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safyresky · 1 year

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Smile Shots: Clawfoot Tub

Was thinking of what Diteline Valentine's Day probably looks like, given it is Dite's BUSIEST day of work and often one of the COLDEST days of the year. This was what I thought up! I was a little torn on how it would end up, but I knew for sure they would be chillin in a hot bath together after their long ass day lmao. Please enjoy what I was originally calling A Very Diteline Valentine's Day aka, "Two girls, chillin' in a hot bath, thigh to thigh because they're SO gay". For each other, lmao.

UM ALSO Killian belongs to @lmelodie. I very much enjoy stealing him for a quick mention in situations >:). This is some time in the future (hence diteline marriage! in theory, Dite should be going by Donnie rn but in practise, I entered a fugue state when writing this and went with the present naming conventions), but to clarify: I imagine that blackice plans involve another attempt at reconciliation that devolves into a fistfight 😂😂😂. my GOD their dynamic is EVERYTHING to me 😍😍😍

ANYWAY, formalities out of the way, enjoy! And ah, Happy BELATED Valentine's Day, in all the ways love exists! :)

(would've had this out sooner but I got very distracted by my own romantic shenanigans which involved a lot of Puss in Boots. The last Wish SLAPPED and the first movie was ALSO very good! :D)

---

"This is either a Valentine's Day surprise, OR you have had a very long day."

"Would you believe that it was both?"

Dite giggled, gently shutting the washroom door behind her. She looked down at her wife, up to her shoulders in bubbles, cucumbers on her eyes, fruity face mask all over her face, and kissed the top of her half-thawed head.

"I think I would, yes. But definitely mostly the latter," Dite said, unravelling her chiton. "Wanna talk about it?"

"I drew the SHORT STRAW, DITE," Jacqueline said, her tone of voice reminding Dite of the pouting emoji as she pulled off the cucumbers, throwing her hands in the air and her head back. The wet brown tendrils of hair stuck to her shoulders; above it, the still frozen white strands bounced a little bit, the steam slowly dissipating the snow. "The SHORT STRAW!"

"Oh no," Dite said, folding her chiton and placing it on the weird ledge behind the toilet, her heart shaped fibulae gently placed on top.

"Oh YES! Can you believe it, babe? Even JACK had plans!"

"Oh, cute!" Dite said, tossing undergarments into the laundry. "What are the two of them up to today?"

"I don't know, probably fist fighting in an alley way? I don't get those two."

"Well, love is love," Dite said, gently testing the water with a finger. "And your brother and Killian have a special way of showing it."

"That's a...polite way of putting it," Jacqueline said, eating one of the cucumber slices. "Here, lemme get some hot water back in here for you."

Dragging her leg off of the rim of the tub, Jacqueline leaned forward, turning the hot water tap. She frowned, moving her hand away from the stream that came pouring out of the faucet, looking up at her wife. "Maybe you should test the water. I know it's usually too hot whenever I do it," she said with a small sideways smile, slightly flushed—and Dite knew that it wasn't from the steam.

The goddess smiled, sliding into the bath, and placing her hand under the tap. "It cooled off fast, and you're nowhere near done melting," she said, twirling the cool water tap a smidgen.

"Yeah, it's a cold one today. Very cold. Fucking freezing even. I think parts of Northern Ontario are hitting forty below. Same with the Midwest. There's like two polar vortexes, several flurries on the west coast, so Vancouver is, of course, freaking out," she said with a snicker. "I figured California could use a good scare and flurried there too, since, you know, I got SADDLED with all the WORK! Figured I may as well have some fun, y'know? Goddess of the Springs, I can't believe I got the short straw," Jacqueline said, once again doing a stellar impression of the pouty emoji. "I'm not unconvinced that Mom and Jack didn't cheat."

Dite smiled, sliding down the porcelain wall of the tub, leaning back with a happy sigh. Her wings unfurled, seemingly breathing a sigh of relief and drooping over the tub as the goddess got comfortable, the steam doing wonders to her muscles. "Well, you did an amazing job, blue eyes. There are going to be cuddles ALL OVER THE GLOBE tonight."

"I aim to please AND freeze, brown eyes," Jacqueline said with a grin, eating the other cucumber. "Anyway," she said, still chewing on the slice. "Are you done for the day? Or is this a siesta to see lil' old me? I wasn't sure how late you'd be working so timing the bath was a little bit of a challenge."

Dite laughed, sinking deeper into the tub. The bubbles went up to her neck as she sought out Jacqueline's legs, resting hers against them. She sighed, happily. "In theory, I'm done for the day! In practise, it's hard to say! Mom kidnapped Dad halfway through the morning shift."

"Does Psyche has some fun plans?"

"I guess so! She seemed excited! Anyway, I told them not to worry, I could handle the day. I mean, it's my favourite day of the year after all! Dad said he'd take the evening shift, which starts now, but I haven't heard from him yet so we'll see how it goes," Dite said, chipper.

Jacqueline sighed, sliding deeper into the water.

"What's really bugging you, babe?" Dite asked, shutting off the tap. Water sloshed out of the tub, soaking the stone floor below them. Whoops, Dite thought, watching bubbles float up from the floor.

"I had big plans for today," she admitted with a sigh. "I spent all of last week looking at ancient battle grounds to find some monsters for us to fight together today. I had two perfect locations picked out and everything! Then I was gonna make reservations at the new steak place in the South Province back at home, and then I was gonna book us one of those nice little over water beach cabins nearby so we could sit and spend the evening watching the stars and the icebergs drifting by! But then I drew the SHORT STRAW!" She said with a huff, droplets of water following her arms up into the air, the bath sloshing around her and over the rim when she crossed her arms with a splash, sinking low enough to blow bubbles in the water with her nose.

Dite sniffled. "Awwh."

Jacqueline popped out of the bubbles, looking at the blonde with concern. "Are you—are you crying?!"

"It's just. That's very very sweet of you," Dite said, with a HUGE smile, eyes tearing up.

Jacqueline flushed. "Well, it's your favourite day of the year, after all. And more importantly, I love you! Of course I'd plan something special! Shame loving your partners runs in the family."

Dite laughed. "That's not a bad thing!"

"It is when I don't get to bring my WIFE to the BEACH!"

"How about we rain cheque that?" Dite said. "For my birthday? Or yours, since that's like, around the corner."

"We can do it for yours," Jacqueline said. "After all, I planned it for you and I'm sure you already have plans for mine."

"I do indeed!" Dite said. "Thankfully, I am a planner, and I have a little plan for us this evening given that we both worked late today," she said, watching as Jacqueline's eyebrow quirked up, curious. "I stopped by that place you like in Canada, the one with the really good general tso's chicken?"

Jacqueline perked up, her back straightening. More water sloshed onto the floor. "You got us take out? From the Prosperous Lizard?"

"I did! Extra saucy and extra spicy for you! And, I stopped by all of the random little altars that pop up for me around this time and grabbed ALL of the deserts people left for offerings."

"DESSERTS?!"

"Mhmm," Dite said, nodding. "Lots of cupcakes this year! The usual chocolates, a BUNCH of roses, and, someone left us this," she said. she lifted her hand out of the water, suds drifting off as it glowed a bright pink. In front of her, a plate of chocolate dipped strawberries appeared. "Your favourite!"

"AhhhHHH! Oh my god, you were spoiled this year!"

Dite laughed. "I sure was! Which means that I get to spoil you," she said, leaning forward and booping Jacqueline's nose. "And the people who gave us these? Yeah, they get extra Hedone blessings tonight," she said with the hint of a suggestive smile.

Jacqueline sloshed forward, grabbing a strawberry and devouring it. "Mmm. This is the best," she said, sliding back down in the tub. "You're the best. I love you so goddess damned much," she said, the strawberries drifting closer to her.

"I know!" Dite said, chipper, helping herself to one of the strawberries. "And," she said, her voice sultry. "You'll love what I did with the roses."

"What you did to the. Sorry, WITH the roses?" Jacqueline quite literally squeaked, her voice cracking on the last word. Her flush deepened; the snow in her hair melting a tad bit faster. Dite's lips quirked up, a knowing little smile.

"Oh, you know," Dite said, coy, slowly sliding forward in the tub. "I spread them around the house in all the cozy spots for...ambience," she said, nose to nose with her very red wife. "Around the couch...the bed...and also, here," she said, her voice low as her hand shot up, her fingers fluttering.

Rose petals exploded, landing on the slightly runny floor and floating in the little pools of water caught in the uneven crevices of the stones. Some landed in the tub, the bubbles gently caressing the pink and red petals. A handful landed on the top of Jacqueline's head.

"Holy Hedone," Jacqueline said, flushed.

"That's my name," Hedone replied, her voice heavy and her smile. Well. Cheekily successful.

"Did you—are you. Are WE. Uh. Do you. Are you."

"You're so cute when you're all flustered," the goddess said, rubbing the face mask off of her nose and kissing the very tip.

Jacqueline smiled, this cute, warm, corkscrew-y grin that Dite had only ever seen on her when they were together. She cupped her hands, splashing water on her face and rinsing off the face mask.

"So that's a, that's a yes then?" the sprite asked, her voice going high once more.

Dite laughed, choosing to answer not with words but with a kiss.

Her lips were soft, and warm, and welcoming, and Jacqueline melted into her arms with a sigh, the rest of the snow in her hair falling right off in one go.

---

Later that evening, curled up on each other on the soft couch surrounded by all sorts of romantic flowers, a plethora of desserts laid out on the coffee table, Jacqueline glanced up at Dite.

"You know," she began, "I'm really glad we got that bigass claw foot tub," she said, pecking the underside of Dite's chin. "That was a good investment, one hundred percent."

"Oh my god, right?! I love that we both fit into it comfortably," Dite replied brightly, kissing Jacqueline's forehead. "Sitting in the hot water just being with you is," Dite sighed, happily. "Super nice."

"Hey. I love you," Jacqueline said, burying her head in Dite's shoulder. "Thanks for coming in clutch for Valentine's Day."

Dite scooped Jacqueline up, hugging her very, very tightly. "I love you too! And I hope this was a good one for you," she added with a soft smile. "Even with the short straw and the long work day."

"Easily one of my top three," Jacqueline said, snuggling even closer to Dite with a happy sigh.

"Me too," Dite said, with a soft smile filled with love. She kissed Jacqueline's messy brown head of hair. "Me too."

#dite is ACE yes but very much sex positive! like i've said before. she's my PERSONAL ace mood lmao #so on occasion she will happily have some fun time with her wifey >:).#after all. she IS the goddess of pleasure! and giving pleasure gives HER pleasure! that and violence and extreme sports #and also baking #anyway plz enjoy this smile shot!!! diteline valentine edition!#smile shots #dani speaks #dani writes #diteline #crystal springs #was really torn on if i should add the lil steamy bits that DONT involve the hot bathwater #and yes. on valentine's day. the frosts draw straws on who takes care of the cold weather shit #because of plans for the day lmao #but anyway. need to keep reminding myself that the ace spectrum is a thing that EXISTS and it is OKAY to be anywhere ON it #which can be very hard when most of the ace interactions i have are on the ABSOLUTELY NOT side of the scale!#also have to keep reminding myself that myles and xander and fino are all on there too and are on different parts of the slider TOO #AH.#okokok this is late enough as is lmao. Enjoy!

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miavira · 3 months

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Completely forgot to post this, I had this thought kicking around my head for a while...

So when the new Puss in Boots movie came out I got so excited because I thought "Hey, the first Puss in Boots movie wasn't a huge success or anything, and yet they made a banger ass sequel for it anyways. Maybe that means that there's HOPE for Megamind to get a sequel too with a similar animation style!!!" And then they DID! BUT! It's exclusively on a streaming service I don't have nor do I want to pay for, and I've been hearing it's not that great anyways. ;-;

#I sad #random thoughts #rambles

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daydreamrry · 2 years

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Did you see the new blind about dm's favorite gOrGeOus FeMaLe DiReCtOr??

It's so obvious it's sent by her team it's embarrassing 😭😭 like, why would this random anon kiss her ass so hard? However, I guess they're probably doing this so when they announce the movie is going straight to streaming, it silences some of the rumors regarding what went on backstage between o* and warner and even between o* and the cast/crew

Btw, funny how they're blaming it on the pandemic, not on her lack of talent and professionalism. We had movies like black widow, James bond, a silent place, dune that still did well during covid times and guess what? They had competent directors.

Anyways, we will be watching puss in boots and MP instead 😘

-🫀

when it comes to olivia and her sucky directing, the blame is always on anyone and anything other than herself 🤷‍♀️ anyways, puss in boots and MP ftw!!!

#🫀 anon

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renaerys · 3 years

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PPG One-Shot: Mall Santa (Boomer/Mike and Brick/Blossom)

Summary: To earn a little extra cash over the holidays, Brick, Mike, and Boomer agree to help out their buddy Todd at a Mall Santa gig. Shenanigans ensue.

This one is for @snailbutters, @genovah, and @hanaokm. Merry Christmas and happy holidays! Enjoy some Boomike, Blossick, and Capri Sus on me.

[Cross-posted to AO3]

xxx

There were a lot of things Todd needed: a haircut, for one. His black hair was getting too long for gel and it was really pushing the boundary between greaser sexy and sad trash hobo. Money, for another. But like any other 21-year-old townie with a high school education and two restaurant jobs, he always needed money.

A new best friend, for yet another.

“I’m not your best friend,” Brick snapped as he tied a black tie around his neck. He needed to leave in ten minutes if he was going to be early for his dinner meeting with Oliver Morbucks.

Todd put a hand over his heart like it might fall out of the wound Brick’s words had stabbed there. “Dude, of course you are. I’m totally sorry if I ever gave you the wrong idea.”

Brick grimaced so hard he was sure he’d end up constipated. “No, you idiot. I know you think I’m your best friend. You’ve never shut up about it, even after we graduated high school. I’m pretty sure the whole fucking Peninsula knows it the way you go around shouting it when you’re blasted.”

Todd looked like he’d just received news that his favorite nana wasn’t dying of cancer after all. “Oh, cool. For a second there I thought I really hurt your feelings. You know you’re kinda sensitive, right?”

Oh god.

“What do you want, Todd? I have a really important meeting and I’m not missing it for your bullshit.”

Brick checked his reflection in the bathroom mirror in his one-bedroom apartment in downtown Townsville. It was a shitty hole-in-the-wall kind of place, but Brick was used to squalor. His break was coming, he could feel it. If tonight’s meeting went over well, he’d have a more steady revenue stream and, more importantly, the connections and clout the Morbucks name brought to open doors. All the long days at Red’s Auto Shop saving and scraping by would finally pay off, and just in time for Blossom to graduate from college. It was perfectly planned, meticulously manipulated, all down to this last pivotal dinner.

“Cool, no big deal! I just need to know if you’re free this weekend.”

“Free to do what?” Brick indulged him, because Todd was one of the few people on this planet who wasn’t 100% intimidated by his very presence.

“To help me with this Mall Santa gig I got. Harry Pitt was supposed to be my number two elf, but he ate some bad prawns and they had to, like, airlift him to Citiesville General.”

Brick stopped everything he was doing and glared at his second-to-best friend, which was a key fact because second was not the same as first. “What the fuck did you just say to me?”

