#which. a lot of people teased and picked on me for my weirdness.. and unfortunately it's tainted how i interact with interests now

[ghwosty]

sometimes i miss how i engaged with my interests before i started being more online, there was a purity and authenticity to it

[dingochef]

Pairing: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x You (OFC)

Warnings: Swearing, Oral Sex (M receiving), Vaginal Fingering, Betting, Gratuitous Discussion of American Football

Word Count: 3.4k

Summary: Football is serious business. Of course you and Jake take it to a new and sexy level.

One of my favorite seasons is underway! College football! And Notre Dame and Navy played the first game yesterday. Enjoy!

Masterlist

Touchdown

As the fall approached, you let Jake know the importance of watching Notre Dame football.

"It's how I spend most Saturdays in the fall. You're welcome to join me, Lydia and I tend to get together and watch a lot of them together, or do your own thing. No worries."

Jake, unsurprisingly, has opted to join you most of the time. A Texas boy at heart, football is written into his DNA. The upside is that when you go over to Lydia's or she and Rooster come over to your place, it is that he and Rooster get to spend some time together. Most of the time they're hanging out talking, whatever weird antagonism they had between them before resolved, half paying attention to the game, more amused by your and Lydia's reactions to the game.

Today Navy is playing at Notre Dame, finally the guys will have someone to root for.

You get a text from Lydia in the morning:

Lydia: We're going to have to bail on tonight's plans. Rooster has a nasty cold.

You: Bummer, next week then. Does one feed chicken soup to a sick Rooster? Seems a little cannibalistic.

Lydia: lol. This Rooster is definitely a fan of the O'Callahan family recipe.

You: That's not the only O'Callahan "recipe" he likes to eat. 😛

Lydia: Yup, 'insert smug smile here'

You: Well, tell Rooster to get well so we can get together.

Lydia: Will do. Go Irish! ☘️

You: Go Irish!☘️

You let Jake know that it'll be just you two watching the game today.

"Makes sense, he seemed a little under the weather at work yesterday," he replies.

You take advantage of the nice fall day and wander around a farmers market and grab lunch at a little cafe nearby. You're waiting for your food when you say,

"I think fall is the only time I really miss Michigan. I always loved the leaves changing, heading out to the cider mill for cider and donuts, and the cooling weather."

"What do you mean head out to the cider mill? That sounds hilariously peak Midwest, by the way," he teases.

"It's definitely a Michigan thing. A lot of apple orchards have cider mills and most have bakeries. It's a fall tradition, almost mandatory, to go to an orchard, pick your own apples, some of the places have farm animals to visit and pet, and get some fresh cider and donuts. They make the donuts with apple cider and they are so good."

"Huh, I've never really heard of that as a thing, but it sounds nice."

"One of my favorite things to do is people watch. My personal favorite is the Instagram mom who has dragged her family out in matching plaid to get some family pictures. The kids are bored and want to go pet the goats and Dad looks like he is nervously watching the clock for his college football game, but is there humoring his wife."

Jake laughs at the description.

"Or the basic white girl with knee high boots, skinny jeans, and a bulky sweater, usually in beige, and sometimes a wool hat. And don't forget the infinity scarf."

"So basically the people walking out of Starbucks with a pumpkin spice latte in San Diego."

"Yup, that's really one of the only markers that fall has arrived here. The PSL ads."

"El, I have to ask you a very personal question," he pauses for dramatic effect, "Do you like pumpkin spice lattes?"

"Unfortunately I do, I'm a sucker for them. I know that goes against your Navy ethic of coffee must be drunk black and terrible.

"Alright, I won't hold it against you," he replies and winks.

You head home and have a lazy afternoon. You and Jake spend some time reading on the couch which turns more into cuddling and making out.

A beep on your phone startles you and Jake out of your embrace.

"Time for the game," you chirp happily.

"Did I just get cock blocked by a football game?"

Jake asks, a bit whiny.

"Not any football game, the Notre Dame Game."

You chuckle at his tiny indignant harrumph as you turn on the TV and get the game up. The camera is panning over all the Navy cadets in the visitors section.

"Did you ever go to any football games?" you ask.

"A few of the home ones, I didn't travel with the team ever. Usually the other branches of the military were the big games of the season. I assume you went to many of the games."

"I had student season tickets all four years."

"So you're like an Irish super fan, like a little leprechaun," he says tickling your sides. You try to give him a death glare and it has no effect.

"I once tried out for the leprechaun. Didn't make it."

"Really, seems like you'd have some skills that would be very useful with the gymnastics and all."

"There's a lot more to being the leprechaun than just jumping around, it's getting the crowd excited, having the persona to get people into the game."

"You would look so cute in a leprechaun outfit." He laughs.

"Har, har. Are you thinking of that outfit," you reply pointing to the TV to the leprechaun mascot doing backflips, "or some slutty version you'd see at Halloween?"

Jake shrugs and says,

"Either or, but if you're going to force me to make a choice, I guess the slutty one."

You roll your eyes and direct your attention back to the TV as the opening kickoff is soaring high into the air. Snuggling into Jake's side you get comfy to watch the game with his arm around you.

"Why does someone as big as Notre Dame play Navy every year, it seems like they could get some names with more fan appeal?" Jake asks.

"It's history, paying back a favor to the Navy. Notre Dame during WWII, like most all male colleges, had trouble getting students and was coming close to shutting its doors. The Navy decided to use the campus for training cadets and that money kept Notre Dame afloat till the end of the war," you answer.

"Huh, never knew that. So you can thank the Navy for your education and in an indirect way, me." He jokes and continues,

"I've got an idea, since we're both obviously rooting for opposite teams," he points to your respective sweatshirts,

"How about a bet?"

"Sure, what did you have in mind?"

"Every time the opposing team scores you have to forfeit a clothing item. Overall winner at the end gets oral, no reciprocity required."

"You know Notre Dame has beaten Navy for the past 43 years," you remind him, a bit smugly.

"I've got a feeling about this one. Besides, if I lose I have to give you oral. Oh no, the travesty."

He slaps his hands to his face as he opens his mouth ala the kid from Home Alone.

"Alright, it's a fool's bet, but it's on."

You shake hands and settle in to watch the game.

The first piece of clothing to go is Jake's sweatshirt, the Irish scoring a touchdown early in the first quarter. You're off the couch cheering. Jake is smiling at your enthusiasm as he peels his sweatshirt off and tosses it to the opposite end of the couch. Underneath the discarded Navy sweatshirt is another Navy tee.

"How many Navy shirts do you own?" you ask, jokingly.

He laughs,

"A majority of my wardrobe is courtesy of the United States Government, but I make government issue look good," he responds, sweeping a hand down his body. Jake's shirt is snug enough to see his muscles defined through the fabric.

"That you do," you say as you give him a quick peck of a kiss sitting back down on the couch.

The rest of the first quarter is uneventful, neither of the two teams scoring. The game rolls into the second quarter and things start to get more interesting.

Navy rolls out a touchdown early in the quarter and Jake is whooping and cheering as you take your sweatshirt off and add it to his on the couch.

"Yeah, yeah, one lousy touchdown. We gave it to you to keep your self esteem up, can't have a less than confident military can we?" you grumble out.

"Whatever you say, dear," he says as he kisses your temple. You sit back down and cuddle up on the couch.

The calm doesn't last long, as Notre Dame scores another touchdown on a long pass.

"That is how you do it!" you shout, pumping your arms in the air. Jake rolls his eyes at your display and pulls off his sweats and throws them into the growing pile.

Your elation is short lived as Navy runs another touchdown into the end zone tying the score. You wiggle off your leggings and add them to the heap. Jake is smirking at your frustration.

"Come on, come, let's go Irish!" you cheer, trying to will the game in Notre Dame's favor.

Apparently, your cheering has helped and Notre Dame runs in a touchdown with three minutes to go in the half.

You're off the couch dancing around cheering and Jake is now really rolling his eyes. He takes off his shirt and you are momentarily distracted by the sight of his perfect chest ornamented only by his dog tags. He catches your eye as you ogle him and smirks,

"You see something you like, leprechaun?" he asks in a long drawl.

"Maybe," you reply as you sit down and tuck under his arm. Notre Dame is up seven on Navy with the score 21 to 14 as the half ends.

You and Jake check other college games and refresh your drinks during halftime. When the third quarter starts, you are already cheering,

"Alright Irish, let's get this done. Finish them."

Jake laughs and says,

"I've never been with a girl who is this enthusiastic about football."

"It's contractually required if you graduate from Notre Dame. It's in a tiny font on the bottom of your diploma."

You have to forfeit your shirt in the 3rd quarter, but Notre Dame still is in the lead by one because of a missed extra point by Navy.

"We're still winning," you say, only a little bit petulantly, with my arms crossed.

"Keep making yourself feel better," Jake humors you.

The fourth quarter is where the game starts to unravel for the Irish. Navy scores a touchdown and goes for the two point conversion and takes the lead. Jake lets out an enthusiastic,

"Woo!" next to you.

"Cough it up," he extends his hand for your bra. I take it off and toss it at him, it lands on his head comically. He is quick to discard it with the other clothing.

You're really cheering as hard as you can and finally, Notre Dame throws a long pass for a touchdown.

"So do you think they'll have the guts to go for the conversion or are they going to play it safe and kick the extra point?" he asks casually as he stands to pull down his boxer briefs adding them to the clothing mountain.

You are slow to reply as you take in the whole vision that is Jake naked.

"Extra point, live to fight another day," you stutter out earning yet another smirk from Jake.

Your prediction is correct and the fourth quarter ends with the game tied 28 to 28. Overtime starts quickly and Notre Dame has the first possession. They run it in and make the extra point. You look over to Jake for his part of the bet,

He laughs,

"I'm already naked."

"Fair, but I've still got my underwear," you brag.

"Not for long, I have a feeling," Jake replies.

He is annoyingly right. You shimmy out of your underwear as Navy kicks the extra point for their touchdown.

You are starting to lose your mind, Notre Dame has beaten Navy for 43 years in a row and now it's going into a second overtime?

Jake is laughing maniacally at your absolute shock,

"This is why you don't ever count a Navy man out!" he shouts at the TV.

The second overtime is useless as the teams trade field goals and the game remains tied.

"Come on Irish, let's do this," you plead as the third overtime starts . You are perched on the edge of the couch nervously bouncing your knee up and down.

Navy runs it in for a touchdown and you curse. You are not surprised that they go for the two point conversion as their kicking hasn't been good today. You're temporarily elated as Notre Dame scores another touchdown. Before you can blink, Notre Dame has set up for a two point conversion. A Navy lineman breaks through the Notre Dame line and sacks the quarterback. The game ends 46 to 44, Navy the winner.

"Holy shit, they just broke a 43 year record." You sit down stunned on the couch.

You look over at Jake, completely naked and still as confident as ever, his hands on the back of his head.

"I told you I had a feeling," he says smugly.

"Yeah apparently you should have bet some real money on it. I bet there are some bookies going nuts right now."

Jake catches your eye and says,

"I'm ready when you are sweetheart to claim my winnings."

He winks to complete the wolfish look he has on his face.

It's your turn to take the lead.

"You're right, it was a handshake agreement,"

you say as you slide over to him on the couch. Leaning over you catch his lips for a kiss that catches on fire quickly. You and Jake's arms reach out for each other by instinct, before you become too entwined Jake pulls back from the kiss.

"You're tempting me towards other ideas and we have to settle up before we can do anything else," he says, running his hand down your belly, placing his whole hand over your mound and teasing one finger into your folds before pulling back. You try to hold back the moan.

"Okay, if that's the way you want to go," you breathily reply.

You give him one more kiss before sliding off the couch to get on my knees in front of him. He is hard and ready, the anticipation already built up, a gorgeous bead of pearly precum forming at the top. You slot easily into his widely spread thighs.

You start by kissing his inner thigh and running your hands along his quads. When you get close to his balls you breeze past them letting a huff of hot breath out. He lets out a little frustrated whine above you. Kissing at his other thigh you run your tongue up to the crease in his pelvis. Jake gently threads his fingers in your hair, holding it out of the way of your face. You kiss up the golden hair of his treasure trail up to his navel.

"Please, El, I've been wanting you since before the game," Jake pants. You smile into his skin, and lick down to his very ready cock. You want to take him apart and make him melt with pleasure. Tracing your tongue up his length you tease him just a little bit more, just a hint of what is to come. Jake's hips buck up trying to get more contact.

You start licking him around the tip of his cock, gently. You haven't put him in your mouth and he's pleading, "Please, El, please."

You finally take him in your mouth and slowly slide down the shaft.

"Fuck, that's good," he grunts, a small degree of the tension and buildup released.

Pushing him all the way to the back of your throat and you are rewarded with a long groan. His hands are flexing and grabbing at your hair. You finally start to bob up and down on him and his breath hitches.

"Oh God, El. Fuck you're so good at that," he groans as he lightly thrusts his hips up chasing more.

You keep a steady pace, not fast enough to get him off yet, but definitely enough to get him closer. You place one hand at the base of his cock to take care of the length you can't fit in your mouth and move it in sync with your mouth while the other gently cradles his balls. You're rewarded with more moaning and his running mouth,

"You know if Notre Dame played as well as you suck cock, they would've blown Navy out of the water."

You make sure he sees your eyes roll when he looks down at you, in a slightly bratty move you press hard at his taint earning a startled grunt. A laughing moan escapes his lips before he retorts,

"Is someone a sore loser, El?"

You pull off his dick, smart mouth ready in other ways,

"Seems like I'm a pretty good loser, considering your dick is in my mouth. Which I mean, I could leave you hanging, Hangman."

"You wouldn't dare–," his reply is cut short as you take him down to the root, the golden curls tickling your nose, his cock sliding down your relaxed throat. You bob your head up and down as he lightly thrusts to fuck your throat.

You increase your pace adding some actual sucking to increase the intensity. Jake moans are turning into pants, you look up and he is trying to keep his head from falling back so he can watch you.

"Oh fuck, keep going, so close," he pleads as an incoherent string of words comes out. His body tightens and then he floods your mouth with his release. You swallow it all. Keeping your mouth on him, you ride out his orgasm with him. You let his softening cock slip out gently and you give the tip one last sweet kiss. When you look up his head is slung back on the couch and his chest is heaving as he catches his breath.

You stand up and take in the view, an absolutely ravished Jake Seresin. He is completely limp on the couch, eyes closed in the afterglow. You step over his right leg to get your clothes.

He snaps out of his near catatonic state and grabs you with his hands pulling you down on top of him, your back to his chest.

"Do you really think I'd let you get away without getting off? Leave you hanging?" he whispers into your ear as he slides his hand down your stomach.

"This was all about you, winner," you reply.

"I may have won, but I'll definitely be a good sport about it," he says as his strong fingers circle your clit. He continues down and dips a finger into your pussy, feeling how wet you are.

"My my my, you're very wet, were you turned on sucking my cock?" he asks.

You whine with need more than answer him.

"Answer me, El," he commands as he slowly circles your clit.

"I was, it's such a nice cock. I was thinking about it inside me, fucking me."

This is the answer he is looking for as he starts to rub faster and his other hand comes up to play with your tits.

"God damn, El, you are so sexy, so beautiful. I love watching you come apart."

The tightness in you is building, you crest and shatter when Jake dips one of his large fingers into your slit. He holds his fingers still against your clit riding out the aftershocks. Pretty soon you fall limp against his body satisfied for the moment

He starts kissing the side of your neck as you come down.

"Want to bet on next week's game?" he asks with a cheeky grin against your skin.

"Why wait till next week? I think you're ready for round two," you reply, grinding against his already hard dick. The kiss deepens until a beeping is heard from the pile of clothes at the end of the couch. He grabs his phone and shuts the reminder off while you're still in lap.

"Too bad it's time for Texas to play, darling," he smugly answers, enjoying the look of instant frustration on your face.

"Did I just get cock blocked by football?" you ask, repeating his words from earlier.

"Not any football game, the Texas game, sweetheart."

"Same bet?" you ask.

"You're on, El.'

This is the gameplay from the 2007 ND vs. Navy game where Navy did indeed upset ND.

@kmc1989

@starswholistenanddreamsanswered

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@dempy

@hangmanscoming

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[ewritesfanfics]

The Little Merman Chapter 2: Return to the Sea

Chapter 2 for MerMay!

The Little Mermaid: Return to the Sea but make it Krexie. Featuring in the role of Melody, my Krexie child OC, Cori!

Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/53213449/chapters/142192249

She frantically pulls out all her bits and bobs, throwing on shoes and ripping the now wet towel from her mostly dry hair. Varvatos holds up her sash for her—even though he’s a grump, he still cares—and she takes it, hastily tying it around her waist before jamming her tiara on her head. She looks around frantically and spots the bag as she hears her mother approach. There’s no sign of Varvatos, so she figures he must have made himself scarce. She kicks the bag underneath her vanity, behind the step stool, just in time for Papa to open the door.

“I’m ready,” she says with an awkward curtsey, trying to conceal her heavy breathing. As she bends, though, her tiara falls from her hair and gets caught in the tangled mess that is her hair.

Papa smiles fondly and comes over, sitting her down in her vanity chair and picking up her brush after carefully removing the tiara. “I think you might need some help.”

As Papa starts to run the brush through the strands, she hears the door open again and looks over to see Dad has popped his head in.

“Bad hair day?” he asks. “I know all about those.”

“So, are you here to help fix it then?” Papa asks, a teasing lilt to his voice.

“Unfortunately, I’m playing host,” Dad says. “Unless you’d rather be doing that, in which case, I’ll happily take over things here.”

“No way,” Papa says.

“Thought so,” Dad says.

“So, why are you up here?” Papa asks. “Is there an issue?”

“I’m just popping in to remind you that I’m stuck by myself entertaining a lot of people who are all waiting for the party to start,” Dad says.

“Just give us a few minutes, we’ll be right down,” Papa says.

“Alright,” Dad says. “Just, please, don’t leave me alone down there much longer.” He then closes the door behind him.

Papa carefully brushes through her hair, working some sort of magic Cori’s yet to figure out to get all the knots to loosen and fall out. She watches in the mirror, and her mind returns to what she heard. Why does she even bother?

“Just put down the brush,” she says. “It’s hopeless.”

“You look wonderful, Cori,” Papa says, placing his hands on her shoulders and crouching to her level so they meet eyes in the mirror. Papa then returns to working on her hair, pulling it back to start pinning it up.

“Do I have to do this?” she asks. “Everybody thinks I’m weird.” And that’s putting it lightly.

“Everyone has trouble fitting in at your age,” Papa says. “I did. I still do. I’m a regular fish out of water.”

Well…she can’t exactly argue with that one. She’s seen how Papa interacts with the court. He’s not exactly blessed with people skills.

“And if they think you’re weird, they’re worth no more of your time than it takes for a polite hello,” he continues. “It’s hard, but you’ll find your people. Look at me—I’ve got the social skills of a clam, but I have your dad, and Uncle Jim and Aunt Claire…” He trails off for a second, eyes sad and hazy in the mirror. “Yeah. If I can do it, you can do it. You’ll find your people, and they’ll love you for exactly who you are, awkward parts and all.”

That’s all well and good, but she’s also seen how Dad interacts with the court, and he’s amazing! And she knows he’s the one she’s genetically related to—they haven’t outright told her, but she looks too much like him not to be. So why can’t she be charismatic and likable like him?

Once Papa’s finished pinning up her bun and securing the tiara, Cori gets up from the chair and walks onto the balcony.

“I just…I’m going to make a total fool of myself, I know it!” she says. “That’s all I ever do.”

Papa walks over and places an arm around her shoulders to hug her gently. “Is there something you want to talk about? You can always tell me anything.”

She looks up at him, and the sincerity in his eyes is enough to spur her forward. Maybe she should take Stuart’s advice. “Well…I mean—”

“Please tell me you two are almost done,” Dad says, popping in again. “Lord Johnson is driving me—oh! Wow, Cori, is that you? You look beautiful.”

“He’s right,” Papa says.

“Your Aunt Claire picked the perfect color for the dress,” Dad says. “It looks wonderful on you.”

It’s a soft shade of cyan blue with darker blue trimmings and accents. It rather reminds her of the dark, deep blue of the ocean. Ironic.

“Now, let’s get going, spare your poor father,” Papa says. “We’ll talk right after, I promise. And you’re going to have a wonderful time. If nothing else, you can quietly heckle the nobles with your cousins.”

“We shouldn’t be encouraging that,” Dad says.

“Are you telling me the Lord Johnson doesn’t deserve it?” Papa says, and Cori can’t help but laugh.

Maybe tonight won’t be so bad after all.

[luccfher]

"But I'm a boy..." Pt. 2

Eddie Munson x Male!reader | pt. 1

N/A: First of all, I would like to thank all of you for your support of the story. 😭♡

+ If you liked the first part and this one, it would help me a lot to like or reblog (and follow me too 🧍). Anyway, bye bye! (⁠ ⁠◜⁠‿⁠◝⁠ ⁠)⁠♡

I think most of you already know BUT, cis women or fetishists please don't read.

Summary: after the misunderstanding between you and Eddie, you decide to fix things to at least remain good friends or may something else? we don't know, everything can be possible.

