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alearicci · 9 months

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“what the hell, ricciardo?!” – DR3

pairings: daniel ricciardo x fem!norris!girlfriend; daniel ricciardo x girlfriend!reader; daniel ricciardo x y/n

summary: You are the older sister of Lando Norris who is secretly dating his former teammate, Daniel Ricciardo. What will the secrets lead to?

warnings: my grammar 🫣, a little bit dirty talk, secret relationship

note: ask me anything <3

reblogs and comments pls ♡

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You stood in front of a large mirror in your and Daniel's house and looked at yourself with interest. Your reflection looked at you expectantly, a mixture of nervousness and confidence flickered in your brown eyes. You spent hours carefully preparing for this event, making sure that every detail of your appearance radiated elegance and sophistication. Your long brown curls fell to your shoulders in loose waves, framing your delicate facial features, and light makeup accentuated your natural beauty.

Your outfit was nothing but luxury. You were wearing a stunning floor-length dress made of the finest silk, its deep royal blue shade complemented your porcelain complexion. The dress hugged your curves in all the right places, emphasizing your slender figure, and a daring thigh-high slit added seductiveness. The bodice was decorated with intricate beads that sparkled under the soft light of the chandelier, as if reflecting the stars in the night sky.

Elegant stiletto shoes decorated with delicate crystals that shimmered with each graceful step completed your look. On your wrist you wore a minimalistic diamond bracelet, the shimmer of which matched the brilliance of your eyes. You have spared no expense in creating an image that would charm and make an indelible impression on anyone who gets in your way.

Today there was a party on the occasion of the recent Grand Prix victory and the last birthday of your boyfriend, the man of your whole life - Daniel Ricciardo. You knew how much he craved it, how he devoted himself to training and came home so tired that he could hardly walk to the shower. Your heart has always ached because of how much he has to go through to achieve heights. Constant discussions, angry comments under posts, wishes about failures at races - does he really deserve this? Your smiling boy, your happiness, your very true love.

Shaking your head, chasing away the unpleasant thoughts that appeared, you smiled tightly and looked in the mirror again. The outfit turned out to be quite good, you really look great. Numerous hours spent in shops and beauty salons have done you good.

Suddenly, out of the blue, there was a knock on the door. You flinched a little, because it was too loud and unexpected.

"Babe?" On the other side of the door, the sonorous voice of your beloved rang out. "The guests will be here soon, are you ready?"

"Oh. Yeah. I'm on my way."

"Can I come in?"

"Yes, you can."

Ricciardo didn't keep himself waiting, and a second later the door opened and you turned to him, smiling to the tips of your ears.

"Ooooh shiiiit. It looks like I'll have to postpone the party until tomorrow, and spend time with my beautiful girl today." He said grinning and walked up to you.

Standing in front of you, he first just stood in front of you and looked into your eyes for about a minute.

Devils were clearly visible in his eyes. Devils that simultaneously showed his love for you and desire to possess you.

Dan grinned, oh my God, just from that grin, you feel like your knees are about to give way, then, smoothly lowered his hands to your waist and slowly pulled you closer to him, as if stretching this moment.

He bent down to kiss you, but you gently stopped him by putting your finger to his lips.

"Hey, hey, hey, take your time, baby. I've already painted my lips with my favorite lipstick, so no kissing!" You explained and witnessed how Dan's playfulness quickly evaporated, replaced by a slight bewilderment. He snorted in displeasure and slid down, squeezing his hands tighter on your hips.

"I hate it when you use this terrible invention of mankind. I love the taste of your lips so much, and you paint them with this tasteless lipstick."

"And this was said by my daniel, who ate my raspberry-scented lipstick the other day."

"Hahaha yeah. But at least it was delicious. And in general, I didn't eat, but used it for its intended purpose."

You laughed and grabbed the strong shoulders of your Aussie. He bent down to your neck and ran his nose over it. His hot breath burned your skin and made your whole body goosebumps. Daniel gently bites the tender skin of the neck, and then runs his tongue over the wound and kisses, as if apologizing without words.

You had very fair skin and it was very difficult to hide such manifestations of love. This could be understood by how carefully you covered up the hickeys left by him last night with foundation and how they still remained visible. Daniel himself knew perfectly well that today you would need to attend his party in the status of a family friend, not his girlfriend, but knowing this did not stop him.

Yes. You've been hiding your relationship. You were the older sister of his former teammate, Lando Norris. As Ric himself likes to say and repeat, he fell in love with you from the very first meeting, but did not dare to admit this to Lando, and to you, of course. Maybe the reason was that Lando took great care of you as his own sister and often jokingly threatened his friends that if they became victims of her love torments, his revenge would be cruel. Or maybe he just couldn't figure out for a long time what he really feels for you.

But at the moment, you've been secretly dating for almost a year. It's amazing how it happened that neither the media, nor the family, nor Lando himself have yet realized that you are together. For them, you continued to be good friends. It was in your favor, because another reason for a secret relationship was just the same media. They are often the cause of the breakup of many couples and it happens that they watch couples too closely. So you continue to work, pretend and live in your secluded house when Daniel is free from racing and training and when you are not busy with your work.

"Oh my God, Daniel!" Finally, you shout jokingly. "Stop biting me, soon there won't be a place on me where there won't be traces of your bites, Ricciardo!"

"Honey, you mean you don't like it? In that case, you need to learn how to lie. You're doing pretty badly right now."

"You're insufferable, Dan."

"I know. And you love me."

"Yes. I love you."

"I know, my beautiful. Well. I will say that you helped me with the selection of the costume, if anyone has questions about how you ended up here among the first." He finished, but continued to hold you in his hands.

"Again, again a lie."

"I know, honey. I hate lying. And, wait a minute, it's practically not a lie, you really helped me pick up this suit."

You smiled warmly and rested your head on his shoulder.

"I'm waiting for the moment when I can officially call you my girl in front of everyone." he said in a hoarse whisper and kissed the top of your head.

"But then my beloved brother will look askance at us."

"Oh my God, I've already endured these looks when we were on the same team, because I often overtook him."

"Hey, he's good too!" you pretended to be indignant and lightly hit him on the leg with your knee.

"But no better than me."

"No one can compare with you, but Lanny is very good both on and off the track."

"Will anyone meet us in this house at all?" A voice was heard from below and you instinctively recoiled from your lover. The grievances belonged to Dan's good friend and his current partner, Max Verstappen. You immediately thought that he probably didn't come alone, but with his girlfriend Kelly.

"Oh, Maxie. Let's go meet."

"Danny. Are you sure? Maybe I'll come out later?"

"He knows that you and I are good friends, there will be no problems. Let's say you're very punctual."

♡♡♡

Time passed, more and more guests came. You and Daniel kept an appropriate distance, no hands on the waist, kisses and other things that could reveal your secret. It was hard, even if it has already become a habit for you. You really wanted to touch him, feel the warmth of his hands, hear the scent of his expensive cologne. You really wanted you to be an ordinary couple.

You've already gone down too and managed to say hello to many who came. First of all, you approached Daniel's parents, who came to celebrate their son's triumph. You were in a very close and trusting relationship with Mr. and Mrs. Ricciardo, they treated you as a close family friend. But they didn't even know that their son was head over heels in love with you.

Grace, Daniel's mom, recently, "in secret", said that Daniel likes you. At that time, you had already met, so you couldn't help but smile shyly and thanked the kind woman for this secret. Now I have to hide a secret from her.

Now you were chatting with her on the sidelines from everyone and she was telling you a funny story from Dan's childhood.

"Can you imagine? Then he firmly decided that he would become a racer. I'm afraid my heart just won't stand it soon, he's working so hard in training and taking risks on the track that I'm not moving away from sedatives."

"Ooooh.. Mrs. Ricciardo, as I understand you. Sometimes you want to hit him on the head with a pillow and..." for a moment you were silent.

... hug him and say that you are very worried.

... kiss him and tell him that you will always be there.

"I... Tell him to stop making his beloved mom nervous!" You finally finished the sentence and laughed along with Grace.

"Oh, you're right, my dear."

"Oh, Mrs. Ricciardo, I have to leave you for a while, I need to powder my nose." You really urgently needed to go to the bathroom to fix your makeup.

"Of course, no problem, sweetheart. I'll go find something delicious for now."

Daniel, who was standing nearby and talking enthusiastically with George Russell, who was also invited to the party, heard that you said you would go to the bathroom.

He realized that this was his chance to be with you for a few minutes.

When you excused yourself to go to the toilet, the urge became too strong to resist. Daniel carefully followed you, his heart pounding wildly. When he saw you disappear into the lavish lavatory, Ricciardo carefully followed you, making sure that no one noticed his departure. He found you standing at the sink, looking at yourself in the mirror.

Unable to contain his longing any longer, he cautiously approached you from behind, hugging you around the waist. You flinched slightly, surprised by his presence.

"I couldn't be in the company of these celebrities anymore. I needed to feel you in my arms. Moreover, I can clearly see how my mother sees you as her future daughter-in-law."

"Danny, you can't go on like this! We have to behave ourselves tonight. Not us, but you!"

"Oh. I know, but seeing that you look so amazing here, all I want to do is hold you to me. Just for a moment."

"Okay, just for a minute. But we have to be careful.

You hugged each other tightly for a few stolen moments, cherishing the intimacy you craved madly, knowing that you would soon have to part again.

Ricciardo tightened his embrace, feeling the warmth of your body on his. You stood there for a few blissful seconds, enjoying the intimacy of the moment. Then he gently kissed you on the forehead, and then went down to your cheeks and lips. But none of you guessed what would happen next.

Meanwhile, Lando also decided to go to the bathroom to fix his tie. Disappointed with the way it sat on his collar, he yanked it, muttered a few playful curses under his breath and headed to the bathroom to get a dose of confidence from the mirror.

To his surprise, he saw Daniel and you, his friend and sister, in a passionate embrace. Lando's eyes widened and a mischievous grin appeared on his face.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" he said, leaning against the bathroom door and folding his arms.

Hearing the voice of your beloved younger brother, you abruptly pulled away from Daniel's lips and felt a blush appear on your cheeks.

"Oops," Dan said jokingly. "I'll explain everything now, Lando. "Ummm... I just came to help y/n with... her dress. It had to be fixed, you know?"

You intervened with a shy smile:

"Yes, yes, the lightning got stuck, and Daniel, being a gentleman, came to the rescue!"

Lando raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced by the story, but couldn't help but make a joke.

"And the kiss became a payment for help? Come on, guys. Don't make me regret introducing you to him, Miss Norris!" Lando exclaimed, no longer holding back his laughter.

"Uh... yeah?"

"Of all the people, it had to be my former teammate and my sister? Damn God, how long have you been dating? Do not deny that you are dating, otherwise I will definitely swear."

"Almost a year," Daniel replied and smiled his trademark smile.

"Oh my God, sis, I thought we should share everything!"

"Sorryyy."

When they returned to the event, Lando couldn't help but grin mischievously, teasing Daniel: "Just remember, Ricciardo, I will always watch!"

Winking, Dan cheekily replied: "Oh, I wouldn't expect anything less, Norris!"

#f1 imagine #oneshot #f1 fandom #f1 fanfic #formula one #drabble #dr3 x reader #dr3 #daniel ricciardo supremacy #daniel ricciardo x reader #danny ric #ric3 #daniel ricciardo #formula 1 #lando norris #nor4

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linddzz · 3 months

Note

32 with Dreamling? 👀

Smut Prompts:

#32: A suffers from pent-up stress and frustration. B offers their body for them to use to get rid of negative emotions.

Edit: Full fic on AO3

Wordcount: 6977 (nice)

Warnings: Canon typical descriptions of violence. Dream being an unhinged little nightmare, but Hob is so down for it. Also, it's a smut prompt. So there is smut. Dicks abound. In typical fashion it took me a while to get to said dicks though. No beta and only the barest editing.

Summary: Service Dom Hob is here to give his bizarre Eldritch boyfriend the tenderest, gentlest domming of his Endles existence. Dream is still going to be a hissing little brat about it. Tbh I waffled a bit on which way to go with this one, but realized that what I really want sometimes is to have Hob scruff Dream like the pissy wet cat that he is and tell him to SHUSH while Dream goes all ragdoll. I also fully embraced a horny headcanon of mine where Dream is more sensitive to physical touch in the Waking.

Shout out to @amahhi, because I picked little bits from our RP here and there for this. What can I say, we got a good Dream and Hob.

Edit 2.0: trying to get the blog unflagged, so the read more has the fic up to the spicy bits. Full fic is in the AO3 link 🙃

-----

It's been a very normal, mundane, and drab sort of day when Hob comes home at the end of it. There's the standard London drizzle tapping away at his window, transforming the world outside into a melting blur of darkening gray shot through with bright smears from electric street lights coming on one by one.

Electric lights. Brilliant. Literally brilliant. They're all going to pay for it in the long run of course, but fuck is it nice to just come home and flick a switch - like so - to light a room up.

There's a corpse on his sofa.

The corpse is on its back, arms rigid at its side. Its skin has a drained, cold paleness with veins as gray as the current sky. The face is perfectly still and perfectly expressionless, with flat blue eyes open and unseeing towards the ceiling. The startling ghastliness of the corpse is offset by the soft black t-shirt, along with black pajama bottoms decorated with alarmingly cheerful blue stars.

This is also, increasingly, a normal part of his day.

"All right, love?" He asks, shutting the door behind him. The first time he came home to Dream lying out stiff and apparently lifeless in his flat there had been a bit more yelling and panicking, followed by careful explanations about what the unexpected sight of a pale and unmoving body with open, unseeing eyes showing up in a safe and comfortable space can do to someone who has been through a few wars.

It kept happening, which meant Dream did not actually understand. But now Dream always makes an effort to put his form into pajamas first, possibly with the logic that if he were dressed comfortably for sleep, then he couldn’t possibly look like a corpse. Which meant he was trying, even if severely misguided. It's more touching than it should be.

The corpse on the sofa routine all started when they became...whatever they are now. The best explanation Hob ever got was that a chunk of Dream’s duties involve delving into the vast unconsciousness of himself, sinking into the wild depths that were made of every dreaming mind that created him to make sure everything was flowing smoothly.

It was all very metaphysical in all the ways that Hob tries not to think about too much. When he compared it to a computer shutting down for maintenance, he got himself a curdled look of such offended disgust that he knew he was on the money. He compared it to sleep instead, which mollified Dream at the time.

In the past this deeper delving into himself was done from the throne room. Then Dream started showing up in Hob's flat every now and again, refusing to explain why. Hob isn't stupid, so he doesn't ask why after the first few times. Whatever the metaphysics of it, Dream wants to come here and lie on Hob's furniture being vulnerable in the Waking world, despite all his grumblings about said world. Dream may not be able to explain the want for a space outside of work to go to, but Hob gets the difference between grading papers at his office and doing it in his living room. The fact that Dream seeks this space out makes Hob's chest go all fluttery and hot, and he will never question it ever.

It's why he doesn't make a fuss about the fact that Dream hasn't figured out that he looks like a fucking horror movie prop when he does it.

“Obviously.” Dream rumbles in answer. His voice has a deep, slow resonance that's being dragged up from the darkest fathoms. It's a growling sneer, the sharp warning crack of a cliff face about to give. It says that asking things like “all right?” is the most low, simple mindedly human thing Hob could ask, because there is no reason Dream would be otherwise.

“That sort of day then? Budge up.” Hob tosses his coat to the chair, which earns him an annoyed huff of a sound, and shoves a space for himself by Dream's hip, which earns him a growl.

“What. Sort of. Day?” Dream asks darkly. He turns his head, slowly. His movements are always slow when he's coming up from his not-sleep, and Hob is always fascinated by the process. He imagines Dream reeling himself back from wherever he has gone to, a long thread of his consciousness spooling up to refill the shape of his body. The waxy deadness in his skin doesn't exactly liven up, but it becomes more luminous. The stiffness melts from carved stone to…well not relaxed but something with a bit more give to it than stone anyway. The eyes change the most. The empty flatness of them turns into a clear, bright blue. They're flashing with liquid fire when Dream looks up at Hob, even if the rest of him is still an angrily stiff bunch of sharp edges.

“Not a great one, I think.” Hob leans, propping his shoulders on the back of the couch with Dreams waist and arm against the small of his back. Dream turns his head with his jaw clenched, and Hob reaches out, brushing the backs of his curled fingers in the barest caress over the plane of Dreams cheek.

There's a nearly imperceptible tremor in the core of the body he's leaned himself against. The corners of Dreams mouth tightens, and his eyes flare, like that lightest touch has opened a raw nerve.

“Maybe the sort of day I could help you forget?” Hob murmurs. He hasn't decided exactly what he's offering when he offers it. They could just stay here, watching some meaningless picture while Dream stays pressed between Hob and the sofa, and Hob combs his fingers through that downy soft black hair until all the tension melts from him. Hob could make that milky, sugary lavender infusion Dream is fond of and kiss him slow and sweet for hours. They could have a wild shag or the easiest love making. Whatever will help ease the coiled tension that’s churning just beneath Dream’s carefully still surface. Anything.

The caress continues. Hob traces his fingertips up the edge of Dreams cheekbone and sinks them back into the wild black hair to cradle around that impossible skull. There's a suspicious scraping sound down by his hip.

“That better not be you clawing up my upholstery.” He hums, rubbing his thumb over the hairline at Dreams temple. “Come on love, what do you want?”

“What. I. Want?”

The stillness breaks. A hand snaps up and clamps around Hob's wrist. Dream surges up, sitting awkwardly with Hob nearly in his lap, his eyes flashing dark and his teeth bared close to Hob's mouth.

“You would offer yourself then? A sacrifice to what you would call a bad day?” Dream asks, his voice dropping into a hard scrape. There's a sharp prick against the skin of Hob's wrist as claws grow from Dreams fingers. “You ask for what I want?”

“Obviously.” Hob repeats Dream’s earlier answer back at him. This is always the most uncertain part, when Dream is in one of these moods. This night could go a million different ways, but Hob finds himself keen for any of them. Any that keep Dream right here with all of his attention, snarling or otherwise, right on Hob that is.

There's a hiss of sound, sharp and explosive. The sharp pricks against Hob's skin turn into bright bursts of hot pain, and he feels the wet slide of blood down the inside of his arm. There's a shudder, and Dream suddenly curls down against him with his forehead ground into the curve of Hob's shoulder at the base of his throat. It's an awkward reach, but Hob brings his far arm around to run his palm up the knobbed curve of Dreams spine.