“I know, right?” Todd knew his way around Brick’s embarrassingly small bathroom, opened up the hair wax, and fixed Brick’s styling job. “Dude always had a weak stomach, you remember. But you don’t fuck with bad prawns. I mean, obviously.”

Brick swatted Todd’s hands away and checked his reflection. It was definitely an improvement. “Not that; the Mall Santa thing, obviously!”

“Oh, yeah. So you’ll help me out?”

“Fuck no.”

“Aw, Briiiiiiick,” Todd whined.

Brick grabbed his dinner jacket from the closet barely big enough to fit a small, starving child. Todd, who had latched onto Brick in the seventh grade like a goddamned barnacle and never let go no matter how hard Brick tried to push him away, followed. “Not if you paid me.”

“You’ll get paid! It’s $20 an hour!”

Brick hesitated over the threshold. “That’s higher than minimum wage.” It was higher than his hourly rate at the garage too.

“Seasonal gigs, man. That’s how you win.”

“It’s seriously fucking not.”

Todd, one of three people in the universe who actually cared about Brick on a personal level even though he wasn’t obligated by blood, made his blue eyes big and wide in a way that reminded Brick of Puss-n-Boots from Shrek, Todd’s favorite movie. “C’mon, bruh. Do your bestie a solid? Just this once? I really need the money and they won’t let me keep the gig without two elves to fill in. So please? Pleeeeeeease?”

And Brick, former scourge of Townsville, a Super with the power to literally raze the planet if it so much as tickled his fancy, and the dictionary definition of the boy every father dreads his perfect, pretty little girl falling for against her better judgment, cracked like an egg.

“For fuck’s sake,” he groused. “Just text me the time and place and get out of my face already.”

Todd punched the air with both fists. “Yes!! Oh, hell yes! I love you so much, dude.”

“Blow me.” Brick checked his watch. Shit, now he was merely on time.

“I’d consider it an honor,” Todd said, probably literally serious.

xxx

Boomer rolled glitter on his cheeks and around the edges of his dark blue eyes with the help of a compact as he huddled behind the North Pole set on the first floor of the Townsville Mall. When he was satisfied that he sparkled like the tinsel-festooned Christmas trees in Santa’s twelve-by-fifteen-foot “forest” themselves, he discreetly re-emerged just as the latest child slid off Santa’s lap.

“Merry Christmas, Dan!” bellowed a red and white-clad Todd behind an enormous, curly beard. “Remember to brush your teeth!”

The little boy ran back to his parents, who were having a word with the photographer about purchasing a picture of their son on Santa’s lap. Before Boomer could follow them, Brick was quick to cut him off.

“Where the hell were you?” he demanded. Sour as an un-sugared plum in his festive, candy-striped elf costume, Brick may have absolutely intimidated the seven-year-olds waiting in line with their parents for a turn on Santa’s lap, but Boomer only allowed him a bemused smile.

“Why, I was making toys for the good little boys and girls who came to visit us here at the North Pole,” Boomer said in a raised voice. He looped his arm through his brother’s and let his power surge with enough force to turn Brick around and face the crowd that was definitely within hearing range. “Isn’t that right, Elf Mursten?”

Brick pushed back with inhuman force, but Boomer held his ground with a smile as bright as the glitter on his cheeks as a little girl in overalls trotted forward.

She giggled. “I like your hat.”

“Thank you!” Boomer gushed, and he tipped his pom-pom-topped cap. “And what’s your name?”

The little girl giggled again. “My name’s Alynn.”

“Well, Alynn, why don’t you step right up and take a seat on Santa’s lap? I’m sure he has a great present for a cool girl like you. Right, Elf Mursten?”

Brick glared medieval torture at him, and he managed a smile that showed too many teeth to be anything other than life-threatening. “Of course, Elf Buller.”

Boomer’s smile tightened.

“Ho ho ho! Come on over, Santa doesn’t bite,” Todd said.

“What a psychotic reassurance,” Brick said soft enough for only the Super brothers to hear.

“Hey, Brick?” Boomer said, just as softly. “Cheer the fuck up.” He gave his brother a bone-crushing squeeze around the arm and broke from him. Brick could be a sourpuss when he wanted to be (all the time), but he wouldn’t mess up Todd’s Mall Santa gig when he’d bothered to show up and actually put in the effort at all. Complain as he might about Todd’s exuberance, Brick had always come through for his best friend since the seventh grade.

Boomer, on the other hand, had been very happy to accept Todd’s offer to work the two weeks leading up to Christmas. The hours were reasonable, the pay was good, and Boomer loved children. It was easy money in between local shows he and his garage band had booked over the holidays.

Plus, the photographer had a nice rack.

“Okay, Santa, Alynn. Look over here and say ‘jingle bells’!” A flash went off, and Mike Believe stood to his full height behind the tripod he’d set up for the day’s pictures. Even in reindeer antlers and a bright, red-painted nose, Mike filled out every fold of his brown Rudolph outfit almost to the point of popping a button. His broad chest puffed out when he put his strong hands on his hips and grinned brightly like he wouldn’t pick anywhere else to be right now.

Their eyes met, and Boomer flushed and smiled like a fool.

When Mike winked back at him coyly, his heart leaped into his throat. Mike had gotten home from college just two days ago, but the three weeks he had off for Winter Break would surely fly by like they did every year, and Boomer was determined to spend every moment together.

A tug on Boomer’s green tunic drew his attention. “Can I take a picture with you? Please?” the little girl asked.

Boomer beamed and scooped her up onto his hip. “Of course you can. Hey, Mike? Can you take one of us, please?”

“You bet! Get in close, now.” Mike readied his camera.

“Oh, wait a sec. Why don’t you take this too?” Boomer removed his festive hat and put it on Alynn’s head. It was big on her, but she laughed happily.

They posed for the picture, and Boomer hugged her cheek to cheek.

“Thanks!” The little girl tried to give him his hat back, but he pressed it to her chest.

“You keep it. Merry Christmas. Remember to be good, okay?”

Alynn’s father was waiting with a hand for her to take when she ran back to him, yammering about how she’d met Santa and his super cool elf friend, and Boomer watched them go.

“You know you’ll have to pay for that hat,” Brick said.

Boomer sighed and ran a hand through his cornflower hair. “You know I look better without it.”

Brick frowned deeply. “Uh-huh.”

“If you keep frowning, your face will stick like that.”

“Moron.”

He always had to have the last word. Brick went to stack the empty boxes wrapped in bright, shiny paper, which was probably more productive than blowing up the entire display. Boomer left him to it. It was time for their mid-morning break, anyway.

Todd got up to stretch. “Man, who knew sitting could be so tiring, huh? Whack.” His phone buzzed, and he grinned when he saw the caller ID.

Boomer, however, had eyes only for Mike as the latter turned off his camera and put a sheet over the tripod to protect it. “Working hard, I see.”

When Mike smiled, his dark eyes crinkled in the corners. He had a face made for smiling. “Oh, you know. Just helping out some friends.”

Like Brick, Todd had asked Mike to help out behind the camera for this gig. Mike didn’t exactly need the extra cash given his lacrosse scholarship that covered his college expenses, but the three of them had been as thick as thieves all through high school no matter what Brick said when he was annoyed. No way was Mike going to bail on the chance to help out a bro.

“This is cute,” Mike said, running a thumb over Boomer’s sparkly cheek.

“If only I could convince Brick to wear some,” Boomer said, lacing his fingers in Mike’s as they shuffled to the side of the exhibit behind a blinking Christmas tree for a bit of privacy.

Mike chuckled. “That’ll take a Christmas miracle. But anyway, I don’t want to talk about Brick right now.”

Their kiss was soft and mostly chaste, considering the venue, but Boomer didn’t mind at all. He rose up on his toes to lean into his boyfriend’s superior height and smiled into their kiss. Even in the middle of the Townsville Mall with shoppers mere yards away, for a few seconds Boomer got lost in the fantasy of the forest and the snow drifts, bright lights and magic that came around only once a year and had always touched his heart in a way nothing else quite could.

“Babe! You got here quick!” Todd’s excitement and a small commotion around Santa’s throne drew the lovers’ attention, and Boomer reluctantly broke the kiss. His Super hearing quickly picked up on what was going on.

“What is it?” Mike asked.

Boomer smiled wryly. “That Christmas miracle you wished for. Come on.” He took Mike’s larger hand in his and pulled him back toward the front of the display, where Todd had scooped up a very small, very fashionable Asian woman in his arms.

“Oh my god, don’t do shits in front of the innocent children, Toddy.” Hana patted her high bun and smoothed out her oversized black jacket once Todd released her.

“Hey, I just missed you is all,” Todd said with a genuine smile like he had really, truly missed his girlfriend since this morning when they had last seen each other.

“You guys are too cute,” said Bubbles with a giggle. As usual, she was adorable in blonde twin tails and a holiday-appropriate sweater dress. Shopping bags hung from both her arms, also as usual.

“Right?” Hana said, her deadpan façade melting completely as she beamed at her closest friend.

“No contest.” Bubbles set down her small nation of shopping bags. “Oh! Hi, Boomer!” She dashed to hug him in a flash of blue, and he caught her easily. “Oh my gosh, I love your glitter. You look like a supermodel!”

Boomer laughed and hugged her back. “Thanks for letting me borrow it. I really owe you.”

“Don’t worry about it. Oh, but you definitely need some touching up. Here, let me just…”

Mike had wandered over to Todd and Hana. “Hey, Hana. Are you staying for the holiday?”

Hana shrugged. “Yeah, my art show isn’t until after New Year’s. You know, I’m always looking for more models.” She raised her eyebrows suggestively.

Mike laughed. “I’m honored, but I’m really nothing special, honestly. You might try Butch.”

Todd guffawed. “Oh man, Butch is, like, one of her top models! She painted him for what, six weeks last summer, babe?”

“Seven,” Hana said, dead serious.

Mike smiled nervously. “That’s a lot of inspiration.”

“He is very inspiring,” Hana said, deader and more serious.

“That dude is goals,” Todd said, totally unironically.

“I guess I can’t argue with that,” Mike said.

“Aaaaand done.” Bubbles stepped back to admire her handiwork. “Honestly? You’re the most beautiful elf the North Pole ever employed.”

Boomer snickered. “Don’t tell Brick that.”

“Don’t tell me what, now?” Brick emerged from his useless empty box stacking task, glitter-less and severely lacking in Christmas cheer.

Bubbles gasped, right on cue. “Brick! Where is your glitter? Get over here.”

Brick made a weird face. “What are you talk—hey!”

Bubbles all but accosted him with the glitter pen. Hana cheered and applauded, and Todd joined in because he liked to cheer and applaud in general.

“What are you—get off!” Brick shoved Bubbles hard, but a flash of pink caught her before she could crash into anything.

Blossom peered around her totally unfazed sister, a tray of lattes in one hand and her perfectly sculpted eyebrow raised. “Brick,” she said.

Brick swallowed. “Blossom.”

She looked nice in leggings and a sweater dress that matched Bubbles’ style, except where Bubbles’ was white, Blossom’s was a scarlet that rivaled the shade of Brick’s eyes.

“I brought you guys coffee,” Blossom said, her eyes trained on Brick even as she held out the tray.

Mike took the tray before it could become collateral damage in whatever was going on between the two of them.

“Here you go.” Mike offered one to Boomer, who gratefully accepted it.

“Thanks!”

“I thought you weren’t getting home until tomorrow,” Brick said, as if he and Blossom were the only two people there.

“Change of plans,” Blossom said. “Problem?”

Brick seemed to remember what he was wearing and snatched his elf hat from his head. He bunched it up between his hands like that would hide his imagined shame. “It’s fine.”

It wasn’t fine, clearly. But it wasn’t Boomer’s place to intrude. He would have been extremely happy for it to end there, but sadly Blossom, like his brother, had a flair for the dramatic and an affinity for the center of attention.

She sauntered up to him and smeared the bit of glitter Bubbles had managed to draw on his cheek before he’d shoved her off. “Good,” she said, half an invitation and half a challenge.

Brick didn’t bend easily. Boomer knew his brother as well as he knew himself, and he knew Brick didn’t relent, never gave in unless he was well and truly beaten, which was rare. But he slackened now, lips parting and eyes falling. Even though his arms stayed stubbornly at his sides and he didn’t do something as scandalous as hold his girlfriend’s hand in public, he melted under her touch and attention.

“All right! Bloss, you’re back early! This is massive, like, supernova massive,” Todd said. “Hey, I know! Let’s throw a party at mine tonight! Brick said you weren’t coming back for another couple of days, so this is like a cool early Christmas present to all of us.”

Bubbles gasped. “Oh my gosh, yes! Let’s all go to Todd’s tonight, just like we used to. I’m calling Robin right now.”

“We can make it a real Christmas party,” Blossom said. Somehow, she’d gotten ahold of Bubbles’ glitter pen and now smeared a generous amount on Brick’s cheeks until he gleamed without suffering a nuclear meltdown. A Christmas miracle, indeed.

“You’ll wear the Santa suit,” Hana said. Demanded.

“Ho ho ho! You got it, babe.”

“That thing’s a rental,” Brick said. “And it’s, like, 75 degrees outside.”

“If he gets too hot, I’ll hose him down,” Hana said.

Brick smartly decided not to press her on that one.

“I like your elf costume, Brick,” Blossom teased. Maybe.

“I’m burning it as soon as I get paid,” Brick said.

“I thought it was a rental like Todd’s?”

He hesitated, trapped by his own logic, and she laughed softly and kissed the side of his mouth. Brick froze and played it off like it didn’t affect him, but his eyes were drawn to Blossom’s lips for the next six whole minutes. Boomer really didn’t get why he had to make everything so damn complicated.

“Hey, hombres, our break is up and I see a super cute kid waiting to sit on the softest lap in Townsville,” Todd said, sinking back onto his candy cane throne and patting his lap.

Brick visibly cringed.

“It could be worse,” Mike whispered to Brick. “At least this time we get to keep our shirts on.”

Boomer smiled at the memory of Todd’s last seasonal gig he’d roped Brick and Mike into over the summer. The shirtless carwash had admittedly been one of his more rewarding part-time jobs, and Boomer had the photo evidence to cherish the memory extremely fondly.

Blossom and Hana retreated behind Mike while Bubbles finished up her phone call with Robin and Brick admitted the next child on set.

“Welcome to the North Pole,” he said with all the cheer of an old tire. Nonetheless, his cheeks dazzled. “What’s your name, kid?”

She looked up at him but didn’t say anything. Boomer noticed her shyness and decided he better intervene.

“Hey there,” he said, taking a knee so he could be on her eye-level. “Merry Christmas.”

That alarmed her even more, and she hugged Brick’s leg.

“What the—” Brick put his hands up like he didn’t know what to do with them. “Great.”

The girl’s parents were busy talking to Mike about the picture packages and didn’t seem to notice what was going on.

“Uh,” Boomer said, ready to flag them down before the little girl got scared or started to cry. They’d been lucky this morning with only one child throwing a temper tantrum out of the tens they’d seen.

“All right, kid. I hope you have a good grip.” Brick floated off the ground with the little girl clinging to his leg and flew over to Todd’s throne.

