the ground the thing turned around once it heard and started to lumber its way towards, wanting to eat her flesh. Now she knew that getting it in its brain was the way to kill them. It should be a bit easier to do this. Certainly not the easiest but at least she knew how to kill the fuckers.

She grabbed it’s shoulders as Glenn was making his way down ladders ignoring her previous sentiments. The thing was growling and trying to take a bite out of her neck and she raised the knife and stuck it deep into its skull, killing it.

“Don’t ever do that again,” Glenn warned her, pointing his finger at her and she raised her eyebrows at him.

“I’m your older sister I should be saying that to you,” Hannah smirks and he rolls his eyes fighting to let a smile grace his lips. “Let’s get to the car and get the hell out of here,” She says as they run down the back of the building to the front. There were some of the dead there but they were too busy focusing on their next meal, which led them to running towards her car.

Slamming the door shut, Glenn jumps when one of them starts to bang against the window.

“Give me the keys,” Hannah snaps and he does so with shaky hands. She whispered a small yes as the car started without a fight and they made their way down the roads as the dead tried to follow them.

“Sorry for snapping,” Hannah apologizes, she didn’t mean to snap but under these circumstances it was kinda hard not to get a bit stressed.

“No I get it, these things are horrible and I have no idea what we’re going to do,” Glenn admits.

“Well you’re not alone,” Hannah says trying to reassure them as they made their way to the highway, hoping it would lead them out.

But to her dismay, they were caught up in a traffic jam. She would say the sun setting was kind of beautiful but she just could think about those things at this moment. Glenn rested his head back trying to relax as Hannah kept tapping her finger against the steering wheel.

Noticing some people getting out of the cars she tapped Glenn’s shoulder.

“Hm,” Glenn hums.

“Maybe we should see what everyone is doing,” Hannah says as she notices them talking.

“I’ll stay here to keep an eye on our stuff,” Glenn says, a little confused and didn’t know if he wanted her to go out there again but he didn’t have it in him to argue at the moment. Leaving her stuff in the car she walked up to the group of people.

“Do any of you have any idea what’s going on,” Hannah questions and sees a woman with a kid, both dark hair, with a guy who had dark hair as well.

“No we just heard the new saying to evacuate,” The woman says, her voice shaking a bit. “Are you okay,” She says worried, seeing the blood on her.

“Don’t worry it’s not mine, it’s one of those things,” Hannah tried to reassure the woman. “I’m Hannah,” She says, reaching her hand out and the woman takes it, shaking it.

“I’m Lori, my son Carl, and my friend Shane,” Lori says introducing herself.

“This is so crazy,” Hannah murmurs to herself and looks back at the car to make sure Glenns okay. He gives her two thumbs up.

“You’re tellin’ me we were tryna get out of the state but as you see it’s not goin’ well,” Shane says with a little laugh.

People were honking their horns as if that would help them and not draw the dead to come towards them.

“God people are so fucking stupid.”

[grailfinders]

Grailfinders Viewers' Choice #24: Dark Sakura

today on Grailfinders we’re making the big bad of Heaven’s Feel, Dark Sakura. she’s Sakura, but dark! I admit we haven’t played F/SN yet (heresy, I know), so if we get any lore wrong I profusely apologize. she’s got that grail gunk all up in her, so you know we had to give her the ol’ sorlock treatment. she’s a Great Old One Warlock for that GOO, and a Clockwork Sorcerer to get some of her own power. with those two in place, we have everything we need for omnipotence! maybe.

check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Ancestry & Background

Sakura’s a Human, or at least she was before the goopening, and she grew up with a special pattern on her that’s teaching her magic. that’s a Mark of the Sentinel if I ever heard it, giving her +2 Charisma and +1 Dexterity (thank you Tasha), as well as the Sentinel’s Intuition for a d4 bonus on all Insight and Perception checks. the most important part of hiding yourself from people is making sure they don’t know if you know that they know what you know, y’know? you can also use the Guardian’s Shield once a day for a free casting of the shield spell, and you’re a Vigilant Guardian, letting you throw yourself between an ally and an attack once a day. we’re not really using that last one here, but maybe you’ll use it during Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family, who knows. bacon grease really hurts, so maybe that counts as an attack?

you also get an extended spell list, but we’ll just go over the ones we want as we get them.

you’re also a Haunted One, because dear christ is the Matou family fucked up. on the plus side, you’re proficient in Arcana and Religion. that totally makes up for the trauma, right?

Ability Scores

your highest stat is Charisma. if you want people to think you’re doing alright, you need to lie to them constantly, and that’s a lot of charisma checks. also, your magic comes from within, and also from a cup, and also from a cup within, and all of those are charisma based. second up is Constitution. you can keep fighting with like, 80% of your body gone, so yeah. you’re pretty tough. third is Intelligence, as magic in Fate is a mix of sorcery and wizardry- it would feel weird to have this low, even if we don’t need it. this means your Dexterity is just okay. as implied by that bit about your body getting torn apart, you clearly don’t get out of the way of attacks easily. which kind of makes sense, you’re still just a teenager with magic powers. speaking of, your Wisdom’s low. I don’t want to assume as to how you got a grail stuffed inside you, but I will say it probably makes it hard for you to focus on stuff. that means we’re dumping Strength. you are a teenage girl. plus you’re going to have plenty of minions to do all the heavy lifting for you. I hear one of them is the strongest in the world.

Class Levels

1. Warlock 1: starting off as a warlock gets you proficiency with Wisdom and Charisma saves, as well as Deception and History. you also get an Awakened Mind from your GOO! (that’s Great Old One btw, but both work to describe grail mud) that gives you an Awakened Mind, letting you speak telepathically with anyone nearby as long as they know at least one language. I know the grail let Medusa speak Japanese but wouldn’t it be funny if it didn’t? now you’re prepared.

The grail will also give you Pact Magic like all warlocks, allowing you to cast spells using your Charisma for the spell modifier and save DC. You only have one first-level spell slot at the moment, but it recharges each short rest, and you’ll receive more and stronger spell slots over time. Eldritch Blast gives you a basic ranged attack that any caster should know, while Infestation allows you to call upon the grail mud to poison a nearby creature while also forcing them to move one space in a random direction. If your DM is fond of pits and hazards, you will be fond of this spell.

For your leveled spell, you can bring the mud to bear against anyone near you with Arms of Hadar, attacking friend and foe alike around you, while also preventing them from making reaction. For your second spell, go on the defensive with Shield of Faith giving you or an ally +2 AC for up to ten minutes. Any damage avoided is effectively damage healed, if you think about it.

2. Warlock 2: Second level warlocks get Eldritch Invocations to shape the grail mud to your liking. with these you can don an Armor of Shadows for free castings of Mage Armor on yourself, instantly adding an extra 3 points of AC while not wearing armor. you can also use Agonizing Blasts, adding your Charisma modifier to all damage done by your Eldritch Blast.

Speaking of dealing damage via Eldritch Blast, your new spell this level is Hex. With this spell, you deal an extra 1d6 necrotic damage to your target every time you hit them, and they also get disadvantage on all checks made with an ability of your choosing. If your target falls to 0 HP before your hour is up, you can even move it to another target! Given how many attacks Eldritch Blast can fire off in a single turn, this is a great boon to any killer of humanity.

