#which considering they were a part of the party from the start in this au their loops lasted a While

[arolesbianism]

May I offer some Siffrins on this fine day

[pepshee]

Jealousy, or Jealous Hee

⋆˙ ⋆⭒˚.⋆

Pairing - ex!heeseung x fem!reader

Genre - college!au, smut, angst, exes to ??

Word Count - 3.2k

Synopsis - Heeseung was the perfect boyfriend and your first for everything romantic. When he broke up with you out of the blue and changed his entire personality you didn't know what to do. Until you saw him at a house party that is.

Warnings - cursing, drinking, angst, suggestive, mentions of jake + other idols, arguing, heeseung is a playboy, house party, creampie, oral (f rec.), p in v, mentions of smoking, lmk if i missed anything ! 18+ MDNI!

A/N - this is only my second fic ever and i didnt expect ppl to actually like the last one.. i'm adding smut this time cause i feel it's fitting. please give feedback!! this also might be a multi part fic if ppl want it... this is my first time writing smut too i hope it's good for yall😞 ive read a ton of smut fics so im using those as my references 🙏

PART TWO

Your relationship with Heeseung was going super well. Everyone said you two were soulmates, and were made for each other. You were practically glued at the hip, and did everything together including applying to the same college. You guys celebrated so much when you were both accepted. You knew you wouldn't be in the same dorm per the university guidelines, you both were still so happy.

It was everything you could ever ask for. The summer before college you two went on a long beach trip by yourselves even though neither of your parents approve, but who cares? You're adults now anyways.

The beach trip went super well and you two had lots of fun together, and lots of sex..

He helped you move into your dorm as back to school season is starting and everyone knows it's better to move into your dorm prior to starting school. You also helped him move into his dorm as well.

That was two and a half years ago though.. He broke up with you two days before the first day without an explanation..

────୨ৎ────

It's been two and a half years since the breakup and you still never got an actual reason. All you know is two days before both of your first days of your freshman year in college he texted you saying, "I wanna break up, I'm sorry, I'll miss you," that's it.

After the breakup he changed completely. He became a playboy. He started smoking, drinking alcohol, going to house parties, hooking up, and he'd skip classes sometimes. You never could've imagined he'd do this. To you he was a perfect angel, but it's like a switch flipped on him.

You're both now in your junior year of college. You both went your respective ways but you're not over it, and you don't think you ever will be. When he broke up with you, you cried all night and all day, never leaving the bed nor the dorm. Your roommate, Giselle, only having known you for a week had taken care of you and comforted you. She's now your best friend and she still hears you cry sometimes but pretends not to hear it knowing you were trying to hide it.

Heeseung broke your heart and you don't think you could ever recover even nearly three years later. What's even worse is that he became popular. You heard about his every move pretty much considering everyone was pretty much obsessed with him. It was always 'heeseung this' or 'heeseung that,' you were sick of it. Not because you hated him, hell, how could you hate someone you dated since your freshman year of high school?

You had always heard about his new girlfriends cause it was always the next big news on campus, which you never understood considering they'd only last a maximum a week. This new version of him was unlikable, at least to you, others didn't seem to care that he kept playing these girls. They somehow keep throwing themselves at him claiming they're different. They always expect to be the one to 'fix him' or the one he decides to keep but it never ends up working for them.

The more you heard about him the more it seemed like he was trying to stray far from the lover boy personality he had years ago. The truth is that you still love and miss him, you know it's far gone by now but how could you forget dating someone for five years just for him to break up with you without an explanation?

You couldn't bring yourself to confront him, text him, nor talk to him. It was like that part of your life was imaginary. You hated it, you hated that it happened like this, and most of all, you hated that you didn't know why.

────୨ৎ────

Today you and your friends had planned to go to your friend's house party. Years ago you wouldn't have imagined going to a college party, but that's because you and Heeseung were together and you would've rather hung out with him. Now that you're broken up, you figured at least the free alcohol could help. You've gone to a few parties now, but only the ones that are on weekends.

It was Friday and you only had two classes today. One that was two hours long, and one that was about an hour and a half. You get up and get dressed, wearing just a casual T-Shirt with some shorts as it was pretty warm outside. You finish getting ready, and do your makeup, curl your hair, and grab your stuff before leaving your dorm room.

Your first class was pretty boring as always. it was a literature class which honestly didn't even go with your major but you still had to take it for some reason.

Your second class was also boring, but thankfully it was shorter, even if only by 30 minutes.

Finally, you were done with classes for the day and you and your friends decided to meet up at a nearby restaurant to eat before the party because you're all likely gonna drink alcohol.

After arriving at the restaurant you wait out front for your friends to arrive. It only takes them a short while. All of you walk in to get seated and order your food and drinks.

"So did any of you see Heeseungs new girl?" Your friend Moka had asked. Your friends knew about your history with Heeseung, but they still insisted on gossiping about him for some reason. "No, who is it now?" Giselle was curious, as always, she loved to gossip.

"It's Nayeon, she's so pretty. Do you guys think he will ever settle down with someone?" Yujin responded, you stayed silent throughout the exchange which was a normal occurrence whenever Heeseung was brought up.

Finally the waiter brings all of your orders. You all start to eat and enjoy the food you had ordered. You thought they would drop the topic of Heeseung but they didn't. "Hey look at Heeseung's story!" Karina turned her phone to the rest of you. On the screen you see a photo of Heeseung, with Nayeon, but it's in the cafe you two used to go to all the time when you were together. The text on the photo reads "same place, different person," it was like he was taunting you, like he knew you would see it, like he knew you'd be affected. You tried not to let it show but he was right, it did affect you.

All the memories started flowing back of all the times you two went there, you went so much to the point the employees already knew what you both would order without having to ask. It was your favorite place to go when you had downtime, and when you could leave school in the middle of the day when you were seniors in high school. You had never imagined a life without Heeseung but now you do and it's hard.

You're pulled out of your thoughts by Giselle speaking to you. "Y/N, are you okay? You seemed out of it, and you haven't touched your food much," you nodded letting her know you're okay. "Yeah, I'm fine, sorry," you reassured everyone and went back to eating.

────୨ৎ────

The time of the party was now approaching. You all decided to facetime while getting ready. You decided to get a little scandalous with your outfit which you usually never did. You put on a black lace cropped tank top, with a denim mini skirt which was just a bit too small for you, but that's the point. You put on a pair of thigh highs, heels, do your makeup, curl your hair, and finally add some finishing touches of jewelry.

You and Giselle leave your dorm and head to the campus courtyard to meet up with the other two girls. "Oh my god, Y/N, you look so hot, you have to dress like this more often," you giggle at Karina's compliments. The four of you meet your friend Minnie who is the designated driver. She doesn't like to drink alcohol, but she still wanted to go to the party so she agreed to be the DD.

It only took about 20 minutes to get to the party, you don't know whose house it was but it was pretty large. You all enter the party, and decide to split up. You head to the kitchen immediately wanting to drink some alcohol. You see multiple empty, full, and half-full bottles of various alcohols. You don't even pay attention to whichever one you grab, you just pour it into a cup. The alcohol leaves a small burning sensation in the back of your throat. You walk towards the living room where the majority of people are, but you spot someone you weren't ready to come face to face with yet as the wound is still wide open... Heeseung..

He was with his douchey friends that he had made after he did a complete 180 with his personality. The seven boys were always causing a stir, but they were so hot you had to admit...

You hadn't realized you were staring at him, but he had.

Heeseung was talking with his friends until he had a feeling someone was staring at him. He thought it was just another girl that wanted to suck him off or something. He turned his head to find you staring his way. He didn't really know how to react really, it's been a while since he'd since you despite you two being on the same college campus. He'd only seen you from a distance really.

The truth is he did miss you, and he would purposefully post his new girls just cause he knew you would see and would get jealous. He knew it was toxic and wrong but he didn't really care. At first he had no interest in posting the girls he was with because it would only be for a short while. That was until he started to miss you, miss everything you did together, miss your lips, your smile, your laugh, everything about you. That's when he started to try and make you jealous, and as far as he can tell it's working.

As he looks back at you his lips curve into a smirk before he excuses himself from his friends, "yo, guys, I'll be right back alright?" he announced. His friends give him small smirks knowing that usually when he excuses himself at a party it's for a girl.

You only realize he was staring back at you when he starts to approach you. You internally start freaking out not knowing what to do. Before you can come up with something he's already in front of you.

"Y/N. You're dressed... quite.. sexy.." His smirk gets even larger as those words come out his mouth. "You're also quite flushed, you're already drunk aren't you?" Shit, you hadn't even realized the alcohol had kicked in.

"What do you want Heeseung," you tried to sound mad and upset but it turned out more slurred than you wanted due to the alcohol in your system.

"To talk to my sexy ex-girlfriend, is there an issue?" You hated the cockiness in his voice. You hated how he was acting like nothing happened, like it was all okay, like you didn't cry, and throw up multiple days straight.

"Don't act like nothing happened. You broke up with me out of the blue.. You fucking hurt me." Your words now finally pack the punch you wanted the whole time.

"Come on don't act like that, seriously, just talk to me and be civil Y/N," a fake pout formed on his face as if trying to earn sympathy points from you.

"Can you take shit seriously for once? Ever since we broke up you changed and I fucking hate it! You would've never acted like this two and a half years ago!" You raised your voice at him, it's not loud enough for everyone to hear but some people nearby steal glances at the two of you. "Come on you don't mean that baby," He was starting to irritate you. Does he seriously have no shame? How did he end up like this?

"God you're so irritating you know that?! You're acting like you didn't break my heart, like you didn't leave me high and dry, without a rhyme or reason," now yelling at him because his act was getting to you, how could he be so nonchalant about this?

"Calm down okay? Let's talk about this when you're not drunk, don't cause a scene, you're gonna regret it later baby," his words weren't working on you, but then you then you thought about it. Maybe he was right, you should calm down, you hated creating scenes.

"Why're you calling me baby Heeseung?" Your voice is now softer, no longer yelling at him.

"You used to be my baby," you really didn't know how to react to his words, after all it's his fault you're broken up.

Your thoughts are immediately interrupted by his lips on yours. A feeling you haven't felt in so long. The kiss begins to become more like making out, his tongue dancing with yours and his hands on your waist. You wrap your arms around his neck pulling him closer and deepening the kiss.

He breaks the kiss to catch his breath and to say, "you're so lucky my buddy Jake owns this house. Follow me to the bedroom baby," the alcohol, and desire completely throw all of your common sense and critical thinking out the window. He takes your hand and leads you upstairs to an empty bedroom.

Once in the bedroom he immediately closes and locks the door before pinning you against it. Before you can process anything his lips are once again on yours moving hungrily.

He breaks away to remove your top, which coincidentally you weren't wearing a bra under. He lets out a small gasp but then a smirk curves onto his lips. His hands grab onto your breasts kneading them before taking one into his mouth.

You moan at the sensation and move one of your hands to his hair gripping it lightly. "Hee–" your breathless words made him want you even more.

He releases your breasts and removes his own shirt, unbuttoning it quickly.

Seeing his bare torso after so long could've made you cum on the spot, you loved his abs so much, you'd caress them randomly even if you were just cuddling and watching tv. "You're drooling Y/N," he chuckles. "No I'm not!" trying to wipe the saliva that had escaped the corners of your mouth.

He takes your hand and drags you over to the bed pushing you down onto it gently. He climbs on top of you, now hovering above you. He kisses you again while his hands move to the waistband of your short skirt. He breaks the kiss for a moment, "can I?" he asks, waiting for you to grant him permission to remove it.

You nod unable to form words momentarily. He wastes no time unbuttoning the denim skirt and unzipping it. He pulls it down leaving you in just your baby pink lacy underwear.

"These are so cute baby, I love this new pair," Heeseung had seen pretty much every pair of your underwear while you were together. You two were quite the hormonal teenagers in high school.

He then removes his pants, now leaving the two of you in just your underwear.

He reaches to remove your underwear sliding it down your legs before tossing it somewhere in the room. He slowly spreads your legs giving himself a view of your bare pussy. "Just how I remember it... So wet and pretty for me. He'd always do this whenever you two had sex. He'd spend so much time complimenting your pussy as if it could hear him. You always had to beg and plead for him to do something to you. "I'm gonna eat her okay?" he looks up at you waiting for approval whilst positioning his head between your legs.

