#until some point in the story where being kind and helping his friends against all odds is no longer a difficult choice

[pandoratheprocrasticreator]

I actually hope hunter doesnt find out about calebs heel turn towards befriending witches. Or at least, he doesnt find out about that until he accepts that its okay if hes a clone of a witch hunter.

I want hunters realization that hes a Good Person, Actually to come from understanding that sharing genes with someone doesnt mean you inherit their bad qualities. And that he's free to choose whether or not to be like his predecessors. I dont want it to come from him learning that caleb is Good, Actually, and have that mean hes automatically destined to be good like caleb

[cheesiedomino]

RentABoyfriend.com ꙳ ੭ * ‧

synopsis: you’re tired of being single so you to take an unusual route in helping with that— but what happens when you start catching real romantic feelings for your rental boyfriend?

genre: seo changbin x fem!reader | fake relationship/dating au wc: 5.1k tags/warnings: fluff, v minor angst, mild cursing, (kinda) nerdy changbin, use of pet names, mentions of alcohol usage, just overall very cute story dw <33

[this is part of my valentine’s series where i write a short story for each member surrounding themes of love, newfound romance, relationship hardships & more.]

“I have a date tomorrow guys.”

Everyone’s head instantly lifts up from their phones at this sudden announcement, collectively drawing their attention at you. You weren’t expecting all of them to gasp and swap such looks of genuine confusion. It’s starting to make you think maybe this situation was a lot more serious than you’ve bargained it out to be.

You couldn’t fathom it either honestly, the realization of you going out with someone probably won’t settle in until you’re physically on the date. Based on their initial responses though, you might regret everything you’re about to say, but it’s far too late to retract any of your statements now.

“No way.. with who??” Danielle is the first out of everyone to ask.

Taehyung chimes in as well, “Yeah, who’s the lucky person? They’ve gotta be something seriously special to be talking to you.”

Well, you suppose you could put it that way.

You already have a preconceived notion of what they’re going to think of this “idea”. Mentally preparing yourself to receive a flood of questions and critique from your close friends.

“Actually… I rented him. For the week.”

Now they’re all looking at you like you’ve officially lost it. The room got scarily quiet, no one wanted to be the first to speak. You should’ve anticipated on their reactions being like this, it isn’t everyday someone just openly admits to buying a partner online. Nowadays there’s a lucrative market for just about anything, when you stumbled upon an ad for this service called ‘RentABoyfriend.com’ you didn’t think much of it. You laughed the concept off at first, thinking how lonely people must be to buy someone else’s time.

But the ads kept popping up, they wouldn’t stop showing in almost every YouTube video you were watching— even one of your favorite YouTubers promoted them before! So one day you finally decided to check this website out, you wanted to see what the hype’s all about so you signed up just for shits and giggles. You weren’t expecting to actually be somewhat interested in trying this thing out, but after going through a couple different profiles and reading hundreds of positive reviews you were practically sold.

“You rented out a boyfriend..? Seriously ___? I mean, I’m not judging but you’re a gorgeous girl you can easily get a boyfriend without paying for someone’s companionship, I don’t see why you need to rent one.” Mark bluntly expressed his opinion, he was probably the most outspoken out of all of you guys.

Taehyung and Danielle both agreed in unison, it’s practically 3 against 1 at this point. You knew you should’ve waited to tell them but you weren’t anticipating on them being this judgmental about it. You were hoping for a little more support, as they’re all way more experienced than you in the dating scene and could lend some helpful advice about your first date, ever.

See, the thing is you’ve never tried dating before so you wouldn’t know the first thing about it or what to expect from your future partner. You’ve never had a boyfriend, let alone held hands or kissed someone of the opposite sex. Being in your twenties it’s kind of embarrassing to say you’ve never done those things, but you thought what better way to try it out than renting a full-on experience that can give you just that? Well minus the kissing part, but you can make it work.

You were skeptical of doing this whole ‘rent-a-boyfriend’ thing at first because you didn’t think there’d be anyone you’d find suitable enough. A big part of the reason that you’re still single is because you’re extremely picky, you want to date a guy who’s so perfect that he must’ve came straight out of an indie romance film. Your friends would tease you for having such unrealistic standards when it came to dating but you were the all-or-nothing type, you’ll be single with fifty cats before you settle for less. Renting a boyfriend is definitely an unconventional idea of easing into dating but you thought it might be worth a try anyway.

What’s the worse that could happen?

( 1 day earlier )

Hovering your cursor over the bold red text of the website, you read over the main rules before going on to select the person you want for your date.

‘The rules are simple:

You are allowed to see only ONE person at a time, if you want to switch boyfriends you’ll have to pay a $50 fee.

MUST be over 18 to rent a boyfriend, we have implemented an age verification system before the date as we do not tolerate anyone under this age to use our services.

NO kissing, or sexual intimacy allowed. If this is found out later on by our agency we will terminate your contract and ban you from using our services in the future.

Remember to have fun !! ^_^ Our services are great for people who are new to dating or have never been in a relationship. We provide the ~ultimate~ boyfriend experience to all our clients. Customer satisfaction is 100% guaranteed ! (NO REFUNDS)’

Well jeez… they seemed a bit strict but you can deal with those rules and restrictions for the most part.

After hours of skimming through hundreds of profiles, you have a hard time choosing which you like most. Did you want an artsy, shy kind of guy? The tattooed, bad boy aesthetic type? You really couldn’t pick one until you stumble upon a particular profile that catches your eye almost immediately.

SEO CHANGBIN | 168 CM | PART-TIME LIFEGUARD | 24 | *POPULAR ↝

5 Facts About Me: I’ve traveled to over 50+ different countries and counting (ask me which my favorites are), I can speak 4 languages (working on my fifth), love to sing and used to have a rap trio with my buddies from college, I can & will easily lift you up ;) also have a secret talent for cooking, there’s nothing I can’t do!

Why Choose Me? First of all, why not choose me? I’m the best candidate for whatever kind of date you need, something casual, social gatherings, weddings, you name it! I’m very social and can make most people laugh (unless they’re the literal Grinch reincarnated), I’m able to get along well with anyone and just love to have a good time. I hope we can get to know each other and make great memories in the future :)

Going through his pictures you couldn’t believe someone was capable of being this humanely attractive. Don’t even get started on those impeccable muscles either… He really had to sport them in every other one of his photos, wearing the tightest shirts to show the outline of his insanely sculpted frame. You might have just been mesmerized from his godlike visuals alone. They even had a Valentine’s Day deluxe package that comes with seven dates in total for half the price, which they specified was for a limited time only.

$600 later you’ve got a full week of dates lined up with the hottest guy you’ve ever seen in all your years of living. You should’ve definitely went shopping before considering all this because now you actually have a reason to get dolled up for someone.

You were so nervous about going on this date you almost cancelled last minute out of fear. Typing out several different elaborate paragraphs to Changbin on why you couldn’t make it. You didn’t have his real phone number, it was all through an app facilitated by the rental company that was included in the package. Even though you were feeling overwhelmed and practically shaking with anxiety about meeting up with a guy, you still forced yourself to go anyway. You didn’t just dish out all that money just to not show up and waste his time on top of all that.

Your rental boyfriend texted you the location to meet at, it was near a train station so you both could see each other out in a public open space. The outfit you wore was fairly simple, a black mini skirt with warm tights underneath and a cropped turtleneck sweater. You accessorized the look with some dainty jewelry, a thin scarf, and knee high boots to pull everything together. It wasn’t something you usually wore but you had certain clothes you saved for a special occasion like this.

Upon your arrival, you notice him standing near a vending machine and waves over at you with the biggest smile plastered on his face. You awkwardly wave back, giving a soft smile as you slowly walk up to him. He looks even better in person, you don’t even feel adequate enough to be in such a gorgeous man’s presence. No wonder he’s so popular on the site, he’s practically unreal.

“Hi, you must be ___. It’s so nice to finally meet you, might I add you look really beautiful today, I think you’re making my heart race just by looking at you. Happy Valentine’s Day!” Changbin introduces himself, buttering you up with some sweet compliments before handing you the most insane bouquet of roses you’ve ever seen.

You take the flowers and almost stumble backwards from how heavy they were, “Wow, thank you!” Changbin prevents you from falling, quickly coming up behind you to get your balance back.

“Careful honey, can’t have you injured on our first date!” He voices with concern, “I hope you love the idea I came up with, I’ve only been to this place once before but I’m sure it’s still as fun as I remember it, let’s go!” Eagerly grabbing your hand to begin the journey, he turns around again to examine your body language.

“You seem a little tense babe? Do you need a massage?” He asks in a concerned tone again, this is all really beginning to freak you out. You know this is what you signed up for but this was all starting to feel a bit too personal, all the nicknames and sweet talk he’s giving is just something you aren’t used to.

“Uh, no! It’s o-okay.” You shook your head, denying anything suspicious going on. Truth be told you were barely able to contain your composure right now.

Changbin keeps on insisting, “The massage is included in the package so you don’t have to worry about getting charged extra.”

“N-no it’s okay, really. I’m just nervous that’s all, sorry I just don’t meet up with guys…” you shyly admit, finding it hard to look him in the eye.

He nods in understanding, “No need to be nervous with me sweetheart. I’m here to make you feel as comfortable as possible.” The smile he flashes at you instantly makes you warm on the inside, he seems like a genuine, caring person. You think things might go well for you after all.

The rest of the night was full of only good vibes and laughter by the end of it all. Changbin took you to an adult arcade that had old video games like Pac-Man, Super Mario, and Space Invaders, the other side was a bar where people could sit, drink, and socialize. He bought all your drinks that night, let you use up most of his tokens and overall had the most fun you could’ve ever had with someone. He was so easygoing but also knew when to act super caring and would be all lovey dovey with you. He was gentle, nurturing, and could have conversations about anything. You loved that he’d randomly drop some interesting fact you never knew about, or talked about a certain niche topic that he’d go on multiple rants over. It didn’t feel like you were renting someone out to date you, it felt natural— like you’ve known him for longer than a couple hours. Changbin walked you home and held your hand the entire time, along with the flowers he provided a teddy bear and a heart shaped box of chocolates. If that didn’t scream boyfriend goals then you don’t know what does.

The next day you wake up to Changbin blowing your phone up this morning. You had over 26 messages from him, which was pretty excessive in your humble opinion. The first thing he said was good morning then he goes on to express how fun yesterday was and he can’t wait to do it again. He even sent a couple mirror selfies of him at the gym, ‘conceited much?’ You thought. But then again, if you were Seo Changbin you’d probably be full of yourself too.

For today’s date you wore a pretty red sundress that made your skin glow in the sunlight. It’ll definitely get him to compliment you even more— which you secretly love when he does. Changbin calls you before he heads out to the date, letting you know how excited he is to see you again. You couldn’t stop smiling like an idiot on the train as you made your way to the destination, thinking about what he’s planned for you two next. This time you’ll be meeting up at a park but you still have no clue what you’re doing.

Changbin texts you where exactly he is in the park, it was pretty huge so it took you a while to get to him. As you get closer you see him sitting on a large blanket by the lake, on top of it were a bunch of different foods and snacks scattered all around that came out of a huge picnic basket. You were speed walking at this point trying to get to him. His arms opened out for a hug and you lean right into him, what you didn’t expect was for him to suddenly stand up and lift you in his arms to swing around you like a doll.

“Put me down I’m scared of heights!” You squeal out in fear of being too high up in the air. Maybe you really should’ve taken the bio on his profile more seriously when he mentioned certain things.

Finally putting you down after minutes go by of you protesting, Changbin sits you back onto the blanket. He brought an assortment of breads, cheese, fruits, lemonade that he made himself and a couple seltzers. You’ve never seen anyone put such time and effort into a date before, even being here with him is like living in a daydream. He was definitely succeeding in making you feel comfortable, which is something you never thought was possible with men. He actually took his time getting to know you and didn’t sound arrogant whenever he talked about himself, Changbin was so different than other guys who’ve tried hitting on you in the past. He was actually respectful, intelligent, and could easily carry a conversation without long, awkward pauses.

He was literally everything you’re looking for in a guy. But you’ll be seeing him for this week only then it’s bye bye forever. That revelation makes you a little upset, but you try pushing those thoughts in the back of your mind. It’s irrelevant and unnecessary to think about. Yet you can’t help but wonder about certain things though, wanting to know more about his job and what it’s like on a daily basis for him.

“Can I ask you something? I need you to answer it honestly.” You say out of nowhere, hoping that didn’t come out as weird as you thought.

Changbin nods, “of course, shoot.”

“How many clients do you usually get?”

This question definitely catches him off guard, he’s never really been asked this before and he’s debating on if he should as it might be a breach of privacy.

“I don’t think I can answer that, sorry.” He responds in the nicest way possible, but deep down he wants to know why you’d want to know how many other people he sees a day.

You were going to push him a bit more to try and get an answer but you decide to let it go and just enjoy the rest of the picnic. You didn’t want to bring the mood down with your odd questions and/or end up making him feel so uncomfortable that he won’t want to see you anymore. It was definitely something you shouldn’t have asked but you were curious to know anyway. Overall besides that small incident, you had another wonderful time with Changbin and couldn’t wait for tomorrow to come any faster.

Changbin had a foolproof way of getting you to blush like a giddy high school teen whenever he texted you. He’d always refer to you as ‘pretty girl’ or ‘princess’ which gave you insane amount of butterflies. You loved how clingy he could get and would double text when you don’t reply fast enough, always needing constant attention from you which you never minded giving.

He texted you at around three in the afternoon, proposing his next plan for today’s date.

‘Let’s go out for drinks tonight, it’s all on me ;)’

You liked his message, replying that you’ll be there and put a series of hearts at the end. Speaking of hearts, yours is fluttering at high altitudes from the way you can’t stop thinking about your “boyfriend” Changbin. This has been better than anything you could’ve expected, you never want this week to come to an end. It’s only been three days but you’ve begun to grow feelings for him, they weren’t too strong just yet but they were most definitely there. You couldn’t let that halt you from having a good time tonight, you’ll have to accept it soon enough he’s not your actual boyfriend. He’s doing this because you paid him to, if it wasn’t for your money he wouldn’t be here right now.

‘This relationship is purely transactional’ you unfortunately keep reminding yourself of the reality you’re in. Psyching yourself out of this sudden somber mood that’s consuming you, distracting your pessimism by raiding your closet for some cute clothes to wear tonight’s date. After what seemed like hours of tearing your entire room apart, you decide to settle on this sparkly black mini tube dress, pairing it with a leather jacket and more platform shoes because you’re obsessed with feeling tall. Once it’s 7 PM you head out to the bar you’re seeing Changbin at, he was already waiting for you inside the place. Eyes instantly lighting up when he sees you coming towards him, just like he always does he motions for a hug, pulling you in tightly like he hasn’t seen you in years.

His hugs felt so cozy, like sitting in front of the fireplace on a crisp, snowy winter’s evening. You never wanted to escape the warmth of his arms, it was one of those forms of physical touch that felt so overly personal to you. The thought of him hugging someone the same way he hugs you slightly enrages something in your spirit but again, it isn’t your place to get genuinely upset over him doing his job. You’re not entitled to him exclusively, but you feel like if you keep this up feelings will only continue to develop. This wasn’t something you considered when going into this and now you feel like you’ve just made a huge mistake.

“You okay babe?” Changbin notices you acting a bit strange, choosing not to pursue it after telling him you’re fine. He knows something’s wrong but doesn’t want to mess up the flow of the date, instead he orders a drink for the both of you and switches on to a lighter subject. “Let’s go shopping tomorrow at that new centre that just opened last week. I need to buy some new AirPods, I accidentally lost one of them in a taxi..”

“Sure,” you nod at his suggestion, in desperate need of some new clothes anyway. “Sorry about your AirPods, that sucks!”

He takes a sip of his bubbly drink that’s now on the table, “Eh, it’s okay this is probably the fourth time this has happened so far.” This has pretty much become a regular occurrence for him by now.

As the date progresses, things continue getting better. You’re both laughing, engaging in much deeper conversation than ever before. You definitely had more than enough alcohol in your system by now, feeling congested and claustrophobic as more people came into the bar. Changbin takes note of your discomfort and asks if you want to get some fresh air outside, you wasted absolutely no time to agree.

While you two were outside continuing your chat about some wild conspiracy he read about online, Changbin’s attention was soon drawn to a different building nearby. Gazing up in confusion at his sudden outburst of excitement, you wonder where he could be leading you next.

“Noraebang!” He shouts loud enough anyone miles away could’ve heard that, he’s now grabbing your hand to frantically drag you along with him.

You were never one to carry a tune but Changbin was actually very good at karaoke and singing in general, he had such a lovely voice. You could seriously listen to him sing all night— which you basically did since you kept begging for an encore until it hit 4 am. That’s when you both decided to finally call it a night, you wanted to pay for the Uber since he’s paid for all the drinks and every other expenses for today. You felt bad because you were the one renting him to be your boyfriend yet he’s constantly shelling out money left and right. He still insisted on paying and ultimately won the whole debacle, making you swallow your pride and get into the Uber with him. Changbin’s definitely not just someone you’re going to forget about after this week is over. You dread the day this all comes to an end, wishing there was a way to relive these moments again and again.

“I’m a little under the weather today, sorry I can’t make it Binnie.” Your voice is hoarse from coughing and unbearable throat pain. You’ve already consumed half a bag of cough drops, throat lozenges, and random cold medicine you’ve found in your cabinets.

He sounds mildly disappointed, but springs back up with a new proposal, “I can come over and bring some soup if you’d like!”

You appreciate his gesture but still refuse, you know he’s only saying all this because he has to, not because he wants to. “N-no you don’t have to, I’m sure you can go see other clients today. One less person to worry about right?”

The call went silent for a minute, he wasn’t quite sure how to respond to such a deprecating comment.

“I don’t want to see other clients, I want to see you ___.” He sighs, unwilling to give up so easily, “I’ll be at your place soon, m’kay?” He hangs up before you could even respond or say no again.

You had no choice but to wait for Changbin to show up now. Before you got sick, the last two dates you went on were debatably the best so far. You had gone out shopping together, accidentally wearing almost the same kind of outfit. Changbin was wearing a white graphic tee with blue baggy jeans and you wore something practically identical. The two of you looked like a real, official couple and people would stare as you walked hand in hand, it really did seem like the perfect relationship on the outside.

You got even closer when he came over the following day, resulting in you two cuddling while watching movies and baking cookies. He’s expressed that he’s never been to another client’s home before but it wasn’t “technically” against any rules. The more you kept hanging out together, the harder it was coming to terms with the fact you’re actually falling for Changbin. He made every experience with you more exciting than the last, which he did exactly that night. When the cookies were done you fed a piece to him, making little airplane sounds as you do it, he eagerly takes a bite of the chewy treat and compliments both your efforts.