Boomer was so flabbergasted by his brother’s gross disregard for this child’s safety in front of her parents that he was momentarily stunned where he kneeled. It was over in about two and a half seconds, with her parents none the wiser and the little girl still in one piece, miraculously. Brick peeled her off him and dropped her on Todd’s lap.

“Name,” Brick demanded. And then, reluctantly: “…To check you off the Nice List.”

The little girl looked up at him with wide-eyed wonderment, or maybe fear. “Morana.”

“Morana. Super. Tell Todd—I mean, Santa—what you want. And smile for the camera.”

Todd didn’t miss a beat and wrapped his arms loosely around her to hold her safely in place. “Morana, that’s a pretty name. Wanna tell me what you want for Christmas?”

Morana pointed at Brick. “That one.”

Brick turned as red as his messy man bun. Todd wheezed.

“Oh, yeah? Well, that one’s taken, but I bet I can get you a picture together. How ‘bout it?” Todd asked.

Boomer was up and moving in a blue flash. “That can be arranged.” He shoved his brother with a healthy burst of Super strength, and Brick all but fell on his knee next to Todd’s throne. Boomer waved back at Mike for the picture.

“Big smile now!” Mike said cheerfully, and snapped the picture.

“What the hell is up with these kids?” Brick asked when Morana skipped back to her parents and started chattering at them in a language Boomer didn’t recognize but assumed must be all good things from the way she grinned from ear to ear. “They get bolder every year.”

“Or you’re just getting softer,” Boomer teased.

“Yeah, right.”

Blossom laughed at something Hana said on a nearby bench, drawing both their eyes.

“Whatever you say, man,” Boomer said.

xxx

Todd’s party was a nostalgic and long-overdue affair later that evening. Unlike Boomer, who had to make do in a small studio apartment on the outskirts of Citiesville where the rent was more manageable and his commute didn’t matter when flying anywhere took only minutes, Todd lived in a big house he took care of for his often absent, globe-trotting parents. Blossom, Bubbles, and Robin had taken the initiative and strung up Christmas lights, while Boomer created and managed the playlist for the night. They had a good crowd with old friends from high school and new ones from work and college gathered for no excuse other than to have a good time.

Butch, Buttercup, Mike, and Todd had set up beer pong in the basement, where most of the festivities were taking place. As usual, the shit talking and macho bravado had soared to ludicrous heights.

“Come on, BC,” Todd goaded. “Money shot, right here.” He fluffed his Santa beard, the ends of which were damp with beer. Buttercup had one cup left to hit.

“I’m about to straight-up tea bag you with this ping pong ball, Todd, I swear to god.” Buttercup tried to focus on her aim after too many beers and the distraction of Todd’s stupid Santa beard.

“Do it, fucking do it,” Butch said, bobbing on the balls of his feet and slightly manic with the competition and holiday cheer, probably.

“I’m gonna fucking do it!”

“I don’t think you can fucking do it,” Mike said.

“Ohhhhh!” Butch hollered when Buttercup lost her temper and threw the ball too hard. It bounced off Todd’s beard and fell on the floor, leaving the last cup untouched.

“Mike, you cheater!” Buttercup shouted.

Mike burst out laughing.

“All riiiiight, the Toddster’s final shot. You filming, babe?” Todd asked.

Hana, across the table from Boomer, had her phone out and poised. “Kick their asses, Toddy.”

“Yeah, bring it on, Toddy,” Butch jeered.

“Oh, it’s about to be brought.”

“Oh god, please, you peaked in high school,” Buttercup said.

“Hey, he plateaued,” Mike said. “There’s a difference.”

“Just take the damn shot!”

Todd shot, hit the rim of the solo cup, and missed. Buttercup and Butch threw up their hands and whooped. They were still in the game, and the stakes were even higher now.

Boomer squeezed Mike’s arm in a silent excuse and went to change the music…only to find Brick and Blossom making out in the hallway like it was their last night on Earth.

The music was fine, he decided. No need to interrupt Brick and Blossom trying to fuse with the wall and face his brother’s cock blocked wrath. Discreetly, Boomer snapped a picture on his phone and texted it to Bubbles.

[Boomer: Shooketh]

Bubbles’ reply was lightning fast.

[Bubbles: More like shattered!!]

[Bubbles: Better get out of there before they catch you lol 💀]

After another hour (and Brick and Blossom’s reemergence from the wall in one piece with not a hair out of place because god forbid), Boomer and Mike decided to head out early. They went back to Boomer’s apartment, where a very excited Pomeranian welcomed them home.

“Hi, Pumpkin!” Mike brightened like the sun and scooped up his favorite girl, left in Boomer’s care while he was away at college. “Who’s ready for a walk?”

They walked Pumpkin and let her tire herself out running around the suburban neighborhood where it was too late at night for any cars to be out. A half hour later, they were curled up on the loveseat with Pumpkin snoozing in her fuzzy bed at their feet and an old black-and-white Christmas movie playing on low volume on the television.

“Hey,” Boomer said, lifting his head from Mike’s chest to look at him properly.

Mike set aside the hot chocolate he’d been drinking and pulled Boomer up by his waist. “Hey, you. What is it?”

Boomer smiled. It was silly, really. “It’s nothing.”

“Oh?” Mike returned his smile and leaned closer. He smelled like soap, a hint of chocolate, and something else that made Boomer want to bury his face in his neck.

“Just happy,” Boomer said.

“Really? I can’t tell.”

Boomer sat up a little higher. The neck of Mike’s old lacrosse jersey he wore dipped down his shoulder, too big on him and softer than a cloud. He pressed a chaste kiss to the underside of Mike’s jaw. “How about now?”

“Hm, nope, I don’t think I quite got that.”

Boomer threaded his fingers though Mike’s short, dark hair at the nape of his neck. Feeling coquettish, he gave his ear a nip. “How about now?”

Mike shifted on the couch and pulled Boomer’s bent legs onto his lap. His voice was as warm as the hot chocolate he’d been drinking. “I think I’m starting to get a vague understanding.”

Boomer laughed and painted a trail of kisses along Mike’s jaw, up his chin. He pressed a strong hand to his chest and put a little power behind it. Centimeters apart, he could taste the lingering heat of the hot chocolate on Mike’s breath. “And now?”

Mike’s eyes drooped and darkened. His hands slipped around Boomer’s waist, under the jersey, a silent entreaty. “I think you can do a little better than that, Angel.”

The secret nickname broke Boomer’s resolve, and he kissed his boyfriend full on the mouth with all the confidence and shamelessness he couldn’t give him that morning at the mall surrounded by children and their parents. Mike’s shirt soon found its way to the floor along with Boomer’s borrowed jersey. The loveseat was too short to accommodate Mike’s height comfortably, and after a few moments Boomer held him close and flew them to the bed in a flash.

“I’ll never get over how hot that is,” Mike said, breathless.

Boomer blushed, unable to help it. He was careful with his strength around Mike, but sometimes the X bonded to his bones pushed him to the raw, carnal boundaries of humanity. Mike’s hand on his cheek drew him out of those spiraling thoughts.

“I mean it,” Mike said. “I love that part of you. And I trust you completely.”

Words did not come easily, nor did they seem appropriate in that moment. Boomer bent to kiss Mike again and pull him as close as he could get. Wrapped up in the warm sheets and each other, Boomer’s silly little thought that he had never been happier grew and swelled to heights he never could have imagined before Mike. They lay there together, lazy and sleepy, as the credits of their forgotten holiday movie played on the television.

“One more semester,” Mike said, “and then I graduate.”

“I can’t believe you’re almost a college graduate,” Boomer said. “It feels like you left ages ago.”

“Four years is a long time, but it’s not forever. And you should get ready.”

Boomer looked up at him. “Ready for what?”

“To move, of course.”

“Move?”

“Hey, I love how cozy your apartment is, but I’m pretty sure Pumpkin would appreciate her own room once we’re living together full time.”

Boomer sat up properly. “You… You want to move in together? With me?”

“Of course! The only question is, where do you want to go?”

Boomer covered his mouth. Of course he had thought about getting a place with Mike, but that always seemed like the distant future. What if they didn’t stay together? What if the long distance was too hard? What if Mike met someone else at college? Brick didn’t talk about it much, but after a few too many drinks one night the year Blossom and Mike both left for college, he’d confessed how afraid he was that he would lose her forever. How can the old be exciting and fun compared to the amazing, new adventures she would be having?

But from the way Boomer had caught them all but absorbing each other at Todd’s tonight, Blossom seemed perfectly happy to keep him. And Mike…

“You’re serious,” Boomer said.

“I’ve never been more serious.” Mike took his hand and kissed his knuckles carefully. “I can’t wait to start our lives together.”

Boomer could have cried. He almost did. Life was hard, even for a Super like him. With endless bills to pay and the occasional monster to dispose of, sometimes he felt like he was being pulled in too many directions without anyone there to help pick up the slack. But this… This was his.

“Me too,” Boomer said. “And I don’t care where we go, as long as it’s together.”

“Well, cool. In that case, if you’re not opposed to it, was thinking farther north, like Metroville. There are some great photography jobs there that I want to apply for, and the music scene is bigger than it is here—”

“Yes! A hundred percent yes, let’s do it. When do we leave?”

Mike laughed. “June 1st, as soon as they hand me my diploma.”

Six months. It had a date now. Unthinking, Boomer threw his arms around Mike’s broad shoulders and hugged him tight. “I’ll mark my calendar.”

“It’s a date.”

Incidentally, they did not get much sleep the rest of that night.

xxx

I told myself I wasn’t going to do a ton of fluff, but damnit all, Boomike is SUPER CUTE and I couldn’t help myself. Let them have the happy ending they deserve. Thanks for reading!

#PowerPuff Girls #powerpuff girls fanfiction #powerpuff girls fanfic #Blossick #PPG Reds #Boomike #Capri Sus #Todd x Hana #Brick #Boomer #Blossom #Todd #Mike Believe #february fic prompts

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yujee · 4 years

Text

Gintoki In Wonderland

Chapter 2/5

Meanwhile, Gintoki, who was already back to his normal size, was still feeling wobbly and nauseous after that fall. He looked around and found himself in a forest. He tried to look for some water and luckily found a stream. He was about to scoop some water with his hands when he saw his reflection. He was not wearing his favorite yukata but instead, he was dressed like weird a Snow White. Except that it wasn’t in a long dress, but in a blue shirt with a red and white stripe puffed short sleeves, styled with golden ribbon that connects the long black sleeve just above the elbow. His light-yellow leggings are tucked inside his brown boots. Not to mention, he has a red cape and a red ribbon headband.

Furious at his odd get up, he started shouting. “Hey! You must be joking! Why am I wearing this ridiculous outfit?! Bring back my yukata!!”

“Don’t you dare ripped the clothes apart, if you don’t want to die!” warned the caterpillar through a voice in the sky.

He clicked his tongue and ripped a piece of the cape and he started feeling sick again. Ugh. That stupid Madao caterpillar is telling the truth? I guess, I have no choice huh. Gintoki thought to himself, dejected, he started not to mind his outfit. But little did he know, his sickness was not because of the outfit but because he has not eaten anything yet. It was only a coincidence that when he tore a part of the cape that he felt sick. There was no way that the clothes on him have a curse that he will die once it was taken off. Walking around the forest half naked, that’s a big no-no, he might really die (of pneumonia). And might as well take the chance to imagine Gintoki in a different outfit, right?

Anyways, let’s go back to Gintoki. He was still walking around the forest to find a shelter as it was getting already getting dark. He was almost at the point of singing that Doreamon song when he heard the same voice in the sky.

“Gintoki, I’m sure you’re still confused as to why you are here, right? We called you since we need your help to defeat the monster called Jabberwocky.”

“Huh?! Why would I even fight a monster in this unknown, eerie world? Plus, if you wanted to me to fight, where is the payment? The world revolves in mo—” Gintoki was cut off by a sudden rustle he heard behind him.

Scared to look back, he slowly moves towards a broken tree branch, to use it as a bokuto, a wooden sword.

“My, my, what a lovely Snow White we have here?” a cheerful, familiar voice broke his anxiousness.

He followed the voice and found it above him. Sitting on a tree branch while swinging its feet, the Puss in Boots, was smiling at him.

“You?! Kamui?!” Gintoki gaped and immediately collected himself to a fighting stance.

“Now, now, do I really looked like that Kamui you mentioned?” the cat smiled again. “I’m not here for a fight. I’ll tell you how to get out of here.”

Tsk. That smile again. This guy is really, not that stupid big brother? Gintoki thought.

As if the cat was reading his mind, it told him. “The guy you mention is different from me. Well, if given the chance I might want to meet him.” The cat grinned like a Cheshire cat. “Anyways, in order for you to return back to your world, look for two small silver balls with these characters.” The cat gave him a linen like paper with a sketch of the balls mentioned. Upon seeing it, Gintoki laughed. It was a picture of pachinko balls with the characters of: 銀(Gin) and 魂(Tama)

“We knew that you would find these amusing. Being the main character of that series, seeing these familiar things might interest you a bit, don’t you?” the cat beamed.

“Seeing all sorts of the same stupid faces, really does fascinate me.” Gintoki replied, rolling the paper, and stuffing it in his boots.

“That’s good to hear then.” The cat continued blissfully. “And then, when you finally placed them in the cannon, which is in the Queen of Hearts’ castle, it will transport you back to your world. This will also be the payment you mentioned earlier. So, good luck, samurai-san.” After the cat gave instructions, it swiftly left and leapt from one tree to another.

When the cat left, Gintoki continued searching for a shelter. He was already at his limit when he heard someone shouted behind him.

“Oh! It’s an old man!”

Thinking he was always mistaken as one before, he replied, facing the owner of the voice. “Who are you calling old ma—Shinpachi?!”

Yes, he was taken by surprise again. Before him were two dwarves and a big, white dog with a dwarf hat. These dwarves looked like the members of his Yorozuya family.

“You idiot! That’s not an old man. He’s Snow White! That blue and yellow garments combo and that red ribbon, there’s no mistaking it, he’s Snow White!” the vermilion red colored hair dwarf argued with the dwarf who was wearing a pair of eyeglasses.

The two dwarves kept on arguing that Gintoki went and stopped their argument. He asked them if he can stay for the night and if they happened to notice any silver balls. They agreed on the shelter, but they haven’t seen any silver balls. Gintoki was able to rest for a while but still his stomach was grumbling. The dwarves said they do not have any food left as the vermilion red-haired dwarf ate all their supply that they need to acquire more the next day.

Gintoki then decided to look for food outside. He grabbed some torch and went out. On the doorstep, he saw an apple. It was a purple colored one, but since he thought he was in a different world, the color wouldn’t matter. He was about to pick it up when someone else grabbed it before him. A dark purple haired man, dressed in a blue vest with a long white sleeves’ shirt underneath, a patched-up moss colored pants, and ragged red cape, grabbed the apple. He was also wearing a bandage covering his forehead and left eye and was carrying a basket full of matches. One might even confuse him with little red riding hood. But it was not red riding hood that Gintoki confuses him to. It was his old friend.

