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magics-neptunes-things · 4 months

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Part Of Me

Alexia please come back, the kids and I miss you 💔

No request for this one, only from my imagination. Enjoy!

TW : Mention of abusive relation, a little of angst I guess

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Since joining FC Barcelona a few months ago, you have become the biggest plot for your teammates. Before signing in Barcelona, you were under contract with PSG but you had not set foot on the football fields since months because of an injury. Your signing with the Barcelona club surprised a lot of people since you had not proven yourself for a long time, your absence falling at the worst time, just before the eventual renewal of your contract in the French capital.

But it's now in Barcelona that you evolve and your discretion foolproof intrigues your teammates a lot. You are almost never present at organized parties and if you didn't arrive late at regular intervals, you would probably be almost transparent. Not in the field that said and fortunately. Since you're goalkeeper and a turn is made between the other goalkeepers and you, you don't participate in all the matches and you are not called every week. This undoubtedly adds to the shadow that characterizes you.

Alexia cannot tell if it's this part of the mystery that draws her gaze irremediably on you. But still, she regularly surprises herself by letting her eyes slide on you during training, something that Mapi hasn't missed. She doesn’t hesitate to tease her best friend on the subject, Alexia standing up to her every time by telling her that it’s just that she's intrigued by the shadows around you.

It's the truth, but but there is more. When you aren't officially summoned to the matches, you nevertheless attend them in the stands. This is where you exchanged your first words with Alexia, first turned on football before the conversations became lighter. You’ve noticed that Alexia sometimes tries to learn more about your private life, but you’ve always managed to avoid her questions.

********

"Sorry, sorry, I’m late" you apologize to Jonatan, coming running into the weight room, jumping on one leg to put on your second shoes.

Mapi bows an eyebrow towards Alexia who shrugs her shoulders, when your coach apologizes you with a vague wave of the hand before asking you to join Ona to be her training partner. She greets you with a little smile and Alexia can hear her ask you if everything is okay. You answer her with a positive smile, before focusing on the requested exercises.

"It’s so weird. No one ever scolds her" mumbles Mapi towards Alexia. "When I'm late I have to run at least five laps."

Alexia shrugs her shoulders without answering, turning her gaze on Mapi when she elbows her.

"Stop staring at her for two seconds, everyone will catch you"

"Leave her alone, Maria" Ingrid scolds her, triggering a little cute argument between the two.

Alexia takes advantage of the exchange between the two women to shift her attention back to you. You look tired this morning and she wonders what made your night complicated. Do you suffer from insomnia? She doesn’t know anything about your life, doesn’t know if you have a boyfriend or girlfriend.

"Did you offer to come tonight?" Ingrid asks Alexia nicely.

"She received the message about the Whatsapp group like everyone else, but I don’t think she replied"

"Go ask her directly. Maybe she’s just shy?"

Alexia bites her lip as she hears Ingrid’s attempt to guess your behavior. It’s true that if we compare you to Mapi or Lucy, you are rather the opposite of them in terms of character. Alexia herself doesn't participate in parties when it involves going to a nightclub, but comes willingly when it comes to film evenings organized at someone's house.

"I can try" ended up answering Alexia thoughtfully, her eyes on you again.

As usual at the end of the training, you are the first to be dressed and ready to go. You are always polite and smiling with everyone, but you give the constant impression of having hundreds of things to do outside of games and practice.

But Alexia beat you in speed this time and she catches you when you walk along the corridors to return to your car.

"Hey, Y/N?"

You turn to her and smile at her when she arrives at your height, giving her an interrogative look.

"I was wondering if you were coming to Aitana’s tonight? You didn’t answer in the groupchat."

"Oh… no, I don’t think I can, I'm sorry"

You feel a little guilty about saying no, but you don’t really have a choice. Your regrets are sincere and it seems to have caught Alexia’s attention. The blonde bites her lip when she resumes speaking, playing nervously with her bracelet.

"It’s sad. I just… I mean, I’d really like you to come."

This surprises you and you look at her for a few seconds as you continue to walk, wondering if she's mocking you. But no, she seems sincere and you even find yourself blushing a little.

"I’ll see what I can do to free myself if that can makes you happy" you end up answering in a low voice.

"Really?"

"Yeah"

You are surprised by the big smile that appears on your captain’s face, but it's nothing compared to the one you feel when she approaches you to put a kiss on your cheek. Alexia turns her heels and in a whirlwind of blonde hair, she disappeared.

"So?" Mapi asks Alexia when she drops by her side, back in the locker room, putting her head in her hands.

"It’s a disaster. She’s gonna think I’m the weirdest person in the world."

"What are you other than that anyway?" snorts Mapi, before receiving a slap behind the head from her girlfriend.

********

When you arrive in front of Aitana, you find yourself hesitating before pressing the bell. You have never participated in this kind of party and even if everyone is very nice to you, you don't know if you will feel comfortable with them outside the field.

"Can’t find the doorbell?"

Lucy’s amused voice sounds behind you and you turn to see her arrive in the company of Ona. You find yourself mumbling some excuse, but you are quickly diverted from what you want to answer by the quick embrace that the English offers you before ringing. You also greet Ona and finally you are happy not to arrive alone.

Aitana comes to open you shortly after and greets you in turn with an embrace to each. A big smile spreads on her face when she sees you and you find yourself having the right to a full visit of her home. This allows you to see those who are already present and until you enter the living room, you feel a slight disappointment not to see Alexia. But the blonde is installed on the sofa in the living room, next to Irene, when you get there.

Your eyes cross quickly and you respond timidly to her smile before answering Aitana that you want to drink anything as long as it's not alcoholic. Your Fanta in hand, you return to the living room without really knowing where to sit. But you don't hesitate long since you suddenly find yourself facing Alexia, also a drink in the hand.

"It’s great that you could come" smiled Alexia looking at you

You nod, not being able to stop yourself from realizing that Alexia is as beautiful off the field as in her football kit. Her blonde hair falls out of cascade around her face and her dress look is particularly attractive to your taste.

"I wouldn't have wished to grieve my Captain" you answer with a slight smile.

Alexia doesn't answer and an emotion that you cannot describe passes through her eyes, before she continues on another topic of conversation. Some of your teammates will come to mingle with you, Cata and Sandra in particular, as you train together as goalkeepers, but you will mainly spend your early evening with Alexia. The rest too, since you find yourself sitting next to her when the film you have gathered for begins. Usually, you don’t allow yourself to think about any attraction that you might have for someone else, but you have to admit that if you have to put someone at the top of the list, it would be Alexia. You find yourself struggling with sensations that you shouldn’t feel when her knee grazes yours, making you feel like a teenager experiencing her first crush. At the end of the film, you get up to join Aitana in her kitchen, embarking on the passage of dirty dishes to facilitate her task. "I’m sorry, but I have to go" you announce with a slight smile. You don’t like the idea of leaving first, but you don’t really have a choice. "Don’t worry, it’s good that you could come. It’s a pleasure to have you with us" she assures you before offering you an embrace. "Are you leaving already?" Alexia’s voice resounds behind you and you turn in her direction, to explain to her too that you have no choice. "For once it's not you who leaves first" Aitana laughs in the direction of Alexia. The Spanish woman smiles and puts dishes in Aitana’s sink before resuming speaking. "I’ll leave too. I have an interview tomorrow before practice." With that, you find yourself saying goodbye to your teammates at the same time and leaving Aitana’s home together. When you find yourself outside, you offer a hug to Alexia to say goodbye, finding you troubled by her smell. You shiver when you feel her stroking your back and you suddenly realize the warmth of her body against yours, the softness of her skin, her hair that pleasantly caresses your face. And more intimately her chest against yours.

"It was nice to spend time with you outside the stadium" says Alexia.

Her mouth is right next to your ear since she still hasn’t released you. You quickly detach from her, feeling how disturbed you are by her closeness. But Alexia doesn’t release you completely, as if she wanted to enjoy this embrace a little longer. Your faces are only a few inches apart when your eyes cross and you wonder how you could never get lost in her honey-hazelnut eyes before that.

You don’t know how long your eye exchange lasts or what Alexia can read in yours. What you know is that when she slowly approaches her face from yours, you can’t resist the call of her lips. The kiss is sweet and delicate, Alexia gives you the impression that you are made of glass and ready to break into a thousand pieces. Which is probably the case.

You are breathless when you end the kiss, amazement taking precedence over the rest. Alexia Putellas has just kissed you.

"I.. I have to go" you stutter before you run away to your car.

The implicit rule asking everyone to send a message about the group when they come back, you simply send a "Home!" when you are, but you hurry to ignore your phone after that.

********

"It’s been three days and she never came back to training"

Sitting at the kitchen table of Mapi and Ingrid, Alexia ruminates her mixture of despair and questioning. She doesn't understand why you reacted in this way to your kiss, especially since you answered it and even extended it. She doesn't understand your disappearance after that and how you can be so traumatized that you simply decided to skip training.

Thanks to her title of captain, Alexia knows that it's officially for illness reasons that you didn't put a finger in the Barcelona stadium. But she can’t believe it.

Alexia is seated facing Mapi in front of a cup of coffee that she has not touched while Ingrid prepares a meal for them to regain strength after their training. The couple take Alexia here, touched by her distress.

"Maybe you're a very bad kisser?" laughs at Mapi, before abruptly shutting up when she receives a slap behind the head from her girlfriend.

"Stop doing that!" whines Mapi.

"Stop teasing your bestfriend!" answers back Ingrid

"Do you think so?" asked Alexia, ignoring their little fight, turning her head sharply towards the tattooed woman.

"Of course not, I'm sure it has nothing to do with it" intervenes Ingrid by raising rolling her eyes.

"How can you know that?" Mapi sulks, crossing her arms on her chest.

"I should never have kissed her" sighs Alexia before letting her forehead go against the wooden table in an alarming thud.

Mapi rolls her eyes in front of her best friend’s despair as Ingrid puts three plates on the table.

"What is done is done, you cannot change anything. On the other hand you can move your ass a little to make things better" replies the blonde, grabbing her cutlery.

"What do you mean?"

Alexia’s curious gaze rises on her best friend, but it is once again Ingrid who answers, the other blonde now having her mouth full of food.

"Go to her. You don’t need an excuse, just tell her the truth. That you’re worried about her."

Mapi simply agrees with Ingrid’s proposal and points to the Norwegian with her fork, nodding harshly. Basically, Ingrid isn't wrong, at least that’s what Alexia says when she looks out the window. "It’s still strange this behavior, to want to go home as soon as she finished training or matches." Alexia sighs thoughtfully before widening her eyes. "What if she’s married? You think I kissed a married woman?" "Oh god" sighs Ingrid as Mapi stands up on her chair abruptly. "Imagine she’s married to someone abusive? That would explain why she has so little freedom." "Okay, stop now" Ingrid intervenes again. "Alexia eats and goes to see her. And you, shut up" Mapi groans and shifts her attention to her plate, but nevertheless obeys quickly. Alexia also grabs her fork, thoughtfully thanking the brunette for her cooking. A few hours later, Alexia finds herself in front of an apartment on the ground floor of a residential area, where you live. It’s a bit out of town, but that doesn’t surprise her. In her opinion, it fits well with the discretion that characterizes you. After hesitating for a few more seconds, Alexia finally presses the doorbell button. It takes you a few minutes to answer, your surprise displayed on your face when you find yourself facing Alexia. You don't open the door entirely, sliding only your face by the interscice, which once again intrigues the blonde. She runs through your face with her eyes and it's true that you look tired. You have dark circles, drawn lines and your hair is styled in a messy bun. "Ale?" "Sorry to barge in like this without warning but uh... can we talk?"

You bite your lip while looking at her, apparently hesitating how you will answer her. This again makes Alexia mad with worry. What if Mapi was right? But you end up nodding, before going out the apartment after taking a look inside and gently closing the door behind you. It wasn’t what Alexia expected.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay"

Alexia talks nervously, realizing that you will not speak first.

"Oh… yes, I'm okay. I mean… the disease, all that" you mumble and shrug.

La Reina remains silent for long seconds, so long that you end up looking up at her face. You see her looking at you attentively and you find yourself foolishly blushing. The memory of your kiss has stuck in your head all these days and you have to use all your concentration capacity not to look at her lips.

"Listen Y/N, if your absence is related to what happened at the end of the evening…"

"Oh… no, I… it’s nothing to do with that, I promise"

You find yourself stuttering again and you hate yourself for it. If you wanted to give Alexia a good impression, you can hardly do worse.

"So what is it? To be honest, I can’t believe you’re sick. If something happens or you need help, you know we’re here for you? The others and myself, too"

You find it hard to support her gaze and you find yourself looking over her shoulder again. Without knowing what to say.

"Y/N"

The way she says your name in a mixture of tenderness and affection would have been enough to give you chills, but the fact that she touches your cheek with her fingers supports the sensation. That works though, your eyes quickly turning over on her face. But you step back, remembering that you can’t let go with her that way.

Which is terribly frustrating. Alexia seems to think the same, her eyes letting pass a burst of disappointment or rejection before she recovers. "I can’t. Not yet." You speak as well of any rapprochement with her as of a confession on your part. But Mapi’s assumption quickly comes back to Alexia’s mind and she gently takes your arm in her hand. "Is someone hurting you?" The surprise that appears on your face is so sincere that Alexia quickly understands that they have gone wrong. But it’s a relief and it’s comforting a few seconds before the frustration comes back. What would stop you from confiding in her if it wasn’t that? "No one is hurting me" you answer softly, though touched by Alexia’s level of worry. "It’s just that I don’t think I’m fit to get into a relationship right now, Ale. It wouldn’t be interesting for you for one second, much more annoying and constraining than anything else." "You can’t or you don't want to?" Alexia asks, almost ignoring what you just said. The answer you’re going to give Alexia will probably change a lot what she’s going to tell you in return, you know it perfectly. You could lie to her, but when you find yourself once again immersed in hwe eyes, you are incapable. Sighing slowly, you decide to tell her the truth. "I can’t." Obviously, this is the answer Alexia was hoping for, you realize it quickly when she steps in your direction. As delicately as before, her fingers stroke your face and you briefly close your eyes to reopen them when you feel her forehead leaning against yours. "Whatever it is, Y/N. I’m sure you’re worth it." When you shake your head in a negative way, it doesn’t seem to impress her. "Let me decide?" adds Alexia.

The seconds that pass while your brain turns a thousand an hour are torture for Alexia, but for you too. You know perfectly well that Alexia will leave when she understands. But the blonde adds a "Please" begging and you can no longer stand up to her.

So you finally accept, gently opening the door of your apartment to invite Alexia to enter. From your point of view, your apartment isn't exceptional, but you surprise the captain to look around in an intriguing way. However, this is not where she will understand what keeps you in many things in your life.

Without really thinking about your gesture, you take her hand to take her upstairs and open the door of a room. And the least we can say is that Alexia didn't expect that to be in front of her.