“These taste way better than I thought, oh my god they literally melt in your mouth. Try it!” He takes another cookie from the tray and feeds it to you this time.

There was something so overly domestic about that moment you couldn’t shake the feelings of wanting to kiss him right then and there. But you can’t. If you did such a thing you’d never be allowed to see him again, plus you don’t want to be known as that one creepy client who just couldn’t keep their hands to themselves. As you were cuddling on the couch though, things may have taken a turn for the better… or worse?

Changbin would “yawn” at the movie and subtly wrap his arm around you, he’d subconsciously pull you in closer and it didn’t make it any better that you were under the same blanket. You weren’t complaining at any of this though, you were pretty much in heaven. It took everything in you not to look up and stare, gluing your eyes to the movie that was displayed on the TV. But as the night progressed you were practically snuggling up with him like he was your real boyfriend. The way he’d run his fingers gently down your back, soothing you in a way that could lull you asleep. His touch was the most relaxing thing ever, you were so calm with him and loved how he brought a side of you that’s never been shown. After this encounter you can no longer deny the way you feel— you are officially falling deeply in love your rental boyfriend, Seo Changbin.

The sound of your doorbell ringing alarms you of a new visitor, who was none other than your “boyfriend” waiting patiently outside the door for you. You feel and look like death itself, coming downstairs to answer the door still in your PJ’s and hair a disheveled mess. Every five seconds was interrupted with you coughing your lungs out, barely able to speak above a whisper. Changbin looks thrilled as ever to see you, even when you clearly don’t look your best he’s still coming up to hug you tightly. His hugs are always blocking off your airways from the way his muscles squeeze you, it’s even worse when you’re sick— practically gasping for air.

“Sorry babyy, I just missed you so much. I couldn’t stop thinking about you all day and soon as you said you’re sick I dropped everything to go make you this soup. It’s a specialty I make whenever my friends are sick, the perfect remedy to cure my princess.” He goes into your kitchen to heat up the soup in your microwave, making you wait patiently on the couch as you’re wrapped up in multiple blankets.

Your body feels like it’s -2 degrees, you were freezing. The crazy thing is your thermostat was set to 80 degrees, it was definitely you that was the problem. He propped your feet up on the table, rested a tray in your lap and set the bowl of soup on top. Brushing a couple strands of hair out your face he looks at you intently, examining your symptoms as if he’s a doctor.

“It’ll be okay soon love, I’m here to nurse you back to health again. Can’t see my pretty baby sick like this, makes me all sad.” He pouts, giving you a soft head pat like you’re a delicate kitten.

He takes a spoonful of the hot soup, slightly blowing on it before telling you to open up so you can eat. You don’t know what’s gotten into you but you feel like he’s gone too far with all this. It’s not fair for you to continue on if it’s just become torture now. He’s practically dangling in your face that you’ll never have a partner as perfect as him in your life.

“I- I can’t do this anymore Changbin..” you say lowly, refusing to eat the soup he made.

“What do you mean? I’m just feeding you soup, it’s my duty as your boyfriend to-”

“This isn’t real… none of it is. I’m stupid for even doing this but I was lonely.. I’m sorry but I’d prefer something that isn’t temporary.” You cut him off to express your pent up frustrations, ready to be let down and rejected by him as gently as possible.

“Then let’s make it real,” he proposes without any hesitation, “honestly I stopped faking it around our third date, it was all me after that. I never said anything because well… this is my job and I’ve never fallen for a client before so this is still all very new to me..”

You’d be screaming right now if you weren’t sick, instead you’re internally freaking out at this confession, it feels like your hearts doing cartwheels and somersaults.

“Seriously?” Eyes widening as you look at him, suddenly your body heat rises and you know it’s not because of the soup or the layers of blankets that’s covering you.

He nods, “I thought it was kinda obvious when we kissed yesterday..”

Oh yeah… you forgot that did happen. You thought it was another fever dream you might’ve just made up in your head. You shared your first kiss with someone you deemed so special and important to you, someone you never would’ve guessed could come into your life and shift the entirety of your world like magic. There was no one else in existence you wanted more than Changbin.

“Doesn’t that mean you’ll have to quit your job? I don’t want to be the reason you stop making such good income.. I’ll feel so bad.” You knew deep down you didn’t feel that badly about him quitting to date you instead. It was just the thought of him leaving something he’s been doing for years behind all for some girl he’s known for simply a week.

He shrugs at your comment, “I’ll be just fine, I was planning on finding a new job soon anyway. It gets kinda old after a while, I felt like I was on autopilot most of the time. You were able to get me to open up and show my true self, I could never thank you enough for that ___.” Changbin couldn’t resist the urge to plant a kiss to your forehead.

After everything that’s been said and done. What you’ve come to understand is that love is learned, a development that takes time to grow and blossom into something extraordinary. Just like learning a new language or a musical instrument, we learn love from society and cultures we’re raised in, it’s a beautiful thing once we know how to cherish it. Your newfound romance with Changbin is something you’ll learn to cherish forever and ever.

[End <3].

[siredtosturniolos]

YOU

paring: chris sturniolo x reader

part 1 of ???

summary: your best friend madi set you up on a blind date with one of her closest friends. you go and have a decent time, but ultimately decide there’s no second date. chris doesn’t like that, and resorts to extreme measures to get YOU.

warnings: stalking, dumb!reader, mentions of drinking/going to a bar idk

authors note: guys i hope you guys like this as much as i do LMAO i just love joe goldberg (this is gonna be so long help) (also i love jake webber sm so he’s in this for a bit!) (everyone is a couple years older in this, the triplets are famous but it’s never brought up) (hopefully there’s not many mistakes i’ve read it too many times LMAO)

word count: 3,936

───✱*.｡:｡✱*.:｡✧*.｡✰*.:｡✧*.｡:｡*.｡✱ ───

the last few weeks you can’t help but notice the unsettling sensation of always feeling like you have somebody’s eyes on you. walking around your house with the curtains open became such a hassle, always drawing them shut when chills would rake down your spine. you were constantly checking that your front door was locked, unable to shake the feeling of a presence that you don’t know about being with you.

you were getting more and more paranoid, traveling to and from work constantly having to look behind you, hearing things that aren’t there such as footsteps. slowly overtime you notice some of your belongings missing. such as your favorite lingerie set, your childhood blanket, and even t-shirts and shorts that you wouldn’t otherwise miss, until you were looking for them.

you finally confessed to madi what’s been happening, resulting in her and laura coming over. they helped you change your locks and make sure all of the windows on the ground floor of your two-story town house fully locked and weren’t able to open from the outside.

you were terrified to say the least.

you did your best to shake the feeling as you got ready for a date. you had met him at a bar just down the street, as you refused to let madi set you up with another friend after you had met chris. you had a good time with him, but he just seems slightly off in a way that you couldn’t place. it was like he knew you before he ever met you, and it kind of freaked you out.

at the time you just shrugged it off and assumed madi was hyping you up and telling him lots of things about you, but when you asked her about it a few days after the date, she said she hadn’t told him much other than your name and age.

chris kept texting and calling you, trying to make plans or inviting himself to your house, you decided to just block him. madi had reached out shortly after saying that chris was trying to get a hold of you. you had explained to her what was going on, feeling bad as you know madi would beat herself up over this.

madi was shocked and said that she would let chris know to leave you alone.

your heels clicked against the floor as you made your way around your apartment, doublechecking your back door was locked, you even put your trashcan in in front of it so if somebody did get in, it would be knocked over. you make your way out of your place once you feel everything is secure, locking and dead-bolting the door, you trudged down the steps.

before you know it you’re at the bar you met jake at, and quickly find your way to the bar, where the two of you agreed to meet.

you instantly spot his tall frame, grinning to yourself as you approach him. “jake.” you greet politely, sitting down on the stool next to him.

he greets you back enthusiastically, “you look great.” he smirks down at you, letting his eyes scan your body. you were wearing a black long sleeve dress, with black heels. you wanted to keep it basic as you were just meeting up in a bar to get to know each other over some drinks.

your cheeks flush, “thank you, you do too.” you shyly compliment him back. the two of you order your drinks, and begin chatting, finding that you both have lots of things in common.

at some point through the night, you found yourself scooting closer and closer to jake. your knees now pressing against one another. jake brought his hand down to your knee and began rubbing it. he leans towards you as the bartender took away your now empty glasses, a warm buzz setting over your body.

“do you want to get out of here?” he quietly asks you, tugging one of his snake bite piercings into his mouth.

you bite your lip in anticipation, “my place or yours?” you seductively ask, making jake spring to his feet and instantly help you off the stool you had been sitting on all night.

the two of you quickly make your way back to your place, as it was closer than jake’s, his hands wandering your body as you pull out your keys. you look up to your door and freeze. shock courses through your body at the sight, it had been slightly left open.

“oh shit,” jake mumbles, turning to look down at you, “forget to lock up before you left?” he asked questionably, shuffling to the side slightly so he could enter first.

“no, i swear i had it locked. i even remembered to deadbolt it.” you nervously reply, no idea as to what could be lurking inside your home. you definitely didn’t want to tell jake you more than likely have a stalker, considering this was your first date with him.

“i’ll go check it out.” jake offers. he pushes the door open slightly, making it creek eerily, sending goosebumps across your arms.

“are you crazy? i’m not staying out here by myself. i’ll go with you.” you insist, taking a step to follow him.

he turns his head to look at you over his shoulder, “fine, but just stay behind me.” you nod in agreement, lightly trailing behind him up your stairs.

the two of you slowly make your way into your town house and you quickly flick on the lights. you both observe the floor plan for any signs of movement.

when you see there’s nobody down here, you and jake look at each other before looking up the stairs that were right by the front door.

jake makes a move towards the stairs and you stop him, “shouldn’t we take a weapon or something?” you ask incredulously, making him freeze in his spot. maybe this guy doesn’t have the best common sense, but at least he’s hot.

“yeah, we probably should.” jake replies, as he slowly and quietly makes his way towards your kitchen. you grab the baseball bat behind your front door, thanking the gods above that it’s still there. jake shuffles about in your kitchen for a moment before he comes back with a knife.

taking a deep breath to calm your nerves, you follow behind jake as he leads the way up the stairs. you had two bedrooms and a bathroom up there.

your hallway light was on, so you had the advantage of being able to slightly see into the rooms. jake quickly enters one room and flicks on the light, holding the knife out from his chest, twisting his head back-and-forth looking for any signs of life. once you both deem the room as clear, you move onto the bathroom located right next-door.

you’re shocked when the light turns on, the shower curtain is open, and all of your shower products scattered on the floor.

“that wasn’t like that when i left.” you mumbled to jake, chills shooting down your spine.

someone had definitely been in here.

the only place left to check was your bedroom, and you were terrified as the thought of someone being in there someone waiting for you. what if you didn’t bring jake home with you tonight?

jake makes his move quick, turning on the light and stepping into the room. you’re right behind him, frantically searching to see if anything was missing or out of place.

your eyes land on your bed and a gasp escapes your lips. there’s flowers all over your bed, and a black velvet box sitting on one of your pillows. jake checks under your bed and in your closet before lowering his weapon setting it on your dresser

“this is freaky.” jake comments, rounding the bed and grabbing the black box. you move to stand next to him as he peels the box open, revealing a beautiful necklace. it was a pink diamond heart, with a ring around it to make it look like a planet on a silver chain.

“that looks familiar.” you murmured to jake, racking your brain to figure out where you had seen something like that before.

before you could place it, your front door slammed shut making the two of you jump in fear. jake raced down the stairs to see a man running away from your apartment, dressed in all black with his hood up.

“what the fuck?” jake yelled, while opening the door and stepping outside. it was no use as the figure had turned the corner and was out of sight.

“should we call the cops?” you ask jake, trembling slightly as you realize that more than likely, that man been in your house while you were still still looking for him.

jake turns to face you, “go pack a bag and you can stay with me or I can take you somewhere safe. it’s up to you about the cops, but by the time they get here he’ll be long gone.”

you nod wordlessly, and make your way back upstairs quickly changing into a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie. slipping on your white nike’s you pack your bag. immediately once you’re done, you start texting madi saying that you needed to stay over.

“tonight was fun.” you joke softly to jake, as he drives towards madi’s home.

jake looks over you briefly, grinning, “i did have a good time but that ending was not what i expected.” he replied you, making you nod in agreement.

jake pulled into madi’s driveway, madi instantly running to the car.

“are you okay? is everything okay?” she hurriedly asks, helping you open the door and taking your bag for you.

“if you somehow want a second date, you have my number.” you tell jake as you shut the door. you wave at him, offering him a smile before you and madi make it inside of her house.

you noticed there’s several pairs of shoes by her front door when you kick off your own, you looked at her questionably, to find her already looking at you apologetically.

“who’s here?” you ask as the two of you made your way towards her living room.

“i’m sorry i didn’t you would be coming over but the triplets are here.” madi replies, just as you both enter the living room to find nick, matt, and chris sitting on her couch.

all three of them to look at you and madi, and you can’t help but feel incredibly awkward. you glance towards the tv, to see a movie paused about half way through.

great, i just interrupted their movie night, you think to yourself.

“hey.” nick greets you casually offering you a smile. you grin back at him in acknowledgment before taking a seat next to madi on the loveseat. nick had always been chill, occasionally crashing sleepovers at madi’s house. you didn’t mind, he was pretty fun to be around.

you had only met matt a few times, not really able to give an opinion on the man. he seemed very closed off, like he wanted people to work if they wanted to get to know him. you admired that about him, as you tend to have word vomit and end up oversharing frequently.

“okay, what the hell happened?” madi demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.

biting your lip softly, glancing to the triplets, who are still focused on you. they were madi’s closest friends, there’s no harm in them hearing the story too.

“i was taking my date back to my place and when we get there, my front door is open but we ended up not finding anyone. they messed with my shower, and they put flowers all over my bed and gave me a necklace.” you explained briefly, shortening the story. you left out the part of seeing a guy running away from your apartment, you’d wait to tell her that when you were alone.

“what the fuck.” madi comments, raising her eyebrows in shock.

“damn, you have a full on stalker.” matt commented, making your eyes shoot to his. he had an apologetic look on his face.

“yeah, this isn’t even the first time they have been in my house though.” you reply, leaning back into the cushion behind you.

“what?” nick gasped, turning to fully face you. you decide to overshare, telling them all of the times you had noticed someone entering your home without you knowing. even when you were there yourself.

chris was rather quiet, his eyes darting from you to madi, to his brothers. he was nervously fidgeting with the blanket on his lap, subtlety tucking his necklace underneath his shirt.

you suddenly decide to let madi and the triplets know the full story, “i know it was crazy. we were in my room when we heard my front door slam, but by the time we got down there, we could just see the person leaving.” you tell them, not missing how chris’ eyes grow in size, a worried expression etching onto his face.

“that’s actually so scary. what are you going to do?” madi asked, resting her hand on your arm attempting to comfort you.

you shrugged, “i think i’m gonna go to the police station and see if they’re any help in the morning. i just know that i can’t stay there tonight.”

“i’m so sorry you’re going through this.” chris suddenly speaks up. you meet his eyes, and he genuinely looks apologetic for you.

“nothing i can’t handle i suppose.” you offer him a small smile.

you zone out for the next hour, overthinking every possible scenario of what could’ve happened tonight. the movie everyone else was watching when you got here ended, making madi announce she was going to bed.

“you sure you’re good to sleep down here?” madi asked you, as you offered to stay on the loveseat since chris was getting the couch and matt was getting the spare room.

nick was going to sleep in madi’s room with her and you didn’t want to mess up their plans any more than you already had.

“yeah, i’ll be fine. i’ve done it before.” you assure her with a shrug, before she handed you the pillow and blanket she had went and gotten for you.

“okay,” she sighs, “you know where i’m at if you need me.” with that, she turned on her heel and made her way to her bedroom where nick was waiting for her.

“do you fall asleep with the tv on?” chris asked, making you turn towards him. he had the remote in his hand, slightly leaning upwards to look at you from a few feet away.

“i do you,” quietly reply, “but if you don’t, i can survive one night without it.”

chris immediately shakes his head, “i fall asleep with the tv on too don’t worry.” he offers you a smile before loading up a random movie you had never seen before.

the two of you sit in a comfortable silence, leaving you to your thoughts. you can’t help but think about the date you and chris shared a few months ago, was it as bad as you really thought it was or were you just overthinking?

being around chris tonight made you realize he might just have a strong personality. he’s been rather low-key tonight and that’s something you’re deeply attracted to.

“hey chris?” you quietly ask, unsure if he’s sleeping or not. you turn your head to the right to look at the couch just in time to see chris fully sit up to look at you.

“what’s up?” he asked, bringing his knees to his chest as he looks at you.

“i’m sorry for how things went between us.” you quietly apologize, doing your best to meet his eyes in the dark room.

he offers a small smile, “it’s okay, i think i just came on a little too strong because i was so excited to even have a chance with you.”

your cheeks flush at his confession, “how was your date with jake tonight?” he asked, making you frown as you realize you hadn’t thought of him once since arriving.

you pause, slowly turning to look back at chris, “how’d you know i went on a date with jake?” you ask, knowing you hadn’t brought up his name when retelling the story an hour ago.

chris freezes, “i think madi mentioned it when you texted her earlier.” he replies after a beat of silence, leaving you on edge but letting it go anyways.

“it was fine.” you finally speak, answering his first question, while shrugging your shoulders. “he’s not really boyfriend material.”

chris’s eyebrows raise at your reply, “so what was the point of going out with him?” he questions, a puzzled expression set on his face.

your cheeks burn, even hotter, “think about it, chris. what else is there to do when you don’t want to date someone?” you sheepishly reply as you watch the realization wash over his face.

“oh, so you wanted to fuck?” he asked a small smirk appearing on his lips. bashfully you nodded, surprised that you’re keeping yourself together with this conversation. chris bites his lip as he looks at you, and you can barely see his eyes glance down at your lips before he briefly closes them.

“if you ever want to give me another chance, i’m here.” chris comments before he lays back down so now his back is facing you.

your heartbeat jumps at his words, and his low tone of voice. your thighs clench together, your brain fighting over which dirty scenario to think about first.

you get lost in your thoughts, and before you know it you had fallen asleep. you wake up pretty early as you never sleep well when you’re not in your bed. you sit up after you see chris is still sound asleep, this time facing you. you can’t help but think how cute he looks while he’s asleep.

his head is resting on the pillow, and his arms are tightly wrapped underneath. his lips are slightly parted, and his hair flopped perfectly over his forehead. it was longer than when you went out with him, and you can’t help but like it more.

you catch yourself staring and you quickly look away before you shuffle your feet to go to the bathroom. you do your business, brushing your teeth and changing your clothes.

grabbing your bag and you set it by the front door, returning to the living room to leave madi a note.

going to the police station, i’ll call you when i get home. love you.

you quickly scribble that onto a napkin, leaving it at the center of the table before you make your exit of madi’s house and walk to the police station. it was only a 20 minute walk, and you can feel your blood pressure rise as you enter the building, instantly meeting eyes with a woman behind a desk.