“It's alright, love.” He whispers. The slump is not a loosening at all. Hob can feel the jerky tension in every line of Dream’s body, and his love feels like a spring winding tighter and tighter.

“No.” Dream spits. “You ask what I want. The things I want. You are foolhardy. Brash. You understand nothing. Ignorant.”

“Flattery gets you nowhere, my Dream.” Hob keeps running his hand up and down Dream’s spine, thinking that he really is wound up if those are the best insults he can come up with.

There's a bizarre, inhuman sound. A sharp, jagged, snarling grind. Dream's other hand splays against his ribs, vibrating and sharp. The Endless goes quiet again, and Hob keeps stroking his back, happy to wait for whatever comes next.

“The way you say my name.” Dream whispers. “I want to open your ribs and make you say it. I want to pull each apart, one by one, like the petals of the rarest flower. I want to splay them, pin them. Expose the secret parts of you. I want to see how your lungs fill and shrink when you say my name, when you scream it. I want to see how your heart beats when you dream of me. I want to put my hand around it and feel the precious fluttering of it when I punch my fingers through the chambers. I want to feel it burst like the most wondrous fruit plucked out and crushed in my grasp. I want to feel the pockets of your lungs crackle against my palms when they fill with air. I want you to be screaming my name when I do it.”

His hand moves as he talks. Long fingers drag along the valleys between Hob's ribs, slow and methodical. They're also shaking, a sharp electric buzzing of claws through Hob's button down shirt.

That sort of night then?

“If you're trying to scare me off, you’ve already done that sort of thing in a few of my more exciting dreams.” Hob points out.

“I want to do it here.” It isn't even a whisper now. It's just an exhale shaped into words. Hob notices that it isn't a threatening snarl, or the low purr of Dream enjoying the build up to a grand old violently nightmarish time. There's a shivery dread. A horror deeper than the obvious goriness of it all.

“You fantasize about killing me?” Hob asks, curious. Ok fine, it wouldn't actually kill him, but it would feel like it.

“You can't die.”

It's an immediate response. Breathless. Rapturous. Terrified. Hob is starting to get the idea of what's going on here.

“Scariest thing you've said to me, that was.” He observes with some interest. It's true, after all. He's just learned that his immortality fuels his love's apparent wish to vivisect him in the plane where they both know it would hurt the worst, where the violence of it would be all of the bloody screaming reality without the cushioned fantasy of the Dreaming. Dream admitted that in a way that was clear that he thinks about it regularly. It is, objectively, a scary thing to learn. There it is. Horrifying and alarming. Huh! How about that.

He doesn’t pretend to be surprised at himself when his cock twitches against his jeans. The only thing he isn’t sure of is if it’s the violent idea itself, or the fact that Dream is very obviously holding himself back from affectionately mauling him right this instant.

He's still petting his hand up and down Dream's spine, and he can feel the way his love bunches in on himself with a cracked whining sound that makes Hob's chest ache like his heart’s already been torn and exposed for the soft tender thing it is. There are talons still scraping anxiously at Hob's ribcage. There are still claws dug into his arm, but with less force than before. Dream is tense, already in a state, and in the fine process of working himself up into what could possibly be a legendary tantrum of self loathing.

“Right.” Hob declares, coming to a decision. “First thing: put a pin in that idea. I have to sit on it a bit and work up to it, but I did just get a little hard there, so it's not entirely off the table. I don't think that's what you want right now though.”

Dream froze with shock halfway through that, and Hob knows the best course of action is to keep moving before that impossible head has enough time to tangle itself up in a new way. The hand on Dream's spine sweeps up and grabs Dream by the nape, hard.

There is an explosive hiss of incredulous shock when Hob yanks him back. The face that Hob pulls off of his shoulder has wide obsidian eyes and a snarl with a wicked set of fangs. He holds the nightmare scruffed, meeting glittering dark eyes while his heart pounds with what isn't nearly enough actual fear.

“You want me to stop you.”

Dream’s eyes widen further, the hand on Hob's wrist drops lifeless to the sofa. Hob watches a burst of pink bloom across the unnatural white of his cheeks before the response is wrestled back down. Dream’s eyes narrow, but he's watching Hob closely.

“You are. Incapable. Of stopping me.” He growls. It's not a threat, just reality. Which is how most of Dream’s threats go.

“You're going to let me though, I think.” Hob says. He digs his fingers a little into the hard muscle of the back of Dream's neck, and takes several mental notes on the way the nightmare’s head lolls back and the hand on his ribs goes still. Hob turns where he's sitting to bring one leg up on the sofa, to bring himself closer to the odd monster he loves so dearly. He pulls Dream further, already feeling dizzy at the way the jagged, black eyed nightmare with his luminous white skin and razor teeth goes pliantly until he's leant back, practically being dipped with Hob over him.

“I think you need to let go, love. But you don't like what you might do if you let go.” He says with a smile. “How about we try things my way hm? You let go, but you hand the reins to me. Let me take charge.”

Dreams face goes through some fascinating shifts. He gazes up at Hob with such a raw, wounded want that it looks painful before the expression flinches when Hob's other hand comes up to stroke his cheek again. There's a jerk though Dream's limbs, and Hob is sure the joints are doing things that would make him feel queasy if he looked.

“You…here?” Dream asks, and his voice is thin and sharp and shivery. Hob knows why Dream’s clarifying that, and why here is making Dream writhe and flush with his mouth stretched a little too far on teeth that weren't meant for a human jawline. Hob knows that things feel different for Dream, when he's in the Waking. He's a creature of thought and idea, and touches in the more physical Waking world come across stronger than he's used to, more overwhelming. It’s not that Dream never bottoms, or even that he never submits. But it’s always in Dream’s own realm, where his submission isn’t really submission at all, but a coy play where he acts up the part of a sweet wilting fae lover or a wanton hedonist. He has a harder time staying in control of the situation, when they’re in Hob’s world, where there are less heated fantasies for him to sink himself into.

And the Dreamlord would never admit it, but Hob has noticed the way he keeps showing up in the Waking world to initiate things, even if it's just to cuddle up against Hob and find ways to get petted until he turns into a shivering puddle of nerves. But cuddling here is one thing, this is something else, something new.

“Here.” Hob nods, stroking his thumb slow and firm over Dream's nape, feeling the little vibration that goes down Dream's spine from that point. “I need you to say you want me to though, ok?”

That gets a furious, low hiss of a growl. Dream’s eyes flash and he snaps his mouth full of razor teeth with the sound like a bear trap. Hob lets him squirm and hiss and shudder. He's always such a trembling little thing, like there is too much going on inside for his outer shell to hold in. One day, Hob is going to properly catalog all of the ways his cosmic power of a lover shivers like a leaf when he thinks he's keeping himself all grim and stoic.

“You. Wish me …complicit.” Dream hisses, the words grinding out from his chest, as there's no way the wide maw of needle teeth is currently capable of speaking that clearly. “You would have me voice it. Admit to it. To be brought low and ragged.”

“I want your consent,” Hob huffs a small laugh, which might not be the best response but God does he love this proud twit, “you pretty, deranged little thing. I'm not doing anything if you don't actually want me to, and we can stop at any point. It's important to me that you get that.”

“My consent,” Dream spits, and this time there's a tearing sound when he does start clawing up Hob's upholstery, “is that I am allowing it.”

On paper, true enough. Dream is thrashing and snarling and gnashing his monstrous teeth with eyes like flaming pits. He's also kept in place by the weak, flesh and blood human hand holding him by the back of the neck. The only reason Hob is able to scruff him and have his head tilted pliantly back to expose the long white throat, is because Dream is letting it happen.

“I think you would allow me to do a lot of things you don't want me to.” Hob says gently. The thrashing stills, the snarling quiets, Dream's teeth finally shrink down into more standard shapes.

“There we are.” Hob breathes, smiling. His chest feels like it may burst, like Dream may end up getting his dark little fantasy after all. It's more than any man could deserve, seeing the way Dream goes quiet and panting, eyes fixed wide and blue again as they stare up at Hob. He keeps the hold on Dreams neck, and smoothes the other hand back through Dreams hair.

Dream makes a thin, fragile sound, eyes flashing black before returning to their clear blue.

“I need to know you actually want this, darling.” Hob explains again. “Not just that you're allowing it. I can't go thinking that you might just be going along with what you think I want from you.”

There's a shift of movement, more of a little squirm than the furious thrashing from a few seconds ago. Dream clenches his jaw together and stares, eyes glittering with new wetness. Christ. Hob is going to get a complex. It can't be good for his ego, having Dream like this.

“Yes.” Dream finally whispers, swallowing thickly. He even nods with little jerky movements against Hob's grip. “I want…what it is, you are planning. Here. In the Waking. I want you to have me. Your way.”

Hob rewards him with a hard kiss, mostly because if he doesn't get his mouth on those quivering pink lips he might explode. Dream goes lax with a whining sound that is absolutely going to give Hob a complex. Plush lips part immediately under his, as sweet as anything. Then teeth flash against his mouth, still sharp and wild but followed fast by Dream’s tongue lapping hungrily at the bite. There are hands clawing at him again, pawing at his back, twisting in his hair, digging into his hips. Dream is doing some impossible wiggling and Hob realizes that there is more than one pair of legs hitching around his hips and tangling between his own legs. It must look like he's snogging an enthusiastic spider.

“Enough of that.” He chides, pushing a hand on Dream's chest. Teeth sink into his lip again, and there's a low growl when Hob pulls his head back so Dream can't start trying to get his tongue down Hob's throat. Or trying to affectionately bite his lips off. “Shush. Lie back, and settle down dearest. Christ, you're all wound up.”

Another small push does the trick. Dream goes down with a little huff when his back hits the sofa. He’s suddenly as meek as a kitten, if that kitten had blood on its lips and a sharp intrigued glint to its eyes. Rather like a kitten then, actually.

Not that Hob is thinking much about kittens. He's far more focused on the way Dream’s skin has gained a more human flush to it, on the curious little chirrup noise that comes from him. He's looking up at Hob with swollen pink lips and his eyes still blue, but the dark blue of a deep ocean. The shirt he's wearing is stretched at the collar, revealing the tantalizing dip of his clavicles, and his ruffled hair is the most adorable thing Hob could imagine. It's such a flip from the snarling monstrous thing Hob had scruffed less than a minute ago, and all of it is so wonderfully Dream. Objectively terrifying in his violence, objectively sexier than sin.

“You're horrible for my ego.” Hob declares, sitting up kneeling between long legs that are still clad in the damn cartoon star pajamas. Dream answers this with a velvety pleased sound, and Hob feels legs bent around his hips and hitched up his waist and one bends a knee up on his shoulder-

“Ah-ah, stick with two.” Hob taps at one of Dream’s thighs before getting to work unbuttoning his shirt enough to tug it up over his head. “We're in my world right now, so we’re doing things my way. With a human shape. And stop eyeballing my ribcage, thanks. I told you we're putting a pin in that.”

He can hear the displeased hissing sound, and decides to give Dream a pass on that. There are times where words seem to lack the correct expressions for the Prince of Stories, and he has an astounding repertoire of inhuman, and even inorganic, sounds to fall back on. Despite his orders to stop with the rib stuff, there are long hands on his sides as soon as his shirt is tossed away. When he looks down, Dream’s eyes are half lidded and dark, fully fixed with stark hunger on Hob’s exposed torso.

There's a scrape of claw, smoother than before, and the bright line over his side goes right to his prick. It is…so tempting…to change his mind and tell Dream to have at it. Just to see what would happen, to see how it would feel to get torn apart by something that loves him so much. Except there's a little tense pinching at Dreams mouth, even as his eyes darken further and his hands spread over Hob's ribs to feel them expand with each breath.

“Hands to yourself.” Hob decides for both their sakes. He taps a finger between Dream’s eyes in chastisement, and nearly loses that finger when teeth snap up towards it. Dream is fast, but he's used to getting away with things, so there's only a surprised hitch of sound when Hob grabs under his jaw and shoves his head back.

“My way.” Hob reminds him, surprised at how low and rough his own voice comes out.

FULL FIC ON AO3

#dreamling #my fic #dom gadling is here to be the gentlest mildest service top #dream is a weird eldritch cat

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wen-kexing-apologist · 8 months

Text

Fight Night

ALRIGHT! Life is wilder and crazier than normal and I have finally had a singular moment to breathe so it is time to do my first scene breakdown of Only Friends. Jojo and co have been feeding me so well, a literal feast of good sex choreo, hand placements, and puppy dog eyes that it has been impossible for me to figure out where I want to start. But the end of episode five was just so expertly executed I couldn’t not talk about it, the build up, the explosion, the cool down?! Zero people in this production came to play, they showed up on set day one, gave some of their best performances, and just went about their goddamn day. [insert thirty more minutes of showered praise here].

So let’s get in to it:

The Calm Before the Storm

We’re going to start with Sand and Ray before shit goes downhill, at a moment of genuine connection. This is not the first time we have seen them connect. The first of their peaceful, friendlier interactions are paid for by Ray but Sand quickly moves towards free hang outs with Ray after he gets to know Ray a bit better. I think we can all agree that 95% of the time that Sand and Ray are spending with each other, Ray is asking to be serviced (either seeking out sex, or being fed, clothed, or protected by Sand) [and I do think it is pretty telling that Ray’s idea of friendship is being taken care of in every way, and that Sand fully calls that out as being the role of a father]. But the 5% they do have of these moments of getting to know each other, primarily center around their own family dynamics, but in Episode 5, Ray does start dipping his toes in to getting to know more about Sand’s own hopes and dreams.

Where before Ray wasn’t really interested in Sand’s backstory as much as Sand was interested in Ray’s, now on the balcony of Sand’s dingy apartment, Ray finally starts to ask Sand about himself. And Ray is locked in, just absolutely attentive to Sand as he is talking, rarely looking away, asking follow up questions, and making statements based off of what Sand is saying. Things seem to be flowing smoothly, Ray seems slightly sad that Sand doesn’t know his father, he has an actual smile on his face with he tells Sand that he thinks his mother is really cool, and that he respects her. And of course he would respect the relationship that Sand and his mother have, the obvious love they have for one another, because he never got that from his own family.

Sand has asked about Ray’s family before now (they talked about Ray’s mother in Ep. 2) but when they were first starting to get to know eachother, Ray brushed off any further conversation around his mother’s death. But that willingness to be honest with Sand is beginning to shift. Ray sits there listening to a birth story that runs parallel to his own, a mother with an unexpected pregnancy after a hookup, a father that wasn’t really intending on having a child, and Ray is faced with what his life could have possibly looked like if his mother was a different person.

And they’ve been hanging out all day, Ray has seen much more of Sand’s personal life, his family life, it’s Sand’s birthday, they are cross faded, and Sand asks Ray once again what happened to his mother, and Ray takes the opportunity to be honest. He watches Sand refill his glass, and he says “she drank herself to death”.

Now, personally, this is a very important moment to me in terms of both understanding Ray better as a character, and getting Sand and Ray to connect to each other more. A really important thing to remember about substance use disorders is that they are aware of the health consequences of long term substance use. Ray knows his mother drank herself to death, Ray knows that alcohol in the quantities that he is consuming are dangerous, and he cannot stop drinking. Ray does not have any good coping mechanisms for when his life gets hard, (and we will see a much stronger example of that near the end of this scene), but in the build up to the blow out, we are taking some time to re-establish that Ray has a drinking problem. And we are gaining a bit of further insight in to the genetic history of Ray’s own mental health problems.

I’d have to go back and rewatch all the episodes to be completely certain, but I think so far the only person we haven’t see call Ray a burden is Mew, Mew who knows that Ray tried to kill himself two years ago, Mew who remembers that Ray said if he was gone he wouldn’t be a burden anymore on his goodbye phone call. I mention his mostly because, if that is true, then that is an indication to me that Ray’s other friends don’t really know that much about him. They don’t know how deeply the idea that he is a burden to everyone around him is rooted in to his psyche. They probably don’t know anything about Ray’s relationship to his mother, after all, she died when he was still in high school.

We know from the end of Episode 4, that Ray has shifted his interests from Mew to Sand. That is not to say that he is not still in love with Mew, or that he wouldn’t drop Sand as soon as possible if presented the opportunity to date Mew, at least from my perception. But what it does indicate to me, is that Ray is beginning to at least consider Sand someone that care about him, that will listen to him, that will be an emergency contact, and as such Ray is more willing to be upfront and honest about who he is as a person. How his mind works, what his place in his own family is, what his own connection to family is.

Ray senses he is bringing the mood down, and makes a comment to change the subject, shutting down any potential deeper conversation or exposure to pity that he could have with Sand. We know Sand has been down bad for Ray since like…Dick Down 1, but he is really just embarrassingly obvious with his interest in Ray. The way his face goes slack jawed when he looks at Ray’s face for a second too long? Your cool guy persona is in the fucking gutter. ANYWAY, the point of this is that Sand and Ray are vibing, having a good time, connecting, Ray is opening up more, and Sand is falling deeper in to this infatuation at the first sign of Sad Boi Hours when we cut to Nick and Boston.

Boston, who has had a genuinely peaceful day thus far. He got some work done for school, he and Nick clarified their relationship to one another, he made out in the pool, and he’s looking to reward Nick for changing by asking if he can stay over. We know that Boston has been blackmailed by someone, we know that as a result of that Boston has decided to “settle down” a bit as it were, spend more time with people who he can talk with afterwards. (If you ask me, this isn’t really what Boston wants, it’s just how he is trying to justify laying low with Nick, someone he thinks he has control over and someone I don’t think Boston suspects is capable of blackmail).

It is Boston who suggests staying over (I am not going to dig too much further in to his choice to ask Nick, but I will just look respectfully towards the thought that he doesn’t want to be found).

Anyway, Boston asks if he can stay over, and Nick smiles like he’s won something, and leads Boston inside, where they both promptly interrupt Sand and Ray. Boston’s face lights up when he sees Ray there, but not in any way that indicates that Boston is actually excited to see his friend. More so, that he has gotten +1 Information in his notes on Ray’s comings and goings.

Boston sees Sand and Ray, and he is scheming already. The very first fact we learn about Boston in Only Friends is that he is The Hunter, and while we have primarily seen this in the way that he hunts-for-that-d, Boston is a hunter through and through, he doesn’t just aim and fire, he plays with his prey. He toys with Top and Nick’s emotions to try to manipulate them in to what he wants, and he sees Ray and Sand together here, and the douchebag gears begin to turn.

But, Boston needs to know what these two are to each other first, so he can figure out his best approach to fucking with the two of them, so he asks:

“What’s with you and Sand?”