3. Warlock 3: At third level, warlocks receive their Pact Boon, an extra special gift from your patron to shift the tides of battle! When you enter the Pact of the Talisman, anyone can wear it and add a d4 to a failed check up to your proficiency times a day. If you know what’s coming, you can be better prepared for it. Failing that, you can at least pretend you were prepared for it and make your rolls better anyway.

You also gain second level spells this level, and Hold Person is a doozy! One creature of your choice needs to make a Wisdom save, and if they fail, they’re paralyzed for up to a minute, or until they make another Wisdom save at the end of their turn.

A paralyzed creature is Incapacitated, and fails all strength and dexterity saves. In addition, all attacks against them gain advantage, and attackers within 5’ of the creature always deal critical damage whenever they hit. If you want to kill a humanoid as quickly as possible, this is how you do it.

4. Warlock 4: At fourth level, warlocks gain their first Ability Score Improvement, allowing us to round out your Dexterity and Charisma at the same time! We still can’t summon Saber Alter just yet, but you can use a Sword Burst for more or less the same effect. You also gain your first pseudo-summon this level thanks to Phantasmal Force. This illusion can be of anything you wish, but if you make an illusion that would deal damage to the creature, they will take a little psychic damage each turn.

5. Warlock 5: Fifth level warlocks learn third level spells. Counterspell will allow you to no-sell just about anything in the game, when it works. Countering the right attack or escape attempt can instantly make you the MVP of any encounter, which feels appropriate for a holy grail.

You can also don a Cloak of Flies thanks to your new invocation. With this, you deal poison damage to every creature within 5’ of you while also gaining advantage on Intimidation checks, at the cost of disadvantage on all other forms of charisma. You can use this once a short rest, and it has no time limit! it’s literally free damage.

6. Warlock 6: In contrast, your new Entropic Ward is free anti-damage. Whenever a creature attacks you, you can react to give it disadvantage. If this causes the attack to miss, your next attack against the attacker is made at advantage. You can only use this once per short rest, but I’m sure most people would prefer to have as few stab wounds as they can manage.

You can also further spread the mud’s influence thanks to the Hunger of Hadar, making a 20’ radius sphere of darkness that slows movement within it and deals damage to anything that starts and ends its turn within it.

7. Sorcerer 1: now we’re going to jump back to Sorcerer real quick and pick up some regular Sakura spells. you can argue we should’ve done this class first then, but I wanted the extra HP. so yes, you have Spells, you cast them with Charisma too. these refresh on long rests, but you can use warlock spell slots for sorcery spells and vice versa. this also doubles your cantrip count with the addition of Fire Bolt, Frostbite, Lightning Lure, and Chill Touch so this level isn’t 100% regular Sakura. you can also use Magic Missile if you like multiattacking but hate missing, and Silvery Barbs for another way to make the infinite power of the grail work for you. react and force someone to re-roll an attack, save, or check. if they fail, you can give an ally advantage on their next attack, save, or check. it’s great.

speaking of roll fuckery, you’re a Clockwork Soul, which lets you Restore Balance. 90% of the time grails are doing the exact opposite, but whatever, it lets you remove advantage or disadvantage from a d20 roll you can see Proficiency times per day. you can make the grail do literally anything, so everything we do here is 100% canon. people will believe that, right?

8. Sorcerer 2: second level sorcerers get a Font of Magic, so you can burn spell slots to make sorcery points and burn points to make sorcerer spell slots. if you’re not aware of the “coffeelock” gimmick, this lets you turn warlock slots into sorcerer slots, then short rest to regain the warlock slots for infinite magical power. as long as you can stay awake and not die in the process, at least.

to help you not die, here’s False Life! it gives you temporary HP! that’s almost as good as healing!

9. Sorcerer 3: third level sorcerers get Metamagic! it lets you customize spells almost as much as your invocations let you customize you. Heightened spells give one creature in their effect disadvantage on their save for 3 points, while Quickened spells let you cast an action spell as a bonus action. you blast hard, and you blast fast. it makes sense, given the magical reactor you’re stealing power from.

also you can cast Alter Self now! I don’t know what your cool red and black dress thing is supposed to be made out of, but if it’s made out of you, now you can make it by using the Change Appearance option. you can also choose an Aquatic Adaptation or Natural Weapons if you want.

10. Sorcerer 4: fourth level sorcerers get an ASI to max out your Charisma for the strongest spells, as well as the cantrip Mind Sliver to mess up human brains even more, and Maximillian’s Earthen Grasp for a sorta giant. why make a giant the size of a mountain when you can make a giant out of a mountain? think smarter, not harder. (it restrains a creature for up to a minute if it fails a strength save and you can make the hand crush people while grabbed.)

11. Warlock 7: Seventh level warlocks can use fourth level spells like Dominate Beast, turning any beast you can see into your loyal companion for up to a minute, forcing it to obey any command you give it. Most of our enslavement tactics only work on humanoids, so if you have to fight Hessian Lobo, this can help bring him into the fold.

If that’s not beastly enough, you become a Sculptor of Flesh this level, letting you cast Polymorph once a day with a warlock spell slot. This will transform you into a beast with a CR equal to or lower than your level for up to an hour. This is effectively summoning a giant to fight for you while also giving you a much larger HP pool to work with. You can’t cast spells while polymorphed, but I don’t think you need to if you’re a T. Rex.

12. warlock 8: at level 8 u get another asi, this time you’re getting lucky! congrats, some people have to stay up all night for that one. with this, yu can re-roll a creature’s attack, check, or save (as long as it directly affects u) up to 3 times a day! you can’t loop the whole war, but you can loop an attack or two. or three, if you were paying attention!

you can also summon a guardian of faith now, it’s only large so pretty small for a giant, but it blocks an area and stabs stuff for radiant damage! plus these are concentration free, so you can make as many as you want!

13. warlock 9: ninth level warlocks get fifth level spells, and if you really wanna make a shadow giant, then you need BIGBY’S HAND!!! it makes a big hand you can control. sure it’s not the whole thing, but all the cool giant boss fights only let you hit one body part anyway. also yer eldritch blast is a lance of lethargy now, so once a turn you can knock 10’ offa someone’s move speed for the next turn. that’s why this build’s so late!

14. warlock 10: tenth level warlocks can toll the dead and deal extra damage to anyone not at full health, but more importantly you get a thought shield! your mind cant be read by anybody you don’t wanna deal with, and you get resistance to psychic damage bc the amount you block gets launched back at the sender! you’re mostly mud by this point, i think. you ever try to make mud freak out? doesn’t go well.

15. warlock 11: leventh level warlocks get a mystic arcanum, a fancy way of saying you have normal spell slots now that only work for the one spell you get them for. no upcasting allowed past this point! now you can create undead! wit this you can turn up to three corpses into ghouls that’ll stay under your control for 24 hours. you can refresh this control with another casting, or you can just let them run free on the populace, your choice. boom, creepy skeletons, done!

16. Sorcerer 5: fifth level sorcerers got Magical Guidance, giving you another way to boost failed checks if you got the points for it. also, you can dispel magic now. if you couldn’t counter it, at least you can cut through it after the fact! (kinda ironic you died to rulebreaker, huh?)

17. Sorcerer 6: at sixth level clockwork sorcerers become a Bastion of Law, letting you spend sorcery points to give yourself a barrier to block up to 5d8 incoming damage.