"Please..." he doesn't hesitate after hearing your breathless plea to start licking your folds. The sensation is one you haven't felt in a while making it feel foreign to you once again. "Hee—" you moan. Your fingers bury themselves into his soft locks.

He continues to lick and occasionally sucks on your clit. He then inserts two fingers and starts moving them in and out of you. The double stimulation from his tongue and fingers making you see colors, the grip on Heeseung's and hair and your grip on the sheets making your knuckles turn white slightly. It's surprising how you're not ripping out his hair at this point. "Shit- Heeseung.. I'm gonna c-cum!" You can feel him smirking against your cunt as your loud moaning signifies your approaching orgasm.

Before you can let it go he pulls away making you whimper at the loss of stimulation, and the emptiness without his fingers. You're about to complain but he opens his mouth before you, "I want you to cum on my dick, not my tongue baby."

He then pulls down his boxers revealing his hard length, the one you haven't seen in nearly three years. You still loved it though, it was so big, thick and veiny... It was one of your favorite things about him, how blessed he was to be so big.

He pumps himself a few times before positioning himself between your legs. "You ready for me?" you couldn't tell if he was talking to you, or your pussy but you responded anyway "yes... please..."

He slowly inserts himself into your entrance going slowly so you can adjust to his size. You moan at the feeling of him stretching you. He bottoms out, pausing for a moment to let you adjust. "Please— can you move," you whine. He chuckles at your words before he starts moving his thrusts starting out slow before he starts speeding it up, the sounds of skin slapping together fills the room as he splits your hole open. You can feel the tip of his cock kissing your cervix.

"You feel so good baby, just how I remember. So tight for me baby," he groans as he feels you clench around him at his words. "Seungie-" your fingers gripping the sheets tighter.

"I know baby, I know," he knew exactly what was happening. He loved the sound of you calling him his old nickname. "Let go for me baby, we'll cum at the same time."

All it takes is a few more thrusts for you both to let go, the knot that was forming in your stomach finally snapping. You felt his warm release coating your walls, and you felt your release mixing with his. He pulled out of you gently, careful as to not hurt you. You could feel the liquids spilling out and sliding down your ass.

Heeseung lays next to you looking into your eyes, "goodnight Y/N," he says softly. You give him a gentle smile before closing your eyes and going to sleep.

What happens now?

What happens between you two?

Do you get back together?

PART TWO HERE

[yeagersss]

Sukuna x quiet!Reader - College AU - Part 1/?

Note: completely self-indulgent because I'm studying abroad rn and am a very quiet person :')

Basically he approaches you for a final grade project. He usually pairs with Gojo, Geto and Nanami but in this elective, you can only work in a group of 2. So with Gojo pairing up with Geto ("Sorry man ╰(●▿●)╯") and Nanami not taking the elective, he's left finding a partner on his own.

Technically he can ask anyone and anyone will be willing to work together with the Sukuna Ryomen, but he takes his studies seriously. He has a merit scholarship. So he needs someone equally serious about this.

Because really who wouldn't want to be paired up with the campus heartthrob? The sexy, tattooed bad boy who's leading the basketball team. Men want to be his friends. Women want to be in his bed... So he needs to be picky.

So he spots you. Sitting in the corner of the lecture hall, typing away on your laptop while listening intendly to the professor's words.

He's seen you around the campus. Walking around with large headphones on, or sitting under a tree and tapping away on your iPad. You're usually alone.

He's never seen you in any of his matches nor parties. But he's seen you plenty of times in the library, scribbling on your tablet. It's like your lost in your own little world and that's when it clicks to him that you don't care who he is... So you're fucking perfect for this project.

So he approaches you after class. Just before you can slip on your headphones and walk away, you hear a gruff "hey". You turn around and look at him in surprise. "um... hello." You say softly.

He looks at you. Unsure of what to think of you. You're like an anomaly to him with how quiet and reserved you seem. "you got a partner for the project?" he asks.

You shake your head. You didn't know anyone in this class and the one girl you were acquainted with was working with her friend so you were just going to ask the professor to pair you up with someone randomly (and pray they weren't a free rider).

"well I need a partner and you look like you actually take this shit seriously so you want to pair up?" Sukuna asks. You eye him carefully. You know who Sukuna is, so you're a bit suspicious why this man would approach you of all people when he can have anyone else.

But considering you had no other options and you knew Sukuna was an exceptional student who is serious about his studies (you had way too much experience with free riders and despise it) you can't say no and agreed. It's just a project. You can tell he doesn't seem to have any interest in you besides working together to get a good grade.

Sukuna nods, pulling out his phone and giving you his number. "Let's meet up tomorrow to discuss the topic, yeah?" He asks to which you again nod, saving his number and shooting a quick text to him so he can have your number too.

And while all of this was happening, your shoulders were tense with how you can feel people's eyes on you. Some were frowning, some were glaring and some were looking in surprise.

You place your headphones on and with a quick "bye" you were out of the classroom and away from the scrutinising looks.

Sukuna walks over to Gojo and Geto who joke about him being desperate enough to get together with the "quiet girl who doesn't even talk".

He rolls his eyes and looks down at the text you had send him earlier, a small "hi y/n here". He saves your number and pockets his phone as the three of them start walking to basketball practice.

[nathaslosthershit]

How Old? (LH44) [Blind Items AU]

(Part 7 in the Blind Items AU [can be read separately]) Summary: A driver, unknown to the public, seems to have found himself a younger girlfriend. There isn't anything morally (nor legally) wrong with the relationship, and the pair are doing quite well in their private bliss, but the internet likes to insert itself in other's business. Luckily, Lewis is doing too good to care about what the internet has to say.

‘Young, dumb, impressionable girls who don’t know any better’. Lewis laughed at the thought. 

He had met his girlfriend 3 years ago when she was 24, because no, she wasn’t 25. They had immediately clicked, being introduced by a mutual friend. His girl had just finished getting her PhD in child psychology, because she was far from a ‘dumb girl’. She had accelerated in her schooling from the time she started school. She worked with special programs to continuously learn at her level, not her age level. The party they met at was her graduation party that Lewis’ friend had invited him to, thinking the two would go well together.

Lewis would be lying if he said her age wasn’t something he considered when they both began to like each other. But it was more so that they were in very different stages career-wise. She was in a transitional period from school to practicing, and with the upcoming move to Ferrari, Lewis didn't know what his future looked like. How could they make a relationship work when their careers were their highest priority?

So they didn’t date, remaining ‘friends’ and seeing each other whenever possible. 

That was until around a year after they met.

One night, after Lewis had been having one of the best racing seasons in a while, and after she had been succeeding in her clinical trials, proving just how much this was the perfect path for her, Lewis came over to celebrate. 

Tensions had been building up since they had agreed to keep it friendly because they simply couldn’t commit to a relationship right now. That night though, it reached its peak.

Neither had been drinking, drunk purely on lust. After two hours of dinner and good conversation, one experimental kiss led to another, which led to a longer kiss, then full on making out, until the two were in a frenzy of trying to take the others’ clothes off as fast as humanly possible. 

That night then led to a weird period for the two. They cared for each other deeply, talked like a couple, acted like a couple, but when asked by friends on the status of their relationship, it was simply a friendship with ‘hot and passionate’ sex on the side. 

Nothing more, even though they both wanted so much more. But they refused to talk about committing again. 

That was till she found out she was pregnant. 

They had been careful, condoms and birth control, but it was just some freak accident, or a blessing.

She couldn’t tell Lewis for about a month, as he was on a triple header in F1 which thankfully ended in summer break. 

By then, she had enough time to sit and think about what she wanted. It wouldn’t be easy, both their careers are demanding. If it was anyone but him, she would have had way more doubt in her partner’s ability to balance both, but she had no doubt Lewis would be anything but an amazing father. 

She was about 9 weeks when she saw him again. They had made plans to go on vacation for a week during the break (supposedly as friends, even though Lewis had booked them a honeymoon suite), so she knew she had to ask right away, before they went on vacation. The last thing she needed was things going wrong and being stuck in the South of France, pregnant, with a man who didn’t want to be a father.

“I’m pregnant.” She blurted out the moment she opened the door. 

They both stared at each other wide eyed. She hadn’t meant to say it straight away. 

Instead of clarifying, she immediately turned around and went to the kitchen. Lewis reluctantly followed, confused as to if she wanted to talk to him at the moment. 

She refused to look at him, busying herself with getting plates and utensils for the takeout Lewis had picked up.

“Are we- are we going to talk about it?” He asked. She turned around to finally look at him, seeing as he slowly walked towards her with his hands in the air.

“God, Lewis, I am pregnant, not a kicked puppy, I'm not going to bite if you come near me.” He quickly put his hands down. 

Silence fell as they both looked at each other, wishing the other one would talk first. When that didn’t happen, they both gave in, speaking over each other. “No- sorry you first.” He said.

“No, no its okay you can go.”

Once again they were both silent, til they both chose the exact same time to speak. It was thankfully what the situation needed. They laughed, immediately severing the tension and awkwardness in the room. 

As they finally calmed down, Lewis said, “So… what are we going to do?”

No ‘what are you going to do’, no immediate shut down. She was once again grateful that out of all people in the world, it was Lewis who was by her side.

“Its… hard and most would say it is not the right time for either of us. But I want to be a mother, and I want to do so now.” 

“Okay, do you still need time to think or-”

“No, no- I have had a month to think and my decision hasn’t changed since the moment I found out.” 

Now was the most stressful part, waiting for what he would say, how he would react.

“Then we can make this work, we can find a way around any complications. There is no one I’d rather do this with, honey.” 

The two of them sat in silence, but it was a comfortable silence, both envisioning the future they were going to work for, a future they were going to achieve no matter what. 

That had been almost two years ago, and they had been happy and in love ever since. Even more so when their healthy baby girl was born. 

A content smile covered Lewis’ face as his girlfriend walked in, holding their daughter. 

“What’s got you so happy?” 

“Just my two wonderful girls.” He responded.

She rolled her eyes, “Such a sap you old man. Will you please come help me build the chair for the baby’s room now?”

Happy to oblige, Lewis shut his phone and got up to help his girlfriend, completely forgetting about what the internet had to say about his private life.

[ddorie]

heart locket.

anton lee x reader

. . . confronting your ex was the last thing you needed amid a cold winter.

genre : angst , ex au

warnings : heartbreak , no use of y/n

wc . . 1.1k

You wonder why you dragged yourself to the park at 3 AM to face your ex-boyfriend, but here you are, revisiting the wounds of your heart just by seeing him again.

The first thing you noticed seeing Anton for the first time in what feels like an eternity, was the silver necklace resting on his collarbone. The heart locket was hidden under his coat, but the intricate detailing of the chain could have you recognize it within a heartbeat.

It had been a year and four months since you two called it quits. You try your hardest to manipulate your mind to think it came to a mutual agreement, though it only aches your heart remembering how he took the initiative. After the breakup, Anton's whereabouts were nonexistent to you considering how he blocked you on everything and you were never close with his friends, so there was no way to find out how he was dealing with the breakup.

Only after several breakdowns and disassociations you went through at the expense of the breakup, you were slowly picking up the pieces of your heart. Anton wasn't occupying your thoughts anymore and you started going out with friends again. It’s safe to say you were happy again, thinking the same for the other party, but only way quicker on his side.

Well, the assumption of him moving on was soon to be proven false when you received a text from an unknown number, revealing it to be your ex, asking to meet.

A giant part of you wants to curse him out for breaking no contact to drag you outside in the cold. But another part of you hated the way you willingly let yourself obey his words.

Nevertheless, there he was right in front of you, dressed neatly in a black wool coat that complimented his tall figure which reminded you how much of a beauty he was.

You two were the only figures spotted in the park that was engulfed in darkness, the only sources of light being the dimly lighted broken street lamps and the illuminating bright moon. The bottom half of your face was buried under your big scarf to shield against the sharp breezes. You kept a safe distance from Anton because if you were any closer to him, you'd certainly let your guard down and take the opportunity just to cup his face once more. The necklace kept stealing your attention considering how intently you kept your eye on it.

The silence was finally broken when he said your name, his voice barely above a whisper. Hearing your name come out of his mouth in such a distant tone felt so foreign. "I'll just get straight to the point." He continued, "I regret every bit of it, I mean breaking up with you. I..I thought it was the right thing. My insecurities were eating me alive, and I kept thinking you deserve so, so much more than what I was offering. I know now that I was the biggest coward to do that," the smoke of his breaths was visible due to the cold while you kept listening. "I'm sorry for shutting out after the breakup and causing you pain."