“What? We’re just friends,” Ray says with a smile and a small laugh, like he is trying to brush off any attempt for Boston to think of Sand and him as anything more. Sand is of course, devastated (and it is at this point I would like to make a tangential remark about the brilliance of the cinematography in this entire scene because it frequently moves between blurry and clear, like the camera is having as difficult of a time focusing on any of the characters as the characters themselves are, since they are under the influence).

Nick, having already interrupted the SandRay foreplay once today, tries to pull Boston along quickly, to give everyone in the apartment some motherfucking privacy, but no no, when it comes to every other person in the world besides himself, Boston does not do privacy. So he cockblocks himself and SandRay and suggests they all party instead.

The Build Up

There is this moment of awkward tension, that Nick tries to break by saying that Boston is bothering Sand and Ray, but Sand, having just been reminded that Ray does not think of him as anything more than friends, agrees to all hang out together, thus shifting the mood between himself and Ray from sexual to casual.

And Boston?

Oh Boston has already won.

Now, before I get further in to breaking down this episode, I just need to take a minute and just give a huge MASSIVE shout out to Neo motherfucking Trai. He has absolutely been destroying this role, he is clearly having such a good fucking time. But I don’t care about that part (I do but it’s not the relevant aspect here), I care about how much of Boston’s character, Boston’s internal monologue Neo reveals through Boston’s eyes.

Boston has been watching how Ray and Sand interact with one another, he saw them make out, he saw Ray grab a cookie from Sand’s mouth with his own, and now, he is sitting here, with Nick pressed up against his chest watching Ray flirt with and cling to Sand. That boy has mischief in his eyes, that boy is a hunter and he smells fresh meat. Boston is The Drama, and while he’s in the middle of his own blackmail saga, he’s found new toys to pass the time until the dust settles.

This is the face of a man who will cause problems on purpose. This is the face of a man who does not give two shits about upsetting the people in front of him. Boston is a miserable, manipulative piece of shit, and he will drag everyone down to his level.

I am showering praise in Neo’s general direction, anyway, Boston is studying Ray and Sand’s interactions, the way they talk with one another, all the little things that point towards there being some genuine feelings.

“The cookie’s getting to me”

“I told you to hold back”

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m not driving”

“Can I stay over?”

“More often than this I’m going to start making you pay rent”

“Go ahead”

They aren’t talking like this is a one time thing, they aren’t talking like they are just fuck buddies. The way that Ray and Sand are slightly bickering/scolding each other, the way that Ray just so absentmindedly reaches to put his arm around Sand, it reads a very particular way. Especially when you add on the fact that Nick interrupted them in the kitchen that morning.

Now, something happens here that could have been good. If Boston was a good person, if Boston actually cared about his friends, if Boston wasn’t such a fucking Masshole. Because Sand has been very obviously dopey and doe eyed for Ray for ages and the lines between lust and love have been blurring heavily for him. But when they started fucking, Ray and Sand both discussed and established the nature of their relationship. Only friends. No love, only sex. Friendship can come from sex. Sand wouldn’t take someone like Ray as his boyfriend (liar). But things have changed since their first hook up, at least for Sand. Sand is catching feelings and Sand has not talked with Ray about how his feelings are shifting.

And Nick actually opens up the potential for Sand and Ray to have that conversation when he asks “Are you and Ray going out?”

See, Nick is definitely nasty4nasty when it comes to his desire to be with Boston, and Nick is by no means whatsoever a pure person, the man bugged Boston’s car and kept the recording for fuck’s sake, but he is also not an asshole the way that Boston is an asshole. Nick isn’t asking Sand if he and Ray are going out because he wants to fuck with them, he’s asking because he is genuinely curious, because this ain’t the first time that he’s walked in on them.

But don’t pay attention to Mark Pakin’s body language here, because Nick is obviously drunk, relaxed, content, and curious. Look at Neo. Look at Boston. Look at the way Boston is looking at Nick when Nick asks if they are going out:

And look at the way Boston turns his gaze upon Sand and Ray the second Nick finishes asking the question. Boston is picking apart every action, every expression, every movement between Sand and Ray. Boston is calculating. This is not a dude that is just turning to look at the next speaker in a conversation. He’s staring deep into their souls to figure out how they actually feel about each other so he can decide if one or both of them cares enough about each other to be hurt by him.

So naturally, the next shot we get is Ray drunkenly cozying up to Sand, resting his head on Sand’s shoulder, in a way that feels very couple-y, in a way that feels different to the casual arm Boston throws over Nick like he’s got his prize on a leash.

“You two talk all lovey-dovey like you are a thing, you know?”

Consider the fact that the second that Nick starts saying “you two talk all lovey-dovey, you know?” Ray peels himself off Sand’s shoulder and stares at Nick. And he’s smiling casually, like he finds the question funny, though he doesn’t fully break physical contact with Sand, still resting his arm across Sand’s shoulders.

Sand is taken aback for a second, like he’s been caught, but he knows that he is not supposed to be falling for Ray. He knows he isn’t supposed to be wanting a relationship with Ray. He knows that this is not the time or space for a “what are we?” conversation, so he puts on a smile and squeezes Ray’s cheeks and says:

“Look at his face. Look how squishy he looks. He looks just like a dog my mother has.” (Which we can interpret as Sand saying look at him, we cuddle cause he’s cute, I think of him like a pet). Associating Ray with his mother’s dog for me, feels like a way for Sand to try to get Boston off his back, to put his feelings in alignment with how Boston typically views his hook ups, as pets, as toys, as prey. But Sand’s face betrays him more than Boston’s ever could the very second that Ray says “I’m not a dog and I’m not his boyfriend”

Sand has a moment of quiet devastation hearing that, even though he SHOULD KNOW BETTER. He should not be so upset about an objectively true statement. Sand may think of Ray as special, and may want to date Ray, and may want Ray to be his boyfriend, but they have never revisited their initial conversation about the nature of their relationship. As far as Ray knows, Sand would never take someone like him to be his boyfriend. Sand is just getting caught up in his feelings and this brief reprieve from the hard and labrous and exhausting life he leads is clouding his judgment.

And Boston goes in for the kill

“Ray, I bet Sand likes you. I can tell.”

And here is the question of the hour, a question I personally do not believe we have the full answer to, why the fuck is Boston targeting Sand? (beyond the fact he finds it fun). Boston and Sand clearly know each other, Boston knows Sand well enough to know that the weed he is smoking is not his typical supply. Boston came in to Sand’s home, smoked Sand’s weed, and then went straight for Sand’s throat.

And Sand is a little mad and more than a little anxious. The way First plays the emotions in this moment is brilliant, you can see all these little moments of Sand feeling put on the spot, the way his mouth moves like he is trying (and failing) to maintain his composure. Like he is looking for an escape route, but can’t find one. Especially because Boston will not let him escape, explicitly calling Sand in to the conversation:

The Blow Up

“So what is it, Sand? Do you like him? My buddy here has both the looks and the dough. His type is hard to come by, you know?”

Sand tries to dodge, by putting on his logical person hat for the first time in what is most likely weeks. “Now that you said that” he starts with Ray literally moving his hand to brush it gently against Sand’s shoulders. “My answer has to be yes now, doesn’t it? But if you really want to know the answer, ask me again when I am sober”

Sand is willing to let Boston win this, to concede here, to admit to liking Ray as if forced to agree expressly because Boston is poking at him about it. But he will not engage in an important conversation like the one Boston is setting up for him and Ray about what they are to each other when they are under the influence and when they are in public.

Nick is like “alright”, but that is not enough for Boston. (SERIOUSLY LOOK AT NEO, LOOK AT HOW MUCH FUCKING DISATISFACTION IS BEHIND THOSE GODDAMN EYES! Jojo and Ninew fucking thank you for giving me Neo in this role, he’s been craving complex roles since his time on The Eclipse and I’m glad he’s getting to have some).

Boston is watching, waiting, wanting to see how Ray reacts to Boston speaking for Sand. Unfortunately for everyone, but Boston especially, Ray does not have the reaction I think Boston is expecting. Instead of Ray getting uncomfortable, instead of Ray pushing himself away from Sand, instead of Ray doubling down on him and Sand not being boyfriends, instead of Ray reacting negatively to the idea that this “not his type” poor boy might actually like him he leans in close, he smiles wide, he teases Sand a little in a way that does not feel cruel.

So Boston has to escalate. Boston has been stalking his prey in the grass for as long as he has been in this apartment, and now it is time to strike.

“Even if you really do like Ray, I doubt it will work out between the two of you. Ray’s whole ass is owned by Mew”

BOOM. Instant kill. Boston just made this entire encounter go from 0 to 100. Especially because (as far as we know), he has no goddamn idea about the dent in Ray’s relationship to Mew, and his realization about how Ray and Mew’s feelings are never going to align.

Ray did not spend all that time sitting in the bathtub staring at a keychain and a Poor Boy shirt for nothing. Personally, I am uncertain where Ray stands with Sand, I think Ray is probably chasing the endorphins of a good and easy lay. I think he is drawn to Sand’s inherent need to act as a caretaker. But as I’ve said before, Ray uses Sand far more as a service provider than he does a person he wants to make genuine connections with, only recently has he started to open up more and seem more interested in Sand as a person.

But Boston is poking at an extremely sore spot. A spot I don’t think Boston considers as a nuclear option, because I don’t know that Boston is aware that Ray tried to kill himself. I don’t think Boston knows that Mew came and saved his life. I don’t think Boston is truly aware of just how deeply important to Ray Mew is because he seems to be one of the first people to make Ray feel less alone.

Immediate anger. Boston has struck a nerve, gotten a bullseye. If he actually cared at all for his “friends” and their feelings he could have stopped there. Boston is a voyeur, a photographer, all he does all the time is watch, record, manipulate bodies. He can read people well, but he is cocky and overconfident about his own understanding of the situations that have occurred between people in his social circle. If Boston cared, he would see that Ray just turned on a dime, that the loose, casual, fuzzy, flirty person that was just wrapped around Sand has turned in to a tense, focused ball of rage. ““What the hell are you saying, Ton?”

“What? Sand doesn’t know you’ve been in love with your best friend for years? But Mew is with Top now. Someone beat you to it, man.”

So…my Dad has this habit of saying shitty things, and over the years we have made safewords with him to tell him when he is approaching saying something out of pocket and he should change the subject (“pothole”), and for when he has said something out of pocket and should probably stop talking immediately (“sinkhole”). My father consistently blows right through “sinkhole” and continues to dig his hole deeper. Boston reminds me of my father.

Pothole: “Ray’s whole ass is owned by Mew”

Pothole: “Mew is with Top now. Someone beat you to it, man”

I honestly don’t feel like I need to use too much space here on Sand’s reaction, because I read a really good post by @bird-inacage about how this revelation hits Sand hard because he may feel stripped of his dignity and see himself as a fool.

“What a shame for my pal”

Shout out to Jojo and co for this shot of Nick. Nick who looks horrified. Nick, who I don’t think has seen this behavior of Boston’s up close. I mean, he knows that Boston has something on Ray and Mew, he didn’t really seem to care at that point. But Nick doesn’t really know Mew, Nick only cares about Top insofar as he is competition for Boston’s attention, he’s not really friends with Ray. But he is friends with Sand. And the implications from the beginning of the episode that Ray has stayed over and hung out with Sand all day multiple times, feels like Nick is at least starting to develop some modicum of care/friendship with Ray. And Nick is sitting there, watching Boston be cruel. Cruel to people that Nick actually cares about. Cruel to people that Nick doesn’t think deserve it, and the wheels are turning, so there isn’t much more he can do about it.

“Oh wait. My bad. I remember you and Mew making out. Did you take his virginity?” (Sinkhole. Boston should probably shut his goddamn little whore mouth at this point)

“Ton, what the shit are you going on about?” Ray asks, shooting up from the ground and in to a standing position [and lord almighty is Khaotung just a powerhouse actor between the way he is able to physically embody Ray’s anger, and just look and act drunk all the time). This has turned in to a fight, Boston has riled Ray up, Boston has already punished both Ray and Sand at this point. But he has to make everyone around him as miserable as humanly possible in as little time as he can, so:

“Oh? I saw everything. I took some photos, actually.” (SINKHOLE. No seriously dude you need to shut the fuck up right now).

“What the hell did you do that for, bastard?” Ray is shifting his weight, Khaotung’s breathing has changed. You can fucking tell Ray’s heart is racing, that a blind rage is seeping in to his bones. Ray is livid.

“What? I just want to keep track of my best friends’ romantic moments. Was I wrong?”

(Spoiler alert to those reading this post for the body language breakdown: Boston does not actually give a single flying fuck if he is wrong)

“Keep track?”

And finally someone punches Boston straight in the mouth! And even still! EVEN STILL Boston cannot shut the fuck up. Boston is righteous in the worst possible way. Boston is hurting everyone around him for the sake of “honesty”, “clarity”, “visibility” in a way that Boston himself in his own life actively avoids. With Nick he keeps their relationship status unclear, with Nick he refuses to get photographed, with Nick he hides the fact that he hooked up with Top. But Boston will air everyone else’s dirty laundry, Boston will record and photograph everyone else’s private moments, Boston will give facts as best as he knows them when literally anyone else is involved:

“Sand has every right to know. Ray is in love with Mew. They even screwed! But good thing you came along, Sand. He needs to get over Mew”

“What does it have to do with you?” Ray is still fucking pissed, and this is a really important and relevant question to ask. Boston has no place in Ray and Mew’s private business. Boston has no right to record them without their permission. Boston has no right to have this conversation about Ray’s feelings with Sand. And Boston does not answer this question. He will not answer this question, because for Boston everyone else’s business is his, and his business is no one’s.

Now, do I think Boston is lying about Ray and Mew having sex? No. I think there are actually a number of layers to that statement. I think we are either a) setting up to have a killer conversation about people’s perceptions of sex/people’s perceptions of what counts as sex or b) that Boston fully thinks he saw Ray and Mew do something sexual when they actually didn’t [think Ray throwing up while doubling over Mew so it looks like he’s giving head]. And it is worth noting that Ray doesn’t deny the statement, although this doesn’t necessarily mean anything because there are lots of words and fists and vitriol being thrown around at this point, confirming or denying any sexual relationship with Mew is not really going to do anything to calm this situation.

“If you’re not in love with him anymore, then why did you get so mad?” Boston asks, and I love that this is phrased as a gotcha! moment. Boston thinks asking why someone got mad enough to punch him in the face after he said he was keeping track of his friends' romantic lives by holding on to pictures he had taken of them in secret is definitive proof that he is correct. Ray got real mad about Boston’s doucheness, and that must mean that Ray is love with Mew.

And he isn’t totally wrong. We know that Ray is in love with Mew, we know part of why Ray is in love with Mew. We know that Sand is now filling a similar role in Ray’s life as the only person who is willing to take care of him. But this question for me highlights a huge aspect of Boston’s character that I do not think we appreciate enough.

Boston does not know everything, and he acts like he does.

Ray is getting so mad at Boston because what Boston is saying is true AND Ray is getting so mad at Boston because Ray almost compromised his relationship with Mew by kissing him when he was sleeping. Ray is in a weird place right now in relation to how he sees Mew and how Mew sees him. At the moment, Mew is patient, kind, and forgiving, and willing to maintain their friendship and accept Ray’s apology as long as Ray can get it through his head that Mew is never going to see him as a potential romantic partner. If Ray cannot do that, Ray loses a very important person in his life. (And we see Mew punch Ray in the promo for next week, my hunch is that Nick tells Ray about Boston and Top and Ray tries to warn Mew about Top and Mew takes that as Ray lying to break them up, but that’s beside the point).

Boston may be correct that Ray is in love with Mew, but Boston has no idea what the fuck he is talking about when it comes to Ray’s current relationship to Mew. Boston does not know that Mew and Ray are in a rocky relationship right now because of Ray’s feelings. Boston thinks that he is right that Ray is in love with Mew because Ray gets so mad so quick, because he does not understand that a huge part of what is riling Ray up is that Boston is poking at a deep injury he thinks is just a flesh wound.

And still after Boston has gotten a fist to his face, and swung back; even after he has shoved Nick out of the way so hard Nick fell on to the couch; even after they had blown off some steam and were de-escalating to the point of screaming at each other rather than beating eachother up. Boston

Still

Can

NOT

Quit

“Oh, are you going to be two-timing?”

Boston is literally just…going in to a house that is not his and lobbing grenades all over the place cause he’s fucking bored. Cause he sets Ray off again, leaving Sand, screaming at Boston and Ray to stop fighting (IN HIS OWN FUCKING HOUSE, AFTER SHARING HIS OWN FUCKING WEED).

Boston listens to Sand, Boston walks away, Boston goes to Nick’s room. But the look in his eye?

He is not done with this. Boston is not surprised that Ray got mad, Boston was reveling in Ray’s reaction, but I think Ray’s rage went beyond what Boston had anticipated, and this feels to me like an act of war.

The Cool Down

Boston and Nick remove themselves from the scene and Ray and all his infinitely perfected coping skills rushes to chug as much alcohol as he can.

Again, thank you to Jojo and co for spending this amount of time highlighting Ray’s addiction, reminding us that Ray is not just a party boy, but is an alcoholic. Ray’s using alcohol to calm his nerves, possibly to forget what happened, and definitely because he has no idea what else to do but run to the most comforting item he can.

We cut to the silence of Sand’s bedroom. Sand and Ray laying awkwardly side by side. Ray, to his credit, does try to comfort Sand

“Hey, don’t listen to what Boston said. If there’s something you want to know, ask me”

The problem is, while Boston does not have the full context for the depth at which he has just hurt Ray, he is still right. Ray loves Mew, and if Ray didn’t, he would not have gotten mad the way he did. Ray can say whatever he wants here, Ray can ask to be trusted by Sand to tell him what he wants to know. But Sand has seen enough of Ray’s behavior, been jerked around enough by Boston, heard too many times in too short a period that Ray does not consider them anything more than friends, and so Sand is back to boundaries and barriers.

Sand lost sight of himself, and he fell too quickly for a deeply broken boy that he cannot fix, and who is not emotionally available enough to be a good fit for him right now.

And God, for as much as Sand exists to be jerked around by the narrative and shit on and used by the wealthier characters, I see why First was picked to play this role (besides the fact that there is no one else but Khao that I think could have done Ray, and it’s hard to kick the GMMTV pair-ups.) We have not even gotten to the height of First Crying Over Problems That Are Partially His Character’s Fault in this show yet, but First is a master at microexpressions, and despite the fact that his face is pretty neutral, that Sand has put on this mask, there is just such a palpable disappointment radiating off of Sand. The shine in his eyes is dulled, I saw someone on tumblr say this really looks like the first time that Sand has seen Ray, looked at him without the rose-colored glasses.

