#thank you for understanding (and that's not meant sarcastically either I mean it)

[musette22]

[chrisredfield73]

Could you do a reader who accidentally tells the tf2 mercs they're gay/queer in sexuality? With some angst from the reader because they're worried it'll affect how the mercs see them. And depending on the merc, some comfort?

This is a bit self-indulgent as I am a girl who likes girls, but it can be written for anyone

The reader is meant to be a teen so it's strictly platonic!

A/N: As a gay trans guy, I understand the angst and fear! Thank you for requesting!!

For Spy's part-

Mon chou means 'my cabbage' (weird term of endearment for kids but it's really sweet)

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

You let it slip, accidentally, but it immediately made you panic. You mentioned liking the same gender as you. The fear of not being accepted hit you like a tidal wave, as you stare wide eyed at the merc in front of you..

Scout:

He's surprised, to say the least.

He definitely makes a snarky and sarcastic joke, but he quickly shuts up when he notices your fear.

"Hey now.. Don't get all nervous on me."

He's pretty supportive overall, giving you some reassuring comments and a pat on the back.

"Listen.. I don't know how all the other guys would react, but I'm okay with it. Don't worry, I won't say anything."

He may make some hints about it to the others, but he doesn't go too far.

He also definitely would help you find a s/o and he would beg to hear who you like.

Soldier:

Now for this big himbo, it's a 50/50.

He either doesn't hear or get what you've said, or he heard it and he's judging you.

"What was that, maggot?"

If he didn't hear you or understand you, you could definitely play it off as a joke. He'd probably laugh it off with you, not even noticing how nervous you are.

If he heard you and is now judging you, he's staring at you through narrowed eyes. "You're queer?"

He's definitely not supportive... At first. You could probably, eventually, get him to come around and be supportive.

He has that mentality of, "I was raised thinking it was wrong so it's wrong."

Pyro:

When he heard you say that, it's completely obvious he supports you.

He gives you a thumbs up and a hug for reassurance.

"Mff mff mm mmff."

You're not sure what he just said, but you can tell it was something supportive by how he just acted.

He helps make sure you're comfortable, even giving you gifts that are discreet pride flag colors.

If any of the other guys catch wind about it, you can bet that Pyro will be there to stand up for you.

Demoman:

Another one of the guys that's 50/50 about it.

If he's drunk, he's either not going to act supportive, when he actually is, or he's not going to be paying attention to anything you just said. "What..?"

In the rare occasion that he's not drunk, he's very supportive and will give you a hug.

"Ey there, lass/lad, no need to worry. It's alright with me."

He is one of the supportive ones, despite being an idiot when he's drunk. He's proud of you for being yourself, even if you're not out to everyone.

Heavy:

He's shocked, looking over at you with wide eyes.

He doesn't say anything for a moment, before noticing your anxiousness.

He's not super supportive, but he's not going to judge you about your preferences.

"Heavy is not mad. Heavy is happy you're happy."

He gives you a pat and maybe even rubs your back, trying to help you feel better.

He won't tell anyone about it, he's the second best secret keeper on the team.

"Heavy won't tell anyone, Heavy pretends he never heard it."

Engineer:

He's caught off-guard, but he's supportive 100%.

"Oh? I never would've thought..."

He gives you a reassuring smile and hugs you gently.

"Don't worry, kid. I won't tell nobody. You have my word."

He's the first best secret keeper, and he's basically the supportive dad of the team.

He'll, much like Pyro, also get you discreet pride gifts to show he supports you and to make you feel better.

All in all, Engineer is the best to share things with, he's a calm and gentle soul who just wants to see you happy.

Medic:

He had his suspicions, he suspects a lot of things about a lot of people.

"Oh? You like women/men?"

He's pretty supportive, but he's not a very touchy person. He'd prefer to not have a ton of physical contact.

He gives you a quick rub on the back before pulling away.

"I'm not going to judge you, there are things far worse than not being straight."

He's not the best for comfort but he is, at least, mostly supportive.

Sniper:

He stops what he's doing and turns to look at you, his expression and emotion unreadable.

"You... You're what now?"

He notices you panicking and steps over to you, offering you a small smile.

He gently ruffles your hair and chuckles, "Easy now, roo. Calm down. I'm not judgin' ya, I'm just confused."

He's okay with you elaborating on your sexuality, and he's okay with you not talking about it anymore.

He's also good at not telling anyone about your sexuality, he prefers to keep to himself anyway.

Spy:

He let's out a low hum, raising a brow. He definitely didn't expect that.

"...Hmm?"

He's polite, not teasing you or making fun of you.

He doesn't really understand but he's not going to go out of his way to judge you or make fun of you.

"Don't worry, mon chou. I'm not going to judge you."

He sets down his cigarette in his ashtray and pulls you in for a hug.

He's one that doesn't like physical affection very much, but seeing you in slight distress makes him want to comfort you.

He almost thinks of you like his child, and he just wants to see you happy.

[mrsfatu]

Even if it hurts (part 2)

pt2: the contract, read part 1 HERE

paring: dom!Roman Reigns, sub!reader, jey uso, jimmy uso

summary: after four days of not having any contact with roman, you finally understand why and experience another side of him.

warnings: PURE SMUT AT THE END, body fluids, bondage, language, MINORS DNI!!!

word count: 2392

taglist: @hunnidmilly @raeluvshammett @fame-ass-ers @jeyusos-girl @romanreignseater @simplyreading96 @moxkindagirl

It seems like the days have flown by faster than expected. It was the day of the tag team match. There seemed to be a long wait for you in Roman's locker room, where him, his cousins and Paul waited for you. Of course you were in your dressing room, but more nervous than last time. 

“What's taking her so long?” Roman sighs out of aggression. Jey sat up in his chair. "She's probably nervous uce, give her time,” he said. Roman eyes panned to Jey's. "We don't have ‘time’ to waste. Go and get her.” he demanded, not taking his eyes off Jey's. He stood up, glancing at roman once again before leaving to your dressing room. 

You stood in front of your vanity, beckoning yourself on it,  not ready to go face Roman after what happened four days ago, you were still drowning in confusion. A robe covered your body with your black and white outfit underneath. 

 When you heard a soft knock on your door, a feeling of anxiety and dread swept through your body. "It's open," you shouted, knowing it couldn't have been Roman because he never knocks. After entering your dressing room, Jey closes the door. “So uhh, he wants you to hurry up,” he says, scratching the back of his neck.

A sarcastic chuckle emanated from your lips as you watched yourself in the mirror. " He wants me to hurry up," you murmured as you straighten your back. You turned towards jey and crossed your arms, “fine, i’ll be there in a minute,” you said. “he meant now…” jey replied. After rolling your eyes, you removed your robe and grabbing your championship belt, you threw it over your shoulder.

Your tenseness was evident to Jey. While he wasn't sure what was going on between you two, he knew something wasn't right. Roman has avoided questions that include your name for the past four days, and he hasn't spoken to you either. 

As you began to walk past Jey, he grabbed your arm in an instant. With a fierce look on your face, you stopped walking and focused on him. “Listen. I dont know whats up but you have to put that aside for tonight. we need you out there, so put on your face because you got some belts to take tonight,” he states as he releases your arm, “thank you, jey,”

He nods his head and the two of you make your way to Romans locker room. Despite the silence, everyone appeared serious in the room. You took your seat between roman and jey. 

It was a business-related conversation, dominated by Roman, with his face forward the entire time. You, Jimmy and Paul stood to exit towards the alley to the show, but instead you waited for Roman by the door, you wanted answers and you were going to get them by any means necessary. 

You began to hear roman and jey talk, “whats up with you uce? Why’re you avoiding y/n?” jey asks. “I'm not avoiding anyone,” Roman replies. Jey sighs, knowing that was a lie, “cmon uce you think i don't notice? Whatever y'all have going on, you need to fix it,” says jey. You began to hear a loud thud. Roman pushed jey, “you don't get to tell me what i need to do!!” he shouts. While you were about to burst in and check on things, Jimmy grabbed your arm and removed it from the knob before you could turn it. He shakes his head, “dont do it. Its okay. Come on, we’ll wait for them in the alley." Jimmy held his arm on your shoulder as he walked you to the alley. 

“Calm down uce i'm just looking out for you, mainly her. Have some heart,” he shouted back. Roman looks away from jey, “I have heart,” he says. Jey gestures his hands as he asks, “then why are you doing her like this? You do it to me enough, but her, y/n, don't deserve it and you know it uce.” roman removes his hair tie, “she's different, ion wanna hurt ‘er,” he explains. “Here, give this to her before we walk to the ring,” he reaches in his pocket and hands jey a black and white glove that has your initials on it, perfect enough for your smaller hand. Jey pushes romans hand back to his chest, “you do it, i'm not gonna be your messenger uce. We family, and if you wanna make shit right with her, YOU do it,” he says before he exits the locker room.

Romans theme song began to play. He approached you and Paul to take his place between you, and the twins followed behind. You didn't dare glance at him, until he glanced first, but he didn't. Instead, he reached into his pocket and dug out the glove.

He held the glove next to your hand, gesturing you to take it. You looked down and back up at him, his eyes were pierced front ahead. Looking back down, you grabbed it. “My initials? He bought this for me?” you thought to yourself. You faced forward and placed the glove onto your hand. It fits you so perfectly, not too tight nor loose. 

The match went on for what it seems like forever. The communication between you and roman was great, he helped you when you needed, and you did as well. Now, he was in the ring with jack swagger. Jack hit roman with one of his signature moves, the “big boot”. His body fell the ground, causing a huge thud. Your eyes widened as you reached out to roman to be tagged in. aj lee’s hand was held out too, you were ready to go back in and finish this once and for all. 

Jack attempted to pin roman, but roman broke loose and hit him with his “superman punch” which took all his power away from him. “Cmon roman, tag me,” you extended your hand further, shaking it uncontrollably. He struggled to crawl his way to you, and then the both of you were tagged in. 

As soon as you got in, you used romans signature move “the spear”. Clutching your glove and slamming your fist to the ground, you ran at full speed, tackling aj lee down to her back as you watched her release all the air in her body. You went in for the pin, lifting her legs over your shoulders and your body hovering over hers. “ONE…” you tightened your grip, “TWO…” you let out a scream hoping she stays down, “THREE…”

You released her, jumping up and down out of excitement. Without a doubt, roman runs up to you and lift you off of your feet, “THATS WHAT IM TALKIN’ ‘BOUT,” he shouts. 

After the match, the two of you didn't say a word to each other. 

You found yourself standing outside of romans locker room, palms sweating and heart throbbing out of your ears. You let yourself in without an invitation. The smell of vanilla spice flooded your nose as so the dimmed light calmed your soul.

You could hear his shower stop, “this is gonna be so fucking embarrasing. Barging into his room while he's showering…. Gosh im a sick person,” you whispered. You notice his pictures on his wall, so you decide to go and look yourself. It was a picture of him as a child, one of him as a football player and one with his family. “I guess it does run in the family,” you said.

“Inviting yourself in?” you heard his voice, which sent shocks down your body. Turning around, there he stood, in his shorts. His body was damped in water still as his wet hair rested on his shoulders. His tattoos stood out more in the low light of the room. You couldn't even comprehend what was standing in front of you,

“I umm- i just wanted to thank you… for the glove,” you struggled to say. He chuckled, “it's no problem. You did good tonight mama,” he stated, moving closer to you. Your cheeks reddened, fighting the urge to smile, but you still haven't gotten any answers and it wiped your smile away. “Roman… you confuse me you know…” you spoke as you took a step backward. He looks up for a second and looks back down at you, “I apologize. I was focused on keeping things professional. I just don't wanna hurt you,” he explained.

You nodded to an understanding. He walks over to his desk, pulling out his drawer. There was a thin pack of paper that he pulled out. Walking back towards you, he states, “i'm a professional man, y/n,” he hands it to you. You took it, looking down at it. It states, “The contract.” you looked back up at him, wondering what would be inside. 

You opened it, to see all of the sensual things listed. Started from submission and bondage, to limits and safewords. Especially the sentence, “you will be given a healthy salary along with clothing and travel allowance. In addition to any administrative needs I may require, you will make yourself available as my submissive.” Submissive 

You couldn't believe what you were seeing. Looking back upo at him, your face crumbled, “is this… is this what you think of me? Roman?” you questioned. His eyes softened as he cupped your face, “no… not at all. I want to show you this part of me. I want you to be a part of me, mine,” he explained. 

you'd always been curious about that lifestyle; the leather, the domination, the taboo, but it definitely wasn't a term you'd ever associated with roman reigns. You were lost in confusion once again. The fact that he wanted you to sign the contract made your gut wrench anxiously. “Come, let me give you a preview,” he says softly. “You have three colors, green, yellow, and red. Green meaning you're comfortable, yellow meaning you're on edge, and red meaning youre uncomfortable, got it?” he asks. You nod your head, “use your words mama,” you open your mouth to speak, “yes.”

He slowly walks behind you and lifts your right arm, rubbing his hand along its length. His lips pressed gentle kisses down your arm and back up to your neck. His hands rubs your waist, making their way up to the back of your bra to unclip it. “What color are you?” he asks, “green” you replied, shakingly breathing. Your bra falls to the floor as he turns you around. The body temperature between you became hot and anxious. 

He caresses your face as he places a soft kiss on your lips. Turning around, he grabs a tie from the seat behind him. He moves closer, pulling your arms above your head and ties your wrists together. As you stood there, he cleared off his desk, wiping everything to the floor as if he didnt care what was on top of it. 

He picks you up with your tied wrist around his neck. You can feel your heart beating faster and faster by the second as he stared into your soul, ready to devour you any second. He lays you on the desk. His hands gripped the hem of your bottoms, pulling them off slow enough to your liking.

He steps back for a minute to admire your body, “god you're so beautiful,” he grunts. He runs his hand along your abdomen, “When I touch you, there is no one else." A moan escaped from your lips, and his eyes filled with need. "There's only your beautiful little whimpers that send me overhills." As soon as his finger pressed inside you, your moan grew louder. He pulled the finger out and went back to teasing your opening. "The only thing I ask is for you to be mine." 

His other hand gripped your thigh, then squeezed the soft flesh hungrilly. "So when I say that I want you-" It was a warm, wet sensation flickering across your cunt, and you grabbed the desk tightly, nearly tearing it to shreds when he blew on the wetness he created. "I want you,” he finished, his voice filled with greed. “All of you. You got that?" The blowing made speaking difficult, but you forced a "Yes sir" from your lips."Good." In the blink of an eye, his tongue inserted itself inside your mouth, then flicked back out, leaving you panting and completely at his mercy, wanting more and more from him.

“Be mine,” he said, his voice full of yearning. His touch was urgent when he grabbed your thighs and pushed them open, wider. Like if he didn’t have you, all of you, it would be the end of him, so he slid off his shorts. He had the most beautiful cock you’d ever seen. It was thick and veiny, protruding from a mass of beautiful curls.