Warnings: explicit language, offensive words for some people, harassment?, etc.

If you are a minor (under 16) please read this at your own risk.

Before reading, I want to say that in some parts there are very sensitive topics and very detailed words. Also to say that not everything will be about Eddie and the "problem". I would like the reader to have more characterization and be more "real". I hope you can understand it, if you don't like this idea, you are totally free to stop reading it.

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

It's been a week since you and Eddie last saw each other, it's weird since you even dropped out of The Hellfire but you're still wearing the t-shirt he gave you. Your stomach turned every time you saw him in the cafeteria and more because he was always looking for a way to talk to you or even hold your hand, any contact with you was enough to keep him calm.

You don't want to give so much importance to what his actions did, so you always gave him the same lifeless and ironic smile, since that day of the "big" fight between the two of you, you began to sitting in the "rejected" area, it was weird to feel the eyes of the whole group on you and of course, you were wearing a shirt that they consider "sacred". As expected, the few who were at the table ended up leaving. "Holy Shit" you thought. You closed your eyes and sighed, it was difficult to widen your social circle since you were only limited to the club and the couple of idiots who would pick you up after class (Robin and Steve). You took a walkman out of your pocket and put on a Queen record, you wanted to silence your surroundings and just dedicate yourself to eating.

— "Hey man! how long."

— "I know y-"

"Shit, shit, shit" was the only thing you thought when you could recognize his voice, your whole body froze and you even stopped the music. What more did he want from you? or maybe... Did he hear about my failed confess to Eddie? Whatever it was, you only noticed how he sat down next to you, handing you a small piece of paper which was for a sign-up form for his stupid basketball team.

— "look my little fagot, we need one more member to be able to reach the final and unfortunately the only person I know who is "good" at playing is you."

— "tell me it's a joke, you know perfectly well that I haven't played for years. Besides, I'm not interested in being part of your "team", if you consider a couple of gorillas as basketball partners."

One of his hands was about to be put on your hair and be able to pull it, thank goodness one of the "bouncers", Jason, was the fastest to intervene in the conversation. You hated that they always wanted to try to "change your mind", they thought they could save you from the "cult" and now more than ever they would take advantage of you not hanging out with them anymore. After about 10 minutes of fighting over whether or not to join, you got up from that table and went somewhere else that was away from Eddie and your ex. You restarted the music "i want to break free" by Queen, All the way from the cafeteria to your next class you were thinking about how to give Eddie's shirt back. maybe leaving it in his locker? after all you knew his password. For the next 3 hours you were being teased in every class you had to share with Munson, he constantly throwing you little notes that said "I miss you man" "talk to me please!!!" "Did you understand him? I didn't" "the club misses you" "we need our Kas back".

— "Edward Munson, stop already!"

— "(Y/N)! Do you want to share something with the class?"

You turned to look at the teacher, shaking your hands and head in a "no" way, my god, your cheeks were so red with embarrassment.

— "Then stop talking to young Munson and pay attention to my class. Do you want to repeat the year just like him?"

— "I...no. I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

At the end of the school day, you were the first person to leave the classroom as quickly as possible, or that was your intention until someone took your arm, when you turned around, your surprise was that it was Chrissy.

What would she want from you?

your body tensed when you saw how the rest of the class came out from the room, you took the girl by the hand and ran with her towards the forest, when you saw the wooden bench you let out a great sighg.

— "What was all that?"

you heard Chrissy's little laugh and with a certain mocking tone.

— "Huh? Oh.. Uhm, let's say I have some "problems" with Eddie."

— "oh.. again? And now what did you guys fight about?"

— "Well... it's a somewhat complex issue-"

— "C'mon! I wasn't born yesterday, (Y/N)."

After a long, long, looong talk with Chrissy, she began to understand everything and there were even times when she really needed your help to continue the conversation. You knew that for her part there would be no risk of her telling someone about this, she was the first girl you spoke to as soon as you entered here and it was the same girl who helped you with the tour. Time went by so fast because both of them started talking about the past and as they were before, you really missed talking to this girl, her voice and expressions were so calm that even you could fall asleep listening to her speak.

You both came out of the forest laughing and playing little jokes with each other. For the first time in the week you feel good, you forgot about all the first world problems. When you said "bye!" to her you went to the parking lot to get your bike, you were about to leave when you felt someone yank on your shirt to which you obviously fell to the ground. "Now what the fuck did he want?" you said to yourself before feeling a big hit in the stomach.

Not again.. you didn't want to take any more hits from him, you'd had enough during that relationship. you tried to get into position to avoid further damage, that boy tried to pick you up and put you against some car. He did it, he fucking did it. You were scared, you were alone with that guy, there weren't many people outside and less where were you two. Before you could even catch your breath, you received several blows to your face. Why? now why? since you broke up they never had contact again. You kept begging him to stop, you just wanted to get home and maybe sleep, but he didn't stop until he heard a car alarm.

— "I get to see you're with Chrissy Cunningham again and you're dead, motherfucker. Stop pretending to be something you're not, you'll always be a dick-sucking fagot."

— "I wasn't doing anything wrong! She and I are just friends."

— "Whatever you say, slut. You are warned."

You took your bike the moment he left, you couldn't stop crying and with all reason, that damned thing had made you mush without any need. When you got home the first thing you did was lock all the doors and you never turned on the light; you were afraid that he would come to your house. You contacted Steve to see if he could let you sleep a few days at his house, you didn't want to tell him anything until you were sure everything went well.

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

— "I swear I'll kill that son of bitch, how dare he do this to you?"

— "Steve, Calm down, everything is over, for now I must concentrate on something else. For example, I don't know how to give the shirt to Eddie.. or fix things with him."

— "look, I don't know anything about how to fix things in a situation like this, but from what I know to do with girls... it would be best if they talk in a quiet place and where those cavemen are not."

— "Sure... but how do I do that without the club looking at me strangely?"

— "you can tell dustin if he can help you, unless you have another id-.. Now you're the one ignoring me?! I know what you felt then."

— "Shut up!"

You jumped out of bed and downstairs to get to his home phone, you knew how desperate Eddie was to have some contact with you again. You started pressing numbers until you found the number of the trailer, luckily Wayne was still there, They had a little chat until you deigned to ask about Munson, Wayne yelled at him from the other line.

— "EDWARD, YOUR FRIEND IS CALLING!"

— "COMING!"

You laughed a little when you heard the screams.

As soon as wayn said, Eddie was already asking who the hell had marked him knowing that by now he was "practicing" on his guitar.

— "Ouh.. So I'd better hang up?"

— "(Y/N)! no no no no, It's not necessary, red, I was already bored. Anyway... what did you want to tell me?"

— "Ah? Oh, well... I was wondering if we could meet at the lovers lake? I would like to give you a better explanation and-"

— "See you in 10 minutes."

— "Hi?.. Hello?.. oh, he hang up."

After the brief and strange call, you asked Steve if he could take you there, to which he gladly agreed, but not before giving you the father lecture.

— "If he do anything to you, you'd better tell me and I'll make sure that freaky never speaks to you again."

— "Jesus, you act like my dad."

during the course of his house to the lake, you and he had a more in-depth conversation about what it is "to be gay". Mostly the talk was focused on the existential doubts that he had, you liked knowing that your best friend tried to understand beyond the stereotype that they had at that time about the people of the community. Steve wanted to ease the tension a bit with music from the radio, you were tapping gently your thighs to the rhythm of the music that was playing, you also did that to calm your nerves. You felt a foreign hand that caressed the palm of your hand as a way to reassure you. You don't know how to thank him and Robin so much for being such great friends with you, they even seem like brothers because of the relationship you have.

when they arrived he walked you to a certain point and messed up your hair a bit in the form of consolation, you knew everything would be fine but a "what if.." It kept going around your head, adding to the bruises you had on your face and body from the beating your ex had given you. just like that day, you took guts and courage and went to the meeting point. You saw him, he had his hands behind his back and he was spinning around a lot.

— "Hey... I know I owe you an apology f-"

— "(Y/N) sorry, I know you're probably hating me for what I told you at the time, but the truth is that I didn't know what to say or do, I don't want to victimize myself with that either. My plan was to be able to stop you and try to tell you something, but she came and-"

— "Don't worry, I understand that she went so they could fix their relationship, you shouldn't be stressed about that. I just wanted to tell you that yes, I like you and I'm in love with you, but obviously this is not something mutual or that's what I think.. THE POINT IS, I'm sorry for I for yelled at you and left you there for no reason. At least I would like us to be friends ag-... hey, hey hey, what are you doing?"

Eddie's hands were gentle positioned on your waist, causing both bodies and faces to be inches from each other. One of those hands went up to the height of your face and took one of the pieces of your hair and placed it behind your ear.

— "I think the one who doesn't understand now is you. I'm bi, (Y/N). And the fact that you pathetically proposed made the slight attraction I felt for you increase a little more."

— "oh... okay, wow..ah this is new."

You needed, longed, wanted me to kiss you or at least do something with you. Unconsciously you put your hands on his arms, caressing and squeezing them lightly. During his chatter you couldn't help but see his lips or his eyes, feel his cigarette breath and his perfume was something you've been imagining many times, but you had to wake up from that dream, what if the same thing as your first failed relationship was repeating itself?

— ".. It hurts?"

— "what?"

— "the bruises."

— "Oh, a little. Only when I touch them a little hard."

You felt Eddie's lips brush over each bruise, being careful that he didn't press so hard that you couldn't complain. You felt in heaven after living through hell hours before.

— "Eddie, I need an explanation about, you know."

— "She and I went out a couple of times, but to tell you the truth I hung out with her because she kind of reminded me of you. The way of laughing, dressing, listening to music and among other things. That's when I realized I was looking for the things I saw in you in a woman. and because? you will be wondering, because of the fear that if i told you what really I felt for you, would you leave me or tell the rest of the club or even someone els-

Eddie's last words were snatched away by a warm but needy kiss from you, after a few seconds of resistance on his part he couldn't hold back either.He gently placed his hands on your cheeks and your hands went behind his neck, you played with his hair slightly a few minutes before it all ended due to lack of air. They both brought their foreheads together and smiled in unison, you didn't want this moment to end, much less him. They stayed like that until Steve started down the small hill littered with leaves and branches. When he saw them very affectionate, he just stood still, it was more than clear that a smile had been drawn on his face from ear to ear, what he most longed for in this world is that his best friend could be happy.

— "I don't need an explanation, just get in the car, and I will leave them in the mall, you little bastards."

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

[amazingphilza]

twitchcon :: cc!multiple x reader

fluff , platonic , gender neutral ! some mcyt headcanons if you were to attend twitchcon w them

cc’s included in order: tommyinnit , tubbo , ranboo , wilbur soot , philza , technoblade

cw: kinda lengthy for the minors (i think), not as much for the hags LMAO /hj

tommyinnit

this man is so excited to be at his first twitchcon & being able to hang out with all his best friends makes it a hundred times better

when he isn’t at a panel or doing meet & greets, he’s dragging you everywhere to see the whole convention center (clingyinnit)

he is just so at awe despite this not being his first convention to attend

you’d be surprised he gets tired pretty quickly & stops over to the partner lounge

you both rest for a bit against a wall in a pretty packed hallway despite it being an exclusive area to twitch partners

every time a famous streamer walks by he will yell it out and record it then vlog your reaction, even if they’re surrounded with bodyguards & trying to get to another place quickly

he’d zoom in his camera to their face at a horrible angle and be like

“oh my god it is THE ninja. ninja famous fortnite player, HELLO.”

but he gets completely ignored

then the camera pans out to you, still really zoomed in that the capture is blurry

“ninjainnit?”

“EH?”

tommy is so confused, forgetting the bit ninja did on his twitter where he renamed himself ‘ninjainnit’ for a split second

okay tommy isn’t that athletic but he will chase you and the rest of your group down a hallway if he had to

he’d probably find a toy gun from the artist alley/seller booths and shoot you and wilbur with it

but if tommy stumbles across any of the dream team, it’s about to be minecraft manhunt but irl

and he will def play his stream music while walking or smth when he’s bored (or trying to jump dream & sapnap)

** DO DO DO DO MANHUNT MUSIC **

oh my god,, now thinking about it he’s probably the one to open like random doors of empty rooms and steal stuff while you film him

like he will take a random empty glass, a bunch of pens, a freebie t-shirt, everything he sees he takes with him and you’re just panic

“tommy we’re literally not supposed to be here, and i’m stuck here filming you. it’s surely a felony in action”

“well, it’s their fault for leaving the doors open! plus this is great content. who’s the dirty crime boy now, HM?”

you’d tell wilbur about this and he’d scold tommy and threaten him with the same pen tommy stole

tommy probably would also drag you some weird event happening outside twitchcon along with tubbo and ranboo

“pokimane is giving out free pizza to everyone if we go to this one restaurant down the street!”

“we are literally gonna get bombarded. have you forgot you’re like three of twitch’s top streamers? i’d rather pay for all of our meals than try getting free pizza from pokimane against all her other fans”

“DEAL! let’s go to five guys then!”

you unfortunately end up paying for all 3 of their meals and picking on their food instead of buying your own

even with all of them making way more money than you, they still happen to be cheapskates

OR tommy will end up getting a burrito from a taco truck, immediately making a mess of himself, then proceed to complain how messy the food is to eat despite knowing what he was getting himself into before even ordering

“shit my clothes are all ruined now!”

“well that’s your fault you got a burrito, as if it’s your first time having one”

“i mean the food is good, i’m not complaining about that but i don’t think it’s that good that it’s worth costing my red and white shirt, im just saying”

tubbo

same with tommy, he is so excited

i don’t know why but i imagine him overpacking his suitcase and you making fun of him for it

anyway tubbo has his irl backpack on and streaming EVERYTHING

probably spends a lot of time at a bunch of different booths, checking out all the pointless gadgets he could buy for his stream

you’re the one to stop him from doing so

“TUBBO IT’S LITERALLY OVER TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS, STOP. DONT GET IT.”

“WHY NOT?? IT WILL BE COOL FOR MY STREAM AND I WILL USE IT EVERYDAY”

“okay theoretically speaking, how the hell are you going to even bring it home? which—let me remind you—is across the country for you and not to mention the giant ocean separating america and the uk”

“free ship-pang!!!”

“i hate to break it to you tubbo but there is no way you can get free shipping on a FIVE FOOT PC. it’s nearly as tall as you! what are you even gonna do on it, hack the government???”

the arguments are all lighthearted but eventually you give in and let him splurge over a thousand dollars in different devices he claimed he “needed”

i could honestly see him visiting the beaches in san diego and going for a swim or even renting out a boat to use for a bit :D

also he’d bring benson along with him and taking a bunch of scenic photos with it in them

i have a feeling he’s the type to schedule a spontaneous meet & greet because he was bored & gets in trouble for causing a mob in a certain part of the convention

he’s like “oh god, i did not expect this many of the bois to show up AHAHAH oops”

tubbo would def pull a lilypichu and bring his melodica or ukulele and play themes while following random people/cosplayers

at the end of the day, you’d find his bag just stuffed with crap he either got for free or bought in the convention

“how did you get all that stuff? i was with you all day??? and it’s only the first day of the convention, hello?? it looks like you’ve been collecting as if twitchcon has went on for a week already!”

“HA i have my ways, do not underestimate my powers”

lani would probably tag along for the vacation honestly

like whenever someone comes up to her giving her gifts/asking for pics, you and tubbo would tease her about how famous she is

and i dunno but something about tubbo just gives me this amusement park energy and going to legoland and spending the whole day there since it’s near by and because he can

ranboo

he is like a beacon in a sea of people, that’s it .

i honestly just see him causing as much chaos as the other two

ranboo would probably like take someone’s camera whether if they’re streaming or if it’s for the vlog, hold it up high, and point the camera directly above someone’s face

it did not matter how tall you were and if you had platform shoes on, ranboo was a skyscraper next to you

“HAHAH this is how i see you from this height, this is funny”

then he shows you the vid of the recording of him getting like an aerial view of your face

like you see your nose and all your pores and just overall a bad angle to be captured in

“OH GOD RANBOO DELETE THAT, ITS HORRIFIC”

i dunno why but i feel like he’d jump scare every person that was cosplaying as his minecraft character from behind for some reason

“BOO!”

“ranboo i’m not even remotely dressed as your skin—”

“don’t worry i’m practicing it’s fineee”

“you’re like the height of 2 people combined, i think you will be fine as is. you even intimidated the security at the front”

i feel like if he had his own panel he’d like pull up some undertale song in the middle of it and scare all the people in the crowd

“lore but in real life”

probably would get some matching keepsake with you from artist alley/the booths!

i could imagine like a cute keychain or smth :D

i feel like he’s the type to like randomly volunteer as a participant for those mini events in a booth thinking it would be funny but regrets it the moment he’s on stage

after introductions the presenter is like “okay ranboo, you will be given a random meme prompt above your head you won’t be able to see until after and you will have to make a random face to compliment it!”

and you can just tell by his facial expression he’s just thinking

oh god what have i gotten myself into

what is this game? who came up with this idea?

you’d laugh at him the whole time, even after he’s off the stage and finished with that small fiasco

“that was horrible. never again.”

“AHAHAH IT LOOKED SO AWKWARD YOU DID GREAT”

“I CROSSED MY EYES AND PUFFED MY CHEEKS BECAUSE I COULDNT THINK OF ANY OTHER FACIAL EXPRESSION. THE PROMPT ENDING UP BEING ‘WHEN TWITTER CANCELS YOU FOR USING PLASTIC STRAWS.’ AND WHEN I SAW WHAT IT WAS—LITERALLY WHAT KIND OF GAME–”

“I GOT PICTURES AND EVERYTHING ITS PERFECT AHAHAHAH”

wilbur soot

honestly with wilbur it’s slightly more chill

he already experienced twitchcon before so he’s just glad to see his friends again after so long

insists that you explore the convention yourself rather than sticking with him the whole time but you do anyway!

wilbur would probably have like a mini concert and gets you front row seats with the rest of the group

but that doesn’t mean before it that you’re not helping him set up

“y/n please– my amp is so heavy, i can carry it”

“don’t worry! i’m strong” :D

and musically talented or not, he will probably bring you and the rest of his friends up to stage to just vibe and sing a bunch of random acoustic songs

it’s not like some big concert hall stage,, i imagine more like a casual thing w a slightly higher platform from the ground yk?

after spending a long day at the convention he’d also bring everyone across the city to la jolla or smth !

you’d all probably have dinner there and chill, watching the pretty sunset

“this place is really pretty but oh my god im gonna lose my breath hiking up this stupid hill, please slow down”

and wilbur is like ??? because he’s completely fine with his long legs and everything

“just walk faster”

“no, you walk slower”

AHAHAH and for context traversing through la jolla by walking around the town is a bit hard since it’s basically on a bunch of hills (walking up from the beach to a restaurant actually is actually sm work, trust me ive been there)

wilbur honestly doesn’t spend that much time in the actual convention center, he’s probably sightseeing a bit of san diego with you instead

but i could imagine him staying at the tabletop games area playing dnd or smth

“c’mon y/n, come join!”

“uhh i’m not sure, i’m not the best at roleplay and...”

“it’s fine don’t worry!”

he’d pull you in with him and end up enjoying yourself even if it was your first time

and if you’re of age, you’d be wilbur’s +1 at the twitch partner party and make sure mans doesn’t too drunk

if it’s not too late in the night, you two would chill at the beach after the party

it’s just a nice, calming moment after all the loud music mixed with hundreds of conversations at the party

also something about like taking polaroids pictures with wilbur just seems to go hand in hand for me

i’m not sure why but you will be taking lots of pics with wilbur for sure (not necessarily you both in the photo, but of sceneries as well while you’re together!)

philza

literally a dad on vacation with his children, it doesn’t matter how old you are

need sunscreen? surprisingly has it

want a snack? probably has a small granola bar somewhere in his bag

but same with wilbur, he’s more chill like this isn’t his first time at twitchcon

omg he’d def bring you to the artist alley and just buy a bunch of fanart and stuff tho

“oh wow look phil, someone made a giant poster of the dream smp and shit!”

“holy shit that’s so good what the fuck!”

and he’s like rushing to that artist’s stall to buy a poster or print

idk why but phil seems like the person to know where he’s going all over the convention center

he probably had a copy of the directory map but yk

you just have trouble reading it bc all the signs seem to be misleading to you

nothing really crazy screams out to me of what phil would do at twitchcon besides like go to a few events, spend a bunch of time w his friends, etc

HOWEVER i could see him wasting a lot of his time at the gaming area and testing new games that are currently on the works of being developed

like “woah y/n, this vr game is sick, you should try it out!”

ngl i feel like phil would plan a visit to disneyland for everyone, like he gets the tickets and everything but once you’re at the park it’s free reign, y’all go everywhere with not much of a plan

the minors would try to cheap out phil and pay less than the others even though everyone else fully paid phil back and everything LMAO

ok but if he’s feeling nice, phil will buy everyone cotton candy/pretzels :D

and if you’re not hungry, he’d at least get you a mickey balloon

HE WILL HAVE MATCHING MICKEY EARS WITH MUMZA YES .

