#to be clear this isn’t meant to drag Jim

[lightshiningforth]

I know the 24th century Star Trek captains think highly of Kirk bc of his historical significance, but I firmly believe that if they had to work with him as a contemporary colleague they Would Not Like Him.

Sure, Kirk and Picard get along fine in Generations for their brief stint of saving the world together. But when they were both captains? Are you kidding? Picard highly values the prime directive and the chain of command. Kirk insists on getting involved in everything himself. They would infuriate each other. They wouldn’t get along in school, either - Kirk was a TA with a stick up his ass and Picard was a jock who got into bar fights. As cadets they would infuriate each other bc Kirk would think Picard didn’t take his duties seriously, and as captains they would infuriate each other bc Picard would think Kirk didn’t take his duties seriously. They have a love for Shakespeare, history, and the outdoors in common that could bond them as friends, sure. But as coworkers? HA

Sisko admires Kirk. He meets him briefly in “Trials and Tribble-ations” and is excited to do so. But if they were both captains at the same time, I bet Sisko would resent the way Kirk rushes into situations, slaps a solution on them, and sails off without dealing with long term consequences. Deep Space 9 is all about long term consequences. It does the work that is alluded to in the Original Series, when the Enterprise crew tells some culture we never see again that Starfleet and the Federation will help them fix XYZ problem. Then the starship leaves. Sisko is acutely aware of how out of touch some of his starship colleagues are as a result of that practice. And besides, he might not get along with Kirk solely due to how much Kirk can’t stand children while Sisko loves them.

Janeway is actually very Kirk like - she has a style of “cowboy diplomacy” resembling his, which means that her admiration of Kirk could very well translate into genuinely getting along with him as a colleague. They could have a cup of coffee together and bond over the travails of having romantic tension with your first officer. However, a LOT of the time Kirk’s strategy for getting out of situations involves Flirting With the Alien Antagonist™️, and given that Janeway views actively avoiding romantic involvement as a necessary part of being captain (at least, romantic involvement with people she interacts with AS a captain - she has a civilian fiancé back on Earth for a time), I’m guessing she would find that irritating.

[kaijime]

lights down low

pt. 2

includes. kuroo tetsurou, bokuto koutarou, tendou satori, sugawara koushi, tsukishima kei, tanaka ryunosuke, oikawa tooru, ushijima wakatoshi, nishinoya yuu.

cw. fem reader, phone sex, masturbation, fingering, toys (vibrator, dildo), slight dom, squirting

a/n. Ok I’m really really sorry about this, I had an ask in my inbox and I think I accidentally deleted it or something, I don’t know what happened. its just not there but I’m gonna answer it anyways.Basically the ask was about making a fic out of this video, go watch it for a little bit of context (it is a little nsfw, you have been warned)

After that disastrous prank from the boys, you were left hot and needy. You gather your things from the couch, where previously there was a calm ambient of doing homework, now it was just an uncomfortable place because you were sweating buckets. On the way to your bed you left your notebooks and pencils on the desk and lay down on the bed. 

Looking back at those pictures, your imagination was left to run. What could those jim shorts be hiding? The thoughts of them around you, making you feel good in all the ways possible, made your mind wander-- and your hand too.

Sneaking a hand into your cute lacy panties, you imagine its someone else’s hand, any other hand but yours. Your finger touches your clit, rubbing small, light circles around it in a teasing motion.

“H-hah- I...” your hand quickly covers your mouth in an attempt to silence yourself. You take off the damp fabric from your heat, lifting your legs to slide it off and throw it into some unknown corner of the room. The room grows hot, as well as your insides, it know has a lust-like vibe. Your body sits straight taking off your shirt and bra, massaging your breast with your left hand while rubbing yourself with the other one.

A few minutes of this made you bored, reaching for the bottom drawer of your bedside table where you hid all the good things. Your breath hitched at the sigh of the familiar toys, the blue dildo and the small bullet vibrator. Taking your previous place on the bed you turn on the small vibrator on the lightest setting and rub it over your nipples, teasing them and leaving breathy moans to slip out of your mouth.

The feeling of the vibrating bullet on your sensitive nub made you go crazy, thinking about how good it would feel to have one of those sexy boys tease them while filling all of your holes. You dragged it through your entire body, from your upper stomach to where you needed it the most.

You were lost in the pleasure, very lost in the pleasure. Still, you could never be lost enough to ignore the ringing of your phone. Your body jumped involuntarily at the scare, scrambling to find the source of the annoying sound that interrupted your session. That’s when you saw it.

Video call from the group chat.

Not just any group chat, the one with all the men you were just fantasizing about. Fuck. There’s no way you couldn’t join, they would think something is wrong with you, when really you’re just trying to get off. You throw on the shirt you had previously discarded.

“Hey hey hey! (Y/n)~ How are you feeling?~” Bokuto’s teasing, sing-song voice welcomed you into the call after you hit the green button on the screen. Even if the group chat was a big one, a few of them weren’t in the call. The ones who usually went to bed early were gone, so that means Kageyama, Akaashi and Asahi were not in the group call. Memories of the prank made you gush, your slick dripping onto your ass and eventually to the sheets, since you didn’t have enough time to throw on some panties, but that’s fine. It’s not like you’re gonna show them anything.

“I’m feeling good y’know, after being harassed with such lewd pictures I’m feeling just peachy!” the sarcastic tone really evident in your voice. A few of them laughed, some remained silent. You didn’t care, you  just wanted the call to be over so you could resume your previous actions. Then Kuroo spoke.

“Yeah here’s the thing (Y/n), if you weren’t reading the chat” which of course you were not, you were too busy trying to relieve the heat these boys had caused you. “We were actually gonna ask you if you could maybe send us something like that?”

“Wh-what?”

“You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, but if you did we would never send those pictures to anyone else” The thought of them, wanting to see you in a picture as provocative as theirs made you blush. Your face turned red at the thought, it all felt too good to be true...like a prank.

“Alright... very funny, yeah right” but the boys could not understand what you were saying, they genuinely meant what they said, so they were taken aback that you wouldn’t believe them. Then Tsukishima chipped in on the awkward silence.

“Does it look like were ki-”

“What’s that?” you heard Tendou question. That’s when you looked to your right and saw the dildo, in all its glory, completely visible to the camera. All this time you’ve been talking while all the boys could see the toy you used- or were planning on using.

You quickly cover it with your sheets and cover your own face with your other hand to hide your growing blush and the tears on the corner of your eyes, for one more embarrassing moment with these boys and you would snap.

“How lewd (Y/n)” Nishinoya spoke, his teasing tone not helping you at all.

“Hey come on guys, stop it” said Sugawara. And then there was an awkward silence once more, honestly, it would’ve been better to be endlessly teased than to be in the thoughts of everyone. You could tell they were all silently judging you by the way they stared at the camera. That’s when you broke down, not full on sobbing, just a few tears that trickled down your cheeks.

“Whoa, hey-- sweetie, what’s the matter?”

“Nothing its jut that I feel so bad, I was about to touch myself thinking about all those pictures you guys sent me a-”

“Wha- wait a second, you were going to touch yourself thinking about our pictures?” Tanaka asked, though you couldn’t tell if he was going to be judgy about it or if he genuinely had curiosity. “As in... put that thing inside yourself thinking about us?”

The nod of your head makes the whole group crazy. Just thinking about you, shoving that toy into your heat with your thoughts fixated on them, that made most of them hard, except for Ushi. He simply cleared his throat and said:

“Can you show us?”

“WHAT?!”

“If you feel uncomfortable doing it then don’t but I think everyone here is hard and we could all use the relief, including you soo...”. You couldn’t believe what you were hearing. These men, some of them older than you, even, wanted to see you masturbate.

“Are you sure this isn’t a prank?”

“It’s not a prank (Y/n), we all want to see the same thing so if you feel like doing it, whenever you’re ready would be a good place to start” added Oikawa. You swallowed the saliva that had gathered up on your mouth, by this time, the sheets beneath you were soaked in your essence. Someone looking at this from an outside point of view might have described it as peer pressure, but when you set the camera on the end of your bed and spread your legs to show them how hot and bothered they had made your cute little cunny, well, you didn’t feel pressured at all. In fact it all felt so normal, as if this was something normal friends did.

“Oh my god” “Soo hot” “Spread them wide baby” and other praises could be heard from the phone. All the different voices worshiping you and ordering you around made you feel somewhat safe, like you had lost a bit of your control, but you had given it to the right people.

It should be noted that at this time everyone was hard, including Ushijima. You took off your shirt again and a few cheers from Tanaka and Nishinoya were heard. You then did what you would normally do in a horny night, except of course, with the exception that there was a phone with nine friends in front of you. 

“Touch yourself for daddy”

“Uh-huh, I’ll be a good girl for you daddy” pushing your fingers into your hole. “Your cocks are all so pretty” moaning at the sight of they’re long members on the camera, as they used their hands to relieve the hardness.

“You’re being so good for us sugar, put in another finger” Sugawara’s orders made you clench around your small finger, reminding you that it wouldn’t  be enough to satisfy you. A loud moan slips past your lips as you enter another finger into your wet heat. “Good girl, now put the vibrator to your clit, darling”

Doing as you’re told you moan at the sight of all of them jerking off to your sweating figure. Tanaka and Kuroo were in the same position as you were, sitting on your bed with their legs spread to get better access to their cocks, Ushijima, Bokuto and Tsukishima appeared to have their cameras right in front of their dicks, just so that you could get a good close look on how their hands were working on themselves. The rest of them were in different positions that you couldn’t make out because you drifted your gaze to the ceiling, searching for something to help you, to save you from the immense pleasure you were having. 

The little bullet making you shiver in ecstasy. The way your fingers couldn’t reach that special spot inside yourself made you feel sexually frustrated, but you kept fingering yourself, for the sake of all the hot men who were panting and moaning like crazy in front of you. Even if you couldn’t do exactly what you wanted to, you were feeling very good, and you were so close to your orgasm.

“Pull out your fingers and put in the toy” Nishinoya ordered. For a small boy he had some big balls, (metaphorically)

“But daddy! I-I’m sooo close...daddyyyyy”  And you came, your sweet juices seeping out of you as you rubbed yourself with your fingers to gather a bit of your slick. You take that same hand to your mouth, licking all the creamy substance off.

“Ugh, baby” and they moaned out lots of different nicknames, all of them making you clench around the emptiness in your hole. You grab the dildo once again from under the sheets and tease yourself with the tip at your entrance looking into the camera to give the group a good show. Keeping your eyes fixated on the camera you shove the toy into your abused hole. When you feel it reach your pelvis. 

“Daddy, y-...y-you’re so deep inside me-... h-hah” the pace you set is slow, as you realize, too slow, even for you. “Its so big d-daddy!”

“Shut up and take it like a good slut” Tsukishima exclaims, which makes you go harder and deeper into your cunt. You lift your head from where it was buried in the pillows and look at your pussy, the way its taking the big toy makes you clench around it, making it harder to pull it out and push it inside.

“(Y/n)- p-please keep going, I-I’m gonna cum” 

“I-I’m not-... I can’t-t stop” you say pushing the toy further inside and hitting your g-spot. The volume of your moans increases with each hit to that special spot inside you. “I’m go-...a-ah-ah! Daddy I’m cumming” 

“Cum, make a mess l-like the good girl you are d-darling” Suga said in between all his moans. Your insides threw out the blue toy and started spraying your clear essence. You take a hand to your clit to make it last longer. Gushing all over the place, on the bed sheets and even on the phone, which of course only brought the men closer to their climaxes as well. By the time you were finished and taking in what just happened, all of them had released and were just panting in the afterglow of their orgasms.

“Wow” “That was so hot” and other commentaries where made by them.

“We should do this more often”

©️ kaijime 2021 | all content belongs to kaijime, do not modify or repost

[nocturnaldivinationsfallingstars]

A Stray Bullet Part 4

Fandom: Gotham Characters: Victor Zsasz, female!reader, James Gordon, Harvey Bullock and a doctor. Warnings: Mentions of blood, swearing Summary: The reader is James Gordon’s sister and works for the GCPD and is dating Victor Zsasz. The reader has kept it a secret from her brother, until one day when she takes a bullet that was meant for him. Victor then shows up at James’ place to see the reader. Word count: 4121 A/N: I am sorry this one took a while, but I had to take a couple of days off for emotional needs.

The car ride to the apartment that James shared with his sort of, maybe girlfriend Barbara Kean had been a rocky and silent one. You had been jolted all over the car, into the back doors and nearly through the front windscreen a couple of times to name a few. You had hit your side with the bullet wound against the door, even though you had tried your best to make the impact a lot less rough on your already traumatised body. You were sure that you would still end up with a bruise. Either way, you blacked out near the end of the ride from both exhaustion and pain, only to have your brother nudge you awake. 

Each time your body hit one of the doors or the front seats you could hear James mutter out a not so heartfelt apology under his breath. All you could manage from your place in the back was a pain grunt or two to let him know that you're semi-okay, although right now you felt as if you wanted to be sick from being jostled around. It didn't take much longer before James parked your car in the middle of the road outside his apartment complex. 

Once James had cut the engine, he unbuckled the seatbelt and yanked the back door open, hauling you out of the back while keeping an iron grip around you as he closed the doors and locked the car. “Okay, just a bit further,” he urged, leading you up the steps towards the open glass doors that led to the fancy lobby, receiving looks of concern from some residents that stood around the spacious area. All of them watching with mixed looks of horror and surprise as drops of blood fell to the shiny marble floor beneath your feet. None of them made a move to help or even ask what happened to you or James, just simply stood there and watched as he struggled to drag you to the closed doors of the elevator. 

It wasn't like you could blame any of them for keeping their distance and their mouths shut around you and James, what with the given state of Gotham and the recent rise in crime lately. The fact that almost every criminal could get away with damn near anything and everything they do. You wouldn't want to be added onto someone's hit list for simply asking people a question on why they're bleeding all over the lobby floor of your home. 

“How are you doing?” James suddenly asked, pulling you away from your thoughts. The doors to the elevators opened  you stumbled on your way. Jim pressed the button to the floor of his apartment as he let out a sigh, still holding onto you tightly. You didn't answer him As you were too busy using the rest of your energy to keep yourself standing. 

“Hey, hey, [Y/N]. How are you doing?” He asked you again and helped you into the large room once the doors to the elevator slid open. Of course, you still had to make your way through the hallway and to the door, which he then had to unlock. James pushed the door open, and you followed his dark brown eyes as they scanned the spacious living space before you, like he was expecting someone to be there in the darkness, waiting for an opportune time to attack and finish the job. Out the corner of your eyes you noticed that he gave a nod of his head, confirming that it was safe to go inside his own apartment. 

“Peachy… Just — Just peachy,” you breathed out through the nauseous feeling that twisted painfully in the pit of your stomach. You felt sweaty and had a mild headache forming at the back of your head, most likely from the blood loss. Back in the car you noticed that you had started to feel dizzy, although you didn't voice your concern to your brother, it would only make him worry more and become more protective. He was probably already panicking internally enough as it is. 

You squeezed your eyes shut tightly and willed yourself to not give into the urge to let gravity claim you and fall to the floor, where if you had your way, you'd stay until you felt better or bleed to death. The latter sounding like a better option to you right now since you didn't want to have a conversation about Victor with your brother. "You don't look so good," James told you, his voice sounded quiet to your ears even though he stood beside you. "You look clammy, and you're sweating," he muttered out. All you managed was a short pain filled laugh. It wasn't funny, you knew it wasn't, but you couldn't keep it in. 

"That uh, yeah, that usually happens when someone loses a lot of blood." You croaked out snarkily, trying to lighten the heavy air that settled around you. You swallowed hard, your throat feeling unusually dry. 

"You know, she's exactly like you. She can't read a room and her humour is terrible." The familiar gruff sound of Harvey Bullock’s voice sounded out. James scoffed at that, but your lips twitched up at the corners in amusement. You had to force your eyes open. It didn't take too long for your eyes to fall upon the scruffy detective, his hat discarded on the coffee table beside him.

"Well, if it isn't Harvey Bullock." You didn't think Harvey would help if James had asked him to, considering he nearly throttled James into the ground of the men's locker room back in the GCPD a couple of days ago because your brother decided it was a good idea to let Oswald Cobblepot live. You wondered when James had the time to call Harvey. Was it when you had been blacked out in the back of your car? Or was it sometime before then, but you hadn't noticed? It couldn’t have been before you blacked out, you would have remembered the trilling conversation that must have transpired over the phone otherwise. 

A woman with long dark brown hair stood a few meters away from Harvey, a look of concern written clear as day across her features. You assumed she was a doctor, and you sure as hell hoped that she was in fact a certified doctor and not just some shady person that Harvey knows. "How're you doing darling?" He asked you, his voice warmer than it was when he previously spoke to James. He must still hold some resentment to his partner for his lie. 

"Oh, you know... not bad, bleeding out, and I want to sleep. But not bad." You responded, as if on cue your eyes slid shut, almost like you had commanded it. "Please for the love of... just tell me that she is a certified doctor," you whispered to your brother as quietly as you could manage. 

A whine left you as you opened your eyes once more, still trying to fight back the sleep that was threatening to take you to the black abyss behind your eyes. "They are someone that Harvey knows," he flashed an awkward side smile in your direction to let you know that he is indeed being serious about it. 

Blinking at him, you took a minute to process what he had just told you, your eyes scanned his features for the telltale signs of a lie, or at least any signs to indicate that he's joking. Waiting for him to keep talking and tell you that Harvey did in fact call someone who knew a doctor who could do an urgent house call at such short notice and wouldn't ask questions about it. But there was that nervous tick, it was faint but noticeable. 

"Oh no. No, no, and no," you started quickly and shook your head, removing your arm from around his back and placed the palm of your hand against his shoulder, pushing yourself away from him. Stumbling to the side you somehow managed to get yourself free from James's iron grip. "I know exactly what that means. If I wanted someone who is medically uncertified to root around my insides to get a damn bullet out, then I would have asked you or Harvey to do it for me." James shot a hand out towards you with lightning fast reflexes, his fingers snagging your upper arm to keep you from toppling over onto the dark brown wooden floor beneath your feet. 

"Stop being so bloody stubborn! I am not going to perform or let anyone else who isn't a qualified doctor perform any sort of surgery on you, and potentially get you killed!" He snapped back a bit too harshly without meaning to. You swayed on the spot, staring at him for the longest time, your lips parted as if you were going to say something in response. You wanted to, god knows you wanted to say *something*, but you didn't know what you could say without making him yell even more. 

Of course, you knew that he didn't mean to yell at you like that. That he was only worried about your well-being, worried about getting hurt even more so than you are now or worse, killed. However, this had been the first time in a very long time James had snapped at you, and it had to have happened at the worst time. 

"I didn't mean to yell at you," he said slowly as some kind of emotion flashed across his usually emotionless face, but it was far too quick for you to catch.

"It's fine. I get it, Jim." James watched wide-eyed as you pulled your arm out of his hand, causing you to stumble over your feet as you took a step backwards on shaking legs. You could feel everyone's eyes on you and all you wanted to do was to hide from them and sort this whole thing out yourself. Hurt was clear in your voice like a sparkling diamond set out in the sun as you spoke. "It's fine," you assured him, turning away, so you could move the rest of the way towards the couch on your own. Your vision was starting to blur and melt together, you blinked a few times to clear your fuzzy vision. 

You went to take another step towards the blurring couch, repeatedly blinking to keep your vision in focus when all of a sudden it seemed as if the coffee table and the floor raised upwards to meet you, twisting and distorting for the briefest moment before settling on its side. From both corners of the room you could hear at the very least two people calling out your name, followed by the loud and unmistakable thud of your body hitting the glass surface of the coffee table and then the floor. Which was then followed closely by the sound of a million shards of glass shattering and tumbling across the hardwood floor, echoing around you, so loudly it seemed to drown out the sounds of people yelling for you to open your eyes and to keep them open. 

After what appeared to be a few seconds, you could feel the electric buzz of pain ripple through you, causing your mind to jolt out of the darkness and quietness that had all but consumed your consciousness. The room blared dizzyingly back to life around you, the two deep voices of James and Harvey mixed together with the high-pitched frantic voice of the woman that you forgot to get the name of. You couldn't make out a single word either of them were saying to you. 

"Ugh," you groaned out and moved your hand to your shoulder where you felt a dull pulsating pain hammer and throb across your skin. Your fingers barely brushed over the soft fabric that's wrapped securely around your shoulder, but not hard enough to cut off blood flow. Someone grabbed your forearm and yanked your hand away from the bandage, holding it down tightly to some kind of slightly scratchy, yet soft fabric. 

You finally managed to pry your eyes open to find that everything was blurry, the lights hanging above you didn't help much either. However, you could make out Harvey and James hovering over you, but their expressions were something you couldn't make out. 

"Can one of you please hold her down?!" The female demanded snappily with a slight hint of panic evident in her voice as you moved to get up from your warm, cushiony spot. She spoke again as you were inevitably pushed back into the cushions of what you assumed to be the now bloodied couch. "I have a hold of the bullet. If she moves I might lose it, or make things worse for her.”

You didn't like the idea of that and let out a yelp as two sets of strong hands fell down to your shoulders and pushed you further into the cushions. You assumed that they belonged to James and Harvey since they're the only two men in the apartment. Harvey moved his arms from your shoulder and down to your arm, like he was trying to get a better hold of you. James did the same, both of their holds on you tightening, as if they were putting all of their weight into keeping you down while the doctor got to work. 