“what can i do for you, hon?” she asked offering you a wide smile. your nerves slightly washed away at her friendly expression, as you leaned against the counter.

“i have to report a break-in from my possible stalker, that I know nothing about.” you inform her, watching the smile slip from her face. instantly she’s on her feet searching through folders before handing you a sheet of paper and a pen.

“fill this out for me and we will get to the bottom of this for you.” she offers a sad smile, sitting back down you walked to one of the waiting chairs, and instantly fill out the papers.

your address, your name, and any incident revolving any sort of suspicious activity. you fill it out faster than expected, as she was shocked to see you back on your feet in front of her.

she glances over the paper curiously, “okay, i’ll see if we have any officers able to do an inspection.” the woman speaks, taking the paper with her, you watched as she disappeared around the corner.

10 minutes later, you’re in the back of a cop car getting driven to your house. you were silent for the ride as the cop instructed you to stay in the car until he does a sweep through.

once he comes outside, you instantly step out of the car, “i took some photos, but there’s not much we can do at the moment, unfortunately. you’ll have to keep reporting any incident’s, preferably as soon as they occur, so there’s a higher chance of finding evidence or whoever is doing this to you.” he explains, making your heart drop.

there’s nothing they can do for you.

he has a little plastic baggie in his hand containing some of the flowers and the velvet box that held the necklace.

“thank you for taking the time to come out here.” you reply, as you make your way inside.

you text madi, letting her know what the cops said, as you sit on your couch in silence. you lean back against your couch as tears brim your waterline, feeling completely hopeless.

you were surprised when you suddenly woke up, not even realizing you had dozed off amidst your crying. you push the blanket that was resting on your chest off, feeling overheated, before you freeze.

you weren’t using a blanket before you fell asleep. chills ran down your spine as you quickly glanced around the room. your eyes settle on the kitchen table, a vase of flowers now sitting in the middle.

you cautiously get up, checking your surroundings as you slowly walk towards the flowers. there was a white envelope resting in the middle of the bouquet. your hand instantly grips your phone from your pocket, wanting to call the police but something stops you.

you don’t know how long ago he was in here, what’s the point in calling?

you carefully pick up the envelope, barely touching the edges as you don’t want your finger prints on it. you lift the flap, shaking it slightly for the folded up piece of paper to fall onto your table.

you take a deep breath before you unfold the paper, your jaw dropping at the amount of writing.

baby, don’t be scared. i’m just trying to show you how much i love you with the gifts. i was really disappointed when i saw the cop leaving with your necklace. did you not like it? you looked so pretty when you were sleeping, your tear strained cheeks and your pouty lips looked so kissable. i controlled myself, you’re going to be awake for our first kiss. you’ll be begging for it. now, the real reason i gave you these flowers. they’re a reminder for you, and anyone else, that you are MINE. i don’t want to see you with jake again. you wouldn’t want him to get hurt, would you baby? i’ll be seeing you soon my love.

your jaw is on the floor by the time you’re done reading it, instantly pulling out your phone to call jake. you’re searching for what seems like forever, not able to find his contact in your messages. you search jake, and are shocked to see no contacts come up.

goosebumps cover your arms as you realize, he had gotten on your phone and deleted jake’s contact. the only way you could get in touch with him. your breathing quickens, as you feel a rush of panic wash over you.

before you could move, a warm cloth is placed over your mouth, and a body pressed against your back. instantly you’re fighting to get away from them, but the arm that had slipped around your waist, tugging you into their body tightly, prevented you from getting away.

“shh baby, just relax.” a deep voice whispers in your ear, as you begin to feel light headed. your eyes slowly start to droop shut, despite your desperate attempt to keep them open. the man slowly removes the cloth from your nose, letting you suck in a deep breath before you fall limp.

[veeagainsttheday]

Ed, Killing, and the Kraken in Our Flag Means Death S1 and S2

This meta contains a whole heckuva a lot of spoilers for Our Flag Means Death seasons 1 and 2. Thanks to @petrichorca who gave it a read through and left some helpful comments!

When we first get to know Ed in s1e4, the episode concludes with him telling his first mate, Izzy Hands, about his plans to murder Stede Bonnet and steal his identity so Ed can retire from piracy. Ed and Izzy discuss the plan in a casual manner, like this act isn't shocking or deviant from previous conversations and schemes Ed and Izzy have had before. This is consistent with how other characters, especially Black Pete, have described Blackbeard in previous episodes (‘when Blackbeard kills man, woman, or child…’). While Black Pete is (probably) lying, Buttons was with him until the flip. 

As the song ‘The Empty Boat’ by Caetano Veloso plays, Izzy tells Ed, 'You've still got it' and Ed says, 'I know,' turning away to face the empty deck. Only the audience witnesses his true facial expression - the Blackbeard mask falling, a kind of dead-eyed exhaustion (echoed by the lyrics of the song) taking its place. 

In s1e5, we see Ed threaten violence against the French captain, but he doesn't actually hurt the man himself. We also see him act as if he's about to go kill the French partygoers before Stede steps in and 'handles it'. At this point I think we the audience would, if asked, have said that Ed seems to have a casual attitude towards killing that you would expect from 'the legendary Blackbeard'. He's scary ('next one goes through your fucking eyeball') and almost cartoonishly violent ('skin him. And use the snail fork'). So we the audience maybe make some assumptions about where the show stands on violent killing - not only that Blackbeard is familiar with it, but that it's a commonplace act for him.

Then we come to a pivotal moment. In s1e6, Izzy pushes back on Ed for not killing Stede, there’s the conversation about doggy heaven, and Ed promises Izzy that he’ll be the one to do the killing. We see Ed hyping himself up (‘You’re a killer bro. So kill.’) and then holding his knife while standing next to Stede behind the curtain in the captain’s cabin. They’re interrupted by Lucius cutting off his finger. Ed doesn’t go through with it; the moment passes as Stede exits the curtain to announce the entrance of the Kraken. 

At this point, I as an audience member fully believed that Ed couldn’t kill Stede because of his feelings for him. I wasn’t yet sure what those feelings were, but I knew that Ed had a deep affection for Stede, and for a moment I believed that was all that was holding him back. Then, of course, we see Ed have a PTSD/panic attack trigger from the Kraken fuckery that sends him into Stede’s bathtub, hiding underneath Stede’s robe, where he and Stede have what I believe is the most intimate moment of the entire first season (a reading supported by s2e3). Ed tells Stede, ‘The Kraken didn’t kill my dad. I did.’ We are shown the flashbacks to the way Ed’s father abused him and his mother, and the Kraken story he told on deck earlier is shown again with the figure of the beast in the water replaced by himself, as a young teen, on the dock. 

Then Ed tells Stede, ‘If I’m being honest, I haven’t killed another man since.’ Stede tries to comfort him by reminding him how much he loves a good maim, but Ed is still preoccupied with how the fact that he killed his abusive father as a child means that he’s not a good person, and that this is why he doesn’t have any friends, aka, isn’t loveable. Stede tells him, ‘I’m your friend,’ in essence, To me, you are loveable, and Ed reacts by saying, ‘No,’ and banging his head against the tub.

The next important point happens in s1e8, when Jack invites himself to breakfast and regales Stede (very deliberately, as he’s trying to push Stede and Ed apart) with the tale of Ed setting a ship alight and killing many people. (Also note - the show’s first mention of Hornigold! ‘He treated us like dogs! Worse than dogs!’ and ‘Ground us down into nothing!’) While Jack emphasises the horror and brutality of what Ed did, Ed’s demeanour completely changes - ‘No, Stede doesn’t want to hear about that.’ Jack obviously doesn’t listen to Ed; Stede’s face passes from horrified listening to Jack to squinting at Ed like, ‘Is this - true?’ Ed looks thoroughly guilty as the story continues and Stede asks him, clearly doing his best to preserve Ed’s secret in front of Jack, ‘I thought you’d, uh, given up the killing?’ Ed surges forward in his seat and, not making eye contact with Stede, says, ‘Yeah, well, technically the fire killed those guys. Not me.’ The camera then cuts to Jack looking at Stede with a bit of an incredulous expression as if he’s both gauging Stede’s reaction to the entire thing and thinking, ‘Wow BB’s in deep here if he’s making up some weird story about not being the one who lit that fire.’  

I don’t think the show intends for us to believe that Ed was consciously lying to Stede in the bathtub scene in s1e6. Instead, we see the complex way that Ed - who is shown to be both brilliant and possessed of an internal monologue that just cannot shut up - has constructed mental barriers to protect himself from the trauma of killing while still achieving the highest possible status in a very violent profession and existing in a world marred by colonial violence perpetrated specifically against people like him. 

S1e9 shows Ed continuing to posture to everyone but Stede as Blackbeard, seasoned killer (for example, telling Chauncey that he barely remembers killing Nigel because he’s ‘a real “life is cheap” kinda guy’). At the Academy and briefly after, in the beginning of s1e10, Ed seems set to have given up killing and violence for real, but Izzy’s threats in the cabin in s1e10 send Ed reeling back to the Kraken persona he assumed when he killed his dad. The season concludes with him pushing Lucius off the ship and Krakening up to sail, rob, and raise hell forever - but the final shot shows Ed crying alone in his cabin, his Kraken makeup streaking down his face. It’s heartbreaking, but it’s one of my favourite scenes from a character perspective. Imagine if the season had ended with Ed fully transformed into the Kraken, rather than clearly miserable and heartbroken under his mask? 

Season 2 begins with Ed trying to set a record for most consecutive raids, working his crew to death under brutal and traumatic conditions. His list of crimes on his wanted poster certainly suggests a lot of violence and killing, yet the show is careful to show us Ed himself only seeming to kill one person - firing a gun into a man’s back during a raid - and if you look closely, you’ll see that the man was already dying with a dagger through his body. It feels vital to me that the only direct ‘killing’ action we see Ed taking is shooting a man who we presume he can justify as having been already on his way to death. 

In s2e1 and s2e2, Ed can’t kill Izzy, though he does try desperately to get Frenchie to do it for him. He can’t even kill himself, trying to get Izzy to do it instead. When he thinks Izzy has committed suicide with the gun he gave him, he says, ‘I loved you, best I could,’ as if any love Ed could give would by its nature not be good enough. 

Ed wakes in s2e3 in the care of his old captain, Hornigold; of course, he’s really in the gravy basket and Hornigold is serving as a Jacob Marley-esque psychopomp. They key to Ed realising that he’s really [Buttons voice] ‘down in the old gravy basket’ is the conversation that concludes his attempts to be Jeff the Innkeeper. Hornigold tells Ed that he’s not good with people - after all, he did strangle his father. Ed reacts first with disbelief then cold fury, saying he never told anyone that; Hornigold reminds him that he told one person and Ed flashes back to telling Stede in the bathtub in s1e6; then Hornigold reminds him that the one person he told left him, and we see Ed crying under his Kraken makeup at the end of s1e10. Later, when Ed (finally, even Calico Jack would have had it sooner) realises that Hornigold represents himself, he says that he’s unloveable. Here’s the crux of it - he believes that he is fundamentally unloveable because he killed his father, because he is the Kraken, the monstrous beast capable of lethal violence. That’s why Stede left, his brain is telling him even as he’s dying. 

Then Stede actually proves him wrong by returning, saving him from death, and telling him that he ‘love[s] everything about [him]’ in rapid succession. Whether or not Ed fully accepts this information, we do see him very quickly, yes, melt back into Stede’s arms. Which brings us to s2e6, and Stede’s killing of Ned Low. 

Quick digression into killing and Stede: Stede accidentally kills a man in s1e1, is haunted by his ghost in s1e2. He’s so haunted by dead Nigel that he spends a lot of s1e2 asking first Oluwande and Jim for advice on being a ‘mur-der-er’, and then asking Black Pete how his former employer, Blackbeard (!!!) handled killing. (How Pete says, ‘When Blackbeard kills man, woman, or child-’ lives in my head at all times, Matt Maher with the line deliveries of all time.) Finally in s1e2, during his court-mandated therapy with the tribal elder, Stede admits that he doesn’t feel bad about killing Nigel - he was a horrible person even when he was a child! Stede's guilt is coming from somewhere else. We see this again in s1e9, when Stede says it is time for him to face the consequences for what he’s done - it might seem like he means for killing Nigel, since that’s why he’s about to face the firing squad, but we know that Stede’s guilt is about abandoning his family (the people he’s hurt!). Similarly, when Stede kills Ned in s2e6, he seems to get over it very quickly. Ned is clearly a bad guy, and although the act of killing him was traumatic for Stede (much like the act of killing Nigel), Stede presumably reconciles it by knowing that he was protecting Ed and his crew (and avenging Calypso’s birthday). Stede as a character is shown to have a tremendous amount of natural resilience. We later see him immolate a guy and dispatch a number of British soldiers without hesitation. Stede is also one of the two main protagonists of the show, and his attitude towards killing seems to reflect the attitude of the show itself - killing colonisers and torturers to protect your loved ones is ok, actually. 

(Side note but I found this idea about how zero tolerance policies actually hurt victims very informative on the topic of why it's ok that Stede killed his childhood bully; I got that link from this very interesting post where several people are in conversation about how Ed is not Izzy's abuser.)

Back to Ed in s2e6. He asks Stede not to kill Ned; when Stede does anyway, Ed is visibly saddened and ignores Izzy telling him to give Stede a moment; instead he goes immediately to check in on Stede in his cabin. He knocks on the door and in that soft voice that he only ever uses with Stede, he starts to say, ‘Hey. You okay? Look, I was a wreck after my first kill as well.’ Then he pauses, before rambling, ‘I mean, well, it was my dad, so there's that,’ which feels like a little moment of self-reflection. Like. Yeah. Ed. Baby. You might be super fucked up about the act of killing because the first guy you killed was your dad, when you were a literal child! Also, Ed has never been to (as far as we know) court-mandated tribal elder therapy, so of course his decision to kill his father fucked Ed up for decades! Also as a very clever friend pointed out, we don’t know anything about what the consequences of that were for Ed - how did his mother react, is that why he ran away to sea, etc.

There's another important thing here that the audience knows, but that Ed has never told Stede (or, we have to assume, anyone) which is that the catalyst for Ed becoming the Kraken to kill his father was abuse. The audience is shown through his panic-attack-induced flashback that Ed's father physically and verbally abused his mother and presumably him too. All Ed has ever said to Stede or anyone about it, as far as we know, was his joke to the crew during scary story hour that his dad was a dick. Stede can probably infer roughly why Ed killed his dad, but he doesn't know the details, and he loves everything about Ed anyway, and now Ed knows that Stede does too. 

So Ed and Stede have sex, and as many metas have pointed out (like this one!), it's so meaningful that Ed feels safe enough to give up his Blackbeard/Kraken identity the very next morning. He attempts to get Stede to see that it might be nice to not be pirates anymore due to the high chance of death but Stede manages to completely misread it and laughs it off. (To be fair to Stede, they're both horrible at communicating and Ed is not saying what he wants in any direct manner.) Ed proceeds to have his big beautiful brain start to spiral out of control as Jackie points out how popular Stede is becoming as a pirate; Ed panics, tells Stede he doesn’t even know who he is, and leaves to become a fisherman before he can get left (again!). 

As Ed rows away from his failed career as a fisherman in s2e8, his boss Pop-Pop (who he has managed to recreate a fucked up father-son dynamic with that like so many things in his show is played for laughs but has pretty dark undertones) yells after him, 'If you were ever good at anything, go and do that, you bum.' Ed rows back into the port of the Republic of Pirates and sees the destruction Prince Ricky has wrought upon the pirate community. Ed's first thought is, Stede, and then he imagines Stede calling for help before straight up murdering two British soldiers. He remembers Pop-Pop's words and says, 'Have it your way,' before diving into the sea, retrieving his leather, putting it on underwater, and emerging from the waves fully dressed. It's fantastically hot and the exact level of drama I expect from this man. The Kraken musical cue is playing as it happens. 

We now see Ed murdering British soldiers in the coolest ways possible, demonstrating his skill at fighting in hand to hand combat. One way to read him taking Pop-Pop's advice is that this is what he's good at - killing and violence. 

But you know what Ed’s even better at? Protecting the people he loves. His mother, himself, and Stede. Each time Ed becomes the Kraken, he fulfils that. He protects his mother from his father, himself from Izzy after being warned that ‘[Edward] better watch his fucking step’, and Stede from the invading colonisers who want to destroy their freedom. But something has changed the third time he does it - this time, he can tell Stede that he loves him and he doesn't mean it as a tainted thing, but something that he knows Stede will treasure. He's both loveable and capable of loving. He always has been, of course, but now he knows it. The Kraken, the part of him that is capable of killing, was always a defence mechanism for Ed, but the third time he understands it and himself enough to know that it doesn’t make him a monster. 

[grave-z-boy]

arthur morgan x male reader where reader joins the gang and finds comfort in arthur and at one point gets hurt away from camp and arthur finds them and helps them they camp out at night since it was too dark to go back to camp, and reader and arthur drink and reader drunkenly confessed and there’s some kissing? sorry this is long lmfao. i like ur writing!!

Arthur Morgan x male!reader

Summary: in the months since you've joined Dutch’s gang, you befriended Arthur Morgan, when you can't get ahold on your feelings you start avoiding the man like the plague .

Word count: 2,609

Warning: hunting, guns, mentions of skinning a dear, reader sees a dead dear, reader gets shot, alcohol, reader (and Arthur) get drunk, bugs, period typical (internalized) homophobia, Arthur thinks reader is dying, hozier reference

Masterlist

“Mr. Morgan.” You muttered with a tip of your hat.

Arthur has strode up next to you on his horse, finally back from his days long expedition, just when you were getting ready to leave on yours.

You’d joined the gang not too many months back. You’re parents had been outlaws way back when, and friends of Dutch- they were able to get out of that business early on, settle down, only to be pulled back in while doing a little favor for Dutch and the boys. They lost their lives doing the “little favor”. Years later you still try not to think too hard on it.

Being outlaws, the others weren’t all too welcoming to a new, strange man joining the gang, even if Dutch had vouched for you. You didn’t mind, they would have their own opinions of you until they rolled over and died and there wasn’t much you could do about it. You did, somehow, manage to befriend Arthur. Well, “befriend” might be a bit strong, but he was friendly enough with you. Friendly enough for you to- without meaning to- gain a sort of attraction to the man.