His guttural moan punched inside you, eliciting an echo from you. Attempting to take him on, your muscles strained with waves of ecstasy swirling around sparks of pain. His heart stopped roaring in his chest or his ears but instead, beating in the place between your legs. His hair flowed with his pounding rhythm. His hands dug into your hips as he rowed in and out of you. The sound of skin and bodies colliding was perhaps the most beautiful sound you’d ever heard.

He kept pounding, strong and hungrily, and when you felt him trembling, you worried that you couldn't wait any longer. Not with him filling you so completely and struggling to hold tight to his own self-control.

"Come," he said, his voice betraying his own nearness. "Come with me, mama." you released everything, and he felt your body contracting, holding onto him. He was coming too, you could tell from the way he held you as if you were the only thing keeping him grounded. you cried out his name, over and over, and he said yours. Both of you; together, lost and found in each other. A tear ran down your cheek, filled with greed and pleasure. “I’ll think about the contact… even if it hurts,” you pant, hardly getting your words out. He brings his finger up to wipe it, “dont worry mama, this is just the beginning,” he pants.

[starsval]

I think there's been a glitch

James x reader

Summary: James and you were supposed to be just friends, but things change.

Word count: 1k

Warning: Smoking, kissing, fluff, reader doesn't like parties, reader is in the Quidditch team.

A/N: the reader is called "girlfriend" like twice. Pls I find Taylor Swift songs really inspiring.

You were at a party after winning a Quidditch match, you were still in the team clothes, looking for your friends after everyone was trying to congratulate you for catching the snitch. That’s when you found Lily with a very drunk James with her.

“Thank God, he hasn’t stopped talking about you” She says rolling her eyes as she drags both of you to the stairs that go to the rooms. “I know this is kinda your party but could you take him up there, I really want to see Mary tonight”

“It’s fine Lily, good luck!” You tell her as she walks away. “How did you get so drunk?” You ask James as you drag him upstairs.

“I’m not, I just wanted to see you” He says, walking in your room.

“Oh, I get it, you’re high”

“Just a bit sweetheart” Then he flops in your bed. “You should thank me for the excuse to leave the party” He says as he gives you a joint.

“Thank you James, I don’t know what I’d do without you” You sarcastically say as you smoke, sitting by the window. You didn’t really like those parties, it was too much for you. And James being the only one that knows it, he often helps you sneak out.

“I hope you never have to find out” Then he starts talking about how Sirius got mad at Remus because he said that he looked like Snape from behind.

“Wait, he kinda does…” Now you’re equally high as James, laying in bed next to him, laughing at Sirius even though he’s not here.

“We should kiss” He suddenly says.

“What?” You ask him. Because you want to, but he’s high right now so you’re not sure if you can believe him.

“Yeah, it makes sense, everybody is dating someone from the friend group, maybe we should do the same.”

“How did you go from kissing to dating?” You ask him, avoiding the question, trying to not expect anything from this. He’s high you remind yourself as you look at his lips.

“Why don’t you answer?” He asks, looking at you.

“You’re high James, just sleep” You look away and stare at the ceiling.

“But I mean it” He frowns.

“No you don’t”

“Yes I do”

“James-” You look at him.

“Y/n” He looks at you and smiles.

“If you mean it, we can talk tomorrow” You turn around, making him face your back. And maybe you regret it, maybe you should kiss him ‘til you can’t breathe, maybe you should confess your love for him, but you don’t, you just fall asleep thinking about him.

When you wake up he’s not there, he isn’t at the common room either, or at the great hall. You start to worry about your friendship when Sirius approaches you in the halls.

“Hey Y/n, Prongs wants you to go to the tree where we always meet” He says really slowly.

“Did he tell you why?” You ask him, getting nervous.

“I think so, but I’m half asleep right now so I’m not sure" Then, he walks away yawning. 

You go to the tree and find James laying down with his hands under his head, on a blanket and a lot of chocolate next to him. 

"Hi" You say. 

"Sirius found you" He says, looking at you but not changing his position. 

"Yes, he told me to come here" 

"Can you please sit down?" He asks. You sit down and look at the lake in front of you. At this point you're not sure if he remembers about yesterday. 

"What's this James?" You finally ask him. 

"I meant it" He suddenly says. 

"James-"

“I don’t know how it happened Y/n, but I just want you. And I don't know if you feel the same but I had to tell you. I can't miss the chance" He sits and looks at you, holding one of your hands. "And I get it if you don't feel like I do, I mean, I don't understand it because have you seen me?" He says with a smirk, to which you roll your eyes, smiling. "I just had to tell you, and I know we were supposed to be just friends, but I'm not even sorry, I'm in love with you" He lets out a breath and looks at you. 

"Can I kiss you?" You ask him, because you can't put into words what you're feeling right now. 

He doesn't answer, instead his hands leave yours and go to your cheeks. He looks at you, then at your lips, and then he kisses you. He does it like he's proving that it's real, and when he realizes it is, his hands go to your waist, and yours go to the back of his neck. He kisses you until you can't breathe, and even then, you're still kissing, you're still feeling his lips on yours, you're still getting intoxicated by his eucalyptus smell, by his chocolate flavor, by the sounds he makes. 

When you actually can't breathe, you pull apart, resting your forehead on his. 

"It took you a long time to do that" You tell him. 

"I know, but now you know I mean it, don't you?"

"I'm in love with you too" He pulls apart and looks at your eyes, smiling. 

"This is the best day of my life"

“Even better than the day you made everyone forget Snape’s name?” You ask, smiling.

“Yeah, second best day….” He smirks. “So, when are you going to tell me how you fell in love with me?, because I need all the details” You roll your eyes.

“I don’t know James, you were the only one to notice that I don’t like those parties, and you’d bring me food when I was too sleepy to go to the kitchen with you guys, and you’d help me relax before every test. You cared, you always cared. That’s why I fell in love with you” You smile. “Also you’re terribly hot, like, unbelievably hot” He looks proud when you say that.

“Will you be my girlfriend?” He asks.

“Of course I’ll be your girlfriend” You reply before kissing him again.

 ᰔᩚෆ❧ღდლ❦ও❥ଓ

When James practically drags you to the common room holding hands, all of your friends look at you, then at your hands, at James’ smile and then at Sirius when he groans. 

"I'm too hungover to process this"

[redxixi]

requesting a Bakugo fic!!

A/N: HSJDSJ i dont really simp over bakugou but i still wanted to do this so thank you anon for this request i hope this satisfies ur needs.

`◇ pairings : bakugou x female reader

`♡ warnings : fingering, breading kink, making out, smeggs obv

+` summary : your the top hero's assistant and your boss got fed up with your attitude

growing up katsuki had one dream, to become the number one hero, and the did. after years of working hard he finally became the number one hero he always wanted to be. alongside that he also has one of the biggest agencies training the next gen to supass even him. katsuki wasn't a man that had alot of patients so that meant everyone had to work extra hard at his agency otherwise he would litterly shout at them until they either quit or cried. and that was hard on you since you were his assistant.

you had been his assistant for 5 years now working hard day in and day out, you were the only assistant who managed to stay this long, mainly it was because you would just shout back at him whenever he shouted to you. you were the only one who had the balls to do such a thing. and frankly that turned him on. katsuki never really thought of marrying or having children but whenever it came to you all he wanted was to get you pregnant.

today was another day for the famour mr. dynamite, signing paperwork, dealing with interviews, press etc etc. it made him sick. he wanted to become a hero to save people and help them, not to be interviewd everyday and asked the same question. it was tiring, he'd rather be on the streets fighting 24/7 than be asked one more time what his "motivation" was to becoming a great hero.

he sat at his desk at the very top floor of his agency, he was signing paperwork because on his last mission he did alot of damage to the buildings.

"who cares about the stuipid fucking buildings. i saved the day thats important right?"

he said muttering under his breath. his office door openend and you entered.

"katsuki sir did you finish signing the paperwork for the damage?"

"well if i did i would have called you in but i didn't that means im not done okay dollface? did you understand that or do i have to spell it out for you"

he said with a snarky and angry tone. honestly what a child, all he had to do was say it nicely but no. apprently that is too much to ask for.

"you could have been nice about it you know"

you said smiling sarcastically.

"you know what im done"

he pushed his desk away and stood op marching up to you. you thought that you would get fired this time or he would yell or do something to you but he didn't what he instead did is take your forearms, pulled you into him, and put his lips on yours. at first your eyes opened wide, you tried to resist, but you just gave in, melting in his arms. the kiss was sloppy, messy and straight up filled with lust. when he finally broke the kiss there was a string of saliva connecting your lips.

"i had enough with your fucking attitude. im horny and stressed so tonight you will come over and i will fuck you dumb okay dollface?"

after he said that he placed a quick peck on your lips and walked away from you, out of his office while you stood there in awe. what just happend.

It was around 10 ish when you entered his house. it was a big house a bit outside of town. you came here often as his assistant but never like this. after the kiss in the office you didn't know what to do. ofcourse you wanted to fuck him i mean who wouldn't. so you went over, easy peasy right.

"hi dollface"

you hear a voice right next to your ear out of nowhere. you jumped and you fight of flight response kicked in. you threw a puch with he caught.

"s..sir?"

he smirked and pulled you again. kissing you once more, it was gentle, passionate, but hot and steamy at the same time. you threw your hands around his neck and pulled him in even more. his hands wandered and went for your thighs, he took both of em causing him to carry you, it was like your weight was nothing to him. not breaking the kiss he carried you to his room and ploped you down on his bed.

"you know i wanted to do this for a long time"

he smirked and procceeded to take of his clothes one by one until he was only in his underwear. you also took off your clothes leaving you in your bra and panties. he proceeded to take out his cock and it was beautiful. it was girthy and long and veiny, and it had a pretty pink tip that you wanted in your mouth. you stood up and leaned forward being now face to face with his cock.

"like what you see angel? this is al yours now. i would love to see you worship my cock but im impatient today."

he sat on the bed and i was picked up. now i was sitting on his lap, my back against his chest.

"please sir"

you wanted no needed him to touch you, kiss you, do anything.

"is my pretty slut beggin already dont worry i will take good care of you"

his hands came down to my cunt, stroking it through my underwear. you let out little whines and moans. he tore your underwear and pushed his 2 finger in you. the sudden intrusion caushing you to scream out. but he didn't stop there, he just kept going thrusting it in and out roughly.

"wait please slow down kats i..i can't"

but your plea fell on deaf ears. the pressure was becoming unbearable and you felt your high aproaching quick. right as you were about to cum he stopped, pulling his fingers out and showing you the mess you made on his finger.

"you only get to cum on my cock understood"

you were suddenly flipped, face down in the pillow and ass up. this position was embarrising but you soon forgot about that when katuski spanked you hard. you let out a shriek. right then you felt his cock, rubbing against your empty, gaping hole.

"such a good girl"

with that he plunged his cock deep in you not stopping until he was fully nested in there. you eyes rolled back, never had you felt so full.

"so bigggg~"

you slurred out.

"of course it is angel"

he started moving his dick in and out of your hole at a steady pace, it was slow but deep. you clung on your pillow for dear life. he sped up his movements, the sound of skin slapping agaisnt skin was becoming louder and louder."

"wanted to do this for soo longggg fuckk. finally got you."

you were in for a long night.

A/N: i dont know how to end stories help.

[faroreskiss]

"Do you think I'm a cheater?"

Summary: Isekai!Reader has a dilemma. You remember your S/O in our world and talk to Link about it. You know, the Link you slept with. Based on this fic. Can be read stand alone. Read on Ao3

"Hey Link," you called out to him, as you idly drew random shapes on the dirt floor. The night was quiet, except for the cicadas; or whatever bug making the chirping noises, and the small fire crackling nearby. And of course the snoring.

After the postman incident, thoughts of your own world occupied you again. You had been distant and they noticed. You couldn't sleep as much either, but thanks to the lack of your fighting skills, there was always a Link with you, taking the turn for the watch duty.

"Yeah?" Wild replied softly, with a low volume.

"Do you think I'm a cheater?" You deadpanned, still playing with the stick, not looking at his face.

"What?" He looked perplexed. Did you mean the flirting and glances between you and the rancher? But again, it's not like what was between you and Wild was all that clear in the first place, even though you did share each other's bodies... Once, right before Chain. Then cuddled during trying times, showed affection to each other.

Oh.

Right. You never talked about your life on the other side. Sure, about how some things were in your world, education, maybe some economy. But almost never your personal life, and none of them ever pushed you.

Hell, you actively tried not to think about it, you let go in a way at some point, thinking you'd never see them again anyway, so YOLO?

But then seeing how you are now traveling between eras, didn't that mean you could go back to your own world at some point?

How cruel. How cruel that only after years you learn that there is a possibility.

You sighed.

"I... I actually have, or had, or have.." you stumbled upon your words, not knowing which tense to use.

"There is someone in my world... that is, or was my partner."

Your lips formed a line again, you were still not looking at him. Wild didn't speak for a moment, only understanding what you meant by cheating, just now. You heard some shuffling, he dropped down from the tree silently like a cat.

"(Y/N)..." he started speaking, you interrupted him.

"I know... We have been together for quite a while too, we lived together. But then I was suddenly somewhere else, some world else," you were trying to keep your low voice from trembling, holding back the bitter tears.

He just listened, cautiously moving near you, but not quite making contact.

"I- I ignored their existence since I thought I'd never see them again, then a couple of years passed and I ended up sleeping with someone else, uh, no offense," you were still not looking at him.

"Actually two at once," he snickered. Wild didn't know what to say, so he at least tried to lighten the mood.

"Not funny, not right now!" You hit his shoulder playfully. It was a little bit funny, at least you got distracted from your gloomy mood.

"(Y/N), you thought they were lost to you, forever. How can that be cheating?" He inquired, with a serious tone this time.

You knew he had a point. But that wasn't as straightforward as he thought.

"You are biased," you scoffed. "And look at the Old Man, he sure got to see his wife again. I bet he wouldn't... indulge, like I did." You gulped, guilt was clawing at you again, making it hard to breathe.

"Yeah what a fair comparison. He was thrown into a precarious situation constantly fighting and jumping worlds and guesses he'd probably see his Hyrule again, and you, who had a peaceful life in a village for years with no way to return to your home. Really, a great way to make yourself a big baddie," he said with a sarcastic tone, a tinge of scolding mixed in.

You paused. You have never heard Wild speak this much before. You just mumbled something about not having tried hard enough, still staring at the twig you had in your hand.

He moved closer and gently lifted your chin towards him, making your eyes meet. You melted a little inside, which only fed your guilt even more.

"Look..." he said. "Fine, it is complicated." He sighed, not breaking eye contact in the dimly lit night.

"But you didn't do anything wrong, okay?" He tried to assure you. You averted your gaze again.

"Now that we know... What does it mean, Link? If I can get back to my world one day, does that mean... we, I..."

You trailed off. Wild just listened.

This was really complicated, way too complicated. You didn't want to push him away, you were selfish.

Yet thinking of your partner, wrecked with the pain of losing you perhaps, while you were in the arms of another, receiving comfort? Your stomach was twisting.

