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ozzgin · 3 months

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Yandere! Android x Reader (I)

It is the future and you have been tasked to solve a mysterious murder that could jeopardize political ties. Your assigned partner is the newest android model meant to assimilate human customs. You must keep his identity a secret and teach him the ways of earthlings, although his curiosity seems to be reaching inappropriate extents.

Yes, this is based on Asimov’s “Caves of Steel” because Daneel Olivaw was my first ever robot crush. I also wanted a protagonist that embraces technology. :)

Content: female reader, AI yandere, 50's futurism

You follow after the little assistant robot, a rudimentary machine invested with basic dialogue and spatial navigation. It had caused quite the ruckus when first introduced. One intern - well liked despite being somewhat clumsy at his job - was sadly let go as a result. Not even the Police is safe from the threat of AI, is what they chanted outside the premises.

"The Commissioner has summoned you, (Y/N)."

That's how it greeted you earlier, clacking its appendage against the open door in an attempt to simulate a knock.

"Do you know why my presence is needed?" You inquire and wait for the miniature AI to scan the audio message.

"I am not allowed to mention anything right now." It finally responds after agonizing seconds.

It's an alright performance. You might've been more impressed by it, had you not witnessed first hand the Spacer technology that could put any modern invention here on Earth to shame. Sadly the people down here are very much against artificial intelligence. There have been multiple protests recently, like the one in front of your building, condemning the latest government suggestion regarding automation. People fear for their jobs and safety and you don't necessarily blame them for having self preservation. On the other hand, you've always been a supporter of progress. As a child you devoured any science fiction book you could get your hands on, and now, as a high ranked police detective you still manage to sneak away and scan over articles and news involving the race for a most efficient computer.

You close the door behind you and the Commissioner puts his fat cigarette out, twisting the remains into the ashtray with monotonous movements as if searching for the right words.

"There's been a murder." Is all he settles on saying, throwing a heavy folder in your direction. A hologram or tablet might've been easier to catch, but the man, like many of his coworkers, shares a deep nostalgia for the old days.

You flip through the pages and eventually furrow your eyebrows.

"This would be a disaster if it made it to the news." You mumble and look up at the older man. "Shouldn't this go to someone more experienced?"

He twiddles with his grey mustache and glances out the fake window.

"It's a sensitive case. The Spacers are sending their own agent to collaborate with us. What stands out to you?"

You narrow your eyes and focus on the personnel sheet. What's there to cause such controversy? Right before giving up, departing from the page, you finally notice it: next to the Spacer officer's name, printed clearly in black ink, is a little "R." which is a commonly used abbreviation to indicate something is a robot. The chief must've noticed your startled reaction and continues, satisfied:

"You understand, yes? They're sending an android. Supposedly it replicates a human perfectly in terms of appearance, but it does not possess enough observational data. Their request is that whoever partners up with him will also house him and let him follow along for the entirety of the mission. You're the only one here openly supporting those tin boxes. I can't possibly ask one of your higher ups, men with wives and children, to...you know...bring that thing in their house."

You're still not sure whether to be offended by the fact that your comfort seems to be of less priority compared to other officers. Regardless of the semantics, you're presently standing at the border between Earth and the Spacer colony, awaiting your case partner. A man emerges from behind a security gate. He's tall, with handsome features and an elegant walk. He approaches you and you reach for a handshake.

"Is the android with you?" You ask, a little confused.

"Is this your first time seeing a Spacer model?" He responds, relaxed. "I am the agent in your care. There is no one else."

You take a moment to process the information, similar to the primitive machine back at your office. Could it be? You've always known that Spacer technology is years ahead, but this surpasses your wildest dreams. There is not a single detail hinting at his mechanical fundament. The movement is fluid, the speech is natural, the design is impenetrable. He lifts the warm hand he'd used for the handshake and gently presses a finger against your chin in an upwards motion. You find yourself involuntarily blushing.

"Your mouth was open. I assumed you'd want it discreetly corrected." He states, factually, with a faint smile on his lips. Is he amused? Is such a feeling even possible? You try your best to regain some composure, adjusting the collar of your shirt and clearing your throat.

"Thank you and please excuse my rudeness. I was not expecting such a flawless replica. Our assistants are...easily recognizable as AI."

"So I've been told." His smile widens and he checks his watch. You follow his gesture, still mesmerized, trying to find a single indicator that the man standing before you is indeed a machine, a synthetic product.

Nothing.

"Shall we?" He eyes the exit path and you quickly lead him outside and towards public transport.

He patiently waits for your fingerprint scan to be complete. You almost turn around and apologize for the old, lagging device. As a senior detective, you have the privilege of living in the more spacious, secured quarters of the city. And, since you don't have a family, the apartment intended for multiple people looks more like a luxury adobe. Still, compared to the advanced way of the Spacers, this must feel like poverty to the android.

At last, the scanner beeps and the door unlocks.

"Heh...It's a finicky model." You mumble and invite him in.

"Yes, I'm familiar with these systems." He agrees with you and steps inside, unbuttoning his coat.

"Oh, you've seen this before?"

"In history books."

You scratch your cheek and laugh awkwardly, wondering how much of his knowledge about the current life on Earth is presented as a museum exhibit when compared to Spacer society.

"I'm going to need a coffee. I guess you don't...?" Your words trail as you await confirmation.

"I would enjoy one as well, if it is not too much to ask. I've been told it's a social custom to 'get coffee' as a way to have small talk." The synthetic straightens his shirt and looks at you expectantly.

"Of course. I somehow assumed you can't drink, but if you're meant to blend in with humans...it does make sense you'd have all the obvious requirements built in."

He drags a chair out and sits at the small table, legs crossed.

"Indeed. I have been constructed to have all the functions of a human, down to every detail."

You chuckle lightly. Well, not like you can verify it firsthand. The engineers back at the Spacer colony most likely didn't prepare him for matters considered unnecessary.

"I do mean every detail." He adds, as if reading your mind. "You are free to see for yourself."

You nearly drop the cup in your flustered state. You hurry to wipe the coffee that spilled onto the counter and glance back at the android, noticing a smirk on his face. What the hell? Are they playing a prank on you and this is actually a regular guy? Some sort of social experiment?

"I can see they included a sense of humor." You manage to blurt out, glaring at him suspiciously.

"I apologize if I offended you in any way. I'm still adjusting to different contexts." The android concludes, a hint of mischief remaining on his face. "Aren't rowdy jokes common in your field of work?"

"Uh huh. Spot on." You hesitantly place the hot drink before him.

Robots on Earth have always been built for the purpose of efficiency. Whether or not a computer passes the Turing Test is irrelevant as long as it performs its task in the most optimal, rational way. There have been attempts, naturally, to create something indistinguishable from a human, but utility has always taken precedence. It seems that Spacers think differently. Or perhaps they have reached their desired level of performance a long time ago, and all that was left was fiddling with aesthetics. Whatever the case is, you're struggling not to gawk in amazement at the man sitting in your kitchen, stirring his coffee with a bored expression.

"I always thought - if you don't mind my honesty - that human emotions would be something to avoid when building AI. Hard to implement, even harder to control and it doesn't bring much use."

"I can understand your concerns. However, let me reassure you, I have a strict code of ethics installed in my neural networks and thus my emotions will never lead to any destructive behavior. All safety concerns have been taken into consideration.

As for why...How familiar are you with our colony?" The android takes a sip of his coffee and nods, expressing his satisfaction. "Perhaps you might be aware, Spacers have a declining population. Automated assistants have been part of our society for a long time now. What's lacking is humans. If the issue isn't fixed, artificial humans will have to do."

You scoff.

"What, us Earth men aren't good enough to fix the birth rates? They need robots?"

You suddenly remember the recipient of your complaint and mutter an apology.

"Well, I'm sure you'd make a fine contender. Sadly I can't speak for everyone else on Earth." The man smiles in amusement upon seeing the pale red that's now dusting your cheeks, then continues: "But the issue lies somewhere else. Spacers have left Earth a long time ago and lived in isolation until now. Once an organism has lost its immune responses to otherwise common pathogens, it cannot be reintegrated."

True. Very few Earth citizens are allowed to enter the colony, and only do so after thorough disinfection stages, proving they are disease free as to not endanger the fragile health of the Spacers living in a sterile environment. You can only imagine the disastrous outcome if the two species were to abruptly mingle. In that case, equally sterile machinery might be their only hope.

Your mind wanders to the idea. Dating a robot...How's that? You sheepishly gaze at the android and study his features. His neatly combed copper hair, the washed out blue eyes, the pale skin. Probably meant to resemble the Spacers. You shake your head.

"A-anyways, I'll go and gather all the case files I have. Then we can discuss our first steps. Do feel at home."

You rush out and head for your office. Focus, you tell yourself mildly annoyed.

While you search for the required paperwork - what a funny thing to say in this day and age - he will certainly take up on your generous offer to make himself comfortable. The redhaired man enters the living room, scanning everything with curious eyes. He stops in front of a digital frame and slides through the photos. Ah, this must be your Police Academy graduation. The year matches with the data he's received on you. Data files he might've read one too many times in his unexplained enthusiasm. This should be you and the Commissioner; Doesn't match the description of your father, and he seems too old to be a spouse or boyfriend. Additionally, the android distinctly recalls the empty 'Relationship' field.

"Old photos are always a tad embarrassing. I suppose you skipped that stage."

He jolts almost imperceptibly and faces you. You have returned with a thin stack of papers and a hologram projector.

"I've digitalized most files I received, so you don't have to shuffle a bunch of paper around." You explain.