"H - ow!" You let out an inhuman screech as the woman ripped the long forceps and brass bullet out of your side. Warm, sticky blood trickled down your skin as the bullet was removed. After, the pain was red-hot as it pulsed through you, you felt as if your flesh was burning because of the quick and simple action. 

Harvey and James let go of your arms, their shoulders shooting straight up to their ears as the screech bounced around the quiet room. The woman even placed her hands over her own ears as she stared at you, taken back by the sudden noise. It almost sounded as if you were an ancient dinosaur. "Keep a hold of her arms, and for the love of god keep her still. I need to suture the wound up," the woman told them with authority in her voice - she had clearly taken over the situation. All you wanted to do was to roll over and clutch your throbbing side in your hands, but that was out of the question.

By the time James and Harvey had their hands back on your arms, putting all their weight into it, you had your vision back. James had a stony look on his features, something he had mastered while in the army. While Harvey looked as if he was cringing at everything that is happening to you, most likely picturing himself in your situation. You let out a deep, heavy and shaky breath of air, your eyes darting around the room to find something to keep yourself occupied, to keep your mind from the pain.

"Oh god," you whimpered, you could feel Harvey's thumb rub over the skin of your arm soothingly. You hated to admit it but in a way Harvey had become a brother of sorts to you, a little like a father figure as well, you supposed.

"Okay, I just need to clean the wound, and then suture it, and then I'll bandage it all up." The woman told you in a soft, somewhat calming voice. However, it did nothing to calm your nerves. “Alright?” Like it was any good asking you that question, she was going to do it anyway, and you had no choice in the matter. Unless you wanted to die, which you didn’t. 

Bobbing your head in acknowledgement to the doctor’s rhetorical question, all the worries about the woman who is currently taking care of your wounds being completely unqualified or even a doctor to the gangs of Gotham now forgotten about. She seemed to know what she was doing, at least you could give her credit for that. She hesitated for a minute, before pouring a bit of Hydrogen Peroxide onto a cloth and rubbed it over the wound to prevent it from getting infected. "It might make the healing process slow, but it'll do you some good." The doctor said to no one in particular, but that didn't stop you from mentally taking note of it. 

To you, it felt like the deepest and darkest form of torture and that the devil himself was pressing a burning hot poker against your side. You pressed your lips together into a tight thin line and tried to roll onto your side as if to shield the bullet hole in your side. Tried being the key word since you were roughly pulled back into place by none other than Harvey who gave you a nervous smile, that did nothing to ease the nerves that started to rise up in the pit of your stomach. "I'm sorry [Y/N]. It's for your own good," he told you without hesitation. 

You couldn't bring yourself to believe a word of what he said. If something this painful was for someone's own good then you can honestly say, with your hand on your heart, that you never wanted it to happen ever again.

"Is it over yet?" Laughing nervously, looking up at Harvey and James with pleading eyes. 

"Not yet." James answered in return, his eyes never leaving the doctor as she carefully threaded the plastic surgical line through the needle they've brought with them to do the job. The next painful thing to happen was the feel of a pointed needle being pushed in and out of your tender skin. All you could do was let out a low whimpering sound, trying to find something that you could hold onto tightly for comfort but all you could curl your fingers around was the thick fabric under yourself. 

Luckily, however, it didn't take too long for the doctor to do the sutures. She actually worked really fast and didn't mess up a single stitch. The woman was quick to put the bandage over your bullet wound too. 

"Yeah, I don't plan on taking any more bullets that are meant for my brother. Thanks for your concern though." You joked. 

The woman looked from you and then to your brother, raising a questioning brow at the two of you. "Neither of you get shot like this again or otherwise. I don't want to make another house call for something worse because the Gordon siblings can't keep themselves out of trouble." Harvey snorted out a laugh and clapped James on the back. Perhaps he wasn't as mad at James as you previously thought that night, but that didn't really matter to you right now. 

The doctor said her goodbyes to you and James, telling him to keep an eye on you because you've lost a lot of blood. Like she could steal bags of blood from the hospital she worked in as if it was nothing, like she had done it plenty of times before in the past without getting caught or questioned. Harvey also left with the woman to take her back home, whether it was back to his place or hers you didn't quite care to ask. Not really wanting to know the specifics and honestly if he told you too much information about her, you were afraid it would break the illusion that you made up about her. 

Once they were gone you managed to push yourself up into a sitting position. James had gone to find the pyjamas that you left there when you last visited and stayed the night, so you could get out of your bloody clothes. Although your blouse was pretty much useless now because they had to cut it off to be able to take care of you. Not that you cared about it, you hated the blouse anyway. "How are you feeling?" James asked suddenly. You hadn't noticed that he had joined you and was now sitting beside you with his hands held out in your direction, holding your pyjama's out for you. 

You could see the smallest hint of a smile on his lips, a hopeful one. You hummed out a quiet thank you as you took the pyjama from him, carefully nodding your head "I feel... Less like I got shot and more like the devil himself is using a burning hot poker to stab me." You laughed out shortly, leaning into him and nudged his shoulder with your, wincing at the pain that fluttered through you. 

A light-hearted chuckle came from beside you, James seemed to be relieved that you're joking about it. "I am sorry for putting you through that." You moved to get up, however the movement was slow, and in the end James helped you up by giving you a push.

"Considering I took two bullets for you and saved your ass, I think we're even." You told him cockily and walked a small distance from the couch. James turned on the couch the best he could so his back was to you. 

"Oh, you saved my ass?" He asked in a cheerful voice. James was looking to the floor, finding the remaining shards of glass interesting, to give you privacy while you got into the clothes. You pulled the black spaghetti strap tank top over your head and bit your cheek to keep yourself from moaning in pain. 

"Uh, yes I saved your damn ass from getting shot. However accidental it was," you sassed back, kicking your boots off and watched as they landed on the floor in a heap you got into your shorts quickly. James snorted at you, apparently finding your comment amusing.

He laughed and took a hold of your arm to keep you up right, "right, yeah. You saved my ass," you turned your head to look at him and noticed that he had his eyes closed. 

"If it wasn't for me accidentally getting in the way of the bullets, you'd be shot and probably bleeding out somewhere." You made a face at the bloody trousers that you were wearing in disgust. The doctor was right, you had lost a lot of blood, or at least enough to make it, so you're not in need of a blood transfusion. 

A quietness passed over the eerie living room which soon gave way to awkwardness. The only noises that could be heard were yours and James' breathing, and the sounds of the busy Gotham streets outside the apartment. Your eyes darted towards the open window behind you and James, and then to the front door, both ways for Victor to enter. You needed to call him to tell him that you're fine, he'd be beside himself if you left it any longer, but that would mean you need to get some time alone to be able to talk privately without James over hearing.

"You know you still haven't told me why I couldn't take you back to your place and get a doctor," his voice broke the suffocating silence and nearly made you jump straight into his arms. "Come on [Y/N]," he persisted, nudging your arm with his elbow. 

You were hoping your brother would have forgotten all about it what with everything that had happened or at the very least he wouldn't bring it up at this very moment. But you had to admit, he really did have you cornered. You folded your trousers and placed them on the floor with your boots, staying quiet as you mulled your answer over very carefully. 

"Listen, Jim." you trailed off slowly, thoughtfully, not knowing how to say the next words that you wanted to say. He was going to explode when you told him. He would tell you that you're being stupid and that you need to stop seeing Victor. "It's... Complicated," you shrugged as your eyes darted around the room, looking for some kind of excuse or even some kind of godly intervention to save you or interrupt the conversation. 

"How complicated could it possibly be?" He asked, looking at you for an answer.

"Extremely," you muttered out and moved away from him as he dropped his arms to his side, squinting his eyes at you like he was trying to figure out a riddle.

“You’re hiding something,” he decided.

"Pfft, What?" You asked anxiously. "No," you said a little too quickly and clenched your jaw at his accusation. 

"What is it?" He asked, crossing his arms over his chest once more like your father used to do when the two of you got into trouble for something. Fuck.

Tag list;  @elasmo-branchii​, @nheirei, @the-ramblings, @milly-louise

[losille2000]

The Swan, Chapter 6

TITLE: The Swan CHAPTER NUMBER: 6/? AUTHOR: Losille2000 WHICH Tom/CHARACTER: Actor!Tom GENRE: Romance/Drama FIC SUMMARY: Sequel to The Ugly Duckling. Astrid embarks on a two-week trip to London to serve as her sister’s maid of honor, hoping against all hope she might miraculously run into her Hawaiian mystery man. When her sister and soon-to-be brother-in-law drag her to a production of Hamlet to meet the groom’s best man, Astrid gets the shock of her life. The situation, though, is anything but perfect. RATING: M (sex, language) WARNINGS: None in this chapter. AUTHORS NOTES: So... what can I say? It's been a while. If you want the whole story, you can look through my blog or message me. I'm happy to answer. That said, it's been a good three years since I did any serious writing. My writing muscles need to build back up to what they were before. Please be kind... and let me know what you think. :D

Chapters: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - ALSO ON AO3!

Chapter 6 - Flying the Coop

Regret.

Astrid regretted ever stomping up those stairs to Tom’s bedroom. She regretted challenging him to make a move. She regretted letting him have his way with her. In the moment, it seemed right. Maybe if they slept together again, they’d find an incompatibility, especially now that the air of tropical mystery had dissipated and left in its place two broken flesh-and-blood people.

How wrong could she have been?

Now it was amplified, deeper, hotter, engulfing.

Only two weeks for whatever this fire was to fizzle?

It wasn’t, as the Brits say, bloody likely.

And here she was, smack dab in the position she didn’t want to be in; no matter how tangentially her current association with her mother, the family business, and Hollywood was, being connected to Tom in this way presented too many problems to even consider at this point. And fucking him—

“Astrid, are you even listening to me?”

Astrid jumped from the intrusion, letting out a slight squeak. She blinked hard and turned in her spot to look at her sister, who stood in the middle of the furnished but unoccupied flat. “Sorry?”

“Are you okay?” Tilde asked. “You’ve been spacey after the dress shop— and I’m just worried.”

“You don’t need to worry.”

“Let me worry,” she begged. “Let me be the big sister I never got to be.”

Astrid laughed ruefully. If only she could actually talk with Tilde about Tom. She wouldn’t understand, or at the very least, it could pose some very difficult situations in the coming days with the wedding right around the corner. But, Astrid guessed, Tilde meant the other elephant in the room... Astrid being the elephant, and their mother being a Class A narcissist. Because there was absolutely no way Tilde would know about what had happened at Tom’s home...

“It’s too late for that, Tilde,” Astrid said. “You know I love you. I just— there’s no changing her.”

Tilde grumbled and glided over to the couch in the living room. She dropped down on top of the cushions, barely displacing the pillow stuffing with her slight ballet-formed frame. “I should have never allowed her to do all this. I should have done it on my own, it’s not like Jim and I are so hard up. But I thought...”

Astrid held up a hand to stop her sister and sat on the couch more gingerly than Tilde, measuredly, so as not to displace any stuffing in the overstuffed couch, either. Something her mother had taught her, after all: If you’re not going to put in effort to look like a lady, you can at least act like one.

God, even that memory still hurt, down to the marrow in her bones.

“But you did.” Astrid shrugged and laid her head on the back of the couch. There, she sighed.

The sisters sat in silence for some time, listening to Duchess rooting around the flat for something to chew on. When the pug found nothing, she eventually jumped up onto the couch and snuggled into Tilde’s lap.

Astrid cleared her throat. “It’s not all Mom, either. I’m just tired from jet lag and getting everything together for the house party.”

And sleeping with the Best Man. She was pretty sure she’d read a romance novel or a hundred about this situation once. Did that make her a cliché?

“Oh, I meant to ask,” Tilde interjected. “How did that go? Tom was a total tool last night and I was worried about today.”

Astrid licked her lips subconsciously; she could still taste the sugar left by a bite of tiramisu Tom had given to her on a fork. If she concentrated hard enough, she was sure she could still taste the salt of his skin mixed in with it. She could certainly feel the tight muscle in her thigh that pulled every time she shifted, from the way he’d bent it and held it firmly in place as he’d had his way with her.

Frankly, it was a miracle they’d accomplished anything after they ended up in bed. But, she supposed, that was the weirdest part about the whole afternoon. They got out of bed, dressed without speaking and just... worked on what they needed to for the party. There was no discussion. No arguing. Tom stayed a respectable distance from her; she wasn’t sure if she had really wanted him to do it again, over and over, until they were both exhausted. They ate lunch quietly, they got everything organized and packed into his Land Rover, then Tilde showed up and they bade farewell, like it was something they did every day.

Nothing more was said about Hawaii, or a relationship, or lies, or having this end in two weeks. He seemed to be ignoring the topics all together, likely in the misguided belief that if he didn’t bring it up, then everything was fine. She ignored them because discussing WHY she refused to become a true part of his life was too painful.

Astrid pursed her lips and closed her eyes again. Isn’t that what she told him she wanted, though? To feel worshipped and then go about their lives, like nothing happened? Ignore all the elephants and enjoy the sex. No emotion, only sex. He was just following her demands, his need too great to put the brakes on their interlude in his bed.

The problem was that she did want more with him. She wanted emotion and relationships and rainbows and butterflies. When she had thought of him as some wealthy businessman she might once again bump into while visiting London, this had been possible. She had, after all, imagined a reality over the last eighteen months that included falling in love with him and living a life together.

But he wasn’t a businessman. He was an actor. He ran in circles she just couldn’t stomach anymore.

“It was fine. We finished everything and packed it all into his Land Rover for the drive up to Cliveden,” Astrid finally said. “The costume deliveries will be there when we arrive.”

“This really has gotten out of control,” Tilde said. “Part of me just wants to run to the register office and get it over with.”

Astrid shook her head violently. “You do that, and I’ll flip the fuck out. I put too much work into this.”

Tilde laughed. “Scared you, huh?”

“I’m serious, Tilde,” Astrid said, lightly smacking her sister’s thigh. Duchess popped her head up, and thinking it was an invitation for her, came over to her aunt. Astrid cuddled the dog close to her chest, breathing in her freshly bathed fur.

“She likes you,” Tilde said.

Astrid kissed Duchess’ head. “Small children and dogs, apparently.”

Tilde chuckled softly before letting out a long sigh. “I bet she would really like it if her Aunt Astrid were around more.”

“Aunt Astrid is a teacher and never has any time,” she replied directly to Duchess. Duchess reached for the hand that had stopped petting her and touched it with her paw. Her imploring buggy pug eyes asked Aunt Astrid for more.

Tilde huffed, but said nothing more for a long time. Then she cleared her throat. “How do you like the flat, anyway?”

“It’s nice,” Astrid confirmed. In fact, it was nicer than “nice.” This flat looked like one of those staged ads in a real estate magazine with lots of recessed lighting, soft gray colors, top-of-the-line furnishings and a ton of space.

“We’re trying to decide if we’ll sell it or keep it as an investment property,” Tilde replied. “It’s kind of a pain in the ass as a rental property, though.”

Astrid nodded. “You could just give it to Dad’s company to manage.”

Not that doing so was a great option, either.

If Astrid saw her mother irregularly, she saw her father even less. After their separation, he spent time in Las Vegas developing a new casino concept and then, when Astrid graduated from UNLV, moved his business operations permanently back to Sweden. Still, though, the relationship with her father was better than it was with her mother, simply by virtue that he was never around and didn’t have an opportunity to find the weaknesses in her armor like her mother. Tilde rarely spoke about either parent, but Astrid was certain their relationship was similar.

Tilde sat up and turned to look at Astrid seriously. “Or you could move into it.”

“Excuse me?” Astrid said, her heart skipping a few beats, from a sudden surge of anxiety and... something else.

“I’m serious, Astrid,” she said. “We don’t see each other enough and I want to spend time with you and make up for all those years we were apart.”

This wasn’t just some passing fancy. Astrid could see that as plain as day on Tilde’s face. Her sister was determined to convince her to move to London. But for what? She had no support system other than Tilde and James... and her career... well, that was back in Las Vegas.

Not that Las Vegas itself was the most amazing place to live and work.

“I’d never see you anyway,” Astrid argued. “You’re always rehearsing, or preparing to rehearse, or performing. And god knows James is going to be busy doing whatever.”

“Yeah, about that...” Tilde said, trailing off quietly. She picked at the dog hair on her sweater for a few seconds, then slowly looked back at Astrid. “I’m retiring at the end of this season.”

“What?!”

Tilde shrugged. “James and I want a family, and if I wait until it’s a ‘good time,’ it’ll never happen because of our schedules. And really, it’s getting harder and harder to come back from injuries and such. I just... I need a long break from being a performing ballerina. I don’t have the fire I once had, the same will to fight for every goddamn role.”

Astrid simply nodded. This was huge news. Ballet was Tilde’s life. She’d been doing it since she was a little girl, had impeccable skill and training and talent for it. The joke was that Tilde had come out of the womb in pointe shoes.

Which wasn’t that far from the truth, really. As soon as their mother could, she’d gotten Tilde into dance with the best instructors money could buy. Their mother, the failed ballerina, always lived through them. Which explained why she did not like anything about Astrid— Astrid did not have anything that would benefit her.

“Have you told Mom yet?” Astrid asked.

Tilde shook her head. “Of course not! And listen to her prattle on about how I’m a failure and she gave me so much and I’m just a terrible person? No, thank you. I’ll wait until she is permanently back in LA before I tell her.”

Even though Tilde had not yet told anyone else, it somehow eased the tension in Astrid’s shoulders knowing that Tilde would be in their mother’s crosshairs for a change. Typically, that wasn’t the case; their parents always treated Tilde like the perfect golden child. Of course, Tilde had always been one of Astrid’s fiercest allies… when she could. However, since Tilde spent most of her life in London studying at the Royal Ballet from a very early age, support and camaraderie had been scarce. Now, though? Now it felt like she and Tilde could weather the storm together.

Tilde continued, “Yeah. I’m thinking about opening up a dance studio and then after the baby thing happens, if I still have the performing bug in me, then I’ll start guesting. But I’m just so excited to start having babies.”

Stopping the smile from forming on Astrid’s lips was impossible as she registered the excitement on Tilde’s face. Astrid felt the enthusiasm coming from Tilde’s corner of the couch. “I’m excited for you, Tilde.”

And she was. She truly was.

Tilde reached out and grabbed Astrid’s hand. “I’m serious, though, Astrid. We never had a great family growing up, and I see this as an opportunity to right the wrongs of the past and create the family we should have had growing up.”

“I don’t know, Til.”

“James and I have both talked about it a lot and we both agree.”

“Tilde, even if I did move here,” Astrid began, “I don’t know the first thing about teaching in England.”

Tilde nodded. “I know. But James’ parents are retired teachers. I’m sure they’d be willing to help you make heads or tails of it.”

Astrid pursed her lips and turned to stare at the dormant fireplace sitting in front of them. Duchess, who had not moved, made happy dog purr noises as Astrid massaged the tiny velvet triangles of her ears. To be fair to Tilde, Astrid had often thought of moving to London to be nearer to her, but she never thought it would happen or that Tilde would actually need or want her here. The fact that she was wanted made emotion spring to her eyes and prick at them until they watered.

But then, there was the other issue.

The really, super, ginormous issue that came in the shape of a devastatingly handsome British man she met on vacation. If she moved to London, she’d certainly be seeing him more. No clean break at the end of two weeks like she hoped.

“And, you know,” Tilde said, “London’s arts scene is stupendous. We have the hook-up. I thought you could get back into it. You can hardly do that in Las Vegas.”

Astrid snorted. “Tilde, that part of my life is over.”

“Why? You’re amazing. I remember the video you sent of your college production of Othello. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place.”

While Tilde’s appreciation for her talent warmed Astrid’s heart, it didn’t take away the sting of her mother’s actions. Astrid couldn’t even bring herself to discuss it with Tilde when it first happened, much less in the intervening eight years since the incidents that led to her total disavowal of all things acting related. Her silence on the matter, though, had finally come home to roost. First with Tilde telling Tom she was still an actor, and Tom calling her a liar because she told him she wanted nothing to do with it. And now, with Tilde staring her down imploringly. Tilde wanted answers just as much as Tom did, except for very different reasons.

Astrid could not force her suddenly leaden tongue to move in her mouth. Tilde would just have to live with not knowing the whole story, for now. Finally, she said, “If I move to London, I’m not going to be acting.”

“Well, I guess I’ll take that,” Tilde replied. “As long as you’ll still consider moving here to be with me.”

A knock at the front door startled them all, sending Duchess barking and wheezing to the door. The door opened and James popped his head inside. “Knock knock.”

“Come in!” Tilde sang back to him, jumped from her seat, and nearly leaped over the back of the couch to get to him like he was a cold glass of lemonade on a hot day. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him squarely. For a brief, possibly irrational, moment, Astrid was jealous of her sister and the relationship she had built with James.

Which wasn’t a great feeling to have if the plan was to spend more time with them. How could she uproot her entire life— leave her students and friends— and move halfway across the globe just to be consumed by the green-eyed monster?

“Babe,” Tilde said, “tell Astrid she needs to move to London.”

James laughed and turned to look at Astrid. “Astrid… you need to move to London.”

“Thank you!” Tilde pecked his cheek and pirouetted in place until she was facing away from him. She started walking back toward the bedroom. “Let me go get my purse and we can get going.”

When Tilde was gone, and the flat was mostly silent except for more of Duchess’ puggy wheezing as she calmed, James’ smile dropped into a stony seriousness. He stepped over to her and quietly murmured, “We would love to have you here, Astrid. But I understand if you don’t want to come. The decision has to be yours, and if you decide not to move, I will handle Tilde.”

