#why have i not done colored text before this fucks on a different level to me

[fuckingwhateverdude]

hard truths

[mollymagician]

Dreamling Week Day 7: AUs

…been battling with this for a month. Dreamling people, ilu, I haven’t wanted to write chapter-length fic in years, what have you done to my brain.

Wanted to have a whole first chapter to post but getting ready to travel for a week messed up my whole groove. Human AU. Dream is a reclusive street artist who can do things that are inexplicable. Hob is intrigued, and also glad it’s not pink penises this time. Matthew is Matthew, with thumbs.

Hob woke at too-fucking-early o’clock on a Wednesday morning to a text from Matthew. Several texts, in fact, though all but the first were just strings of exclamation points and emojis. Which wasn’t entirely unusual but he was entirely too tired to try and decipher it all.

Might want to come down and see this, boss, we got Dreamed!

“What the hell??” He scrubbed his hands over his face and rolled over, shoving the phone beneath the pillow. It wasn’t the best idea he’d ever had, considering it continued to buzz. Incessantly.

Hooooob

Hob, I know you’re awake

Get down here my good dude

Robert.

Im gonna throw rocks at your window again

HHOOOOOOOOOBB

Christ all right I’m coming

he texted back, eventually, toothbrush dangling out of his mouth. Five minutes, a pair of jeans and yesterdays jumper later he was clattering down the stairwell that led from his flat to the side lot of the pub that occupied the lower level of the building. He pushed open the exterior door and ran face-first into a small crowd.

“Matthew!!!” he called. “Matt, what is the— oh, hell.”

Matthew— good friend, pub manager, and reason why the ground under his window was littered with landscaping gravel— pushed his way past the gawkers and said, “Morning!”

Hob tilted his head, trying to make sense of what he was seeing with fifteen people plus Matthew sticking their phones in his line of sight to snap photos. “Yeah, good bloody morning. What exactly am I looking at?”

Graffiti was what they were all looking at, presumably, but the last time he’d had to scrub any off the side of the Inn, it was a neon pink penis and the words BITE ME MARGARET. This was altogether different. Over an area eight feet wide by nearly eight feet tall, each individual brick in the New Inn’s dignified old facade was…colored? It created a pixelated riot of hues, but Hob couldn’t see any particular rhyme or reason behind it.

Matthew elbowed him. “Cool, huh?”

“I…suppose?” Hob said. “I mean, usually when we get vandalized it’s just someone wanting to slag off the monarchy or something, I guess this is a nice change.”

Matthew snorted. He reached out and plopped a hand down unceremoniously on the top of Hobs head. He tugged him backwards a few feet, and then a bit to the right, waggled his head just so, and said, “There, look again.”

Hob blinked and did as he was told. “Oh.”

Sunflowers. An eight-foot-tall bunch of sunflowers splashed across the brickwork, now clear as day when before they’d been a choppy blur.

“Eh!? Eh!?? I know, right!”

Hob stepped past the thinning gaggle of onlookers and reached out to touch the wall at eye level, rendered a brilliant golden yellow by—whatever this was. It hadn’t been here the day before and he expected still-damp paint, but it was something soft and powdery that flaked off the brickwork and stained his fingers. “Is that…chalk?”

“Yeah, I forget how out of touch you are these days.” Matthew followed, snapping closeups from a few different angles as he went. “He always uses chalk. Or she. Maybe she. Not trying to be, you know, sexist. S’just they’ve got that whole Bansky thing going on right now so who the hell knows, really.”

Hob’s felt his eyebrows doing the complicated little dance they did anytime he was trying to follow along with one of Matthews tangents. “They who?” he finally managed.

Matthew pointed to the bottom corner of the mural, where, rendered in weirdly precise swirls of chalk, was the word DREAM.

[rodentchild]

Things my Friends and Family say as Prompts Part 18 - long overdue

"Gravity is a thing that exists! You can't just throw something big and heavy into the fucking sky and not expect it to come back down!"

"Why are you dressed like you lost a bet?"

"I have never heard so many stupid things follow such a deep philosophical sentence before. It's impressive and honestly a little unsettling."

"Is this some sort of game to you?!" "Oh, yeah, absolutely it is."

"You came into a god's domain and tried to make demands? It's almost comical how little you value your life."

"There are very few things in this world that should be sandwich-flavored. Coffee is not one of them."

"It sounds as if you're implying that I need your permission to do such a thing. I can assure you I do not."

"Hey, how about let's not poke the angry animal with poison teeth, and go get ice cream. Okay?"

"You just changed your mind like that?" "Bitch it's 180 city in here and it's all fucking U-turns."

"MOST PEOPLE ARE FLAMMABLE!"

"Is that a bomb?" "No, genius, it's a soccer ball with wires and a timer. You wanna play forward or defense?"

"It took me a decade to realize my favorite color is blue, you're doing much better than me."

"They give their whole heart out to everyone and everything! They love the world so much and I will be damned if they don't think anyone loves them!"

"I'm thinking it's time to pray to every god I don't believe in and run. Fast."

"What are- why are you bruised? Did you fall asleep in a tree again?" "That was once! And it was your fault I even fell out of it!"

"Nothing you say can ruin my mood right now! Look! They have a field of cows! Moo-moos!"

"None of this would've happened if you'd just read your emails!" "This isn't the 80s, just fucking text me!"

"I thought we were only supposed to be working with animal bones? Pretty sure this one's human."

"Gods you're hot." " Uh- I- I'm supposed to be the villain here, remember?!" "So? Still sexy."

"Are you baking brownies right now?" "Yeah." "...Are they pot brownies?" "No." "Well why not?"

"Oh no, I'm not that smart. I'm only here to have a laugh and steal pens."

"Hey, I'm just spit-balling ideas here." "I see your idea. I hear your idea. It's a good idea. I'm doing something completely different."

"I don't know what it is exactly that you want, but I am already sure that it's something illegal."

"I've shown you a monster, and you've done nothing but be kind."

"You wanna join the group chat? It's just us talking about cool birds we see right now but it'd be nice to have a new voice."

"We are broken people living in a broken house. Being scared is nothing to be ashamed of."

"I can have compassion and I can have sympathy. It does not make him my problem."

"I'm good, you go on without me. I'll just sit here in severe pain for what may be the rest of my tragically short life."

"I don't love you to receive a reward."

"That's a level of codependency nobody needs."

[percontaion-points]

Crave chapters 21-23

Click to see the rest of the snark & image descriptions

Chapter 21

He gives me his inscrutable look, the one I’m already coming to hate. “This is going to be a lot of things, Grace. Easy isn’t one of them.”

And then he’s gone. As usual. Double damn it.

Chapter 21 summary: OMG, Jaxon is carrying Grace. And OMG he smells AMAZING. U GAIS. U GAIS. OHMIGOD. /teenagers who actually think that this is fucking romantic instead of goddamned creepy like the rest of the world does (Please note that the act of carrying her up to the room isn't what I'm angry over. It's literally everything leading up to this point and everything after.)

Anyway, he carries her up to his room. Once there, he assesses the damage, and determines that it's likely only a sprain, rather than a break. He wraps it as Macy leaves to get ice. They then have a MOMENT where he's touching her face, and they almost kiss, but Macy comes back with the ice and ruins everything.

He tells Grace icing instructions, and to stay away from Flint before he leaves.

Chapter 22

For several seconds after Jaxon leaves, I wait for the other shoe to drop…in this case, a rainbow-colored Converse in the form of Macy demanding to know what’s going on between us. Which I can already see is going to be a problem on a lot of levels, most obviously the one where I have no idea about what’s going on between us. If anything. Yes, Jaxon has sought me out twice today, but I have no idea what that means. Or even if it means anything. And what was that parting shot about, anyway? This is going to be a lot of things, Grace. Easy isn’t one of them? Who even says that? Was he saying that he’s interested in me? Or that he isn’t?

The author does realize that she's allowed to do time skips... right? Like not every single thing that happens needs to be reflected upon.

“Oh. My. God. OmigodOmigodOmigod. What just happened?”

I can't.

I'm done.

Goodbye.

“Before I saw how he looks at you.” She closes her eyes and makes a sound very close to the one she made when Jaxon smiled at her. “I wish Cam would look at me like that.”

Further proof that Cam and Macy are headed towards heartbreak central.

Macy grins. “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, there is something I want to talk to you about.” She gets up, crosses to her mini fridge. “But I’m pretty sure you’re not going to like it.”

Chapter 22 summary: After Jaxon leaves, Macy starts to freak out. She asks how it is that in less than 3 days, Grace has the two most popular guys in the school lusting after her. This goes on for way too long, and it's randomly interrupted when Grace gets a text from her BFF back in California. I thought that Heather's text might actually add something to the plot, but that seemed to be asking for way too much.

The second Grace puts her phone down, Macy starts in again about the entire Jaxon situation. She says that she'd warned Grace away from him, because he's always so surly and angry. And Grace gets it, because if the only thing Macy has ever known was the way he'd stormed into the party, of course Macy would be on edge. But Macy goes on to say that when Jaxon is around Grace, he seems different somehow. BECAUSE TRU WUV, or whatever goddamned bullshit. However, Grace reminds Macy over and over that it's literally been three days, and it's weird that Macy is pushing her towards either boy.

Chapter 23

Never Bring an Ice Cream Scoop to a Gun Fight

I had to read this and so do you.

I settle for wrapping my arms around my waist and telling myself that she’s wrong. Even as a little voice inside me warns that she’s not.

Chapter 23 summary: Macy brings out some ice cream, and says that it's an ice cream kind of situation. I don't think that the situation is that dire, but what the hell do I know. I've never felt so upset that ice cream was the only solution.

Anyway, Macy tries to warn Grace away from both boys. Except that she's not going to flat out tell Grace that the reason why they're dangerous is because they're vampires, and the reason why they hate each other is because they're from different vampire groups. So in the end, she says a lot of words, but makes zero sense. The plot literally doesn't move forward at all.

In the end, Macy tells Grace that she and Jaxon might have a bond because of Jaxon's dead brother and Grace's dead parents... but she should be careful, regardless. Grace doesn't feel better following any of this, but I don't know of anybody who would feel better after that bullshit.

[joshslater]

Jägermeister

Similar stories and bonus material on my Patreon.

She traced the raised text on the side of the square bottle and looked at the indifferent stag on the label staring back at her above the fraktur font on garish colors spelling out "Jägermeister". It looked sinister in the back alley light. The perfect bottle to fill with a cursed hex potion. She took another swig. What more harm could it do that it hadn't already? She thought back at the past few hours and if she should have done something differently.

Accepting the bachelorette party in the first place was of course a huge mistake. She was surprised to hear from Kathy at all, given how frosty it had been between them over the summer. But this wasn't about any of them but Beth's wedding. Kathy had taken it on herself to arrange the bachelorette party and all the guests would show up as fairies. She didn't have to partake in the kidnapping or anything, just show up at the booked venue at the given time. She accepted.

They had the nightclub for themselves until nine when they would open up for the public. The bouncer checked her off from a list and right inside Kathy was handing out goodie bags with plastic tiaras, fairy wands, and other items for the evening. "I put something special in yours. Don't share it," she said with hushed voice, then continued cheerfully "Welcome prosecco straight ahead at the bar".

On her way over to the bar she had a glance in the bag and to her surprise saw a full-size bottle of Jäger. It made no sense why Kathy had put one in her bag. She wasn't even sure she was allowed to have a personal bottle inside the bar. Perhaps that was the game. Wait until the celebration was over and the bar opened for the public, then accuse her of having smuggled in some liquor. Nah, that was too contrived. She was an evil bitch, but a cunning one.

Happy to be rid of Kathy she hurried to the others who had arrived before her. Plenty of familiar faces, and a few new ones as well. The prosecco was cheap, but the bar staff kept topping up everyone's glasses as the noise level in the room slowly and steadily kept rising.

What she had thought would be a pleasant chat with old acquaintances turned out to be much more labor-intensive. Apparently a lot of the girls had been informed of the fallout between her and Kathy, but with a few exceptions they had only heard Kathy's side of the story. It wasn't outright lies, or consistent inaccuracies either, but she learned Kathy had invented lots of different distortions of the truth and spread them into different groups with no interactions. Why was she invited here at all if she had just poured poison in everyone's ears the past few months? Perhaps it would look suspicious if she hadn't been, though she certainly had worked up lots of reasons why she shouldn't be invited.

"She's been kidnapped. They are 45 minutes away!" someone announced through the speaker system. There was a short pause in the chatter before it resumed, if anything invigorated by the news. She wasn't sure how many glasses she had had, it's hard to count when you never actually empty the glass, but she saw a few of the girls peeling off the group and heading for the restroom. She felt she needed that too.

With the muffled chatter of the bar outside the restroom and stall doors she sat down on the toilet, more than tipsy, exhausted, and distressed. How could she have missed what Kathy had been doing to her reputation over the summer? She glanced down into the silver foiled paper bag and saw the top of her bottle of Jägermeister. Fucking Kathy! Well, at least she had known she needed a drink.

She unscrewed the cap, filled it with the dark liquid, and downed it. She winced at the herbal horror and put the cap back on the bottle. The high proof made her throat and chest warm. Then it spread to her bowels. Then she really started to get concerned. She tried to stand up, but fell back onto the seat. The warmth, now turned to heat, was spreading out into her limbs as well. She could feel sweat breaking out as well as shivers as she slowly lost consciousness.

"You OK in there?!" someone asked, knocking hard on the door. "Yeah" she answered back, immediately shocking her back into reality when she heard her own voice. Was it reality though? She looked at her body, still sitting at the toilet. Her legs, while still freshly shaven, looked way more muscled, as did her arms. Her blouse was open with all buttons ripped out, exposing her chest and stomach. It was clearly a man's torso with a flat chest, faint six-pack, and to end it all dangling at the bottom, a dick. "Eh. OK, dude" replied the woman on the other side of the stall door. She had answered her with a man's voice.

She stood up, this time without any problems. It felt like she was sober, or at least way less drunk than just seconds ago. Or how long had she been in there? She bent down, grabbed her panties, and quickly pulled them up. There was the sound of a snap somewhere and the panties felt limper. She dropped them, grabbed the tutu, prayed that at least something would fit, and pulled them up to her hips. It stayed up. She was still wearing her black converse and her white and pink striped shin socks. She stepped out of the panties and stuffed them and her tattered blouse into the bag. She noticed several tattoos on her arm and chest as she did that.

She braced herself and stepped out of the stall. The mirror wall right opposite showed a lean man with shaved head wearing a tutu. This must all be Kathy's doing. She couldn't even begin to understand how.

What followed was a walk through a packed bar with drunken women, all of which believed he was part of the entertainment, and none of whom had any qualms about putting their hands on him, squeezing his pecs or ass, or trying to pull his dick and balls. A few even tried to rip his tutu off him. "Ladies, ladies, there's time for everyone, but first I need to get out and have a smoke," he tried. He was soon standing panting in the alley next to the bar with three cigarettes and two lighters in his hand that he'd promised to return.

[in-ky]

An Old Scent [2] - Negan x Reader (A/B/O AU)

Summary: During summer break, you decide to come back home to visit your dad, Rick. Over the course of your stay, you realize that your dad's friend is pretty hot.

Warnings: Eventual smut, A/B/O dynamics, cheating, angst, age gap, Negan, a bit of gore if you squint

A/N: ok so everything is written i'm just gonna stagger posting a little bit :') 2.7k words

The first thing I woke up to in the morning was a dull ache in my lower abdomen. Great. My heat was starting up again. Growing up, Bee always asked why I never went on suppressants. I always got a bad vibe from them. Then, a few years ago, a large brand got recalled because it was shown to cause cancer in a lot of different patients. Now suppressants were harder to come by, more regulated, and needed a doctor's prescription. A lot of omegas took the hit hard, but out of it came an influx of at-home ways to take care of your heats by yourself. Super helpful for a single girl like me. When my heats started to get really bad around my junior year of high school, Bee took me out on a shopping spree and got me a bunch of toys to try and satisfy myself. It worked for a while, but they got worse as the years passed. By my age, a lot of omegas were already claimed and had an alpha to help them through their heats. I was still relying on the toys Bee had bought me. The box was tucked neatly under my bed, waiting for me. I rolled over with a small groan and sighed. The heat wouldn't be in full swing for another few days or so, so I could still go to the courthouse with my dad. Speaking of, I heard Rick shuffling down the hall and slid out of bed, gathering my bathroom stuff and walking out of my room into the small tiled room to start the day.

~~~

"So you weren't at the garage on the night of the eight?" Negan hummed, leaning against the railing in front of the tv. His eyes were glued to the face of the man sitting on the stand. The poor guy was drenched in a nervous sweat, tight blue shirt sucking at his chubby neck. He swallowed thickly and leaned forward to the microphone.

"That's correct," he croaked.

"Oh, Jeremy," Negan chuckled, shaking his head and looking at his feet. "Don't you know perjury is a criminal offense?"

"I-I'm not lying!"

"Is that so?" The alpha held up the remote to the TV "I have some footage here that directly contradicts your story, man. One last chance." He wiggled the remote teasingly and raised his eyebrows. Jeremy held his ground. "Alrighty then, let's see what we have here." He took a step back and furrowed his brow at the remote and pressed a button. The screen in front of him came to life. I had to lean forward in order to see the video, but in reality it wasn't the security tape I was watching. It was him. I couldn't look away. He had dominated the room for the past hour and a half. His deep voice was never raised, but it still carried a commanding tone that had every person sitting on the stand shaking in their boots. My eyes trailed down his body. His suit clung to him in every perfect way. His hair was slicked back in its iconic style and the way his glasses perched on his face made my insides burn. Part of me regretted seeing him like this so close to my heat, but another part couldn't imagine if I hadn't. Rick leaned over and tapped my elbow.

"We've got him now for sure." He whispered in my ear. A smile formed on my lips as I nodded to him. There was a child-like joy on his face. He really did appreciate my presence. I turned my attention back to the video screen. The footage was fuzzy, but there was a clear figure of a woman standing still hunched over what I presumed was her phone. She was texting away, fingers flying over her screen. Suddenly a large figure, who had the same height and build as Jeremy, slunk out from the shadows. He slowly approached the woman from behind and raised a crowbar high above his head. He swung it down with brutal force. There were small gasps of horror from the jury and the crowd as the crowbar connected solidly with the woman's head. She collapsed in a heap, but Jeremy didn't stop beating her until she was a pile of mush. Negan clicked the TV off.

"Well, shit, Jeremy," He boomed "I do in fact think you are lyin' to me." He tossed the remote down on his table top and gave a grim scoff. "Everyone just saw you turn poor Miss Parker's head into your personal punching bag. You still wanna claim you were no where near there?" All of the color had drained from Jeremy's round face. He swallowed again, tugging at his restricting collar. But soon, his face turned a deep shade of pink and he slammed his beefy palms on the flat surface of the box he was sitting in.

"That bitch deserved it!" He howled, gasping for air. "She had no business-" He stopped when Negan raised his hand silently.

"I really don't care," He sighed, turning around and grinning broadly when he saw the defense team resting their heads in their hands in defeat. "I'll let the jury do the rest, your honor."

"Yes, thank you, Mr. Smith." The judge said, voice prickling with annoyance. Negan returned to his bench and pulled out his seat. But before he sat down he gave Rick a small thumbs up. And I could have sworn that he flashed me a little smile as well.

~~~

"You were incredible in there!" I cheered, giving Negan a high five. The contact made my skin tingle, but I passed it off as the consequences of the impact. "You really made that guy tremble like a kid!"

"It's what I do," Negan chuckled deeply. He looked around me and furrowed his brow. "Where's your dad?"

"He's pulling the car around," I said "I just figured I should let you know how good you did before I leave." He was so close. He smelled so good. The same combination of whiskey and campfire that could get me drunk in a few breaths. I was so focused on his intoxicating musk that I didn't notice the group of alphas that were headed our way. Negan did, though. I heard a rumbling from his chest and felt a hand clasp around my shoulder. Confusion clouded my mind and I looked up to him for some answers.