"That is very useful, thank you." He gently retrieves the small device from your hand, but takes a moment before removing his fingers from yours. "I predict this will be a successful partnership."

You flash him a friendly smile and gesture towards the seating area.

"Let's get to work, then. Unless you want to go through more boring albums." You joke as you lower yourself onto the plush sofa.

The synthetic human joins you at an unexpectedly close proximity. You wonder if proper distance differs among Spacers or if he has received slightly erroneous information about what makes a comfortable rapport.

"Nothing boring about it. In fact, I'd say you and I are very similar from this point of view." He tells you, placing the projector on the table.

"Oh?"

"Your interest in technology and artificial intelligence is rather easy to infer." The man continues, pointing vaguely towards the opposing library. "Aside from the briefing I've already received about you, that is."

"And that is similar to...the interest in humans you've been programmed to have?" You interject, unsure where this conversation is meant to lead.

"Almost."

His head turns fully towards you and you stare back into his eyes. From this distance you can finally discern the first hints of his nature: the thin disks shading the iris - possibly CCD sensors - are moving in a jagged, mechanical manner. Actively analyzing and processing the environment.

"I wouldn't go as far as to generalize it to all humans.

Just you."

#yandere #yandere x darling #yandere x reader #yandere x you #yandere male #male yandere #male yandere x reader #yandere robot #yandere android #robot x human #android x reader #robot x reader #yandere scenarios #yandere imagines #yandere oc #yandere original character #yandere imagine #yandere fic

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babydollmarauders · 1 year

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CLUMSY — JACK HUGHES

jack hughes x fem!reader

summary: quinn and luke realize how clumsy y/n is after noticing how often jack unconsciously keeps her from harm

notes: y/n is written sensitive and clumsy! also, i wrote this on saturday to have something to post this week while i’m unable to write <3

i’ve met my boyfriends family on numerous occasions since we started dating in october. mostly through quick trips such as Quinn coming into town for a game against the Devils and whatnot, but this is my first time spending an elongated amount of time with them and i have this irrational fear that they’ll dislike me.

Jack has assured me multiple times since we’ve arrived at the lake house for the summer that i have no reason to worry, but it’s been four days and i still feel like they’re forming their opinions on me. so, i’ve taken it upon myself to do whatever i can in order to get them to like me; including my current task of baking cookies.

“you know they already love you, right?” Jack asks, standing at the counter beside me, observing as i mix the dry ingredients into a bowl. “you don’t need to bake them cookies.”

“are you saying you don’t want my sea salt chocolate chip cookies?” i keep focused on the task at hand, my sight never leaving the measuring cup as i scoop the flour into the bowl.

“now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” a hearty chuckle escapes his lips as he maneuvers himself behind me, his arms wrapping around my waist as he clings himself to me, his cheek resting pressed against my shoulder blade. “i definitely want your cookies. i’m just saying that my brothers don’t need them.”

i giggle as his fingers tickle at the bits of my sides where my shirt has risen, arching my back to try and escape his hands. Jack groans as i break free from his grip, but i assume it’s mostly due to his brothers entering the kitchen.

“ooh, what are you making?” Luke wonders, coming to a stop on the opposite side of the counter.

“cookies!” i grin, finally looking up as i finish the dry ingredients.

“yum.” Quinn chimes in, sidling into the spot beside Luke. he peers into the bowl and his brows furrow slightly. “y/n, that’s just powder?”

i bark out a laugh at the clueless boy.

“Quinny, you have to mix the dry ingredients first. then the wet ingredients such as eggs, butter and vanilla. and then you mix them both together to form the dough.” i explain. i scan the countertop, making sure i have each item needed for the next step. “i need another bowl.”

i bend down, opening the lower cupboard and reaching for the metal mixing bowl inside.

“Trevor texted me this morning.” i hear Jack inform the boys.

“yeah? when’s he coming up?” Quinn asks.

“in two weeks. but Alex is getting here tomorrow.” Jack says. i shut the cupboard door, stretching my legs to rise back up from my position. my head bumps Jack’s hand, wrapped around the lip of the counter above where i was bent.

my left hand rubs the top of the back of my head super quick as i set the mixing bowl on the counter. i glance back up as Luke and Quinn share an amused look and my face scrunches in confusion.

what did i miss?

Jack’s left arm rests on my shoulders, my face half buried into his chest as he scrolls on his phone. Quinn and Luke sit in armchairs on opposite sides of the couch as Alex sits on the opposite side of Jack. a movie plays on the tv, but i’m momentarily distracted by Ellen walking past the back of the couch, calling out a goodnight.

“goodnight El!” i call back as she makes her way to the stairs, the boys all muttering their own goodnight’s.

“brunch tomorrow, while the boys golf?” she asks, confirming our plans. i nod and she grins, blowing a kiss towards the group of us as she finally walks up the stairs.

“you guys are going to brunch tomorrow? without us?!” Luke asks, his hand coming up to his chest in mock offense.

“you guys are going golfing tomorrow, without us! it’s only fair.” i laugh and Alex chuckles.

“y/n/n, you don’t even like golf. you said it’s boring and called it ‘watered down hockey’.” Alex points out as i burrow back into Jack’s side.

“shh, i’m watching the movie.” i shush him, making the boys laugh. Jack turns back to his phone and i watch through one peeked open eye as he double taps on his teammate’s most recent instagram post before typing out some nonsense comment that i’ll never understand.

pulling back, i lock my eyes on the remote on the coffee table. sliding forward some, i lean, stretching my fingertips out to try and grab it. finally getting ahold of it, i go to lean back, wobbling forward and accepting my fate. i brace myself to fall before feeling a hand grab onto the back of my shirt. yanking me back, Jack pulls me back into his side, his eyes still glued to his phone. i heave out a small relieved sigh as i press a kiss to his chest before turning the volume up on the tv.

i glance around the living room to the other boys, gauging how interested they are in the movie, but Luke and Quinn are exchanging a look. Luke biting back a smile as Quinn smirks.

what did i miss this time?

with the boys friends all finally arriving, the lake house has become much too crowded to hang out inside. so instead we’re all outside, gathered around a fire that was once blazing but now dwindling. my boyfriend jokes around with Cole and Trevor, Luke speaking with his University of Michigan teammates, Ethan and Dylan, and lastly Quinn sits sipping a beer as he chats with Alex and the Tkachuk’s.

making myself scarce in order to not cling to my boyfriends side as he tries to enjoy himself, i text with my own friends from back in New Jersey as i balance on the edge of the brick fire pit, circling it as i type.

“be careful, babe.” Jack warns me, and i grin and throw him a thumbs up. he barely gives me a second glance before Trevor takes up his attention, reciting a story of something that happened to he and his friend Jamie back in California.

i continue pacing around on the elevated bricks, typing a long winded message to Leah, explaining why she shouldn’t call her ex. as i pass by my boyfriend once more, i’m not paying as close attention as i probably should be, my foot getting a little too close to the inner edge as i start to slip.

a hand grips my elbow, pulling me back to a standing position before i can fall into the fire and i look over to see Jack, his attention still on Trevor and his hand wrapped around my arm as he nods his head at his friend while he continues ranting. i give a light pat to Jack’s shoulder to let him know i’m fine and he releases his grip.

slipping my phone into my pocket, i continue my journey around the fire pit again, this time with more of my focus going into keeping upright. passing Luke, i see him looking away from his friends, and i follow his line of sight to his brother, Quinn looking right back at him. both wear an entertained appearance and i look around to see if i can find what they’re smiling about but come up empty-handed.

why do i keep missing these things?

with today being one of the hottest days of the summer, we’re all crowded on the boat. most of the group lounges around conversing with one another, Luke currently taking his turn wakesurfing as music blares from Quinn’s bluetooth speaker.

i’m sat in Jack’s lap, rubbing my third layer of sunscreen on my legs and the tops of my feet.

“babe, i think you’ve got enough.” Jack laughs, his hands grip my waist to keep me from falling as i’m leaned forward.

“i just wanna make sure. the UV index is super high today and you know how easily i burn.” i tell him, sitting back upright as i flip the cap of the sunscreen closed once more.

“i know, sugar. but we’ve only been out here for two hours and that’s your third time applying it. i think you’re okay for a while.” he takes the lotion from my hands, handing the bottle over to Cole. “put that in the bag next to you, eh?”

Cole nods, placing the sunscreen into the waterproof zip up bag i brought on the boat.

“y/n/n! c’mere!” Luke shouts, making me untangle myself from Jack. i rise to my feet, shuffling over to the back of the boat and leaning over to get closer in order to hear him better.

“you gonna let her get that close to the edge, Rowdy?” Quinn questions, making the boys laugh.

“what?” Jack asks. “what do you mean?”

“she’s a bit clumsy, is she not? we’ve noticed you all summer, keeping her from hurting herself.” Quinn replies through chuckles. even Alex, who drives the boat barks out a laugh.

“wait, when did i do that?” Jack wonders.

“all the time! you weren’t even paying attention when you did it!” Luke shouts and i stick my tongue out at him before turning to observe the boys.

“there was the first time Luke and i noticed it, when you wrapped your hand over the counter to make sure she didn’t hit her head. and you were right to do so because she bumped it right on your hand.” Quinn explains.

“or when she was reaching off the couch to grab the remote and you caught her by her shirt to keep her from falling. and you didn’t even look up from your phone as you did it!” Luke says as he climbs back on the boat.

“or how about when she was balancing on the fire pit and you caught her by the arm to keep her from falling straight into the fire. while you kept all your attention on Trevor. didn’t even look, you just reached a hand out and grabbed her.” Quinn provides another example. “i can go on.”