Astrid was grateful for James’ level-headedness in the situation. In the short time she’d known the man, she found that he was a gifted reader of rooms. That was why he was so good with Tilde— a steady anchor in a turbulent sea. Clearly, he understood the anxiety twisting her stomach into knots.

She set a grateful hand on his arm and squeezed appreciatively. “Thanks, James.”

“And don’t let my association with Tom cloud your judgement,” James said.

Astrid withdrew her hand like he’d burned it. Her eyes snapped up to his, then focused outward on the rest of his features and body language. She didn’t know how he knew, but he did. Tom must have told James, despite that she asked him not to.

Unless Tom had told James last night…

“How do you...” She trailed off, turning her gaze and trying to hide her blush.

“He’s my best man for a reason. We tell each other everything,” James replied. “I had hoped that your work today would allow you some time to figure things out before more of this wedding commenced and caused a problem.”

Astrid gulped. “Does Tilde know?”

James shook his head silently.

“Good,” Astrid replied. Good for two reasons, really. The first, because it confirmed for her that the invitation to come to London wasn’t Tilde playing matchmaker. The second, because she still didn’t want anybody to know about it. “Wait… how much did he tell you?”

James stared back at her, a mischievous glint in his eyes and a slight curl at the corner of his mouth. “That would be breaking the Code.”

Her face now completely aflame, Astrid bent down and grabbed Duchess into her arms. She couldn’t even look at the man anymore without feeling embarrassed. Hopefully, it would pass quickly.

“Bad news!” Tilde called from the hallway as she came back into the room. Her thumbs moved rapidly over the screen of her iPhone. “Mother decided we needed an all hands on deck dinner tonight.”

Astrid groaned. “In addition to or replacing the one tomorrow night at Cliveden?”

“In addition to,” Tilde said. “Tom can’t make it tonight because he has the cast party, and Dad isn’t even in England yet, so that’ll be the official one. Tonight is probably just more nitpicking.”

“Do we have to?” Astrid whined.

Tilde sighed heavily and dropped her phone into her purse with agitation. “Strength in numbers, dear sister.”

Her sister's proclamation made the summons to dinner no better, but Astrid and James dutifully followed Tilde out of the flat and out to the car. The only saving grace was that Tom wouldn't be there. Astrid could focus on one problem, not two.

[darkestdesired]

Teachers Pet

Part 2.

An: I am so sorry this took so long there is honestly no excuse!

For this one I honestly just played off the idea of the reader being taller than Oswald and him being just like ‘I’m baby’,like full on obsession and heart eyes towards her and treating her like she’s a goddess.

I have a horrible size kink , and a baby and mommy/daddy kink.

I hope you like it and again I am so sorry! @kpopgirlbtssvt

_______________________

Waking up to the sound of banging on my door was not the morning I had in mind,looking down I smiled at the sight of Oswalds peaceful sleeping expression,carefully I rolled him over onto the pillow,freezing when he made any signs of waking.

Once the coast was clear I got out of bed and slipped on my slippers before making my way to the front door,peeking through the peephole I held in a groan.

Pulling open the door I saw the biggest pain in the ass brother in the world standing in the hallway with his fist up,ready to knock again. “What do you want Jim?” He winced at my unfriendly tone,letting him know I was still very pissed off.

“Listen you can’t stay mad at me forever,We’re family (Y/n).” Crossing my arms I sighed,”Jim I love you,but I meant what I said. I can’t just forgive you,it’ll take a lot more than bothering me every day to earn that back. Oh and you’re shit at apologizing by the way.” He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ll do whatever it takes to earn your trust back.”

Sighing heavily I rubbed my tired eyes,”Listen,I’m not gonna be able to trust you again so easily... but I can’t stay mad at you forever.” He held a sad smile,”I know,I promise I’ll make it up to you (N/n).”

The tiniest bit of a smile pulled at my lips,”Now get out of here,I have to get ready for work.” Which was a lie,I had the day off already but I knew if I let him in he would see Oswald. I had to protect the adorable shorter man,even if it was from my own brother.

We said our goodbyes and I quietly shut the door as he left,nearly jumping out of my skin when I turned to see Oswald standing in the doorway with what can only be the cutest bed head I’ve ever seen.

“Good morning,I hope I didn’t wake you up.” He looked up at me with half asleep eyes as I walked over and looked down at the shorter male.”You weren’t in bed so...” he muttered causing my heart to swell.

“Sorry,Jim stopped by again but he won’t be bothering us like this again. Let’s go back to bed.” I hummed.

He frowned as I said that,”You and Jim were fighting?”

Sighing I led him back to the bedroom,”I was so mad at him for killing...well almost killing you so I refused to talk to him,ignoring him ever since that day. But now that I know youre alive and safe here I decided I can at least talk to him,I still don’t trust him...not like I used to. Barbara is the only one I still talk to.”

His pale cheeks turned a slight shade of pink,”You really cared that much about me?” I smiled and wrapped him into a warm hug,”Of course I do Os,I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you never have to go through that again.” I cooed gently rubbing his back as he practically purred as he melted into my touch,this fact assured me that he was probably touch starved.

“Let’s go back to sleep,Hm?” He nodded,burrowing deeper into my chest seeking more of that Protective warmth that consumed him.

Leading him over to the bed I layer down and brought him down so that he was laying over me,I wrapped the blankets over us as he tucked his face into my neck,breathing in my scent.

I smelled of vanilla and cinnamon,a pleasant combination that soon lulled him to sleep.

Looking at the adorable and fragile men now snoring lightly in my embrace I felt something deep inside of me pull.

He had been through so much,and the more time I spent with him the more I began to realize that this trauma may stretch out to before the incident.

After all his limp was very noticeable and the wounds on his body were mixed between fresh and old.

A story for each little scar,Perhaps ones for another time.

I decided I’d have to talk to an old friend of mine to get me somewhere to hide Oswald,I couldn’t risk his safety with Jim and Harvey snooping around.

Grabbing my phone I pulled up my oldest and closest friend that I’ve had since before moving to Gotham.

The phone wrang for 3 seconds before answering,”Well Well Well,if it isn’t little miss ABC’s. I missed ya darling.” The familiar voice teased. “Hello Victor,I need a favor.” He chuckled at my greeting,the sound vibrating over the phone.

“Oh? Little miss goody two shoes needs a favor? Name it doll face.” I rolled my eyes and glanced down at Oswalds sleeping face,feeling a smile tug at my face.

“I need a safe place to hide someone very dear to me,somewhere my brother won’t think to look.” Victor hummed,”Who’s this very dear someone?”

Tightening my grip on the phone I hesitated,I knew I could trust Victor with every fiber of my being,though I didn’t know his current occupation.

He thought it would be the best way to keep me safe,his innocent little teacher.

“His name is Oswald Cobblepot,trust me I would be asking you if it wasn’t important. Please just let me hide him at your apartment until this all blows over.” He was silent for a moment before I heard him sigh.

“Fine but you owe me doll face.” He feigned annoyance but I knew he didn’t mean it. “Thank you Victor! I’ll even make you those muffins you like so much.” He ooed meaning he knew exactly which ones I was talking about. “For those muffins I’d do ya a thousand favors,Meet me at mine at 6pm. Later doll face.” I smiled,”See you then Vic.”

Hanging up I looked down at Oswald,Placing a gentle kiss on his temple he shuffled a bit. A lazy smile on his face as he moved in more,Hugging him close I shut my eyes.

I knew Oswald would be safe with Victor,and while I didn’t know anything about the underworld the two worked for I had a feeling I was about to find out real soon.

________________

Oswald looked out the window at the passing buildings,curiosity and worry building the further from my apartment we got.

“So where are we going? Not that I don’t enjoy a nice car ride.” He chuckled nervously ,he knew I wouldn’t do anything to hurt him but not knowing where he was going worried him.

He looked over to see me giving him a reassuring smile,”I can’t risk you staying at my apartment with Jim and Harvey sniffing around. I won’t let them hurt you again. So I called an old friend who has a room open,they won’t find you there.”

His eyes widened,I was willing to do so much if it meant keeping him safe?

A man I barely knew?

“Is he..trustworthy?” I nodded,”I trust him with my life,He works with charity’s in the city.” I honestly believed that,which is why Oswald relaxed a bit. “What’s his name? Maybe I know him?” He asked with a smile,which I returned. “Victor Zsasz,he’s like a brother to me. He was actually the one who got me my job at the elementary school.”

As I carried on with my story I completely missed the way Oswalds face dropped in horror. “V-Victor Zsasz..?” He stuttered.

“Mhm,he looks intimidating and he is sarcastic as hell,but he’s just a big teddy bear once you get to know him.” I giggled,knowing he would hate having been referred to as a big teddy bear.

“I-I see,and you say he works with charity’s?” Did I honestly not know that Victor was the most dangerous assassin in Gotham? Charity work is the farthest thing from his job.

“Yea,he works for Falcons Charity,they help the poor find jobs and housing,I’ve met mr.falcons a few times. He’s super nice and gentlemanly,I actually have a brunch meeting with him next week.”

Now he really was in shock,I was friends with the big dogs and didn’t even know it,he was actually impressed. But knowing how sweet and kind I was he wasn’t that surprised,he was just worried about what dangers I’d be dragged into.

_______________

Before he even realized it we had pulled up to a nice looking building on the other side of town,we pulled into an alley in the back and parked.Grabbing the container of muffins and my purse we slipped out into the quiet alley.

He followed as we walked to a back door,pulling out a key I unlocked it,revealing a hallway leading to stairs going down.

“Stay close,I don’t want you to get lost.” I didn’t have to tell him twice as he gripped onto my coat sleeve and limped practically glued to my side.

It took us about 2 minutes before we reached a door with two buff men that toward over us,Oswald coward behind me as I smiled at the two.

“Good afternoon Ivan,Luis!” They smiled back at me.

Ivan was a single 6’3 white Russian bodyguard with a heart of gold and heavy accent while Luis was a 6’1 Black man from England with the cutest wife and 6 year old daughter ,They were extremely protective and damn good at their jobs.

Luis gave me a toothy smile as he went to hug me,before stopping as he noticed Oswald hiding behind me,peeking over my shoulder.

He frowned,”Who is the pipsqueak?” He asked raised a brow,”Oh this is Oswald,Oswald say hi to Ivan and Luis.”

Ivan crossed his arms with a smirk,”Ahhh so this little man is the one who stole heart of Miss (Y/n).” His laugh was booming.

“Oh hush Ivan,I always knew she had a thing for the shorties eh?” Luis teased elbowing the other,my (s/c) face grew hot as I felt Oswald burry his face into my shoulder blade in embarrassment.

“Just for that you two aren’t getting muffins,I’ll give them all to Victor.” Their laughing stopped comically as their smiles fell,”You brought muffins! Oh darling I’m gonna marry you.” I laughed,”Don’t let Lillian hear that Luis.”

He rolled his eyes,”She already told me she’d be more than happy having you as a third so long as you do the cooking.”

Playfully punching his shoulder I reached back and took Oswalds hand,giving it a gentle squeeze. “Alright boys,we need to see Victor,I’ll give you your muffins later.”

They gave their goodbyes as I led Oswald inside,leading to a giant apartment,”So you seem friendly with everyone here.” I heard him say quietly,his pale cheeks still red.

“Igor and Ivan are like big brothers to me,seeing as though I come here more than my own apartment. We’ve just grown to have a strong bond over time.” He nodded but couldn’t help but feel a bit insecure and jealous,thoughts of self worth seemed to clog his brain until he felt me stop and place an arm around his shoulders bringing him closer.

“Victor,this is Oswald,Oswald this is Victor.” I stated looking at the hairless man who was pouring a few drinks.

“Ah Oswald Cobblepot,it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” Victor said with a dangerous glint in his eyes that told Oswald that the assassin knew exactly who he was as he stalked over,handing us both a glass that stunk of heavy liquor.

“L-Likewise Victor.” He gulped ,slowly inching in closer to my side. Victor smirked at him before giving me an easy smile,”So where’s my payment?” Oswald raised a brow,”Payment?”

Rolling my eyes I held out the container of muffins,”Here you go,remember to share them with Ivan and Luis.” He chuckled and took the container and peeled open the lid,talking a big whiff of the blueberry smell. “Mmmm,I missed your baked goods doll face.”

Giggling I smiled at the usually stoic man,”I know,Now promise you’ll keep your promise and protect Oswald. If my brother founds out he’s here-“ Victor waved me off.”Good ol’ Jimbo won’t find out honey,I promised you and I plan to keep that promise.” Sighing I let go of Oswald and hugged the taller man.

“I owe you one.” He chuckled and patted my back,But Oswald felt a shiver roll down his spine when Victors easy smile fell into a deadly scowl,there was no playfulness or humor in his eyes. But it was back to it’s happy smile as soon as I pulled away.

“Don’t worry about it,You know I’d do anything if it kept you safe and happy.Plus Oswald and I are going to become great friends... aren’t we Ossy?” Victor said as he walked over and wrapped an arm around oswalds tense shoulders.

Oswald gulped but looked over at me,seeing my caring eyes filled with worry he knew that Victor wouldn’t do anything that would risk upsetting me.

“Right.” He stated tightly,forcing a smile.

It seemed I noticed but as soon as I went to say something my phone began to wring,Pulling it out and looking at the screen. I could feel my chest tighten as I saw it was Jim,Sending them an apologetic look I walked away to answer.

Once I was out of earshot Victor kept a smile on his face as he leaned down to oswalds ear.

“If you break her heart I will make your life a living hell Penguin,There are far worse things than death.” Oswald gulped,muttering out,”Likewise,Assasin.” Causing Victor to smirk.

Rushing over I frowned,”That was Jim,He needs me to stop by the precinct.He needs help with that Bruce Wayne kid,he thinks having someone who works with kids will help.” They could see how this conflicted me.

“Don’t worry ‘bout a thing sweetheart,go do what you gotta do. Oswald and I will spend this time to get to know each other.” I smiled at Victor before going over to Oswald,Cupping his cheeks and whispering so only he can hear me.

“Are you going to be okay,if you don’t feel comfortable I can try to figure something else out?” Oswald melted into my touch,reaching up he took my hands,Never in his life had he felt so loved by anyone but his mother. The fact that I barely knew him and treated him with such kindness made his heart swell.

“I’ll be okay (Y/n),Just don’t forget about me okay?” My smile softened and I pulled him into a warm and safe hug,”I would never,my little Oswald.”

Usually he hated being called little,usually associating it with Painful memories,but when I said it it made him want to beg me to say it again and again.

His cheeks felt like they were on fire as I placed a kiss on his forehead before pulling away,Glancing at the two I pulled out my keys. “I’ll be back tomorrow after work,please call me if anything happens okay?” They both said their goodbyes as I walked out the way we came.

Victor waited until the door was shut and my footsteps had disappeared to let his smile fall,Sit down.” He commanded moving to a little couch and chair in the living room. Oswald reluctantly followed and did as told.

Victor glared at the fragile man,“We have a lot to discuss Traitor,beginning with what happened with Fish Mooney.”

Oswald glanced back at the door.

Praying that tomorrow would come already.

[pigtownchronicles]

Chapter 2.7 - Smoke and Shadow

Upstairs that evening, Marshall had Kyle assist with cooking dinner, and after they’d eaten, he led him into the living room. There, against the wall, was another humidor full of Marshall’s private stash of cigars, and hanging beside it, a rack with his pipes. He pulled out two cigars, handed one to Kyle, and soon they were on the couch, kissing and swapping smoke, and it wasn’t long before Marshall stood up and dropped his jeans.

Kyle realized it was the first time he’d seen his new Master naked, and it caught him by surprise. Where he’d expected a cock, there wasn’t one at all. With a bit more investigation, he realized that Marshall had a pussy instead, buried within his pubic hair. “You uh...huh,” he managed to say, and Marshall let out a laugh.

“Don’t worry boy, I can make all the equipment I need,” he said, “took a deep breath off his cigar, pulling the smoke deep inside him, and he watched as something pushed its way out, a silvery cock growing from Marshall’s crotch, made entirely of smoke, with two low hanging balls to match. “That enough for you to handle, boy?”

“Uh...yes Sir, I...I mean...I haven’t...”

“Yes you have, you just don’t remember it yet. Let daddy remind you,” Marshall said, and pushed him towards the sofa.

It turned out to be plenty. Marshall pinned him down on the sofa and fucked Kyle’s ass, sucking on his cigar, pumping more and more smoke into him with his cock until he came, and then, he flipped Kyle over, and rode his new apprentice's cock to completion, leaving them lying there sweaty, room fogged with smoke, and he pulled him close. “You’re a hot little fucker boy, glad you walked your way over to me that evening, and not some other big, burly bear.”

Kyle, heaving for breath, realized after the fact he’d lost his virginity, and hadn’t even really noticed. All of it had felt so natural, so vital. So exhausting. It hadn't even been his virginity, had it? He could recall now, all the other, many times he and his Master had fucked around before--like reality was still knitting itself together around him. He laid back on the couch, nursing the butt of his cigar, while Marshall went into the bedroom, and a few minutes later, came out dressed again, this time in leather pants, vest, boots and smoking a sizable pipe. “Come on boy, get your ass up.”

“What?”

“You’re in Pigtown now--you thinking you’re going to sleep? Good luck. You won’t get more than a nap in before you need another smoke.”

Wait, then...are you saying we can’t sleep?”

“Well, not ‘can’t’. Come on, I have some gear for you boy. You represent me now, out on the street, so I expect you to always look your best.”

Gear, apparently, meant a leather jock, boots, harness, and not much else. Kyle refused at first, and Marshall responded by simply manipulating the smoke flowing through him now, and forced him to dress himself in what was laid out. “You’re mine now, boy, for the foreseeable future. You don’t mind, do you?” he said, cupping a hand under Kyle’s chin, and giving him a deep kiss. The pipe smoke didn’t just taste different--it felt different. Somehow, he could...sense the slight shift in flavor, in density, in temperature. “I promise, I’ll never make you look anything other than the handsome, fuckable man you are, agreed?”

Kyle was still reluctant, but once they hit the sidewalk, he realized that he was actually not nearly as kinky as quite a few others on the dark street, going from club to alley to sauna and back again. Many looked, but no one touched--it was clear, somehow, that he was Marshall’s boy, and that meant they would need permission to use him, Kyle assumed. They made their way to a small bar, the air saturated with smoke, and Marshall started introductions. After a drink, he started passing him around, and Kyle found himself sharing smoky kisses with men whose name he could barely remember. He was fucked by some, blew others, the drinks piling on with the cigars, until it all became a blur, and next thing he knew, he woke up next to Marshall in their bed, head throbbing, throat creaking, and aching for smoke.

Marshall was already up, and passed him the cigar he had ready. Kyle sucked in as much as he could, feeling a bit more human after a few minutes, and realized it was morning, but he had no recollection of making it back here. “I...must have drunk more than I thought,” he said.

“Oh no, it wasn’t the drink, just the good ol’ Pigtown Hangover. Happens every night, you get used to it.”

“Every night?” Kyle asked.

“I said, we got to sleep somehow. Now come on, it’s time for breakfast, and you’re cooking, boy.”

Kyle wasn’t a great cook, but he could fry some eggs and make toast--it seemed to be enough to satisfy Marshall. Once they’d eaten, they went downstairs to get the shop ready to open up, and Kyle had a moment to check his phone. His only real important message was from Jim, asking him if he’d heard anything about Marlon yet.

He’d completely forgotten all over again. He thought about what had happened to him over the last day, what Marshall had...done to him, and the story that Jim had told him, about Marlon disappearing into a shadow, seemed all the more possible now, after what he’d seen. Maybe Marshall would know something, even. He told Jim to come visit the shop, he might know someone who could help. A couple of hours later, between regulars, while Marshall was showing Kyle the intricacies of blowing smoke rings and hardening them, Jim came through the door, asking what he knew.

Kyle explained the situation to Marshall, and Jim retold him what had happened that night after leaving Depot the week before. Around the time he mentioned the shadows, Kyle felt the smoke in his master quicken beside him, and he looked over at him. Outside, he seemed unaffected, but he definitely knew something. Jim finished the story, how some police officers had appeared and helped him get back to his car without Marlon, and the next day, it was like he had never even existed. 

Marshall sat back, took a long drag off his cigar, and pushed a cloud towards the ceiling. “Wish I could help you, young man, but I have nothing that can help you with this one.”

Kyle tried to say something, point out that was clearly a lie from what he had felt, but before he could even speak, he felt some lingering smoke in his mouth knot up around his tongue and gave it a squeeze. Marshall, apparently, was not interested in what Kyle might have to say.

“But...Kyle said you might know something.”

“I know a lot of things. What I can offer you are two options that you have right now. One, you can forget what you saw. It will be easy, once you decide to do it. I would suggest you not show your face around Pigtown again, if you do this, but I give that suggestion to most everyone.” Marshall paused, almost whether he was considering whether to even continue. “The other option would be to go to Precinct 27 and file a report.”

“I already tried to call the cops, but I couldn’t even prove he existed. They treated me like I was crazy.”

“That’s why I told you to go to Precinct 27. It’s just down the street here. They will be more sympathetic than I can be, and far more so than your usual cop. I wouldn’t choose to deal with them myself, but that’s your choice to make.”

Jim looked over at Kyle, who thought about trying to undo the knot around his tongue and get Marshall to tell them everything, but he didn’t. His loyalties had shifted in ways he hadn’t quite expected. He trusted his master. If there was a reason he wasn’t speaking about it, it was probably a good one.