After all, maybe they did find someone else already? Or were you merely trying to justify your actions?

Oh Gods, you bet Sky wouldn't think so highly of you. Old Man wouldn't either. None of them would.

As you mentally shuddered, you gave in and leaned on Wild, even if a bit awkwardly.

"Don't tell the others, will you?"

"It's your life to tell," he assured you as he put his arm around your shoulder as you both leaned on the tree. The turmoil of emotions wouldn't let you go further, but at least you enjoyed the companionship and understanding he offered for now.

"I will never judge you, no one can, not for this," he said softly.

You were glad, but guilt still ate at you. Between these legendary heroes, it made you feel small. Shouldn't you have had some type of undying love story?

"...and what if we end up in my world?" your voice but a whisper. He didn't reply immediately.

"We'll cross that bridge when it comes to it, I guess," he ghost shrugged. His eyes had a distant look.

"But I'll be there, okay?" He added somewhat awkwardly.

You gave him a weak smile as you nodded, not knowing what to say, what to do. You wanted him to kiss you, you wanted to be close. He probably wanted the same but didn't want to force a choice on you.

What comes next would be your own choice. How you wanted to proceed now, was your problem.

But he would be there, whatever you chose.

You leaned on the tree trunk as he wrapped an arm around your shoulders, then you slowly drifted off to sleep. A warmth with a tinge of guilt embraced you, giving you dreams of bridges and portals as you fell asleep.

And the face of your beloved.

[sojournerstales]

Bedside Manner

The hum of functioning atmospherics, soft beeps from various consoles, and chatter. Med-bay is a space that is either quiet, ordered, and sensible or utter chaos. Today is the former, just Seven of Nine and the Doctor are present. Conversation thus far has been practical, functional, until:

"So much for Borg Superiority, hm?" The Doctor quips, dermal regenerator thrumming away in his hand. "I would have thought you to be beyond 'butter-fingers'."

Seven of Nine frowns. The pain was marginal, easy to filter out, and so the itch of the dermal regenerator doing its work across her palm was similarly easy to ignore. Frowning not at sensation, then, nor being her usual impassive expression, but at the Doctor. "Explain."

"I don't typically expect to see you for cuts and scrapes. No, your diagnoses are usually far more complicated."

"I see." Seven adjusts her stance, seated on the edge of a medical cot. Back straight, shoulders squared, perfectly stiff posture. She cants her head, keeping a view of her raised hand. "I was distracted."

"Also very much unlike you. What was it?"

"Conversation." Seven raises a brow, pointed.

The Doctor responds in kind, though his expression is more of a retreat. "Point taken. Well-" A final thrum, and a flourish, and a chipper 'beep!' from his device, "-You are all patched up until your next 'Medical Emergency'." The Doctor is being sarcastic, Seven of Nine can tell that much.

Seven says as much, "You are being sarcastic."

"How could you tell?" The Doctor gives a mild roll of his eyes, but then he smiles. It is mildly confusing, sarcasm being an indicator of irritation, but then that charming smile is meant to assure her of no such irritation.

Seven closes her hand into a fist, flexes her fingers. 'Good as new,' to borrow a phrase. "Harry Kim told me 'Good luck,' when he saw that I was on my way to see you."

That charming smile ceases function.

"There is something to be said for your 'bedside manner,' Doctor."

"Yes, well, I was not programmed for my charm. This winning personality, as a matter of fact, is a learned effort."

Seven stands from the cot, rising to her full height. "Were you in fact programmed for sarcastic remarks and irritability?"

"In a way."

Intrigued, Seven of Nine waits for the Doctor to elaborate.

"You and everyone else have all become rather comfortable with me as your doctor, but I am in fact an Emergency Medical Hologram. Emphasis on emergency." The Doctor rounds one of the med-bay's consoles as he talks, already re-initialized work on whatever project it was that Seven had interrupted. "I am designed for ancillary support during, well, emergencies. I was never meant to be anyone's primary physician."

"And this irritates you?" Seven supposes.

"This is meant to irritate me. My baseline programming is not meant to encourage the use of an EMH for non-emergency procedures. Minor cases of the sniffles. Upset tummies. Cuts and scrapes. I am rather beyond those procedures. Under regular circumstances it would be a gross waste of a valuable resource." And at that the Doctor can't help but preen, a glimmer in his holographic eyes. Then he catches Seven of Nine's severe expression and settles down somewhat. "Of course, I do care about the well-being of this crew. I am proud to be Voyager's doctor."

"Perhaps you should adjust your programming. I am certain it would be appreciated among the crew."

"Mm..." The Doctor steps away from his console, dipping briefly inside his office to retrieve a datapad. "Social Lesson 24, Between The Lines. Pay particular attention to chapter 3."

Seven of Nine takes the datapad, regarding it with curiousity.

"People, particularly humans, do not always say what they mean. Confusing, I know, but once mastered a whole new world of nuanced conversation will open for you."

"Thank you," Seven says, holding the datapad by her side, "I prefer to say exactly what it is that I mean. However, this will... help me to understand yourself and the crew better."

"Of course. Now, will that be all?"

"Yes, Doctor. Until next time I must 'irritate' you with a non-emergency." Seven turns to leave.

The Doctor grins, "Let's hope it is just that, hm?"

[omgkatherine01]

Moonlight Beta: Chapter 5 - Time Of Death

Series Masterlist

Chapter 4, Chapter 6

Pairing: Scott McCall x Fem!Liam Dunbar

Please comment, like and share

Scott had brought Lia to his house after she started to show signs of healing, instead of taking her to her house. After explaining to his mother why the girl was looking like a mess, she immediately checked on the healed wound despite knowing she had alreayd healed.

Lia had showered and changed to more comfortable clothes, which were Scott's, and after that she called her mother and told her she will be staying over at a friend for the night, and she will come back during the day the next day because she will have the day off tomorrow.

"So... Lia is staying over for the night?" she heard Stiles when she walked toward Scott's room. "Yeah," Scott answered.

"Why...?" Stiles asked. "Because, I don't want her to be dealing with what happened tonight alone," Scott said.

Stiles was sitting on the carpet, facing Scott. He tilted his head, frowning, "All right, I get that. But--"

"She's my Beta, all right?" Scott said, "She's my responsibility." Stiles pointed at him, "Are you sure it's only that?" he asked quietly. Scott frowned, "What do you mean?" he asked and pulled the bag of money from under his bed.

"Never mind," Stiles said with a sigh, and he nodded to the bag, "What's that?"

Lia decided to walk in when she heard the bag unzipped. Scott sensed her coming and looked up. "Hey," she said, and Stiles looked over.

"Lia! What's up? Feeling better?" Stiles asked. Lia nodded and when Scott nodded her to come in, she did. "Yeah," she answered, and sat down between them, "Is that the bag from last night?"

"Yeah," Scott said and looked at her, "I, uh... I lied." He opened the bag, showing her and Stiles the money inside, making their eyes grow wide.

"Oh... wow," Lia said softly. There was a moment of silent before Stiles spoke, "You counted it yet?"

"No," Scott answered. "We should probably count it," Stiles told them. Lia nodded slowly, "I guess so," she muttered. Scott and Stiles each took a side, letting the money spill onto the floor.

A cassette tape fell with it, and Lia picked it up with a frown, flipping it over.

It said, "Play Me".

Lia, Scott and Stiles looked at each other in confusion. "Do you have a radio to play it?" Lia asked Scott. "Uh, yeah, hold on," Scott said as he got up. He walked out of the room for a moment and then came back with a radio.

He sat down on his spot and put the tape in. The trio listen to a man's voice.

"After entering the IP address, you will be connected through a Darknet portal to an untraceable bank. Once logged in, enter your account number to receive wire transfers. The IP address will deactivate with each transfer. You will be assigned a new IP address if you choose to continue down the list. Remember, visual confirmation is always required for payment."

Stiles hit pause, looking at Scott, "Ever made a wire transfer?"

"Never had enough money," Scott answered. "Me either," Lia muttered. Stiles gave the girl a look and when she looked at him in confusion, he looked at Scott, "So you didn't understand a word of that either."

"I don't understand any of this," Scott said, "Why would someone use all this money just to kill us?"

"Someone wants you dead, dude," Stiles said, "Badly. And Lia, she may not be in that list, but the is another..." He looked at Lia, "You can be in the next one."

"Thanks," Lia muttered sarcastically while Scott gave him a look. He rolled his eyes and started to put the money away. Stiles looked at him, "Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?"

"It's late," Scott pointed out, "You and I got the PSATs in the morning."

"No, I meant the money," Stiles said, "$500,000. You know how much money that is?"

"It's $500,000," Lia said in a duh voice. Scott couldn't help but smirk lightly while Stiles pointed a finger at her, "Hey, shh." He looked at the Alpha, "It's half a million dollars. Scott. What are you going to do, just slide it under your mattress?"

"I have to talk to Derek," Scott said, "The money's his."

"You mean his and Peter's," Stiles corrected. "Who's Peter?" Lia asked when Scott opened his mouth. "Uh, Derek's uncle," he answered, and he looked at Stiles, "And what does that mean?"

"It means maybe we should proceed with caution," Stiles said. Scott frowned, "You don't think we should tell Derek?"

"No," the human said, getting up, "No. No, of course we have to tell him. I'm just… I'm just saying, some of that money's Peter's, right?"

"Yeah."

"Right," Stiles said, "Peter. Homicidal killer? Remember? You want to give $500,000 to him."

"So we should give Derek his money back, but not Peter?" Lia asked suddenly, "I don't think it's right..." Stiles gave her a look. "What?" she asked.

"No, you right about it," Scott told his Beta. "Oh come on, I didn't say that," Stiles said. Scott gave him a look, "Stiles, what are you saying?"

Lia could smell Malia's scent and looked to the door. "Malia is coming." Scott and Stiles looked surprised and exchanged a quick look before putting the bag under the bed.

The second they did, the door opened and Malia walked in, drenched from the rain. Scott and Stiles looked down at the new Beta. Scott raised his eyebrows, impressed with his Beta, while Stiles raised his eyebrows and nodded, clearly impressed as well.

"Not bad," he muttered. "We found Satomi's pack," Malia said, and the trio looked at her, "Derek and I. But they're dead."

Scott's eyes grew wide, "All of them?" Malia nodded, "All the ones we found." Stiles frowned, "Then where's Derek?"

--------

A few days later, Lia met up at the McCall's with Kira, Scott, and Stiles to review the plan to try and bait the benefactor. Lia, however, was not convinced that this was a good idea to go through with.

"Is three enough?" Kira questioned, meaning the three laptops they had ready as monitors. "Depends on how many cameras they have. But I think so," Stiles replied.

Lia was fidgeting, clearly uncomfortable and anxious with this whole idea, "Are we really doing this?"

"We're doing it," Scott said, "Tonight."

Lia looked at her pack members, "But, isn't it kind of dangerous?" She couldn't help but worry for her new pack. Especially Stiles who was the human of the pack. Lia knew he could hold his own but it felt like pack instinct to keep him safe.

"It's incredibly dangerous," Stiles said with a nod, clearly not trying to calm the Beta much, "And borderline idiotic."

"Have you guys done something like this before?" Lia asked as she looked at Stiles, hoping they had experience in this so the rest wouldn't be walking in completely blind.

"Something dangerous? Or something idiotic?"

Kira butted in when she noticed how Stiles' words weren't helping the Beta relax at all, "I think it's a yes to both."

"You don't have to be part of it if you don't want to," Scott told his Beta in a comforting manner, feeling bad that she was already being sucked into the drama.

"I'm not scared," Lia said. Stiles snorted to himself at her words before ruffling her hair teasingly, "Well then freshman, you're borderline idiotic."

Lia failed to hide the small smile that made its way onto her lips from Stiles' words. Stiles then turned to his best friend, "If we do this, we don't know what's coming for us. You know that, right?"

"How do we even know something's definitely coming?" Kira asked.

"Because the tape from Garrett's bag said visual confirmation required," Scott explained.

"Simon said the same thing," Stiles said, recalling the guy who tried to kill them during the junior testing day. "He couldn't get paid by The Benefactor until he had proof that you guys were dead."

"So the idea is..." Scott trailed off, "'What if you kill someone on the dead pool, but you can't send the proof?'"

"You don't get paid," Kira answered the rhetorical question.

Lia frowned, "But how does that get us any closer to whoever the Benefactor is?"

"He still needs to know if the target is really dead," Scott answered.

Stiles nodded at his friends' words before adding, "Especially if it's someone high on the list."

"So if they want visual confirmation..." Lia trailed off.

Scott nodded, "He's gonna have to come get it himself."

--------

Lia, Scott, Kira, and Kira's Mom Noshiko were all in Scott's room as they prepared for the procedure which would put Scott in an almost death-like state.

Lia, feeling like she was the only sane one there, was incredibly concerned about the backfire that this could have.

"Are you guys totally sure about this?" the blue-eyes beta had been pacing back and forth.

Kira glanced from her to Scott, "I think Lia's kind of nervous. Maybe you should tell her it's going to be alright," she advised Scott, knowing that he was the alpha and she would listen the most to him.

Scott looked over at the freshman who was extremely anxious, terrified even. He smiled at her softly as she stepped closer, "It's gonna be alright." However, Scott's words weren't able to fix everything. Lia looked over at Noshiko who was helping Kira learn how to use her powers.

"So, you've done this before, right?" Lia asked.

"I've seen it done" the older Kitsune corrected.

Lia frowned lightly, "Is that just as good?" she asked. The youngest in the room was holding onto her last shred of hope.

"No," Noshiko answered bluntly and honestly.

Kira gave her a look, "Mom, you're not inspiring confidence." The girl was already worried enough that she might mess this up, she needed her mother to have confidence in her and not upset Lia even further.

"Good. This is a terrible idea."

Lia couldn't help but panic more because of this, and Scott took her hand. "Do you want us to do it without you?" Kira snapped at her mother, and both of them stared down at each other.

Lia and Scott looked between them before glancing at each other.

"Put your hand over his heart," Noshiko said, giving in.

Before Kira did as told, Scott grabbed her arm to pause for a moment. "Hold on." He turned towards Noshiko, "What happens while I'm out? Am I gonna feel anything?"

"It might feel like you're dreaming," Noshiko answered.

"Good dreams or bad?" Scott asked.

"I suppose that depends on you," Noshiko told him.

Scott laid back down on the bed, and gently let go of Lia's hand. Noshiko nodded to Kira, who hesitated.

Kira took a steady breath before she put her hand above Scott's heart, making electricity crackle through his body, slowly shutting it down temporarily.

Scott gasped loudly, looking up in pain.

--------

Lia, Stiles, Kira and Noshiko surrounded Scott's semi-dead body, which was lying on the table in the hospital morgue. Melissa entered the morgue after giving a performance of a lifetime when breaking down after finding out her son was 'dead'.

"I still hate this plan," Melissa said as she wiped her tears away. "I mean this is pretty significantly terrifying. He looks dead."