You exhale a wobbly sigh, flashing him your glossy pair of eyes. Your eyes were already filled to the brim with tears and the sight broke him completely. “Anton…” He cut through your words and unknowingly took a step closer toward you, "I found myself going to every place we went, hoping to catch even a tiny glimpse of you, wishing that I could undo this mess." You just listened and listened, carefully taking in every word he said. Out of habit, Anton reached to the tiny necklace pendant of his for solace and you can’t help but crack a tiny sad smile.

You hadn’t realized how much the space between you two had closed and you swear you could catch snowflakes land on his eyelashes, dissolving within milliseconds. Seeing him this vulnerable made you want to take back all the hatred you had for him leaving.

"Your heart locket.” You finally acknowledge, and you notice his slow blinks in realization. He pursed his lips and undoes his clutch, revealing the silver heart-shaped pendant. He was taken aback that you called it out despite it being hidden under his coat.

He still recalls the day you gifted him it for his birthday early in the relationship. He'd proudly show not just you but everyone around him the small black-and-white photo of you smiling brightly. The necklace witnessed every moment of the relationship. From a full day of laughter on the beach, sharing the first kiss, and stargazing nights to petty quarrels, deafening yells, and a pool of tears during the final night of the relationship.

It was as if every memory he shared with you was captured in that tiny little pendant, and anytime it was open, everything would flood back up. He couldn't bring himself to take off the necklace because then it would mean losing you all over again and he couldn't bear to go through that the second time.

"This was all I had left of you." The locket was again closed in his fist and you could see his knuckles turning red from the biting cold. "I wish you knew that you were all I wanted," now it was your turn to speak, "I wish you knew that you were the only light through my darkest times and I didn't need anything else. So, yes, you sitting me down to say those three words hurt me an amount no words can summarize." You lock eyes with him, tiny apologies flooding in his dark orbs with a frown on his face.

Anton took another step closer, "Please..." he breathed your name once again, prompting you to shake your head, "Anton, no. It's been more than a year and I've moved on. I'm happy now." You say, though your words are unconvincing to him. “I swear I'll love you right this time if you just give me this chance." His soft-spoken voice became unsteady and a single tear ran down his cheek. Overtaken by emotions, Anton let his head wearily drop on your shoulder. You stood there frozen, contemplating what to do with your ex-boyfriend physically relying on your smaller build.

Your heart breaks for him and the least you could do was wrap your hands around his waist, hoping to console him with your touch. Getting carried away, your hand found its way to his hair gradually caressing his soft streaks. His muffled sobs accompanied you as you started to feel your wool coat getting damp.

Although it was truly tempting to drop everything and return to his love, you couldn't. For the sake of both of you, maybe locking up the memories in that heart locket will do nothing but good.

[linkemon]

Modern AU 1

Friendly reminder that English is not my first language. You can check my Masterlists both in English and Polish here. Consider supporting me on Ko-fi. You can also check out my commissions if you’re interested.

Other Genshin Impact headcanons can be found here.

This part contains: Kinich, Mualani and Mavuika.

Kinich

✧ One day a dog stuck to him. On his collar he only had the name: Ajaw. Kinich didn't have the heart to throw him out into the rain and that was a mistake. Since then he has never left him. He is always barking loudly as if he wanted to add something to every statement. When Kinich has guests, he locks him in a separate room and fights so that he doesn't get out in a few minutes.

✧ Kinich is studying botany. He's really good at it. Students in his class say he'll do anything for money. The question is how much money are you willing to spend to have him write a crappy assignment for you or beat up a mean guy (that's a rumor going around...).

✧ In his free time he likes to play Minecraft. Pixel blocks have no secrets for him. He'd be happy to play with you if you have time.

✧ He also likes very extreme climbing. He has been to every possible mountain. However, Kinich never takes his friends there. He always goes on such trips alone.

✧ He is a huge Spider-Man fan. When he was younger, he could be caught with his mask on, pretending to shoot webs.

✧ He keeps a large collection of plants in his room but as he himself says, he does not pay much attention to them.

Mualani

✧ Mualani is a surfer. The sea breeze in her hair and the water surrounding her. That's when she feels alive. On the board, she finds both a literal and a life balance. She will very strongly encourage you to try it. There's nothing better than doing what you love with someone close to you.

✧ She believes in trial and error. You'll fall off the big waves many times but once you get the hang of it, you'll never forget her slightly brutal methods. She has a huge amount of enthusiasm. No matter what field you want to start in, she'll always be rooting for you.

✧ No one knows how it happened but one day she met Kachina on the stairwell and they were inseparable ever since. Even though the girl is much younger than her. They are together practically everywhere and everyone thinks they are sisters, even though they are not related by blood.

✧ Mualani works part-time at a beach goods store. She once found used maracas there, bought them and now takes them out at every opportunity to show them off. She rocks every party, dancing with them.

✧ She loves her aunt very much but she is very sickly. Mualani helps her as much as she can in her spare time.

✧ She will never say no to a bonfire by the sea. If you want to please her, all you have to do is organize one.

Mavuika

✧ Born to be a boss. Owner of a large corporation, which she came to own through her own strength and effort.

✧ A motorcycle enthusiast. She loves to ride through the city streets at night. Her fiery hair seems to light up the darkness around her. Mavuika often spends time this way and you have to like it because she will take you for a ride very often. And without a helmet. All you have to do is hold on to her waist tightly.

✧ She often wears her black outfit, even when there is no obvious reason for it, such as driving. She claims that she looks good in it and it would be a shame to pass up the opportunity to collect a few more compliments. Her most famous flirty technique is to gently slide down her black glasses. 100% effective. Or so she claims.

✧ Mavuika has a whole wall in her room full of trinkets that she got from friends and family. Her loved ones have been dead for quite a while, so she's had a hard time in life. Despite this, she still remembers them and looks at things with a smile. She'll happily tell you about the stories that go with them.

✧ She is very strong. There are rumors that in the evenings she fights with people from local gangs and even the mafia. It is not known how much truth there is in this but it is certain that no one wants to mess with her. She repeats that she does not need protection. She is her own best protection.

[theshipsong]

the stars have all gone | ii

crocodile x f!reader, suggestive, with an allusion to assault and brief, clinical discussion of manslaughter. part two of a series. mentions of past basil hawkins x reader. selfshippy; reader is an astrologer, hawkins' former navigator, and a different race from both of them. post-timeskip canon au, 2.1k words.

"There's a man asking for you."

These days you did readings in the back of a the cafe near the bakery where you worked now. Your client base grew by word of mouth, and interested parties called your Den Den Mushi with their birth information, so the only people who showed up at the cafe asking for you by name were usually pissed at you—rarely a client themself, but more often than not someone in their life affected by whatever advice they heard in your commentary.

You checked your notebook of charts for the week. All women. Definitely not a client.

"What's he look like?" you asked the cafe owner.

His eyes shifted. "I like you, I do, I like that your business brings me business. I knew your past was something suspect. But—"

"I'm sorry, what?"

The owner stepped closer and stage whispered: "It's Sir Crocodile."

You didn't make a habit of hooking up with strange men, but you supposed infamous men were a trend in your single-digit body count considering you gave your virginity to a captain of the Worst Generation. That night, months ago, Crocodile easily tucked you into his side away from the from view of other diners as you left the restaurant, and you let yourself ebb along. You weren't even sure what you kept talking about, but his rich, low laughter sounded surprised at itself and thrummed in your veins the next morning when you woke alone in a suite at a fine hotel you'd only passed since settling here. On his side of the bed was a folded note, unsigned: "I'll see you."

You assumed they were empty words, or careful ones. Crocodile seemed to move around a lot, having no base of operations since he was stripped of his Warlord title, so you shrugged it off at the time. But now...

Surely they weren't sweet nothings. He was too sensible for that. So maybe you offended him and it was actually an oblique threat, in which case you'd better climb out the window.

"I'll talk to him. Is it okay for him to come in?"

The cafe owner blanched, then hardened. "If this means trouble, we're done."

He left to retrieve Crocodile like the notorious pirate was there for a chart reading (was he?), or like he was... calling on you, like a suitor (...was he?).

You shook yourself and tried to remember anything after the restaurant. What he tasted like under the wine, or what his pale skin looked like in low light. But you came up empty except for the smell of the cool spices of his aftershave in the sheets.

Damn.

His footsteps were heavy and leisurely before he stopped in the doorway, and you felt the breath leave your lungs. How was he so handsome? Other people would find his scars off putting, and there were several; you weren't researching him or anything, but you saw wanted posters from throughout the years, and they seemed to only accumulate along his face. His hair was dark as yours, but your skin was pinkish and cool while his was a warm, light olive.

"You keep odd hours," Crocodile more grunted than said.

"I do," you agreed. It was mid-afternoon, and only the start of your day. You had a little solitary time in your room at a women's boardinghouse before you did consultations, then spent the night studying for future clients until your pre-opening bakery shift well before nautical twilight, earlier than you'd wake up on the Grudge Dolph. Then you slept most of the time the sun was up, ironic for you and your diurnal chart, but you didn't believe in this stuff anymore.

"Long time no see," you said pointedly, and nodded at the chair across from you.

Crocodile looked too big for the cafe, like everything was doll furniture to his stature. You knew there were humans larger than him but wondered how the hell you two fit together that night since you woke up with minimal but tell-tale soreness. He angled his chair away from the table so he could cross his ankle over the opposite knee, and you swallowed, unable to pretend you weren't looking at the strong thighs crinkling his dress pants, before meting his gaze.

"I almost gave up," he said simply. "My associate would wonder why we bothered docking here with nothing to show for it."

Okay.

You were lost.

"Excuse me?"

He inhaled a good drag of his cigar. "'You're my captain,' you said. It was a thought exercise, to do with that instrument of yours, but I've warmed to the idea."

No.

"What do you say?"

He looked at you like he wouldn't be bothered either way you answered.

But.

"I'm sorry," you said against your better judgment. "I'm a little lost here. I don't... totally know what we discussed last time."

He wasn't expecting that.

"Hah." That bark-laugh-grunt he did that somehow also held a question, but not as undignified as a "huh?"

"It was a lot of wine for me," you said awkwardly. What were you, a kid? You're twenty eight. It's not that you were teetotal, but that was your first night of drinking in a good few months.

Crocodile seemed well and truly taken aback, and a bit of ash ungracefully plopped off the end of his cigar, which he caught with... a cloud of sand, and neatly floated off into an ash tray. Wow. Logia powers really were different.

His voice was tight. "What do you remember."

"Uhm..." You bit your lip, and his eyes flicked down there for millisecond. "We left the restaurant for your hotel. And then, uh. It was morning."

Slowly, with his cigar curled in his pinkie and ring fingers, Crocodile went to pinch the bridge of his nose. "That unremarkable, huh?"

Oh god.

This was that little bit of sensitivity to him you found so endearing. He'd never call it that, though; pride was a euphemism.

"If I was drunk enough not to remember shit for shit," you started, "Surely I must have... I don't know, puked on you, or something."

"No." His moment was over in the blink of an eye. "It's better this way. Just know we mostly talked."

Mostly. "About?"

"Your travels." You winced. Surely you didn't cry over your ex-captain to Sir Crocodile of all people. You had a pitiful lack of girl friends despite living with women for the first time in a decade, but even the widow who brought you to that restaurant in the first place would be a better choice. "What you want, and who's in the way of it."

That also sounded vulnerable, but the way he studied your face for your reaction made you think it struck him, somehow.

"What I want."

"You can map the stars along the Grand Line if you stick with a Warlord," Crocodile said simply. "Not one of your greenhorns."

Your breath caught.

That was the reason you joined Hawkins when he came back to your hometown after forming his crew of sycophants who'd never seen cartomancy before. You didn't want to be a navigator. You wanted to survey the Grand Line celestially because the sea crossed the equator. In reality, you wanted to move to the South Blue and study the southern hemisphere's sky, only after familiarizing yourself with the one you were born under. The Navy wouldn't let you move that freely, and the astronomers of Mary Geoise weren't practiced in geography, nor would they give you the time of day. The only course was to do it all yourself.

"It will be dangerous." Hawkins hadn't lied to you, yet. "You need to hold your own to be a pirate, but I'll protect you when I can."