"The next case is starting soon," He said smoothly "Let's go wait for your dad outside." I agreed and he steered me out onto the steps of the courthouse. The short skirt and heels I was wearing weren't exactly comfortable for walking down stairs, so I held onto Negan's forearm as he guided me down to street level. There was a small breeze and I saw his jaw tense as a soft gust of wind swirled up from behind me and into his body. It no doubt carried my scent on it, and an alpha like Negan could probably tell what state I was in.

"So," I sighed, looking to engage him further "What's next?"

"Well," He tilted his head and ran a hand over his bear-covered chin. "Jeremy goes to jail. Your dad and the department get praise. And I get to go to the bar for a celebratory drink." He paused for a moment, looking me up and down quickly. "You want to join me?" I opened my mouth to say something. To be honest, I wasn't sure what I was going to say. I didn't really drink, but I was willing to do absolutely anything that Negan wanted. But it was then that Rick rounded the corner and gave the horn a little honk.

"I would love to," I settled on "But dad has a full day of father-daughter fun times planned, and I don't really want to keep him waiting." I gestured awkwardly to where Rick was sitting in the car, bopping his head gently to incoherent music.

"Totally understand, doll." He grinned.

"Maybe another time, though?"

"For sure."

"See you around, Negan."

"Bye, doll, have fun. And be safe"

~~~

Negan was pleasantly buzzed, as per usual. He got off his motorcycle and hung his helmet on the handlebar before lightly stumbling into the house from the dark garage. The sight he saw he did not expect. There sat his fiancé in the living room, arms crossed over her chest with a pissed expression on her face. And beside her was a woman he knew all too well.

"The hell is goin' on here?" He asked, slurring his words slightly.

"I could ask you the same thing, Negan."

"Lucille, what the fuck is she doing in our house?"

"Oh, so you know her?" Lucille growled. Negan just licked his lips and flicked his gaze between the two women sitting in front of him. "Of course you do. You have been fucking her after all." Negan groaned, rubbing his eyes.

"Baby, please-" He started, but Lucille cut him off.

"Don't you dare," She hissed, jumping to her feet and balling her hands into fists "You don't get to call me that after what you've done, Negan. You slept with another woman. Hell, maybe more than one. You ruined our relationship." Negan took a step forward but Lucille raised her hand and pointed to the kitchen table. "Don't take another step. Your stuff is in that box." Negan looked to see a cardboard box sitting alone in the dark kitchen, his belongings poking out of the top. "I never want to see you in my house again."

"Lucille, can't we just talk about this? You don't understand." He pleased, extending a hand to her. She batted it away.

"There's nothing to talk about." She spat "You cheated on me, Negan! What is there to understand? How can you expect me to forgive you for that?" A moment of silence passed between them. The other woman shifted uncomfortably on the couch. Negan glared at her before turning his eyes back to his now ex-fiancé.

"I have no where to stay." He whispered.

"That's not my problem." Lucille said boldly "Take your shit and leave. Don't come back. We're done."

~~~

I stirred the pot of spaghetti while humming a song I heard on a radio earlier. The father-daughter activities had consisted of driving around town and revisiting old spots we used to go to when I was younger. We got ice cream at the shop down the street and then watched the sun set at the park that we used to picnic at. It was nice. College did really fix our relationship. The TV in the next room hummed quietly and Rick was talking on the phone with someone. I heard him hang up and walk into the kitchen.

"Think there's enough in there for three?" He asks with a sigh, looking over my shoulder.

"Should be, why?" I return, meeting his gaze. He takes a deep breath and scratches his neck.

"Um, well, Negan's fiancé kicked him out of the house. Apparently she found out he was cheating on her. He doesn't have anywhere to stay." He mumbled "He's gonna be sleeping here for a bit." I stopped stirring. The water started to bubble too close to the top, but I blew a gust of air to push it down.

"Why here?" was all I could muster.

"He really helped me with your mom. It's the least I can do."

I just hummed in acknowledgement and returned to my cooking. So Negan was engaged. And he CHEATED on his fiancé? Maybe I didn't know Negan as well as I thought I did...

~~~

"I just can't believe she kicked me out!" Negan seethed, shoveling a spoonful of spaghetti into his mouth. He was still chewing when he continued. "She didn't even give me a chance to explain myself!"

"I hate to say it, but you did cheat on her, buddy," Rick said carefully, not wanting to poke the angry alpha in the wrong way "She's upset."

"I was in a rut." Negan growled.

"For four months?"

I was making a plate for myself, listening to the conversation from across the room. Rick's phone buzzed on the kitchen table and he picked it up.

"Sorry, I have to take this." He sighed, shaking his head and standing to his feet. He left the room and suddenly it was just me and Negan. I took my plate to the opposite head of the table, watching Negan wolf down his dinner.

"This shit is really good, sweetheart," He groaned. Normally, the noise would have sent me over the moon. But there were so many other emotions clouding my mind. "You ever consider changing your major to culinary arts?" I didn't say anything, just twirled my fork in my serving of pasta.

"Why'd you do it?" I said quietly, almost in a whisper. Negan paused instantly.

"What?"

"Why'd you cheat on her?" My eyes never left my plate but I could hear him shifting in his seat, rubbing his face while trying to answer my question.

"I don't know," He said. His voice was soft, sincere. Something I had never heard from him before. My eyes drifted up and met his. They were the same tawny color, but there was something else behind them. Something I couldn't distinguish. "I thought...Something was off in our relationship. I guess I thought that I could fix it by trying something different. I ran into Tanya at a bar a few months ago. She's a beta, just like Lucille. Wanted to be with an alpha. I gave in. Just for a quick fuck, didn't mean anything. I didn't like her. I told her that but...she...she wanted more, I guess. She fucking threatened me. Threatened to ruin my life unless I kept seeing her. I chose to do it. I don't know if that decision was the right one or not but it's the one I made. I texted her last night to tell her it was over. Never fucking thought she would come to my home." I was chewing the inside of my cheek the whole time he was speaking. I didn't know how much of his story was true, but he sounded like he was hurting.

"Why did you break it off?" I whispered.

"That's your damn question?" He scoffed, giving a short smile. He looked in my eyes. I knew the answer. Or at least I thought I did. He opened his mouth, but Rick reentered the room before he could say anything.

"Alright, sorry about that guys," He said, slipping back into his seat. "What did I miss?"

~~~

Negan was set up in the bedroom next door to mine. Our doors faced each other from across the hall. We would have to share a bathroom. Rick didn't seem to have a problem with it, but with my heat starting I wasn't too sure about the whole arrangement. I felt more cramps riddle my body. I was ready to bed, ready to curl up in a ball and go to sleep, but something called me across the hall. Curiosity got me and I turned slightly, walking up and leaning on the doorframe. There was Negan, clad in grey sweatpants and a black tank top, unpacking his things.

"Hey," I said quietly, not wanting to startle him. He turned around. He looked older like this, hair unkempt and his glasses on. When he saw me his lips curled in a smile. Any trace of vulnerability I had seen earlier was now gone.

"Hey to you."

"I just want to apologize for earlier," I said "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I'm also sorry that you have to be subjected to me and my dad for the foreseeable future." He let out a snicker and shook his head.

"Don't worry about it, doll. And you're not that bad. I appreciate Rick; he's a good man." He scratched his beard and looked over at the clock next to the bed. "It's late, you should get some rest." He took a deep breath and I nodded. I turned to leave but he called my name softly. "You know I meant what I said last night, you are looking good." I smiled but didn't say anything and crossed the hall, shutting my door and hopping into bed.

[chaos-has-theories]

Part 1: The Eye of John

You’ve heard of „Alecto is a Resurrection Beast“, „Alecto is Gaia“ and „Alecto is a seamonster“, you’ve heard of John’s sun symbolism, now get ready for:

John is Ra and Alecto is Mehet-Weret

or less specifically Hathor, or The Eye of Ra

[Image description: A picture in the Ancient Egyptian style. It shows a large blue cow with stars along its belly. There are nine people under it, keeping it steady. An empty boat floats by its back legs, and another boat by its front legs, this one with the god Ra as a passenger. A large red arrow points at the cow and is labelled “Alecto???”.]

(More under the cut, because this shit will get long.)

First, for the record, I am emphatically not a learned egyptologist, so I might be getting things wrong here.

Secondly, ancient Egyptian mythology is a gorgeous mess. You can’t ever just say that x is the child of y, because they’re bound to also be siblings, and spouses, and x is also a and b and y is also b and c and... yeah.

Anyway, let’s do this.

---

I was rereading Harrow the Ninth with my roommates and we got to this part:

"Your sword will not rend its armour”, he said, with his back turned to them. “It’s weapons will ruin your flesh. It will not stop until it has subsumed its quarry.” (HtN p. 329)

and I thought to myself, huh, that kind of sounds like the Eye of Ra.

So let’s talk about that!

Now, the main story of the Eye of Ra is that, long ago, when the gods were still like, living on earth with the humans, people started to criticize Ra, their ruler.

That pissed off Ra, so he sent off his „Eye“ to punish them. She did, killing almost all the humans, but then Ra couldn’t really get her to stop. So the gods made a bunch of dyed beer with some blood in it, and the Eye drank it all and became drunk and docile.

So far, so good. Technically, at that point Teacher is talking about the Sleeper, but we all know that there are heavy parallels between the Sleeper and the Body. Also, there’s more where that came from.

"My lord,” said Augustine formally, “you told us the truth about Annabel–about Alecto–because she knew the truth too, and you never could control her.” (HtN, p. 478)

”Annabel Lee... was not the dying kind,” said the Emperor. It might be more accurate to say that I switched her off.” “You came to us and we asked, Is she dead?” said Mercy. “And you said, As dead as I can make her... I remember, Lord, that you wept.” (HtN, p. 479)

Neither Alecto nor the Eye of Ra are stopped by death or reason but instead kept somehow subdued.

But it gets better, and weirder.

The most famous version of the Eye of Ra is probably Sakhmet, the lion goddess. Sometimes she's a cat, Bastet; but just as often she’s depicted as a cow, Hathor.

There's a specific version of this myth called „The Book of the Heavenly Cow“ or „The Destruction of Mankind“. Here’s a translation of it.

I just learned about this myth. I learned about it under the Name of „Mehet-Weret“. Hathor and Mehet-Weret are… the same goddess? Not the same goddess? Sometimes the same goddess? They’re both cow themed, and occasionally take the same roles. Mythology is confusing, y’all.

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it:

Hathor was given the epithets "mistress of the sky" and "mistress of the stars", and was said to dwell in the sky with Ra and other sun deities. Egyptians thought of the sky as a body of water through which the sun god sailed, and they connected it with the waters from which, according to their creation myths, the sun emerged at the beginning of time. This cosmic mother goddess was often represented as a cow. Hathor and Mehet-Weret were both thought of as the cow who birthed the sun god and placed him between her horns. Like Nut, Hathor was said to give birth to the sun god each dawn.

Since I remembered the name Mehet-Weret and was very proud of that, that’s where I actually started my research here, and…

Mehet-Weret or Mehturt (Ancient Egyptian: mḥt-wrt) is an ancient Egyptian deity of the sky in ancient Egyptian religion. Her name means "Great Flood". She was mentioned in the Pyramid Texts. In ancient Egyptian creation myths, she gives birth to the sun at the beginning of time, and in art she is portrayed as a cow with a sun disk between her horns. She is associated with the goddesses Neith, Hathor, and Isis, all of whom have similar characteristics, and like them she could be called the "Eye of Ra". Mehet-Weret is primarily known as being the "Celestial Cow" or "Cow Goddess" because of her physical characteristics, but she contributes to the world in more ways than that. She is also the Goddess of Water, Creation, and Rebirth; in Egyptian mythology, Mehet-Weret is one of the main components in the making and survival of life. (...) She was credited for the birth of Re, also known as the Sun God Ra; she is also the one who protects Re. (Wikipedia)

SHE’S (a version of) THE PRIMORDIAL FLOOD, Y’ALL.

You said, “Teacher, what destroyed the House of the First?” “Not much,” said the Emperor, and he tried to smile. It was awful. “Rising sea levels and a massive nuclear fission chain reaction...it all went downhill from there.” (HtN p. 346)

"Even the devil bent for God to put a leash around her neck (...) But when the work was done (...) they bade him kill the saltwater creature before she could do them harm...” (HtN p. 328)

Next to you, the body said quietly, “The water is risen. So is the sun. We will endure.” (HtN p. 294)

On this same read-through I snagged on „The water is risen, so is the sun“ because it sounds so much like a quote, but I couldn’t find anything. Yes, John has sun symbolism and Alecto all that water stuff, but where is the connection?

Well, here. It’s just Ancient Egyptian Creation Myths.

The different creation myths have some elements in common. They all held that the world had arisen out of the lifeless waters of chaos (…) The sun was also closely associated with creation, and it was said to have first risen from the mound, as the general sun-god Ra.

That makes Alecto literally the First One. It makes her John’s protector as the Eye. It gives her a connection to water and and even death and the underworld. (It also gives her a connection to the sky, which always fits in a Space Fantasy.)

Essentially,

I can see two figures in Egyptian mythology that fit what we know of Alecto. Those would be the Eye of Ra, an uncontrollable creature of rage and revenge; and the flood from which the sun god rises during the creation of the world. And Mehet-Weret fits into both.

But you’re not convinced yet? Alright then. Remember how Hathor/Mehet-Weret is a cow?

"Oh, singular,” said Dulcinea quietly, more to herself than to Gideon. “Lipochrome...recessive.” (GtN, p. 106)

When she spoke at last, she sounded frozen and numb. “I see. I understand. Lipochrome. Recessive. You are the evidence.” (HtN, p. 410)

I did not know what the fuck to say to her incoherent spew. She said, ragged, peevish: “What? No tongue in your head, you–you mutant, you mistake, you great big calf-eyed fuck-up?”

If you’re like me and know nothing about biology, you’ll hop over to Wikipedia  and find this:

A lipochrome (from Greek λίπος ("fat") and χρῶμα ("color")) is a naturally occurring, fat-soluble pigment. Lipofuscin—a product of fat breakdown in lysosomes—is a type of lipochrome that is associated with the decomposition of cell membranes. Beta carotene, a lipochrome, was found in the retina, pigment epithelium, and iris of cattle eyes.

This is the entirety of the article by the way.

…and I was wondering why Tamsyn didn’t just call the eyes „Amber“.

Now you might say, but Chaos, you know they’re not really her eyes…

Yeah.

They’re John’s eyes.

They are, you might say, the Eyes of John.

---

THERE WILL BE MORE PARTS because I am LOSING MY MIND OVER THIS but this post is already longer than it has any right to be.

In the meantime, here’s an article on Mehet-Weret that I think is actually well researched and probably does a better job explaining how all these different gods fit together than I ever could.

[nevermore-the-kitsune]

Pokemon Teams for Fictional Characters pt. 2

Damian Wayne

(Also, I'm not including move sets because in my headcannon Pokemon do remember all their old moves. But humans choose to only use four)

For this AU I'm having the Wayne's own the Gotham City Gym, which specializes in Dark types. Most of the cannon events still happened. Just with a few tweaks here and there. (Dick's 20, Jason's 16, Cass is 15 Tim's 15 but younger than Cass and Damian's 13 because I love AUs where there closer in age).

Anyway here we go!

First things first in the Pokemon Universe his alias wouldn't be Robin since they don't exist. Instead I think it would be Rookidee, since thats the closest Pokemon to a Robin.

His Partner Pokemon and ace would be a Gligar

Name: Goliath

Gender: Male

Why: Gligar screams Goliath (his Batdragon) plus the coloring of his evolutions matches with Dami's Robin and Batman outfits

Story: He found Goliath while climbing a mountain for his training. At the time he was four and Goliath was a hatching. Damian ended up giving him some food, seeing that the hatching was hungry.

Grateful, the Gligar followed him hoping to return the favor.

When Damian's hand got broken on that same trip, Goliath was the one to help him finish his mission and get home safely.

Talia was impressed that Damian could tame a wild Pokemon without catching it, so she allowed him to keep him as his first Pokemon.

-----

Next he would have a Meowth

Name: Alfred

Gender: Female

Why: This one has to do with its evolution. Persian are said to only be loyal to trainers it likes and that it takes a lot to get them to like you. Their also said to be prissy and uptight. This reminded me of Damian. How it took forever for him to trust his brothers and his own snobby attitude. Thus I think it fits.

Story: After coming to live with his father Damian didn't know how to act. He saw his "brothers" and father treating their Pokemon so different than how the League did. They all trained hard. But, there was something eles: warm praise for a job well done, asking for insight on a case (they had taught their bipedal pokemon sighn language) and comfort on a bad day. His father and brothers treated their Pokemon like... people

In the League Pokemon where the lowest soldier, lower than the slaves or concubines. They trained, ate then they had to and got in their ball.

He had been a little more lenient in his training with Goliath. When asked he said that he was still a baby and he had to take things slow in this stage or he might develop too much muscle mass and be unable to fly.

He had kept him out of his ball with the excuse of developing muscle mass at a proper pace.

He liked Goliath's company. The Gligar was a good companion. But on the same level as another person?

He had expressed these thoughts to Pennyworth, the only person in the house to give him a straight answer when he needed it.

Pennyworth had explained to him that some people love to hold power over others and that Pokemon where an easy target, since they couldn't communicate their emotions as clearly as people could.

"Think of Mistress Cain. She sometimes cannot communicate with words, but we know that she's intelligent. But some people see her as less than intelligent and treat her as such because of the power it gives them."

Two weeks later Damian would come across a group of teenagers attempting to shave a Meowth. The Pokemon was little more than skin and bone and crying out on pain. So, Damian broke their fingers and shaved part of their heads for good measure.

He kept the Meowth and named her after the man who taught him about the abuse of power.

---

Next, a Poochyena

Name: Titus

Gender: Male

Why: These Pokemon and their evolution are ruthless with their pray, and only obey trainers with external skill.

Story: Raven gave Damian Titus as a gift. She said that she rescued him from an underground fighting ring (where the battles are to the death). He was still to young to battle so he didn't need much rehabilitation. The other Pokemon there though...

---

Now we have a Type Null

Name: Heretic

Gender: ???

Why: This Pokemon was created in lab, and artificial designed for the purpose of fighting, just like Damian. True I could have given him Mewtwo, but that cat seems to fit Kon more.

Story: Damian's mother had spent years creating Type: Null with the purpose of being able to kill any target. As a last test she wanted to see which of her creations was suppirrior. So she sent the Type Null out to (try and) kill her son.

Damian, with the rest of his team, beat the Pokemon but couldn't kill it. He had long since vowed to wash the blood from his hands. Instead he offered his hand to it and asked it to join him.

---

Here we have the hardest to explain... Mimikyu

Name: Habibi (I hope I spelled that right)

Gender: Female

Why: Damian is complex, he wants to be accepted and loved just like Mimikyu but dosent know how. Both try to mimic others in order to get that love, Damian his father and Mimikyu Pikachu. So I see this as Damian's spirit Pokemon in a way.

Story: He didn't know why it was so hard to fit in. Gods know he tried. But... little things confused him. Like how eveyone could understand each other without words or singhing. He had no problems with that on a battlefield, but in day to day life; it felt like he was on a separate server.

Like how Todd knew at breakfast with just a look that Drake was in a bad mood and how to help. Or how Grayson could audomadicly tell what kind of day at school the rest of them had withen a few minutes. Hell even Drake could tell what grunts ment what from father! Which ment good job, Which ment I'm glade your okay, or frustration either at them or at a case (Cass didn't surprise him, she had to learn how to communicate without words and watch body language and micro expressions).

School was no better; sometimes it was to load or bright othertimes, when everyone was doing a test, it felt to quiet. But, to much or to little, Damian was always aware of every movement, every sound. It was like the very instincts that saved his life every night where turned against him.

He turned to his nearly forgotten childhood habits to distract himself from everything around him. That only led to more whisper shouting and what even he could tell where displeased glares with a grunt of "fucking tapping" or a snap of "stop!" He knew it was disrupting but it was all be could do to drown out the noise or silence.