"Give me your hand," Noshiko said softly. Melissa looked at Stiles and Lia, who nodded. Melissa held out her hand, and Noshiko took it and put it on her son's chest. "Wait for it."

Melissa sighed in relief when she sensed the faint heartbeat. "Is that enough to keep a werewolf alive?" she couldn't help but ask.

"Enough for an alpha," Noshiko answered.

"How much time do we have?" Melissa asked.

"45 minutes."

She nodded, "What happens after that?"

"I bring him back the same way," Kira answered confidently, holding Lia's hand.

"No, I mean what happens if he stays like this longer than 45 minute?" Melissa asked, and the group of teens looked away awkwardly.

"No ones told her?" Noshiko asked.

"What?" Melissa asked, "What happens after 45 minutes?"

"He dies."

--------

Stiles, Kira, and Lia were in front of the three laptops as they spoke with Chris Argent over the phone in a room.

"I'm ready. Try it now."

Stiles turned the three on to see the cameras that Chris had placed all around the hospital were successfully on.

Lia smiled knowing that it was starting to go in a good direction for them.

***

Scott's Mind:

Scott woke up inside one of the body drawers. He looked behind him, seeing that the narrow square shaft seemed to go on forever. He crawled through the shaft drawer, and crawled out to find himself falling out of a locker and at the high school.

Scott got up and started walking down the hallway. "Catch," the famished voice of his Beta rang through his ears.

Scott immediately caught the lacrosse ball and saw Lia standing there in her lacrosse jersey. She smiled, "That's why you're team captain." She winked before walking down the hall and into a classroom. Scott followed in confusion, dropping the ball behind him.

Scott walked into the classroom, looking around, but he didn't see Lia.

There was a laptop open on the teacher's desk. On the screen, the Benefactor's code scrolled to a stop. The "Keyword" prompt flashed. Scott typed in his own name, hitting enter.

The list uncoded into a list of the assassins.

The Mute

The Orphans

The Chemist

Scott thought that the dream was telling him to take this list as his own dead pool. "I can't do that. I can't kill them."

Lia appeared next to him, "Someone has to."

Scott turned at her, "Why me?"

"Because you're the Alpha," Lia said.

"I'm not a murderer," Scott said.

"But you are a predator," Lia said.

Scott shook his head, "No, we're predators. But we don't have to." Lia looked at him curiously, tilting her head. "We don't have to."

Scott shook his head, starting to breathe heavily, slamming the computer closed. He heard gasping of pain behind him, and turned around quickly. Lia was on the floor, with the Mute standing above her with his tomahawk on Lia's back.

***

Reality:

Stiles, Lia and Kira were still watching the computer screens until one went completely out. "Is that supposed to look like that?" Lia asked, being the first one to notice the screen going out.

"No," Stiles muttered, "No, it's not."

"Where is that?" Kira asked.

"It's the roof," Stiles answered, "Someone's gonna have to check it out."

"I'll go," Kira told them, turning to leave.

"Whoa, whoa," Stiles said, making her turn back to him, "This might not just be a malfunction."

"That's why I'm bringing this," Kira said as she pulled out her Katana before starting to walk away.

"I'm coming with you," Lia immediately said.

Kira slowed down for a moment so Lia could catch up before the two girls started towards the roof, ignoring Stiles' protests, "Okay! And you're both coming right back immediately. Especially you Lia!" Stiles sighed to himself. "Kids."

***

Scott's Mind:

Once again, Scott woke up inside one of the body drawers. He crawled and fell right out of a locker, falling into the school. He got up and started walking again.

"Catch!"

Scott did so, but somehow this time he had his claws out. Scott looked at Lia.

"That's why you're the Alpha."

Scott then somehow was now in the locker room. He was leaning against the sinks, looking at his reflection in the mirror.

Lia was standing behind him, crossing her arms over her chest. She watched him examining his fangs in the mirror. "There's something different, isn't there?"

"I've got more fangs," Scott said, "I noticed it during the quarantine. I don't know why."

"Maybe it's part of being an Alpha," Lia suggested, "Like you're becoming more of a werewolf."

"Or more of a monster," Scott muttered.

"What if it makes you stronger?" Lia suggested and smirked lightly, "What if I said it makes you sexier?" Scott smiled unconsciously. "It's like you're--"

But he heard a stab and turned around to see now the Mute killing Lia. "Evolving" It finished as Lia fell forward, but Scott rushed to catch her. He looked at the tomahawk in her back. He looked at the Mute, glaring.

The Mute placed a finger over where his mouth should have been.

***

Reality:

Kira and Lia made their way to the rooftop. They were looking around until one of the boxes exploded into electrical sparks, startling both girls. "Looks like someone did something to it," Lia said.

They heard behind them growling, and Kira turned first to see a Berserker.

"I think somebody did," Kira said and got out her Katana swiftly while Lia turned around to become face-to-face with the creature.

The Berserker growled as it approached them. Lia's face morphed into her werewolf one as she growled back. She flicked her claws out before roaring and charging at the creature to fight. The Berkserker blocked her moves, and then it gripped her by her throat, lifting her up, throwing her back several feet into the chain link fence, making her fall.

Kira tried to fight but was knocked out a few moments after. "Kira, Kira, get up!" Lia's shrieks finally pulled Kira out of the trance, and she helped the older girl get up to her feet.

The berserker was still standing, ready and eager to keep on fighting.

Lia groaned as she, once again, was thrown to the ground by the Berserker. "Lia, run! Get out of here!" Kira yelled as she tried to fight the Berserker by herself. But the Beta ignored her pack member pleas, getting right back up.

"Lia!" Kira warned. Lia roared, jumping on top of a fence that covered the box panel of the hospital, about to claw at the berserker.

***

Scott's Mind:

Scott, once again, woke up in one of the body drawers. He crawled and fell out, getting up again.

"Catch!"

Instead of the lacrosse ball, it was the tomahawk that he caught. He then looked down to see Lia on the ground, a wound in her chest.

"Why did you do that?" Lia whimpered.

"Let me help you. Let me show you how." The Mute's hand guided Scott to swing the tomahawk. And Scott did exactly that again and again.

***

Reality:

Stiles, Lia, Kira and Chris stood around Scott. Kira managed to wake Scott, who screamed as he opened his eyes. "Scott, hey!" Lia said as they looked at him in relief, while the Beta placed her hand on his arm.

"What happened?" Scott asked, "Did it work?"

They all exchanged a look; they failed to capture the Benefactor, whoever it may be. Instead, they had caught the attention of the werejaguar Kate Argent, Chris' sister. Kira's Mom had gotten injured. Nothing to come out a success from this plan.

[alieinthemorning]

Tears of the Strongest [Gojo Satoru]

Content: Established Relationship, Depressed Reader, Depressed Gojo Satoru, Depression, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Men Crying, AU: No Curses, AU: Modern, Proofread, Not Beta Read

Pronouns: None

Next: An Addition to Change

Header: @/nikki101pistar on Twitter

Reblogs: Let me know that you enjoy my work and want to see more, so don't forget to like and reblog (and comment in the tags. I love seeing people’s rambles in the tags)!

This work's concepts, plot and original characters are my own which means I do not allow any sort of creative theft nor do I allow my work to be entered into any sort of A.I. bots. Thank you for respecting my space and boundaries.

You noticed that Satoru had two types of smiles.

The first could be ugly, strained, sardonic, sarcastic, rueful, malignant, forced, or condescending. Whatever it was, it lacked all warmth, but seemed to want to stay plastered on his face. Especially when he was talking on the phone to employees, his family, or anything adjacent to that.

The second one was one that he almost exclusively used with you. It was a soft, boyish smile that arose when you said something to him that truly caught his heart off guard. Sometimes the smile was small, and other times it was threatening to stretch across his face. Either way, your biggest clue in for discerning the difference was his dimples, and every time he smiled at you like that, you made sure to give them a loving poke.

But regardless of all that, there always seemed to be a darkness lingering behind those beautiful blue eyes of his.

A darkness you were ever so familiar with.

Things were getting bad again with Satoru, the business and his family. Things had taken an irreparable turn when his grandfather named him heir to the company instead of his father. His family had tried to persuade him to hand the company over to his father after ownership was transferred to him, but Satoru refused. They tried to do a lot of dirty, underhanded deals to get that title, even going as far as attempting to assassinate him... multiple times. Even after all that, they still were able to walk free. Not that Satoru pressed charges, since he knew there was no point.

And now here they were at your doorstep. Demanding that you speak some sense into their son.

Luckily for them, their son was there visiting.

"I'll see you in court." Were the only words he graced them with before slamming the door in their faces.

For the rest of the day, your gaze prodded him, but he refused to budge. Until it was after dinner, and you were withholding dessert from him.

He sighed, dramatically lolling his head back. "You're a Gojo. You're untouchable. You're strong. Even stronger than me, Satoru. This is why it has to be you and not your old man. Do you understand?" He recited in a gruff, but bored tone.

You eyed him, "That was your grandfather?"

He nodded, "Yep, I didn't really get what he meant at the time. I mean—I was seven, but now I do." He looked at you through the lens of his sunglasses, a crooked smile gracing his lips. "Regardless of all the shit they try to do to me, they can't touch me because I am stronger than them."

The smile dropped as if he suddenly realized something. "But you're not me. You're not strong. So now that they've come here—which, I don't want you living alone anymore." You rolled your eyes at him. "Now that they've come here, they've forced my hand, but don't worry about it." The smile was back, lacking his dimples. "I'll win for sure."

And he did. He won the case, but he didn't seem surprised. And not because of the heinous crimes that his mother and father had committed, but as if it was expected of him. Failure was not an option. His mother and father were to served life, and although it would be still be a life of luxury, it would be behind bars and away from the two of you.

During the legal proceedings, you were moved from your apartment to his house. You didn't mind, you had been talking about moving in together for a while now. It wasn't like you had any ties to the place, so you packed what little you owned and were snuggled against him the following night.

However, during the day when Satoru was gone, and it was just you in that big house, it made you feel small. Smaller than what you already felt, more lost than usual. You didn't like it. It also heavily disrupted your body's autopilot, so a lot of your days were spent doing nothing until you could finally set yourself into some semblance of routine again.

You said you were okay with the change, and you were,

but you also weren't.

The past lingered, and so did the remnants of Satoru's parent's will. Despite being locked up, there were still people who agreed that Satoru had no business running the Gojo conglomerate. They weren't as vile as his parents, but their campaigns against him were vicious.

And once again, you became their target.

You were unbothered by it. Knowing that you literally had no hand in anything to do with Satoru's business, and you really didn't want to be bothered by it either. The most interference you've done is made sure that he was properly taking care of himself.

But no. To them, you were a different kind of distraction.

So when you laid down with him that night, with his back facing you and an ample amount of space between the two of you, you decided enough was enough.

It was time that you humbled Gojo Satoru.

So, you wrestled him into your grasp, knowing good and well that asking him to talk would be futile. Surprisingly, his overgrown behind ended up in your lap. Your grip on him was firm, but soft as your words came out slow and steady, making sure he understood each and every word.

"Gojo Satoru is not the strongest man in the world. He is not a god who walks among men. He is human, he will die, and the world will move on without him."

It was like something in him snapped. In the moonlight's soft glow did his skin begin to glow, aided by the newfound dampness that rolled down his cheeks. You didn't move to wipe them away, you didn't want him to think that you were discouraging his tears. And you're glad that you didn't for a few moments later did his head slot against your neck, your bare shoulder rapidly becoming wet.

You held onto him just as fiercely when his fingers clutched at your skin, likely leaving marks, but you didn't care. He should be allowed this moment of vulnerability. In the safety of your embrace.

Because every strong point has a weak point.

Once the tears had dried, his voice croaked out a whisper.

"If I'm not the strongest, how can I protect you?"

You smiled, fingers gently brushing those white curls at the nape of his neck.

"We protect each other. We rely on each other. As much as human greed gets in the way, humans still reach out a hand when they're in trouble. And as your partner, I promise to always take your outstretched hand because I love you, Satoru."

His breath stuttered, then he sighed deeply.

"I love you too. So much."

Just as you were Satoru's weakness, you were also his strength.

There was a lot of present/past tense errors in here lol (the opener???? my god). A small bit of grammatical errors. And I changed a few things.

Also, I wrote this shit like a fucking omen because JJK236.

Apollo, holding the rubber ball called "The Gift of Prophesy"

Me, ready to catch that shit: PLAY BALL BITCH

Ko-Fi | Commission | Masterlist

[asachuu]

It’s that time of the month, folks, you know what that means…naturally, my thoughts on Fifteen’s phases 16-17, as well as just some more stuff I simply want to add, because this manga keeps on giving me things to talk about, for better or for worse.

Please note that there will be image spoilers for phases 16-17 below, proceed with caution.

This will be more of a freehand ramble about whatever comes to mind while I’m typing, I’m admittedly somewhat tired today and there’s not much new I could really add as a whole atop the persisting flaws in it, but what I will say is that I’m now starting to think even Chuuya fans are slightly losing here as well, looking at some of these panels. That is not to say they’re badly drawn, once more, I must give all credit to the artwork as I have to admit I very much like it and appreciate the effort that goes into it, but the focus of many of these pages seems to be purely to shock, intimidate or disturb the viewer in a certain way by highlighting the exaggerated abilities of the characters, rather than having the visuals balanced with the actual point of the story itself, which is not— and never has been— about the amounts of power Arthur and Chuuya hold, respectively. Perhaps I will be repeating myself here, but if anyone is to read the novel, they’ll come to find out that there is no more focus on abilities than there is on expanding Dazai, Chuuya and Arthur as characters and human beings within the story of BSD.

Nevertheless, it just so happens that Chuuya thankfully has a certain fanbase, of which the majority of people seem to understand he isn’t meant to be a cold-hearted maniac despite harboring the power of Corruption and being depicted/interpreted in various ways showcasing the extent of his abilities, but speaking from personal experience, the same can’t be said about anyone who comes to know of Arthur, which I don’t mean inherently negatively— I was also once such a person, for which I must sarcastically thank the anime adaptation that initially introduced me to him. At least, on Chuuya’s end, there are always attempts to show his humanity, his actual personality, and I’d have two guesses as to why— first, he’s one of the two most popular BSD characters who has the spotlight on him either by the creators or the fandom almost everywhere he goes; second, his story directly revolves around whether he is or isn’t human anyway, so it’s entirely understandable that a contrast between himself and his abilities would make sense to show, even sometimes exaggerate, just like in Hoshikawa’s adaptation.

Unfortunately, this contrast is just lost on Arthur’s end, because there is no other side of him being anyhow shown to the readers. Personally, I wouldn’t come out thinking Chuuya is some kind of heartless monster, given that he’s shown to interact with other characters normally, he’s seen coming back to his senses after a few panels, and generally, no matter what has been cut out and what has been left in, it just so happens that there is simply enough content of him to be able to merely afford to do any of this— all of which can’t be said about Arthur, who has all the necessary content to understand his character better specifically in the Fifteen light novel (and Stormbringer), not scattered all around several other books and mangas to be able to sacrifice one adaptation of the source material and still carry on. Albeit we still haven’t seen the end of the fight, in which I’m dearly hoping his dialogue is going to be portrayed properly with the same emotion it was presented to us with in the light novel as the absolute last chance for this to turn around in the slightest, I can safely say that there were opportunities to create this same effect with Arthur as with Chuuya, yet these opportunities were all passed up.