ALSO STAYING FOR THE FIREWORKS THOUGH OMG

just in general, best idea phil had for taking everyone to disneyland :D

technoblade

surprisingly techno is really calm despite this being like one of his first conventions

but when he finally settles in and gets comfortable, he’s showing the same energy

if you’re playfully yelling, he will yell back

however there’s still those awkward moments that are unavoidable

idk why but something about him makes me think that if you feel tired and want to go back to your hotel room, he’d go with you just to make sure you get there safe

he probably also needs a break from being around everyone else for a moment too LMAO

i could also see him searching far and wide in the artist alley for fanart of himself AHAHAH

walking around with him in the convention consists of someone yelling “BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD” every 5 minutes but you don’t really mind

something about him makes me think he’ll be forced into playing minecraft twitch rivals along with the rest of sbi or smth

and he’s like “oh god, i’m going to be on stage? and people will see my face while i play minecraft?”

“i’m sure it will be fun!”

“i mean i like being competitive and feeding my ego, but i’m not that desperate.. well”

do i imagine techno getting easily tired of being surrounded by a bunch of people and just going back to his hotel room with phil and watching some anime with him? yes

and will you watch even if you have no idea what’s going on? also yes

i feel like after a while of you guys hanging out in techno’s room, the rest of the gang will just slowly join you guys

like eventually everyone is there; you, techno, phil, wilbur, niki, tommy, tubbo, ranboo, etc

and techno is like “wha– where did you guys come from?” because his room is basically packed

and niki could be like “oh we can go if you want!”

then techno just insists that she’s fine “but who let the child get in?” clearly implying tommy’s presence

“OI!!”

eventually techno gives in with the company and someone gets a bunch of board games to play from the front desk

lots of yelling and laughing for sure

when it becomes late at night, techno is like half conscious, you’re on your phone, wilbur is staring out the window & enjoying the night view, tommy is passed out on the couch from tiredness, tubbo & ranboo is still wide awake quietly talking, and phil & niki are helping clean up the giant mess

eventually everyone brings themselves to go back to their own room except tommy who won’t budge

you give techno a look and he immediately understands what you were thinking

he rushes to the bathroom to fill up two cups with ice cold water and handed one to you

“on three?”

“okay.. one”

“two”

“three!”

then both of you pour the water on the poor child’s face

he jolts awake and saying a string of curses

“what the fuck techno? y/n too?”

“get out” is the only think techno says that before tommy rushes out with his stuff and you leave right after

a/n: i honestly can’t wait until conventions open up again though,, phil and ranboo were talking about vidcon earlier and omg.

also i kinda want to take in tommy requests but i’m not sure??? it would be both cc! and c! x gn!reader for sure tho. i love writing him to bits but who knows, maybe i’ll only stick to my ideas,, or not. send in a tommy x reader request, might do it, might not, but he’s my fav cc if you can’t tell so! :D (i dunno if i will keep it strictly platonic, but unrequited crushes and stuff are fun to write hehe,,)

edit: let’s hope i fixed all the grammar mistakes LMAO we love writing late at night :) /s /hj

[spaceyflowerswriting]

2 dorks (jace park x reader)

details: fluffy oneshot, gender neutral reader, general canon au, you and jace are classmates secretly pining for each other

summary: you and jace have a painfully awkward 3 am talk over the phone.

a/n: this is basically for anon that was curious about if i had written jace before ! here's my first attempt ^_^

also shoutout to this song for giving me the inspiration and strength to finish this T_T

×

There were a lot of times Jace wished Burn Knuckles was... a little smarter, to say the least. Like, a lot. But other times he was glad they were oblivious and dense. This was definitely one of those times. Unfortunately other people around still noticed, but Jace was only teased from time to time so he didn't mind too much.

What did they notice? Well, his crush, of course. It's not like he made it obvious or anything, he--yeah, no, it was pretty obvious. The longer he was crushing on you and the stronger his feelings grew, it was getting harder for him to act as if he didn't harbor romantic feelings for you. The worst part was he was beginning to think you were noticing, too. And he wasn't sure if the feeling was mutual.

He didn't really know what to do with himself after realizing that. Logically, he could just waltz up to you and ask you out, but that's easier said than done. Not to mention, he didn't want to ruin anything between you two. Being your friend was the only way he could see your charming smile up close and have fun, casual conversations with you. How could he possibly risk losing that?

And so he thought about what to do for a solid month, before ultimately deciding he'd be fine as staying your friend. Plus, if he had to be honest, he didn't even think he'd fall in love with you so this would probably be fine. After all, you two were just classmates and he didn't think by continuing to interact with you and then befriending you would land him in a friends-to-lovers story.

Ahem, that is if you say yes to when he asks you out. Which he won't.

Probably.

"Argh, no, I said I wouldn't!"

"Jace?"

"Huh?" Jace blinked himself back awake. He had fallen asleep?

"Were you... sleep talking...?"

"Uhhh... maybe?" What the hell did he just experience? Some dream retelling of his current situation? Whatever it was, he shook his head as if trying to shake away the sleepiness in him and readjusted himself in bed. "Sorry for the noise," he murmured, picking his phone up and laying it by his head instead of by his torso where it had slipped. "And sorry if I did sleep talk." A second passed before he worriedly asked, "I--I didn't say anything weird, did I?"

"Nah," your voice replied, soft laughter following afterwards. "You know, if you're tired, you can go to sleep."

"But I like hearing you talk." Jace cringed a little with how quickly he responded.

"Then why'd you fall asleep~?"

He groaned hearing the teasing tone of your voice as his cheeks colored in a little red. He could just imagine the cute grin on your face. "I guess I'm tired. Not of you, though."

"What am I saying?!" Cue the internal screaming. "Maybe I should head to sleep... I might say something I'll regret in this state."

His heart pounded in anticipation at the sudden silence at the other end of the line.

Pro of voice calls: you couldn't see him blushing.

Con of voice calls: he couldn't see your expressions and guess what you were thinking or planning to say.

"Well... good to know you're not tired of me." A pause. "Um... you think you'll ever get tired of me?"

"No...?" You laughed after his response, and Jace could actually tell it was nervous laughter. It took him a while to register it though because he wasn't sure what you were nervous about. "If you're worried about that, you don't have to. Like I said, I like listening to you talk. About anything, really."

"Huh." At least you sounded a little more content now. "Is that why you've been having these late night talks with me?"

"Mhm. Well, we've been having them for a while though, haven't we?"

"A few months maybe? I don't know, I just started talking longer than usual one night and it became a pattern I guess."

Jace hummed. "I talk, too, y'know."

"Right, right, late night conversations, not late night speeches from me. I did say talks."

After a playful eyeroll, Jace turned to lay on his side, facing his phone. "Yeah, and you also just said, 'I just started talking longer than usual one night.'"

"Don't get smart with me," you playfully snapped, before the two of you shared a laugh. There was a peaceful moment of silence that followed. Jace nearly fell asleep again until your voice called his name.

"Hm?" He was shaking his head like before as if that would help wake him up.

"I, uh. Need to ask you one last question. And then we can both sleep afterwards. I don't know if now's the right time but I don't think I'll get the nerves to ask any other time."

"Um... ask away." Nervousness creeped its way into Jace as possibilities ran through his mind. If only he could feel more prepared for whatever was coming his way.

"We're just friends... right?"

Oh dear. Now that was a possibility Jace thought of, but also one of the many he didn't mentally prepare himself for. He ended up just keeping quiet, unsure of what to reply with. There were lots of ways things could go wrong. Or... right.

"Jace?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you hear my question?"

"Yes."

"...And your response is?"

While the emotional side of Jace was panicking, his logical side took over to say, "Yeah. I mean, that's our current status," which only made his emotional side even more panicked.

"Right." You quietly cleared your throat. "Thanks, I just wanted to make sure. About. That."

"Oh... yeah? Cool."

"Uh-huh."

"God, I wish Vasco was here to break the tension or something."

Jace gulped as he shuffled in his bed again, turning to lay on his back now. "So... that's all?"

"Yup. Uh, good night."

"Yeah, you, too. Good night. And sweet dr--" His phone made a small beeping sound before he finished which mildly surprised him. He laughed a little when his phone buzzed next and he didn't have to check to know it was an apology text from you. Still, he went to pick his phone up, holding it above his face.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off! I thought you were done after 'good night!'"

"Don't worry about it. Sweet dreams! That's all I wanted to say."

"Oh, okay. Back at you, then!"

A soft smile was on Jace's face as he went to give your text a thumbs up. He ended up misclicking though, and unintentionally hearted your text instead. In another state of panic, he dropped his phone on his face.

"Ow!"

He rushed to sit up and give your text the right reaction. Then, immediately flopped back down, sighing heavily. "Why am I like this," he muttered, cheeks feeling warm. He stared at the ceiling for a few seconds before letting out another sigh and slowly forcing himself to get out of bed to charge his phone. After that, he headed straight back to bed and pulled his blanket over his head.

He had no idea if this conversation would be brought up the next time you two talk, but he hoped it wouldn't. Just to save himself and you the embarrassnent. But maybe that awkward talk was what both of you needed to set things straight.

Nah. It was definitely what you two dorks needed.

[likeshipsonthesea]

mianmian gets to the lan sect lectures, discovers very quickly that every one of her peers has decided to use this time to figure out how quickly they can get into bed with someone of the opposite sex, and decides almost immediately that she has to pick a suitably unattainable guy to have a crush on.

the thing is, mianmian is lanling jin’s head disciple. she is capable, intelligent, and very very gay. the last of these things she isn’t exactly keen on telling people yet for a variety of reasons up to and including jin zixuan will be so awkward and stubbornly supportive about it and she doesn’t know how to deal with that yet

so when her friends giggle over the other young masters and finally turn to mianmian-- who’s trying to memorize at least some of the fifty-thousand rules before their quiz tomorrow--and they ask her, “who do you like, mianmian?” she says the name that she carefully picked out of a handful of options.

“lan-er-gongzi,” she says, without looking up from her textbook, and she assumes that will be the end of it. 

lan wangji is both incredibly attractive and unrelentingly resistant to all attempts to flirt with him. she, like half the other female cultivators, can moon over him (or pretend to moon over him) all they want and nothing will come of it. it’s perfect. she’s a genius. the worst she’ll have to do now is pretend to be infatuated with him when her friends start gossiping. it’s fool proof.

spoiler: it’s not

it’s not, no, because her friends are horrible and immediately start gossiping about it to everyone, and usually mianmian wouldn’t care but then jin zixuan finds out. jin zixuan, whose marriage complex is being brought to center stage with the forced proximity to his bride-to-be. jin zixuan, who for some reason decided he has to live his stolen crush-addled youth vicariously through his only real friend that isn’t related to him. jin zixuan, who for some godforsaken reason takes it upon himself to contrive situations for mianmian and lan wangji to be alone together incessantly.

it unfortunately takes mianmian longer than she would like to figure out what’s happening. she’d give herself a break for it-- she was being responsible and studying, thank you very much-- but she doesn’t have much sympathy for her own stupidity seeing as she’s currently locked in a section of the lan library with the second jade of lan

and suddenly, suddenly she’s just so fucking tired. of studying, yeah, the tests here are brutal and there’s no one to bribe to make sure she doesn’t lose points on stupid things, but also tired of lying to the people she loves and tired of training this hard and being an amazing cultivator only for people to care more about her eventual marriage-- to a man of all things!-- and also, let’s be real here, she’s been in lectures with beautiful capable intelligent women for like months and she’s losing her gay ass mind

and so maybe, possibly, as she’s locked in a library with a clearly confused and annoyed second jade of lan she kind of, momentarily, loses it and rants all of this at his steadily widening eyes

at the end of it, she realizes with no small amount of panic that she’s just confessed not only her attraction to women but the fact that she’s been letting wen qing’s ears of all things distract her from her studies. if anything, she’s sure lan wangji will fault her for inattention

but the second jade of lan, after a drawn-out moment filled only with mianmian’s labored breathing and rising panic, simply says, “i understand.”

mianmian stops. she squints. she tilts her head. she squints some more. lan wangji’s ears go pink and just like that she realizes -- “you’re a cut-sleeve.”

lan wangji’s ears go even pinker. he doesn’t nod, or agree, or outwardly react in any way, but mianmian is a capable, intelligent cultivator, and she’s sure of it.

mianmian sighs with a relief she didn’t know she could feel. “thank the gods.”

lan wangji doesn’t seem to know what to make of this response, or mianmian’s increasingly frequent trips to the library following their conversation, or mianmian’s staunch determination to befriend the guy, but that’s alright. mianmian is old hat at befriending awkward sect heirs by this point.

it’s not like lan wangji expressed any desire for her friendship, but the prospect of not being the only one with absolutely no interest in the straight shenanigans happening at gusu lan summer camp is enough to let mianmian ignore his obvious confusion. lan wangji is a great listener and only sometimes blushes when mianmian waxes poetic about the beautiful women she’s forced to surround herself with every day

“no but you don’t understand,” mianmian insists, alone in the library with lan wangji, “jiang-guniang asked me to help her with a sword form. i put my hands on her waist. i said something idiotic bc she was so pretty and right there and then she laughed. lan wangji. i’m in love.”

“yesterday you were in love with wen-guniang,” lan wangji says as he impassively turns a page in his book. “has this changed?”

“no, i’m in love with both of them. all of them. lan wangji. they’re all so pretty all the time. it’s horrible.”

lan wangji presses his lips into a firmer line, which mianmian’s come to understand means he’s repressing a smile. “i’m sorry to hear it brings luo-guniang such trouble.”

mianmian groans, fairly undignified, but that’s a lost cause with lan wangji at this point anyway. “i swear, if jin zixuan says one more bad thing about her i’m going to punch him and marry her myself.”

lan wangji says, “mn,” which mianmian takes to mean that he supports her in this line of thinking, which she finds both quite sweet and ridiculously funny.

grinning, she teases, “lan-er-gongzi, if i do end up marrying jiang-guniang, will you bear witness to our elopement?”

lan wangji’s lips press again, this time in the way that means he’s repressing a frown. “jiang-guniang’s brothers wouldn’t allow for an elopement,” he says.

mianmian huffs. “as if yunmeng or lanling will deign to host our wedding.”

lan wangji appears to ponder this for a moment before he says, “gusu will host it,” and it’s at that moment that mianmian realizes she’s actually gone and fucking befriended the second jade of lan.

what is her life.

of course, it’s not long after that that she goes to find jin zixuan and explain that she can’t make their weekly sparring match today because she has plans with lan wangji (jiang yanli tenderly brushed some of mianmian’s hair away from her forehead while they were working on sword forms and if mianmian doesn’t tell someone about it she’s literally going to explode) and she’s trying to be as polite as possible only for jin zixuan to scoff and pout (”i don’t pout”) and say, “i never took you for one of those women who throw themselves so wantonly at a man”

it’s only for having been friends with this absolutely horrible communicator for most of her life that she doesn’t immediately punch him in the face. “what did you just say to me,” she demands, but jin zixuan just sets his jaw and looks away, flushing down his neck in the way his mother describes as unbecoming and--

and mianmian suddenly realizes that her ridiculous best friend is jealous of lan wangji. 

(in a friend way, of course, he’s like her brother, the one time his mother implied that he ought not get too close to women in case it jeopardizes his betrothal to jiang yanli, he insisted he didn’t have any female friends repeatedly as his mother delicately danced around outright saying mianmian’s name until finally she broke and jin zixuan was basically like huh?? mianmian doesn’t count?? she made me eat dirt like six times when we were kids)

the sheer ridiculousness of jin zixuan, to set her up with a guy and then get jealous when she spends all her time with him

and fuck her, but she loves her stupid awkward ridiculous sect heir best friend and she doesn’t want him to think she’s gone and left him for someone else (gods know jin zixuan’s loyalty complex rivals his marriage one (on second thought the two might be connected)) and so, after making a few quick decisions, mianmian grabs her stupid best friend by the wrist and pulls him to the library

he protests all the way there, but he’s been letting her drag him wherever she wants since they were five and it isn’t as if he’s going to break the pattern now. she drags him to the library and sits him down across a startled lan wangji and then finally breaks and gushes about jiang-guniang’s fingertips brushing her forehead and doesn’t look at jin zixuan once the whole time

lan wangji, on the other hand, sends jin zixuan frequent glances, as if worried on mianmian’s behalf, which is super sweet and also how the fuck did mianmian get two awkward sect heirs to care about her platonically wtf. she spares a thought for her poor auntie, who would’ve loved to have a sect heir care about her niece in much less platonic ways.

at the end of mianmian’s rant, jin zixuan is blinking quite a lot. “you like women?” he asks. he’s always been a bit slow on the uptake. mianmian nods. “you like jiang-guniang?”

mianmian shrugs. “more or less. she’s just really pretty and i’m dying about it. it’s fine.”

lan wangji says, “mn,” sympathetically and jin zixuan continues to gape.

mianmian winces. “you’re not going to be weird about this, are you?”

jin zixuan shakes his head quickly. “no, no-- of course not, i--you know that i--you’re my best friend, i don’t care--what does it matter to me, who you want to--to touch your hair.”

it’s probably the most awkward sentence he’s said to her in years, but possibly more articulate than she’d been expecting. it makes her tear up regardless and she punches him in the shoulder to hide it, and that’s basically how the three of them start hanging out in the library nearly every day after lecture.

sometimes they go to the sparring ground, bc who’s better sparring practice than the second jade of lan? and sometimes (once or twice) mianmian manages to convince lan wangji to join her and jin zixuan for lunch in caiyi town when they don’t have lecture, but mostly they meet in a secluded part of the library where mianmian can rant about how pretty all the women at lectures are, jin zixuan can turn pink whenever she mentions jiang-guniang, and lan wangji can “mn” and nod sympathetically at all the right parts

and mianmian thinks that’s going to be the end of it, they’re just going to be friends now and everything else will move on as usual, bc by some ridiculous trick of fate lan wangji and jin zixuan seem to like each other. which makes sense in hindsight bc they’re both awkward sect heirs who care about cultivation and people a lot even if they’re not great at showing it 

(and he’d never say it but mianmian thinks jin zixuan’s easy acceptance of her liking women is probably the first time lan wangji’s ever seen someone accept that kind of thing before (maybe, possibly, other than his brother, lan xichen seems really cool, even if he does smile kind of intensely at mianmian whenever he happens upon her hanging out with his little brother.))

so they’re friends, they’re unexpected friends, and sometimes lan wangji even makes jokes in that dry deadpan way of his and sometimes jin zixuan doesn’t completely trip over his own words and manages to act like a normal human being and mianmian gets two idiots to care about and a perfect place to vent her womanly frustrations, and she thinks that’s the end of it and then wei wuxian accosts her after lectures one day

“do you like lan zhan?” he asks accusingly, eyes narrowed to slits. “what am i even asking, of course you like lan zhan, but do you like-like him?”

mianmian thinks sadly to herself that she’s much too into women to be dealing with all these men’s emotional problems. “lan wangji is my friend,” she says, carefully sidestepping wei wuxian, who continues to squint at her suspiciously. really, he’d been amusing when he flirted with her, but this? this is just ridiculous.

“does he know that?” wei wuxian asks. “because if he doesn’t, that’s just leading him on, and it’s really not nice to--”

“lan wangji knows we’re friends,” she says, trying to enunciate to get her point across clearly. “you can ask him, if you don’t believe me.”

wei wuxian squints a moment longer before he turns and flounces off. mianmian thinks this is the end of it until she’s accosted again after dinner with, “he said you were friends!”

for some reason, wei wuxian seems even more troubled by this than earlier. mianmian tries to suppress her eyeroll. “i told you he would?”

“but how,” wei wuxian says, suddenly whining. “i’ve been trying to be his friend for months and he refuses to acknowledge me.”

oh, mianmian realizes with a quickly dawning horror. she and lan wangji are not the only cut-sleeves at cloud recesses this summer. (she has suspicions, of course, but no confirmations on any of the others, but this. wow.)

she also realizes, decides really, that she has enough repressed sect heirs in her life and she cannot deal with wei wuxian’s cut-sleeve crisis or his evidently large attachment to lan wangji right now. she turns decisively and walks the fuck away. not her problem.

the lectures end eventually, of course, and mianmian and jin zixuan return to lanling with a horde of golden robed disciples, freshly deflowered and not all together more learned. it’s what, she thinks grimly, their sect leader would want.

the first few weeks go by and she realizes that she’s missed unloading about her frequent and fast falling-in-loves. jin zixuan just doesn’t sympathize right, bless him, and so mianmian takes to writing letters. she sends two without receiving a reply and just starts to write the third when a letter with the gusu symbol is delivered to her room.

she’s almost expecting to find a single mn written on the page-- she would’ve been delighted with just that, actually, the sheer hilarity of such a thing-- but instead she finds several pages filled with lan wangji’s perfect calligraphy.

it’s more than he’s ever spoken out loud, but it seems that propriety dictated that he return mianmian’s extensive letter with one of his own and he’s done so admirably. he responds to the events mianmian detailed in her letters-- most succinctly summarized as, woman are gorgeous and i’m dying-- and then writes about his own life in cloud recesses. apparently, he went on a little night hunt with wei wuxian and also nie huaisang and jiang cheng were involved? seriously, mianmian misses out on all the fun.

he’s also apparently taken in some rabbits, which mianmian immediately decides she needs to see. lan wangji, sitting prim and proper, with a bunch of rabbits in his lap? amazing. wei wuxian would die on sight, she’s sure of it.

he also ends his letter with a warning about qishan wen that has mianmian frowning. she takes it to jin zixuan who reads the paragraph and frowns. “i’ll talk to my father about it,” he says, which she can tell by his hunched shoulders he doesn’t expect to do much.

