#so the person (scott i think?) was obviously asking about the eye that was still *green*

[mumblesplash]

gem, what happened to your eye?

(wanted to upload this panel separately, original is from this comic)

[jellieland]

"You know," says Jimmy smugly, "I think second is the best spot to die in, actually."

"Really," says Mumbo, exasperated.

"Yes, I don't know what you're so happy about," says Lizzie. "You barely lasted ten minutes more than me."

"Doesn't matter. Not out first, baby!" He crows, triumphant, to the neverending void.

"And you killed me last session!"

"...Yes, I, uh, I'm sorry about that one. Sort of. Mostly," he says, momentarily cowed.

"I can't believe you people," says Lizzie. "They didn't have a funeral for me. I died first, and you got one, and they didn't even have a funeral for me!" She sounds indignant, but a look of genuine hurt crosses her face for a moment.

"I'm going to be honest, Lizzie," says Mumbo awkwardly. "I think they had bigger things to worry about. I- I think Joel was quite sad about it, though. If that helps?"

"I suppose it's better than nothing." She crosses her arms.

"But- wait, hang on. Jimmy?" says Mumbo abruptly. "Did you say you wanted to go out second?"

"No!" Jimmy protests. "I just think if you have to go out, then second is sort of ideal, really, if you think about it!"

"No!" says Mumbo, indignant. "No, surely third is better, actually! And to extend that logic, fourth would be better as well, and fifth, and- well, you get the idea. Anyway, my point is that I did better than both of you!"

"Hey, don't bring me into this!" says Lizzie.

"Anyway, you're wrong," says Jimmy, back to being smug again.

There is a short silence.

"You, uh. You gonna elaborate on that one, buddy?" asks Mumbo.

"Well," says Jimmy. "Obviously going out first is terrible. Would not recommend. I don't know why anyone would do it, honestly, I know I would never-"

"You're going on my list," says Lizzie, cheerfully.

"Wait wait wait, no, I didn't mean it, I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I really am!"

"Hmm." Lizzie narrows her eyes. "Acceptable. For now."

A few moments pass.

"You may continue," she says.

"Right," says Jimmy. "What was I saying?"

"You were being wrong about how the ranking in this game works," offers Mumbo.

"No I wasn't!" says Jimmy. "Just, let me explain. Now, you obviously don't want to go out first, sorry Lizzie, but it's true."

"I will concede that point," says Lizzie. "It wasn't great."

"But—have you seen how they get?"

"How they... get?" Mumbo frowns. "What do you mean?"

"The people who don't die."

"I- now, I don't know if you remember this," says Mumbo, "But third is a new record for me, so I really don't know how you expect me to know that."

"Anyway," interjects Lizzie, "Mumbo and I have only done this once before. I mean, I guess people started losing it a bit once you two died, but it wasn't that much different to how it already had been. Although I wasn't around for that long at that point."

"Yes, but, it-" Jimmy frowns. "I haven't seen much of it either. But there's something- I don't know how to explain what I mean. Maybe you haven't noticed, but there's stuff with Grian, Scott, Pearl."

He stops, sighs. Looks at the ground.

"Martyn's going to be alone, now," he says.

"Well," says Lizzie, a little acerbic. "You don't have to have people die for that to happen, you know."

Jimmy gives her a look that is a combination of sheepishness and genuine regret. "Ah. Yeah. I guess not."

"So you're right," says Lizzie. "I don't know what you mean."

"...I did feel bad," says Jimmy, quietly.

"You... did?" asks Lizzie. "What about?"

Jimmy looks at her, then off to the side. "...When I killed you."

"Oh."

"I really didn't mean to," he says. "I felt bad. It wasn't satisfying. It was just... a person I cared about. Dead. Because of me. Because I acted without thinking, because I wasn't paying attention."

"...Oh." says Lizzie, softly.

"And that was when I knew you would come back," says Jimmy.

Lizzie and Mumbo exchange glances, unsure.

"I'm good with second," says Jimmy. "I think it's the closest you can get to winning, actually."

They stand there, silent, for some time.

"Well," says Mumbo eventually. "I still feel like third is a bit better, though."

"Mumbo!" cries Jimmy.

"Mumbo, come on, we were just having a moment!" says Lizzie.

"Yes well, look, I really need this, guys," says Mumbo, shifting his weight from side to side. "I don't know if you know this, but I've had a really bad day. It was just terrible!"

"I think we've all had pretty bad days, Mumbo!" says Lizzie, raising an eyebrow. "I don't know if you've noticed, but we all died!"

"Yes, I- I had picked up on that, actually."

"I don't know," says Jimmy. "My day was great!"

They keep talking, and bickering, and the emptiness stretches off into the distance.

It's nice, not to have to be there alone.

[dragon-chica]

Creep Alert - Teen Wolf Preference

Fandom: Teen Wolf

Because someone has made me very uncomfortable at weekly pinball and I would like to take Theo.

Stiles: Okay he's not always the most observant person around, he will be talking to himself trying to figure something out or keep walking not realizing someone else has come up and gone all up in your space. When he turns about and you are visibly uncomfortable he RUNS back, trip/sliding between you and the guy pushing his hand off. Might have yelled "CREEP ALERT" on his way over, mile a minute talking asking if you're okay, did they do anything? name drops that he is the son of the sheriff and can get that guy written up for harassment. "Do you want to file a report on him? I'll call dad right now. Don't you go anywhere, we're not done here- PARRISH!" Spots a squad car and shouts over (it was not Parrish) and it becomes mess. But it certainly did the job.

Scott: Good of heart, dumb of ass. Despite his wolf instinct telling him to destroy the threat, he comes over the moment your scent turns distressed. He comes up right next to you with a comforting hand on your arm and inserts himself into the conversation. Genuinely not realizing this guy's intentions or what's going on besides you're uncomfortable and asks what's going on. Usually he's enough to diffuse the situation, but if someone's persistent he'll instead have you both leave.

Lydia: Has been in this kind of scenario too many times that she sees it coming across the room before anyone talks to you. She's learned exactly how to handle herself, either sweetly or with words that cut. Or if she had a 'big, strong, man' to handle it for her. Lydia's at your side immediately, telling them you're not interested and how far she'll shove her heel up their ass.

Liam: Sure, mess with the S/O of the werewolf kid with IED, that's a good idea. He doesn't usually stray far from your side but a few steps away was enough for someone to take his spot and feel a little too comfortable getting in your space and questioning you. His gaze shoots to you as discomfort sours your scent. He speeds over, eyes flashing gold and getting right in their face with you behind him. Not afraid to get physical if they want to keep it up.

Also if it's Brett coming to flirt with you, either because he's a slut or just to try and piss Liam off and you really are uncomfortable with his advances, all bets are off. Claws are out and he wants blood, it's a whole scene.

Isaac: At first it's a little harder for Isaac to come to your rescue, even though he's a werewolf now he's not used to the kind of confidence of doing something like this. You were always the one to try and protect him, and never faulted him when he didn't come to your defense, just trying to make sure you were okay after.

But now he's a werewolf, he can do better. He stronger. Intimidating. Despite everything, he still had to psych himself up walking over to you, who is obviously uncomfortable. He's not sure how to insert himself, but he is quite noticeable and doesn't have to do much. Being so much taller (and chest puffed) than your pest, they take the smart move to leave. Visibly deflate and swallows after that interaction and asks if you're okay. Gets bashful when you call him your knight.

Malia: No filter and very brash. People have thought of messing with her but the energy she gives off and feral look in her eye is almost always enough to deter them first. You though, are not so lucky. Already very standoffish, once she sense someone is making you uncomfortable she is staring them down and growling, barely keeping her claws in even as they leave.

Derek: He normally is overprotective of you, usually you just roll your eyes at his worries. But you certainly feel safe with a scowling sourwolf beside you. Until he's gone a few minutes too long and someone thinks that's their chance.

When he sees someone crowding in on you he's speeding right through the crowd and shoving them backwards hard enough to make them stumble and once they're thoroughly scared shitless by his hardened stare to flee, he's trying to get you to leave grumbling how "we never should have come here anyway."

[corroded-hellfire]

Never Have I Ever - Eddie Munson x Reader

Summary: You come home after your first semester of college and spend the day with your best friend, Eddie. You’re both confused as to where the other stands in terms of relationships, but a drinking game only adds to the confusion.

Note: This is for my darling wifey @inourtownofhawkins whom I love the mostest, despite what she says. I hope you like the story bb! 💙

Warnings: underage drinking, talk of sex, oblivious idiots in love

Words: 2.4k

Coming home from college for winter break was exciting for a number of reasons. Obviously, there was the break from exams and papers, but it was also nice to come back home. Seeing family was great, seeing friends was fun, but seeing Eddie was the best part. Sure, you made sure to talk on the phone at least once a week while you were away, but it’s not the same as spending time together in person. You’d told him about your shitty dates with a guy named Carl, your great dates with a guy named Scott, and how your roommate was the biggest slob you’ve ever met in your life - including Eddie when he was a young teenager. He’d kept you up on the news of Hawkins, like if Max and Lucas were currently together or broken up, how many times Vickie had to play referee to Steve and Robin’s fights, and what the current ETA was for Hopper proposing to Joyce.

Since you’d come home you’ve hung out with him with the rest of the gang, he’d come over to your house for dinner, and at a movie night with the older teens at Steve’s house. But today it’s just you and Eddie at his place. It’s something you’ve done hundreds of times but being alone with Eddie still gives you a rush of butterflies swirling around your stomach. 

“Welcome to the Munson residence,” Eddie says, gesturing around the trailer as if you’d never been there before.

“I’m familiar with it,” you say with a smirk. “I didn’t think you or Wayne would do some drastic redecorating while I was gone, so yes, I recognize the place.” 

“That’s what you think.” Eddie wiggles his eyebrows and his eyes drift down the hallway towards his room.

You give him a curious look before toeing off your boots and heading in that direction. The room smells the same; like weed, cologne, and something distinctly Eddie. But it looks the same, too. Brow furrowing, you walk around the small room, looking for something to stand out to you as different. There’s a small collection of photos taped to Eddie’s closet, so you pad over to look them over. Right in the middle is the picture of you and Eddie at graduation, clad in your green gown and caps, golden tassels hanging in your faces as you stick your tongue out and Eddie flips off the camera. Next to it there’s a picture of Eddie with the Hellfire guys, all wearing their matching shirts. The one under it has your breath catching in your throat, though. It’s obviously from Halloween, and Eddie’s with Dustin, Max, Steve, Will, and some girl draped across his lap on a couch. Pulse kicking up, you stare at the girl’s face, seeing if you recognize her from high school. Her long dark hair and beautiful brown skin don’t ring a bell, though. Half of your brain is telling you to calm down, that they could be friends, but the other half is telling you that friends don’t sit in each other’s laps like that.

“Find it yet?” Eddie asks from behind you. 

“Who’s this?” you ask, eyes never leaving the picture. Eddie’s footsteps come from over near the door and his hair brushes your shoulder as he leans in to see what you’re looking at.

“Oh, that’s Mia,” Eddie says. The way he says it makes it sound like you should know who he’s talking about. You know you would’ve remembered him talking about a girl. Especially if he mentioned she was this beautiful. “Did I not tell you about her?” Before you can answer, he keeps speaking. “But that’s not where the difference in my room is.”

Eddie takes your shoulders and leads you to the other side of his room, your socked feet trying to dig in against the carpet, but failing. When his hands drop, you instantly notice the difference in the room that he was talking about.

“Wow, I’m impressed,” you say with a smirk. Taking a few steps forward, you run your fingers over his Sweetheart’s strings - something only you’re allowed to do. “You actually bought a guitar stand instead of hanging her over your mirror.”

“Only the best for my girl.”

Sweetheart or Mia, you think to yourself bitterly. 

“It’s very nice,” you tell him.

“Thank you.” He tugs on a lock of your hair. “Now, come on. Let’s go play.”

“What’re we playing?” you ask as you follow him out of the room. 

“Nintendo,” he calls over his shoulder. “I’m Mario. You’re Luigi.”

You sit down on the couch as Eddie sets up the game.

“Princess Peach is mine,” you tell him.

“Hot,” Eddie says, and even though you can’t see his face, you know he’s smirking. He plops down next to you and tosses a controller in your lap. Cheater as always though, he’s pressed play before you’ve even got it in your hands. 

“Asshole,” you call as you speed behind him. 

Eddie laughs and pokes his tongue out of his lips as he concentrates. He repeatedly kicks your ass at the game before you accuse him of cheating, and he drops his controller to tackle you down to the floor. You howl with laughter as his fingers dig into the sides of your ribs, tickling you where he knows you’re the most ticklish. 

“Off!” you screech. Unsurprisingly, Eddie doesn’t listen, and keeps going until you’re squirming so hard you’re getting rug burn on your lower back where your shirt has ridden up. “Eddie, I’m going to pee myself!”

That has him finally letting go, even if it takes him a second. He smirks down at you and ruffles your hair before he gets off the floor.

“Let’s play another game,” he says.

“So you can cheat again?” You’re still on the floor, looking up at him as he walks to the kitchen. 

Eddie scoffs and grabs a bottle off the top of the refrigerator. You sit up to try and get a better look at what he’s doing.

“Tell me how one cheats at a drinking game.” Eddie walks back over to you, shaking a vodka bottle at you. 

“Ooh, gimme.” Eddie holds the bottle up out of your reach, making you stand up on your tippy toes, fingers still not able to brush the bottom of the glass. 

“Never have I ever?” He lets you take the bottle so he can grab two mugs off the wall - making sure to grab Garfield for you because he knows it’s your favorite.

“Do we not know each other too well for that game?” you ask, sitting back down on the couch.

“I’m sure we’ve both got some dirty secrets,” Eddie says with a smirk. “Plus, you’ve been away at college. How am I supposed to know all the naughty stuff you got up to this semester?” The redness that comes to your cheeks has him smirking even bigger. He sits down next to you and pours a decent amount of vodka in both mugs. 

“Fine. You go first,” you say. 

Eddie swirls the clear alcohol around the mug as he thinks, lips pursing together in a way that keeps your eyes glued to them.

“Never have I ever kissed a girl.” When you don’t take a sip, but he does, Eddie groans and drops his head back. “Your turn.”

“Okay. Never have I ever…had a one-night stand.”

Eddie narrows his eyes at you as he takes a sip from his mug.

“I told you that in confidence.”

“There’s no one else here,” you say with a laugh. 