“Now, unless you’d like to purchase something, I’d suggest you leave.”

Kyle nodded to Jim, and his friend left the shop, frustrated and feeling even more confused than before. The knot around Kyle’s tongue relaxed, and he asked, “You know more than that, what didn’t you want to tell him?”

“I know a lot of possibilities. I don’t know anything for sure. What it sounds like, is that Shadow got himself out of jail.”

“Shadow?”

“Acquaintance. We have different interests, different targets. Never really had a reason to fight, or cooperate. I respect his abilities and his autonomy so long as he respects mine.”

“Why are you bullshitting me about this? Just tell me what the hell is going on.”

“There’s a lot about this place, about the people here, that you don’t know, little apprentice,” Marshall said, “A lot of history. But the thing about history is that it’s just a story. Who’s telling the story matters just as much as anything else. Maybe if we see Shadow one night, he’ll tell you the story himself. I don’t know everything about it, just what gets passed around as gossip between the regulars.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“You’re right, it isn’t.”

Kyle glowered at him, “You’re treating me like a kid.”

“You’re barely a resident here, apprentice,” Marshall said, “That boy there, he’s still freshmeat. I gave him what he needed to know. What could actually help him. The precinct...I don’t agree with them entirely, but I can respect their desire for order, even if their methods are questionable. But then, they were cops, they can’t help themselves.” 

“Wait, they were cops? I thought you said it was a precinct?”

Marshall shook his head, “I wish I knew how to tell you all of this so that it would make sense. I wish I could just give you everything I’ve seen since I came here, but I can’t. You have to see it for yourself. You'll have your own story before long--now come on, get back to work.”

[bearsinpotatosacks]

Maybe Death is Just Going Home- A Spones Fic

The wind was soft on the back of his neck. Stroking the weak skin that was exposed. Sunrise was still underway, the blues and yellows and greens all mixing together. 

His garden was thriving under the care of his yard workers, who he'd employed to do the tough work his brittle body couldn't take anymore. The pond near the fence was full of lily pads and flowers, fish showing their faces occasionally. Flowers poked their heads up to the sky from the raised flower beds. A wind chime jingled somewhere to his right.

He remembered a time when he didn't let himself enjoy these things. The song of a bird or the way a flower bloomed. It was the days of being a strict Vulcan, of denying the emotions that drove his species to pure logic and repression, of pushing his human half to the point of breaking with every breath.

His friends helped him cultivate these sides of himself. Jim through kind words. Leonard with initial harsh behaviour, that he realised was his affection and watched it melt into true care and love. 

His heart panged at the thought of them, a pain he rarely let himself indulge in. There was little chance of seeing them again. Who knew how much time had passed for them? How old they'd be if he found a way to return home, an impossible feat, or if they'd even be alive?

There was even less of a chance of seeing Jim again. His research into finding him again had failed, even with the alternate technology he had at his disposal. There was no way to cheat death, especially one that happened in another world. They'd already done so with him and he didn't think it would be allowed a second time, or a third if you counted this universe's Jim.

He opened his eyes again. Meditation was meant to clear his head. But everything was too muddled lately to sort. He could feel the end coming. 

The skyline far away melded into the sky. Ships left and arrived from ports. Cars and trains with families all on their separated journeys. Infinite possibilities.

He turned his gaze to the grass springing up and spreading out away from the glass of the city. The growing season was coming. Flowers blooming, the sun on his face. Storms were frequenting the skies more often, the grounds soft and supple from the rain. 

He closed his eyes and smiled to himself as he felt the ache deep in his bones. Today was a good day to die.

"How old are you now?" A familiar voice pricked his ears. "And yet you can still cross your legs so wound up like that without pain?"

He opened his eyes. "Leonard." His husband.

"Who else is it gonna be?" 

He raised an eyebrow and took in what was most likely a hallucination. Leonard's hair was grey and hands worn, circa their encounter with the Klingons just before the Enterprise was decommissioned. Just before Jim went missing.

His red uniform was smooth, unwrinkled against his body. A look of mischief filled his eyes, a rare sight but a welcome one. He'd accept anything after all the years.

"You do realise that this isn't real, and therefore there is no point in conversing with you,"

Leonard feigned hurt with a hand on his heart, "I came here to give you a peaceful send-off and here I am being insulted by the man I call my husband,"

"The statistical probability of seeing you as a hallucination, in a much younger state than I left you in, is impossible, " 

"We have done many impossible things over the years,  and besides, the last time I knew, you don't have conversations with hallucinations," He crossed his arms and sat on the wall to a raised flower bed.

"What is your suggestion then?"

"I'm an angel, sent from God, to convince you to come along and die,"

"There are two faults with your proposal,"

"Two?"

"Yes, two," He said. "That is a very Christian focused theory, Leonard, and as you know my belief systems are of Surak's teachings and Judaism,"

"Last time I checked, Christians and Jews have an overlap in a religious book, our old testament, your Torah,"

Spock nodded.

"And ain't the story of Abraham in there, where he was told by God he was gonna have a kid of his own,"

"Yes, your point being?"

"And ain't the Exodus story, the one o' Moses, have God showing themselves to Moses to convince him to free the Jews,"

"These are theologically correct, Leonard, but I am still waiting for a point," He smiled again, he missed their debates.

"If those events happened in our religious books then what's saying it ain't happening right now, bringing me to you," 

"I didn't know you believed these tales so strongly, from what I believe these tales are to learn lessons from, not to take any literal meaning. And both of your examples were God showing themselves, and we both know you are not God," He looked at him. "Therefore you're not here."

"My second point was that I am ready to die, and God, being all-seeing, would know that," 

Leonard got off the wall. The look of mischief replaced by concern and love. Death had always been a sensitive subject for him. One of the most common disagreements was regarding Spock's longer lifespan. And it didn't matter how many times he told him that they could have a relationship just like any other, he knew he'd never let the subject go.

"I do have one more question," Spock continued. 

"What?"

"Your belief in angels, does it encompass the idea of the dead becoming them if they have lived good lives?"

The air wavered between them as their emotions poured into it. He thought they were both glad they knew some things without words.

"Yes,"

"Then that means that to get to me you must have died, which is counterintuitive to your plan of convincing me to die,"

"Why?"

He shuddered, his eyes filling with tears as his hands shook. "Why? Why do you think the knowledge that you died alone, without seeing me or having me by your side as you left this world,  would ease me into death?"

The image of a fragile Leonard, delirious from pain medication, calling for him with his dying breaths flashed to the forefront of his mind. He shook his head to rid himself of it but only made it clearer as the silence dragged on.

Leonard's face broke into a slight smile to ease him. He stepped towards him and reached his hands out to him.

"I knew you'd say something like that, so I want you to know I was at peace," He said. "After one hundred and eighty-three years, Spock, I was very fulfilled and welcomed it, just like your doing now," 

Their eyes locked and words ceased. Spock's head cleared, like all he needed was a conversation with him to clear up all the metaphorical mud in his head.

"Come home to me, Spock,"

And he did. Standing up from his position on the terrace and fitting perfectly into his arms like he always did. 

His hands traced the stubble on his chin as Leonard carded a hand through his hair, now black again due to his soul matching the time period. Their lips touched in a simple kiss and everything felt complete.

The sunrise dissolved away with the sounds of spring. And Spock was home once again in Leonard's arms.

And that's it! I got inspired by that scene in Beyond where AOS Spock saw a picture of the original crew and my angsty bittersweet brain got this question. How did Spock Prime die and how can I make that queer and peaceful?

I hope you enjoyed this, I enjoyed writing this!

[popculturebuffet]

House of Mouse: The Stolen Cartoons Review (Patreon Review)

Hello all you happy people! It’s Patreon Review Time. Since my 5 dollar or higherr patreons get 1 review a month, Kevin my 10 dollar patreon is using one of his to celebrate the 20th anniversary of House of Mouse by having me review a random episode a month. And for this month we’re going all the way back to the start with The Stolen Cartoons!

I already introed house of mouse back when I reviewed “The Three Cablleros” episode but for a refresher: House of Mouse is a 2001 cartoon about Mickey and Co running a club. Mickey is host, Minnie plans the show and runs the books, Donald tends to the VIP”s and co owns the club with Mickey, Goofy is head waiter,  Daisy runs guest services, Horace is technical support, Clarabelle is a gossip monger with no clear actual job, and Max is Valet. The show was used to repackage shorts from the short lived show Mickey mouseworks, using the club setting as a wraparound and said club was attentend by all the various characters from the disney canon. It’s as awesome as it sounds. 

The voice cast, which I didn’t intro thorughly last time, was equally awesome with all the actors for the characters at the time, all legends in the industry. Wayne Allwine as Mickey,who played the character from the late 70′s to his death, Russi Taylor as Minnie and the Triplets, who did the same and was also married to wayne, Tony Anselmo, who should be thorughly familiar to readers of this blog and donald duck fans as his voice since Ducktales, Voice Actress Tress Macneile as Daisy, likewise,  Jason Marsden as Max and Voice Acting Legend Jim Cummings as Pete. All except Allweine i’ve profieled before on this blog in various other series, but Wayne, outisde of a very minor role in black cauldron, only voiced Mickey, and to me is the defntiive voice for the guy, though Chris is getting close. 

The other notable members of the cast i havent’ covered are April Winchell, who while tremendous, I will save for an episode Clarabelle is actually in more, and Bill Farmer. I have a great amount of Love for Bill and like everyone here, he was a vertran of the industry by the time he showed up in this series. His defining roll far and away is goofy, who was, to my delighted surprise his FIRST voice audition, having studided PInto Colving’s voice well to the point you can barely tell the difference between the two, and having inherited the roll around the same time as Russi and Tony. He’s the voice of Goofy I and most kids from the 80′s onward have grown up with and is the best at the roll by far, having chances for depth and nuance Pinto wasn’t allowed with the Goofy Movies and other works. IN general he’s just THE goofy to me. He’s also the voice of horace and pluto, and currently voices Hop Pop in Amphibia which is super noteworthy as looking at his filmography like a lot of the sensational 6′s va’s he’s only voiced goofy or Pluto for most of his career. But hey like Tony, if you only do one charcter might as well be the fucking best at it. He also has a show on Disney Plus with him and dogs I need to watch yesterday. 

So with our cast out of the way, and not much history to go into, join me after the cut and we’ll see how House of Mouse got it’s start and if it was a good one. 

Breaking from my usual format for House of Mouse and doing the shorts as they come up int he main story for two reasons: The first is that the shorts are integral to the plot and the second is that there’s way more main story this time around than usual, likely to properly set things up. 

So we open at the House of Mouse with Mickey Adressing the club and showing off the general premise of this being a club for all of the various heroes and villains of disney to hang out and what not. He also presents the house rules which are no smoking (Fair and should’ve always been a thing), no villianous schemes and no eating the other guests, all helpfully demonstrated as he says them. We also get to see the others in action: Minnie handling the schedule and the crew, Donald welcoming the guests, and Daisy running the desk and getitng brainwashed by Jafar into giving him a table. Max also is providing his job as Valet which surprised me because I genuinely thought he didn’t join the cast till season 2.. despite the fact he’s right there in the credits.. which are the same for ALL THREE SEASONS. 

So things are going well.. so naturally that’s when Pete shows up to try and ruin things. Look he’s having a hard time after the divorce.. several years ago. Okay maybe he’s always just been a dick and that’s why he’s divorced in the first place. Point is he naturally wants to shut the club down, boot them out, and wreck up the place like any natural cartoon villian or real estate scum bag landlord. Pete just happens to be both because he can multitask. .and because it’s basically the same thing you just have to be animated for one of them.  Thankfully whoever the previous Landlord was, i’m going with Shere Kahn given the setting, his roll in tailspin and the fact the obvious candidate, scrooge, would make no sense here given a later episode where he guest stars, wrote into the contract that as long as the show goes on, they can stay in business. Pete stews over this and naturally plans to stop the show while Minnie, in a cute bit, comforts a nervous mickey and just tells him to play some cartoons. So...

Pluto Gets the Paper: Wet Cement and Donald’s Dynamite: Magic Act I”m covering both of these at once. But as I said the animated shorts this time are one big sized one and two of the shorter ones to make more room for the story. Which is fair: this is the first episode, and thus needs to set up the premise. The series isn’t story driven but your first episode should still feel like one, ease you into the world and get you situated and THEN can do the normal format. It’s also in the episode’s favor as the heavier story focus meant a BETTER story than most season 1 episodes, on par with the two season 3 episodes i’ve covered so far. 

The shorts themselves are fine. So far this is the only Pluto Short i’ve liked as it has a neat enough gaga: Pluto has to get the paper in wet cement. Why did the paperboy throw it in wet cement instead of in the driveway, I dunno but given this short is well.. short and just meant to deliver on some quick gags, I’m not going to question it. It’s the first Pluto short i’ve covered without any dog sexual harassment, i’m not looking a gift dog in the mouth. 

The other short short played right after is part of a series where Donald ends up trying to get rid of a round bomb that shows up wherever he is....

It’s pretty damn funny, though being a huge Donald fan i’m obviously biased, but even removing my donald duck brand sunglasses, I will concede this was objectively fun.

But the cartoons stop as, true to the title, they’ve gone missing! Horace is found tied up, the cartoons are gone and Pete is obviously responsible. and hilariously so as the rope has his name on it and he says “I don’t know horace horsecollar” There are a LOT of good gags in this one, i’m leaving a lot out for time’s sake. 

So Mickey and Minnie come up with a plan: Mickey sends the.. Quackstreet Boys.... to stall. Now it may shock you but I actually LIKE the backstreet boys. Not to an extreme amount but I did grow up with them, and even now find their music pretty damn good. No my issue is this parody is weak, mostly running entirely on the title pun. The most I can give them credit for is using the outfits from their second album cover. No I wasn’t kidding I did grow up with them. You saw that everywhere so even if I didn’t enjoy their music then and now, i’d know it. But it just feels really weak, like they had no idea what to DO with the boys and instead just slapped them in a lame parody. It dosen’t help i’m not a fan of the classic version of the boys outside of the comics, as I feel later productions should’ve had them actually be distinct, and it took until 2017 to pull that off with the reboot, something I fear may be undone in future productions. Please.. don’t.. you can have Cristina Vee voice them all, I don’t care about the voice I just want to be able to tell them a apart. So yeah I don’t like it but it dosen’t drag the episode down. Just something I wanted to have a moan about. 

So they split up: Mickey, Minnie and Goofy go to shoot a cartoon while Donald runs the club. Naturally he rebrands.. but what really is telling is everyone boos him when he tries to mc.. just for not being Mickey. While Donald does have a massive inferiority complex here, desperately wanting to one up mickey.. with moments like this it’s hard not to see why> He’s JUST as big a star, just as talented , maybe not as nice but just as likeable. He even co-owns the club. But ironically only Mickey Himself, and Daisy of Course, treat him like an equal. To everyone else it’s Mickey’s world and he’s just the sidekick. It’s no wonder he spend sthe entire show desperately trying to outdo mickey: he doesn’t hate the guy, even if he wouldn’t admit it.. but he just wants to be loved too. Sure it’s part ego.

Mickey does return though with the new cartoon. And our only sizeable one so. 

Hickory Dickory Mickey: This is a REALLY good one with a simple enough premise; Goofy wants Mickey to take him to the airport at 6am tomorrow.. which Mickey balks at. 

Seriously i’ve woken up at 3-4am to go to the airport or on road trips. Waking up at 5:30 is pretty standard. Goofy also has good reason to ask as he once BROKE MICKEY OUT OF JAIL. And as seen up top the flashback is done in black and white AND with their old models. I just.. love everything about this and it had to have taken extra effort to make new models for the old models and thus extra money for a quick joke. So kudos best part of the episode. But with his hands tied Mickey is forced to take him and Goofy leaves him his clock which won’t stop ticking. So we get just.. nonstop good gags as Mickey tries to sleep with standouts being his trying to drown it out only to get the tick station, the tock station on the radio and the clock channel on the tv. He also tries to mail it and naturally it comes back thanks to a kangaroo when he ships it to Australia..a nd then get’s progressively batshit as he mails it to HADES (comes back in a puff of smoke) and to the 1920′s (It comes back in black and white with arms and legs). It’s just.. really damn good and I suggest seeking it out. I have liked other shorts better but this was a good one. 

Pete still gloats as they’ll need more cartoons.. only for one to fall out of his jacket and Mickey to shake the rest out. We then get a fun chase between the two, SO many good jokes, my favorite being him dressing up as a dalmation only for Cruella to take measurements, before being cornered by the three and the elephant from tarzan who throws him out.. right next to pepper-ann and her mom “Don’t touch the villian dear”. Good crossover.. and another show that like House of Mouse is not on disney plus don’t ask me why. 

So our heroes win, we get our usual sponsorship and unusually we see the guests leave, a nice bit I wish they did more. All’s well that ends well. 

Final Thoughts: This episode was fantastic. It introduces the cast well, sets up our villian, our basic premise and while only having one major cartoon, uses that as a plot point and it’s a damn good one. A fantastic start to the series and frankly the best place to start if your curious about the show. I’d like to thank Kev for sponsoring this review. If you’d like your own review you can look at comissoin details on my blog or get one guaranteed every month by becoming a 5 dollar patreon. You get one guaranteed review a month, acess to my discord server for my patreons, and to pick a short when I do birthday specials. And contributing to my patreon gets me closer to my stretch goals, even one dollar helps. Next goal not only gets reviews of the super ducktales mini series, but also a darkwing duck episode EVERY MONTH. And with the plug done, i’ll see you at the next rainbow. 

[wiseabsol]

Karrin Murphy is going to be fine.

No, really, you guys. She’s going to be okay.

Here’s what killing her off for a book or two accomplishes for Jim Butcher:

- Dresden has more manpain to deal with. Is this annoying and cheap after pulling this same stunt with Susan and Lash? God, yes. But Butcher loves seeing Dresden in pain and pushing him to darker and darker places, and taking away Murphy helps accomplish that. It also means that Dresden has lost one of his voices of reason and his most stalwart allies, so expect him to flail around more in the future (that or he’s going to be forced to make smarter choices, since he no longer has Murphy to consult).

- Murphy was handicapped from the injuries she received in prior books. While the Shroud of Turin could have helped with this, and while it would have been nice to have a disabled character in our main cast for diversity, Butcher...kind of didn’t think of that. But Murphy becoming an einherjar gives her body a reset, and will give her a longer lifespan to match Harry’s (let’s be real, Harry is probably going to be immortal by the end of this, he has everything else going for him). And this is happening only a few books before the BAT, so it can be argued that the remaining vanilla mortals needed a buff to face it (personally, I don’t like that everyone has to have magic--especially Marcone, because he’s way more interesting without magic--but Butcher runs his stories on genre logic, and genre logic says to give everyone Eleventh-Hour Superpowers to deal with the escalation creep). Plus, the einherjar specifically return to the world to fight in Ragnarok. Pretty sure the BAT will qualify as that.

- Butcher dragged out the Will They/Won’t They aspect of Harry’s and Murphy’s relationship for as long as he possibly could (10+ books). Then he ran into the problem of, “Oh no, now they’re together and happy, how do I make this interesting?” And like many writers facing this problem, he throws in another obstacle to keep them apart--an obstacle which, to be clear, has to seem insurmountable to our hero, because if it isn’t, Harry is spending the next book fighting to get Murphy back, rather than engaging with the plot.

- Murphy was a vanilla mortal who saw tons of the magical world, helped organize the Paranet, was not a part of any Accorded Nation, and was a cop in Special Investigations. She would have been a solid, maybe even PERFECT point of contact between the mortal and magical worlds, now that the two are colliding (especially where bureaucracy and the Librarians are involved). Without her, there is going to be more tension between the two sides, which means there will be more conflict for Butcher to exploit. Also, this new society that Dresden and the others are setting up is going to be named after her. I’m calling it now.

- Murphy and Dresden were both getting pinned by Special Investigations about the vault robbery. Murphy dying--and how she died--is going to thrown that situation in disarray.

- Ramirez and, by extension, the White Council, believe that Harry is sleeping with Lara. This is part of why the White Council believes that he is being corrupted by the White Court and Winter. Now Mab has set up a betrothal between Harry and Lara, which seemingly confirms the White Council’s theory and fears. And Mab is only able to do that because Murphy is dead. So not only does it aggravate an existing issue, but it sets up another subplot to explore. It also contributes to what will probably be some sort of time skip. Notice how the marriage is set for a year away, and the starborn explanation will also only be revealed to Harry after another year.     

- If Dresden is going to travel to an alternate timeline where he is evil in Mirror, Mirror, then Murphy will probably be there and hunting him. The emotional impact of this would hit differently if Murphy was still alive in the main timeline. Not only will Dresden have to talk other!Murphy down from shooting him, but he’ll also be doing this fun (read: heartbreaking) thing where he is reliving how far they came in their relationship in his timeline, and be longing for her, even though he knows that this isn’t his Murphy. If his Murphy was still alive, this conflict would be played for laughs. Instead, it’s tragic. 

- Murphy not being able to finish telling Harry, “I love you,” and the two of them never Soulgazing are gifts to deliver to the readers at a later date. If Butcher was going to keep Murphy dead, both of these things would have happened earlier in the book to drive in the tragedy of her death. Murphy’s death was also anticlimactic, and Butcher followed it up by not giving her a proper funeral with her clan and former coworkers in attendance. To me, this signaled that we weren’t meant to take her death seriously, because so little effort was put into selling it to us. In short: this is not how you send off a character as important to the story as Murphy is. This is just how you Put Her on a Bus for a while.