Gintoki, filled with rage, started grabbing the guy by his collar. “Takasugi! What are you doing here?!”

The guy shrugged Gintoki off and told him. “I think you’re mistaking me for someone else. For your information, I am just a little match boy peddler.” The guy then brushed off the dirt from the apple and was about to bite it when he noticed some funny smell coming from it. He then gave it to Gintoki who was giggling to himself. “What’s so funny?” he asked.

“Nothing. I just remember an old friend though he looks like you, he wouldn’t admit that he was a short one. He was full of pride, you see.” Gintoki laughed out loud.

“Is that so?” Irritated by Gintoki’s laugh, the guy went on his way and was not able to see how Gintoki vomited after biting the apple he gave up earlier.

#so finally the 2nd chapter hahahaha #sorry again for some grammatical errors and for the long descriptions lol #this story is so random idk XD #ginbdaybash #gintama #gintama fanfic #fanfic #anime #sakata gintoki #takasugi shinsuke #kagura #shimura shinpachi #kamui #madao #fan fiction #mystory

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eliyah-de-dark · 4 years

Text

It’s been rough for me as a writer these past few months. Between work uncertainties, moving, and general mental health, I haven’t been able to write anything -fanfic or original - in what feels like forever. Then out of the blue this morning, I had an idea that managed to make it onto the screen. I want to write so much more for this, so bear with me.

Word count: 2618

Genre: Sci-fi, I suppose.

Pops always said revolutions are simple. Enough good people stand up, and the bad ones don’t have a prayer. His words repeat in my mind as the small town car rolls further down the dirt road. Dark smoke travels in plumes across the sky, painting it like a rainless storm across the prairie. They trail back to Broken Hill Correctional Facility. The cement and steel giant dominates the skyline as soon as it’s in view, its smoke stacks pumping out the acrid smog at high speeds.

The first time I came here, the cabbie told me Broken Hill used to be a town. You can see the skeleton of it behind tall barbed wire fences. I watch as prisoners are dragged about by their chains from the collapsing houses and pulled into the main building. My eyes search each person’s face, but I don’t see him. He must already be in the factory. The closer we get to the gates, the more guards appear on their patrols like ants on parade.

Like everything in Broken Hill, the gates to enter the grounds are large woven steel. Two guards stand on either side of it, their gas masks reflecting the light from the car as we park in front of them. Seems no matter how many times I’ve been here, a pit opens in my stomach as they approach.

I put on my mask just before the window comes down, but the smell of burning flesh makes its way through the cracks in the seal. My body’s reaction is instant coughing, desperate to keep the poisoned air out of my lungs. “You alright, miss?” The guard at my window asks. I can’t see his face due to the tinted glass of his mask, but I can hear the concern in his voice.

I nod, forcing another painful cough down. The effort makes my chest hurt. “Yes, thank you,” I manage to say. My fingers fish into my pocket and pull out a small card. “My ID, sir.” His thick black gloved hand plucks it out of my grasp and brings it close to the glass piece of his mask.

“You cut your hair?” He asks.

“Yessir.”

He looks at me, his eyes leaving a chill that shoots through my spine. “Welcome back, Ms. Esmeray.” I bite my tongue as he says that name. He hands the card back, and I smile as I take it. The gate opens with the horrid screech of metal on stone. The car rolls forward onto the long tarmac that leads to the prison’s entrance.

The warden waits with a small group of guards at the end of the road. He stands out for a number of reasons. Sure, his uniform has more accolades attached to it, but the poor stitches strain to fit around the rotund man. I look at the buttons and wonder which one will break first.

At a nod from him, two guards approach the car. They open the door and help me out. I murmur my thanks to them before approaching the man of the hour. “Warden Beale, how nice to see you again,” I say with a smile. He straightens up, almost like a dog getting praise.

The guards behind me return to their spots in the warden’s little parade. “Can you believe it’s been 6 months already? My my, how time flies!” Warden Beale sniggers as he waddles closer. He grabs my hand and shakes it, ignoring the stiffness of my joints and the vice-like grip I give.

“How is he?”

Warden Beale huffs. “Relax, he ain’t going nowhere. You’ll have plenty of time to visit with him.” He snaps his fingers and the guards advance. My heart beats so hard it hurts as they surround me. “It’s a long drive from Stardust City, why don’t you get some grub from the lounge? Show her the way, boys.” The amused tone of his voice makes entering the prison so much worse. Like a clown inviting you into a haunted house.

I keep pace with the guards as they escort me through the dingy halls. Seems like they get darker and darker every time I come here. Once we are far enough away from the doors, I slide my gas mask off. The guards keep theirs on. They guide me through halls I’ve tried to memorise for months. We walk onto a catwalk that gives a view of the prison’s factory floor. The heat blazing from the open hearth furnaces passes through the glass and turns my coat into a sauna. How can the guards stand wearing heavy wool in here? Down on the floor, I can see legions of prisoners shovelling stones into the maw of the furnaces. I can’t make out any faces from here. The heat distorts the exact features, and distance makes them unfocused. Is he down there? Is that why I can’t see him yet?

The guards direct me on, gently nudging me off the catwalk and onto a series of cleaner, better lit halls. Here guards mill about without their masks, talking and laughing amongst each other. Their uniforms are identical to my guides, but they lack the silver six sided stars and black peaked caps that marked the upper echelon. As we pass, we are stared at, whispered about, pointed and gestured to. Our steps silence conversations and make way for awkward silence. It follows us into the lounge. The room is lavish compared to the rest of the facility. Old worn out couches with faded patterns, plastic tables with cracks in their poles, cold unidentifiable food with flies all around. Only the best apparently, I think, sarcasm dripping like the leak in the corner. I skip the food and go take a seat on the couch.

A speaker in the corner of the cramped room plays soft music, until it fades out and an electronic voice cuts in. “This music was brought to you by Diamontronics. Get the best for you and your loved ones with Diamontronics’ extensive selection of technology and services.” I roll my eyes. At the very least, it’s not another Stardust Enterprise ad. I’ve managed to drown those out back in the city.

A guard flops onto the seat beside me. I scoot closer to the edge, and they look at me through their heavily tinted gas mask before I hear them chuckling. “Sorry, guess I spooked ya.” He takes off his mask and peaked cap to show dark skin and tight black dreadlocks that spilled into his eyes. “Name’s Taher.”

“Celia.”

He chuckles. “I know, warden’s been talking about you all day.” That isn’t disconcerting to hear. I adjust my sleeve and focus on the toe of my boot. “So Stardust, huh? Good city?”

“Yeah, it’s cool.”

He clicks his tongue, which I guess means he agrees. After that is just more silence. I fiddle with the hem of my shirt. “You from around here?” I glance at him from the corner of my eye.

He shrugs. “Grew up on a Lyfoods farm. It was alright, but I chose to move up in the world, yanno?” A small, genuine smile grows on my lips.

We listen to the music now, the only aggravation coming from ad breaks. Taher taps his foot along to the melodies and hums. His voice is nice. When I tell him so, he blushes. “Think it’s good enough for Stardust City?” He chuckles.

I tap my finger on my lips and pretend to think. “Maybe, if the right rep hears you.” I hold back a laugh as I see his face light up.

“You really mean it?”

My nod leaves him grinning ear to ear. He is about to say something when the speaker crackles and the warden’s voice comes through. “Bring Ms. Esmeray to Visitation, Room 228.” It’s like someone flipped a switch in Taher. He stands up immediately, sliding his mask and hat back on, and offers his hand to me. I let him help me up and follow him and another guard who had been waiting at the door.

Visitation is nearby, I remember it from other trips. Third story, just above the factory floor. Prevents prison escapes, I’d guess. These hallways are like the ones near the entrance, poorly lit and rarely cleaned. We walk in silence, except for the rhythmic thump of the machinery below. Room 228 looks identical to the rooms around it, lit by one lightbulb in the center of the room which shines down on a steel table and two chairs, all welded to the floor.

Pops sits facing the door. His face, his hands, his clothes, everything is covered in soot. Rage strikes my heart as I see his hands, blistered and bloody, cuffed to the table so tightly he can’t move them. The only real sign of life is in his eyes. They almost seem to grow brighter as he looks at me. “Celia.” His voice is rough, like sandpaper on the ears. There’s a faint tone of the melodious voice I grew up with, one that sang and told stories and comforted a sad little girl, but it’s almost gone.

I rush in and kneel at his side, ignoring Taher and his companion as they close the door. “Are you alright, Pops?” My hands cup his face as tears begin streaming down his face. I pull my hand away and search my pockets until I find a crumpled up napkin. As gently as I can, I wipe at his face to reveal the pale skin beneath. Or what should be pale skin. His face is varying shades of red, a sign of working the furnaces all day.

I place a kiss on his forehead. “I’ll bring some burn ointment next time,” I whisper as softly as I can.

He gives the smallest shake of his head. “Don’t risk it, it won’t do you any good if you get caught.” His fingers twitch. I go to hold his hand, but the blood and puss give me pause. Touching will hurt, I think. I grab the hem of my shirt and pull, ripping the fabric in uneven strips. “Celia, what are you -” His chastisement is interrupted by hisses of pain as I wrap the wounds. I know this won’t help long term, but when I put my hand in his now, he flinches less. “Just like your grandmother. Ya don’t think these things through.” He tries to sound serious, but soon we’re laughing.

Seeing him smile does nothing for the anger I feel. Seeing him in this condition, it makes me want to go out and throw Beale in the very furnaces that make this room a sweltering nightmare. I don’t mention this to Pops. He wouldn’t approve. Didn’t the last time, anyway. His eyes twinkle in the dismal light. “So how’s life in Stardust City going?”

I shake my head and make my way to the chair opposite him. “I hate it.” No need to beat around the bush. “I wish I were back with you and Abuelita on that little farm outside Oubliette Pass.” Saying it outloud conjures images of the looming mountains, the green fields, the little blue creek that ran through the corner of the property, Abuelita cooking dinner while Pops and I play chess in the front room. I’m not surprised to have tears running down my face.

Pops squeezes my hand. I imagine the pressure like a hug, the smell of soot replaced with cherry campfire smoke and tobacco. “I miss it too, kiddo.” He tries to smile, but I can tell the memories are just as painful to him. “At least you’re taken care of, for now. How are the others?”

My eyes drift away from his face to anywhere else in the room. Even the corner is better. I don’t want to see his face when I say, “I don’t know. No one’s reached out.” The disappointed hum he makes is just as bad as seeing the light dim in his eyes. “They must all be pretty happy.”

He scoffs, his grip tightening for a second. “They’re as happy as their consciences will allow.” Those old failing eyes scan the room, and I join him. A camera sits in the corner closest to the door, a bright diamond emblem on it. Once we both acknowledge it, he leans in closer and whispers, “Has anyone sent a message for me?”

My head shakes, and he leans back and sighs. “Tell me about your life since our last visit. I want to know everything.” Like a button had been pressed, he went from tired and sad to upbeat and excited, hands squeezing mine and eyes shining.

I tell him about school, about the “friends” that I have, the clubs I’m a part of, and anything else that’s relatively normal. Despite his prodding, I avoid the topics of home life. He doesn’t deserve to suffer that knowledge. Let him think my life is all unicorns and rainbows, if it helps him make it day to day. He becomes intrigued when I mention an internship. “An internship? With Stardust Enterprises? That’s very impressive, Celia!” He sounds like any other grandfather in that moment, all pride and happiness.

I can’t help but smile. “Mr. Esmeray told me about it, and said I would be his first choice if I accept.” My excitement drops through the pit in my stomach that the heat around us reminds me of. “Maybe I could use it to help you.”

It was meant to be a murmur, but the change in Pops’ expression tells me it wasn’t. His leathery face turns hard. “Listen to me, Celia Reyes,” The use of my real last name sends a chill across my body, “You need to focus on your life. I failed in my attempts to change the world, so it’s up to you kids to find a better way.” His face remains still as the door swings open.

One of the guards breaks my grip on Pops while the other lifts me out of the seat. “No, wait! Five more minutes, please! Pops!” I scream as they drag me out of the room.

The last things I hear Pops say for the next six months are the words “I love you, Celia,” before the door gets slammed on him.

The guards try to get me to walk, but sobs shake my body so violently I can’t stand. I crumble to the floor and bury my hands in my face. One puts their hand on my shoulder, and I hear Taher speak to me. “I’m sorry,” He says, he doesn’t mean to whisper, but the mask dampens his voice, “I wish I could help.” He nods to his companion. The pair lift me to my feet and carry me down the halls.

Warden Beale meets us just outside of the Visitation wing. He grins when he looks at the tear tracks on my face. “A very heartwarming visit, I’m sure,” He sneers. “Have a good trip back to Stardust City.” He tips his hat to me before gesturing to Taher, a cue I know means get her out of here.

We remain still until Warden Beale leaves. Taher speaks again, “Can you walk?” I nod, and he relaxes his grip on me. It takes a second for the other guard to do the same. The pair march me out of the prison and back to the idling town car.

As I climb in, Taher calls out to me. “I’ll see you if I ever make it to Stardust City!”

I give him one last smile and a wave. “No you won’t,” I whisper once the door closes.

---

Would anyone be interested in reading more of this? Got any critiques or spell check errors you see? Let me know!

#original work #sci fi i guess #writing #writeblr #stardust enterprises #diamontronics #celia (reyes) esmeray

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lupienne · 5 years

Text

Monday Calling

I got inspired by #193 and the brief glimpse of Negan we were granted. I want to think there’s more to his life than pining over a grave - even if pining over a grave might still be part of his life. This popped into my head and I went with it. It’s not award-winning prose by any means but I still like it.

He could feel the presence of Monday like a weight on his chest. Despite them not having a calendar proper, he knew when it fell, when it was coming. They carved notches into a stick and when it reached thirty-one, it became kindling. All months had thirty-one days now and those days weren't named – but still -

He knew when Monday was.

It felt like her hands had, rubbing his back, nudging his ribs in the Before, urging: “Negan, wake up. It's Monday, you're going to be late for work.”

He always forgot to set that fucking alarm on Sunday night.

He no longer lived in that world and he didn’t require alarms. But still, Lucille’s phantom hands turned the gears of his internal clock and let him know – It was Monday, and it was time to go.

He shrugged on his jacket and stepped outside to gather the wilted bouquet from the stoop. He tried to be quiet, but she heard him. He knew she didn't like him going, after all these years.

May swung open the door, her worn bathrobe sprouting more loose threads at the hem. “You're going?”

“Yeah.”

“How long are you going to do this?”

“It's... it's the day. You know. I have to.”

“Do you want me to come with you...?” She already knew his answer, because he'd never taken her along. It was his penance to do this in solitude. And maybe some part of him was afraid Lucille would be angry. He'd had the wives before, sure, but the wives were just warm bodies and distraction, and maybe a laugh or two...but they weren't May.

Of course, Lucille knew about May. She was happy for Negan, but sometimes he wondered. And that is why he went to her alone.

May nodded and went back in without a word. He saw it all in her eyes, like he did every Monday. I wish you could let this go. I wish I could lift this burden off your shoulders.

Despite his extensive vocabulary, he could never find the words to tell her – that she didn't need to lift his burden...that she was the reason this burden hadn't crushed him to the ground.