“Whatever. This is supposed to be telling me things about you.” He rolls his eyes over dramatically as he thinks of the next question. “Never have I ever given a handjob.”

“Not even to yourself?” You raise an eyebrow at him.

“You know what I mean.”

You give him a smirk before taking a sip of vodka from Garfield’s head. 

“Who?” Eddie gasps playfully, pressing a hand to his chest. “Who corrupted my innocent little friend?”

“Those are two different questions. The handjob was Scott. You corrupted me though.” 

Eddie was right, you both did have some dirty secrets. But you were also right, that you two know each other too well for this game. The questions just become targeted attacks, picking things you know the other has done, making each other drink. It quickly leads to the both of you being thoroughly tipsy, bordering on just this side of drunk.

“Now what?” you ask with a giggle. 

“I dunno,” Eddie says. “Uh, never have I ever had a crush on my best friend. Oh, shit, wait.”

“‘Oh, shit, wait,’ what? You got a crush on Steve or something?” You’re looking right at him but through your vodka fueled eyes, you don’t see his face turning red.

“Never mind. You ask a question.” Eddie’s avoiding looking at your face and it makes you roll your eyes. 

“Okay…never have I ever asked a question in this game and then taken it back.”

“Seriously?” Now he looks at you, and his face is unimpressed.

“Drink up, baby,” you say, pointing at him. 

He pretends to take another sip, and you assume he really did it. But with that slip up that he just made, he knows he can’t afford any more alcohol. 

“I thought I was your best friend,” you say with a pout. Eddie’s eyes widen comically, and he’s not sure how to answer that. The alcohol is starting to make him tired and combined with the anxiety of his secret almost being spilled, he starts to get a little angry.

“S’your turn,” he says, sinking down in his seat. 

“Don’t wanna play anymore,” you say through a yawn. “Wanna know what you meant.” 

“Why?” Eddie asks with an annoyed groan.

“Cause you said it!”

He huffs and puts his mug down so he can rub his hands over his face. Placing your mug next to his, you lean forward so you’re closer to Eddie. When he drops his hands from his face, your face is closer to his than he expects, and he flinches back. 

“Why won’t you tell me?” you ask with a pout. “We tell each other everything.” 

He only hears about half of what you say though, because his eyes lock on your lips and they’re all he’s able to focus on. The way they move when you speak, the way your tongue comes out to lick at them, how the pink skin pulls together when you set your mouth in a pout. Eddie can’t take it anymore and just needs to get it out.

“I wanna kiss you but you have a boyfriend.”

You pull back, eyebrows wrinkling in confusion as you look at him. Unsure if you heard him correctly or not, you run the words through your head again a few times. 

“I don’t have a boyfriend,” you say. “I thought you had a girlfriend.” 

Eddie’s jaw hangs open as he stares at you.

“Why would you think I have a girlfriend?” he asks.

“That girl.” You gesture to his bedroom where you’d seen the picture. “She was on your lap. Lea. Or, Mia.”

“Mia?” Eddie lets out a laugh and shakes his head. “She was Steve’s date on Halloween. Steve was dressed as a doctor. I was Dr. Scrivello.” At your blank look, he continues. “The sadistic dentist from Little Shop of Horrors? Steve Martin’s character?”

“Oh, right.”

“Anyway, Mia got confused I guess, cause we had kinda similar costumes. And she’d had a few to drink by that point so she sat down on me, thinking I was Steve. Haven’t seen her since then. Don’t think Steve has either, actually.”

The relief that courses through your system makes you feel guilty. Eddie’s entitled to have whoever he wants sit on his lap, even if it breaks your heart. But this was just an innocent mistake, so most of the jealousy drains out of your body. 

“Wait,” you say, mind catching up to the entirety of the conversation. “Why would you think I have a boyfriend?”

“Scott.” Eddie says it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“Scott’s not my boyfriend,” you tell him.

“But you told me about all those amazing dates you had with him. And then you just admitted all that dirty stuff you did with him in our game.” Eddie’s big doe eyes make him look like a puppy that just got kicked. You slide closer to him on the couch and grab his hand in yours.

“Yeah, but he’s not my boyfriend. This was all a while ago. I haven’t gone out with him in over a month. I think he’s dating someone else now.”

“Did he dump you?” Eddie asks and the alcohol in your system makes you giggle at the look on Eddie’s face. His eyes are wide, and his mouth is open, causing you to lift his chin up to close it, the slight stubble tickling your fingers.

“No. I said I wanted to stop seeing him. He was nice and all, and we had fun, but I didn’t feel a whole lot for him. Kinda felt like my heart was already with someone else.”

“Who?” Eddie asks. 

“You, silly. You’d‘ve known that if you didn’t take back your question before,” you say with a devious smirk. “Because I would’ve had to drink because I have had a crush on my best friend. Still do, in fact.”

“You do?”

“Mhmm. So, you can kiss me if you want to. I’d like it. A lot.”

“You would?”

You giggle and reach up to run your fingers through his hair. 

“Maybe tomorrow would be better. You’re entering your sleepy state of drunk now.” 

Eddie couldn’t help but smile. He loved how well you knew him - sober or otherwise. And of course, you were right. 

“S’gonna be the first thing I do tomorrow,” he tells you. 

“Guess I should sleep next to you then,” you say with a shrug. “So my lips are right there when you wake up.” 

It’s exactly what you do. And Eddie does exactly as he says. You’re already awake when he blinks his eyes open, the sunlight shining through the window and casting shadows over your two bodies. The night before comes back to him, a smile lighting up his face as it does so. When his gaze meets yours, he can tell you remember everything too. Without speaking a word, Eddie cups your jaw gently in his large hand, and leans in to press his lips against yours. 

[tupperwaretub]

Hey, how you going? I just stumbled upon your blog and saw that you write for Scott Lang, and that requests are open, and this is kinda heaven! There aren't many fics with Scott (even less with male reader), so I wanted to request, if possible, one with Scott where he and the reader have a relationship (or maybe they just like each other), and Scott ends up getting jelly seeing him spend a lot of time with the person responsible for recruiting him (Steve, Bucky, Sam, Natasha... Whoever you think is the best). They can end up spending heaps of time training or just cracking up together, which makes Scott jealous.

P.S. If you wanna make this a smut, in my head Scott would definitely be the bottom (maybe reader's powers can make things more interesting ;) )

Thanks in advance!!

A Good Sense of Humour

Pairing:Scott Lang x Male! Reader

(bottom scott, top reader)

Content: SMUT, gentle love making, exchanging feelings, multiple orgasms (reader has that super soldier stamina 💪), mainly vanilla smut, size difference, rushed ending :( .

Summary: You'd just been recruited into the avengers and were going through training with THE Steve Rodgers, you and Steve had gotten close during your training but you only had eyes for one man and that was Scott Lang, but he'd never like you back... Right?

---------------------------

It had been a few months since you were first recruited to the avengers by steve Rodgers, it still leaves you baffled that Capitan America himself wanted you to join the avengers but you guess he wanted you because of your shared trait of being a super soldier. So far everyone has welcomed you with open arms, you've been getting along especially well with Scott Lang, Antman. You think hes funny and really quite attractive, but he could never reciprocate your feelings you knew he had a wife at one point and a daughter called Cassie. So he's obviously straight.

These past few months have been spent mostly with Steve, he's been training you and you've come to think of him as a pretty good friend.

You and Steve were chatting about your most recent training session and what you could do to improve, when you entered the kitchen you saw scott leant on the island sipping from a mug. "Hey Scott!" You say cheerily. "Hey y/n." He replies only glancing at you. Something was obviously wrong, he was always much more cheery and always had some kind of joke to crack when he saw you.

"I'll see you later y/n, me and Buck have plans." Steve says patting your back. "Alright, see ya later Steve." You smile. When Steve leaves the room theres a thick layer of tension surrounding you and Scott. "There something wrong Scott?" You say as you approached him. "So you and Steve, huh?" He asks just staring into his mug. "What? Oh pfft no! Hes not my type. Besides... Hes straighter than a ruler." You say trying to make some kind of joke to break the tension, Scott laughs a little but still seems upset. "So.. what is your type?"

He looks up and into your eyes, now it was your turn to look down. You stared down at the tiled floor considering your answer, you decide maybe you should confess maybe he likes you back? That would explain why he's so sad. You decide to go for it. "Guys with a good sense of humour." You confess as you look back up connecting with his gaze. You watch as his face lights up before a shit eating grin replaces it. "So like me? You bite your lip and smile as you step forward and place your hands on his cheeks, you admire his features for a second. "Yeah.. like you."

Scott leans forward and encases you in a kiss, it was short lived but you were quickly dragged to his room where he kissed you again. The kiss was much longer and full of passion. Your hands slowly traveled to his ass and he let out a moan into the kiss, you quickly picked him up making him gasp and wrap his legs around you. You laughed a little "don't worry I won't drop you, you're light." You tease.

Your hands are placed firmly on his ass but you have no struggle keeping him up, being a super soldier meant you could lift grown men like Scott with ease. Scotts hands are roaming around in your hair as you make out, the kissing is getting rougher and more desperate. Scott moves his hands from your hair to your shoulders and pulls away, his lips are swollen and red and hes out of breath.

You don't even have to ask what he wants, before he opens his mouth you have him layed on the bed and you're unbuttoning his trousers. You pull his trousers off of his legs and caress his inner thighs, "have you got lube?" You ask, you used to use spit but ever since you got pumped full of super soldier syrum you're quite a lot bigger than you were and you'd need a lot of spit... "Yeah top drawer next to you." You reach over and grab the lube, there were condoms next to it. Just looking at them you knew they weren't your size.

"Scott, I don't think your condoms will fit me.." You admit slightly worried it'll be a deal breaker. "Oh- i have one of your condoms in there..." He admits. "You steal it from my room?" You find it underneath a sock and close the drawer. "Yeah... Sorry." You laugh a little and put the condom to the side for now.

Scott helps you pull down his underwear, you lick his hole but pull away and grab the lube, applying it to his hole and your two fingers. You push one finger in slowly and you watch as Scott's toes curl. "Just tell me when you're ready for the second finger." You tell him not wanting to hurt him, he nods and takes deep breaths.

You're sat next to him on the bed looking down at his figure, your other hand roaming around his torso. "This your first time with a guy?" You ask and he shakes his head. "First time bottoming though.." you suddenly feel guilty having not asked him if he wanted to bottom "we can stop if you-" "no! God no dont stop!" He interrupts, his response makes you grin and you slowly add another finger.

Once scott had adjusted you began curling your fingers inside of him in search of his prostate. The sweet little moans hes making go straight to your cock, "i need to add a third finger to stretch you out right, that okay?" He nods and you prod another finger at his entrance, as you push it in Scott gasps and wraps his arms around you, his face buried in the crook of your neck.

You whisper praises in his ear as you feel him adjusting slowly, soon enough his light whimpers became heated moans as you curled and thrusted your fingers inside of him hitting his prostate. "That feel good?" You coo, all Scott can do is nod and moan. "You think you're ready for my cock?" You ask still fingering his hole. "Yes.. yes. Please." He sighs.

You pull your fingers out of him and place a kiss on his forehead. You roll the condom on and apply a gracious amount of lube. Theres a hitch in Scotts breath when you place your tip against his entrance. "I'll be gentle for you baby." You assure.

You slowly begin to push into Scott, he lets out strained groans as you continuously push farther into him. You stop in your tracks deciding you had gone far enough in. "A-are you all the way... In?" Scott stutters out. "No, i just thought this is probably enough." Scotts face scrunches and he slowly bends to look at where you two have connected. "Please... Go all the way in.." He looks up at you through hooded lids, you just can't say no to that face. "Okay.. but you dont have to, you can tell me to stop as soon as you become too uncomfortable-" you begin to ramble but Scott quickly cuts you off with a smile "I want to feel all of you.." his words have you blushing and you nod.

You continue to gently push in the last couple inches of your cock, Scotts legs are wrapped around your waist and he's still adjusting to your size. You caress his waist and give him as much time as he needs. You both sit in a comfortable silence until Scott gives you the green light to start slowly shifting your hips.

His sweet little whimpers fill the room as you gently pump into and out of him, "please.. go faster." You place your hand on his cheek and start to pick up the pace of your thrusts, still being mindful to not be rough.

You feel scott tighten around you as he cums, the white strings landing on his stomach. Once he was down from his high you pull out and are about to leave and get something to wipe him down with when he grabs your hand. "You didn't enjoy it?" He asks seemingly upset. "What? No! I loved it, I've been waiting to do that for so long." You clasp your hands on either side of his face and give him a warm smile.

You apply a small amount of lube and slowly push back inside of Scott, your dick sliding in smoothly.

"you didn't cum." He replies blankly. "Oh- yeah. Because of the super soldier syrum.. You know i have increased stamina, yeah, It takes me a long time to finish, we should probably leave it here because it's your first time bottoming and-" you're interrupted by Scott shushing you. "I want you to keep fucking me until you cum, got it?" You just blush and nod.

........................

You've lost track of time completely, bringing scott to his next orgasm being the only thought on your mind. You're pretty sure you're well acquainted with every inch of Scotts body by now, your hands roaming and caressing his skin as you get closer and closer to your own release.

You finally take one last thrust and cum into the condom, your legs shake slightly and you take a minute to recover.

When you're ready you slowly pull out causing an overstimulated Scott to whine. "Sorry, I'll clean you up and we can go straight to sleep okay?" Scott only nods, he still looks like he's seeing stars.

You grab a warm cloth and gently wipe Scott and yourself down before climbing into bed with him, wrapping your arms around his waist and holding him close.

You both slept undisturbed and peaceful within eachothers arms.

-------------------------------

A/n: as much as i love writing for Pedro's characters, a different character like Scott was refreshing. Sorry it took so long aswell being busy and a slow writer who gets distracted easily is not a good mixture. But i hope you like it <3

[fandomnsfw]

Changes pt 1 - Scott McCall x Reader

Pairing: Scott x Reader

Prompt: None!~ Just came to me brahh

Warning: NONE! 

ENJOY!!

*****

If it’s one thing the pack was sure of it was that you were very much like Stiles’ long lost twin. Stiles had even insisted you call him big brother, though you refused. However if anyone could match the rambling of said hyperactive spaz it was you.

Only you didn’t have ADHD it was just your personality. Which had still earnt you a seat at the table with what you had once assumed to be the popular kids however turned out to be a very different group.