In conclusion, Butcher is going to get a ton of mileage over Murphy being dead. But I can’t imagine that she’s going to stay that way, given that she’s one of the leads in the series, and Ragnarok is right around the corner.

Edit 1: Also, not enough characters got to tease them about finally getting together. Barely anyone knew, let alone reacted to it, even though they’d been waiting on this for years. Since when has Butcher ever resisted tormenting Dresden? 

Edit 2: Murphy is also our main female character. Only Mab, Molly, and now Maggie rival her in terms of importance and impact. I don’t buy that they don’t have thick as hell plot armor. 

Edit 3: There has been talk about Dresden still needing to break some of the laws of magic. Could be there’s a route there to get Murphy back (@gonewiddershins suggested memory manipulation on a mass scale, because Murphy can only come back when no one remembers her anymore. Also, Soulgazing brings back missing memories, I guess?).

Edit 4: What does Odin need Murphy’s body for, anyway? Wouldn’t taking her soul suffice? Seems sus. Especially when burying the body is such an important part of the grieving process. This seems like “Ghost Story,” but in reverse, with Harry being the one left behind.

Edit 5: I’m calling it now. Murphy is going to ride in on a winged horse to rescue Harry’s ass in a later book, with “Ride of the Valkyries” playing in the background. Maybe this will even happen at the Dresden/Lara wedding, because there is no way that that’s actually happening.

Edit 6: What purpose would keeping Murphy dead serve? Dresden loses his fifth love interest? To set up an endgame relationship with either his former apprentice or his half-brother’s half-sister? Like just imagine the amount of cringe from Thomas for a second. It would be enough to finish killing him! (Not knocking these ships, by the way! It just doesn’t seem like Dresden is interested in either of them romantically at this point, and it’s really late in the game to pivot on this point.)  

[megan0013]

🍿 for the fall ask please?

have a Halloween movie marathon

There are two cars parked in the driveway and a dozen more lining the cul-de-sac when they return home from a rare, romantic dinner at Benoit’s late one Saturday night. And while the changeling usually doesn’t mind too much, tonight is the exception - because he’s politely asked Jim’s friends to park on the street about a dozen times already and it’s raining. Hard. So hard, in fact, that Walter and Barbara are soaked all the way down to the bone by the time they sprint across three lawns, fly up the steps, and burst through their own front door.

Needless to say, Walter is less than thrilled to find the living room packed full of chattering teenagers.

“Mr. Palchuk, Miss Wang,” Walter says, tone teetering precariously on the edge of irritated and super-freaking-pissed-off as he drips all over the foyer. “I’m going to ask one last time - please refrain from parking in the driveway.”

Mary doesn’t look impressed, and Steve just blinks up at him from where he’s sitting on the floor with one arm slung over Aja’s shoulders and the other pressed up against Eli’s. “It was raining, Strickler. Didn’t want my girl to get wet.”

“Oh, Steve.” Aja grins and tilts her head to his shoulder. “My sweet warrior oaf.”

Walter’s eyebrows narrow, but Barbara’s wet hand slipping into his is enough to keep him from going postal. “It’s okay.” She smiles and shrugs, unconcerned. “A little rain isn’t going to kill us.”

“Barbara…”

She ignores him, turning her attention to the ‘kids’ camped out on their couch and sprawled all over the laminate. “What are you guys up to?”

“Old movie marathon,” Jim says from the armchair he and Claire have somehow managed to squeeze into together. His gaze briefly shifts to his mother before snapping right back to the tv. “Halloween edition.”

It’s still September. “Ahh.”

“We watched 13 Ghosts first, then House of Wax,” Toby tells them. “We just started House on Haunted Hill.”

“I’m in this one!” Oh, shit.

Walter frowns. He really hadn’t meant to say it aloud, and the tips of his ears suddenly go a brilliant shade of pink as fourteen heads swivel simultaneously in his direction. He clears his throat.

“You’re in this movie?” Toby’s brow quirks skeptically. “Which character?”

“Well, I didn’t really… I was only an extra,” Walter amends carefully. “There were a few members of the cast staying at the same hotel I was, and we got to know each other, uh, rather well.”

Barbara snorts back a laugh.

“Wait,” Toby says, eyes widening. “Are you saying you knew Vincent Price?”

“Maybe.”

“Omigosh. Tell me everything!”

“I don’t think…” Walter trails off, uncomfortable under the teen’s scrutinizing stare. He glances at Barbara but she’s absolutely no help, and only grins wider as his cheeks flush red.

“We were extras in Scream 2,” Douxie chirps helpfully, nudging Zoe with his shoulder. “And I Know What You Did Last Summer. ‘97 was a fun year.”

“Yeah, it was.” Zoe grins slyly back at the wizard. “We were also in Beverly Hills Ninja. But don’t ask Douxie about that one. He’s still embarrassed by that little crush he had on -“

“Okay!” Douxie chuckles loudly, cutting off whatever embarrassing secret Zoe had been about to spill. “Would you two care to join us? I think there’s some space over there between Darcy and Shannon.”

Walter shakes his head but, beside him, Barbara is nodding vigorously. “Yes, we’d love to,” she says, glancing at her son for approval. This is his little shindig, after all. “If that’s okay with you?”

“Of course, Mom. You’re always welcome.” Jim beams up at her as Krel hits the pause button on the remote. He smirks at Walter. “And Strickler, too. I guess.”

The changeling rolls his eyes.

“Great!” Barbara grins and begins dragging Walter toward the stairs. “We’ll just change into some dry clothes real quick. Do you want me to make some popcorn while I’m up?”

Her offer is met with a very enthusiastic, totally unanimous, “No!”

[cami-chats]

The New Assistant

Fandom: Marvel, Jurassic World

Pairing: Claire Dearing/Tony Stark

Warnings: Mentions of kidnapping and attempted murder in keeping with Iron Man 1

Written for @periwinklepromise. Also on AO3

"This is Claire," Pepper said.

"What did you do, clone yourself?" Tony asked, looking at Claire. From the straightened and perfectly cut red hair, down to her low heels and pristine dress suit, she looked very similar to Pepper. Not to mention the no-nonsense look on her face. "Seriously Pep, she could be your sister. Wait, is she your sister? Please say yes; it would make me very happy."

Instead of asking why it would make him happy-- because Pepper was a spoilsport-- she said, "She's your new assistant. She has excellent management skills, and god knows she'll need it do deal with you." Pepper turned to Claire and handed her a tablet with a window already pulled up. "This is Tony's schedule for the day. I'll be in my office looking over paperwork, so I'll be available if you need me."

Claire dipped her head in acknowledgement, taking the tablet from her. Her eyes flitted over the screen as Pepper walked away, and a moment later, she looked up at Tony with a polite smile. "You have a meeting with Mr. Kenjiro Fujikawa in thirty minutes. Where would you like to be briefed for your meeting?"

So she wasn't fucking around. Tony's assistants before Pepper had always thought they were being serious, but there had been no getting around the fact that he was their boss, and as a personal assistant, they were supposed to do things the way he wanted. He should've known to expect more from a person that Pepper had hand-picked, but everyone made mistakes-- even Pepper. "Here's fine," he said, because they were already in his office, and there was no point in picking a fight with Claire now, when he did need to prepare for that meeting. He'd had a lot of assistants that didn't even know he had to prepare for big meetings, and it had always been a pain in the ass.

By the time Claire's first day of work was done, Tony was suitably impressed. He hadn't gone out of his way to make things difficult, but he also wasn't a kid anymore. It was more important for him to get his shit done than it was to see if she could handle him on his worst day; it's not like he'd been at his worst in quite a while, so hopefully she would never be put to the test. Claire had been able to keep up, and she was able to adjust to the way Tony wanted things.

"So," Pepper said, first thing when Tony answered his phone, "what do you think?"

"I'm keeping her."

Pepper's voice was expectedly smug as she replied, "Good to hear. Does that mean I don't have to check in on you tomorrow to make sure your entire schedule hasn't collapsed?"

"Don't go crazy, now," Tony said. "There's always the chance for things to collapse around here."

"Still, I think I'll take my chances. This is what you get for promoting me."

"Yes, and I'm sure I'll constantly regret it."

"Claire really is good at what she does," Pepper said.

"And what exactly is it that she does? I took a peek at her resume, and there was nothing about being an assistant on there."

"If you read her resume, surely you could figure it out."

"I skimmed it," Tony said. Mostly, he'd been looking to see who else she'd been an assistant for, and he'd found no one. He hadn't looked further than that.

"She used to do administrative work," Pepper said, since she knew that Tony was more likely to pester her for an answer than he was to go back to her resume and look for himself.

"Then what's she doing here?"

"The last charity she helped turned out to be less than kosher. She wants a break."

"Ah." Tony could understand that. He'd taken some time off from the company when he felt like everything he'd done had been a colossal failure. Granted it hadn't been what SI needed at the time, but he understood needing a break all the same. That being said, he hoped she stayed longer than just a 'break'. Good assistants were hard to come by. "I'm still not convinced you didn't clone her so you could be in two places at once."

"If I could clone myself, one of me would be resting at all times," Pepper said, which was a good point, but Tony couldn't relate. If he had two of himself, he'd be able to get so much more work done.

*

"Mister Stark, there’s a flight you have to be on in half an hour."

"It's my plane, isn't it? Can't it just leave whenever I show up?"

"Would you like to personally explain to flight control why your schedule is more important than the hundred other planes in the area?" Claire asked, reaching for her phone.

Tony knew that she wasn't bluffing. He'd thought she was bluffing the first half dozen times they'd done this, but he'd finally learned his lesson. "No, no, that's fine," he said, hurriedly saving the document that was up and tossing tools back in the closest box-- DUM-E would fix it if it was the wrong one. "Look at me, I'm closing everything down. I'm practically out the door."

Claire put her phone back in her pocket. "Your bag is already packed and on the plane," she said, pulling her tablet up and tapping at it. "Would you like to continue expanding your modern art collection?"

"The Pollock, right?"

"Yes."

"What do you think?"

"It's overpriced, and you already have some of his work. I think your collection would be perfectly fine without it."

Tony was tempted to say that he wanted it anyways. "Eh, pass on it, then."

"When you get back, you have a presentation you need to work on, and you're supposed to do a walkthrough of the R&D labs in Manhattan."

"Ugh, can't we do one miserable job at a time?"

"You like the walkthroughs," Claire said, her voice devoid of any frustration, but he knew her well enough by now to see the spark in her eyes.

"I meant the presentation, but sure, we can talk about the walkthroughs," Tony said with a shrug. He walked to the door, and Claire followed. "There's nothing good about New York. The weather's horrible; I think it's effected all of their brains. Seriously, you should see some of the designs they've come up with lately."

"I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a good design and a bad one," she reminded him.

"I think you'd be able to tell the difference anyways," he muttered.

Claire didn't let him take a seperate car the way he wanted to, and he understood why when she continued briefing him on the upcoming weapon's demonstration and what he'd be doing when he got back.

When they stopped, she gave a friendly wave to Jim and told Tony, "Try to come back on time. I have a feeling we'll both be annoyed if I have to rework it if you miss your flight."

*

Funnily enough, it was one of the things Tony thought about when he woke up in the cave. Not the first time. The first time, he was in pain and trying to figure out where the hell he was and what the fuck had happened. The second or third day though, before he knew what he was going to do, he thought about Claire saying that, and he laughed.

Yinsen looked at him and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Something my assistant said before I left," he said, shaking his head.

*

When he got back to the States, Pepper and Claire were both waiting as he walked down the ramp. Pepper, he had expected. He was surprised to see Claire, though. He'd thought that she would've moved on to a different job, since being his assistant had been a temporary position for her.

He exchanged a few words with Pepper that amounted to 'I care about you and that scared me out of my wits'. Then he turned to Claire. Her eyes were similarly red-rimmed, as Pepper's had been, and she'd pulled her hair back instead of straightening it like she usually did.

"So, is my schedule in complete disarray?" he asked.

"You have no idea. I did um, clear any personal appearances for the next six months."

"I'm not that injured."

"There's a lot to catch up on after you're back to work. Personal appearances are not a priority."

Tony would be lying if he said he wasn't excited to get out of personal appearances-- they were easily his least favorite part of what he did for the company.

"I agree," Pepper said, coming back with Happy by her side. "The most important thing right now is to make sure you're okay. Happy's going to take us to the hospital."

"No."

"What?" Claire said, frowning at him-- and she wasn't the only one.

"Tony, you have to go to the hospital. Jim passed along your medical report from the military doctors, and he made it clear that you need another visit."

"Medical files are confidential, so you're both guessing that I need another visit," Tony said, even though he knew that Rhodey had looked at the details. He didn't want anyone poking around the arc reactor in his chest, and that included doctors.

Claire's frown deepened, like she knew he was hiding something.

Pepper and Happy started in on him about how he had to go to the hospital, and if he tried to refuse, they were going to drag him there. Tony knew that it was an empty threat, but he also knew that they would do their level best to force him. If it got bad enough, they'd probably hire someone to come to his house, which he was even less a fan of.

Claire being exactly who she was, put it in Tony's schedule, along with a visit to a therapist. It was someone who usually only worked with actors and musicians, but it meant that they were trustworthy to not spill any secrets.

Tony negotiated yes to the doctor, and no to the therapist. Claire nodded, and then scheduled a different therapist for two weeks later. When Tony got upset with her, she glared at him. Claire had never glared at him before, and then she said, "What part of 'kidnapped' has gone over your head? It's a little thing we like to call 'trauma'. Even if you go once and he says you're fine, you need to go."

"If I agree to go to that appointment, will you go with me to the benefit tomorrow?"

"Deal."

"Deal," Tony echoed with a grin. Pepper had said she'd go to the benefit on his behalf, but since she'd gotten her own invitation, he didn't think that would work. She wouldn't be there on his behalf; she'd just be there.

*

Claire dealt with the discovery of the armor pretty well-- a lot better than Pepper did, when she ended up finding out-- which surprised Tony. He'd thought that she'd freak out. What surprised Tony more was when she hauled off and punched Stane in the face. The man was in a massive metal suit, and Claire punched him. It didn't solve the situation and Tony still had to go repulsor to repulsor with him so that he was incapacitated when Shield got there to arrest him, but it was beautiful to behold.

"I can't believe you punched him," Tony said, trying to ignore all the feelings that wanted to send him into hiding. He'd known Stane his entire life, and... god, he didn't know what he was going to do. Claire had talked about investigations and lost inventory, and Tony was just trying to hold himself together.

"It didn't do much good," Claire said. She shifted the ice pack on her knuckles to a more comfortable position.

"Still, it was nice to see." Tony loved Pepper, but she didn't really do violence. Claire, on the other hand, hadn't hesitated. Tony had one hundred percent not expecting it. Claire had squared up like she was always ready for an eventuality like this. "You know, we never had that drink."

"I considered the attack on terrorists that night to be a good replacement for talking over drinks," she said, slanting a smile at him.

"You've got a weird idea about dates."

"Is that what you getting me a drink was supposed to be? A date?"

"Well technically, you going to the benefit with me was a date. The drink was to make it better."

"And since we left the drinks behind so you could give the armor a test drive, I think it counts as a continuation of the date," Claire said.

*

"You realize I have to quit now, right?" Claire said.

"What? No, absolutely not."

She rolled her eyes at him, but the fact that she was spending a lazy morning after in his bed took off the sting. "I am not going to be in a relationship with my boss."

"Aw, c'mon, you went on a date with your boss, and we both know that this isn't a matter of sexual favors and preferential treatment. What does it matter if you keep working for me?"

"I'm either going to date you or be your assistant. I'm not doing both."

"But you're so good at being my assistant," Tony whined.

Claire snorted. "In between your Iron Man duties and the company, you need two assistants. I'm not qualified to be two people. Besides, I found a charity I'm willing to work with, and I have an interview next week."

"When were you going to tell me that you were quitting?" Tony asked, failing to not sound offended.

"Last night. You distracted me."

"I think you have to give two weeks notice for this sort of thing." Having never been employed by someone other than his own company, he wasn't sure, but he'd heard about it enough times that he thought it was true.

"I told both Pepper and Human Resources, and they are looking for a new assistant fo you as we speak. Well, HR is. Pepper's probably busy with her own work, since it's not her job to find you an assistant."

Tony frowned. "She found you."

"We're friends, and I told her when I quit my last job. She didn't act as a head hunter and seek me out."

"Huh." He hadn't known about that, and he felt like he should have. "You're friends?"

"From college." She pushed herself up and stretched her arms.

Tony tugged her back down, grinning at the exasperated look she gave him. "Since I'm still your boss, I can say that our work day hasn't started yet."

"My day always starts before yours, otherwise you-" she tapped his chest pointedly "-wouldn't be anywhere on time."

"Fine, I won't get up until noon. That gives you until eleven or something, right? Right. So we can stay in bed until then, and-"

"You are ridiculous," Claire said, then she kissed him. "And I'm getting up, work or no work."

"I can't believe I signed up for this," Tony groaned. 

[hecohansen31]

For the soulmate foursome, it's clear that they all love their little girl now, but... Michael is still very cold ! It's his nature, but when she sees him so sweet with Jimmy, so cuddly with Duncan, their girl has some doubts. She needs to feel that he trusts her, by showing his true face : a lil pup full of fears and love.

(A/N): Hello there, lovelies!

How are you? 

I hope you’ll like this new piece for the foursome, I honestly love these babes and Michael in this dynamic is just UWU...

As always, if you don’t like this just shoot me an ask or a DM and I’ll rewrite it!

Have a nice reading!

WARNINGS: Mention of Work Harassment, Rejection, Slight Violence, Nightmares, Tiredness and Jim’s Idiotic Humor.

Michael was literally the embodiment of ‘are you the little spoon or the big spoon? I am a knife’ meme.

Which was something that Jim had said jokingly to you, as you had voiced your doubts towards Michael’s love for you.

You didn’t deny that he was attracted to you, at least physically, but whenever you would do something even remotely romantic, he would retreat in himself, almost frozen on the spot, and you couldn’t help but feel like he was more a puppet than actually Michael.

And he only had this behavior with you, because you saw the way he would purr as Duncan dove, almost distractedly, an hand in his hair when they were on the couch and he was checking emails, Michael immediately relaxing under him.

Or when Jimmy would make some dumb joke and Michael would laugh like he had just proclaimed an universal truth, gently holding his lover’s hand as he brought it to his lips, or when he would comfort Jimmy during his nightmares, although he had learned how to let you in.

Every sexual action never seemed to be spurred on by Michael, although by the end of the day his hard-on would wake you up on the mornings you fell asleep in his arms, but he never seemed to initiate anything with you, whereas he had no qualm dragging Jimmy in his bedroom or kissing Duncan when you both visited him in his office.

You didn’t know whether he was simply too stiff to warm up to you or you should have just given him his time.

That was what had suggested Duncan the diplomat, whereas Jimmy had gone for a more direct approach, suggesting you just tied the man to the bed and showed him a thing or two about ‘your beautiful body’.

You definitely didn’t know why you still bothered to ask Jimmy for advice.

But then Destiny decided to give you a hand, gently pushing you and Michael together.

Duncan would be gone for an entire week a business trip and that same week Jimmy had wanted to visit Medina since she would be soon leaving for a world tour of surf and he wanted to spend a bit of time together, even more when he knew the tension that staying with you and Michael would arise.

‘Everything is going to be alright’ he promised ‘… please just fuck out the tension, don’t throw knives, Duncan would be pissed if he had to redecorate’.

‘Thank you for thinking about my life, babe’ you had replied, as you had closed the door in his face ‘… suck your own dick, since you are supportive the kitchen, again’.

But strangely the first days without Jimmy and Duncan went pretty well, mostly because you and Michael stayed on your own with your own routines.

You would be leaving for work, come back by night, shower after Michael did (which meant that the water was never ‘boiling hot’ but you couldn’t hold Michael’s accountable for that… mostly with that glorious hair) and then you would dine together.

Michael would try awkwardly to ask how your day had gone and you would reply a bit less awkwardly.

And then you would go to sleep.

Each one in a separate room.

Then the third day the miracle happened.

You had just come back from work: it had been a tiring day, working with children wasn’t always easy.

That day you had also slept terribly and when you had come back home you still had papers to grade and projects to go through, which would make your night even longer no matter your need for bed and food, and a long warm shower…

You had come in the kitchen, barging in lightly more aggressively than you usually did, and you hadn’t certainly expected Michael to be there, eating softly some sweet and you couldn’t help but feel like you were intruding on his peace, immediately grabbing all the bags you had dropped and mumbling a soft ‘sorry’, as you moved away.

“No no, stay” he replied, something in his voice making you turn around, and as you came to face with him, he looked curious… almost worried “... is everything alright?”.

“Just an hard day at school” you muttered, releasing a soft breath “I do think that if it isn’t a problem I’d like to shower first, so that I can then dedicate my soul and body to going through the children’s works”.

“… sorry to hear that” and he seemed to mean it, before he pushed out a small chair next to him “… and I don’t mind it absolutely, but first do you want some of this tiramisu? It honestly tastes amazing”.

And you didn’t doubt it since it came from one of the most known bakeries of the city.

But what truly startled you was the fact Michael had just offered you one of his precious sweets and you looked at him confused as if he had grown another head, but refused politely, sure that it was a trick.

Michael would never share his sweets with anyone: he always preferred to get more than to share.

So why was he sharing it with you?

“I won’t kill you if you want a piece, I swear” he insisted “… I know that I can be… possessive on my sweets, but I just… I just think that you might need this more than I do”.