You were the only woman on the ship and the only one who knew him before, the neighbor boy who complained he had to babysit you but cried when the two of you got lost in a fishing boat as night fell, and you used Polaris to get back to your home port.

"Former Warlord," you corrected. Crocodile's lip curled in annoyance. "You're from the Grand Line, aren't you?"

He humored you. "Paradise. But I've been in the New World for almost two years now."

So had you. Your ancestors were from this sea, too.

"I saw it," Hawkins said easily, and three of his cards arranged themselves midair: the High Priestess, the Eight of Cups, the Chariot. "You, leaving here."

You hated it most when you had the same interpretation, because it let him think he was right. He'd long since assigned the High Priestess to you and the Magician to himself since by pure chance you shared birth cards, and in one of your now-rare lighter moods, you'd sniffed, "The Chariot navigates. You be the Tower." But besides that, the Chariot was ruled by Cancer, a water sign, beside a pip from Cups, and here you were, underwater. Leaving him.

"I'm sorry."

"You're not."

The Pacifistas were terrifying. You followed your instincts to run and hide, and no one resented you for it, but the crew barely acknowledged you as it was. You were either a know-it-all of a navigator or the captain's tagalong. Both of you knew they assumed you were fucking, still, but nor did you do anything to disabuse them of the idea, and this is where it led.

"No," you said out loud. "Thank you. But I'd hold you back. I'm not strong."

"You think I don't know?"

Ouch. "You could flatter me a little."

"Can you even use that thing?" Crocodile inclined his head downward. How did he...? You were better about keeping your dagger strapped to your thigh these days, but today you were wearing a longer skirt that should've hidden it well, and you briefly had the thought was he checking out your legs? You wore stockings today. Maybe he liked that sort of thing.

"It was a gift."

Hawkins called it an athame. You'd killed only one person in your life, dragging it down a man's femoral artery when Hawkins wasn't there, didn't see you get separated from the crew.

"I can teach you," Crocodile said. "But you should trust the person you follow. I've survived this long."

I'll protect you when I can.

You blinked.

"You also went to prison."

"And left."

You exhaled. "You know what I wanted when I was young and stupid. But what are you doing now?"

"There's nothing stupid about knowledge," he said sternly. "It's a weapon more strictly controlled by the World Government than any blade or bullet."

"How political."

"Everything is."

You grinned, more to yourself. Even when he was pressing you one way, he was so easy to talk to. But you schooled your face to neutrality. "What did you want with Alabasta?"

"That was a long time ago."

"I don't care about a monarchy going down," you said impatiently. "If I join you, what am I participating in? And do you even have a ship? A crew?"

"You know, I believe I told you all this last time. But apparently..."

"Oh, don't you hold that over my head." The look he gave you was unimpressed. "What?"

"You insist you're not a pirate, but you're vulgar as any sailor."

"Vulgar? I haven't said anything." Besides 'shit for shit,' but he seemed distracted in that moment.

"I don't mean your vocabulary."

"Oh!" you said sarcastically. "Okay, sir."

Crocodile's brow hardened. "Watch it."

"Or what, sir? Did I call you that in bed, sir?"

He stood up, suddenly, and closed the few feet of distance between you. His golden hook came through one of the wide stitches of your sweater harmlessly as he butted it up under your jaw, tilting your head up. "What are you playing at, hmm? I decided I'd forget it to be fair to you."

You breathed deeply and the cardamom and tobacco of him filled your head like a fog. "Or you could remind me."

His gaze didn't leave your face. "It's poor form to sleep with a subordinate."

"I'm not under you."

He closed his eyes and exhaled, like you were really testing him. "What will it take?"

Feeling brave, you gently coaxed your sweater from his hook—stretched the damn stockinette, you'd have to tug the fabric to get it smooth again—and held onto it, like it was his other hand, petting it with your thumb. "Your pitch needs work. You just showed back up in this town hoping I'd be amenable? Based on a one-night stand?"

"I thought it was more like a date."

He sounded a little sullen as he nudged his chair closer to you with his foot.

"One of us has to ask out the other, you know."

"You're exhausting."

"Yes. Are you still sure you want me?"

"Yes."

You didn't know if he meant for his crew or otherwise.

[lizzy06]

Tenya Iida x Reader Fic Recs!! (Tumblr/Ao3/Wattpad)

My Hero Academia Fic Rec Masterlist

An Unintended Match ✨by dairyair (fake dating, stranger to friends to lovers, fluff, eventual smut)“I have been informed that you have foresworn your life of crime in order to prevent loss of life. That is admirable, and may I be the first to congratulate you on turning over a new leaf.” [COMPLETED]

The Prince ✨ by ScatteredScribbles/ @bnhascribbles (oneshot, prince! Iida, tutor! reader, royalty au)You should’ve expected that this conversation would happen eventually. You can’t pretend you hadn’t noticed the way Iida stole glances at you over the edge of his book when he thought you weren’t watching. The worst part was…you’d caught yourself doing those very same things.[COMPLETED]

Songfic: Iida Tenya x F!Reader - Crave You  ✨by @flannel-cladpika (oneshot, fluff, slight angst)It was official. You were permanently friend-zoned by the one person you actually had feelings for.[COMPLETED]

BNHA Soulmate AU Week Day 3: Blue Eyes by @writing-freak (oneshot, soulmate au, fluff)you are obsessed with the color blue, and spend your life dedicated to the things the beautiful color produces. only problem? you’ve never been able to see it.[COMPLETED]

This piece of you by @sleeplessdreamer14 (oneshot, fluff) you left your jacket in iida’s room.[COMPLETED]

The Baby Curse ✨ by Bonkers4hatter(oneshot, fluff, pregnancy, chubby! insecure reader, slight angst)With a family filled with boys, Iida dubbed it "the baby curse". You always thought it was a bit ridiculous, but when you start to consider kids of your own, Iida's little "curse" crosses your mind.[COMPLETED]

The Class Representatives ✨ by mooncandi(oneshot, fluff, humor)5 times your classmates could've found out about your relationship, the one time they did.[COMPLETED]

Her [ Iida Tenya + Reader ] by iiAnon (oneshot, fluff, angst)Tenya is pining hard for reader. Sweet and fluffy! <3[COMPLETED]

Love Letters  ✨by lyrical_panic(oneshot, fluff, love letters, secret admirer) Tenya Iida has an ordinary, routine life. There's nothing out of the ordinary, ever. Until one day when a anonymous love letter finds its way underneath his door, and his whole world turns upside down. Determined to find the author, he conducts a little investigation, leading him to none other but you.[COMPLETED]

Study Date ✨ by levithestripper(oneshot, fluff, crushes, humor)Tenya has always been quite confident in himself and in his appearance, not normally being overly nervous around people or shy. Yet you were different. If he wasn’t constantly fixing his hair before, he sure is now.[COMPLETED]

Birthday Kisses by goldxnapplxs (oneshot, fluff)Using a quirk that allows you to phase through objects, you sneak into the boys dorm to wish your favorite class representative a happy birthday.[COMPLETED]

Providentia by SongsOfAdelaide (oneshot, soulmates au, childhood friends to lovers) meaning The ability to see something in advance; foresight, foreknowledge./Precaution, providence, forethought.[COMPLETED]

i adore you. by TheBestParkBenchYouveEverSeen (oneshot, fluff, hurt/comfort)you have a BAAADDD migraine, iida trys to help.[COMPLETED]

Graduation Party by nek0zawakun(oneshot, fluff, humor) “I kissed you, because I wanted to.” She finally breathed out. His grip tightened. “We don’t always get what we want.” He responded seriously. “But I will,”[COMPLETED]

The Possibility of Rain or Shine by SongsOfAdelaide(oneshot, strangers to lovers, fluff, alternate au) In which you try hard not to fall in love with a potential business partner who may actually be married.[COMPLETED]

In Which Iida Treats A Date Like Everything Else by kawaiicthulhu (oneshot, fluff)"He had printed an itinerary for your date."[COMPLETED]

Broken Glass ✨ ✨ by Anonymous(oneshot, fluff, humor)In a quirk-related accident you find yourself surrounded by shattered glass. Worst of all, most of that glass is from every single pair of your boyfriend’s glasses. What will you do? Just some silly fluff.[COMPLETED]

The Duke's Son and the Viscount's Daughter by btp (oneshot, historical au, fluff, slight angst)When you attend a ball, a certain man catches your eye. Things seem to be going well until an announcement changes everything.[COMPLETED]

Courtship & Heartbreak in Alryne by @bakugotrashpanda (oneshot, victorian au, angst)[COMPLETED]

Soulmate au by @captainsolare (oneshot, soulmate au, fluff)You have each other’s initials on your wrists, they glow when they are held up and shown to your soulmate.[COMPLETED]

Arranged love by @wonderwomanfantasy (oneshot, royalty au, arranged marriage)ever since you were a child you were in love with the idea of love, red roses, and romantic poems, too bad you were sold off into marriage before you could find that kind of love. But is it really too late? after all what is more romantic than a Masquerade ball?[COMPLETED]

Quirk Marriage by @swigglesandwiggles (oneshot, angst, arranged marriage)What happens when a quirk marriage is arranged between two students and both have two very different reactions towards it?[COMPLETED]

[tinfoil-jones]

Jerk Ford AU: Obligatory Stan Twins Birthday Post

During the thirty years they were separated, neither Jerk Ford nor Stanley celebrated their shared birthday.

They did however, form the same yearly tradition simultaneously, and completely independent of one another. Showcasing how they manage to mirror each other even when their twinstinct was gone.

While Stan is well liked, he didn't have to worry about anyone trying to do a surprise party for him. Most of his peers are teachers who wouldn't work at the school during the summer unless if they were staffed for Summer School that year. His part time job during summers is working at the Water Treatment Plant, but he always kept a low profile that day and made sure none of his coworkers knew his birth date.

Even when he adopted Soos, Abuelita respected that Stan did not want to celebrate his birthday, because she knew the reason why he didn't. And considering Soos still hates his own birthday just like in canon, Soos wouldn't question his dads lack of birthday celebration.

Jerk Ford is out in the multiverse, and not celebrating birthdays is common in the Fordverse. Most of them resent (but 'secretly' painfully miss) their twin, and the most common goals out in the multiverse are survival and killing Bill Cipher. Jerk Ford's lack of resentment towards his brother is not well known, so him also not celebrating is no surprise.

Even as he starts to steadily gain more friends allies during his thirty year exile, he maintained his refusal to celebrate the occasion, and most likely kept to himself that day. Which they do not question; Anti-Ford and Watchdog Ford have the same birthday and could understand why, meanwhile The Archivist is a few centuries old so birthdays don't have as much meaning to him compared to a regular human or shorter lived species.

But what same yearly tradition do Jerk Ford and Stan do in place of an actual celebration or event? Well...

---

Dimension-???

Unknown bunker, unknown city. 15 June 2011

Jerk Ford makes sure he's absolutely as secure and far away from others as possible; there's statistically a very low chance of anyone finding him anytime soon, but just in case he has a syringe of his patented Drunk-B-Gone with a capped needle readily in his right overcoat pocket.

He reaches into his extradimensional bag and pulls out two items - a snifter glass, and a dark bottle of Seagrams Seven Crown.

He'd remembers back in their Backupsmore days, he and Fiddleford used to tease Stanley about his so-called 'sophisticated' taste, how he wasn't more manly than them just because he kept his drinking habits on the plain and simple side, but Stan would continue to insist he wasn't trying to make a statement, he just preferred it that way.

Sometimes Jerk Ford wondered if Stan was emulating their Pa or if it was just coincidence and genetics they both happened to prefer whisky and refused mixed drinks of any kind. Laphroaig was Filbrick's poison of choice, and just like Stanley he only ever drank things as they were, nothing 'fancy' like simply syrup, a lemon garnish, or God forbid, ice.

Jerk Ford, for one, preferred not consuming the equivalent of potable acetone, but...

"At least I didn't have to try to smuggle ice or citrus fruit." Jerk Ford mused out loud to himself as he poured from the bottle into the glass what he eyeballed as 4.5oz of whisky, the equivalent of three shots.

Fine whisky is supposed to be drunk in small sips, but Seven Crown is cheap and bottom shelf, it could be knocked back, and that's what Jerk Ford was planning on. He knew it wasn't the wisest thing to do, he wasn't unaware of his steadily declining constitution. It was the same reason he generally didn't drink anything bigger or stronger than a singular beer even when going out to drink.