From the start, we’re introduced to this strange, yet harmless-looking sub-executive of the Port Mafia, that of which is revealed to be a ruse set up by him, and from that point onwards, throughout the fight, there is no further indication of anything beyond Arthur supposedly being nothing other than a simple cartoon supervillain who doesn’t really care about his actions, even though the novel has enough evidence scattered around that he does— he doesn’t want to be in that situation, he doesn’t actually want to kill anyone, and what he’s after is a memory of someone most dear to him which he’s desperate to get back, and believe it or not, all of this dialogue is, in fact, not supposed to be said coldly and flatly before having his ability centered to no end once more, shining the light on that aspect instead of a character who was originally someone most unfortunate and hopeless, someone who was in an inescapable situation that would have never ended well for him no matter what he’d done, and someone who was far from the person being portrayed in the manga currently.

With all that being said, one more thing I’d like to point out, which is a bit more specific to phases 16/17 at the current moment, is the way the interactions between Chuuya and Arthur are being portrayed as of right now. In the novel, it is made quite clear the two are, indeed, opponents in their fight, but Arthur has no actual desire to kill Chuuya, and Chuuya himself doesn’t actually hold anything against Arthur— in fact, it’s quite explicit in showcasing the fact that Chuuya has respect for him, understanding his motive of wanting to save a dear friend, even cursing out Dazai for not believing it or taking it seriously, and never showing any kind of outward excitement for this fight, which…will be relevant in just a second. If that’s not enough to convince a person, there’s also Chuuya visiting Arthur’s grave further in the novel and quite literally stating he will return to it again, and before that, I believe that Arthur telling Chuuya to live in his last moments also speaks volumes about the fact that there was no resentment or genuine conflict between the two, rather an unfortunate fate they were met with. In the manga, however, I don’t think it’s a reach to say that I’m not quite getting the same feeling. I’ll go ahead and admit that I’m focusing on this because of personal bias, but even despite that, I feel as though having Arthur written off as merely Chuuya’s opponent and nothing more is still not the right way to go about it, considering what I said before— there wasn’t an actual hostility between the two, and not only did Arthur tell Chuuya to live, he also was the one to call Chuuya a human being and see him as such, that of which I’d expect far more attention to just due to the mere nature of Chuuya’s character.

Now, for the first time ever, I will go into some very specific details, because I need them to show what I’m talking about. All further translation credits go to DarkestJay868 on Twitter.

This page from phase 16 was the one right after what was originally Arthur’s monologue about wanting to save his partner, and I believe it’s quite clear how I feel about that part, but I haven’t redrawn this page in particular despite it being in my original plans, so it’s only fair I give my thoughts on it while it’s relevant.

I would normally only nitpick these aspects privately instead of posting them online, but since this manga makes even such small things important for all the wrong reasons, I have to point them out. I initially didn’t think so much of this page, though I did find it a peculiar choice to make him look almost excited for the fight, atop the final line which never appeared in the novel itself— something that may seem insignificant, but ultimately, it does create the effect that Chuuya is somewhat eager to engage in this conflict for whatever reason, which is simply not the case. I could go on about some smaller dialogue changes, even his lack of harshness towards Dazai’s comments that makes his original reaction quite downplayed, but I’m leaving those in a quick mention of acknowledgment, as they’re only secondary to what I’m aiming at here.

I would have ignored this, given there’s a much bigger issue for me to focus on, had Chuuya and Arthur’s skewed interactions not continued onwards to phase 17 as well— more specifically, after Chuuya’s attacks, by the end of the chapter.

If someone were to tell me these two didn’t actually have any kind of internal conflict going on between them beforehand, I wouldn’t have believed it for a second, but here we are. From the first page, in which the original Chuuya of the novel was hurt and tired instead of almost feeling as though he isn’t taking anything too seriously, all while Arthur never said a word that nearly implies him looking down on the latter (his direct quote is “Nothing I say will help…this is my space”, you simply cannot tell me that isn’t far more neutral than what the manga turned it into), to the second page, where not only is Chuuya’s first line much more accusatory and directed at Arthur himself, rather than the original (“…everyone’s an ant to a European ability user…”), but also, might I add that Arthur wasn’t the one to hold Chuuya in place? It’s explicitly stated that Chuuya could no longer avoid the attacks by fault of using too much of his power, and even though this may sound like an insignificant detail when one is to consider the following scene of the novel— that is, almost being the one to end Chuuya’s life, which is absolutely no less cruel than a mere action like that— it still gives off the impression as though there’s some kind of hostility between them when there really wasn’t, not even during a fight to the death, and that, in the context of this manga and its very likely fandom reception…well, I’d much rather just cover even the smallest of details than watch as it ultimately gets misconstrued, as so much media surrounding this novel often does.

Anyway, that’s my take on these chapters for now. I’m aware it’s messy, I’ve only seen phase 17 a couple of hours ago and haven’t exactly prepared some kind of proper dissection. Naturally, feel free to take all this with a grain of salt, or even a whole bucket of it, because yes, I am very salty about the way this manga is going, but I’m hoping to ultimately compare it to the novel and give my own opinion on the development here.

[casspurrjoybell-32]

Taken - Blue Moon Series - Chapter 21b

*Warning Adult Content*

Lakota Bateman

My father had been interrogated by the Alpha several times since he came a week ago.

Alpha Avery had let him go, his senses telling him that the man was telling the truth and meant no harm to anyone.

It was hard to fool an Alpha's nose in a true interrogation but he still had a full security detail for both the pack and himself.

Elijah was not happy about this at all and was being detained in one of the vacant rooms in the house for the time being.

Teagan and I weren't very pleased about it either but it was being in proximity to him that had us mad not the fact that he was alive which Elijah seemed to be particularly obsessed with.

Currently I was outside on the porch as both Cyrus and Gale spared together.

Leaning up against the rail, I was watching silently.

Gale had apologized profusely about biting me like he did.

I told him that I loved every minute of it but it wasn't getting through to him.

He was so distraught till even Cyrus couldn't take it anymore and here they were, battling each other.

It stared on a serious note but I could see the teasing they were giving each other.

Gale had Cyrus in a head lock as he ruffled up his hair with a huge goofy grin.

Cyrus fought bravely but he was no match for Gale's strength.

The sound of footsteps echoing on the wooden porch had me looking behind to find none other than the man I really didn't want to see.

The slight smile on my face faded quickly as I gritted my teeth painfully to keep me from saying something we'd both regret.

"I heard you lost your wolf," his voice was soft as he came to stop beside me. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"No thanks to you."

"What? What does that mean?" he frowned at me, truly confused.

"And how is that even possible to lose him?"

"I lost him in exchange to find you and your mate."

The frown disappeared quickly replaced with a face of guilt.

"Why would you do that?"

"So that the Vampyr King could have his rightful vengeance against you all."

I turned my head away from him to look back at my mates who were too involved in their little game to notice my situation.

"I know that we attacked his relative for Nyla but honestly it was an order none of us could fight. We didn't even know why we had to kill him," he confessed regretfully.

I turned to face him fully now.

"Do you know anything or are you just your mates puppet?" I sneered.

He sighed and rested his elbows against the railing next to me.

He kept a good distance from me that I appreciated.

"I deserve your anger Lakota, I truly do. I blame myself for what happened to you and your big brother. I wasn't strong enough to fight your mother to save you, it makes me just as guilty as she. I can't even imagine what your life was like thus far."

"No I don't' believe you could and you never will."

An eerie hand suddenly caressed down my shoulder but I knew it wasn't real.

I closed my eyes... not now.

She had left me alone since last night.

I was starting to understand that I had to be touching my mates to get my hallucinations of mistress to disappear.

"Where did you end up Lakota?" his question was quiet.

"Don't you know?" I growled sarcastically.

He shook his head.

"Nyla never told me anything because she knew I would try and find you, to get you back."

His eyes narrowed as he brought up his mate.

His eyes were blazing with sorrow and what seemed like contempt.

The more I watched him the more I was able to see that he felt the loss of losing his children immensely.

And I was mad that I felt sorry at all.

'He's a liar, he knew where you were. He just wanted the power of the stone,' Mistress purred in my ear.

Gritting my teeth I continued to look at him, ignoring it as much as possible.

"You really didn't know?"

He gave me a sad smile before looking out towards the yard, his eyes drawn towards my mates.

"I always wanted to be a father, Lakota," he said and I couldn't help but stare at him.

"I wanted you and Teagan so much..." he paused as I watched his throat bob before he continued.

"And when your mother gave birth to your brother, then you I was beyond joyed."

Turning around he leant his back against the rail now.

"When Teagan was taken away I was broken. I knew she used him but I didn't know what for at the time. I looked everywhere for him but your mother hide him well and no one would tell me since everyone was under Alpha orders to not say anything."

I didn't say a thing just stayed quit and listen.

"You have no idea how angry I was with her. How much I wanted to kill her. It made me hate myself that the thought even entered my mind about harming a hair on my mates head but I loved my children more than anything. And that fact that she forced my wolf to stay away from you I couldn't tell you in words what I wanted to do to her."

"Then you disappeared," he sighed his voice wavered a bit.

I watched him reach up to press his fingers into his eyes as if he was trying not to cry.

I bit my lip preventing myself from approaching closer to him.

I felt the anguish coming off him as it took me a little to restrain myself.

He was a stranger, a man who was portrayed as a monster this whole time and now I was hearing his side.

And the truth was shocking.

He wasn't lying, I knew he wasn't and it made it even worse.

He wasn't the only one suffering when you thought about it from his prospective.

He was trapped just like Teagan and I, another tortured soul.

Just not physically.

'You gullible mutt,' shaking my head to get rid of her voice I turned away from him.

"What about the stone. Do you have it?" I stared out towards the tree line as I asked.

"I have it."

This caused me to spin back to face him.

"You do?"

Slowly he reached in his pocket and opened his hand to revealed a tear shaped, smooth dark red stone, it almost resembled a ruby but there was something sinister about it.

As I stared at it I felt like I was being pulled in by an unknown force and I had to snap myself out of it.

There was serious power in this little rock and it screamed danger.

"I may not know what your mother's motives are for the things she does but as her mate I take responsibility for her actions and I am willing to take her punishments as well. Nyla needs to be stopped, she's not right mentally, something happened and I don't know what. But I'm here to help you stop her by any means necessary."

His golden eyes were steady and bright.

He meant every word.

"And what if you had to kill her?"

We bother spun around to find both Cyrus and Gale standing on the other side of the porch railing.

Cyrus had asked the question and his face showed the seriousness of the question as he tested him.

Cyrus just asked a wolf if he would kill his own mate.

Something that was impossible for any mated wolf to do.

Just the thought of me killing my own mates made my insides twist with pain.

My father was quite for the longest time, before he sighed.

"I honestly don't know. I don't think I have it in me to kill her but I've wanted to."

"Thinking and doing are two very different things," Gale said, his deep voice was hard.

"Yes they are."

Then suddenly he turned to look at me, his gold eyes meeting my own gold ones and they set into a narrowed gaze of resolve.

"If it came to it and it was the only thing I could do... Then yes, I would," his voice was frail with pain but it held truth that spoke volumes.

"Good," both Gale and Cyrus said simultaneously while both my father and I stared at each other without a word.

"You've suffered, you and your brother both. I can't change the past but I can change the future and no one is going to touch you again, not while I'm still breathing. You're finally here, in front of me... never again will you be taken."

[whitchygaythem]

Pred teases prey, prey gets spooped, pred immediately goes into damage control mode. ✨Boom✨, there’s ur prompt bud.

I think I went too light on the damage control thing, but thank you for the great prompt!!

Mavis stretched, relaxing with her hands behind her head, flipping her shark- patterned tail lazily as she warmed her dark skin in the sun. Their eyes were closed as they began to nod off in the warm summer sun. 

"Mav! Mavis wake up! I'm down here!"

Mavis glanced down to see a human jumping up and down on the beach, waving her skinny arms for Mavis's attention, her long twin braids almost touching the sand.

"Hello Blair." Mavis sunk deeper into the bay, resting her head on her arms on the sand. Blair immediately scrambled up Mavis's arm, plopping herself down on Mavis's elbow. "Have you brought me tribute again?" Blair laughed, then smothered it. 

"If you mean food then sorry, but no. My roommate was getting on my ass about all the herring in the fridge" Blair twirled one of her braids in her small thin fingers. "Sorry Mav, I'll try to bring something else next time. Mavis glared at Blair. 

"Don't worry about making up for this time, I know someone who can fill in." Mavis growled softly to illustrate her point. Blair patted her on the nose.

"Ah yes, you're so very scary and big. I'm so terrified of you." Mavis would have loved to hear the pleading, but something told her blair was being "sarcastic". That felt even worse. Mavis's name used to strike fear into the hearts of mer-kind. She was the terror of the bays, the Devourer of tuna, pick any title. They all showed how feared she was. Then this little… Blair came to her a few months ago for a science project, A PROJECT! Mavis had lost too much respect during her break. She sat up as well as she could while still keeping her tail in the water. Blair tumbled off her arm and onto the sand. She yelled quickly as Mavis's hands thudded down on either side of her, with Mavis herself leaning into her, pressing her face against Blair's shaking body.

"Hehe, Mav, I get it… you can be really scary sometimes… now back up an- and let me g- UGH-'' Mavis cut her off with a full body lick, pushing Blair into the sand.  She lifted Blair up, she was pinched between her pointer finger and thumb. Mavis stretched her jaw, opening her mouth wider and wider until she felt a sucking pop and Blair's eyes went wide. Yes, this is what she wanted, to be treated with fear! And respect! She dropped Blair onto her outstretched tongue. Blair slid right down, and Mavis swallowed quickly, greedy for the weight of prey in her gut. She sighed and laid back down, just like she did before Blair showed up. It was perfect. Just like old times.

…

…

Something was wrong. The pleading, the crying, it didn't fill her with pride like before. Mavis shut her eyes again, trying to ignore Blair's cries and the voice of regret in her mind. But once Blair stopped fighting, and barely shifted, Something dropped in Mavis.

"Tribute- Blair. Are you alright?"

"No. And you know that. So just leave me alone and let me die."

"Blair-"

"No. Leave me alone."

Mavis huffed "Blair, you are safe. I swallowed you for my storage stomach, not for food. You are not food."

Blair was quiet, so Mavis kept talking.

"I meant to - no, I should have told you it was safe instead of trying to scare you. I-im soory"

"... I'm not bringing you anything next time, understand? And ask first before you do anything like this."

"Understood."