On one particularly bad day at school; apparently during one of their tests one of his classmates had had enough of Damian's tapping and decided to make a scene.

There was some yelling from the kid. A few cries in agreement. Before the teacher had gotten hem to settle down. He had demanded that Damian look him in the eye and when he finally did told him to stop with the tapping or else he would be sent to the office, Gym Leaders son or not.

He was the last to finish that test where he normally finished first. The silence had been to load!!

After that clusterfuck Damian finally headed home. He had texted Grayson saying that he was meeting a friend somewhere to work on a project and to not pick him up. In truth he didn't want his brother reading what kind of day he had had. He needed some time to himself.

That was how he found himself in a nearby park. It was filled with plenty of sounds that didn't suffocate him and the fall leaves where soothing to his eyes. Damian had Titus out of his ball as company, knowing that the pup loved park walks.

They had been walking for an hour when they came across a box set off just on the edge of the trail. "Free to Good Homes" was written on the side in black sharpie.

No sound was coming from inside, so he assumed that the had all been taken. Until Titus went closer sniffing at the seemingly empty box.

"Pooch Pooch"

"Hmmm... what is is it boy?" He asked as he walked closer to his Pokemon and the Box. Damian hoped he was wrong. It was cruel to leave a baby Pokemon all alone, especially since the weather was getting colder by the day.

Inside the box was in fact a lone Pokemon. At first glance it looked like a Pikachu. But something was off. It looked more like a doll than a living creature. If it wasn't for the small chirps it let out and slight way that it was shivering from the cold Damian would have written it off as a toy. No wonder it got left behind...

Damian reached down and picked up the mystery Pokemon as gently as he could.

"Come on beloved, lets go home."

He tucked the Pokemon in his jacket to warm it up before reaching for his phone to call Grayson for a ride home.

That night Damian locked himself away, even skipped patrol, and spent a sleepless night learning everything he could about his newest Pokemon.

---

That was inspired by this comic

---

Finaly, for his last spot Eevee!!

Name: Omni

Gender: Female

Why: I'm going to have all the Batfam members have an Eeveelution. This branch and the Batfam are both growing consistently. We all have our favorites but we love them all the same. So I think it fits.

Story: Everyone in the family had an Eevee or one of its evolutions. Damian's Father said that Eevee was the Wayne family symbol, it was potential, the ability to become whatever you wanted.

Though it surprised Damian that the Wayne symbol wasn't a Noibat or Noivern (Batman's ace) at first he eventually understood the logic in choosing such a Pokemon to represent the family name. That only made things harder for him being the only one not having one. Did they not truly see him as family?

On the one year anniversary of Damian arriving at The Mannor, his family through a small party. Pennyworth made his favorite foods, The Mannor was decorated in tacky streamers (Graysons' idea) and they watched some of Damian's favorite fims, their Pokemon curled up with them. His father had offered to take the day off from the gym. Until Todd suggested that Damian take on the challengers.

The Gotham gym was part of his heritage. Damian had been training for the day that he could finally help weed out the weak challengers just like his siblings sometimes did (think the battles you do before challenging a gym leader in the games).

On that day, if the challengers agreed to it, their final battle wasn't with Bruce Wayne the Dark Knight but instead his son. Most accepted thinking that it would be an easy win, that they had lucked out in not having to battle one of the stongest Gym Leaders in the League and could still get the Shadow Badge.

Those poor fools.

Damian was only allowed to use Alfred, Titus and Habibi since he used Goliath and Heretic primarily as Rookidee.

Damian fought seven trainers that day in 3v3 fights. Only two of them got the badge.

With the day overwith and the night rising, so did Gothams' protecters.

The night ended with exhausted body's and adrenaline crashes. Damian was ready to slip into a mini coma from the day he had but before he could head upstairs to The Mannor...

"Not so fast baby bat." Graysons' voice called out to him. "We got one more surprise for you."

Damian raised his eyebrow at that. What else could they do? His father came back from the locker rooms where he had been desuiting, it always took him the longest because of his "old man bones" as Todd said.

"Son," his father said "its Wayne tradition to get your first Pokemon when you turn ten years old. I missed that with you." He paused, eyes briefly shifting to the floor before they snapped back on Damian's face. "Luckily there's one tradition we didn't miss. When you've lived at The Mannor for a year or the adoption papers get finalized, I give my children this..."

He pulled a Poke'ball out of his poket and handed to Damian. "Go on son, let them out."

He did

Staring at him was his own Eevee.

---

AN: All of Damian's Pokemon (sans maybe Omni, I'm thinking of leaving her as an Eevee) will eventually evolve. Eventually.

[ktheist]

03 — show me yours & i’ll show you mine | m

➙ muses. seokjin x college student / gamer!reader ft. best friend! taehyung

➙ genre. best friend’s brother au. university au. working au. fwb au.

➙ word. 1.9k

➙ warnings. explicit content, fingering, mild exhibitionism

➙ index. 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | finale | side story 1 |

➙ synopsis.  “why are you doing this if you’re not gonna fuck me?”

x

saturday evening, taehyung comes up to you with a face of a blank canvas, phone in his hand facing the ceiling and relays the news of his break up.

you’re in the middle of watching a show with his two brothers on your laptop.

“wh-what?” is all you manage to say whilst namjoon and seokjin freeze in their spots.

“i broke up with her,” taehyung’s shoulderline rises as he casually shrugs.

“but why?” deep down, you have an inkling - but your mouth moved on its own before you can even stop it.

“cause she was shit talking you,” and with that, he twirls around, heading back to the hallway where one of the doors connect to his room.

and just like second nature, your body shoots up, trailing after the slumped man like a mother to her pupper.

“you guys watch without me,” you briefly say to the two men on the couch, their faces scrunching with growing concern.

for the first time in a long time, you and taehyung bare your hearts to each other. talked about your fears and hopes and what keeps you going. which is, to an extent, each other and the two brothers. you’re not sure how you fell asleep but you wake up with a leg sprawled all over your stomach and a snoring sound echoing against the wall. the blanket draped over you and taehyung isn’t part of his bedset because one, you and taehyung end up sleeping on top of the sheets and two, you know the only one brother out of the three loves the color blue so much, his bedsheets and blankets are always themed with light cerulean. and this blanket - you’ve definitely seen seokjin use a dozen times.

"hey, morning,” you greet the two brothers whilst they’re unpacking what seems to be takeouts from a store you all collectively agree have no bad item in their menu.

everyone eats just about anything from that restaurant.

“morning, sleepyhead.” namjoon shakes his head, smiling - it’s probably the hair pointing in different directions.

“how’s taehyung?” seokjin asks when you come to sit on the stool next to where he’s standing.

“well, i mean - he’s not in a good place,” you begin, “i know he really liked her. and i know she talks shit about me behind my back and she knows i do too and he’s always caught in between, but he always seemed to brush it off and never take sides you know? so i didn’t think he’d break up with her over it.”

“hey, it’s not your fault,” the hand on your shoulder is warm, seeping into your heart as you examine the sincerity of those brown eyes, down to the reassuring smile of those plump lips.

“thanks for saying that, jinnie,” you want to ask for a kiss (and maybe some dick) but with namjoon - though he’s cluelessly continuing with his task of preparing the takeouts - around, you settle for patting his hand that’s on your shoulder.

after washing your face and returning to the kitchen, you find the previously sleeping-like-a-long giant perched on one of the stools, rubbing the grogginess out of his eyes.

“look who’s up!” a smack lands on taehyung’s back.

the aforementioned man doesn’t even flinch as he takes another second to rub all the sleepiness away before craning his neck to look at your smiling face - it may be a dumb smile but someone’s got to be lifting the atmosphere.

“i thought you left,” he grumbles, before his arm snakes around your waist and brings you in for a side hug.

the recoil is almost automated as your smile scrunches into a cringe, arms flailing to push him away and at least get a few inches gap in between,“ew, what the hell.”

“i’m sad! gimme a hug,” he laments whilst namjoon laughs, commenting something about how “adorable” the two of you are and how it “...reminds me of the good old days, you know?”

he means when you and taehyung aren’t as resistant to skinships.

but all your attention goes to the eldest brother whose glance lingers a second too long before he tears his gaze off from you and taehyung.

x

it turns out that little bitch tried making taehyung choose between you and her after he’d texted her (in an attempt to placate her jealousy-prone heart) about how you’d opted to room with seokjin in yesterday.

give them and inch and they’ll take a mile.

“i should’ve known,” taehyung shakes his head, bags heavy under his eyes as he lies in his bed, cocooned by the light cerulean blanket, “you don’t like her but you like everyone-”

“don’t you go justin bieber on me,” you smack him in the stomach, to which he curls up into a caterpillar, moaning in pain and something about suing for personal injuries.

but the fact that he can complaint at all means that he’s recovered half of himself.

“i’m getting some food from the kitchen, you want anything?” you roll your eyes.

“how bout a new girlfriend?” he manages to say, despite the so called blow to the stomach.

“potato chips it is,” you nod before strutting out of the door.

the hallway is dimly lit, save for the lone light in the ceiling and the slightest bit of gap that allows luminescence to pour out of seokjin’s room. so you knock on the door, leaning against the frame, “hey.”

kim seokjin sits on the chair you previously occupied the night before, round glasses perched on the bridge of his nose as his eyes widen for the briefest second before offering you one of his warm smiles, “hey, how’s taehyung?”

“he’s eating,” you shrug, trying to appear casual even though something in the way his shirt swallows his already broad built and making him appear like you can fight him and win - gets your heart doing flips.

“that’s gre-” he can’t even properly get his response out because you’re already crossing the short distance between you and him, hands cupping his cheeks before smashing your lips against his. as if you haven’t had water for days. as if you’ve been breathing with your head barely above water.

his hands find their way on your hips, kissing you back more delicately than you can ever control yourself. tingles dot your skin from where his hand caresses your elbow and travels up your arm, lingering there, as though forgetting the reason his warning touch.

“i needed that,” you break away only to steal another kiss before confessing.

seokjin chuckles, his hand slipping over to your chest before attempting to pinch your nipple. to which he fails because your padded bra successfully blocks him off.

“oh, you’re wearing a bra?” the genuine surprise gleaming in his eyes should offend you.

“unless you want your brother accidentally touching my nips while we were wrestling each other to decide who gets to use your comfy as hell blanket,” you roll your eyes.

taehyung won, obviously. which explained why he was lying in bed like a human burrito just now.

“i’d have to give taehyung a personal beating if that happened,” the dorky grin and amused glint in his whenever he cracks a not-so-funny-but-adorable joke, isn’t present.

your heart’s always done this thing where it skips with every smile that curls on his lips, yet the lack of it and the underlying seriousness of his tone is making your heart lurch in your throat, warmth spreading all over your body.

“anyways, i need to get taehyung some chips, thanks for the kiss.” you wave but something wraps around your wrist like an iron hold seconds before you find yourself perched in seokjin’s lap and the man dangerously close to you - despite having shared a passionate kiss just a moment ago.

“taehyung this, taehyung that,” his hand slips under your shirt, coarse hand trailing up your back until you feel him unhooking your bra in one go.

like he’s had enough practice in the art of seduction.

“well, he’s the one out of the four of us with a broken heart,” you pray to the constellations and deities that your voice is levelled though it soon proves to be pointless if his other hand’s snaking up your front and hovers over your chest where he could feel the organ beneath beating wildly.

“you’re breaking mine though... with spending that much time with my brother,” he traps your nipple in between his thumb and index finger, caressing, teasing with a smile that ironically has probably broken a few hearts of his own.

“i can fix that,” you beam, finger tracing down his front and down to the waistline of his pants, to which you can’t reach unless you scoot away to allow your hand to -

“not right now,” the sound of wind chimes drum in your ears as he chuckles.

it makes the umpteenth rejection a little less prickly, as you pout, “when?”

“soon,” and with that, he takes your wrist in his hand, making you push your own shirt up until your nipples are bare in the open, “hold this up for me, please.”

it’s the please that gets you.

ever the gentleman even as he’s about to tease you with his teeth against your nipples and his free hand fondling your other breast.

“why are you doing this if you’re not gonna fuck me?” you grunt, displeased, but arch your back anyway to make it easier for him to suckle and bite on your erected nipples.

you’ve always thought his hair looked soft but it’s softer as you bury your free hand in it. at first, it’s just a gentle caress - just like patting a golden retriever. but then as his tongue lapse over your protruded nub and the pressure in his free hand in your other breast grows more intense, you’re surprised he’s not moaning out in pain from the way your hand’s instinctively grasping at his roots.

“ah!” a yelp escapes you when he leaves your left nipple for the other one, biting down harder than you’re used to but not enough to draw blood.

you’re lost in the pain and pleasure of his tongue and apt fingers, where his mouth isn’t sucking on your nipple, his fingers are pinching and groping it. somewhere in the back of your mind, you distinctively remember a midly pressing matter-

“what the fuck?”

something about a heartbroken best friend and an unclosed door.

"t-taehyung!” you gasp, body almost jolting upward like a criminal caught red handed but seokjin’s arms around your body roots you down in his lap as he slowly pulls down your shirt before turning his attention to his youngest brother.

“taehyung, calm down,” he instructs with ease but his wide-eyed gaze is filled with concern.

“this isn’t-” you begin, slipping away from seokjin’s loosened grasp to pad over to your best friend who looks like he’s seen a ghost or his brother and best friend almost-fucking. either one works, “this isn’t what you think.”

“no-” the younger cups his mouth as he doubles over, his other hand held up in the air as if to tell you to “stay the fuck back-”

“oh, come on,” the slightest brush of your nipples against the material of your carelessly-pulled-down bra makes does not go pass you, yet you put your hand on your hip, rolling your eyes, “don’t be so dramatic.”

and that’s when taehyung hurls his guts out in front of seokjin’s door.

x

note. ooof 

i wasn’t sure if this drabble was gonna gain any eager readers. when i say eager, i mean those who look forward to an update, but some of you showed interest and it warms my heart! so here’s to another update! hope yall enjoyed!

taglist. @aretha170​ @scalubera​ @ambersaesthetics​ !

[achubbydumpling]

Modern Bucky is fat and Steve’s sugar baby. Steve likes to spoil him. :3

eyy only took me a month and a half to answer 😂😂 I'm sorry, nonnie, but I'm highjacking your idea and using it for today's chubtober prompt :D

(I ended up having a lot more ideas for this than I could actually finish writing in time, so this ends pretty abruptly as soon as Steve and Bucky actually meet)

[unfinished] Oct 3: Masks and Malfunctions

Rating: Mature Words: 1911 Relationship: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers Additional Tags: Sugar Daddy AU, Daddy Kink, Belly Kink, Weight Gain, Verbal Humiliation, Stuffing, Corsets, Age Gap

Bucky’s phone chimed and he didn’t even have to look at the screen to know that “Steve” just sent him more than enough money for the costume Bucky wanted. He didn’t actually know if that was the guy’s real name, but he’d been funding Bucky’s lifestyle since the beginning of college and Bucky wasn’t about to fuck that up by questioning the guy’s identity.

If this were a normal Halloween party Bucky would have just bought a random costume at Spirit Halloween, but his kinda boyfriend Jonas (it’s complicated) had invited him as a plus one to an actual masquerade ball. Bucky didn’t even know those kinds of things existed outside of fantasy novels, but right now he was at a high-end clothing store getting an “appropriate” costume.

[Bucky] Thank you, Daddy❤

Bucky texted Steve and then went back to trying on another dress shirt. This one had a looser cut that reminded him of something the male love interest in a period drama would wear or a pirate.

“Wonderful choice,” the store clerk told Bucky when he stepped back from the mirror. Bucky would probably never get used to having someone help him pick out clothes, but the higher-end stores Bucky had been to all offered this type of assistance.

“It drapes very well,” the clerk said with a sneer on his face. Bucky turned back to the mirror. Yes, he had to admit he’d fallen victim to the freshman 15. A small belly was rounding out even against the loose fabric of the shirt, but he didn’t actually feel self-conscious.

Steve had complimented him on every single one of those pounds. Bucky probably wouldn’t even have noticed all the changes to his body if Steve hadn’t been constantly talking about them. Bucky had never put much effort into maintaining his physique, but being hyped up by Steve over the smallest changes of his body made him feel desired and his heart fluttered every time his sugar daddy complimented his thicker thighs and soft belly.

“Any other suggestions?” Bucky asked and the clerk scoffed.

“A corset,” he muttered under his breath, but Bucky’s ears pricked up at the suggestion. His first instinct was to text Steve. Bucky didn’t know why it was important for him to know Steve’s opinion when Bucky was going to the party as someone else’s plus one, but excitement stirred in Bucky’s stomach at what Steve might say.

“Sure, get the corset.” Bucky sent the clerk on their way and then sat down to text Steve. He could feel his belly straining against the shirt buttons now that he was sitting down and he snapped a picture of the way the buttons on the otherwise loose shirt were straining over the thickest part of his belly.

[Bucky] Daddy~ they’re telling me I’m fat

[Bucky] they said I need a corset

[Steve] You will look incredible either way.

Annoyance prickled at the back of Bucky’s neck from the generic compliment.

[Bucky] that’s not what I asked

[Steve] You didn’t ask anything.

Bucky rolled his eyes at how literal Steve could sometimes be, but Bucky also didn’t know how to ask for what he really wanted to hear.

Some of his classmates had teased him for his weight gain and instead of making Bucky feel insecure, the hot shame had shot straight to his dick and he’d had to excuse himself to deal with the problem. Since then Bucky couldn’t stop thinking about Steve telling him those things.

Bucky didn’t even know what the guy looked like, but he’d quickly developed a crush just from texting him. It was actually fun to talk. Bucky couldn’t understand how the guy was single when he seemed like this perfect, interesting and kind guy—and rich on top of all that.

There has to be something wrong with him, but so far Bucky hadn’t been able to figure it out. Not for the first time Bucky wondered who Steve actually was, but his thoughts were interrupted when the clerk came back with three different corsets.

All the same material and color, just different cuts. Bucky’s eyes were immediately drawn to the tiny waist cincher—just tall enough to cover the widest part of his belly. Despite his grumblings the clerk helped Bucky lace up the corset and when he looked in the mirror he couldn’t believe it was him looking back.

His entire body shape seemed different. From the billowing sleeves of the shirt emphasizing his wide shoulders to the waist cincher doing an excellent job of making it look like he still had a waist instead of the soft belly that was hidden underneath. The simple black slacks he was wearing completed his outfit. Simple colors, just black and white.

The mask he had chosen matched as well. A deep midnight black that contrasted with his piercing blue eyes and gold detailing that caught the light when Bucky turned his head. He snapped another picture for Steve, but didn’t wait for his response. Bucky could still hardly believe that a single outfit could be this expensive, but Steve of course had transferred enough money to pay for it. On his way home Bucky finally checked his phone.

[Steve] What did I tell you? Incredible.

[Bucky] better than without the corset?

[Steve] This feels like a set-up.

Bucky groaned at Steve’s response. Of course, Bucky would luck out and get the sugar daddy that won’t humiliate him for gaining fifteen pounds before the semester was even over and wasn’t that a personal revelation. Bucky had never thought of himself as someone who could want something like this, but since gaining weight he had become more aware of his body—and how others perceived it.

[Bucky] it is

He quickly pocketed his phone after sending that text. Bucky immediately regretted it. He’d had a good thing going with Steve. Why risk fucking that up? His phone vibrated multiple times, but Bucky was too worried to check his messages until he got home. As soon as he’d closed the apartment door behind him he fished his phone out of his pocket.

[Steve] What does that mean?

[Steve] If you don’t want to continue this arrangement, you can just tell me.

[Steve] Bucky.

[Steve] Answer me.

[Steve] What do you want me to say? That you’re a spoiled pig? That you’ve gotten fat on your Daddy’s money and need a corset to look good for your little boytoy?

Bucky’s throat went dry as he read Steve’s message. The wave of lust that crashed through him, threw him off balance and he sat down heavily on the bench in the entry way of his apartment. He read the message again. And again. His dick gave an interested twitch. It was embarrassing how much he reacted to Steve’s words.