You somehow found yourself entangled with werewolves and all other type of supernatural people but just like Stiles you loved it. Even with his fear Stiles loved the adrenaline of chasing down the bad guys and putting them to a stop. Just like you.

The pack was full of couples who had been together since before you joined and some after. Aiden and Lydia had got together just before you joined. Erica and Boyd had been together since long before you got there. Allison and Isaac had come together just after you joined the pack. Derek and Stiles still hadn’t got together but that didn’t mean everyone stopped calling them an old married couple.

Liam and Theo were still bouncing off one another but anyone could tell they’d eventually explode and fuck each other much to the disgust of the Alpha. The last couple was fairly new and recently came back to join the pack. That would be Ethan and Jackson. Which shocked everyone except you and Lydia. Mainly because you never really met Jackson.

It had been months since Jackson came back with his significant other and everything was relatively settled except the only people in the group who were single were you and Scott. Obviously if you didn’t count those who had yet to pull their head out their asses. Kira had been gone too long and she and Scott had officially put an end to their relationship.

You couldn’t help but pout as you remembered that even Peter had started dating a beta from another pack just outside McCall territory. You only let out another sound of distress when you realised even Melissa and Chris had started dating.

The parents of the pack officially had a better love life than you.

“You’re doing that thing again.” Derek snorted as he sipped his coffee.

“What thing!?” You replied, sarcasm evident in your voice.

“That thing that Stiles does when he angrily eats his food because he’s thinking about something that pisses him off.” Derek chuckled making Scott look up from his homework.

“Oh yeah he used to do that when we talked about you a lot.” Scott commented, his adorable lopsided grin making an appearance.

“I did not!” Stiles screamed, causing Derek to growl making him shut up very quickly. Stiles flung himself over Derek and made grabby hand at him which apparently Derek understood and handed Stiles his coffee.

“Only a little bit Stiles.” Derek commented not even taking his eyes of his newspaper.

“Yeah yeah, Okay Sourwolf.” Stiles chuckled before taking a sip and handing it back to Derek.

“You guys seem…extra close…” Scott commented as he sipped his coffee with a raised brow.

“Did you guys finally fuck?” You snorted, sarcastically as you crammed some waffle in your mouth, but when Stiles blushed and Derek choked on his coffee which caused you to begin choking on your waffle. Scott patted your back a little roughly but you gave him a thumb up and looked at the apparent new couple.

“Oh my god! GIRLS! STEREK IS HAPPENING!” Suddenly you heard loud banging before Erica, Allison and Lydia came into view with wide eyes.

“Sterek?” Derek asked confused before he looked at Scott for answer but Scott just smirked.

“It’s your names combined.” You replied honestly making Stiles sigh dramatically.

“So which one bottoms?” You questioned making a very prominent blush show on Derek face.

“You can’t ask people things like that!” Derek snarled making you frown.

“Jackson who’s bottom?” You yelled from the kitchen knowing he’d hear you in the living area.

“Me. My ass is too good to resist.” He replied easily.

“Mason who bottoms!?” You yelled again.

“We switch. I’d asked why but I don’t wanna know!” He screamed back earning a chuckle from Lydia.

“If Stiles wants to tell you he can but my lips are sealed.”

“It’s obviously Stiles who bottom’s I mean have you felt his ass.” Erica snorted but Derek quickly growled causing her to immediately shut up.

The questions and guesses continued through the morning before Stiles eventually told you all that yes he was bottom. Scott had tuned out the very private conversation because they were both like his brothers but that didn’t stop him from giving Derek a very small warning that if he hurt Stiles he’d be dead.

You were currently watching Liam and Mason play video games, as you cuddled into the corner of the couch by yourself. As you looked around and saw all the couple you felt undeniably sad. Lydia was sat on Aiden’s lap as she helped him study for finals. Theo was sending Liam goo goo eyes. Cory had Mason sat between his legs as he played video games.

Erica and Boyd were napping on the floor, Derek and Stiles were surprisingly openly cuddling while reading their own books. Jackson and Ethan were scroll through their phones as Ethan teased him about something and Isaac was laid on Allison’s stomach as he napped and she read something on her kindle.

As you looked around you spotted Scott sat by himself as he read a book most likely for school work. You smiled sadly at his cute eyebrows that were currently drawn down in concertation. You got off the couch and strolled outside the newly built pack home, sitting yourself on the porch swing.

You took a deep breath and tried to forget about the feelings you’d buried months ago. You had, had a crush on Scott from before you were even a part of the pack but when you joined the pack you were told he was with Kira so you buried your feels, but after they broke up he seemed happy being single so you buried them even deeper until all you felt was a dull throb.

Recently your feelings had been trudged back up due to someone asking you if you would ever turn into a wolf. That when you got thinking about not only the risks but also the perks. You could be equal to most of your friends for one but not only that, you could also feel the connection the others felt with Scott. Which made you ultimately think about the feelings you had buried.

“Hey you okay?” A soft kind voice asked from the front door which you hadn’t even heard open. Damn werewolves.

“Y-Yeah I’m fine…” You lied but as soon as you saw him frown you knew he’d heard your lie.

“You can talk to me you kno-”

“I think I want you to turn me.” You blurted out, cutting his sentence off before he had the chance to finish it.

“I won’t turn you.” Scott replied as a deep frown set in on his face.

“Why not!?” You snapped, thoroughly offended he flat out refused.

“Because you said you ‘think’ instead of I ‘know’. I won’t turn you unless I know it’s what you want 100%.” Scott sighed, his frown quickly disappearing and being replaced with what you would guess was sympathy.

“I do want to be turned. The only thing stopping me is the fear my body will reject it because I’m weak…” You’d been in the pack for a few months but no one had figured out how weak you really were. You had a few health problems but they weren’t noticeable unless you voiced them which you were thankful for.

“You’re not weak your human and that’s okay.” Scott retaliated, his smile encouraging yet pointless because he had no idea of your problems.

After Scott comforted you a little you decided to go finish your homework. As you sat down you noticed a slight pain in your wrist but chose to ignore it. You’d become very good at ignoring the pain so none of the wolves knew.

You were writing for half an hour when it started again but worse. You knew you needed to leave but if you rushed out of here in a room full of werewolves they would notice. You stood up and turned to the pack with a smile. You knew your back was going to start hurting soon and if you didn’t leave everyone including the humans would know.

“Guys I’m gonna get goi-”

“Sit down now.” Scott growled, causing you to freeze ignoring his command but not long after he shot over to you and grabbed your face.

“Why are you in pain?” He asked his eyes full of worry.

“Scott let her go.” Derek sighed sadly.

“Stiles drive Y/N home.” Stiles nodded like he knew what was happening.

After you left Scott turned to Derek with red eyes letting out a warning growl. Derek rolled his eyes and sat down to read his book.

“What the hell did you do that for!? She’s obviously in pain!”

“DO YOU THINK I DON’T KNOW THAT? DO YOU THINK WE ALL DON’T KNOW THAT!?” Derek screamed making everyone stop their tasks.

“You all know she’s in pain and no one tried to tell me!?” Scott yelled angrily when finally Theo spoke up surprising everyone.

“She’s stubborn Scott. We keep our mouths closed because we can do more that way. She thinks we’re oblivious, so whenever we get the chance we take her pain without her realising. It’s sneaky but it’s the best way. Its human problems we will never understand again. It’s nothing deadly from what I can tell it’s her joints or nerves surrounding the joints. I don’t know what’s wrong with her but I know it’s not deadly and that’s what matters. When we all figured it out Derek stopped us from saying anything because she obviously didn’t want us to know. That’s her choice and we should respect it.” Theo sighed, everyone nodding in agreement.

“It’s really nothing deadly?” Scott muttered with a concerned look on his face that made Lydia and Derek smile.

“Do you really think I wouldn’t tell you if the girl you’re in love with was dying?” Stiles muttered from the door, a sad smile gracing his face. Thankfully your house was only a 2 minute drive from the Hale house so when Stiles walked through Scott relaxed a little.

“She wants the bite but I think she thinks her body is too weak for it but she’s wrong. I actually think she could be one of the strongest wolves this pack has ever seen. I can smell it on her.” Derek commented making Scott nod in thought.

That night Scott thought about whether turning you would be an option he would consider. He spent all night worrying about if you were in pain and that lead to him making his finally decision. He knew turning was your choice but the least he could do was give you that option.

The next morning you walked into school with Lydia only to be pulled to one side by Scott. His eyes were sad but it wasn’t pity you saw it was an apology which thoroughly shocked you.

“If you want me to turn you I will but only if you sure it’s what you want.” Scott murmured making sure no one outside the pack heard you. Your eyes widened at his words but you felt relief and happiness flood you.

Would these damn problems finally disappear? Could you finally do everything your friends could do? Running? Partying? Drinking without having to stop your meds?

“I want it.” Scott smiled and stroked your hair softly before giving you nod and telling you to come to the pack house after school.

Throughout the day you thought about how Scott’s hand felt on your hair. Not the fact you’d be a werewolf soon but the fact that the only guys you’d ever liked, had touched your hair. You snorted at yourself and thankfully no one heard.

Lesson’s dragged on but when they finally ended, you ran to the parking lot and spotted Stiles who was getting into his Jeep. You ran over and hopped into the passenger side making him raise an eyebrow at you.

“To the hale house! GOOOOO!” You screamed making him nod dramatically like you’d just given him some kind of dangerous mission.

Once there you hopped out as Scott pulled up on his bike. You leaped onto his back and giggled.

“Werewolf me Mr.Alpha!” Scott burst out laughing but grabbed behind your knees so he could piggy back you into the hale house.

“Really Y/N werewolf me Mr.Alpha? Really?” Stiles snorted making you shoot him a glare as you made it inside, but eventually chose to ignore him.

We had our Friday night pack meeting and then your text your Mom telling her you were staying at Lydia’s all weekend which she quickly okayed. Afterwards you and Scott went to your bedroom in the pack house for more privacy.

“Where is the best place to b-bite?” You stuttered nervous about the outcome.

“Usually the waist but if your uncomfortab-” Before he could finish you stripped off your shirt and stood there in your skinny jeans and lace black bra.

A silence fell over you both as Scott gaped at you causing you to squirm under his gaze. Goosebumps appeared on your skin as you tried not to think about how it would feel to have Scott take you against your bedroom door.

“Okaaay well this is sufficiently awkward so hurry up and bite me.” You sighed, sarcastically making him quickly snapped out his gaze with a blush.

“S-Sorry.” He muttered but despite his word he got down on his knees in front of you and gripped your hips twisting you slightly so he could get a better angle. He looked up at your waiting for your permission but with the sight of him on his knees in front of you, it made you bite your lip quickly forgetting you needed to nod. He inhaled but as he did his eyes went wide, shooting a look at you that was very much full of shock.

“Don’t say a word.” You muttered angrily, a blush taking over your face. He nodded shyly and decided it was better he bite you before things get even more awkward. His eyes glowed red and he looked up at you before he slowly sunk his teeth into your waist.

It hurt, you couldn’t deny that as the screamed that ripped from your throat was high pitched and enough to have Derek and half the pack burst into your bedroom. Scott pulled his fangs out and quickly stood up blocking you from everyone’s view. He held you up as you began to wobble on your feet.

“Allison get the first aid kit. Lydia help her cover herself. I’ll be back once she’s settled.” Scott instructed his eyes glow red as he peered over his shoulder letting them know it was a command.

Lydia rushed over and held you up with difficulty making Erica run in to help as Lydia slipped a blanket around you. Allison ran back upstairs and started on cleaning the wound as Scott dragged all the males out the room.

“Sorry we burst in like that we just panicked.” Mason sighed, his response making Scott smile sadly.

“I knew she’d scream but I wasn’t expecting a friggin’ Lydia scream. She almost put Lydia to shame.” Aiden joked making Liam nod in agreement.

“Remind me to make her walls soundproof soon.” Derek muttered to Stiles who smirked silently.

“Why would she need soundproof walls?” Scott asked softly, his head tilting to the side in confusion which never failed to make him look like a lost puppy.

After a few hours a frequent checks on you everyone sat down to discuss what would happen next but before long it was late and the pack decided to check on you tomorrow. Everyone was sleeping soundly through the night as the bite healed over with everyone none the wiser.

-> Part 2

[natalynsie]

5 Times Alejandro Flustered Tyler and 1 Time Lindsay Noticed Why (Aletyler Oneshot)

“Go Tyler! Go Tyler!” Lindsay screamed across the baseball field.

Tyler smiled at Lindsay. Lindsay was known for showing her friends support all the time. Even if it was just a friendly game between two teams from the same school during summer. Lightning had bet the juniors that the sophomores could beat them at baseball, and Tyler never turned down a challenge.

So, Tyler got everyone who would come roped in for the game. They didn’t have enough people for a proper team, but a game was a game. Tyler managed to round up Geoff, Duncan, Cody, Owen, and last but not least, Alejandro. Lightning managed to get Scott, Brick, Jo, Mike, and B. At the beginning of the game, he said something about it being “guys versus guys”. Tyler was pretty sure he still didn’t know that Jo was a girl.

There was only one person watching the game, and that was Lindsay. No one else really cared enough about some bet between Tyler and Lightning of all people. Yet, for some reason, Lindsay was still out cheering out on the sidelines.

“Tyler!” Lindsay yelled. Not cheered. Yelled.

Tyler turned towards the field.

A baseball was soaring at him.

Pow!

“Ugh,” Tyler groaned, falling back on the field. His head hit the grass, just like how the ball hit his face.

“Tyler!” Lindsay shrieked, horrified. She ran from the sidelines to Tyler, crouching next to him.

“Amigo.” Alejandro got on his knees next to Tyler. “Can you hear me?”

“Huh?” Tyler asked, in a daze. He looked side to side with squinted eyes, seeing two Alejandro’s. He had double vision. Not like he was a stranger to that.

Alejandro took Tyler’s hand, gently pulling him into a sitting position. “Are you alright?”

Tyler blinked a few times, and smiled. “Yeah, I’m okay. This is all grood! Happens all the slime.”

Alejandro chuckled. “Uhh, Tyler, I think you need to sit on the side with Lindsay for a little bit.”

“What?” Tyler asked. “No! You’re really fine! Wait, I mean-”

Alejandro gave Tyler a pat on the shoulder. “You need a break. I’m sure Mike wouldn’t mind sitting out to even out the teams.

“Dang,” Tyler sighed. Lindsay helped Tyler up, and he went to sit on the ground with her.

She smiled. “You said ‘slime’ instead of ‘time’.”