A children’s room in beige and sky blue colors in which there is the complete necessary for a baby. A changing table, a wardrobe, pictures of animals and a cradle with a mobile installed above. The cradle is occupied, Alexia realizes it quickly. She looks at you to ask your permission to approach and you smile at her to confirm that she can do so.

You will never forget the first time Alexia laid eyes on your son. A mixture of wonder and tenderness that takes your breath away. Deeply asleep in his bed, unlike the previous three nights, his stuffed rabbit tight against his face and thumb in the mouth, your baby seems particularly relaxed. Alexia spends long seconds looking at him before shifting her attention to you.

For your part, you didn't leave her sight for a single second, regretting not being able to read her thoughts. You signal her to follow you outside the room with a nod and Alexia obeys without being asked.

Back in the living room, you feel like you’re hearing her brain scrambling.

"I guess you have questions?"

Alexia sat in front of you on one of your sofas and looked at you thoughtfully for a few moments. Her fingers mechanically caress her lower lip, which you’ve noticed she does when what she thinks is intense.

"You have a child"

"Yes"

"And you’re married?"

You’re just shaking your head negatively this time.

"In a relationship?"

"Nope"

"I don't understand"

You sigh softly and let yourself go against the back of the sofa on which you were installed on the edge so that you can better observe Alexia. The situation is complicated and that’s partly why you didn’t tell anyone.

"His father left as soon as he learned of the pregnancy. It was not planned at all and my former club agreed to mask my pregnancy with an injury. My contract was coming to an end and it was the deal we made. I was thinking about quitting my career after giving birth, but Barcelona contacted me to offer me a contract before the summer. I refused without explaining why and they insisted" you explain, slightly frowned. You still don’t understand their interest. "So I finally told them the truth. The leaders and Jonatan are aware and they offered to help me rather than give up"

Alexia remains silent throughout your explanation but a small smile is drawn and accentuated as your story. You deduce that it's because of the behavior of her club who is in line with her own personal values, until she resumes speaking.

"Well thanks for sharing this with me, but that’s not what I don’t understand" she said without masking her amusement, before getting up to sit next to you. You follow her with your eyes, in turn a little lost. "What I don’t understand is why you think the fact that you have a child would stop me from being interested in you"

So this one, you didn't expect it. You remain frozen on your sofa, blinking at her.

"Well… I barely have time to come train with you, I can never join you for evenings… How could I have time for you?"

"Is it now that I remind you that I am the most homebody of the team and that I am called Grandma because I go to bed early?"

You smile softly as you hear her answer punctuated by a touch of humor. Her amused smile increases your own fun and you feel a heat wave spread throughout your body as she mixes her fingers with yours.

"What’s his name?"

"Romeo" you answer

"It's cute" she smiles before resuming speaking. "But I'm sure we can make it work. I don't mind if our dates are in your house and I can still pass time with you when your son is here... If you're ok with that of course"

When she sees you bite your lips, Alexia take both of your hand in hers, searching for your eyes.

"I really like you and I don't think that your son will make things complicated. I can't wait to meet him. I'm serious with it, if you let me in, I won't let you down. Never."

"Just kiss me again."

Alexia looks shocked for two seconds, before leaning in and obliged. People always talk about the first kiss, the sensations it gives. But you find that the second one is underestimated too much. That of the confirmation. The second kiss Alexia offers you is as tender and delicate as the first, without the fear of being pushed back. Which you obviously don’t do this time, even shyly sliding a hand on his neck to prolong your exchange.

This lasts a few minutes, before baby crying sounds upstairs, interrupting your moment.

"I hope you’re ready, because it’s only the beginning" you smile maliciously against his lips.

********

alexiaputellas

liked by ingrid_engen, yourinstagram, ona.batlle, marialeonn16 and 260 202 others people.

alexiaputellas We fell in love in October 🤍🎶

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YourInstagram ❤️

irene.paredes amo a ambos

fan1 Who's hand is it? ↳ fan3 it's me don't worry ↳ fan5 I feel like it's Y/N, they seems really close in the lasts after games ↳ fan6 she put an heart in the comment section too ↳ fan7 So is Mapi ↳ fan5 Mapi is with Ingrid, don't be stupid ↳ marialeonn16 Yeah, don't be stupid

fan2 I thought she was single?!

fan4 Alexia you naughty secret girl

yourinstagram

liked by alexiaputellas, lucybronze, janafernandez, __cata13 and 250 197 others people.

yourinstagram You look so pretty and I love this view 🎶❤️

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marialeonn16 please send thanks to your photographer ↳ alexiaputellas muchas gracias Mapi ↳ fan1 OMG WAIT WHAT ↳ fan3 I TOLD YOU I FUCKING TOLD YOU FDKSFHJAFKJAL

alexiaputellas 🤍🤍🤍

fan4 Not Y/N and Alexia breaking the Internet

ona.batlle ❤️

yourinstagram and alexiaputellas

liked by alexiaputellas, albaputellas, ona.batlle, irene.paredes, ingrid_engen, __cata13 and 590 154 others people.

yourinstagram The loves of my life 💙❤️

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alexiaputellas te amo mucho 🥹🤍 liked by you

ingrid_engen 🫶❤️

elialexiaalba mis corazones

alexiaputellas

liked by yourinstagram, claudia.pina, ona.batlle, marialeonn16, lucybronze, __cata13 and 473 154 others people.

alexiaputellas Ready to watch Mami and Mama tonight ⚽👀

yourinstagram 💙❤️

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jenni.hermoso he's growing up so fast 😭

marialeonn16 remember me to offer him a Maria Leon jersey for his birthday ↳ alexiaputellas He won't wear it ↳ marialeonn16 of course he will, I'm her favorite ↳ lucybronze We all know that it's Ingrid

______________________________________________________________

For real it was in my draft for so long because I wasn't able to find a name for this baby 😭

#woso x reader #woso imagine #alexia putellas #alexia putellas imagine #alexia putellas x reader

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seresinhangmanjake · 6 months

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The One I Want: Part 3

Jake "Hangman" Seresin x Plus size!reader

Summary: You're new in town and some guy named Jake is about to be your roommate. Being skeptical of new people keeps you lonely and uninterested in any entanglements, but Jake is desperate to change that.

Notes/Warnings: cursing, maybe. I don't think anything else. Sorry if there are typos.

Words: 1720

The One I Want Masterlist

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Jake Seresin is a wizard. Or a mind-reader. Or some creature with wildly sensitive hearing. You’re sure of it.

In the month since you moved into the apartment, your only moments alone come when you lock yourself in your bedroom. Otherwise, Jake is near you—sitting next to you, looking at you, talking to you. If your door opens, he follows not five seconds later. If you sit down at the island with your breakfast of bland cereal, he enters the kitchen within two minutes to prepare his own meal; the same meal every morning. Eggs, Canadian bacon, and a protein shake. If you dare to switch the television on, turns out he’s been meaning to watch that show for weeks. You had no idea he was into movie special effects competitions.

It isn’t irritating, exactly—though, it wouldn’t shock you if others experiencing similar treatment would feel that way. You just can’t figure him out. He’s unfigure-outable. You’re pretty sure that’s a thing. If not, Jake Seresin just brought it into existence. And here you thought you were the mystery.

“So I was thinking,” he says.

You close your book without a second thought, having barely read and retained a line in the last fifteen minutes anyway. From the moment he came out of his room and plopped down on the couch—his leg bouncing and eyes trained ahead on nothing—you’ve been waiting for him to snap the tense band of silence between you.

His fingers clasp together, thumbs subtly twiddling when he finally looks over to you. “Maybe you could meet my friends. They’ve asked about you, and you’ve already met Nat so it’s really only the guys.”

That was perhaps one of the last things you imagined he would say. You’ve heard very little of his friends. They’re also pilots. His team. They all have weird nicknames. Half of those nicknames are animals.

There are other tidbits Jake casually mentioned as well. Coyote is his closest friend. There’s a Rooster who recently found himself a chick. A Bob and a Phoenix—who you learned is Nat—are particularly attached.

But every bit of that information you figured he was simply spilling to fill moments where you were in the same room but not speaking. Or perhaps it’s some method to draw out feelings of trust so you might participate in his little game of show and tell. In his eyes is always the hope that you’ll share something of your own, but you have yet to find the courage or need to do so.

“Oh,” you reply, trying to gather the correct words to turn him down. “Look, don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m not really up to meeting a group of people today.”

You hate the way his face falls. Like a puppy denied a treat. But it lasts only a second as another thought brightens the green hue of his irises.

“What if we went somewhere? You and me.”

“What?”

His body shifts on the couch, more of him now facing you. He’s wearing a shirt today. He’s been wearing shirts around you since you made the request weeks ago, but they’re weak at disguising the body underneath. Thin fabric pulled tight like a second skin.

“You said no bars,” he continues. “How do you feel about diners?”

—

It’s an odd image—Jake framed in this setting. He’s all lean muscle and neatly styled hair with a clean-shaven jawline surrounded by greasy food and booths so old their plastic seats are cracking. As others watch him—particularly the hostess who cannot for her life keep from glancing his way every thirty seconds—he watches you. Says nothing; just watches until the waitress returns to set a few plates and mugs in front of you both.

“There you go, kids,” she says. She’s older, and her hair is done up in a style that hasn’t followed the turning of the decades, but you like that it suits her; that she hasn’t paid attention to the change around her, or simply doesn’t care. With her hands on her hips, she says, “Now Jake, if I knew you were bringing a girlfriend I would’ve set aside some of that pie you like.”

Your eyes bug so much they could’ve fallen right onto the table, but Jake chuckles, smiling at you before directing it to the waitress. “Don’t spook her, Mags,” he teases. Then, “This is my new roommate.”

Her lips form an ‘O’ that holds for a few seconds too long before she blinks and tilts her head to the side. “Didn’t work out with the other one, honey?”

“Not so much, no.”

“Well, that’s just fine. I wasn’t a fan.” Mags takes a breath and straightens out her little apron; a costume element you’d rather die than wear, but much like her hair, Mags seems to take pride in it. You can’t fault her for that. You wish you could find a job you enjoy. Or a job at all. She shoots you a grin; nothing like the rehearsed smiles from someone in a customer service job, but a genuine curve of the lips that creates a warm little ball in your chest. “You, on the other hand, look like such a sweetheart. So be good to my Jake here.”

You don’t have the opportunity to disappoint her because she doesn’t wait for a response. Be good to her Jake. Not an ask. A demand. An unspoken ‘or else’ hanging in the air. And though she’s got at least forty years on you, you’re pretty sure she’s spry enough to follow through on her sneaky threats.

Mags squeezes Jake’s shoulder and departs, leaving you in a confused state of mixed energies. Shock and discomfort radiate off of you like heat waves, meeting the cool calmness emanating from a beaming Jake.

“Will you tell me more about yourself now?” he asks.

Shaking off the questionable tone of the older woman, you reconnect yourself to the man in front of you. His words soak in; another unexpected curveball Jake has thrown you within one day. His friends want to meet you, and now your personal details are on his mind. What would come next? Does he want to know the last time you were thoroughly kissed? Your high school GPA? Height and weight? If so, he’s going to be terribly disappointed.

Steaming, wispy tendrils invade your vision, and you finally register the blueberry hint hitting your nostrils. Jake had whispered the order to Mags with the explanation that he already knew what you wanted. And being the mind-reading wizard you’re convinced he is, on a menu of nearly one hundred items he magically happened to pick something you enjoy.

You hold yourself back from digging in, instead meeting his eyes as you cross your arms over your chest. “You think free pancakes are a good trade for my life story?”

He slowly slides a mug closer to you. “I got you coffee as well.”

When you raise an unenthused brow, Jake sighs.

“Fine. You’re leaving me no other choice than to guess,” he says. “But if I get it right, will you be honest?”

With a snort, you pick up your fork and take your first bite of the sweet fluffy cake. It’s undeniably delicious. Fucking wizard. “Sure,” you say, and akin to a child, Jake’s eyes light up like a Christmas tree.

He ignores his own food and drink to once again watch you. Observing. Your eyes to your lips to your neck and back again. When he comes to a conclusion, he leans back in the booth. “You are a fan of the beach and before you die you intend to live in every beach town this country has to offer for at least two months each.”

Your fork pauses halfway to your mouth. “Are you kidding?”

“Well, since it appears that I am wrong, I’m going to say yes I am kidding because I’m very funny like that.” He stares some more, eyes narrowing. “You’re searching for a long-lost family member.”

“No.”

“You are only attracted to Navy men and thought you’d travel to a hub.”

Again, as he likes to do, he leaves you lacking words for a moment. “That better be another one of your ‘I’m very funny like that’ attempts,” you eventually manage to say. “And you know I wasn’t aware this was a Navy town.”

Jake nods and then leans forward in his seat, arms overlapping on the linoleum tabletop. You can sense the sudden shift; a new energy. The glint in his eye doesn't quite go with the steady seriousness of his voice. Like mismatched puzzle pieces. “So you’re not attracted to Navy men?” he asks.

Your head jerks back to regain the distance he lessened. “Not exclusively.”

“Damn,” he replies, full playful tone back in place. “I wanted to at least get that part right.”

There’s another bright smile from him. A wink. You look to your right to find Mags' watchful gaze; motherly and hopeful.

After another swallow of pancake, you say, “Alright, you’re done for the day.”

“Oh, come on,” he whines.

When you shake your head, he picks up his fork and begins to poke at the eggs on his plate, and you bask in the silence of his disappointment. Peace and quiet, with the exception of the diners surrounding you. No questions. No attempted agonizing small talk. You have a moment to breathe.

It’s not until you’re halfway through your food and the coffee is nearly drained that Jake lifts his head.

“I’m going to figure you out,” he says with an unwelcome note of determination.

Your eyes snap up.

The feeling behind his statement is hard to nail down. You would’ve said delving into your history was something fun for him to do. Something to pass the time with the new person in his home. But now it comes off more like a need. A little prick in his side that he can’t shake.

You so badly want to be wrong in your interpretation. You want him to give up; to surrender to your stubbornness. Ideally, sooner rather than later.

“You really don’t have to,” you say.

Jake doesn’t miss a beat. Nothing about him—not his breath, not his stare—stutters at your response. Instead, he returns with, “But I want to.”

---

A/N: Sorry it's a little short. Next chapter will be labeled 3.5 and will be from Jake's POV.

tags: @wkndwlff @kmc1989 @sagittarius-flowerchild @dempy @oliviah-25 @rosiahills22 @xoxabs88xox @matisse556 @hardballoonlove @ssa-sadboi @lynnevanss @pono-pura-vida @tgmreader @amgluvsbooks @ravenhood2792 @djs8891 @shakespeareanwannabe @penguin876 @rogersbarnesxx @nani-kenobi @tgmavericklover @athenabarnes @elite4cekalyma @buckysteveloki-me @shelbycillian @kissmethric3 @fox-bee926 @hangmandruigandmav @waltermis @fandom-life-12 @a-serene-place-to-be @bruher @cehenyne @tngrace @mamaskillerqueen @benedictsvestcollection @blackwidownat2814 @himbos-on-ice @entertainmentgal8 @hookslove1592 @whoeverineedtobe @alwaysclassyeagle @chaytea06 @cherrycolas-things @turtle-in-a-tornado @have-a-nice-day-k @inkandarsenic @kidd3ath @coldmuffinbanditshoe

#jake seresin #jake seresin x reader #jake hangman seresin #top gun maverick #jake seresin fic #jake hangman seresin x reader #jake hangman seresin fic #top gun hangman #top gun #jake hangman seresin x y/n #tgm #tgm fic #jake seresin fluff #jake seresin x plus size!reader #jake seresin angst

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yuri-is-online · 6 months

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Congratulations for your 500 followers! I hope I'm not late, if you don't mind I would like prompt number 2 for the first year.