"Happy Birthday, Stanley." Jerk Ford murmured to himself before swigging the whole thing down even though he hated it.

---

Dimension-PJC311

Gravity Falls, Oregon. 15 June 2011

Stanley Pines walks into Skull Fracture, the toughest bar in town- mainly because it was the only bar in town. The heavily tatooed biker serving as the bouncer tended to roll his eyes whenever Stan came to the bar, because of how much a school teacher like himself stood out amongst these self-proclaimed extremely tough people and bikers, but this time he just nodded at Stan and allowed him inside with no words.

29 years of this, Tats had of course expected him.

However, it appears tonight there was a different bartender than normal, or at least one Stan didn't usually see. A large biker with a bald head, and a red bandanna tied around his forehead like a headband.

"Mr. Pines?" The bartender asked in surprise "Monthly Cigar Night isn't until-"

"I know, I just need a drink." Stan interrupted him as he pulled out a stool in front of the counter and promptly sat down.

"The usual?" The bartender asked, already reaching for a Glencairn glass from the cabinet, but Stan raised one hand in the 'pause' motion.

"A mixed drink." Stan explained, internally rolling his. The establishment and its usual patrons prided themselves in their toughness so much, they refused to have cocktails because 'those are girly drinks'.

However, there was an easy work around; just call it a mixed drink and explain exactly what you'd like in it. A person can't ask for a Rusty Nail cocktail, but they can ask for a mixed drink equal parts scotch and Drambuie, served on the rocks in an old fashioned glass.

"What do you want in your drink?" The bartender asked him, and Stan recited it from memory

"Equal parts vodka, tequila, white rum, triple sec, gin, two parts lemon juice, one and a one-third parts simple syrup, and top it with cola. On the rocks, and in a highball glass, please." Stan instructed carefully, and the bartender nodded along as he put said drink together.

"You sure about this, Mr. Pines? This is five shots." The bartender pointed out, but Stan simply shrugged, and switched a ten dollar bill with the bartender for the drink.

Stan for one, didn't like most cocktails. He liked sweets just fine, but he always preferred things with a robust, earthier taste, and overly sweet things gives him headaches. But his long lost twin brother, Stanford? A sugar fiend.

In the early years of their adulthood, he used to pick on Ford about how he might as well just drink club soda and simple syrup, with the types of cocktails he'd usually order.

It made Stanley wonder how similar Ford really was to their Ma, considering that the glass of wine she had with all three meals of the day were typically dessert wines. Stan personally didn't know if she ever drank anything harder when she wasn't around her children, but he did know her favourite was Graham's Six Grapes.

Long Island Ice Tea was one of the most basic bitch cocktails someone could get. And for some reason, it was the one Ford ordered the most frequently.

Drinks served with ice should be drunk quickly, because of the ice melting, diluting the drink and the taste. But Soos, alongside his fiancée Melody, were currently chaperoning Wendy and her friend groups camping trip near Lake Gravity Falls.

Meaning his home was currently empty. Like many nights before Soos, it was just Stan alone with the non-functioning portal that had taken his brother away all of those years ago.

He could nurse this drink for a bit, just to give himself a little bit of time and distance from the source of his despair, which also served as his only hope for the future.

"Happy Birthday, Stanford." Stan said quietly to himself when he was sure the bartender and any other patrons were far enough away no one could hear him. And then took his first sip for the night.

[pinescent-and-gingerbread]

"I'm getting back on the straight and narrow, which, as you know, doesn't exist and isn't straight either." -FV

Welcome to my blog guys! Here we simp, here we yap, write, and draw, mainly about rdr2 and Arthur. Have fun, and thanks for passing by! ✵ Blog rules and requesting

✵ Fantasies in the Dark Part I, Part II, Part III (Smut)

Arthur catches a glimpse of your naked form through the canvas of your tent. The vision haunts him for days, making him struggle between his voracious urges and his sense of decency. Giving in to his urges might be the start of a whole new sort of relationship between the two of you.

✵ One Coffee, Black (upcoming)

Cop!Arthur x Barista!Reader Life was usually quiet in Bozeman, Montana. That is, until a series of mysterious deaths on multiple ranches is reported, frightening cowboys and occupying the local police department. Arthur Morgan, detective lieutenant, finds as only sunshine in his busy days the café next door to his police station, and especially its owner.

Musical interlude The World is living The Jackpot smut To pick up a Peach Pretty Lies (Low!Honor Arthur) suggestive ending Through my eyes All the graces from Heaven smut

Rye Whisky (I), Sweet Coffee (II) During Sean's return party, a completely drunk Arthur confesses to you. Considering his state, you're not quite sure about the veracity of his words. Could it be the sparkle you were waiting for?

Night Moths (Smut) On a mission for your gang who need your thieving skills, you end up playing a high society woman at Lemieux's party in his manor. Little did you know, you were about to meet a blue-eyed outlaw who had the exact same target as you...

Arthur makes you your favorite tea Arthur drawing your children Arthur and calling his mare good girl His lasso

✵Mini Prompt Sprint Collection

Grinding through clothes smut Patching up grumpy Arthur Arthur takes care of you while you're sick Arthur misses you while on the road smut Modern Arthur has you riding him in his truck smut Drunk and clumsy Arthur sneaks into your tent An angsty fight when you both come back from a mission Camp domesticity Smitten Arthur watches you make coffee

Modern!AU Arthur Headcanons (present days) Under the Hood smut, os One Coffee, Black smut, series

✵Other links

🌱My AO3 🌲My writing process and some tips 🍳Working blog: @mess-in-the-kitchen

Last updated 06/20/25. Thanks again to everyone who interacted!

🌱Pine.

[quietplace26]

Hi, here's another idea for a SDRGAU soulmate au where MC would be Neuvillette's soulmate. But this will involve heartbreak, trauma, and mistrust.

MC, a rising singer, began her career at 15. Three years later, the world was shocked by the news of her sudden death.

**BREAKING NEWS: SINGER MC WAS FOUND DEAD IN HER APARTMENT. REPORTS INDICATE IT WAS A MURDER.**

Two years after her death, MC suddenly reappears at an event organized by the archons of Teyvat and the humans, designed to promote coexistence between both worlds.

When it's her turn to sing, part of the audience is stunned: a woman who was supposed to be dead is standing before them. Their surprise turns to shock when she removes her wig and makeup, revealing her true identity.

(Clarification: MC's mother was murdered by her own husband and her own mother, which is why MC steadfastly refuses to call the people who conspired to make her mother's life miserable "grandmother.")

At that moment, MC publicly exposes those responsible for her mother's murder and the attempted murder, claiming that she had already revealed the truth on the internet. Only those present in the room were missing. However, before leaving the stage, she feels a chill run down her spine.

Looking up, she sees a man at the top of the stands staring at her. Something in his gaze unsettles her: the certainty that he could be her soulmate. Terrified, she leaves immediately, but not before giving him one last look filled with contempt.

(On Earth, rates of violence between soulmates were alarmingly high, and many relationships ended in abuse. Until the appearance of the world of Teyvat on Earth, MC had never had a mark, but when she discovered one on the back of her neck, she was horrified. Since then, she hides it with heavy, waterproof makeup.)

Let me say this... Holy shit this is amazing!

I'm gonna be honest though, I don't think I can even make a proper story out of this without ruining the idea cause you wrote it out so damn good!

But I can try to break it down!

Note before we start! MC doesn't know much or anything about Genshin at all. Because she was hiding over the years she was 'dead', she had bigger things to do, much less have time, to play video games.

Hm... Neuvillette... Well, he'd definitely be at that party because Furina requested him so. Since she's technically retired, being human and all, he's basically Fontaine's leader. So, he has to be at that meeting with all the other Archons.

Still doesn't stop him from squinting at the other nations Archon, the urge to judge them was strong since they were all in the same room-

But then the whole scene with MC happens, and he feels his neck burn. Furina's gasp alone made him understand what was happening. That earthling, the one the other earthlings claimed died 3 years eariler, the one with a voice that could rival sirens of myths, was his soulmate.

Neuvillette never once considered the possibility of him ever having a soulmate, since usually only humans could have soulmates, and he was a Sovereign, so-

Wait, why was she glaring at him? Shouldn't she be happy that he found her??

Note, unlike Earth, Soulmates in Teyvat are rare, and those that find their other half's are seen as blessed couples. Couples that are usually known to have long, loving relationships. The perfect love.

Seeing her run off, it triggers some dormant part of his mind, the feral dragon part that he usually keeps locked away so not to scare mortals, bristles, roaring for him to go retrieve his mate before some earthling scum gets the bright idea to go after her.

Considering what he just learned about MC's past, about her mother being murdered and such, he wouldn't pit it passed some earthlings that sided with the murderers to go after HIS mate, so, ignoring Furina!MC, he stalks after MC.

Long story short, Neuvillette returns shortly with a confused and very weary looking MC, who was being swallowed by the Hydro Sovereign's coat as he placed it on her shoulders when he finally caught her.

It was a possessive move, both to his human and dragon side. His human side was pleased seeing her in his clothing, while his dragon side was pleased his scent was now on her.

Now, all he had to do was gently coaxed his skittish, untrusting mate to come back to the Court of Fontaine with him where he could keep her safe...

[tremendousdefendortragedy]

Uhhhhgggg @keferon your AUs plague meee, now I have Thundercracker and Marissa Faireborn in the mecha AU on my brain

Like, it makes sense? Kind of? Classic romcom opening: She's a hard-boiled, hard ass military operative doing her part in trying to defend her home from an alien threat. He's a transforming robot/fighter jet who deserted his post because he's grown disillusioned with the war.

He runs into/seeks out the organization who do the mech stuff (I don't know if they have a name or not), begs for them to hide him. they say "sure, i guess, but we get to research you". he says sure and becomes a government secret under the careful watch of Marissa and her team. Hijinks ensue.

So, Marissa's not too trustworthy of this giant fucking thing in the base. Obviously. She knows about about the Cybertronian alliance thing the military has with these guys, and that's fine. It's not her place to ask questions. BUT this guy is very obviously a part of the purple faction, which the guys from the red faction are fighting against. She doesn't care but this kinda seems like a breach in trust for their alliance for letting Thundercracker in the base. And what if he's a spy or some shit? So she's keeping an eye on him.

Meanwhile, Thundercracker's watching garbage reality tv while letting researcher poke around in his circuitry (like when your getting your teeth done for more than an hour at the dentist) and he loves it. He starts writing garbage screen plays. Someone brings their dog to work--best creature he's ever seen. He loves being a government secret! He has so much free time now!

He and Marissa talk sometimes too, and they start bonding (Romantic or Platonic, doesn't matter it's still very meaningful). She tells him about her time as a pilot before she got promoted to chain on command, he tells her tiny bits about his life that he's comfortable with. Marissa comes to uncomfortable realization that they're actually becoming friends, and what that means considering what the organization probably wants from Thundercracker.

So, when the research team and the higher ups start wanting to dig a little deeper and get some more useful intel on Thundercracker for making their own mechs a bit more formidable, Marissa suggests something else: integrating him into the pilot program. They were already doing something similar with Jazz and Prowl, why not do it again? (I might be mixing up information but just go with it)

Thundercracker is of course, not too thrilled with the prospect of going back into active duty when he 1. actively hiding from the Decepticons and 2. getting used to not being in combat anymore, but Marissa explains that this is probably the best case scenarios since the organization's research on him would get pretty non-consensual pretty quickly. So he's like "fine then, who's my pilot going to be?" and Marissa's all like "me, of course. I don't trust any of these people to be inside you" and he's like "Huh, okay, second question; how is this pilot program going to work?"

Bunch of fidangling later, they figure it out (i don't know how but whatever, figure it out in post (maybe i'll actually write something about them who knows)). It's really weird for both parties involved (Marissa: never piloted something that was alive before, Thundercracker: never had something organic inside him), but they deal with it--fighting Quintissons and aliens and maybe the odd decepticon. Classic mecha stuff.

They've got it all! Comedy! Drama! Military Corruption! Philosophical Conundrums! Dogs! Bad TV! Friendship! Love??? Who knows!! I've got more about them in my brain that's just soup rn but they make me go

[brucewaynehater101]

DC in a Witcher AU: Gotham's Royal Family

[Background stuff: Witchers are still being made at this time, and I've changed city names to match more DC names] @chiyana helped a ton with the set-up here. Many many thanks ^^

Bruce Wayne [Human] - King

At the age of 10, he became the king of Gotham. Due to his young age, he had a regent appointed. In order to protect himself, he developed an airheaded persona. Why would anyone bother assassinating what would become or is a puppet king?