“Aw man, I did?” He folded his arms. “That’s embarrassing.”

“You also said ‘grood’.”

“Ugh…”

~~~

“I didn’t even see that,” Alejandro mumbled. “Good move.”

“Hah, well, you know,” Tyler responded. “I mean, how am I supposed to win sports without a sick sense of strategy? Also, my gym teacher accidentally put me on the chess team for all of ninth grade, so I learned to crush it.”

“It wasn’t an accident,” Duncan muttered.

“I should’ve been there,” Alejandro stated. “Maybe then I could kick your butt even harder than I am right now.”

Alejandro moved his knight to Tyler’s king, knocking it over.

“Checkmate.”

“Woah! That came out of nowhere!” Tyler exclaimed. “You’re really good.”

“Thank you, amigo,” Alejandro smirked and brought a hand to Tyler’s face. “Although, you did put up quite the fight.”

Duncan gave Lindsay a look with one eyebrow raised. She returned it with a smile.

Tyler shot back from Alejandro. “You’re also really good. Obviously,” He squeaked. “You beat me.” He chuckled.

“I did.”

~~~

“Thank you again for holding all of our stuff.” Alejandro slipped his three bags of clothes from individual stores onto Tyler’s arm. “We appreciate it.”

“Yeah!” Lindsay smiled. She dropped her bags into Tyler’s arms, and he stumbled backwards. She most certainly had more bags than Alejandro had.

“Mhm,” Justin acknowledged that they were giving thanks and hung a bag on each of Tyler’s right fingers. Tyler remained upright. He just wished his upper body strength as a whole was as good as his finger strength. With that, Justin walked into the changing room.

“Well, you know,” Tyler grunted. “You’re spending the money so I gotta carry the bags.”

“It’s our money, you’re still doing us a favor.”

“You’re doing a favor by looking pretty and stuff.”

“Aw, you think I’m pretty? Why thank you.”

Tyler’s face turned slightly pink. “Yeah, uh, well I kind of said that on accident but like, you are pretty I just meant that-”

“I know what you meant, amigo.” Alejandro gave Tyler a smile. “Thank you.”

“Yeah,” Tyler managed to vocalize.

“Well. I’m going to try this shirt on.” Alejandro walked into a nearby changing room.

“Aw, you think he’s pretty,” Lindsay grinned. “So nice of you to compliment him.”

“You look pretty too,” Tyler smiled.

“Yay! I know I do, but thanks!”

~~~

“You gonna come in, Linds?” Tyler asked.

“No, I need to work on my tan. And my hair is straightened,” Lindsay replied.

“Aw man. But it’s beach day!”

“Come on, amigo.” Alejandro placed a hand on Tyler’s shoulder. Tyler’s eyes dashed to look at it. “Let’s just go swim. Bridgette and Geoff are waiting.”

“Yeah! Let’s go. Um,” He peeled his eyes from his shoulder, and to Alejandro’s eyes. “Yeah.”

Alejandro and Tyler stood still, staring at each other.

“Uhh, are you guys okay?” Lindsay asked.

“Yes!” Alejandro tore his hand from Tyler’s shoulder. “Let’s go.”

Tyler nodded and turned, walking towards the beach.

“Bye guys,” Lindsay said, slightly confused.

“Bye!” Tyler waved his hand backwards.

~~~

Heather snorted. “What is with your hair?”

Alejandro looked up, as if he could actually see his own hair. “What’s wrong with it?”

“You don’t even have enough hair to do a ponytail so you only did half of it. You look ridiculous, Alejandro.”

“Hey! It’s a style,” Tyler defended. “It’s a half-up-half-down.” He turned to Lindsay. “Right?”

“Yeah, but I don’t think it works that well with his hair type-”

“I think he looks cute!” Tyler yelled, a little too loudly.

Alejandro stood still.

Lindsay stood still.

Heather gave Tyler an eyebrow raise. “You mean the hairstyle looks good?”

“Yeah!” He exclaimed, now a little nervous as he took in his friends’ stares.

Alejandro stood up straight. “Yeah, Heather. Tyler likes it. It’s clearly just a you problem.”

“Well, I-” Lindsay butted in.

“Come on Tyler, we have a game to play.”

The two of them walked off, leaving Heather and Lindsay alone.

“God, what an idiot,” Heather insulted.

“Don’t talk about Tyler like that!”

“Not Tyler,” Heather rolled her eyes, “Alejandro.”

“What?”

“He’s so stupid for not noticing.”

“Noticing what?”

“You are too.”