“i didn’t even realize i was doing all that.” Jack shrugs, glancing towards me. “i guess it’s just unconscious reaction. i’ve gotten used to it by now.”

“i’m not clumsy.” i pout, crossing my arms over my chest.

“it’s okay, it’s not necessarily a bad thing!” Trevor attempts to comfort me. i give him a side-eye, making my way over to Jack. but before i can sit in his lap, i slip. Jack’s arms wrap around my waist to keep me from dropping to the floor, pulling me down onto his thighs instead.

“you are pretty clumsy, babe.” one of Jack’s arms stays planted across my waist, holding me to him as his index finger pushes my chin up so i’m looking up at him. “but, it’s adorable.”

i bury my face in his chest out of embarrassment. i didn’t think i was clumsy. i mean, i know i’ve always been a bit accident prone; broken glasses, falling a bit more than my friends. but i didn’t think i was clumsy.

“it’s nothing to be ashamed of, y/n.” Quinn tells me. Jack’s hand trails up and down my back as he whispers reassurances in my ear.

“yeah, we didn’t mean to embarrass you or anything.” Luke pipes up once more, his voice seeping with regret.

“that’s why you kept looking at each other all the time.” my words are muffled by Jack’s chest, but by the way that Jack coos as he places a kiss on the top of my head, i know they heard them. “you were laughing at me.”

“we weren’t. i swear we weren’t.” Quinn’s voice is closer now, and i feel another hand touch my back. “we were laughing with you. we just thought it was funny that Jack didn’t even notice when he was doing it.”

“honest?” i question.

“honest. i promise.” my head rises at Luke’s voice, closer now as well. his hand comes up to rest on my knee and i look over to see him squatted down beside Jack and i, Quinn sitting next to us.

“i didn’t realize i was clumsy.” i confess. “i just thought it was normal.”

“i gotta say, you’re definitely the first girlfriend i’ve ever had to pull away from falling into an actual fire.” Jack chuckles, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “but i wouldn’t want you any other way.”

“really?”

“really. i love you. clumsiness and all.” he tells me. his grip gets tighter around me and i crane my neck to crash my lips into his.

“ugh, gross!” Trevor exclaims. Jack pulls back, leaning his forehead against mine.

“shut up, Z.” he grins, pulling me into one more kiss. “now, you ready to learn how to wakesurf?”

“yeah, no. even before i knew i was considered clumsy, i knew i wasn’t going out there. i’ll fall straight on my face, Jacky. i mean seriously, i’m a clutz!”

#jack hughes #jack hughes x reader #jack hughes imagine #jack hughes fic #jack hughes blurb #nj devils #nhl fic #nhl imagine #nhl blurb #faithlynn’s writings <3

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sungbeam · 2 months

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SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW — act I, scene v

nonidol!hwang intak x f!reader

when summit poster boy hwang intak's car breaks down in the school parking lot, it sets off a chain of events that leads to you, someone he was perhaps always meant to find. the only problem is that the two of you are far from the ideal couple, and your peers are apt to keep that status quo.

▷ genre, chapter warnings. s2f2l, classism and discrimination, forbidden romance au, minimal swearing, angst, humor, mentions of grief and terminal illness, written in third person pov

▷ word count. 2.8k

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a/n: whenever i come back to this series, i remember how hard it is to write it

SUMMER (RISING SENIORS).

Yn had not sent a picture back to Intak. In fact, she hadn't even opened his messages. Intak couldn't decide which was worse—being left on "read" or on "delivered." Both were equally quite horrible, but as the day went on with radio silence from her end, he continuously had to remind himself that she had responsibilities and a life. She couldn't be at his beck and call, and she certainly wouldn't ever entertain the idea of being so.

But one little text would have eased his mind. Just one, little text.

Intak flopped onto the couch in the living room of his house, the entirety of which remained just as cold and empty as it always was. In a way, the quiet was good because it meant that his father wasn't home, taking with him that thick, haunting presence of his. Intak sometimes imagined that he walked around with a massive cloud of fog clinging to his legs and feet, and that image had engraved itself into his head since he was an adolescent, more so now that his father's murky fog would soon consume Intak in all of those heavy expectations.

He lifted his phone up to catch a glimpse of the time. He would have to leave for that one dance class soon, the one that he and his friends had signed up for together to occupy themselves during the summer. If Intak wasn't forced to take over the company after his schooling, he would be dancing, or maybe even reading shit, like proper literature, and writing poetry about dead older brothers and forbidden friendships with strangers who felt closer to him than his own family.

He was tempted to text Yn just to check in. Something like 'hey bff i'm bored as hell and sad as fuck hbu' or 'miss u and worried about u text me back?' or god forbid, 'i've been trying to imagine what u look like but i have a feeling a picture won't do u justice.' God, he really needed to stop watching those cursed romcoms when he was bor—

Bzzzzz. Bzzz. Bzzzz.

Intak leapt out of his skin in surprise.

He reached into his pants pocket to withdraw Jaehyuk's phone. The notifications from Yn came in rapid succession at the top of the screen:

yer a wizard yn!: sorry i went mia for like a day

yer a wizard yn!: smth came up

yer a wizard yn!: cute pic btw :') ig i owe u a pfp too

yer a wizard yn!: *sent a photo*

Intak held his breath, then forced himself to turn away from the phone screen. Was he ready for this? Was he ready for her reveal? This felt like an invasion of privacy, especially with how carefully she kept her identity hidden the first few weeks they'd been texting each other. It hadn't been until recently that Yn had begun to let him learn things about her.

It wasn't like he forced her though… right? It was out of her own want and will. It was her choice and he—

He was going to fully indulge in that.

Intak finally opened up the full chat to view the messages she'd sent.

And lo and behold, there she was. It was a casual selfie, seeming to be taken in front of a window by the way the sun shone over her face in a gold-colored glow. She wore a dark T-shirt with a logo Intak couldn’t quite make out from the way her arms and hair were positioned. In fact, he could only see about half of her face from the way she hid the lower half behind her pulled-up knees. But her eyes crinkled enough that he could see that she was smiling.

The soft smile on his face was a stark contrast to the sharp palpitations of his heart in his chest. Before, he could never imagine the face he was speaking to across the phone—rather, it had always just been a person with blurred features. Now that he could put a face to the name, and the voice, and the character…

Intak saved the picture and set it as Yn’s contact photo. He wondered if he should have even been doing this since Jae didn’t even have a contact photo saved for her. (But now that she had sent it, it wasn’t like Intak was going to resist setting that photo as her contact, especially since it was an excuse to stare at it while he was texting her.)

jae’s phone: that photo is not fair that’s like… half ur face dude >://// /j

jae’s phone: but thank uuuuuuu i KNEW u were cute

He chewed on his bottom lip, quickly adding onto his previous texts since it seemed like Yn wasn’t going to reply back any time soon.

jae’s phone: ik ur the one who suggested swapping photos, but i hope u didn’t feel obligated to. ik u were never super comfortable w sharing personal info abt urself w me, but i’m genuinely really happy to get to know u better

jae’s phone: lol idk y that got kinda sappy ? but i hope everything’s good on ur end!!

jae’s phone: i’ve gotta go to a dance lesson rn tho so ttyl ynieee!!!!

Intak sighed as he forced himself to click out of his and Yn’s direct messages, and to haul his ass off the couch. He had, at multiple instances, contemplated why he felt so attached to Yn. Perhaps it was because she was so close to his brother and this truly was just his own kind of closure. Or it was something else, too.

Yn's eyes burned holes through the notifications that sat at the top of her phone screen. It had been several hours since Intak had sent them, and she knew exactly what they said. She'd even mentally written out and sent several replies, but never physically carried them out. She just couldn't bring herself to do it.

The heavy weight that had settled on her chest from a day ago still rested there. Usually, privileged shit Summit kids did to her and in front of her were annoying, but she'd learned to grow thick skin. She didn't know why this time affected her so poorly. Then again, the fact that neither Jongseob nor Shota had gotten over it could have contributed to her own mood, too.

Her brothers in arms had been quiet since then, barely speaking unless necessity prevailed. The shop had never been so quiet before, and even when customers and neighbors came by with a friendly word or joke, they would force a smile onto their faces or a laugh from their throats. She could hear the strain, the grudge and emotions tugging at the corners of their mouths.

"If I had the money…" Yn remembered hearing Jongseob muttering under his breath the night of the incident. She knew exactly what he was thinking then and there. All the bitterness in the negative space.

They'd all grown to have thick skin, but it was bound to crack at some point. They weren't made of steel, after all.

After a long, grueling day at the shop, Yn, Shota, and Jongseob returned to Yn's house to wash up for the evening. The walk home had been quiet, and she'd been itching to reach for her phone and finally open up Intak's messages…

She cleared her throat. "Go get cleaned up and meet me in the living room," she voiced aloud to the two of them as she unlocked the front door.

Jongseob grunted, "Why?"

"We're watching Clueless."

Shota let out a snort as Jongseob threw his head back in a loud groan. "You're shitting me. Any other movie than that one, Yn. We've watched that, like, fifteen times."

With her back still to them, she could let herself smile just a little. All she had been looking for was that reaction from him. "Okay, well, if you can be on the couch in fifteen minutes, then you can choose a different—"

She hadn't even finished what she was saying when the two of them bolted past her, exclaiming at each other as they raced for access to the closest bathroom. Yn laughed under her breath, nudging the door closed behind her with the toe of her shoe. She hadn't even been sure whether or not the two would stay here with her or not since they basically stayed shut up in the old extra bedroom instead of hanging out. Though they would have been in the house, it had sounded like no one else was home.