Since there're only 3 characters to choose from. I'll specifically choose them, it's Deuce, Jack and Sebek.

Hope is okay.

2. "Someone" decides to ask you for your opinion about "their friend" and you decide to have a bit of fun and tease them.

My dear you are a very lucky listener, between you and another friend I have all the usual first years for this, so I am going to go ahead and swap out Deuce for Epel on this post. The others can be found here. Though if we are being honest, I probably would have gone ahead and done all five of them anyway, there's just something about them that makes you not want to separate them you know?

notes: they/them used for Yuu, Jack doesn't handle embarrassment well, Epel is a brat, and Sebek is canonically easily flustered. The other event requests can be found on my masterlist here.

Jack

He has yet to think of a good way to talk about this. Jack has always been in tune with your movements, since long before he realized what it meant; no matter the size of the crowd he could drown it all out and find your heart beat. The sound draws him towards it out of habit, though he remembers himself enough to shy just short of invading your space and making introductions. Your heart is at rest, enjoying the sights and sounds of the ball, only spiking briefly when you notice him. Is it wrong, he wonders, to wish for it to have remained elevated? Moon knows his can never keep it steady around you.

"Hi!" You sound so happy. It's enough to make him scowl, jealousy clawing it's ugly way towards his throat keeping his mouth tightly closed. "Are you enjoying the festivities?"

Jack nods, doing his best to keep his tail from flinging the cape Crewel had so carefully pinned to his shoulders across the room. Jealousy cannot dull his happiness to see you, and your kindness is seldom denied to strangers.

"That's good to hear." You say without a hint of irony, and then you turn to leave, pausing when he moves along to follow. "Are you ok?"

"I'm trying to find a friend." Jack wants to hit himself as soon as he says it. Sure, Ace had suggested it as a joke but he had insisted it was a bad idea. A terrible idea. An idea that disrespected both yours and his common sense, and yet here he was asking you anyway. "Have you seen Jack?"

Now Jack had always had your interest, but now he had your attention. "Who?" If he didn't want to die before he definitely did now. His broad shoulders sag, only slightly they're much too muscular to do much more. "Oh you mean the Savanaclaw freshmen! Right? What do you need him for?"

"I'm just... looking for him." Jack sucks at lying, he's too uptight and too strict to his own code excel at it.

The tie he feels to you screams at him every time he does, lying does not protect the pack, it hurts them. And who is more vital to the pack than-

"Just to look at?" You have your arms clasped behind your back and are smiling? "I'll admit he is very pretty but I don't think you need to be looking at him."

"I shouldn't look at him?" How cute, the poor baby is confused. You move to stand right up against his chest, watching happily as he doesn't so much as flinch a single inch.

"No no, you should keep your eyes on me. Because," you press your finger against Jack's lips as if to shush him "I'm his one and only, the only way you are allowed to admire my Jack is if you see him reflected in my eyes." One second passes. And then two more, three draw themselves out as you see Jack's teeth grind faster than the gears in his head.

You have been toying with him, he realizes as the last of his embarrassment is swallowed up in the fire that lights up in his eyes.

"Oi, don't you remember what I said las time?" Your eyes widen as Jack breaths in the scent of your excited shock. "I told you-" his arms wrap around your waist to lift you up in the air, he tells himself it's just to make leaving easier, "if you keep yanking my tail, there's going to be consequences." As if he didn't know that's exactly what you wanted.

Epel

"Well, you seem awfully lonely, are you sure you're alright?" Epel doesn't think he has ever put this much effort into Vil's ettiquite speech, but he needs to tonight. He knows he's short, he knows he has this damnable cute appearance, and he knows Rook is hovering somewhere just off screen waiting to swoop if he sees something mildly amusing.

But he just has to know, he's tried asking Deuce how you talk about him when he's not there but he had just spluttered and refused to say anything meaningful. Ace had been worse "Oh? Wouldn't you like to know apple boy-" well yeah no shit that's why he'd been asking. Jack and Sebek were denser than brick and weren't able to tell him much beyond that you thought "highly of his achievements." Great. No really that was just great. But maybe not as great as Sebek further adding that Yuu "thought he was just as capable as anyone else." That had crushed him for the better part of a week until Vil had accused him of pouting which wasn't cool guy behavior at a-

"You noticed." Yuu smiles, and his thoughts are once again derailed. It's not like their usual smiles, this one is sad. "Formal events like these are just a bit too much, I'm not used to them."

"I think they're sort of fun." It's the truth, Epel likes a good party. Really this isn't so different from home, the clothes are just less practical and more expensive. "But my buddy," that was too informal but you aren't giggling, so that has to mean he's in the clear "Epel, he used to have a real hard time with these things." You sit up just a bit straighter at the mention of his name.

"Oh, you're Epel's friend?" Silly Yuu, you thought you were talking to the man himself and excited he had been the first of your friends to come and check on you. There were some things you wanted to talk to him about, Vil was absolutely no help when you had asked if Epel talked about you when you weren't around. The hell sort of answer was "Obviously?" Not a workable one that's for sure!

"Yeah, I was wondering if you've maybe seen him around? I promised to help him with something tonight, but he's been hiding from me." As if the person speaking to you could be anyone but Epel, no one else at this school expresses his disappointment quite so beautifully as this.

"He's hiding from me too, sorry." You allow your genuine disappointment to shine through, trying to read how Epel reacts. He... doesn't exactly, instead allowing an awkward silence to fall over you that just cannot be allowed to stand. "It's really cute of him honestly."

"What?!" At least that's what you think Epel says, it's hard to hear over the angry gargle starting to brew.

"Seriously cute." You make sure to give an exaggerated dreamy sigh so he knows that he is being teased before you continue. "Really, he says all sorts of sorts of sweet things about me when I'm not around and then expects me to not know! It's adorable." Epel still doesn't budge, so you unwisely decide to press forward. "And those puffy cheeks he gets when embarrassed-" you've got a real good view of them right now "it's so sweet I could just eat him right up!" Speaking of up-

"Shut the fuck up." If there is one thing Epel is constantly reminding people of, it's that he's strong. But the force with which he guides, because a real man would never push, your back to the wall, caging you between two strong arms isn't surprising to you in the slightest. The glimmer in your eyes screams that he's been made a fool of, and that just won't do. "Well darling you think you're reaaaal funny don't cha? Well howabout youse sit your pretty little ass against that wall and let me show you something hilarious." He makes sure to kiss you slowly to make sure you are good and shut up before he continues. "Taste real nice, don't it?" And it must have worked because you nothing in favor of throwing your arms around his shoulders to pull him closer.

Sebek

Sebek is not a very self aware person. You have had several conversations with Lilia about this, his tone filled with fond amusement and yours with infatuated attraction. No one outside of maybe Rook or Cater would accept being called cute, but there was no real other word for it. Sebek was cute. Too cute, horrifically painfully adorable in a way that just made you want to eat your fist to keep from screaming and kiss all over his cheeks. And this little stunt he was trying to pull really wasn't helping.

"I am conducting a survey on Lord Malleus's retainers." Bless his heart, Sebek is trying to use his inside voice. "How exactly would you rate their performance?"

"Could you be a bit more specific?" You do not have to try very hard to sound interested, you are extremely interested in just how far this lie goes.

"Of course." Sebek sounds almost proud, he must have anticipated this line of questioning. "Have you had any problems with any of Lord Malleus's retainers?"

"Yes I have." You nod seriously and Sebek fumbles.

"O-oh. Um could I ask why?" He doesn't think to ask who, which does tug at your heart strings a bit. Poor boy might accuse Silver of being a slacker, but when someone implies there is a problem he almost always assumes it's with him. Well that just won't do.

"Certainly. Sebek Zigvolt was supposed to meet with me tonight but he seems to have forgotten that." You nod seriously enough to make Sebek choke.

"Yes." You sigh making sure to toy with your mask, flirting with giving Sebek the view of your face he wants so badly and breaking the rules of etiquette he feels honor bound to follow. "He promised me," he most certainly had not, that he would dance with me all night. I was really looking forward to it."

"WHAT? NO, I WAS- ahem." What Sebek had actually said was: "if Lord Malleus allows me I will show you how to dance so you don't embarrass the young master, human, but dont expect me to prioritize you over protecting him!" But that didn't matter to you. And clearly not to him if he was allowing Malleus to stay under Silver's inferior protection on the complete opposite side of the ballroom. He coughs into his glove as the other students around you barely budge; it's Sebek, of course he's yelling, but said boy still seems to think he's well disguised seeing as he returns to trying to lower his voice without a hint of irony. "Please continue, you said, Mr. Zigvolt was supposed to... meet with you?" You nod, refusing to give him the satisfaction of hearing any more from you just yet as you imagine the three act play currently showing underneath his mask. "Well. Since he is not here-" You barely stifle a laugh "would you care to allow me to escort you instead?"

"No."

"NO?!" That yell does get everyone's attention, some out of fear others out of pity assuming Sebek just got rejected hard. The boy himself certainly seems to think so.

"Well of course not," you make sure to lower your mask just so he knows, and cannot deny, the meaning of what you say next "I said I wanted to dance with Sebek, not someone he's pretending to be."

"Hmph." Sebek once told you fae don't blush, but that was either wishful thinking or a bold face lie with how red his entire body seems to have decided to turn. "It seems you don't quite understand the purpose of a masqurade, human. Very well, as my lord's retainer, I shall educate you." He gently, with a smile just as kind no matter how much he fights it to settle into professional indifference, pushes your mask into place and guides you towards the dance floor.

#twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #deuce spade x reader #jack howl x reader #sebek zigvolt x reader #500 followers celebration

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miraculouslbcnreactions · 2 months

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What are your opinions on more „popular“ salt takes about Adrien and Mari, like the typical „Adrichat is an ass for for flirting with LB after she rejects him“ and „Maribug us a horrible stalker“?

Well, I'd be lying if I said that I have no idea where they're coming from. There are definitely times when I'll watch an episode and wonder what in the world the writers are trying to do, especially when it comes to Adrien's behavior as it's played a lot more straight than Marinette's. While I don't like her behavior at times, it's almost always treated as a joke, not a dramatic character beat whereas I cannot say the same for Adrien.

But these are characters in a TV show, not real people and we need to keep that in mind when judging them. It's why my go-to thought is "what is wrong with the writing staff" and not "Adrien is an incel." Because Adrien is very clearly not supposed to be an incel. Unless the writers are plotting something truly asinine, the Love Square is our end game couple. We are supposed to view Adrien as a charming and funny romantic lead. When he falls short of that role, it's not Adrien "showing his true colors." He's a fictional character. He has no true colors. If his actions and words are ever unbecoming for a romantic lead, it's because the writers are failing to write Adrien the way they want us to see him.

They consistently do this to all of the characters. Alya's supposed to be an awesome friend and a smart journalist (I think), but she can't see through Lila's BS. Marinette's parents are supposed to be loving and supportive, but they randomly believed that their daughter stole from their bakery to make a dress and didn't even try to let her explain herself. Nino is supposed to be the Chosen of Protection, but he didn't care to protect his best friend and just happily sent Gabriel on a rampage without a second thought.

Give me a character and I can point to a bunch of episodes that justify every salty take this fandom has because they're not pulling this stuff from thin air. They're picking and choosing the worst writing in the show and venting about it, which is frankly understandable. Like I get why there are so many Alya salt fics. Her writing in the Lila episodes is infuriating and I do find those fics a little cathartic at times. But it's really, really obvious that she's not supposed to be a terrible friend. She's a victim of the writers drawing the Lila plot line out for far too long and making Lila's lies far too obvious.

Similarly, a lot of the issues with Adrien and Marinette stem from the fact that you simply can't draw a romance plot out for five seasons without causing issues unless you make the romance a background plot. But they didn't do that. The love square is front and center for most episodes, but since it can't actually resolve, the writers keep adding drama that makes our leads feel horribly unhealthy.

On the Marinette side, her not being able to talk to Adrien was fine as an initial issue, but we are five seasons into this show. Over 100 episodes! You reach a point where it stops being cute and starts being concerning. It's also not helped by the fact that Marinette's crush is written like a celebrity crush and not a crush on someone she actually knows. Daily exposure to Adrien should mellow her out. Especially since he's supposed to be her friend! But if the writers let Marinette talk to Adrien, then they'd grow closer and might feel like they had to get together, so they couldn't let that. Thus Marinette being a disaster for four seasons and the terrible shoehorned plot to try and justify it in season five.

On the Adrien side, they let Chat Noir confess too soon. Prior to that, the Ladynoir relationship was a playful one where it was feasible that Ladybug just viewed her kitty as a massive flirt. This was especially true since he flirts with everyone. But once she knew that he was serious? The playfulness vanished and Chat Noir started coming across as entitled and pushy. It didn't help that they had him ignoring her preferences ("Don't call me Bugaboo") and getting them in trouble by not taking his job seriously (his flirting getting them hit in Oblivio).

In summary, the love square should have been resolved much sooner or been relegated to a b plot that got far less attention. I also would have reversed the square since it makes for a far more interesting story that you can organically draw out longer, but that's just me. I don't have any issue with people ignoring the canon problems and just writing Adrien and Marinette as the cute couple that they were obviously intended to be. I also enjoy fics that treat Adrien's pushiness as a character flaw that can be resolved because that's what canon should have done. His issues aren't the mark of a terrible person. They're the understandable flaws of a teenager who is in love for the first time and doesn't know how to express himself. If a show would actually address this kind of common tween/teen issue, then a lot of kids would get an incredibly valuable lesson that would help them when they grow up and fall in love. If you're ever watching Miraculous with a kid, I strongly encourage you to approach Adrien's character from that perspective. Talk about why his actions are understandable, but ultimately wrong and more likely to push someone away than win their heart just like we see with Ladybug.

#ml writing salt #ml writing critical #ml fandom salt #ml fandom critical #adrien deserves better #marinette deserves better #alya deserves better #This is what I mean when I say that I'm a character sugar blog and a writing salt blog #The issue is not the character concepts or the general story ideas #The issues all come from the execution #It's also why I am happy when shows only get a few seasons #I truly think we would have gotten a better story if Miraculous only had three seasons to work with

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msmischief101 · 7 months

Text

♞Pairing: Steo ♞Characters: Stiles Stilinski, Theo Raeken ♞Tags/Warnings: mentions of rape, mentions of murder, explicit content ♞Words: 6233 ♞BTHB - Breaking a Promise | Kinktober '23 - Cock Warming

ao3

---

this thing between us

“You’re fucking yourself up like this.”