[Steve] Is that what you want?

[Steve] Don’t leave me on read.

Bucky didn’t know what to say. He typed and retyped the same message again until another one from Steve popped up.

[Steve] ‘Yes’ or ‘no’? It can’t be this hard to type one fucking word.

Bucky couldn’t breathe. Steve had always been kind and considerate, it made Bucky’s heart race to see this side of him.

[Bucky] Yes.

[Steve] Thank you, but we will talk more about this tomorrow.

Bucky’s phone chimed to tell him, he should be on his way now if he wanted to get to the party on time. His mind was still caught up in foggy arousal, his cock tenting his slacks. It’s too much, he wasn’t thinking straight and Steve wasn’t even here—wasn’t even touching him. Just a text and Bucky was a mess.

At least the walk to the subway station helped to clear Bucky’s head and chase away some of the immediate, burning need that had been burning in his guts just a few minutes earlier. It left him frustrated, but slightly more level-headed and in a more appropriate mood to be out in public.

When Bucky met up with Jonas outside the high-rise office building the guy was already wasted. He was surrounded by his office buddies and Bucky was honestly about to turn on his heel and go back home when Jonas called out to him. With all his mates there Jonas treated Bucky like another one of them and Bucky was already over the metaphorical dick-measuring contest that was happening whenever one of these guys opened their mouth.

Once they got inside Bucky split off from the group, Jonas didn’t even seem to notice. So, he explored the venue. The party stretched across multiple floors. The bottom floor was full of rich and wanna-be rich people schmoozing and socializing, barely anyone of them had stuck to the masquerade theme and Bucky kept debating whether he should take off his own mask.

He was much more comfortable on the upper floor. There were less people here and most of them kept to themselves. He felt less out of place when he noticed that most of the people here stuck to the masquerade theme, there were only a few people who’s face wasn’t at least partially hidden behind a mask.

Jonas didn’t even shoot him a quick text to ask where he had disappeared to, so Bucky was more than ready to just find whatever food this place offered, eat for free tonight and make the best of the situation. He didn’t know what he’d expected dating someone his age, but Bucky was done settling for anything and he made a resolution to break up whatever was going on between him and Jonas.

When Bucky finally found the buffet that was standard for these types of events, he couldn’t stop himself from loading up two plates and searching for a quiet, secluded place to eat. At this point it had become a reflex to send Steve a text whenever he sat down to stuff himself.

[Bucky] found the food

He sent a picture with his hand next to the plates to give Steve a sense of how big they were. Some guy’s phone went off as soon as Bucky hit send two tables over and for a moment Bucky wondered if that’s Steve.

He had a commanding presence even sitting down. Bucky could tell he’s a gym buff from his ridiculous shape. His shoulders looked almost double the size of his waist. As well as the large plate of food in front of him. This man needed to fuel his body with all those calories, but Bucky was eating more than him and only planning on getting fatter. Bucky dug in.

His little costume went from fitting perfectly fine to too tight within half a plate of food. The corset was throwing a wrench into Bucky’s plan of stuffing himself. He already felt full before he had even really gotten started. The blond guy from two tables over caught Bucky’s eye again. He was frowning at his phone and looking back up at Bucky.

[Steve] What are you doing here?

[Bucky] what do you mean?

Another phone chime from two tables down. Bucky re-read the text two times before he looked back at the blond guy. No way that’s Steve. That would be too much of a coincidence, right? Bucky sent another message and the guy’s phone went off again. For a moment Bucky contemplates just getting up and walking away, but then Steve was already out of his chair and walking up to Bucky’s table.

[cno-inbminor]

a/n: drabble dump for our boy kuroo -- i love him loads and think about him endlessly. i also apologize beforehand for the awkward ending bc i’m terrible at ending things. hope you all enjoy! gonna go knock back a melatonin and sleep my wooziness away

w/c: ~2.4k; some angst, fluff, mentions of alcohol

you’re avoiding tetsurou, and he’s keen on figuring out why. college!au, friends to lovers.

“you’re not as slick as you think, y’know.”

instantly, a shiver creeps up your spine, electrifying you in quick, tiny bursts. those eight, nine words were more than enough to let you know who was standing behind you, peering over your shoulder in an effort to catch your gaze. his voice made your heart clench and lungs fight for oxygen – you begin to curse the high, intellectual level of tetsurou’s observational skills. you just wanted to make it another day without seeing his face outside of class, opting more for longer walks and just looking back to see the back of his stylishly mussed hair in the far distance. it frustrates you how much you’ve used the word ‘infuriating’ when it comes to him, but there’s no other better word you can think of without having to consult the thesaurus.

you have a few seconds to dart your eyes around, desperately searching for a way to escape. your productivity typically thrives within the library, but he’s always there, so with lots of pleading and promises of baked goods and decent coffee, you were able to borrow a close friend’s ID, a graduate student, and access the graduate resource room in a less traveled hallway. and in the expanse of that area, you’ve tucked yourself away into the back corner behind some shelves where almost no one visits. but it leaves you cornered and vulnerable – no matter which direction, in combination with his long legs, tetsurou would catch up to you in a heartbeat. you thought you had finally found a way to permanently escape his grasp, but apparently not.

much like you, he’s not supposed to be able to access this area. after all, you’re both senior undergrads so –

“how did you get in here?” you quietly hiss. you’re pretty sure you’d be booted out if you made any sound above 15 decibels, and you’re not about to let tetsurou ruin this haven for you.

there’s a rustle of clothing, a hand that rests on the back of your seat, and the hairs on the nape of your neck spike, before a delicate whisper informs, “you’re not the only one with grad student friends, love.”

if you weren’t so focused on keeping yourself rigid, body absolutely understanding of the effect that this man has on you, you definitely would’ve shivered from the proximity. but the gentleness in his tone sends you back to three weeks ago – you’re no longer under a fluorescent light tucked between cream-colored walls, but rather basked in a somewhat garish hue of crimson. your veins were tinged with alcohol, the substance leaving you feeling like you were on clouds, a silly smile breaking across your face uncontrollably. other bodies surrounded you but the only one you were focused on was the one in front of you, following your swaying movements to the beat of the music coming through someone’s speakers. even in the warmth of the house, tetsurou’s hands on your waist seared your skin, branding the feeling on you for eternity. his eyes twinkled with apparent affection, unbridled and screaming at you for you to understand the line he wanted to so desperately cross, that the alcohol pushed it behind his efforts to deny himself the one thing he’s been searching for in all these years.  

“i’m a little drunk, but fuck, you have no idea how bad i wanna kiss you,” he had murmured just loud enough into your ear, then ghosting his lips over the shell of it. everything around you dissolved into a blur as you could only focus on his breaths and the tightening of his grasp on you. his confession wasn’t completely unwarranted – not at all.

tetsurou and you had met in the quantitative analysis lab freshman year, having been assigned as partners for the semester just by how the ta’s drew the seating chart. he was a friendly, kind soul – had saved your ass multiple times from overshooting your titrations, prevented multiple beakers and graduated cylinders from falling over, always down to compare numbers to help ensure that neither of you were fucking up too hard.

coincidentally, the two of you were registered to the same ochem lab the next year and immediately gravitated towards each other, grateful to find some familiarity in all the anxiety. he witnessed your breakdown mid-lab, did his best to comfort you and salvage your sample so there was enough for recrystallization because you somehow got landed with a shitty, leaking separatory funnel, and stayed back with you when you had fallen behind in the cleanup process. from then on, it was a weekly habit to study together and work on your lab journals and reports together, not taking long to become close friends.

tetsurou did his best to keep his growing feelings at bay, knowing that you had explicitly mentioned swearing off relationships as you tried to figure out your future first. he wasn’t oblivious enough to think that you didn’t feel anything for him whatsoever – you were stubborn and tenacious at best. the house party at miya atsumu’s was simply a suggestion for the both of you to relax after a brutal midterm in your inorganic chemistry course, to let loose and treat yourself. he really hadn’t meant to say what he said, but just looked so good, so lovely and beautiful and enthralling, and you were looking at him like he hung the stars and moon in the sky – he knows he’s sent that same look to you multiple times when you weren’t looking, completely sober and unfazed.

he couldn’t stop himself from leaning close into you that night and you hadn’t stopped in – he knows he should’ve resisted, but feeling your soft lips against his was easily one of the top ten highlights of his college career, and his love for you only surged beyond his hold, overwhelming him to the point where all he could think about was nothing but holding your cheek in the palm of his hand so he could get a better angle and let himself indulge just this once.

that’s all it was – kissing and kissing in the middle of the makeshift dancefloor until there was no more oxygen left in either of your lungs. like a decent human being, he dropped you off at your apartment and bid you goodnight, hoping that you wouldn’t forget all the events that had transpired. and maybe, just maybe, he wished that you would let it happen again, that you could make him the exception in your plans.

evidently, you did remember it, because suddenly your responses to his texts were delayed and dry. you were picking up extra shifts, showing up to class at the very last minute, and leaving as soon as the professor dismissed you, allowing practically no room for him to make small talk. and while he would usually pass you in the halls of the chem building at some point, you were always too far from him and scurrying away in a different direction. tetsurou did his best to give you your space, but the less he saw of you, the more nervous and frustrated he grew. there was a wrench thrown into his daily routine, and your presence had always managed to bring some peace to him. so when he realized that you had truly abandoned your usual study spot in the library a week and a half later, he set himself on a mission to find out exactly where you were hiding.

it honestly had been sheer luck that he saw your figure ducking around into a hallway he’s never bothered to go down, and by the time he caught up, the door to the graduate resource room had just closed on your and there was no way he could get in without some help. luckily, his mentor who had stayed at the university for their phd was pretty nonchalant about letting him borrow it for a few days, preferring to study at home or in a coffee shop off-campus themselves.

he knew that since you were hiding, you were probably going to be in the most inconspicuous spot possible. so while there was some time dedicated to navigating the new maze of an area, he immediately felt a sense of relief when he saw your back hunched over your notes, hair tied up into a messy bun, and your laptop open with a spotify playlist.

after you’re done reminiscing, you begin to pack your stuff up, opting to just nor respond to tetsurou and ignoring the pleasant sensation that his term of endearment for you brought. he pulls back and stands straight to give you some room, but the tapping of his foot against the tile floor speaks to his blooming agitation at your silence. you’re still wordless as you weave between the shelves to the exit, knowing that the man plaguing your dreams is not far behind. the game of ‘follow the leader’ (or is it ‘cat and mouse’?) continues until you both have exited the main door, and right before you can walk down the granite steps, tetsurou seizes the opportunity to run ahead of you and stand in your way.

“tetsu, please,” you sigh, avoiding his piercing stare by fiddling with the sleeves of your jacket. “is there something you need?”

“you can’t play coy with me,” he chastises, bending down slightly in hopes that you’ll finally look at him. “you know why i’m here.”

it’s a bad habit of yours to nibble on the inside of your lips when you’re searching for the right things to say. tetsurou only picked up on it just last year – the action itself is very subtle to the outside viewer, and he hadn’t been paying close enough attention back then. “don’t bullshit me right now.”

“do we have to do this now?” you whine a bit.

“yes, or else i’m never gonna get you to talk to me. come on, you don’t do this, love.”

“what do you mean?”

“you’re running away. that’s pretty cowardly, don’t you think? you’ve had 3 weeks—”

you start to walk forward and around his tall, lanky figure. “i’m not humoring you with this—”

“with what—”

“—you’re doing that provoking thing, you’re trying to get me to think that i’m wrong in avoiding you—”

“so you have been avoiding me—”

“i said not now!” you protest in a raised voice, path once again blocked. tears of frustration are beginning to build in the corners of your eyes, and you’re cursing yourself for feeling so weak in this moment. part of you wants nothing more than to run into his arms.

it’s dead quiet for a few seconds – the ambient noise of the wind and the occasional passing car this late at night fail to make themselves known over the pounding of blood in your ears. only tetsurou’s first knuckle underneath your chin to raise you up grounds you, and you can no longer avoid his gaze. small crests of guilt wash over you as you recognize the uncharacteristic brokenness in his eyes – the last three weeks must’ve been much harder on him than you thought.

“just hear me out for a few minutes, okay? you can make your decision then.”

he takes your nod as a signal to continue, but also softening a bit at how nervous you look.

“i’m in love with you,” he softly confesses, a smile of defeat gracing his complexion. “and i have been for a while. i don’t think i’m bullshitting when i say i think you feel something for me, too, but i knew it wasn’t in your plans. didn’t wanna push or force you into making a decision when you weren’t ready. so i held back – but i couldn’t help it at the party, and…i’m sorry, love. i really am.”

tetsurou doesn’t miss the flash of hurt that crosses your eyes. “so does that mean you regret it?” you bite out, nails clenching and digging into the fabric of your jacket sleeves. he shakes his head.

“i don’t regret kissing you at all – it’s all i’ve wanted to do for the last two and a half years. but i’m just sorry that i did it without your explicit, sober permission. i went against your wishes in a time of vulnerability, and that’s pretty shitty of me – i’m not gonna excuse myself either just because i was a little drunk, so i hope you’re able to forgive me.”

he watches you sniffle and fight the grin that’s trying to creep across your face. “someone had their shot of respect women juice this morning, didn’t they?” you chokingly tease.

“five shots directly injected into my veins, every morning,” he jokes back, thumb sweeping over to catch your falling tears. “but i mean it though – i’m really sorry.”

“you’re forgiven, and i appreciate that more than you know. but if i’m being honest…it was something i’ve wanted to do for a while, too. i was just really scared because it was so unexpected and i wasn’t sure if i was ready for our relationship to change, or like if i would be emotionally available enough for you, y’know?” you blubber, hand reaching up to rest against his on your cheek.

“hey—”

“i really want this to work out.” tetsurou can hear your voice shake, and he’s sure you’re almost trembling. “you’re one of my best friends – i can’t lose you, tetsu. and what about grad school? what if we end up too far away from each other and video calls aren’t enough? what if you get tired of me or—”

“i know you hate it when i interrupt, but honestly (y/n), you couldn’t get rid of me if you tried. i’m gonna do everything i can to make this work, too, mmk?”

“okay,” you whisper. “okay.”

his thumb gently sweeps back and forth against your cheek for a little bit before speaking up again. “not to ruin the moment, but do i have permission to kiss you now?” his eyes shine despite the midnight sky, and you can’t help the small chuckle that leaves your chest.

tetsurou swears up and down that your kiss in response is much, much sweeter than the one at the party, and he can’t wait to see what the future holds for you two.

[hearteyes-for-killmonger]

COLORS

A/N: No smut, sorry. Written for @princessstevens if she's silk still on tumblr. Based on this picture

"Kellan, call me when you get this," I say hanging up before walking into my building.

He never checks his voicemail so I send him a text too asking him to call me. We go to different schools, he's in the Bachelor's program at Brandman for Business and I'm at Alan Hancock for Art. I know he's probably driving right now or doing something. I remember when I met him, three months ago at Target of all places. I typically don't even shop at Target, I go to Walmart, but I was in there and so was he with his cute ass. I fell in love in the hair section. I was actually stalking him on my way to the body wash, but he was standing in the hair aisle getting conditioner for his thickass curly hair. We were a match made in heaven. 

"Hey mama," I greet on my way to the kitchen to cook the pack of chicken sitting out in the sink.  

"How was school? Take that trash bag out for me," she says before I can respond.

I look in the trash and change the bag, taking the old one to the chute before washing my hands in the empty side of the sink. The moment I rip open the pack of chicken and start washing it, Kellan calls.

"MAAAA, CAN YOU GET THAT?"

She wanders over fast and answers it having her own conversation with my man as I clean chicken. It sounds like they're talking about how his week has been, his classes, and something that's got ma laughing up a storm behind me. I didn't know Kellan was such a comedian. Something about this seems reversed. I keep waiting but I never get the phone so when I heat the oil and start dredging the chicken, I decide to butt into their conversation and ask.

"Uh, ma, can you put it on speaker so I can talk to him, he called to talk to me!" I start putting the chicken in the hot oil.

"Oh hold on, Kellan, my daughter is here getting her knickers in a twist," she mutters putting the phone on speaker. "I think she wants your attention now all to herself."

Kellan snickers. He and my mama are always teaming up on me like it's funny. 

"I know you not laughing," I threaten at the phone, dropping chicken in the pan. "I've been trying to talk to you all day because I missed you but you wanna talk to my mama for-" I look at the time, "Five whole minutes."

"Awww, this baby.. she jealous," Kellan chuckles. "I think she mad you like me more than her."

"Keep acting like you tryna take my Mama from me, nigga. I ain't down with no incestuous shi-stuff," I pause genuinely mad. "You ain't finna be my man and act like my brother, I got a brother. That's nasty."

I don't know why I get mad, but I do. I love my mama. She's mine, not his.. I love Kellan, but he be annoying me for real with that shit because my mama gets too into it like she's not playing. She really does like him more than me. He doesn't understand that and keeps rubbing it in my face.

"You got one more time and you ain't coming over here no more."

"That's our mama's decision," he jokes. I cringe. 

"Exactly," she adds.

I put the tongs down and walk out going to my room and shutting the door. I was gonna tell him about COLORS and invite him to come with me but he's pissed me off and now I don't want to talk to him. My mama doesn't even bring my phone right away, it's two more minutes of them still talking. When she brings it, I yell that I don't wanna talk to him. "Well finish the chicken," she directs. I do it.. but I'm still irritated. 

"And then when he finally calls me back he doesn't even wanna speak to me. Too busy playing mama's boy to a woman who's not even his mama," I vent at the table watching Yaya's thinned lips stretch in silent judgement across from me. I know she doesn't agree with me, but she's not in my shoes.

"You gotta understand he's just getting comfortable. Your mom's probably trying to be accepting. He's your boyfriend."

"No." That's not it, it's not that simple. "He will dead call for her and ignore me. She doesn't care what I do in a day and I can't get her to look at my art for more than two seconds but he gets her undivided attention. He's only known her for three months."

"That's how it is sometimes," she shrugs. I shake my head.

"No. That's not how it is, and if it is I can't be doing this. No, ma'am."

Her finger raises and I shut up as she takes a call. I didn't even hear a ring, but based on her face she's not liking whoever it is on the phone or what they have to say. She has that stank face that she gets when someone's got her twisted. Meanwhile, the waitress pops back up.

"Ready to order or do you guys need a few more minutes?"

"You must got me fucked up," Yaya blurts causing the server's brow to raise as she looks from Yaya to me. She only asked what we were ordering.

"We're ready to order," I smile. Quickly she takes her pen from her pile of blonde hair.

"I'm not working Friday after I already said I needed that day off," Yays waves to me to order for her since she's on the phone. I know what she'd order. The server looks from her again back to me readying her paper and pen.

"She'll take the fried chicken with mac and collards. I'll take the house cheeseburger with fries.. thank you," I nod as she walks away. I take a sip of my iced tea, wiping the condensation from the glass onto my dress and leaning forward with my hands in my lap.

"Right, but I said it back in July so you'd know I'd need this Friday off. It's in writing, do I need to pull it up," Yaya threatens to whoever is on the phone. I wonder what's going on on Friday. "Yes, pull it up and look at the email.. uhuh.. Yes, so Fri-day I will NOT be there," she enunciates. "Correct… Uhuh, buh-bye!" She rolls her eyes and hangs up shaking her head at me and I know the frustration well, we work at the same Michael's. It's awesome, but our manager is very manipulative. I sip my tea thinking about it.

"You need to be the manager." I wish she were the manager.

"Pur!.. and Dean needs to go," she laughs sipping her coke. "How's your Fiverr going?"

"Oh girl I got some gigs, I've made about $110 from it so far." 

"Okay! I'm on Upwork I made about $200."

"Damn. Well I'm looking at working at the Children's Museum for more money."

"True, I saw that position too.. but don't overextend yourself. I'm not.. because we still need to finish with these classes and get our art portfolios together and we ain't finna graduate late-tuh!" 

I know, but I also need money.