“You're the reason I can breathe,” he'd told her once, and she hadn't quite understood – thought he was talking of some time or another when she'd saved his hide from an errant walker.

Negan slipped down familiar paths. His former residence was miles away, but he always traveled on foot. He was too heavy for their little pony, Madge. And it felt better this way, anyway. Walking the miles for her. His knees always ached after the long trek. He'd rub them with a smirk. It was funny, considering what he'd done to old Grimes, that he now would suffer from knee pain himself. But of course, he was getting older, one silver hair at a time.

He stopped now and then, listening. For the dead and the living. He saw Carl in the area sometimes and though he ached to speak to the boy – no... the man - he kept hidden. Chickenshit, Negan. Yeah, he was. He knew Old Prick was dead, but somehow, hearing it would make it real. Maybe if he never heard it, he could go on pretending the old Sour Puss was still lording his prickly self all over Alexandria – and beyond.

He'd put Rick in the past. Alexandria, the Saviors, the jail – everything. Everything but her.

He swallowed the lump in his throat as he started down the hill towards his former home.

Five years ago, he'd met May. A spring deluge had soaked him as he wandered the surrounding copses, checking his traps, fishing in the wide streams. He'd started to plant, hunt, trap. He'd started to thrive... survival-wise. Inside, he was a cage of bone, stripped of all life. Maybe he'd become an Undead and didn't even know it.

Then she'd appeared in the gaps between the birches. Soaked through, her teeth chattering. Her hand shaking as she aimed a pistol at him, but her eyes said she didn't want to fire. He'd told her he didn't mind if she did – but she'd be better off following him to four dry walls and a warm meal. So she had.

“There's towns around,” he told her after she'd stayed the night. “There's a city. Commonwealth. Nobody has to travel alone anymore...”

He'd thought of moving there. He'd be as non-existent as he was here. Just a body, moving from job to home, rinse and repeat. Out here the birds and mammals reminded him that he was just another animal, surviving as they did. There – the humans would remind him that he was not like them – that he had failed to be.

“I'm not a city and town type person,” she'd said, staring down at the eggs he'd made. “I've...done bad things.”

Haven't we all?

“I won't judge,” he said. “I've got no fucking right to. And neither do they.”

When she finally trusted her eyes to lock with his – he could feel that she was one like Lucille. No – she was not Lucille returning, like he'd deluded himself that the bat had been... she wasn't a spirit - she was herself. But she had that same glow, buried like ember under ash. He trembled inside when she stayed and allowed him, slowly, to coax the ember into a flame.

The first time he'd lay with a woman again after so many years... it was fumbling, like this aging man had become a teenager again. It was desperate almost, too touch-starved and he'd been too awkward, he'd come too quickly.

But she didn't judge. She stayed.

But he could not give himself fully to May with the grave of Lucille looming so near. It didn't feel fair to any of them.

So, five years ago, he'd taken May and they'd moved. They had traveled ten miles west, even deeper into farmland, bordered by wild forest. They found an abandoned house and made it a home.

He knew life again. The blood began to thaw, pulsing warm through his veins. The radiant heat from his heart drew walkers far and wide, but he and May had killed them all. They had found each other and their home – and nothing but Death would break them apart.

Until the Mondays came calling.

Negan's boots scuffed across the path to his old house. He maintained the property weekly. He pulled weeds. Made sure all the entrances were secured. He kept up the appearance that he still lived here. Why, he didn't know. Perhaps it was for Lucille. She deserved a home as lovely as the one he shared with May.

And so, he swept the stoop and wiped the windows clean. On the porch, he smiled to see Carl's latest offering. The fresh bread had a small spot of mold blooming, but he'd tear that out and it would be perfectly fine. He really should talk to the kid – the man – one of these days. For now, he filled his backpack, knowing his shoulders would ache along with his knee when he got back home.

Finally, he turned to the grave. His chest tightened. Warm blood went cold, shivers of grief plummeting from brain stem to his toes. Decades later – centuries even – the tears would still fall down his face. His penance, he supposed. May wished she could take this away from him, but he could not let her. He had to feel this – he had to keep it. His weeping heart was the only pulse Lucille had anymore – he was the life support of her memory.

Carefully, he kneeled, grunting at the discomfort. Old man Negan. Didn't they say gray made a man distinguished? He snorted a laugh through his tears. If you could see me now, babe. Even my pubes are going gray. Guess you'd say I had a real distinguished dick, huh?

He could hear her laugh at that. The tree above rustled softly as a warm breeze played over his hair. He removed the old flowers and brushed stray leaves from her grave. His fingers trailed the weathered stone.

He drew in a breath and placed the new bouquet before her. “Well, let's see. Your Monday update, Lucy. May and I are thinking of getting a dog. Crazy, huh? There's a farmer about five miles from us. Nice guy. His retriever's having a litter of fucking mutt puppies – some lucky stray got her knocked up. Scandalous shit, I know.”

Lucille gave her blessing. She'd never thought he could handle a dog before. He was too irresponsible. But now, she trusted him. Maybe one day, he could even have pups of his own? Negan shuddered at that possibility – but it brought a warm flush of pleasure all the same. He wiped his eyes, telling her of the week past, the cold melting away with each word.

When the breeze faded, he knew she had left him again, floating back to places he could never follow – maybe even after he died. Perhaps he was destined for elsewhere. He stood with another groan, brushing his knees. But it was fine. He had her memory, he had May, and he had life – for however long.

People said not to hold onto the past. He didn't.

He knew when he aimed his boots west, they aimed towards home. The now. The future. May waiting, with a smile and a warm kiss, her forgiveness a balm to all wounds.

He couldn't hold the past. But when he walked, he looked over his shoulder. The past was there – behind him – and that was where he opened his hands and left it.

He went home and he lived in the now.

Until the next Monday called.

#negan #comic negan #fanfic #193 #twd spoilers #lucille #fluff #comfort fic lol #neegs can't be alone forever :(#i won't let him! :D #lup's writing

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sweetheartjeongguk · 6 years

Text

pretty kitty 3 (m)

pairing: taehyung x reader

genre: hybrid au, camgirl au, fluff, smut

rating: nc-17

warning(s): drunk sex, impregnation kink, daddy kink, mentions of drugs and alcohol, taehyung and oc having the feels

word count: 6.6k+

summary: you’re both jagged pieces of a puzzle, but you fit rather nicely together.

the discovery | the denial | the meeting | the aftermath | the payback

masterlist

“You tired already?”

You huff out an annoyed breath. “Easy for you to say. You just stick your dick in while I gotta deal with your sweaty body on top of me. It’s like Niagara Falls every time you top.”

Seojoon clutches at his chest in offense. “How dare you? First of all, might I remind you that I made you that spicy ramen last night even though we all know it starts World War III in your guts and you were stuck on the toilet for an hour crying over your ‘ruined asshole’?”

“Why, you little—”

You launch a pillow at his face, but unfortunately for you, his reflexes as a panther hybrid allow him to easily avoid your attempted assault.

“Anyways, I gotta get going.” Seojoon sighs in fake disappointment. “Hyungsik wanted to binge-watch My Hero Academia with me, but I’ve been avoiding him ever since I accidentally watched the season already.”

“Yikes, good luck dealing with that mess.”

You never really liked Hyungsik, and you’re 99.9% certain that the feeling’s mutual. Just something about him strikes a wrong chord with you, but Seojoon shrugs this off as irrational paranoia. Unwilling to argue with your friend, you force yourself to muster up the brightest phony smile whenever you stop by their apartment to hang out or drop something off.

“See you tomorrow!” He shouts as he escapes through the front door after slipping his clothes back on. “Great work today as always! Don’t forget my money, bitch!”

“Love you too, jackass.” You grumble as you lay in a starfish position on your mattress.

The livestream ended an hour ago, but Seojoon stayed to help you clean up and recuperate after the camming session. While he’s a dumbass half the time, you admire him for his consistent attitude for quality aftercare, even after the most vanilla of encounters. This particular session gained you a hundred more viewers and a decent amount of money for you to share with. If your elementary school-level calculations serve you well, the night’s earnings combined with your last solo stream are enough to cover textbook costs and the money you owe Seojoon for the time you overflowed his toilet after trying to flush his toothbrush down after accidentally flinging it inside and wanting to “destroy the evidence” before Seojoon came home.

Your next defense was to blame it on Hyungsik, but he didn’t seem to appreciate the joke.

As recompense for your so-called “crime against humanity”, you offered a substantial portion of your earnings if he helped with filming. Sex came natural to the both of you, lacking the expectation of blatant resistance when you first brought up the idea. Casual sex with a trustworthy friend while making a couple hundred bucks every five minutes? Seojoon couldn’t find any fault with that.

After all, you sucked him off in a frat house bathroom just an hour after you two were officially introduced.

You stretch out across the bed with a wince. Maybe you’ll invest an hour-long massage once your money gets transferred to your account. Better yet, you’ll force Seojoon to pay for it since this is his fault in the beginning. The man’s built like a god but fucks like the devil.

When you unlock the screen of your cell phone, you’re bombarded with the sight of multiple texts from Seulgi and an email about your Music 101 class being cancelled on Monday. After browsing through bland Instagram stories, you finally decide to appease the witch in your inbox.

Right off the bat, you regret opening up the message.

BITCH YOU BETTER ANSWER ME BEFORE I COME OVER AND TELL SEOJOON ABOUT UR CRUSTY VAGINA PROBLEMS.

You’ve had plenty of experiences with Seulgi barging in during your not-so PG moments and having her fall into an exaggerated spiel that has your partners running out of your dorm in record time. You’d be a fool to fall into her hands again so with a heavy heart, your thumbs type out your response.

yes ur majesty??

Not even five seconds later, your phone beeps with a new message.

wOW look whos here, puss in boots has finally blessed me with her appearance.

Before you can type back your offended retort, you’re blasted with the annoying Facetime ringtone. With a sigh and silent prayer to whatever higher power is up there, you accept the call.

“I almost thought the dick went to your head and not your vagina.” Seulgi snorts when your less than glamorous face comes into view on her screen. “How was your dick appointment, sunshine?”

“I’m doing fine, thanks for asking appropriately.” You flash her an unimpressed stare. “I made over $5k tonight so cancel your plans for tomorrow. We’re going shopping at the outlet tomorrow!”

“Okay, Little Miss Fancy.” Seulgi wiggles her eyebrows in approval. “Just in time too. There’s going to be a party at Jennie and Jisoo’s this weekend, and I’m trying to get dicked down before I’m forced to graduate with cobwebs on my clit.”

“Okay, first of all…I’m not even going to ask.” You shudder in disgust. “Second of all, don’t you have your project due the day after? Might I remind you of what happened last time?”

Seulgi blanches white. “Please don’t. I’d rather not remember that when there’s a dick in my mouth.”

You hold your free hand up in surrender. “Alright then, your problem. Just so you know, I think that you should have started that project months ago.”

“And I think that I should be married to Gong Yoo with two beautiful children, but we don’t always get everything we want.” Seulgi harrumphs. “Anyways, don’t be a party pooper. Who knows, maybe you’ll find Sugar Daddy Number 163 there?”

“My finger is literally hovering over the end call button as we speak.”

“Do it, bitch. I’ll throw away that catnip that you think I don’t know about in the secret drawer inside your closet.”

“That is low, Kang, that is just low.”

“Hey, there’s a party at Jennie’s this weekend? You down?” Jimin calls from the couch as he scrolls through the influx of messages in his dance class group chat.

Taehyung is fully immersed in washing the pile of dishes in the sink that he almost doesn’t catch Jimin’s voice over the running faucet. When he contemplates this in his head, he just shrugs indifferently.

“I don’t know, I’m not really friends with her.”

“She’s cool, man. The rest of us are going too anyway, so it’s not like you’re going to be by yourself.” Jimin points out.

“Knowing you all, you’re going to be dragged off into a game of beer pong against Jungkook or caught up in some random hook-up in a closet somewhere, Namjoon’s going to get himself stuck in another piece of furniture again, and Jin and Yoongi are going to make another stupid bet that’s going to get Jin stuck in jail again.”

“What about Hoseok?”

“He gets red after two sips.” Taehyung scoffs. “The most I had to do was stop him from calling his parents to apologize for drinking and never calling enough. He’s the least of our worries.”

“You might find someone to spend the night with?” Jimin singsongs. “Get your dick wet after all these months of being a loser and staying home jerking off to porn?”

Taehyung rolls his eyes. “Staying home doesn’t make someone a loser.”

“That’s something a loser who stays at home jerking off to porn would say.”

Taehyung sighs up at the ceiling, hands soaked and wrinkled from the soapy water. “I don’t even know why I try at this point.”

“Just think about it.” Jimin stands to grab his jacket hanging off the side of the couch. “You might be pleasantly surprised.”

“Highly doubt it, but thanks for the advice.” Taehyung actively avoids the flick of Jimin’s middle finger as the latter leaves to head back to his own dorm.

Once he’s finally alone, Taehyung takes a moment to actually think about Jimin’s proposal. If he does go to the party, there’s a 50-50 chance of him getting lucky with some hot stranger desperate for a random dick for the night or him returning home with six (or five, depending on Seokjin’s law-breaking kink) drunken idiots.

His Plan B (B standing for “Better Option”) would be to just forget about the party and stay home where he can happily jerk off to porn while digging into a huge bag of Hot Cheetos. Thankfully, he’s learned his lesson on how to jerk off without accidentally using the Hot Cheeto hand.

Taehyung had the case of spicy dick for a good five hours until Jimin came over to check up on him. However, the only thing Jimin could do was fall back in crazed laughter and snap a Polaroid of Taehyung’s distressed tears from his Cheeto dick.

Maybe the party idea isn’t sounding too bad after all.

You fidget uncomfortably in your seat as you adjust your too-tight top. You had forced yourself to sit through an entire styling process from Seulgi who decided that you needed a little more “oomph” in your appearance.

In the words of Kang Seulgi, “God, Y/N, you’re a popular camgirl known for her sexual appeal, and yet you continue to dress like a middle-aged librarian mixed with Maria from the Sound of Music.”

You couldn’t help but shrink back in offense – your wardrobe isn’t that terrible. Sure, you wear too many casual clothes, and the only time you wear expensive lingerie or anything remotely “sexy” is when you go on camera, wearing the gifts given to you by loyal viewers.

Regardless, you let Seulgi work her magic in the brief time you had to yourself before Ji-Eun arrived to drive the three of you to the party.

Seulgi passionately performs a mini concert in the backseat with her own rendition of “God is a Woman” while Ji-Eun boils in the driver’s seat, her hands clenched tightly around the steering wheel. You don’t know which is worst at this point.

“God, will this car go any fucking slower?” She grits her teeth as another person honks their horn at Ji-Eun to let them through. “Why do they have to live so far away in the ass crack of nowhere?”

“They’re only 15 minutes away from us…”

“You better watch your mouth, Kang, or else you’re walking home.” Ji-Eun scowls into the rearview mirror.