Before he assumed ruling rights, he went on a "soul searching journey" where he trained with various warriors (including Witchers and the League of Shadows). When he returned, a bat-like creature also started to visit nobles and "evil-dooers." Bruce, who had learned from his parents' demise, could not tie all of his actions to his own as king. He needed an "uncontrollable third party" to limit retaliation against him or those who support him.

In this AU, he does kill. He despises it, but he needs to kill in order to maintain his position as king and protect his citizens. However, he is one of the very few human-run nations known to protect non-humans. This leads to him having a higher non-human population than most other human-run nations (though Starling Kingdom rivals this).

Dick Grayson [Part Elf] - Traveling Acrobat

During a banquet held by King Bruce Wayne, Dick's parents died. Bruce took young Dick in as a ward but was unable to adopt/officially claim his as heir due to political ramifications. Bruce was very new to his position and was still trying to weed out anti-elf (and anti-nonhuman) sentiments. Dick, who was nine, also did not want to replace his parents and did not understand the precise issues occurring.

Bruce wanted to protect Dick, but Dick was adamant about aiding Bruce in protecting elves. After Dick started getting into repeat fights in the capital (after sneaking out), Bruce finally trained Dick on combat and how to aid elves in a number of ways. This included smuggling, causing distractions, and directing them to people Bruce trusted.

Around when Dick turned eighteen, Bruce and him had a major fight. This was the culmination of misunderstandings, the pressures of being considered royals, Dick still not being officially adopted (which is/was a miscommunication), Dick's lifespan being naturally way longer than Bruce's, and other stuff. Dick left with his group of friends (Titans) to travel the continent. Nightwing, the traveling acrobat, just so happens to be in town where non-human injustices occur or at major ports for smuggling non-humans to Gotham or Star Kingdom

Jason Todd [Previously Human] - Witcher

King Bruce Wayne was enamored by the street kid daring to steal the wheels off of the King's carriage. The King took in and soon adopted this kid.

Much like the King's previous ward, Jason quickly started to get into trouble trying to help others out. He saw the way that nobles treated the poor and commoners. Jason was trained to fight, and he often ran to cities/towns around the capitol to ensure that they were being treated appropriately. He also visited non-human settlements to check on them and learn more from them.

At the age of fifteen, his mom reached out to Jason. Jason, who was fighting Bruce at the time, did not tell him about the letter. By the time Bruce learned about it, it was too late. Jason was presumed dead.

Jason, however, was taken in by the League of Shadows and underwent the Trial of Grasses. By the time he became a Witcher, he wasn't sure about seeing Bruce again. He decided to avoid the old man and continue doing what he's always done: travel around saving people where he can

Tim Drake [Human] - Count/Monster Hunter

Timothy Drake attended several banquets and ceremonies held by Bruce Wayne. It's during these events that he deduces that Bruce is not as dumb as he pretends to be, that the man is the bat creature, and that Dick Grayson assists Bruce in saving/aiding citizens. Tim keeps these realizations quiet.

When Jason "dies," Tim sees the ruthlessness of the bat-creature and how Bruce's airheaded persona is slipping. It is, unintentionally, causing harm to those Bruce and Jason worked to protect (especially due to people beginning to try more extreme measures to take out both the bat-creature and King Bruce). Tim travels the continent to find Dick to convince the man to help Bruce. Dick is very confused and concerned when he realizes this. Bruce thus gets a little noble child bullying him to be better.

Tim, with his current position as viscount, spies on nobles and infiltrates their lands. He basically establishes limits for Bruce, convinces the man to lean on others for support, and distracts him with helping others. Bruce sends Tim away to train with the same Witchers and warriors Bruce did (which Tim does, but he also ends up training with Lady Shiva)

Due to Tim not being officially tied to Bruce, Tim travels between his lands and Bruce's capital pretty frequently. What he doesn't tell Bruce is that he, and his group of friends, often hunt down monsters and/or travel around saving people. Tim is not needed at his estate as often as he leads Bruce to believe.

After Tim's parents die, Tim invents "Uncle Eddie" as regent. Uncle Eddie stays regent even after Tim gets adopted so Tim can rule those lands while being considered a royal heir. Tim uses his lands to help non-humans and humans (similar to Bruce but on a more direct and smaller scale).

It's during one of the monster contracts Tim picks up alone (which he does limit himself to smaller/easier monsters when alone. He knows, unfortunately, that he can't hunt certain creatures due to his human nature) that he meets a Witcher by the name of Jason.

Cass Wayne [Human] - First Princess

The LoS wanted a loyal assassin Witcher capable of reading intent via body language and intrinsicly knowing how to read chaos. They never taught her speech, but they rigorously trained her in preparation for the Trial of Grasses.

One of these trainings included killing humans. After her first kill, however, she disappeared. She was not found for eight more years.

By the time she's sixteen, she's constantly on the move, covered in dirt, and wearing whatever clothes she can find. Her eerie, inhuman like mannerisms and movements, along with her appearance, cause rumors to follow any sightings of her (despite how few these sightings are). When the Knight Commander of Gotham is saved by her, the man can't help but wonder if the bat-creature knows this new entity.

Bruce, upon hearing this account, seeks Cass out in his bat-creature gear. It doesn't take long before Gotham welcomes the First Princess and another bat-creature.

Damian al Ghul Wayne [Human] - Prince/Mage

Damian was created with the intent purpose of furthering the reach of the LoS, one day inheriting Bruce's kingdom, and being a powerful warrior. Talia, before she exchanged fertility for immortality, had Damian. She did not want nor need more children for her goals (though she does love her child and does not wish to replace him).

Ra's and Talia had hoped that Damian would be a strong warrior like Bruce and a powerful mage like Talia. They had wished that he would rival Ra's in potential. While Damian was a spectacular combatant for his age, his chaos was limited. Not only did he have access to less, but his specialties were *not* fighting. He was, in the LoS's eyes, mediocre at attack and defense skills.

Damian was instead extremely proficient in healing, much to Ra's disappointment.

Talia, after learning this, sent Damian to live with Bruce. With this, she hoped her son would be happy and able to inherit Gotham.

Damian's arrival caused immense turmoil for the nobles. Factions started to appear between those who valued blood ties to the throne and those who valued Tim's skills/upbringing in Gotham nobility.

[dollarstoreartsupplies]

okay so i keep thinking about this post that i made about a polywagon soulmates au where they have eachother's birthdays on their arms (including hermie's like... three years ago and 1912) and im not gonna write it but i AM gonna think about how differently the teens would handle it

Taylor:

taylor would be SO thrilled, he thinks it makes him extra like an anime protaganist to have not only four soulmates, but also one long dead soul mate (perhaps the SAME soulmate, thats been reincarnated to the youngest soulmate, god thats such an ANIME PLOTLINE--)

he shows them off, and knows at the very least about normal from when they hung out as little kids, but anytime someone asks if he knows who they are he just mysteriously goes 'heh'

hangs out with normal a lot more pre-canon, considers him his main "sidekick"

when he was little his mom tried to explain that the two weird dates were sort of common, and that sometimes soulmates can be platonic, sometimes they don't cross paths time-wise, etc, but he literally could not give less of a shit he thinks it's COOL

Normal:

normal is so excited!! he has FOUR soulmates!! four!! so many people are destined to love him as foretold by the UNIVERSE!!

lark 100% has tried to disillusion him on the whole thing (the other kiddads know about link, especially after their kids were born with a soulmark dating back to the TITANIC and grant had to come clean) but it didn't really work

he knows about taylor from when they were little kids, and he ABSOLUTLEY hunted down a school directory with everyone's birthdays to try and find everyone else, so he knows about scary, he's just waiting for her to bring it up first

very clingy to taylor pre-canon and definitly annoys scary trying to get her to hang out with them

he's a firm believer in being able to have More Soulmates than just your soulmark, so from pretty early on he's really trying to manifest hermie and link into also being his soulmates (and is SO EXCITED to find out he's right)

Link:

sad boy :( he thinks that taylor and normal are HIS soul mates but he isn't either of theirs :(

his dads definitely just chose the day they found him to be his birthday since they don't know exactly when he was born, so not only does the year of the 1912 soulmark not match, but his birthday doesn't even either

grant is REALLY worried about link getting found out as a Titantic Baby/trying to keep him safe that he actually actively decides to go the most upsetting approach by telling link basically that sometimes it happens where soulmates don't match up perfectly

marco isn't really for THAT, and tries to push nontraditional soul-matches and platonic soulmate things but it's not really effective

it's part of why link is So clingy to his dads and doesn't like the idea of siblings/pets, he already is predisposed to the idea of there not being enough love to go around

he's really happy but also SO MAD after the titanic discovery

i'm trying to decide if it's funnier if hermie is his soulmate or if link is the only person who ISN'T soulmates with hermie

hermie's soul-date is replaced by fuckinnnn chris from the simulation's birthday for link hfjdkl

Scary:

when she was little she was so so so so so so so excited about soulmates, especially having FOUR

she was super sad about her presumably dead 1912 soulmate, and really hopes that they had other soulmates too that matched up with them better

kind of hopes the much younger soulmate IS a platonic soulmate so she doesn't have to wait longer to meet them

she 100% threw secret birthday parties for her soulmates when she was little

her parents weren't soulmates, but her mom and terry jr are, which just adds to her hurt and confusion when they get together

once she becomes emo TM she starts one wearing long sleeves to hide her soulmarks and claims that she doesn't HAVE any to sound edgy (even though a lot of people know that she does because like,,, a year ago she wouldn't shut up about them)

tries to deny for a really long time that her and the other teens are soulmates but when she gets doodlerized doodle-scary exposes her and shes UPSET about it

hermie:

kind of refused to acknowlege the teens are his soulmates, no matter how obvious it is

baffled when it becomes clear HIS birthday is the one on everyone elses arms but just from like,,, three years ago becuase that's not??? when he was born???

he's half convinced his soulmarks are part of some scam instead of being real and... honestly so am i

build-a-bear hermie either has no soulmarks or they're in a different place from regular hermie's, like they're not exactly... real?? and it makes it even sadder/more confusing from everyone emotionally after everything (except taylor, whose like 'idk still hermie')

bonus d00d:

idk i just want them to be included :) maybe everyone has like a random string of numbers somewhere exceedingly non traditional like their ankle that mean nothing to them until woah eldritch monstronisty yeah that would do it

they dont have soulmarks but they make themselves look like they do becuase really what is a soulmate if not the friends we made along the way

[dedrameeroapologist]

Take this with a grain of salt because I just think too much about something most likely irrelevant. So, I rewatched all S1 scenes with Dedra for science (rebel!AU), especially to remind myself whether Dedra really was expected to be better than everyone, or if it was just her ambition. Partagaz specifically says,

"There's a high bar for your performance."

I did think it's perhaps just ISB standard because later he says,

"That's why we're bringing in officers like you."

And it can easily be interpreted like she's not meeting ISB standards here, but no. She is expected to do better than ISB standards

"There's a high bar for your performance. Unfair perhaps, but senseless to ignore, and potentially the foundation of a uniquely superior career. You're supposed to be more competent and tucked away, that's why you're here."

So maybe I'm stating known things here, and came late to the party. But Dedra isn't just held to the ISB standard and never was. I was thinking what reason would have Partagaz to actually dot on Dedra. We don't see him giving any advice to anyone else privately. Not even to Heert, who is under Dedra. And he backs her all the time, even to Yuralen who seems to not be impressed with her.

I wonder if it's cut part of fitting 3 seasons into one, but it looks like she was supposed to be shown that she specifically is groomed for far higher positions - "uniquely superior career." If it were just about power and outranking others, it would be a "superior career.". So, Dedra herself is a unique case of an officer within the Empire.

Which moves us fast forward to S2 and Kalkite meeting. She was specifically selected by Krennic despite Ferrix (which honestly should be blamed on that guy who kicked B2), and as he said, he wanted her plan specifically, and she already had one "before they finished talking". But like, why would Krennic even know about her? She's just a Lieutenant Supervisor at ISB. He's in the Imperial High Command, and his branch is the Imperial Military Department of Advanced Weapons Research. ISB has an affiliation with it, but again, Dedra had no idea how the attendant who gave her information was called. So it kinda makes no sense for Krennic to know someone far below him, from a different division. Especially when he's clear in S2 that Supervisors are just "clerks" to him and beneath his reputation to care about. Technically, you could say they know her because of Ferrix failure, but also if it were any other supervisor in her place, they would have no career. So my theory is that Dedra, because of being raised by the Empire and having potential, was part of some gifted kids group that she didn't even know about.