Sand’s mother loves him, I think he is special to her, but it is hard to feel special to someone you have to take care of. In the montage at the beginning of the episode, Sand is shown working, working, working, working and we don’t really see him interacting with other people who he isn’t providing a service to. He sings at the bar, he seems to enjoy that, he seems to have a good time with Yo and Atom, but he is only that close to them because they pay him to play there. He is providing them a service. The only classmates he is shown interacting with are clients he is selling plum wine to. It’s really possible that Sand’s only friend is Nick, and we don’t see them hanging out that much.

And, I know there is always some contention about how any and all of these characters feel, how much or how little they are telling the truth, etc. But for me personally, I think about when Ray said that he does care about Sand’s feelings, and I at the time he said it, I don’t think he did, but I think by Episode 5 he is starting to genuinely care.

Ray is getting better at reading Sand, Ray is trying to have a serious conversation, or at least to open the floor to one, and Sand is sad and so he isn’t saying anything, and Ray is able to tell that something is wrong. Ray wants Sand to talk to him, Ray says Sand’s name multiple times, trying to get him to answer verbally.

And Sand can’t do it, not if he is looking at Ray, not if he has to actually face the reality of how much of a fool he has been, to fall this deep, to fall this fast, to get it in his head that he and Ray were becoming something more than friends. To actually believe for even a second that someone could think he was special.

So he closes his eyes, and he takes a deep breath, and he says:

“Forget it. I’m tired. One more thing…This has nothing to do with me.”

Who is he talking to here, Ray or himself?

Sand’s inhale in this moment is deep, it’s weary, unsteady, and sad. Sand is gathering the strength to let go of what he thought he had. He is rebuilding his walls, and placing Ray on the other side of them. He cuts Ray out completely the second he turns his back. And you can just see the guilt all over Ray’s face, you can see all these little bursts of realization moment after moment where Ray realizes that he’s losing Sand now too. Even though Sand is likely more of a consolation prize to him, an easy victim of his puppy dog eyes.

Alone o’clock is not just for Sand, it’s for Ray too. Boston has won yet again because Boston is a miserable sack of shit lashing out because Mew and Top finally fucked and he has to make it everyone’s problem

Tagging the ephemerality squad: @lurkingshan, @waitmyturtles, @chickenstrangers, @ranchthoughts, @twig-tea, @clara-maybe-ontheroad, @distant-screaming

and my blessed mess crew: @so-much-yet-to-learn, @ginnymoonbeam, @bengiyo, @shortpplfedup, @neuroticbookworm, @emotionallychargedtowel because I want attention :)

#only friends the series #only friends #ofts #sandray #bostonnick #firstkhao #neomark #first kanaphan #khaotung thanawat #neo trai #mark pakin #jojo tichakorn #ninew pinya #wka long post #only friends analysis #only friends meta #ofts meta

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marlynnofmany · 10 months

Text

Shore Leave

I didn’t think I was homesick until I caught the unexpected sound of a toddler’s wild laughter from the spaceship bridge. Out in the hall, I whipped around to stick my head through the door with some very unprofessional curiosity. That hadn’t been an alien noise.

Up on screen was our new client who the captain was negotiating with, and also the client’s young daughter. She’d apparently come into Daddy’s room to show the nice aliens on the video call her favorite noisemaker.

“Okay honey, they think it’s great. Go on back to—” the patient father was interrupted by an electronic fart sound on high volume, and even louder peals of laughter from his child. “I’m sorry,” he said to the captain as he scooped up the wiggly youngster and carried her out of frame.

Captain Sunlight waited patiently, every inch the dignified yellow lizard alien who wasn’t about to let someone’s gleeful offspring ruffle her calm.

The human came back, minus the child but with a new food smear on the shoulder of his crisp uniform shirt. Nobody told him. The conversation resumed with nary a giggle, and with me waiting in the hall.

“…By that timeframe or sooner,” Captain Sunlight concluded. “We can’t have your colony going without the comforts of home for long! Farewell.” She held her position as Wio flicked a button with one blue-ringed tentacle, and the screen clicked off.

“I volunteer,” I said.

A lesser captain might have twitched, but she probably knew I was there. “That saves me the trouble of finding you to ask,” she said smoothly, turning her chair. “It’s a big delivery, with multiple cases, so we’ll get a couple others to go along too.”

“Sure, sure,” I said. “I’m sure they’ll love to visit a human colony.”

“Though we won’t need too much lifting power,” she continued, “Because it’s a lower-gravity world.”

“Yay!” I said with an honest grin. “That’s even better.”

***

Getting the shipment down the ramp was surprisingly difficult, because the hoversled was calibrated for the artificial gravity inside our ship. Even with Mimi clinging to the control panel as it passed the barrier, the dang thing bounced.

I leaped to pull it down; Paint shrieked and leapt out of the way; Zhee yelled at both of us; Mimi cranked the controls and overcorrected, almost crushing my feet. I leapt back next to Paint, who had already stumbled in the low gravity and fallen on orange sand that was actually a decent match for her scales. I managed not to land on top of her.

“Got it,” Mimi grumbled in that rough voice that always seemed out of place on a guy who looked like an octopus the color of mint chip ice cream. He scrambled off the back of the sled. “Don’t touch the controls until you get back.”

“Understood,” Zhee said, clicking forward to follow the sled. He made the best exit of all of us, only springing upward a little. All those legs probably helped. Bug aliens weren’t known for tripping over their own feet — something that Zhee was insufferably smug about, and something that I would never let him live down if it actually happened. Not today, though.

The minor excitement had made it obvious that the air on this low-grav world was indeed as thin as the scans had said, and there was no point in toughing it out until we got indoors. The three of us got our feet under us and put on the vaguely-uncomfortable breathing masks, then began maneuvering the sled as a team. Really Zhee was doing all of the work while Paint and I held onto the sides and calibrated our own relationships with gravity, but we could pretend. And the long walk across the landing pad gave me a chance to take in the sights.

The landing pad itself was pretty boring; a couple silver-gray ships on one side and a wide stone building on the other. No sign of our contact yet, but the instructions had been to meet at the sun-shelter. So that’s where we went. At a hoppity-bouncy pace that probably would have looked very silly to any local humans if they were out to see us yet.

As we got closer to the big sun-shelter, I could better appreciate the way its shape seemed built to funnel cool air in and warm air out. Also the view off the cliff. I got a good look at that too, over the edges of the flat hilltop that the landing pad covered.

My first impression was: weird desert. Sandy hillsides in reds and oranges, with a sun that was just above those hills, and already hot. A bunch of alien trees scattered around that looked like they wanted to be cacti. They were almost familiar, as if they’d been designed by someone who only had third-hand descriptions of Earth plants to work with.

The low gravity let them get wild in ways that would collapse back home. The tallest ones spread up into the sky in cylinders that bent and quested out in every direction like curious snakes, but at a vast scale. Others spiraled straight up like unicorn horns, or twisted together like lumpy brains the size of a house, or feathered out like thick fan blades with fractal patterns. A couple were probably star-shaped if you cut a cross section, and the sides reached out to make dividers that were probably handy to hide behind in a sandstorm.

I was so busy looking at the cactus trees and trying to decide if they had spines or not that I was surprised when the hoversled stopped. We’d reached the shelter.

Zhee rapped on the door with his pincher arm. It was stone too, and would have hurt my knuckles.

Where is everybody? I thought, looking around at the sun-bright area. It sure is getting hot out.

The door slid wide to the welcome sight of another human, who immediately ushered us inside.

“Come come, bring it in!” she said, waving both hands and bounding aside. Her skin was dark and her clothes were drapey, and she seemed to consider the matter urgent. Given how much the top of my head was starting to cook, I didn’t blame her.

The door wasn’t big enough for the sled. So we unloaded it through the doorway, as quickly as possible, with me sliding close to the human and Zhee standing on the sled and Paint standing behind it to push boxes forward and comment that the extreme heat was kind of nice, actually.

But even she, coldblooded though she was, had to admit that shade was nicer by the time we got everything unloaded. She helped turn the hoversled on its side at the recommendation of the human, who still hadn’t introduced herself. Flipping it around was weirdly easy in the low-grav. Once we got even the sled inside the room — very spacious, that — the human closed the door and greeted us properly.

Yes, she was the contact we were supposed to meet. Taeya, how-do-you-do. Yes, the weather here did get shockingly hot quickly. No, it wouldn’t be pleasant to go back out into that, even for the short jaunt to the ship. Did we have to rush off, or was there time for a cooling beverage or two?

“There is!” I told her. “The captain said we have two hours of wiggle room in our schedule — usually there’s more, but we have some urgent deliveries — anyway, two hours, three tops, because she wanted to, uh, ‘give me time among my own herd.’” I made finger quotes.

Taeya beamed. “Then let me give you a tour! This stuff will keep; the people coming to unpack it won’t need any help from me. C’mon downstairs.”

“Downstairs?” I asked.

She hopped behind the boxes and disappeared, waving a hand to follow. “Downstairs!”

With a glance at the others, I moved forward and floated down the red stone stairs, one hopping step at a time.

And there I found civilization.

Stairs led to streets and storefronts and vast, cavernous halls, all carved out of the rock. It was built mostly around the edges of the mesa from what I could tell, a curving, circular city with lots of air flow that left the central core solid and untouched. It didn’t quite feel like home to me, but it was so impressive that I didn’t mind.

Every boulevard had high ceilings, and even high benches, out of the way of foot traffic. Most of the surfaces were either painted or carved. And everywhere I looked, humans bounced instead of walking — which did look silly no matter how they approached it.

With the drapey, flowing, colorful clothes that everyone wore, it all looked like a society of cheerful wizards. I laughed behind my breathing mask, then asked Taeya if she thought I could take it off. She wasn’t wearing one, but then her lungs were used to thin air.

“Oh yes, I should have said,” she told me with a wave of gold-and-red sleeves. “We have oxygen generators lower down, to keep things comfortable. Along with the top-notch medical suites for keeping an eye on any low-grav degradation. Offworlders tend to ask about that.” She had a distinct twinkle in her eye as she said it.

“How handy,” I said.

Zhee peered judgmentally at the lightfooted humans. “Is that how you handle muscle atrophy? With medical adjustments?”

“Partly,” Taeya said.

“Mushers!” Paint exclaimed at the same time, pointing.

I turned, looking for sled dogs and thinking back to the time Paint had gotten to ride a hoversled while I pulled. I saw no dogs now, but a cluster of rickshaws pulled by people huffing like suburban joggers. They didn’t bounce, weighted down as they were. And their passengers looked like workout buddies urging them on until they got their own turns.

“Partly things like that,” Taeya finished smoothly.

I removed my breathing mask, eyeing a nearby restaurant and a closer flower display, then took a deep lungful of body odor and broke up laughing. When the nearest passersby had moved on, hopefully toward showers, I explained to my nonhuman crewmates that sometimes our own natural smell was unpleasant to us, with insufficient hygiene. Surely I’d told them that before.

“Right, you did,” Zhee said. “I still say it’s a deeply maladaptive trait.”

“I won’t argue with you on that count,” I told him, trying to fan the air casually.

Thankfully the rest of the crowd sported a more pleasant range of scents, and we hopped on down the road.

Taeya had something else to show us before nightfall.

“Nightfall?” I asked with some concern. “We’ve only got two hours, less now. Probably closer to one.”

Taeya responded by making a sharp turn toward a row of window slits, just a few inches wide by several times my height. Outside, the sun was already getting low.

“Oh,” I said eloquently.

“It’s the perfect time to see the flitters come out,” Taeya said with another hand wave. “Come on.”

More bouncing steps, another beautiful hallway full of murals, and another curving stairway down. Then we were, surprisingly, outside.

A sprawling garden of alien succulents covered the ground, with low burrows that I noticed moments before brilliantly-colored creatures began scampering out of them. These took to the sky in flashes of movement, flitting about as the name suggested, for all the world like tiny flying carpets that had been ferrets once.

Paint wanted to know if they bit. Zhee asked if they were food. I shook my head while Taeya told them both no. They were a lovely sight, and that’s all they needed to be. Plus they ate some local pests. Always a bonus.

The air was getting chilly already, to my surprise. Taeya did something deft with her clothes, pinning the drapey bits in a way that looked suddenly much warmer, with all that cloth wrapped around her.

“If you were staying longer, I’d suggest you get a local outfit,” she told me.

I nodded. “If I was staying longer, I’d take you up on that. Looks like a good design.” Clever and foreign, in a way that looked like several familiar things at once while managing to be none of them. And certainly nothing I’d ever worn.

Staring up at the whirling flitters as the light left the sky, I felt oddly sad. So much of this was halfway familiar, not the whole-hearted taste of home that I’d hoped for. But before I could get too maudlin, Taeya waved us back toward the carved-out city.

“C’mon, back into the good air,” she said. “One last thing before we get you back up to your ship.”

I hopped quietly after her. Zhee muttered about the theoretical taste of flitter meat while Paint made stiff-legged lizard hops out of the nighttime chill.

We were only a little ways down this new hallway before I heard music.

I bounded faster.

The great hall that Taeya led us into was lined with people around the edges, standing in rows and sitting on ledges, their voices echoing as they sang toward the center. I spotted instruments at some of the higher seats. People at the bottom swayed in time.

I didn’t know the words. But I knew the sound. A crowd of humans singing together; it was a glorious thing.

This is what I’ve been missing, I thought, breathing deeply. The air here smelled like flowers and spices and laundry detergent, and it was full of the sound of home. A vast roomful of people singing the same song, voices rebounding off the walls and bodies moving in joy.

I glanced back at Zhee and Paint. They both looked a little baffled. I asked over the music, “Do your people do much singing?”

“A bit? I guess?” Paint said. “But not all together like this.”

Zhee shook his head. “Why would you use your voice for music?” he asked. “How barbaric.”

I laughed and turned to Taeya, who was happy to teach me the words. There was even a bit of dancing with the next song, and that was an adventure in low gravity. So was the next. Zhee and Paint patiently observed from the doorway.

Then when one song ended, and a fast drumbeat paved the way for the next, I was surprised to see a number of people vacate the dance floor. I started to do the same, ready to say something about getting to the ship on time.

I didn’t realize that Taeya had left until she returned. She appeared at my elbow with two padded helmets and a smile.

“We’ve moved on to quick-beat time!” she told me over the rising music. “Does your captain need you back right now, or can you stay long enough to try a low-grav mosh pit?”

Our two hours were up and I knew it. I looked to Zhee and Paint, who were close enough to hear the conversation. Paint was sitting on one of the head-height benches. She looked down at Zhee.

He turned his head away, which meant nothing with his range of vision. He harrumphed. “Don’t break anything the medsystem can’t fix.”

“I’ll do my best!” I told him with a grin as I accepted a helmet. “Besides, I hear they have good ones here.”