Seulgi slouches back in her seat, no longer feeling the need to belt out the last notes of the song as it comes to an end. Angry Ji-Eun’s a side to the usually cherubic Ji-Eun that should never see the light of day no matter the circumstances. You busy yourself by scrolling through your Instagram feed, liking a couple pictures from your friends back home and laughing silently at some random dog videos that pop up in-between. Your scrolling comes to a halt, your thumb hovering hesitantly above the heart button of a certain photo.

If it wasn’t for the owner of the account, you would have found the courage to double-tap.

“Oh, isn’t that Kim Taehyung?”

“It is…” You mutter quietly, ignoring the close presence of Seulgi’s face near yours.

You’re desperate to scroll past, but Seulgi reaches her hand out to hold your phone.

“You should go for him, Y/N!” Ji-Eun whistles when she catches the picture of his selfie from the corner of her eye. “I heard he and Sooyoung already broke up, so you got a shot.”

The corner of your mouth quirks up in a half-assed smile. As if.

“They broke up already?” Seulgi asks curiously as she hands you back your phone. “I could have sworn that they were messing around together a couple weeks ago.”

There goes your fleeting moment of happiness.

“They weren’t really a thing, I’m pretty sure.” Ji-Eun pauses in thought. “They hooked up a couple times, but I think they’re just friends or at least just in the same friend group.”

You silently stew in your seat, clicking out of the app and locking your phone. Thanks to Seulgi, you’re aching to burn the image of Sooyoung wrapped around Taehyung from your brain. Not that you’re jealous, of course.

Ji-Eun sighs in relief as the sight of the house comes into view. After parking precariously on the side of the street, Seulgi rushes your trio inside and through the living room teeming with drunk college students and into the kitchen to grab the first drinks of the night. You twitch your nose at the stench of musky cologne, hormones, and hard liquor intermingling as you approach the bartender of the night who just so happens to be Seojoon.

“Hey guys!” Seojoon chimes as he finishes up mixing Hyungsik’s drink who stands cross-armed against the wall with a look of boredom directed at the three of you, mostly at you. “I was wondering when you’d be getting here.”

“When did you get here?” You greet him with a short side-hug, stopping to glare at him until his traveling palm averts its course from your ass.

“Hyungsik and I got here beforehand to help set up.” Seojoon nods towards the brooding man in the corner. “Jisoo stuck me with this job, and now I can’t leave until the party’s over or at least until I’m forced to go out to buy more alcohol for these heathens.”

You scrunch your nose in annoyance. “That doesn’t sound fun. Why can’t they do it themselves?”

Seojoon clears his throat. “I quote, ‘because getting dicked down by the hottest guy in the room is the main priority of the night’.”

“Hear, hear.” Seulgi nods distractedly.

You smack your hand against her bicep. “Can’t you think without your genitals for a second?”

“Y/N…sweetheart.” Seulgi pats your cheek as if you’re an innocent child. “You must not know me at all.”

“Nevertheless, ladies, please enjoy the party.” Seojoon pulls you back before you can take a swipe at your best friend. “Y/N, I’ll be seeing you later.”

Seojoon clicks his tongue suggestively, reveling in your eyeroll and not-so discreet middle finger. After grabbing your drinks, the three of you head towards an empty corner of the room, away from the concentrated cloud of marijuana and crusty men who crave a quick grope.

“Dang, was the dick that bad?” Seulgi scoffs jokingly. “Maybe if you’re not interested, you can spare a little bite...”

“Wait, since when you and Seojoon a thing?” Ji-Eun’s eyes widen.

You subtly glare at Seulgi’s apparent struggle to hold back her knowing laughter before turning to answer Ji-Eun with the most innocent look imaginable.

“I don’t know where Seulgi gets her delusions.” You smile through gritted teeth. “Seojoon and I hanging out from time to time does not equate to us fucking.”

Seulgi lets out a snort. “Something smells fishy…I think it’s your va—"

She squeaks in pain when she feels the stab of your heel into her foot. The music drowns out most of her cries of distress which Ji-Eun fails to notice. She takes a large gulp of her drink, grimacing at the strong aftertaste of the mostly-vodka mixture.

“God, I want to sue Seojoon for making us this terrible drink.” Ji-Eun stares at the cup with utter hatred in her eyes. “Seriously, it tastes like straight-up ass paired with off brand Caprisun.”

“I second that notion.” You swallow back a gag as the concoction slips uneasily down your throat.

“Me three.” Seulgi grimaces but forces herself to finish the content. “I’m undoubtedly puking later, so I’m going to go off and find some nice dick before that happens. Tootles!”

You silently devise a plan involving bear traps and superglue as you threaten to bore a hole through the back of Seulgi’s head with a scorching glower as she blends into the crowd in search of her next friend with benefits, leaving you to deal with the most infamous lightweight of your friend group.

“You okay?” Ji-Eun questions curiously.

“I’m fucking fantastic.”

“Y/N, I love you.” You remain stone-faced as the drunk girl leans against you with her entire weight. “You’re always so good to me, and I love you for that. I’ll make it my mission in life to help you find a boyfriend, okay?”

Her arms are like spaghetti, and her knees knock together in an attempt to keep straight. The cup once clutched in her hands is now dumped in a random corner of the kitchen, but you shrug it off as Seojoon’s responsibility. He did make you terrible alcohol after all.

“Hyung, n-no, I’m not d-drunk.”

You momentarily glance up at the voice, suddenly blanking out at the figures slowly approaching your corner of the room.

“Oh God, please turn around, please turn around.” You desperately pray as they inch closer.

Much like your situation, Taehyung struggles to hold his unmistakably intoxicated friend – Jungkook or something along those lines – in an upright position. He mutters angry words that were inaudible to you into Jungkook’s ear, but the boy keeps trying to shove Taehyung away.

“I w-wanna go party-y!” He hiccups. “They’re p-playing beer p-pong without me.”

Jungkook twists his body to make a run for the living room, but his own clumsy feet send him back to square one in his friend’s arms. You can see Taehyung roll his eyes as he hauls Jungkook’s heavy body towards the row of chairs where you’re forced into cuddling an equally drunk Ji-Eun.

Taehyung fails to recognize you until your uncomfortable shifting in your chair lets out a shrill squeak. When his gaze settles on you, you notice that his entire body freezes. Heat rushes to your body as his eyes trail over you in a bizarre manner – almost as if he’s scanning you to make sure that you’re actually there and not just a figment of his imagination.

Before you can muster up the courage to utter one phrase to the boy, he turns to the side to tend to Jungkook who’s stuck mumbling and drooling, much like a newborn baby. There’s an itch in the pit of your stomach that begins to bother you more than you’d expected it to. You feel an obligation to say something over to Taehyung – at least something along the lines of “Drunk friends, am I right?” – but you decide to push aside whatever tempts you to say something.

Between the choices of not saying anything and not having Taehyung know who you are or uttering your sentence and making a complete fool of yourself, you’d prefer the latter by a long shot.

“Um…is she okay?”

Your head shoots up in surprise. Taehyung allows his friend to lay on his side across the row of chairs, taking up the entire space while he’s forced to cram his body onto the tiny chair a seat away. Your gaze trickles down to Ji-Eun who mirrors Jungkook perfectly, completely passed out and drooling away on your lap like there’s no tomorrow.

“She will be.” You abruptly clear your throat. “She’s always like this at parties, so it’s nothing new.”

Taehyung nods in agreement. “Same, I’m always stuck watching over all my friends which is why I didn’t really want to go to this party in the first place.”

“Ugh, same!” You groan as you cradle your forehead with a palm. “My friend Seulgi’s no help either. She’s probably off choking on dick in one of the guest rooms right now while I’m stuck here on babysitter duty for someone older than me, for fuck’s sake.”

When Taehyung answers with an awkward cough, you’re hit with the sudden realization that maybe you shouldn’t be so open with a complete stranger, even if that stranger is Kim Taehyung who you’ve had a crush on for years now.

Just a thought.

“Sorry…” You force out a laugh, sounding uncannily like a robot. “You probably don’t want to hear about that.”

“No worries.” Taehyung shakes his head. “My friend Jimin’s the same way. In fact, I think that’s them over there.”

You squint your eyes in the direction that Taehyung points towards. When you finally catch onto the sight, you instantly wish you hadn’t.

There, practically undressing each other in the middle of the dance floor with their tongues curled one another, is Seulgi and Jimin.

“Yup, time for me to burn my eyeballs.”

Taehyung giggles at the horror in your eyes, throwing you overboard into a sea of useless emotions. The worst part of it is that he’s not even trying – that’s just how he is.

‘Ugh, pretty boys.’

“You’re telling me.” Taehyung cringes. “But that’s not the worst situation I’ve caught Jimin in, so I guess we’re spared this time.”

“H-hey.” A voice hiccups from below.

You both direct your attention to Jungkook who points a shaky finger towards you.

“You l-look familiar…” The boy slurs. “Have I seen you before?”

“Nope.” You answer with a shrug. “School, perhaps?”

“N-no.” He hiccups again. “Are you a Y-Youtuber?”

‘Not exactly, kiddo.’

Instead, you reply with another shake of your head. He opens his mouth as if to ask another question, but even uttering a complete sentence proves too difficult a task for Jungkook to complete. With a slurred humph, he slumps against the row of chairs again with his head resting on Taehyung’s right thigh.

“Sorry about him.” Taehyung mutters apologetically. “He rarely drinks, but when he does, this happens.”

“Don’t worry about it.” You smile politely. “That makes two of us.”

Five minutes into a conversation with Taehyung, and you’re scared of falling back into the dreaded Awkward Silence. If only Seulgi was here to save you, but she’s probably too busy giving Park Jimin the suck of a lifetime while you’re floundering to save your conversation with the cutest boy in school.

You’re suddenly thrown back into the image of you as a shy middle schooler, silently crushing on the cheery tiger hybrid in Mrs. Lee’s classroom across the hall. Those were the days before you discovered the wonders of makeup and Moroccan oil and when you would sit in the corner of the lunchroom with your eyes glued on a certain boxy smile as he laughs with his best friends and the rest of the popular kids. The lasting memory of you in his mind was probably the Kindergarten Incident with you crying on the playground after your mother dropped you off in the morning. You long to change his perception and show him who you are now, flaws and all, but you have no idea where to begin.

Curse you and your inability to socialize.

You take your time scanning through the room for a potential lifesaver or topic to blab about to make yourself look semi-interesting to Taehyung. You go to blow away a strand of hair that falls into your vision, unaware of the pair of eyes watching you softly.

Taehyung holds back the urge to brush the troublesome strand from your skin and place a gentle kiss where it used to lay.

“Hey, do you…” Taehyung choking on his words cause you to turn towards him with a raised eyebrow.

“Do I…” You trail off.

Taehyung pales as he forces the words from his mouth in an awkward splurge of word vomit.

‘It’s now or never, Kim.’

“Doyoumaybewanttogohavesomefunonourown?”

Taehyung could almost die at your stoic appearance. Nothing in your eyes or your smile (lack thereof) gives him any clue into the thoughts churning around your brain. Just as he’s ready to give up and find an excuse to escape with a sloppy Jungkook in tow, you begin to giggle.

Now, Taehyung’s 99.9% sure he’s about to die.

A smile plays at the side of your lip. “Alright, Kim. I second that notion. But first, let’s go find some beds for these guys first.”

It takes you roughly 10 minutes to scour the house for either Jennie or Jisoo, eventually finding the latter hanging around the poolside with Soyeon and Chaeyoung. You thank a higher power for the Kim girls’ wealth from part-time modeling that allows them to buy a house with more than one guest room. After accidentally opening up occupied rooms and getting more than a couple dick flashes, Taehyung and you finally find two empty rooms that are decently far away from the loud chattering and music blaring throughout the house. Quickly, you plop Ji-Eun down onto the soft comforter of the bed and turn her on her side, shoving a trashcan beside the bed just in case that night’s menu decides to make an appearance when she wakes up.

“All set?” Taehyung asks, a hint of hopefulness in his voice. You brush it off as wishful thinking.

“We’re finally free.” You beam with a wide grin.

Taehyung sends you a soft smile before grabbing your wrist to pull you downstairs and into the kitchen for drinks. Seojoon eyes you carefully as you approach, curious as to your sudden acquaintance with Mr. Kim Taehyung. He knows a little bit about your not-so-little crush but holds back his questions for another time; however, it’s completely obvious that he’s holding back from making a crude sex joke in front of the two of you.

“Enjoy, you crazy kids.” Seojoon winks, sending a flood of embarrassment to your cheeks.

Taehyung eyes Seojoon with a subtle glare, one that you barely notice but one that Seojoon senses immediately. You’re none the wisest towards the display of dominance, but Seojoon notices it all – from the way Taehyung subtly puffs up his chest to the growing feral glint in his eyes.

“Kiss my ass, Park.” You hiss when you snatch the cups away from Seojoon’s fingers.

“Gladly, sweetheart.” Seojoon purrs back without missing a beat.

It takes all of Taehyung’s inner strength to force his irritation down to an unnoticeable level of annoyance. Even then, his bad mood is still visible to anyone who dares to look closer. After grabbing your drinks from an amused Seojoon, you begin to guide Taehyung out of the kitchen to head back upstairs.

With your back turned, Taehyung chances a dangerous snarl at Seojoon. The older raises a hand up in surrender, but the aggression does nothing to deter Seojoon. If anything, it just makes him even more pleased than before.

Oh, how he can’t wait until you finally become a couple.

“Sorry about him.” You apologize meekly as you two head onto the balcony connected to an empty guest room in the farthest part of the house. “Seojoon can be a little annoying when you first meet him, but he’s actually not that bad.”

“Ha, you’re telling me.” Taehyung mutters annoyedly.

Before you can question Taehyung’s irritation, he’s already chugging half the cup’s contents down his throat. You hold back your disgust for the taste as you follow in Taehyung’s footsteps and gulp down the fiery alcohol. You’ve already developed a small buzz from your first round of drinks, but you feel yourself slip into a more relaxed state with your second.

“So, Miss Y/N…” You lazily turn your head. “Tell me a little about yourself.”

The two of you rest your elbows on top of the balcony railing, inviting the cool autumn breeze to blow across your skin and through your hair with a gentle caress. The party music is muffled behind the glass door of the balcony, but you can still feel the bass thumping within your chest. You hum for a moment as you rack your brain for something, anything interesting to say.

“There’s not really that much about me.” You shrug. “I’ve lived here most of my life, and I plan on leaving once school’s over to explore the rest of the world. My two best friends are Seulgi and Ji-Eun, just not tonight...and that’s all to me really. I guess I’m just an open book with a little too many blank pages in-between.”

Taehyung nudges his elbow to your side. “Ah, there’s more to you than that. Surely, you like to do fun things. Unless you’re one of those boring people whose favorite show is Jeopardy and likes to go to the mall just to walk around.”

“Hey, Jeopardy is a great show, Mr. I-Have-The-Mental-Capacity-Of-A-Walnut.” You retort jokingly.

Taehyung laughs wholeheartedly at your teasing jab. “Okay then, fair enough. I’ll take your word for it.”

The moon beams down on your figures as you continue to chatter about random topics and sip on your disgusting drinks with only a small grimace. Little by little, you learn more about Taehyung’s passions in life and what he wants to do after graduation while he learns more about your friendships with Seulgi and Ji-Eun and all the horror stories from freshman year. You share giggles and playful nudges as if you’ve been friends for decades.