When our food comes, we get refills on our drinks and that's when she comments on the restaurant, after she bites into her chicken. It's both of our first time coming in, but it's right near our college which is why we decided to give it a shot for lunch. It's called Urban Hangout and that's exactly what it looks like, a coffee shop to hang out in and just sit. The food is really good too.

"So what you got going on Friday," I ask dipping and shoving fries in my mouth one by one. 

"Tuh, Friday? Nothing I just needed a day to myself and that's the day I'm taking," her lips pout when I laugh. 

"That's smart! I'm glad you ain't let Dean try to sucker you like he be trying." I lean in. She's curling her finger like she needs to tell me something. "He's famous for shit like that -What," I whisper quickly. She waves her hand aggressively for me to stop talking. 

"Meg.. you know that guy over there," her eyes flicker to my left. My head stays still but my eyes briefly follow hers to a quiet looking guy sitting at a table alone with an art pad and a beanie on covering his ears and eyebrows, eyes focused down as he draws.

"Mm-mm, no.. Never seen him in my life.."

"Well he keeps looking over here at you, I think he drawing you." She bites her chicken and sips her coke as I stare.

Me? Why he couldn't be drawing her, why does she assume it's me? I take another look at the guy but turn my head too far and end up making eye contact when he looks up. He looks different than I thought he would now that I can see more of his face. He blinks like he's waiting to see what I'm a do so I get up and sit across from him. He's really cute, though I got a man. There's nothing wrong with being nice, I tell myself.

"You go to Alan Hancock?" 

The corner of his mouth lifts as he looks straight at me. He has long eyelashes and pretty, full kissable lips. I sit a little straighter. If I weren't already three months deep in a relationship I'd give him my number. He focuses back on his artpad, sketching, his eyes moving back and forth between my face and his paper with new energy. I look over at Yaya wondering if she sees what I see and she's smiling like she knows what I'm thinking. She knows my type, brown skin and bearded. He looks like he has a nice build under the loose shirt. And he draws.

"You speak..?" He doesn't respond. I'm starting to think he's deaf and cute. Maybe he can read lips, both sets. I wave and when he looks up, I point to my lips. "What's your name?" He only and smiles, his eyes creased at the corners, still sketching away. 

I decide to just sit still and wait until he's done to see the picture, curious of his skill level. If he doesn't go to Hancock for art, then dammit he should.

Suddenly he stops, looks his page over seriously, and hands me the artpad across the table. He watches me for my reaction. It's a full rendering of my face in great detail and he's made me look beautiful. He's even got my negro nose with the piercing down to the shape of my eyebrows. My locs are accounted for and he put texture on them. Next to that is a full sketch of me sitting at my table, leaning onto the table with the straw in my mouth to drink. He's even got the print of my dress down. Only thing is he's added a realistic looking flower behind my ear in both pictures and I'm not wearing a flower. I look up briefly, curious.

His smile returns as he sees my head tilt with a question in my eyes about the flower. Going into his backpack beside him, he gently pulls out a lively bright golden yellow flower handing it to me. I look to Yaya, who looks equally surprised while I show off my flower. She's fawning.

"Is this how you pick up girls," I smirk smelling it. It's real and I'm geeked. I tuck it behind my ear like suggested by the drawing. Taking his pad, he writes a message on the page and hands it back to me. 

24 hours of silence in memory of black women killed by police brutality. My older sister was one and she loved daffodils. I've been giving daffodils to black women all day. This is my last one.

I look up at his warm eyes but now I see traces of sadness. 

"When did she die," I whisper unsure of whether to speak or write now. He takes the pad and writes. 

2 years ago today.

My heart breaks for him and I hold my heart looking over at Yaya who has no clue what's going on. I'll have to fill her in when I get back over there. In the meantime, I do my best to communicate that I'm truly sorry for his loss. 

"Can I have this," I point to the paper. He frowns comically shaking his head and takes his pad back writing again. 

I'd rather keep it. I like how it came out. 

Can't say I don't understand him as an artist because there are times when you look at your work and love it too much to let it go. Still, it is my face. He smiles seeing my disappointment. I nod deciding to let it go and stand to head back to my table. By the time I sit down, he's up with his things and leaving the cafe. I let Yaya into the loop and she sympathizes looking over to the space where he previously sat.

In class, my eisele faces the window and I start my under painting which is a wash of the background.

"How did you get yet another picture in the hall," I turn to ask Yaya after thinking about it for a good few minutes. She grins with her tongue out between her teeth. 

"I keep telling you, taking outside classes and going to workshops really helps you develop in realism."

"I keep saying I'm going to," I sigh as I plop my brush in water. She sweeps her brush across her canvas back and forth.

"You're lazy. That's why you haven't had anything in the hall."

"No, but why can't I just practice and learn from the classes I'm already paying for," I groan. "Otherwise why am I paying?"

"Because you can't, suck it up. You want to be in the hall or you wanna be average?"

"I wanna make $200 on Upwork."

"Up your skill set and you can," she points to my canvas with her detail brush adding insult to injury.

"Bitch, I'm trying!" Honest, I am. I've improved on my own a great deal but I've still never sold like she has. Her art is in THE HALL.

At Allan Hancock College, only the best student work lines the white brick walls of the art halls. The best of the best make it to the glass display. Every visitor to the building had to pass through the art hall and without meaning to, they stop to admire the art almost without fail. Sometimes the art sells for prices upwards of $300. Colorful portraits, hyperrealistic paintings of still life and everyday objects.. Needless to say, the hall is the goal of every art student and the golden standard to aspire to. 

"That's pretty," Francis smiles in passing on the way to his easel. He's referring to my self-portrait. I started with the background and now I'm painting my skin tone. Glancing over to his station, I move from my spot to take a look at his canvas. 

"Aww, look at Gravy lil fat self!" He's painting his lil fat French bulldog. "Wait a minute... Francis, you got better!.."

"I went to a painting workshop this past weekend, it was a bring your dog paint and sip night. You should've seen all of the puppies! I met a few new people too, 100% reccomend."

"You talkin bout COLORS," April jumps in from behind. Instantly I look at Yaya and she looks at me.

"I love COLORS, I'm telling you, I go there all the time. I've learned so much skill-wise and every day they have something different going on," Francis says. "You ever been?" The question is to me, but before I can answer, April cuts in.

"Y'all need to go on a Saturday night," she smirks.

"I went Sunday, it was fun. Had a lil wine," Francis adds.

"Exactly, no.. Go Saturday Night it's portrait and figure drawing night but there's always a live model and 9 times out of 10 they're always fine." She goes to her portfolio and pulls a painting of a nude black woman. Her strong features are in great detail I notice as I appraise it. This could be in the hall too if she were serious. 

"Damn, I been going the wrong day, sign me up," Sheena cuts in. I ain't even see her behind me. "I wanna go, but I wanna paint a woman," she says causing Francis to look back playfully. 

"We know."

"Look, I'm going this Saturday night if y'all wanna meet me there," Yaya announces as she focuses on her picture reminding me that I need to head back to mine. "Let me know and I'll get us a table. Just everyone chip in since I'm using my card." 

It seems like everyone plans to go. "I'm going too," I say not wanting to be left out.

"Oh I know you are," Yaya's brow raises. I turn my lip up playfully. Kellan would've been bored there anyway he doesn't have an artistic bone in his body. He's like my mom, not interested.

Cutting the engine on my mama's car, I exit the gps and call Yaya.

"Hey. Where you at, I ain't see your car?"

"I'm coming. I'm a few minutes away, wait for me."

"I see Sheena and Francis standing outside. I can claim our station, it's fine. Just meet me inside," I tell her and on entering the urban paint bar with Sheena and Francis directly behind me, the walls are dust free and eggshell white. The overhead fixtures bring white artificial light. The floors are a light sandy wood, finished for easy clean. It looks way better than the outside, bigger too.

Francis leads the way to the desk/register/information center and I grab a brochure advertising a gallery showing that's supposed to happen.

"Hey we have a reservation for five under Yaya. 8PM," he states and we're escorted to a warm white brick space with finished wood floors easy for cleaning. Still there are plastic tarps. There are three other small groups with clustered easels signifying a division, each group with a corresponding table. Our table is table three and we order a bottle of red wine which comes around the same time as April and Yaya. We're all here and ready.

April and Francis take control since they've been to COLORS. They secure our palletes, paints, and brushes.

"Let's make it a competition," April suggests.

"You're on," Yaya points. We're all in, prepping our canvases before the model arrives and when the door reopens we all look up. "IT'S HIM," Yaya gasps echoing my thoughts. He looks just as stoic and reserved as the first time we saw him. I wave catching his eye and jog toward him stopping with my hands on my hips.

"You gotta be an art student," I gape up at him realizing he's taller than I remember. "You everywhere we be!" His lips pout in the tiniest smirk and I wonder if he's still not talking. "My bad, yes or no questions only. Nod for yes.. Are you an art student?"

He shakes his head no.

"Wow wow wow, you in school?"

He nods.

"I really wanna ask you where I'm about to start guessing schools."

Raising a finger to say wait, he proceeds to lightly grab my upper arms and shift me from his path like I'm in the way. I'm offended!

He heads to the middle point of the room which houses a small platform with a few props.

"Ohh," I mouth watching him pull of his thin but loose long sleeved purple vneck. "Dayum!"

I head back to my easel and my group has the same expression. This man looks like a gym rat. I suspected as much but you really couldn't tell through the shirt and that seems to have been on purpose. He's not like me, I flex hard af when I know I look good.

"Professionalism," I remind my classmates. "Y'all seen a naked body before. We are artists, we do not ogle... We respect the human form."

I'm half joking because I know it's normal to have a reaction, but they take me seriously and go into mature mode. Then the man takes off his ripped skinny jeans revealing strong, long, lean calves and solid, defined thighs. He's standing in burgundy briefs that expose that he's working with a monster. Big boy status in those briefs.

It's not like I've never seen a penis, Kellan's is not small. It's not as girthy as this guy's.. but it's similar in length. I'm glad he's not hear to see me damn near simping over this model. That could've been extremely awkward.

I look at the other groups and they seem to be really mature about it. I watch their eyes to see if they're faking composure but quickly change my mind and mind my business. It's a good time to grow up myself.

Then the briefs come off. I keep my face neutral but I see from the corner of my vision that the big boy is hanging. It's been a whole strip tease, I'm almost nervous to look up because my poker face is too fragile. Instead, I start with his face and upper body and jump to his legs based on my view of him. His side is turned to me. I mix my colors for the tonal differences in his skin, accounting for shadows and highlights. I want this portrait to look as good, no.. BETTER than the one he did of me in the cafe. I also want to win this little painting competition. I work on getting the color placement blocked out and accurate and then I follow up with blending and details. His hair is one of my favorite things to paint and I'm confident no one's touching me on that.

He moves around every so often to give the ones who request it a closer look. I don't mind it because he's good at returning to his mark and exact position. Also the lighting doesn't change.

I get his whole body down nearly, left with the gap between his v-cut and his thighs. It's childish but instead of drawing his penis, I start painting in the props. I paint the blue vase and the small stand holding the half full water bottle he keeps taking little breaks to sip from.

"Anyone else hot," I whisper blousing my shirt to give myself air underneath. April takes it as a sign to walk around our easels to look at our canvases and we do the same with each other's. Instantly I realize my painting isn't as good as I thought it was and that I can do better.

"You missed a whole part," she comments inspecting my painting carefully. She's looking at the way I painted his locs. I definitely succeeded there. "You just not gonna give him a dick?"

"I'm not done, I couldn't really see it from this angle," I lie. "I'm just gonna paint a modesty leaf."

"That'll ruin your pretty picture, I've seen your leaves," Francis grimaces. "It's a small part, you can finish it we have time."

I wanna tell him it ain't that small. That thing is big. Instead I pick up the brush to deliberate.

"Hey, could you come just a little closer, please? She's trying to see from the side," April points to me and when he comes closer, I have no excuse.

"Helps to paint it if you look at it maybe every once in a while," he deadpans. I freeze momentarily to look him in the eye. He thinks he's clever.

"Oh you talk now," I smile sarcastically. His small answering smirk shows no malice, purely teasing.

"I like to let people talk who like to talk."

"Yeah aight." I have to look. I start filling in the missing part of his body and when I glance left, Yaya is smirking at me. It's subtle, but I know her and I ignore her.

Kellan wouldn't understand me standing up here sipping wine and drawing dicks with a naked man so close to me. I don't think I'll tell him. That's not something I care to explain and I don't have to, it's art not sexual. I make sure I copy the smooth transition from brown to pinkish-brown on the tip of the dick. I get the healthy shine and the light pull of the balls which are big. He's clean shaven or waxed, I don't know which. When I've got the gist of it he returns to his original position.

"What's your name anyway," I call out. I can't be the only one curious.

"What importance is a given name? The universe will mold us into what we're truly meant to be."

"Erik. His name is Erik," a girl from table four says with a humored sigh. "Ignore him, he's a troll."

"That's a label you've chosen for me. You're a white woman, you are not the universe. Only black women can attempt to perceive me."

"Shut.. up," she groans. It's hard to tell but I'm starting to see he likes mixing his genuine responses with satire. It's confusing. He could be a hotep or he could be fishing. But why would hotep be a nude model? Are there hotep nude models who hand out flowers and draw in cafes?

"Let's compare," Yaya announces and we all vote on the winner with feedback from the other groups who actually consist of nice people. Yaya wins, no surprise there. I'm still proud of my painting. It's my best so far. I wish I could show it to my mama and my man without them viewing it as something perverted.

[burnedbyshoto]

Todoroki Shouto - Alphabet HC’s

a/n: I went too crazy with this... it ended up being like 7.4k words of pure headcanons. I really love shouto what can I say, I hope you enjoy!!!!!

A = Affection (How affectionate are they with an s/o?)

Todoroki Shouto is not an affectionate boyfriend at first. It’s not that he’s timid or even shy about giving you physical affection it’s just that one, he doesn’t know what couples do together, and two, his parents never showed PDA and Natsuo never has his girlfriend over so he’s clueless.

It takes a joint effort between you and him to figure out where and how comfortable he would be with affection

So, when all the loose ends are tied up how affectionate is shouto?

The answer is very.

He’s a soft boy. He loves holding your hand, kissing the back of your hand before you split ways, gentle kisses on your cheeks, nose, and lips. He loves tucking your hair behind your ear even if there’s nothing wrong with it. And on god, hug this boy. Hugs always make shouto go stiff, but once he sees that hugging is something that makes him fill full, his arms will wrap around your waist, his head burying into your neck as his chest palpitations quicken as he struggles to calm his breathing.

B = Breath (What could their s/o do to take their breath away?)

Late night shenanigans with shouto are the best. The first time you take his breath away happens here. The two of you decided to stay in tonight instead of going out, take out boxes no longer filled with food sitting on the table as you’re curled onto his side. His arm is over you as his fingers rub unknown shapes into your side. You turn towards him, no longer focused onto the show you’re watching and he looks down at you. You lick your lips as thoughts form in your mind and easily escape your mouth, “I’m glad I met you, shouto. I don’t think I could be who I am today without you.”

Praises take his breath away

But the one thing that really gets him is when you pull away suddenly from a rather intensive makeout session. You’re straddling his lap and your arms are around his neck, shouto’s arms are around your waist as he groans softly trying to move back in but you stop him. His eyes stare at you as he notices you’re transfixed onto his scar. His scar has never really bothered him before, sure if he could get rid of it he would, but he sees you leaning in again as your lips press softly against the scarred skin. Your wet and bruised lips press against the forever warm skin, the ugly skin on his face. Sweet nothings and loving promises pour from your mouth as you tell him that you love everything about him, that every flaw is just a new reason to love him. It’s not until afterward that shouto realizes that he hasn’t been breathing and it’s because you shout that he’s turning different colors.

C = Cuddling (Do they cuddle? If they do, how and when do they cuddle?)

Ahem. ahem. Shouto fucking cuddles you every single night. He’s a touch starved boy and once he has you in his life he’s drunk off your touch and will forever want to hold you at night especially. You warrant off his bad dreams for one, you’re soft, and he loves you. 

Shouto will cuddle you whenever the two of you are able to lay down together.

How he cuddles? The two of you have a few different positions that you like. The sweetheart’s cradle, spooning (who the little spoon depends on what happened that day and if shouto wants to be held or to hold you), and the honeymoon hug.

Now before you whores start saying that you’ll sleep on his left or right side depending on the weather, I raise you this:

Sleep on his left side always. 

Shouto will forever be a bit hesitant and unsure of his left side. Even with his mother’s blessing and the breakthrough of it being his quirk, he has his doubts. Cuddle into his left side because he never imagined his left side to be anyone’s favorite but his fathers. Cuddle into his left side because he can see that someone thinks that his left side can be comforting and strong. Cuddle into his left side so that he can find yet another reason why his imperfect side is something to be proud of and a reason for him to overcome his self-hatred.

D = Dream (What do they dream of doing with their s/o?)

Shouto dreams of being able to do anything that you want to do. Shouto feels like he owes you so much. He thinks that who he is today is because of you and that’s a debt he can never repay you for. Anything you want, anything you need! Todoroki Shouto has it fucking covered for you.

His dream isn’t just to be a great hero for the public, he always wants to be a great hero for you. He wants to come home every day and see that you’re excited to see him and will never leave him through thick or thin.

Also, he wants to start a Cold Soba Food Critique with Todoroki Shouto and Y/l/n Y/n on youtube because first of all the free soba??? Second of all your look of disbelief when he brought it up made his life.

E = Effort (How much effort do they put into a relationship?)

Todoroki Shouto puts in an amazing amount of effort into your relationship.

The night before your first date he texts Fuyumi for advice because he’s nervous and all the advice that Sero, Midoriya, and all the girls gave him just completely overwhelmed him and now he’s nervous he’s not doing enough.

Fuyumi easily goes through his worries and they set up a game plan together.

Shouto, however, shows up to take you on a picnic wearing an expensive suit and you have to stare at him with your cute and yet casual clothes on in horror. You end up going back to his room to pick out something much more casual.

But that super beyond effort and nervous energy are carried on forever.

Shouto just fucking appreciates you so much.

The effort he puts in isn’t even noticed by him. He just genuinely believes you deserve the best of everything that it makes your heart soar whenever he goes above and beyond.

Shouto has everything about you memorized because he’s so observant and notices everything. It is sometimes daunting to see how much he cares, but it just makes you love him more and return the levels of love he always supplies for you.

F = Fear (What do they do if their s/o is scared? How do they handle it?)

Shouto plain and simply does not know what to do when you’re scared. He, however, is a very collected individual despite his own bursting emotions.

When you’re scared he may threaten to go and end whatever it is that’s scaring you. He’ll throw hands with anyone for you, so if it’s a person that’s making you scared, you’ll most likely be wrestling him to keep him from leaving and ending someone’s whole career.

If its something that he can’t physically fight, but instead a concept (like death and outer space for example), he’ll pull you onto his lap as he’s quiet for a while.

Your head will be against his chest as he listens to what you have to say about your anxieties and fears. When you’re done explaining, he’ll give you his own opinion. Something that makes you feel better as you give a watery laugh and snuggle closer into his arms.

If it’s something that makes you go mute, he’ll wrap you up into a blanket and just hold you and give you reassuring kisses until you’re ready to talk.

G = Gifts (What type of gifts do they give their s/o? Do they want a gift in return?)

Shouto gives you either the most expensive gifts or a penny deal toy.

For your one month anniversary, because of his uncertainty and still rather new experience to this all, he buys you the most expensive thing on the goddamn planet.

Its an elegant and beautiful necklace, a diamond sitting in the middle of the chain.

Your eyes widen as you look at the present and you glance at what you were able to buy for him with the twenty dollars you were able to pull together.

“I can’t… I can’t accept this!”

“That’s why it’s a gift, you have to.”

You have a long talk with shouto about price capping and how he doesn’t need to give an arm, leg, and organs to get you a gift.

Of course, it’s not his money, so he doesn’t really care, but out of respect he starts doing smaller presents.