Stiles closes his eyes and lets out a breath. It’s almost five in the morning. His body aches, he hasn’t eaten in almost a day, and all he wants is to collapse into his bed. He doesn’t need a lecture from Theo Raeken of all people. Scoffing, Stiles shoves his key into the lock. “You always preferred the fucked-up version of me.” His door clicks open, and he pushes it out of the way of his escape.

“You know that’s not true.” Theo gets to his feet.

Stiles considers slamming the door in his face, but the thing about Theo is, he used to appreciate a lot of his persistence. “What are you doing here?” Although his first question should’ve probably been ‘how did you find me?’. But this is Theo, and Theo always finds a way. It was just a matter of time until they crossed paths again.

Dodging questions is another of Theo’s strange talents. “Why do you keep doing that?”

“Because the tips are fantastic.” Stiles turns around, trying to fill out the doorway as much as he can. Theo doesn’t need to get the impression he’s allowed in.

The message seems to be clear because Theo’s expression darkens with annoyance. But the worst part is, Theo still looks hot as hell and so much better than anyone Stiles has ever hooked up with in the past four years. “You don’t need the money,” he accuses in a hushed tone.

“And since when do you know what I need?” Stiles knows he’s right. After everything that has happened, he doesn’t have to lift a finger for the rest of his life — he doesn’t have any friends or family either. So, what good does all of this money do? It doesn’t erase the memories. It doesn’t stop the nightmares from finding him in the darkness. It doesn’t prevent people from whispering about him behind his back. “I haven’t seen you in almost five years, and now you’re here, acting like— acting like you’re my savior or some shit.” He’s been alone for too long now, he doesn’t need anyone; especially not Theo.

Drawing his brows together, Theo studies him for a moment. “You’re drunk.”

“Stellar conclusion.” Stiles rolls his eyes, “if only I drank alcohol.” And that’s true, although it’s not always easy as a bartender when everyone else around him is hammered.

Theo uncrosses his arms. The worry carved onto his handsome features makes Stiles want to punch him. “Did you take something?” As if he couldn’t be any more condescending. Looks like the past few years without him caused Theo to pick up some of his mother’s annoying mannerisms.

“I haven’t slept in 48 hours, I’m starving, and I just had mind-blowing sex—“ which isn’t entirely true, but Theo doesn’t need to know that “—not that that’s any of your business, by the way.” Although Stiles knows he doesn’t need to explain himself to Theo or anyone, really, he cannot deny himself the petty revenge — and he knows it hit home, can see it in the way a flash of pain cuts through the worry on Theo’s face. If only it would make Stiles feel any better or could undo what happened to and between them.

Unsurprisingly, Theo doesn’t deign this with a response. Instead, he doesn’t hesitate and wrestles Stiles into the apartment. It doesn’t take him a second to overpower him, easily forcing Stiles back enough so he can kick the door closed with his foot — like he owns the place.

“Get the fuck out,” Stiles snaps, nearly elbowing Theo in the face as he wrenches himself free from his ex-boyfriend’s all too familiar grasp. It’s a shame he missed.

The light flickers on. Theo neither moves nor reacts when he’s faced with a flight of stairs. He shoots Stiles a look before climbing them, making it abundantly clear he’s not going to leave any time soon. Because why would he? He’s Theo Raeken after all. Beloved and cheered on by his adoring fans. Everybody loves him. Everybody wants to be with him — even the person he hurt the most by breaking his fucking promise.

Stiles hates how much he still yearns for his touch.

Too tired to fight him or deal with the cops, Stiles shoves past Theo and hurries up the stairs. He hates them with a passion, especially after long nights, but they’re a pretty good advantage if someone decides to break in.

“So, what. You let random strangers fuck you for a few extra bucks every night?” There it is. Of course, Theo couldn’t just let it go. Five years, and the jealousy is still as strong as it used to be.

Stiles spins around at the top of the stairs. The moment Theo popped up at his bar, he should’ve had him kicked out. But that probably would have caused even more issues. “Are you pissed about me having sex, or are you pissed it wasn’t you who bent me over the bar and fucked me?”

Theo’s face darkens, which is already answer enough. As well as he may be able to hide his feelings, anger has never been an emotion he could control. “I’m not here to argue,” Theo tells him coolly as he steps onto the main floor. His gaze scans the room, slowly traveling from the immaculate and pretty much unused kitchenette, to the dining table with a bowl of fruit, the clean couch and empty coffee table, and the little office in front of the French windows.

Stiles can see the things Theo is seeing, the black exposed brick walls, the half empty shelves, the way his loft apartment doesn’t seem to be lived in if it weren’t for the clothes thrown over the steps of the ladder leading to the bedroom, and the mouth wash by the sink. No pictures. No personal items. Nothing that needs to be packed in case of a hurried departure.

“I’m going to bed,” he says, kicking his sneakers under the coffee table. “Make sure to be gone when I wake up.”

“You need help.”

Stiles whips around, and Theo can only consider himself lucky, he doesn’t own anything he could potentially throw at him right now. “No,” he snaps. “I needed you. Needed. You hear that? Past tense. So, you can fuck off.”

Theo’s anger visibly deflates. “Stiles—“

“You know what I needed? You, keeping your promise five years ago.” Stiles advances on Theo, and he’s never realized how much he wanted to get everything off his chest. “I needed you by my side, but instead you’re in your private clinic while I’m being stitched up and sent home. I was fucking alone, and you didn’t bother returning a single call or text. Instead of getting through everything together like you promised, I got a money-hungry guardian who sold the rights to my life to a journalist who gets off on other people’s trauma. I had to get a lawyer who couldn’t do anything to stop the publication of the book, but hey, at least I got a bunch of money while my worst nightmare is being read and discussed by people I’ve never seen. So, I was eighteen, and I was alone because my friends and family have been slaughtered by a fucking psychopath. I fired the person who got paid to make sure I stay alive, and the person who I thought loved me hadn’t bothered to talk to me in over a year.” Sties shoves Theo, and Theo doesn’t do anything. He merely stumbles back a couple of steps, catching himself on the railing. “I moved to LA only for your cunt of a sister to release the snuff film her psycho fiancé filmed. Just that he didn’t get to kill me like he wanted to. No, instead the world gets to see how I stab him twenty-five times. I packed my shit up again and moved to New York, and after I went through all of this by myself, you have the fucking nerve to come here, take one look at my life and decide I need help?” Stiles grabs Theo by the collar of his expensive leather jacket and slams him against the kitchen counter. “Your fucking family ruined everything for me. I’m 21. I should have a college degree. I should be on the way to the FBI, but do you think they’d hire the guy who stabbed someone over twenty times? No, they don’t. Not when the world doubts it happened in self-defense because Tara only released what she wanted the public to see.” Taking a shaky breath, Stiles yanks Theo closer. “So, get the fuck out of my life.”

Tears start burning in his eyes, but the last thing he wants is allowing Theo to see how he really feels. Stiles shoves him once more for good measure and turns around. Part of him hoped he would feel better after finally getting to tell Theo most of the shit he wanted to throw in his face for years. But he isn’t. Not even a little bit.

Stiles is about to climb the ladder to his bedroom when Theo finds his voice again. “I never knew.” His voice is soft, almost inaudible.

It makes Stiles stop in his tracks regardless. “I wonder why,” he mutters under his breath, fingers tightening around the ladder. Just move. Still, his body refuses to cooperate. Something keeps him drawn to Theo, like a part of him refuses to let him go. Stiles lets out a breath. “Knew what?” But he knows the answer, deep down, he knows exactly what Theo is going to tell him.

“That you tried to contact me.”

Stiles lets go of the ladder and decides to collapse onto the couch instead, face in his hands. He’s tired and exhausted and not even close to ready to have this conversation. His life got turned upside-down five years ago, but his wounds are still bleeding as if it happened mere hours ago.

Theo crouches in front of him, one hand gently placed on Stiles’ knee — a touch just as familiar as the pain. “You were the first person I asked for when I woke up. My parents said you didn’t want to see me, and when I finally got my phone—“

“I had changed my number.” Stiles crosses his arms over his thighs. “I didn’t want to believe your parents when they told me you thought it would be better to go separate ways, but the silence from you… it got to my head.” Perhaps he should’ve tried harder. Perhaps he was the one who broke their promise.

Theo is shaking his head lightly, gaze fixed on something over Stiles’ shoulder. “I never saw any calls or texts… I don’t…” He draws his eyebrows together and looks at Stiles again. “I don’t understand why they would delete them.” When it comes to trusting Stiles or his parents, Theo doubts his family.

It should make Stiles feel good, instead he feels hollow, like someone carved out every single emotion. Theo never particularly liked his parents because they had his life planned out for him, yet he never distrusted them, always believed that they wanted what’s best for him. Becoming a famous football player deviates from that what they wanted. So, his parents either changed their tune after almost losing him, or Theo stood up to them.

Stiles smiles, and he knows it looks as empty as he feels. The Raekens didn’t want their son to pursue a career in football, and they had very specific expectations for his partner — expectations Stiles didn’t even come close to. “Theo,” he says in a soft voice, cupping the other man’s cheeks, “your parents despised me.” While they never cared for Theo dating a guy, they very much disliked that said boy was not from the same social bracket and struggled with ADHD and anxiety, which was decided not up to their standards.

“They never said anything.”

“To your face.” Stiles bites his bottom lip and puts his hands in his lap, tugging at a loose thread at the hem of his hoodie. Swallowing heavily, Stiles looks down at his fingers. “Do you know why… he did what he did?” All those years, he can’t bring himself to say the name. It’s easier to think about him in describing factors.

Tara’s fiancé.

He.

The monster.

Theo grabs his hands, squeezing his fingers gently. The touch alone makes Stiles’ heart beat in a way it hasn’t in a long time — almost like it just now remembers how to be alive. “He had a criminal record.” Which really begs the question why he was welcomed into the Raeken family with open arms, after all, his criminal record was impressive. Then again, he came from a family with old money, and boys that age simply make mistakes. Nothing to worry about. Theo squeezes his hands softly. “People think he wanted to get back at your father… but it doesn’t make any sense because…” Theo trails off, unable to look Stiles in the eye any longer.

It’s something people tend to do mid-conversation when they suddenly realize who their bartender really is. Theo doing it hurts more than he’s ready to admit. He swallows the pain, something he’s accustomed to do. “Because why keep me for last?” Stiles finishes the question in a hoarse whisper. The tears threaten to return, and he pulls away from Theo, curling into the corner of his couch he’s always hiding in when thing become bad. His throat aches with unspilled tears, but he can’t stop. Not now. Not when he can finally say all the things he’s buried for too long. “Your mother knows the truth.” Stiles wraps his arms around his shins, pulling his legs to his chest. “You can ask her.”

“My mother?” Theo repeats slowly, drawing his brows together in confusion.

Stiles nods, staring at a single drop of coffee in the white fabric he’s never noticed before.

“Why would my mother know?” Theo stands up and sits down next to him, the dip in the cushion almost causing Stiles to fall into him.

He curls his fingers into his jeans, barely resisting the urge to get up and leave. Where would he go? Where could he go knowing exactly what’s going to happen in a matter of minutes? The dam broke open. This isn’t the first time. It won’t be the last. The memories will return whether Stiles says it out loud or not. “Do you remember Tara’s 21st birthday?” Every word feels as if it is ripped out of his throat.

Theo nods slowly. “You left that night. I still don’t know why.”

Taking another shaky breath, Stiles keeps his gaze fixed on the coffee stain. He can’t look at Theo, not now. “I excused myself to the bathroom because I needed a break from everyone.” Social gatherings still get to him. His job as a bartender doesn’t make it easy to deal with but the bar separating him from everyone else helps. “He followed me upstairs.”

Next to him, Theo stiffens — either because he remembers that night, or because he can tell where this story is going.

“I went into your room. I didn’t lock the door.” Why would he? Why? At that point, Stiles didn’t need to be afraid. He licks his lips, curls his fingers tighter into his jeans. “He found me there. At first, he was sweet and understanding. He tried to coax me back down… but then—“ The words get stuck in his throat, choking him; one of the dirty secrets nobody is allowed to hear.

“Miecio.” There’s a crack in Theo’s voice, cutting the nickname in half Stiles hasn’t heard in more than five years. Fingers dance ghostlike over Stiles’ back, waiting for a reaction, for permission. Theo understands what he’s trying to tell him.

“Your mother came upstairs. That’s when he stopped.” His knuckles turn white, his joints aching from the pressure. The coffee stain is the only thing he sees. “I tried telling her what happened. She told me to leave before I ruined her daughter’s party. So, I left, and I didn’t tell anyone, and eight days later, Melissa found her son’s body on the front porch.” Stiles wishes he could point a finger at Theo’s mother, blaming her for his secret, for the silence that killed everyone he loved.

Almost everyone.

Theo cups his cheeks again, gently tilting his head and forcing Stiles to look at him. “This isn’t your fault.” He knows him too well, knows the inner working of his mind — sometimes better than Stiles does himself. “You couldn’t have known.” But Theo doesn’t know the whole story, and he certainly doesn’t know the ending.

The memory hits hard, but it doesn’t come out of nowhere. It does, what it always does when his mind can’t stop wandering; wrecking him.

Stiles tears away from Theo and rushes to the sink, throwing up bile and guilt, but the memory claws itself into every fiber of Stiles’ being, refusing to leave, ready to make him suffer for the rest of his life. It burns his body with shame, and it’s something he can never purge, no matter how many strangers he’s going to fuck in the back of his bar.

In an instant, Theo is by his side, trying to calm and comfort him. But there’s nothing he can do, nothing to stop the memories from coming back, from reality crashing in on him like an avalanche.

When the worst is over, Stiles runs the water and rinses his mouth with the mouthwash until he can’t taste the bile burning on his tongue any longer. Then he collapses in the corner of his kitchen, the one space in his apartment that lets him see everything and pulls his legs to his chest again. He really hoped the high of an orgasm would help him through the night. It barely lasted long enough to get home.

Theo kneels next him, brushing sweaty strand from Stiles’ forehead. “Something else happened that night,” he says, and his voice is even, almost as hollow as Stiles felt mere moments earlier. “And my sister knows.”

For a long time, Stiles wanted to tell Theo exactly how fucked up his family is. Theo’s always been aware they’re far from perfect, but Stiles doubts he knew how far they’d really go to protect their reputation. Now, that he knows the truth, Stiles doesn’t feel any better — not with the flashbacks, and most likely not without them.