18. warlock 12: at twelfth level you get your last asi, makin you tough! that’s 36 hp now, and another 2 every time you level up from here on out! if you want to heal a lot of hp, you need a lot of hp. or not, you can just turn into a huge giant crab if ya want. you also get the protection of the talisman this level, letting whoever is wearing it get an extra d4 on their save proficiency times a day! you’re just better than everyone, huh?

19. Warlock 13: a thirteenth level warlock gets a seventh level arcanum like Finger of Death. it kills people and can turn them into your zombie minions, just like the grail mud.

20. Warlock 14: all of this is nice of course, but it’s not warping a servant to serve you indefinitely. thankfully, that’s why you can now create thralls! you can use your action to touch any incapacitated humanoid and charm them indefinitely, or until they get hit with a remove curse spell. as long as you two are on the same plane, you can also talk to each other with your minds!! just. convince someone to play Saber. alter them. boom, salter.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

Create Thrall is a huge boon, letting you turn just about anyone into your minion for practically free. there’s no save, even! while finding an incapacitated humanoid sounds daunting, it’s easier than you’d think with a liberal sprinkling of heightened Hold Persons. suck a servant into goop and make them your servants. or zombies, or just lie to them!

as a sorlock you get infinite magic as long as you’re willing to work without sleep, which lets you blast away with your strongest spells without issue. well, not your strongest spells since those are arcanum, but still, infinite upcast Magic Missiles and Hungers of Hadar. it’s nice!

of course if you want to talk defense, infinite spell slots means infinite sorcery points means infinite shields. your infinite magical power makes Bastion of Law just a silly power to have, with no limit to the number of times you can use it outside of how much mana you have to burn meaning you can block up to 5d8 damage every turn with no limit outside of your patience. this is on top of your decent (for a caster) hp, as well as an ungodly number of ways to block, disadvantage, and stymie attackers at every turn. if someone somehow manages to fight you directly, it’s going to be a while before they can even pretend to land a hit on you.

Cons:

it a good thing you have those shields, because your AC is terrible without them. 15 AC isn’t bad, of course, but it means you’ll have to use every trick in your book if you get cornered by someone with actual fighting experience.

also, that big pro I put up there with the Bastion of Law? it takes a bonus action to burn a slot into points, then an action to make the shield. that’s your entire turn gone every time your shield needs to be refreshed. if someone really gets you on your backfoot, you can last a while, but that’s about all you can do. this is why you need the minions.

but now that I brought up that “ungodly number of ways to block attacks”… you have an ungodly number of ways to block attacks. that means not only do you have to be really paying attention to the DM’s turns, you need to keep an eye on all those methods of defense so you A) can use them well, and B) you don’t burn through them too quickly. complexity isn’t a death sentence, but you should know it before going all-in on a build. some people just want to relax in D&D, after all.

[trulytiredhermit]

Are requests open?

If so may I ask for the chain with isekaid bullied reader?

Reader never had a good relationship with teacher for example and recently reader gets bullied for everything she does by 3 stupid boys and gets insecure

Thank you so much 👀😭

Take your time,🙏🏻

*Well, I've only really been accepting asks.

But honestly when I think about it some of these asks have been ranging on requests so sure, I'll do this request for you.

For future reference though since I do both yandere and normal Chain I think it would best to specify which version people want. Also, if I do take more requests it would have to be narrowed down to only 2 characters because otherwise it puts a lot of work on me.

And this in just for everyone in general to see. But I hope you'll enjoy this request then! I tried doing a group scenario, but I apologize that some characters weren't as prominent as others.

Why was Time staring at you?

Did you do something wrong again?

You did didn't you...

Can't ever do anything right, always just a screw up.... you know you shouldn't have lashed out at Legend when he was making his usual stupid and snide comments, but you just couldn't handle it when he started sounding like them.

Those three boys that had downright tormented you back home in your own world, always with their degrading and horrible comments about things you did or how you were always at fault for every little thing that happened. The shoves and pushes from them that would lead to bruises on your arms and legs, the jabs from their elbows to your stomach or ribs that would leave behind a stinging ache as you held back your tears on your way to your next class.

And you knew Legend wasn't like them. Underneath that tough and harsh exterior he was just as soft and kind as the other members you traveled with, he just had his moments from time to time.

But he just made that comment about how you were slowing the chain down, gave a little shove to your shoulder as he brushed past you to walk ahead of you, and you lost it.

The group had settled down for the night now and neither you nor Legend had spoken to one another. You could tell there was a bit of tension within the group due to your backlash at the red-vested hero and you felt horrible enough about it. Which was why you had chosen to set yourself up further away from the Chain and further away from the glowing light of the campfire.

Wait, was Time coming over to you?

Oh god he was, wasn't he... he was going to lecture you now about your clear overreaction, scold you about keeping your emotions in check just like your old teacher always had when you blew up at those boys the one time after you'd finally had enough of their constant poking, pushing, shoving, and-

"(Name), is everything all right with you? You seem... troubled."

Time's voice broke you from your spiraling thoughts, but you almost wished he hadn't.

You didn't want to go through everything again, have it all fall apart, your little make-believe friendship you had with the rest of the Chain. You just wanted to keep believing in it, keep fooling yourself that they did like you and wanted to be around you instead of letting you tag along due to a sense of obligation to help you find your way home.

"I'm... I'm fine Time... just woke up wrong or something I guess..."

You mumbled, hugging your knees to your chest as you rested you chin on your crossed arms.

Judging from the furrowed brows and mouth forming into a hard line, Time hadn't bought your little lie and he wouldn't accept anything but the truth.

You sighed, looking down you played with the end sleeve of your undershirt, thumbing the stitching.

"Just... remembered something bad when Legend made that comment and bumped into me okay... but I'm fine... I'm sorry I overreacted like that, it won't happen again okay you don't have to... to do the whole 'I'm disappointed in you, you should have done better' spiel."

As if you haven’t already heard it a thousand times before.

You didn't see it, but Time's stern look morphed into a softer, more concerned one as he looked down at your huddled form. You clearly weren't okay, and he would never ever tell you he was disappointed in you for simply losing your cool after having dealt with one too many comments from Legend.

You flinched when you felt a weight be put on your head, you hadn't meant to honestly, but you just got scared when Time suddenly sat down beside you and rested his hand atop your head. Which was not lost on the older hero.

Almost as quickly it had been placed upon your head, his hand was taken away, an apologetic look crossing his face and a 'sorry' forming on his tongue.

"Who's giving a spiel?"

You and Time paused, looking for to spot Wind, a curious yet worried marring his young features. Becoming ever the nosy teen, Wind rarely if ever gave most of your group their privacy when it was most needed.

"It's nothing Wind I just-"

"Didn't seem like nothing when you lost it with me."

Legend cut your words off sounding as tense as he had earlier when you had snapped at him, but a warning look from Time made him sigh and take on a more gentler, somehow softer look that you never knew the vet to be capable of.

"Was there a reason for it? I know you wouldn't do something like that without a solid reason (Name)."

"Four is right, even I can get fed up with Legend's quips from time to time, especially when they hit far too close to home for comfort."

Warriors spoke up, agreeing with what the designated smithy of the group had brought up.