You figured you could just shove it down as far as you could, appreciate the little kindness the man did you, and make it enough. It wasn’t, you wanted more from him and you weren’t supposed to. The comfort you felt around the man dried up like an old well and the relationship you were building had come to a standstill. Your interactions have gone from friendly stories around a fire and taking on the town together, to short, stiff nods as you left- or as he left. You made it a point to leave whenever he came back from one of his trips- nearly jumping to your feet and running to your horse when you heard him coming.

“Where ya headed?” He asked, not looking at you, but instead down at the mane of his horse.

“Hunting…”

He hummed, “Want me to come along?”

Yes.

“No, I'll be alright, ‘m only gonna be out there for a couple of hours, and you just got back, you should get some rest.”

With a short sigh, Arthur dismounted his horse. Shooting you one last glance before saying, “Be careful out there, Y/n.”

“Will do, Arthur.”

—————

Your lungs burned as you rested against a thick tree, hunting rifle in hand, you free had clutched the leaking wound on your side. It was just a graze, you could tell without even looking at it, a grave that only oozed blood due to the fact that you took off running the second it happened.

You were maybe 5 feet away from a deer, so close you could grab the damn thing and slit its throat if you wanted to. But you didn’t, not yet, you just wanted to look at it for now. It had been shot before, a shot you were shocked it survived, straight through its stomach, blood dried around the creature's wound. The deer walked with a limp, and let out a pained noise every time it moved. Big, pitch-black eyes stared into yours, and all thoughts of killing the animal left your mind.

Then you heard a gun fire. The deer ran off, and you’d been knocked to the ground. The bullet gets maybe an inch into your skin, and exits a second later. Grabbing your riffle you took off as fast as you could.

Which leads you to where you are now, back at the little camp you’d made for yourself. The hunter- as godawful of a shot he was, was long gone, you watched him leave, the hide of the dear tossed over his horse's back. You wanted to leave, head back to camp and get patched up, and pretend like tonight hadn’t happened, like everything was normal and fine. You pushed yourself up on the tree, the uneven bark chipping and leaving little wood fragments on your hand, using the rapidly drying blood as an adhesive. your side throbbed painfully, the blood leaving a mark on the light colored tree.

With a groan you turned towards your horse, only for her to drop to the ground, letting out a neigh, which you decided was her way of telling you that she wasn't going to let you ride her covered in blood- or that she was tired.

“You ass.” You muttered.

She seemingly sunk deeper into herself, getting comfortable.

Dropping back down to the floor and resting your head against the tree with a groan.

It took you longer than ever to collect dry wood for a fire. Bending down felt like hell and you considered for a moment just letting the elements take you. You pulled yourself together eventually, starting a fire, eating some dried meat, using your bag as a pillow you tried to get some sleep. You wouldn’t usually leave a wound unattended but you had no supplies, no alcohol, no clean water, and no bandages. You figured you'd deal with the consequences of your frantic packing later. For now, you just wanted to rest.

Your fire had died down, just barely lit. But the cold wasn't what woke you. The familiar sound of a horse galloping against the dirt, growing closer by the second, caused you to jump out of your sleep. You groaned, pushing yourself up in an attempt to move out of the way, the throbbing in your side had turned to a seating pain, and you hissed as you tried to drag yourself away, finding yourself back against the same tree as before.

The tiny clearing quickly became overwhelming as another rider approached. You could hardly see them it was so dark, your fire from before now a pile of smoke. You heard them drop off their horse, footsteps, slow and even, making their way toward you. You tried to use the tree as leverage, trying to push yourself up, be at least a little less pathetic. Your breathing was pained and labored, and with little regard- for yourself, you stood. The man finally stepped close enough for you to make out his features in the dark, standing less than 4 feet in front of you was Arthur.

“Y/n..” he breathed out.

Relief flooded your body as Arthur looked over you, his hands firmly set on your shoulders.

“Arthur, what are you doing out here?” you asked, more awake now, but still pained.

“Saving your ass, apparently.”

“‘M fine.”

You leaned back against the tree, the pain from your wound becoming far too noticeable for your liking. You pressed your hand to it without thinking, blood once again spewing from the wound.

“You’re hurt?”

“It’s nothing..”

He grabbed your hand, snatching it away from your wound, covered in blood and dirt, he looked at it, then looked back up at you. The blood soaking through your clothes and making them stick to your skin.

“I got shot..” you muttered, snatching your and away.

Arthur gave you a look, a look that had a few strong words associated with it, but he saved them for later. Lifting your shirt, glaring up at you, seeing just how unattended the wound was.

“So you were just gonna stay out here and bleed to death?”

“It’s not that bad..”

“Could’ve been-“

“But it isn’t-“

“I told you to be careful-“

“I didn’t get shot on purpose-“

“You didn’t come back to camp on purpose-“

“My damn horse wouldn’t-“

“Well you should’ve woke it’s ass up-“

A particularly painful throb ended your argument with Arthur, clutching your side, you pushing him away with your free hand. You kneeled down, deciding to collect more wood to rebuild the fire and show Arthur that you were fine. As you gathered sticks in your hand you heard Arthur kneel beside you, you didn't look at him, your hands shook but you still tried to gather the sticks in front of you. Your irritation grew immensely, only to be snuffed out when you felt one of Arthurs's hands cover yours.

“Let me handle this..”

You wanted to argue, but you didn’t, your hands were shaking and the wound was only becoming more irritated. Resisting the urge to throw the sticks down and stomp off like a child, you let him take them from your hands, then, with one hand on your chest, he guided you down.

You glared up at him, but he only looked at you with worry. He held your eyes in his for a second before going to check the wound. Moving your coat and lifting your bloodied shirt, he let out a long sigh, glaring up at you for a moment, then back down at the wound.

You so desperately wanted to be mad at him, but as his finger caressed the tender skin around your wound, you couldn’t keep up the act. Your body relaxed, as did your mind.

“Wait here..” he said, you didn’t argue.

Laid on your back, staring up at the trees, and the beautiful clear sky, you listened to Arthur shuffle around the little camp. A few minutes later, a fire was started, and even from here, you could feel its warmth.

He came back to you with his hands full of supplies, bandages, a cloth, and a flask. You could finally see him fully, the warm light of the fire casting a dim light on the side of his face.

“Let me look at ya’” he said quietly.

After a moment of examining you under the light, he reached for the flask.

“This is gonna sting..”

He was right, it did, you choked on a breath as he poured a generous amount of alcohol onto the open wound. Your hand reached for his coat sleeve, gripping it tightly as he dried the wound with the cloth. You were patched up a couple of seconds later, the bandage pulled tight around your abdomen.

Arthur helped you sit up, your wound, cleaned and pampered, stung considerably less. Then, with one of Arthur’s hands on your back, and the other resting on your unwounded side, you felt warm. Your face flushed and in your mind, you blamed it on the fire. You stayed like that for a moment, letting him touch you no matter how little and amicable they might have been. The moment didn’t last, he moved away, reaching for the flask from before and unscrewing the cap. He offered it to you first, and you shook your head no. He didn't say anything, just taking a quick drink and setting it on the ground between the two of you.

You didn't mean to, but you couldn't help but think of how pretty he was in the firelight. So peaceful, relieved- you looked away, glaring into the fire. You reached down for the flask, took a quick drink then set it back down, just as he had.

Minutes passed, you took turns drinking. He drank when he wanted to, you drank when your thoughts got away from you. Every time you thought about it just being you and him out here, about how nobody ever had to know, how you could just leave and it could just be you and him, forever. About his laugh, his smile, the little sigh he let out every time he took a drink- you drank again, and again, and again. Until finally Arthur snatched the flask from you.

“That's enough..”

You groaned, “Not really.”

You could feel the heat radiating off your body, your head was spinning, and no matter how hard you tried, your train of thought never strayed from Arthur.

Silence passed between the two of you, the sounds of bugs clicking and other little creatures crawling played dully in your ears. Tapping your foot in the dirt, you watched the ants crawl, watching the majority of them line up, only for two to break off, form their own line, a line of two. Marching around. You let out a little laugh.

Then, suddenly.

“Are you dying?”

You turned to Arthur, face scrunched in confusion.

“… What?”

“You’re dying..” he mumbled.

“I ain’t dying, Morgan.”

He sighed, dropping himself down into the dirt.

“Then what’s wrong with ya’?”

You laughed, “I got shot.”

“No, no, no- before that, whenever I’m at camp you-you run off like I’ve got the damn plague! You’re never there anymore, at least not when I’m around. I know you’re not getting on with the rest of the gang, but I don’t understand why you’re running from me.”

Flopping down in the dirt next to him, you sighed.

“I’m not dying, Arthur, I swear..”

His voice was slurred, and he fumbled as he tried to screw the cap back on his flask.

“Then I’m sorry, for whatever I did that hurt you- I didn’t mean to I swear I just-“

“You didn’t do anything..” you turned over to your uninjured side, “..something ain’t right with me. I think things I'm not supposed to and feel things I shouldn't, and it's…harder to stop when I'm around you.”

You didn't meet his eyes, focusing squarely on the ground even though it made your head spin.

“Y/n..” he said, quietly.

You pushed yourself up faster than you should have, regret forming in your chest, pulling at your heart.

“Forget it…”

“Wait.” he sat up, vertigo claiming him for a short second before he continued. “Wait, please.”

He grabbed ahold of your wrist as you stood unsteady on your own feet, lifting himself off the ground, just as wobbly as you are.

When he asked you to wait, you did, as he searched for the right words, your mind raced thinking of what they could possibly be. And when he said nothing, just stared at you with those sad blue eyes, the alcohol flowing through your blood took over.

“I love you, Arthur, and I'm trying not to. I really am, but you just-” your rant, however guilt ride it was, was cut short.

Grabbing you tight and pulling you so close that you could feel his breath on you. Then, he kissed you, slow and gentle. Your eyes fluttered shut, you could feel his hands move from your shoulders to the small of your back, you wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him closer. You didn't pull away, not until Arthur did, he stared at you, his eyes searching your face for a long moment, then, when you finally let a smile find its way onto your face, he kissed you again.

The kiss, even though it was uncoordinated and desperate, was everything you wanted. So much guilty, and shame, just for this. Your grip on the back of his coat tightened, he pulled you closer.

You would have stayed like that forever if a sudden wave of vertigo hadn't nearly made your knees buckle, your already unsteady stance faltered, you stumbled back, then forward into Arthur. And he laughed, watching you try and hold your fleeting balance, entirely unhelpful.

“Shut up, Arthur-” you laughed, lightheaded and in pain.

But he kept laughing. Holding onto him by the collar of his jacket you pulled him in for another kiss, he stopped laughing, he smiled though, like he was the happiest man in the world, so you kissed him again, and you kept on kissing him until it was true.

The night ended with you in a drunk heap with Arthur, arms, and legs intertwined, giggling and babbling as you drifted off to sleep.

The forest didn’t seem too harsh that night, despite the bug and the dirt, and the distant howling of wolves.

[concreteparasite]

I have horrible taste in men so naturally Double ended up being my favorite lmao, what are some facts you can share with us about him?

Double is a total psycho. I intentionally keep his more recentish backstory with MC kinda vague because I want people to be able to spin their own stories about MC and Double's interactions.

Here is some lore that isn't really touched on in the game:

- Double and MC are childhood sweethearts. Double has a really bad time growing up and because of it latched onto MC when they showed him kindness (defended him from bullying) Double sees MC as his one only 'family member' which is why he is PISSED when MC ditches him, he has abandonment issues stemmed DEEP from childhood and everything he has done up to that point is to guarantee MC won't leave him. So MC leaving him was next level betrayal for him.

Double was very sweet on MC as a kid he was bullied and MC stood up for him. Then when Double's affections were not received (or more likely) misunderstood he ended up using his ability to gain fame amongst their peers and started teasing, bulling and butting heads with MC while in middleschool. In highschool he kinda watched from afar and swooped in to become friends with MC senior year, where after they kinda just stayed together, college and on. In Double's mind it was always only MC all along. Which is why he says "more than family"

- I was thinking about making small character bios (but ultimately decided not to so I didn't feature creep) but in Double's bio for 'attraction' I was going to write: "Fortune favors the bold, and so does Double". Meaning that Double is attracted to bold personalities, someone that will push back against him and won't back down until they get what they want. Which is why by being rude to him or blunt towards him you will gain love points lol. Double likes a bad bitch.

- Double doesn't really feel 'love' in the same way most people do. He feels desperation , possessiveness, and anger, but 'love' is something that is a very...distant feeling for someone like him. He is a manipulator and ultimately a selfish person. He doesn't care much about MC's wellbeing, just that they will stay around.

- On Double's ending he leaves the front door open for MC to see if they will get away. He wants to watch them escape with their own determination. He is also smart enough to know that if he hangs around the apartment for too long Binary Star will find him and kill him. Ultimately, Double values his own life above everything else, so he isn't willing to bat the hornets nest unless he knows MC still has some force of will in them to get away. And that they are far enough away that they won't be under the watchful eye of Binary Star.

- Double studied architecture in college before he and MC dropped out into a life of crime. MC needed the money, so Double was game to help, as his ability (teleportation) is very useful.

- Double's weapon of choice is a black fixed blade tactical bowie knife.

- Double is 5'10

I left MC's ability (or lack thereof) vague because I wanted the player to decide if their MC had an ability or not and what it was.

Anyways, there's some facts off the top of my head. Anything else you are wondering, feel free to ask 💕

[myocsfanfictions]

South Side Story

Shameless Fanfiction Season 1

Desna Hills has come living in the Southside of Chicago four years before. Taken in by Kev and V, Desna is close friends with the Gallaghers. Let's see how this Southside story unfolds.

MASTERLIST

<< Previous - Next >>

Chapter 12

I need to talk to you, Ian had texted her, that was the reason she was walking towards the Gallagher house that morning.

Desna was quick to cross those few meters knowing that if she had thought about it longer she probably would have stayed home. But she managed to arrive at the house, opening the door of the kitchen.

“Hey, Des,” Fiona greeted her with a smile.

“Hi, Fi,” she said, “Is Ian upstairs.”

“Sure,” she nodded pointing the stairs, “Help yourself.”

“Thanks,” Desna said before frowning, “Why is it so cold in here?”

“My thought exactly,” she heard Fiona say as she run up the stairs. Desna was about to turn to go towards Ian’s room, when she almost bumped into Lip.

“Hey,” she said avoiding to look at him.

“Hey,” he muttered. Desna could feel his posture tense, not sure what to say to her, “A-are you here for-“

“Ian,” she said looking at him for the first time. Coursing herself when her eyes lingered on his lips a bit longer than she had to. She really missed him, talking to him and feeling him against her body. She was so stupid.

“He um… he is in our room,” he stutter pointing behind his back.

“Thanks,” Desna said lowering her head, moving around him.

“Better for you to be dying,” She muttered as she closed the door, catching Ian’s attention.

“Mandy Milkovich tried to have sex with me,” Ian said with panicked voice.

“What?” She asked her eyes wide, “Where? When?!”

“Yesterday,” he said nervously pacing the room, “She waited for me after my shift, she came here.”

“She is quite straight forward I’ll give her that,” she thought out loud.

“Yeah!” He exclaimed sarcastically, “She took a condom out at me.”

“W-what did you do?” She asked her eyes wide.

"I pushed her away!" he exclaimed sitting on his bed, "And I may, or may not had made her cry."

"Was she really upseat?" Desna asked carefully.

"She ran away," he said looking up at her, "Even Fiona saw her."

So Mandy Milkovich was upseat with Ian. An upset Milkovich running around the Southside was no good. They truely were almost criminals, and most of them really were.

"Is it going to be bad?" Ian asked her with big eyes, waiting for her answer, surely hoping to have some kind of encouragement. But she really didn't know. She knew for a fact how Milkovichs could be scary, Iggy was starting to concern her, for what she knew Mikey's father had been more inside prison than outside, and Mikey himself was now stealing Kash's shop regularly, and not only that surely.

"It's very bad, right?" Ian asked nervously, his legs buncing up and down. So Desna went to sit next to him.

"Being rejected, that happen, right?" Desna asked trying herself to find some good side of the situation.

Ian nodded his head qith quick movements, "Right!"

"I mean you cry and ask yourself why, but you get over with it, right?" Desna asked again and Ian nodded once more.

"Right!"

"What the worst thing she could do?" Desna asked and the answer of that question arrived to her that afternoon when on her phone arrived one message from Ian.

Mandy told Mickey I assaulted her, and now he wants to kill me, Desna's eyes widened as she read those words. She immediately asked Ian what had happened and he told her that Mickey Milkovich entered the shop, ready to beat him up. He got away only because he manage to lock himself in the back, and Kash covered for him telling Mikey that there was another exit from there.

That was not good at all. God, how could she made up a story like that? She knew perfectly well what would have happened and Mikey would not have stopped until he got to Ian.

She spent the following hours constantly checking on Ian through texts to know if he was alive. She was even had problems studying now that she know that Ian could have possibly end up in the hospital.

As Desna was pacing in the living room of her house, she noticed a figure limp on the street. Her eyes widened as she realized that she knew that jacket.

"Oh, shit..." she muttered before running to the door, "Lip!" she found herself running to him. As he heard her voice he lowered his head, tyring to not show his face at her.

"Keep ignoring me Des, I'm fine," he said but she was quick to move part him so that she could put herself in front of him, not letting him move forward.

"Jeez, Lip," she gasped, taking a step so that was now close to him. With her hand she delicately moved the hood from his face so that she could take a better look. His left side was covered in cut and bruises. He got a slash over his eyebrow, one over his nose and his top lip was cut open. She even noticed his left arm slightly bent, like he could not move it freely.

"Oh my God," she said, her fingers touching his cheek making him flinch, "I'm so sorry," she gasped, but he shook his head.

"It's alright," he muttered looking up to meet her eyes. She was studying his face closely. She really hoped his nose wasn't broken, or some other bones in his body.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Mikey Milkovich," he answered and Desna took a breath, before moving to stay next to him.

"I'll take you home," she said touching his back with her hand.

"You don't have to," he told her, but she shook her head stubbornly.

"I'm not leaving you," she answered back. He looked at her, his eyes softened as he observed her face.

"Okey..." he muttered before they headed towards his house. Desna would keep looking him, to see if he was in much pain. She had to call V as soon as they got inside. When she turned she noticed Fiona standing on the porch speaking with Tony, the young policeman.

"Let's use the back of the house," Lip said to her, gesturing at her where to go with a movement of his head, "I don't want them to see me."

"They will anyway," she argued.

"Can you not talk back for once?" he asked turning to look at her.

"No, I don't think I can," she said and her heart melt as she noticed him smiling at her.