“talk to your father’s general too,” she suggests, because that man at least thinks with his head and not his dick.

jin zixuan nods but doesn’t hand back the letter. he skims it instead with a barely concealed surprise at lan wangji’s previously hidden expansive vocabulary. mianmian snorts and grabs the letter back. “you can write to him yourself, you know.”

jin zixuan flushes down his neck. “i know!” he insists and then turns and runs away because he’s a coward. mianmian shakes her head, smiling. what an idiot.

still, another week goes by and a letter arrives from gusu and, when mianmian takes it, assuming it’s for her, she finds it addressed to jin zixuan in lan wangji’s impeccable calligraphy and she grins to herself like an idiot. look at jin zixuan, making friends

(she suddenly understands why lan xichen gave her all those intense smiles during the lan lectures)

they go on in this way, writing letters to lan wangji from lanling. sometimes mianmian steals jin zixuan’s letters before he sends them so she can squeeze in some ranting in the post script without wasting a whole second thing of paper, and lan wangji replies dutifully, more verbose than he ever was in person, and it’s nice okay, like. she and jin zixuan have been best friends since they were kids but neither of them has ever been any good at listening and lan wangji is just so honest and earnest in everything, like they didn’t realize that people outside of lanling were actually not always plotting your downfall??? who woulda thunk

and then of course the wens go and ruin everything. they go to the wen lectures bc jin guangshan doesn’t want to “anger our trading partner” like the guy isn’t obviously going to burn carp tower to the ground the first chance he gets, and mostly mianmian and jin zixuan are just vaguely annoyed and put out about it

then lan wangji shows up with a broken leg and a burned sect and they are ready to murder some dudes

after years of breaking in and out of carp tower she and jin zixuan are old hats at this breaking and entering stuff and they manage to sneak into lan wangji’s guest quarters and tend to his wounds, ignoring all his silent glares and ranting furiously about how they’re going to murder wen chao by making him choke on his own dick (mianmian) and how they’re going to war with the wen sect even if he has to threaten his father with acknowledging all of his bastards as proper siblings in public to do it (jin zixuan)

lan wangji just says “mn” and makes various muted, distressed expressions, but mianmian thinks he’s touched.

“are your brother and uncle alright?” she asks, when she’s set his broken leg and forced pain medication down his throat.

“brother escaped with our sacred texts,” lan wangji says. “uncle is... unwell.”

mianmian knows lan wangji hates touch but the way he says it, with this horrible little frown, emoting more than she’s ever seen him, his barely suppressed anger and grief literally making his hands shake into fists, mianmian can’t help it, she hugs him. “we’ll make them pay,” she swears into his shoulder, ruining the lines of his robes with how she clutches at them. “i promise you.”

jin zixuan awkwardly pats lan wangji’s shoulder, which is a lot for him and mianmian spares a moment to be proud of his growth.

unfortunately, wen chao seems to delight in torturing lan wangji on his injured leg and lan wangji refuses to show weakness, which both impresses mianmian and pisses her the fuck off. she approaches wen qing (and her still gorgeous ears, sigh) and asks her to tend to lan wangji, since she’s like actually a doctor. wen qing does bc she’s beautiful, intelligent, and kind and mianmian spends most of that night sighing deeply as she relates this to a significantly drugged lan wangji

the cave of the xuanwu goes about the same as you’d expect. wei wuxian saving her from getting her face branded off is pretty rad of him, though he could’ve just like knocked the brand away instead of throwing himself in front of it but whatever, you do you boo. when lan wangji gets left behind the two of them don’t even have to wait for jiang cheng to grumble and ask for their help, they’re already on their way to carp tower for an army, thank you very much

when they rescue wei wuxian and lan wangji and lan wangji immediately turns to walk back to cloud recesses on a broken leg mianmian says, “fuck no, that’s not happening, you’re getting medical attention and then someone will fly you back home, okay, wtf wangji, sit down.”

and lan wangji is a stubborn bitch so obvs he’s like no but he’s also severely starved, dehydrated, and injured, so it’s not like he can just shake off mianmian holding him down and this goes on long enough for wei wuxian to wake up and see mianmian touching lan wangji, and something in his poor little brain just like breaks and he demands says, “lan zhan, come back to lotus pier with us.”

his argument, as he explains it, is that lotus pier is closer (it’s not; they’re just as close to carp tower as lotus pier) and that it’s closer to gusu for when lan wangji has to return home (it’s not; same deal) but then jiang cheng starts yelling, possibly in support possibly not mianmian’s not sure, and jin zixuan starts getting awkward, probably about the whole golden army behind him bc he’s a nerd and hates being overdressed at functions (this is basically the same thing), and mianmian looks at lan wangji and she sees--

something. she isn’t sure what exactly, but lan wangji looks at wei wuxian as he argues with his brother and he presses his lips into a thin line in the way that means he wants to smile and mianmian thinks, oh. maybe wei wuxian isn’t completely unrequited in his lan wangji obsession.

growing up in lanling, she knows how to use information to her advantage, so she immediately says, “young masters wei and jiang, what a great idea. lanling’s disciples would be pleased to accompany you and second young master lan to lotus pier to ensure everyone’s safe arrival.”

everyone splutters, indignant, confused, awkward (jiang cheng, wei wuxian, and jin zixuan, respectively) but lan wangji narrows his eyes at mianmian and doesn’t try to convince her to let him walk to gusu again, so she counts it as a win.

sect leader jiang and his wife seem surprised and annoyed, respectively, to be taking in so many guests, but sect leader jiang merely smiles pleasantly and directs them to some guest quarters and mianmian and wei wuxian ask, simultaneously, for doctors to tend to lan wangji and wei wuxian makes a face at her and mianmian sighs to herself that she really is too gay to be in the middle of his thing with lan wangji.

turns out, walking a lot and fighting a cannibalistic turtle on a broken leg doesn’t do wonders for healing. lan wangji is also the worst patient ever, he keeps trying to sneak out and get up even though word came from his brother that he’s safe and alright and that cloud recesses is starting to rebuild after qinghe nie and lanling jin came to its aid and pushed out the wen

but with the combined efforts of mianmian, jin zixuan, and wei wuxian (and even jiang yanli at one point, bc who could say no to her soup??) they manage to get lan wangji to just rest for a fucking second, really which results in the jin disciples and lan wangji staying in lotus pier for longer than anyone could’ve expected

mianmian spends most of her time (when she isn’t forcing lan wangji to just fucking stay in bed) working with the jiang disciples, practicing archery, sword forms, and mooning after all the beautiful women here.

(”lan wangji, i know she’s scary, but have you seen madam yu? she could whip me with zidian and i’d thank her” “luo-guniang, please don’t ask madam yu to whip you” OR “lan wangji, i’m almost positive madam yu’s maids are a thing, do you think they’d let me join them just like once” “luo-guniang, could you please pass me my sword?” “why” “i’d like to put myself out of this misery” OR “she made me soup. lan wangji. lan wangji, i know you’re not sleeping, wake up, you have to listen to me, this soup”)

they end up staying so long that when wang lingjiao shows up threatening a child about a kite while sect leader jiang is away, she has a lot more to deal with than madam yu. since none of this had been a “sanctioned visit” no one actually knew that there was nearly an entire troop of jin disciples staying at lotus pier, so when the wens attack they are sorely unprepared for what they’re going to face.

(and ofc lan wangji breaks out of bed heroically and keeps madam yu from whipping wei wuxian, which means they aren’t down one of their most powerful fighters and mianmian has to suffer through the moon eyes they’re making at one another in the middle of a battle no less, she knew wei wuxian had no shame but she’d been hoping lan wangji would have some)

after the wen attack (and defeat) on lotus pier and the jin’s inarguable part in it, the war starts in earnest. lan wangji, after his long rest, heals fine and goes back to gusu to help rebuild his sect and plan for war, and mianmian and jin zixuan return to carp tower to plan as well, ignoring jin guangshan and focusing instead on his general to ensure lanling supplies necessary aid in the war effort

and war is always shitty, of course, and mianmian hates watching her sect family die on the battlefield, hates waiting for updates after every battle to see who’s still alive, hates the politics and jin guangshan trying to wheedle his way out of fighting when there’s fucking lives on the line

(and she could never know, how much easier it is, with yunmeng jiang at its full strength, with one of the brightest minds of their generation there to plot and help, with two of the best fighters not out searching for someone and instead focused on the front)

they reach nightless city after months of fighting and mianmian is ready to just fucking stab wen ruohan herself when they’re suddenly trapped. blocked in on all sides by puppets, their fallen soldiers rising again to turn on them, and it--it looks like they’re gonna die.

“this sucks,” she says to lan wangji, stifling her fear and choking it down. “i never even got to kiss a girl.”

lan wangji just says “mn.”

jin zixuan, beside them, says, “i was an idiot about jiang-guniang.”

lan wangji just says, “mn.”

then wei wuxian pulls out a fucking flute and a-- floating piece of metal?  the army of puppets and corpses stops advancing, held in place by-- music, apparently? and wen ruohan emerges from his lair, black energy falling off him in waves, wei wuxian the idiot flies forward to meet him, gets wen ruohan’s hand around his throat for his trouble.

lan wangji yells, “wei ying!” and mianmian thinks, really not fair that lan wangji is gonna get a boyfriend before i get a girlfriend

and then wen ruohan gets stabbed by jin zixuan’s half brother of all people. wen ruohan, along with his puppets and wei wuxian, fall to the ground. lan wangji rushes forward to catch wei wuxian, mianmian runs after him, finds herself in company with jin zixuan and jiang cheng. when they get there, wei wuxian is barely conscious but he’s-- he’s fucking grinning up at lan wangji from the cradle of lan wangji’s arms

“lan zhan,” he says, “you caught me.”

lan wangji nods, says, “mn,” which is basically his equivalent of i’ll always catch you, wei ying.

“really,” mianmian says aloud, “it’s so unfair.”

the aftermath of the war is more annoying than the war itself, what with all the politics and in-fighting and jin guangshan trying to be the biggest dick there ever was. jin guangshan tries to name himself chief cultivator in wen ruohan’s stead but nie mingjue suggests jiang fengmian instead and the lan sect backs him. jin guangshan tries to demonize the wens but at wei wuxian’s loud rebuttal and sect leader jiang’s backing (which is then backed by both gusu lan and qinghe nie) he’s once again shouted down. and then jin guangshan tries to propose to jiang-guniang for his son and the poor woman just seems so awkward and her father doesn’t seem to know what to say and--

mianmian elbows jin zixuan whose eyes widen ridiculously but, after another, harder hit, he suddenly stands. all eyes go to him, which mianmian knows he hates, but he bows to his father, then jiang yanli, and says, “jiang-guniang, forgive my father’s impertinence. this is not the time or place to be making such an offer, but he--” jin zixuan winces visibly. “--he knows of my feelings and wishes to make his foolish son happy. please, do not feel the need to respond.”

then he promptly sits down, flushing down to his neck, and mianmian shares a disbelieving glance with lan wangji from across the horrible nightless city palace room.

she’d really only meant for him to suggest jiang yanli answer privately, at a later time, but wow, jin zixuan really went for it. also no way jin guangshan knows his son has fallen in love with jiang yanli, so nice save face there. maybe he has been paying attention in all of their etiquette and political espionage classes.

jiang yanli flushes way prettier than jin zixuan and nods politely, stands and bows and thanks the jin clan for being considerate in this time of turmoil, perhaps they can discuss this matter at a later date (jin zixuan looks like he nearly faints at this, and mianmian feels vindicated in all her forlorn ranting. overreacting her ass)

when everything has been settled, wen qing has been appointed the new sect leader of qishan wen with promises to return land to those who lost it and pay reparations to the hurt civilians, as well as have the yin iron destroyed for good. during the final ceremony where all the sects have tea and pledge to be loyal to one another (until the next great war, of course) mianmian leans close to lan wangji and sighs, “her ears look even lovelier with her hair tied back by her new sect leader hairpiece.”

lan wangji says “mn” because he’s a cut sleeve in love with wei wuxian and has nothing even closely resembling taste.

mianmian, on her own, decides to make them both happy. before the jin clan departs from nightless city, she goes up to wei wuxian and asks for a moment of his time. wei wuxian seems confused but follows and, once they’re alone, he says, “mianmian, are you about to get me into bed, because i must tell you that i am a respectable young cultivator and you’ll need to marry me before--”

mianmian gives him her best unimpressed look (she’s had much practice with it, thank you jin zixuan) and cuts him off with, “i like women.” 

wei wuxian’s eyes go wide. “but you and lan zhan--”

she cuts him off again before he can say something so stupid she has to stop talking to him to refrain from breaking all laws of propriety. “look,” she says, “you’re friends with wen qing. now that she’s sect leader, your brother can’t go after her. i, on the other hand, very much can. if you promise to figure out a way for me and her to get close, i’ll tell you a secret you’ll like very much.”

wei wuxian seems hesitant for all of half a second before he breaks. “tell me.”

“do you promise?”

wei wuxian raises three fingers. “promise.”

“on your sister’s life?”

begrudgingly, wei wuxian nods.

“on her soup?”

“just get on with it!”

mianmian smirks, pushes onto her tiptoes, and whispers the secret into wei wuxian’s ear. with that, she returns to the pavilion where all the sects mingle as they wait to depart, wei wuxian trailing behind her in a daze, his mouth hanging open.

lan wangji, who had been watching since mianmian asked wei wuxian for a moment to talk, frowns nearly imperceptibly. mianmian grins at him and his frown grows.

ah, whatever. she walks over to him, unbothered by the quickly growing alarm in his eyes. once next to him, she turns around to see wei wuxian staring unabashedly. her smile only widens.

“you’re going to thank me for this,” she says.

wei wuxian shakes himself, his eyes focusing, and immediately starts walking towards them.

lan wangji, voice flat but wavering, asks, “luo-guniang, what did you do?”

mianmian laughs, says, “i get to give a speech at your wedding,” and walks away just as wei wuxian reaches them.

(she does, actually, give a speech at their wedding. she may or may not be drunk during it, jin zixuan gets embarrassed for her, and she starts tearing up and has to hide it in the shoulder of her wife’s lovely well-tailored robes. it’s alright, though, wen qing doesn’t mind)

EDIT: now on AO3 with a real fic version from lwj’s pov!

[libraryofloveletters]

A June Wedding

Evan Buckley x Reader 

Warnings: alcohol and the consumption of 

Category: Fluff 

Word Count: 2.8k

Author’s Note: idk what this is, I opened the doc and just started typing, so yeah // the flashbacks are set two years ago, when y/n meets Buck. The end is back to the present

---- 

From B: I was thinking about you.

From B: I miss you. 

The phone sat in your hand, you stared down at the message on the screen. It had been months, maybe longer since you met him-  2 years to be precise. 

The two of you had a weird friendship to say the least. One of those “will they, won’t they?” kind of things. Everyone seemed to notice how the two of you were in love except the two of you. 

Your story starts in a hole in the wall coffee shop two years ago, when Buck comes in after his first shift at the station. 

*Two Years Before* 

Tired and hungry was a typical look you saw among the folks who came to your shop. It was downtown LA and there were a lot of businesses around including station 118. 

Among your typical morning crowd, there were people in suits and ties, the few hippies/skater crowd and your favourite, the fire-fighters. 

They were your favourite not because they always had larger orders but they usually left big tips and were super sweet. 

It was around 9 in the evening when the bell on the door chimed as it was pushed open. You were closing up for the day but the ‘come in, we’re open’ sign still hung on the window that was ideally supposed to be taken down an hour ago. 

Pulling a tray of cookies from the oven, you were startled by the door considering that you thought you locked the door. Peering from the doorway of the kitchen, there was a man by the counter, staring up at the menu board. 

“Hi,” you smile, hesitantly stepping towards the counter from the kitchen. He glances down at you and smiles, mumbling a hello. 

“Uh, we’re actually closed right now.” you inform him. 

His brows furrow, glancing over his shoulder at the window. “But the sign-” “I forget to take it down.” 

“Oh. I’m sorry, I’ll- okay, I'm gonna go.” he looked.. disappointed. He pulls a phone out his pocket and sighs. You take that moment to study him. A grey sweatshirt and a pair of jeans, there’s a hat sitting backwards on his head and a duffle bag tossed over his shoulder. As he turns to leave, you notice the 4 letters written on his hat in bright red - LAFD. 

“Hey!” you call out, “You’re a firefighter ?” 

The blonde smiles and nods, “yeah, I started today actually. The guys at the station were talking about the coffee shop down the street. I didn’t get a chance to come during the day so I thought I'd come now- but I can come back another time, you’re closed”

Waving off his statement, you pick up a cup from the counter. “Nonsense, I'd never turn away one of the city’s finest.” you smile, he chuckles. “The city’s finest is more of a cop thing.” he tells you. 

“Is that so ?” asking, you begin looking through the fridge to see if there was any milk, he hums. 

“I think you’re pretty fine yourself” you mumble, standing straight when you realize what you’ve said. Your back was to him, a blush burning up your face. 

What you didn’t know was that Buck was blushing too, a pretty person like you calling him fine was surely going to make him blush and that it did. 

Clearing your throat, you turn to face him again. He was looking anywhere but at you for the moment. 

“What can I get you ?” 

“What do you have right now ?” 

“Just about everything, except for baked goods. I usually put those in the oven in the morning but I do have a tray of cookies if you’re interested.” 

“That sounds good,” he smiles at you. “I’ll take a cookie and uh-” glancing up at the menu, “whatever is your favourite drink” 

Humming, you turn and head to the kitchen to get two cookies for him and then begin mixing some coffee and creamer in a cup, along with ice and some caramel sauce. You ended up making two, one for him and one for you. 

The man was sitting at one of the stools by the window. He was watching the cars drive past. “Here,” you slide the plate over to him and set the cup beside it. 

He smiles, “thank you. How much do I owe you ?” he asks, reaching for what you assumed was his wallet. “Oh, don't worry about it. The register is locked and it’s your first time here, I wouldn’t have charged you anyways” 

“You don’t charge first time customers ?” 

“Only the firefighters, y’all hold a special place in my heart” you laugh, he smiles once more. 

“Are you in a hurry to leave? I can take it with me if you are.” 

“No, you're alright. The cookies are warm, I just took them out when you got here.” you sit beside him, taking a sip of your drink. He also takes a sip of his, you watch as his face twists and he smacks his tongue to try and figure out what it is. 

“I call it the y/n special” filling him in, his brows furrow. “It’s basically just caramel ice coffee” a small laugh passes your lips as you take another sip.

“I’m y/n by the way.” “I’m Buck” he smiles.

--

From that day, Buck was a regular in your shop. You made him a regular coffee before his shifts, 2 cream and 3 sugars - you've come to realize he had a bit of a sweet tooth.  After work, he’d stop by for an iced coffee and a cookie. You’d always keep some in the back for him. 

This became a routine, you asked him for his number so he could let you know when he was on his way to work that way you’d have his coffee ready if he was running late. 

Most mornings you’d just get an ‘coming’ or a little fire truck emoji letting you know he’s on his way to work. 

Over the next year and a half, the two of you became close. All the guys that came in from the station always teased you about your “boyfriend Buck” although he wasn’t your boyfriend. 

The two of you were close, you hung out all the time - when Buck had days off, he’d still stop by the shop for coffee or just to see you even though he lived in the opposite direction. He would also pick you up after work when you could walk home because you lived down the street. 

You often stopped by the station when you knew they were on a 24 hour shift. Buck would text you hourly with whatever he was thinking about, especially during the nights when most of his team was asleep and he couldn’t. During those 24 hour shifts, the last few hours kicked their asses, everyone was tired and too lazy to move to do anything about it- those were the days that you headed into the shop early to get some stuff together to take over for them. 

Over time, the affection between the two of you became clear to everyone but the two of you. 

You only really noticed you liked him after his unfortunate run in with the fire truck and his promotion which you decide to celebrate with him. 

There you were, a bottle of champagne in one hand and a bag of Thai takeout in the other - the perfect thing to celebrate his new- temporary as he kept reminding you- position. 

He had invited you over to watch a movie but life was short as was recently reiterated after Buck’s “getting stuck under municipal equipment” phase as the two of you joke. 

“Hey!” he smiles at you when he opens the door, immediately noticing the bottle of champagne in your hand. 

“The nice stuff,” he hummed, stepping aside so you could come in. You set the bag on the counter with the bottle before venturing further into the kitchen to find glasses. 

“What are we celebrating ?” he watches as you tumble through the cupboards. 

“Y/n?” “What ?” 

“What are we celebrating ?” he asks once more. 