Stiles leans against Theo, pressing his face against his chest. Then he’s in Theo’s arms, shuddering, curling his fingers into his soft shirt. A strong contrast to the rough hands tearing off his pants and boxer briefs, rolling him round and pressing his face against the dirty floor, an arm’s length away from Theo bleeding out. He told him Stiles could save his life as long as he behaved. So, he whispered, “okay,” and didn’t make another sound, didn’t dare to move as the monster claimed his body, tainting him for the rest of his life. But that was okay as long as he got to keep Theo. Because that’s what he promised; Stiles’ body for Theo’s life. It seemed like a simple trade at that time.

Theo rocks him softly, protecting him from ghosts.

“We’re going to get through this,” he had promised, bleeding from his wounds. None of them lethal. They were supposed to kill him only if Stiles didn’t behave.

“You promised,” Stiles whispers.

Because he behaved. Stiles behaved. He said so too only to decide that Theo needed to die anyway. It would be better that way, he’d said.

To this day, Stiles doesn’t know why the knife was left on the ground next to him. Maybe he thought Stiles to be too broken to do anything. But he forced himself to move, and he got dressed, grabbed the knife, and hid it behind his back.

You promised.

The words ring in Stiles’ ears, making it impossible to understand anything Theo is saying to soothe him.

Because he’s stuck in the past, stuck with Tara’s fiancé crouching in front of him, smiling as if he’s won their little game. Stiles didn’t smile back. He rammed the knife into his throat instead. He still remembers the feeling of the warm blood on his face just as much as the rage that took a hold of him as he stabbed him twenty-four more times before he collapsed, unable to move for what feels like an eternity.

Just like he is now.

Theo kisses the top of his head. “I’m here,” he whispers reassuringly. “I’m not going to leave, okay?” It’s a promise he’s heard before, a promise that was broken by outside force — it’s a broken promise, nonetheless. But Theo’s arms feel safe, and Stiles wants to believe him, wants to trust that this time nothing is going to come between them again. “How about you go to bed, and I find something to eat for you?”

“Sure,” Stiles whispers, although he’s neither hungry nor tired, however, he’s aware when people need a minute to breathe. Theo’s life has been crumbling too when Stiles was having his mental breakdown. His life will be falling apart for a little longer while the truth carves its place.

Stiles gets to his feet, Theo’s hand secure at the small of his back, and then he crosses the room, alone and feeling just as empty as every single day of his life.

Upstairs, Stiles tosses his clothes in the hamper and slips into his sweatpants. He doesn’t go to bed though, instead he crouches by the opening, listening to Theo looking through his kitchen. For a few moments, that’s all he hears.

Then Theo’s icy voice cuts through the apartment. “I don’t give a shit about how early it is, Tara.”

Stiles swallows and backs away. He should’ve known. Squeezing his eyes shut, Stiles curls into bed, trying his very best to block out Theo’s voice. It should be easy. Theo doesn’t yell when he’s angry after all. But his cold tone crawls into his consciousness, and there is nothing Stiles can do about it.

“You know exactly what video I’m talking about.” A drawer slams shut, the only outbreak Theo will allow himself to have. A Raeken does not lose his temper. They are composed and always in control of the situation. That’s why Theo is made of repressed rage. “Tell me what he did, and don’t you dare lie to me.”

Biting back a sob, Stiles curls into a ball and pulls the blanket over his head. That’s how the monsters stay away. He covers his ears with his hands. That’s how Theo’s words won’t reach him.

That’s how he stays until the mattress dips.

Stiles lowers his arms, moving the blanket enough that he spots the sandwich Theo placed on his nightstand. He doesn’t say anything, neither does Stiles. Both waiting for what will happen next. Theo told him he wouldn’t leave, but that was something he said before he knew the full extent of what happened.

The mattress dips again. This time, Theo is crawling into bed with him, slipping under the blanket and back into his life as he wraps an arm around Stiles’ middle. His warmth and body are familiar, safe, a remnant from a time that was easier, happier, hopeful.

Sleep refuses to come regardless. Theo doesn’t fall asleep either, Stiles can tell by the way his body never fully relaxes, and how he tries to breathe softly enough as if not to startle him. With the truth out in the open, Theo considers him fragile. Stiles wonders what the world would think about him if they knew the whole story.

When the first rays of sunshine find their way into his bedroom, Stiles turns around only to find Theo already looking back at him. “Hey,” he whispers.

Theo’s eyes crinkle slightly. “Hi.”

Stiles watches as the soft morning light draws patterns on Theo’s cheek. He traces one, unable to stop himself, and smiles as blue eyes flutter shut. He looks peaceful like this, as if nothing bad ever happened in his life. But his body speaks a different language. Stiles trails his fingers down Theo’s chest, eyes never straying from his face when he finds his scars; scars he got because of Stiles, because he’s stubborn and needed to learn which battles to pick.

Before he can talk himself out of it, Stiles kisses Theo. Everything from the shape of his lips to the way they fit against his makes his whole body ache — and Theo kisses him back, arm tightening around his waist. The familiarity is breathtaking. Suddenly, no time has passed. They’re in Stiles’ bedroom, trying to be quiet, trying not to wake his dad.

But when Stiles slips his fingertips underneath the waistband of Theo’s boxer briefs, he grabs his wrist and stops him inches away from his dick. He doesn’t pull away. Not yet, at least. “What are you doing?” he asks, lips moving against Stiles’.

Drown out the memories. Reclaim his past, his body. Trying to be whole. “What do you think?” Stiles replies instead, casual, like this is something that happens every other day. It doesn’t. Not like this. People don’t usually stop him when he tries to hook up with them. Usually, they can’t fuck him fast enough. Theo used to be like that. He couldn’t get inside him fast enough, and usually, he enjoyed his afterglow still buried deep inside of him.

This is new.

Stiles doesn’t like new.

Theo pulls away, not far, just enough to study his face. “Stiles…”

“I’m not broken.” Stiles dragged himself out of the gutter too many times to be broken. He won’t deny that he’s damaged, but he is fine. After all, he has survived so far – and most of it, he did on his own. Stiles doesn’t need to be coddled, especially not by Theo; not years after everything has already blown up in their faces.

Smiling, Theo brushes his thumb over the back of Stiles’ neck. A soothing gesture. The exact opposite of what he needs. “I know.”

“Do you?” Stiles yanks his hand free and sits up, anger and shame and desperation swirling inside of him. This is why he fucks strangers. Commitment causes issues. Commitment means people look at him and see him for how fucked up he really is. Commitment means allowing someone in the way he let Theo in, and Stiles can’t go through that again. “Maybe you should leave.” Stiles closes his eyes and falls back into the mattress.

Theo rolls over and leans over him. “I don’t think so,” he whispers before bending down again and crashes their mouths together. It’s too hard, a bit to clumsy, not the way Theo would usually kiss him. But there’s something desperate in the way clings to him; almost like he’s afraid that if he lets go, Stiles will force him out.

Perhaps he would.

But Stiles is just as desperate for this than Theo. “Good,” he mutters into the kiss, pushing a hand between them again. This time, Theo doesn’t stop him when he reaches for his dick. “Then fuck me like you mean it.”

Theo shudders above him, either because of his words or because Stiles is dragging his thumb over the tip of his dick. He still remembers what Theo enjoys, what gets him hard the fastest, how to wrap him around his little finger and make him cum so hard he forgets his own name. Today, however, isn’t about Theo.

And Theo is aware of that.

He pulls away and grabs Stiles’ waist, easily turning him onto his stomach. “Lube,” he commands in a low voice as he pulls him onto his knees. There’s nothing particularly gentle about it, not his touch, not the way he opens Stiles’ pants and yanks them over his ass, or the way presses a finger against his rim.

This time, Stiles shudders and closes his eyes. It’s easy to forget how well Theo knows his body too. He needs a few seconds to remember that he’s supposed to grab lube. Although Stiles doesn’t take anyone home with him, he keeps a bottle of lube in the box next to the bed. He pushes the lid open just enough to push his hand in, fingers brushing over pill bottles before he manages to fish out the lube, which he tosses unceremoniously at Theo.

The hands vanish from his ass, and Stiles uses the time to get rid of his clothes. In his hopeless dreams, his reunion with Theo always ended up being a bit softer, full of longing and love. There’s love still, somewhere deep inside of him, but as of right now, there’s lust and despair, the desire to drown with hard sex what he’d usually use pills for.

Theo’s hand returns, grip tight on his hip and stilling Stiles, as two wet fingers push against his rim without any hesitation. He pushes into him until his second knuckle, making a sound that’s somewhere between annoyance and want. It’s not too hard to figure out that Theo’s thoughts are wandering to what he saw earlier tonight.

‘Your fault,’ Stiles wants to say, but he merely groans and pushes his face into his pillow. “Warn a guy,” he utters against the fabric, sounding way too breathless already. They’ve barely started.

Theo huffs and pulls his fingers back. There is even less softness now that Theo is clearly pissed off at Stiles sleeping around – as if he has any right to be angry or hurt. Nobody forced him to watch. He’s free to leave. But he doesn’t. He stays and buries himself in Stiles with a quiet grunt. When they’re pressed together so close nothing could fit between them, Theo stills, and Stiles reminds himself to breathe because he forgot how good it felt to have Theo inside him.

There used to be a time when Stiles could relax like this after a stressful day. Sometimes, he even managed to fall asleep with Theo balls deep inside of him – for a while, at least. Usually, he woke up to his boyfriend’s resolve breaking.

Ex-boyfriend.

Stiles licks his lips and looks over his shoulder, watching Theo staring down at him. “Do you need any help?” he asks and quirks a brow. “Or are you going to fuck me anytime soon?”

For a few heavy heartbeats, Theo simply looks at him, eyes almost searching for something. His lips curl into a disapproving line as he isn’t successful – and then he pulls back, only to snap his hips forward in a way that’s so familiar, so achingly hard, so right. Theo fucks him confidently and without further hesitation. His mouth explores every inch of Stiles’ body he cans reach – as if he doesn’t know him inside out. His fingers leave marks, reclaiming ownership of something he thought has left him.

But it’s worse.

Someone stole it.

The desperation and anger are clear in every thrust, in the way his fingers press into his skin, short nails digging in enough to leave little half-moons.

It’s hurts just right. The edge of pain making him harder than he’s been in the past few years – since he’s lost Theo. There could probably something be said about him, said about the way this type of sex feels so much better than all the other random hook-ups with strangers in the back of his bar. Maybe it’s the pain, or maybe it’s simply Theo; his body remembering everything.

His name rolls over Theo’s tongue, and this hurts in a different way. It cuts deeper, memories cursing him, a future that could never be trying to drag him under.

Stiles bites into his pillow and squeezes his eyes shut, trying to match Theo’s thrust as best as he can. Although he doesn’t have to do much. The hands holding his waist in an iron grip are doing the work for him. They’re having sex, yes, but in a way, they both are chasing their very own needs that simply seem to line up in some way.

Theo keeps fucking him in the same all but violent pace. Hips snapping forward, slapping against his own with an almost obscene sound, and nailing his prostate with almost every thrust.

Stiles spits the pillow out, propping himself up enough that he can see. A gasp escapes him, every sound punched out of him by Theo's dick. He grabs his own, fingers cool against the hot skin. Opening his mouth, Stiles watches the muscles in Theo’s thighs work, how his fingers dig deeper into his skin – as if he’s scared, he might vanish. Theo is chasing something, something he lost years ago, something Stiles gave away to protect him.

Part of him hopes he’ll find it again.

Maybe it’s better if he doesn’t.

Squeezing his eyes closed, Stiles moves his hands up and down his dick, fingers tightening near the tip. He’s chasing his release, the moments of freedom it gives him from his thoughts.

His muscles tighten when Theo’s thrust turn shallow, more irregular, and he’s so fucking close to cum. But Theo beats him to it. He moans his name, a sound somewhere between a curse and a moan.

Stiles cusses under his breath, struggling to keep up on his legs and arm with Theo’s weight splayed on top of him. He’s jerking himself off, desperate for his orgasm. His brain all but short-circuits when it finally hits him. For a few blissful moments, Stiles is in heaven – no thoughts, no memories, just his body, unchained.

Perhaps that’s part of the reason he’s chasing this so much.

But the return to earth is never fun.

This time, however, Stiles feels Theo’s hands brushing over his sides, his mouth placing soft kisses over his back, on his shoulders, the very bottom of the nape of his neck. He’s also still buried deep inside of him.

Stiles lets out a breath. For the first time, he prefers that his hook up hasn’t moved an inch. He embraces the weight of his body on top of his, although he’s gained some muscles in the past few years while Stiles isn’t much more than skin and bones. “Theo,” he says anyway, trying to get the word ‘move’ out of his mouth but it refuses to pass his lips. Things can’t be like they were before. Theo can promise him to stay all he wants, too much has happened, too much has changed. Stiles is too much.

But he can’t bring himself to end it.

Very carefully, Theo eases them both on their sides without pulling out. “What happens now?”

Stiles closes his eyes. So much for his afterglow. “You go back to being a football star, I go back to fucking myself up further. Everyone’s happy.” The lie burns on his tongue, but it’s easier to pretend than to open himself up emotionally only to lose Theo again. He’s not going to survive that. It’ll be a miracle if he survives this night.

“What if I don’t want that?” Theo runs his left hand up his chest, resting it above his heart. “I didn’t come here to walk away from you again.” His breath is hot on the back of his neck, the arm around him pulling him closer.

Despite himself, Stiles grabs Theo’s hand and intertwines their fingers. It comes so easy, so natural. “You don’t want that.” He would like to pretend it’s more instinct than his fear of losing Theo as well. Everything with Theo feels so natural, like nothing ever happened, like they’ve never been apart for even a fucking second. “My life’s a shitshow, and the world’s going to drag you into it.” I’m going to drag you into it a nightmare.

Theo kisses his shoulder. “I don’t care.”

“Don’t—“ There’s a part of him that wants to pull away, to get out of bed, but Stiles doesn’t want to lose the feeling of Theo against his back or his dick inside of him – despite a bit of cum sticking to his thigh, cooling against his skin.

“I promised we’d get through this together,” Theo whispers, running his fingers up and down Stiles’ sternum.

“It wasn’t your fault.” Even though it still feels like it. Five years of believing Theo simply dropped him aren’t going to vanish overnight. Stiles places his hand on top of Theo’s again, squeezing his fingers tightly.

Theo kisses his shoulder, lips curling into a smile against his skin. “I’m never going to leave you again.”

“It’s not worth it.” Stiles can see the headlines, can already tell what the world is going to think if their golden boy is seen with him. The stories they spin. They’re going to dig deep. They’re going to find out Theo’s been there too; keeping his name out of the media is the one thing Stiles and the Raekens could agree on.

But Theo pulls him closer, body so warm and safe and comforting. “You’re worth it. You’re worth everything and more.”

Stiles hums and closes his eyes, allowing himself to believe Theo.

At least for one day.