In fact, you low key felt like you might need a bit of sugar to get yourself to be better.

“… just a piece” you promised him, and he just looked at you in the eyes, honesty shining in his beautiful turquoise gems.

“Honestly you can take it all, I wouldn’t mind it”.

---

If that hadn’t been enough to scare you about Michael’s behavior, making you wonder what had made him change, something interesting had happened on Friday.

Usually Duncan would reserve that day as a day off from work with you, if his week had been calm enough: you would go out for a coffee, something rather calm and trivial, but you cherished those memories, because they made you feel comfortable and fall more in love with your beloved idiot.

You would do a similar thing with Jim, going to see him training every Wednesday and then spending time sharing a milkshake together, at your favorite diner.

You hadn’t any of this kind of things with Michael, but you knew, because you had spied the conversation, that Duncan had made him promise to cover his ‘shift’ with you on Friday, hence Michael had very ‘not genuinely’ asked you out for a coffee after you finished work.

And you were now waiting for the beautiful man to arrive, having arrived early and grading some of the papers you hadn’t been able to finish the previous days, and you had been a bit warmed up by the beautiful atmosphere of the secluded coffee.

It was a bit more expensive that the ones around the city, but you just loved it too much to notice the money you spent on it (and Duncan usually paid so…).

And as you were waiting an hand touched your shoulder, startling you but you quickly recovered thinking it was Michael and his feline-like grace but you were disappointed a you saw Mr. Tinsel, one of the fathers of your students.

Who had flirted with you at any teacher-parents meeting, to the point where you were so uncomfortable that you started to always avoid him.

But this time there was no running away.

“Mrs. (L/N)!” he called out to you with more energy than he should have, not releasing your shoulder from his grip as you raised your eyes to rank them slowly onto his greasy attire, something between a mix of ‘my wife left me because I wouldn’t shower’ and ‘this is fashionable trash’ “… so nice to see you!”.

“Absolutely” you hoped your wondering smile would make sure that he understood you weren’t feeling the same way “How is Priscilla?”.

That child was literally the original ‘problematic one’ and you could totally understand with a father like that, spoiled and brattish, but also definitely uncared and having a lack of affection in her life.

“… an angel truly” you doubted it but smiled again more out of convenience than anything else “… and very much in love, like me, with her teacher”.

‘Good Lord if you ever loved me, please please just throw a lighting on his way’ you muttered in your mind, with a wary smile to the man who sat in front of you, a distinct show that he wanted to stay, completely taking advantage of your alone moment.

“That’s actually for my partner…” you tried to say “… I am waiting for him”.

“Oh, but I don’t see him around” he gave you a charming smile, and you simply sent a worried one, checking the door, as you tried to go back to grading your papers giving Mr. Tinsel no attention, but soon your interest was caught by a small protesting ‘humph’ Mr. Tinsel released “… hey I got this lace before!”.

And as you raised your face, Michael was looming onto Mr. Tinsel, his eyes definitely burning an hole through the poor man who still stood his ground but didn’t have much choice as Michael got the chair out of his ass, making him fall onto it, with a fluid motion as he readjusted the chair closer to you, sitting on it and sending you a quick glance as you looked at the entire scene shocked.

“… hey sweetheart, sorry for being late”.

---

All those mixed signals were driving you crazy and the drop that filled and made your vase overflow was when Michael insisted on you sleeping together on Saturday night, after a movie marathon, insisting on needing a bit of help to sleep these days.

‘You wouldn’t mind, would you?’ he had asked you as you stared at him as if he had just revealed you, he was ‘the king of the world’.

‘No no’ you had almost chocked on your own saliva as you had pushed yourself to reply quickly.

And now you were in his bedroom, staring at the ceiling on your back, your hand on your stomach, aching because of the anxiety of such an intimate act that Michael regarded with the least attention, having simply slipped in bed in pajama pants and nothing more, as he curled onto one side, in a fetal position, pushing himself the furthest away from you.

In the end sleep overcame you wonderings and thoughts, but you were quickly brought back to reality as you felt something turning around in your bed, startling you and paralyzing you onto the mattress as you calmed your breath and analyzed the situation.

You immediately came to the quick conclusion that it was Michael turning around the bed, since you were in his bedroom and pushed in an upright position so that you could see what was going on.

And found Michael twisting his body in what looked like a painful memory, transformed in an awful nightmare and as you gently pushed yourself to softly brush an hand against his shoulder, aware that you had to wake him up, he snapped.

He quickly went into survival mood, gripping onto your hand in a way that pained you, pushing onto your wrist as he quickly pulled you under him, effectively stopping any movements and protests, and as his hand wrapped around your throat you found yoyrself fearing for your life.

You had never witnessed a nightmare of his.

You hadn’t even known he had such and almost cursed yourself for having used such a bold attempt till Michael’s eyes snapped open, taking in the situation and you muttered through your slow breaths.

‘It’s me, (Y/N), Michael’ and as his eyes slowly became bright eyes in the darkness of the room ‘… you are hurting me’.

And as burned, he immediately retreated his hand from your hands, definitely taking in the harshness of his action, before recognition of who you were overtook him and you immediately turned away from him, to regain your breath as you wondered what you had to do.

You were still scared by his aggressive answer but you could hear him being pained beside you, still as stone and cold as ice as you slowly moved to take a look at him, on his back and watching anything that wasn’t you, although your movement quickly caught his attention.

“Michael, are you…?” ‘ok’, ‘crazy, ‘safe’… you didn’t know what to say but Michael simply nodded your head more out of habit, than actually feeling ‘better’, and your heart chocked a bit, tightening in your chest, as you realized he had nightmare, he just hid them “… you had a nightmare, you aren’t ok, I can feel how shaken you are and I…”.

“It’s none of your business” the harshness of your words hurt you much more than is chokehold, but you couldn’t simply give up.

“It is” your voice had his same harshness as you propped onto your elbow turning onto your stomach as you softened your gaze “… you are my lover like Duncan and Jimmy and I always help them through nightmares”.

“But I am not like either of them!” he protested, not even looking at you in the eyes, and you gave him all the time in the world “… I am not cheery as Jimmy and romantic as Duncan”.

“Then you are you: elegant and algid Michael with a love for sweets and for luxurious things, I don’t really need anything else, truly, I mean… I have cheery Jim and romantic Duncan and a very very sweet Michael, I just need you the way you are”.

This seemed to breech something in Michael as he sent you a quick look to you as if to make sure that you weren’t lying.

“… I almost hurt you”.

“Also Jimmy and Duncan did, the first times they had a nightmare, it’s not you, it’s the nightmares” you explained softly, daring to let an hand out to him to settle it between you “… once I know how to deal with yours nightmares, I won’t be hurt anymore”.

Although Michael still needed more convincing, he grabbed softly your hand.

“… we are in this together” you promised him, gripping a bit tighter his hand to let him know that you were right there with him.

“I like being held when I have nightmares, not too tightly” he explained, not daring to look at you, already halfway nestling through your arms.

“… then I do think that I can do that for you”.

[allywrites360]

Treasure Planet Analysis

I recently watched this video talking about some of the visual storytelling evident in this movie, and thought I’d rewatch it a little more closely, and add some of my own thoughts!!

So firstly, there are two really prominent examples of this type of storytelling with Jim (who’s going to be the main subject of this post; he is the protagonist after all, huh?). The first is his wardrobe itself, starting out made of entirely dark colours, and the second being the shadow between his eyes which is animated at key points during the movie.

At the outset of Treasure Planet, the shadow is shown constantly, for the first fifteen minutes at least before the slightest change. This symbolizes the shadow of pain that was left when Jim’s father abandoned him (oh, and spoilers for the movie in this, obviously).

The first minor change in this shadow is the moment when Jim’s passion is ignited in something for the first time in a long time; the prospect of travelling to Treasure Planet, which Jim hopes will allow him to prove he’s worth something to his mother (a doubt that’s created by him entirely), and have a real shot at something other than resigning himself to a rebel. This spark of hope lightens the shadow for the end of that scene. This might also be a good time to mention that the shadow could be symbolic for self doubt as well. This one may be not as clear to see because of the difference in lighting, but you’ll notice if you rewatch the movie carefully.

Jim then opens up a bit, starting to let go of his past hurt as he warms up to Silver, him acting as the new father figure in Jim’s life. This is shown not through the shadow, as Jim still hasn’t fully let go of his past, or fully bonded with Silver at this time, but through the change of his clothes into a much lighter, more natural tone.

Directly following the above scene id the first time the shadow makes its’ disappearance from Jim’s face; the moment when Silver takes Jim with him on a boat ride, a parallel to the way Jim’s father left him behind. Silver, however, waits for Jim to jump in, and proceeds to bond with him by teaching him sailing (is it called sailing?).

The black coat and shadow return, however, as Jim’s guilt casts it upon him at being blamed for a crew member’s death after being accused of failing to properly fasten his line. The coat here serves to act as an emotional barrier that Jim has used since the outset of the movie as he’s moved to sit alone on the edge of the ship.

The shadow disappears later in this scene, however, as Silver encourages him, and eases his guilt. He tells Jim that he believes there is greatness in him, and hopes that one day he can “catch some of the light that’s comin’ off [Jim] that day.” the day in question being when Jim finally achieves the greatness Silver knows him to be capable of. This introduces the light and greatness motif, which continues throughout the rest of this film, showing they go hand in hand, and once Jim is able to finally step fully into the light, he’ll be able to be free of his past, and reach his full potential.

The coat remains, however, until the next morning, when, with some encouragement, he leaves it behind. This may seem just a little gag to show Jim with morph, and it could be, but it could also demonstrate that change isn't instant, depending on how deeply you want to read in to individual scenes.

The shadow comes back once again when Jim’s trust in Silver is broken, and when he’s hurt by the older man, in this scene, it’s in the form of his lamenting to his pirates that he never cared for Jim, and was merely trying to keep him off their backs. This brings back the feeling of betrayal Jim felt when his father left, as the man he cared for and trusted portrayed the fact Jim meant nothing to him. Again, brief scene, and this was the best shot I could get.

The coat notably does not make a reappearance after this scene, nor for the rest of the movie, showing that despite the hurt Jim experiences here, he has grown as a character, and is more confident in himself than he was at the start. This change remains, and is not undone, even by Silver’s selfish actions.

The shadow finally leaves a few moments later, when Jim is entrusted the map by the captain. This gives him purpose, and a goal, which allows him to move past his hurt and do what’s right, which he knows will ultimately help others. This also shows his character has grown, as he moves past his pain to take on the responsibility without hesitation.

The shadow’s returns for the remainder of the film are nearly exclusively when he is reunited with Silver, or at the very least related to him in some way. All of this ties back to the light motif I mentioned earlier, as when Jim is given encouragement by his friends (captain, doctor, Ben, etc.), he is able to step up confidently, and take on responsibilities, reaching more to his full potential. This is contrasted by Silver’s presence, the man destroying that self esteem and bringing feelings from Jim’s past up despite personal growth.

Later in the film when Jim leaves his hideout on Treasure Planet with Ben, he quite literally steps into the light to help the others (in this scene, namely to retrieve the map from the Legacy to stop Silver from reaching the treasure and harming his friends). This shows that Jim’s selfless nature will eventually be his greatest strength (and already prominently is), and will be the thing to lead him to ‘greatness’.

When the shadow is missing, in scenes such as this, Jim’s face also seems to be overall more relaxed; brow less furrowed as he lets go of the past, and stops the aspects of the shadow (such as self-doubt) that he had been casting himself.

Jim’s gun flying away during the fight scene on the ship is also symbolic of his growth; his freedom moving just beyond his grasp (as he’s dragged down by memories through Silver), but him finding a way to keep fighting and continue triumphing anyway (as shown through the inconsistent shadow).

Silver’s influence on Jim (at the moment negative, as it is directly tied to the visual element of the inclusion of the shadow), is shown vividly through the scene where Silver’s pirates restrain Jim and take the map to Treasure Planet. The shadow only appears when Jim glares at Silver, but lightens when he’s focusing on doing what’s right (fighting the pirates) rather than his hurt.

Jim assertively telling Silver that if he wants the map, he has to take him along also serves his character growth really well. He's standing firm in his own decisions, despite losing the approval of his father figure, finally becoming his own person outside of others’ expectations or notions of him, and making these decisions based on what’s right, rather than simply rebellion.

The light from the doorway to the treasure gently lightens the shadow, symbolizing Jim's belief that his pain will be dissipated by gaining the treasure, and that he will gain his mother’s pride (which was already present) as well. This is a falsehood that Silver must face as well, both accepting that the treasure was meaningless overall, and would not give them what they wanted.

This recognition is clear to the audience well before it is to the characters, which is achieved subconsciously through the scene where, while all of the pirates are gazing towards the treasure, Jim looks back at Ben and morph, his friends meaning more than the treasure he’d searched for.

The next piece of symbolism is my personal favourite from the film; Jim falling while they are with the treasure. He works to pull himself back up, but needs that final pull from someone who cares about him (Silver). This symbolizes Jim trying to move past his father’s abandonment, and step into the person he’s grown to become. But he can't do it on his own, to fully make the leap, he needs the support of a father like figure, who in this case, is Silver, choosing Jim’s life over the treasure.

The shadow, which was likely present throughout and after this scene (there were few clear frames of his face, but let’s assume it was) darkens again at Jim’s realization that Silver may leave him, which comes when the captain comments about him being put to trial. This brings up strongly his final moments with his father; this may not seem like much now, as it is a very brief scene, but it strengthens the conclusion of his time with Silver, which we’ll get to in a minute.

The shadow then disappears once and for all as Jim relies on his strengths, both internal (selflessness), and external (knowledge of mechanics), to build a solar surfer to allow him to save his friends and their ship from being destroyed. This shows him finally reaching that confidence in himself and his abilities that Jim has sought after his entire journey, and, as a result of this, he is not negatively influenced when he interacts with Silver in the form of the pirate helping him with the construction of the solar surfer. He has, at this point, nearly completed his arc, and moved past his insecurities.

Jim then falls again, in a similar way to the previous time near the treasure, however this time, he is able to keep a level head, and manages to save himself. This symbolizes more than anything his character growth, able to rely on himself to help others. He’s finally achieved that light and greatness Silver told him was inside all along. This ability to stop his fall, and confidence as a whole, is due in no small part to Silver helping him earlier in the film. He needed someone who believed in him to push him to become the fullest version of himself, and recognize the greatness he was capable of.

The solar surfer was introduced at the onset of the film, when we were reintroduced to Jim as a teenager. The source of rebellion at the start is now a means he uses to help others, and once he’s safely back on the ship, he lets it go. He’s no longer using it as a means of escapism; his friends now mean more than that did, and he literally lets his past go for them without regret, as his developed character no long has to rely on those methods of rebelling.

This time, when Jim sees Silver preparing to leave, he’s confident enough in himself, and the connection they shared to let him go without memories of the past tearing him down, and visually, without the shadow returning. He lets Silver go, because his self worth no longer lies on the approval of a mentor, but rather on who he is.

Silver also notably turns to wave to Jim as he sails off, for the first time making himself, and this event, entirely separate from his father in Jim’s mind, showing the contrast between the means of support in these figures.

The light and greatness motif comes back in their goodbye, when Silver tells Jim he’s “glowing like a solar fire.”, showing the growth he’s seen in Jim, and, unlike the first time he said something similar to this, Jim genuinely believes him. Not just in a temporary comfort naive way; Jim believe that Silver is speaking the truth, and that confidence pushes him to take a shot at a future he never believed he could have.

This motif makes one final appearance at the conclusion of the film, when he is shown wearing all white, yet another lighter change in his wardrobe in this film. This demonstrates his freedom from any burdens of the past as he finally accepts and learns to love who he truly is, and take daring shots to reach his potential, the one his mother had seen in him since ten beginning. His character  arc is now complete, and he can live happily ever after.

[blurry-fics]

Prove It

Pairing: Josh Dun x Reader

Warnings: Accusations of infidelity, manipulative behavior, profanity, angst

Word Count: 3055

Request: At the end to avoid spoilers!

Author’s Note: Lots of angst, I know and I’m sorry! I’ll try to write something nicer for next week :) Also, I tried out a new paragraph break inspired by @ohprettyweeper-fics​! It always bothers me that the asterisks aren’t centered so hopefully this will be a nice fic, feel free to let me know what you think :) Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one! (picture credit)

Josh: Late night at the studio, will be home as soon as possible. Love you

Your heart sunk as soon as you read the message from Josh. Between recording sessions, design meetings, and late night calls with Tyler about tiny album details, Josh’s schedule had left hardly any time for the two of you to be together lately. Most of your evenings were spent curled up on the couch with Jim and waiting for Josh to get home so you could have actually have dinner together.

Y/N: no worries, drum your little heart out, dun. i love you too :)

You closed your messages and switched over to Instagram to see what your friends back home were up to tonight. There wasn’t anything super exciting - mostly due to the fact that it was Tuesday - but a couple of them had shared photos of their dogs. You decided to join in on the trend and post a cute picture of Jim for your friends to see, as well as the other thousands of followers you had amassed from being known as “Josh’s partner”.

By the time you finished posting the picture with a caption about spending the night in, minus the part about Josh not being there, Tyler had also taken the opportunity to post to his Instagram story. Eager to see what him and Josh were up to, you clicked on it. Your heart dropped as you realized it wasn’t him and Josh at the studio, but a video of Mark standing in front of a mural with Tyler’s voice clearly behind the camera. Josh was nowhere in sight.

That didn’t bode well.

You didn’t even take a moment to consider if you were acting irrationally before you dialed Tyler’s number. Your feet tapped quickly against the edge of the coffee table as you waited for him to pick up. It only took a couple rings before Tyler’s voice was carrying through the phone.

“Y/N?”

“Yeah, hi.”

“Is everything ok?”

“I’m not sure,” you said, chewing on the edge of your thumb. “Is Josh with you?”

“No, I haven’t seen him since we left the studio.”

“Did he say where he was going?”

“Is everything ok?”

“I don’t know, Tyler,” you huffed. “Can you please just answer the question?”

“He said he was heading home. Will you please tell me what’s going on?” Tyler snapped.

“I just- Josh said that you guys were staying late at the studio, but that obviously wasn’t the case because you and Mark are downtown.”

“You think he’s lying to you?” His tone had switched entirely. Sometimes it was easy to forget Tyler had been your friend long before you dated Josh.

“I don’t know. Maybe. It’s hard not to assume the worst.”

“Do you need to talk about it?”

“No, I don’t want to make a huge deal out of something that could just be a miscommunication. I’ll talk to him when he gets home, whenever that is.”

“Ok. I’m sorry, Y/N.”

“This isn’t your fault, Ty. Go enjoy your night.”

“Will you keep me updated?”

You sighed. Although Tyler was your friend, you didn’t really feel like you should drag him into the middle of your relationship drama.

“We’ll see what happens. Like I said, I really don’t want to make this a big deal if it’s nothing.”

“Ok, but you know I’m here for you, right?”

“Always,” you smiled. “I’ll talk to you later, ok?”

“Don’t forget about lunch on Wednesday!”

“I never could.”

“Bye, Y/N.”

“Bye.”

You set your phone down on your lap and rubbed at your temples. Josh hadn’t given you any sort of estimate about when he would be home and it was already nearing 9 p.m.

It seemed you would just have to play the waiting game.

You finally heard Josh pull into the driveway around 10:30. Jim’s head perked up at first, but it wasn’t until Josh’s keys were in the door that he finally hopped down and ran to greet him. You took your time getting off the couch and wrapping a blanket around your shoulders for comfort, not to mention that the rest of the house felt cold after you had been nestled up on the couch with Jim for a couple of hours.

“Hi, love!” you called, feeling a bad taste enter your mouth as you said it.

“Y/N!” Josh said, appearing around the corner with a smile on his face. “I missed you.”

You did a quick scan of Josh’s appearance to see if it would give you any clues about where he might have been. His hair was a bit messy, but that was always the case, there weren’t any hickeys on his neck or on the bit of collarbone peeking out from under his shirt, and he was wearing the same outfit as when he had left.

“How was the studio?” you asked as he gave you a quick kiss. One of his hands was hidden behind his back.

“It was good, we got a lot of work done.”

So he was upholding the lie.

“You know, I was talking to Tyler on the phone not long after you texted me,” you started. Hopefully Josh wouldn’t be able to hear your voice shaking. “It didn’t sound like he was at the studio.”

After giving you a kiss, Josh had walked straight into the kitchen, meaning you couldn’t see the current look on his face. You were almost glad to have a wall in between the two of you right now. It made the confrontation easier.

“You did?”

“Where were you, Josh?” you said, squeezing your eyes shut. You didn’t want to feed into his games.

“Getting you these.”

You opened your eyes and blinked, clearing the blur away. Josh was standing a few feet away from you, holding a vase full of red roses. There was a shy smile on his face as he held the vase towards you.

“For an hour?” you asked, taking it from him. It was a serious question posed as a joke.

“Well, my plan was to just pick up the flowers, but one of my friends called because his car broke down and needed a jump start and I just so happened to be in the neighborhood because I was leaving the studio. Then we ended up talking for half an hour before we actually got the car started, you know how we are.”

“I appreciate the flowers, Josh. Thank you,” you said, giving him another kiss. It seemed all of your concerns had been unnecessary.

“How were things here?” Josh asked, once again walking back into the kitchen. This time you had the confidence to follow him and take a seat at the counter while he made himself a drink. Jim curled up next to your chair.