“Do you not own any champagne glasses ? All I can find are solo cups and those ugly ass mugs you have.” sighing, you grab the solo cups knowing his answer already. 

“Y/n/n, I'm a 20-something year old guy living by himself-” “What makes you think I have such things?” finishing off the sentence for him which makes him laugh. 

Setting the cups down on the counter, you push the bottle over to him. “Would you be so kind as to do the honours?” you hop onto the counter. Buck peels the casing from around the top and then shakes the bottle. 

Your brows furrow, “that’s going to make a mess-” before you finish your sentence, the bottle pops. 

The cork ends up somewhere in the apartment whilst the very expensive champagne is sprayed everywhere. Buck just so innocently titled the bottle your way, soaking you in the liquid. 

Laughing, you pull the bottle away from him. He's standing in front of you when you grab his chin, pulling him towards you. Your left hand is cradling his jaw and leaning his head back to pour some of the champagne in his mouth. You over poured and split it on his shirt. 

The two of you were a laughing, sticky mess and the bottle was already half way empty. He held the cups out for you, letting you pour some into each cup before handing you one. 

“Okay, now will you tell me what prompted the champagne showers ?” he smiles, leaning against the counter next to you. 

“Well, life is short. You’re a fire Marshall now so, I’m here to celebrate.” 

Buck smiles at you, he wasn’t the biggest fan of his new job to be honest. Sure he liked it, but he’d do anything to be back out in the field. 

Your arm stretched out, “So to you Mr. Evan Buckley, wait should I say Fire Marshall Buckley ? Anyways congratulations my love, you deserve the job but if the power goes to your head, I'm putting you in your place.” laughing, you bump your cup to his. 

“To a speedy recovery and hoping for your return to the field soon because you’re driving everyone mad. Cheers!” 

Both taking a sip before Buck hops up onto the counter beside you. He shifted slightly, making a gap between the two of you and pulling the bag of takeout to the spot. Dinner was had on the counter, eating straight out of the containers.

“Bobby would be so upset if he saw us right now.” Buck mumbles, his mouth full. 

“Mhm but he’s not here. He doesn’t have to know.” 

A few moments later, his phone began ringing. He pulls it out and his eyes widen. There’s a confused look on your face, waiting for him to give you some context or tell you who’s calling. Finally he shows you his phone. 

Bobby is calling. 

“You summoned him!” Buck shouted. You resisted the urge to laugh. 

“Answer the phone!” 

You watch as Buck answers the phone, holding back his laughter at the conversation moments ago. He looked happy, you loved seeing him like that. The way his eyes glimmered when he smiled that million dollar smile of his, how his curls showed when his hair was wet or if he hadn’t cut his hair in a while. 

It was the little things that made you fall in love with him. 

He was still on the phone when you decided you’d find something to change into. 

He watched as you made your way to the bathroom, coming back out shirtless with a towel in your hand, drying off. He noticed the way you took a step every two steps like he does. He could hear you humming from upstairs, the way you went up in pitch when you saw something you liked or how you’d stop in-between to start whistling. He smiles to himself as he ends the call. 

He too had fallen love with you somewhere along the line. 

----

You watched as the little bubbles popped up on the screen on and off for the next few minutes. 

Today was your wedding day. 

You hadn’t spoken to him all day, things had been hectic. You promised to see him before you got married but truthfully, you had been so consumed with planning and making sure everything was ready that you didn’t get a chance to. 

Your friend comes in, sticking their head in and smiling at you. “You ready ?” they ask, you hum before taking one more look at the phone. 

“As ready as I'll ever be.” 

It was a hot summer day in June, you and your fiancé had decided on an outdoor wedding considering you had always wanted a June wedding. 

Standing at the end of the aisle, each side of the yard was filled with people you loved and cared about but your love was smiling at you on the verge of tears at the altar. 

Resisting the urge to laugh at him, you smile as the music begins playing - your cue to make your way down the aisle. Making it to the end without tripping, you smile at him. 

“Hey,” you smile, reaching for his hand.

“You look beautiful” he smiles, he leans forward to give you a kiss when a hand against his chest stops him. 

Bobby gives him a disapproving look, “I’ll be fast but you gotta wait to the end to kiss them, Buck.” The statement earned him a laugh from the crowd. 

The heat was getting to everyone including the two of you so Bobby skipped over the unnecessary parts, letting the two of you say your vows. 

You started, your hand giving his a squeeze. “The day you walked into the shop, I thought ‘damn, I'm gonna die. Why do I always forget to lock the door?’ but little did I know, it was going to be the love of my life walking in. From the moment we sat down and started talking was the moment I knew you were the one- you made me smile, laugh, gave me butterflies but you also made me feel safe, like I could tell you anything and you’d always be there for me. I watched you walk out with the promise of coming back in the morning and I knew then, we were gonna have a June wedding.” you laughed. 

“You taught me what love was, how to be happy, to never give up no matter what life throws my way because for the last 2 years, that’s what I've watched you do and I'm so incredibly proud to be marrying you. There’s no one else for me. It’ll always be you.” you smile, blinking back the tears. 

“How am I supposed to compete with that ?” he hums, giving you a grin. 

“Everything about you is.. perfectly imperfect, in every single sense of the term. You strive for perfection, but you come up with a slightly different version every time and I love that about you- like when you run out of breath while singing you start whistling so you don’t lose the melody, it’s the little things that make me love you. You hold the stars and the moon, you’re my whole world y/n, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. You make me a better man and I could never thank you enough for that.” Both of you are about to cry, looking at each other with the most love and adoration in your eyes. 

Bobby cuts to the end, both of you now impatient and waiting for him to announce that you were officially a couple and the moment he does, Buck pulls you towards him, kissing you like it was the last time he was ever going to. 

The sound of clapping and cheering filled your ears, making you both smile as your made you way back down the aisle officially as the Buckleys. 

---- 

taglist: @advicefromnixxxx @dralexreid @keenmarvellover @beth-winchester21 @fernandaweasley2 @yikesyikesyikes95 @hotchsdarling @duhbar1975 @hailsstormthings @averyhotchner @captainxholmes @venusrosepetal @luke-alvez @looney-literature @caitsymichelle13​ @artemishunter18 @multibuckley 

[zolusbian]

lana del rey songs ranked by how lacho del rey they are: born to die (paradise edition) PART ONE

strap in this shit is crazy

born to die: 10/10

this is post 5x10 nacho reflecting on lalo in the hotel room. it's not even worth picking out lyrics because they all apply. honestly i should make a music video to this.

off to the races: 10/10

honestly giving both ottr and btd the same rating is a little weird to me because ottr is, personally, to me, more lacho. but only because it is the lacho that lives in my head where nacho fully succumbs to the lana-ification and becomes the man he was always meant to be, i.e., lalo's sugar baby. i also personally like interpreting it from nacho's pov because "my old man is a bad man" is insane, he has a broke-down life but an la crass way about him, he's putting his red dress(shirt) on, etc., but i know some people like to think of it as lalo pov, and that's valid, too! anyway i legitimately have a full music video of this in progress.

blue jeans: 4/10 (nacho pov) vs 9/10 (lalo pov)

this one gets a discrepancy because it makes less or more sense depending on who you imagine. blue jeans white shirt walked into the room made my heart hurt is obviously lalo in the famous fit:

like this could be an album cover. but the other stuff doesn't fit from nacho's pov as well.

BUT from lalo's pov we have it!!! we do have nacho in a blue jeans white shirt but lalo never saw that and it's not very nacho-esque anyway ): also it's not like lalo to cry over nacho. but the sentiments of loving you more than those bitches before (amber and jo -- sorry women, you're not bitches, but we put the feminism away for lana del rey time) and "But when you walked out that door, / A piece of me died / I told you I wanted more, / But that's not what I had in mind / I just want it like before / We were dancing all night / Then they took you away, / Stole you out of my life / You just need to remember..." is very lalo-realizing-nacho-worked-for-gus. as is the rest of the song. if only gilligould would let lalo be textually gay instead of subtextually gay.

video games: 2/10

look, video games is the first ldr song i ever heard and i love it and it's my life whatever, but it's, unfortunately, not very lacho. lana is too happy here. lalo is old and doesn't understand video games. it does get points for "I heard that you like the bad girls / Honey, is that true?" (nacho is a woman) and the lines about holding in big arms and playing pool and wild darts.

diet mountain dew: 5/10

the aesthetics are on point, but it's a pretty general song and really could be applied to any toxic relationship. also neither of them drink diet mountain dew. a few things stand out, though. the usual riding in old cars, smoking cigarettes, mention of jesus, etc, that lana is famous for, of course. this is a white pontiac heaven:

i think it's a bit too old school for the lacho aesthetic, unfortunately. they're more 60s/70s cars than 50s style. though i could imagine lalo keeping a couple of 50s around for nostalgia, but that's headcanon. (imagine little lalo riding in a car like this with his dad and his mom in a headscarf through mexico city or something...)

and no, nacho, i have never seen a girl so pretty as you.

anyway, too general. next!

national anthem: 9/10 (lalo pov) and 10/10 (nacho pov)

god, they are both so handsome! national anthem blah blah blah lalo is mexican and nacho is chicano and they probably tease each other about that. there’s already an fanvid to this but i can’t find it. a link would be appreciated! so since you guys already have it from lalo pov, i’ll do nacho.

here’s a bugatti veyron, which if nacho was alive in 2012, he definitely would have one:

“ Money is the reason we exist” yes, you are in a cartel. “Um, do you think you'll buy me lots of diamonds? ("Yes, of course I will, my darling")” nacho get over yourself and let yourself be a sugar baby!!!

seriously, you can be his housewife. you don’t have to cook and you don’t have to clean because you’ve got that wet ass pu-

dark paradise: 9/10

one that is unequivocally from lalo’s pov. i knocked a point off because we don’t have lalo canon mourning nacho and also he has no friends to tell him that he’s wrong. their relationship is definitely a dark paradise though!

nacho is dead. :(

radio: 2/10 (canon) 10/10 (the secret good version of lacho that lives in my head)

the 2/10 for canon comes from this:

nacho’s father is an immigrant who believed in the american dream and if i talk about it too long i’ll get sad, which is not the point of this. moving on!

again, nacho, give in. this could be your life. you could be sweet like cinnamon. your life COULD be like a dream you’re fucking living in. YOUR DAD DOESN’T EVEN LIKE YOU. GO TO YOUR NEW DADDY.

carmen: 0/10

this is not lacho at all. good song though and definitely applicable to other blorbos.

million dollar man: 5/10 (nacho pov) 8/10 (lalo pov)

first of all, this is a great title. i should save this for a fic. lalo is a million dollar man. he’s a seven million dollar man, actually.

i’m getting a bluebell tattooed on me i swear.

anyway, lalo didn’t break nacho’s heart so it’s not as applicable from his pov, even though he IS the most exotic flower and lalo IS screwed up and brilliant and looks like a million dollar man. here’s the fun part, though: so does nacho! therefore, it is actually better from lalo’s pov, as nacho did leave his heart broke ): 

summertime sadness: 4/10 (nacho pov) 7/10 (lalo pov)

alas, if only nacho had lived to see the summertime. he could be putting on his red dress and dancing in the pale moonlight. but he killed himself so. it is kinda applicable if you think about it as being right before his suicide, but also he told lalo he was a soulless pig and not “baby, you’re the best” so. 

but this is very lalo if lalo had the emotional ability to let himself feel sad over the betrayal. but he doesn’t! 

now if this was what comes next ‘verse....10/10 for both of them <3

this is what makes us girls: 0/10

nacho is a girl but he was hustling as a teenager, not whatever this is, so 0/10. also my least favorite song on the album.

[pepperonijem]

When He Sees Me || Peter Parker

MASTERLIST

Pairing:  Peter Parker x Reader

Warnings: um peter might be a little ooc and that’s because i’m writing about my unfortunate crush but i basically just changed his name to peter parker any resemblance to real persons living or dead is purely coincidental <3 

Word count: 2.5k

Summary: What if when he sees me, I like him and he knows it? What if he opens up a door and I can’t close it? Catching feelings for your best friend is never easy.

A/N: This fic is sponsored in part by @bitchassbucky, @spiderrpcrker, @shurisneakers, @midnightsunfae, and @blackberrybucky who instead of shutting down my feelings, hyped me up to turn my crush and some of the things that we’ve done into a fic <3 this goes out to anyone who has ever started crushing on their best friend.

Oh God, please don’t walk this way, please don’t wa-

“Oh, hey Peter!” The crack in your voice betrayed your attempt at a casual greeting, despite your efforts to disguise it with a cough. “How’s it-- how’s it hanging?”

“You good?” Peter smiled at you but his eyebrow quirked upwards in concern. “I just wanted to make sure we’re still on for tonight?” His concern faded into a wide grin as you nodded in response. Peter gave you a quick goodbye before walking away towards his next class.

As soon as you saw him turn into the classroom, you turned to face your closed locker, letting out a groan before setting your forehead against it. Peter had asked if you were good, and although you nodded, the butterflies in your stomach threatened to give you away. You were very much not good.

A tap on your shoulder snapped you out of your thoughts and you turned to see your friend MJ. “What did Peter do this time?” MJ asked. For the last month, every interaction with Peter -- there have been a lot -- ended this way: a groan of defeat and a few welted lines on your forehead from holding your head against your locker. You turned to give MJ a dirty look, annoyed by the amused smirk on her face.

“Absolutely nothing,” you sighed, finally lifting your head up to talk to her. You opened your locker as you talked, not wanting to make eye contact with MJ as you confessed your feelings. “He just… smiled… and everything went downhill from there.” You rolled your eyes as MJ laughed. “It’s getting worse, I have no idea how I’m going to get through tonight.”

MJ laid a hand on your shoulder. “Well we’ll all be there,” she offered. “And if it makes you feel better, no one’s even noticed. Just act normal and you’ll be fine.” She shrugged her shoulders as if that was the easiest thing to do. But you couldn’t act normal anymore, not with Peter. Not when normal means resting your head against his shoulder every time he makes you laugh. Not when normal means borrowing his clothes when his aunt May tells you to stay the night every time a study session runs too long. Not when normal means wearing the extra sweater he keeps for you because you always forget yours.

Normal was when you didn’t feel butterflies everytime he looked at you, before your curious heart got the better of you and you began to wonder what it might be like to hold his hand. Now, things were just weird. At least for you. Nothing on the surface had changed, no one noticed how your heart rate picked up every time Peter touched you, or how you suddenly felt hot whenever he winked at you. But inside your heart was navigating uncharted territory in your friendship, trying to traipse along the thin line that separated how things have always been and how you suddenly wish things could be.

Pulling your textbook out of your locker, you shut the locker door a just a little bit more aggressively than necessary. MJ gave you a small hug before linking her arm through yours as you walked to your next class.

For the rest of the day, you found it impossible to focus on anything. Instead of taking down notes on George Orwell in English, you found yourself absentmindedly doodling hearts. Everything just reminded you of Peter and your own confusing feelings. Thankfully, you didn’t share any classes with him today, leaving you enough solitude to think about just why you were so frustrated with yourself.

Logically, you knew there was nothing wrong with having a crush on someone. You’ve had plenty of crushes before, a few of which reflected a temporary lapse in judgement on your part. You remember telling Peter about each of them, gushing about the most basic acts of human decency as he rolled his eyes and told you that you deserve someone better, but nevertheless helping you pick up the pieces every time someone broke your heart. That, you realized, was what scared you the most.

If you were to date, and then break up… well who would be there with kind words and your favorite boba when everything fell apart? The thought of losing your best friend over emotions, feelings, left far too much to chance. Was the idea of holding his hand, of hearing him call you his enough to make you risk the friendship that has always been enough for you? It should be enough for you, you reminded yourself. There was too much on the line and not enough guarantee for you to risk it.

With that determination in mind, you steeled yourself for the rest of the day, determined to put your feelings to rest and go back to normal.

Unfortunately, that plan quickly fell through.

You got to the restaurant a half hour late with only a really good nap to blame. You felt bad that your friends were waiting for you, but when you got there, you found an empty spot next to Peter, where your usual order of ramen was waiting and against your will, the butterflies flew rampant. The noodle that hit Peter’s nose as he ate while waving you over made you laugh as you sat down beside him.

“I got you your usual,” Peter explained in between bites. You smiled and thanked him before digging in. Peter had done this for you many times, and you willed your body to fight against the flutter of your heart.

Thankfully, the rest of your dinner was going well, and everyone had plenty of stories to tell. MJ had begun doing more portraits of people in distress and revealed her latest piece -- a portrait of Peter slurping up a noodle only to get a rogue drop of soup in his eye. Ned and Betty were off again, but of course they tried to keep it civil (they were on again by the end of the night) so no one would have to pick sides. Flash teased Peter about the B that he made on his literature exam yesterday over poetry and Peter’s face turned beet red.

“Hey,” Peter began, attempting to defend himself. “I totally could’ve made a perfect score. I was just distracted.” He shrunk down in his seat a little bit, and the rest of you laughed teasingly.

“Yeah, you’re telling me,” Flash continued. “You’ve been drawing little hearts all over your notes, dude, it’s unsettling.” He rolled his eyes and took another bite of his food, swirling his fork around the bowl trying to grab as much noodle as possible.

Across the table, you and MJ made eye contact, a look of surprise between the both of you. You tried to signal her to say something before a weird silence fell on the table, but she was not reading your cues. Thankfully, Peter spoke again.

“H-hearts?” He repeated. “Why would I be drawing hearts on my notes?” Although he tried to play it off, the rise in pitch gave him away. He scrunched his face in exaggeration.

“Actually,” Betty began. “Now that I think about it, you were doing that in Spanish class too.” You glanced over at Peter who looked at you with panic in his eyes. You took a long sip of water, suddenly feeling a layer of sweat form at the back of your neck. “Wonder what that’s about.” She shrugged and turned to Ned asking if he wanted to split a slice of cheesecake with her.

Before Peter had a chance to try to defend himself once again, the waitress appeared. “Are you all ready for the check?” she asked.

“Yeah, but we’re splitting the check,” Flash replied. Betty rolled her eyes in response. “What? Just because I’m rich does not mean I have to share the wealth.”

The waitress nodded in response. As she was leaving Peter called her back. “Oh wait,” he called. “I’ll also be paying for this order,” he gestured to your bowl. She smiled at him and headed for the counter.

“Peter,” you smiled. “I have money, I can pay for myself.” Although Peter usually had to order for you, he didn’t usually pay for you, unless it was a special occasion.

“I know, I just wanted to be nice,” he responded, giving your shoulder a playful nudge. “Plus, you seem like you’ve had a rough week. Every time I see you, you seem to be lost in thought. What’s been on your mind?” The sentence came out casually, but the furrow in his brows revealed how concerned he actually has been. Peter was nothing if not observant, like he could sense things better than most people.

You let out a sigh, unsure of what to say. You didn’t want to lie to Peter, but you also didn’t want to tell him the truth, that you were thinking about him-- well, your feelings for him. Just when it seemed like he had backed you into a corner, however, the waitress had returned with the checks, and the question left unanswered.

After dinner, the six of you went to Flash’s house to watch a movie. He had a home theater and early access to new movies and he loved to remind everyone of that. Not that any of you minded, especially if it got you free popcorn and a movie out of it. Every week, a different person got to select the movie and today, unfortunately, was MJ’s turn.

You loved her, of course, but you absolutely detested her taste in movies. Mostly because she was a horror junkie, and you were absolutely not. Her last few turns however had been spent making sure you all had seen all of the Shrek movies. But today, she picked a horror film. Something about demons and the like. Peter and Betty cheered at her selection as Flash groaned. You settled into the couch in the back of the room and grabbed a blanket. Ned and Betty sat together on a smaller loveseat, and MJ sat on the floor in front of Flash’s seat, the perfect spot to be able to scare him with a single touch on his leg.

Peter sat down beside you, handing you a tub of popcorn and a soda. He pulled the blanket over his own lap as he sat criss-cross on the couch. You tried not to pay attention to how his leg was brushing against yours under the blanket, instead focusing on the screen as the room went dark.

The movie had just started, but you could already feel yourself tense up in expectation.The music was coming to a crescendo and you knew something was already going to happen. You didn’t realize just how tightly your fists had balled together in your lap till you jumped at the sound of Peter’s soft voice at the shell of your ear. “Are you okay?” He asked.

He tried to hold in a chuckle as you almost bounced the tub of popcorn off your lap. He grabbed it from you and set it to the side. “Look,” he pointed to the screen where the creature’s head had just rotated a full circle as it crawled up the wall in pursuit of the main character. “That thing kinda looks like the spider from that kid’s tv show, but not as creepy.” You let out a laugh, a little louder than you meant, and Ned turned to tell you to shut up.

The small joke was enough to dissipate the anxiety you felt towards the movie, but unfortunately only heightened your feelings about Peter. But he noticed how your fists unclenched and how your shoulders relaxed once you laughed, so he continued to tell you whispered jokes for the rest of the movie. Each time he noticed your body tensing, he tried his best to make you laugh, and god, how could you stop yourself from those butterflies anymore?