By now you just wanted to find a hole to curl up in and forget about everything. You hated when all eyes were on you, expecting something from you, looking at you to scrutinize you up and figure out all your thoughts.

"It's alright (Name), if that was the reason why. I'm sure many of us have those moments where we lose a little control." Wild's voice cut through the stillness of the passing night, it seemed like all of them were invested in you now.

Why couldn't they just leave well enough alone! You've handled yourself well enough in this stupid new world, or worlds, whatever you didn't care to use the proper terminology right now.

It's not like they really cared anyways, sure they were supposed heroes of their time, having defeated many an enemy and even grand evil lords who wished to conquer the world. But you were just some silly little person that ended up accidentally going through a weird portal and ending up becoming their new problem while they were already going through things!

"(Name)? Are you alright? You haven't spoken?"

Couldn't Hyrule see you weren't alright! And you didn't want to speak! Even if they did care this wasn't their problem to deal with, you have handled yourself well enough on your own.

But if they didn't...

If they didn't care then you didn't think you could take another scenario, more harsh mocking words and hard shoves, more constant denials and put downs again. You just couldn't.

You jumped as you felt a hand touch your shoulder, looking up wildly to spot Sky's face near yours. His brows cinched up in worry as his eyes looked down into your own, as if searching through them into your very soul and seeing something akin within his own.

"What's wrong?"

Those two simple words were all it took and you just broke.

"I can't deal with another thing like that happening again, okay! I-I... I can't deal with another them, with you guys just... I can't okay, I can't! I had to deal with that in one world why should I have to deal with it in this one!"

Instantly the group wished more than anything to clamber around you and offer sweet words of comfort and reassurance, but they didn't wish to crowd or spook you.

But this didn't stop the rancher from drawing in near to place a comforting hand on you back, nor did it stop Sky from kneeling down in front of you, moving his hand down to hold your own in his.

"Then tell us what's wrong, so that we won't accidentally do it again.... tell us what happened?"

And tell them you did.

You told them of what went on in your old world, of the constant harassment and bullying; of the teachers who looked away, turned a blind eye to the three boys who constantly made your life feel like a never-ending hell you didn't deserve. All the while the groups faces hardened, some hiding their emotions more than others behind a stony mask.

A sniffle tore up from your throat as you pried your hand away from Sky's hold, raising it to wipe away at the tears that lined your lash line. A soft, yet filled with bitter sadness, giggle sounded from you making the group look even more concerned than before.

"And you know why those people, the administrators and what not, turned away and told me that boys were just going to be boys? Even when I brought the topic up to them firsthand?"

The group hung off your every word, and Warriors, along with Sky, looked as if they already knew the answer to your questions. Yet even with knowing, it didn't make hearing your answer any easier.

"Because they were too important to the stupid school, too much of a bigshot to take down over something simple as bullying some mediocre student-"

"You are no such thing, and I would ask you to refrain from every speaking such a phrase again."

Time's hard voice, harsh but not with an anger directed towards you, came out sharp, stopping your words in your tracks as they died on your lips.

"I can tell from how you acted when we first found you, how you insisted you still needed to study and prep just in case this was all a dream or in case you suddenly returned back to your old world, that you are anything but a mediocre student. Those boys, those teachers you spoke of, are nothing but fools who could not even be considered as men."

God, if looks could kill you'd think Time would already be gunning to hop through a portal to your world and teach those who had wronged you a well-needed lesson. Any of the group looked as if they would do so, even Legend, the ever sarcastic and secretive member of the group, looked more upset about what you had spoken of.

"They're less than that. What you went through, what you dealt with (Name). That wasn't bullying, from your words that was just pure torture. To go through what is to be a safe haven for young minds to learn and grow only to be harassed a-and made to believe that you were less than them? To be ignored or told that it was simply boys being boys that's just...."

Sky trailed off, looking for the proper word to use but not finding it as he wracked his mind.

"It's just torture."

"And it is, torture I mean." Warriors confirmation was curt, a stony look upon his face as he got up to sit down at a closer spot next to the three that had situated themselves around your form.

"It is manipulation not only to make you view yourself as less, but to make you believe that what they were doing to you wasn't bad in the slightest. It is disgusting that such tactics should be used upon you by those who you would look to for guidance. But you are not alone now (Name), we would never do such a thing to you, nor would we allow for it to happen while you are here."

There was a comfortable silence that filled the air after Warriors mini speech, sometimes broken by smiles and nods from members of the group along with a few spoken confirmations.

That silence of course was broken by the young teen of the group, the little sailor that had a protective and caring gleam in his eyes.

"Yeah! And if they ever bother you again then I'll shove 'em into a cannon and fire them off into the ocean!"

A startled laugh erupted from your throat as you giggled, looking at Wind with a stunned gaze. The rest of the chain was also looking at their younger counterpart with ranging emotions, most being shocked and concerend.

"What? Tetra did it to me and I made it out fine, I even smacked into this wall of a monster hideout I was trying to sneak into."

"You snuck into a hideout that you smashed into?! How did they not discover you immediately?! Wouldn't you hitting the side of their building make a loud noise?"

Almost anyone could tell that you were now fully invested in the sailor's story now, laughing with a surprised smile on your face as you listened to him recount his tale of being shot out of a cannon.

Meanwhile, the older members of the chain shot each other looks, nodding determinedly at each other as they all came to a unanimous agreement.

Even Wind, as he kept you busy whilst talking about more happier topics that kept you smiling and laughing, shared a glance with the others. He may have been younger, just reaching his preteen years, but he was not stupid, and he hadn't brought up the cannon story just to be silly.

No matter what they would not let someone hurt you as you had been before. They would be the ones to take care of you now, to succeeded where many had failed without even trying.

If that included not letting you go home, then so be it.

[snugglebug-92]

The One Where She Like's a Boy

When you got back to Minnesota everything slowed down. You were always on edge, and you didn’t leave your apartment unless you had to go to class. Since your schedule was different it was easier to avoid Brock and Knies. You stuck to that schedule until one night Brock showed up with pizza after a whole month of not seeing you. You were about to pretend you weren’t there but then you remembered Brock had a spare key, so it was no use. As you slowly opened the door, he embraced you before stepping inside.

“I missed you,” Brock says as he sets down the pizza.

“I’m sorry I’ve been gone so much. When I was in Boston, I saw him and things didn’t go well,” you whisper. Both boys look at you and now understand everything but also feel horrible. They haven’t seen you since before you left for break and now knowing the reason was you feared for your own safety. 

“No, I'm sorry. I thought you were mad at me and so I let you have some space thinking you would get over it. I should have checked on you sooner especially knowing you were going home,” Brock says as he brings you into a hug. The two of you sit and watch a movie and soon things are back to normal. You started going out a little more and would once again go to the hockey games.

Eventually it came time for the boys to go to playoffs and you went with them. You watched as they lost to Michigan in the big ten tournament. It was a tough loss, but the boys still have the frozen four to look forward to. They beat their first and second opponents earning themselves a trip to Boston. As much as you wanted to support the boys it was Boston, the one place you hated more than anything. As you though to yourself Bryan wouldn’t no couldn’t know you were there. He had no way of knowing you went to the U and this time you wouldn’t leave your seat alone. The boys lost their first game and they went home.