---

#steo #stiles stilinski #theo raeken #teen wolf #stiles x theo #theo x stiles #*tv:teen wolf #*w:kinktober2023 #*w:bthb #*w:complete #*s:steo

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biboybuckley · 1 year

Text

i need somebody to pull me out of this grave

Teen and Up Audiences | 2k | Evan “Buck” Buckley/Eddie Diaz

also on ao3

Five times Eddie yells for Buck and one time he whispers

or:

Eddie flashes back to the events of the night before while sitting in the hospital chapel. Bobby finds him there after awhile and the two have an important discussion about handling their new circumstance and what it means for them individually

5 times Eddie yells

Buck!

He didn’t know yet. He didn’t know that Buck was already dead, that yelling wouldn’t do any good. The first shout cracked open something in his chest, spilling poison into his veins. It didn’t matter that he was injured too- he was moving. Buck wasn’t. Buck wasn’t moving .

His world narrowed to one pinpoint- Buck hanging midair, not moving, not calling back to him. Nothing. Helpless, vulnerable. Bile rose in Eddie’s throat but he ignored it, starting to scramble up the ladder on shaking legs, gripping the sides with trembling hands as he tried to force himself to breathe.

It didn’t matter that he was essentially climbing up a lightning rod in the middle of the storm. Let lightning strike twice, he thought, let it take him out too. Just let him reach Buck first.

Buck!

He went up the ladder as quickly as he could manage, shouting, begging for any sign that Buck could hear him. He had lost his breath, he could barely manage the one word shout. I’m coming, it said, I’m coming for you, I swear.

His gaze didn’t stray even for a moment, desperate for any sign of life from the limp form of his best friend. His partner. His coparent. Chris’s second father. One of the two people in this world Eddie doesn’t think he can ever possibly live without.

Buck!

He was almost there, so close. Hang on, please, I’m almost there. I’m going to get you to safety. There was no response, still, as his voice broke and the plea tore its way from his throat, burning as it left and leaving an empty space inside him that was growing by the moment. Desperation clawed at his chest, tearing at his throat, flooding his veins with a burning chill that was worse than being hit by lightning.

Buck!

He was at the top now, looking over the edge at the lifeless body below him. He could see his face- barely. His expression was slack, not even a twitch. Nothing. He looked-

No. No, he’s not dead, he cannot be dead. Eddie shook his head, his breaths gasping pants now as he grabbed the line, yanking on it with everything he had. It wasn’t logical- he knows that, now- but at the time all he could think was in my arms, I need him in my arms. I need him to know I have him .

A sob ripped itself from him as he failed to pull his partner up, defeat beginning to cloud his brain, panic clawing at his throat, tears threatening to choke him.

Can you hear me?!

Buck!

A desperate plea, begging for any sign of life- anything to hold onto aside from the red line connecting him to the person that dragged him to safety when he was convinced he was drawing his last breath, who he reached for with the last of his strength, who saved his and his sons lives in more ways than Eddie can ever define.

Eddie has experienced the worst of what he thought the world had to throw at him. But this- this is the worst pain he has ever felt.

Need more slack!

He finally gave in, accepting that if he couldn’t pull Buck to himself, he could deliver him to the only other people he could ever trust with his life. He felt the distance between them as a physical force as it grew, the invisible tether that has always connected them straining as the red line grew longer, taking Buck further and further from Eddie.

He was choking on it, he couldn’t yell anymore. The further Buck got, the less he could breathe. Panic clouded his brain, blocking out anything that was not Buck’s lifeless form that kept getting smaller and smaller.

Buck! Buck, talk to me! Please, c’mon, come on Buck!

He doesn’t remember getting down the ladder. He doesn’t remember running toward the ambulance. The next thing he knew, he was shoving Bobby- shoving his Captain- aside, desperate to lay eyes on Buck. To see his chest rise and fall, to watch the breaths leave his mouth, to feel his pulse fluttering beneath his fingertips.

Bobby didn’t let him, holding him back and shoving him away. Eddie didn’t hear anything he said other than you’re driving! And Eddie- Eddie could do that. He could drive, he could get Buck to the hospital in time. Three minutes. That’s what Bobby said.

Eddie pulled into the hospital two minutes later, slamming the ambulance into gear and leaping from the car. He bolted around to the back, reaching the doors just in time for them to be taking Buck on. He knows he shoved someone- he doesn’t remember who- but it didn’t matter because he was on top of Buck, beginning compressions.

If Buck’s heart wasn’t going to beat on its own, Eddie would do it for him.

Then he was being pulled off, and voices were shouting, and it all became a blur. Bobby yanked him away as a nurse swore they would do all they could.

Not enough! Eddie wanted to shout, All you can isn’t enough unless you save him!

But his voice was raw and his throat burned and the words refused to come out as Bobby directed him away.

The last several hours have been a blur.

Eddie’s in the hospital’s chapel now.

He doesn’t remember coming here.

He doesn’t know why he’s here.

He hasn’t prayed in a long, long time. He decided- he’s not totally sure when- that if there was a God, He had nothing to offer Eddie but false hope and empty promises. He decided he would no longer beg someone who wasn’t listening for help, that he would never beg for help again. Not when he can help himself.

But he can’t help Buck.

So he’s here. His St. Christopher medal is clenched tightly in his fist, tears burn his eyes. His cheeks are wet and his throat is so raw from screaming and sobbing that even breathing hurts. He stares at his hand, at the St. Christopher medal resting in it. He doesn’t look up at the altar. He can’t.

He doesn’t think he wants to pray. He doesn’t know. He needs- he needs to do something. But praying now… it feels false, like a ploy to convince himself he’s somehow helping. But is faith really faith if it’s only for the security of knowing you’ve tried everything?

It all replays in his head, the shouts echoing in his mind on a continuous loop. If he closes his eyes, all he sees is Buck’s body- his corpse hanging from the line that Eddie clipped him to. The ladder Eddie let him go up. The rain falling all around them, beating down on Buck’s pale face. The flashing lights all around them. Everything a blur aside from the sharp focus on Buck.

He’s already thrown up at least once since they took Buck away, but nausea still twists in his stomach, acid rising in his throat. Clenching his jaw tightly, he closes his fist around the pendant, the edges biting into his skin. Saint of travelers, protective against sudden death. He and Chris were going to give Buck one for his next birthday. Eddie welcomes the pain, squeezing tighter as he clenches his jaw, silent tears dripping down his cheeks.

“You saved his life, Eddie.”

Eddie starts at the voice, jerking his head around just in time to see Bobby slide into the pew next to him. He looks like a wreck, his face exhausted and eyes bloodshot. Bobby doesn’t often look old, but right now he seems weighed down by his years, the lines in his face sharp and heavy. This is killing him, just as it’s killing Eddie.

“I failed him,” Eddie bites out, looking away again. “I fucking- he died, Bobby. I didn’t fucking save him.”

“His heart is beating now.”

“But he may never open his eyes again,” Eddie chokes out, tears flowing faster now as he lifts his fist to his forehead, hitting it lightly over and over. “He might never wake up.”

Bobby’s fingers wrap around Eddie’s wrist, pulling his fist away gently. Eddie starts to fight, but finds he doesn’t even have the energy to do that.

“You got to him in time, Eddie. That line saved him, gave him the chance he has now.”

“It should have been me.”

Bobby is silent for a moment and Eddie turns to look at him. He sighs deeply, then meets Eddie’s gaze. “That’s what Buck said. When you were shot. And before that, with the well. He begged me to let him go down after you when you cut your line.”

The breath is punched from Eddie’s lungs, escaping him in a sharp breath. “He-?”

“I told him no.” Bobby looks towards the altar. “I told him we didn’t need two cut lines. He was desperate, Eddie. We all- we thought you were dead. But we couldn’t tell him, not then. He was infuriated we would even imply you might not still be down there. You all think he’s dead. That’s what he said to me, when I told him we couldn’t dig our way to you. He looked- God, Eddie, he looked so betrayed that we might have lost even a bit of faith in finding you.”

“He never-” Eddie’s breathless, his head spinning. “He never- no one ever told me-”

“You found your way back to us, Eddie. To him. Now you have to trust he’s going to do the same.”

Eddie hasn’t stopped crying and a fresh wave of tears burns as they track down his face. His voice is small, broken, when he begs, “And what if he doesn’t?”

Bobby’s jaw ticks and his expression cracks and Eddie realizes how fucking unfair this is. Bobby has already lost two children, he can’t lose another. Eddie should be comforting him, not the other way around.

“I’m sorry, I-”

“No,” Bobby cuts him off, raising a hand. “No, we aren’t doing that. Not now, not yet. We have to believe. I’m going to pray. And you…” Bobby looks at him and his expression softens. “You should go to him, Eddie. You need to. You and Chris, if you think he’ll be up for it.”

“Buck would never want Chris to see him like this,” Eddie whispers, the thought shattering his heart.

“He needs to hear you, feel you. Both of you.” Bobby smiles a small, sad smile. “He needs to remember why he has to fight.”

Eddie draws in a sharp, shaky breath and nods. “Are you gonna be okay?”

Bobby turns his gaze back to the altar, his breath trembling as he inhales slowly. “I’m going to try. That’s all any of us can do right now, and we have to. For Buck.”

Eddie nods again, firmer this time. “For Buck.”

+1 time he whispers

Eddie settles into the chair beside Buck’s bed shakily, his hands trembling as he studies Buck’s face. This is… it’s all wrong. The tube breathing for him. The slack expression on his face. The hospital gown. The beeping machines. All of it. It’s wrong.

Usually, Buck looks peaceful when he sleeps. It’s one of Eddie’s favorite things, strange as that sounds. Watching the lines and anxiety disappear, fading into a sweet innocence and openness that Eddie can’t believe he’s allowed to witness.

Shakily, Eddie takes Buck’s hand between both of his, pressing the St. Christopher pendant into his palm and squeezing lightly. He lifts one hand to Buck’s forehead, gently brushing aside the loose curls. They’re free of gel right now, washed away by the rain. Eddie loves Buck’s natural hair, but right now all it does is send a sharp lance of pain through Eddie’s chest. He clasps Buck’s hand with both of his again, lowering his head to press his forehead against their joined hands.

“Please,” he whispers. “ Buck, please come back to me.”

#evan buck buckley #evan buckley #eddie and buck #buck eddie #buckandeddie #Eddie Diaz #worried eddie diaz #bobby nash #Buddie #buddie fic #buddie911 #buddie 911 #buck whump #6.11 spec #tals writes

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nomoreusername · 2 months

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Not So Invisible (Highschool AU)

Pairing:Aris x female reader

Summary:After thinking his constant hate for Valentine's Day would never show up you do one small thing that changes his entire perspective.

Candy hearts, love letters, red flowers, Valentine's Day, I hate it. Honestly, I can't stand it. If I could get rid of any day I would pick that one. Unfortunately, I can't. So I just get to sit back and pretend to be absolutely shocked when there's nothing in my box that I stopped decorating years ago. I’ll draw some lousy red hearts on it for a grade and call it a day.

Well there is one thing I like about it. During homeroom, while everyone is passing stuff out I can put my head down, turn my own music up, and sleep.

Like right now. I pretended to care about the teacher's five minute speech. The second her mouth stopped moving though, I slipped my earbuds on. Shuffling through my Spotify, I found one with not a single lyric about love (which definitely wasn't made specifically for this day) and put my hood up. In the very back corner of the class, I placed my head on the desk and closed my eyes so that this could pass by as quickly as possible.

♡ - - - ♡

I cannot even begin to describe how hard I tried to sleep this period away. Unfortunately, while the back corner allows me to just remain invisible-by my own free will for once-it came with the glorious sunlight shining right in my face. It also happened to be what most would consider a wonderful day. Bright blue skies and warm weather.

I hate that weather too. I love the rain though. After all, I don't just hate everything, though I can give you a list.

Group projects, bus rides, people with no sense of personal space, the label of “quiet kid”, ads between songs, headphones randomly screwing up, those popular kids that act like the best friend of people who are just minding their own business to entertain their friends, random words that came out of nowhere like rizz, people that text without even attempting to use grammar or proper spelling, sleeping in unfamiliar places, the times I get sent to the school counselor because they think that something’s wrong with me, that therapist I wouldn't speak to who thought she could “fix me”, those stupid parent teacher conferences where they act like I’m not there by giving one glance at my grades then go after their list of concerns for my social life, and so on.

I don't just hate things though.

I love Sonya, Rachel, Harriet, some of my family, the smell of new books and feeling of old ones, hoodies that I know like the back of my hand, the occasional time my cats will cuddle with me, stormy weather with lightning and heavy rain, mist and fog, the nighttime when everyone is asleep and I get to be in total silence, driving when the roads are almost empty, doodling on pieces of paper, the sound pencils make when they scratch journals, the teachers who don't force me to speak, bittersweet music that with soft melodies that you don't know whether to cry or smile at, and the way fire cackles and dances in the dark.

The sunlight was not in the list of things to enjoy, because it stopped me from doing one of the other things I love. Sleeping. So I reluctantly pulled The Dead Poets Society out and got back to reading.

Because life hates me back though, the second I opened it someone walked up. Giving them a glance, I was expecting it to be someone just trying to mess with me.

I definitely wasn't expecting her. Not Y/N in her everyday clothes with a small smile and her own earbuds in.

Without a word she dropped a small white envelope in my box before hurrying back to her seat near the wall. This interaction, if you could call it that, was extra odd since she was notorious for not handing stuff out no matter how many she got. In fact, she had been at her spot the entire time and didn't seem like she was getting back up any time soon.

Staring at her, I waited for her to meet my gaze or explain. Instead, she was reading something of her own like she hadn't just done that.

Still heavy with skepticism, I turned it over in my hands to see my name in blue ink. It was held shut by a small star sticker. I love those too. The stars.

Being careful not to rip it, I opened it and saw a piece of paper and red gumdrop. Setting it down, I unfolded it and started reading.

Dear Aris,

I’m not good with words, or people, but I still wanted to at least try. Even if it's not that good. You probably don't remember, but we used to sit next to each other a few classes ago. I really wanted to say something, but I didn't know what. Still, it's Valentine's Day so I may as well try today, right?

I think that you're really cool. You're really kind and genuine. You do things because you want to and not to get something back. That's probably why you helped me with a lot of the world three years ago in science class, though I don't think you remember that either.

Because it probably didn't mean much to you, though it meant the world to me. That someone would actually help out the new girl. You were the first person to do that and actually talk to me. I would have told you a lot earlier if I knew how, but now that we have this class I’ll do what I said I would years ago.

So if you're not doing anything later would you like to hangout? Just you and I?

Love From,

Y/N

Taking another read through the letter, I evaluated each word. Each space between them and the way the slight curves and dots in the i’s. Just to be sure there wasn't something that I was missing.

There wasn't.

She noticed me. Y/N actually notices me.

Glancing at her again, I saw that she was just turning the page, seeming content in her world. Then, she slightly turned and looked back. I gave her a small smile, and just as she returned it I heard the rain start outside. She just slightly waved to me before turning back around.

So while everyone was complaining about the water falling on the windows I felt my smile grow as I buried my head in my hoodie so nobody would see.

Because even if nobody else was looking, she was, and I was actually okay with that.

I think I was okay with not being invisible around her.