These smaller presents are able to fill you with overwhelming emotions as his attention to detail and observations make him give you some of the best presents in this goddamn world.

He’ll give you his laundry detergent to use to keep his things smelling like him. He’ll give you his old sweaters because you’ll wear the shit out of them. He’ll give you handwritten letters and love notes because he finds them to be the sweetest and most romantic thing in the world.

H = Hugs (Do they hug their s/o? How often?)

Shouto is a low-key hugger.

He’s a bit embarrassed to hug you in front of other people only because it makes him super soft, not that he cares about it but then he doesn’t want to do anything anymore.

He likes to hold you close, his arms around your waist.

His head will always be tucked into your neck, or resting onto your head.

His fingers resting softly onto your waist as you feel like melting.

Shouto also really loves hugging you from behind or having you hug him from behind.

He loves the feeling of your chest pressing up against him as your face presses against her arms. He loves having your head lean against his shoulder as he holds you from behind.

Shouto also loves lifting you up when he hugs you!

Your legs wrapping around his waist as he holds you! When he’s feeling especially playful you best believe he’s going to spin you around in his arms.

He wants to be hugged by you at least ten times a day because it takes his breath away all the time.

I = Intimacy (How romantic are they? Do they have problems with intimacy?)

Shouto isn’t particularly romantic. He is dense. Most romantic things that he does goes a bit over his head and he just doesn’t realize that he is being romantic. But because of the effort, he puts into this relationship he does really end up being romantic on his own half, but he does pull that off with the help of others.

Intimacy with shouto is hard at first, he’s too stiff and awkward and while he is an open book he doesn’t know how to get around to being intimate. He won’t ever initiate anything affectionate at first, but with time he’ll be able to just walk up to you and give you the softest kisses even with the world watching.

J = Jealous (Do they get jealous? How do they act when jealous?)

Todoroki Shouto is a jealous man :)

Shouto is a person who is extremely emotional, yes he is. He doesn’t know how to always express these emotions, but he is an emotional reactor.

So it makes sense that he gets jealous, and how he acts depends on what happened that is making him jealous.

Scenario one (someone is hitting on you. Unintentional jealousy)

When someone is flirting with you, shouto immediately glares. You’re sitting there trying to get out of this situation but you don’t know how to do it exactly. You don’t want to be rude, but you don’t want to be in this situation. Oh my lord, he’s going to come up to you immediately, whipping you around as his mouth pressed against yours. His mouth fervent against yours as his hands grasp your ass as he squeezes your supple flesh. He’ll bite down onto your lip in a way that’ll make you loudly moan and as you panic ripping away from him, shouto will stare at the man flirting with you. “Thanks for taking care of my beautiful girlfriend, but I think I’ll need to take her away.” he’ll say as he presses yet another kiss onto you.

Scenario two (you purposefully get him jealous)

You’re in the club dancing with the girls in your class. Shouto doesn’t want to dance with you right now because he’s too embarrassed to go onto the dance floor. And well, you really really wanted to dance with him. So when someone’s hands wrap around your waist, your eyes fly over to shouto who is already on attention, his eyes on you as he’s ready to watch you punch this asshole to the next galaxy. Except, you don’t. Letting him continue to dance against you as you keep your eyes locked on shouto. His eyes are glaring as he stands up, and his hands are dragging over you but you can hardly feel it as you can almost see the smoke coming off his body. Your eyes shift towards the girls who are staring at you with their jaws on the ground and when you look back Shouto is in front of you ripping you from his grasp as shouto walks away. The next thing you’ll know is that you’re pressed against a corner as his mouth presses harsh and biting kisses against your flesh as he growls into your ear. “Fucking brats get punished.” He’ll say before slamming his mouth against yours. 

K = Kiss (Are they a good kisser? Do they like to kiss? How often do they try to kiss you?)

Shouto has full lips and they’re soft and a flushed color.

Shouto is an intense kisser, his feelings overwhelming you as he presses his mouth towards yours. How he kisses you is so evident to the way he is feeling. He makes you forget everything that is going on every time you two kiss and he wants to kiss you whenever he can. Shouto is a good kisser once he figures out how to kiss correctly, and he fucking is obsessed with kissing you. 

He loves kissing you when you’re sitting on something; when you’re a few steps ahead of him on a staircase, and he loves kissing you right before bed. 

Shouto is also not afraid to make out with you in public, he has no issues with PDA because he doesn’t care about what people think about him because it all affects endeavors image anyways. So yeah, there are quite a few pictures of the two of you making out in public.

L = Love (When do they say they love you? How often do they say it? Do they prefer to say or show it?)

Todoroki Shouto is not and will not be the first person to say I love you. You will be the one to say it. It’s not that shouto doesn’t love you at the time you say it, he’s just anxious that he isn’t completely sure what he’s feeling is love.

Of course, you don’t mind as you comfort and reassure him.

You’ll even tell him that you won’t say you love him until he’s ready as well.

But he loves hearing you tell him that you love him so he doesn’t want you to stop.

He’ll tell you that he’s in love with you one night after a hard day and days of talking to others about if what he’s feeling is truly love. You’ve taken care of him and reassured him that things will be better so he’ll stop and stare at you. 

“I… I love you…” he’ll tell you as you curl up into his left side.

You freeze as you look at him.

“What?”

“I love you, y/n.”

You’ll start crying and so will he as you kiss him over and over again.

He says it whenever he can fit it into a conversation with you and enjoys both saying it and proving it to you.

M = Marriage (Do they want to get married? If so, what kind of ceremony?)

Shouto is perfectly okay with marrying you or not.

He’s definitely not in a rush to put a ring on your finger because he doesn’t think marriage is needed to make your love true. But if marriage is something you want, you best believe that he’ll go down on one knee.

The marriage celebration with be a traditional Japanese ceremony with your two’s personal twist to it. It’ll be a somewhat small one, but there are so many people that the two of you know that it may end up growing to numbers the both of you didn’t expect to get it. Not that you end up minding because the more the merrier.

N = Night out (What type of dates do they like to go on? How often do they like to go on them?)

Shouto loves taking you to everything at least once.

Amusement parks, every single restaurant in the world, movies, picnics, paintball games, super smash bros???? You’ll experience everything with him at least once because he hasn’t done anything himself and he wants his first memory of everything to be a good one.

Dates are twice every month sort of thing. Dates require shouto to plan things out unless you make them, but you two always eat together every day. So while nothing fancy happens, the two of you are always loving each other.

O = Out of the Ordinary (What’s something they don’t normally do with/for their s/o?)

Shouto will not normally take you to see his family.

You’ll meet his siblings one night because fuyumi insists on meeting you, but shouto feels weird about taking you to meet his mother and father. When it does happen, rei loves you of course and she cries as you leave as she thanks you for taking care of him for her and loving him. 

Endeavor, on the other hand, is a different story. He tries his best to act like he doesn’t like you while also battling to really like you because he’s trying to be a good father. Shouto hates the battling personality that his father trapped himself in but endeavor does at the very least respect you.

P = Playful (Are they playful in a relationship? If so, how do they play around/mess with their s/o?)

Shouto is a pretty easy going s/o and will play around with you, but it’s not in a class clown sort of playfulness. Shouto is the kind to do super obscure pranks that if you’re not looking for it, you won’t notice.

Like with him dying his hair in switched colors during April fools day. You notice there’s something off but it takes you a bit to notice what’s wrong. 

He’s the boyfriend who’ll ask you to come taste something for him and while you learn to taste the food on his spoon, he’ll smear it against your mouth as you scream at him. He’ll always clean you up though! Just you know, with his mouth.

Will also get into sass battles with you to see who can think of the most clever comeback, and so far shouto has never lost a single battle.

Q = Questions (Do they ask their s/o their opinion on things? Do they share theirs?)

Shouto sometimes forgets to ask for your opinion on things…

He’s a very commanding person and takes control of things without entirely noticing it at times. He’s a reactionary person and doesn’t think. Of course, that means you’ll know every single little thought, opinion, and detail swimming through his head but if you don’t speak up he may not notice he didn’t ask for yours. 

So speak up for your own ideas and then shouto will realize that he hasn’t been asking. At that moment he’ll always remember, or at the very least try, to ask for your opinion first because he does care! He’s just… shouto.

R = Random (How spontaneous is their relationship? Do they do things on the spot or plan ahead?)

Shouto isn’t a spontaneous person, he enjoys having things planned out so he knows what he’s doing.

But he will always try to do spontaneous things!

Some of your most memorable dates with him have actually been spontaneous dates because as expected they’re wild and you both end up having a chaotically great time together.

Like the one time, you two decided to go get dinner at ten at night but it was an hour on the bullet train and by the time you got your food the trains were done for the night and you didn’t have money to spend the night anywhere… it was a pretty great ass time.

S = Sleep (How do they sleep with their s/o?)

No matter how the two of you start off at the beginning of the night, you always end up on his chest. His arms wrapped around you protectively as your hands press up against his chest. Your legs are tangled together and his hold on you is a death grip.

Make sure to pee before climbing into bed with him.

Shouto also talks in his sleep so sometimes you’ll stay awake just to hear him talk and have endearing and often hysterical conversations with him as he tells you about how much he loves how your hair looks when the wind blows through it.

The few times he argues with endeavor is sad and also funny as he roasts the living shit out of him and you struggle not to wake him.

T = Trust (How much do they trust their s/o?)

Shouto would not LIKE you if he didn’t TRUST YOU.

Shouto trusts you so much it’s rather sweet and it makes you almost anxious because he’s like “oh yeah that super hard thing you need to do? I know that y/n can do it with her eyes closed, bet.” and you know what? He’s not wrong ;)

U = Unique (What makes them unique as an s/o?)

Shouto is a boyfriend that requires you to take special care of him as well. 

He’s a special baby boy who does need some sweet love and affectionate caretaking and you must give it to him because he deserves to know just how much in love you are with him. Not that he asks for it, but because you know that he needs to hear it.

Also, he can make it snow for you in the summer if you ever really needed it.

V = Vulnerable (How long until they can be vulnerable around their s/o? What are they like in this state?)

Shouto being able to relay his traumatic experiences and being vulnerable are two completely different things first of all. 

It actually takes him a while to be vulnerable because he’s never been allowed to express his feelings of discontent and painful sadness. 

In this state, shouto can’t cry. He’s just breathing harshly, his mind unable to calm down as he paces or sits extremely still. His fingers in fists as he doesn’t believe anything you say. He’s almost a broken record as he states his false beliefs over and over again until you crack him. It’s then that he’ll start tearing up and will cry into your shoulder as you hold him close. Your own eyes watering because this man deserves so much better.

W = Wild Card (Get a random domestic headcanon of the character of your choice)

By FAR the most entertaining date you’ve ever been on with shouto was to the ice rink.

Everyone, including shouto, believes that he is a talented and genius figure skater because his quirk allows him to manipulate ice. He can create ice and walks on it daily so why shouldn’t he be a graceful skater. Well, you were both wrong.

Shouto is so used to being able to just walk and run on his ice because of his special boots that the first time he hits a rink he eats shit.

He can’t ice skate for shit and will forever stumble around the rink as he tries to maintain composure and integrity.

Hopefully, you’re a better skater and can hold his hands and take him around while you two skate or else you’ll be the couple crying on the floor from laughing so much because you both eat shit while ice skating.

Also, you’ve totally dyed your hair to match his at one point.

X = X-Ray (What would they do if their s/o got injured?)

Shouto is a very by the book caretaker. He’s been trained in a way that he will do everything that is correct. Do you have a fever? He’ll give you the medicine and the blankets to help break you out of it.

Broken anything? Better sit your ass down because he’ll freeze you to it if he has to.

Of course, once you submit to his caretaking it’s then that he’ll climb behind you and hold you because being held by someone is scientifically proven to help you heal faster.

Y = Yuck (Do they have any pet peeves about their s/o? Are there any habits that might bother their s/o?)

Shouto’s one pet peeve is if you don’t respect your own opinions on something. If you choose to do something not because you believe it’s right but because it’s whats lawfully correct (he’s a chaotic neutral don’t @ me) he will fight you about it. He doesn’t like it when you don’t follow your intuitions because if you’re not true to yourself who the hell are you true to?

Shouto’s only habit that may bother you is his occasional lack of words. He just doesn’t respond at times where words are clearly needed, but it’s something he’s definitely working on.

Z = Zeal (Are they passionate as an s/o? Do they want or like passion?)

TODOROKI FUCKING SHOUTO IS A PASSIONATE MAN WHO WANTS YOU TO KNOW THAT HE SINCERELY AND GENIUNELY LOVES YOU. HE WILL SWEEP YOU OFF YOUR FEET EVERY SINGLE NIGHT AND REMIND YOU OF HOW MUCH HE LOVES. Shouto wants passion because you own his heart and well he will give you all the passion and loves when you give it back.

NSFW (under cut):

A = Aftercare (What they’re like after sex)

Shouto is the man who will lay on his face for a few seconds after orgasming as he tries to gather his wits. He’ll look over at you as he chuckles before shakily getting out of bed asking what you want.

He’ll bring back a washcloth as he wipes sweat and cum from your body as he presses gentle kisses to any red marks on your body. He’ll thank you and say he loves you as he does so. His quirk going off to soothe any aches or pains you may have

He also is a big sucker for taking post-sex showers with you. The fragrance of the bath salts as you lay on his chest.

B = Body part (Their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

Shouto’s favorite body part on him (besides that long fucking dick) is his arms and hands. I don’t know man, but his arms are so fucking toned and his hands are rough and calloused from handling harsh elements. The way you cry against his body when his hands rub against your body stirs him on and he’ll almost nut on the scene. Plus he loves his back because you rake your nails against his back so much and hehee yes.

Shouto’s favorite body part on you… he can’t decide.

Shouto is a cultured man who loves tits, ass, and thighs equally. He loves seeing your breasts squeezing around his cock as he’s strapped to the bed, your mouth in a sly smirk because you won’t give him your mouth. Plus the soft flesh overwhelms him. Your ass? He really fucking loves slapping your ass as you lay against his lap, counting the number of spanks he’s given you. He loves how soft and how much it bounces with every smack. And your thighs? He loves when you’re riding his face the flesh of your thighs adding pressure as he is desperate in eating you out and eye--

C = Cum (Anything to do with cum basically… I’m a disgusting person)

Shouto’s come is not the worst thing on the planet. He lives a healthy lifestyle and soba is among one of the worst things he eats and it’s actually not that terrible for you to begin with. Shouto comes in a pretty large loud and it’s either burning hot or sorta cold…

His favorite place to see his come is when it’s oozing out of your pussy, he thinks its so fucking vulgar and he loves it.

D = Dirty Secret (Pretty self-explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Shouto really wanted to fuck you before the two of you got together. It’s not something he’s proud of, or even really understood before he was able to understand his feelings for you. All he knows is that you bent over one day and he caught a glimpse at your panties. Afterward, he had one thing on his mind when he was feeling horny but he couldn’t really understand why? He knew that what he saw was, in fact, hot, but why was every single wet dream of his becoming him being fucked or fucking you?

E = Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?)

Shouto is a virgin who you could not tell if they were. He’s so collected that you have to take a few seconds to make sure that he is, in fact, a virgin and he’ll look at you and go “I literally don’t know what I’m doing.”

So to answer, he’s not experienced nor does he know what he’s doing, but he’s a nerd athlete so it really helped him go at it like he was experienced. Plus… he has no shame asking for help.

F = Favorite Position (This goes without saying. Will probably include a visual)

Shuttle - rIDE HIS COCK AND HAVE YOUR ELBOW AGAINST HIS THROAT??? DOM HIS LITTLE ASS INTO SUBMISSION?!?!??!?! FUCKING DO IT AND HE WILL LITERALLY NEVER LOOK AT ANYONE EVER AGAIN!!!

Anvil - a classic position, he just loves the depth he can reach like this and how you melt within his grasp.

Mirage - suck his cock while he can see your entire body and can also finger you at the same time as he can tease you about being a cockwhore??? yes.

Lap dance - he just really fucking loves your body throwing backward onto him as your gasps hit his ear as he slams into you. Your tits are readily available for him to grab.

Workout - having your hips desperately grinding into him as he fucks you standing up without a wall to help him??? He’s gonna make you lose your goddamn mind.

Watering can - riding his cock and smothering him with your tits???? Switch!shouto is quaking.

G = Goofy (Are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc)

Shouto is a very serious man in bed. He ranges from being a growling alpha male to being a super needy shaking man who begs for you to ravage him.

Of course, he can be super kind, his touches soft and sweet.

But humourous??? That’s not really shouto.

You can have giggly sex with him, that’s a given, but it’s not that you’re laughing because he’s cracking a joke of the century.

Shouto is an intense man, so it makes sense that his lovemaking and fucking is intense too.

H = Hair (How well-groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.)

Shouto’s pubes are the same as his head. Red and white split down the middle. 

Now about grooming, shouto wasn’t even that aware that grooming his pubes were a thing so they were a big ole’ mess. Of course, it’s not a defining thing and you talk with him afterward.

He’ll show up the next time bare as a baby butt.

You’ll find a happy medium depending on what you both like because opinions are important and he wants you to be happy and comfortable. 

I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect…) 

Shouto and you can get a little too kinky in bed so being intimate and romantic are a bit hard.

However, he is always super into the moment. When he’s fucking you, shouto can only think about you and only you. Damn everything else.

When you two aren’t being horny animals and are instead soft lovemaking lovers, it’s so so romantic. It doesn’t matter who’s on top, breathless cries, sweet moans, rose petals sticking to your sweaty bodies, and the scent of the burning candles set the fucking scene. It makes you truly look at him and realize just how fucking in love you are with him 

J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon)

Shouto used to masturbate once a month before you.

It gradually increased the more he had wet dreams about you and perverted thoughts.

Now? The only time he masturbates is when you’re at the edge of the bed, his face locked on your smirking face as you say you won’t fuck him until he’s made himself come because he was being too needy earlier. 

K = Kink (One or more of their kinks)

Switch - depending on the day he wants you to either manipulate him to your will or he wants to ravage you

Brat tamer - he really fucking loves when you’re being a brat. He wants you to fight him for his dominance because shoving you into the bed to teach you who the fucking dom is right now.

Temperature play - it’s a given, but he’s also a slut for having temp play done on him

Bondage - silk ties, spread bars, gags, blindfolds… on you, on him, he doesn’t care he loves not being able to do anything or seeing you crying in frustration

P R A I S E - HE WILL BE SO WRAPPED AROUND YOUR FINGER IF YOU PRAISE HIM. DO IT, COWARDS.

Marking - let the world fucking know who the both of you belong to. Bites, scratches, the works. Do it.

Roleplay - there’s something about seeing a different personality on the both of you and he just really loves seeing your own personality struggling against the one you’ve chosen

Exhibitionism - he gives no fucking fucks about fucking you outside of the damn house. He finds it so hot seeing you struggle with not going feral outdoors… eye--

L = Location (Favorite places to do the do)

Endeavors bed.

Definitely in one of your bedrooms because that means you can go on for however long and do whatever the hell you want!!!! But he does… sorta love fucking you in the outdoors especially if there’s 

M = Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going)

The major thing that will always result in you getting to fuck shouto is makeout sessions.

Straddle his lap and kiss him senseless.

Grind your hip against his as your mouth peppers a trail of kisses from his mouth to his jaw and down his neck.

Give him quiet and moaning praises as his head drops as his fingers leave bruising grips onto your waist.

You’ll look back to him and you’ll see that fire lit in his eyes, the pure love and lust that swirl within his gaze as he smashes his mouth back against your mouth as he stands up. Your shirt is torn from your body as he slams you against the wall promising you exactly how many times he’s going to make you come that night. 

N = NO (Something they wouldn’t do, turn-offs)

SHOUTO WILL NOT BRAND YOU OR PHYSICALLY HURT YOU WITH HIS QUIRK. YES, HE LIKES TO USE HIS QUIRK ON YOU BUT IF YOU SO MUCH AS ASK FOR HIM TO PUT HIS NAME ON YOUR ASS HE’LL LITERALLY LEAVE.