The rest of the school year flew by and soon it was summer. The three of you went to a small cabin for a weekend before all heading your separate ways. Your summer goes by fast. You take some summer classes to keep yourself busy and you head back to Minnesota before you know it. While you weren’t back home the whole break it still felt like summer was almost over. You and Brock hangout almost every day during the rest of the summer. You two act like kids again and everything was amazing. You felt so free. 

But then school started, and boy was junior year crazy. Hockey practices started early in the school year and with Brock being captain you two started hanging out less and less. Thankfully Knies was there to entertain you. The two of you would do all the things you and Brock would do. You would still of course hang out with Brock when the time permitted but most of the time it was just you and Matthew. During one of the times, you were waiting for practice to end you watched the boys skate on the ice. You were always mesmerized by the sport, but you never could quite grasp the whole shooting a puck thing. Your body couldn’t do it so your dream of playing hockey with your brothers stopped right then and there. You were content watching. So that’s what you would do. As soon as practice ended you made your way to the locker room and waited for Matthew and Brock. The three of you were going to go watch a movie at your place tonight. As the two boys walk out you catch a glance at one of the freshmen who walks out in front of them. You were still trying to put names to faces but you knew he was either Logan or Jimmy because he was on the same line as Knies. You smile at him and try not to giggle as his face turns a slight shade of red. Brock leaves as soon as the movie finishes leaving you and Matthew alone.

“So, are they any cute freshmen?” Knies questions. You thank Matt for making sure you had a great poker face before answering Matthews' question.

“No. But why are the freshmen they’re too young?” you know they aren’t too young and there are definitely freshmen on the team who are older than you. But you still push the question.

“Well, it’s not like there are any transfers so I’m just wondering,” he shrugs.

“Well nope. No boys,” you respond.

“Any girls?” he questions, not quite understanding the complete lack of interest in men you have.

“No, it’s not that. I just don’t want to date anyone right now,” you shrug and with that the topic gets dropped for now. 

It doesn’t take you long to figure out the boy you smiled at is Jimmy. He’s from Minnesota and drafted by the St. Louis Blues. Your gaze tends to linger on him at practice and it doesn’t take long for Matthew to notice. What you don’t notice is Jimmy looking at you like you hung the moon. He looks at you like you hung the moon and that's when he puts his plan in motion. He knows that the two of you are going to hang out after practice. He also knows he can definitely get the information that she likes Jimmy wiggled out of her one way or another. You wait for Knies at the locker room door and smile at Jimmy when he walks out. Your attention turns to Matthew which is good because poor Jimmy is so distracted by you. So distracted in fact that he runs into a door on the way out. Matthew, who watches the whole thing go down, bites back a laugh at the boy's misfortune before the two of you walk to get coffee. Once you both have your beverages Knies starts his plan to get you to admit you like Jimmy.

“So, I heard a few of the freshmen have a crush on you,” he says.

“Oh, and where did you hear this?” you laugh.

“Well, a few of them asked me to set you up with them. There's one of them is too shy to even say hi to you but he definitely likes you a lot,” Knies shrugs.

“Well, if they want a date so bad, they should ask. It would be fun to knock a few of their egos down a few pegs when I say no,” you respond sipping on your drink.

“You wouldn’t say yes to anyone. Not even Jimmy,” Matthew knows he has you on a dangerous line right there. He watches as your eyes scan his face before you set your drink down.

“Fine there is a small chance I would say yes to Jimmy but not right now,” you say finally.

“So, I can give him your number then,” Matthew asks.

“No, I didn’t say that-”

“Why not? He likes you and he’s a good kid.”

“There’s more to it Matthew. Things you don’t know.”

“What don’t I know then. Enlighten me,” he leans back looking at you.

“It's hard, okay. drop the Jimmy thing please,” you beg.

“Yeah, sure we can talk about something else,” Matthew says finishing his coffee.

[unculturedswine-101]

Uptown girl (Eddie Munson x popular! reader)

1.2 K words

Warnings: None (Eddie is just a huge simp lol)

"She'll see I'm not so tough Just because I'm in love with an uptown girl You know I've seen her in her uptown world She's getting tired of her high-class toys And all her presents from her uptown boys"

Eddie had fallen for you. And he had fallen hard. Every time you entered the cafeteria his eyes would always follow you, distracting him from the other members of hellfire discussing the next campaign. Unfortunately for him, you were apart of the popular crowd; always sitting with Chrissy Cunningham and her Boyfriend Jason Carver; the biggest dickhead of Hawkins High, he never had a chance. You looked beautiful as always today, your hair was big and curly; the curls bouncing every time you laughed or moved your head, your perfectly glossed lips that shone when you smiled; you were like an angel to him. He's pulled out of his trance when Gareth is snapping his fingers in front of his face, "Eddie are you even listening?" his eyes don't even leave you though, he only mutters a "yeah, yeah". Dustin chuckles, shaking his head, it's this that alerts Eddie's attention; "something funny Henderson?" he asks, eyes piercing into Dustin's. "Oh uh nothing.." he shrugs, "it's just that everyday your eyes seem to be glued to y/n when she enters the cafeteria" the group released varieties of relief when Dustin finally mentions Eddie's constant 'wandering eyes'. "Finally someone mentioned it" Mike sighs, putting his head on the table, "yeah, took you long enough Ed" Gareth laughs. Eddie Scoffs "What are you guys even talking about" leaning back into his chair, arms crossed, trying to seem tough. "I mean, you don't hide it, man. As soon as you see her you go all heart eyes!" Lucas jokes, making the rest of the group laugh..except for Eddie.

There was a long silence, until Eddie spoke up “you know what boys?” he announced, slamming his hands on the table to emphasise his words, “I think today might be the day that I ask lady l/n out!” Just as Eddie finishes his sentence however, the bell rings as everyone rushes to third period; including you. His body shook with fear, afraid that he could never muster up this kind of courage to ask you out again as you giggled with Chrissy through the cafeteria doors. Before he could potentially lose this golden opportunity, he jogged over to the doors to you and Chrissy. “Hey l/n” you whipped your head around; your curls bouncing from the sudden motion at the mention of your last name. You were met with none other than the acclaimed “freak” of Hawkins high; Eddie Munson. “Hey Eddie!” you beamed, Eddie was shocked that you knew his name “what’s up?”. Eddie’s mouth suddenly felt dry, it was like his body shut down; his body almost shaking with nervousness. “I was uhhh, just wondering if I..If you..” you turned your head to the side, trying to understand what he was trying to say. “I was just wondering since exams are coming up, you might want something to uh” he clears his throat “to relax” he blurted out. “I’ve actually been meaning to ask you that..” you smiled, looking down at the ground then back at Eddie. “Oh really?” he was honestly surprised that YOU would come up to HIM for drugs. “Yeah..so um..cool if I came over at 8?” you asked, Eddie was a blushing mess just from talking to you for a couple of minutes. “Uh yeah 8 works, do you want my address or something?” He asked, you shook your head, “You live across from Max right?” he nodded “cool then I’ll see you at eight then!” You called, waving to Eddie as you rushed off to class, linking arms with Chrissy. Eddie was completely speechless: not only did he have a girl coming over to his house, but you were coming over to his house. 