"Hey Lip, there's a body on the other end of this," they stopped as they heard Tony's voice, Lip was doing his best to not show his face, but what they had done to him was too evident.

"No, it's cool Tony," as he spoke Fiona saw his injuries immediately.

"Jesus, what the hell, Lip?" she esclaimed, but Lip didn't answered back. He just looked at Desna moving his head so that she'd follow him into the house.

"I'll call V," Fiona said running upstairs, as Desna helped Lip to the kitchen. He set on a chair, making a little graunt, while she went to take a rag before moving to the sink to fill a cap with water. She needed to clean his skin before putting ice on his bruises. Desna duble checked as the frame of an old man dressed in ladies woman sleeping on a chair in the living room.

"Who's that?" she asked frowning.

Lip was holding his forehead, before giving a look in the direction she was looking, then he scoffed, "I don't even know," he said as she walked back towards him, soaking the cloth in the cold water. But when she put the rag against his forahead he issed

"I'm sorry," she gasped moving her hand away just a little bit, "I'm so sorry."

He shook his head, "It's alright, don't worry."

"I'll try to be as gentle as possible," she said getting closer, "But tell me if I hurt you," Lip nodded his head before letting her move her hand closer to his face. She proceeded to clean his skin, trying to avoid the cuts. They didn't seem to bleed anymore, but his eyes was getting darker.

"Why is Mikey after you?" she asked softly still working on his skin.

"He's not," he answered, "He is after Ian."

"Jeasus Christ, for the Mandy thing?" she exclaimed, rubbing his skin lightly.

He hissed for a second before looking to her, "You know?"

"Ian told me that Mikey wants to beat him up," she explained, being very gentle with her touch.

"Wish he told me as well," he said with a chuckle. She moved her hand a little bit, she hoped he didn't need any stitches.

"If he did this to you, I'm really concerned about Ian right now," she admitted. Now she was truely worried about Ian's life. Those people were fucking crazy.

Lip nodded his head before tilting his head, with amused eyes.

"Maybe the fact that I said that Mandy is blowing 400 dudes in 10th grade didn't help," his nonechalance made her wide her eyes, she would have smaked him if he hadn't been already beaten up.

"God, would you ever stop with the sassy comments?!" she exclaimed, but his lips moved into a smirk.

"No, I don't think I will," he answered leaning forward towards her.

Desna groaned, "You wouldn't even know how to shut your mouth to save your life."

"Are you worried?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered shortly, now realizing how close they were. They had both leaned forward, their heads inches apart and their knees touching. Her hand still at the side of his face rubbing his cheek gently.

"Thank you," he said, his eyes staring into hers, "For helping me."

"Don't mention it," she said diverting her eyes to take another look at his cuts. Unconsciusly she smiled.

"What?" he asked her, a hint of curiosity in his voice.

"I've just realize that the first time we’ve talked you had been having a fight as well," she said remembering him at thirteen years old fighting on the street just in front of her house.

"You had set next to me on the side road with a pack of ice," he remembered nodding his head. That's how they had become to be friends. Desna didn't like to get out of the house as she had arrived in her new home, but after having helped Lip, him and Ian had started to ask her to go play with them, or to walk together to school.

"You had been my first friend," she said with a small smile thinking back at all the years that had passed. Then she noticed him staring.

"You are not my friend," his words made her smile disappeared. She really could not understand him and why he seemed so eager to hurt her lately. But before she could move away he took her wrist in his hand, keeping her close, "But you are something for me," they looked at each other before they started to lean forward.

"What does it mean?" she asked confused.

"I don't know," he whispered before his lips touched hers once again. Desna's eyes closed as she kissed him back. After all those weeks they were kissing again. She had missed him. His right hand moved at the side of her face, as he deepened the kiss. They were lost in each other as the heard the front door open, making them pull away. But the moviment had been so abrupt that Lip gave out a groan.

"You okay?" Desna asked touching his face with her hands. He nodded with squinted his eyes.

"Shit, Lip, what happened?" Veronica's voice made Desna turn to see her and Fiona walking into the kitchen. Desna looked at Lip for a brief moment before giving V space to take a look at him. When she moved she noticed Fiona looked at her as Desna set on another chair, but she ignored it to listen what Veronica was doing.

She had brought all the medicines they had in the house and started to dab Lip's forehead with cotton wool soaked in hydrogen peroxide. Lip hissed as she did.

"Oh sorry, sweetie," V said gently, as the cracking noise of the wooden stairs announced Frank's presense. He looked at his son, but he didn't say anything as he set on the stool next to the counter, sipping his beer.

"The nose is the most commonly broken nose in boys between the age of 13 and 25," Veronica explained, observing Lip's face.

"T-that's facinating," Lip said before pointig at the man still asleep, "But who is the old dude?"

"It's not a dude, it's you're aunt Ginger," Frank answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Lip frowned, "What, the one that owns the house?" Desna looked at Frank, what was he up to this time?

"That's right," it was unbelievable how Frank knew how to lay without flinching, "Hey Ginger," he said towards the man who had been woken up by his loud voice, "Say hello to your nephew," the poor thing looked so confused.

"Dad, stop," Fiona almost begged with an heavy breath.

"Why is he trying to pass off Mr. Perry as Aunt Ginger?" Lip asked confused as Desna double checking the man. She had not realized he was Mr. Perry.

"Who?" Frank asked with a frown.

"The old bus driver," Desna answered and Lip nodded.

"Sleeps behind the dumpster over at the A&P," he explained, his eyes breafly meeting Desna's that smile looking down.

"Social Security wants to talk to Ginger," Fiona began to explain, before glaring at her father, "And he is too lazy to get the real one."

"Where?" asked Desna with a frown.

"Michigan," Fiona said.

"That's retardedly brilliant," Lip commented and Desna frown at him.

"Really?" she asked as Frank spoke.

"Thank you!" the man exclaimed.

"Or brilliantly retarded," Fiona said and Desna felt like agree. And as Frank thanked again, the girl rolled her eyes.

"Now we have to drive all night to go get her," Fiona complained trying to have a reaction out of her father, but it was useless. Fiona took a breath before turning to Veronica.

"Think Kev will let us borrow his car?" V frowned.

"No." Kev was getting restless everytime he figured out that V or Desna had lent something of theirs to the Gallaghers. He almost lost it the morning of the day before when he learned that the Gallaghers had borrowed their toaster because Carl had broke thiers.

"I'll call and beg," Fiona decided standing up heading to the living room.

"We got those from Imelda over at the Holiday Inn," Debbie said entering in the kitchen with Carl, placing old hairdriers on the kitchen counter, "It'll will be a good way to stay warm."

"You okay?" Desna asked Lip as she saw him move his neck with a painful expression.

"I'd like to say yes," he said looking at her with a small smile that she returned.

"Hey, Kev, it's me," Fiona said with her phone against her cellphone.

"Does she has a chance to convince him?" Desna asked V that glared at her. Probably not. "Maybe you could ask him after sex," she suggested, making Lip chuckle.

Suddenly Frank moved taking the phone from Fiona's hand, "You won't need the car," he muttered and everyone frowned at his words.

"How are we gonna get Ginger?" Fiona asked confused.

"She is dead," Desna widened her eyes.

"What?" Fiona exclaimed.

"Who's dead?" Debbie asked looking at them waiting for an answer.

"Ant Ginger," Lip said and Debbie got upset.

"Did you know her?" Desna asked to Lip, that shook his head.

"Debs you've never met her," he said a bit confused.

"And now I never will!" She exclaimed and Desna and Lip looked at each other.

"Don't give me hard time," Frank complained defensively like he always liked to be, "I've been very upset about it. I'm in mourning."

Desna shook her head, how did they all managed to pull up with Frank's shit was something really unbelieveble for her.

"When did she die?" Fiona asked with wide eyes.

Frank shrugged his shoulders, "T-twelve years ago," he stuttered, "I was trying to protect all of you from the drama, how do you think I feel?" he kept justify himself, "That woman was my heart and soul, she practically raised me."

A great fucking job, she did there.

"Dad," Fiona was speaking in the countless attempt to put some sense back in her father's head, "You've been chasing her checks. That's felony. We are leaving in her house. Was there even a will?"

"You don't need a will, if she's not technically dead," Frank said as if it was incomprehensible that Fiona was not getting it.

"Yes, she is technically dead, Dad," Fiona said getting pissed as she moved towards her father, "Dead is dead. Just because you haven't told anybody that she's dead doesn't make her not dead. Fuck!"

That was very dangerous, Fiona could go in jail and the other would have been sent in foster care, and Frank... whatever happened it was alright at that point.

"What are we gonna do now?" Fiona asked before Veronica's lips moved into a giant smile.

"Well..."

**********

Tag List: @th3h0nkz @aunicornmademedoit

If you liked it, plerase leave a ♥️ and reblog!

[in-g-major]

ATLA Unpacked: Kataang is Reactive, not Constructive (Part 2)

(Part 1) Still no Kataang in sight (B1:E11 - B1:E13) As of B1:E10, we've been given no text or subtext which demonstrates Aang and Katara having a romantic bond. Beyond that, all of the romantic subtext involving Katara has been with three boys other than Aang, and Aang is completely uninvolved in all three dynamics. With this in mind, we can dismiss the argument that Kataang was an integral part of the show from the beginning. This will continue for another few episodes, until we come to our first instance of bringing romance into Aang and Katara's relationship The Fortuneteller (B1:E14): Strike One This is our first Kataang episode, and it doesn't put us off to a good start. What seems like a fairly innocuous episode about young love has some serious problems in terms of romantic agency and sexist double standards. So we establish Aang as now developing a crush on Katara with another shot of her from his POV.

(Oh hey, Aang made Katara a necklace! It disappears later in the episode because it wasn't really important to anyone involved) Now this does make sense in terms of Aang's perspective. Aang is young and this is probably the first time he's had these kinds of feelings for anyone. He already has a rather idealized view of Katara as established in B1:E1. However, in the context of how Katara has previously been depicted in her interactions with Zuko, Haru, and Jet, how she's depicted in this shot is a step backwards. Those interactions gave her agency and depicted her as the wonderfully well-rounded character she normally is. Here, by contrast, we're seeing Katara an an ideal, not as a person. One image alone can't fully explain what I'm getting at, so let's proceed through the remainder of the episode. Once we get Aang's new perspective on Katara, something immediately presents itself as an obstacle: Katara simply doesn't see Aang the same way.

Sokka: Smoochie, smoochie, someone's in love! Katara: Stop teasing him, Sokka! Aang's just a good friend. A sweet little guy. Just like Momo. Aang: Thanks. Putting my own personal annoyance with this trope aside, it creates a serious disconnect which hinders communication between Aang and Katara. With this disconnect, the problem of Katara seeming less like a character in the context of her relationship with Aang only grows. Already we're only seeing Aang's side of this anyway. After some shenanigans involving a stranger in the woods who tells our young heroes of a fortuneteller named Aunt Wu, they go and see this fortuneteller. The one most excited about seeing Aunt Wu is Katara, which could have been the setup for a story about a character flaw we've already seen from Katara: she doesn't have much confidence in herself. - In B1:E6, Haru encourages her to take credit for helping him and his fellow earthbending prisoners stand up for themselves after she downplays her role in the prison break. - In B1:E9 she's insecure about her lack of waterbending skill to the point of getting quickly upset when Aang learns techniques faster than she does. - In B1:E10 she's easily wooed by Jet's charisma to the point where she becomes naive about any possibility that he's not what she thinks. Despite not being fully honest with her, Jet does encourage her to have faith in herself, which she later uses to turn against him. What made those episodes with Katara and the dark-haired boys in her life compelling was seeing Katara overcome various challenges and develop in her journey of becoming a remarkable young woman. Before we come to how "The Fortuneteller" backtracks on Katara's character arc so far, we experience something extremely revealing about this episode's contradictory approach to Aang's one-sided crush.

Everyone, say hello to Meng! She's Aunt Wu's assistant, and her only purpose in this episode is demonstrating that someone in the writers' room realizes what's wrong with the Kataang dynamic but can't stop the powers-that-be from going ahead with it anyway. There's a term I haven't used yet but is extremely relevant to both this scene and the POV shot of Katara: the male gaze. Put simply, the male gaze describes how women and girls are often depicted in stories written from a male point-of-view. Since ATLA fits the category of an action/adventure fantasy aimed primarily at boys aged 12-16, written and directed mostly by men, we can easily apply the male gaze as an analytical tool here. So from Aang's POV, we get an extremely idealized view of Katara rather than the more complex reality of her as a person. From Meng's POV, we get what's framed as an idealized view of Aang, but what we see is far closer to who he actually is. The double standard is extremely telling, and more than a bit concerning given how the episode ultimately turns out. Moving on, the first member of the Gaang who gets their fortune from Aunt Wu is Katara, and it establishes a pattern for the remainder of the episode. Katara becomes dependent on Aunt Wu's predictions, even going as far as asking whether she should have mango or papaya for breakfast.

(Mango >>> Papaya) Having Katara be this gullible isn't automatically a bad thing. Again, the show has already established that she struggles with confidence in herself. Had the episode gone in the direction of having her realize this flaw and work to overcome it, it would have been far better. Let's head over to our young airbender for a bit.

The prediction Aang gets from Aunt Wu mentions nothing about love. Seeing Aang's reaction to this, Aunt Wu concocts a platitude to help him feel better. Once again we get a double standard: compare what Aunt Wu tells Aang to what she tells Katara. Aunt Wu (to Aang): Well, look! I must've missed something. Right here. It says "trust your heart and you will be with the one you love." Aunt Wu (to Katara): I feel a great romance for you. The man you are going to marry. I can see that he's a very powerful bender. Aang is given a message that encourages him to be proactive in finding the one he loves. Katara is told whom she will fall in love with, and simply accepts it. This double standard is only reinforced when our heroes save Aunt Wu's village from being burned down by a volcanic eruption after Aunt Wu incorrectly predicted that the volcano would not threaten the village.

Aang: You didn't really see love in my fortune, did you? You just told me what I wanted to hear. Aunt Wu: I'll tell you a little secret, young airbender. Just as you reshaped those clouds, you have the power to shape your own destiny. For all the many problems with "The Fortuneteller," I do find Aunt Wu extremely relatable. Besides my own experiences in customer service, I've befriended two middle-aged Asian American small business owning women in my life. Now I can't watch this episode without thinking of them. Her being voiced by Tsai Chin, a veteran actress with an incredible career, is a huge bonus. So, what revelation does Katara come away with after this awe-inspiring experience?

Sokka: Man, sometimes I forget what a powerful bender that kid is.  Katara: (surprised) Wait, what did you just say? Sokka: Nothing, just that Aang is one powerful bender. Katara: ...I suppose he is. Not only is Katara much more confused than enthused by the prospect of Aang being the one Aunt Wu predicted, both in the way she's drawn and in Mae Whitman's delivery, but we're ending this story with no indication of how she feels about Aang other than him being a friend and "sweet little guy." She had an obvious crush on Jet, who was quite a different type both physically and in personality. Nothing we've seen from Katara so far indicates a mutual attraction to Aang, which ultimately makes her nothing more than a "prize" in Aang's "quest" to win her over. If you think later Kataang focused episodes rectify this, I have some very bad news. What's especially frustrating is "The Fortuneteller" could have been an easy setup for Katara learning more about what kind of boys she's into and seeing Aang more in a romantic light over the course of the episode. Them actually interacting and becoming more aware of each other's feelings would have kept Kataang from being completely insufferable and sending a pretty lousy message to its young viewers. Piling on the insult to the injury is that there is a truly good message within "The Fortuneteller" which is ultimately ignored. Until now I haven't commented much on Meng's cute but ultimately shallow crush on Aang because all that's worth addressing is how it's established and how it's resolved.

Meng: You don't like me, do you? Aang: Of course I like you. Meng: But not the way I like you. Aang: Oh, I guess not. Meng: It's okay. It's just really hard when you like someone, but they don't think of you that way. Aang: I know what you mean. Meng: She's beautiful, by the way... that Water Tribe girl. I can see why you like her so much. She's sweet, she's a bender, and her hair seems so manageable. Aang: Don't worry. You're going to meet a great guy who's going to completely fall for you. I know it. Now this is good! It brings up what having a one-sided attraction feels like and gives a positive example of resolving it. There's no vindictiveness, or jealousy, just Aang being as reassuring as he can. It's not just a good message for ATLA's target audience, it's something relevant to people in later stages of life too. This could have also been a great setup for Aang realizing later on that the advice he gives Meng here is just as relevant to his relationship with Katara. Alas... In conclusion, "The Fortuneteller" sucks. I didn't even get into the most misogynistic moment in the episode, which is the underage slut shaming from Meng that destroys her wonderful moment with Aang earlier. Ultimately it's a symptom of the lousy romance tropes which plague this entire episode and undercut what could have been a good story. Easy fix: have this be an episode where Aang and Katara discover feelings about each other they didn't anticipate. They're given conflicting advice on their romantic prospects by Aunt Wu, and they help each other resolve their respective dilemmas. Aang helps Katara become more independent and not simply depend on everything Aunt Wu tells her. Katara helps Aang not be so anxious about deciding his future and instead allow things to happen more "naturally." By the end they begin seeing something "more" between them, and it teases the possible beginning of a love story. As it stands, B1:E14 contradicts Katara's established characterization, ignores her romantic agency, and sets a very bad precedent for how Kataang will be handled going forward. Fortunately, Kataang is no longer relevant to the remainder of Book 1, so next time we'll skip right ahead to Book 2. Get ready, because this is where the story puts Kataang through a stress test it's absolutely not prepared for. Related Meta & Additional Reading - Romantic subtext in "The Fortuneteller" by marsreds

[lindszeppelin]

Sexual Healing

Pairing: Austin Butler x Fem!Reader

Prompt: After a long and stressful day, Austin comes home and you help him unwind.

Rating: Mature. 18+. minors you better skeedaddle on outta here

Warning: Sub!Austin if you squint, there's dom energy from both sides regardless, smut, praise kink, swearing, oral (f recieving), slight choking, idk what else...p in v sex obviously lol

Word Count: 4.2k

a/n: This isn't a unique story, a lot of writers have done this idea before. But i've never written my spin on it. So here you go :)

It wasn't out of the ordinary for you to be by yourself in the Manhattan loft you shared with Austin, by your lonesome at night. Your man had a very unpredictable schedule that would take him into ungodly hours of the night, and even into the wee hours of the morning. This is what you've gotten used to expect, after all you were dating one of the most sought after actors in Hollywood. Everyone wanted a piece of him, or a quote for their papers. The press couldn't get enough. Someone as docile and intelligent as Austin Butler was an enigma in an industry swimming with leeches. To make yourself feel closer to him on those lonely evenings you throw on one of his button down tops that smelled like his spicy cologne and wear it as a sleep shirt.