At the height of the movie, you found yourself with your hands over your ears, and eyes squeezed shut, unable to even look at the screen or hear a joke. When Peter realized a joke wouldn’t be enough, he slid closer to you and pulled you into his side and you buried your face into the crook of his neck. Before you had a chance to think about the spicy notes of his cologne or the softness of his skin, the sound of a high pitched scream in the movie caused you to jump with a gasp. In response, Peter wrapped his arms around you tight, with a gentle shush.

It was only after the music began to die down that you opened your eyes again, only to find Peter’s eyes fixed on the screen. Now that the worst was over, you no longer had an excuse to be in his embrace the way you were. You began to wiggle your way out of his arms, attracting his attention.

“What are you doing?” he whispered.

“Peter I’m a big kid,” you smiled, teasing. “You don’t have to hold me like a baby.” Peter let out a soft laugh before relaxing his hold on you just a bit.

“Okay,” he relented. “I’ll just hold you like this then.” He began to shift so that your head was on his shoulder, and one of his arms looped under yours, intertwining your fingers. The smile on his face was calm as if this was something the two of you did all the time, but his racing heartbeat reminded you this was something new.

The two of you remained that way for the rest of the movie. By the time the soft music began to play in the credits, you could hear light snoring from everyone else in the room. However, you and Peter made absolutely no efforts to untangle yourselves from each other. It was as if you were worried that once the lights came back on, you would never find yourself like this again, and what a sad idea that was. Normal, would never be enough for you again, not when you know now how much better life could be like this.

You weren’t sure if it was the adrenaline from the jump scares, or the sureness of his hand in yours, like it’s always belonged there, that gave you the courage to finally break the silence.

“Peter,” you breathed out, lifting your head from his shoulder, but not letting go of his hand.

He turned to you, with a look of concern, afraid of what you might say.

“Kiss me.” The words came out so softly and so quickly that you weren’t sure if you said it at all.

“Finally,” he whispered as his lips fell against yours, softly and slowly. He pulled away after what felt like hours and yet not nearly enough time. His hands reached up to cup your face. “I like you,” he admitted. “So much.”

Suddenly, you felt it. You felt exactly what it must feel like to fly, to let yourself go without worrying about gravity or anything else. The risks were still there, the numbers hadn’t changed, but you knew that no matter what happened next, just having the chance to fly would always be enough.

[whaleofatjme1920]

please scenario where him and his s/o have been besties with toby since they met as proxies when they were young and when they meet up later in life they confess 🙏🏻🙏🏻

Parking Lots, and Surrounded By Your Group and His

[Ticci Toby X GN!Reader]

[Warnings: mentions of death? Nothing major though.]

[AN: I changed the prompt,,,, ever so slightly,,,????]

When the crickets sing in the grass and the breeze is warm and gentle, Toby can’t help but be reminded of a simpler time when he would spend his afternoons catching bugs and eating ice cream on the front lawn with you. He can still hear your laughter as the sun begins to slowly sink below the horizon before the fireflies begin to make their appearance.

He used to spend hours on said front lawn catching them with you, listening to you speak and interjecting with his own jokes. The two of you always had such a grand time together, even when his father would angrily call him back into the house.

Toby didn’t know what love was when he was young, but only that he had it. Every little touch you gave him, the smiles and giggles, they were all small micro expressions of some kind of love - as much love as a child could give. Toby didn’t know how much he adored you. Growing up, the two of you had grown closer and closer. He saw you blossom into a young adult alongside him. Well, he didn’t really blossom, but more so choked his way into being a young adult. And you were by his side for it all, even the hardest, darkest days.

When he lost his mother and sister, he called you in a panic, his voice rough like sandpaper and creaking like wood. He was frantic, unable to form proper sentences. You threw out your evening plans and hopped in your car, driving like a mad man over to his house, ready to console him. The air felt still, cold and slightly clammy as you drove nearer and nearer to his house.

There, on the front porch waiting for you, head in his hands and tears drenching his form was Toby, unable to process the world and everything and everyone in it. He looked so broken and downtrodden as he clutched at his clothes tighter, rocking himself and hugging what physical part of him he could.

Your heart tore into pieces as you parked, then rushed out of the vehicle to hold him. “Toby, Toby!” You called out, tears welling in your eyes as you bounded up to the distraught boy.

He furrowed his eyebrows and blinked away more tears, letting out a strained sob as he picked himself up off the rickety wooden porch, meeting you part of the way. He felt the breath leave his lungs as you crashed into his arms, burying your face into his chest.

“I’m so sorry,” you mumbled like a mantra into his chest, letting him hold you tighter and tighter to the point you couldn’t breathe.

Toby didn’t let you go that night.

The last time he saw you was in the parking lot of your high school. Toby had been grieving the loss of his mother and sister, becoming more and more withdrawn into himself. He’d honestly been withdrawing from you as well, and that concerned you more than anything. So, to remedy this, you took matters into your own hands and forced him to meet you in the parking lot after school.

The two of you sat down on the hood of your car, talking about the world and its wonders and the things that are better left unsaid until late, late in the night.

Toby felt so at home in your presence that he was able to block out the voices for just a little longer. He reveled in the sound of your laughter and the presence of your being. He was just… Lighter than air to be with you.

But all good things must come to an end, and unfortunately, your parents desiring you home had brought the time the two of you shared together to an end.

“I love you, Tobes, you know that right?” You murmured as you hugged him for what you didn’t know was your final time.

“O-Of course I d-d-do,” he whispered back, nose burying into your hair. “I l-love you,” he said, tears threatening to spill once more.

The two of you remained in each other’s embrace before you parted from him, and he let you go for the final time.

And Toby felt alone, oh so alone.

So alone that he burnt down the village to feel its warmth.

There’s only been like, three moments in Toby’s life when he’s been surprised. The first being meeting you as a child, the second being the loss of the two most important women of his life, and the third? Being taken into the arms of the Operator.

He’s a proxy now, does his job well, and is with a group that sometimes tolerates him. He’s in a better place than when he was a child under his father’s roof.

“We’re going to work with another group tonight,” Masky says, a slight sigh lingering on his lips.

“W-Who are they?”

“You know Wallace, don’t you?” Hoodie suddenly cuts in.

Toby nods. He likes Ruth and Nyein, the other two he can live without.

“They got a new proxy,” Masky continues. “And they want us to take them for the evening. So, I guess we’re only working with their runt,” Masky finishes more to himself than anyone else. He brushes his fingers through his hair and pats his pocket for the car keys. “C’mon, might as well head over. Gonna be a bit of a drive.”

Toby glances over his shoulder at Kate, who is watching reruns of Judge Judy and slowly nodding off. “And s-s-she gets o-off scott f-free?” He teases lightly as he stands up, pushing his chair in across the checkered floor. He cracks his neck loudly before walking over to the sofa, his gloved hand rustling Kate’s hair.

She sleepily laughs. “Have fun and be safe, boys.”

“Get some sleep,” Masky chuckles, watching as Hoodie rustles her hair just as Toby did before heading out.

Toby zoned out a bit on the car ride to wherever the meeting place was. He always tended to zone out, but he couldn’t shake some weird buzzing in the back of his head. Something about the way Masky and Hoodie are talking about Wallace’s newest runt…

He doesn’t often remember things from his life before he became a proxy. The Operator made sure of that so he wouldn’t be too heartbroken to continue his job. But he’s always been able to remember you - more or less. Little glimpses, the feelings associated, you were never easy to get rid of.

Instead of mentally traumatizing him further, the Operator allowed him to keep his thoughts and feelings associated with you. Most days, Toby’s dim love for you spurred him forward.

“Time to go meet a runt,” Hoodie says, voice only slightly amused by the way the word ‘runt’ rolls off his tongue.

Masky parks the car and then shoves the keys into his pocket, nodding that it’s okay for everyone to get out of the car.

Toby stretches briefly in his seat before sliding out of the car, taking in the crisp night air. He takes a gander at his surroundings for a moment before locking eyes on a group of people. Wallace and his group - Toby narrows his eyes at the two men before catching Ruth and Nyein. His favorite proxy that’s not part of his group and his favorite independent other than Jeff and EJ. How nice.

Masky begins to walk over to meet the other group leader with Toby and Hoodie close behind. He looks tired, which is usual for him, but happy to see that Nyein is excitedly waving. “Heard you had a runt for us?”

“Sure do,” Theo says, looking over his shoulder. “C’mon out, they’re not going to bite you.”

“What, are they scared of us?” Hoodie chuckles as he puts his hands into his pockets. He glances past Theo to see a dark shape moving in the backseat of the car.

“It’s like, their first day working with people that aren’t us,” Wallace attempts to explain. “And from what we can gather, they only entered this life because of-”

“Toby.”

The name that pours from your lips sends Toby’s head and heart spinning. “E-Excuse me?” He barely manages to choke out as you step forward, pushing aside Wallace and Theo, looking at the much taller man with stars in your eyes.

“Oh my gods, Toby, is that you?” You whisper, still walking forward to meet him like a dream.

Toby’s eyes widen as he looks at you, no, stares you down. You look so much different than when he let you go as a teen - you’re all grown up now! Some things have changed about you, but other things have stayed the same.

Both your group and Toby’s give each other confused looks as if to ask the other if they knew about this before you rush forward, face planting into Toby’s chest.

He takes in a sharp breath and embraces you, laughter bubbling up from his throat. He takes in your sweet scent and picks you up, moving you from the group as he begins to twirl you and babble on about how much he missed you.

You giggle, tears falling like drops of rain from your eyes before you feel yourself planting back down into the parking lot, your attention focused on him and no one else. Your stomach is fluttering with butterflies as you look up at the teary eyed man. “How have you been?” You ask quietly, closing your eyes as Toby leans down slightly to rest his forehead against yours.

“Never better.”

[astaroth1357]

MC's Family Finds Out that They're Actually Dating a Demon the Hard Way

Demon boys more or less going demon on the MC's family. Bound to happen really. This one ain’t so cuddly guys. Special thanks to @anonimo324 for the inspiration for this one. Literally never would have occurred to me if they hadn't have said something and I love the excuse to revisit this idea. 😄 

Check out the Masterlist for more!

IMPORTANT: Continuation to "Demon Brothers Meeting the MC's Family" The general setup to this post is in that one.

Lucifer

You know what they say about things that seem too good to be true, right?

Oh, their MC's new boyfriend was smooth, put together, intelligent…

And prideful. So very prideful.

It radiated off of him like no tomorrow, there was just a subtle but constant air of superiority to everything the man did or said. Some may find it attractive but others? It can drive other people right up the wall.

And that's exactly what it did to some members of the MC's family. Even if he seemed educated and well-spoken what made him think he was so special? What made him think he was just so much better than the rest of the world??

They couldn't have known just how angry he'd get when they confronted him about it.

They couldn't have known that they weren’t questioning an arrogant man, but a prideful demon who'd take offense at the mere thought of being anywhere near their level.

It was only when he stood towering before them, demonic wings and horns in full view, did they learn the folly of their actions.

In their hospital beds, bones broken and bodies bruised, they'd rant and rave to anyone who'd listen "He's a demon! A demon! My child/sibling/etc. is dating a demon!!"

The MC disappeared with Lucifer that night, however. Their family writes them off as either dead or kidnapped for torture purposes.

In truth, they returned to the Devildom and Lucifer will never hear the end of how he lost control and attempted to skewer the MC's family members. Surely such a mighty demon should have better control than that... 🙄😑

Mammon

His dumbass let it slip a couple months in, but not without good reason for once.

He had actually been doing pretty well with their family. Sure he wasn't perfect,  but he made it clear enough he was looking out for MC and honestly the rest of them as well.

It was small things. Checking up on them sometimes. Making sure the little ones, if any, were safe. Not stealing anything that isn't nailed down (though that's something the MC notices more than their family of course).

It takes a lot. A lot. A LOT to make Mammon break out his demon form. He's better at keeping it in than Lucifer. But showing him something that’s threatening MC is actually a pretty quick why to do it.

The family was out together on a shopping trip, a giddy Mammon included because he knew that meant he could beg ask the MC to buy him stuff.

They really should have checked before they started strolling down the damn crosswalk, but they didn't, and an impatient taxi went hurtling towards them.

Before they could even open their eyes Mammon was already lecturing them about their stupidity, holding them on the other side of the street. Shirtless because his demon form was out and the dumbass forgot to hide it again. Even though they were in public.

He was quick to change back once he noticed, but the damage was done. You can say their family was a little surprised that he straight up grew wings and horns. Only one of them fainted anyway.

To avoid causing further panic, Mammon just legs it away with MC still in his arms, shouting back an quick expletive laced "apology" over his shoulder.

MC smooths things over with their family later by phone. No one can quite wrap their head around the fact that Mammon is a demon, despite what they had seen, but it helps that he did seem to want to protect them.

The MC is not allowed to come home if they want to bring their demon boyfriend too, but their family isn't as worried about them as they could be. Mammon's looking out for them after all.

Leviathan 

Okay. They always knew the boy was a little weird but hot damn did that opinion suddenly go from 0 to 60 real quick.

Levi was distant and off-putting at first but in time it became pretty clear that he was just pretty awkward. He wasn't the best with people, but he seemed harmless enough.

It was the MC's idea to bring him along on a family weekend trip to the beach. They honestly couldn't understand why at first. He never seemed to like being with them...

It DID start to click for them a little more when they saw the guy in the water though. They can say it's probably the first time they'd ever seen him so comfortable in his own skin. He even started smiling!

Things were actually going smoothly for them all for once… until other people started taking notice of MC in their swimsuit and one bold gentleman decided to make a cheeky comment on it.

Now, Levi had always stuck close to MC when he was around them. He was practically a second shadow. But it seemed like the second he took notice of those glances he got extra clingy and after that comment.. he started to have a meltdown.

The once bold gentleman was kindly picked up by the neck and hurdled into the ocean like a Frisbee. It would have been hilarious if it weren't so horrifying.

It was about the time that the lad grew a snake tail that the MC's family peaced out off the beach, screaming in terror. MC and Levi left too, mostly because Levi was hellbent on dragging them back to the Devildom in a jealous rage. Obviously THIS is the kind of shit that happens when he leaves his room!

No plans are ever made to go visit again, which he's very happy about. He hated being out in "the real world" anyway.

Satan

Nice as he could be, that temper was bound to catch up to him eventually…

There would be small incidents. A kid cuts him off on the sidewalk and he'd get a little loud and snippy about it. A dog won't stop barking at him and he'd just glare and send it away with a terrified whimper. These things were… worrisome. But not all that demonic.

Then other red flags started showing up. A person on the street would be rude to him and he'd look honestly ready to kill. It'd take MC physically holding him back to keep him in place. Their family was worried about them… Had they'd fallen victim to a possible abuser...?

MC had never listened to what their family had to say, always claiming that they were perfectly safe with their boyfriend. That he had to listen to what they said. But no one really bought that…

Well if there is one way to piss Satan off (and there are many) probably the fastest and most lethal is to doubt his intelligence. Especially if you're only one of those everyday, average humans...

That poor employee at the bookstore had no idea what kind of mistake they made when he told Satan he wasn't looking for Camus but Kafka then refused to double check. Satan doesn't make mistakes about his authors. Ever.

What was originally just supposed to be a relaxing afternoon with the family turned into a night in the station as everyone was questioned about the employee whose head got flattened against the store counter-top. The police weren't entirely convinced a demon did it, but they would look for a blonde.

Said demon had chucked MC over his shoulder and took off before the police arrived to investigate, which as far as they're concerned also kind of amounts to kidnapping.

Satan's now a fugitive in the MC's hometown and on the FBI's Most Wanted List so safe to say that they won't really be visiting anymore.

Asmodeus 

Not as surprised as you might think. There were some signs…

Asmo had a bewitching quality to him that went well into the unnatural. He could soothe and win over right about any person or animal to an… uncomfortable degree.

He also kept bringing up and babbling about nonsense products all the time. He always seemed to have the perfect hair treatment or know the best drinks but no one else had ever heard of any of it. What the heck even is Demonus…?

But the real kicker was, well, just how lustful he was. There were horn dogs and then there was this guy. It felt like he could flirt with a potted plant sometimes.

Though he was nice, no one in their house thought Asmo was faithful to MC. And even if he were, his blatant willingness to tease right about anyone he came across was showing them disrespect. 

Unfortunately, they had made the poor decision to confront him about it and claim that he didn't actually "love" MC….

There are few things more brutal and less forgiving than an enraged Asmo. Here he was with these humans, people he had been nothing but nice to, and they were doubting his love for MC?? What gave them the right!?

He had his demon form out and his whip already raised to teach these slanderers a lesson! Even if he had grown to like some of them, his anger took over his reason and he had to vent his displeasure NOW.

The MC stepped in before he could crack the whip and made him stop. Their family was terrified but he charmed them into calming down while he and MC talked things out.

They (by which I mean mostly a fuming Asmo) decided that since their family couldn't understand their love for each other, they didn't deserve to see it.

They leave the house calmly and don't come back. MC still sometimes calls their family, but they refuse to leave the Devildom or their beautiful fallen angel, no matter how much their family pleads for them to come home.

Beelzebub 

On the one hand, absolutely no one wants to believe it… But it also does make a lot of things make more sense in hindsight.

Like, he was built like a linebacker so it was sort of understandable just how many calories his body seemed to need but there was a limit.

He. Just. Kept. Eating. Never-endingly hungry. Always poking through the kitchen or ordering a mountain of pizzas. More impressively, he never made any leftovers… Ever.

He was such a sweetheart though… They tried to turn a blind eye for a while. Make excuses and rationalize the impossible… but it couldn't last.

It was only supposed to be one nice dinner out. MC had gone over the rules with him ten times before going, "This is a human restaurant and I'm paying, so you HAVE to stop at thirds. Okay? Okay??"

He tried. But the food was sooo good, he just couldn’t stop! And, like clockwork, here comes the manager to cut him off and there goes an angry Beel. Full demon form, tossing tables and wrecking chairs to everyone's absolute horror.

MC had to use the pact to stop him. They could only leave their family with a quick goodbye before they had to book it from the cops on Beel's back as he flew away.

To say there was a mini-meltdown among the members left behind would be an understatement. What the HELL just happened to the sweet young man they had come to know???

The damages were paid for by Lucifer a "mysterious donor" and everything was explained to their family by MC over video call from the Devildom with a very guilty and apologetic Beel in attendance.

When it was clear that the MC wasn't going to leave him or literal Hell despite their protests, they either had to accept it or never hear from them again. Members made their choices, but it's pretty hard to stay mad at someone they've grown to like so much...

He's no longer allowed to go visit them in the human world (which is probably for the best) but shows up on MC's video calls regularly. They still kind of think of him as family even if he could eat them all. He's just such a nice lad, you know?

Belphegor

…. You know, there was always something kind of off about that kid.

It was always hard to place what made Belphie so… different. It could have been the way he never seemed to take any of them seriously or the kind of amazing lack of energy he brought to things.

It also could have been the fact he kept making comments about being a demon, going to "hell," knowing Satan personally, etc. but always played them off as jokes.

Honestly when it finally came out that yes, he was actually a demon, it was almost a relief because it made waaaay more sense than not.

Still fucking terrifying, though.

One of their family members had made the mistake of waking him up from a nap when he and MC were there for a visit

Now. It's not easy to wake Belphie even on a good day but an airhorn to the face is probably not the way to go about it.

When he sent said family member soaring out the window, one-handed, with his horns and tail on full display and a familiar look of murder in his eyes, MC knew the charade was pretty much up...

True to his word, Belphie doesn't let some humans keep MC away from him. He scooped them up and hopped out the broken window before they could really even protest or explain anything.

Which, I mean, how does one even go about smoothing over the fact your demon boyfriend just yeeted one of your family members out of the house?

Their family is kind of able to put two and two together themselves regardless. Which is good because neither Belphie or MC are probably coming back any time soon. If ever. Hope they enjoy postcards...

[beepboop358]

Elmax Thoughts

(reposting b/c I found some more images and for some reason I can’t edit the original)

I am convinced neither Max or Eleven are straight. These are my own opinions since none of it is confirmed.

Max = bi

I think Max is bi because even though she and Lucas are always 'on again off again', she seems genuinely interested in him, she's just not willing to deal with his shit LMAO. But there is nooo wayyyy Max is straight. Max just gives off majorly queer vibes. Max is the only other character in the show associated with rainbow imagery/rainbow details, besides Mike and Will, (that isn’t related to the rainbow room in the lab). Not even Robin is associated with rainbows in s3 (probably because of her scoops troop uniform, and that it was decided during filming Robin was a lesbian). Max is seen wearing clothing with rainbow patterns several times in the show. Besides occasionally Will, none of the other characters really have rainbow patterns in their clothes.

Max also has rainbow bed sheets. When El and Max have a sleepover, they both sleep in Max’s bed with the rainbow sheets, which can be seen the next morning when the phone rings. Both El and Max are pictured in shots with the rainbow pattern.

So...Max has rainbow bed sheets. Interesting. Who else in the show also has a rainbow pattern in their bed sheets? MIKE.

Mike is one of the gayest characters of all time

Max = not straight, confirmed.