“What?”

~~~

“And guess what?” Lindsay asked, through mouthfuls of popcorn. “She said my nail polish was cheap! Cheap! I never spare a dime when it comes to accessorizing, she knows that.”

“You should cut her off,” Alejandro advised.

“I guess,” Lindsay said. “But seriously!” She shot her hands in the air, hitting Tyler straight in the nose.

Alejandro fell backwards and off of the footrest he had been sitting on. “Oughhh.”

“Tyler!” Alejandro stood up. “Are you alright?”

Alejandro held a hand out to Tyler and pulled him back onto the footrest.

“I-I like girls!”

Alejandro chuckled, and continued to hold his hand. “I know.”

Lindsay looked between the two.

Tyler looked down at Alejandro’s hand before letting go.

“By the way, what time is it?” Alejandro asked.

“Nine,” Lindsay responded.

“Oh, I have to go. See you, Tyler.”

“Bye Al!”

Alejandro grunted, walking away.

Lindsay waited until she heard a door open and shut, and then turned to Tyler.

“Do you have a thing for him?”

“What?” Tyler asked. “No, I don’t, nah, we’re just friends.” He waved his arms around in denial.

“You totally like him! Eee!”

“Do not!”

“Do too! The other day you said he was cute, and today you said you like girls when he helped you up. You totally like him!”

“Aw man,” Tyler sighed. “I do. But only a little!”

Lindsay squealed and gave Tyler a hug. “Yay! You should ask him out!”

“No way! He’s so out of my league.”

“I’m out of your league, but you dated me. Why is he any different?”

“Hey!”

[mikhailwrites]

Waiting for Connection 10 / Ghost x Soap NerdAU

Ghost is retired and plays milsim videogame. Soap is still in the force and sometimes plays that same videogame...

You didn't think I'd leave you in angst over the Christmas day, did you?

Previous chapter | AO3

The night is cold and damp; the light drizzle doesn’t warrant an umbrella, but it’s not very pleasant in any case. Ghost adjusts the collar of his coat to cover his neck better before shoving his hands deep into his pockets as he starts up the street towards his home. John walks next to him, seemingly unperturbed by the cold. Would stand to reason, Ghost thinks, if he grew up further up north and got through the SAS selection. It’s been years, yet it’s hard to forget—the harrowing trek to a bloody mountain with a time limit and in full gear.

“How’d you get your callsign?” Simon asks out of nowhere. He doesn’t mind the silence but can tell it’s not the same for John, who is probably still beating himself up for fucking up earlier. Simon's not a bastard; yes John hit a nerve back there but he didn't mean to. Simon is resilient, too, shrugging the hurt off as if it's nothing. He has no reason to sulk.

The Scott grabs the question like a lifeline. “At the end of the selection, actually. We were tasked to clean out several buildings to save the hostages. I’ve set the record. The overseeing officer said I’ve been as quick and efficient as a soap, and it kinda stuck.”

“It’s a good callsign,” Simon admits. It sounded ridiculous at first, so much so he was sure there had to be some embarrassing story behind it, as is the case with most callsigns. To earn it with skill is commendable.

“What about you? Ghost is probably the best I’ve ever heard,” Soap asks. Usually, Simon wouldn’t tell, but he supposes it doesn’t matter anymore. There’s no reason to uphold the mystery now.

“I’ve been buried alive,” Simon says, the tone of his voice casual, as if he was commenting on the weather.

John barks out a laugh, probably thinking Ghost’s pulling his leg. Once he realises that’s not the case, he sobers up. “Shit, man… that’s fucked up.”

“Guess it is,” Ghost shrugs. It’s been a long time since he was able to tell what’s fucked up or not. “Alright, we’re here,” Simon takes out keys and lets John inside, clicking the lights on before he leads him to the second floor.

Simon’s flat isn’t much, but it’s his home. As soon as they enter, there’s a blur of tabby fur, and before Simon can say anything, John is crouching and scratching Sgt. Stripey behind the ears. “So you’re Stripey. Nice to meet ye, lad,” John says to the cat with warm affection.

“Careful, or you’ll end up wrapped around his claw,” Ghost warns, hanging his coat and putting his shoes away.

“Too late.” John chuckles, standing up and handing Ghost his jacket to be hanged. “You know, I’d have pegged you for a dog person.”

“I don’t mind dogs; I just like cats better. Always clicked with the little fuckers, ever since I was a kid.” He has no idea why he is imparting so much to John. On the other hand, it’s not like he’s still part of the top secret Task Force. He can have friends now, tell them things about himself, and let them in.

“Guess I can imagine a wee Simon feeding the strays,” John admits as he goes further into the apartment, looking around, obviously compartmentalising everything he sees.

Simon doesn’t say anything because John’s words struck a tad too close to home.

Thankfully, John doesn’t notice. His attention is currently held by something else. “Steamin’ Jesus, what is that?!” Soap exclaims and points at Ghost’s rig, proudly sitting on the desk.

“My computer?” Ghost cocks an eyebrow.

“That?!” Soap almost squeals, which is halfway between ridiculous and adorable, in Ghost’s opinion. Soap comes closer, leaning in to inspect the machine up close. “What are these?” he traces the acrylic tubes with an index finger without actually touching anything.

“Liquid cooling.”

“A…what?” Soap’s eyes widen. “Thought electricity and water don’t mix well.”

“You sure you’re the explosives guy? I said liquid, not water. You could use water technically, but it’s not a very efficient coolant.”

“How do you even… ye ken… keep it in?”

“It’s a closed circuit, look,” Ghost comes closer, shoulder brushing against John’s as he points out the reservoir with a pump, “you have your coolant here, then it’s distributed throughout the system. First, it goes into the CPU because it’s higher up, so I can use gravity to help the pump later. There’s a copper heat plate pressed to the processor; inside it is something like a little maze, so the coolant doesn’t flow through too fast and can actually take away the heat. Once out of the maze, it goes into the intercooler; here,” he touches a big black cooler attached to the top of the rig. “The liquid cools here; it works exactly the same as old radiators and is then used here in the graphics card. The cooling cover works pretty similarly to the one for the CPU, only it’s larger. Once the liquid is out of the GPU, it’s cooled again, here,” he points to another intercooler, “and, lastly, it returns back to the reservoir.”

“But… that’s so complicated! And what if it spills? That can happen, can’t it?” Soap looks at him, and Ghost can’t help but notice the curious shade of blue in his eyes as it catches the warm light. Thankfully, the question asked is interesting enough for him to focus on.

“Sure, but the liquid is safe as long as you don’t drown your power supply in it. And it’s more efficient and much quieter. Let me show you,” without further ado, Ghosts wakes the PC up and fires up a benchmark. “You hear that?”

“Hear what?” Soap asks, confused.

“Exactly,” Ghost’s smile is all smugness, and John finds it kind of endearing.

Soap laughs as soon as he gets Ghost’s point. When he turns to Ghost next, a fond smile plays at his lips, and there are crow’s feet in the corner of his eyes. “Ye really like this stuff, huh?”

It takes Ghost a few seconds to respond, mainly because John’s sheer radiance nearly blinds him. “I do,” he rubs at the back of his neck, a nervous gesture because he feels exposed and a little embarrassed. Usually, that would be a bad thing, but in this instance, it feels different because he knows John wouldn’t laugh at him. They met in a video game. Ghost’s goofiness is safe with him.

“Sorry if that came out wrong. I just wanted tae say I’m impressed. I have no idea about any of this. Maybe you could teach me some stuff?”

“Make you my Padawan, you mean?” Ghost raises an eyebrow.

Soap smirks, unable to hold Ghost’s gaze any longer. “Yer such a nerd, Ghost,” he shakes his head, still smiling. It could’ve easily been read as an insult, yet the way Soap said it sounds more like a compliment. “But aye, make me your Padawan, Master Simon,” Soap says and bows before Ghost. That settles the matter.

Before they can open a new topic, Soap is caught off-guard by a yawn. Glancing at his wrist-watch, he’s both surprised and unsurprised by how late it is. Time flies by when you’re having fun, especially with a good company, but Soap has been on his feet for close to twenty hours now and the past week wasn’t much better. The exhaustion is catching up to him.

“Go take a shower if you want, it’ll take me a few minutes to get the couch ready,” Ghost says and nods to the piece of furniture in question.

Soap thinks for about three seconds. “You don’t need to, I can sleep on it as it is.”

“Nonsense,” Ghost rejects the idea with a finality that bars any further discussion.

Soap holds up his hands in surrender, gathers a few items from his bag and retreats to the bathroom.

Ghost spends several minutes figuring out his own piece of furniture. The thing is, he’s never needed the futon, only the sofa. After multiple failed attempts, he finally finds the right angle and amount of strength to pull and push until the bloody thing unfolds and rearranges itself.

Only now, he is faced with a different problem. Ghost doesn’t have an extra blanket and pillow, which he really should’ve thought about earlier. It’s not a difficult issue to solve. He takes a quilt from the couch and swaps it for his own blanket. The linens were changed two days ago, John should be fine with it. However, the pillow stays in Simon’s bed. If he were to use the small one from the living room, he would have a stiff neck for at least three days. Not worth it. He wouldn’t stand for John to be cold, but the pillow should be just a minor inconvenience for someone as young and fit as Soap.

Ghost quickly gets the futon ready and opens the window to let in some fresh air. It smells of rain and winter, Simon’s favourite combination if anyone ever asked.

John emerges from the bathroom, flushed and slightly damp, dressed in a plain khaki tee and black briefs. Ghost lingers on him, though not for too long. That would be rude and a little creepy, right?

“If you wake up before I do, feel free to check the fridge, make yourself a coffee or tea, everything’s in the kitchen,” Ghost instructs him. “Sergeant usually sleeps in bed with me, but maybe he’ll get curious.”

Soap blinks a few times at the last piece of information before he realises that Ghost is talking about his cat. Right. There was no way he would invite Soap into his bed like this. Not that Soap would want him to, right? They’re friends, and it would be too soon in any case. John realises Ghost is looking at him as if he expects Soap to say something.

“Aye, sure. Thank you again for having me.”

“Sure,” Ghost nods, “sleep well, Soap.”

“You too, Ghost.”

Simon retreats to the bedroom, leaving the doors slightly ajar for the cat.

[errorryx]

blood moon – part two

read on ao3 | read part one | gemcyt / life series, 2.5k words

An AU-within-an-AU of the wonderful gemcyt AU by @chrisrin, and the fic series by @sixteenth-days!

This part introduces two more characters, Mumbo and Lizzie, but since they're Homeworld gems, they don't use those names yet, and Lizzie doesn't use she/her pronouns yet. All that will change in the next chapter, but in the meantime, Mumbo is Peridot and Lizzie is Rose Quartz.

—

“I can’t believe this,” Grian said, looking at Pearl with a new eye. Now that he knew it was his old friend, he could see the resemblance, though it was mostly in Pearl’s expressions—her new form bore no resemblance to her previous one. “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you, obviously.” Alex gave him a gentle bump with her shoulder. It hurt a lot less than usual now that she was only twice his size.

“I have so many questions.” Grian tried to organize his thoughts, but it was a hopeless task. “Why do you look like a pearl? Should I be calling you Pearl now, or Alexandrite? And why are you red?”

“I don't care what you call me, Gri. I’m just glad I finally found you,” Pearl said. “The pearl thing started out as a disguise, but I have no idea why I'm red. I was actually hoping you’d know.”

“I've never seen a gem change color before.” Grian landed on Alex’s shoulder and took a closer look, poking her arm in curiosity. “Maybe Scott or Cleo would know something, but I haven’t got a clue. Is this the first time it’s happened?”

“As far as I know. We landed last night, but I didn't leave the ship until morning because—”

“Hang on,” Grian interrupted. “Who’s ‘we’?”

“Me and Peridot,” Alex said. “Oh, and this rose quartz we picked up on the way, but he ran off the second we touched down. Haven't seen him since. He was such a ditz, he probably tripped on a rock somewhere and shattered himself.”

She laughed, but Grian didn’t join her. His days of considering quartz soldiers expendable were over now that he knew some of them personally. If anything happened to BigB, he’d be inconsolable.

“How did you convince Peridot to come with you?” he asked. “I figured he’d never leave Homeworld again after hearing that I disappeared.”

“He’s currently refusing to leave the ship,” Alex admitted. “But he came because he had to, Grian. We both did. We couldn’t just not look for you, knowing you could still be out there.”

A horrible thought occurred to Grian. “This isn’t a Homeworld mission, is it? You’re not reporting back to them or anything?”

“Course not. We left the main ship three solar systems away and took an escape pod here. They can’t track us.”

Grian breathed a sigh of relief. If there was one thing Alexandrite was good at, it was hiding things from the diamonds. He should have more faith in her. “I thought I’d never see you or Peri again,” he said. “I still can’t believe you’re just here.”

“I’m here,” she said. “Come on, bring it in.” She spread her arms open, and Grian moved forward to let her hug him. He could actually sort of hug back this time, since she was smaller than usual. “I missed you so much, Gri. I wish I could have come sooner.”

“I missed you too,” Grian admitted. “Living with Scar is kind of a nightmare. Makes you seem level-headed and rational in comparison.”

“Me? Level-headed?” Alex laughed. “I get it, though. Peri’s been driving me up a wall with how much he talks about you, but I can’t blame him. We were so worried you’d been shattered, but I kept telling myself, Gri’s a survivor. He’d never just die on an alien planet like that. And I was right!” she crowed. “He’ll be thrilled to see you.”

“You think if we’re both there, we can convince him to leave the ship?”

“Who cares about that? We can catch up on the way back, right?” Alex said, her red eyes shining. “Come on, Gri, let’s get out of here!”

“Wait, what?”

Grian stopped dead, replaying the conversation they’d just had in his head. Alex had been glad to see him, she’d been shirking her responsibilities to come find him, but she’d never said anything about staying—in fact, the first thing she’d said to him had been the exact opposite.

“We’re going home, silly.” Pearl tilted her head in confusion. “Don’t you want to get out of here?”

Maybe if she’d come earlier, Grian would have jumped at the chance to get off this planet and return to Homeworld. But now, he’d gotten used to the freedom of doing whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted to do it. He couldn’t imagine returning to his old life just to have the Diamond Authority constantly breathing down his neck.

“I can’t just up and leave,” he told her.

“Why not? We’ve already come up with the perfect cover story.”

“That’s not the problem,” Grian said. “I’ve got a whole life here now. I’m making new friends, fusing, working on this base—” He gestured behind him. “I just put in a chimney. You don’t even know what that is! I don’t even know what that is, but I’m not going to find out if I return to Homeworld.”

Pearl just stared at him. She clearly wasn’t getting the message. “So…you’re not going to come back with us?”

“No,” Grian said firmly. “I’m not going back to Homeworld.”

“Oh.” Pearl stepped back, her eyes going blank. “Okay then.”

“It’s just—” He sighed. “I thought you liked it here. I thought this place would be right up your alley.”

She shrugged. “It’s alright.”

“I was hoping you’d want to stay.” Grian couldn’t blame Pearl for having reservations. He’d had plenty of his own, and it had taken him a while to shake them. “I know it sounds insane.”

“It does,” Pearl agreed. “I’ll have to think about it.” Her voice was flat and unconvincing. She was upset, Grian realized, and trying not to show it. She took a few steps back, glancing off in the direction she’d come from.

“You don’t have to decide yet,” Grian said. “I know it’s a lot.”

“I get it,” Pearl said. “I’ll just—I’ve got to work on some things. I should go.”

“You’re not going to tell anyone from Homeworld that we’re here, are you?”

“I wouldn’t,” she said, sounding offended. “We’re still friends, Gri. I’d never get you in trouble.”

“Or anyone else,” he insisted.

“Or anyone else.” She started walking away, but stopped after a few steps. “You’re not going to blow my cover, are you?”

“You mean tell them you’re not really a pearl?”

“I am a pearl,” she said, but faltered. “I mean—yeah.”

“We’re still friends,” Grian echoed her. He still didn’t know why Alex was in disguise, but he’d get it out of her eventually. “I won’t tell anyone.”

Pearl nodded. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she told him, and left.

—

Pearl’s return to the ship was concerning, to say the least.

When she left, Pearl had assured Peridot that she’d be back with Gri at her side. Not only was Gri nowhere to be seen, but Pearl had somehow managed to turn herself an entirely different color.

It may have been a trick of the light, but Peridot wasn’t willing to leave the ship to get a closer look. He hit the button on the wall to deploy the landing bay so she could come in.

“Don’t just stand there,” Pearl said, gesturing for him to join her. “Get out here.”

“I thought you said I wouldn’t have to leave the ship.”

“Change of plans.” Pearl crossed her arms, fixing him with an exasperated glare. “It’s perfectly safe, Peri. I’ve been out here for hours now without a scratch on me.”

“But—”

“Do you want Gri back or not?”

“I don’t want to change color,” Peridot said. “Can’t you just come in here?”

“Nope. You’ll be fine.” She walked up the ramp and grabbed him by the elbow, pulling him down with her. “See? Look, you’re still the same.”

Peridot winced as his foot touched the ground, but nothing happened. Pearl had told him the truth. His usual shade of green had gone a little dull from the dim light, but it was nothing like Pearl’s dramatic shift in hue. “Goodness,” he said, staring down at the earth beneath him. The soil was obscured by a thick layer of organic matter. “What is this stuff?”

“Don’t scan it. You can’t access the database here,” Pearl reminded him.

“I know, I know.” His arms stayed in place, his fingers tapping nervously against his elbows. “So what happened?”

Pearl let out a loud noise of frustration, making Peridot jump. “It went horribly,” she said. “I don’t know what Gri’s problem was. I showed him my gem and everything, and I even told him you came with me, but it was like he didn’t even care.”