Another way you've found that's helped take your mind off of Austin not being with you right now is a good book. You were never much of a reader before dating Austin. However, he's opened your world to expanding all of your horizons, changing you for the better. He has a pension for buying all kinds of books from thrift stores, "borrowing" books off of friends and never returning them, and dropping a pretty penny on special editions of his all time favorites.

Tonight, you were distracting yourself with Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. It didn't take a whole lot of intense concentration, as you've read the thing probably a hundred times, so it was a mindless read and will serve the purpose for tonight.

You weren't entirely sure what time it was on the clock, but from your vantage point looking out the window from your reclined position on the sofa, you could see a rare glimpse of starlight sprinkling the New York skyline. As you continue to thumb through the novel in a daze, you were roused by the noise of the door to the loft opening and slamming shut in one fluid motion.

The familiar clacking of boot heels tapping across the hardwood floors got louder as they approached closer to the living room where you were relaxing, thudding heavy like claps of thunder.

To hell with the book. You didn't even mark your place on the page, you just simply closed it shut and discarded it with a toss on the coffee table next to you. A nagging feeling was creeping in the pit of your stomach that Austin was not in a good mood. That didn't happen all too often, as he usually kept a sunny disposition. But on the occasions where he was fed up with everything, it took him a long while to escape the doom and gloom.

Jangling keys clashed harshly against the granite countertop in your kitchen. You could hear faint grumbling, and a discontented sigh falling from your boyfriend's velvet lips.

"Austin?" You called out, projecting your voice so he could hear you from the living room. Not hearing a response back, you shuffle to your feet and power walk your way to the kitchen. He must really be down and out.

As soon as you turned the corner and made your dissent further into the loft that's when you were met with your tall hunk 'o man, shrugging off his charcoal overcoat and draping it around the backs of one of the dining room chairs. He hadn't noticed you yet, he was still lost in his own mind running on autopilot. It was no wonder he didn't hear your call out his name, he was wearing his airpods. A faint whisper of some kind of beat was all you could parse together of the indecipherable song. Music was one of Austin's sacred keys for coming back down to reality after an arduous day.

It wasn't until he was about to make a beeline for the bedroom when he turned around and caught you standing in the hallway, in one of his dress shirts and no pants on. His eyes bulged out of his head as he roamed the expanse of your body. You could see the sleep creeping into his baby blues, he could barely keep his eyes open. And his jaw clenched as he held onto residual frustrations.

You threw your hands up in the air expectantly, waiting for him to start explaining, to say anything. "Honey, what's the matter?"

Even through the schlump he was in that clung onto him, the color was slowly starting to revitalize his sallow complexion just from the mere sight of you.

He paused his music and took the airpods out from his ears, chucking them on the dining room table.

"There she is, there's my girl." He mused, making his way over to you. Austin practically collapsed into your arms as he buried his head in the crook of your neck, his arms draped firmly around your waist as he brought you into his personal bubble. He was nearly dead weight against you, his shoulders slouched forward as he leaned against you, clinging to you as if you might slip from his grasp.

You pouted at the fact that Austin clearly had a rough go of it today. And while he was a full grown man, he exposed himself wholly to you as the boy inside of him that craves your affection. He needs you to soothe his aching head, to tell him everything will be okay. Here in his arms is his oasis reincarnate.

"Austin." You purred. Your hands wound their way into his golden locks, massaging his scalp tenderly with your fingertips. He melted into your touch, whimpering in pleasure into your neck. You could feel him shudder beneath you, the waves of anxiety rolling off his back as your hand tangled in his hair.

"They had me running around like a dog on a leash all day. I couldn't get a moments peace to myself. Press junket after press junket." He explained, his low voice muffled by your hair cascading around his face.

"Oh, you poor thing." You cooed in his ear. You wanted to get a good look at Austin to check on him further. You gently pulled away from his embrace and cupped his face in both your hands, transfixed on the exhausted man who stands before you. There were noticeable rings around his eyes, his brows were knitted together, and his succulent mouth was downturned. He looked positively forlorn.

Your thumbs caressed his cheeks as you tried to wipe away the stress, digging your man out of the hole he found himself in and bringing him back to the surface for oxygen.

Standing up on your tiptoes to reach his height, your lips went to place one soft kiss on his left cheek. Austin sighed in delight, his hands digging into your waist even tighter. You then went to his right side and placed another soft kiss there on his cheek, giving equal attention.

Your lips also found their way to the tip of his cute button nose. This made him smile, a sultry laugh rumbling low in his throat as he closed his eyes and marveled at the adorable gesture. Your plan to distract him and melt away his pain was working. He was slowly coming back to himself.

Tilting his chin down with your thumb and forefinger so he was looking down at your level, you went to the corners of his mouth and brushed your plump lips on either side of him. His mouth hung open, slack jawed, the teasing was tantalizing as he wished you would just plant one on him already.

As if you read his mind, you finally hovered your parted lips over his needy mouth. He did the rest of the work, releasing your waist and bringing his hands to cradle your face in his hands, crashing his lips with yours.

No time was wasted as his tongue went to probe at your bottom lip, asking to be let inside. And you swallow him whole, your tongues lapping back and forth as his velvet lips engulfed yours in a scorching kiss that left you weak in the knees. All the bottled up frustration he latched on to throughout the day was now being let out on your body.

As your fingers ran their way though the waves at the nape of his neck, he let one of his large hands travel down your throat, applying pressure that took your breath away. You moan against his mouth as his digits squeeze the delicate skin of your neck, just enough to slightly constrict your airflow. The cold metal of the rings on his fingers digs into your neck deliciously.

Austin groans huskily as he plunges his tongue in and our of your wanton mouth, his already puffy lips getting swollen by the second from the strong kisses you're passing back and forth. "God, I want you so bad. Please let me take you to bed, baby." He moans between gasps of air.

You don't even need convincing at this point. You part from his lips and grab one of his hands, dragging him quickly to the bedroom around the corner. As fast as lightening, you clutched onto his shirt and pulled it up and over his head, with his help. Immediately you let your fingertips graze over his tanned skin, exploring the defined muscles and contours of his chest.

Austin had to restrain himself from ripping his dress shirt off of your body, he was so desperate for skin to skin contact. But his stylist would definitely kill him if he did just that. So he painstakingly unbuttoned his shirt while his plush mouth was back onto yours, capturing your lips in a dance of tongues.

"Baby..." He moaned into your mouth when finally he could feel your heated skin against his hard body. Your soft curves soothed the rough skin of his hands as he melted under your touch. To your surprise, Austin was already fully erect and throbbing against your stomach as he rocked his hips into you. "I need you now."

A lightbulb went off in your mind. Normally the dynamic in the bedroom was fluid, there wasn't a designated top or bottom. Most of the time you'd be perfectly happy letting Austin dominate the hell of out you when the two of your got into a particularly rebellious mood. But tonight was different. You wanted to let your man enjoy himself tonight in totally unexplored territory.

You don't know where the little harlot was hiding inside of you all this time, but you found courage as you went to fully palm Austin through his denim jeans, squeezing his length. You shivered fully as the groan that tumbled out of Austin's lips into your mouth shook you to the core. He probably could have come right then and there.

Austin broke from the heated kiss, his tongue finding new places to connect with on the side of your neck.

Palming Austin's cock with one hand, your other goes to unzip the fly of his jeans, giving him a little release from his denim prison. "Does my babyboy need my pussy that badly?" You mewled into his ear like the sex kitten you were.

The large hands around your waist gripped you tighter. You could feel your man tremble ontop of you, he was like putty in your hands.

"God yes, please..." He whimpered against your neck.

"Please what? What does my baby want?" Your dainty fingers plunged into the open waistband of Austin's jeans, finding their way into his boxers. His cock is hot to the touch against your hand as you continued stroking his length. He rutted against you, his resolve slipping by the second as he finally gets some much needed attention.

He growled against your ear. You bring out the animalistic side of him that only comes out to play on certain occasions. He was a man that properly made love to his woman and satisfies her in every conceivable way. You never really took control like this before, he's impressed by your boldness.

Maybe it was just the workload that weighed heavy on his shoulders today, crawling back to you to ease his pain, that made him switch gears in his brain and give in to your dominance. Seeing his girl take charge was hot as fuck.

You could feel his cock swelling up the more you toy with him, his sensitive tip was already leaking with precum. He clung to you impossibly tight. His delicious moans were filling your ear as he continued to roll his hips against your hand for friction.

"I want my cock buried so deep in your pussy that you see stars." In that moment, he took your hand in his and squeezed harder around his engorged cock. It was lucky that he held you strongly in his arms, hearing Austin talk dirty like that made you nearly collapse against him. You were soaked, and you weren't wearing any panties to trap the wetness from collecting in your thighs.

But you couldn't lose your mind now, you had started this game and you weren't going to let Austin take control. You peeled his hands off of yours and instead, you guided his hand along your supple frame. He watched intently, his crystalline eyes glazed over with lust bore into yours, he was at your mercy.

You both moaned in unison when finally you led Austin's hand to your dripping pussy. You gushed around his fingers, already wet and needy for him. He obscenely licked his lips as he let you rub two of his long fingers through your folds, and his thumb circling your swollen clit.

"Get on the bed babyboy, now. That's an order."

He didn't need to be told twice. While he could have turned the tables around and pushed his fingers inside you in this moment, he obeyed your command like a good boy. This was gonna be fun.

"Yes, ma'am." He rasped thickly. You let his hand untangle from the sweet slick of your pussy, but not before he brings his two fingers into his mouth and sucks away at the heavenly juices.

And like the good boy he is, he climbed up onto the bed, but not before he removed his pants and underwear. He laid back against he comforter awaiting your next move. Without a moment to lose, you shrug the dress shirt off your shoulders and pounce.

You don't want to waste anymore time. You don't even give him a warning before you slither your way up his lean body and straddle his face, your oozing pussy lips ghosting over his mouth. He gasped, staring up at you wide eyed like a deer in headlights. Austin was totally in awe of how you just take control in this moment. And with this amazing view, how can he say no?

"Before you fuck me, you're going to taste me. I think that's a fair arrangement." You purred.

Austin was practically foaming at the mouth, he had to try and regain some composure. But there was no point, he was too far gone in this game, and his desire for you was top priority. He grabbed onto your hips, his fingers digging into the soft flesh. The moment his tongue made contact with your folds with one long fat stripe you had to brace yourself against the headboard of the bed.

There was no chance he would take his time with you, he was hellbent on fulfilling both of your needs, making sure he remained in your good graces as your best boy.

Austin groaned beneath you as his ravenously went to work at lapping up your juices. This is all that he needed and could ever want. It was almost embarrassing how he was thinking about nothing else but his tongue in your pussy all day while he had to put on a poker face for the interviewers.

You let your head roll back, moaning his name over and over again. One of your hands wound it's way into Austin's golden waves, clinging onto the tendrils for purchase as you grind your pussy over his mouth in tandem with his unrelenting pace.

"You're such a good boy, Aus, eating my pussy so well. Feels so fucking good." You praised, rocking your hips a little harder against his supple mouth. His cock bobbed against his stomach, he was enjoying this too much. Austin moaned against your folds, greedily slurping your juices like he was starving. He was spurred on by your encouragement so much that he suddenly latched onto your clit and flicked hard and fast against your sensitive bundle of nerves.

"Yes just like that!" You moaned, your legs began to shake violently around Austin's head as he had his target set on attacking your clit, which he knew would catapult you off the proverbial cliff. Your slick came oozing out of your needy hole, coating Austin's lips and chin completely.

As you peered down at Austin hungrily devouring your divine pussy, you let yourself slip for just a moment and admired how insatiable he was for you. It drove you insane just how much he wanted you all the time, and he always made sure to never let you forget it. You released your vice grip on his waves and smoothed out his hair that was plastered to his face. His baby blues perked up at yours, gauging your reaction to his handiwork. The way his girl was looking down at him with dreamy eyes as he ate you whole had him swooning, and he let out a muffled moan that made you tingle.

For a split second you both melted at the love and adoration you had for one another - Your Austin was back, no more was the pent up anxious stress ball of a man that came walking into the door. With every swipe of his tongue, he drifted back down to Earth.

His pace on your clit slowed considerably as he slipped back into his typical modality of languidly tasting you and caressing your slick folds with his tongue, exploring you. His hands left their place on your hips as made their way to yours, entwining his fingers with yours as he let you set the pace - rocking your hips against his mouth. Your heart leaped out of your heaving chest in this moment of pure passion.

You knew you'd be a goner if he kept this up for any longer. And you didn't wanna come, not yet anyway. Even though he was eating you out like you were his last meal on Earth, you wanted to finish with him inside of you.

Snapping back into the game that you started, you removed your hands from his. "My babyboy did such a good job of pleasing me. I think he's earned his reward, right?"

Your legs shook beneath your weight as you shifted off of Austin's sticky face. Finally he could breathe, and you smirked as you saw the strings of your juices covering his puffy lips, glistening like the most delicious glazed donut.

He panted, licking his lips and swallowing the remnants of your wetness from inside his mouth. Austin is a quick learner and he knows just how to respond in this flip of the script. "Yes ma'am. Please, fuck me." He begged, letting his hips rise off the bed as he tried to get some kind of release on this throbbing cock. He was bursting at the seams, you knew he wouldn't last long either.

Hearing Austin plead with you to take him was the encouragement you needed to light that fire in your belly even stronger. And you know what? You give him what he wants. You shimmy down his body, straddling his hips as you align him up with your sopping entrance.

You don't ask him if he's ready, nor ask him to beg for it, you simply grab hold of him and slide down his shaft. He groaned loudly, rolling his head back against the pillow.

"Fuck yes." He swore. You bite your lip and clench around his impressive size as you get adjusted to him before you start. Your juices gush out of you and trickle down Austin's cock as your walls hungrily squeeze around him. You begin to bounce a steady pace, savoring in the feeling of being absolutely full to the brim.

You ground yourself by placing your hands on his chest as you snapped your hips back down against his cock, moaning in tandem. His swollen tip nuzzled right up against that sweet spot deep inside you as you ride him. You allow Austin to grab hold of your hips and thrust up inside you, but you still were in control.

"Were you thinking about fucking me all day? Was my babyboy eager to come inside me?" You moan out, your walls fluttering around him as he slips his cock in and out of you harder now.

"All fucking day. I missed this perfect pussy." He moaned behind gritted teeth as he tried so hard to not come prematurely. You shuddered at his confession. You were starting to unravel but you can't be caught fumbling just yet.

Your face contorted in pleasure as you bounced your slick cunt back against him. His impressive girth stretched you out in the most perfect pain, but your wetness enveloped his cock so thickly that he fucked you with ease. The pornographic sounds of your moans, his needy whimpers, and your messy sex was music to your ears.

You change position slightly by sitting up straight and bouncing straight down onto his cock. You were certainly a sight for sore eyes from Austin's vantage point. He was daydreaming about this exact moment for too long, edging himself all day on the mere thought of his girl getting lost on how good his cock fucks her.

"I-I'm so close." He moaned breathlessly. His thrusts up into your slippery walls were becoming sloppy by the second, and he had a vice grip on your hips as he slammed you down onto his cock forcecully.

You nearly screamed as you felt his cock brush against your cervix as he picked up the pace. "Don't you dare come yet, not until I say so." You demanded hotly. It was hard for you to keep control as he was fucking you into smithereens, your needy walls milked his cock for everything he was worth, and he rammed into your g-spot with pinpoint precision.

You began to stutter around his cock, and your telltale high-pitched moans alerted him that you were close. Knowing he may get backlash for taking control, but willing to risk the consequences for the reward it'll inevitably bring, he brings one of his thumbs into his mouth and makes a hasty beeline for your clit. Austin begins to rub fast circles against your swollen nub.

"Fuck! Austin!" You wail. He signed in relief at the fact you were too far gone to punish him in this moment, and he took another risk. With his other hand on your hip, he held onto you for dear life as he pushed your down against him and began rutting up inside of you, reaching the deepest parts of your wet cavern. "Oh yes fuck me just like that." You groan. Well, Austin was right, he totally is fucking you so hard that you can literally see stars behind your eyes.

Austin was also totally gone, he could focus on nothing but getting your climax and his climax happening at the same time. You loved the sound of his husky moans that erupted from his chest, and this alone got you wetter than you ever thought was possible. Your juices were pouring out of you and making the most obscene sloshing sound as he railed his cock into you.

This was it, this was the homerun you were both chasing. With every strength left in your body, you muster up one final command with as much lust dripping from your vocal chords as humanly possible. "Fill me up with your come, babyboy." You squeezed your walls around his cock hard to coax him on. You knew this would give him the resolve he needed.

"Y/N, Goddamn it!" He moaned. Finally, he was allowed to come, and it felt like he was holding onto so much in this moment. With three hard and sloppy thrusts, he gushed his hot load inside of your eager pussy. It felt like Mount Vesuvius had erupted inside of you. And you weren't far behind either, as he continued his assault on your clit you shook violently and moaned his name one final time before you felt your release explode around his cock.

As the sweet sticky mixture of your come and his came dripping out of you, he allowed you to totally collapse against the weight of his chest. You could feel one of his hands reach behind you and slip his cock out from your pussy, you both whimpered at the loss of contact. But you were still in the throws of chasing your ultimate highs.

You felt Austin shake beneath you as you tried to catch your breath. His heartbeat was playing like a drum right into your ear. But as he sighed, you knew once and for all you had fucked the stress out of him.

"Feel better, Aus?" You asked sweetly, peering up at him with flirty lashes.

He chuckled, his hands drawing lazy circles on your back as you leaned forward to capture his soft lips in a tender loving kiss.

"Honey, you have no idea."

tags: @aconflagrationofmyown @powerofelvis @harringrove-sketchbookpages @samfangirls @headfullofpresley @2lekk @moonchild-daniella @ggwritesstuff @plasticfantasticl0ver @austinbutlersworld @unadulteratedkingdomzombie @sapphirescripts @ash-omalley

[spookyscarydemonbabe]

How about defending Gareth from Jason by possibly punching Jason in the face?