But now? Yn made her way into the kitchen to get dinner started. Hopefully she could get something on the stove by the time one of them hopped out of the shower. Knowing Jongseob though…

She estimated that it was about five minutes later that Jongseob's elephant stomps sounded down the hall, nearing the living room and kitchen at high speed. Seconds later, a blur of orange and white launched himself over the back of the couch. As she expected, it was Jongseob with that freshly showered glow, damp hair, and a white towel hanging around his shoulders.

Her amused gaze clashed with his, and though his face was pressed into a deadpan, she saw the glimmer in his irises. He told her, "We're watching Star Wars."

Yn grinned. "Deal's a deal, kid."

Right on cue, Shota came sliding into the living room with his dampened locks tied up and out of his face with a Hello Kitty hair tie he no doubt found in the drawers of the bathroom. She wondered how he found stuff like that, stuff that she had ditched so long ago when she was much younger. She raised her eyebrows at him. “I’m starting to think that neither of you actually use soap when you shower.”

“I’m productive when I’m given motive,” Shota replied, collapsing onto the couch next to Jongseob. She could already hear the tell-tale explosion of sound that was the Star Wars main theme.

It was several hours later when dinner was eaten, dishes were washed, and the lot of them were one and a half Star Wars movies in that Yn stared at her notifications again. Intak hadn't sent anything else since those last messages, and there was a distinct feeling of guilt stewing in the back of her brain. At this point, it overpowered any feelings of annoyance or bitterness from the other day's incident. It was always at evening hours when the overthinking started.

Intak had been good to her thus far, though, and it wasn't fair that she took out her annoyance on him. He had done nothing bad—a part of her countered with “yet.”

She could see the start of his messages: That photo's like half your face dude… I've got to go to a dance lesson though so…

It was all completely harmless, and yet, her heart pounded in her chest from not being able to fully read his reaction to her face reveal. Of course she cared what he thought. She chalked it up to the fact that Intak himself was a pretty face, and it was perfectly normal to be self conscious.

Yn raised her head for a moment when she caught a flash of quick movement from the TV, then felt a pair of eyes on her.

While Shota was curled up at the far end of the couch, Jongseob was seated next to her and saw who's messages sat at the top of her screen. The two of them connected gazes; he said nothing, showed nothing.

A different type of guilt rushed into her head.

Jongseob turned back to the screen, and she was back to square one.

The house was quiet by the time Yn tucked her friends beneath quilts on the couch. Her mom had come home sometime between Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace, then crashed immediately after disappearing into her room, leaving Yn to haunt the hallways of her house in the dark and silence by herself.

She perched on the edge of her bed with the light of her phone screen illuminating her face. There were those unread messages at the top of her screen again, yelling at her to just take a peak. There was no harm in seeing what he said—but there was. He would see the Read sign beneath his messages and think the worst.

With nothing else stopping her but her own thoughts, she tapped the notification.

The text chain opened up before her in full. There was nothing out of the ordinary, as she expected. He was just being his bright, sweet self here. Her lips pursed into a slight smile as she read over his sappy talk at the end; it was appreciated though.

But now it was a matter of replying.

He probably thought she was busy all day again, but the guilt of “punishing” him for something that people from his community did and not him personally was eating her up inside.

“Ahem.”

She stopped, eyes widening as her head shot up like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar. A drowsy Jongseob stood in her doorway with his eyes at half-mast and his mouth widened in a yawn. Sometimes she forgot that her friend was still a kid—that they were all just kids. “Hey,” she whispered to him. “Did I wake you up or something?”

He shook his head and suddenly looked a lot more awake. “The text messages you got earlier,” he drawled, inclining his chin at her phone.

“Oh.” She glanced down at the screen, then back up at him. “Seob, I—”

“He's gonna hurt you, Yn.”

Her chest felt so hollow all of a sudden. What?

He folded his arms in front of himself, cupping his palms under his elbows. Jongseob's eyebrows furrowed together as if in thought or in an attempt to look firm. “He's gonna hurt you like Jae did.”

No, the hollow feeling was because her heart fell into the pit of her stomach. Everything felt like it was falling out from under her with that statement. Yn said slowly, gently, “Jongseob, Jae didn't mean to hurt us. He didn't mean to get sick. He couldn't control it, Seob. You know that that's not fair.”

Sometimes it was hard to not let the anger seep through into blame and misunderstanding. That was just the grief talking. When those thoughts resurfaced, it was just as difficult to deal with the resulting guilt of ever blaming them later on.

Losing someone was just devastating.

Jongseob sniffled though, and she backtracked on her previous thought. But this wasn't that, was it? “Yeah, well—it seems whether they do it on purpose or not, that's all they do up there: hurt people.”

Her mouth felt so dry then, so helplessly wordless. Her throat was just as voiceless. These kids—her friends—had gone through all that pain just as she had. She couldn't blame them most of the time because she knew where they were coming from.

Jongseob poked his tongue in his cheek. “I know you miss him.”

Yn's fingers curled around the edges of her phone, like she could hold onto whoever was on the other side.

“I miss him, too,” he said.

A stinging sensation erupted in the corners of her eyes and she reached up to staunch the tears like they were cuts, and they were bleeding.

“But no matter their intention, a ghost can only haunt,” he muttered. He let that thought simmer for a second before citing his source, “Got that one off of Pinterest.”

The last comment made a laugh sputter out of her mouth, wet but touched. She sniffled at the same time he did. “I was gonna say,” she said, her voice watery, “when'd you get so smart?”

“I've always been smart,” he scoffed. He exhaled, still lingering on the threshold before waddling over to where she was perched on the bed. Awkwardly, he brought his arms around her upper body and gently patted her back. “Is this helping?”

Yn wrapped her arms around him to reciprocate. “Yeah.”

“Thank god.”

A ghost can only haunt. Maybe it was how fast it had all happened that none of them really got proper closure or got to say goodbye. They would never get a chance to see him ever again, to tell him they felt something for him close to love, and enjoyed his company despite his being from the Summit. There was no chance they'd be invited to the funeral, and there was little possibility of ever visiting his grave. There were only memories and a phone number.

One day he was here, and the next… well the next, Yn was texting Intak. Was this history repeating itself, or would this ending turn into a new beginning entirely?

When they both pulled back from their embrace, Jongseob poked her cheek. “You know I never know what to do when you cry, right?”

She reached up to swipe her palm across her dampened cheeks. “Yeah. You did good, kid.”

That made the corners of his mouth curl up a bit. “I just don't want this guy to be another reason you cry.”

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vhsgoghs · 1 month

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hospital (Valeria Garza one shot)

Valeria Garza x female reader

Summary: Valeria meets a strange girl when she is exploring a hospital at night. word count: 1547 note: English isn't my first language but i have done my best, sorry for any mistakes.

★ masterlist here

★ spanish ver on wattpad (vhsgoghs)

Valeria hated hospitals. Usually, she wouldn't have gone to one, she would have treated her wound at her house, with one of her trusted doctors.

But the boy who was driving the car where she was was new, Diego had said that he was trustworthy, but for Valeria he was nothing more than an asshole who got nervous at the slightest noise.

And now there she was, in a hospital, under observation for a couple of hours, luckily for her, she hadn't had to answer too many questions, she was safe, she had made a couple of calls, and she was covered in case had to escape.

But Valeria was not a patient person, she was not someone who would stay on a stretcher doing nothing, and she was not going to do it at that moment.

She had left her room twenty minutes ago, hospitals at night were the worst, and this was no exception, there were only sick people, not at all ironic, the place gave her a terrible vibe, maybe it had been a mistake to walk through the hallways, which were darker than she thought.

It was the room at the end of the hallway that caught her attention, it was the only one that had the light on and noise seemed to be coming from there, Valeria frowned and walked there out of pure curiosity, probably it was due to boredom, but not even herself could understand why she was doing it.

When she stuck his head out of the door frame, she found a girl in bed, she had a tube in her nose giving her oxygen and seemed too immersed in her own bubble, where all she was interested in was the show she was watching on television.

Valeria didn't even notice when she raised her face and narrowed her eyes in confusion as she saw an unknown woman in the doorway, who was clearly not a nurse.

"You got lost?" the girl asked.

Valeria jumped slightly, blinked repeatedly and looked at her blankly, until she realized she was intruding into a room that wasn't even hers. Quickly, she shook her head.

She was not a person who was easily embarrassed, but at that moment she swore her cheeks had turned slightly red. She blinked repeatedly and forced herself back to reality.

"No, I'm sorry, I was… exploring." Valeria shrugged her shoulders and looked away, she wondered where had gone that rude part that was always with her.

The girl stood up and smiled, it wasn't the first time someone came to her room in the middle of the night, the medications always made her sleepless, so she usually stayed up all night.

Usually, people who came to her room by accident, she give them directions and then they leave, but that woman was still there, she seemed to be waiting for something, which made her feel intrigued.

"May I help you?" She asked. She examined her in detail, the woman was wearing civilian clothes, she didn't seem patient, but she had a bandage around her arm, that gave her a clue, maybe they had healed her wounds and now she was just overwhelmed.

"No, I'm sorry." Valeria shook her head and turned to leave, but a voice stopped her, she hadn't even taken a step out of the room.

"Wait!" The girl settled back on the pillow and wrinkled her nose, the tube always bothered her. "Are you patient here?"