Every sip from your cup sends a tingly buzz that fills you from your head down to the tips of your toes. Your bright eyes grow lazy with a familiar drunken glaze, and you find yourself leaning a little closer into Taehyung’s side.

It’s when you finally make eye contact with Taehyung that he makes the first move.

Your bodies move in an almost fluid yet messy choreography, your lips latching onto one another in utter desperation. Taehyung quickly parts your mouth with his tongue to finally taste the hidden sweetness hidden within. His large, veiny hands slip down from the sides of your face to clutch your hips against his body, forcing your hands to rest against his broad chest.

“Want to go inside?” He pants when you eventually separate for a breath.

“Please.” You whine urgently.

You squeak in surprise as he grips your body with one arm while the other slams open the balcony door leading into the guest room. In a blink of an eye, Taehyung drops you onto the comforter and frantically suctions his lips to your jawline, creating soft marks on your supple skin and kneading the soft flesh near your inner thighs. You bite back a moan as his lips trail down your neck and towards the cleavage of your top.

“Take this fucking thing off.”

Without missing a beat, he rips your top over your head and returns his mouth to the valley between your breasts. Taehyung’s pleasantly surprised at your braless form, and he can’t help but brush a thumb across before replacing it with his tongue.

“T-Tae…” You sigh airily as he circles around your nipple, drawing them to a hardened peak and leaving thin traces of saliva on your skin. “P-Please.”

“Relax.” He coos into your ear. “This is all for you. You just lay back and enjoy it, my little kitten.”

“I’ll enjoy it once you’re inside of me already.” You whisper coyly, your hands tracing down the curve of his spine and down towards his ass. “I want you to fill my pretty pussy up with your come already.”

With one look into his frenzied pupils, you shrink into yourself as though you’re some meager prey hybrid with a bloodthirsty predator chasing after you.

Oh, how you love it.

He peppers a series of small kisses down your stomach, his movements slower than before. He wants to make you feel as frustrated as he does whenever he watches your videos and yearns to reach through the screen to feel your body against his.

However, with the real thing’s in front of him, his biological urge to mount you and pump you full of his kittens starts to overpower his original plans of taking things slow.

“Fuck, you smell so good, baby.” Taehyung groans as your excitement seeps through the fabric of your jeans. “I can’t wait to taste this sweet little pussy. My little kitten’s been waiting so long for me.”

Your muddled thoughts fail to form into coherent words as Taehyung’s tongue slides across from the top of your pelvis and down towards your core drenched in your excitement. He relishes in your whiny moans at the ticklish flicks he gives your swollen clit, noting cockily how your nails grasp at the bedsheets with reckless abandon and how your toes curl in delight at the warmth filling your bloodstream.

“Are you all wet just for me, kitten?” Taehyung murmurs, cheeks completely soaked from your excitement. “You taste so good, baby. So sweet.”

“Y-Yes, I’m all wet just f-for you, baby.” You whimper as his tongue licks larger stripes against you. “P-Please, Tae, I want you.”

“Want me where?” Teasing you is quickly becoming his new favorite pastime.

“I-Inside. Please, I want to feel all of you.”

“Isn’t that a little too easy?” Taehyung clicks his tongue as he wipes away the excess slick from his chin.

He holds in his shudder when you pull his hand towards you to envelope the come-stained fingers inside your mouth, moaning in delight as you taste yourself.

“I-I think I n-need something in return before your little pussy can earn its treat.”

Taehyung is quick to unbutton his jeans and shrug them along with his boxers onto the bedroom floor. The tip of his cock drips small strings of pre-come onto the sheets, reddened and sensitive to the touch. You quickly discover this when your small fingers reach forward to briefly tease around the head with the pad of your thumb.

“Open up, sweetheart.” Taehyung bites down onto his lip as he guides the first two inches inside your awaiting mouth.

You moan at the salty taste that you’ve grown to love that coats your tongue, sucking lightly for the first few seconds before hollowing your cheeks and applying more pressure with every stroke. Taehyung hisses as your mouth sinks even deeper, nearly driving the head into the back of your throat.

“You’re so good to me, huh?” Taehyung lets out a low moan when he feels you hum in agreement, sending vibrations across the sensitive head of his cock. “Does my baby deserve to be fucked now?”

Your watery eyes connect with Taehyung’s as you choke on the smooth length. Suddenly, you feel miniscule and powerless underneath his lustful gaze, but you welcome the degradation wholeheartedly.

“Turn around, baby.” Taehyung grunts as he slips himself from your mouth. “I want to see your tight little ass when I fuck this little pussy open.”

He props you up on your elbows with your back arched as far as you can go. There’s a slight pressure in your lower back as you present yourself to him, but the discomfort is nothing compared to the uncontrollable need to finally be fucked by Taehyung. He admires the sight of your awaiting pussy, completely soaked with your come and swollen from his relentless ministrations on your sensitive bud.

You draw out a long mewl when you feel the tip nudge your seam before pushing inside, clenching hard as he continues to bottom out.

Oh, how he loves it.

“Fuck, baby, you’re so tight.” Taehyung chuckles lowly as he begins a steady yet hard-hitting pace. “You’re making Daddy proud. His kitten’s taking his cock so well, don’t you agree?”

You smother your face into a pillow to muffle your cries, not wanting someone barging in during the fuck of your lifetime. With every hard thrust, your pussy sucks him back inside with a lewd squelch, desperate to hold him there whenever he tries to retract. His fingers are sure to leave marks on your skin in the morning from the way he’s grasping your hips for dear life. .

You fuck yourself almost every week, and yet you’re still the tiniest hole Taehyung’s ever had the pleasure of fucking. It entices him to continue his thrusts, in hopes of absolutely ruining you and filling you to the brim with his seed. His mind floods with images of you overflowing with come, carrying his potential kittens deep within and yet, still demanding for more.

This daydream alone has Taehyung stuttering in his movements and nearly blowing his load before you can squeeze around him in your own mind-melting pleasure. You have to come first, and Taehyung would be damned if he ruins that for you by acting like a pubescent boy who came in less than a minute to his very first porn video.

“Taehyung…” You cry pathetically. “T-Touch me.”

He’s quick to follow your orders, rubbing at the bundle of nerves between your legs with two wet fingertips and earning a sharp “F-fuck, Daddy!” in response. Your body threatens to curl inward, and you force yourself to grip onto the pillowcase instead of onto Taehyung’s thigh to force him to fuck you even harder.

He wants to feel you absolutely fall apart with his cock splitting you open – and fall apart, you do.

A surprised hiss escapes the tiger hybrid as you spasm underneath his body, your euphoric release dribbling onto the sheets below. Your claws that unsheathed a second before your orgasm have shredded through a good portion of the pillowcase you buried your face into. It’s not long until Taehyung’s hips lose their rhythm and suddenly, you’re filled with copious amounts of his warm seed.

All for you.

“F-fuck, kitten, you made Daddy come so much.” He admires the sight of your completely battered pussy as he goes to pull out, stuffed to the brim with his seed that slowly starts dripping out. “Stuffed full of Daddy’s kittens. Such a good girl.”

You sigh in relaxed pleasure as he starts cleaning around your entrance with a skilled tongue, a strong hand massaging each cheek. There’s something satisfying about the fact that Taehyung’s tasting himself which seduces you into pushing through the overstimulation by twisting your hips in tight circles to aid him in his taste test.

“You little—” He laughs as he lands a light smack to an ass cheek. He groans internally at how it jiggles under the force, drawing a tiny moan from you and a string of come that seeps from your used pussy and down your thighs.

Before he can treat himself to another taste, you flip over and grab at his neck. “My turn.”

Taehyung nearly falls forward on his face when you connect your lips together, your tongue sliding through for a mixture of your releases. They’re still both salty and bitter on your palate, but you’ve gotten used to the taste by now. If anything, Taehyung makes it taste even better.

As you sink further into the mattress deep in the kiss, Taehyung lifts himself up to pull you onto your side. You let out a tiny squeal at the sudden shift in position, especially when his lips tickle the crook of your neck with a trail of wet kisses.

“Now, sleep.” Taehyung kisses your cheek before nuzzling his face into the back of your neck.

“Weirdo.” You purr groggily before succumbing to the inevitable fatigue that seeps into your bones and muscles.

Once you’re deep in sleep, Taehyung leans closer for a better glimpse of your face. Your skin’s still flushed red and sweaty, but you still look like an angel in Taehyung’s eyes. The entire room smells of come and sweat, but he can still sense your unique sweet scent of your skin, and it pains him to hold himself back from tasting some more. The stress that wrinkles your brow is smoothed out and replaced with a peaceful expression, one he sees quite often during your streams after you finally fall back down from your high.

Taehyung is finally brought back to reality when his ears pick up incessant cheering from drunk patrons outside by the poolside accompanied by loud EDM blaring from the outdoor speakers. He ignores them all with an exasperated wrinkle of the nose, and instead he chooses to savor in the warmth radiating from your body that just so happens to fit perfectly against his own – just like pieces of a jagged puzzle.

Taehyung smiles. You’re finally in his arms, and he doesn’t want to let go.

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kylesvariouslistsandstuff · 4 months

Text

I had a thought.

It's been almost a year. Looking back on it, it seems to me that Universal and DreamWorks were so gosh-dang quiet about RUBY GILLMAN (comma) TEENAGE KRAKEN simply because it opened a month after the release of Disney's live-action LITTLE MERMAID remake. "Ya think??" Yeah, it's probably obvious, but I'll go into detail anyways.

Now, I'm not gonna dredge up the unnecessary and needless noise that briefly surrounded these two movies... But I do think the similarities, namely a redheaded mermaid, did play a part in everyone's hesitance to let the world know: This movie actually exists!

Not until 3 1/2 months before its release date, anyways. Again, such an unusual rollout for a high-end animated movie that cost roughly $70m to make.

TEENAGE KRAKEN apparently was in development in some form at DreamWorks since the mid-2010s, which seems feasible, given how long these things take from conception to completion. Very rarely are they fast-tracked, like say, THE EMOJI MOVIE was. Tony Leondis created the pitch for that in early 2015, and three studios got in a bidding war over it. Sony was the winner (Paramount and WB were the other candidates), picked it up ASAP, greenlit it right away, and within two years the movie was in multiplexes... That was... Quick!

But usually, it's a lengthy development-to-production cycle. No one outside the walls of DreamWorks knew what this sea monster movie was until scooper sites started "reporting" it in mid-2021. The LITTLE MERMAID remake already was known to the public well before that. It had gotten its late spring 2023 release date a few months after these scoops about GILLMAN got out. MEET THE GILLMANS, it was known as, for a long time.

By this point in time, DreamWorks' schedule was pretty clear-cut. BOSS BABY 2 was pretty much out, or coming out. BAD GUYS was spring 2022, PUSS IN BOOTS 2 was penciled in for fall 2022. Both announced a while before that. Universal had Illumination's SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE pegged for Christmas 2022, and then an untitled DreamWorks movie set for April 2023 would follow that. That was going to be RUBY GILLMAN, TEENAGE KRAKEN... Which would've placed it a little over a month before Disney's Memorial Day release of THE LITTLE MERMAID.

However, RUBY GILLMAN could've been a fall 2022 release...

At one point in time, DreamWorks had THE BAD GUYS scheduled for September 2021. That would be followed by PUSS IN BOOTS 2 in April 2022, probably followed by RUBY GILLMAN in the fall... TROLLS 3 already had the fall 2023 slot by this point, one could guess that the spring 2023 movie could've been... I dunno, THE WILD ROBOT? ORION AND THE DARK, even? Possibly KUNG FU PANDA 4.

Often times, movie slates get domino'd in animation-land. Usually, DreamWorks' slate changes didn't really effect Illumination's. They typically lock the 4th of July frame and the Christmas frame.

COVID-19 certainly played a part in things getting pushed back, for DreamWorks. If you remember, BOSS BABY 2 was initially thought to be a late March 2021 release. That date was inked shortly after the first movie arrived and surprisingly broke out in the spring of 2017. It moved to September 2021, pushing BAD GUYS to April 2022... Then it moved up a bit, as an experimental day-and-date release in July 2021. Occupying the slot MINIONS 2 was originally looking at. It didn't make back its money theatrically, but a third BOSS BABY is coming, so DreamWorks essentially must've said "mulligan". (It also helps that the first movie and the TV series do consistently well on streaming.)

So by the end of 2021, we were looking at BAD GUYS as an April 2022 release, PUSS 2 as a September 2022 release, and something yet to be titled after that in April 2023 in addition to TROLLS 3 in November of that year. Illumination's MINIONS sequel, after two major COVID-19-related delays, was set for July 2022, and SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE would follow Christmas week... All seemed to lock together, even though DreamWorks was still being mum about what Untitled April 2023 Movie was...

But then... Illumination delayed MARIO. To April 2023, the slot that RUBY GILLMAN was looking at. This was done to coincide with the Super Nintendo World theme park opening... So, DreamWorks moved right into the ripe Christmas frame with PUSS IN BOOTS 2.

Feasibly, they could've moved RUBY GILLMAN up to January or something, and kept PUSS 2 in September... But they opted to give PUSS 2 the Christmas frame, thus a long, record-breaking leggy run. Worked out perfectly for the kitty, but it ultimately sunk the sea monsters.

MARIO taking April meant that RUBY GILLMAN had to move, so Universal chose late June 2023. 4th of July frame... That Illumination's MIGRATION originally occupied... MIGRATION took this past Christmas slot. All feel into place after that, but poor RUBY GILLMAN now was opening after LITTLE MERMAID... And I think Universal/DreamWorks just kinda tossed it off. Didn't announce its existence at all until about 3 1/2 months before release, as if they could wipe their hands of it and move onto the next few movies. THE WILD ROBOT and DOG MAN have been announced and have concrete release dates, well ahead of schedule. The latter was known to be in development for a long while, too. WILD ROBOT is a fairly recently announcement. ORION AND THE DARK was known about at least half a year before its Netflix debut. And that's a streaming movie, not like a big theatrical performance was expected of it.

I bring this up now because I keep thinking of the untitled Thanksgiving 2024 WDAS movie, and how the Disney Co. still hasn't officially revealed what it is... And there are nine months to go. Again, usually these things are announced a year or so in advance. If they aren't ready after being unveiled to the world, then they simply get delayed... But, Disney's curiously cutting this one pretty close. Heck, ENCANTO, STRANGE WORLD, and WISH were cut pretty close as well. Relatively speaking. Usually a WDAS is known about 2-3 years in advance. I'm sure we'll learn about what it is soon, but that they're still being this quiet about it makes me wonder. And given other things going on with WDAS itself, I get a little concerned, ya know?

Or everything's ginger-peachy, and they have a strategy for it, the movie itself is fine, and it speedily introduces itself via a teaser trailer sometime soon and then sticks the landing. Maybe it's ahead of schedule and it will be done before mid-2024, in anticipation of the possible animation/VFX strike. We shall see.