Just casually wondering 😂

boy oh boy did i have fun with this one 😈

Jason hasn’t gone a day without causing some kind of trouble with the Hellfire boys

It was something they knew was going to happen day in and day out, and at this point they had built enough of a callous where his words didn’t mean much

His actions however, were a different story

But for some reason, he never tried anything with you

Maybe he thought he would feel bad for picking on a girl? Whatever the reason, you didn’t care much for him either way

Day in and day out he’d manage to find some way to ridicule the boys and it eventually evolved into him getting physical

Time and time again you’ve seen them shoved and tripped in the halls, pushed into lockers, and on a few occasions you’ve managed to see a few punches thrown between them

You’d be lying if you said you haven’t helped clean up a few cuts and bruises afterwards

And for some reason, Gareth was the one who always ended up with the bulk of them

You thankfully haven’t seen any of their physical fights, and you’re not sure how, but you know Jason can be pretty brutal

He definitely tones it down when he’s in school though

You’ve only caught it on one occasion, and you made sure to make it the last

So far the day had gone on as normal, Jason and his buddies making little quips about the boys in the halls because they had nothing better to do, and when lunch came around you bolted to your normal table

Gareth had been the first there and he smiled as soon as he saw you, waving you down to sit with him

You’d do your normal things while waiting for the rest of the students to file in

Talking about how boring your morning classes were, trading through your snacks so you could get his goldfish and he could get your pretzel twists, and of course a little harmless flirting on your end

You never knew if he picked up on your signals, but you were just going to keep doing it until he did

You had been hoping that sooner or later he’d stop using his boy brain and finally realize that you liked him, but for the time being, you were happy with your friendship how it was

Wether it progressed or not

Your conversation was quickly cut short, not by another one of the boys sitting at the table, but by Gareths head jerking forward and the sound of an audible thump

Gareth groaned in pain, still leaned over the table, one hand holding the back of his head

And you saw Jason snickering with his friends as they walked away, taking glances back to see Gareth in pain

You also noticed a hardcover book in Jason’s hand, no doubt the object he used to hit Gareth

He was taking a few deep breaths as he was still hunched over the table, and you couldn’t imagine how much it might’ve been hurting him

Before you could even ask if he was alright, the other boys started to file into their unassigned assigned seats at the lunch table

You gave them all a smile and glanced back over to Jason’s table

Him and his goons laughing about whatever nonsense they just so happened to talking about

And it was something about their annoying, exhausting, nails against a chalkboard type of laughing that pushed you over the edge

Not a word was said between you and Gareth before you got up and went to approach Jason at his table

You got a few stares from the boys and the other students who had absolutely no idea what you were doing

No one ever approached that table by any means necessary

Which was a good thing

They didn’t even notice or acknowledge you until Jason leaned over the table, both hands holding the back of his head as he groaned in pain through gritted teeth

All his friends could do was watch you walk back away to your seat, with the wide eyes of the other students in the lunch room following you too

It was a little hard for you to notice with the pain in your knuckles

His head was a lot harder than you thought it would be, which was surprising considering how empty it was

You sat back down next to Gareth and all he could do was stare at you in awe

“Did you just punch him in the back of the head?”

You nodded and went back to snacking on the pretzel twists in front of you and the rest of the lunch period went on as normal

You were hoping that it was enough to at least keep Jason away from you all for a little while

And Gareth was quite appreciative

Though he didn’t expect you to go as far as to punch Jason, it made him respect you a little more

And he’d never admit it but the way you just shrugged it off like it was nothing made his heart flutter

tags: @thatsthewaythechrissycrumbles @munsonology @aidansloth @esme-viridian @toomanyfandomsimfanvergent

[anxiety-elemental-kay]

TriMax Vol. 2 and Wolfwood

First want to shout out to everyone participating in the book club!! I’m getting so much more out of this reread of TriMax, thanks to listening to everyone’s thoughts as we read along! I’m seeing things in a new light and getting details I never spotted before! I’m so grateful we get to dissect such a meaty story and characters together, because there’s so much and so many legit ways to interpret things! We love us all some deep space planet future gun LITERATURE around here!

Okay, now, I promised to have some actual THOUGHTS, and now just share funny panels, so here’s something that stood out to me: watching Wolfwood’s arc unfold and his growing understanding of who Vash is and what his goals are.

In volume 2 of Trigun, Wolfwood felt like a character whose story got truncated by the manga being dropped by the publisher. He clearly had a backstory and was going to play an important role, but Shenanigans meant whatever those original plans were didn't pan out. So instead we hit TriMax Vol1 and this relative stranger is the one who pulls Vash out of retirement. It’s pretty strange, and it must be extra strange if you’ve never seen either anime adaptation, which both expand on Vash and Wolfwood’s interactions and relationships before Vash hits his Eriks era. In that case it makes more sense for Wolfwood to go after Vash, by then an old friend, but I’m not going to give TriMax too much of a hard time, since, again, publishing Fuckery. And really it’s not handled poorly or anything, it’s just strange.

Anyway, Wolfwood’s role in Vol1 seems to be as an external force to push Vash along when he’d Rather Not, and to serve as a contrast/dissenting voice against Vash’s optimism and philosophy. See the family feud/hostage taking in particular. Wolfwood constantly argues that Vash is naive or trying to save everyone, and selfish for trying to not get his hands dirty. Given what Wolfwood (and the reader) know about Vash at this point, it’s an understandable conclusion to make. Even when his adoptive home and family were in danger, Vash didn’t do anything to stop the violence, to the point of trying to downplay the sexual harassment of a child. Vash didn’t push back against the bandits until Wolfwood pushed him. Why would Wolfwood believe Vash is anything other than a holier-than-thou prick who is too cowardly to make the kinds of choices Wolfwood’s had to make? (And though we didn’t know what those were at the time, Wolfwood clearly spoke from experience.)

Then we have Vash intervene in the family feud/hostage crisis, with his new red coat and everything. He uses his reputation to clear out the civilians, then his uncanny abilities to take out most of the hostiles without killing them, until he is confronted with the grieving father about to kill his daughter’s murderer. This is *exactly* the kind of situation Wolfwood warned him about, about family willing to take up violence if their loved ones are hurt, about having to make a deadly choice and become the devil. And we see Vash struggle! He empathizes with the father’s desire for revenge, directly mirrored against Vash’s own grief over Rem and hatred of his brother! But he chooses to intervene anyway, choosing not to beg for the murderer’s life, but for the father to not commit a terrible crime. In the end no one dies, and by not continuing the cycle of violence that led to his daughter’s death, the father is also spared. Vash found another way out.

This is the first time Wolfwood witnessed a demonstration of Vash’s philosophy in practice, proof that it’s about more than just ‘killing is wrong’, it’s also about empathy, and stopping future violence before it an happen.

Which brings us to Vol.2, where we really start to understand more about Wolfwood.

We know he’s a Gung-Ho-Gun, and we know he witnessed the Fifth Moon for himself, so the audience knows why he knows about Knives, and can guess why he’s helping Vash (since their goal is now ‘eternal suffering’). We know he doesn’t particularly want to be there, so what brought him here? He dreams of the kids at the orphanage he’s referenced before, begging their big brother to hold him, only for Wolfwood to smile sadly, then hold up his bloody hands and say he has no right to hug them anymore.

And then after Wolfwood kills Rai-dei, we get one of the most stunning panels in the manga.

And by stunning I do mean that literally. Every time I’ve read this volume, I have to stop for a moment when I hit this page. Others have talked about its composition in detail, so I won’t dig too much into it here. This is such a pivotal scene for both characters, their understandings of each other, and as a setup for Future Stuff.

Wolfwood has just seen Vash do something stupid and naive AGAIN, but turning his back to Rai-dei, who was about to attack Vash again. Wolfwood killed Rai-dei to protect Vash, then Vash lashed out in anger, saying he wasn’t going to go through with the attack. Probably. Wolfwood, fucking pissed about all this, demands Vash shoot him if he thinks what Wolfwood did was wrong. Wolfwood believes that Vash needs to dirty his hands, to become a demon (like Wolfwood has) in order to save people, and anything else is childish nonsense. In this moment he says he’s willing to give up his life if that means Vash would become the kind of person Wolfwood believes he has to be.

Then Vash plays his reverse uno, saying that he sees Wolfwood as the coward in this moment, for valuing his life so little, for being so ready to give up hope and toss his own life away. He sees Wolfwood has someone who was forced to play a role he never wanted, to become someone he didn’t want to be.

Vash reads Wolfwood like a book, and it disarms the situation. (Empathy again plays a role in ending a violent conflict!)

We already got a sense that Wolfwood is someone who loves very deeply, we saw that in the dream with the orphans. We see in that same dream that he’s someone who’s willing to bloody his hands, and hates himself for it. The next chapter opens with a flashback of child Wolfwood being shot for the first time, and as he suffers horrific pain, says that he thinks for the first time (!!!) that he didn’t want to die.

We see next chapter that this conflict gets under Wolfwood’s skin, he’s still thinking about it, even thinking that Vash putting others’ live above his own “makes me sick”. The next time we see them talk about ethics is on the way to Vash’s home while they’re in the cable car, Wolfwood reiterating that he has to make the choices he does because he has (human) limits. Then Vash admits that he doesn’t know if his way is the right one! In a moment of vulnerability we haven’t seen until now, Vash shares his doubts about his philosophy. In response, Wolfwood says nothing. He doesn’t take the moment to pry open the crack in the armor Vash shows him, just listens.

In this volume we’re starting to see the shape of Wolfwood’s story arc, of his conflict with Vash, and a growing understanding between them. I won’t say more to avoid story spoilers, but this volume does such a good job of planting the seeds of future arcs for both characters, with the “Shoot” scene in particular coming back in a big way more than once.

What I love LOVE about Trigun is that it’s not interested in determining who is morally superior, because moral absolutes do not exist. The narrative doesn’t put down Wolfwood’s philosophy, and though we see Vash succeed in his efforts to save people without loss of life, we see him fail just as often, if not more. Trigun invites us to understand why these people believe the world works a certain way, and how those ideas clash with reality. This is something that becomes much stronger later, we’re still very early in the story, but it’s something to keep in mind going forward.

One last thing to note, though it’s not as strong a thread in this volume, is that alongside Wolfwood’s growing understanding of Vash, is his growing fear of his inhumanity. We know Wolfwood witnessed the Fifth Moon, and that’s one thing, but we know from Wolfwood’s internal thoughts that Vash being inhuman is something that’s always on his mind, and always plays a factor when they’re arguing. To Wolfwood it’s the thing that separates them as people, Wolfwood has human limits, and Vash doesn’t, and that’s the only reason Vash can believe  and behave the way he does. (Is he right? That’s a question for the future). This is also the chapter where he gets a closer look at Vash’s power, where he sees Vash CRY BLOOD, and then a wave of darkness paralyzes Wolfwood, and Vash emits some kind of blast or wave that doesn’t hurt or damage anything, but frightens both Wolfwood and Leonof. Again, this is a bigger factor later, but it’s worth remembering that Wolfwood is tackling his perception of Vash as monstrous and dangerous alongside his more emotional understanding of who Vash is.

That’s all for now. That’s a lot of words and I don’t have the energy to go back and edit this, so if you see typos, no you didn’t.

[light-lanterne]

hello ! had a dream so please allow me to share a little fairytale-esque story with you ~

w // brief alcohol mention; description of gore and self mutilation, eye horror. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ☽ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - a short offering, @boycattj, @byelerss, @catboy-cabin, @cosmobrain00, @dark-quill, @conanssummerchild, @fenixashes, @fluffyfangirl, @foodiewithdahoodie, @holyvirgilscriptures, @hyperfixationcentralsvoid, @karenchildress, @rotisseries, @yearninginblue.

temptress will who's cursed with his beauty, hexed to always beguile whoever lays their eyes on him, his gracious features and bewitching eyes forcing them all to fall in love with him upon first glance and thus, dooming will to never be able to find true companionship or love.

enter mike, a lost soul who accidentally walked into will's forest in his efforts to run away from home, haunted by his town's hatred and by the mistakes from his youth that no one was able to ever forgive him for. he doesn't have much of a plan or an idea of what he's doing, but he knows he can't stay home any longer and so, he decided to brave the wilderness in an effort to clear his mind and hopefully find his way to a better place.

so he makes it into the woods, the feeling that he's being watched immediately hitting him and making him uneasy, and it gets to a point where he can't handle it anymore so he runs and falls and manages to severely injure his head and body, much to will's mortification for that was not his intention when he started curiously following mike from afar.

and will knows he should've left mike to recover on his own; make it back home and stop thinking about the unwanted visitor before the usual resolution (and the accompanying heartbreak) occurred... but he's much too kind for his own good and so, he takes the unconscious mike to his house and bandages his head —eyes included— and injuries, vowing to nurture mike back to health and then help him out of the forest before any incidents take place.

thus, for the next few weeks, will takes care of the confused-but-grateful mike, who's charming and hilarious and everything will's ever wanted in a friend. for the next few weeks, they bond and become close and will can feel the electricity between them, sparks making their way up their arms whenever their fingers brush against each other and heat warming up their cheeks whenever they somehow end up in close proximity to each other's bodies.

for the next few weeks, will allows himself to believe that this is something he can have; that one day he'll find someone who's able to love him like mike could if they had more time, and that one day his life won't be so empty anymore and he'll be able to enjoy his life at long last.

but then mike's injuries all heal up, and will can no longer pretend that there's something wrong with mike's eyes so he needs to let him go.

so they fight. bad. it's all a ruse on will's side to exit his house and only come back when mike's left in anger, but it still hurts a lot to make up fake problems and say horrible things to someone who's only ever been nice to him. someone who will wants to love.

but it's necessary and it all goes according to plan and the teary-eyed will barely manages to storm out of his house in time before mike angrily rips off his bandages and clumsily prepares to depart, his mind torn between the ire he feels and the utter confusion in his heart because he can't possibly understand why will got so angry at the mere mention of mike's family and his decision to leave them behind and never look back.

but what's done it's done and he's not in the mood for trying to make sense of will's sudden outburst so he leaves and angrily makes his way to the nearby town, drowning his sorrows in alcohol and spending several days feeling sorry for himself until, one night at the tavern, he overhears a bizarre conversation amongst some locals: a tale of a calypso character, a beautiful boy who lives in the forest and who drives everyone who gazes at him mad with a love they can't resist.

a fake, empty love, the idea of which will had complained about quite a few times during mike's stay with him.

it doesn't take him long to connect the dots and realise why will had insisted on caring for mike's eyes even if he never did feel anything wrong with them, nor does it take mike long to finally understand the fake nature of their fight and the true purpose behind will essentially throwing him out.

so he goes back to the forest and spends several weeks searching for will, disoriented since he only ever saw the woods at night and he was too angry when he left to pay attention to where he came from.

he searches and searches and never finds will or his home, but he loses no hope and starts leaving messages all over the place. starts yelling apologies and words of understanding even if he's not sure anyone is listening. starts singing and musing about how safe and happy he felt with will, how much he's still falling in love with him even now that they're apart, and begs for a chance to be with him even if he always has to have his eyes covered; even if he never gets to see the light again.

and will listens. even from the first day mike made it back into the woods, will was following him and listening to everything he had to say. laughing at his silliness. smiling at his endearing words and blushing at his more forward comments. with each passing day, will falls more and more in love with the idea of a life with mike, and based on what he can hear, mike is also pretty keen on the idea. granted, their time together was brief, but will knows a lot about fake connections and he knows for a fact that there was something very special about what he had with mike and so, he wants nothing more than to take his offers and make their dreams into a reality for them both.

but it can't be.

will knows this.

and mike knows this. he's smart enough to know that all it'll take is one casual glance or a particularly see-though piece of fabric to cover his eyes, and all of will's fears will become a reality. and he can't do that to him. he can't.

and so, mike does the only thing he knows will ensure that he never gets to see will and thus, the only thing that will forever ensure that their feelings for each other are genuine and pure.

he goes to the forest after taking care of all loose ends, and he tells his plan to will, knowing in his heart that his dear friend and lover is listening —has been listening all along—, then takes a knife to his left eye and swiftly shoves it inside the orbit, popping the globe out with haste and cutting off the muscles and nerves before will even has time to react.

naturally, the second eye is harder. the pain is undescribable and he can't really see well where his knife is going anymore and he's tired and it's all very overwhelming, but he knows he has to act quickly; he knows will enough to know that he will sacrifice their entire relationship, present and future, if he thinks he has a chance to run in front of mike and stop him from cutting off his other eye in time.

so he quickly pokes around his face quite a bit. hurts himself a bunch in the search for the right angle. then, finally, gets the knife in its proper location and manages to violently cut the eye out just as he catches sight of will's boots, the blinding pain sending him crumbling to the floor but he can't stop then; he needs to finish off the job lest will somehow manages to bring him back to health.

thus, he stabs. turns the remaining bits of ocular tissue to mush, then shakily attempts to cut off the nerve with his blunt knife but it's no use:

he can't see anything anymore.

can't do anything anymore.

and so, he passes out, and the panicked, horrified will is left with the choice to somehow try to heal mike from the horrible injuries he caused himself and —hopefully; somehow— restore the vision in his remaining eye... or finish what mike started, and finally have a romance like the ones from the books his mom used to read him before she herself succumbed to his curse and her affection turned artificial and overbearing.

a romance like the ones his many previous suitors had promised him, yet none of them had been able to deliver for not even them in their deranged determination had made as perfect promises as mike had in the past few weeks. not even them in their obsession had chosen to go as far as mike had with his devotion.

so really, the decision is a no-brainer at this point.

and thus, will takes the knife and claims his lover for himself, then takes him home and bandages his eyes once more with the same see-through dressings he'd accidentally used the last time mike had been there.

but he doesn't notice.

much less does mike.

and they live happily together in their little house in the woods, needing nothing other than each other for their love is genuine and pure.

- the end -

(anyone remembers that one "symmetry" creepypasta from like a decade ago ? that was my favourite horror story growing up ^-^ anyway, hope you like this weirdness ~! i left the setting somewhat unspecified so this could be cleradin or modern fantasy or whichever you prefer ~)

[precambrian-sea-pancake]

Giving context to things in Shadows of Rose that really needed context because I didn’t like them and they barely got context.

1) The Winter’s separating: it’s very much established they would not willingly separate. Mia loves Rose. There’s no way she’d willingly give up another family member after being widowed. Plus, Chris OF ALL PEOPLE should not want to separate the family. Literally the whole theme was about family. Hot take but there’s 3 of them.

2) Chris saying he would protect Rose and then asking her to join the squad: I refuse to believe Chris would go against his dying friend’s wishes. Putting someone in a fight isn’t protection

3) Rose barely knowing anything about Ethan: I mean…come on. That’s your dead husband and your dead friend who basically made you the godfather. There’s got to be a reason, right?

So…enjoy me fixing all of that by saying things Capcom loves to leave out

———

Mia raised Rose in the beginning when she was a kid, with the help of Chis. They were close. She was very paranoid about her safety and did everything she could to help Rose live a normal life considering they were under even stricter protection than before. Because of this and the fact that Rose would be too young to understand at the time, Mia and Chris were very selective about what was said. They told her things like “your father loved you” “he died protecting you” “he would’ve loved to be here”

The two of them wanted her so do to school because she needed socialization. Unfortunately she had a very hard time. Chris and Mia did their best to be supportive but it was a very tough situation for all of them.