"....... could you swallow my backpack? I have an essay due…"

[fischerfrey]

HPMA AU; A Christmas Prince

Chapter 8: The Christmas Ball

Summary: It’s Christmas Eve, and time for Quincey’s coronation. Will things go like planned, or is trouble brewing?

A/N: Evander/Rosa is not a canon ship lmao, don’t worry Rocky

Words: 2.6k

Characters:

Dawn Harvelle, Evander Alderly, and Rosa Yaxley by @potionboy3

Beginning | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Chapter 8: The Christmas Ball

Dawn went to Olympia’s rooms. He didn’t know what he was going to say, but he didn’t want to be alone, either. Mercifully, she didn’t have a guard at her door. He snuck in and saw that she was still sleeping. Without thinking about it too much, he collapsed on the bed next to her and groaned into a pillow. Olympia moved and lifted her sleep mask.

“Dawn…?”

He groaned some more.

“To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?” Olympia asked and sat up.

“I need to tell your brother the truth.”

“The… what?” she asked sleepily.

“About who I am.  I have to tell him.”

“Like… right now?”

“The sooner the better,” Dawn said and lifted his face from the pillow.

“Today’s the coronation, Dawn, don’t you think it’s a bit much to dump on him today?”

“I’m not writing the stupid article,” Dawn said.

“What?”

“And I’m leaving, before the real Dawn gets here.”

“You promised you would write it.”

“I can’t write the truth,” Dawn said.

“Why not?” Olympia demanded.

“Because I love him,” Dawn confessed. It felt like the gravity had shifted, saying it out loud.

“Well… shit,” said Olympia.

“So, I’m not writing it at all.”

“Will you stay for the ball?”

“I just got my converse shined for the occasion,” said Dawn sarcastically.

“What?” Olympia gasped. “I had a team prepare an outfit for you and everything! They’re arriving today to give you a makeover!”

“I wasn’t even invited until this morning, O.”

Olympia smiled slyly and said: “Let’s just say I know my brother.”

“Oh…”

“But I understand if you want to leave… I mean... I'll miss you terribly and cry myself to sleep, but I'll get over it,” Olympia said.

“He wants me there…”

“Yes,” said Olympia. “I imagine he does. As do I.”

“And he looked so upset when I said I might not be there.”

“You should do what’s best for you,” Olympia advised.

“I want to be there,” he said and meant it.

“Then leave it to me to help you look the part!” Olympia said and a smile appeared on her face. She pulled Dawn into a hug before he could reply.

“I hate my life…” Dawn mumbled into her shoulder.

“You coming here has improved mine considerably,” Olympia said and let go of him.

“Wait until you meet the other Dawn and become besties.”

“You’re my favourite Dawn forever,” Olympia vowed.

“I owe you a thank you,” said Dawn.

“I think I’m the one who should thank you.”

“Hey, I said it first,” said Dawn.

“I’ve given you a bunch of clothes and you’ve changed my life, I think that’s a bit different,” Olympia pointed out.

Dawn rolled his eyes. “I told your brother you people are stuck in the 1800’s, but I think you just might be the exception.”

“Oh, Dawn, that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me!”

They both burst into laughter and Dawn knew he was going to miss Olympia so much.

~

The people that Olympia had hired to do his ‘complete makeover’ were truly going all out. He barely recognized himself in the mirror once they were done with dressing him up in a suit and doing his hair. He looked like he fit right in with the immaculately dressed royals and nobles that he’d seen during his time in Alderly. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Still, he was nervous about going to the ball. It was going to be much bigger than the cocktail party he’d attended, and he knew the queen was going to be watching his every move like a hawk. Before leaving his room, he sat down at his desk and took out pen and paper. He might not get another chance to talk to Quincey, so he put everything he had wanted to say on paper. The truth about who he was and… some other truths as well. Sealing it into an envelope, he turned to grab the stupid law to burn it in the fireplace. Only, it wasn’t where he had put it the day before. Dawn rummaged through all his belonging, but he couldn’t find it. Frustrated, he almost ruined his hairdo, but stopped himself at the last minute. The queen must have taken it. Nobody else knew that he had it. That woman was hellbent on sabotaging herself. If Dawn had just burnt it, it wouldn’t have been a problem any longer. Unless, of course, the queen wanted Quincey to get married. He didn’t have the time to go looking if he wanted to make it to the ball at all, so he resolved to try to sneak out of there early to find it.

~

The ballroom of the palace had been decked up in the same fashion as the rest of the rooms, only much, much grander. Dawn descended the stairs carefully, as to not slip and make a fool of himself. Everyone was staring at him, on account that he was late. He didn’t much like that. He tried to not focus on all the guests when Quincey appeared in front of him. He looked every inch a king. Dawn was standing on a stair still, so he felt tall.

“I’m glad you came,” Quincey said. Some of the guests followed with interest why a king-to-be would personally go greet an employee.

“Hey… yes I’m so glad you and one hundred other people noticed,” he said, trying to keep his nerves in check. “Why is everyone staring? I can’t be the only one who showed up late.”

Quincey leaned closer. Not too close, but close enough so no one else heard him say: “Maybe they’re staring because you look beautiful?”

Dawn felt himself blush. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Probably,” said Quincey. “And a fair bit crazy, too.”

“You don’t look too shabby yourself,” Dawn said, taking in his royal regalia.

“Why, thank you.”

Dawn took the letter he had written from his pocket. “I wrote you something but… don’t read it yet, not tonight,” he said. “Tonight is about you becoming king.”

“You… alright, I won’t,” Quincey said. Dawn put the letter in the pocket of Quincey’s suit.

“Thank you,” said the prince.

“It’s not something you should thank me for,” said Dawn. “It’s an apology. To you.”

“Why would you apologize?” asked Quincey.

“You’ll find out when you read it.”

“Alright…” Quincey said unsurely.

“Don’t worry about it now,” Dawn said with a smile and laid a hand on his shoulder.

“This would be the moment I’d ask you to dance with me, if… If I could,” Quincey said quietly.

“And I’d say I’d love to, and everyone would be staring at us.”

“You’ll just have to save me a dance, one day,” Quincey remarked.

“I’m saving you all of them, I don’t think I’ll be in a situation like this again any time soon.”

Now it was Quincey’s time to blush. “Oh…”

“If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go greet your mother.”

“You will?”

“Yes, pays to be polite,” Dawn said. “And good luck, if I don’t catch you before the big moment.”

“Thank you,” Quincey nodded, and Dawn gave him an encouraging smile, before going to find the queen.

~

Dawn made his way to the Queen and bowed. “Your Majesty.”

“Mr. Albrecht,” said the queen with some distaste.

“I wanted to give you my best wishes on this joyous occasion.”

“I’m hardly the right person,” Isabella said.

“You’re the mother of the king-to-be, that’s quite big if you ask me.”

“Yes, fine, thank you.”

Dawn offered his hand. Isabella eyed it like it was dirty, but shook, nevertheless.

Dawn leaned closer and said quietly: “I hope you know what you're doing and that this won’t come back to bite you in the ass, if he, or anyone else ever finds it.” He kept smiling, so as not to arouse suspicion.

“Haven’t you done enough, already?” asked the queen, equally quietly.

“I would have taken care of it,” Dawn said and stood up straight, letting go of her hand. “Have a lovely evening, Ma’am.”

“Wait,” said the queen. “What do you mean you would have?”

“I told you I was going to burn it.”

“You didn’t?”

“You know that I didn’t, since you stole back.”

The queen went white. “You’ve lost it?”

“What?” asked Dawn. “I know you took it. I’m done with this.”

“I assure you, I did no such thing,” said the queen. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go make sure this isn’t going to ruin my son’s life.”

“Who else could have done it? My room was locked!”

“This palace has hundreds of people walking through its hallways every day, Mr. Albrecht.”

“The only other person who knew was your guard.”

“Stay here,” commanded the queen. “Try not to bring down the monarchy while you’re at it.”

She turned and walked away, probably looking for the head of security. Dawn’s stomach was in knots. She had seemed genuinely horrified, so maybe she hadn’t been lying. And that was very, very bad. If the queen didn’t have it, then someone else did, and maybe that someone had even less savoury intentions for it.

~

Olympia found him standing there, like a lost puppy.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“I think something’s about to go very wrong,” Dawn said.

“What do you mean? What did mother do?”

“I don’t think she did anything, and that’s what worries me…”

Olympia grabbed his arm. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“I–,” Dawn started, but right then, the sound of trumpets filled the hall, and the prime minister took to the stage erected in the ballroom for this occasion. Dawn and Olympia looked at each other in horror. The quests took their places, and the ceremony began. Dawn hoped the queen hadn’t been too late.

“Members of Parliament, guests, and friends. On this glorious Christmas Eve, in the season of hope and new beginnings, His Royal Highness, Prince Quentin, son of King Stefanos I, presents his rightful claim to the crown and throne of the Kingdom of Alderly,” the prime minister declared. Quincey knelt before him.

“Quentin, do you pledge your life and fealty to Alderly and all her subjects?”

“I do,” Quincey said. His voice didn’t show any sign of wavering.

“Do you swear to protect her, to uphold her sacred laws in times of wealth or poverty, in peace or war?”

“I do.”

“If any of the peerage wish to dispute Prince Quentin's claim to the throne, speak now, or forever stay silent,” the prime minister said and turned to look at the crowd. For a moment, it was silent, but then someone emerged, stopping to stand before the stage. Evander.

“I dispute this claim,” he said loudly. He was holding something in his hands, a piece of paper. Dawn squeezed his hands into fists. A shock went through the crowd, and people started to whisper amongst themselves.

The prime minister took a moment to gather his wits, and then said: “On what grounds?”

“On the grounds that Prince Quentin has acted unconstitutionally. The law clearly states that the ruler must be wed. Because this fraudulent Christmas prince is not married nor has the intentions on doing so...  He is not fit to be the king.  This documentation proves that this law has been honored for centuries,” Evander said and showed everyone the paper he was holding. The same one Dawn had found in King Stefanos’s hunting lodge.

“Let me see that,” said Queen Isabella, who had reappeared by the stage. She took the paper from Evander, giving him a positively murderous look. For once, Dawn agreed with her.

“Where did you get this?” asked the queen, and only then Dawn realized how truly screwed he was.

“I obtained it by uncovering scheme by a journalist, posing as companion for The Princess Olympia.”

Next to Dawn, Olympia stiffened. Dawn could only look at Quincey’s face, and when their eyes locked, he could see the betrayal in his eyes. The eyes of the court turned to Dawn along with the prince’s.

“Is this true?” the prime minister demanded. Dawn registered he was addressing him. “Are you a journalist?”

Dawn still couldn’t look away from Quincey. “I… I am.”

The crowd started to murmur again.

“And the document, Your Majesty?” asked the prime minister from the queen.

“It’s genuine,” she said, though reluctantly.

Quincey turned on his heels and headed out of the room from a back door. The room exploded into loud conversation. Evander climbed up on the stage, accompanied by a young woman Dawn had never seen before. Evander cleared his throat and said:

“As a nephew of the queen and a great grand-nephew of King Philip III, I humbly present my fair and rightful claim to the throne of Alderly, on the grounds that my love, Miss Rosa Yaxley, has just accepted my proposal and we are to marry next Spring.”

The woman next to Evander smiled sweetly, and the curious eyes of the court turned towards her. Dawn had had enough.

“I have to go talk to him,” he said to Olympia.

“Go,” she said, as the guest begun to all talk at the same time and the prime minister tried to calm everyone down. Dawn got the hell out of there.

~

“Quincey, wait!” he yelled, as he caught a glimpse of the prince’s back. He was headed for the stables. He stopped and whirled around.

“What for?” he demanded.

“You have to let me explain,” Dawn pleaded and caught up to him.

“What is there to explain?”

“I wasn’t part of this scheme,” Dawn tried.

“Do you honestly expect me to believe you?” asked Quincey. “Did you sleep with me for some article too?”

“No! Of course not, I didn't plan for that to happen.”

“Dawn, I don’t even know who you are.”

“Yes, you do,” Dawn insisted. “I’m Dawn.”

“Not Albrecht, I assume,” Quincey stated. His face betrayed a hint of how hurt he was.

“Harvelle. Dawn Harvelle.”

“Well, Dawn Harvelle,” Quincey said. “You’ve got a grand fucking story to tell.”

“It’s not like that! Your cousin broke into my room and made this seem so much worse than it is.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me?” asked the prince.

“Because it's a stupid law and no one was supposed to know about it, it was hidden for a reason.”

“I just…” Quincey began. “I just don’t understand…”

“I was trying to tell you the truth about myself… I just… I wanted to figure out what to do about the law first.”

“Oh… so, when you said you had something to tell me…?”

“Yeah…”

Quincey looked away from him. Dawn bit his lip and continued: “I wasn’t a part of Evander’s coup; you have to believe me. I was planning on destroying the document, but it disappeared.”

Quincey was still not looking at him. He sighed and said: “I believe you.”

“I want to fix this,” Dawn said.

“How?”

“I don’t know, I just… please, forgive me?” Dawn practically begged. He felt like crying. He was going to cry. He needed Quincey to understand, to forgive him.

Finally, the prince raised his eyes to meet Dawn’s. “I don’t think I can.”

Dawn grabbed the front of his jacket. “I wasn’t pretending. I was being myself the whole time!”

“I trusted you, and now I… I don’t know, Dawn.”

“I will fix this,” Dawn insisted.

“I have to go,” said Quincey and pulled Dawn’s hands away from him.

“Quincey, I swear, I wasn’t going to use it. I was going to burn it. Ask your mother.”

The prince didn’t say anything. Instead, he turned and walked away, leaving Dawn alone in the hallway.

“Fuck!!” yelled Dawn, once he was fairly sure Quincey was out of earshot. Only his own voice echoed back to him.

Tag list:

@lifeofkaze​​ @gcldensnitch​​ @magicallymalted​​ @endlessly-cursed​

[commaclear]

"Yeah, no can do, kid." the lady told him frankly.

Wilbur crossed his arms, tilting his head up to look down on her. Not that he needed to, of course. 

"And why not?" he asked, frowning. 

"I understand what you're going for, but I just don't really want to tattoo something you're going to regret."

Regret? This woman had no idea of who he was. And she didn't need to. She didn't need to assume things about him.

"I'm not going to regret it. I know what I want, and I'm a paying customer, am I not?"

"That's cute. How old are you, kid?"

"Old enough."

The tattoo artist raised both of her hands sarcastically, mouthing a 'haha'. 

"Very funny, did you bring in some sort of little permission slip saying that your mommy and daddy are allowing you to get a fucking tramp stamp?"

Wilbur scowled, hugging himself tigher. "I'm an adult." He muttered. 

"Yeah, yeah. You look like you turned 18 yesterday, at most."

The brunette shrugged, seeing as it was pretty much true. Though it had been a few months, not a day. "Can I just get my tattoo? Please?"

"I don't know how comfortable I am with giving you a tramp stamp."

"Because I might regret it? I know what I want."