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spectrumscribe · 6 years

Text

to market, to market.

rottmnt gen fic, word count 2,618. contains early morning family routines, mentions of organic foods, nonsense magic, the author’s attempt at vague worldbuilding, and cute teens being semi-responsible.

presenting an rottmnt au i’ve been toying with the past few months and finally started to really figure out! i love human aus that include magic, so... have one for the boys + gal. <3

there’s notes after the ending about the au, and here’s the AO3 Version.

Saturday morning is farmer's market day. That’s been a staple in their home since forever. It’s the best place to buy not just cooking ingredients, but more specialized ingredients, too. From the stalls that are placed between others stalls in hairsbreadth spaces, stalls that no one else but their family and others like them can see.

Raph has always loved walking up to those impossible and amazing market stalls, from the time he was little. They fascinated him, even though their strangeness is commonplace in his life.

His brothers love them, too. They would all clamor at dad to hurry up with the boring shopping so they could go pick out their treats of the day. Curiosities in jars, paints that have brighter pigments than any other, sweets made with the soul essence of a sunny summer day or a cold winter’s eve- all those and a hundred other odds and bobs they can’t ever get enough of, even now.

Of course, this doesn’t make it any easier to get everyone going on a lazy Saturday morning.

Since their pops has made it very clear he’s not moving for love or good groceries today, no one even bothers to try dragging him out of bed. Instead, Mikey, who is always the first up unless Donnie just straight up didn’t sleep the whole night, shuffles into Raph’s bedroom shortly after his alarm clock goes off.

“Ged’up,” Mikey says blearily, leaning his weight on Raph’s stomach. Raph in turn groans tiredly, unwilling to move even though he knows they have to. All the good shit will be gone before noon, probably before eleven to be honest.

“What if we just… not eat for a few days?” Raph asks, not opening his eyes just yet. He just wants to sleep, just a few more hours…

“You’d probs eat one’a us if we didn’t get groceries,” Mikey replies. He yawns, and then says, “C’mon. We gotta get more meat n’ veggies an’ you were the one who made the dumb list for ‘em anyway. You want the good steaks to already be sold out by the time we get there?”

“…No. Hhhn… ‘kay, I’m comin’.”

“Good. I’m gonna go get the waffles goin’. You get the other two.”

After Mikey’s left, Raph sits up slowly, sighing as his bones shift and creak. His eyes sting with sleepiness, and as he rubs at them, Raph feels the slide of an extra eyelid opening and closing. He feels around inside himself, finding the remnants of a feline being enticing him back to sleep, complaining that he should be sleeping much, much longer than this, he’d been out most of the night and now it was nap time right now until it was time to hunt again…

Raph shakes himself, realizing he forgot to tuck that spirit back into his core all the way. He’d tired himself out last night, giving into how the late spring evening tugged at his therianthropy magic and having an adventure in the darkness, alive with the senses and joy of creatures that were at home there.

Breathing in, breathing out, Raph dispels the effects of that animal and feels less like he needs to curl up in his bed to sleep again.

It still sucks to get out from under his warm blankets and leave his bedroom to meet the day.

Leo’s room is the closest, so Raph wanders into his second brother’s bedroom first. He steps around the piles of clothes and stacks of books and an old spell circle carved into the floor, taking a seat on the end of Leo’s bed and shaking his brother by the leg.

“Leo. Dude. Up and at ‘em, we got grocery shopping to do.”

Leo groans pitifully, rolling onto his other side and scrunching himself against his silk pillow. “No… I don’t wanna go. You an’ Mike go, you don’t need… me…”

“It’s a group trip, Leon. No take-backsies for agreeing to it yesterday.”

Leo cracks one eye open, dark irises showing reluctance at waking fully. He then smiles, speaking as he does. “Raph… I don’t have to go to the farmer’s market… you and Mikey can handle it just fine without me… and you’ll bring back my favorite honey cookies, too…”

The warm lilt and tune of Leo’s voice almost gets to Raph, coaxing the suggestions to take over and erase his original purpose to being here. Except, Raph knows this feeling, knows he doesn’t have to listen and how to stop listening, and he pulls on a creature he rarely does. Pupils shifting, teeth molding together into three points, and a malleability to his skin spreading across it. He focuses the changes on his ears, the world’s volume lowering and Leo’s voice becoming fainter and fainter until it’s gone.

Raph waits for Leo to notice the change. His brother keeps trying to spell him a while longer, silent mouth rambling who knows what at Raph to get him to go away. It’s only when Leo opens his eyes again that he notes the gently glowing patterns emerging over Raph’s dark skin.

He scowls, saying something Raph can’t hear. Raph grins with his beak-teeth.

“Can’t hear you,” he says, not sure how clear his speech is right now, but he doesn’t really care. “Just get up and get downstairs before we eat all the eggos.”

He doesn’t have to hear his brother to know Leo mumbles a (non-magical) curse and puts his face into his pillow. Raph rolls his eyes and stands up, patting Leo’s back before he leaves. Raph rescinds the cephalopod spirit that’s made his bones less than solid, moving onto the next sibling he has to wake as his humanity takes full hold again.

The room is a disaster of Donnie-organization as usual, projects scattered everywhere with scrap notes in code taped to the wall haphazardly. Plus, Donnie is sleeping weird again. He’s ended up the wrong way around on his bed, feet on his pillow and head under the covers. Going by the nearby still open laptops with their sleep mode lights blinking, Donnie stumbled into bed after doing something or other far longer than he should have.

Raph peels the blankets off the second eldest of their family. Donnie’s lost his shirt at some point, revealing the spiralling seals on his back that keep his strength-sapping blood curse at bay. Thankfully, when they visit city pools, no one but other inhumans can see the tattoos. Otherwise, they’d probably get stopped every five seconds by some concerned parent who’s freaked out that a fourteen year old has them.

“Donnie,” Raph says, bending down and putting himself at eyelevel with his brother��s sleeping face. “Hey, hey Donnie. Wake up, dude. We’re going to the farmer’s market today, ‘member?”

Donnie doesn’t open his eyes, instead mumbling out, “01000110 01101001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01101101 01101111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101101 01101001 01101110 01110101 01110100 01100101 01110011.”

It’s always weird to hear that- how Donnie will say codes aloud but without actually sounding out how the numbers should be pronounced. Like it’s being beamed right into your brain or something. Raph is used to it enough he ignores the oddity of Donnie’s mix-up, reaching over to shake him. “Don, you know none’a us speak binary. Human languages only, please.”

With arduous effort, Donnie slurs out, “Ffffffive more minutesss…”

“I’ll give you ten seconds.”

“Noooo…”

Raph gets Donnie upright on his bed before he leaves. It takes shoving his brother’s favorite iPad into his hands and turning it on, letting the sentience Donnie has nurtured into existence in it finish waking its creator up.

Downstairs, Raph wanders into the kitchen with a yawn, having put on jeans that are mostly clean and an old t-shirt that smells like their home. He has to pull up short before he gets to the fridge, waiting for tiny flying dragons to finish carrying the butter from the counter. Following their path, a pair of large butterflies carries the syrup with their little feet towards the table.

There’s… also a child sized bipedal cat with three eyes and cowboy boots collecting the freshly popped eggos onto a plate. It glances at Raph briefly, nodding with a respectful but mysterious cat’s smile.

Raph blinks slowly, and lets it slide. Whatever Mikey has been conjuring lately, he never asks how his littlest brother came up with the ideas.

However, he can’t let slide him opening the fridge and getting a flurry of sparrow sized winged shrimp to the face.

“Fff- Mikey!” Raph snaps, turning to glare at his brother in the dining room on the other side of the counter. He shoos the remaining shrimp away from his head, feeling a tinge of the feline from earlier wanting to swat and bite them.

“Oops,” Mikey says sheepishly, holding out his arms for his creations to alight on him. They flap their wings and nuzzle their illustrare witch with their long antennae. “I was kinda wonderin’ where these guys got to last night. Guess they wanted to hang out with the real shrimp or something?”

Raph has been awake for all of fifteen minutes, and he feels tired again.

“…Please put them away, at least for breakfast.”

“Can do.”

Mikey’s sketchbook of the day, left on the far end of the table away from the syrup, flies open, pages flapping wildly. The shimpbirds become blurred and flat, losing their solidness and whisking through the air in streams of color. The sketchbook sucks them all back onto its pages, and then snaps shut again as Mikey’s magic fades.

Raph opens the fridge again, this time able to grab the apple juice without assault by flying decapods.

Leo and Donnie come into the kitchen not long after, dressed and slightly more awake. They take their share of the eggos from the plate Mikey’s conjured cat offers them, unbothered by the puss-in-boots knock off serving them, or by it turning into a stream of color to return to its sketchbook right after.

As they’re eating the first half of their breakfast- the next will be bought at the market, giving into the temptation of fresh baked goods sold there- Donnie’s phone gets a text.

“01000001 01110000 01110010 01101001 01101100 0010000001110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 01110011 0010000001110100 01101111 0010000001110011 01100101 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100001,” it cheers at the top of its speakers, and everyone but Donnie covers their ears.

“They said April wants to meet us,” Donnie clarifies for all the non-technopaths in the room.

Leo rubs his temples, sighing at his twin. “That’s great, but Donnie, please tell your devices to stop doing that so early in the morning. Or at any time of the day?”

Donnie’s phone makes a screeching sound.

“They said ‘fuck off’,” Donnie translates, sipping his coffee.

Leo gives the little device a confusedly miffed look.

“Guys, guys,” Mikey says, making calming gestures, “we got places to be, newts and cabbages to buy. We don’t got time for breakfast fights with technology.”

Raph takes over the peacemaking, reinforcing it by saying, “Donnie, if you wanna talk with your tech, use headphones. Leo, get earplugs if you really gotta.”

The two middle children give each other a long look, before mutually and silently agreeing the fight isn’t one worth having and going back to being stalwart allies. Raph and Mikey exchange their own looks, silently thanking one another for helping defuse the situation before it became one.

Donnie arranges with April to meet them on the way to the market, and reminds their best friend to wear her enchanted choker so she can see what they do. She starts a group text to remind them in turn that she’s literally hasn’t taken it off since they gave it to her, and that she’s reminding them to not forget the spelled cloth bags they’ll need for the abnormal ingredients.

Raph sheepishly texts back a thank you for the reminder while Mikey hunts said bags down. They’re in Leo’s room this time around, having been left there after their family’s silvertongue witch went shopping for new spellwork inks.

They leave a plate of saran wrapped eggos with a note for their dad on the counter, since he’ll probably drag himself out of bed at some point close to noon. Better to have waiting food than to get a grumpy call from their hungry dad who wants someone to bring him home a complicated takeout meal.

April is waiting for them on a corner halfway to the market, leaning on a stop sign and scrolling through something her phone. Probably one of the chats on the supernatural enthusiast sites she follows. Sometimes they all have a good laugh over the ridiculous misconceptions people have about the inhuman members of society, and other times they get a heads up of which parts of the city to avoid for a while. It’s worth it to keep tabs on what the humans notice about NYC; there’s always the off chance someone really has seen a wayward rabid ghoul or a summons gone feral that’s entered the territory.

“Morning,” April greets pleasantly, perky as she pleases even though she probably slept less than all of them, excluding Donnie. Somehow- and they’re still trying to prove it is a supernatural gift- April is always, always energetic and awake, no matter how long or little she’s rested.

Leo eyes the half a bacon and eggs wrap she has in her hands, and he sidles up to her, grinning slyly. “April,” he says melodically, “that wrap looks like too much for you, you’re already too full to finish it, right? I can take it off your hands, don’t worry. I’ll do it as a favor to you.”

“Nice try, Leon,” April says, sneakily tugging on his long braids as revenge for the attempted charming. “You and I both know I can finish this and another three if I wanted.”

“One day,” Leo says with a pout as he yanks himself away from April’s light grip, “I’ll prove that you’re not completely human, because you are way too tiny to eat as much as you do.”

April smirks and bites into her breakfast wrap, ignoring the begging look Leo gives her.

“You’re both makin’ me hungry again,” Raph complains, and starts herding his family along the sidewalk. “C’mon, keep moving or I’ll pick you up and carry you.”

Mikey perks up. “Actually-”

He doesn’t even have to finish. Raph bends without a word, and his little brother hops onto him for a piggyback to the market. The sharpie scarabs he doodled onto his arms yesterday flutter their wings and take flight as they go, buzzing around their group swiftly and quietly, shining iridescently black in the morning sun and invisible to humans passing by. Leo whistles a brief tune at a few and convinces them to land on his hands, petting their carapace gently as possible. Donnie ignores them and shakes them off when they land on his short hair, while April sputters as one flies at her glasses out of curiosity for their reflectiveness.

Raph feels something slithery and cool slide into his ponytail of thin dreadlocks, and just sighs and lets it happen. Apparently, Mikey drew another collection of snakes somewhere on himself, too.

The market is bustling as they get there, the human community intermingling with the supernatural community without noticing. Early morning shoppers are walking around with bags bursting with produce and homemade creations- ranging from organically grown carrots to knitted summoning dolls, the faces of unspeakable beings peering out along with stalks of celery.

An average Saturday shopping crowd, then.

Raph and his family aren’t noticed in the least as they join it.

so i spent a long while poking at the idea of the brothers having magical abilities in a witch au (splinter too, but i haven’t learned enough about him in canon yet to decide properly) and came up with these possible types that make sense to me!

(disclaimer: spec is not the person to ever ask about real magic. i just do whatever the hell i want with it in my writing because yo, it’s magic!!!)

raph has shapeshifting magic, drawing on internal power and connections with creatures he’s interacted with to change his body to fit the abilities of animals. inspired thusly bc he has nice pointy teeth in canon and bc he reminds me (’cause he’s Big) of Jin from Ran and the Grey World.

donnie can communicate with and manipulate technology. unless he withholds it, any piece of machinery he works with will a) never break down again, b) mysteriously always seem like new after you’ve taken it to him for repairs, and c) might potentially develop something of a sentience if he gets really invested in the projects. most of his personal computers have sassy little personalities now.

leo, so long as he believes wholeheartedly in what he’s saying, can change bits of reality just by talking it into doing so. if he recites poetry he made himself with enough intention to a stick, he could convince it to become a sword, or tell an alleyway to become a dead end to someone. mostly though, he just uses his magic to convince people of little things, like giving him a discount at the store, or letting him copy off someone’s homework.

mikey can give temporary life to artwork, be it sketches or paintings or murals or pottery or etc. by drawing on the devotion and emotion the artists put into the pieces. he mostly uses his own art, but since he’s got more magical juice/potential in him than all his brothers combined, if he’s pushed to it he could bring life to one of those massive murals on the sides of apartment complexes. mostly he just likes making little friends, though, haha.

april is purely human, but can and has gone toe to toe with supernatural beings and kicked their asses. she’s never had any trouble keeping up with her witch buddies, and they, of course, love their semi-adopted big sister being around as much as she loves them being with her.

uhhhhh... more to come of this at some point? zshrug, i hope other people here love witches too.

(also... pls consider buying me a kofi.... i promise i shall reward the gift with frequent fics...)

#rottmnt #My writing #Witches AU #aka spec really fuckin love supernatural stuff and HAD to do multiple aus for that #i have others #they will turn up at some point here #in the meantime have dorky teeny witch boys #team as family

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