Surrounded by a mix of old and new, I joined my people in the time-honored tradition of dancing more far vigorously than common sense dictated. The captain had said three hours tops.

~~~

The ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book. More to come!

#my writing #The Token Human #humans are weird #haso #hfy #colony worlds #writeblr #science fiction #humans are space orcs #low gravity

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1800-fight-me · 1 year

Note

JO I haven't stopped thinking about City Streets since I read it earlier and I figured if I wanted more of this mysterious reader who encounters Aemond in Silk Street I should ask!! so here I am requesting (if you feel like it of course) if we could maybe get a part two? UGH the tension and attraction was just crazy good!!! x

Castle Hallways

Part Two of City Streets

Aemond Targaryen x Female!reader

Rating: T

Warnings: None? This is pure fluff

Word count: About 1.3k

Synopsis: You have another unexpected run in with your favorite prince.

Author’s note: Here you go, love!! Thank you for this request! I was so shocked and thrilled by the reaction City Streets received so I really hope y'all like part two!

P.S. Here’s a link to my masterlist if you’d like to check out my other writing! My askbox and taglist are always open! Come interact with me! Reblogs and feedback are greatly appreciated!

Aemond Masterlist

“It is essential that you take this safely to the Red Keep,” your father urged you as he placed two baskets of pastries in your hands.

“I don’t understand why they are not sending someone to pick this up like they always do,” you said as you took the heavy sweets-laden baskets.

“I do not know. When the order was placed they requested we bring them this time. Can you manage this task? It is very important, it is the princess’ birthday and she specifically requested these.”

You rolled your eyes at him.

“Of course, father.”

You began your trek to the Red Keep. In truth you were excited for you had never been inside the intimidatingly large castle, though you grew up in its shadow.

When you arrived a guard gave you directions to the kitchens then dismissed you quickly.

You sighed in frustration. Truthfully your sense of direction was pitiful and you had hoped someone would guide you through the keep so you would not get lost.

“Shit,” you mumbled as you realized you had surely taken a wrong turn.

All the damn hallways looked the damn same. This place was a maze.

You turned around to walk the way you came, thinking you could backtrack and find your way again, but as you turned the corner you slammed into a man’s back.

You managed to stop yourself, and more importantly the sweets, from falling.

“Damn it, I’m so sorry,” you said and as you looked up your breath caught.

A smirk was upon the prince’s curved lips as he looked you up and down.

“We have to stop meeting like this,” he purred.

You managed a curtsy and when you looked up his smirk had turned into a full smile.

“My prince, I apologize again for my clumsiness.”

“No need to apologize, I am charmed by it,” he said, voice low and gentle.

You bit your lip and looked away as you tried to conceal the way his words flustered you.

“I have often wondered about the beautiful mystery woman I met in the city. Tell me, what are you doing here?”

You couldn’t hold back your grin as you said, “I have found my thoughts wandering to you as well, my prince. I am here on behalf of my father’s bakery. I brought dornish style pastries for the princess’ name day celebration.”

“And you thought you would bring them to the wing that contains the private royal quarters?” he asked, clearly amused.

You looked down, embarrassed and flustered.

“I got lost on my way to the kitchens,” you mumbled.

He chuckled softly, but not cruelly as if he were laughing with you and not at your expense.

“I would be happy to show you the way,” he said.

“Oh, I don’t want to be a bother,” you protested, though your resolve was rather weak due to your desire to spend more time with the handsome prince.

“Nonsense,” he said as he took one of the baskets from you and offered you his other arm.

“Consider it me paying you back for when you led me through the city,” he said smoothly.

You bit your lip to hide your smile as you nodded and linked your arm with his.

“I appreciate it. My sense of direction is truly abysmal and I am certain this place is designed to be a maze,” you joked just so you could hear his gorgeous laugh again.

Your efforts were rewarded and you smiled as you looked at him.

He was so ridiculously handsome it made your heart flutter. The sharp lines of his cheekbones and jaw were so alluring and you wondered if his beautiful long white hair was as soft as it looked.

“My sister has been talking about these sweets nonstop for days,” he said.

“Oh! I do hope the princess is pleased with them,” you replied.

“I am certain she will be. Though, if I had known they were associated with you I would have convinced her to order them sooner,” he flirted and you looked away, once again too flustered to meet his gaze.

“Perhaps you could come visit the bakery sometime. You could try all the different pastries we make. These ones are good, but the chocolate ones are my favorite,” you said, and you were proud of yourself that your voice didn’t waver.

“Hmm. An enticing proposal,” he said with a smile wide enough to reveal that he has small dimples and you smiled at him, breathlessly taken away by his beauty.

His ethereal handsomeness in itself proved the saying true that Targaryens are closer to gods than men.

“Are these really as good as my sister says?” he asked.

He unhooked his arm from yours and pulled back the fabric that covered the pastries and peered at them.

You snickered. “Yes, my prince. Why else would they be so frequently ordered? Surely you have tried them before, perhaps you just do not remember.”

“Maybe a taste would remind me, then,” he said mischievously as he reached in the basket.

“Um, no!” you exclaimed as you batted his hand away.

He looked at you, both shocked and amused that you denied him something and reprimanded him as if he were a misbehaving boy and not your prince.

“All fifty pastries need to be here and accounted for otherwise my father’s bakery will no longer receive business from the Red Keep,” you explained seriously.

“Alright, I suppose I can wait until later to try one,” he said with a smile. He found your directness and lack of care for his station refreshing. He wasn’t sure how he managed to stumble upon a woman who was not intimidated by him and so delightfully forward not only once but twice.

You breathed a sigh of relief that your surge of boldness was not too far and had been well received.

“The kitchens are here,” he said as he led you into a room full of people rushing around as they baked and cooked.

A servant girl covered in flour came running up to you and the prince immediately.

“My prince,” she said as she curtseyed.

She turned to you. “Oh! Are those the dornish pastries?”

“Yes, the prince very kindly led me here when I got lost in the Keep,” you explained as you handed her the basket.

She nodded as if she didn’t particularly care for your explanation and instead was ready to move on to her next task.

She placed the pastries on the table behind her before she took the other basket from Aemond and did the same.

He managed to snatch one from the basket before she did, however.

She giggled as he took it and he looked over to you for approval.

You nodded, a wide smile on your face at his antics, and he smirked before he popped it in his mouth and took your arm once again.

At least now the missing pastry would be blamed on the prince instead of you.

He led you out of the kitchens and back outside of the keep.

“Delicious, it was almost as sweet as you,” he flirted and you found yourself feeling bashful once again.

“You flatter me, my prince,” you said a little breathlessly.

“Yes, that is the goal,” he said as he brought you to the gate of the keep.

You let go of his arm and looked up at him.

“Thank you for helping me find my way,” you said as you stared into his gorgeous eye that threatened to pull you under its depths.

“Of course, my lady. Perhaps I shall take you up on your offer and find my way to your family’s bakery one of these days,” he said, his voice smooth and gentle.

“I would like that very much,” you breathed out and he smirked.

He placed his hand on the side of your face and your breath caught as he leaned down and pressed his beautiful lips to your cheek.

“Until next time,” he said as he turned and walked away.

You once again watched him leave and felt flustered at the thought of seeing him again.

Everything taglist:

@spideysimpossiblegirl @dinandgone @ohpedromypedro @littlemisspascal @tombraider42017 @kirsteng42 @just-here-for-the-moment @salome-c @hb8301 @readsalot73

Aemond taglist:

@fultimefangirl @dumpsterfirecee @adderess @flowerpotmage @theold-ultraviolence @lady-phasma @aemonds-war-crime @schniiipsel @mommyslittlewarcriminal @batsyforyou @signyvenetia @sirenofavalon @ellathefriendlyalpacaaa @padfooteyes @percyjacksonspeen @aemonds-sapphire @wrendermeuseless @mllemarianne @slutforaemond @a-beaverhausen @widemiffyhappy @xceafh @roger-that-cap @chattylurker @rafecameronswhore

If I missed anyone that asked to be tagged I'm sorry it's been tough to keep up with everyone that's asked to be added to the taglist!

#aemond targaryen #house of the dragon #hotd #aemond targaryen x reader #aemond targaryen x you #aemond targaryen fluff #aemond targaryen x y/n #aemond targaryen fanfic #house of the dragon fanfic #aemond

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weird-is-life · 2 years

Text

I always worry about you

Pairing: Steve harrington x fem!reader

Sumarry: Unexpected situation makes you and Steve reveal your relationship

Warnings: language, mentions of blood, violence, g*n, hospital, season 4 spoilers

Words: 1.4k Masterlist Not my gif

(English is not my first, so please excuse any grammar/spelling mistakes)

Your and Steve's relationship was a secret. Nobody knew, that you were dating, not even your best friend Robin.

You started dating not so long ago and agreed to keep it a secret for a little while. Also it was kind of fun to sneak around. It wasn't like, you didn't want people to know, you would have eventually told them about the two of you. But for now, nobody knew.

The plan to kill Vecna, made you and Steve seperate. You were going to stay with the kids Max, Lucas and Erica to look out for them. But Steve had to go to the upside down to actually kill the bastard.

So a few minutes, before you would both leave, you sneaked away to say goodbye.

"Stay safe, okay?" Steve insisted. He was really scared to let you go alone, without him by your side.

"I will, i will. Don't worry too much about me. It's you, we have to worry about more. You are going to the fucking upsidedown, not me. You stay safe" you said to him.

"I always worry about you. The least you can do to ease my worry is to promise not to do anything stupid" you didn't think you ever saw him so serious with you.

"Yeah, I promise. I won't do anything stupid, but you do the same, alright?" you pointed a finger at his chest .

"Me ? I never do anything stupid" he grinned at you.

"Hahah, very funny Steve" you fake laughed. But you were back to being serious in a second .

"We should probably go back, before they go looking for us" Steve said. You nodded and stood up on your toes to give him a kiss. You didn't really want to leave, but you knew you had to, so you softly pushed Steve, who didn't want to let you go, away.

"I'll see you at the meet up spot, yeah? Stay safe please " you looked at him one more time, before you left to catch up with the kids.

The things were going pretty smoothly at the Creel's house. That was until Jason showed. He looked really bad, like he hadn't slept for days. All sweaty, with bloodshot eyes.

You and Lucas tried to reason with him, get him to put the gun down, but it was like he couldn't hear anything you said.

You thought, you were going to die, when he fired a bullet at Lucas, you thought that was it. But somehow he

dodged the bullet and started to fight Jason. But as they fought, Jason fired a few more times and a bullet went flying right your way.

You didn't know, how you got so lucky, but it just scratched the side of you thigh. However it went through your flesh, so you were bleeding a lot and it hurt so freaking much.

You tried to get up and help Lucas, but the pain was too much. So instead you started to crawl towards Max. You wanted to put the headphones on her head, but you were too slow. You just saw Jason smashing them and then just pitch black.

When you regained consciousness again, Erica was sitting next to you with fearful expression. You felt a stinging feeling on your head and arm. It turned out, that a piece of wood fell on you and hurt you even more than the bullet already had.

Erica helped you stand up and that was when you saw Max and Lucas. You almost passed out again, when you saw that. You immediately asked if she was alive.

"Barely" said Erica. It did nothing to calm you down. But you didn't get to ask anything else as paramedics came rushing in. You limped behind them with Erica supporting you.

The paramedics asked you to go with them, as you were the oldest.

Lucas argued with you, but in the end he knew it was better if you went. In the meantime you told them to go to the meet up spot and tell the rest of the group everything that happened.

On the way to the hospital you were asked if you needed help too, but you declined. You wanted them to focus only on saving Max. You prayed that she was alright.

You were helpless, you couldn't do anything to help her. So you just started whispering to Max how strong and brave she was and that she needed to fight. You did that until they got her out of the ambulance and quickly rushed her to a surgery, where you unfortunately couldn't go.

You sat down in a chair in the hallway and hoped that she would be okay, that everybody would be okay.

"Umm miss, do you need any help?" you heard a voice say to you, so you picked you head up from your hands.

"Sorry?" you saw a nurse.

"I asked, if you needed help" she was looking at you with worry. You didn't even think about how you must have looked, all bloody. You also felt a little dizzy. You probably lost a lot of blood.

"Probably, but can you tell me anything about Max Mayfield?" you didn't care about your injuries. You needed to know if Max was okay.

"I'm sorry, we don't know anything yet. But please miss, let me call someone to look at you" she quickly ran away to get somebody to help you.

She came back and took you to some room. You passed a mirror on the way there and to be honest you looked like you were dying. Blood and dirt all over you and the limping wasn't helping at all.

When the doctor saw you he immediately came to support you and sat you down on the bed. Then he cleaned and covered all your wounds and made you take a blood tranfusion. You tried to protest, but he knew what he was doing, so you gave in.

Ultimately you fell asleep from the mental and physical exhastion, while the blood was being transfered into your body .

You were woken up by the sound of somebody shouting. The curiousness got the best of you want, so you went in the hallway to see who was doing all that commotion.

You found yourself staring at Steve, arguing with the poor nurse and rest of the group looking at him with stunned faces.

"Steve" you called out his name. He snapped his head in your direction and froze. He was so relieved to see, that you were alive. When Lucas said you were shot, Steve thought he was going to get a heart attack. He got everybody in the car and drove like a mad man to the hospital.

So yeah, it took him a second to get over the initial shock of seeing you alive. But then he came barreling you in a bone crushing hug. You let out a whimper because your whole body hurt and Steve instantly noticed it.

"Fuck, i'm sorry, did i hurt you" he scanned your face and body for all the injuries. You shook your head as a no.

"i was so worried about you, thank god, you are okay" he sounded so anxious.

"What about you? Everything okay?" you pushed the hair out of his face.

"Yes, but i'm much better when you are here" he smiled at you. And then he leaned down and softly kissed you. The kiss was sweet and loving. It made you forget about everything around you, even that your friends were standing right behind you. You broke off the kiss, when you heard Robin speak.

"Ha i knew it. Dustin you owe me 20 bucks"

"Did you guys seriously bet on us?" Steve asked in disbelieve.

"Maybe" the two of them grinned at you.

"Unbelievable" you chuckled.

"What? You didn't even hide it very well" Robin defended herself.

"Yeah, you did really poor job" Erica said.

"Well, atleast we don't have to hide anymore, right?" you beamed at them and went to kiss Steve again, but you didn't get the chance to.

"Okay lovebirds, enough for now. Max wants to see us" that got your full attention.

"Max is okay?" you asked full of hope.

"Yeah, she is going to be alright" It didn't take you long to take Steve's hand and drag him behind you to see her.

Steve stopped you by the hand and picked you up in his arms.

"What are you doing?" you chuckled.

"We can't have you limping all the way to the room, can we?" he just shrugged. That made you heart skip a beat, he was always looking after you.

"I love you, you know that?" you looked at him in adoration.

"I do and i love you, too."

....

Hey guys, thank you so much for reading. Hope this wasn't too bad. Feedback is always appreciated. Also if anybody is interested in being my beta reader for Stranger things fics, dm me please . Have a great day and stay safe everybody. Peace out ☀️

#Steve harrington #Stranger things #stranger things spoilers #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington x fem!reader #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington x reader #Steve harrington x y/n #stranger things imagine #steve harrington imagine

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chess-writes · 9 months

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Mario Kart

IbaNatsu

💜 Summary: Natsume and Ibara often argued, but rarely had a clear winner. So, Natsume decided that a good way to prove that he could beat Ibara is through video games.

💜 Warnings: none really besides the two wrestle due to Mario Kart induced rage. a small fight, nothing serious. might be ooc

💜 Note: hehehrhihuhuh... redheads that are gay. :). anyways Natsume and Ibara are crushing on each other but refuse to admit it and Leo is the official IbaNatsu wingman or something. ending is a little rushed but it's fiiiiiiiiiine. Hiyori also makes an appearance.

Natsume had an idea. A wonderful idea. A truly amazing idea!

Ibara and him bickered often, very often. He would never admit it, but he loved their fights. Ibara, although annoying and stuck up and infuriatingly pretty, was very nice to talk to. He made good points, was good at arguing, and was so easy to annoy. He wouldn't admit how much he loved it.

But they usually didn't come out with a clear winner. So Natsume was going to show that he was better once and for all. (For the next hour or so.)

Mario Kart.

What could go wrong.

Natsume and Ibara regularly blocked and unblocked each other on Hold-Hands. Well, Natsume did. He had done it earlier that day... he didn't recall why. It was probably deserved, though.

He unblocked him and sent a message telling Ibara to come to his dorm. Leo and Nazuna were currently out, so he didn't need to worry about them.

Ibara asked why. Natsume said he was going to beat him in a game. Ibara said he was on his way.

Ibara was oddly willing to drop things to argue or fight with Natsume. He didn't know why his chest felt light at the thought.

He made sure the game was set up and there was a knock on the door.

"Come iN, Ibara-kun. I've been expecting yoU," Natsume grinned, barely able to wait. He wanted to slaughter this twink in Mario Kart.

Ibara stepped in. He was in a simple button up and black pants. His clothes were simple but fitting, and they matched his hair which was laying down smoothly.

"Natsume-kun, how unexpected! I didn't realize you were so desperate to engage in battle once more!" he smiled, approaching Natsume.

"I came up with a plan that will prove my superioriTY, and now is a good time to launch my atTACK." he replied smoothly. He patted the spot next to him, signaling for Ibara to sit down.

As he did, he was handed a controller.

"Are you familiar with Mario KarT?" he asked. Although he wanted to crush him, he wasn't totally unfair.

"Jun has had me play with him before." Ibara confirmed. "If your goal was to beat me in this, I wouldn't be so sure you're going to win." he looked smug.

Ibara returned the smug look and got them ready to play. They picked characters and customized their game.

And so it began.

As the first race started, Ibara and Natsume were composed. Backhanded compliments were passed back and forth, or direct insults.

Natsume was clearly more experienced. He was the president of the Game Research Club, and him and Sora had figured out all the best ways to play. Shortcuts, using items, everything.

Natsume won the first round. He looked horribly smug as he pulled out a paper and made a little mark on one side. Ibara side-eyed the paper and his smile looked strained.

"Round twO, Ibara-kun?" Natsume was smiling, loving the look on his face.

"Start the game, Natsume-kun." his smile was fake.

_____________

It had been almost two hours. The two had barely moved. They were hunched over, and the tension between the two could be cut with a knife.

They had started to push each other to distract them so they would mess up in-game.

The paper had long been forgotten, replaced with simply thriving off the sheer euphoria of winning a round, met with the rage that demanded another.

As the two got ready for another round, the door opened. Not a glance was spared.

"Uchuu!~ I'm back!" Leo happily cried out as he entered the room. "Oh! The Viper is here!" he smiled.

The two didn't even glance at him.

Leo pouted, skipping over and sitting right behind them. "What are you playing?"

The two were focused, and it was only when Ibara hit Natsume with a blue shell, that he snapped.

"You cheaTER!" he cried out, dropping his controller and lunging for Ibara. Leo leaned back so he wasn't hit, and watched as the two wrestled.

"I didn't cheat! You're the one who knows every single trick to the game, if anyone is a cheater, it's YOU!" Ibara argued as he kicked at Natsume. Although Natsume made a show of hitting and punching Tsumugi, he really wasn't that good in physical combat.

And Ibara grew up in a military camp.

As Ibara rolled to the side to pin Natsume down, Leo was loudly cheering and encouraging the fight.

Natsume seemed to almost contort to bite at Ibara, flailing around in order to get him off.

It was only successful because Ibara was going easy on him. Everyone in the room knew it, but no one said anything. Leo certainly had a knowing smile though.