#aris x reader #aris tmr #tmr aris #aris jones #oneshot #modern au #tmr #fluff

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vega-creates-things · 11 months

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Rise Headcanons Based On Things My Siblings And I Did

Because of the post I just reblogged I was viscerally reminded of things me and my siblings used to do so have this.

Raph supposed to do dishes because it's his night, but he starts the water running and while hes waiting for the sink to fill he gets distracted in the livingroom by a tv show that came on. When Splinter sees the kitchen flooding he freaks out and turns the water off only to ask Raphael (while trying to hold it together cuz hes only ten) why he left the water running. And Raph just looking at him with surprise before "Mikey did it." Without missing a beat only for Splinter to laugh at him and cross his arms. "Try again, Orange cannot even reach the tap."

They go swimming in the sewers and start playing "shark" together with Raph as the shark and he scares them all so badly with it that they race for the sides to get out and while grabbing him, Raph gets kicked in the forehead by Donnie by accident. He doesnt apologize after hes just salty and sulking because he was so thoroughly frightened.

Mikey wanting to spend time with Leo so he is painting on the floor in his room while Leo reads a comic book and part way through he spills the messy paint water onto the rug and stains it hot pink. Leo is very displeased up until Mikey looks like hes gonna cry, then Leo is sighing and saying it's okay. The stain is still there to this day and now Leo just says it "adds character"

Raph stealing the flintstone vitamins when Splinter isn't looking- completely egged on by his younger brothers and then they all sit in their room eating them when they should be sleeping (Raph is the only one who can get past the child safety seal on the bottle) Splinter finds them out pretty fast with Raph once more trying to say his younger siblings did it and Splinter getting Leo, Mikey, and Donnie to try opening it only for them to fail. Splinter just stares at Raph until he confesses.

Raph getting his siblings one at a time to lay in the middle of a blanket before folding the sides up around them and then lifting it off the ground to spin them full force while they laugh and screech in excitement.

Mikey having one drawing he was particularly proud of and Leo meaning to tease him by pretending to rip it only he actually does by accident and then, like an idiot, he commits to the bit and rips it in half. Mikey is devastated and brawls his eyes out for an hour. Leo comes into his room and apologizes of his own accord and then offers to let Mikey destroy one of his favourite posters. Mikey absolutely unleashes hell onto it.

Leo and Donnie would play with Lego and K'nex together while a movie they both like plays in the background. Leo isnt great at it, but Donnie helps him out when he can and in the meantime builds something with ease just by looking at the pictures. (Donnie always steals the good parts and the little toy motors they put in the K'nex sets)

Mikey Leo and Donnie think it's funny to tell Raph they're going to watch a Lou Jitsu movie only for Raph to get comfy on the floor in a pile of blankets and pillows, tail wagging from excitment, only for that goosebumps movie Night Of The Living Dummy to come on. Raph now hates puppets.

Raph chases his younger sibs with things they're afraid of 100% they think hes finally done but five seconds later when they've calmed down he slowly brings the item out and instantly theyre racing away from it all over again.

Donnie preferring no one else to be in his lab so Mikey just sits outside of the door and leans against it, trying to pretend be wasn't there when Donnie comes out of the lab. Bonus points if Donnie leaves and Mikey sneaks into the lab and tries to be out of there before Donnie comes back, but it never works out and Donnie is LIVID as he chases Mikey back to his room. Mikey continues this no matter how many times he gets chased away, even trying to hide inside the lab and pretend he cant be seen in obvious spots.

Mikey loving to make little box forts and pillow forts, he makes a really REALLY cool box fort once and Donnie is helping him decorate it along with Raph, Leo comes in with bb guns and shoots at the box fort only to realize maybe that's not a good idea when the bb goes RIGHT through the cardboard and Raph comes out and holds him upside down by his feet to shake the bb gun out of his grubby little hands.

Mikey got a good percentage of his music taste from his brothers but as they got older and he still listened to some of it, they taunt him relentlessly about his music choices even when he reminds them he got his taste from them.

#just a few moments from my childhood but with turtles #rottmnt headcanons #rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the tmnt #rottmnt leo #rottmnt raph #rottmnt mikey #rottmnt donnie

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layzorr · 6 months

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OHHHH MY GOD. Just finished episode five of scavengers reign. If I wasn't sold on this show before I sure as hell am now. where do I even begin?

I love that there wasn't like an hour long build up episode explaining All the Lore. All the information. Some people like that but for me I love that you're thrown into these people not really knowing much. I LOVE the slowly telling you more about their lives! I love the conclusions you can draw about them. Azi pushes people away and gets lost in her work, she doesn't know how to maintain relationships. She doesn't know how to relate to people. Ursula is extremely determined but also just...never stopping for a second. Never stops to check in with herself, never lets herself stop for a second. Sam doesn't trust people easily. He's extremely logic oriented. Emotions confuse him. He's angry and stubborn and can't see past his own nose sometimes. He never takes shit into account. Kamen is so many things at once. He's selfish. He makes everything about him. He's controlling. He's extremely depressed and fears loss or things slipping out of control. He fears change. He needs everyone to respect him. He treats people badly because he takes ANYTHING as a personal attack that he has to "stand up for himself" against. He's suicidal. He genuinely loves Fiona and yet has no respect for her autonomy. He doesn't value the lives of the people around him. He holds at least some worry for the crew. But was that just for Fiona? I don't know yet and that's why it's so COOL. I love that they don't tell us everything immediately! They space out different information reveals so it can be taken in! They let you get to know the characters in five episodes before even revealing how the ship got there. And that's what makes the realization what happened actually effective! You knew enough about the characters to care! You know enough about why they act how they do to go, oh FUCK. This is a show you cannot watch with a binge culture mindset or you won't enjoy it it's so good.

Ursula and Sam's dynamic is really cool, hope to see more of how they met/ended up teaming up in these next episodes! I like it's not like. They're besties they're inseparable. it's two people who had to team up and did, and now they might bond. They're not friends yet, they don't dislike each other. They respect each other a lot and I dunno, it's kinda cool to see a completely neutral relationship in fiction.

Sam not apologizing to Ursula and instead kinda implying it. "Without your instincts", as in "I'm sorry I doubted your sense of danger. You wouldn't do something stupid." and also "Thank you for not leaving me alone even though, yeah, you could." Sam's rage at Kamen really adds a lot to him. Ursula so far isn't grabbing me but hey there's episodes left currently out and more to come out! There's gonna be a lot of depth most likely. I am VERY excited for it.

I fucking love Levi. I love their arc so far. I love their being scared of going back to how they were. Unfeeling and not making their own choices. They were never happy before. Theyd never had wants before. It was wonderful. And them being upset at Azi was just??? So good. You treat me like I still have no autonomy. I'm not going to hurt you. Why are you treating me like me enjoying things now and acting differently than I'm supposed to is bad when I'm just existing? I'm helping you. This makes me happy. Why are you upset? Also the scene where she saw her own hands fucked very hard not gonna lie.

Azi realizing, oh. They're a person now. They feel things. That...would be shitty to ask a person to do, huh? Her growing is so good. Her realizing all the times she pushed people out. All the assumptions she made about everything. Her respecting Levi more! Her realizing, okay I need to be nicer to them She...feels it. When I say something they'll feel it. Her telling Levi they're their own person now, and just,, idk I REALLY love them. Azi has so much implications and I love her. The pain about her being so lonely and shoving people out. Never stopping to be around anyone. And her finding companionship on the being that called her out on her shit. Goddd. Something about her treating them better than we see her so far treat a lot of other people. This planet being introduced as Horrific and it still is but it's also just a planet. It's just animals trying to survive. It's just nature and she has to adapt and make it make more sense as she grows.

Kamen....man. The way they've been telling his story with Fiona....at first him thinking the weird creature is her. Then Charlie making him realize no wait is she still there. Then. No. She's gone.

I love the set up to the fiona isn't alive. I saw it coming but it's not treated as a plot twist, it's treated as a realization for the characters. And that is so so much better sometimes. Like you can see it coming and yet kamens reaction, even if he's a horrible person, is still so gut wrenching.

Him being suicidal is STILL so gutwrenching. Because they show you how he feels. They show you, yeah. He loves her. He's a bad person but he has feelings even if he's selfish about them. And the fact none of the other characters have cried before makes seeing HIM much more impactful. He's not a good person but seeing anyone accept assumed death Hurts. And that's what fucks you up.

Man. This fucking show. That shot of the creature kinda consuming Kamen was horrifying and I love it. Still not done so no spoilers but god. This show is fucking good and I need to meet more people into it. I fucking love it.

#scavengers reign spoilers #scavengers reign

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galaxysodapopdraws · 5 months

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So here’s something I don’t normally do, write fanfiction! If y’all do enjoy it and want to read more from me I might make some more later.

I wrote this currently (aka 1 am) because I had the idea for a while and just said screw it I’ll write it instead of drawing it while I’m working on other things. So if punctuation or spelling is wrong I’m too tired to rewrite them right now.

This story stars a young Eggman (Julian) and Chuck making their breakthrough on the Robotizer! But Chuck seems to be uneasy about something going on with Julian.

Now without further ado~

Sonic Genesis: The Beginning of the End

It is a cool autumn night, fog covers a small town just outside a grand city settling on the coastline. Bells ring out, letting the sleeping citizens know that it is now midnight. A light teal-blue hedgehog is at his desk scribbling away at blueprints and other documents. He rubs his temple, annoyed by the loud clangs of the bells giving him a headache. He knows he should be asleep by now, but he is so close to finishing his projects and rather not lose his motivation. He goes back to his papers and refocuses on the numbers and ideas in his head.

*BRRRRRRRRINNNNG*

“GREAT GAIA WHAT NOW?!”

The hedgehog shouts as he slams his pencil down onto the crowded desk. His phone finally broke his concentration and makes his anger rise. He snaps out of his frustration when a loud thump came from the next room over.

“SHUT UP CHUCK! IM TRYING TO SLEEP AND YOU SHOULD TO!”

His little sister, Aleena screamed, ready to bust down the wall to stop him. Chuck mumbles under his breath as he goes to check his phone. To his surprise and delight, it is his good friend Julian!

“Julian! Is that you? It’s been forever since we’ve talked! You need to warn me next time you disappear like that.”

“Chuck, I need you at the laboratory as soon as possible. It is important and you cannot tell anyone where you are going.”

Chuck paused for a moment, Julian has been gone for almost four months. Why on Mobius would he contact him now, especially at this time of night?

“Is everything okay? Why do you need me over there?” Chuck asked worryingly.

“It’s about the Robotizer, I’ve made a breakthrough! I just need you to come over and help me work on it while I rest. My eyes are stinging like hell right now.”

Before Chuck could ask if he needed medical aid, Julian had already hung up the phone. Chuck stood there for a moment in silence, his mind racing. They have been working on the Robotizer for almost five years now, has he finally done it? Has Julian successfully managed to get it working? While these thoughts were buzzing around in his mind, Chuck was scrambling around grabbing papers and tools as fast as he could. He burst through into the garage and hopped onto his motorcycle, driving into the darkness.

When Chuck arrived at Julian’s personal laboratory, he could immediately tell something was wrong. The foliage around the building were over grown, the windows were covered in what seems to be tarp from the inside. Julian has been known to go for long periods of time working and creating inventions, but never to the point of neglecting himself and things around him. Chuck tried opening the front door to learn that Julian had changed the lock. Suddenly, a chain crashed down onto the concrete driveway inches away from Chuck causing him to fall over.

“Chuck, this is our secret. Climb up before anyone sees you”

whispered Julian, coming from the second floor. Before ascending the chain Chuck paused for a moment. Something didn’t feel right at all, what would be waiting for him up above? Is Julian in a right state of mind from being isolated for a while? Chuck shook his head, trying to calm his nerves. He’s known Julian for almost ten years now, and if Julian isn’t in a good position, he needs to be there for his friend. Chuck put the file of paperwork between his teeth and began to climb the chain. Reaching the window, Chuck could see that even the rooms inside the building were being neglected. Papers and trash thrown about, equations and notes scribbled all over the chalk board, only a few small lights were illuminating the room. In the dim glow of the lights, Chuck could make out the silhouette of Julian.

“Julian….what happened here? Are you alright?”

Chuck gently spoke as the struggled to climb through the window. Julian stood up and walked over to the hedgehog gripping at the windowsill and picked him up as if he was lighter than air. He set him down and crouched to get to eye level with Chuck. The first thing Chuck noticed was the hair on Julian’s head was carelessly shaved off, with a few bloody stitches replacing what was there before. Julian looked like he hadn’t seen the sun in forever, his eyes were covered by a small pair of dark goggles that seemed to be warning Chuck not to do anything stupid.

“We did it, we finally did it.”

Julian sighed. He stood up and walked slowly to his work table as if he were in a daze.

“Listen, it’s wonderful that you got the Robotizer working, but we need to get you to the hospital. The scars on your head aren’t looking to good and-“

Chuck was interrupted by Julian’s joyful yet menacing laugh. He turned back towards Chuck, a tooth baring grin stretched across his face.

“Chuck, we are doctors, I’m positive I know what I’m doing when it comes to stitches and such.”

“But we’re not those kind of doctors! How’d you get them anyways? What happened here?”

Julian reached behind him and picked up a small device off from the table. The Beta Robotizer, a small machine that can turn any flesh and blood into metal and data. It is small enough to fit your hand or even a small creature such as a mouse. Julian beckoned Chuck to come closer as he once again crouched to make sure he speaks to him face to face. Cautiously, Chuck walked over to Julian and pulled up a stool, waiting for Julian to explain himself.

“I apologize for not contacting you for so long. I just didn’t want to risk anyone else figuring out what we’re doing. But I believe I made enough security measures for us to finally get back to work.”

“I see…. Now about the stitches.”

“Ah yes, don’t worry about them. While testing the Robotizer I fell and busted my head open on the counter. But it was worth it in the long run, the Robotizer is a success and we need to begin working on a bigger one.”

Chuck smiled softly, knowing that his friend seemed to be okay. Exhausted and a bit delirious, but okay. However, a question came across Chuck’s mind that filled him with dread. As much as he knew he’d probably hate the answer, he just had to ask:

“Julian, you said you were testing the Robotizer, and even said it worked. But…. But what did you test it on exactly?”

Julian’s grin began to creep up on his face again, softly chuckling to himself as the reached up towards the back of his head to unclip the goggles that were covering his eyes. Chuck jumped back and fell off the stool in pure fear and shock after as Julian’s chuckle turned into a hardy laugh.

“YOUR EYES?!? ARE YOU INSANE?! This is a prototype! If something went wrong you could’ve went blind or worse!” Chuck yelled in frustration.

Julian’s eyes, now just black cameras with red lenses replacing his pupils and sclera followed Chuck’s movements, creating a whirring sound at every gaze. Bright red nerves had appeared around the sockets, as well as bruising that was slowly swelling and leaking a strange oil-like liquid.