"You think you know what you want. You're a dumb kid. It doesn't matter how book smart you are, or how street smart. Ultimately, you don't know what you're going to be feeling by the time you're my age. Tramp stamps are one of the most regretted tattoos, and the lower back is notorious for things best left in the past."

"Well, if I don't get the tattoo now, I guess I'll never know. It's not that much different from getting one when you're older. You still might regret it. Just because you're older doesn't mean you know what you want either."

"If you want to fight me on this so badly, just go to another tattoo artist."

Wilbur blinked prettily at her, "Oh, but I just love how you draw flowers. I don't think another tattoo artist would be able to do them just the way I want. I mean, you're literally the best tattoo artist for miles. Please just say yes." 

Though his voice dripped with dramatic praise, he meant every word. Her style was exactly right for what he wanted, and she seemed like she'd understand what he's trying to say with his choice. She also seemed like she'd be willing to figure out the best placement, both for the design and exactly how it'll look when it's on.

His eyes drifted to her wedding ring.

She hadn't seemed moved by his little praises, and he would hate to have to take more dramatic action. 

"Well, Thank you... for that. I'm still not sure I want to do it. I have a lot of passion for my art, and I would hate for it to get lasered off in a few decades. Or to be covered until then."

"It won't be covered, don't worry about that."

Before she could ask about whatever that meant, he gently grabbed her hand, pretending to just notice her ring.

"Oh- are you married?" he asked innocently.

She smiled for the first time in this interaction, Wilbur seeming to entirely disappear while she looked at her ring. Wilbur never understood how people just... got lost in things that represented their partners. It was just a ring. 

"Yeah," she finally responds, face soft. "We've been married for a few years."

"How sweet. How many?" Wilbur asked, feigning interest.

"Oh, just five. Our anniversary is soon, so very nearly six."

"Can you tell me about them?" 

"Well... I suppose. She's the sweetest woman alive. She actually runs the business next door, that's why you might see people coming in through that door."

Wilbur follows her line of sight to an unassuming door, one that presumably leads to the spa next door. 

"She loves painting nails. She lets her employees handle most of the manicures and pedicures, but she always insists on staying in the front to help with painting nails. Not even acrylics, just... regular nail polish. She's always enjoyed artsy things."

"Like you?" Wilbur laughs. 

She laughs as well, "Yeah, I suppose. I did her first tattoo, and she wanted to keep talking afterwards. She just had some kind of charm to her."

"Oh, wow..." Wilburs genuine smile faded slightly, though the woman was too busy thinking about her wife to notice. 

"Well, I guess I better leave. Don't want to waste anymore of your time, hm?"

The woman nodded. "Yeah, no. I'm still not giving you a tramp stamp. Sorry, kid. Maybe in ten years."

Wilbur laughed. 

He'd see about that. 

--

"God, you were fucking right! You do deserve a fucking tramp stamp, you fucking whore!" The tattoo artist wasn't happy with Wilbur's little... escapade. 

"I just wanted to know what it was like. Your wife loves you so strongly."

He can still hear the nail techs sobbing after he said that.

"Well, are you doing my tattoo now then?" He said smoothly, grinning sleazily at her. 

The pen in her hand nearly broke, but she took a deep breath in and out. Her expression changed to something pitying. Wilbur hated it.

"Fucking whatever."

He was pretty sure she double-charged him, and he wasn't sure if tattoos were supposed to hurt that much, but the tattoo was exactly what he wanted. 

Still, even as he walked out, he couldn't help but notice that she still had her pitying gaze. 

"I still think you'll regret it." He heard her mumble. 

Her ring had been gone, and he thought best not to ask about it. He knew what happened. 

He turned to look back at her, maybe even to say something teasing about her ex(?) wife. But the door was already shut tightly when he looked back. 

--

"So what made you get one?" he heard Quackity ask from behind him, fingers just barely tracing over the tattoo. 

"My boss, mostly."

"Oh, Wilbur... that's awful."

The way Quackity got sad at some of the things Wilbur said used to not make sense, but he's grown used to it over time. Sometimes, the things he got sad over still didn't make sense, but luckily this wasn't one of those things.

"It's whatever. Plus, I made sure I got one I wanted. It makes me feel more powerful than like a cheap whore usually. My only limit was that it had to look nice."

"Why does it make you feel powerful? What does it mean to you?"

Wilbur smiled at Quackitys genuine tone, he always had a way of coaxing things out of Wilbur. Wilbur made him step out of his comfort zone, and Quackity had him speak out of his. He never told anyone how much research went into his tramp stamp. People always thought it was some vaguely flowery, delicate, sexy thing. But it was really so much more. 

"I know it looks like it's just flowers, but look closely." If anyone could get anywhere close to the meaning just by looking at it, it was Quackity, at least in Wilbur's mind. 

"Is that barbed wire?? Dude, that's so fucking 90s."

Wilbur laughed, "Shut up! Think about the meaning. It means something."

"It's... sharp? And strong?" Quackity thought for another moment, "It's resilient?"

"Ding ding ding. I mean, all of those things really. Do you know what kind of flowers those are?"

"Uhhh... angelonia?" Quackity said, uncertain.

Wilbur shook his head, trying his best to look back at him without disturbing his view of his tramp stamp. 

"They're petunias. I don't even know what flower that is."

Quackity laughed, "Yeah, I don't know what petunias look like."

"Well get a good look at these, and then you'll know."

Quackity gently thwacked him in the arm, but resumed his tracing over the tramp stamp, with a little more weight than last time.

"What do they mean?" he heard the shorter ask. 

"Anger and resentment."

"Oh wow... I really wouldn't have expected that from such a pretty flower."

Quackity had no idea about the irony of his statement, and for now, just for now, Wilbur would like to keep it dramatic irony. 

"Most don't."

"Wait, then what about this? This isn't the same kind of plant, right?"

Wilbur flipped over to look Quackity in the eyes, smiling softly. "It's hemlock. It's poisonous. And beautiful, it is very beautiful."

For once in this interaction, Quackity met his gaze. "Is it meant to symbolize you?"

Wilbur propped his head up with his arm. "What do you think?"

Quackity blushed, looking away. "Maybe." Quackity looked back at him, "Would you ever want to get it removed?"

Wilbur hummed thoughtfully. "I don't know. It's from a pretty rough patch in my life, but I don't think I could just part with it. Maybe one day. I think it'll fade a lot on it's own by then, though." 

Quackity smiles at his answer, gently carding his fingers through Wilbur's hair. 

He used to not understand why he was so soft with Wilbur. He thought that he was looking down on him, somehow. Or maybe that Quackity thought he was weak or delicate for what he went through. 

He knows now, though, that it was just because he loved him.

-D (I got made fun of for my anon name by an irl because it's 'dumb' D: ITS JUST A LETTER?? So I'm taking name suggestions guys)

I know from when you sent this that you got it from my discord, and it's just been sitting in my inbox looking tasty for AGES until I could post chapter 16, so it wouldn't be a massive spoiler for everyone who didn't see that discussion

So I hope you know it has been TORTURE waiting to share this delicious piece of lowkey fucked up writing /lh

And have you considered that D could also stand for Dinosaur (the most common special interest for undiagnosed autistic children), Dynamite (like tntduo), Deoxyribonucleic (as in dna, the stuff life is made of), Delicious (like your writing), or Dun Dun DUNNN (the sound of drama)

[ghostlynimbus]

I posted 1,489 times in 2022

That's 1,489 more posts than 2021!

450 posts created (30%)

1,039 posts reblogged (70%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@andromedaspark

@ghostlynimbus

@flashwaves

@imsodishy

@every-dayiwakeup

I tagged 1,430 of my posts in 2022

Only 4% of my posts had no tags

#q - 597 posts

#stranger things - 588 posts

#billy hargrove - 379 posts

#ghost.txt - 359 posts

#steve harrington - 308 posts

#harringrove - 203 posts

#eddie munson - 178 posts

#gif - 136 posts

#chrissy cunningham - 131 posts

#eddissy - 115 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#ideally id like something higher stakes than like... scooby doo but i also dont want to feel constantly worried about main characters dying

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I love when people hc that Billy wouldnt consider Jason a threat, its a lot of fun to read that.

But also consider:

Billy who doesn't consider Jason, by himself, to be a *physical* threat. He knows he can take Jason in a fight. Hell, he's pretty sure Max is scrappy enough that she could take Jason in a fight.

But Billy is still scared of him. Billy is terrified of the smooth talking, privileged, religious asshole and the potential social threat he could be.

Jason isn't dangerous because he's unhinged and will fight whoever, that'd be manageable to Billy, Jason is dangerous because he is *really* good at turning the narrative in his favor and starting witch hunts.

And that... I think that'd be terrifying for queer-coded Billy Hargrove.

(intentional or otherwise, i think it was a really meaningful detail that they showed Robin immediately after Eddie's "hunt the freak?" line. when she was just talking about how dangerous it'd be if she asked the wrong girl out earlier in the season.)

197 notes - Posted July 9, 2022

#4

In an AU where Hopper ends up taking in Billy too, El picks up Billy's habit of saying "I can't do [x] im gay."

only she doesn't understand what it means really or what context is appropriate to use it in or that Billy's mostly being sarcastic/joking when he says it (he can in fact do math, and he personally thinks his driving skills are just fine thank you very much).

And it eventually leads to a situation like that one scene in Modern Family, with Hopper telling El "You're not gay you're just confused!" way louder than he meant to in the public space they're in.

219 notes - Posted September 5, 2022

#3

s3 au where the mindflayer gets into billy but just... for some reason it can't really control him.

like at first the mind flayer thinks things are working, but it actually turns out that the things it was trying to make billy do were actually just things billy decided to do anyway

and the mindflayer just thinks he needs more time or to try harder or whatever to break billy and take over but just... nothing is working. by the time the mindflayer decides fuck it "i'll find a more convenient pawn" it discovers to it's horror that it can't voluntarily leave billy either.

billy still gets the heat aversion and the super strength and healing, and he's just like 'huh, that's weird' and continues on with his life.

Billy & the mindflayer:

281 notes - Posted September 23, 2022

#2

Billy and Steve start hanging out and Billy starts noticing that Steve doesn't know how to do a lot of basic stuff, and the stuff he does know how to do he does weird.

At first Billy dismisses these observations as being a product of Steve having grown up rich, like.. of course Steve doesn't know how to change the oil on his car, he can afford to take the thing in regularly and pay someone else to do it. But the more they spend time together the more Billy realizes that thats not quite right.

The Harrington's have a shiny fancy working dishwasher (Billy knows it works, he's seen Henderson use it). But Steve always washes dishes by hand.

And it's definitely not that Steve is just some weirdo who likes hand washing dishes, he clearly hates doing it, but he still never uses the dishwasher.

And going grocery shopping with Steve is an actual nightmare, Billy thought he hated shopping with Max (who somehow always convinces him to buy her shit she doesn't need), but Steve... Steve makes shopping with Max seem well worth the wasted money.

The way he meanders about the store, flitting back and forth between the aisles and constantly doubling back to get something else that was right next to something he grabbed twenty minutes ago is absolutely incomprehensible to Billy. A shopping trip that would take Billy twenty minutes, even with Max tagging along, takes Steve at least an hour.

Billy also pretty quickly learns that if anyone ever points out any of these oddities, Steve will react in one of two ways.

Either he'll try and brush it off and downplay the whole situation or he'll get extremely prickly and defensive about it.

Billy does not understand, but the puzzle of it all fascinates him.

It's not until one time when Steve's parents come back early from a business trip that it finally clicks.

Billy had been staying the night, eager for more time with Steve and time away from Neil. He was supposed to be long gone by the time Mr and Mrs Harrington got back, but apparently their plans had changed last minute.

Billy woke to an empty bed, and Steve's empty bedroom, and had made his way downstairs just in time to accidentally catch the tail end of Steve's father berating him for apparently doing the laundry incorrectly.

It was clear Steve's dad had already been talking for a while, and the part that Billy caught was too long by itself.

And in all that time and with all those words Mr Harrington had for his son it was clear that not one of them were any sort of instructions on how to correct the mistake, no hint of how to do it right next time.

When Steve finally emerged from his father's study, looking so resigned (at least until he noticed Billy then he looked embarrassed), it was clear to Billy that this was Mr Harringtons usual way of handling such matters.

And that was when Billy finally understood that the reason Steve didn't know how to do basic things, or did them in weird incomprehensible ways, was because no one had ever taught him. They'd just expected him to start doing these things and then gotten mad when he didn't manage to do them to unspecified standards.

Months later, when Billy and Steve have moved into their own shitty tiny little apartment downtown, Billy starts showing Steve how to do shit. It's hard, trying to toe the line between gentle instruction and patronizing, especially since they both have so little experience with gentle but eventually, despite the times it blows up in their faces and one of them stomps off somewhere to cool off, they get better at it.

And as it turns out, Steve can actually be pretty good at all sorts of stuff as long as someone bothers to teach him.

446 notes - Posted November 2, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Thinking about Billy with food allergies/intolerances today.

Neil refuses to accommodate Billy's issues in any way. Susan makes whatever she makes for meals, maybe she knows about Billy's issues and is just forgetful about it, maybe she just doesn't care, maybe she doesn't even know about them in the first place. Whatever susans reasoning or justification the stuff that Billy shouldn't eat shows up in meals at the Hargrove-Mayfield house pretty regularly.

Billy isn't allowed to not finish his meals, that would be rude and wasteful. So he just does what he has to do and accepts that he'll suffer the consequences later.

He avoids meals at home whenever possible. But he also doesn't exactly have a lot of spending money to go out and get things he can eat (and lbr, depending on what specifically he's allergic to/intolerant of, it may be difficult or even impossible to find stuff he can eat that is cheap and doesn't require a kitchen to prep).

So he has a lot of times when he has to choose between not eating or going home and potentially having to eat stuff he isn't supposed to.

Steve at some point ends up making a meal for Billy and it includes the thing(s) Billy isn't supposed to eat bc he doesn't know. Billy doesn't tell him, just cleans his plate like he's expected to at home. He doesn't really care, it's what he's used to only better bc this was something that Steve made for him which in Billy's opinion makes it automatically better than anything Susan has ever made.

Only it's not like Billy can just leave after the meal is over, they still have plans to hang out for a while longer after that.

And Billy's good at hiding this sort of thing, Neil didn't like when Billy kept getting sent home from school because lunch kept making him sick. So Billy got good at hiding the reaction he has to this sort of thing. But Steve, Steve notices anyway.

And at first Steve is freaking out bc he thinks he gave Billy food poisoning, but then (because he can't stand Steve looking all anxious and upset with himself) Billy says that it's fine he's just not supposed to eat [xyz].

At which point Steve asks some variety of "then why did you eat it?/why didn't you tell me?"

And Billy just shrugs and tries to act like it's no big deal and mentions that he eats it all the time it's not like it's going to kill him.

Nothing gets resolved completely that night, but Steve makes Billy write him a list of all the things he shouldn't eat and a list of all the things he doesn't like to eat and Steve studies that list.