"I'm not a cheaTER, you just suck at Mario KarT!" Natsume managed to knock Ibara onto his side. He tried to mimic what Ibara had done by straddling his torso, but Ibara quickly swapped them back.

"I won plenty of times!" Ibara would usually be more behaved, but after two hours of Mario Kart, he was about as kind as a starving honey badger. And he didn't feel like pretending otherwise. "You would know that if you hadn't burned the paper and nearly your dorm as well!"

"The paper was meaningLESS! I didn't need it to know that I was winning more than yoU!" Natsume fought more but he was getting tired, and Ibara was bound to win any hand to hand combat.

"Come on Nacchan! Fight, fight, fight!! Bite him!" Leo cheered, almost screaming.

Natsume's hands were pinned above his head by Ibara, so he just tried to jerk them down. He only slid down both of their hands, but that was enough.

You know what they say. If you can't beat them, eat them.

Natsume leaned up as much as he could and strained his neck to bite down on Ibara's forearm.

"YEAHHHHHHHH NACCHAN!!" Leo yelled.

Ibara pulled his arm back a bit and Natsume used this chance to sit up as fast as he could and headbutt him.

Both of them leaned back with a groan, holding their heads.

Leo cried out, something about inspiration, and ran to his bed to write on the papers he had everywhere.

"You could have broken my glasses, you moron.." Ibara grumbled as he rubbed his cheekbone where it had been hit.

"You had it comING, Ibara-kun." Natsume replied, muttering as well. He was rubbing his forehead.

The two sat in pain for a few moments more before realizing the odd position they were in. Ibara was sitting on Natsume's lap, basically straddling him.

Ibara quickly got off and tried to compose himself. Natsume was trying to hide that he was almost as red as his hair.

Natsume attempted to glare at Ibara, but he was more or less pouting.

Ibara gave another fake smile, his tone mocking. "What, do you want me to kiss your booboo better?"

Natsume turned his head away, but Ibara caught the blush that had gotten stronger.

Natsume turned back, still red, but determined to not lose. "I didn't realize your first instinct was to kiss mE." he smiled smugly.

The two stared at each other in tense silence for a bit before Leo spoke up once more.

"Ughhhhhhh... you guys are sooooo lame! Just kiss each other already!" he laughed at his own comment, and the two redheads quickly discovered that the floor was simply fascinating.

"Love heals all wounds, ahahaha!" Leo quickly went back to scribbling down notes.

Natsume and Ibara glanced at each other a few times, both unsure of what to do. Finally, after a few painfully long moments, Natsume did something.

He took a deep breath and stood up. He slowly walked to Ibara and kneeled right in front of him. Blue looked into amber, and it almost seemed like Natsume would back out. But he didn't.

It was a stiff kiss, just a small peck. But it solidified what both of them had known but refused to admit.

Natsume seemed almost stunned after the kiss, but it only took a second longer for him to stand up and run out of the room, blushing furiously.

Ibara left once his blush had gone down and he had made sure Leo wouldn't tell. Of course, he can't exactly trust him even with him promising silence. Leo had a habit of speaking without thinking.

_____________

"Ibara, are you wearing lipgloss?" Hiyori asked. The two had met up that night so Hiyori could drag someone around while shopping. Jun had been busy.

Ibara raised an eyebrow. "No. I use chapstick."

Hiyori shook his head and leaned close to his face. "Your lips are shimmery. It's really uneven, though."

Ibara leaned away and lightly rubbed his lips, and then examining the slight shimmer left on them. They had a slightly red tint, and when he licked his lips, it tasted faintly sweet.

Oh.

Ibara didn't wear lipgloss.

Apparently Natsume did.

Ibara had a long story to tell and lie about it seems.

#ibanatsu #natsuiba #ibara saegusa #saegusa ibara #natsume sakasaki #sakasaki natsume #natsume #ibara #fanfiction #ensemble stars #ensemble stars!!#enstars #fanfic #enstars natsume #enstars ibara #idk if anyone else likes this ship #but i do.

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lhs3020b · 15 days

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The Fallout TV show

So, you may remember the days before my social energy-level suddenly collapsed, back in early 2022, and never really recovered? The days when I used to post regularly with idle speculation on media, video games, books and other things? Apparently tonight we're taking one for memory lane on all that.

I just saw the first two episodes of the Fallout TV show, and I have some thoughts…

First, a small surprise: it's actually good. It's a thing. In 2024. Which is enjoyable. Yes, I know, I know, I know. It shows the crisis in popular entertainment that I'm surprised by this. (It's the same feeling, actually, as when Baldur's Gate 3 came out and my socks were blown off by the unexpected experience of properly falling in love with a thing again.)

(By the way? From now on I'm going to call the show FoTV, on the same principle as Fo3 or Fo4 or FNV, just because I can't be bothered to type "Fallout TV show" over and over again.)

Also, somewhat-related to the above, FoTV is the best game adaptation I think I have ever seen. The world of the games is there, from props and set-pieces to the wasteland environment itself, even little nods to actual in-game mechanics. There are also lots of call-backs to the games themselves. For instance, FoTV's opening sequence was, to me, very reminiscent of the opening sections of Fo4, where the perfect suburbia is first set up, and then implodes in front of your horrified eyes, then is incinerated by a literal atomic bomb. The opening sequences of FoTV also do a good job of nailing the fact that while it's a future, it's not our future. It isn't spelled out directly, but we're shown it very smoothly through the mise-en-scène, whether it's news coming via an analogue radio, oldschool chemical-film cameras, or fashions that we just don't wear in our 2024, and so on.

And then Los Angeles gets nuked.

(I do have a small nitpick here. While I understand why the writers structured this scene the way they do, and it works narratively, nonetheless several characters are looking DIRECTLY at the first explosion when it happens. At the absolute minimum, they would have been blinded. More realistically, the radiant heat from the explosion - even at this distance! - would have given them extreme burns on exposed skin. And for that matter the UV component of the flashover would have given them an extreme case of sunburn. Also, the shockwave should actually have been a one-two-three punch - effectively-instantaneous light-flashover first, then the ground shaking as the speed of sound in rock is about three times faster than in the air, then the window getting smashed in by the airburst. Also, uh, they all cope unrealistically well with a storm of knife-sharp broken glass fragments being hurled into their faces.)

(You'll also note that I haven't said a single word about what the hard gamma rays might be doing to the cellular machinery inside their bodies. Actually, this I'm a bit less sure about - gamma rays do attenuate in air, at least somewhat, and also high-energy photons have a tendency just to go straight through people without actually stopping - our soft tissues, at least, semi-transparent to X-rays! -, so I suspect that at the distance the birthday party was from Ground Zero, you could possibly argue this one either way.)

Anyway. Moving on from all of that, before I feel a need to go and look up cumulative radiation-exposure tables or something, because this is supposed to be a Tumblr post, not a peer-reviewed academic paper.

Regarding Lucy's characterisation, I found it interesting how she flips from "sheltered and naive" to "unexpectedly competent". While she's lacking in knowledge of the world outside her vault, she's also clearly very adaptable and good at thinking on her feet. She figures out that the visitors from the other vault are actually Raiders without any direct help, and actually manages to get out of THAT room alive - all the more surprising when you realise she was up against someone who a) had the benefit of surprise, b) had prior experience with violence and killing and c) was also the person with weapons (at least at first). Lucy may be a bit of a cloud-cuckoolander in some ways, but she's not a pushover either. She's also clearly capable of taking initiative and acting on her own when she needs to, and she's also seemingly not averse to taking a third option if she thinks other people are in the wrong. (In particular, her decision to let herself out of the vault stands out here.) On the other hand, she also alternates these merits with getting easily-flustered and off-balance around other people, along with a tendency to telegraph her actions in a very overt manner. (There's a mildly-hilarious moment early on where you basically get to watch her flub her first speech-check.)

The Brotherhood of Steel are, unsurprisingly, back. So far there hasn't been any explanation for how they apparently recovered from the events of Fallout 2 or (possibly, depending on whatever the "canonical" ending is) the events of Fallout: New Vegas. They're also back in the arrogant/dickish mode of behaviour that they fall into very easily. They're also implied to be amoral in their own way - one interpretation of Maximus's trial scene is that he gets assigned to be Knight Titus's squire precisely because they do think he's the guilty party for the "boot-razor" incident, and the higher-ups actually like this bit of backstabbiness. (Perhaps they interpret it as ruthless determination, or a willingness to do "whatever is necessary for the mission". Or maybe they just think it's funny to kick him a little bit upstairs, just so they can see what happens next.)

(As far as I could tell, the narrative and the evidence-in-the-text are coy about whether he's actually guilty concerning Initiate Dane. Personally, I suspect Max isn't the guilty party - given that he had the bunk next to the victim, it would be the dumbest crime imaginable if he was. It's also clear that he has enemies amongst the other aspirants who might be willing to frame him. But who knows? And less favourable interpretations of the events definitely exist.)

While it's subtle, some of the Brotherhood's flaws are also on display here. Remember the overconfident Knights who got themselves blown up by the Boomers in FNV? Knight Titus shows a lot of that sort of behaviour too. Going AWOL in the middle of the mission to do some big game hunting, because he was "bored"? Yeah, arrogance and overconfidence there! Also he displays some real stupidity with his treatment of Maximus, being extremely rude to him and blaming Max for his own failures while he's also too injured to stand up, and there are no independent witnesses present. You'd think anyone who's a wasteland native would know to be extra careful when there's no backup or support! And to add extra sauce to the stupidity, this after he had Max remove his helmet!

The narrative doesn't make it quite clear whether Max either gave Titus a quick headshot, or just stood there until the internal bleeding or whatever ran its course, but it seems clear enough what happened there. And honestly, it's hard to hold it against Max given that Titus was both an incompetent and a dickhead. (Though, one subtlety - as I recall, we don't ever see Titus's body, so I wouldn't be totally surprised if he reappears at some point.)

Somewhat related to the Brotherhood stuff, I was also interested to see how the writers handled what we might call the power armour question. Basically, it's depicted as being, well, powerful, but it's also clear that Max doesn't really know what he's doing, so his T-60 doesn't turn into any kind of Disk One Nuke. (As the Ghoul puts it, "you should've read the manual" after Max gets his leg stuck after landing on a surface that couldn't take his weight.)

As for the Ghoul and what his agenda is, at two episodes in, it's hard to say, and there's not enough evidence to even begin to speculate. However, one detail I did notice was that Lucy's father seems distinctly unsurprised (if horrified) by the break-in to the Vault. Also, while I couldn't entirely sure, he seemed to recognise Moldaver and doesn't seem particularly-surprised to see her there. Moldaver's comment to Lucy - "you look just like your mother" - also seems to confirm that she has some prior history with Lucy's family.

Then there's the vault attack itself. For the Wasteland, the survival-rate among the residents its actually rather high. The Raiders could very easily have exterminated them … and they don't. "Restraint" and "mercy" are not qualities we associate with Raiders, so this is an interesting turn of events. (The "hostages and bomb" scene in particular had a bit of a dog-and-pony-show sense to it - notably, the delay on the bomb is long enough for the hostage vault-dwellers to make an escape, almost as if it was never really intended to kill them in the first place.) There also seemed to be a suggestion that Moldaver wanted them to stay inside the vault, which is interesting for its implications.

Anyway, I look forward to the chance to see future episodes. This has proved to be the most interesting TV experience in some time.

#Fallout #the tv show #LHS reacts #idle speculation #also #hi #I'm not dead!

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6840-il24 · 3 months

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怪物 Monster directed by Koreeda Hirokazu

wow... usually after I watch films I kinda dread writing a review and let it marinate in my head for a few days especially ones I haven't seen. But this movie is different, I don't think I have had a movie that has made me go quiet and contemplate the whole movie since La La Land came out (I bet there are many films but I'm not completely indulged in the whole film thing yet).

I will most definitely be spoiling this one there is no way I can say it without anything

Firstly, this film takes on a Rashomon style where it splits into 3 separate perspectives of the characters and develops a story. From the sound of the title Monster I figured this might be a thriller or even a horror (which I'm not the biggest fan of I get scared so easily) Koreeda convinces the audience that it uses the suspenseful approach to tell this story through the first (1/3) of the story.

The story is shown through the mother of the main character Saori's perspective as it unravels she's a single mother that dearly cares for her son Minato, she sees her son becoming physically injured and has psychological changes (what they want us to think) hinting that Minato might be suffering mentally due to the loss of his father and is being abused at school by his teacher. As an audience we share the similar feeling of suspense and anger as we want to understand what is happening to Minato and this section ends with 1) the teacher being fired due to a lawsuit we find out later 2) Minato being found in a tunnel/cave

2/3 of the story shows the "perspective" of the teacher Mr Hori whilst continuing to develop the film as we unravel a little more about the mystery of Minato and his friend Yori. We also find out about Mr Hori and how he seemingly does not seem like the way he is portrayed through the mothers perspective. Near the end of this segment we vaguely find out many of the things that he did that were considered "abuse" was very much twisted from Minato

3/3 (I would say my favourite part of this movie) There's something that about this movie that will always remain so special and impactful to me and it is the way Koreeda can smoothly transition my assumption that this movie would be a horror genre to romance, Koreeda didn't have to drastically change the color grading of the movie or even the soundtrack to portray this because it transitioned so well and fitting for this movie it seemed so normal.

In this last segment we see how these "injuries" happen to Minato and come to a realization that they were all lies to hide his shame for his love for his. friend Yori. Because of society Minato felt shameful for feeling this towards Yori instead of confronting this he blames it on his teacher. There's so much that happens Idk how to unravel this...

Yori -> we see a side of him that was barely shown through the other perspectives (the power of storytelling) he doesn't have a mom and his dad is very abusive, his only friend at school is Minato and was bullied often. For a while Minato resented the pity he felt towards him but eventually embraced this feeling of comfort whenever he was around Yori

(I think seeing the scene where you see bruises and burn marks all over his body really made the audience sympathetic definitely did for me there was this one scene where Minato looks for Yori after pushing him away he finds him soaked in bloody bath water all beaten up from his dad and that scene nearly made me cry the shame he felt was something I felt I could resonate with growing up)

Minato -> so unexpected for him to develop feelings for his friends but as you reflect and puzzle all the pieces together it really makes sense why a young boy would feel so afraid and hate themselves for feeling this way thus, twisting all these lies so no one knows about his truth.

I could go on but I'm trying my best to wrap this up

Near the end there's a typhoon it also happens to be the same time where Minato finds Yori in the bathtub and takes him to their "secret hideout" on a train. However, a scene is shown where the train is filled with water which transitions to them "getting out" For once I don't like how it's an open ending because I really cannot fathom whether they made it out alive and the rain has ended or if it's sunny because they've reached the other side but died together... the director confirmed that they didn't die but for some reason I can't accept any ending right now... maybe this will change because I've just been processing a plethora of emotions but there's this one last scene before the movie ends where the two boys run off to a train track that no longer has any gates in it which really symbolizes freedom and breaking free from Yori's abusive father and Minato accepting his feelings for Yori.

It makes me realize that in the movie... the monster really was Yoshi's abusive father but also... the monster is society and how it takes away our happiness

wow... really was in the zone there... I loved this movie so much the simplicity of following the storyline and the power of story telling made this movie probably one of my favorites I rate this 5/5 it was beautifully written I'm still in awe.

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ruethemazerunner · 2 years

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4. i knew you were trouble when you walked in

Everyone stopped talking at once as they dragged in the squirming girl.

His two fellow Militants, whose names Takatora hadn’t even cared enough to remember (though he vaguely recalls Aguni referring to one of them as Haruto), dragged the girl in by the arms, her feet dangling a couple centimeters off the floor. The girl that Takatora often saw hanging around Chishiya awkwardly trailed in after them.

Everything was quiet for a couple of seconds as the girl continued struggling to get out of the men’s grasp. Finally Hatter clapped and everyone shifted their attention to him.

“Well, what a lovely surprise! But come on now boys, that’s no way to treat a lady. Let her go.”

The two men released their hold on the girl, who immediately retracted her arms and crossed them over herself in a clear attempt to shrink away.

For some reason, Takatora felt a pang of anger pass through him at the sight of the bruises already forming on her arms from the tight grip they had her in. But the feeling was gone just as fast as it came as Hatter pulled out a chair from the meeting room table and motioned for the girl to have a seat.

“Aguni, you really need to teach your Militants better manners.”

Aguni simply grunted as he observed the scene in front of him.

The girl eyed the chair, not moving from her spot, until Hatter raised an amused brow and she finally took a reluctant seat.

“Well darling, I apologize for the rude welcome,” Hatter said with extended arms, giving a warning stare to the two young Militants, “Usually things go much more smoothly around here. But with that out of the way let me introduce myself. I am the King of this utopia we’ve created here. Welcome to The Beach! Where you can party as hard as you want to and do whatever the hell you please. But since ‘King of The Beach’ is far too long of a title, you can simply call me Hatter.”

The girl just continued to eye Hatter with a pinched brow.

Hatter didn’t let the girl’s silence phase him. He simply smiled at her and asked, “Are you going to tell us what your name is?”

The girl stayed quiet, just staring at the enthusiastic man in front of her. Her features were soft, a slight pout on her lips as her body stayed tense. The fear and worry she was feeling were evident in her eyes.

“Very well then, I know not everyone is as much as a talker as I am,” Hatter joked, “Boys! You’re the ones that brought her here, or should I say dragged,” he once again shot them a glare, “I assume you brought our newest guest from one of tonight’s games, no?”

The one that Takatora recalled as being named Haruto took a step forward, “Yes sir, she was in our game tonight. Four of Clubs.”

“And?” This time the question came from Aguni. His patience was clearly running thin.

“And, I mean she was pretty good, boss. Seemed like she had some medical knowledge too.” Haruto said, sounding a lot less confident when faced with Aguni’s deadpan stare, “We thought she’d be useful here, so we offered her a ride back here with us and she accep-“

“Bullshit!” An unexpected voice interrupted. It was that girl that was always with Chishiya, “First of all, jerk, she was more than just ‘good’, she basically cleared the game for you! And you didn’t offer her a place here, I did, which she turned down. And then you assholes basically kidnapped her!”

Hatter sighed, “Kuina, please, you’re not even technically supposed to be here, at least watch your language.”

Kuina huffed but stayed quiet.

Takatora couldn’t help but glance at the girl. She still hadn’t uttered a word. She just kept her eyes cast downwards, refusing to meet anyone’s curious stares.

“Okay, well, however it happened she’s here now. I do truly apologize for the bad experience,” he said to the girl, leaning on the table and crossing his arms casually over his chest, “can we at least know your name, dear?”

Takatora didn’t expect her to respond, just like she hadn’t before. But after a moment of hesitant silence, she uttered out a very quiet, “Maisie.”

Takatora’s breath hitched. Her voice was just as beautiful as her. Soft but with a melodic ring to it. He instantly found himself wanting to hear it again.

Maisie. Even her name made him feel all sorts of funny.

“Maisie! A wonderful name indeed. So tell me, is what Kuina said true? You beat the game all by yourself?”