“Even though he knows I’m here?” Pearl nodded, and Peridot pulled his arms a little closer around himself. “Oh,” he said softly. “I see.”

“I asked him to come back here with me,” Pearl said. “I told him you were waiting for him, but he refused. He wants to stay here, Peri. He doesn’t care about us anymore.”

Peridot didn’t think Pearl would lie to him, but he couldn’t bring himself to believe that Gri would have rejected them so harshly. “There must be some kind of misunderstanding,” he said. “Maybe he was just upset over something else. We can’t give up after getting all the way here.”

“I’m not giving up on him,” Pearl said. “That’s why I called you out here. We’re going to march right back over there and get this sorted. He can’t say no to us both.”

Peridot stared out into the darkness. Other than the light from the ship, their surroundings were rather dim. If he were to follow Pearl to wherever Gri was, he might risk unwanted contact with all manner of unseen creatures. “Can’t we wait until morning?” he asked her.

“I told you, there’s nothing to be afraid of. Besides the other gems, I haven’t seen a single motile organism since we arrived.”

Right as she finished speaking, something began rustling around in the greenery close by. Peridot immediately ran up the landing bay to hide inside the ship, but Pearl didn’t move. Instead, she drew her gem weapons, a pair of curved blades as long as her forearms, and held them aloft, ready to strike.

“Reveal yourself!” she shouted. “Who’s there?”

“What are you doing? Don’t draw its attention over here!”

“Guys, relax! It’s just me.” A few more branches snapped, and the bushes parted to make way for Rose Quartz, dirty and disheveled but no less chipper than the last time they’d seen him. “Did you find your little friend yet?”

Peridot had never met Rose before this journey. The only reason Rose was here was because he’d overheard Pearl and Peridot discussing their plans. Instead of ratting them out, he’d asked to join them, and they hadn’t had much of a choice but to agree.

“Where have you been all day?” Pearl asked Rose, letting her weapons vanish.

“I was looking around for other gems,” Rose said. “I followed the sun like you told me, but then it disappeared, so I turned around and came back.”

Pearl pinched the bridge of her nose. “Rose, I told you that the previous mission landings were in that direction,” she said, pointing east.

“You said they were towards the sun,” Rose said. “And the sun moved, so I followed it.”

“Are you like this on purpose, or are you really just that stupid?”

“Hey!” Rose crossed his arms. “Don’t call me stupid!”

“I’m glad you’re safe, Rose,” Peridot said, trying to steer the conversation away from an argument. He couldn’t make sense of why Pearl was acting so hostile. Until now, she’d had no problem being kind to Rose, keeping all her frustrations with Rose’s cluelessness between the two of them.

“Oh, I’m fine,” Rose said with confidence. “I’m a lot stronger than I look. Hey, Pearl, why are you red now?”

“That’s not important,” Pearl said. “What matters is that I saw all the missing gems today, Rose. None of them were shattered.”

“Wait, all of them? Really?”

“I cross-referenced every gem I saw with the reports of gems that were lost on Life. Everyone was accounted for.”

“What about Pearl? Where’s Pearl?”

Peridot pointed at Pearl immediately, only to find that Pearl was also currently pointing at herself. Rose laughed, waving them off.

“I know about that pearl, don’t worry,” he said. “I’m talking about Pink Pearl.”

“Wait, that’s who you’re here for?” Pearl asked. “Not one of the quartzes?”

“You know,” Peridot reflected, “maybe it would have been a good idea to ask that question before we let a random gem join our illegal top-secret mission.”

Pearl ignored him. “What do you want with Pink Diamond’s pearl?” she asked Rose.

“Erm.” Rose looked stumped. “That’s…classified?”

“We’re not playing by Homeworld rules anymore,” Pearl said, drawing her gem weapons once more. “You agreed to be a part of this mission, so you’d better tell me the truth.”

“Hey, woah, no need for violence!” Rose threw up his hands in surrender. “I kept seeing Pink Diamond really sad without his pearl, so when I overheard you guys talking about Earth, I figured I’d come too! That way I could bring the pearl back and make my diamond happy.”

“You didn’t tell anyone, right?” Pearl asked, stepping closer. “You’re not in contact with anybody from Homeworld?”

“No, no, of course not! Nobody knows I’m here.” Pearl took another step forward, undeterred, and Rose began backing away. “I’m telling the truth, I swear!”

“Pearl, what are you doing?” Peridot asked, his voice betraying his panic.

“Come on, Peri. You don’t find it suspicious that Rose is here for a diamond’s pearl?”

“I suppose, but…” If he was being honest, Peridot thought Rose’s story made sense. He’d never seen Pearl like this before. “I don’t think this is going to help. Please just put the knives away, Pearl, you’re—” You’re scaring me.

“Fine.” Pearl rolled her eyes and let her weapons dematerialize. “But if I find out you were lying, Rose…” She gave Rose a death glare, and Peridot shivered.

“Well, I’m not.” Rose briefly met Peridot’s eyes, but all Peridot could offer him was a helpless shrug. “I just want to find my—my diamond’s pearl. That’s all.”

There was a long, uncomfortable pause before Pearl broke the silence. “I’m taking Peri to see the other gems in the morning,” she said. “You might as well come with us if you want to see Pink Pearl.”

“I never agreed to that,” Peridot said, before he could think better of it.

“Well, there’s always Plan C,” Pearl said. “Where I go out and poof Gri and take him home with us by force.”

Peridot grimaced, imagining Gri’s reaction when he reformed on the ship back to Homeworld. “I don’t think we should try that one.”

“Then it’s decided.” Pearl gave him a dangerous grin, and Peridot shuddered. He was not looking forward to this.

—

<Previous part | Next part>

if you read this all the way through and enjoyed, please consider reblogging!

[zombieclieo]

"D'you think she cares?" His voice came across as a little worse for wear than it oughta. Death usually restored the body to peak order aside from a few scars, but here Martyn's throat was, scratchy and harder to parse than he woulda liked.

"What?" Came the reply. Scott shook his hand out, dirt particulates separating from his fingers as he did.

"Cleo, I mean. Obviously." Martyn laughed, leaning back against Scott's pretty little house, hand waving in a mockery of one of Scott's common gestures.

"Why would I know what Cleo thinks of you? We aren't teammates this go around." Scott turns back to his work, but it's still obvious how the previous victor felt about this game by how his voice catches at 'go around'.

Martyn winces, but he shakes it off within milliseconds. "You two are always allies! There hasn't been a go when you two haven't been conspiring. I'm asking because--"

"Martyn." Scott's voice was sharper than he meant, and it softens as he continues. "For one, I won't ask how you know more about mine and Cleo's relationship than either of us have told you. You and Grian get so clammy about that nonsense. For two, she hasn't mentioned you."

Martyn doesn't flinch, but Scott can tell that hurt him. Scott lived with him for a while, he knows. Martyn thinks himself infinitely cool and collected, but he isn't. He never has been and Scott's pretty sure he never will be. The blonde coughs. "Cool."

"Cool?" Scott laughs, looking up. Arcing underneath his hair from his right temple under his hair and around his throat is a lightning scar, and it glows slightly at the middle of his throat in a cool cyan. It aches. Martyn knows it aches, especially when Scott laughs. "Martyn, you were soulbound two goes ago. I know she's cool and all, but what's your hangup? Are you this hung up on Ren? Me?"

"What! Scott, you're having a giraffe. I don't get hung up on people."

There is a poignant silence. Martyn shifts uncomfortably. Scott rolls his eyes and returns to his work.

"Scott, I just wanna know how she is. If she ever thinks about me. I don't--I try not to think about it. The past, I mean. But it just... I may die but the soul lives on. Bones are buried but the soul is still here and it still feels that little string, y'know? We had the same soul, for a while. The same beating heart." Martyn finally moves from his ramrod straight stance, squatting beside Scott, a gloved hand extended.

The palm is cold. Ice fucking cold. The diamond shaped mark seems to give his flesh freezerburn as he nears the scar to any other living being. Any that are around, anyway. Martyn is cagey about it--Scott wasn't being mean. He has four of those diamonds across his body, though he supposes he's lucky that they're all... eh, relatively easy to hide. The one on his cheek, the back of his neck, and right over his heart were harder to conceal, though. That, and the massive ragged timepiece seemingly slashed across his back. The scar that never healed. The reminder to keep his ears open. To listen. To betray when it suits him. That one still pulses red, sore and obvious.

Scott doesn't know that a diamond burns for him as Martyn nears him. He doesn't know that it gets a little harder to breathe as the scalding diamond on the back of his neck makes itself very known. Bound, again and again, had he always found himself following after another? Hitching his soul into pieces again and again? Where would a diamond appear this time, for Jimmy? Where else would the cracks spread? Scott flicks his nose.

"You're absolutely doing that thing again where you just stare at me and look pensive. Fine, you want to know so bad what I think they think? Fine, if it'll get you to either go away or help me plant." Scott finally stands up fully and stretches his back out, then his arms high above his head. He reaches over to grasp Martyn's upper arm. "Cleo is a complicated person. They do care. They also don't. You aren't the center of her universe and that is fine. For both of you. Worrying about what they think won't make you less afraid of what comes next. Holding onto us--me, Cleo, the Ahaliance, Ren, that won't give you the peace you're looking for. You and Grian hold on tighter to the past than the rest of us. Let us go, Martyn, and let what joy you can have now happen."

The diamond hurts like hell. Like Martyn has slammed back into a pool of lava and it is eating him alive. It feels like dying when Scott holds his arm. He doesn't react. Scott doesn't know everything. "Alright, alright, I don't need an intervention here, mate! I'm genuinely just trying to see if she's mad at me, and you're talking different breeds and stronger memories. Bah. Maybe you're holding on to Cleo."

"Am I, then?" Scott snorts, and thankfully releases Martyn's arm. The burning subsides, somewhat.

"I think you are, honestly. I look away and suddenly you're gaslighting and gatekeeping and girlbossing! What about my gaslighting?" Martyn holds a hand to his chest as he fakes haughtiness.

"You're a bad liar, Littlewood." Scott kneels back in the dirt. "Now help me plant before you go back to our canary."

Martyn snorts, this time. "Our canary. Yeah, Scott, only me and Grian hold on." He does listen, though, and helps cover wheat seeds with dirt. As his right hand connects with the soil, it aches like a red winter, cold and bloody. He misses Ren. He misses Cleo, and Pearl, and Mumbo and everyone. He feels like there's a world where they could have been happy together, where they played games and laughed around Christmastime. As he looks at Scott, he wonders...

"Do you know what Christmas is?" His voice is more hesitant than he means for it to be.

"No, why?" Scott replies, shoving half a tuber deep into the earth.

"No reason. Just an old story." Then, that was the difference. He and Grian knew there was something beyond. No one else remembers what life extant a Watcher's game is like. He raises his head to watch the darkening horizon. Scott boxes his ear with a smile, and he shrugs. At least they have tonight to pretend like She wasn't watching. Like they were friends planting a field.

[amatchinwater]

So, hey. 👀 I have a prompt. 👀 Actually, I have two, and I hope it's okay I'll send them in one 🥰

"“i’ll kiss you right now to prove i don’t feel anything for you” but the kiss proves the exact opposite"" for Stisaac

"i’m watching you date all these other people and i don't know what it is i'm feeling but it's definitely not jealousy" for Steo (preferably with jealous Theo because I love jealous Theo 😍 But you don't have to. I'm gonna love it either way. 🥰 )

Gods, I don't even want to think about how old this ask is 🤦‍♀️ but I finally got the second one done!! Thank you, babes 💚💚

Pairing: Steo

Characters: Stiles Stilinski, Theo Raeken Mason Hewitt, Tracy Stewart, Corey Bryant, unnamed OG male character,

Warnings: drinking, rejection, mentions of past Sterek, Stiles thinks he can drink and fuck the breakup pain away, irritated Theo, jealous Theo

Words: 3033

Prompt: jealousy prompt in ask, thanks again, Laura 💚

Ao3 link Masterlist

---

Do you know what it feels like to have happiness? True happiness. Only to have it yanked away from you with no hope of stopping it?

Stiles does.

Twice in his life, aside from his mother’s death, has it happened. Once in the form of his childhood best friend and schoolyard crush Theo moving away shortly after a death in both of their families. Right when they probably needed each other the most. The second, and arguably the worst, was Derek Hale breaking up with him and also leaving town…and the country. 

At least Theo kept in touch, Derek cut him off cold turkey. 

It hurt like a mother fucker.

Even now with a healthy pack and a good life, six months later, Stiles still doesn’t feel quite whole. Like the wound is still fresh without an ounce of scar tissue in sight. 

“Are you coming tonight?” Tracy asks, flopping on the couch next to him and setting her feet in his lap. “Or are you finally staying home?” 

He doesn’t miss the suggestion in the kanima’s tone. That Stiles should stay home tonight. But the fox won’t. A fact they’re both more than aware of. 

Stiles will go to the club like every other time. Searching for someone with a hero complex insisting they can help him forget his ex. They mostly do. For the duration they’re in the fox’s bed at least. The moment the post-coital haze clears, Stiles is missing Derek all over again. Feeling guilty for what he’s done for the hundredth time. 

Because that’s the thing about rebounding with a bunch of strangers that no one tells you about. You’re still the same broken shell of a person afterwards. Nothing changes just because you had an orgasm. You’re still hurt. 

“Of course he’s going,” Theo huffs, all but stomping off the last step.

And he’s right. Even though Stiles knows it won’t make him feel better, he can’t stop.

“When are we leaving?” The fox asks, making Theo scoff. “What’s your problem?” He asks, rolling his eyes towards his Alpha.

“Nothing at all,” Theo mumbles in annoyance from the kitchen. “I’m staying home tonight, let me know when you guys are heading back,” the Alpha stalks back upstairs without another word.

Right. Okay, Stiles should probably back up a bit. He mentioned having a healthy pack now. With Derek gone, it’s obviously not the Hales. But Scott isn’t his Alpha either. When Theo came back to Beacon Hills at the beginning of their senior year, he and Stiles reconnected as if he’d never left. He was an Alpha and quickly built a pack of stray supernatural creatures both Scott and Stiles didn’t even know existed. 

Well, they knew about kanimas. But not raijus or that were-jaguars were a thing. Or that there were creatures that could turn invisible! Nor that kids they went to school with were supernatural and right under their noses. Granted, Stiles was a human at the time and literally never would’ve known. 

What bothered Scott the most is hard to say. Unclear to which straw finally broke the camel’s back. It’s always possible that it was just a culmination of everything that got to the True Alpha. In part, it definitely had to do with the fact that Theo wouldn’t relinquish his title as Alpha because Scott asked him to. And he shouldn’t have either, in Stiles’ opinion. The coyote got his power fair and square by his Alpha passing it on. 

Then it boiled down to how close he and Theo became.

They were best friends before Stiles even met Scott. Even over the years when they stayed in touch, there never felt like distance between them. There’s nothing that Theo doesn’t know about. No secrets. 

At first it started with Stiles already having plans with the coyote. But eventually it progressed to Stiles forgetting about pack nights because he was with Theo. And then the Alpha asked if he’d think about joining his pack since he sees Scott so little and seems happier with Theo.

Saying yes had never been so easy. 

He even accepted the bite.

Because Theo was absolutely right. After Allison, there was always an uncomfortable air around Scott and Stiles. On the surface, the fox was happier.

Not happy. But happier.

So off to Sinema he goes. Pack in tow save for their Alpha.

“What are the chances I can get you to be my wingman tonight?” Josh asks, looping an arm around the fox’s shoulder. “I need some of that luck you always seem to possess.”

Any other night, Stiles probably would’ve said yes. But for some reason Derek is at the forefront of his mind tonight. And there’s something clearly pissing Theo off. So for the sake of not thinking about either Alpha, the fox knocks back his fourth- fifth?- wolfsbane infused drink courtesy of Hayden.

Throwing a wink at the raiju, Stiles says, “watch and learn young padawan.” He can’t focus on fully helping Josh right now. But if he pays attention, it could work out for him.

It did with Corey and Mason.

Grated, Mason was so far gone on Corey, he didn’t really need to do much to get the human. 

Feeling that last cocktail settle in his blood, Stiles makes his way towards the dancefloor. It wasn’t until after Derek that the fox realized just how much he likes dancing. Or the fact that once he loosens up, Stiles is actually pretty good at it too. Moving through the sea of gyrating bodies, he finds himself a nice little space off the center.

That’s his trick. He’s close enough to the outside that someone sitting down can see him. But he’s also enough in the crowd that people on the dancefloor have eyes on him too. The more visible you are, the more chance you have of taking someone home. 

It takes no time at all for someone’s hands to find his waist. Stiles doesn’t even bother to push people away anymore. Company is his goal after all. So when the person pulls him close, grinding the fox against him, Stiles lifts his hands up, curling his fingers into their short strands. 

When the song changes, the body behind him makes no effort to move. So Stiles takes the initiative to turn around, see who’s interested. He’s surprised to find someone who looks like they could be Derek’s body double. It’s almost scary. But it deals the deal for the fox. Determination setting in to take this guy home. Maybe one last hook up, this time with Derek Lite, will be just what Stiles needs.

“Hey, handsome,” the fox lightly slurs over the music, “what are the chances I can get you to go home with me?”