He starts making Billy food he can actually enjoy whenever he comes over, and when he notices that Billy either doesn't have lunch or has a lunch that has stuff on the lists he starts making him lunches too.

Billy can't even remember the last time he felt so well fed and taken care of, and he experiences a significant and overall improvement to his health. His new better diet even clears up issues he didn't even realize we're because of the food thing.

703 notes - Posted August 12, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[greypetrel]

From the tarot prompts:

The World for Max

The Hanged Man for Raina!

Hi Mo! ✨ Thank you for asking! I'll do a second post for the other and tag you, but since I already started these prompts with Max, I'll go with Raina first.

Tis the prompt List (if you're reading and want to, ask another!)

Next day edit: I kinda don't like it much so I MAY discard this and rewrite it completely with another idea I have. For now it stays up, in the future who knows.)

Just One More Year

[ Random shenanigans at the Hawkes' | Mature tagging, mentions to sex but not too explicit | 2987 words ]

The Hanged Man Upright: sacrifice, waiting, uncertainty, lack of direction, perspective, contemplation Reversed: stalling, disinterest, stagnation, avoiding sacrifice, standstill, apathy

9:28 Dragon, Lothering.

“Is your brother seeing anyone?”

It wasn’t exactly something Raina expected, or particularly wanted for Millie Fairchild to say in that moment. Not as she was rummaging through hay to find her petticoat, still only in her stays and chemise. Raina didn’t manage to convince her to take her stays off once again, and right now, most of the hopes to one day be able to soured at their core.

Still, she focused on the view before her: her own clothes took less to put on and off, since she came there to work and wore Garrett’s old breeches. She would have gladly burnt all the petticoats and dresses her mother forced her to keep and wear on occasions, but it didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy frills and lace on other people. They surely suited Millie, and made her want to lunge forward and try better at taking the damn stays off.

But, Millie turned to her, tilting her head to the side in a cascade of dark curls and rose her eyebrows. With an air of expectation on her face and that severe bend of her lips that made Raina’s knees grow weak.

Raina shrugged, leaning back on her arms and caring not if she was still wearing just her breeches.

“I have no idea.” She huffed. “I don’t understand why it’s relevant.”

“Sure.” Millie snorted, sarcastically, as she turned and kept rummaging through hay. “You’re as thick as thieves and always together, when you’re not working. You must know. So? Is he spoken for?”

Raina did like Millie. She was direct and took no shit from others, knew what she wanted and went for it. It had started like that, between them. Raina had asked her mother, who used to work as a guard in Redcliffe, to teach her to wield a sword. In exchange, she helped out in their farm. Millie was there, and it was actually her who approached her, a month ago, saying she noticed how she kept gawking at her. Do something about it or stop, it’s annoying. It came as a dare, a frown on her face and arms crossed at her chest. Raina acted on an impulse, and did something about it.

They kissed as soon as no one was watching, and a couple of weeks ago, Millie had dared her to take things further. It had been nice: if Raina had no idea of what she was doing, Millie didn’t either. But today, Raina must have done something right, because all of a sudden, Millie had arched her back, with a longer, more ragged moan that made Raina stop on her track, quite worried about her. Millie was ok, as she said panting some moments later, and she had kissed her long and deep.

Raina thought it had meant something, and noticing that her… lover? Lover wasn’t budging or saying it was a joke, her mood soured.

“Why do you care?”

“Why shouldn’t I? He’s handsome and kind, and I for myself don’t want to become a spinster.”

It hurt. It hurt a lot, but as it was, Raina smiled through it, leg bouncing up and down with a frush of moved hay.

“Of course. Better an asshole than a spinster, you’re perfectly right.” It came out, as she wanted, with the sweet, condescending tone her mother tried to teach her for years. If she could hear her now, using it so well to make Millie stop on her track and turn on her, a frown on her face and mouth open in offence.

Maybe it wasn’t the case Leandra suddenly appeared there, tho.

Not before Raina found her shirt and put it on again. And her stays. She was taller than anyone in the house, and if anyone found her pair, Millie wouldn’t have been able to say it was hers. She started to look for them, then, not waiting for an answer.

“What the fuck, Hawke?”

Millie stopped moving, not a sound coming from her direction anymore. Raina didn’t care, nor she turned back, scooping handfuls of hay away in search of her missing clothes. She didn’t answer her, all she had to say she did, and she frankly didn’t want to go on that conversation.

“You’re seriously taking offence for this?”

The thing that Raina liked about Millie was that she was self-assured and knew what she wanted. The point now was that she knew she didn’t want Raina. Or well. Not permanently, that was. The thought about the… Arrangements made her nauseous. To distract herself, she started to look for her clothes as well. At this point, she wouldn’t care even if Millie set both their stays on fire.

“Wow, very mature. Are you now pretending I don’t exist anymore just because… What?”

Yeah, what? Raina frowned, the glomp in her throat becoming bigger and more annoying. It would have been easier if she could cry, but as usual no tears came forth. It was for the better, tho: the last thing she wanted was to cry in front of Millie. There was something more productive to be had, like peeking at a corner of fabric in the hay, and fishing out a petticoat and an undershirt.

She threw the petticoat back to Millie, and from the umph she heard, she aimed well. The undershirt was hers, the size and lack of frills -she tore the ribbon out months ago- made it easy to recognize. She slipped into it quickly, tucking it into her breeches.

“You really plan not to talk to me? Seriously, Hawke?”

“Oh, sorry.” Raina said, sarcastically. “I believed you got confused with the Hawkes and wanted to talk to Garrett and not me. It’s easy to confuse us, after all, we’re both tall.”

Her stays were hanging on the top step of the ladder that headed to the loft where they were, where the hay for the cows was kept. Lucky that Millie’s mother hadn’t entered the barn, or that would have been visible. A corded, big, leather flag pointing up at the lofted hay reserve. She put it on without much grace.

“Oh, sweet Andraste, you’re such a child.” Millie strode through the hay, circling Raina until she faced her. “What were you thinking we were doing?”

“… Tumbling? Caboodling? Dancing the horizontal tango?” Raina kept up with the sarcasm, tying the strings on the front more tighly against her body. She turned around, giving her back to Millie again.

“Yes, that. And you thought it meant anything else.”

“You have been so clear on the matter, clearly my bad.”

“I…” Millie hesitated, at that. Huffing to her nose. “Listen.”

A hand pressed on her arm, still bare, and pushed hard. Raina was bigger and stronger from working in three farms around Lothering, doing tasks that usually were given to the boys. Millie’s tasks were lighter, more proper to her gender. Laundry, milking the cows, getting water, cleaning. Lauren Fairchild, the Widow, was alone, but they had cattle, hence they had money to hire workers. And, Millie wasn’t training with her own mother on top. There was no way she could have forcibly made the other turn, but the eldest Hawke turned nonetheless. Hating the last bud of hope refusing to die at the gesture.

“I think you’re really handsome, and I have fun with you. Really, I do. I would never have asked you to kiss me otherwise.”

“You forgot to mention my brilliant personality.”

Millie rolled her eyes to the beams of the roof. “But, we both know this can’t go anywhere. You have your farm to think about, and I have mine. I know your mother is introducing you to all the sons of the rich families.”

“You don’t have to worry about them.” Raina frowned, annoyed by the turn of the topic. She stepped back, scooping hay away until she found her shirt. “I can take care of a farm. I already am.”

True, Roger Grant still tried to get more money than his fodder was worth out of her, and she sometimes still didn’t realize just when to stop pushing for a discount. But it had been nine months since father died, and she was getting better at managing the farm. Admitting it, now, was maybe not the best thing. Somehow, she stalled before slipping the shirt in, keeping staring at Millie with a carefully expression of serenity she wasn’t feeling at all.

“I worry about me and about you, believe it or not. I worry about what the rest of the village would think. You lots already have troubles with rumours and-”

“Which rumours?” Raina asked, a little more serious than before. Oh, she knew they weren’t the most beloved family. But-

“Mother Alicia hasn’t forgotten your… Behaviour at your father funeral, for once. You never got back to the Chantry, and spoke badly of it. Your mother is in contact with the Evans for you, but they have doubts. People are talking.”

It was Raina’s turn to roll her eyes at the ceiling. Better that than anyone suspecting Garrett or Bethany, sure, but it still was irritating. She was wearing breeches, but her hair was still long -she had done her best to take hay strands out of her tresses- and she still wore skirts. When her mother forced her.

“People have too much free time if they have nothing better to talk about.”

“It won’t get better if we make it official, you know? I don’t want to see my family too dragged in the gutter and excluded. If I marry your brother, tho…”

“Do you like me or not?” Raina cut her short, not wanting to hear the long list of her failings in her mouth.

“It’s not that simple, and you-”

“I know my situation. All too well.” She interrupted the other again, all irony disappeared from her voice. “What I know not is where you stand about it. Yes or no, Millie?”

At least she took her time to think. Which was nicer than hearing her answering in the blink of an eye, surely. Raina stood there, back straight and highlighting how shorter the other girl was. She looked, impressing in her memory how Millie’s eyes shone under a frown, the exact shade of brown they had, warm and cozy. The way her lower lip, fuller than the upper one, and terribly kissable, trembled as she thought of a reply. The shade of brown of her skin, the way her hair curled, and the memory of how her skin had felt under her hands, how supple it had been.

Somehow, even without an ounce of magic in her, she knew what the answer was.

“It’s better to cut it off, Hawke.”

Raina marched out of the barn with half her shirt outside her breeches. At least smiling at the widow and pretending that nothing happened was easy, as she came to collect her with two wooden swords in hand. Training with the widow Fairchild was just what she needed: being hit, falling to the ground, having the woman correct her posture and praising her when she ducked a hit and countered just right. It took her mind off things. Off of the farm, off of rumours, off of what she was supposed to look and act, off of the luncheon at the Evans she’d have to wear a dress for in three days.

Moreover, it took her mind off of Millie Fairchild and how instead of telling her off and saying she was an asshole, Raina yielded to her tears and kissed them away carefully, one by one, and told her that it was fine, she wasn’t offended, they were ok. And that she would have talked to her brother.

A good hit on the jaw felt good, now, in not feeling so bad about herself.

When she got home, she had let out enough steam and frustration that she left Leandra’s scolding flow on her without touching. She didn’t care at all if Peter Evans would never have found her attractive with a big bruise on her jaw. She cared that the physical pain, as her mother paid not much care in pressing ice in a towel on it, numbed the other.

Numbed it enough that when Garrett entered the door, sweaty and in dire need of a bath as Leandra reminded him harshly, she could ask him with a smile and a cheerfulness that she didn’t feel.

“-As if ploughing a field could leave you smelling like roses and- Say what??” He turned to her, hazel eyes wide at her.

“Millie Fairchild. She has an interest in you, you should talk to her.”

Leandra became gentler, suddenly interested in the news. She sighed and nodded.

“She is a good girl, her mother is well respected. You really should talk to her, Gee.”

Garrett looked at the pair of them like they just told him the sky was yellow and there was just one moon in the sky, big eyes and mouth open. Raina widened her eyes expressively at him, knowing what he was thinking about. Of course their mother didn’t have to know about her and Millie.

“What’s happening?” Carver chimed in, entering the kitchen door as well, just before Bethany.

“Why are you covered in mud, honey?” Leandra sighed at her youngest.

“Bethany-” Carver grumbled. “Ouch!”

“-I told him not to go that way, but he didn’t listen.” Bethany chirped, quickly taking her hand away from the ear of her twin which she just pinched.

“She said the oppos-”

“What were you talking about? Why is Garrett looking like he swallowed a frog?” Bethany ignored her twin and asked.

“Raina finally did something useful and convinced Millie Fairchild to give our Garrett a chance.”

All the siblings froze, looking at Raina with various degrees of incredulity. Raina huffed and stuck her nose up in the air, in all answer.

“… What aren’t you telling me?” Leandra asked, squinting at her children.

“Nothing at all.” Raina answered, with a shit-eating smile. “Right, my darling, beloved siblings that wouldn’t want to find worms in their bed tonight?”

“Oh for the Maker’s sake, Raina, just stop being so-”

“Mom, Millie isn’t a good idea for Garrett.” Bethany said, looking worried between her eldest siblings.

“Why, honey?” Leandra asked. “Her family is not so rich, but they have cattle, and she is clever and an only child. She would make a good wife.” She paused, squinting at Raina who just smiled amiably at her mother. “… I know you lots are not telling me something. What is it?”

“Garrett would love to marry in June.” Raina answered, and the twins groaned. Carver made a good imitation of puking.

The next five minutes were a cacophony of voices speaking one over the other, none really listening to the others. Leandra stopping Carver from going further in the kitchen she cleaned but that morning, Raina insisting on details of the wedding.

“I’m not taking her leftovers!”

Garrett put a final word to the discussion, slamming both hands on the table and having all his family look at him.

“What leftov-”

“Go on and paint a sign, would you-”

“Finally Raina’s in trouble too- Ouch!”

“That’s not very kind.”

Garrett just groaned aloud, tossing both hands in the air and marching outside the kitchen.

“I hate you all!”

Garrett talked with Millie for the length of five minutes, the next Sunday. There wouldn’t have been a wedding in the next foreseeable future.

Raina was bitter, and she couldn’t know whether she felt more so because Millie wouldn’t look at her, or because Leandra was much more lenient for Garrett refusing an engagement openly -if for unknown reasons- than when Raina was refused by Peter Evans. Not that she told her how she talked circles around him until he admitted he was a fumbling idiot whose breath stank of elderberries, and that he would not have asked for her hand as he wanted to do.

“Were you seriously considering me marring Millie? The Millie you spent months pining over?” Garrett grumbled, standing beside her on the river’s bank.

Raina handed him a good pebble -flat, edges rounded- and swung her wrist to toss another on the water. It bounced on the surface four, five, six time before sinking.

“I have to get out of this place.” She just answered.

“Go, then.” Garrett answered. His pebble bounced three times, and then it suspiciously made a wider, taller  and slightly slower jump before adding other 6 bounces at a normal speed.

Raina turned to him with a scold on her face, but he just smiled.

“Fat chance, if someone does certain things in the open.”

“You’re just envious I can bounce a pebble ten times and you just six? Aaaaaaw, come on, you’ll always be my big sis even if I’m taller.”

He bent his arm and rested it on her head, leaning to the side so his weight rested on her. Raina poked him in the ribs, hard to pass under father’s old waistcoat. He was just a little taller than her.

“I’m serious.” Garrett continued. “Go, if you want. We’ll be fine.”

Raina considered it. Looking at the river flowing. It would have been nice to visit a city, she always thought. See if the voices were true, and if it was true that nobody looked at you in the face. That with just a little wit and creativity, you could get on fine on your own. She wanted to see Denerim and the market. Maybe become a guard, like widow Fairchild has been. It wouldn’t have been half bad.

She shook her head in denial.

“Just another year.”

“Raina-”

“Another one. Just to see if we can survive one full winter.”

She knew that she would have never have the guts to go. She promised their father she would have taken care of them, and she planned on doing it.

With or without Millie Fairchild.