So everyone demanded exceptional results because she was meant to be a perfectly shaped mold. High Command and Partagaz, as the one directly above her, would know they needed to shape her with challenges. Results of an ordinary supervisor would be lost in the ether, but if true, Dedra would be closely monitored. It would also explain why Partagaz considers Dedra his pupil. He was aware that her mind alone would be worth ten others combined. This would also fit within my theory that Dedra is actually pretty young. From my calculations, the ideal age would 25 yo in 5BBY* when Andor starts. It's enough to finish Royal Imperial Academy, even so if she was good enough to skip some classes. What makes me think that is that in S1, everyone treats her like a newbie, like she doesn't know how ISB even works. If she really was younger than most Lieutenants, it would make sense. It looks like she wasn't an attendant and came a Lieutenant straight from Enforcement. Where I suspect they saw in a short time she exceeded the expectations for that branch and would be more beneficial in Investigations, which is exactly what happens. So I would say in a way, Dedra wasn't aware that she was a sophisticated tool for the Empire. As long as there were results, she could bend the rules more than others; she could slip here and there because, in the long term, it was still beneficial. Her chain of luck ended when Lonni stole her codes. Even when Krennic is interrogating Dedra, he still admits "How does one balance such passionate competency with the mindless decision to confront Luthen Rael on your own?"

Dedra was really good in their eyes, probably too good, and because of that, she started to break the mold that Empire created for her. When she saw the outside through the cracks, she noticed the incompetence of the Empire, superiors, and how most go after their own benefit rather than the benefit of the Empire. This is why paradoxically she started to rebel against her own. Unaware of it, she started to fight the system that created her to be greater than most. When that happened, it made the system flawed and imperfect. It couldn't feed her enough.

Since I love parallels, it's like the Empire is Kronos, whose children were more powerful, and he feared they would overthrow him, so he ate them instead. Dedra, Krennic, Partagaz, Lonni, Tarkin, etc., could be seen as children who were eaten, while Vader fulfills the role of Zeus, who "kills" Palpatine. Together, all of them had their part in the fall of the Empire, just like Zeus killed Kronos with the help of his siblings.

*She couldn't be in her 30s or 40s as it would make her around +/-20 years old when the Galactic Empire was created, so her kinderblock past makes absolutely no sense. Honestly, I don't even have an idea what I'm saying, my mind is literally this.

[infini-tree]

episodic - part 4

< back | next >

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Summary: Everyone doubles down.

A/N: alternative chapter summary: Melvin Has A Normal Day.

once again thank you art of book for listing all the faculty names and subjects. 

on that note: Melvin's characterization. since this au is primarily based on movie continuity, in the end i decided to defer to its lead. which makes things difficult, as most of his inventions were all pretty lowkey (and the turbo toilet had been further augmented by a third party), and some future plots hinge on his more OP inventions. scene 2 is meant to bridge the character gap between all his incarnations, and also narratively sets some stuff up for this AU. i did say he's a core secondary,

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

With the final bell rung, Benjamin made quick work of packing his suitcase. Considering how fast the kids ran out of the school, the halls should be quiet now. The last thing he needed was noise and talking. And so, he stepped out into a reception room filled with faculty. 

Not just talking– yelling. At him.

He glanced over to Anthrope, who should have shooed them all away. Her now-empty seat was still swivelling. 

“Of course,” he grumbled.

“Whadd'ya mean 'of course'?” Rected griped.

“We’re up to our eyelids in marking these brats’ worksheets!” Ribble waved a stack of papers at his face– all from the impromptu beach day, if he read the date right. “And you expect us to mark an entire grade’s worth of volcano projects?!”

“Clearly it's not just the students that need to apply themselves.” 

The rest of the teachers froze.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” He narrowed his eyes, his tone still as clipped from the announcements. “Aren’t you the one always complaining about their marks?”

“Well, yes, but–”

“But nothing, you're the one who insisted on teaching three subjects.” He moved on to other teachers. “Meaner, you’re only doing the running tests– I don’t see why you’re complaining. The most you have to do is make sure they don’t trip over their own shoelaces.”

“The papers–”

“Because its so hard keeping track of when kids stop running.” He turned to Guided. “And you– all the tests are based on stuff your class should have covered by now.”

Guided grumbled something about how the topics were from the start of the semester, no one remembers that.

“Dayken–” Said teacher jolted up from the back. “What are you even doing here? You're a kindergarten teacher.”

“I wanted to feel included--”

“In any case, all I’m hearing–” He pointed an accusatory finger at all of them. “Is that all of you are mad that you need to actually do your job.”

“Excuse you?!” Ribble shot back. No other teachers spoke up.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m trying to do before you barged in here.” He pointed at Rected and Ribble. “You have until the end of the week to make it work.”

He could feel something tighten in his chest flare as he saw the teachers back off. It wasn’t relief, but it was a near thing. At least he wasn’t on the back foot. 

“Dismissed.” The tone broached no argument.

The impromptu staff meeting ended– not with a bang, but a whimper. More accurately, it was a grumble of swears that cannot be recounted in a fanwork made for general audiences. He watched all the teachers skulk out of the room with a leveled glare. 

None of them dared to look back.

If we could have, we would have. Who else would agree?

He stood there until he was absolutely sure he couldn’t hear anyone nearby. After that, it was just a matter of going down the steps. Of making it through the hallway. 

Ignoring how unmoored he felt. He looked to his feet– left, right, left, right. Repeat until he was at the door.

It wasn’t the first time anyone would have thought that about him. Heck, it wasn’t the first time the quiet part was said out loud. It was, however, the first time it was actually doable.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, Ben?”

“Guh–” He whirled around. “Edith!”

She blinked. He stared. The silence lingered a bit too long for his liking, though it was clear she wanted to say something. 

“Do you need anything?” he managed.

“Are you alright?” When no answer came, she continued to trail off. “I mean, I– I saw everyone goin’ up to your office. And then there was the announcement earlier, so–”

“Of course I am.”

Another blink. “O– oh, uh, ok, then…”

“OK, then.” 

Edith persisted. She trailed behind him closely as he came closer to the door. Most days he’d be a little endeared to it, but right now, right now–

“So, where are you going to set up this whole ‘science fair’? You, uh. Forgot to mention it.”

Of course he did. “The cafeteria. It has the space for it.”

He held a hand up to the door. 

“I guess the floors have to be cleaned early…” she mumbled. “Uh, hey– wait!”

He had barely half-opened it.

“If you need anything, just ask, OK?” Then, in a lower voice, she added: “I don’t know why you’re actually doin’ this, but–”

His hand was gone as he whipped back to look at her. “Actually?” he snapped back. 

“I– I know you, and you wouldn’t be doin’ this without a reason.”

“Know me?”

His rage was already so spent– from the boys, the teachers, the other guy, it can only persist for so long. It doesn’t billow out so much as burn him out from the inside. And when pushed that far, something had to give.

“It took you a month to realize I wasn’t being an idiot on purpose,” he said. “The real question is why didn't I do it sooner.” 

Edith’s eyes widened and her shoulders shrank at the remark. Guilt curdled in him, but it was a distant thing. He wanted to leave. He wanted to reach out and take it back. His body chose the worst compromise between the two and made him stand there like an idiot.

“OK then.” She looked away. “Um, I guess I’ll prep the cafeteria for it then.”

“OK then,” was all Benjamin could manage before she left to do just that. Which was fine. That’s what he wanted, right? He needed to get going too.

Left, right, left, right. Car. Drive. He forced himself to focus on the road completely. To hold onto the wheel like a lifeline. And it worked. At least until he hit the first red light– and then the thoughts crept in.

He should have said something different. He should have said it differently. What kind of answer was I should have done it sooner, anyway? 

His knuckles turned bone-white at his grip. 

Still, he felt unmoored– like a sharp turn would make him leap out of his own body, and– If we could have, we would have, George’s voice rattled in his head. They had the motive, and they had shown time and time again they had the means. 

And yet here he still was: sweating in sixty-degree weather.

He wasn’t sure what that meant, but it was yet another thing to mull over and hang over the other guy.

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

For the next two days, the elementary school was a minefield for George and Harold. Which was why they found themselves stumbling around a corner and quickly entering the nearest empty classroom. The small mob ran past the corner none the wiser.

Harold gave a forlorn look to the stack of comics in his arms. “I don’t know how much of the sales can take this.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it.” George placed a hand to the other boy’s shoulder. “We’ll figure it out. Together.”

A pause. The other boy gave a cautious look around, now that they had a moment to breathe.

“Well, maybe put that on hold for five minutes, what the heck is up with this classroom?”

The classroom looked normal for the most part– if you ignored the absurd number of desks. There had to be triple the amount– several stacked up on each other like a fortress or maze walls. One precarious tower looked further away than it should be possible in a room this size, but it could easily be tiny desks.

“What the…”

“You two!” a voice cried.

“Ah!” Harold yelled.

“Ah!” George yelled with a little jump.

‘Ah,’ Melvin did not yell. Instead, he said: “I’m surprised you two aren’t out for recess.”

They were still standing by the door so there was no chance of him sneaking past them, and his shock of ginger hair would have stood out if he had decided to stay in. 

“Yeah, well, I’m surprised you, uh… you…” George said, letting the statement hang. “-- That you’re not working on something for that pop science fair.”

Melvin didn't react. He didn’t know whether it was better or worse– especially after Krupp made that dreaded announcement.

“What is it this time?” he continued, gesturing to the desks. “Something that increases the amount of class per classroom?"

"A scale model of the school’s pop science fair-- with additional statistics?” Harold added.

“Something to make people remember why they went into a room!” George added with a laugh, before snapping to a more contemplative look. “No wait, that’d actually be… not half-bad.”

“Hm. I’ll make a note of those,” Melvin said as he continued to stand there and not do that. The conversation lulled into silence a beat longer than comfortable. Before they could speak up, he added: “And for your information, I am working on it. Hold on.”

The both of them gave another cautious once-over to the room. The room– outside of the weird amount of desks– looked normal. It looked free of any invention, save for the muffled rattling noise. George had even peeked behind the teacher’s desk on the off chance it was hidden. 

“What do you mean hold on? There isn’t anything here.”

Melvin didn’t answer. 

Instead, the walls and some of the surrounding fixtures started shimmering different colors before settling on the color of error bars you see on TV.

Harold jumped away from a nearby desk he was leaning on as he felt it shift and become less sturdy, wobbling like heat hazes. As they lifted up to the ceiling, the whir had become a fraction louder.

“What’s going on?” he turned around. “Melv– ah!”

George let out a yell, seeing Melvin’s shape shimmer until he was a mass of red and greens. He ran to him, and his first instinct was to try and grab where his shoulder was. All his fingers met was air. Then thin strands as his hand sailed past where his shoulders would be and into the now-clump of what was the tattletale.

“Melvin!”

The strands rose up and darted away like all the other ones until they were standing in a regular classroom with its usual amount of desks and a third smaller than it looked before.

“He was too young!” George said.

“It should have been me!” Harold threw himself to the ground, bashed a fist against it, and stopped. He thought for a moment before continuing in the same dramatic cadence: “OK, I take it back, that’s a bit too much, but you get it!”

“Are you two done yet?” 

“I swear I can still hear his voice, even now–” the boy whipped his head around so fast his tie went askew. “Melvin!”

He got out of his overdramatic kowtow. “What the heck?!”

“Like I said, I’m working on the Warp-Weft-O-Tron 2000,” he said like it would explain everything. “Stress-testing it, to be more accurate.”

“The wh–” Before George could finish his sentence, the other boy stood up and pointed at the whirring thing behind Melvin.

In the corner of the classroom, around some tools and papers was something that took the space of two desks. Upon closer inspection, it looked like a sewing machine grafted beside a blocky computer . The needle continued its work and its now-unobscured rattling.

They all followed the threads converged to the machine, now completely colorless. They could just barely see the shiny thread zip through it and up the machine until even that thread dissipated. And once it did, the needle made its final whirring before powering down.

The adrenaline of seeing a kid disintegrate, like the strings a few seconds ago, dissipated to incredulity. 