El = pan

Eleven definitely gives me major pan vibes. It just doesn't make sense to me for El to be straight. She was raised in a lab, away from society, so she has virtually no concept of what society deems right or wrong or acceptable around sexuality. She won't understand labels, or why people would be teased and tormented for liking someone of the same sex/gender as them. She has no reason to think it's weird, or wrong, or to stigmatize it, because she has never been exposed to any of the prejudices of society surrounding lgbtq+ people. El would have no idea why anyone identifying as lgbtq+ would be mistreated, it would not make sense to her. And since she never learned any of societies biases or stigmas, she can easily see through the bullshit of homophobia and debunk it. She has had no opportunities to internalize homophobia since she has never experienced any because she has never been in society before, which will make her extremely open and excepting of her own sexuality and of others. El also has no reason to have a specific gender preference, she can just like whoever she likes!

Eleven probably has a limited knowledge of what sexuality and preference even is. It doesn't make sense for her to have it all figured out at this stage in her life. When Max and El go shopping in s3, Eleven asks Max, "How do I know what I like?" Since we know the stranger things writers and the duffer brothers LOVE to throw in little clues and hidden messages EVERYWHERE in the show, this line obviously references more than just picking out clothes -and it's completely valid. She is still a kid after all, and she's barely had a fraction of the social development and real life experience other kids her age have. When Will is homphobically bullied in his and El's new school in s4, she will not understand what the words they use mean, or why they are even teasing him about it. She won't understand why being gay is considered "bad". While I don't think either Max or El are straight, I don't think a romantic Elmax relationship will ever be canon in the show unfortunately (although I would love if it would!). Unlike Byler, Elmax does not have the same amount of overwhelming evidence that proves they romantically like each other. I do think El and Max love each other and deeply care for each other, but as best friends. Unless we get an overwhelming amount of romantic development between the two in the upcoming seasons, I doubt they will ever be romantically canon. Max helped humanize Eleven, and showed her how to become herself. Eleven and Max were each others first real "bff". Neither of them had a true best friend in the show before they become friends, they just have their boyfriends. I think Max and El bonding was exactly what each of their characters needed: a real best friend that allows them to grow and develop as a person, but also be there to support each other. I'm sure they will miss each other greatly now that they live far away from each other, and are kind of alone again. They clearly mean a lot to each other. Max even gave El her green scrunchie at the end of s3 before El moves away, and Eleven wears it in the final scenes.

<3 Love them both. This is such a cute moment

[storiesforallfandoms]

worst first ~ machine gun kelly

word count: 1649

request?: yes!

“MGK and his girlfriend reader are doing worst first podcast with brittany furlan(lee) and there all cute. Sorry if this one is weird. Love your writings <3″

description: in which they go on a friend’s podcast to talk about their worst first experiences

pairing: machine gun kelly x female!reader

warnings: swearing

masterlist (one, two)

Sharing my most embarrassing and personal stories on a podcast for the world to hear was definitely not how I expected to be spending my Monday afternoon. But there I was, sat in front of a microphone next to my boyfriend, Colson, across from our friend, Brittany.

Brittany had invited us on to her podcast, Worst First, where the point was basically to talk about your worst moments in life. I was a pretty private person, so I was a bit skeptical about going on the podcast, but I had trouble saying no to Colson’s blue, puppy dog eyes.

“Have you guys ever talked about your worst first relationship stories?” she asked us.

“I don’t think I’ve told Colson all of mine,” I admitted.

“I don’t think I have either,” Colson agreed. “I feel like we definitely have a lot of stories that we just haven’t gotten around to sharing yet.”

“What’s some you have shared?” Brittany asked. “Like...okay, starting off easy, what is your worst first ‘I love you’ story?”

“A girl I was hooking up with said it to me during sex once,” Colson responded almost immediately.

Brittany and I laughed at his quick response. “What, like a one night stand?”

“No, it had been a few times,” Colson explained. “It was this girl, for lack of better words she was a groupie. She followed me to basically every American show I performed and would track me down at the after parties. It was long before I even met (Y/N), so I decided ‘fuck it’ and slept with her a few times. The last time, we were...you know...doing the deed, and she suddenly tells me she loves me.”

Even though I had heard this story before, I couldn’t help but snicker as I heard him tell us again. “That will never not be funny to me.”

“What happened to the poor girl?” Brittany asked.

“Well, me - having some brain cells - went to her hotel room instead of bringing her to mine. So I just got up and left. Never saw her again. I’m pretty sure we have each other blocked on social media and everything.”

“None of my stories will ever measure up to Colson's,” I said. “I’m just an actress, I’m not a world famous rockstar with groupies and shit.”

“What’s your worst first ‘I love you’ then?” Brittany asked me.

“My ex before Colson, I planned this special date where I cooked us dinner, dressed up all fancy, bought lingerie to surprise him with and all. I told him I loved him for the first time over dinner and he broke up with me basically immediately afterwards, then left.”

“That’s cold!”

“It’s not as good as having a groupie tell you she loves you during sex.”

“You have plenty of interesting stories,” Colson said. “Your worst first date story is my favorite.”

Of course it was, because it was probably my most embarrassing story ever. I was going to kill him for bringing it up right now.

“What’s your worst first date story?” Brittany asked, leaning forward in her seat with her head resting on her hand.

I sighed, slightly annoyed that the story was brought up. “It was one of my first real dates. I was like...maybe 16 or 17, on the cusp of my fame so I wasn’t being followed by paparazzi or anything, luckily. This guy I had met about a month before the date had asked me out to this fancy restaurant on a first date, and I was so excited. I went and bought a new dress, did my hair and makeup, even shaved basically every inch of my body. I was so excited, and then the date came and...he was just...boring.”

Colson was covering his mouth to keep back his laughs and giggles, knowing what was about to come.

“We didn’t talk for the first 20 minutes of the date,” I continued. “I tried, but he just couldn’t keep a conversation. It took ordering our food for him to finally talk. Even then, he just talked about stuff I didn’t understand because he was an athlete and he counted his carbs to make sure he loaded them right, or whatever. Stupid shit.”

Brittany was absolutely engulfed in my story. “What did you do?”

“Well, I tried my best to stay throughout the whole date. I wanted to just up and leave so many times, but I figured that would be rude and, being young and naïve, I knew I didn’t want to be rude. So I toughed it out for as long as I could. It wasn’t until we had gotten our first course and he talked about himself for roughly another 20 minutes that I finally had enough and knew I couldn’t stay. So, I politely excused myself to the bathroom, where I found myself very fortunate to find that there was a window just above the toilet that was big enough that my small stature could wiggle out of it.”

I had Brittany absolutely hooked. She was literally on the edge of her seat, her eyes staring me down as I continued to tell my story. I felt my heartbeat picking up as I neared the most embarrassing part of my already awful date story. I wanted to end it there, to insist that was the worst part of the date, but I knew Colson wasn’t going to allow that.

“Unfortunately for me, the window wasn’t quite big enough for me to get through without some problems. So, I got up onto the toilet, I started to hoist myself out of the window, when suddenly my dress caught onto the latch to lock and unlock the window. I didn’t realize until too late, so I hurtle myself out of the window only to hear the fabric of my dress RIP loudly behind me. When I looked down, I had tore basically the bottom half of my super expensive dress off, which left me in just my skin colored tights with the underwear I had worn for the occasion being showed off for the world to me. To make matters worse, I didn’t bring my jacket to be able to cover myself up with.”

Colson could not contain his laughter any longer and finally began to laugh so hard that I could see tears forming in his eyes. Brittany covered her mouth in shock, but I could tell by the shaking of her shoulders that she was laughing, too.

“What did you do then?” she asked once she had composed herself enough to speak.

“I got what fabric I could reach and covered myself up the best I could. Borrowed a strangers cell to call my mom to come get me. I’ll tell you, the looks I got from that stranger and from the people around me were...interesting, to say the least. My mom got there just as the guy was exiting the restaurant, I guess finally realizing I had bailed on our botched date. I was so glad he never saw me like that. I’d probably be the subject of all his stories until the end of his days if I were. And I’m so glad I wasn’t famous enough to be tailed by paparazzi then or else my career would’ve been ruined before it even started.”

I could feel my face burning up with embarrassment as Colson and Brittany continued to laugh. It was truly the worst moment in my life, and I had yet to come to a point where I could look back and laugh at it. I knew it was such a hilarious story, but, until I could also find it that funny, I hated sharing it with anyone.

I got pretty quiet for the rest of our appearance. I only answered some questions from Brittany and told another story or two before the show finally ended. Brittany thanked us for being her guests that week and hugged us both, giving me an additional squeeze as she did so. I guess she felt a little sorry for me after I shared my story.

The ride back to Colson’s place started off quiet, before Colson finally spoke. “Are you mad at me?”

I looked up at him. “What? Of course not. Why would I be?”

“I made you tell that story.”

“You didn’t make me tell it. I could’ve said no.”

“But we both know Brittany and I would’ve begged you to tell it if you didn’t.”

He had a point. There was no way I was getting out of telling that first date story after Colson brought it up.

“I knew it embarrassed you, but I didn’t know how much until you got quiet around the end there. I feel like such a sack of shit for even bringing it up.’

I reached across to give his thigh a reassuring squeeze. “Don’t stress it too much, babe. It is a super embarrassing story, but it’s one of my better ones. I always said I’d write about it eventually when I got famous enough to write a memoir.”

Colson chuckled at my joke and took my hand in his. He raised it to his lips, his eyes still on the road, as his lips brushed against my knuckles.

“We should’ve told the story about our first date,” I said, watching Colson’s face for a reaction. I giggled when I got the one I wanted: Colson’s face cringing at the memory.

“No way. I want to forget that first first date ever happened. Our second date is the first date, we agreed on that.”

I giggled and continued to tease him about it as we pulled into his driveway, which earned me a seat on Colson’s lap once he put the car in park, and his long fingers tickling my sides until I was crying from laughter.

[chenziee]

Romance Dawn for the East Blue

Inspired by @feriowind‘s blessed tweet about Yamato winding up on Dawn Island :)

Enjoy 4k words of the 4 brothers driving everyone  crazy :D

[Read on AO3 or below the cut]

----------

Slowly blinking awake, Yamato struggled to remember why he was lying on the beach of some strange island, the smell of sea salt and trash mixing in the air into something almost worse than the confines of his prison of Onigashima. Almost. It was still freedom after all, and Yamato would gladly take this disgusting smell over his father threatening to place bombs on his wrists.

Looking around groggily, his eyes finally fell on the sad, wooden remains of a small boat, a boat that Yamato had been using to sail this unfamiliar sea during the past weeks. And he finally remembered the terrible events that had led him to this island.

 Yes, it was a dark, stormy night, the likes of which Yamato had never seen even in the unpredictable New World, and definitely not since his escape in the peaceful and calm East Blue. He had fought to keep his boat from capsizing, fighting against the strong winds and ocean currents all by himself for hours… but then suddenly, a Neptunian so large it could only have come from the Calm Belt appeared. Yamato had managed to fight it off but unfortunately, his boat suffered too much damage from the power of his Thunder Bagua. He was then forced to swim to the nearest shore with the last bits of strength he had left—

"I saw the Lord of the Coast attack the fishing boat this person was sleeping in. It was really funny, when they woke up, they screamed so loud I think even the people in Fuusha heard. And then they fell in the water while trying to stand up. But the idiot apparently can't swim so I had to go fish them out."

Yamato froze in place at the boyish voice who was retelling his heroic battle so rudely. Wasn't he allowed to at least pretend?  

Another boy, this one sounding even younger, started snickering then. "I like this person, Sabo! They’re so funny!"

"Luffy, you're the last one who should be laughing here," a third voice sighed. "Anchor boy." Yamato could almost hear the cheeky smirk on his face as he teased this 'Luffy'.

“Don’t call me that!” the youngest one cried, sounding like he was about to fight the other boy.

“Ace, don’t provoke him,” the first boy chided. “You’ll wake the idiot with your fighting.”

That was it.

“Will you stop calling me an idiot?!” Yamato shouted as he sprung up to a sitting position, an embarrassed blush on his face.

They all paused at the sudden movement, blinking up at him in shock. Yamato glowered at them one by one, taking note of how tiny these kids were—the blond and the freckled one looked no older than 12, while the other could be maybe 8. The blond was the only one dripping in water, just as much as Yamato himself was, and Yamato could only assume this was Sabo, the one who had pulled him out of the water. That would make Freckles ‘Ace’, and the youngest one ‘Luffy’.

Yamato had to wonder, though, how Sabo was able to save him all by himself. Yamato was 16 years old, a lot older than however old these boys were, and he was Kaido’s son—meaning he was already much taller than some adults. Although, he supposed he had seen stranger things and people a lot stronger than a human their size should have been. An image of Oden during his execution came to mind immediately but Yamato quickly chased the memory away.

“Oh look, the idiot’s awake,” Ace said lazily, looking thoroughly unimpressed by Yamato’s glare and simply returning it with one of his own.

Luffy, on the other hand, grinned brightly, hopping over to Yamato to stare up at him with stars in his eyes. “Are those horns? Real ones?”

Blinking, Yamato’s hand automatically reached up to touch one of his horns. “Yeah?” he replied slowly, unsure of what he was supposed to say. Was it that weird to people not from the Grand Line to see someone with features like this?

“That’s so cool! Join my pirate crew!” His grin only widened with his request—or demand.

Yamato tilted his head to the side. “You have a pirate crew?” he asked, genuinely curious.

“Well, not yet,” Luffy said, a small pout appearing on his lips. “But eventually, I will be the Pirate King so of course I will have one!” he announced looking so proud and sure of himself and Yamato felt his lips twitch upward.

“Sure, King, I’ll tag along with you,” he laughed, seeing no harm in indulging the adorable kid. And who knew? Maybe he really would end up sailing with him. After all, in 12 years, the Nine Red Scabbards would come back to Wano and Yamato needed to be back there by then. He needed to help open the country.

And who was to say he couldn’t bring the Pirate King with him?

Sabo clicked his tongue then, walking up to Luffy and ruffling his hair. “Stop that, you don’t even know this person’s name.”

“Oh right,” Yamato said, hitting t he palm of his hand with his fist in sudden realization. “Sorry. I’m Kozuki Oden. You can also call me Yamato. Son of Kaido. Thanks for helping me.”

----------

“Ace! Luffy! What’s the meaning of this?!”

Yamato groaned; always a wonderful way to wake up. “Are you drunk again, you bull-gorilla? Go away it’s too early for this,” he shouted back, not even bothering to open his eyes.

There was a moment of silence until someone stomped over to stand right above Yamato’s head. “What did you just call me, you brat?”

Finally, Yamato blinked up at the person with long ginger hair, a cigarette between their lips, and looking decidedly female. He closed his eyes again, mumbling, “Oh you’re not my father. Whatever then.” As soon as he was done, he pulled his blanket over his head to try and get some more peace and quiet.

It might not have been his father but it still was too early for this.

“Dadan, shut up,” some one whined from somewhere around halfway down Yamato’s body.

“Yeah, what’s the problem?” another person joined in, their voice coming from Yamato’s other side.

Oh right. Ace, Sabo, and Luffy had brought him back to their place last night; this had to be the nasty old hag they mentioned. Definitely seemed like one.

“First Garp drops you two on me, then you bring in more and more kids with you? What do you expect me to do, this isn’t a daycare!” It sounded like the woman was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Finally, Sabo spoke up, sounding about as sleepy as Yamato felt, “Dadan, this is our brother, Yamao. Yamao, Dadan.” With that, he flopped back down, his head coming to rest against Yamato’s thigh.

“I’m not a pillow, you three!” Yamato snapped upon the realization of how the boys were laying with their limbs thrown all over the place, Yamato’s own body included. “And it’s Ya-ma-to,” he added with a sigh, already giving giving up on convincing them to not use Luffy’s nickname.

“Where the hell did you manage to pick up another brother,” Dadan complained and Yamato was starting to feel a little sorry for her. He had to admit that dealing with these three was like fighting a hurricane and it hasn’t even been 24 hours since he met them. At least now he was there, a responsible teenager to keep them in check. She should really be grateful he happened to… choose this island to land on.

“Alright, kid. I don’t care who you are you where you came from—” the woman paused, folding her arms over her chest as she stared down and Yamato— “but I will not feed you. One bowl of rice per day is all I can guarantee you.”

Yamato laughed, “That’s not necessary. Oden could do it, I would be a disgrace if I couldn’t take care of myself and my brothers, too.”

Dadan stared at him for a moment, blinking once, twice, before she threw he hands up in frustration. As she walked away, Yamato could hear her mumbling to herself about stupid brats who couldn’t be phased by anything and how she was going to ‘let Garp have it’ the next time he ‘bothered to show his sorry ass’ there.

Yamato simply shrugged and went back to sleep.

----------

Life on Dawn Island turned out to be surprisingly easy and, even more surprisingly, fun. It didn’t take Yamato long to get to know the forest, the mountain, and the Grey Terminal beyond it, running around the place with his little brothers like he was born there with them.

“Yamao, where are you going, that’s the opposite direction!” Sabo called after him in exasperation, pointing the right way.  

A few days after his arrival, he went to retrieve his kanabo from the waters just off the shore. Ace had looked at him, asking why he was so desperate if it was the same weapon the father he so hated used and Yamato couldn’t admit he had a point but… he simply didn’t feel right without it. It was his weapon as well now, and the bull-gorilla wouldn’t take that away from him.

It took him three hours of diving but the happiness and rightness of his kanabo next to him was well worth the effort.

“What are you two anchors doing?” Ace shouted from where he was in the water and towards the two at the beach, looking incredibly annoyed.  

Yamato and Luffy exchanged a glance before turning back to Ace and replying in unison, “Building a pirate ship from sand.”  

Just then, Sabo’s head popped out of the water next to Ace. “I need a break,” he gasped, struggling to catch his breath after being underwater for so long.  

“This club of yours better be made from gold, Yamao, or so help me,” Ace grumbled before leaving Sabo to rest and diving in instead.  

Once he had his kanabo in hand, it became incredibly easy to hunt even the most ferocious beasts around, allowing Yamato enough room to stay back and direct the young brothers, giving them pointers and helping them with their hunting techniques. Usually, he simply watched, letting the boys do most of the hunt, even if it meant the prey got away sometimes. After all, making mistakes and losing was a good way to get stronger. So he let them do their own thing while making sure they were okay, and only jumping in when necessary.

“Okay, here’s the plan. We go around the river, then we split up. Me and Luffy will go up while you and Ace follow the riverbed. It’s risky, but on my signal, you will catch its attention and keep it distracted. Then me and Luffy jump down at its head. Hopefully that will at least knock it out so you and Ace can then come help us finish it. And Yamao—” Sabo paused, giving Yamato a hard, subtly threatening look— “if you run ahead screaming and scare it off again, we’re having you for dinner.” 

Yamato could only gulp and nod obediently.  

He even managed to impress the local Madonna, the cute pub owner Makino. The first time she had come to visit after Yamato had arrived, she immediately dropped all the food, alcohol, and children’s clothes that she had brought, and ran straight to him. She gave him all of her attention the rest of her stay. And even though Yamato wasn’t interested, he had to admit that being fawned over, and especially the jealous stares all the bandits were giving him, felt great.

“Oh my,” Makino muttered when she noticed Yamato. “Luffy did say Yamao was a little taller than him but…” she trailed off, her expression turning troubled.  

“You don’t have any clothes big enough for him, do you?” Dogra asked, munching on one of the cones Makino had brought.  

The young woman shook her head, sighing, “I think I’ll have to make them all from scratch. Yamao, can you come here? I need to take some measurements.” 

"Yamao, you're blushing more than Ace did!" Luffy pointed out immediately, clutching his stomach as he doubled over in laughter.  

Yamato made sure his hand was coated in haki when he hit the boy over the head.  

Over all, he had to say he much prefered the life of a cool big brother over being a pirate crew’s' ‘young master’. It was a lot more fun, a lot easier to breathe. He never felt more free than he did while laughing and running around the mountain, plotting pranks on their brothers with Ace, or getting grounded— getting thanked by Sabo for running off and beating up the pathetic excuses for pirates who had hurt Luffy and threatened the boys' treasure stash.

Even Dadan's frustrated screaming felt more loving than anything the bull-gorilla of a biological parent had ever shown him. And no, it definitely wasn’t much more embarrassing.

----------

"I don't want to be a marine!" Luffy screamed one morning just as the others were getting ready to head out to work their brand new tree house base.

Both Sabo and Ace froze, turning to stare at each other for a moment with wide eyes.

"Run?" Ace asked in a whisper.

"Run," Sabo nodded seriously before they both turned to look at Yamato.

The teen simply sat there, turning his confused gaze between Ace, Sabo, and the direction from which Luffy's voice came a few seconds earlier. "What's going on?"

Ace and Sabo exchanged a glance once more, seemingly coming to a mutual understanding before Ace answered, "Go see for yourself. Luffy could probably use the help."

Immediately, Yamato was on his feet, heading outside to save his adorable baby brother from whatever monster he was facing. He was slightly suspicious of the high five Ace and Sabo had exchanged, not as sneakily as they probably thought, but as long as Luffy was in trouble, it didn't matter much to him.