“My vision has never been more clear, I haven’t even been using much light because I can now clearly see in the dark! They save me time and energy when working. Chuck, imagine what we could do with this, if we built a bigger one to fully robotize someone, we can change the world as we know it!”

Julian stood up and began to shuffle through the papers Chuck had brought. Chuck just sat in silence, not knowing what to say about the matter. He was very happy that their project had worked, but seeing Julian’s eyes and how they function, it filled him with a sense of unease.

“I’m glad that you were still working on the project while I was gone. All this new info and changes can help us a lot in the process.” Julian said as he put them back into the file.

He turned to Chuck and noticed that he looked like he was looking unwell, almost as if he was going to be sick. Julian sighed and placed a hand on Chuck’s head, petting him while making sure not to prick his fingers on his quills.

“Look, when we finally complete the main Robotizer, we will look back knowing that it was worth it. Tell you what, instead of working on it like I asked you tonight, go ahead and go home to rest. Come back this weekend and we can get started.”

Chuck glanced up at him, Julian was giving him a gentle smile, but his metal eyes glared back with no emotion or concern.

“Yeah…. It’s late anyways and I have work tomorrow.”

Chuck says as he begins reach for his papers, only to be interrupted by Julian slamming his hand on the files.

“Don’t worry about all that stuff right now.” Julian said guiding Chuck to the window.

“Right now you need to rest and get your mind at ease so we can get back to work. You have a good night, I’ll call you later tomorrow to check on you.”

Chuck lowered himself gently to the ground, barely breaking the silence of the woods around him. He sat there for a moment, wondering why Julian would do such a thing to himself. And why a bigger Robotizer? The plan was to make small ones to help in medical procedures. There was no real need to rush things right now. Chuck sighed, hopefully this will pass over him and it will all be worth it in the end. As he hoped on to his motorcycle and drove down the path, he peered over his shoulder towards the window in the laboratory. Where he could see the red eyes of his friend shining through the glass.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic au #sonic fanfiction #doctor eggman #dr eggman #uncle chuck #sonic genesis #sonic fanfic #not art #fanfic #fanfiction

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kebriones · 8 months

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Would you recommend your school to someone looking for an art school to apply to?

Massively depends on what type of art you want to do, your ability to put up with bullshit and what you expect your studies to give you.

The athens school of fine art is fine arts-oriented. If you want to do more illustrative work, comics, animation, conceptart, whatever etc, this is definitely not the school for you. Abstract stuff, performance, installations, video art, sculpture? Definitely recommend it. Specific workshops/profs also offer classes that really help with fundamentals of painting/drawing/sculpture, but the general direction of the school is "we make art for those who know about art, not the general public" so if you're, say, someone who wants to do book illustrations, you will suffer. And honestly the overall knowledge you get is so all over the place if you want to evolve quickly and actually learn, especially if drawing is your focus, i would not recommend it.

Second is that the relationships with the professors might be on surface level more casual than in other schools, but you will also have a bad time if you're not able to listen to the stupidest stuff and just nod and agree. Art is a subjective thing and trying to teach/instruct artists is a hard job with lots of pitfalls. Ideally you'll just click with your main professor but very likely you are going go have personal issues with them and you have to be ready to handle that. They might be unreasonable and unfair and you need to internally filter everything they say and ignore what isn't helping you. I know a lot of people who cannot handle this environment, or end up constantly arguing with professors. Basically you need to be there to do your work and not to be recognized or praised. People who come thinking they're great artists and want to always be right are going to have problems. I don't think I'm explaining this correctly but basically you need to be ready for shitty profs.

Third is that it's super difficult to get in. Mostly because it's not entirely objective and there's a factor of luck. Only 1/10 of those who take the exam pass each year. I never passed the exams, i tried twice and during prep school I was constantly reassured by my teacher that I was definitely getting in, and that I was their best student. How well you draw doesn't matter. I got in by transferring from Thessaloniki due to health and money reasons and i had to go to the ministry like five times to get the papers done. I think you can no longer transfer though. I might be mistaken.

If you're into fine arts, if you can put up with weird unreasonable professors in order to get what good they can give you (and they can give you good stuff for sure, you just have to pick them out of all the stupid stuff) and if you can force yourself to work and evolve as an artist without expecting much structure and direction from the school, it's good. It took me 4 years of constantly wanting to drop out before i finally made my peace with it, and that's because I'm now in the final year where I can basically just work on my stuff exclusively and focus on my graduation project.

Of also you have to be able to work on the projects the professors night give you which can be completely outside of your interests. If you can't force yourself to work on something on-command, you'll struggle. If you're overly particular about your work, you'll struggle. If you can't change your work to kinda match what your prof is expecting/asking from you, you'll struggle.

It is however an environment where you are very encouraged to create and actually become an artist. There's art and artists around you all the time you just have to be open to it. There are bonuses too, that you get an intergrated master's degree, there are the annexes that are absolutely gorgeous places to go stay and make art in, and the degree gives you certain privileges. The evening workshops you can choose from are also all extremely good and interesting and offer probably the biggest amount of concentrated knowledge in the school. Photography, set design, ceramics and marble sculpture are some of the best and have good professors too.

There used to be a comics/animation/illustration workshop that was a rogue workshop. We tried for years to get it approved by the uni council and we got a lot of backlash. At the end it was dissolved, it doesn't exist anymore and the professors running it gave up. That's an example of the school's feelings on these things.

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ughscara · 4 months

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end of the year post.

heads up. if i sound sappy in some parts, i'm not sorry 🤍

as of me writing this, it's but a mere 20 minutes before it is officially the start of a new year.

it's a little surreal to believe that 2023 is coming to an end. a year that admittedly, was more emotionally and physically hectic for me. but i pushed through, and here i am going into 2024 as hopefully a better me.

to be honest, this year has been nothing but self reflection, realization and a lot of acceptance as well as embracing parts of myself that i thought i'd never return to. hobbies of mine like writing and drawing were ones i strayed away from for so, so long in 2023. but it more or so lead back into the tribulations i was facing then and still recovering from now.

it's a little surreal to me that months after months of doing nothing but reflection and getting back into what i love doing most just months before the year ended resulted into the me who decided to step into tumblr again and share my kuni ideas for the fun of it. that halloween fic i posted? just for shits and giggles at the time. but the fun i had writing it was a fun i wasn't able to feel throughout the entirety of 2023, and i admit the motivation boost i got from posting the fic afterwards, alongside checking in on the authors i used to follow just made something inside me click. and i went for it.

a bit more off topic but i still remember how i came back to genshin after a good five months or so in version 3.6 and doing the main event without knowledge of the sumeru quest line because i was avoiding spoilers. that day, i just finished taking an entrance exam for college and was exhausted from both the exam and from wearing myself out. midway into the introduction of the contestants; i was greeted with wanderer, or kuni in my vocabulary, being in the event and i was just smiling from ear to ear at the mere sight of him. feeling that same overflow of good emotions just take me whole to be honest, i was simply beyond happy. the way he spoke about writing about inazuma's societal issues because he was bored genuinely had me laughing for the first time that day.

i guess it's that simple little moment that hit me hard. it's silly, i'm aware, but it meant everything to me in a way. since that day in june; i was determined and full of creative drive to hopefully share at least one thing before the end of this year. look at me now, i have a series published that's yet to be finished so i can start on the next one in spring ( hopefully ), a one-shot to share for a moot and lastly... just a lot. i have a lot in store.

i have no right to say such things regarding my immense gratitude for the support i received from the few things i published, but the support i ended up getting on said few things — big and small — has made me realize that maybe i still feel very passionate about writing. that maybe i want to pursue the desire to publish all i have for that one fictional character that had my heart swoon the moment i saw him in a promotional trailer three years ago.

the ending note to 2023, starting october 31st when i published my first fic was a day that i'll always hold dear to me, my mutuals as well as the wonderful authors i follow made these past three months an absolute joy, and i cannot wait to make the most of my journey supporting each one of them ~

honestly i'm just rambling. but i am a professional yapper and to be honest i am writing all this on one cup of tea and like, six something hours of sleep i am absolutely not in the right headspace lmao. regardless! i am so so very glad to be here, to have survived an emotionally draining bitch of a year that was still an eventful year regardless to me, and starting the second of january... i shall be the bane of the scaranation's existence <3

we don't talk about how being that is actually a goal of mine because i think it'd be funny but i digress... 2024 will hopefully be just as much of an eventful year for me, for you, and everyone too. i believe that this year will be at least a little kinder to those who got absolutely shat on by 2023 ( pleek no more physical torment for me ) and if you're reading this, remember that this random stranger on the internet who's attempting to spread the kuni agenda is cheering you on for the year <3

i have a lot of stuff to share going forward. december was initially gonna be the month for all that but i had stuff going on that i ended prioritizing ( mainly my health ) so those initial plans will now move to the first month of a new year. mundanities with kabukimono will be finished in january, january 2nd will be interlocked eternities and lastly a late winter special that's actually a birthday gift for a mutual of mine ( mochi i am coming for you /menacingly )

oh it's 12 a.m. now, happy january first and happy 2024 everyone 🤍 may you be blessed with many wonderful days ahead. i shall see you on the second and third of january ~

#( ❀ ) ── the sixth kasan's announcement.#yes i am using that tag because this is important to me :)#anyways‚ i'm gonna go nod off for now .. it's funny how spent i feel despite not doing much today.

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kenjiro-kun · 11 months

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My intake of Gwen Dislike: Spider-Verse

Note: Just thought to write it out from the many videos that just hate on Gwen (which I get), but lack to grasp certain points the movie implemented on purpose. Just don't like to very big hate on her while being on the Spider-verse side of Tiktok. It was cool to write out my thoughts.

People were hyped about the newest Spider-verse movie. The first one being made in 2018, having a five year gap of the most recent release. The critical and normal viewer audience received this movie in a positive light. Many Spider-Man variant lovers came together, and picked out their favorite background character that made a scene during any part (mostly the chase scene, and movie posters). Though, the majority have come to understand this movie has mostly every character in a complicated situation, but the hate on Gwen is emphasized way too much without any concentration of the overall plot points that the movie showed on Gwen’s behalf.

The movie has two point of views of the main cast from the previous movie: Gwen and Miles. It showcased their relationship throughout the movie in small chapters. Both missed each other (The picture Gwen has of the two of them. Miles drawing Gwen in his sketchbook), Gwen even stating her feelings by being fearful of the many outcomes that did not end well (which doubles down that she does like him, but her own fears keep those feelings in check. Probably with the canon events she learned while being with the other Spider-People and the loss of her Peter Parker), and the ‘betrayal’ between the conflicting Gwen and the confused Miles at the end. She learned from being there (at the base in Nueva City) for months that Miles was considered an anomaly (she did not know that in the first movie), knowing that Miles' father will die due to ‘canon events’ that all the Spider-People go through. Now, glancing back at the many big plot points that may have scared Gwen into not telling Miles, it is, although heartbreaking, was the only way she saw to do things.

In the beginning (Gwen’s World), Gwen saw her Peter die at her own hands (she was not aware Peter was the giant lizard that was wanting to hurt/kill his bully. She only saw the lizard as just a lizard that was going on a rampage). Her own father, after seeing her as Spiderwoman, was on the hunt for the hero for legibly killing Peter. With the grief of her own Peter dying, she still considered finding a way to still help out the city by having a police radio. Fighting off a vulture from a different universe, she encounters Miguel and Jess (Spider-Man 2099 and Spiderwoman) coming after the sudden anomaly in Gwen’s universe. At the end, having been exhausted and roughed up, her father comes and finds her, pulling a gun on her without knowing her identity, and threatening to shoot her if she did not comply (his warning shot in the air). The second she showed her father that she was the person under the mask, he still held the gun to her. She was afraid. Miguel trapped her father, and Jess persuaded him into letting her come with them. Even subtly, throughout the film, if she did not do her job right, she would be sent home. With her own grief, and fear that her own father would see her as the girl that killed her best friend, she did not want to return home. So, disobeying Miguel, was not something she wanted to do (and by the many glimpses of him in rage, it would seem that it was justified). And even so, when an anomaly was in Miles’ world, she still went to him, even if she was on the job. She cannot have told him, in worry that she would disobey Miguel’s orders, and accidentally hurt the Spider-verse that Miguel is desperately trying to keep in order. Even in Pav’s universe, her worry was still raw and true, even if there was a small amount of her trying to keep Miles from disrupting the ‘canon event’ in Pav’s story.

Having two teenagers with two different stories, two different fears, with either guilt or remorse, they are still young, naive, and learning the world they have no idea would be beyond their own. Whether Gwen held an important fact about Miles' life, or told him to his face, the outcome of him trying to change that reality would still be present. Gwen, in the plotline, learned from her mistake, her fear over her father disappeared, her demons that caused her to lie, and act odd with Miles were gone, so she made a squad that were with Miles to go save him. The outcome of the next movie is up to the creator, but the dislike/hate for Gwen is too much when the people only hate her and not the others that were in the first movie. All relationships have their ups and downs. Do not hate Gwen, when Peter B. Parker, Penni, and the others, all the same could have, too, told him (though Penni probably has gone through so much—‘canon event’ some assume). But in the end, Miguel and his fear, along with their own, has made them choose to protect the Spider-verse in the beginning, and in the end, they realize their mistake in following Miguel (or the cause) if it meant going against the boy they came to care about so much.

To hate a character, a person must have a reason surrounding them all, if a person can only state flaws without considering the whole story, reason, whether it is justified (ex: a villain), or not, a person cannot look at a story one-sided. A person cannot pick and choose to hate a character, if more than one of the characters would/has done the same. It is an art, the movie characters, plot, and animation style are all complicated, such as the story. Let the story end, before jumping on a hatred train towards one character because of an action that has a reason for it. Miles is not the only character, whether a person has him as their favorite, Gwen is a big part of the story as well, and simplifying her as someone that has betrayed Miles is a stupid way of looking at things. And if a person only dislikes Gwen for her relationship with Miles (romantic relationship outcome that may or may not happen) then it’s not a very bright look at the movie as a whole. The moment with Spiderbyte was a nice gesture of hers, but she would not have faced repercussions (or none at all) like Gwen would have (she was sent home anyway). She never implied her and Hobie were ever a thing, and Hobie likes to be a menace on purpose and was probably messing with Miles (whether it’s true or not it’s not like Gwen could have visited Miles whenever she wanted to, nor do we have a reason she has stuff at Hobie’s house—not like people could blame her anyway).

At the end of the day, the story, Miles and Gwen’s, is too complicated to hate on a character for what they’ve done, especially in a “to be continued” movie. There were moments where Gwen could have done better (meeting Miles’ parents and walking out of Miles’ room), but in the end, Gwen makes mistakes just like any other character. These are young teenagers trying to hold the world on their shoulders, having empathy is a better way to understand the tragic lives of Spider-People than hating on them for something they could not have done due to their own reasons.

#spider verse #miles morales #miguel o'hara #spider punk #spider man #peter b. parker #spider man 2099 #thoughts #spider gwen #gwen

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