The girl signaled, patting the edge of her bed, as a sign for her to come closer, her mother hadn't been to see her in days, the nurses didn't talk to her, all she could do was watch TV at night, having a conversation with a stranger seemed like a good idea.

Valeria leaned down to look at the hallway, it was dark and there was no one in sight, so she did not hesitate to enter the room, the girl seemed so calm that she forced herself to return to her usual attitude, the medications still made her dizzy and she felt the nerves in her throat.

"I was under observation and I got bored." She answered completely normally. She approached the girl, but she did not take seat, feeling like she was invading a stranger's room.

She looked her up and down, she liked her short hair, her clothes looked comfortable, she had forgotten the last time she had worn normal clothes, she was always wearing gowns and changing hospitals, at some point she had accepted that this would be the rest of her life.

"I'm (Y/N)" The girl extended her hand in greeting, Valeria hesitated for a few seconds, the girl seemed nice, it wasn't going to hurt her just to say hello to a stranger who probably wouldn't see again, not to mention she was pretty, even with that tube in her nose.

"Valeria." She murmured in response to her greeting.

"You're pretty, Valeria." The girl smiled, shifting in her bed, and smiled even more when she heard her giggle.

"May I ask what happened to you?"

"Oh, of course not. I only say that after the first date." She joked.

Valeria tensed slightly, but quickly recovered when she noticed that the girl was actually joking, was it obvious that she was interested in girls? Was it something she always say?

"Sure… something personal, I guess." Valeria shrugged her shoulders and without thinking took a seat on the edge of the bed, she didn't want to return to her room where she would only end up getting bored, she didn't have much time left before leaving anyway.

"I have cancer… I just had another surgery." She murmured, averting her gaze, but now she felt confident enough to reveal to her what she now considered a small thing.

"I'm sorry" Valeria murmured, she was not a person who felt empathy easily, but that girl seemed happy despite her situation.

"Why? It's not your fault." She adjusted her sheets over her, she had started to feel cold, at a certain point, she had gotten used to her body not generating the same heat as before.

Valeria realized how stupid those words sounded, she was right, it wasn't her fault and that girl probably didn't need her pity, she thought of many ways to try to make her feel better, but nothing came to mind, he was not the type of person to give emotional support to others.

"If you could get out of here, what would be the first thing you would do?"

(Y/N) thought about it for several seconds, there were many things she would like to do, anything that would keep her outside for more than half an hour, a luxury she hadn't had in a long time.

"I would go see the sunset." she answered without hesitation, her gaze remained fixed on her own hands that were playing with each other, but she could feel Valeria's intense eyes on her. "I would go to see the sunset and stay to see the stars."

They both remained silent for several seconds. Valeria couldn't stop thinking about how pretty that girl was, a part of her felt bad seeing her in that state and that the first thing she would do would be something so simple that she could do any day.

For the first time in years, something in her chest softened and she hated it, hated it because it was a new sensation.

"That's all?"

She nodded and looked up, she did her best not to promise to take her to see the sunset, she knew it was something she couldn't keep, she thought they were on a date, she would have already kissed her. She hated that she couldn't explain it in words, but the girl's appearance and her different vibe had been enough to make something in her chest feel soft.

Valeria looked at her watch and felt something in her chest move when she realized that she had to go back to her room, at any moment someone would come back to check on her so she could finally leave.

"I think I have to go." She mumbled and could almost swear the girl next to her was disappointed.

"Sure… I hope you get better. Thanks for spending time with me." She tried to give her her best smile, she felt a little disappointed, but she couldn't stop her any longer, it had felt good to have a conversation with someone for more than ten minutes.

When Valeria returned to her room, she did so with impressive slowness, she felt dazed, but this time it was not because of the medications, her gaze was lost the entire time she hadn't even managed to hear what the nurse had told her before letting her go.

She didn't come out of her bubble until Diego spoke to her after several seconds of hesitating before getting into the car.

"Valeria, we have to go."

The woman blinked repeatedly and nodded.

"I need you to look up information about someone who is in this hospital." She said firmly before getting into the car.

It wasn't going to be the last time she would see that girl, no matter what she had to do.

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rittare · 10 months

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A year have passed since I attended an lrpg about Dor-lomin after the Nirnaeth. Here's a quick sketch I've made about the game. One of the few left Bor's people with a girl of the house of Hador. Tender and tragic love story that took place in Dor-lomin.

#tolkien #silmarillion #watercolour #watercolor #jrr tolkien #house of hador #easterlings #silm art #tolkien art

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mostlysignssomeportents · 5 months

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All the books I reviewed in 2023 (Graphic Novels)

Next Tuesday (December 5), I'm at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC, with my new solarpunk novel The Lost Cause, which 350.org's Bill McKibben called "The first great YIMBY novel: perceptive, scientifically sound, and extraordinarily hopeful."

It's that time of year again, when I round up all the books I reviewed for my newsletter in the previous year. I posted 21 reviews last year, covering 31 books (there are two series in there!). I also published three books of my own last year (two novels and one nonfiction). A busy year in books!

Every year, these roundups remind me that I did actually manager to get a lot of reading done, even if the list of extremely good books that I didn't read is much longer than the list of books I did read. I read many of these books while doing physiotherapy for my chronic pain, specifically as audiobooks I listened to on my underwater MP3 player while doing my daily laps at the public pool across the street from my house.

After many years of using generic Chinese waterproof MP3s players – whose quality steadily declined over a decade – I gave up and bought a brand-name player, a Shokz Openswim. So far, I have no complaints. Thanks to reader Abbas Halai for recommending this!

https://shokz.com/products/openswim

I load up this gadget with audiobook MP3s bought from Libro.fm, a fantastic, DRM-free alternative to Audible, which is both a monopolist and a prolific wage-thief with a documented history of stealing from writers:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/25/can-you-hear-me-now/#acx-ripoff

All right, enough with the process notes, on to the reviews!

GRAPHIC NOVELS

I. Shubiek Lubiek by Deena Mohamed

An intricate alternate history in which wishes are real, and must be refined from a kind of raw wish-stuff that has to be dug out of the earth. Naturally, this has been an important element of geopolitics and colonization, especially since the wish-stuff is concentrated in the global south, particularly Egypt, the setting for our tale. The framing device for the trilogy is the tale of three "first class" wishes: these are the most powerful wishes that civilians are allowed to use, the kind of thing you might use to cure cancer or reverse a crop-failure.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/11/your-wish/#is-my-command

II. Ducks by Kate Beaton

In 2005, Beaton was a newly minted art-school grad facing a crushing load of student debt, a debt she would never be able to manage in the crumbling, post-boom economy of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Like so many Maritimers, she left the home that meant everything for her to travel to Alberta, where the tar sands oil boom promised unmatched riches for anyone willing to take them. Beaton's memoir describes the following four years, as she works her way into a series of oil industry jobs in isolated company towns where men outnumber women 50:1 and where whole communities marinate in a literally toxic brew of carcinogens, misogyny, economic desperation and environmental degradation. The story that follows is – naturally – wrenching, but it is also subtle and ambivalent. Beaton finds camaraderie with – and empathy for – the people she works alongside, even amidst unimaginable, grinding workplace harassment that manifests in both obvious and glancing ways.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/14/hark-an-oilpatch/#kate-beaton

III. Justice Warriors by Matt Bors

Justice Warriors is what you'd get if you put Judge Dredd in a blender with Transmetropolitan and set it to chunky. The setup: the elites of a wasted, tormented world have retreated into Bubble City, beneath a hermetically sealed zone. Within Bubble City, everything is run according to the priorities of the descendants of the most internet-poisoned freaks of the modern internet, click- and clout-chasing mushminds full of corporate-washed platitudes about self-care, diversity and equity, wrapped around come-ons for sugary drinks and dubious dropshipper crapola. It's a cop buddy-story dreamed up by Very Online, very angry creators who live in a present-day world where reality is consistently stupider than satire.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/22/libras-assemble/#the-uz

IV. Roaming by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki

The story of three young Canadian women meeting up for a getaway to New York City. Zoe and Dani are high-school best friends who haven't seen each other since they graduated and decamped for universities in different cities. Fiona is Dani's art-school classmate, a glamorous and cantankerous artist with an affected air of sophistication. It's a dizzying, beautifully wrought three-body problem as the three protagonists struggle with resentments and love, sex and insecurity. The relationships between Zoe, Dani and Fiona careen wildly from scene to scene and even panel to panel, propelled by sly graphic cues and fantastically understated dialog.

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/11/as-canadian-as/#possible-under-the-circumstances

Like I said, this has been a good year in books for me, and it included three books of my own:

I. Red Team Blues (novel, Tor Books US, Head of Zeus UK)

Martin Hench is 67 years old, single, and successful in a career stretching back to the beginnings of Silicon Valley. He lives and roams California in a very comfortable fully-furnished touring bus, The Unsalted Hash, that he bought years ago from a fading rock star. He knows his way around good food and fine drink. He likes intelligent women, and they like him back often enough. Martin is a—contain your excitement—self-employed forensic accountant, a veteran of the long guerilla war between people who want to hide money, and people who want to find it. He knows computer hardware and software alike, including the ins and outs of high-end databases and the kinds of spreadsheets that are designed to conceal rather than reveal. He’s as comfortable with social media as people a quarter his age, and he’s a world-level expert on the kind of international money-laundering and shell-company chicanery used by Fortune 500 companies, mid-divorce billionaires, and international drug gangs alike. He also knows the Valley like the back of his hand, all the secret histories of charismatic company founders and Sand Hill Road VCs. Because he was there at all the beginnings. Now he’s been roped into a job that’s more dangerous than anything he’s ever agreed to before—and it will take every ounce of his skill to get out alive.