As soon as he made it outside the little house, his eyes fell on the two figures fighting just a little bit away from the house. Obviously, one of them was Luffy, who was visibly fuming; growling and snapping his teeth like he was getting ready to literally bite the legs off of his target.

The target in question was a tall, although obviously much shorter than Yamato, and muscular old man clad in a bright red and white aloha shirt, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared Luffy down. He looked thoroughly unimpressed by Luffy’s pistol punches—which admittedly still left much to be desired despite Yamato’s efforts to help him out; it was only a question of time before he managed to find the right bang feeling. The man he was fighting looked vaguely familiar but Yamato couldn’t place that face no matter how much he wrecked his brain.

But it didn’t matter.

“Luffy, are you okay?!” Yamato called in alarm, rushing forward while preparing to swing his kanabo at the stranger.

The both of them turned to look at him then, identical angry expressions on their faces and suddenly, Yamato realized who the man reminded him of. It was more than obvious where Luffy got his personality and expressions. Maybe he should… not attack this person on sight?

Making the decision for him, Luffy huffed upon seeing him approach, raising his hand and making Yamato stop. “Stay back, I’m fine! I can kick gramps’ ass myself!”

“Who’s ass are you gonna kick?” the man snapped, his light punch making Luffy clutch at his head. “You can’t win against the fist of love, Luffy!”

Yamato blinked. That was obviously haki but… fist of love?  

Ignoring Luffy’s complaints, the man gave Yamato an obvious once over. “And who are you? Wait—” he paused, looking like he just remembered something— “you’re Yamao, aren’t you?”

“My name is Ya-ma-to, and I’m Luffy’s big brother,” Yamato replied, not entirely sure why he even bothered to correct anyone on his name at this point. No one ever listened.

“Part of the family already, hm? You have an impressive swing; you’ll make a fine marine.” The grandfather nodded, grinning at Yamato in approval.

Yamato did a double take. “I’m not going to be a marine!” he responded immediately, the horror he felt at the though clear in his voice.

“Exactly! We’re gonna be pirates!” Luffy joined in, fully recovered and launching a new rubbery pistol punch, which went completely ignored.

Gramps puffed up, raising his fist threateningly in front of himself. “Nonsense! All four of you will be the strongest marines the navy’s ever had if I have any say in it!”

“No way!” Luffy and Yamato cried in unison, the both of them jumping at the man in a joint attack.

A second later the both of them were rolling on the ground together, clutching at their heads and trying to recover from yet another fist of love. Seriously, Yamato only just met this guy, why was he getting a fist of love? Or better yet, why did it sound like he was already considered a grandson? He didn’t even know his new grandfather’s name.

He guessed it was simply one more proof of his relation to Luffy. It was exactly the same to when Luffy had decided by himself that Yamato was the big brother now, not even half an hour after meeting him, and just like back then, Yamato was powerless in defying that decision.

Not like he wanted to. He would be lying if he said being considered family so easily, so warmly, so unconditionally didn’t make him happy. But still…

“I’m already a pirate,” he growled. Not to mention marines did nothing but fight Oden and the Pirate King’s crew. Like hell was he becoming one of them.  

Gramps took a deep breath, looking like he was about to explode, but Yamato interrupted him. “The navy wouldn’t want someone with my blood anyway. They’d execute me on the spot,” he said flatly, looking the man straight in the eyes, trying to convey how disgusted by the institution, the world government, the current world he was. Like hell was he participating in that. He’d much rather wait patiently for the one who was going to change it all and support them.  

Neither of them said anything for a moment, neither of them faltering as they stared each other down silently. Until finally, gramps grinned, a smile so similar to Luffy’s that Yamato startled.

“If blood’s the problem, all the more reason you should join,” he announced, the smile never leaving his face even as his eyes turned almost sad.  

Yamato tilted his head to the side as he watched the man slowly look at Luffy before his eyes slid in the direction of the bandits’ house. When Yamato turned to look, he could see Ace turning around and walking away, Sabo quickly following with a worried expression on his face.

Well.

At least Yamato wasn’t the only one who obviously hated his biological family around here.

Deciding to leave Ace in Sabo’s hands, Yamato turned back to the problem at hand but before he could snap at the man, Luffy did so for him, “No. He’s joining my crew!”

“Over my dead body!” gramps roared in response, looking like he was going to go off on a rant.

Yamato, however, wasn’t about to sit around and listen to that. “No, over my dead body. Do you even hear how fucked up it is that you need to join the navy to be safe from getting hunted? Neither of us going there,” he growled, baring his teeth for good measure.

The old man paused, blinking at Yamato once, then twice, before he burst out in laughter, one so loud, so honest, and so contagious that, despite having no idea what was so funny, it made even Yamato want to laugh. All his anger was forgotten as his lips stretched in a grin, shaking his head at the sudden realization of how weird this entire situation was. He barely knew what was even happening but… it wasn’t like Yamato ever really paused to think about things. If it felt right, he’d go with it. If it didn’t, fuck it.  

And this, incredibly, felt right.

It was only a long while later that gramps finally caught his breath enough to speak, “I like you, kid. Are you sure you’re Kaido’s son?”

As if hit by the bull-gorilla’s Thunder Bagua, Yamato stopped laughing, only staring with an open mouth as dread ran through him. “How?” he could only say after a dreadfully long moment of heavy silence. Or maybe it was only a second. But it was too much, and made Yamato feel too on edge. Ready to fight. He didn’t want to even hear the bull-gorilla’s name; definitely didn’t want to hear it in relation to himself.

Gramps looked at him as if asking if he was kidding then, but with his only answer being a glare, he started laughing anew. “Kid, if you don’t want people to know, or the asshole finding you, maybe stop introducing yourself with ‘son of Kaido’ to anyone you meet. You have poor Makino quite worried.”

Oh.

Whoops?

“Yamao, you’re stupid,” Luffy laughed.

The teen huffed, shoving hard at Luffy’s shoulder. “You’re stupid,” he hissed back, making Luffy stick his tongue out at him.

Yamato saw it only fair he do the same in return.

Just then, a dark shadow loomed over the both of them and they slowly looked up, only to see gramps looking down at them with an evil grin on his face, slowly cracking his knuckles. “Whatever you say, I will train you stupid brats into proper marines, yet.”

Yamato finally understood why Ace and Sabo’s immediate reaction was to run, then send Yamato as what he could now only assume being a sacrifice. There was no way even Yamato was going to be a fair match for this man. “Oh fuck,” Yamato cursed, scrambling to his feet to follow Luffy, who who was already hafway down the clearing away after taking the first popped knuckle as his signal to bolt.

“Watch your fucking language in front of your baby brothers!” gramps shouted after him just before something that might have been a pine cone flew past him at an impossible speed.

Yamato and Luffy exchanged a glance, identical grins spreading in their lips before they both took a deep breath. “ACE! SABO! HELP!!”

If they were to die today, they’d make sure to take the other two down with them.

----------

Hours later, Yamato lay awake in his bed on the floor of the mountain bandits’ cabin long after his brothers started snoring softly. He was exhausted from the day spent laughing and running away from gramps—or Garp, as he had finally learned earlier that evening once Dadan finally stopped hiding from the man—but as opposed to the others, he didn’t want to sleep.

Not when gramps and Dadan were busy talking on the other side of this thin wall. What had started as the two of them sharing their frustrations and complaints about their kids quickly turned into fondness as they instead told each other stories about the brothers and their antics. Yamoto wasn’t surprised the bandit knew exactly where their secret base was, just as he wasn’t surprised by Garp only pulling out the most embarrassing stories he probably could.

It was a good thing the other three had managed to pass out the second their heads hit their pillows or they’d be trying to fight the old man all over again over it.

Yamato, on the other hand, refused to miss out on a second of this. The adults might not have allowed him to drink with them, claiming Yamato was too young for that—to which he not-so-politely disagreed, but then Garp’s fist disagreed with him—but they couldn’t stop him from listening. Those were his brothers they were talking about and he wanted to hear all about the past ten years of their lives that he had missed.

And if he maybe got a little bit happy every time they brought Yamato up, well… no one had to know that.

“Yamao, I swear if you don’t stop laughing at their shitty stories, I will strangle you with your own hair.”

[peachsayshi]

Chapter 4 - Domain

Gojo Satoru x Female Reader

Tags: Friends with Benefits, Smut, Teasing and a little bit of Fluff. 

Summary: Gojo returns from his trip, and while the two of you are hanging out you ask him to show you some of his powers. Unable to resist himself, he breaks a rule along the way.

A/N: Thank you so much for the likes and reblogs! I pretty much only have this updated on AO3 but am slowly trying to add all the chapters onto my Tumblr.

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When Gojo texted you to let you know that he was at his apartment, he did it with a devious prank in his mind. He informed you that you could let yourself in as the door was unlocked but chose to turn off all the lights and hid in one of the closets.

Then he waited.

He heard the patter of your footsteps and a soft “hello”, before creeping out from his hiding place and lightly approaching you. He was quiet enough for you not to hear him, the shadow of your frame slowing down and he could tell you were getting nervous.

She’s going to kill me, he thought to himself but refused to back out now that he had already set things in motion.

He towered behind you, noticing you freeze in place by the unknown and proceeded to wrap his long arms around your waist before pulling you into his body.

“ Boo !” he exclaimed in your ear, earning a well deserved shriek on your part.

“GOJO, YOU IDIOT!”

You elbowed him in the stomach, forcing him to let go of you as a fit of giggles escaped his lips.

You marched over to the light switches, flicking them to illuminate his large penthouse apartment and you furrowed your brows at the six-foot-three goofball who was covering his mouth to hold in his laughter.

“This is how you greet your friends after coming back from a trip?! By scaring the shit out of them?! Who the hell does that?!!”

Gojo tried to contain himself but the image of your jump scare was perfectly etched in his brain, replaying over and over again. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry …” he said in between laughs, breathing in to regain control of himself. “I couldn’t help myself but you should see your face!”

“Ugh, you immature , asshole!” you grumbled, throwing the bag that you were holding in your hands in his direction.

Gojo had superior reflexes and caught it before it flew over his shoulder. He took a minute to calm himself down, extremely pleased that his plan went accordingly.

Meanwhile, you tossed your purse onto his coffee table, huffing to yourself as you plopped down on his black sofa. You folded your arms across your chest, unable to even look at him because of how irritated you were.

Gojo glanced down at the bag in his hand, the clear plastic enclosing a number of rainbow colored candies on the inside.

He bit his bottom lip out of guilt. “Okay, I’m sorry …I mean it this time…”

You scoffed, “are you? Because you still seem pretty content with what you just did.”

“I’m not going to lie, seeing you react like that was worth it…”

You scooted away from him as he took his seat next to you.

“What if you were some kind of murderer?!”

“Now why would you think a murderer would be in this apartment when I  invited you over in the first place? You’re smart, use a little logic…” he teased as he tapped your temple lightly before proceeding to open the bag of sweets.

“That’s it, you don’t deserve Rina’s candies...”

Gojo clasped his chest in disbelief, “ you don’t mean that… ”

You snatched the bag away from him, a satisfied smile spreading across your lips as Gojo frowned.

Deep down inside he was really happy to see you. Playful banter and all, your presence was the recharge he needed after his trip.

The two of you met eight years ago at Rina’s candy shop. At the time, your best friend was just starting her own confectionary business which you were helping her with by working part time while you were still studying at university. Gojo couldn’t get enough of her sweets, earning himself a reputation as a repeat customer. You and Rina constantly joke that he practically kept the business afloat during the early days.What you didn’t know is that he also had his eyes on Rina’s pretty friend. Unfortunately for Gojo, you were taken and oblivious to his advances.

He didn’t care; just because you weren’t interested in him in a physical sense, didn’t mean that you both couldn’t be friends. Gojo is the type of guy who would confidently socialise with anyone around him. He knew not everybody took to his personality, especially when the words “narcissist”, “egotistical” and “arrogant” were constantly used to describe him. You knew all this about him but still chose to maintain your friendship. How you put up with his petty behavior and childish ways often had him wondering why you stuck around but he was grateful that you did.  

After all, you were his closest friend - the only person he relied on after Suguru died.

Gojo pouted his lips, singing your name as he leaned forward to you and softening his tone. “If I get down on my knees and apologise will you forgive me?”

“Hmmm…” you pondered, “I think that’s a fair punishment and you’re buying dinner tonight, which I’ll be choosing so you can’t make a fuss about it.”

Gojo nodded his head and shifted his position to plant his knees onto the floor. He placed one hand on his chest, his other lifting up his blindfold so he was peeping at you with just one eye.

“I sincerely apologize for the hurt I caused you. Will you please, with a cherry on top , forgive this idiot who is on his knees?”

He noticed your lovely smile, amused that he was the reason behind this reaction.

“Okay, you're forgiven,” you replied, as you extended the bag of sweets back to him, offering him to take his pick.

Gojo returned to his sit next to you, his fingers dipping into the candy mix before pulling out a ruby colored square and popping it into his mouth.

“Mmmm…” he moaned, as the flavor burst along his tongue, “ this is good.. .”

“It’s a fresh batch. She made it this morning,” you replied, picking up a piece of candy for yourself. “Now that we can be civilized. Tell me how your trip went…”

The two of you spoke briefly about his trip but Gojo wasn’t eager to disclose the headache he is currently going through trying to uncover the fingers of a one-thousand year old curse. Instead he shifted the conversation back to you, asking how your morning with Rina went instead. He was only back for twelve hours before he had to leave again. The two of you wanted to see each other but agreed that you would hold off on “grabbing drinks” until he returned three days from now.

However, Gojo noted how good you looked seated right in front of him. Before all this started, you would usually show up at his place in casual clothes, paying no attention about how you looked but tonight he realized that you made an effort.  

You made an effort to look nice for him.  

He appreciated it, because the pair of denim jeans you had on fit in all the right places that he loved paying attention to. Your white t-shirt revealed a hint of the lace bralette you were wearing underneath and the man wondered if that was a deliberate fashion choice on your part just to tease him. Your lips were painted in crimson, practically forcing him to focus on your mouth. He had to remember that the rules were there for a reason. The rules ensured that the two of you maintained the boundaries of your friendship. The rules were there because you two needed to make sure that this didn’t influence your existing relationship in any way.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Yeah, but I can’t promise an answer…” Gojo cheekily replied, popping another sweet in his mouth as he grinned at you.

“Can I see your… domain ?”

“Is that supposed to be a code for my dick or something?”

You rolled your eyes at him, “you keep telling me about all these powers you have but I’ve never seen any of it.”

Gojo squinted his eyes at you, “why are you so curious about me all of a sudden?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you were asking me a lot of questions about work just now, which you usually don’t do, and now you want me to show you my skill set…”

You fidgeted in place, your fingers tapping nervously against the fabric of your jeans. “I don’t know, I think it’s weird that we have been friends for so long but I still don’t know the real you…”

Gojo paused, taken aback by your statement, “of course you know the real me.”

“Not the parts of you that you keep hiding from me.”

It’s for your own good, he thought to himself.

Gojo pressed his lips together to stop himself from saying those words.

“You already know about my Six Eyes…” he light heartedly replied.  

“There’s more to you than that! I guess I’m just curious to see what else you can do. Besides, I’m starting to come up with theories about your powers. Starting with the fact that you have to wear this blindfold at all times otherwise you’re going to start shooting blue laser beams at people.”

“No laser beams, I can promise that,” Gojo replied with a nervous chuckle.

“Then show me the you that “claims” to be the strongest jujutsu sorcerer…” you said, poking him gently on the shoulder. “I just…want to see something …”

Gojo pondered for a moment, sighing to himself as he was not quite sure what he could possibly do that wouldn’t risk putting you in danger. A few seconds passed before he stood up, taking the bag of sweets from your hand and placing it near your purse.

“I want you to stand in front of me,” he requested as he walked around the sofa and found a spot in the middle of the room.

You did as he asked and motioned your way to the position that he had requested. Gojo extended his arm out, ensuring that you were a good distance away.

“Alright, now give me a hug.”

You arched your brow, “seriously?”

“Just do it…” he insisted.

“If this is another stupid prank…”

“I swear it isn’t. Now give me a hug, I’m trying to make a point.”

You walked over towards him, taking your time until you were a few inches away from him. Your arms looped around his waist as you embraced him, but you stared up at him in confusion waiting to see what Gojo was planning next.

“Now what?”

“Okay…” Gojo placed both his hands on your shoulders, before motioning you back until you were an arms length away from him again. “Now I want you to try and push me,” he commanded.

“Push you?”

“Yes. Try to knock me down.”

You scoffed and he could tell that you probably thought he was messing around with you again. Just to play along you nonchalantly placed both your hands up and moved over to shove him, only this time Gojo did something that he’s never done in your presence.

Your eyes widened, your hands pressing into the air that was separating your touch from his body. The force like iron poured over concrete, incredibly powerful and completely protecting Gojo from you.  

“Wait… why…” you voice shook, as your frustration got the better of you. Your hands started to tremble and Gojo noticed you increasing your force as you tried to fight the barrier of his infinity technique.

“ Why can’t I touch you?…”

You were using your legs to push now, every ounce of energy going into fighting the invisible cloak that shielded him.

Gojo smirked before dropping his infinity.

You felt the barrier lift, the pressure giving way as you hurled into him. Your body collided into his, all that pent up energy crashing into the sorcerer as you fell onto the ground. Gojo braced your fall but your face was planted into his chest and your arms lay flat on the ground besides him.

“Are you okay?” he asked, a hint of worry in his voice.

You gathered your senses, pushing yourself until you were sitting upright to face him. A puzzled look masked your face as you patted Gojo’s chest lightly before clutching shoulders and massaging your hands down his arms. “I can touch you now!  How…how did you do that?…”  

Your gaze lifted to meet his own both shocked and amazed by what just happened.

With his blindfold on you couldn’t tell that he was looking at you with wonderment.

Gojo straightened his back so that the two of you were facing each other. You shifted your legs, adjusting your position so you were straddling him. Your hands were still pressing his arms, gripping onto them as if you were trying to prove to yourself that you were indeed touching him.

“You asked me to show you something. So I did...” he said with a shrug.  

“Was that your domain? Are…are you the domain?!”

Your innocent question made his heart swell, and a laugh escaped him.  

“That’s not how it works! It's more complicated than that but this is just one of my techniques that I use to defend myself.”

“That’s… pretty cool …”

“Does it satisfy your curiosity?”

“A little.”

Gojo felt you finally let go of him. He glanced down to stare at your hands which were slightly red. He winced at the sight, bringing his fingers to wrap around your wrist as his thumb circled the center of your palm.

“Did I hurt you?”

“No, this is from smacking the floor when I tripped.”

“Technically still my fault, I should have warned you that I was going to drop my infinity…”

“When I tried to push you it was the weirdest sensation. Like, I was touching something but feeling absolutely nothing at the same time. Has anyone ever broken it? Your infinity?”

“You forget I’m the strongest,” Gojo smugly replied, “nobody can touch me unless I want them to.”

You hummed to yourself but Gojo could see that you were lost in your own thoughts. You took his statement into consideration but he could tell you still had more questions you wanted to ask.

“Thank you for showing me,” you replied softly, choosing to let it go for now.

Your eyes locked onto his, your cheeks a little flushed when you realized how close your faces were to each other. Gojo could sense your pulse increasing, your chest rising and falling as seconds passed between you both.

Right now, all he could think about is kissing you.

His lips brushed yours, a breathless sigh escaping you as you broke the silence that hung in the air.

“ Maybe, we should order some dinner…” you suggested, your eyes shimmering with anticipation.

“That’s an idea,” Gojo murmured, his eyes from beneath his blindfold dropping to your lips.

“I was thinking maybe we can take away from that place-“

His lips locked onto yours, interrupting your thoughts as he gave in to his desire. His hands moved to your hips, tugging you forward against him so he was holding you closer. He bit your bottom lip, before licking it and sliding his tongue into your mouth. Completely entranced by what he was doing, he didn’t notice your hands trailing up his chest until it circled around his neck. This kiss was different, slow and passionate as Gojo took the time to explore your mouth. The taste of sugar dance across your tongues as he deepened the kiss, and he could feel himself getting hard as your chest rubbed against his. One of his hands snaked it’s way up behind your back, tangling his fingers in your hair. His other hand began lifting your tee from the front, sliding underneath it as he slowly began rubbing the flesh of your midriff. You broke away from him, taking a second to catch your breath as you pressed your forehead into his and hoping to calm things down before they escalate.

“We shouldn’t…we said we weren’t going too…”

“You’re right, we probably should stop…” Gojo agreed, but his lips spoke otherwise as he returned a kiss instead.

“ Satoru… ” you whined, but he could sense the heat between your legs as your hips naturally bucked into him. “We said we wouldn’t…not tonight..”

“Then tell me to stop.”

“What about the rules…”

“Tell me that you want me to stop, and we can go back to what we were doing.”

His lips trailed to your neck, where he nipped and sucked at your skin with every intention of leaving a mark.

You whimpered, tilting your head instead and giving Gojo better access to continue what he was doing. Your silence spoke volumes and gave him the consent he needed to continue.

“Rules were meant to be broken,��� he whispered in your ear. “And tonight, sweet girl, you’re all mine …”

- CHAPTER 5: EDGE -