Maisie shook her head slightly, “I can’t take credit for that. We all had to come up with answers unanimously to beat the game.”

“Yeah, and she figured out the answer before anyone else during every single round,” Kuina piped up again.

Hatter looked surprised, but also pleased, “Is that true?” He directed his attention towards the girl.

She timidly looked up, cheeks slightly rosy, but otherwise didn’t say anything. Takatora felt his curiosity and awe of this girl grow as he heard of her cleverness.

Hatter laughed jovially, “Aguni, maybe you should take this one to games with your boys more often, God knows they could use some brains to balance out the brawn!”

The thought of having an excuse to be close to her made Takatora feel a giddy sort of excitement, but Maisie didn’t seem too keen on the idea, shooting the two men who’d brought her here an uneasy glance.

Takatora felt a protective swell in his chest and his grip on his katana tightened just the slightest bit. For some reason the thought of her feeling afraid made him uncomfortable. He wanted to quell her anguish.

“This is what she had on her,” Haruto’s voice cut through Takatora’s thoughts, and he glanced at the man to see him handing over a small pack to Hatter.

When Maisie realized what Haruto was handing the other man, she gripped the hem of her skirt and looked like she was about to protest, but instead just bit her lip and looked away, clearly unhappy that her belongings had been taken.

Hatter dumped the contents of her pack onto the table. A canteen of water, some medical equipment Takatora wasn’t super familiar with, and a couple of playing cards were all that fell out of the backpack.

Hatter immediately snatched the scattered cards on the table and held them up to his face as he inspected them, “A Ten of Diamonds and a Four of Hearts? That’s quite impressive. You’ll be rewarded with a higher ranking number for such valuable cards, rest assured. I take it that your friends already explained to you that all cards are property of The Beach?”

Maisie nodded silently. Hatter seemed pleased enough with the non-verbal answer, for he stacked the dozen or so cards that he had been holding into a neat pile and put them in his pocket.

“Well then, let’s make you an official resident of The Beach!”

The rest of the meeting went the same as any other time a new person got introduced to The Beach. Hatter went over the rules, explained how he planned to escape the Borderlands through his plan to collect all the cards, and warned Maisie of what would happen if she didn’t turn her cards over immediately. Although the warning held a real threat, Takatora could see that Hatter’s voice held a lot less menace than when he warned other newcomers of what would happen to them if they were found as traitors, and he understood why. Maisie was just so gentle and quiet that it felt wrong to seriously threaten her.

Takatora may not have even spoken to this girl, but he could already tell that she was too sweet for her own good.

Finally Hatter handed her her very own bracelet, with - a number ‘42’ etched onto it, and informed Maisie that she could have any room she pleased as long as it wasn’t claimed. Kuina offered to show her around so she could have her pick.

Takatora could tell they were getting ready to leave when Maisie spun around and shyly approached Hatter. As everyone was getting up to exit the meeting room, no one paid them much mind, but he lingered for a couple of seconds to listen. Takatora wasn’t really sure why, but he just wanted to learn more about this shy girl.

Maisie tapped Hatter on the shoulder lightly. When he spun around to face her, she nervously played with her hands and bit her lip, clearly trying to push out the words she wanted to say. Takatora found her nerves oddly adorable.

“I know you said most people here wear bathing suits, but I-“ she took a steadying breath, “I was wondering if I could just keep my own clothes. It would make me feel more comfortable and it’s not like you can really hide a weapon under a sundress.”

Hatter considered her words for less than a few seconds before chuckling, “You know what? Sure you can. Besides, I have a feeling you aren’t the type to go around smuggling weapons. You don’t strike me as someone who’s into that kind of stuff.”

Maisie gave shy chuckle and offered Hatter a small, lopsided smile, “Yeah, I’m not really into all the violence.”

“No worries dear. Now go on, I think your friend over there is dying to show you around,” Hatter gestured with his head over to Kuina, who was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Maisie giggled at her new friend’s antics, and the sound shot straight through Takatora like a bullet.

“Okay, I’ll be on my way. Thank you for letting me keep this,” she grabbed the sides of her skirt by the hem with her fingertips and held it out slightly, and Takatora thought she looked prettier in that moment than anyone had the right to be.

Hatter simply waved off her ‘thank you’ and let her join Kuina as they both left the room together.

As he watched Maisie walk away, Samura felt those weird, fluttering feelings that he felt since they had dragged her in, and he knew he was in serious trouble.

Yeah, fuck indeed.

Part 4 whoop whoop! I actually finished it yesterday but I got caught up in doctor visits and couldn’t review it until today so here ya go! I love my girl Maisie and I hope you guys do too! 💖

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coleyo · 1 year

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BITTW CHAPTER TWELVE

SUMMARY: mondo finally talks to Mikey about how he's feeling, but Mikey's response is very unexpected..

That night, Mikey was tossing and turning in bed while Casey was fast asleep..

for some odd reason, Mikey felt uneasy. It was too hot.. or.. too cold? Something was definitely up. Were they sick? Maybe. The mutant decided to shrug this off, shutting his eyes and hoping that he would just fall asleep.. The silence was accompanied by the harsh winds blowing from outside of the window, followed by the floor boards lightly creaking.. odd.

Mikey Opened an eye.

Nothing.

Slightly Disturbed, they would turn their back against the wall, curled into a ball..

And there it was again. The silence. Oh, how Mikey hated it.

Just as he was drifting off to sleep, a sudden pain in his hands Disturbed him.. he'd inhale sharply, only to notice that he was... Elsewhere. It was dark.. faint echos were heard, screaming and light sobs ringed throughout the solemn area. they were familiar voices, to say the least.

Mikey shot up from his bed once more and noticed that mondo was sitting at the edge.. "-You alright?" He asked, silence lingered throughout the room soon after. "-..Yeah.. how- how'd you get in here again? I thought you were asleep." "I couldn't.. so I just -- came here. Were you having a bad dream?" "-i guess.." Mikey yawned, sitting up from the bed, struggling to maintain posture. "I can't sleep either, so we're on the same boat 'Dude." "-Sweet!,..um.. can I stay here with you?" Mondo asked with a smile. Mikey nodded, a pleased look on his face.

"..I have something to show you, come on!" The terrapin stated as he'd eagerly sit up, running towards the window. Mondo followed shortly after, his hands in his pockets.

Mikey hopped out of the window smoothly, landing on their feet.

They were use to this at that point. After sneaking out to see Donatello and big mama all the time, you pick up on a few things. Mondo looked around the room before hesitantly doing the same. He'd land on his back, a sharp pain shot throughout his body. "-Fuck.." the gecko huffed, rubbing the injured area slowly. Mikey laughed and helped the other up. "-Look! I usually star gaze when I'm trying to fall asleep.. or when I'm bored, it depends."

"Isn't it cool!" The eager one added, as mondo looked over at him, lovingly. "..Yeah.. beautiful almost."

"-Meh, I wouldn't say beautiful, cool is more of an.. efficient word! Look, everything can be beautiful, but not everything can be cool! There's a huge difference."

Mikey went on and on, but Mondo wasn't paying any mind whatsoever.

"But then, you--... Mondo?" Mikey turned towards the boy, titling his head. "Are you alright?" "-Yeah!.. I just.. i-- don't know how to say this." The gecko averted his eyes from the other. Mikey frowned, "-Dont leave me hangin' you know I get desperate!" Michealangelo argued, Mondo sighed and glanced back at him. ".. You're my best friend, you know that right?" "-um, yes! Of course I do, you're mine as well!.. beside from Casey.. and April.. and--"

"-Yeah, I get it.. but you wouldn't judge me, right?"

"-On any other day?" Mikey paused, "-Yes. BUT!-- If it's serious, it course i won't, i--"

The mutant was interrupted by mondo, he'd place his hands on Mikey's shoulders, a warm kiss was then planted on his cheek not too long after. it was, suggestively a quick one but it felt like an eternity for Mikey. He froze once Mondo let go.

".. Listen, I really like you dude, and I just want to see if you've felt the same way."

Mikey stared at mondo for a moment before giggling, those giggles soon erupting into laughter. "-G- good one Mondo! You were really dedicated, weren't you? Nice!" The laughter soon died down the moment that mikey noticed that mondo wasn't laughing.. "..Mikey, I'm not joking.. i.. love you?"

.. Suddenly, Mikey felt.. nervous. Not knowing how else to handle this, he laughed sheepishly.. "-..T- that's... A good one Mondo, i-i'll.." Mikey stood up, forcing a laugh before silence lingered between the two.

"-Ill see you inside, Okay? 'Night, dude!"

As Mikey retreated back into the base Mondo frowned, pressing his legs up against his chest. "-Why the hell did I do that, I'm such an idiot!" He'd growl.. Mikey must've thought he was some kind of weirdo now.. was their friendship ruined?

"..Damn it." The gecko stood.. He suddenly noticed something, right over the barriers that kept those monsters away.. One of those.. Kraang dogs? Oddly enough , Mondo felt as if he recognized it. It didn't move, it just started at him. He'd wince, maintaining eye contact as two glowing red eyes emerged from the darkness behind the kraang dog. The creature began walking in circles while the two mysterious creatures remained. They definitely weren't one of the kraang dogs.. "-What Is up with these things.." the mutant muttered. "..I thought they weren't as active at night.."

Mondo backed up until his back hit a wall, feeling like something, or someone else was watching him.. he was too embarrassed to go back inside, but too scared to stay out here alone.. his back slid down the wall, he'd sigh.. Soon enough, he heard footsteps fading, someone was definitely watching him. The boy shot up from the ground, figuring it was better to stay inside.

Mondo climbed back inside of the base, landing on his hands and knees.

Mikey was already fast asleep, this wasn't a surprise, not at all. Back home Mikey was well known for falling asleep almost instantly in several occasions. The gecko smiled a bit before sitting near the bed, slouched on the side in order to fall asleep..

Hopefully everything would be alright in the morning.

#mondomikey #tmnt #the usagi chronicles #shellshocked #tmnt 2012 #tmnt 2012 au #tmnt fanfiction #tmnt michelangelo #save rottmnt #rottmnt fanfiction #rottmnt fandom

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mystarmyangel · 2 years

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[TRANS-ARTICLES] 220816 YoonA’s related extracts from #ConfidentialAssignment2 Press Conference

YoonA on reprising the role as Minyoung

Lim YoonA who plays Minyoung, the sister-in-law and beauty Youtuber who earns 100 won per day said: “It was my first time doing a series (movie), I feel happy and there is a sense of familiarity. And unlike the first movie, she has a job now. In the first movie, she was a jobless sister-in-law who is constantly scolded and now has a job as a beauty Youtuber at home. In addition, she will also be sharing the heart that was once lost to Cheol Ryung with Jack as well, getting into a conflict by herself.”

“You can also see the familiar chemistry that she shared with her brother-in-law and family after a long time. And the self-conflicting love triangle with Cheol Ryung and Jack. This is a self-made love triangle.”

“I looked up on several videos of how beauty Youtubers introduced themselves. I have also considered how I could add actions (gestures) in my lines. While I didn’t do anything special than what the others usually do, but with Minyoung’s dressing it feels like it came out differently. There are also scenes where I helped in the investigation as a beauty Youtuber”

“It was so much fun to act with Yoo Haejin with ad-libs in the first movie. In this second movie, I can’t remember clearly which parts that I have ad-libs in. There were some parts that are filled up as a teamwork with the other actors. In this area, I learnt so much, and I had so much fun. And regardless of what, the scene with the most ad-libs must be the one scene where I was drunk.”

“I think I have accumulated experience through the ‘Confidential Assignment’ series. CA1 is my debut movie, and many people thinks that the character Minyoung is very charming. Hence, I tried to emphasize this part. I also tried to show a more improved and different side in the second movie. To me, CA2 is like a new work.”

In addition, on the pressure of acting in a comedy film, YoonA said, “There isn’t much in particular. ‘Confidential Assignment’ series to me is a work that feels reassuring. Rather than acting in a comedy film, I think I should show my charms as Minyoung. I enjoyed watching Minyoung’s charms, she is a character that I am grateful towards.

Sources: (1), (2), (3), (4)

Daniel Henney mentioned YoonA Recalling his meeting with YoonA in 2007, he said “I have always been a fan of hers. It was amazing to watch the process of her transforming into singer & actress. I felt honoured to be able to appear in the same project as her this time.

Source: Link

Director Lee Seok Hoon on ‘Confidential Assignment 2’

“It is like a jinx that usually sequel will not be as good as the previous one. And I thought about the cause myself. It seemed that the reason behind it is when one depends on the success of the previous movie and wasted the characters. In order to prevent that, I tried to add in unexpected novelty to the expected familiarity by the audience.”

“The first filming was a gathering at Jin Tae’s house. It is an important scene and where everyone gathered together, but because this scene was filmed so early so I felt burdened. But when we all arrived at the setting, it was like a scene that have waited for really long and everyone was fully prepared, and we had a lot of fun filming. Since then, I have gained momentum and filmed it so smoothly that I think I am going on a free ride.”

“To me I felt that the biggest fun will the relationships among the characters. In the first movie, there was tension and fun from the ironic joint cooperation between the South and North Korean detective. This time, it will be upgraded further and lead to a three-way cooperation with the FBI. There is friendship, competition, fun and tensions that arise from there. Also, the fun that will come out from Minyoung’s imaginary love triangle with Cheol Ryung and Jack. I think the chemistry of the characters is one of things that makes the fun of the movie special.”

Sources: (1), (2) Trans: mystarmyangel

#YoonA #Trans #Confidential Assignment 2 #Movie #Confidential Assignment 2 Press Conference #Press Conference

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internshipportfolio · 1 year

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Achievements and milestones

When I look back on my internship experience, it was defined by the milestones I achieved along the way. Big or little, all my achievements made me feel a sense of belonging and fulfilled many desires I had before walking in on my first day.

One of my goals was to build the confidence within the organisation to trust me with time-dependent tasks, including writing articles in short time periods and in particular working in a live-environment at the two events I was lucky enough to attend. Gaining the trust of the media team was my first goal because I believed everything would start to fall into place once I gained that trust I would be treated and feel like I was part of the team and making a difference.

Once the first milestones felt like it had been completed, the next big moment was being invited to the second trip in South Australia. This was an unplanned and unexpected milestone, but stands out to me as one of the biggest and most important ones as I was so excited to go home and tell everybody about the incredible opportunity I have been offered. I had also never been to Adelaide before and in the Virgin Business lounge, so that ticked off another personal goal of mine throughout the experience.

The Adelaide trip will always be labeled as my greatest achievement during my time at Motorsport Australia. Being trusted enough to look after my own racing series alongside one of the other team members gave me the opportunity to really show my worth and prove I am work ready for future opportunities. While the weekend was extremely busy, it was smoothly operated and we successfully achieved everything we wanted to for the series and more.

If employees perceive higher degree of trust from a manager, the degree of their job satisfaction and dedication is perceived higher” (Gill, 2008).

This also put me in situations I was unaware I would be in at the beginning of the internship, including on-camera interviews with drivers throughout the weekend. This has been stated as one of my biggest challenges but also one of my proudest moments of the internship. It was extremely satisfying completing the task without any major hiccups and gave me the confidence to be thrown into situations and come out the other side a better intern.

My final milestones came during a challenging article I was writing on a partnership extension between a racing series and their major sponsor, a story which had little context and even less information in front of me to make the story passable. As I did not have other team members beside me at the time, I made the decision to track down a phone number of the series owner to have a conversation about the partnership. Whilst it may be a small detail, it was something the organisation were very surprised and happy with, claiming no other intern has taken the initiative to do.

All these experiences allowed me to expand my resume and build on my LinkedIn profile over time, promoting myself better for future opportunities and giving myself the confidence that I am good enough to succeed in a fast-paced work environment.

Reference:

Gill. (2008). The role of trust in employee-manager relationship. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 20(1), 98–103. https://doi.org/10.1108/09596110810848613

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beyondspaceandstars · 3 years

Text

The Sleeping Situation

Relationship: Bucky Barnes x Reader Warnings: minor mentions of blood, minor (non-descriptive) violence Summary: You finally convince Bucky to sleep with you in the bed, as opposed to the floor, but you find it doesn't exactly go as smoothly as you had hoped it would, leading to some taunting emotions and revelations. A/N: This one went over pretty well on ao3 so fingers-crossed y’all enjoy too! idk how different audiences are - i just like sharing my work :)

Masterlist

You had finally convinced him. After weeks of hints and attempting, he had finally placed himself beneath the duvet, snuggled up right next to your body.  It was something close to a miracle. Bucky had been sleeping on the floor for as long as you could remember. It had become really something you accepted — like clockwork, after watching a show or movie in the bed, he’d let you doze off then untangle himself to go to the living room.

When you first moved in, he didn’t think you really noticed. He’d always be up before you anyways, nothing seeming out of place but as if you possessed some sixth sense, you could always feel Bucky’s arms leave your waist as he went to retire in the living room.

During attempts at bringing up the bed, Bucky would dismiss it, saying he just hated how soft it was. He couldn’t get comfortable. He wasn’t used to it at all. And while you didn’t doubt this for a second, you still felt something deeper worries had been brewing.

You had decided to start small by having Bucky stay cuddling after your nightly movie viewing. You two would lay in the bed, staring at the ceiling, mindlessly talking about whatever was going on with your days. He seemed at peace with this until your eyes started drooping. Within seconds, the grip on your waist would vanish and he was heading out.

It was fine, though, since you had your moment together and he had found some way to relax in the bed. While you never wanted to push him, you wanted him at least content.

The next level was napping. After work, nearly every day, you’d announce you were laying down for a nap and ask Bucky if he was tired. Usually, he’d just shake his head. But one day he looked absolutely spent and wordlessly followed you into the room. A thrown arm around you loosely, he was able to get some shut-eye…for about 15 minutes. Soon he was uncomfortable and placing a kiss on your cheek, following it with a recoil of his touch. Still, you were taking the win and slowly but surely, the time spent napping would go up. Days bast but eventually he was up to an hour in the bed, napping peacefully.

When he finally decided to take the step to join you for a full eight hours in the queen-sized bed, you were quite shocked but easily overwhelmed with joy.

The movie had just ended and you were closing the laptop when Bucky left the bed. You frowned, watching his figure disappear to the bathroom, worried he was already backing out before cuddles and pillow talk. But you didn’t say anything and instead got comfortable on your side (well — the whole thing could’ve been your side at this point).

As you drifted off, a heavy arm snaked its way around you as you felt the other side of the bed dip. Blinking your eyes opened, you looked over your shoulder and was greeted by a nervous-looking Bucky staring back at you.

You turned to face him and asked, "Everything okay, honey?"

He nodded, "I- I’m going to try- try sleeping here if that’s okay."

Your eyes beamed as a smile you couldn’t suppress made its way to your face. "Of course," you said and placed a good night kiss on his lips. "Sleep well."

"You too, doll," Bucky mumbled and placed another kiss on your forehead. You curled up into him, feeling that he got more relaxed and his heartbeat went steady, drifting off to sleep.

***

Shaking. You were disrupted by something…shaking. Violently. Your first thought as you blinked, waking yourself out of your dazed sleep, was that a spontaneous earthquake was happening.

Except once your mind adjusted, it didn’t take very long to realize the mattress was the only thing shaking — and was the result of Bucky twisting and turning in fear next to you, lost in a nightmare. At some point, he must’ve untangled your cuddling bodies but thankfully that allowed you to sit up quickly, not trapped under whatever was happening.