“Same as always. Jim and I watched some TV together, talked to a few friends from back home, made a microwave pizza for dinner and slipped a couple pieces of ham to Jim.”

“I’m sure he enjoyed that,” Josh smiled.

“He did. Hey, do you want to go watch something in the living room?”

“Yeah, that sounds nice.”

You shuffled back towards the living room while Josh finished putting his things away and taking off his shoes. While you waited for him, you sent Tyler a quick text.

Y/N: turns out there was nothing to worry about. it was a miscommunication like i thought

You and Jim had already made yourselves comfortable by the time Josh finally made his way into the living room. He had swapped out his jacket and jeans for a pair of sweats and a tight t-shirt. It was hard not to stare as he got closer and sat down on the couch.

“Enjoying the view?” he laughed as he sat down next to you.

“Just a little.”

“Me too.” He pressed a kiss to your cheek before wrapping an arm around your shoulders and pulling you closer into his side. “What do you want to watch?”

“Whatever you want to is fine, I already caught up on everything I’m watching.”

“Alright.”

Josh leaned forward to grab the remote off the coffee table, which is when you noticed the tiny smudge of red just below his ear. Your heart sunk at the sight of it; you couldn’t even remember the last time you had worn red lipstick.

“You have a little something,” you said once he sunk back into the cushions. “Don’t move.”

“What is it?” he asked.

“Not sure, but… there, it’s gone.”

“Thank you.” Josh smiled and puckered his lips, prompting you to give him another kiss.

Once Josh was busy looking for a show for the two of you to watch, you pulled your phone back out of your pocket and opened up your recent messages.

Y/N: just kidding

“I don’t know what’s going on, Tyler,” you sighed, using the hand that wasn’t clutching your phone to pinch the bridge of your nose. “I don’t know why he keeps lying to me.”

“I wish I had answers for you.”

“It’s ok. I never meant to drag you into this in the first place.”

“I think we both knew from the start that I was going to get involved in this one way or another.” Tyler tried to laugh, but it didn’t come out quite right.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do when you and Mark go back to Ohio tomorrow. I guess I’ll just have to figure out his lies on my own.”

“My offer is still open if you end up going through with it.”

“We’ll see,” you said, wiping a tear off your cheek. “We’ll see.”

“Ok, Mark is waving at me which means I need to get back in there. I’ll talk to you once we’re done with this session, ok?”

“Ok. Good luck.”

“Thanks. Bye, Y/N.”

“Bye.”

You closed your eyes and flopped back onto the bed. It had been a week since you first discovered Josh was lying to you and the evidence had only been growing since then. He was always on his phone when you were together, always texting someone and smiling but never telling you who it was. Then there was the fact that he always had his phone within a few inches of him and never face up. You had heard enough of your friends’ stories to have an idea about what that meant.

On top of that, he had told you multiple times that he had to stay late again, only for you to confirm with Tyler that he had made some excuse about going across town before heading home. Even when Tyler pressed him for information, he wouldn’t say anything other than he was seeing a friend. Still, without any solid evidence, you hesitated to confront him in case you were entirely misreading the situation, despite your instinct telling you that it was exactly what you thought it was.

Josh got home nearly two hours after you got a text from Tyler confirming that they were done at the studio. That was another piece of evidence that you had gathered: Josh was always gone for an extra hour or two after a text from Tyler. Never more. Never less. The mere thought of it made you uneasy.

“Hey,” Josh said, stepping into the living room. His hair was messy again today and he had opted to wear a shirt with a higher neckline than he was usually partial to. “I didn’t realize you were here, you were so quiet.”

“Sorry, lost in thought.”

Josh sat down in the chair across from you and started to untie his shoes. You quickly scanned his neck, looking for any leftover lipstick smears or hickeys that you were sure you hadn’t left yourself. As far as you could tell, he was still doing a good job of hiding them.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not right now.”

“Let me know if you change your mind,” Josh said, looking up at you with a smile.

“I will.”

“Alright, well I’m going to run upstairs and get changed before we start making dinner.”

Perfect.

“Ok,” you said, puckering your lips. Josh walked over and gave you a gentle kiss before heading upstairs.

You waited an acceptable amount of time before following Josh, already thinking up whatever excuse you would give him as to why you had come upstairs. If you timed things right, you would be able to walk in right as he was changing his shirt and get a good look at his chest. Josh usually took any opportunity he could get to walk around shirtless, but over the last week you hadn’t seen him shirtless once. He had to be hiding something from you.

You peeked your head just inside the door before making your presence known. He was still wearing the shirt from earlier in the day, having only changed into sweatpants so far. Before changing his shirt, he grabbed his phone from his pocket and sent a quick text. Your heart started to pound in your chest as you realized what you were about to do. In all your investigation, you hadn’t once stopped to think about what it meant for you and Josh.

If you were right, this was the end.

Before you had too much of a chance to get caught up in your thoughts, Josh started to pull off his shirt. You rolled your shoulders and then walked into the room, acting as if you had just come up the stairs.

“Hey, Josh?”

“Woah, hey, Y/N.”

Josh turned to you, his eyebrows raised in surprise. He was still clutching the shirt he had been wearing earlier in the day to his chest, but it wasn’t enough to cover the numerous hickeys across his chest and collarbones.

Hickeys that you knew for a fact hadn’t come from you.

“What are those?” you asked, swallowing the lump in your throat.

“Nothing,” he said, reaching into the closet to grab a clean shirt. He pulled it over his head without another word.

“Nothing? Are you fucking kidding me? Do you think I’m some sort of idiot, Josh?”

“I just got in an accident when I was skateboarding the other day. It’s not a big deal.”

“God, stop lying to me!” you said, pressing your fingers to your temples.

“How do you know I’m lying?”

“You’ve lied to me about staying late at the studio multiple times in the last week! And you’ve lied to me about who you’re texting. And you’re lying to me right now.”

“How do you know?” Josh said, carefully enunciating each word.

You looked up towards the ceiling, shaking your head. You said you wouldn’t drag him into this.

“Tell me, Y/N. You’re just making yourself look like an idiot right now.”

“I talked to Tyler, alright? And he confirmed what I already thought I knew.”

Josh shook his head, “I can’t believe you, going behind my back to get information from my best friend. You could have talked to me.”

“You’re mad I went behind your back because it means that your manipulation tactics don’t work on me. And in case you forgot, he was my best friend before he even knew you existed.”

Josh grabbed at his hair and turned away from you, walking the length of the room. You stood frozen just inside the doorway, your arms still crossed tightly in front of your chest.

“Just admit it, Josh,” you said softly. “You’re cheating on me.”

“You’re crazy, Y/N. I would never do that to you.”

“Then tell me where you’ve been, Josh. Show me evidence that you were actually doing the things that you said you were.”

“I don’t have to prove anything to you!” he said, suddenly raising his voice. His anger was all the evidence you needed.

“I’m not asking for anything groundbreaking.”

“You really think that I would do that to you?” he asked, pointing a finger in your direction. “That I would sleep with someone else when I could just come home to you every night? I didn’t know what love was until I met you, Y/N, and you’re accusing me of throwing that all away just so I could sleep with somebody else? Is that really what you think of me?”

“Just stop. I’m not going to fall for this again.”

“There’s nothing to fall for! I’m telling you how I feel!”

“I’ve only asked you for one thing, Josh. I just need proof that you’re not cheating, but you can’t even give me that.”

“I’m not cheating on you!”

“Prove. It.”

Josh was silent as he continued to pace the room. You waited for him to say something - anything - but he couldn’t. It was the exact response that you had expected.

“It’s settled then. Tyler got me a seat on their flight back to Ohio tomorrow. I'm going with them.”

“So you’re just going to give up on us like that? Three years of a relationship down the drain?”

You shook your head, “I’m not the one that gave up on us.”

“Please, Y/N, we can make this work. I’m so sorry for what I did. I’ll cut things off with her immediately. I love you. Please.”

Josh started to reach for your arms, but you pushed him away.

“Don’t you dare fucking touch me. What you did was unforgivable, Josh.”

“She could never compare to you-”

“Stop. It’s over, Josh. I’m packing my things and going to Tyler’s tonight. By tomorrow, I’ll be back in Ohio so you never have to think of me again.”

“There won’t be a day that goes by that I don’t think of you.”

“Good.”

You turned and walked back downstairs before Josh had a chance to say another word to you. There was still the matter of avoiding him while you packed up all your belongings, but you would find ways to avoid talking to him. All of the things you needed to say had been said, now you just had to make peace with the situation. Being back in Ohio close to your friends and family would be a good way to start that journey.

You only wished that you could take Jim with you.

Request: yay!! i’ve had this request in the back of my mind for a while...i was thinking of Josh x reader and they’re dating but the reader finds out Josh is ALSO dating someone else 👀 -@faceofcontvsions​

[harryandmolly]

desperado

A/N: a continuation of “she got the moon in her eyes” -- recommend you read that first!

summary: Shawn and Catalina deal with the aftermath of their night together

warnings: Language, NSFW in a big way holy cow (unprotected sex, wrap it before you tap it), dom!Shawn comes out to play

WC: 4.4k

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

The morning is dark and cold when he leaves her bed, her tangled navy hair, her chapped rosy lips. It’s like the day itself is telling him to turn around and get back under her sheets, nicotine stained and perfume scented. The idea of it sets something off in his gut, a sharp tugging leading in the opposite direction of his heavy stride toward his bike.

He slings a leg across and settles in, pulling his helmet on, careful to avoid his still tender black eye. When he checked in her mirror in the early blue light of dawn, it was starting to go a sickly green-ish around the edges. He’s lucky, he guesses, that Catalina took him home last night before this started. He looks a little gross.

He revs the engine, takes one mournful look back at the little craftsman house and sighs, taking off down Greenfield toward his place.

+

You can’t hear the tinkling bell over the door at Plucky’s Pub, the one meant to signal the arrival of more customers. Catalina doesn’t know why it’s there. But as she’s learned, Plucky’s regulars don’t like change. If the bell was gone, they’d surely notice somehow, the way they notice when Bonnie changes anything -- the price of two fingers of whiskey, the ratty-ass curtains over the south window, even the fucking bar polish they use to clean the damn place.

Catalina doesn’t need the bell, anyway. She can feel it when people walk in, even when the line for the bar is five deep and she can’t see the door. She’s been doing this a long time. Plus, when certain people walk in, you can feel it.

Shawn is the last of his crew through the door. He’s the one they turn to look at. Not even just the straight women -- everyone. He’s just eye-catching. Catalina knows. She understands. He caught her eye, too.

She turns on the block heel of her slingbacks. She doesn’t even want to be tempted to look up at him. It’s been three weeks since she took him home and he left without a word. Things like that just… don’t happen to her.

This one stung. For one thing, she’s not usually the one hosting. She prefers it that way. She can control her exit without the fuss of having to kick someone out. It also means she’s never in the position of having someone leave her to wake up alone.

She didn’t have, like, plans or anything. She wasn’t going to wake up and put on his t-shirt and make him pancakes, for fuck’s sake. That’s so not her style.

It’s the principle of it. He left. He left her. Nobody does that.

Why the fuck did he do that?

She knows it was good. Fuck, she knows it was great. It’s never been like that the first time, not with anyone. She thinks of the way his body stuttered, the groan that sounded like it was coming out of his gut when he came inside her. Her toes tingle thinking about it. She grits her teeth and rocks the cocktail shaker harder in her warm hands.

She does finally turn around because she has to to hand off the drink. It’s admittedly not the best martini she’s ever made. She abused the ice in the shaker for too long, which chips it, which makes it melt faster, which makes it watery, which makes her tip smaller. She grits her teeth, accepting the small bills, tucking them into her bra.

The loud glassy clinking of beer bottles being delivered to a table has her looking up before she can remember to stop. Shawn and his friends are starting with Molsons tonight. Shawn isn’t looking at his bottle as he positions the edge of the cap over the end of the table, slapping the heel of his palm down without flinching.

He’s looking straight at her.

It takes all her self control not to sneer before she turns her gaze down to the next customer. She has to blink a few times not to see his face. She also has to have the poor girl repeat her order three times before her fingers know where to reach to make a gin and tonic.

+

She used to be good at ignoring his eyes on her all night.

Well, that’s not strictly true. She just used to enjoy them a lot more.

She’s not sure why they’re on her now. The curiosity has been well and thoroughly satisfied. He had her, he left. Yes, that makes him a fucking moron of catastrophic proportions, Catalina knows. But why is he still looking?

Every time she glances up, he’s already watching her expectantly. What exactly is he anticipating? Does he expect to see her bursting into tears at the sight of him, or panting over the idea of fucking him again until he comes over and takes her?

If that’s what he’s waiting for, it’ll be a while.

She’s busy, anyway. She has a cling-on tonight.

A cling-on is a term Bonnie uses for guys that latch onto a hot female bartender and attempt to woo her. Catalina’s very familiar with them. She got a lot more when she started at Plucky’s, when her take-no-prisoners reputation wasn’t yet known. But every so often, some poor sap will stumble in and think if he’s persistent enough, he’ll get in her pants. She has half a mind to let him if it’ll run Shawn out of her rattled brain.

But this particular guy is aggressive. She stopped serving him fifteen minutes ago after he knocked over the drink of a biker chick Catalina once took home, but he’s still here, trying to talk to her every time she delivers a drink down to his end of the bar.

She drops a rum and coke onto a coaster for the woman next to him, who looks sweetly concerned. Catalina winks at her assuringly and turns to head for a group of college guys that have just made their way to the bar after a wait.

Before she can move, she feels a tug on the thin strap of her dress. She whirls around, eyes skimming past the horrified look on the woman’s face before she settles on the bleary-eyed fuckwit who just laid a hand on her without her permission.

Then something weird happens.

Catalina’s history of chucking assholes out of Plucky’s for different varieties of bad behavior is long and storied. She’s hardly ever needed help to do it. When she has, it’s been because the losers have had back up, so Shawn and his friends, the de facto security team, stepped in to even the count.

Catalina knows the situation calls for her angriest face, for her to bark “OUT!” loud enough to embarrass the fucker and get him stumbling out the door. She can do it. She doesn’t need help.

But she looks up. Shawn is watching her carefully, beer bottle halfway to his perfect, pillowy lips. She swallows and blinks at him, and it’s enough for him to come running.

In a few strides, he’s there, hustling around the crowd to get behind the bar. His eyes are dark and solid, his jaw is tight. He’s squaring up, looking ready to scream in this guy’s face, but it’s not what Catalina wants.

Instead, she grabs him by the wrist, pins herself to the wall and drags him in.

Shawn doesn’t take long to respond. He sinks one hand into the soft, sweaty hair clinging to the back of her neck and wraps the other around her hip, nipping hard at her lower lip to get a moan vibrating his whole body.

Some patrons cheer. Bonnie casts them a confused sidelong glance from the other end of the bar as she dumps bourbon into a lowball glass. Shawn’s friends exchange amused looks.

Shawn and Catalina don’t see any of it.

Shawn tips his head, pressing his tongue between her lips with a deep sigh that makes his shoulders drop for the first time in weeks. The hand on her hip works his thumb into her hipbone, pulling the loose skirt of her little dress up with every purposeful stroke. Catalina holds him close, massaging her long fingers against his scalp to make his eyes flutter.

She’s the one that breaks away to breathe first. Her lips are wet, parted with the heaving effort of her breath. She looks up at Shawn, eyes wide, expression unreadable. While he stares down at her, she angles her head to look over his shoulder. Her cling-on looks vaguely disgusted, pitching himself off the counter to amble heavily toward the door.

He watches her mask slide back on when she looks back up at him, clearing her throat.

“Thanks.”

The muscle in Shawn’s jaw pulses. He eases off to let her slide out from around his hulking form. She doesn’t bother looking back at him again.

+

Catalina’s not the least bit surprised to see him refuse his friends’ invitation to leave with them after closing time while Catalina is refilling bottles and twirling on her toes to “I Wanna Be Your Lover” by Prince -- one of Bonnie’s favorite post closing time clean up jams.

Catalina is dawdling. Bonnie and Shawn have both clocked it. She’s singing along under her breath, rinsing the funnel leisurely as Bonnie locks doors and gathers cash into a bag for the bank.

Wizened Bonnie with her spiky red pixie cut and her toned, tattooed arms shoots Shawn a look before announcing she’s out for the night. Shawn answers it with a nod. Bonnie hits the stereo on the way out.

It’s quiet. The only sounds left in the dark, empty bar are the splashing of booze as Catalina refills handles and the squeaking of her heels on the sticky floor.

Shawn takes a deep, shaky breath. He runs a hand through his hair and drops the last gulp of Johnnie Walker down his throat before standing, shucking off the Dolly Parton leather jacket. He takes his glass and heads for the bar to return it to Catalina.

She looks up briefly from her careful pour of Jim Beam.

“What’re you still doing here?” she murmurs. It’s gentle, not accusatory. It makes Shawn’s lips curl into a smirk.

“Figured I’d stick around in case that creepy fucker comes back.”

Catalina wets her lips and stands, shaking her hair out over her shoulders. She doesn’t look up from her bottle.

“You know I don’t have a problem handling those losers,” she says breezily. Shawn sees right through it.

“Oh, I know. That’s why it was so cute that you used it as a way to get your tongue in my mouth earlier.”

That gets her attention. Her gaze snaps to his. She tilts her chin up defiantly.

“Some guys don’t respond to my pushback unless they think I “belong” to somebody,” she explains unnecessarily, quirking her fingers in air quotes around “belong.”

Shawn nods thoughtfully, twirling his glass in his fingers before he sets it down on the bar and steps around it to hunch beside her.

“But you don’t belong to anybody, baby,” he purrs in her ear, watching with a rush of heat in his veins as goosebumps pour over her sweet, fragrant neck.

“That’s right,” she snarks back, twisting the cap of a bottle. She turns to put the bottle back. On her way to grab another, Shawn hooks an arm around her waist and lifts her to perch on the edge of the bar counter.

He takes his time looking her over as he makes his way between her thighs. With heavy lids, he watches her breathing quicken. He strokes his broad, rough palms down the outsides of her legs. He pauses. Catalina holds her breath, sure she’s getting another bruising kiss. Instead, he steps back and skillfully hooks his fingers under the ankle strap of her slingbacks, slipping them off and dropping them with a clatter.

“Dunno why you wear those to work,” he comments, gently lowering one leg to focus on the other. He plants her foot at the center of his chest and draws his fingertips teasingly up and down the length and breadth of her moonpale leg.

Catalina grips the edge of the bar and stares at him unblinking. He admires the dips and curves and swells and valleys of her well-used leg, slipping his fingers under the sole of her foot to pluck it off his chest and press his thumbs into the sore tendons.

Catalina’s eyes slam shut. The moan that leaves her throat is beyond obscene. It makes Shawn chuckle. He takes his time, working his fingers with varying pressure around the ball of her foot to the arch to her heel and back again. When he’s satisfied, he lifts her other foot and repeats the massage, intricate and detailed and so tender it makes Catalina’s mind swirl.

“I… they make my ass look amazing,” she answers finally, his question almost forgotten.

Shawn looks up from her eggplant-lacquered toes. “Your ass already looks amazing, Leens. You might as well be comfortable while you look so damn good.”

He lowers her foot and stares up at her. Without removing his gaze, he lifts her claw-like hand off the bar and brings it to his lips, pressing a soft kiss over her knuckles.

“You know, you’re allowed to want to be a damsel in distress sometimes. I won’t think any less of you.”

Catalina balks, her insides twisting. “I don’t need you to save me, Shawn.”

Shawn steps closer, dropping her little hand onto his shoulder.

“I know. But it’s ok if you want me to.”

His lips are soft, plump and whiskey-wet. She gasps into them, her knees falling automatically open to welcome him closer. He takes the invitation happily, pulling her hips tight against his torso as he loses himself in the taste of her sweet mouth. She’s immediately needy, dropping her pretense to take as much of him in her hands as she can. She squeezes the bulk of his shoulders, the swell of his biceps, the soft skin of his neck, the curls behind his ears that have him growling into her lips.

She pulls back. He grunts and chases her down, lunging in for another searing kiss. She lets him take it, the wrinkle between her eyes softening as she rocks her hips against his abdomen and gathers him ever closer. Soon, before she can entirely lose her train of thought, she pulls away again, this time to suck on his jaw to pacify him.

Through wet, biting kisses, she pants, “Want to show you… want to thank you…”

Shawn’s intrigued. His stomach flips. He pulls back and holds her face in his hands.

“How are you going to do that?” he coos, cocky and curious.

Catalina inhales and nudges him back enough to slip down to her feet. She turns him, props him up against the bar and lowers to her knees. His head tosses back. He breathes harder in anticipation.

“Remember how hot and tight my throat was for you?” she breathes, her voice already fucked as she unbuckles his belt and skillfully works his jeans open to free his hard cock, “Remember how good and wet I felt when I was sucking you?”

“Jesus, baby,” Shawn hisses. His cock gives a twitch at her words. She smiles and takes it in her soft hand, stroking it firmly. His eyes flutter.

“Want you to fuck my mouth, Shawn,” she tells him, planting a sweet kiss on his tip. His hips shift forward, searching for her.

“Open up then, princess,” he sighs, shooting her a crooked grin that has her squirming.

Catalina, for once in her life, obeys. She lifts her hair over one shoulder and parts her flushed lips, staring up at him. Shawn groans, easing his cock into her willing mouth slowly. He wants her to enjoy this as much as he knows he will, so he doesn’t go shoving in all at once. He rolls his hips gently, letting her adjust, slick him down with her soft tongue. When she gives a short nod, he rocks harder, a little deeper, until he feels her throat restrict around his shaft.