Blunt and to the point.

Works every time.

The hands fall from his waist, the stranger’s face softening. “I’m sorry,” he leans in, not knowing that Stiles can hear him perfectly. “I was just looking for someone to dance with and you’re really good. You’re not my type, sorry.”

“Right. ‘Course, have a good night,” Stiles says, biting his remark away. The ‘you rub your boner on me but I’m not your type, huh?’ stings the back of his throat. The fox leaves the dance floor, making a beeline for the exit. 

That always works.

It didn’t work on Derek either.

Okay, that’s just fucking rude. The voice in his head has no right to say shit like that. Derek wasn’t some guy in a club. He was a good Alpha and brother who left town to protect his sister.

That doesn’t help it sting any less that an essential carbon copy of the Alpha rejected him.

The fresh air hits his face and all of the alcohol Stiles consumed makes itself known He’s not going to throw up, but he feels how much he had to drink. The fox doesn’t stop moving until he gets to the alley on the side of the club. Crouching down, Stiles puts his head in his hands.

He should be over this by now. Why the fuck does it still hurt so much? The fox’s eyes sting with tears. Drunk or not, he’s not going to fucking cry.

He won’t.

A hand rests on the fox’s shoulder, Josh’s scent filling his nostrils. It’s a comfort like no other. Stiles doesn’t know what he’d do without the raiju. 

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

“He broke me,” Stiles snaps, looking up at his best friend with blurry eyes. “I’m broken, Josh,” the fox sobs, tears spilling down his cheeks. He said he wasn’t going to cry, dammit. But here he is, one simple question from the raiju- one he could’ve said no to- and Stiles’ drunken brain releases the floodgates. 

He feels pathetic.

“But you’re not,” Josh speaks softly.

“Yes, I am!” Stiles sniffles, angrily wiping his face dry. “I’m not his type,” the fox scoffs, “Derek left me.”

“Okay, well fuck both of them. They’re idiots if they can’t see how great you are.” Josh looks at him earnestly, “but I also don’t think sleeping with a bunch of nameless faces is going to make you feel better. Kinda seems like it’s been doing the opposite.”

“Excuse me?”

“Look,” the raiju sighs, “I’m not trying to piss you off or control you. I’m just trying to help you. It’s kind of my job.”

Josh is right. Stiles knows that. But how else is he supposed to get by? Who else is going to want someone as damaged as him?

“How about instead of hooking up with everyone you can,” Tracy rounds the corner of the building, “you take a look at what’s right in front of you.”

Stiles, rather drunk and confused, looks at his best friend who is indeed in front of him. 

“You mean Josh?” Don’t get him wrong, his best friend is rather easy on the eyes. But that’d be like dating his brother. No, thank you.

The raiju laughs.

“Oh my god,” Tracy groans, scrubbing her face in aggravation. “You are not that dumb or blind,” the kanima scoffs. Stiles gives her a blank stare and shrugs. “For the love of- Theo! He’s in love with you, you idiot!”

Stiles’ heart stops.

“Bullshit,” he snorts. “Theo doesn’t even look at me like that.” If he did, Stiles would’ve tried something with his childhood crush a long time ago. Theo’s hot and nice and actually cares about him. He gently hits Josh’s arm, “tell her to stop fucking with me.”

Josh pulls a face, lifting a shoulder, “she’s not.”

Stiles’ heart stops again.

Then he laughs. A full on giggle fit that doesn’t stop even when they get him in the car. Laughs as he explains his behavior to Mason and Corey. But when they pull into the driveway and they give him the same look Josh had, Stiles sobers up real quick.

They’re home.

And Theo’s inside.

Theo.

Who doesn’t like, but loves him. 

What’s breathing? Stiles has forgotten how to do it, but he’s pretty sure it’s something that’s supposed to be automatic, not a conscious choice of inhaling and exhaling.

“Uh, hey guys,” Mason’s voice echoes beside him in the back seat, poking his shoulder.

“What?” Josh asks, putting the car in park.

Tracy actually turns around, “oh shit.”

“What?” The raiju repeats, looking behind him, “shit. Stiles?”

The fox is frozen, staring at the house. Full of alcohol and nervous energy. “He’s going to think I’m a whore,” Stiles mutters, his brain running a stomach churning montage of all of the people he’s slept with. 

All the while Theo knew about and said nothing in the way of disapproval. Unless you count his attitude. 

Gods, Stiles feels like such an idiot.

The kanima cackles. Actually cackles, “oh, honey. If anything Theo is just jealous and upset you’ve never let him grace your bed.”

“Why do you think he was so upset tonight?” Mason asks, rubbing the back of the fox’s neck. Even as a human he understands how to calm them down.

That would explain the Alpha’s attitude, sure. But still, “Why did he never say anything?”

Everyone in the car gives him a shrug.

“Guess you’ll have to ask him yourself,” Corey says, leaning over Mason and Stiles to open the car door.

“What?” The fox looks back and forth and before he knows it, the couple shoves him out of the car. If not for his supernatural reflexes, Stiles would’ve eaten the concrete.

“We’ll see you in the morning,” Josh yells through Tracy’s open window.

What?

The car door slams closed, tires squealing in its haste to get out of the driveway before the fox can react.

“Dicks,” Stiles mumbles, turning and facing the house. 

His body really wants to go into flight mode. Guess it’s time to put his big boy pants on. His heart picks up, fingers shaking trying to use the key to unlock the front door, one thought nagging him.

Has he been hurting Theo this whole time?

“Dammit,” he squeezes his eyes closed, pushing open the door. The only sound inside the house is his Alpha’s heartbeat. Too quick to be sleeping. A page turns. “Theo,” Stiles calls out, closing and relocking the front door.

Please don’t ignore him.

Please.

There’s a pause followed by a sigh, “In my room.” 

His heart is thundering in his chest. Yes, the revelation from the pack sobered him up, but the fox isn’t sober. There’s still a buzz in his head and a slight wobble to his legs. Stiles very carefully walks up the stairs to the Alpha’s room. The one right next to his. At least their walls are soundproof, so unless a door is open, you can’t hear shit. 

Meaning Theo never had to hear Stiles with the people he brought home. 

The smallest of consolations because Theo still knew they were there.

When Stiles makes it to the Alpha’s room, Theo is propped against his headboard reading Catching Fire. No shirt on and gray joggers. He is a sight to see. Why the hell did Stiles never even flirt with the guy? He’s more than aware of how hot Theo is. Maybe the fox just didn’t want to ruin their friendship. Or step over any pack bounds. 

Excuses, honestly.

“Hey,” Stiles says a breath above a whisper. His tipsy brain says the best course of action is why not try for some flirtatious humor to break the tension? “You waitin’ up for me, handsome?” The fox leans against the doorframe with a grin.

“No one warming your bed tonight?” Theo asks in a sour tone. Not even bothering to look up from his book, simply turning the page. 

Alcohol takes control of Stiles’ tongue, “I was hoping you would.” 

It’s unmistakable. The rush of arousal coming off the coyote. His fingers twitch against his book. “So they told you.” But Theo still doesn’t look up.

“They might have informed me that I’m a moron,” Stiles says, stepping over the threshold. “That I had someone much better right here the whole time.”

That gets Theo’s attention. He looks up from his book, eyes flickering red for the smallest of seconds.

He’s getting to Theo.

“I don’t want your pity,” the Alpha closes his book. “You’re only here because it’s convenient. A fall back because no one came home with you.” Theo’s voice is full of something Stiles can’t quite place. Anger? Sadness? His words hurt just the way that Theo must hurt when he says, “You don’t actually want me.”

The fox snorts, filter nonexistent, “Are you jealous that people come home with me?”

Theo tosses his book on the nightstand, getting up from his bed. The fox is ready to drool. All he needs is to get his hands on the coyote. But Theo stays just a step away, “I’m watching you fuck all of these other people and I don’t know what it is I’m feeling,” Theo’s heart skips. “But it’s not jealousy.”

“Liar,” Stiles says confidently. Never once feeling so bold and so fucking nervous at the same time.

The Alpha scoffs, giving him a tongue in cheek smile. When their eyes meet, Theo crosses his arms to his chest, stepping closer, “I’m not lying, sweetheart.”

Sweetheart.

Stiles’ mouth dries out. Throat clicking when he swallows. Does the Alpha realize how he looks and sounds? He is growing determined to get Theo to crack. He’s putting on a face so that Stiles won’t know he’s getting to him.

As if he can’t smell it.

Unless Theo’s trying to be done.

The fox gets an idea. He nearly purrs at the thought. If Theo wants to drop it, he’ll let him. But if he doesn’t…

“Okay,” Stiles quips, “if that’s what you really want. For the record, it’s not pity, I’d never have stepped foot in the club in the first place had I known you had feelings for me too. But I guess I’ll just leave you be then” He turns to leave, ready to walk away if that’s really what the coyote wants. 

No matter how much it might hurt.

Theo’s hand curls around his wrist. “Don’t you dare walk away from me,” the Alpha growls, words charged and breath thick. “I can’t-” Theo takes a controlled breath, sounding small and vulnerable, “I can’t watch you walk away again.”

“Then don’t,” Stiles whispers, unable to properly breathe either. “I’m yours…if you want that,” that fox turns around meeting rubies. 

“Not just for the night, sweetheart,” Theo sounds like he’s begging, yanking the fox close. His arm wraps around the small of Stiles’ back, keeping him there.

Stiles gulps, imagining this very situation since he was a kid, “However long you want me.”

“Don’t make a promise you can’t keep,” Theo tells him, eyes still glowing red, fingers twitching against his back. 

“Try me,” Stiles retorts, kissing Theo’s response away. 

The Alpha doesn’t pull back other than to drag Stiles to his bed. 

Needless to say, Stiles doesn’t return to Sinema again unless it’s with Theo on his arm. Nor does he sleep in his own room anymore. Theo’s room became theirs. 

[pacificwaternymph]

Pirate AU, when and how do the two idiots finally learn that their "unrequited" love is not so unrequited (AKA the getting together)? Also, anything from the post-getting together.

Hm... how do they get together?

Well, for one thing, Jimmy confesses first. Surprising, I know.

It all starts when Jimmy gets hurt during a battle. It's pretty serious, but not quite life threatening, and Lilac is able to patch Jimmy up, sure that he'll make a full recovery.

At this point, he's lost a lot of blood. And he's kind of delirious. Add this to the painkillers Lilac gives him, and he's... pretty loopy. He's half awake, not really thinking clearly, and in severe pain. Lilac finished stitching his side closed and who is the first person to come check on him?

Scott. Obviously.

And Jimmy, in this only semi-lucid state, starts to say everything he really feels about Scott. He calls Scott an angel, talks about how pretty he is, says that he's sweet and adorable and just complimenting everything about him from his looks to his personality, all with a big dopey grin on his face and giggling the whole time.

Meanwhile Scott is standing there, red as a tomato, so flustered Lilac swears she could see steam coming out of his ears.

Then Jimmy says he wishes Scott wasn't so pretty and sweet all the time, because maybe then he wouldn't have fallen in love with him when there's no chance of Scott ever loving him back.

Scott has... no idea how to respond to that. Jimmy tries to reach up and touch his face but Scott stops him, trying to process everything he just heard. Lilac steps in and says maybe it's best to let him get some rest, and Scott takes that as his cue to flee the room as fast as humanly possible.

Fast forward a couple weeks, Jimmy's doing better, he's able to get up and walk around by himself even if he does still have a slight limp. He doesn't remember anything he said to Scott, and it's been eating Scott alive. He doesn't know if Jimmy meant a thing he said or if he was just delirious and saying random shit for the heck of it.

He finally works up the nerve to just... ask him about it. He asks to talk to Jimmy alone, and then he tries to actually ask the question, but he keeps tripping over his words and then he starts rambling, talking about everything Jimmy said.

But he cuts off mid sentence when he sees Jimmy's expression. His face is pale, his eyes are wide he looks shocked. And absolute mortified. Scott takes that as a sign that he didn't actually mean any of it, and just backs off telling Jimmy to just... forget he even said anything.

As he's turning to leave, Jimmy calls for him to wait, and blurts out that he did mean it! He meant everything he said! He's been in love with him for months now and he just... couldn't say it because he didn't think Scott would feel the same way, and he didn't want to ruin what they already had.

Now he's the one that starts to ramble, but Scott cuts him off by telling him, yeah, it's mutual, Scott has been hopelessly pining after him since before he even officially joined the crew. It's kind of awkward, since neither of them know where to go from here. They didn't think they'd ever get this far.

But Jimmy holds out a hand, and Scott takes it, and they decide to just go from there.

(They walk into the mess holding hands and everyone collectively lets out a mixture of groans and celebratory whoops. A lot of money is passed around that night.)

[away-ward]

Reality

for @elainscheron.

1.5k words

Summary: Morning in the Carfax room sees Emory falling back into old ways of thinking.

Emory pov, set before she meets Rika for wedding dress shopping.

Emory

I wait until the last second to leave the bed and get ready. Rika awaits and I guess when the Queen calls, we must answer.

No. Stop that, I tell myself. Rika’s nice. And the others seem nice too. I’m the heinous bitch, remember.

As I gather my clothes from yesterday, I mentally make a list of things I need to get done. Obviously, I’ll be moving back to Thunder Bay and I’ll have to deal with all that comes with it. I can’t pretend problems don’t exist forever. That’s always been Will’s forte; I usually have a firm stake in reality, excluding the past few days.

“You’re worried about something. I can see it.”

I look at him over my shoulder after slipping the shirt over my head. Will sits at the edge, elbows resting on his knees, green eyes watching my every move. It’s crazy how much I enjoy that. “A few days and you thing you know everything about me?”

“Days?” he chuckles. “Try twelve years.”

I do the math and realize he’s right. We’ve known each other for twelve years though it feels like longer.

“Talk to me, trouble. What is it?”

I move to grab my jeans, startled when his hand shoots out and grabs my wrist. “I’ve got to get ready if I’m going to meet Rika.”

“Screw Rika.”

I tip my head, looking up at him with mocking doubt. “That’s not how you treat friends, or so I hear.”

“Rika’s forgiven me for worse things than this.” His hold tightens on my wrist, but not painfully. It’s anchoring me to him. My heart picks up. The beat of it makes me nervous and I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to this. “I’m not letting you go until you talk. Not this time.”

He’s made that clear. Yesterday, the day before, and last night all over again…he asked me – begged me, really – to not wake up, and I promised to still be me when I do.

Promises are easier to make than keep, no matter what our intentions are.  

“You haven’t...” he trails off. I watch his throat move as he swallows the rest of the words.

“Changed my mind?” I laugh humorlessly. “Just try to get this ring back, I dare you.” I told him I loved him and I meant it. There’s no way I can return to my old life. He’ll have to kill me and then cut it off.

He lets out a breath that shakes with relief and then he tries for his usual levity to break the tension. “A person then? What, you got a boyfriend back in San Fran I don’t know about?”

“Oh yeah,” I nod. “More than one. A whole biker gang, in fact. And a marine. You’ll probably need to fight them for me Scott Pilgrim style.”

Will shrugs, up for the challenge. “Line ‘em up.”

I really laugh at that. He would, too. And if there’s anything I learned this week, it’s that he’d win.

He relaxes his hold on my wrist and his hand glides up my arm, over my shoulder and wraps around my neck so that I’m forced to look at him.

“Em,” he pleads. His eyes move between mine, reading what I can’t say. I don’t even know what I’d say if I could find the words to describe what’s going on. There’s no telling what he’s going to find.

My own confusion reflects back at me in his eyes. It’s that how it’s always been with us? “These past few days, you dove right in. You were here with me, Alex, my friends—"

I rip my head away suddenly. He’s hit the nail on the head and the knowledge of it floods my brain, overwhelming me.

Of course, he misinterprets. “Alex? You’re worried about Alex?” Will asks, sounding as exasperated as I feel.

“I’m not worried about Alex,” I tell him. Honestly, their relationship is the last thing on my mind.

Will doesn’t look like he believes me. He’s not mad about it. We’re over being angry at each other for our mistakes. Instead, he looks desperate, searching for anything to convince me.

“I’m not,” I insist. I push him back to the bed and force him to sit so that I can stand over him. I grab the sides of his face and pour every bit of truth in me into my next words. “I’m not worried about Alex. I can’t promise I’ll never be jealous of her because she has seven years with you. Seven years that were supposed to be mine.”

The last sentence comes out on sort of a growl that I can’t suppress.

Will grins, loving every bit of it. He always makes the grand, epic speeches telling me what I am and what we are and what we’re going to do. I guess it’s my turn. His hands brush up my thighs and settle on my waist, pulling me closer.

“Seven years I’ll never get back, that she’ll always have. But I’m not worried about her. Your friends seem to have some weird unspoken rules and I can’t say I get all of them, but bottom line, I’m into it.”

“Then what is it?” he asks as his thumbs rub circles on my tummy. It does nothing but riling up the very horny butterflies that seem to have taken up residence.

I hedge, “It’s someone else.”

“Someone else?” His grip tightens again, all his passion and ferocity going into keeping me in place. “If it’s not Alex, and there’s no one back in San Francisco, then who…if you say this is about Aydin, I’ll—"

I squeeze his face when I’ve heard enough and I can’t take it anymore. “It’s me, Will. The other someone is me.”

It’s kind of cute how he stops, blinking with bewilderment. His lips twitch with unformed thoughts as he tries to parse through what I’ve been thinking.