Eddie was anxious for your arrival, he wanted everything to be perfect for when you arrived. He even cleaned his roomm and made his bed so you knew that he was not a slob. It was 8:01, maybe you were just late? Or maybe this was some cruel joke. He bounced his leg anxiously, hand cradling his chin when there was a wrap at the door. He jumped up at the sound and opened the door to see your gorgeous face “sweetheart” he smiled, holding the trailer door open for you. You smiled as you entered the trailer, the smell of weed, cigarettes and musk fills your senses as you look around. “So watcha looking for? I’d suggest a couple of blunts to get ya started” he suggests sitting on the couch pattinga spot next to him, opening his trademark black lunchbox. “Uh yeah sure” you smile nervously, you had never taken drugs before, only the odd drag of a cigarette from one of your friends. “So how about uh..3 for 10?” Eddie had never gone so low for his merchandise, but for you, it was different. “Yeah that works” you beam, you feel almost guilty doing this exchange, but at the same time it was exciting.

 You flip through some bills that you pulled from your bra and hand him a crisp 10 dollar bill. Eddie is transfixed by the action, looking at the bill that had just been pressed against your tits. Realizing he was staring, he quickly snatched the money and looked through the box for the blunts. “One, two, three!” He announces counting the blunts and dropping them in a little bag. “Could..could we share one” he smiled at your nervousness as he took one out “of course princess” Eddie begins to feel like his confident self now, he sees how calm and down to earth you are in person that it makes his heart flutter. He pulled a silver lighter out of his pocket “I’m guessing you don’t know how to smoke” he chuckles, you put a hand over your chest in sarcastic fashion “Edward Munson, are you accusing me of not knowing?” He laughs at your joke “By no means sweetheart, you might just not know how to really smoke a blunt” he winks, flipping up the lighter. 

“So what you wanna do is” he instructs putting the blunt in his mouth and lighting it, “inhale” he takes a long drag. “Inhale again, with the smoke you just had” he barely manages to say, trying to keep the smoke in his mouth. “And exhale” he sighs as he blows out the smoke. He looks gorgeous like this, the smoke flowing out of his perfect pink lips and his goofy smile afterwards, you start to feel a blush creeping on your cheeks. “See something you like?” shit, you were caught. You laugh a little, taking the blunt from him and inhaling “good, now inhale again” you nod, inhaling the smoke again letting it go farther down your throat; burning it slightly. “And exhale” he commands as you blow the smoke into his face, all Eddie can think about is how pretty your lips looked around the blunt..he wondered how they would look wrapped around something else.. “See something you like?” You tease, repeating his phrase frok earlier. Eddie slowly moves closer to you, “actually..I do” Eddie almost whispers, cupping your cheek with his hand which is invitingly warm in contrast to the cold metal of his rings.

[em-writes-stuff]

dining hall and cookies

a tlou fic :)

1547 words

warnings: flashback to david, food, i think that’s it but please let me know if i missed anything!

characters: joel, ellie

a/n: this is just something short that was supposed to be fluffy but ended up not being fluffy :/

summary: ellie and joel go to dinner with the rest of Jackson and ellie has a tough go of it

---

Jackson is…weird. It’s like nowhere Ellie’s even read about. Everyone’s so content. They all live together and share everything, a year ago it would’ve been the weirdest thing she’d seen but now? It was probably number three on the list. 

Tonight, there’s a dance at the dining hall and her teacher told her in no uncertain terms that if she wasn’t there, she’d lose points. Which, sure. Ellie’s not one for rules, or being told what to do, but she’d rather die than come home with a failing grade. So when she gets home, she rummages through her closet and finds one of her nicer shirts. 

Joel knocks on her door and leans against the frame, “Goin’ somewhere?” 

She falls back onto her bed and groans, “My stupid teacher told me I’d fail if I didn’t go to this stupid dance tonight and I’m going but only because I don’t want an F in her fucking class.”

“Oh,” he says, walking into her room and looking through her closet. 

“Oh?” she repeats, sitting up. “That’s all you have to say? ‘Oh’?” 

He tosses a different shirt at her and nods, “It’s good to get out once in a while.” he leans against her wall and crosses his arms in front of his chest. “To spend time with kids your own age.” 

She scowls at that. Kids her own age look at her like she’s got a third eye. Kids her own age come up with stories about her behind her back. Kids her own age judge her and make her skin crawl with their staring eyes always locked on her. 

“Kids my own age suck.” 

“Yeah, well. Tough.” he kicks off the wall and ruffles her hair, “You’re going.” 

He leaves the room and she changes into the shirt he gave to her, not particularly caring what she wore, because as soon as her teacher saw her, she was going to climb out of the fucking bathroom window. 

She runs down the stairs with her pack and freezes when she sees Joel sitting on the couch, dressed to impress. He eyes her bag hanging from her shoulder and sighs. He stands up, puts his hands on his hips and does that look he does when she’s done the thing they both knew she’d do but he was hoping she wouldn’t. 

“Leave your pack.” 

She grumbles, but lets it slide off her arm and onto the ground next to the stairs. “You’re going with me? Really?” 

He shrugs and drapes an arm over her shoulder to guide her out of the house, “It’s a community event, I’m part of the community.” 

The dining hall is buzzing with life and Ellie wants nothing more than to run home and hide under her covers. Joel’s arm weighing over her shoulders is a welcome comfort though. Even if he’s using it to keep her there against her will. 

One of her classmates waves for her to join their group and Ellie ignores them. Joel doesn’t. He pulls his arm back and pats her shoulder, “Go on, you’ll be fine. I’m gonna find Tommy, alright?” 

She makes a face, but he’s already been lost to her in the crowd. She takes a deep breath and smiles at the group, slowly making her way over to them. 

“Hey! You made it!” one of them cheers. She reaches out to Ellie, arms open for a hug and Ellie takes a step back. The girl stops and purses her lips, pulling back. “Right, no touchie.” She nods to herself and stands upright again, gently pushing two of the people in the group apart so Ellie could stand in the circle with them. 

Ellie reluctantly stands between them, trying her best to pull her shoulders into herself so she doesn't touch either of them, but that’s impossible, so she bumps shoulders with them both. 

The group chatters warmly, Ellie doesn’t bother to listen. She looks over her shoulder, searching for Joel’s familiar mop of greying hair or his worn down jacket, but the crowd is too big and too noisy and too-

“-Ellie?” 

She snaps her attention back to the group, eyes wide, “What?” 

They all laugh, though not at her. The girl who welcomed her into the circle smiles warmly, “Do you want to go to get food with us?”. 

She forces herself to smile and she nods, “Sure.” 

They all push through the dining hall to where tables of food sat, more than enough for the next day and probably even the day after that. 

Ellie fills her plate with fruits and vegetables, skimping on the meat. The dessert is nothing less than breathtaking and she thinks she might need a whole other plate just for them, but settles on piling cookies in stacks high enough to wobble when she follows the group to a somehow empty table. 

She sets her plate down and her cookie tower topples over, spilling onto the table, again, everybody laughs. She forces a smile and collects them in her hand, splitting them into two stacks so they’d stay upright. 

She stuffs her mouth with a collection of fruits she’d never even heard of before coming to Jackson; Joel called one of them watermelon and that one was her favorite. 

The group chatters on, talking about who’s dating who and who’s upset about it. Drama between teachers and parents and how one of their teachers apparently hit on one of the students. Ellie’s head shoots up. 