You watched him, quite stunned to see Bucky thrashing around uncontrollably as whatever images and scenarios took over his brain. You didn’t really know what to do. All your brain could focus on was getting him out of his own thought. You needed him to calm down and know he was perfectly safe.

"Bucky?" You mumbled, your voice scratchy from the tears and fears creeping up. He didn’t react, only whispered some words to himself that you didn’t understand.

You hesitantly reached out for him, placing an experimental touch on his shoulder. He didn’t react at first so you called out his name again and tried shaking him. That was apparently not the right move because the next thing you knew, you were being flung off the bed, the side of your face against your bedside table on your way down. You landed ungracefully on your side, groaning at the unexpected pain.

The fall must’ve been loud enough because the next thing you could comprehend was watching the bed and seeing a very confused and dazed Bucky sit up. He was looking around the dark room, sweaty and anxious. When your eyes met, any color left in him faded. You could practically see the gears turning as he realized what he had done. You on the other hand were still quite surprised by the incident, simply choosing to stare at your boyfriend, watching him scramble off the bed and kneel at your side.

"Doll?" Bucky asked right beside you but his voice sounded so far away.

Taking some deep breaths, your shaky hand came up to your cheek as you felt something wet. Looking at your fingers, it was a sad mix of tears and blood.

A hand being placed on your shoulder made you snap back. You jerked away, turning towards your boyfriend. Bucky was practically frozen watching you, hands in the air, as you rushed to put space between you two.

Realizing the consequences of your actions, your heart sunk and you began apologizing. "Sorry, sorry," you mumbled, trying to furiously wipe away the tears and blood. "I- What happened? Are you okay?" You situated yourself to sit criss-cross in front of him.

"Am I okay?" Bucky shook his head in disbelief. "Are you okay? I- I’m sorry. God, I don’t even know how to apologize for this I am- I am so sorry, doll, I didn’t mean it. It wasn’t me, I swear, it- I had a nightmare and I just- I don’t know what happened." He was rambling, body shaking as he didn’t know what to do. Where to begin. How to explain. His mind was torn as a part of him wanted to hold you… And the other part wanted to leave you forever, utterly terrified of himself.

"Yeah, you seemed a bit upset," you mumbled, trying to hold your hand to your scraped cheek. Bucky saw your struggle and darted to the bathroom to get a washcloth, offering all he could as his words were failing. He handed it to you then took his seat again on the floor.

You dabbed your skin, checking the cloth as the bleeding slowed down. You weren’t sure what to say, either.

"I didn’t know what to do," you finally whispered, looking down at the carpet beneath you. "You were shaking and tossing and- and I just wanted you to wake up. To know you were fine. You seemed so scared-,"

"Alright, alright," Bucky mumbled, cutting you off as he saw you beginning to get worked up. Your body was shaking now as you recalled the last few minutes. The pure suddenness and terror that took over the room. He placed an experimental touch on your knee and, thankfully, you didn’t jump away. "You were fine, doll. This isn’t your fault. I- I knew I wasn’t ready to sleep with anyone and I got ahead of myself and now… Look what happened. God, what have I done?"

His jaw clenched as he spat out the words. You jumped slightly.

"Bucky, you didn’t mean to-,"

"But I did it," he said. "I hurt you and now I think maybe this just isn’t…" He faded off, his hand leaving your knee. He turned towards the bed as you tried searching him for anything, any answer.

"James, don’t." You shook your head. Bucky’s head whipped back to you as he heard the anger, the seriousness, in your voice. "Don’t say whatever you’re going to say. Let’s just go back to sleep and we can figure stuff out in the morning."

Bucky bit his tongue. He just nodded at your request, seriously not trusting his words anymore. He had half the mind to walk out, disappear into the world without you, all in the name of keeping you safe. And like the mind-reader you could be, you knew it. You saw it in his entire demeanor. He was practically planning an escape route at that very moment.

You two finally stood up from the floor. After disregarding the washcloth, you found your way back under the duvet. Bucky wordlessly gathered a blanket and left for the living room, knowing very well this bed was going to be the last place he fell asleep for a long time.

"Bucky," you called out as you were turned away from him. He stopped in the doorway. "To talk in the morning you have to actually be here."

He didn’t respond and instead just nodded his head as if you could see it. Then he promptly exited the room.

While the bleeding had stopped, the tears weren’t as you only heard the sound of Bucky walking to the living room.

***

Bucky was there in the morning and you talked — you. Only you could formulate words as difficult as it was while Bucky sat across from you. The guilt, shame, the exhaustion, all of it was painted on his normally sweet face.

You had told him you were fine, were feeling better. You were going to be okay. You understood the bed situation and wouldn’t pressure him into sleeping anywhere he was uncomfortable. You just desperately wanted him to be okay, to feel safe and happy in this space with you. Bucky just nodded along as you began attempting to write out a plan in case that had happened again. Nothing seemed to bring a true conclusion but there was at least the idea that there’d be no more touching of either person in their sleep, at least for the time being. It crushed you both, but neither of you commented.

He didn’t really offer much input besides agreeing with your points. Every other word out of his mouth was "sorry" so much so to the point you had to beg him to stop it.

He mostly just listened which you generally would enjoy from any man but in this case, you knew it gave his brain time to wander. Probably still planning how he would get himself out of his. But you didn’t want him gone. He was practically the perfect significant other in every sense. No one had ever treated you with such kindness and respect. Showered you with romance and kisses. Surprised you with date nights and flowers. You were just at a bump in the road and you didn’t want to get stuck behind it so easily.

Few days had passed and stuff seemed to be edging back towards normal. He had begun even holding your hand again, just a gentle touch to work his way up, reminding you greatly of when you first started dating, but you were welcoming it all with great patience.

You were standing at the kitchen counter cutting up vegetables for dinner when Bucky came home. He had a therapy appointment that day and usually emotions could be all over the place when he came home. Some days were good, some days everything would get under his skin.

Today, though, he seemed just… fine. He came in quietly and planted a quick kiss on your cheek before grabbing a beer from the fridge. He asked if you needed any help and when you shook your head, he went over to sit on the couch, watching whatever reality show you had mindlessly playing.

Moments passed and you had just begun sautéing the cut-up veggies when Bucky spoke, cutting through the silence quite surprisingly.

"I told her what happened," Bucky said softly. You froze, eyes trained on the skillet in front of you. His therapist. He had told her.

"Oh?" You asked, silently cringing at your stupid response. Neither of you had exactly brought up the incident since that morning after. And if anyone was going to resurface it, you had assumed it’d be you, so hear him so casual was making your heart pound.

"Mhm," he hummed. "I told her my first reaction was to leave."

"Bucky-,"

Footsteps started towards you, stopping at the little kitchen bar. You could feel him watching you as you tried focusing on the cooking produce. Your breath started to get caught in your throat, so much worry and concern washing over you.

"She wanted you to come in one session," Bucky tapped his fingers on the counter. "So we can talk."

You frowned and finally turned towards him. Worry was splashed everywhere on his face. Your heart practically sobbed. "Bucky, we did talk about it."

He shook his head profusely. "No, you talked," A beat. "I stood there like a statue, thinking of ways to leave you. Ways to get out of this so I’d never had to see that scared, upset look on your face ever again. So I’d never have to cause you any more pain than I already have. But I’ve come to realize I can’t do that because I love you too much and I- I can’t run away from you or anything. I’m going to try… No, I will make it right."

Your heart sank at his confessions. He loved you — a word he had never explicitly said before. A four-letter word he had never stood there and outwardly said. You let out a light sob and went around the kitchen counter, throwing your arms around his neck. He was shocked at first, maybe even a bit unsure, but you weren’t letting go, he realized, until he held you back.

"I love you, too," you eventually mumbled between the tears. You pulled away slightly, keeping your hands on his arms while his hands rested comfortably at your waist. Just feeling his touch had you melting all over again. "We’re going to be okay, Buck. It’s going to be fine."

He nodded, his eyes searching over your face as the scrape on your cheek was just still barely visible. It was going away fast but he didn’t think he could ever unsee it. "You’re right, doll, we’ll be okay. I’m working on it."

You gave a small smile. "You can’t be perfect, Bucky."

"Maybe not," Bucky shrugged as his hand found its way to your face, caressing your unharmed cheek. "But I at least gotta try to be perfect for you."

You sighed, leaning into the loving touch. Looking in his eyes you could kind of see that it truly was going to be okay. He looked so passionate and dedicated when he stared at you like you were it in the world. The only thing there. It made your soul sing and you hoped he saw it in you, too. "You are, honey. You already are."

#bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes one shot #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky x reader #bucky barnes #the winter soldier #marvel one shot #marvel fanfiction #marvel #avengers #mcu #mcu fic #angst #fluff #writing*#one shot

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navalcriminalimagines · 3 years

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Hi!! It's me AGAIN! 😝 May I request "OH, you're jealous!" with Gibbs? I love jealous Gibbs so much!! 🤭👀❤️

I love writing jealous!Gibbs!! Thank you for your request! This took an unexpected turn, I hope you'll like it! 👀❤️

Warnings: smut, dom!Gibbs, blowjob

Tags: @hotch-meeeeeuppppp

Oh, you're jealous

You met Leroy Jethro Gibbs a couple of years ago. You had just started as an FBI Agent, and you were Tobias Fornell's partner. The case with NCIS was your first interagencies encounter, and not on your life would you have thought about meeting the most amazing man.

But you did and you spent the next year hoping something would happen with him. Every time you heard about NCIS through a case, you made sure to be involved. It's only after Diane's wedding with Victor that things finally took the turn you were waiting for.

Tobias had a hard time seeing his ex-wife and mother of his daughter getting married again, especially after he learnt that she had cheated on him with that Victor. After the wedding, you invited him for drinks but he told you he already planned on getting at Gibbs's house and he told you to join.

You did, and by the end of the night, Gibbs and you were making out in his basement while Tobias had passed out upstairs on the couch.

That was a year ago and since then, your relationship with Gibbs has been amazing. Unfortunately, you don't see each other as much as you'd liked to. You're both committed to your jobs and you knew about your boyfriend's past. You don't want to pressure him into anything, it may scare him away.

There are actually good sides of not seeing each other much; when you and Gibbs manage to get together, you just enjoy one another's company and there are no fights. What would you two argue about anyway?

You can't say you and him are clearly dating, since you never used that word and actually, you never talked about what the relationship is and where it's going. Eventually, you'll have the talk, but not for now. You don't want to ruin it by asking it to be serious or planning a future.

Finally, a new joined case came in. Gibbs called Tobias and quickly, you two were driving to the NCIS headquarters.

Of course, Gibbs's team doesn't know anything about whatever is going on between you two. To be fair, Tobias was suspicious, but you - or Gibbs - never told him anything.

When you arrive in the bullpen, you can see Tony DiNozzo's face lighten up. He greets you with a huge smile, clearly avoiding Tobias. "Y/N, it's nice to see you again! This case just became very interesting," he winks at you and you chuckle. Tony has been very flirty with you for the beginning, and if you hadn't had a crush on Gibbs at the very first second, you probably would've hooked up with the Very Special Agent.

"Nice to see you too, Tony. I like working with you, guys," you smile and your eyes finally settle on your 'boyfriend', sitting at his desk, already talking with Tobias. He doesn't greet you at all, instead he just asks his team to do a sit-rep.

As you're staring at the screen and listening to McGee, you can feel Tony's body on your left and Gibbs's on your right. Gibbs's fingers are gently brushing yours and you can feel shivers running down your spin.

"You cold, Y/N?" Tony whispers in your ear. "Want my sweater?" he offers and before he knows it, a hand slaps the back of his head. "I'm just being nice, boss," he complains. Boss doesn't answer.

Tim finishes the sit-rep, and orders are given. Of course, Gibbs asks you to be with him and the two of you are on your way down to Autopsy. As soon as the elevator's doors close, Gibbs's mouth is all over you.

"Hey," he finally greets you.

"Took you long enough," you say between two kisses. He smiles against your mouth, ready to kiss you one more time but the ride is over and the doors open.

After that stop in Autopsy, Ziva tells Gibbs that the BOLO they sent gave results and they need to get going. He tells her to go with Fornell. As you need to check a few things in the FBI database, you settle at an empty desk with your laptop and get into work.

Quickly, you notice someone putting a coffee next to you, "Latte, two sugars, am I right?" Tony asks.

"Wow, no one brings me my coffee at the FBI. I'm gonna need Fornell to steal you," you smile at the Agent.

"I'd rather have you joining us. I'm sure Gibbs would be okay," he says. "Although, if I break rule 12 again, I'm a dead man,"

"Wait!" you think for a moment, "Rule 12 is--never date a coworker, right?" Tony nods. "Very presumptuous of you, Tony DiNozzo," you grin at him.

Not that you enjoy flirting with DiNozzo - even if it feels nice that a handsome man like him is hitting on you - but you can see Gibbs's pissed off face in the corner of your eye and you do enjoy that. "Well," as he's practically sitting on 'your' desk, Tony leans over you and whispers, so no one can hear, "You're pretty, I'm pretty. We can make pretty good things together, don't you think?"

You only have time to softly laugh, since Gibbs got up and headslaps DiNozzo again. "Quit flirting at work, got it, boss,"

You watch Gibbs walking to the elevator while Tony puts his hair back in place, "We'll continue this tonight, if you want to join us? We're celebrating Ziva's citizenship at a bar,"

"I'd love that,"

Gibbs comes back half an hour later with a fresh coffee. You can see on his face he’s clearly pissed but you decide not to do anything about it for now.

* * * * *

The rest of the day went smoothly. There was no big breakthrough in the case, for a moment you thought that the celebration might be canceled. But to everyone’s surprise, Gibbs and Fornell decide to call it a night. “We won’t be able to get anything done before tomorrow morning anyway,” Fornell says.

The NCIS team didn’t need much to start packing their things. As you’re putting your laptop in your bag, Abby, Jimmy and Ducky appear in the bullpen, “Celebration night!” Abby exclaims, “Gibbs, Fornell, you’re joining?”

“What are we celebrating?” Your boss asks.

“Ziva David, being officially a citizen of the United States of America!” Jimmy explains, wrapping his arm around Ziva’s shoulders.

Fornell looks over his shoulder, down to Gibbs. “You going?”

“Pass,”

Then, Fornell puts his eyes on you, “You?”

“Yup, Tony offered me to join. If anyone minds,”

“Of course not!” Abby happily grabs your arm and walks you to the elevator. You don’t have time to give one last look at Gibbs, as you’re all taking off to the bar.

Only Fornell and Gibbs remain in the bullpen. “You sure you don’t want to keep an eye on DiNozzo?” Fornell teases his best friend.

“Fornell, if you want to go, just--leave,”

“Fine, I’ll protect her myself,” he says, “Unless I get too drunk and don’t see them sneaking out to the bathroom,”

Gibbs growls before standing up, “I hate you,”

* * * * *

At the bar, you and the team got into a booth in the back. Of course, Tony made sure to be right next to you and Abby was on your other side. You all ordered your drinks and when the waiter brought them, you toasted, “To Ziva!” everyone says.

You have barely swallowed the first sip of the Champagne when you see Gibbs and Fornell entering the bar. Abby sees them too and calls their names. “I don’t know what you told him, Fornell, but I’m so glad to convince him to come,” Ziva confesses. It really means a lot to her that all of her team - her other family - is here to celebrate.

Even if he joined, Gibbs is being himself and doesn’t talk much with anyone, except some quick exchanges with Ducky. He’s sitting across the table from you, and you can see his eyes darkening as Tony whispers something in your ear that makes you giggle. He drinks his second bourbon in one swallow and goes to the counter to order another one. You excuse yourself to Tony, and join Gibbs.

“You okay?” you ask him, innocently.

“Perfect,” he mutters.

“Wanna spend the night at my place, tonight?” you whisper in his ears, gently nipping his lobe.

“Why don’t you ask DiNozzo?” he answers.

"Oh, you're jealous!" you exclaim with a chuckle, as the bartender puts the glass in front of Gibbs. His hand grips on the glass hard, his knuckles are turning white.

“Why would I be jealous? We’re not dating,”

This sends you off, you bit your bottom lip to avoid shouting in the middle of a bar. You take one deep breath to remain calm and answer, “Of course. I wonder what you’ve been doing for the past year, if not dating,”

Even with the dim light, Gibbs can see your cheeks turning red from anger. He shouldn’t have said this, because obviously, he has strong and deep feelings for you, but he hates to admit that he’s indeed...jealous. “Maybe I’ll indeed ask DiNozzo. Or maybe I’ll ask a stranger. Or--Or maybe, I’ll ask DiNozzo and a stranger,”

You’re about to leave him here when he grabs your wrist, ever so gently. You can see that his face had softened a bit. Then his hand moves from your wrist to your hand and his fingers intertwine with yours. Gibbs starts to walk away, taking you with him. He doesn’t say a word until he reaches his car. He opens the door for you, “Are we really sneaking out?” you ask.

“Just get in,” he orders, along with smack on your ass.

This gesture sends something right down to your core. You smile and get in his truck, shortly followed by him.

The parking lot is dark, the car is only facing trees and bushes. But you don’t have time to overthink what’s going on, as Gibbs’s lips crash on yours. He immediately asks for access with his tongue, which you happily grant him. One of his hands gets under your top, feeling your skin under his fingers. It keeps getting higher, until he cups one of your breasts and squeezes. You moan in his mouth, and your nails scratch on his scalp. He growls at the feeling, and quickly grabs your hips to make you sit on his lap. “You seriously want to do this in the car?” you ask, but it seems obvious as you can feel him getting hard.

“I want you to make yourself forgiven,”

His blue eyes are dark with lust. You know exactly what that means. You haven’t experienced the dominant side of Gibbs yet and god, is it turning you on. You can feel yourself getting soaking wet in your panties. You approach your lips to his to kiss him again but he only lets them brush. “Your mouth should be busy somewhere else,” he says.

“Yes, sir,” you agree and work on his belt.

You don’t know if he’s ever done something like this before, but his painful erection lets you know how turned on he is. You give him a few strokes, feeling some precum on your hand. He groans under your touch and then, you bend your head over to lick the head of his cock, tasting him. “Fuck!” he mutters. You play with the head for a moment before taking him inside your mouth.

As you blow him, Gibbs has one arm stretching over the seat and his other hand is settled in the back of your neck, guiding you. You can feel him grabbing your hair into his fist from time to time. “You’re so good at this, sweetheart,” he praises you and you hum in response, with his cock still inside your mouth. It sends shivers down his spine, and he bucks his hips, making his length go as deep as possible inside your throat. When he hits the back of your throat, Gibbs lets out such a huge moan, people in the bar may have heard him.

“Who does this mouth belong to?”

You relish him briefly, “You.” you answer.

“Good girl,” he growls. “Now, make me cum in that pretty mouth of yours,”

You go back to your oral ministrations and quickly, Gibbs is coming inside your mouth, shooting his load inside your throat, as your name leaves his lips in the most erotic sound you’ve ever heard. You couldn’t be any more turned on at this very moment. As he’s catching his breath, you make a big show of swallowing every drop of him.

Finally, he grabs the back of your neck a bit roughly to make you kiss him. He can taste himself on you and from the sound you’re making, he understands that you love that side of him. “I’m not done with you,” he says, brushing his lips against yours. “We’re going back inside, like nothing happened, but if you keep flirting with DiNozzo, or anyone else, I’ll deny you for such a long moment, you’ll beg me to shot you,”

You may be crazy, but this makes you want to piss him off a little more.

#jethro gibbs imagine #leroy jethro gibbs #leroy jethro gibbs x reader #gibbs x reader #jethro gibbs x reader #jethro gibbs #gibbs #tony dinozzo #tobias fornell #gibbs smut

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