She’s looking up at him like she doesn’t want to miss a second. Her small hands cling to his hips like she’s afraid he’ll bolt if she doesn’t hold on. Fat fucking chance.

Her mouth really is almost as good as her pussy. Or maybe his stupid horny brain just thinks that right now because he hasn’t had her pussy in weeks, even though it’s all he’s been thinking about when he’s alone, his tight fist failing to bring him the same ecstatic feeling. She’s not afraid of what he’s giving her, even when he reaches down to curl his hand around her thick sheet of hair to control the angle of her wet mouth. She seems hungry for him. It makes his toes curl in his boots.

“Your fucking mouth, Jesus fucking Christ,” Shawn pants, shaking his head with a short, overwhelmed burst of laughter. Catalina groans, scooting closer on her knees. The whine that whistles from Shawn’s nose would embarrass him if he weren’t half gone.

“You like this, don’t you, baby? Like the way I fuck your pretty mouth,” he whispers, awed.

She manages to nod, still looking up at him reverently.

Shawn’s fingers curl into his free fist. The hand in her hair eases her back gently until his cock bobs against her bottom lip.

“Don’t wanna come in your mouth,” he grunts, “Need to feel you come on my face first.”

He watches in delight as her thighs tighten under her pretty skirt. He takes her hands, helping her back to her feet.

“How do you want me?” she asks, glancing around like she’s looking for ideas.

Shawn thinks fast on his feet. He grabs a step stool out from under the bar and positions it beside the counter, helping her to stand on top, facing away from him. She looks back over her shoulder when Shawn’s hands lift the skirt of her dress, his thumbs pressing greedily into the smooth skin of her ass.

Catalina’s eyes drift shut. She’s soaked straight through her lacy baby blue thong. Shawn tugs at it teasingly, letting it snap against her lower back.

“C’mon, Shawn,” she hisses impatiently.

Shawn hums from the back of his throat, amused. “Think you’re gonna get what you need by being a brat?”

He pulls at her panties for real now, watching as they hug her close, clinging to her wetness until they drop around her ankles. He steadies her as she steps out of them, kicking them off the stool.

“Maybe if you ask me nicely,” he suggests, lifting one of her legs so her knee rests on the edge of the bar, spreading her open for him, “I’ll give you what you need.”

Catalina’s vision is blurry. Now that he’s got her where he wants her, ready to give it up if she says the words, even her swollen pride can’t stop her.

She keens loud and looks over her shoulder, watching him drop to his knees so he’s level with her slick wetness.

“Please, Shawn. Fuck. Please. Need your tongue.”

Shawn grins wolfishly and lurches forward, using his gigantic hands to anchor her against the bar and press the flat of his tongue to her dripping pussy.

“Fuck, so wet already,” he laughs after his first taste, “Soaked from sucking on my cock.”

She mewls in agreement, wriggling her hips. He lifts a hand to bring it down against the white flesh of her ass, watching her arch, hearing her squeal.

“So pretty,” he groans before nuzzling his lips back where they belong. His tongue plucks at her clit, wanting her as wet as he can get her. She rocks her hips gently against the bar, stretching her arms out to hold tight to the other side of the counter as he starts fucking her in earnest.

Shawn’s tongue is unforgiving. He flicks it hot and fast against her swollen button, his thumbs sweeping in toward her center, flirting with the idea of filling her with his fingers. He concentrates on suckling at her until she’s bucking so hard against the bar that he can’t hold her still.

“Didn’t take long,” he pants, licking his lips, “Gonna come for me already, princess?”

“Please, please, please,” she chants, “Need to fucking come for you.”

Shawn is smug, landing another harsh smack on her ass, a second red handprint to match the first. “Yeah, baby. Come on my tongue.”

He thrusts his stiff tongue in between her pulsing walls, adjusting his hand so his finger can rock tightly against her clit. She can tell by the pressure mounting against his mouth that she’s almost there. He moans in anticipation and it’s the thing that drives her home.

Shawn holds his mouth fast against her, pressing his tongue in and out as she shakes and screams. He lifts his hands up around her hips, letting his palms be the cushion between her hipbones and the bar counter. He revels in it, in just how long it takes for her to even out and bring her crying whimpers down to ragged gasps.

Shawn hesitates, but pulls back when he feels her shivering at his touch. He straightens up behind her, helps her ease her leg down off the bar and climb off the stool to slump in his arms.

Her cheeks are flushed, her eyes are unfocused, and Shawn has never felt so accomplished. He cradles her against his chest, smiling as she presses open-mouthed kisses through his t-shirt.

“Want more, honey?” he rasps, nosing at her fragrant hair. She nods eagerly.

Shawn reaches down to scoop her up, her legs lifting to twist around his waist. Her body is weak and soft against his as he carries her around the corner, pressing her back into the walk-in fridge door. She hisses at the cool steel before the sound disappears between his lips.

Catalina lifts her limp hands into his hair, squeezing when she feels his hips pin hers into the door and cant, driving his still hard cock against her pussy. She tastes herself, warm and heady on his lips. She writhes, desperately trying to angle herself in a way that will get him nestled up against her entrance for when the next rock of his hips comes.

“Shhh, I know,” he chuckles brusquely, holding her up with one arm so he can maneuver them together, spanking her clit with the head of his cock while he’s at it. She squirms, whimpering and tossing her head.

“Tell me,” he pants, telling himself he’s not begging, “Tell me you want to feel me.”

“Oh god, Shawn,” she moans, “Yes. Please. You make me feel so good.”

The tips of his ears go hot. With a grunt, he thrusts up into her, feeling a ghost of the memory of last time shrug around him. He’s never felt anything like her before. He thought it would’ve worn off after the first time, after he came so hard inside her he truly saw stars. But it’s here again and it has him by the throat.

His breathing is ragged as his chest presses against hers. She’s not mocking him this time, though. She’s brushing her nose over his, wetting her lips to speak, quiet and sweet.

“Nobody fills me like you do.”

Shawn’s instincts return and any remaining sense goes out the window. He growls again, vibrating her around his dick as he starts to set a rhythm that has her bouncing between his hips and the door. She gasps, eyes flying open as her head slams back into the steel. In the quiet bar, the sounds their bodies make together are viscerally filthy. Shawn squeezes his eyes shut to try to ignore it for fear of ending it all too soon. She feels too good. He’s had her once and now, as he has her again, he knows he’s addicted.

Her hips roll with his in perfect time, giving and receiving. Her hot breath on his face makes him feel like he’s buried in a cloud with her. Maybe they won’t have to come out this time. He doesn’t want to.

He shifts his hips to pulse the head of his cock against her g-spot. As badly as he wants to hold her here against him forever, he’s desperate to feel her come again. He knows how good she can do it.

“Lina,” he hears himself murmur, his lips so close to hers that they brush when he speaks, “I know you’re close. I can feel you.”

She’s sure he can. Her whole body is throbbing for him. She’s been holding on by her fingertips, unwilling to end it. She knows when she comes, he’ll follow. And then what?

She groans and shakes her head. “I… I--”

“I know,” he pants, “It’s ok. Just come for me. Want you to come so hard.”

He plunges his face into the crook of her neck, licking and sucking at the spot that got her so crazy for him last time. She cries his name, thrusting her hips harder just before the dam breaks. She soaks him, her body sputtering and stumbling through a fierce orgasm. She chokes on breath and grips his hair so hard she pulls some strands free in her fingers. The pleasure-pain she gives him sends him off the cliff behind her, pulsing hot and fast into her welcoming cunt until he’s spent and barely able to hold them both up.

Shawn eases back, tucking himself into his jeans. Catalina adjusts her skirt and clears her throat, sore from crying out for him.

She drops her head, unable to look at him. Her chest feels tight. The shame of it is seeping in through every pore.

She was so willing to spread her legs for him again after he left her naked and alone in her own bed. She put her desire for a good fuck over her pride. She let him know she needs him.

She can’t think of anything worse.

With a jolt, she heaves off the door and grabs at her panties and the purse she left on the counter, leaving the shoes behind -- they’d only slow her down. Without another look back, she hurries out the door, taking off at a run, barefoot and crying.

-----------

Part 3 coming very soon! Please support my smutty ass and buy me a Ko-fi (link on main page)!

Taglist: @the-claire-bitch-project @achinglyshawn @infiniteshawn @mendesoft @singanddreamanyway @alone-in-madness @abigfatmess @shawnitsmutual @awkwardfangirl2014 @september-lace @grittyisaho @sinplisticshawn @rollingxstone @yslsaint @randi-eve @fallmoreinlove @heyits-claire @itrocksmysocks @parkerspicedlatte

[sparrowjaywrites]

                                              My Little Blue Star

Jim Kirk x Kat Sparrow (Original Female Character): Soulmate AU - Identical tattoos or birthmarks

           Kat sighs staring down at the blue star on her wrist. She was almost thirty years old and hadn’t met her soulmate yet… which normally would mean she never would. Hell for all she knew they could be dead or already happily married with kids. The soulmate tattoos caused a lot of controversy. Many people used to have their kids soulmate tattoos removed when they were babies or children. That was until it was forbidden for a soulmate tattoo to be removed until a person was twenty-one years old. This was to prevent parents from forcing their children’s removed and to keep teens who thought they were in love from having it done.

           Many people would fall in love and get married only to later end up in a horrible situation when they met their soulmate. They would have to choose between their spouse and the person they were destined for. Most couples who weren’t soulmates got their tattoos removed at their ten year anniversary, others when they first got married, or when their kids were born. If one soulmate removed their tattoo the others would disappear, the same would happen if someone altered their tattoo; their soulmates would change as well; whether this was by adding to the tattoo, removing part of it, or having a scar change it.

           Some people had multiple tattoos, meaning either they were destined for a polyamorous relationship or they simply had multiple chances at finding a soulmate, or one of their soulmates was destined to die… something no one ever wanted to think about. But Kat simply had one. Her blue star had never changed… at least not as long as she could remember. It sat right over her pulse point on her left wrist. A simple light blue star with a black border… it looked almost like a sketch, with the multiple lines making up each edge. The star was faded, like someone had tried to wash it away… Pictures of her when she was born show the star being much more vibrant.

           “Kat, are you coming to dinner?” Kat looks up as her best friend pulls her from her thoughts.

           “Yeah, I’m coming, Nyota.” She closes down her station following her friend to the mess hall. Kat was head of computer sciences aboard the USS Enterprise. She had worked on the ship since the Nero incident a little over five years before. Nyota had already found her soulmate in her boyfriend Spock. At first the only friend Kat had on the Enterprise was Nyota. Then she’d introduced her to the rest of the head crew. Kat had instantly clicked with Hikaru and Pavel, the two instantly earning themselves a place as her best friends. Hikaru had also found his soulmate in his husband Ben. The two had a daughter now.

           “Hey, Kat” She smiles as Pavel waves her and Nyota over to them. Nyota sits down next to Spock, who is talking with Bones, another of Kat’s best friends. The doctor was yelling at him as usual while Spock simply raised an eyebrow in concern? At least that’s what she thought that face meant; the half-vulcan was very hard to read at times. Hikaru and Pavel seemed to be in the middle of some type of challenge, they each had houses built of forks in front of them and were adding more. Scotty and Keenzer were cheering them on. Jim, the captain of the ship was watching all this in amusement. That was their little family.

           “What exactly are you doing?” Kat asks as she sets her tray down.

           “I bet Pasha here that I could build a taller tower then him.” Hikaru says smirking. Kat shakes her head sitting down and eating her food. She pulls her blue sleeve back from her wrist to look at her tattoo again, letting her mind wander as she eats, absentmindedly listening to her friends argue and talk excitedly.

           “Are you worrying about that again?” She looks up as Bones addresses her. Kat quickly covers her tattoo with her sleeve. She wasn’t one to display her soulmate tattoo; many people didn’t, wearing black bands on their wrists to cover it. Normally Kat wore one as well, but hers had broken that morning. This made it a lot harder to find your soulmate, but kept you from finding them while in the middle of situation that was inappropriate, such as at work, or during a negotiation of some sort. The only other person in their friend group who had ever worn one was Jim. But Kat had noticed he’d stopped wearing his when it became legal for Captains to date their crew; so long as they disclosed the relationship to the admiralty, their first officer, and their head of medical.

           “Worrying about what?” Kat asks playing dumb, as she pushes her glasses up her face, a nervous habit she’d picked up as a kid. She was allergic to the medicine that fixed eyesight and so was one of the few people in the federation who needed them, something she had once been very subconscious about.

           “Your soulmate, you normally move your band to look at it or fiddle with the band when you’re thinking about it.” Nyota says. Kat scowls.

           “You people are too damn observant.”

           “You shouldn’t vorry; you’ll find zhem when iz’s time.” Pavel says placing another fork on his tower.

           “Not everyone does, Pavel. With my luck they’re either dead or already married.” Kat shakes her head.

           “Well you’ll never find them if you keep the tattoo covered like you do? I don’t think I’ve ever seen it?” Bones points out.

           “I thought you didn’t believe in the soulmate tattoos?” Kat counters crossing her arms. Bones had been married when his wife had found her soulmate and divorced him. He’d been very cynical about it since. It didn’t help his soulmate had removed their tattoo when he was around sixteen.

           “I believe in them, just don’t like em.” Bones counters.

           “I don’t think I’ve ever seen it either?” Hikaru points out.

           “I normally wear my band; it broke this morning though…” Kat shrugs.

           “But why hide it if you want to find yours, Lass?” Scotty asks. Kat looks away.

           “We weren’t allowed to show them in the orphanage or during the war…” She explains. “If we did we’d be beaten, arrested, or killed… It’s become a habit I guess…” Kat had grown up on the none federation planet of Arulan in an orphanage. A war had raged on the planet for most of her life. She had left the planet at nineteen to join the federation and a year later once she was a citizen of earth, to join Starfleet.

           “Oh…” The table falls silent. Kat stands up.

           “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

                                            ---Line Break---

           A week had passed since the day in the mess hall. Nyota had been pushing her to show her tattoo off ever since. She wasn’t being overly pushy about it, more reassuring than anything. Kat hadn’t bothered getting a new band. She figured her sleeve would be enough for most situations and figured Nyota and the others were right, if she wanted any chance of finding her soulmate she had to show it. They were on Shore leave on Yorktown that day as the ship needed repairs from a fight with a few Klingon war birds earlier that month.

“Okay, so the purpose of this trip is to show your tattoo to as many people as possible.” Nyota says as she drags Kat into a club where they would be meeting the rest of the head crew for drinks.

           “I know; you’ve gone over this ten times, Ny.” Kat shakes her head rolling her eyes. She was wearing a blue sundress, her tattoo completely uncovered for anyone to see for the first time in her life. Her long wavy brown hair was pulled back in a braid, courtesy of Nyota’s hair styling skills. Nyota drags her over to the others. Hikaru was dancing with Ben not far from the table, Pavel flirting with a girl nearby. Spock, Bones, and Jim sit sipping drinks. Scotty was playing pool with some guys from engineering.

           “Hello, Nyota, Kat.” Spock greets them as the two slide into the booth. Nyota next to Spock, Kat across from her beside Jim.

           “So I see you’re not wearing a bracelet. Decided to show off your tattoo?” Bones asks clearly a bit drunk already.

           “Yes, she has. Our goal tonight is to show it to as many people as possible, see if anyone recognizes it as their own or someone they knows.” Nyota says.

           “Well then, let’s see it.” Bones says leaning around Jim to see. Kat laughs shaking her head.

           “You’re nosy when your drunk, Bones.” She holds out her wrist hesitantly. Before Bones can get a good look, a waitress comes over to them asking for their drink order, Kat turns back ordering herself a scotch. Bones now distracted by his drink doesn’t ask again and the group falls into their usual conversations. After a while Nyota drags Spock onto the dance floor, Bones heading to the bar to get another drink.

           “So, your actively looking for your soulmate now?” Jim asks sipping his own scotch.

           “More or less… Nyota’s idea…” She shrugs.

           “You don’t seem too happy about it?”

           “It’s not that… I’m just not very comfortable showing it… I feel like I’m going to be arrested or attacked for it any minute… I know I won’t be but…” She looks down at her wrist running a finger over her star.

           “But fear isn’t logical.” Jim finishes. “I had to keep mine covered before… I didn’t want to find my soulmate on the ship, knowing I couldn’t be with them…” He says pulling the sleeve on his right arm up.

           “Makes sense” Kat nods. She runs her finger over her star once more before turning to look at him fully.

           “Have you ever imagined what your soulmate will be like?” Jim asks.

           “Yeah… I hope their nice, a good person ya know? But I don’t know what to think… my tattoo is still here but it’s faded… I would have thought it was supposed to be, but pictures of me as a baby show it being a lot more vibrant… I can’t help but wonder if my soulmate attempted to remove the tattoo and failed…” She explains a worried look clear on her face.

           “It could have been an accident or their parents? My mom tried to remove mine with a home remedy when I was a toddler, I only know because my older brother told me… She didn’t want me having one after my father died… something about not wanting me to go through that pain… she tried the same on my brothers… it didn’t work. Now mine’s all faded.”

           “That’s horrible…” Kat shakes her head.

           “Yeah… But I still like mine… my little star.” He smiles looking down at his wrist, Kat tries to make out his tattoo but is just at the wrong angle to see it.

           “A star?” She asks, glancing down at her own little blue star.

           “Yeah, it fits, with me loving the stars as much as I do… I hope she likes them as much as I do…”

           “She?”

           “Yeah, I mean, I’d be fine if it were a he or whatever they are… but I feel like they’re a she…”

           “What else do you feel they’re like?” Kat asks with a small smile.

           “Their favorite color is blue, and they love the stars and the ocean… They’re a cat person, but like dogs too.” He says with a thoughtful look. “They are a huge nerd.”

           “All that from one little tattoo?” She laughs.

           “Well, yes and no… I’ve daydreamed about them, whoever they are my entire life… got me through some of my worst moments.” He downs his drink.

           “I guess that makes sense… I was too busy trying to survive to get a chance to dream of stuff like that… I love my little blue star though… It fits me perfectly.” Kat says laying her left wrist on the table to show him her tattoo. Jim leans over to look at it, his eyes slowly widening.

           “Holy crap.” He mutters as he slowly looks up at her. Kat raises an eyebrow.

           “What?” Jim lays his right wrist beside hers. Right on his pulse point is a little blue sketch like star… her little blue star. Kat stares openly at the tattoos for a minute before she slowly looks up at him.

           “You’re my soulmate?” Jim asks, looking completely shocked. “All these years… we were right there… and we never knew?”

           Kat stares at him, her heart racing in her ears. She slowly and almost fearfully brings her right hand to trace the star on his wrist. As soon as she touches it a small shock shoots through her, not a bad shock like static electricity but an amazing one. The shock is like a bucket of cold water being poured over your head on a warm day, the satisfaction when you put the final piece of a puzzle together, like the first bite of your favorite desert, or hearing the chorus to your absolute favorite song. It’s like the first snow of winter, or first bud of spring. Absolute belonging, like the world finally making sense. Something Kat had never known. Like for the first time in her life, she was truly home.

           Kat looks up at him her brown eyes wide, made even wider by her glasses, locking with his bright shocked blue. Blue… just like her… no their little blue stars.

           “Oh my god…” She mutters out, she covers her mouth with her right hand her eyes flickering from his eyes back to their wrists then back to his eyes again.

           “Is… is that a good ‘oh my god’… or a bad one?” He asks slowly, looking at her nervously now. Kat blinks at him not getting his meaning for a moment. She moves her hand pushing her glasses up her nose.

           “A shocked one… I… oh wow… I never thought… that my soulmate could be… someone like you.” Kat says her eyes locking with his again.

           “I know… you probably expected someone better… Someone who deserves someone as amazing as you…” Jim says looking away, clearly misunderstanding her. “We don’t have to be together… I understand if you don’t want to be.” Jim says his voice breaking.

           “What? NO!” Kat shakes her head quickly, grabbing his right hand in her left frantically. “That is not what I meant!” Jim looks down at their hand then up at her confused.

           “Then what did you mean?”

           “I meant I never expected my soulmate could be someone as absolutely amazing and wonderful as you!” Kat says looking up at him desperately, worry clear on her face.

           “You… you think I’m wonderful?” Jim asks, a large grin slowly stretching across his face, happiness, wonder, and love replacing the hurt and pain. Kat nods slowly, her face turning red.

           “Well… yeah.” She looks down at their hands. Jim uses his free hand to lift her chin softly so their eyes a locked again.

           “I think you’re an amazing, wonderful, beautiful, strong, and sometimes a bit scary, woman. I couldn’t have been given a better soulmate.” He says sincerely. Kat stares at him tears starting to form in her eyes.

           “You… really think that?” Jim nods a large grin splitting his face tears sparkling in his own eyes.

           “That and so much more… I’ve liked you for a long time… hell much more than liked, but I didn’t want to make a move knowing you still had your tattoo meaning you were probably waiting for your soulmate…”

           “I was doing the same thing… we really are idiots.” Kat laughs a large grin splitting her face as a few tears leave a trail down it. Jim brushes the tears away.

           “May I… kiss you?” He asks after a moment. Kat nods her smile turning nervous again. Jim slowly leans in, kissing her softly. Kat kisses him back, her heart leaping with joy. After twenty-nine years, she was finally home. ---Line Break--- This is a repost of a story from 2016 originally posted on my main account that I have cleaned up and updated. I really like the little AU and figured it was time to clean it up a bit and move it here, I hope you all enjoy!