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865847/red-team-blues

II. The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation (nonfiction, Verso)

We can – we must – dismantle the tech platforms. We must to seize the means of computation by forcing Silicon Valley to do the thing it fears most: interoperate. Interoperability will tear down the walls between technologies, allowing users to leave platforms, remix their media, and reconfigure their devices without corporate permission. Interoperability is the only route to the rapid and enduring annihilation of the platforms. The Internet Con is the disassembly manual we need to take back our internet.

https://www.versobooks.com/products/3035-the-internet-con

III. The Lost Cause (novel, Tor Books US, Head of Zeus UK)

For young Americans a generation from now, climate change isn't controversial. It's just an overwhelming fact of life. And so are the great efforts to contain and mitigate it. Entire cities are being moved inland from the rising seas. Vast clean-energy projects are springing up everywhere. Disaster relief, the mitigation of floods and superstorms, has become a skill for which tens of millions of people are trained every year. The effort is global. It employs everyone who wants to work. Even when national politics oscillates back to right-wing leaders, the momentum is too great; these vast programs cannot be stopped in their tracks.

But there are still those Americans, mostly elderly, who cling to their red baseball caps, their grievances, their huge vehicles, their anger. To their "alternative" news sources that reassure them that their resentment is right and pure and that "climate change" is just a giant scam. And they're your grandfather, your uncle, your great-aunt. And they're not going anywhere. And they’re armed to the teeth. The Lost Cause asks: What do we do about people who cling to the belief that their own children are the enemy? When, in fact, they're often the elders that we love?

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865939/the-lost-cause

I wrote nine books during lockdown, and there's plenty more to come. The next one is The Bezzle, a followup to Red Team Blues, which comes out in February:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865878/thebezzle

While you're waiting for that one, I hope the reviews above will help you connect with some excellent books. If you want more of my reviews, here's my annual roundup from 2022:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/01/bookishness/#2022-in-review

Here's my book reviews from 2021:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/12/08/required-ish-reading/#bibliography

And here's my book reviews from 2020:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/08/required-reading/#recommended-reading

It's EFF's Power Up Your Donation Week: this week, donations to the Electronic Frontier Foundation are matched 1:1, meaning your money goes twice as far. I've worked with EFF for 22 years now and I have always been - and remain - a major donor, because I've seen firsthand how effective, responsible and brilliant this organization is. Please join me in helping EFF continue its work!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/01/bookmaker/#2023-in-review

#pluralistic #books #reviews #science fiction #gift guide #graphic novels #2023 in review #novels

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angelisgonnastartchangingurls · 1 month

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julia, on a wednesday

the following weekend, julia spent time at a beach house with jim's family. seeing pictures on instagram, annie immediately understood why julia had grown the landing strip. she had a small white bikini on in every photo, and in the ones where it was wet, the landing strip was extremely visible.

annie texted her to ask how it went over. "i'm very popular with his dad and brother now," she replied. "his mom doesn't really look at me. but she also walked in on jim fucking me."

robbie was home again that weekend, and so annie was at ted's, fucking him every few hours, getting stoned with lucy, and sending nudes to robbie, and to julia, and to jim. she's started doing this on a thread with julia, but now frequently sent jim her own pics, and he replied with pictures of his cock in julia and his cum on her skin. annie loved being horny about jim with julia. "i love your fiance's cock," she would text her.

jim let her know that his brother had sent him a kind of horny text about being able to see julia's landing strip through her bikini, and annie had encouraged him to send his brother a picture of julia naked. his brother had reciprocated with a picture of his wife.

"it's fucking crazy," jim said. "i've known this woman for a decade, she is the mother of my niece and nephew, and how i know what her tits and bush look like."

"amazing," annie replied. "you're welcome."

when julia returned, she and annie began shopping for the wedding. dress shopping was so fun. the women plied you with champagne, and when they picked up on annie and julia's flirty energy, often joined right in. particularly claire, a sales clerk in her mid-20s who annie sensed was in this job for the joy of it and not the money. as they chatted annie learned that claire was an aspiring event-planner.

julia was changing into dresses right in front of them, in a thong and lace bra, and when annie expressed interest in trying on a dress, claire encouraged her to, so she also stripped to her white panties and pink bra. when claire mentioned that one dress was the one she'd pick, annie begged her to try it on. she tried not to look too hungrily at claire as she slipped out of her black dress. her trimmed pubic hair stuck out a bit around her thong and her very light, nearly invisible nipples poked out a bit from the top of her bra.

"you're so fucking hot," annie told her.

annie had slipped her her number as they left, no decisions yet made. claire texted her an hour later as she and julia were getting early afternoon drinks.

"i don't normally eat pussy but do you want to get together so i can eat your pussy?" claire had texted. "i have a boyfriend so you know, hush hush."

"yes please," annie had replied.

she met claire at her apartment an hour later. the girl seemed nervous but eager. robbie was out, so they went straight to the bed, and claire let annie undress her.

they fucked for three hours -- sweaty, wild, energetic. they kissed and touched and grinded and licked and spit and gasped. annie loved claire's body -- she was tall and thin, like annie, with similarly big breasts and pale skin. the hair on her head was shorter and her pussy was hairier but those were the main differences.

"that was the best fuck of my life," claire told annie in the shower after.

"me too," annie said.

she met ted for dinner that night, and then couldn't manage to cum on his cock after. she faked an orgasm anyway. when she was done, she texted claire.

"i just fucked my boyfriend and it was so boring," she said.

"ditto," claire replied. "i think you made me fucking gay."

a long, hard morning fuck with ted helped annie feel her heterosexuality again. he put his thumb up her ass and she screamed his name so many times her throat hurt. when he came in her mouth, it was soothing to swallow it. ted wandered out to the kitchen after with his dick out, saying good morning to lucy on his way to the bathroom.

her first patient of the morning on thursday was marie, a bored housewife that annie was trying to get interested in hobbies outside of her home. she seemed to feel obligated to do nothing but chores and was collapsing inward. every week annie noticed it felt like less of her personality was coming through.

"marie," annie asked. "do you ever... masturbate?"

marie looked a little taken aback. "what kind of question is that?"

"i just think maybe it would be good for you to relax a little," annie said. "and that's one way I do it."

"i don't need to know that about you," marie said.

"it's OK," annie said. "it's normal, real life stuff."

"i was raised to not to do that," marie said.

"really?"

"self-pleasure is a sin. my father told me."

"well, i was not raised religiously," annie said. "my parents thought it was a good way to keep me from having premarital sex."

"did it work?" marie asked. "you're not married."

annie laughed. "no, it didn't work. i have a lot of premartial sex."

marie grinned despite herself. "i mean, i did too. with my now husband."

"you little sinner, you," annie said. "i know it sounds strange to get a presecription like this... but seriously. try touching yourself."

"i am genuinely not sure i know how."

annie laughed. "just feel around until something feels good, and then keep doing that."

marie said she would try.

after the session, annie checked her phone. she had a message from claire, a picture of herself masturbating.

that night jim texted annie that he and his brother had exchanged more photos - jim had sent him one of julia's spread pussy and he'd sent a similar one of his wife. his brother had asked if julia ever shaved and jim had sent a few shaved pussy pics, and his brother had sent him a video of his wife in the shower, shaving her pussy and touching herself for him as he filmed.

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zeke-in-devildom · 3 months

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Dissonance - Chapter 6: Seven Deadly Sins

Focusing so intently on the aura of the house had been a mistake. Zeke had barely managed to step onto the porch before the front door flew open and six new demonic auras hit him all at once forcing him to take a step back. He wasn’t afraid, exactly. There was no malice, no hate, no deadly intent. If anything, the auras surrounding him were all a mix of concern and relief. There were too many voices talking over each other. Everything was happening so fast, a blur launched itself at him and all he could do was squeeze his eyes shut while bracing for whatever impact was coming. There was the sound of an impact, in fact he thought he felt the porch rattle with the force of it, but nothing touched him.

“Enough!” Lucifer’s voice was a low, threatening rumble and his aura was full of annoyance and exasperation. All other voices immediately fell silent. Peeking his eyes open, Zeke’s vision was filled with ebony feathers. The four regal black wings that he’d only caught ethereal glimpses of until now were on proud display, spread wide in front of him like a dark shield. He could see the black horns curving from Lucifer’s head. It was the first time he had seen a demon intentionally in its demon form.

“Oi! Ya didn’t have’ta hit me!” Oh, so that was the impact that rattled the wood beneath his feet. Wait. Lucifer had hit one of his brothers that hard? The demon had been so gentle with him so far. Of course, he was still a demon. Zeke shouldn’t be surprised.

“Behave yourself or I’ll hit you again. Do not descend on him like an unruly pack of feral dogs. No one touches him without his permission, or need I remind you of what happened just a few short hours ago?” Yeah, maybe caution was the wise idea, at least for now. He had no idea how the pact with Lucifer actually worked. It was working just fine as a buffer against outside energies, but what about direct contact? Since he’d woken up no one had directly touched him, except Lucifer, and that had not included skin contact.

“Are you going to at least let us meet him? This is hardly fair. You act as if we would ever intentionally harm him.” Zeke didn’t have to strain much to see over the wings that were obstructing his view of the demons that had poured out of the house at their arrival. The one that just spoke seemed very agitated. He didn’t have wings, but a black armored tail that faded into a toxic green towards the end, his horns curled a bit back and out. They almost seemed opposite of Lucifer’s horns in a way. The blue-green eyes and blond hair were also a stark contrast to the demon currently shielding him.