“What kind of science is that thing for–” Harold pointed an accusatory finger at the machine. “Freak-People-Out-ology?!”

“It's built on the principles of techno-textiles and a bit of virtual simulation.” Melvin clicked his pen a few times before pointing it at them. “How about you two?”

“Huh?”

That was apparently the wrong answer as he put a finger to his temple. “I’m merely curious what you’re working on, seeing as Krupp’s announcement said you two suggested the pop science fair.”

And you believe him? George wanted to say, before answering his own question– of course he’d believe that.

Or at the very least, he wouldn’t cast further doubt. Doubting Krupp would mean doubting The Man. Plus, grades were on the line, and that was top priority to the tattletale than trying to think through whether they would ever suggest that.

It had only occurred now to George that that was the reason why Melvin wasn’t automatically on the defensive.

“We’re, uh– keeping it under wraps,” Harold said, realizing the other boy was taking too long to reply.

“Of course.” Melvin nodded in understanding as he made his way to the Warp-Weft-O-Tron and pulled out a spool the size of a lava lamp sitting on top of the sewing machine half. Its threads were soot grey and frayed. He placed it to the side and put an empty spool in its place, but not without grumbling about the material being insufficient.

“I will admit, the sudden nature of this assessment adds a wrench to everything, but– nothing like the stress of an unforeseen deadline to get everything in gear.”

Harold stared at the machine, and then to the boy still engrossed in fixing… whatever. In gear was an understatement if he made a simulation machine on a time crunch.

“You were really holding out on us all these years,” George said, eyeing the computer.

Rows of code scrolled up its screen. Most of it was gibberish, but there were parts he could understand. A record of previous commands and whether it was typed out or recorded through audio. S., MELVIN x1, DESK x15, and more distressingly, a MATERIAL PROCESS WARNING, whatever that was.

“How’d a sock sorter beat this out when you were picking out stuff for the Invention Convention?”

He poked around a nearby toolbox– which was more of a folder of assorted squares of materials. Many of them looked like normal threads, but a good chunk of them weren’t, from how the light bounced off them. 

“Firstly: it's a sock matcher. Secondly: Krupp only accepts the ‘practical’ ones–” He pulled out a square of the latter and placed it in an adjacent slot. Something between contemplation and annoyance edged into his tone. “The Turbo Toilet was pushing it. But, the pop science fair has no such restrictions!” 

“...It doesn’t?”

A thread the same color as the square spat out of some unseen cavity and began wrapping itself around the spool.

“I asked Ms. Ribble about the specificities for this assignment, and she said, and I quote: ‘sure, do what you need to do’.”

George and Harold both sucked a breath through their teeth. Unlike the tattletale, they knew that wasn’t full permission, so much as the classic grown-up tactic of dismissing a kid by giving them a vague answer to sate them.

“Guess not even tattling can get you all the perks you want,” Harold said carefully.

Melvin stopped typing on the computer part of the machine for a moment. With him faced away, they weren’t sure what expression was on his face, but they could feel a shift. Nothing as drastic as what happened in the principal’s office, but it was there.

“You should go.” It wasn’t a suggestion. “I need to troubleshoot.” 

Harold looked to the clock. Recess was almost over, which meant their opportunities to prepare were dwindling.

“Right,” George said.

And they slipped back into an empty hallway. They looked back, and through the window-sliver on the door, they could see the threads shoot up and around the room. The classroom became a black void, though it slowly made its way along the color spectrum.

“What do you think?” Harold asked.

“That our playground street cred is in the gutter at this rate,” George replied.

He gave him a light punch on the arm. Despite everything they couldn’t help but laugh, the sound echoing through the hall. 

“We could use it in the Captain Plan,” Harold replied. “It might be a little difficult to, ah–”

“Turbo Toilet it?” George finished, thinking back to the Invention Convention. He watched as Melvin tried to recalibrate it. “It’s a pretty big wildcard.”

As if on cue, after a few basic prisms popped into existence in the classroom, a rough approximation of a cat did. That, apparently, was too much as the simulation spooled itself back up like before. 

“But I think we do need a wildcard. It'd drive Krupp up the wall.”

Harold winced. “Well, I mean it can’t make anything worse.”

The both of them walked off to the abandoned art room. Harold shuffled his backpack to the front of him as he counted up the supplies he pilfered. To name a few: flour and water to make glue on the fly. Baking soda and vinegar, because those were Classics. Toilet paper– ‘nuff said.

He stared at a box labelled Office Supplies. In it were huge packs of sticky notes, for irony.

As wrong as Melvin was about whose idea the pop science fair was, he was right, frustratingly, about one thing: nothing like the stress of a deadline to get everything in gear.

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

The Captain Plan was one of their simpler plans, in theory. 

It was simple in the sense that it was meant to only target Krupp. The hard part, for obvious reasons, was that Captain Underpants was integral to said plan.

It amounted to swapping them out at strategic places they set up. Things he can’t stand. Things that he’d be afraid of. Long enough for the experience to stick. Then they’d swap him back to Captain and slowly amp it up. Rinse and repeat.

They’d keep doing this until he took everything back– the whole assignment gauntlet, the whole thing with the science fair–

The whole capital T Thing with Captain. 

And if he refused, well– there wasn’t anything else for it except to rinse and repeat until he did. They’ve got almost half a decades’ worth of grievances to pull back up. 

(“Krupp won’t– can’t expel us for this,” George said the night before, his form backlit by a jumbo flashlight. “I mean, he’ll need us to ‘deal’ with Captain.”

The Treehouse’s windows were boarded up to get ready for the colder weather. They should be prepping it for winter, putting stuff away so it won’t get messed up, since they insisted they didn’t need George’s parents’ help, but here they were– 

“I mean, he could hold us back now.”

“But would he really want to keep us there if we keep doing this?”

Harold shivered. “Point taken.”)

The walkie-talkie in Harold’s pocket made a noise. 

“Yyyello’.”

“How’s it going?”

Right now, the ‘it’ in question was scoping out the cafeteria. The tables were all neatly arranged in rows and ready for whatever project the fourth graders will put on them later. There was no one here save for Edith, who was deep in the kitchen.

“Melvin’s stuff is here.” 

He made his way over to the Warp-Weft-shaped tarp. After double checking for any Tattle-Turtles, he was disappointed to find no obvious screws to loosen at the access hatch.

Harold began pulling at the spool on top, unsure of how exactly to mess it up outside of tying the thread in knots. One end of the thread snaked its way to the needle, while the other end–

The other end came out of a small hole, which in turn was connected to the strange hatch Melvin put in that material square that one time. He pulled out a pair of undies, courtesy of Captain himself, and stuffed it into the slot.

The sewing machine whirred, clearly having difficulty with processing a non-square material. The thread didn’t move to spool itself, but it must have processed it by the way the underpants were disappearing in the slot.

As for the computer: it reminded him more of the school printer. There were menus upon menus of settings. In any case, Harold set out to randomly poking at them all. Some he understood– audio commands on, because that may be useful for their plan since it would be easier than trying to get close to type anything out. Everything else?

“...What the heck is a Young’s Module?” Harold asked, less out of curiosity and more to commentate for George’s benefit. “What do you think? Max or minimum?”

“I mean, Krupp’s pretty old…” his voice crackled through the walkie talkie.

“High it is!” And with that, he quickly swiped it as far to the right as he could before quickly closing everything out to the first screen. “OK, I’ll get back to y–”

“Ben!” Edith’s voice called out from across the cafeteria.

Harold ducked under the tarp before either of them could see him.

“We got a situation. Krupp’s here,” he whispered loudly.

“What? Why?!”

Harold hazarded to peek at the small gap between the tarp and the floor. He had been expecting like-liking goo-goo talk. If he had to be honest, he would have preferred that to whatever angry inspector routine Krupp was doing.

“Checking, I think.” 

He tilted his head at the principal running a finger over a table for dust. The action was clearly more for acting out… whatever this was, than any actual concern for cleanliness. The lunch lady continued to trail behind him, trying– and failing– to start a conversation.

There was a quick inhaling noise through the speakers. “OK, give me a minute. Move when I give the signal.”

Harold didn’t reply, mostly because they were close enough that he could hear them. Even from this distance, he could see how heavy the bags under his eyes were. How his posture was more hunched than usual.

Krupp sighed deeply, and his shoulders sagged even further. “I’ve been through worse. Trust me.” It almost sounded like a plea.

The lunch lady had no time to dwell on a response as the intercom screeched to life.

“Principal Krupp, please report to your office immediately,” George’s voice crackled through the intercom with a mock-smug air.

“Oh, for–” Said principal ran past her brusquely that the pin that was keeping her bangs up over her face had jostled to cover half her eye.

The signal!

“Good talk!” she called after him belatedly, but made no move to go after him. Then with a big sigh, she mumbled, “I’m blowin’ this.”

And with that, she made her way back to the kitchen and finally gave Harold an opening to get out of there. He made a mad dash to the doors, making sure to not slam it as he trailed him. Now that he was in the hallway, the faint sound of crackling and shuffling echoed throughout.

“Hey, how far is he from the office?” George asked, his voice crackling from both walkie talkie and still-active intercom.

“He’s making his way up as we speak.” 

“Cool.”

Krupp was up the first half of the stairs when he turned around. He was breathing heavily, and it was definitely not just because he was speed-walking up the stairs.

“You two have got a lot of nerve disrupting everything–”

“You’re one to talk,” Harold replied, thinking about the pop science fair coming up in a few hours. To all their years in school. To the capital T Thing with Captain.

The principal halfway down a step to approaching him until–

SNAP. The sound reverberated through the school intercoms. For a split second he saw something cross his face. Wide eyes. Furrowed brows.

And then Captain Underpants fell on said face.

He snapped back up, the toupee sitting lopsided on his head. “Sidekick! Where’s–”

Harold held up the walkie talkie. 

“Up here,” George replied.

He gave an unsure look as he tried to find where up was in relation to a walkie talkie.

“In the office,” Harold clarified. He walked past him and up the stairs, motioning him to follow.

Captain stood up, wiping the grit from his cheek. It might be because he took a heck of a tumble, but there wasn’t the typical shock of liveliness he expected when he swapped in. All things considered, he was… well, maybe not calm, but expectant.

George was standing at the receptionist half of the office, one of the curtains tucked under his arm. 

“You ready?” Then, in a stage whisper to Harold: “Anthrope’s gone off because of… ‘printer repairs’.”

Harold stared at the empty corner of the room. There was a smattering of printer ink at the walls, outlining the office printer that was not there anymore. They couldn’t help but snicker conspiratorially.

“Er,” Captain leaned over to look at what had got their attention. “What’s the plan to Free The Children now, sidekicks?” 

“We’re putting Krupp through his own personal gauntlet.”

“I don’t think it’ll take long for him to crack.” Harold gave him a reassuring pat on the arm. “We’ll make sure of it. Everything’ll be back to the way it was faster than–”

“A speeding waistband?” the superhero offered. He was definitely hiding it as he shimmied out of the principal’s clothes and put on his cape, but that same look was back on his face. 

“Exactly.”

“Where do we start?” He approached the ink stains on the wall, as if expecting the answer to pop out of the mess.

“Uh, Captain?” George pulled his attention back to the door of the principal’s office. He opened it with an overdramatic flourish. “Just step into our office for this first bit.”

Harold let out a low whistle at the sight. Every surface of the room was covered in sticky notes, leaving the room in an unsightly pale yellow that made the room look flat. Between the writing and the shadows, it did little to help figure out where everything was as Captain nearly tripped on a chair.

“What do you think of our Prankovation 2– trademark?”

Captain took to floating, mindful not to touch anything. He looked confused– he probably didn’t get things like irony yet. “…How long did this even take you?”

“Prankster’s trade secret.”

“This looks done, though,” he hedged. “I’m not sure how I’m supposed to help you here– especially with this–”

He gestured to his wrists, now tied together by jump rope courtesy of Harold. The boy went over to the sticky notes-engulfed water cooler and poured out a thimble’s amount into an open hand.

“For this one, we need to swap you back over to Krupp,” George explained. Seeing the superhero's disappointed look, he quickly continued: “This part's quick-- we're going to bring you back right after for the next bit.” 

“O– OK, then sidekicks. I trust you.” Captain twisted around so his face was in patting distance. This close, he could see the expression for what it was– hesitation.

And Captain was gone, leaving Krupp to fall on the floor, a flutter of pale yellow in his wake.