“-I’m not lying! I’m serious, I heard him! It was weird because I was like. Not at all expecting him to say it but then he did and-” 

So what, you went from preacher to teacher because it fucking rhymes? 

She shakes her head to chase his voice away, her leg bouncing hard enough for it to make the table quake. Her cookie stacks almost fall again, her fork falls off the edge of her plate and she stares at it, knowing she should pick it up but her body is stuck. She should go. She needs to go. 

-

Joel laughs loudly, throwing his head back as Tommy recounts a story about the first time he went out drinking with Joel to the small group surrounding them. 

He sets his cup on his knee and scans the crowd, eyes hopping from table to table searching for the bright blue shirt he picked out for her. Why’d he choose blue? Everyone wore fucking blue. He should’ve picked green or even fucking yellow-as much as she would hate him for it.

Tommy hits his shoulder playfully and he laughs even though he zoned out the moment it took longer than usual to find her. He sets the drink on the bar and stands up, ignoring the sounds of protest from the group. 

“I’m gonna go find Ellie,” he mutters. 

Tommy nods and tries to keep the group together, jumping back into a story about his first week in Jackson. They were reluctant to let Joel go, but it was hard to keep Joel somewhere he didn’t want to be. So, they all silently agreed to sit through this one last story before leaving. 

When Joel found a gaggle of kids all laughing at a table near the back of the room, he finally let himself breathe. Ellie was with them, half her plate cookies and the other half fruit. She was safe. 

Except she wasn’t. Her face was almost white and her eyes were glazed over. Fuck. 

He takes a step toward the table and catches her attention. She pushes away from the table and runs up to him, throwing her arms around his neck. The group stares at her, shocked at how fast she went from sitting not unlike a statue to running full speed at Joel. 

She buries her face into the crook of Joel’s neck and shakes her head, “Can we go?” 

He takes a deep breath and puts one arm around her, the other grabbing a handful of the cookies from her plate. He nods at the kids and walks out of the hall, Ellie still clinging to him. 

They get home and Ellie lets herself drop from his neck onto the couch, pulling her knees to her chest. She takes the cookies from Joel’s hand and breaks one in half, offering them both to him. 

He sits next to her on the couch, twisting so he’s looking straight at her. He plucks the smaller half from her hand and munches on it, setting the rest of them on the coffee table. 

Ellie stares at her half of the cookie and then at Joel. She sets the cookie on her knee and stares at a rip in the couch. 

“Wanna…talk about it?” he asks. 

She bites the inside of her lip and shakes her head slowly. He nods and leans into the couch across from her, sinking into the worn-down cushion and holding his hand out to her. She takes it and pulls it into her lap, intertwining her fingers with his. 

They sit there all night, Ellie slowly coming back to herself and Joel there so she doesn't have to do it alone. If Joel “forgets” it’s a school day when the sun comes up, neither of them mention it. 

[amberlynnmurdock]

New Love, New Haven

Chapter Thirteen: Relations between Wethersfield and New Haven

Pairing: Benjamin Tallmadge x Original Female Character

Summary: Ben and Sadie communicate through letters, but keeping up is harder than it seems.

A/N: I hope you enjoy this update, friends! We're approaching the final chapters, which makes me sad, but we have some fun chapters coming soon!!

New Haven 

End of August 1773 

Ben’s first letter came as soon as a week after he left town on horseback for Wethersfield. Sadie snatched the letter from her father’s hands. Her sprint caused her father's hair to sway over his forehead. 

“Aye! No running in the tavern,” Richard scolded, like Sadie was still a child. She didn’t care. Sadie sat at the end of the bar and ripped the wax-sealed envelope open. Suddenly, the noise of the tavern drowned out as Sadie began to read the letter in Ben’s voice. 

Dear Sadie, 

I’ve finally settled into my temporary home. I just arrived tonight, and after unpacking, I immediately wanted to write to you so I could send this letter by morning. You would love this abode I’m in. It’s small, but it’s got a lot of character. There’s a fireplace for when winter comes around. I have a big enough bed—anything is better than the small cots Yale made us sleep on. At least my desk is large; perfect for grading papers, reading, and of course, writing to you. I think I’ll find myself doing that a lot here. 

I miss you so much. I’ve not gone a day without thinking of you and our last night spent together. It’s on my mind, constantly. I better stop thinking of it now. 

I hope you’re enjoying the books I’ve left for you. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on them. I know we may be apart, but my heart feels like it’s with you.

Class starts next week. I can’t wait to tell you about my students. 

Yours, 

Benjamin Tallmadge 

Sadie read and re-read the letter, feeling her heart jump in her chest. This letter easily made her day. She tucked it in her dress’ front pocket and continued the rest of her shift, with Ben tucked in the back of her mind. 

☆☆☆☆

That night, Sadie sat up at her desk and began to write her response to Ben. 

Dear Benjamin,

I’ve been re-reading Shakespeare’s sonnets. They remind me of you. Reading them makes me feel like there isn’t such a distance between us. 

I can hardly wait to hear about how your first class went. I’m sure by the time you receive this letter you’ll already be on your fifth or sixth class. I know your students will love the way you teach, like I do. It’ll be hard for them to be distracted because of how captivating you are. What will you be teaching first? You forgot to mention in your letter. You know I love every detail when it comes to learning. 

Your dwelling sounds cozy. I can imagine how it looks. Your desk is large? Similar to the size of the desks at Yale? I bet you and I could fit both our work on there and work side by side. Then again, maybe we wouldn’t get much work done if I were there with you. 

I’m sorry if that was crude. 

I haven’t stopped thinking of our last night together, either. It makes me yearn for our next one even more. 

It’s tough without you and Nathan. I can’t lie. But it’s nice to have Genny here. The tavern is still busy, but I always half expect to see you and Nathan bounding through the doors.

Until your next letter. 

Yours, 

Sadie Hale 

Sadie’s eyelids began to feel heavy. She placed her quill in the ink pot and blew out her candle. Her room felt so very dark, and very cold, without Ben. She laid her paper out for the ink to dry and tucked herself in bed, thoughts of Ben lulling her to sleep. 

☆☆☆☆

For many weeks, it looked like that first week without Ben. 

Like clockwork, Sadie checked the mail for his letter every week or so and she wouldn’t hesitate to write a response that same night. She loved to receive his letters—it felt like it was Christmas each time a new one came in. What would Ben have to say now? What new updates? How was school going? How was the weather in Wethersfield? 

His letters have been positive for the most part, but it wasn’t until Sadie received his last letter, in October, that things started to feel as uncertain as the night he left. 

Wethersfield 

October 1773

The ocean was so dark blue that it was almost black. The sound of the water running up the shore and then falling back into itself put Ben in a trance. His feet dug into the sand. The night was completely still. The color of the sky matched the color of the ocean, save for the stars that twinkled. He looked up at them as they formed a new constellation, one he hadn’t seen before, one he thinks he’d name Sadie. He’s alone. 

And with a jolt, Ben wakes up in his cot, a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead. His tiny room was hot and stuffy. Leaving a window open hadn’t helped at all. Ben kicked the thin sheets off of him and groggily stomped over to his desk. He was sure he was supposed to be up in a few hours for school. The next class is about basic algebra. But Ben’s not thinking about the lesson plan or what comes after that—his thoughts, and now he supposed, his dreams, were consumed by Sadie. He was struggling more than he thought by being so far away from her. 