He also does not like emotional torture in bed.

O = Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc)

Shouto loves the best of both worlds.

Suck him off while he fucking eats you out like a man who hasn’t consumed anything in years. But he loves eating you out more than he loves seeing your mouth fucking him. Especially when you sit on his face.

SIT ON HIS FACE PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

His skill??? Untouchable, you will never find anyone as good as him at oral, sorry. He aims to please in every aspect so he will find a goddamn way to make you squirt on his face.

P = Pace (Are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual? etc.)

You can do both with him.

He loves the sensual side of the sex with you the most. He loves seeing your body slowly moving due to your actions, how your back arches off the bed, or how you fall forward as you make him squeeze your breasts harder.

But he also loves the fast and rough sex.

The breaking the headboards, permanently altering mattress, the bruises that litter your bodies afterward. Shouto loves seeing your face turn red, veins popping from both of your skin, as cum and sweat drip everywhere.

Q = Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.)

Shouto is definitely not opposed to quickies, the exhibitionist in him is high off the thrills as he fucks you in a fast and almost demeaning way. He loves having you bent over, having you against a wall, it literally doesn’t matter he’s obsessed about the way you look and how thrilling it feels to have a quickie.

It doesn’t happen that often, once every few months because at the end of the day he’d rather fuck you or be fucking in a bed.

R = Risk (Are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.)

Shouto is game to experiment, even if it makes him nervous, even if he isn’t for it initially.

It is how you two found out pegging is a thing you can do together.

As stated before, he trusts you with everything in the world so when you bring anything up he’s going to trust you as either a dom or a sub.

If he finds something that intrigues him, he’ll definitely keep it in for a bit until he fully understands what exactly he’ll be putting the both of you through but it’s always mentioned. Of course, not everything has worked out for the best, but you never keep anything in question.

S = Stamina (How many rounds can they go for, how long do they last…)

Todoroki Shouto???? More like Too many rounds Sho-wreck-you (that was so bad please don’t hate me). He’s been training his entire life so he has the stamina of a fucking ox. When he doms you, fully expect to be a twitching fucking mess who’s literally oozing out his come because he’s gonna fuck you to Pluto and back. When he subs, it’s a bit of a different story. He just has so many overwhelming pleasures from seeing that glint in your eyes to the way you manipulate his body that he won’t ever last more than five rounds.

His stamina is no joke and do not enter this relationship expecting to be able to outlast him especially because he can regulate his temperature to cool himself down.

T = Toy (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or themselves?)

You two start with no toys. The first time you fuck it’s going to be vanilla and limited to what you already own. Like he uses a sweatshirt and belts to use for binding and your panties as gags.

But with some time you guys end up having a whole ass collection.

You guys do use them, maybe not every single session, but enough to make each purchase worth their use.

They get used on both of you almost a dead equal amount.

Favorite toys include (but not limited to nor in any particular order): a vibrator, fucking machine, strap on, anal beads, and vibrating cock ring.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

Shouto can be the biggest fucking tease on the planet. Especially after you dom him. He loves holding your wrists in one hand because that’s how fucking big they are. He loves to see the sweat slipping down your neck as your hips buck wildly, begging for attention as his free hand grazes your folds, his eyes glancing at you as he chuckles lowly. “Does my princess want my fucking cock?” He’ll whisper as his fingers leave your slit to grab his hard cock, the head barely pressing in but you’re moaning as if he’s fully in you. “Oh no, I don’t think you’re quite ready for my cock princess… I need to see you break before you even get to taste it.”

V = Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make)

Shouto is initially a very quiet lover, his teeth biting down harshly onto his lower lip as he tries not to let his whines and grunts be heard.

But we love vocal lovers, don’t we?

So with pleading, and a few more encouraging praises shouto can completely transform.

He growls, moans, whines, curses, and snarls so fucking much that you can’t even begin to believe that he was ever once quiet and shy about this.

W = Wild Card (Get a random headcanon for the character of your choice)

Shouto has a really big fucking thing for lingerie.

He buys you so many fucking unique and different sets for you to wear. You have lingerie of every single color of every single design. He is especially fond of a black lacy set you have that has a high waisted garter belt to it because it was the set you wore to dominate his switch ass for the very first time ever.

Plus you obtain these different auras with every set you put on, and he can’t help how fucking hot it is to see just how you’ll turn out to be new ones.

He’s a curious boy, what can I say.

X = X-Ray (Let’s see what’s going on in those pants, picture or words)

Todoroki Shouto is basically perfect??? Have i not made that obvious enough yet???

His dick is honest to god eight inches even when not hard. It’s not massive in terms of girth but it’s still enough to stretch you out in a delicious way.

He has two prominent veins running down the sides of his cock, one on each side.

It’s also a bit darker than the rest of his body.

Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?)

Shouto has a high sex drive, he’s just aware of it lmao.

Everything he does in terms of being romantic kinda of always ends with the two of you going at it.

It’s not until you push him away teasingly saying that he’s a horny ass animal does he finally realize that yeah, he’s probably down to bone you 99.9% of the time all day any day.

But I mean, he won’t push you at all if you aren’t in the mood because he is a  GENTLEMAN!!!!!!!!!!

Z = ZZZ (… how quickly they fall asleep afterward)

Shouto is a sleepy ass motherfucker, he has definitely fallen asleep on you well before getting to clean you up. But the cum stains the next day were not fun so he always fights his sleepiness to make sure to clean you up. But as soon as your dandy and clean, he’s passing out with you trapped in his arms.

[meruz]

Aforementioned long ask post please excuse me while i try to figure out tumblr's new text editor. I’ll get into the art meme questions first and then the rest at the end.

Ok first of all thank you all for sending in questions! Giving me an excuse to talk hehe. I’ll address these in number order. Here’s a link to the ask meme for reference but also I’ll restate the question for ease of reading.

1. When did you get into art?

Super cliche answer but I don’t remember a time where I WASN’T the weird art kid! I started keeping a dedicated sketchbook when I was about 12? But here’s a page from my kindergarten journal about what I want to be when I grow up.

2. What art-related sites have you ever signed up for? 

LOL this is a weird question. Not sure why so many people want to know. Anyways I definitely had a dA. more than one dA account. I used to browse oekakis when I was a kid but I think I was only signed up to some small ones that internet friends owned. What else...? Mangabullet,Tegakie, Paintberri, iscribble back when that was a thing, instagram if that COUNTs, I used to post art on livejournal and dreamwidth too. Patreon, I guess. Gumroad, inprnt, bigcartel, storenvy all for selling stuff.

In terms of resources.. I have a schoolism account that I’m sharing with friends. Used to take classes on coursera for free. I signed up to textures.com for work recently haha. I can’t remember if I ever had an account on posemaniacs. Did they have accounts...? I definitely used to visit all the time.

3. Show us your oldest piece of art you have on hand.

Alright here’s me actually logging into my old deviantart account. These are from September 2008 So I was 13 years old. I don’t have a deviantart account from before then because 13 was the required age for having an account and I didn’t want to lie about my age because I wanted people to be impressed by how young yet clearly incredible at art I was LOL.

4. What defines your artistic style?

You guys are probably more equipped to answer this than me but uh... I wanna say... Focus on colors. And... a slightly heavy hand? Like confident... not always well-considered mark making HAH...

Also I think I have a pretty healthy mix of american comics/manga influences. I feel like people who are into american comics always think my art is too manga and people who are into anime/manga always think my art is too american. And I’m taking that as a good sign.

5. Do you practice other styles/have you tried other styles in the past?

I like to think I switch it up a bunch! I mean, these are pretty different, right?

I think I’ve mentioned this before but one thing I really took away from art school is that, for an illustrator at least, art style shouldn’t be consistent. Your greatest weapon is changing the aspects of your style based on the task, the emotions and message you want to illustrate etc. So depending on the project I’m working on, the fandom I’m drawing for, whether I want something to be funny or serious or dramatic, I’ll change things about my style all the time.

One thing I don’t rly post on here is really tight polished work and that’s because I do that for my day job haha. If you’re not paying me... I’m probably not gonna color in the lines.

6. What levels of artistic education have you had?

I have a whole ass diploma LOL. Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration. from the Rhode Island School of Design. And I had a great college experience tbh. Besides the student loans. If any of you guys are thinking about art school feel free to e-mail or message me questions or concerns, I’ll be happy to help. Be as honest as I can be.

7. Show us at least one picture you drew or sketched recently that you did not put on a public site.

heres the wandavision kids. Uhh what else do I have...I feel like I’m rummaging for loose change here...

assorted valentines prep doodles

8. What is your favourite piece that you have done?

Well, obviously this is gonna change all the time and generally it’s gonna be my most recent piece LOL. So yeah, why the hell not. I’ll say it’s this one. I have a pretty short memory which I count as a blessing for an artist. I don’t dwell that long on older work and it keeps me moving forward.

10. What do you like most about your art?

I like that it’s something that only I would make! I had this thought fairly recently and I wrote it down in my sketchbook, it’s pretty cheesy and rambling but it felt revolutionary at the time:

So yeah. I like my art best when it’s the most me and for me. And I like it least when it feels like I’m just making something for social media or for other people’s expectations or whatever.

14. What do you like drawing the most?

Kids in baggy clothing are like my go-to LOL idk if that’s obvious. but also I like being challenged so lately I’ve really loved drawing multi-character compositions, environments, weird angles, etc.

oh i LOVE drawing the underside of shoes lol. And bandages. People that are kinda beat up.. I think it comes from getting a bunch of cuts all the time. I’m always patching myself up and I want to patch characters up too.

15. What do you like drawing the least?

mmm I try to find something to like in every drawing but lets see... I don’t like doing commissions of people’s dogs. Just because it’s normally like... a family friend and my mom volunteered me without my consent and I don’t even really know what they’re expecting me to draw and I don’t even get to meet the dog. Also I’m not that great at dog anatomy. Trying to learn though.

18. What is your purpose for drawing?

This could have a million answers! Uhhh to GIT GOOD??? But also to express myself... and also to make money... I mean it depends on what the drawing IS. I draw fanart mostly to connect to people in the fandom so if you ever see me drawing fanart please take it as like an open invitation to talk to me about the character haha. 

20. How would you rank your art? (poor, mediocre, good, etc.)

Good!!! I have a lot of self-confidence primarily born out of ignorance and a short attention span. If I don’t think too hard about how many other artists are mindblowingly unfathombly good... its easy to think I’m good too! LOL

In all seriousness though, I think the opinion a person has of their art is like a crazy balancing act, right? Like you have to think you suck enough to want to get better but also you have to think you’re good enough to not want to give up. I think we’re all walking that line, I know I am! But also I’m a glass half-full type of person so. Most of the time I feel good about it.

22. List at least one of your “artspirations.”

This is a good question because I’ve been trying and failing to put together one of those “influence map” memes for like a full month now. What’s giving me a hard time is I feel like none of these are actually really obvious “““influences”““ in my art? Like it’s hard to see a lot of them in the work I make...? But idk maybe you guys’ll see what I can’t.

And these are just a couple! God there’s so many more. I could talk about other artists for ages, from all different genres of art. Daumier, Rockwell like every illustrator out there, Dana Gibson, Alex Toth, Hiroshi Yoshida, a lot of the Brandywine School. Lots of current working artists too, Karl Kerschl, frikkin Masashi Kishimoto lol, Jake Wyatt, Richie Pope, Edouard Caplain, Matt Cook, Sachin Teng, - lots of big internet artists, Sophie Li, Freddy Carrasco, Milliofish, Angela Sung... like all my friends from art school too. I could just keep going but I’ll stop for now lol.

24. Do you have a shameful art past? (recolour sprite comics, tracing art, etc.)

I mean if that’s how we’re defining shameful?? sure LOL. It’s not sprite comics but I used to do pokemon sprite recolors all the time. And I used to trace manga panels and color them... Granted this was all when I was like under 12 yrs old so it’s not even embarrassing. Can you really call it shameful when a 7 year old wets the bed or whatever? Not really. In fact some of these are cool as fuck. Look

25. Draw a picture!

Man I’m so tired now but here.

I used to get a lot of compliments for drawing people smiling lol but I don’t think I’ve drawn a lot of smiling lately.. here’s proof I’ve still got it.

OK MEME DONE. onto the rest.

I read this ask first thing when i opened my computer in the morning and it made me really emotional.. I’m so glad my sketches could help you!!

I think a lot of artists on social media talk about the struggle of making art but imo not enough people talk about the joy! Like I know it’s corny but. I really meant what I said at the beginning of that sketchbook about re-contextualizing art around process and progress > product and perfection. I think its super important..! The strength of messy, unfinished, and energetic art! For the feeling of it, for the love it!

That's crazy!!! I hope you like 'em. The whole line of x-books is really good rn imo.

Hi! I totally have the answer for digital stuff on my faq lol. But in terms of drawing on paper.. it varies! I tend to use sketchbooking and any on-paper doodling I do as a way to loosen up/warm-up or experiment. But right now my go-to aresenal is:

from top > bottom

- kuretake no.55 doublesided brush pen

- tombow fudenosuke

- muji 0.38 ballpoint

- medium size poscas

- grey tombow double brush pens

- good ol bic mechanical pencil

not EXACTly sure which inking you referring to from my sketchbook but if I had to take a guess it'd probably be the kuretake no55. That's been my main inker, lately. Great for sketching with the thin end too.

You can print out and eat my art if you like. Just please don't mass produce or re-sell. <3

Thanks! I've come to accept that my art is always gonna be sort of gestural and painty naturally. It's getting it to tighten up enough to be legible that's hard lol...

uh yeah lol I agree actually. I think yolei is great.

I assume these asks are related? LOL

1) Yeah totally true. I love David.

2) I don’t take requests, sorry! But if you want to commission me to draw Legion i would be MORE than happy to. Just e-mail me at isellhotdogs@gmail.com.

<33333333333333333333333333

[smortbokuto]

Paper love.

warnings: utter and absolute tooth rotting fluff crack.

pairings: Bokuto x Akaashi.

a/n: here to bless you with soft bokuaka <3 AKAASHI HAD HIS HANDS ON HIS THIGHS JSOIWDEDW BYE

summary: if asked "how did you both meet?" it was simple for them to smile and say "i left my notes in a library and he left a note for me." that's all.

word count: 3.3k

Late afternoon of autumn season. a weather just as the liking of the ravenette who shuffled through the busy streets of the Tokyo with a fixed motto to reach the city library before the dusk paints the already orange yellow tinted sky. his gunmetal eyes landing on every moving figure, every breathing soul, every sign board all through the way till they bored holes into the brown, heavy gates of the library.

a breathy sigh left escaped past his lips at the contact with the antique handles stuck on the wooden doors as he pushed open the doors. thick cool gust of heavy temperature air conditioner fell over his, leaving his tousled hair to fall over his winter evening eyes.

pushing his hair back, slender, calloused fingers carding through the hair as he squinted taking a while to adjust to the dimness of the library which he was not acquainted with after being under the blood- orange sun.

two receptionist sat there behind a huge table, a glass wall over the table that reached the ceiling. to the opposite was huge tables, all dark brown with lit candles and lanterns in the middle of them, were standing on all fours side to side with equal distance. the shelves behind the tables. books and books, sea of books were stacked in a proper order. step stools randomly near every shelves. people balancing themselves on those stools to reach the destined choice of books. level two of the library was just the same, a curvy staircase going from either side of the receptionist table.

the blue and ocher yellow tinted windows all over the huge huge walls allowed the drowning sunlight let into the dim place. walls, painted in a pleasing aesthetic colors, paintings of ancient wars and other artefacts from different places hanging around them with their circa and details.

a perfect place for his anthropology studies.

walking towards the reception table he took the pen that rested between the crease of the entry book which already had listed numerous numbers of visitors.

'#762 Akaashi Keiji.'

padding his way towards a table of his liking, a table just beside the window with tinted shades on the upper level of the library. sitting down he allowed all his required material to spill out from his bag on the table. his journal, pointers already jotted down before hand, different loose sheets from his classes stacked under the journal, written in his pristine sharp writing. books open in front of him allowing him to soak in all the words of knowledge while he took notes and pointers in a fresh page. writing staying constant and neat even with the speed of writing them down.

slowly the minutes slipped into hours and he didn't realize when the already drowning sun had been reigned over by the full moon and stars hanging all around it.

sighing he looked at the analog watch wrapped around his lean wrist.

08:47 pm

picking up all his material he bolted out from the library, not before bowing slightly in front of the already leaving receptionist who returned his gratitude with a humble smile.

--

walk to the college next day was as monotonous as ever. reaching the class felt like slow drags of tired legs but alas, it all about the attendance. a must. ought to be done.

god, he hates it. but it can't be helped.

settling in his seat on the front row of the class he sipped on his warm coffee. the warmth seeping down his throat and heat blooming into the pits of stomach. a tired sigh left his throat.

all the chatters from the students nearby him felt distant as he closed his eyes to take in the reality and prepare mentally for all the upcoming long and slow classes.

"hey, Akaashi." a low voice, a little hesitant, came up from behind him making him open his eyes to turn around and face the owner of the voice. a blond, lean man stood in front of me.

'god, his eye bags can hold water without a miss...'

the male looked in distress.

"what is it?" the ravenette cringed internally at how deep his voice came out and how much sleep was still mixed with it.

"do you, perhaps, have the sub- headings for Human Evolution? i can't really figure them out.." his words turned into a whisper to himself by the end of the sentence. his hands scratching nape in anxiety and his eyes boring holes into everything and everyone but akaashi.

after a silence of fraction of seconds akaashi nodded reaching out to his bag as he felt the gloomy aura tune into a flowery pink aura of gratitude for the helping male.

a life saver, indeed.

for a second, Akaashi thought he had his life in control, his homework and notes on him but to his dismay it wasn't.

what a fucking joke.

disappointed with the lemons life kept giving him he retracted back his hands and rested it on his thighs as he turned back to face the confused male.

"uhh Akinori- san? looks like i have left it in the library i visited yesterday." he apologized telling the blond that he would click the picture of the lone sheet and send it to the male.

--

the whole day continued in a constant restlessness. he left an important somewhere in a public place. questions flooded his brain to the brim and no one could answer them but him.

no way in the living hell he is ready to make those sub- headings again. he felt like he would loose his last straw of humanity and sanity if he didn't find the page.

cursing internally he ran like a mad dog was let loose after him, ready to pounce and tear him apart. skidding slightly he stopped at the library entry. a chill went down his spine as he opened the door, dread settling in the pits of his stomach at the thought of him loosing the sheet.

oh, he really didn't want that.

writing his name on the entry book hastily he ran upstairs, skipping 3 steps at a time in a thought to reach fast. his lungs and calves burned to give them a rest from all the running without to which he ignored, too determined to find the sheet.

reaching the seat he had been siting yesterday he felt his heart pang within the captive of his ribs.

the sheet was still there. safe and sound.

but?

his eyes squinted at the small sticky note sticking on the sheet that's dear to his life. walking towards the page he collected it into his hands. reading the note a smile creeped up on his lips.

//hey! your name is really pretty. i found this sheet today and i kinda took notes from it. thanks for it!!//

thanking the person for the nth time he took out a sticky note from his bag and wrote a small thanks.

//hello, thanks for leaving the note. this sheet is important to me. and it's fine if you took notes, haha. what's your name?//

if he was honesty, he was not expecting any reply from the said person who had left the note.

but when the next day he came with Akinori to issue some books for the upcoming projects.

//oh!! my bad, sorry i thought i really did mention my name in the end. it's Bokuto Koutarou!! 22, going professional in volleyball and i have to study history as a side subject...

oh!! you seem nice. here: #xxxx xxx xxx. you can text me if you feel comfortable!!//

carefully folding the piece of yellow sticky note he kept it in his jean pocket.

later that day he sat there on his comforters of his bed, conflicted between texting the number or not.

what if it's a sick prank? someone else's number? perhaps a random number?? should he even take the risk?? scam??

ignoring all the thoughts he decided to take the risk. something about the name and the way the chits were written made this said man 'Bokuto Koutarou' very magnetic in nature.

texting a simple 'hello' and his name he threw his phone on the other end of the bed, groaning. he seemed desperate about this.

but he can't help! this guy Bokuto seemed really nice and he could be more, he guessed????

after what felt like godly slow centuries he felt his phone buzz, muffled by the covers around it. reaching the phone he checked the time, eyes widening.