Eventually when she got a little older the higher ups realized how much at risk the Winters were (and also for selfish reasons because Rose powerful. I mean…let us not forget Sherry ;-;), decided it would be best to separate the two to “protect” them. Be it by boarding school, training, etc. It’s kinda unclear but it happened.

Mia hated this. She couldn’t lose Rose but ultimately didn’t have any power over the situation. Chris hated it just as much also tried to prevent this but he too couldn’t change it.

Chis contact with Rose given his job and was the bridge between the two but as time went on things got more complicated and messy.

Eventually Chris got to a point where he wanted Rose by his side more often and to be the one in control instead of the higher ups. So he wanted Rose to join his squad so she could defend herself and not belong to some shitty government thing. At least this way it was easier…at least in Chris’s mind. To him it was protection. Was it the best idea? No, but to him it was.

After the DLC, they learn Ethan is still present in some sort of way. It motivates Chris to try fighting once more for the family to be together again.

Rose remembers everything she saw in the Megamycete’s recreation of her old house and how both of her parents loved her…and sees the mother on the bus reading a book to her kid.

Now both motivated to try again they’re successfully able to get visitation between Rose and Mia.

It starts off slow but eventually it happens more and more. It’s hard because it’s been so long, but they work to reconnect. Since Rose is older and has context, Mia (although very hesitant and needing some encouragement. Plus taking a few meetings for it to even happen) explains their family history to Rose piece by piece until the story is complete.

As for Rose joining the squad?

She joined because she knew her dad fought to help her family. She, like her father, is a kind person. She wants to help protect people and make sure they don’t suffer the same fate as her family. One more good soul to combat a corrupt world. She’s at an awkward age at a very emotional time. Her decisions might not be final but it’s giving it a try. She might stay or she might not. She might like it or she might hate it. Only time and experiences will decide that.

While things aren’t perfect, the Winters are at least together. Just like what Chris tried to do, and just like what Ethan wanted.

———

It’s not perfect, but I tried my best with what was available and worked within the confines of the story. I loved the DLC, but it does have flaws that annoy me. So I fixed it UwU.

[thisismysecondrodeo]

Twitter Famous (Jason Sudeikis x Reader) - Chapter 2

wc: 1.2k

Story Page | Story Tag

You paced the kitchen while Andie made the two of you coffee, your phone sitting a safe distance away as if it was radioactive. Andie handed you the mug and you paused only briefly to take a sip before continuing your walking. 

“Okay, so walk me through it again. Why are we freaking out in a bad way and not a good way?”

“Andie,” you sighed, finally stopping and hopping up on your kitchen counter across from where your friend leaned against the stove, “he’s going to fucking hate me. The man doesn’t even tweet and he’s getting harassed on Twitter on my behalf.”

“It’s funny! He’s a funny guy, he’ll get it. Plus, so many people think you two would be hot together, they’re shipping it, dude. Did he DM you or anything?”

“No, he followed me though.” 

“See! He wouldn’t do that if he was pissed off. You know you’re allowed to have a little fun.” Andie finished the last of her coffee and stood on her tiptoes to kiss your cheek. “I’ve gotta run, I’m flying out to New York tonight. I know you have to call Kayla, but please can you just live a little? If you can’t meet your favorite celebrity then what the hell is the point of being famous?” 

You chuckled, sliding off the counter to walk her to the door. “Alright, alright, but when Kayla has to manage a PR crisis…” 

“It’s my fault, and I accept that gladly if it means you get to meet the love of your life, Jason Sudeikis,” Andie grinned and you rolled your eyes—there were so many ways for this to go and almost none of them were love, but Andie’s energy was addicting. It was nice to have someone that constantly pushed you to just have a good time; and sure, you hated to make Kayla’s job harder but it wasn’t like she was against you having a good time either. 

You took a long, hot shower before you gave Kayla a ring, thankful it was Saturday and you had nowhere to be. 

“Sooo this is cute, this is fun,” Kayla said and you could hear the smile in her voice. 

“I’m glad you think so,” you laughed, “I was kind of freaking out and I thought you’d be pissed.” 

“Hey, my only job is to get you where you wanna go and if Jason's where you want to go, you have my full support. So what do you think? Let me help you plan?”

“Honestly, I feel bad I made him go viral, but he’s liking every tweet, he can’t be THAT upset…maybe? I don’t know, it's hard to know what he’s thinking when he doesn’t tweet at all.” 

“Okay so use that to your advantage.” 

“How?”

“He’s trending, he’s clearly looking at the tweets, and everyone’s waiting for his next move but he can’t make it because he doesn’t tweet…so you make the move. Tweet and ask him out. See if he likes it.” 

“And you’re okay with this?” 

“I’m not your enemy, Y/N! I want you to be happy and that’s it. You get to decide what that looks like…and I’m here to clean up your mess.” 

You laughed, “I’m sorry Kayla, I know you’re not the enemy. I appreciate you. I’ll talk to you later.” 

When you hung up you couldn’t believe Andie and Kayla weren’t telling you that you were insane; accidentally sending a legion of your fans to tweet at Jason Sudeikis because you couldn’t connect to feelings of romance unless you were looking at his pictures or watching his movies and shows seemed certifiable to you. 

You took out your phone, looking at his name in your notifications, in your followers list. It gave you a thrill that at least he knew you existed. You audibly giggled as you tweeted. 

You didn’t actually expect him to respond, didn’t really believe that he would tweet for the first time to respond to some singer he didn’t know asking him out on a date. But you thought he’d like it and people would hoot and holler again, and then it would all fizzle out. Maybe you’d get asked about him in an interview or he’d get asked about you and you’d circle each other for years until finally the two of you were at an event together and you’d snap a photo and all's well that ends well. 

Except he didn’t like the tweet. 

You worked on rewriting a couple of songs, toyed around on the piano with some new stuff, tried to read a romance novel on your Kindle to get you in the second-album-spirit and he still hadn’t liked the tweet. 

Andie tried to settle you down over text but you couldn’t help but think you’d ruined it. 

Andie: Do you know he’s online?

You quickly switched to Twitter and looked at his likes and he was still liking tweets about you, tweeted after you’d tried to ask him out. Somehow in all the hubbub of should you tweet him, should you not, you never considered how it would feel to get publicly rejected—you certainly weren’t in the mood to sing love songs now.

Y/N: He’s still liking tweets! Ugh, why did I do this again?

Andie: It’s fun to have a crush! Maybe he tried to message you, do you follow him?

Of course you followed Jason. Why wouldn’t you, especially since he now followed you. But now that you think about it… You quickly swiped through to look, might as well, and…you didn’t follow him. You felt like an idiot as you checked the message requests folder you never looked at and saw a message from Jason in your DMs. 

Jason: You’re in LA right? I’ll be there next week, so maybe next Saturday instead of this Thursday 🙂 

Jason: Also hi, nice to meet you. I’m Jason. 

You didn’t know what to do or how to respond and you wished Andie was here to tell you what to do. She certainly wasn’t texting back quickly enough for your liking. You’d already left him on read for an hour, you had to say something. 

Y/N: Oh my god, I am so sorry for all this.

Y/N: But not that sorry 🙂 I would love to hang out next Saturday

Y/N: Also hi, I’m Y/N

Jason: Oh, I know. Big fan. Like, you-were-on-my-Spotify Wrapped kinda big fan ;) 

Jason: Also, do you want to maybe tweet something so I can stop getting roasted for not shooting my shot? No pressure

Y/N: LOL good call, happy to

BIG FAN. He had to just be humoring you, there was no way…but those were some very specific details to include. You were giddy with the excitement of actually getting to meet him, that he actually wanted to meet you. Despite trying to manage your own expectations, it felt like a date. You texted Andie the rundown but you knew she wouldn’t be able to respond from the plane. 

You almost forgot you told Jason you’d tweet something. You purposely left the date out, and you didn’t suggest a location because there was no way the two of you could hang out without drawing a crowd on a good day, let alone if you tweeted it like a meet and greet. You couldn’t wipe the grin off your face as you typed it out and hit send. 

Jason liked it. 

Saturday couldn’t come fast enough.

-

AN: Okay so this is a slow build, don't kill me lol Also I'm posting every day but if you want a taglist let me know and I will happily tag you <3 Y'all have been so lovely and excited for this series it's awesome 🥰

[sublimecatgalaxy]

How about something like this: Reader is having a “friends with benefits” relationship with Daryl, all good until they arrive in Alexandria and Spencer started flirting with her! It’s up to you how to end the story, I mean what do you think Daryl would do??

Hiiii 👋🏼 it’s been awhile since sent you a request! Anyways, i hope you are doing good, i wanted you to know that i really appreciate that with everything that’s going on in your life you still find time to write. Know that you are sooo much loved in the Dixon fandom! 🫶🏼🫶🏼

I loooove the Daryl fandom way more than they love me, I assure you. You guys are painfully loyal just like him😂 You're the best, I've missed seeing your lovely requests! Thank you for being here and I'm so glad that you like the stuff I write, it honestly makes me more happy than anything.

Daryl made it painfully obvious from the start that I was never 'his'. I would end up in 'his' bed, touched by 'his' hands, and 'his' best friend, sure. But anything outside of the realm of casual sex and deep conversations in the middle of the night when everyone else was sleeping, I'm not anything but my own. He's always said I'm my own free woman, I didn't belong to him even though he acted ridiculously jealous and possessive in the right- or wrong- circumstance.

He's always hated when Rick's offered to help me with things that Daryl would typically help me with; like restarting my car, going out on runs, even simple things like carrying things from one place to another. He hates when men get too close to me and practically any other time where he might not be able to be there, brooding and angry and to act as my own personal body guard.

But for someone who stressed that we were strictly friends, he had a very odd way of showing it.

"So, you've been out there all by your lonesome?" Spencer asks, shifting in his seat in front of me as I look around Alexandria with a fond smile, happy to see people living their day to day in an almost normal sense- something resembling the life we all had before the world fell apart.

"I mean, I wasn't alone. I had help from my friends- they're practically my family at this point." I chuckle nervously, avoiding his curious and demanding gaze as his fingers twitch against the table just inches from mine. He looks too interested in me as I sit alone, waiting for the rest of my friends to undergo the intake created by the small 'government' (if you could call it that) led by Spencers mom.

"I can tell. You guys are attached at the hip." He chuckles sheepishly.

"For sure. Guess we're some sort of trauma bonded." I scoff, briefly thinking over all the ridiculous, death defying moments we've all been through together in the short time we've known each other. Especially Daryl and I- spanning from dangerous runs to dangerous rendezvous's in the woods late at night.

"Well, if you can ever detach yourself, I'd love to get to know you." He offers with a kind smile but there's something sinister behind his eyes, the type of look that makes your skin crawl and a shiver run down your spine.

"Aye!" A loud, familiar voice startles the both of us as I jump in my seat, turning to see Daryl tracking up to us at a dangerous speed, his jaw tense and brows furrowed. He glares at Spencer for a few moments before muttering."Get lost."

"We were having a conversa-"

"Go on." Spencer looks to me for support but my head just dips, not arguing with Daryl's instructions and agreeing with the want for Spencer to be gone. After a few moments, Spencer huffs like a toddler throwing a tantrum and clumsily stands up from the table before marching off.

"Daryl." I huff, looking up at him with a tired look as he slips down onto the bench beside me, his hand immediately reaching out to span across my thigh, the movement making my skin tingle in excitement.

"What?" He asks, too focused on the way my skin feels beneath his palm and I almost manage to forget what I wanted to get on his case about- until I hear Spencers annoying voice from only twenty feet away, probably complaining about his newest inconvenience.

"He was being nice." I huff, reaching out to rest my hand on his shoulder as he looks up at me with squinted eyes, a sarcastic scoff leaving him after a moment.

"Don't like 'im." He states simply, scooting the slightest bit closer to me and his eyes flicker back and forth between mine and my lips, his tongue sweeping out to wet his lips. The movement catches me off guard and makes me want nothing to do but to reach out and kiss him senselessly.

"That doesn't mean that you have to be a straight out ass to him."

"Yeah it does." He laughs, a teasing smirk on his lips as his hand travels higher, sirens going off in my head but I don't make any move to stop him.

"Why's that?" I ask, folding my arms over my chest in defiance but he just laughs at me.

"Don't want him getting the wrong idea." He states like it's nothing- like it's something the both of us should be aware of but my brows just furrow deeply in confusion with a small pout. "Bout you. Bout me."

"What would be the wrong idea?" I ask.

"That you ain't mine." His gaze is stern as he looks back at me, lip tucked between his teeth as if he didn't want to confess that and that it just slipped out without warning. His cheeks blush a bit at his confession, his big eyes blinking dumbly a few times as a surge of confidence rushes through me.

"Am I?" I ask, leaning towards him as my nose bumps against his, pulling a small gasp out of him at my forwardness. "This is the first I'm hearing of this."

"Watch it."

"Or what?" I ask with a taunting smirk, knowing exactly what he means but wanting him to say it, for him to own up to being jealous.

"Don't play that game." He warns lowly, his jaw tensing as his eyes flicker nervously away from me, still boyish and bashful after all this time.

"You act like you don't love it." I whisper, pressing a lingering kiss to his cheek as a shiver runs down his spine, his fingers only gripping my thigh tighter as he gives it a playful slap.

"Yeah, yeah."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o- Taglist: @bubblebuttwade @rafelover2405 @leslienjazzy @sorceresss @grxnde-dwt @alex–awesome–22 @bunnietoof @niyamar1e @serialghost @plantlungs @geniusohn @akaliltimmytim @lilaalouuxx @xshariex @elliotsbeigeguitar @elle4404 @lelieja @srhxpci @joselyn001 @taysirene @spinkspanther @thedivineuphoria @peter-maximoffs @tsukishimawhore @poohkie90 @szlaco @distantsighs @nstyles4299 @wolflover384 @givemefoodandlovesstuff @vane2828 @yeswhatever33 @amirrahfranson @vvaalleennttiinna @f-mu @yaspillz @jeyramarie @skylievin@abbybarnes17 @jointherebellion215 @visiondaddy @steezysimfinds @its-ya-gay-boi-luigi

@crunchytoenailsyum@glizzymcguirex @beth123lg @melovesmut @rafecameronswhore @ariianelle @write-from-the-heart @vampviolets@haylee-e@popehaywardssecretgf @honee-chai-tea @lokiandbuckywife @smoke-and-fire @officiallyunofficialperson@heyaitsklaudia@rosepetalsparks @bluetreecloud20 @scenesofobx @double-shot-of-tequila @1dluver13xx @colbysbrocks @iamasimpingh0e @smoke-and-fire386 @loveshineslikethesky @id-3-kbro @diorsitgirl @errorfound101-allideasburnedout @neverwillknowme18 @ellyskey @taylors-folk @loversjoy @myaloveee @thyris-is @lagataprrr @aaaaslaaaan @minjix @luvrosee @storytellingwitht

[dowagersqueen]

Hot Take: Alicent’s characterization from Episode 8+9 should have been her characterization during episodes 6+7 (up until the eye incident), where she was still trying to make some sort of peace while also trying to protect her kids.

Her characterization in episodes 6+7 should have been her final characterization. Scheming and working more actively against Rhaenyra and undermining her. Calling her out during small council meetings and giving her the stink eye and more actively making her kids aware of the danger (with them getting her concerns since it would be after Aemond lost his eye).

It just feels like they went backward instead of forward. That last bit isn’t a hot take. But still.

i don't feel like this is a hot take because it's... very real

i'm sorry but no amount of arguments will ever make me not believe that episode 8 alicent was a mess, writing wise

i mean think about it: alicent is groomed by her father and rhaenyra's father, rhaenyra's father decides he wants to marry her, rhaenyra is upset with her and stops talking to her for 3 years. at this point alicent is still trying to reach out. she's been through the hell that must have been the beginning of her marriage alone, she gave birth alone, she underlines herself that she doesn't have many friends (which is weird, and another decisionTM by the writers), rhaenyra never tries to call out her father for picking her best friend and is likely more upset with alicent even though she is aware alicent's position is a unpleasant one ("it bothers you does it not?" "laena is your daughter princess, does it bother you?" "of course it does")

so if anyone is blaming a woman for the deeds of a man first, it's rhaenyra. at no point after that even during their good times does she try to help alicent. to me it's always been a friendship where alicent gives and rhaenyra receives. it's alicent who always thinks of her and wants to go back.

and then of course comes the lie that makes her look like a fool and she loses the only family member she had at court with her. even when that man wasn't having her own mental health as his priority, she still depended on him as being the only one in her corner, even if it was for his own benefit. she's all alone, for a long time. she grows bitter, and rightfully so. i think for me the point of no return would have long before that but i digress.

by this time it's obvious rhaenyra's children as bastards, harwin makes it a done deal too, and after years and after all of that rhaenyra thinks of making an offer: marry your only daughter to my son who is obviously a bastard. she refuses, everyone is like omg "don't you see how hard rhaenyra tries?" eyeroll etc etc

then episode 7 happens with aemond and well, that should be a done deal for anyone right? it would be for me. i think i'd rather chew glass than think of rhaenyra as a friend at that point. emma was right, alicent is gaslighted and dare i add humiliated in front of an entire room of people. her son loses his eye, rhaenyra asks for even more of him, viserys couldn't care less and in the end it is still alicent and her sons that get threatened by viserys.

by that point i would be planning big, violent things

it is unrealistic to me that alicent still holds and treats rhaenyra with kidness in episode 8, that she has kind words for her, that she does so without being given an apology for aemond, especially after daemon and vaemond. imo it is unrealistic. she should have been scheming the biggest scheme.

this isn't a woman turned into an evil caricature, this is a normal reaction to living in a hostile environment with a hostile family that does not regard you or your children with love or respect.

unfortunately alicent is being largely written in a way to tell rhaenyra's story so she has to have such deep love for her that is bigger than for anyone else because the writers need to show how special rhaenyra is and how much they love her through alicent. as a character, she's forever tied at the ankle to rhaenyra and the narrative is largely written to punish alicent for not choosing rhaenyra. this is also tied to jaehaera having to die and the "sins of our father" trope.

no matter how we like the green characters and their potential, the writers largerly care more about team black characters and have striped alicent of much of her ambition.

it is silly to write alicent as a character that only finds out in episode 9 that "the council" was planning to instill her son as king. it is silly to write alicent as choosing to crown her son and by extension declare war literally.... overnight. it is silly further for her to do it or push the idea that just before he died, viserys whispered of aegon ii.

of course that is the story we're given, but it is ultimately not a great story for alicent hightower and they could have done so much better, but they were mainly focused on writing daemon and rhaenyra and that's about it.

but yeah, i totally agree. anything positive from alicent past episode 7, especially in the manner in which she acted during the dinner in episode 8, is unrealistic imo.