“Of course I don’t think you would intentionally harm him. It is unintentional harm that I am worried about.” Okay, maybe Lucifer was being a little overprotective here. These were his brothers, right? Zeke couldn’t sense ill-intent from even one of them. At least not towards him. The blond was oozing contempt and rage, but that was all directed at Lucifer - although now that he looked closer he could sense hurt and self-doubt after the eldest’s comment.

The others also seemed to be varying degrees of angry or upset at the comment, but not quite like Satan, the name floated across his mind, like a whisper. As his gaze swept over each demon he gathered the names Mammon, Leviathan, Asmodeus, Beelzebub, Belphegor with little trouble. It wasn’t hard for Zeke to place the sin with each Avatar either. Each sin seemed to encompass one of the demons, like a layer on top that you had to peel back to see everything that lay beneath. It wasn’t all they were, but their sins seeped into everything that they were, like an inescapable cage holding them. Well, that's depressing. It was time to diffuse the situation.

“Uh, Lucifer? I appreciate you wanting to protect me, but could we all relax? Please?” Lucifer’s wings twitched and the demon remained tense for a few moments before exhaling and dropping his demon form. Zeke stepped around the first-born and offered the rest of the demons a polite smile. “Hello, I’m Ezekiel Pendergast, but I’d really prefer it if you called me Zeke. It’s nice to meet you. I know looking after me for the next year is probably a huge inconvenience but I’ll try not to cause you too much trouble. Thank you for having me.”

“Oooh, isn’t he just precious? So polite!” Asmo hadn’t hesitated to step forward, squishing his cheeks in his very soft hands. This one was dangerously pretty. “I’m Asmo, hon. You know you worried us all half to death, that’s so bad for my skin, you know! You can make it up to me later~”

“Oi, hands off Asmo!” The Avatar of Lust was pried away from him, and that pout was even more dangerous. “I’m the Great Mammon. What the hell even was that back there? I thought you were broken!”

Well that was just plain rude. Zeke bristled slightly, how many times had people implied that he was broken or defective in some way? Swallowing down the irritation his smile grew just a fragment tighter.

“Watch how you speak.” Lucifer smacked Mammon on the back of his head.

“C’mon Lucifer ya know I didn’t mean it like that!” It still came off as incredibly insulting regardless of the intention, but he wasn’t sure how to feel about Lucifer’s casual violence towards one of his brothers.

“Ignore stupid Mammon. Uh, I’m Levi. You’re probably a total normie, and I don’t normally associate with normies, but I’ll make an exception for you, I guess. Do you like anime? Manga? How about video games? I can totally give you some good recommendations!” Did this weeb just call him a normie? Wow, okay. Not the best first impression, but good to know that otaku dorks were a thing here too.

“Ah, I look forward to it.” Zeke was more into books, but he could enjoy manga, anime, and video games. He wondered if he’d have the free time between studying and keeping up with writing deadlines. That was something to think about later.

“I’m Satan, the Avatar of Wrath. Welcome to the Devildom.” The introduction was curt, and the demon turned and disappeared back into the house as soon as the words were out of his mouth. It was kind of rude, but Zeke figured Satan was hanging onto his anger by a thread and needed to excuse himself to compose himself and just get away from Lucifer. That animosity was something he wanted to avoid, honestly. Curiosity be damned.

“I’m Beel. Are you okay?” Okay, this one was huge, but he gave off major giant puppy energy. Zeke felt himself immediately liking the gentle giant.

“I’m fine now, thanks for asking.” Beel seemed so earnest and concerned. It was sweet. He hadn’t expected demons to be so welcoming or caring. Maybe he should find this suspicious, and in a way, he did, but for now he just wanted to get settled. Sorting out his thoughts and feelings about everything could wait until he had been left in peace and quiet.

“I’m Belphie. You look tired. Come on, your room is ready.” Zeke blinked at the sleepy looking demon as he grabbed his arm and began dragging him inside. The thought of resisting did flash across his mind, but only for a moment. He did want to see his room.

“Belphegor! I said not to touch him without his permission.” Lucifer’s voice was raised and angry as the oldest followed them inside.

“This is okay, right?” Belphie gave him an almost cheeky grin that was definitely calculating. Zeke didn’t need to be told this was probably the baby of the family. He seemed like someone used to getting his way. Rather than verbally answering he gave an uncertain smile and nodded. He really did want to escape to the sanctuary of his own room. It was nice to know he had his own space. “See? It’s fine.”

“Fine, but don’t make a nuisance of yourself. Make sure he rests.” Lucifer was clearly annoyed, but allowed Belphie to continue. “The rest of you find some way to preoccupy yourselves. Don’t crowd our guest.”

Why did Lucifer put a weird emphasis on the last word? It was like he had to remind them that he was, in fact, a guest. Oh, right, demons eat humans - flesh and soul. Oddly he didn’t feel frightened of the reminder. Every demon he had interacted with so far had been exceptionally friendly towards him, it would have made him suspicious that they were somehow trying to get him to let his guard down, but he could sense their good intentions.

Zeke was distracted from thinking about it when Belphie pulled him to an intricate door, it looked like it had a carving of Yggdrasil on it, which he could greatly appreciate. Among the chiseled leaves he saw his name discreetly weaved into the branches.

“This one’s yours. It’s right next to the kitchen. Go on.” Belphie stopped and leaned against him slightly, looking very much like he was about to fall asleep where he stood. Zeke wasn’t surprised when Beel came up behind them and steadied his brother. He had felt the large demon following closely behind them.

Turning the silver handle, Zeke held his breath as he pushed open the door to get his first glimpse of his room. He was not prepared. The room he stepped into was out of a storybook. There was even a tree growing in the middle of the room. The branches formed a canopy over his bed, and soft faerie lights were strung along the leaves - was that a fire hazard? Probably not, they had magic. No way would they accidentally light the house on fire, right?

Moving further into the room he couldn’t believe just how much room there really was. The room was sectioned off, the tree divided the part that was clearly for sleeping from the side of the space that was clearly devoted to a sort of attached study. His laptop was already sitting neatly on top of a large, intricately carved wooden desk. There also seemed to be an alchemy station in the corner. He had a whole dining table in his bedroom. This seemed like an inordinate amount of space. If his room was this big, how big were the rest of the bedrooms?

It wasn’t over. He found a door leading to a large bathroom. There was a whole garden tub with a separate shower. There seemed to already be an absurd supply of products provided. Another door leads to a walk-in closet. It seemed that Barbatos had brought over his clothes and hung them neatly. The drawers were probably also filled with his clothes. However he noticed that there were far too many clothes, and some of them were definitely not his. They were too stylish and expensive looking.

Beel and Belphie were watching him from around the closet door frame. They both looked nervous. The auras around them swirled with anticipation. Were they worried he wouldn’t find the room acceptable? This place was almost bigger than his entire apartment, what could he complain about? Honestly, when he realized he was expected to go to school he was picturing something closer to his cramped, shared college dorm room. This was above and beyond his expectation.

“This is incredible.” Zeke beamed at them both. Both their auras lit up, happiness and satisfaction swirling with brilliant colors. Beel’s face also lit up, a wide smile to accompany his aura, while Belphie’s expression barely changed. He still looked very sleepy, but there was the hint of a smile.

“Good. Now come nap with me.” Zeke blinked. Was Belphie for real?

“Uh, honestly I already napped today, and that’s kind of weird for me. I really don’t think I’ll be able to fall asleep.” Also the demon had wanted to nap with him. Demons probably had different ideas about personal space. Zeke hadn’t slept with another person next to him since he was a toddler. “If you’re tired you should definitely go take a nap. I’ll be fine.”

“Lucifer said to make sure you rest, and as much as I hate to agree with him, you should definitely rest. It’s hard on humans to traverse realms like you did if they’re not used to it, and you reacted worse than most.” Belphie gave a dissatisfied grunt before grabbing his hand and pulling him back towards the main part of the bedroom.

“Right.” Well he couldn’t argue against his poor reaction to arriving in the Devildom. That didn’t change the fact that Zeke wasn’t really sleepy. One nap was already more than normal. Belphie didn’t seem to be taking no for an answer, though.

“Lucifer said not to bother him, Belphie. Maybe he’d rather get a snack than take a nap right now? You look hungry.” Beel was so sweet.

“I ate breakfast. Although, I’m honestly not sure how long ago that was now.” He wasn’t sure exactly how long he was unconscious initially, and then there was the nap he’d started in Diavolo’s office at RAD. It occurred to him that he genuinely had no idea what time it was. He didn’t feel all that hungry though. Sleep and food were generally afterthoughts for him.

Belphie was seemingly undeterred though, because a tug on his arm brought him down onto the bed next to the sleepy demon. He thought he heard him mumble something about them being too noisy, but Zeke was pretty sure that Belphie was already asleep, and he was trapped in his arms now. He tried to wiggle out of his new prison, but was unsuccessful. It didn’t help that the bed was unnaturally soft and the demon was so very warm. Has he ever felt more physically comfortable? Did humans even have mattresses and pillows this soft?

Resignation seemed the only choice, so Zeke relaxed into the bed and sighed as Belphie snuggled up to him even more. Beel looked torn, but he ended up pulling a spare comforter over the pair of them.

“I’ll wake you up for dinner. We all eat together at breakfast and dinner.” Beel smiled reassuringly at him.