Rubbing his eyes, he sat at his large wooden desk and lit a candle. 

Ben stared at the flame for a few moments before he searched for his ink, quill and paper. He began to write a letter to Sadie. 

Dear Sadie, 

It’s the middle of the night, and I’ve just woken up from a dream about you. I was at the beach alone. I felt completely in solitude. Something about the environment made me feel safe like you were there. And the stars in my dream formed a constellation I hadn’t seen before; it probably doesn’t exist, but when I looked at them, I thought of you. And then I woke up, to this reality of you not being here with me. I miss you terribly. I can hardly wait for the winter. I’m going to try my hardest to see New Haven before I go to Setauket. 

Tomorrow’s class is on algebra. I can’t teach them the complex subjects we studied together yet. When I do, I’ll take what I’ve learned from you and incorporate it. I think you’d love my pupils, Sadie. They are young and bright; eager to learn. 

I miss you, terribly. Please know that I think of you every waking moment—even when I dream. 

Yours, 

Benjamin Tallmadge 

Ben sighed as he laid the paper out for the ink to dry. He pulled out an envelope and laid it next to the letter to serve as a reminder in the morning to drop it at the post. He wished he had something of Sadie to hold close: a piece of clothing, a chain, one of her bows…anything. Anything, he wished he could hold close to his heart. But he had nothing. Nothing but his memories and whatever they translated to in his dreams. 

Feeling a wave of exhaustion hit him again, Ben returns to his cot. It’s so hot, he doesn’t bother throwing his sheets over again. 

New Haven

November 1773 

It was a misty morning in New Haven, and Sadie was preparing for the day ahead. 

New Haven felt much quieter these days, without Nathan coming by in the afternoons. Everything in the town was still the same: she saw the same shops open early, and the same townsfolk coming to the tavern at night, but with Nathan and Ben away, the changes felt like a big ripple in a small pond. Sadie kept to herself and did her chores quietly around the tavern. She helped her father carry new ale barrels up the stairs. She cleaned, she served, she smiled. 

She missed Nathan dearly. Sadie kept the thought of him constantly, like carrying a satchel on her shoulder. 

And of course, her thoughts always wandered to Ben. But she tried to only think of him at night before she was about to go to bed. It was too painful to think of him during the day—Sadie wouldn’t be able to get anything done if she did. So, she saved him for the night, because the night reminded her of him in so many ways: their late-night secret meetings, meeting him down by the door to go to the shore, that last night they had in her bed… 

She laced up her boots and got up from her bed. Before she went downstairs to prep the bar, she paused at her desk, which had Ben’s most recent letter displayed. She picked up the paper and read it again. It was about a dream he’d had of her. Yes, it was November now, and Ben’s most recent letter was from mid-October. 

If Sadie’s predictions were right, he should have received her response right before the end of October. But now it was mid-November and almost the holidays. Nathan would be coming back to New Haven in a few weeks, and Ben? Well, she didn’t know, because she hasn’t heard from him. 

For a long time, Sadie convinced herself it was because he was busy. Taking on a new teaching job came with a lot of responsibilities. He’d have to keep up with a lot of students and grade a lot of papers. And Sadie knew Ben’s work ethic—he practically threw himself into his work, letting each subject and lesson consume him, he must’ve gotten too busy, Sadie thought. Maybe his lessons got mixed up with his letters. Maybe he was planning on writing her a large update and was saving it for now. Maybe, maybe, maybe. 

Maybe he met someone else. 

She shooed the thought away as soon it crept into her mind. 

Sadie felt her heart wrench as she read and re-read his letter. She was transported back to her late summer evenings with Ben, trading sweet nothings and poetry, his notes…for a moment, she wasn’t pretending like she didn’t miss him. But then she heard her father call from the bar, and Sadie placed the letter back down and went downstairs. With each creak of the step, an image of Ben faded from her mind. 

Cleaning the tavern was a good distraction from it all. And it got even better when people began to trickle in, asking for ale or water. Asking Sadie what it was like to be without her brother. Saying they missed Nathan’s shining smile, too. Genny came in around noon, to Sadie’s delight. 

“I’ve got great news,” Genny beamed as she met Sadie at the bar. Sadie leaned over and rested her head in her hand. 

“Go on!” Sadie urged. 

“My father said if we wanted to, and your father would allow it, we could spend the spring next year in Middletown,” Genny said in a hushed tone. “You know, to study the herbs and learn about healing.” 

Sadie opened her mouth to reply but found herself at a loss for words. Well, what would happen if Nathan came around then? What if she needed to help her father here? What about Ben? How long would they stay there? 

“I…”

“Sadie, what is it?” Genny asked. “I thought you’d be excited. Middletown! A new place.” 

“It’s not that I’m not excited. It’s just that I have so much going on here in New Haven. What if I leave and Nathan decides to come back for a weekend? I’ve got to see him. And… you know, there’s Ben,” Sadie explained sheepishly. She felt a dent in her heart when she explained her grievances. 

Genny gave her a sympathetic look. “Sadie. You can’t place your life on hold, waiting for other people. Of course, Nathan is your brother—you’ll see him. But Ben? Has he written you back since October?” 

Sadie’s face darkened as she looked away, embarrassed. “Not yet.” 

Genny shrugged her shoulders. “This would be a good opportunity for us both. Get us both out of here. The boys did it! Why can’t we?” 

Sadie bit her lip. You can’t place your life on hold. 

“Well, all right. I guess the reality of it is what makes me nervous. I’ll speak to my father tonight. Perhaps, he may be more convinced if your father came in to talk about it. Over ale,” Sadie added. 

Genny smiled, “Perfect. I’ll see if he can tonight.” 

After Genny left, Sadie felt another dent form in her heart; things were changing and there wasn’t anything she could do about it. 

☆☆☆☆

Later that evening, Sadie sat at her desk, contemplating bringing her ink and quill out to write a letter to Ben. Since when did she feel so unsure of herself, when it came to Ben? Would it be strange to send another letter after he hadn’t replied to her? The last she checked, Ben was writing about dreams of her and telling her how much he missed her. What had changed? 

After much convincing, Sadie told herself that the purpose of this letter would be to inform Ben of her new ventures starting next spring. She’d be in Middletown, with Genny, studying healing. Middletown was not that far from Wethersfield and Sadie hated the hopeful feeling this thought brought. 

Dear Benjamin, 

I haven’t heard from you in a while. I hope everything is all right in Wethersfield. I can’t wait to hear about your lessons and pupils. I think I wrote that in my last letter. Are you okay? I’d love to hear from you. It’s been a while. 

I’m writing this letter to inform you that next spring I’ll be staying with Genny and her father in Middletown. We will be studying healing and herbs. After her father came in to talk to my father, he was convinced it would be a good learning opportunity and agreed to let me go. Of course, what’s heavy on my mind is what happens to us. But there’s not much I can do if I don’t hear from you. I can’t say no to an opportunity like this. 

If it’s meant to be, it will be, you and I. 

I’m holding on dearly to what we have, but I can’t hold on forever, Ben. 

I really do hope I hear from you soon. 

Yours, 

Sadie Hale 

A tear fell down Sadie’s cheek, splotching the word “Yours.” But Sadie didn't notice when she folded the letter and slipped it into an envelope.