03:05 am

he saw the text from a contact name from 'Bokuto?'. wasting not a single minute he saw the reply as smile tugging over his soft pink lips.

[oh! hey hey hey!!]

[i didn't expect you to reply.]

why was he even awake? well he was being a hypocrite to think like that when he was wide awake too knowing he has to reach college for classes. he was sure he would look dead.

but anyways he didn't mind the time and texted back the number. texts going back and forth. getting to know each other. it was basically Bokuto telling jokes, bitching about his teachers and everything he had experienced till now while Akaashi went along with the conversation, laughing at his antics and his bubbly nature.

ah, it felt nice. refreshing. even though he barely had slept in days.

god knows when the foggy night dipped low for the new autumn morning. the sunrays bleeding into his room from the partially open blinds, falling onto his study table. the clock reflecting the light onto the wall that fell on its cover glass.

he was still wide awake. fingers still typing continuously the keys of the keyboard of his phone. smiling every now and then at the replies he got from the other male.

fun indeed.

--

weeks passed with the continuous talking and sharing everyday stuff with each other and soon the autumn took its exit letting winters slide in for next few months.

chits were occasionally exchanged. the secluded corner of the second level of the chit exchange without showing themselves to each other became a habit they adjusted it into their busy schedule.

//ooo i came here today and i thought of leaving a chit for you to read. we should meet someday!!!!//

few days.

//we should, indeed. lets find a right time to meet.//

it was so comfortable.

Akaashi would be lying if he said he haven't sneaked to Bokuto's game.

oh god, it was a mess.

not only this man is fun to talk to and so polite and all but how can he be this good looking?!

"what the actual fuck." akaashi had muttered under his breath as he saw bokuto walk into the arena, chest puffing with pride. the ravenette felt his cheeks burn with a red tint paint purely over his cheekbones.

he could only think of one thing as he watched the pepper salt haired man play the whole match and win it.

'am i gay??????' god it sounded so scandalous.

but looking at him play. his muscles ripple with each moment he took. the way he ruffled his hair to wipe out the sweat, hair messy. the way his jersey rode up as he went in for a powerful spike. everything.

'god, i am so gay. what the fuck.'

akaashi decided he would never tell this to the other male. about him going to his matches only to fall more and more for him with every passing moment. the conversation, the antics, the looks, the nature. everything.

he won't admit that he practically got hard as the first thing in the morning when Bokuto had sent him a voice message of him saying a simple 'good morning'. the problem was not the good morning message but his fucking deep, heavy sleep laced voice.

god, he was down bad for the man.

the early winters slowly turned into mid winters with the call of snow. November slowly turned December and new year approached. a day where they both decided to meet. well for akaashi, he would see him for the nth time now. for bokuto.... first time.

akaashi decided to not tell this to bokuto. jesus, he felt like a damn stalker.

tapping on the shoulder of the man with pepper salt hair, who had his god sculptured back faced to the ravenette.

'i don't mind watching his back for the rest of my lif- jesus christ, shut the fuck up please. don't mess this up.' he mentally cursed as he saw the said man turn to face his gunmetal eyes. his grey eyebrows cocking up in a questioning look.

"how can i help you?"

"i am akaashi keiji..." he mumbled. lips parting slightly as he saw the other man grin ear to ear at the slip of the name.

the night went smoothly. they indulged in all the games that were available in the fair. ate every possible dish not having mercy on their hurting pockets.

ending the night at the river bank side, sitting comfortably on the mats that were set up for the viewers to witness the fireworks for the arrival of the new year.

but something for bokuto made it hard to look at the sky. he couldn't help but watch the man beside him from the corner of his eyes. he just looked so ethereal. skin so clear and pristine, basically reflecting all the colors painting the sky by the crackers. his eyes, blue, but shining so bright even under the dark sky.

he made sure to ask Akaashi for a pic together before he dropped him off. setting it as his lockscreen and homescreen.

'god have mercy, i am so gay.' he screamed in his head. mind not moving on from the burned image he he had drawn in his head of Akaashi. how can someone be this beautiful??

he has to keep it low- key. but, can he?

after the new year meet up. they met frequently. akaashi watching his matches while bokuto used to study, more like complain, with him at the library.

they were down bad for each other. but won't speak about it. just because.

time passes quick. seasons changes. winters came to an end. all the dried up trees showing a sign of life again. pink petals decorating every second tree so beautifully. the snow had melted away from the pleasant warmth of spring painting the whole land in fresh green and spots of pink from all the blossom leaves leaving the home of the trees.

feelings that were supposed to stay small and bottled up, filled up to the brim. it wasn't just a crush anymore. the seasons had changed but feelings remained the same within themselves for each other. and it kept building up till it was over flowing.

each glance, each action, each word and each conversation made them fall deeper into the suffocating feeling of love.

the thing is, akaashi is patient and he knows how to showcase his emotions. he knows what to show and what to not. but bokuto? oh honey no. he doesn't think twice before doing or saying something. he is... impatient.

an impatient person in love? disastrous.

he didn't think twice as he wrote a letter on a pale page. a letter on how much beautiful he finds Akaashi. he didn't think twice as he made his way to the library. he didn't think twice as he kept the letter there on their secluded seat of conversation.

he didn't think about the rejection that could come.

he just wished for the best. like he always does.

he waits. patiently, for once.

but again, for how long?

three days had passed but it seemed like akaashi hadn't even visited the awaited library. he had told bokuto about his upcoming project for the end of the semester. he had already issued books for the project a day before bokuto had kept the letter.

so close.

he decided: he can't wait anymore. he jolt up from his bed, hair hanging low over his forehead. he picked his phone typing away to the person he is so desperate for.

[hey!! can we meet at the library real quick?? its urgent.]

he wrote as he threw on a sweatshirt over his shirtless body. reaching the porch of his house his phone buzzed.

[its pretty late rn??? but sure.]

god, at last. but then the dread he had been ignoring settled in. what if he rejects? what if i ruin what we have? no no, he doesn't want this.

panicking he put on his shoes, sprinting out from his apartment. not wanting to wait for the elevator he took the stairs. 12 floors down from stairs... he ran, not giving his lungs the needed break from one block to another. the roads empty with only few passer by walking back home maybe and the light lamps only illuminating the empty sidewalk and roads.

he just wished for akaashi to not have reached before him as he stood on front of the library doors. he pushed them open taking a deep breath as he padded slowly up the stairs.

taking a turn to the place he had to reach his eyes widened at the figure he wanted to see after he reached but no. he was tad bit late.

akaashi stood there, teal sweatshirt hanging over his lean figure. letter, open and probably read by now, between his slender fingers. his head whipped up to see bokuto, mouth gapped, wanting to say something but nothing came out.

"i- i can explain." bokuto never thought his voice could come out so small. "its okay if you will reject me. i mean it will hurt like a bitch but its fair... you have your own choices and i was selfish to write it i guess... i don't wanna ruin what we both have!! i cherish it a lot."

he was rambling at this point trying his best to explain his emotions that where all over the place. he was so messed with his words he didn't hear the multiple times akaashi had uttered his name. it was until akaashi had to practically yelp out his name in a dead silent library.

"Bokuto!! what the hell??"

"wha- what?" oh god, he sounds so upset...

"can you let me speak now? there is nothing for you to explain. the letter did its job already." the shorter man commented.

there was a heavy silence between them as akaashi busied himself in folding the letter back and putting it in the envelop. bokuto couldn't hear the paper rustling as it was being folded but his heart shattering at the due rejection.

the taller man didn't look up from the ground. he didn't have the balls to look into those gunmetal eyes. he figured it would be filled with anger and hatred.

he was so ready to hear the rejection now.

but nothing came.

slowly he lifted his head, taking the risk to look at the man in front of him. he took a step back when he saw akaashi smiling, face flushed in shades of pink and red under the light of lanterns that were lit all around the library for the starry night.

"won't you speak anything now?" he whispered. "aren't you going to reject me?"

"no? why would i?" akaashi answered with a question. smile never faltering.

huh?

"wait- you like me??" his words came out chocked at the realization. maybe it was mutual. maybe it wasn't as scandalous as it looked like. i was a new bloom of love.

"no, i like you too." he drawled out walking towards Bokuto. "like a lot. pretty desperate you can say. i just thought that it would never be mutual so i kept it in."

to say that bokuto was happy was an understatement. all these months together with him as friends was all something he always had wished but now? lovers? yes. how can he ask for anything more than this?

his hands reached out to the male walking towards him, pulling him into a hug he craved to give him so desperately.

"i love you so much."

[moldisgoodforyou]

march madness

this is dedicated to @sunnypogue​ and @oopmyheartwent-obx​ because they’re the homies and I said so 

wordcount: 2.2k

warnings: cursing, I didn’t edit this for shit, mentions of sexual situations

____

Every year, the Delt house held a March Madness bracket competition. There were cash prizes involved and it was taken extremely seriously, only significant others were also invited to participate (no hookups allowed, unless the hookup was consistent enough to stick around through the end of the tournament in April). James was in charge this year as brotherhood chair and was taking it to the next level, upping the buy-in and scheduling several watch parties throughout the month. 

When Rafe casually let it slip that he was participating, Sophie’s interest was piqued right away. They were all hanging out in his room, Sophie’s legs draped across his lap while Rafe kept a constant touch on her ankle, her calf, anything.

“Can I do it with you guys?”

“Well...” Rafe trailed off, trying to think of any excuse possible. He knew Sophie’s competitive nature to a tee and was already predicting the fight that’d come of it.

Unfortunately for him, James loved nothing more than seeing Rafe lose in the tournament every year. “Yeah, of course you can. Why not?”

Rafe winced and Sophie caught it immediately, furrowing her brow. “Yeah, Rafe, why not?”

“No reason.” He squeezed her ankle and gave her a little smile. She merely raised her eyebrows back, skeptical, and started googling on her phone, pulling up a few sites.

“What are you looking for?” Rafe asked, leaning over to see.

She quickly moved her phone out of his reach. “None of your business.”

“Sophie, c’mon.”

“Jeez, Sophie, is he always this whiny?” Colin teased and Sophie laughed, clicking her phone off. “You should know, you live with him.”

“Nah. He’s different around you. Softer.” James reached over and ruffled Rafe’s hair, causing a mini scuffle between them.

“Yeah, see, he’s always aggressive with us.” Colin pointed out.

“He could stand to be a tiny bit more aggressive with me.” Sophie mumbled under her breath with a smirk, just loud enough so only Rafe could barely make out what she said. He whipped around, eyes wide. “What did you say?”

She grinned and batted her eyelashes innocently. “Nothing. When can we fill out our brackets?”

“They’re due in three days.” James told her, handing her an extra blank bracket from his desk. Sophie accepted it with a thank you and stood, not before kissing Rafe on the cheek. “Looks like I have some work to do then.”

“It’s not that complicated, Soph, you can just pick it on, like, jersey colors or mascots or whatever.” Rafe told her carelessly. She kept up with Ohio State sports and knew the rules of the game, but didn’t really seem to care otherwise. She’d prioritize alone time in the architecture studio for big games sometimes, or study through a tailgate instead of watching the other games on air that day. What Rafe failed to remember is that she was also extraordinarily stubborn, and always determined to win.

“I’m not just going to throw my money away. I need to research.”

He laughed. “When have you ever researched before a game in your life?”

With that she flicked him in the head, scowling. “I’ve never needed to before. Have you filled yours out yet?”

Rafe went to bat her hand away a moment too late, letting out a little yelp. “Hey! No, I’m just going to fill out the day before. Let the experts help me out.” He gestured to the TV, where ESPN hosts droned on in the background. 

“Hm.” She gathered her things and Rafe leaned over, tugging at the sleeve of her jacket. “No, wait, stay. We can do it together, if you want?” 

“And let you cheat off me? Absolutely not.” She fixed him with a scrutinizing look. “Why, need someone to tell you whether the green or red team is better?”  

He laughed. “No, baby, I’m not just gonna wing it.” 

Even James could feel the annoyance radiating from Sophie in the moment and he face-palmed behind her back, anticipating her response. She frowned at Rafe, arms crossed. “So why would I just wing it?” 

“Well that’s - that’s not what I meant -” He hastily backtracked. 

“Smooth.” Colin muttered under his breath, shaking his head. She rolled her eyes. “I’m sure. Now if you’ll excuse me, darling, I have some work to do.” The pet name held absolutely no affection to it, hurled like an insult instead. 

“Darling? Huh? Sophie, I didn’t mean it like that -” Rafe started again and she leaned over, kissing him shortly to cut him off. “Sure you didn’t. When do we hand them in, James?” 

“6pm, Friday. Hard deadline.” He responded cheerfully. 

“I’ll have it to you tomorrow.” She grinned and gave them all a little wave before leaving, ignoring Rafe’s small noise of protest. It wasn’t til she had hardly stepped out of the house to walk home when she had three texts from James with individual links to stats from prior tournaments and comparisons of each team’s performances throughout the season. 

James: If Colin and I can’t knock his ass out, I’d want you to do it 

Sophie: :) I’ll accept the honor 

The next day, Rafe was entirely unbothered by Sophie’s participation in the bracket challenge, after she had reassured him that she was mainly teasing about his comments. She also knew the exact time the Bracketology show aired on ESPN, as well as the shows on other networks, and made it her mission to distract him at every opportunity possible. 

She was over again the next day while James and Colin were busy, so they had the room to themselves. Sophie had brought over her homework, like usual, and the two were just enjoying each other’s company for a while - until she noticed Rafe pull out his bracket, completely blank. “You’re not done yet?” 

“Huh? No, the ESPN show’s about to be on. Do you mind if I keep the volume low?” He reached for the remote. “That’s fine, I just have a few questions left on this.” She purposely made a show of stretching her arms high, the hem of her cropped sweater lifting just enough to show a flash of her lacy bralette. 

He stopped in his tracks, clearly eyeing her over. “Your sweater’s short.” 

She hid a smirk, giving him a confused look instead as she tugged the hem back down. “Is it?” 

“You said you have how many questions left?” Rafe tried curling his hand around her hip and pulling her close, but she swatted his hand away. “Just five, but they’re long answer.”  

“Just five.” He nodded to himself and turned the TV, remembering why he had gotten his bracket out in the first place. She kept her head down, working as she listened to the hosts’ banter for a few minutes. When they started actually getting into the bracket predictions, Sophie rolled her shoulders, then tilted her head to crack her neck. “Rafe?” 

“Mm?” He replied, half paying attention to her as he scribbled out some of the early game decisions. 

“Do you mind rubbing my shoulders? They’re killing me.”  

“Course not, c’mere.” He turned on the couch to face her, keeping the bracket and pen in his lap. 

She didn’t waste any time pulling the sweater over her head, letting it drop to the floor as she moved to sit closer to him. He laughed, loud. “What was that for?” 

Sophie glanced at him over her shoulder, moving her hair to expose her back fully. “Figured it’s easier to massage on bare skin than through a bulky knit sweater.” 

She had fully captured his attention now, and he ran a finger down her spine, grinning. “Just a shoulder rub?” She was glad to be facing away from him, unable to hide her eye roll. “Mind out of the gutter. Just a shoulder rub.” 

Rafe nodded but couldn’t resist placing a few kisses along her bare shoulder before massaging her shoulders, pressing hard. When she noticed his massage got weaker as he got more distracted by the TV, Sophie let out a breathy moan. It sounded horribly fake even to her ears, but got his attention right away. 

“Soph.” He warned. 

“Hm?” She questioned, wincing as she faced away from him, hoping she sounded innocent enough. 

Lucky for her, Rafe was pretty clueless to the motives of her game. “You can’t say just a shoulder rub then make sounds like that.” 

“Sorry, sorry.” She grinned. “I’ll be good for you.” 

“Sophie.” 

“Rafe.” She mimicked, turning back around and finally giving him an eyeful of her chest. He groaned and pulled her onto his lap immediately, hands going straight to her waist. “Sure you need to finish your homework?” 

She grinned. “How long are James and Colin gone for?” 

“Uh...” He glanced toward the door, at the TV, then at his watch. “We have an hour.” 

Sophie stood, blocking the TV, and held both her hands out. “Let’s take advantage of it then.”  

_ 

Her plan worked perfectly over the next three days, right up until the deadline for turning in the bracket. It laid forgotten on his desk while they made out on his bed, lazy kisses shared as their hands wandered. James barged in with only a single, split-second knock. “Hope you have your clothes on!” 

(They both did - they had almost been caught once and Sophie always triple checked the lock before taking her shirt off after that.) 

Rafe groaned and threw his pillow at James. “Give us a fucking warning, dude!” 

“Bracket’s due in five. You finished yet?” 

“Oh shit.” Rafe sat up immediately, glancing around for it. “No, I’ve been busy.” 

Sophie held back a smirk. “I think it’s on your desk.” 

“Did you ever finish yours, Soph?” Rafe asked as he got up to scramble for a pen. Unfortunately for him, she had taken all of them over the last few days - not a hard task, because he only owned four. 

“She turned hers in two days ago. It’s like, annotated and shit. You have four minutes now.” James tapped his watch, then decided to take pity on him and toss him a pen from his own desk. 

Rafe frowned, frantically filling out the bracket. “Annotated? With what?”  

She shrugged. “Stats to help me out.” Sophie leaned over, watching him fill out his choices. “Texas Tech is red and Purdue is gold, I think you should pick Purdue there. Gold is a fun color.” 

James snorted. “Two minutes, Cameron.” 

“Fuck, okay.” Rafe finished it quickly and handed it over, but Sophie grabbed it out of his hands first. 

“Wait, you picked Michigan to win? God, Rafe, do you have no loyalty?” She was violently offended, disbelieving of her eyes. 

“They’re a solid pick!” 

“They’re our fucking rivals!” 

He laughed and grinned, smug, as he remembered the nickname she had tried to use against him days earlier. “I’m playing to win here, darling. You didn’t seriously pick Ohio State to win, did you?” 

“I picked Villanova, thank you very little.” She narrowed her eyes at him.

“Oh.” He was surprised at her logical pick, which irked her even more. “Well, I don’t have the emotional attachment like you do here.” 

“You’d think two and a half years of school would be enough. Don’t need your parents as alumni to do that.” 

“She makes a point.” James chimed in, thoroughly entertained by the arguing, but made his way toward the door to collect other brackets. “Dude, you’ve had weeks to work on this, what happened?” 

“I don’t know, every time I’ve turned on ESPN to watch I...” He trailed off, thinking.

James shook his head and made his exit, making a point to securely shut the door behind him. 

Rafe finally put two and two together and pointed an accusing finger at Sophie. “You sabotaged me!” 

She grinned, giving herself up right away. “Yeah, what of it?” 

“That’s so low.” Rafe shook his head, scowling. 

Sophie laughed, sitting up on her knees and leaning forward to smirk at him. “Yeah? What are you gonna do about it?” 

He stood at the edge of the bed and placed both palms on her knees and slid them up her legs, leaning over her. “You don’t really think you’ll win, do you?”

“Might not, darling, but at least I’ll beat you. You screwed up on several brackets, by the way.” She met him with a kiss, nipping teasingly at his lower lip.

“Huh?” He mumbled against her lips. 

“Wichita State plays Marshall, not West Virginia, and Auburn plays Charleston. Not Clemson. So that’s already two games you’ve lost.” She grinned as he curled his fingers into her thighs and stood up on her knees to kiss him harder, locking her hands to rest behind his neck.  

“And you didn’t correct me once. I can’t believe you.” He slid one hand up to squeeze her ass, laughing when she let out a small squeak of surprise.  

“Cameron.” She tried pulling him down to the bed.

“What.” He didn’t budge, keeping a firm grip on her butt.

“Shut up and finish what you started.” 

“Yes ma’am.”