“Or the me you’ve spend the last twelve years dreaming about.” I wrap my arms around his neck and move to straddle his lap, a position I’m very quickly become familiar with. Have been familiar with. “What if I can’t measure up to her. What if I can’t be her every night. What if I never fit in with your friends the way…” My eyes drift to a spot behind him.

I know he thinks this too. He set the Cove on fire and decided I didn’t need to be a part of it. Not like them. Doesn’t that give some indication to his feelings on the matter. The only time he’s done something like that with me was homecoming, when I wasn’t me.

He sees where I’m looking and follows, finally seeing what’s been haunting the corner of my vision since I got up. The pink dress I wore to homecoming still hangs from the rafter, a ghostly reminder.

This is insane. I'm jealous of who I am in the dark; of how easy it is for her to just be.

All at once, it clicks into place for him because he can be clever when he wants to be. “There is no other you. That girl was the imagining of a spoiled, insecure little boy with a fantasy. That girl,” he nods over his shoulder, “that girl stole moments and nights to keep for herself. From what I’ve seen since we left the island, you don’t need to steal anything and hide it away. You take it, whatever makes you happy.”

I shake my head, but he stops me. “You broke a felon out of jail yesterday, before proposing to me on the street,” he says, smirking with glee. “I think I know what I’m talking about.”

I’ve been impulsive, sure, but this whole week is starting to feel like a vacation from reality. A fever dream, if there ever was one. Reality will come back around again and when I can’t keep it up, will he be content with all his decisions.

“Never have I been as happy as I was last night in this bed with you. It’s you; I gotta you and nothing else. I tried drugs and alcohol, friends and sex. Nothing works like holding you. Tell me you don’t feel the same.”

Will moves in closer but then stops before he meets my lips. His eyes study me and I realize he’s giving me a chance to answer instead of just taking the moment for himself. Aww, he’s learning.

I close the distance on my own, because he’s right. Nothing has ever felt better than spending hours wrapped up in him and I hate that I’m being forced to leave. I push closer to him as he dives in deep with his tongue, pushing away all my thoughts.

“Stop,” he warns, breathless against my lips, “or you’re not going to make it out of here.”

I love that. I’m not gonna lie, it feels good to know I’m his addiction and all those other things were just substitutes. It goes a long way to kill any doubts I have.

And I have an addiction, too. I guess I’ve always known, but the first step is admitting it, right?

I’m addicted to being the girl that makes him breathless.

Reality can go fuck itself. I’m here to stay.

--

Thank you for reading! I apologize for any mistakes.

@elainscheron, I hope this is enough to make up for the Alex post. I did try, but I just didn't seem any room for Emory to have serious doubts about Alex in the context of nightfall. Emory literally says she isn't worried about it and while I struggle with how easy it was for Em, I don't want to go against canon in this instance. But there is a little wiggle room with her jealousy.

More than that, I struggled with how easy it was for Emory to just become someone else. Maybe the argument can be made that it's who she's always been and she's just been suppressing herself her entire life, but even then change is hard, so I tried to go at it from that angle.

A lot of this is sort of brought up already, but we all relapse into old ways of thinking occasionally, right? Could be that I'm always dying for more Emory content and I want an entire book of just her.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed!

Master List

[tutuandscoot]

📍Worlds 2017 Post FD

I don’t think I’ve ever seen this moment.. discussed, and as I was watching this comp to make another post recently I got stuck on this moment I’d seen several times, but it hit me in the feels more significantly this time round.

First let me set the scene (which you can go watch for yourselves on the full video here starts at 3:30:40).

Once the competition has finished, VM make their way from backstage under the stands to the k+c/ marshalling area for the medal ceremony. But before that they are to give an interview. A camera person has followed them out to this area and there are a few different people wanting their attention. First, someone from the US fed/team who shakes their hands (says congrats) then one of the competition officials asks them something, then the lady who congratulations them and tells them she will do their interview. They can’t go straight to the k+c yet however because the team who competed last (right after VM), HD are still there (and after a disappointing skate are still being consoled by their coaches). So VM patiently wait off to the side. Then it’s here when this gif starts.

TS only had Marie with them in the K+C, however both Marie and Patch watched their skate and knew they had won- despite not being the last team to skate, they had a large enough lead after the short to essentially render them unbeatable (even with his misstep). When they left the K+C after their skate, they unlikely watched the final team or knew the final result as it pertained to HD, so as they came out for their interview they were probably not fully aware of what was happening in the K+C- obviously they saw they were sad but maybe didn’t know their final placement. Both Patch (and that other coach I don’t like) were with HD in the K+C, so Patch comes from there over to VM.

Now, let’s not kid ourselves, we all would like to admit that there is nothing ‘wrong’ with two men embracing like this- and we’d be right- there absolutely is not. But inevitably just bc of.. society (more so social norms of the past- it’s hopefully changing now) this is not the most common thing to see, and therefore, at least for me and I would assume many others, illicits more of an emotional reaction just bc we don’t see it all the time. It shouldn’t be weird- it’s not weird, but it’s still not something you see everyday.

So with that out of the way… what a truly beautiful moment this is.

I’m not gonna go all on again about Scott and what he was dealing with personally that season (iykyk if not hmu and I’ll tell you/look at some previous posts), he’s said even by earlier 4CC that season he was emotionally wiped, so by now, with the relief of the season finally being done, they had won, there was no needing to hold it all together for the sake of competition anymore. You could tell in the K+C after their skate how drained he was, at least to me it seemed it wasn’t just exhausted from the skate or the misstep, it was a culmination of things.

We’ve looked at previous posts the wonderful way T took care of him in those moments in her own quiet way and just being herself- being there with him was everything he needed (being with her (holding her hand/looking in her eyes) was the only time he felt ok 🥺).

But of course they were not alone in this comeback- and they made sure everyone knew that. The support they had from their team was as important as the support they gave each other, and it’s interesting the different ways that support is displayed- the similar yet different ways between T&S and either of them with a coach.

As I said-in the k+c, he was so obviously drained of energy, emotion, I felt so bad for him but also so proud of him and them for achieving what they did that year, and bad that it wasn’t as excellent as they wanted that final skate to be. Here waiting off to the side, it may be the lighting on his face but he almost looks like he’s about to cry, just so depleted of energy. It may have been that he saw Patch walking over and that was the look of near tears.. The way P seemingly doesn’t even say ‘congrats’ to him/ them. Obviously all skaters/athletes in general have special relationships which their coaches so it’s not like this is whole exchange is unique, but just the way there is communication without words- same thing S has with T but in a different way that is unique to them. The way S almost falls into P, like he just needs someone to hold him up bc he’s so exhausted. P goes to him like ‘here, let me hold you’- that’s what S needed to ‘hear’ in that moment rather than ‘congrats’. Also to see two men embrace like that (& esp when you know the relationship in this case is very special). It’s not a hug of ‘congratulations’ because he doesn’t really need to congratulate them, they don’t need that from their coaches, or more they don’t need it verbalised in that way. They have a deeper connection with them and for P+S, P knows what S needs in that moment is to just be cared for as a human.

I’m so freakin attracted to S for this reason- that he’s so open with his emotions and accepting and giving of affection. Describing him/them often as ‘soft’ isn’t a joke- it’s what they are and it’s an umbrella term to describe their affection and sensitivity.

Then if all that wasn’t beautiful enough, the way T just gently steps back a little to give them space. She is not being excluded, P is of course going to hug her as well, she does not find this awkward. She knows S needs a hug from P and so she gives them that space. I’m really not explaining it very well but I know what it says when I watch it and I’m just hoping y’all reading are getting what I’m trying to put into words.

This all goes back to TS’s just unbelievable level of knowing of one another and now having coaches who they trust enough and want them to be on some sort of level of knowing with them. The way she can be part of that hug without being part of that hug. How they can support each other with out being the one hugged/doing the hugging. The way they are so gentle with their emotions towards each other and create a safe space for each other to feel what they need to feel.

[deadpresidents]

Do you agree with the idea that one of the more politically astute things Biden could've done in early 2021 was push for an amendment that limited presidents (including himself) to a single term?

I ask this as someone who feels that a Biden-Trump rematch in 2024 is very much not in the national interest. Such an amendment would've guaranteed two different nominees next year, and more broadly, I think there are arguments for limiting presidents to just one term (second terms have been pretty awful in the modern era, if we consider Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, and G.W. Bush).

Btw, I realize presidents don't have a formal role in the amendment process, but I think if Biden had gotten enough Dems behind it, there might have been enough support in Congress to send it to the states. In early 2021, the GOP would've almost been happy to have Trump term-limited, and ambitious Republicans like Scott, Cruz, and Rubio probably would've supported such an amendment.

That's an interesting question. From our perspective, I can totally understand the reasoning behind it, too. And that would have been a better time to attempt it for the reasons you pointed out.

However, I just think it's nearly impossible to amend the Constitution, especially in the political climate we've been living in for the past decade. It's also difficult to imagine any President actively seeking to impose further term limits on themselves. These are people who work practically the entire lives in order to get into that particular job, so it would require a superhuman act of selflessness to get them to advocate for changing the Constitution so that they only serve one term. We can't even get modern Presidents (or serious candidates for the Presidency) to voluntarily pledge to only serve a single term, so I just don't see any of them trying to change the Constitution to legally prohibit running for re-election. President Biden had been seeking the Presidency for at least 35 years, with three official campaigns for the job, before he finally was elected in 2020. I don't think there was ever a realistic chance of him voluntarily giving up a chance at a second term. And I wouldn't be so sure that ambitious legislators who have obviously been eyeing the Presidency for years would have supported a single term limit. You know how there are people who are opposed to raising taxes on the super wealthy because they are still holding out hope that they'll someday strike it rich? I'm guessing there would be a similar line of thinking and members of Congress with Presidential aspirations wouldn't want to support a single term limit just in case they eventually find themselves in the White House.

I've written about this before, but my personal opinion is actually in support of eliminating Presidential term limits altogether. As I've said in the past, the Founders did not explicitly place term limits on the President, and while most Presidents before FDR followed George Washington's tradition of serving two terms and retiring, term limits weren't imposed until after World War II. The Constitution was amended 21 times for over 150 years before Presidential term limits were finally instituted. And, even then, it was largely because Franklin D. Roosevelt won four straight Presidential elections. I question whether the Founders would see it as a proper balance of power to place term limits on the Executive Branch, but not on the Legislative or Judicial branches. So, my personal belief has been that there should either be term limits on the President, Congress, AND the Supreme Court, or there should be no limits at all. Of course, that might result in someone shitty, like Donald Trump, running for a third term, but it also provides options that voters otherwise wouldn't have. Imposing a two-term limit on Presidents may prohibit a terrible President from being elected a third time, but it also might prevent someone proven to be a good, responsible, popular leader from continuing in office.

Ultimately, the decision should be left to the voters, but I sure would feel better about 2024 if Barack Obama could be on the ballot again. We place limits on who can be candidates for what is arguably the most powerful and important job in the world, and then we complain because we don't like our choices. We prohibit the only people in the world who have actually DONE the job of President (and seemingly should have some understanding and experience on how to do that job) from being President for more than two four-year terms. Yet, nearly all of our Supreme Court Justices leave the bench by dying, and many of the most powerful legislators (in both parties) are alarmingly old and frail -- and probably running for re-election. Barack Obama has been term-limited from running for President since leaving office in 2017. Obama was 55 years old when he left office; he'll be 63 on the next Inauguration Day, in 2025 -- eight years after leaving office and sixteen years after his first inauguration. That's still younger than Ronald Reagan (69), George H.W. Bush (64), Donald Trump (70), and Joe Biden (78) were when they were first inaugurated as President!

So, if we're going to amend the Constitution regarding term limits, I say get rid of all of them or impose them on every branch of the federal government.

[dmwrites]

The pool party was already bumping by the time Pearl got there. She nodded her head in time to the music as she ascended the stairs. She meandered through the crowd and looked out over the pool. This was such a strange event, having everyone, even the red lifes, hanging out.

Something odd caught her eye all of a sudden. One of the blocks at the bottom of the pool were missing. She could hardly see, but it looked blatantly like some kind of trap.

“You have got to be kidding me.” Pearl snorted. “That’s so obviously a trap. Are you seeing this?” She turned to the person next to her, Etho, but Etho was busy talking in low tones to Joel. “Martyn, do you see the hole in the pool or is it just me haha?” She walked through the crowd to Martyn, who was just holding a drink and bobbing his head to the music. He turned away from her and wandered over to Impulse at the grill.

Pearl frowned. Okay, maybe two of the people who probably hated her the most were bad ideas for confidants. She looked back at the pool, just to make sure she wasn’t imagining things. No, there was still that hole, and bubbles were coming from it now. She had to tell someone about it- she had a bad feeling it wasn’t something good.

“Bdubs! Hey!” She slid through the crowd to Bdubs, who was looking off towards someone behind her with a frown. “Hey, Bdubs! There’s a hole in your pool! I think it could be dangerous!” For a second, Pearl could have sworn that Bdubs looked at her. She stood right in front of him, she knew he could see her. “Bdubs?”

“Hey...”

Pearl felt a weight lift off of her shoulders. “Oh my god finally someone who will talk-”

“Hey! Hey! Get away from those bushes, Grian! Do you know how long it took me to clip those things! Don’t you pull out a flint and steel!” Bdubs wailed and pushed his way through the crowd to apprehend Grian.

“What is going on?” Pearl asked out loud. She turned on the spot, surrounded by people who might as well be walls, the way they were acting. All involved in their activities and conversations, no one even looking her way. A panic was rising in her, and in desperation she looked for someone who liked her- only to realize that no one really did.

At the edge of the house, against a wall, were Jimmy and Tango, who were admiring the mid-century modern house. And people who didn’t outright hate her- right? She went right up to them.

“See, you’d never expect snow-” Tango was saying.

Pearl interrupted. “Guys there’s something fishy with the pool.”

The two went silent, and she made eye contact with Jimmy for a moment, who grimaced and awkwardly looked away.

Tango cleared his throat. “Like, I’ve known him for a while, you know, and its always the materials you never-”

“Tango! Jimmy! I know you can hear me!”

“-never expect, and it looks good somehow.” Tango powered on. Pearl stood there for a moment, mouth hanging open and heart racing.

It was desperation, pure panic that pulled her voice back to her body and got her moving again.

“PLEASE LISTEN TO ME! Something bad is going to happen! I just know it! There’s a hole in the pool!” She screamed, and still no one heard her. She went from person to person now, grabbing at their clothes. No one looked at her, no one even jumped at her screams.

“Am I even real?” Her shaking hands flew to her own clothes, feeling for her flushed skin. If every touch felt real, then why did this seem like a nightmare?

And then, a hand on her arm.

Pearl gasped, grabbing it, and found Scott looking right at her with that special frown he reserved just for her.

“Pearl.”

Pearl could have cried in pure relief. “Scott! There’s a-”

“Stop screaming. You’re embarrassing yourself.” And with that, Scott freed his hand and firmly turned around to talk to Cleo.

“I-” Pearl let her sentence vanish into a sad little noise and let the unsympathetic crowd swallow her.

And when the zombies came out of the hole in the pool, spurned on by the mad red Ren, all she felt was numbness. She stood on the hill and watched her friends die. And still, no one ever acknowledged her existence, her cries, or her truths. Not a single person even looked her way.