Zeke wasn’t sure why Beel seemed so sure that he’d be falling asleep, but even as he thought that, he realized his eyes were already feeling very heavy. Was this because Belphie was the Avatar of Sloth? Then again, maybe it was just how soft and warm everything felt just now. The demon was spooning him and the feeling of his soft breaths on the back of his neck were kind of soothing. Plus he could feel his heartbeat against his back.

This is kind of nice.

#obey me #obey me zeke #obey me ezekiel jada pendergast #obey me mc #obey me oc #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me dissonance

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sailxrmxrs · 5 months

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so. it's been a few months. OOPS. the creative juices have not been flowing lately BUT WE ARE SO BACK. and getting festive!! today we're decorating for christmas with our beloved infinite blue boys. this one won't be full fics but more so thoughts strung together. throwing my brain at my computer screen and seeing what sticks type beat. shoutout to itsu for the art that made me go insane abt the boys and desperate to write smth again. also shoutout to ito for listening to me ramble my thoughts aloud. always a pleasure to brainrot with u. determined to try and get back to regular writing but we shall see how that goes LMAO. for now enjoy christmas decorating gamers WOOOO.

♡ leo ♡

Leo gets SO excited for Christmas time. He loves seeing the neighbourhood lit up with strings of lights and bright displays of festivity. He's not one to hold back either with his own decorations. Leo has built up a rather eclectic collection of decorations and baubles for his Christmas tree, most of them being movie references or themed. Stormtrooper wearing a Santa hat, a resin hanging decoration made to look like a stack of Lord of the Rings books, that sort of thing. He excitedly asks what sort of fun decorations you own or want to get because he wants the tree to match both of your interests. Definitely surprises you with a few that he thinks you'll like, barely able to contain himself. Leo is bad at keeping presents a surprise. He just loves seeing how excited you get!! Very much the embodiment of golden retriever boyfriend. Always. I can see Leo also having some decorations with sentimental value too. Like this one bauble he painted as a kid that's definitely not the prettiest mix of colours, but it brings back memories of childhood and excitedly trying to stay up late to see Santa leaving presents behind. He LOVES good christmas tradition too. Every Christmas Eve he's watching the same movie (probably Home Alone) with an array of snacks laid out to enjoy. He loves getting to share it all with you too as well as starting new traditions for future Christmases together. For example, this year he dumped strips of coloured paper on the floor, put his Christmas playlist on, and declared you were both making paper chains and paper snowflakes to hang around the house with the tinsel already on display. There's no such thing as too many decorations in Leo's world so I hope you're prepared for your home to look like a festive spirit exploded in every room. Bonus note he also owns sets of festive pyjamas specifically for December and will only wear these. If it's not Christmas related he isn't touching it. Also owns slippers made to look like reindeer.

♡ milo ♡

Milo might just be the worst one to decorate for Christmas with. He's never really been overly fussed about buying decorations or a tree and has literally nothing of the sort at home. He hadn't even considered the thought that you might want to indulge a little and spend a day or two putting up lights or finding a tree for your shared living room. When you do mention the idea to him, Milo is somewhat surprised, but will nod along that sure you can get a tree. Will suggest you buy one of those pop-up trees that comes with the ornaments already attached because it's easier and will only take a couple minutes to set up and put into place. It takes a lot of convincing to sway him away from that idea. He doesn't seem to realise that half the fun is spending hours fighting the tangled mess of lights, or finding that one specific ornament you bought a few years ago just to hang front and centre on the tree. Will only agree to it if you promise to buy him an early Christmas present too. Bribery is a wonderful tool for convincing Milo to join in all the traditional couple behaviours and outings. He'll enjoy it once he's there and sees how much you're enjoying yourself, but will make a point to complain about the weather, or that he's getting bored looking at different variations of the same lights. His boredom is easily cured by a request to get food before heading home. Once you're home, he offers to reach all the tallest parts you can't reach, but not before making a smug joke about how you only asked him to help because you wanted the extra pair of hands. At the end of it all, he'll be stood behind you, arms enclosed around you and pulling your back against his chest. Will rest his chin atop your head and admit that yes, he had a lot of fun today and yes he will do it again next year. Offers to take you out again next weekend to go ice skating or put together gingerbread houses. Just as long as you don't make him wear one of those awful Christmas jumpers Leo sent a picture of himself wearing the other day. You don't make any promises.

♡ rory ♡

Ever the hopeless romantic, Rory equally adores and despises this time of year. He loves the romanticism of the festive atmosphere, the twinkling fairy lights, the decadence of the food. He's secretly been craving the chance to share it all with someone else. But he would never admit to it. Which is also the cause for his self-proclaimed hatred of the holiday season. He likes to lament about how so much of it is commercialised and specifically catered to couples wanting an excuse to show off how cute they are. He'll acutely ignore the fact that you came home to him watching one of those cheesy Netflix Christmas rom-coms. The type where a prince gets isekaied into the suburbs of New York and falls in love with generic city woman. Will try to hide his face in the neckline of his sweater while you set down boxes of decorations to dress up the room. Claims he wants no part of it and acts all indifferent to your enthusiasm, though it is blatantly evident on his face that he actually means the exact opposite. So you get to hanging baubles from the tree, singing along to Christmas songs as they chime from the speakers. It's when you notice Rory stand up, eyes flickering from you, to the tree, to the floor, that you ask if he would like to give you a hand. Will say no, but you should move that one ornament a bit higher up. It will look better there. Or maybe add a different coloured one there to brighten up that section. Pass a box of ornaments to him and tell him that if he's going to comment on your decorating then he better just do it himself. Rory acts as though this is some large inconvenience but within minutes he's quietly singing along under his breath, a rosy colour staining his cheeks. Pull out some mistletoe and watch him turn an even brighter red. Do it I dare u. And once the room is sufficiently dressed up for Christmas, Rory will collapse back on the sofa, shyly admitting how much he loved spending the time with you as you burrow into the warmth of his side. Will get a little flustered but tries to play it cool until you tease him about finishing the rom-com you caught him watching earlier. Goes to push you away but immediately pulls you back in. Maybe he can be a little more affectionate than usual today. Maybe.

♡ alexei ♡

Alexei doesn't usually decorate a whole lot around the festive season. It's not for a lack of wanting to, nor does he dislike it at all, but rather he just never felt like he had a reason to before. For him, Christmas always felt like a very family-oriented time of year so after he moved out, the thought simply never occurred to him that he could go out and buy a tree and ornaments, even just for his desk at work. When you pose the idea to him to get your home all decorated up for the season, Alexei's interest is piqued. He will scroll for ideas on how to pick a colour theme and will get really into the colour ratio of the baubles too. He lines the tree with golden fairy lights and makes sure the balance of red and green baubles is even. Makes sure to find tinsel that matches the exact shades as well so it doesn't look mismatched at all. It's really rather cute how focused he'll get over it, eyebrows furrowed and this tiny little crease in his forehead. Stands with a look a pure concentration in the way his eyes are surveying the tree from top to bottom, his finger tapping against his lip while you watch from your spot on the sofa sipping a hot chocolate Alexei made for you. You tried to tell him he doesn't need to take it so seriously with the way he's alternating between different coloured baubles but your voice falls on deaf ears. He'll stand back to admire his handiwork, looking to you for excitable approval. Once he deems it good enough, Alexei will lay down, his head just beneath the tree, and he'll gesture for you to join him. He feels all tired out after a day of decorating and has a distinct urge to nap under the tree like a cat. Will sleepily ramble about how he's been looking forward to spending the holiday with you, how he's excited to try all these new things and start ned traditions with you until eventually his eyes betray him and they blink slower and slower and he's falling asleep in your arms.

♡ brooklyn ♡

Brooklyn's home on Christmas is a sight to behold. The man knows how to decorate no matter what the occasion may be. He always loves to make a day of it too. Expect him to wake you up with a cup of tea, already dressed in a cosy Christmas sweater with his hair unstyled and a little messy. Winter Brooklyn is a delight for the eyes. Especially when he's got a hand-knitted scarf bundled around his neck and matching gloves warming his hands. Drives you to a local Christmas tree farm he always visits on the first weekend of December every year without fail. The owners know him by name at this point and are particularly excited to see he has company this year. His hand is entwined in yours as you wander around, talking and musing together over which tree would fit best. If it's snowing, expect Brooklyn to flick a snow-covered branch at you, a dusting of cold powder freckling your cheeks. Will laugh but lets you throw a snowball at him as payment for the attack. Once you pick out the perfect tree, Brooklyn takes you to a local Christmas market to pick out some new decorations. He has a rather rigorous theme he likes to stick to but wants to add something meaningful to signify the two of you—especially with this being your first Christmas together. He tries not to go too overboard and is only stopped by the sight of a stall offering decadent mugs of hot chocolate. Once you're back home and in the warm, Brooklyn is lighting the fireplace, along with a few festive themed candles, and rolling up his sleeves. It's at this point you see just how serious he is about Christmas decorating. And it certainly pays off because once you're both done, the tree looks like someone opened pinterest, found the most visually pleasing tree and managed to extract it and place it directly in your living room. Brooklyn looks very pleased with himself as you praise his well thought out planning. Ends the day with a surprise gift for you because his family always had a tradition of giving a gift on Christmas tree day and he wants to keep that going with you. Is generally just the embodiment of Christmas rom-com love interest with how perfect he makes the day turn out to be.

♡ tobias ♡

Decorating with Tobias is so unbelievably chaotic. There is no rhyme or reason to the scattering of ornaments all over the floor. Decorations are everywhere except where they are supposed to be. He claims he's got a strategy but you're not so certain. He also doesn't really bother with any particular colour theming and just picks out what he thinks looks cool. Loves to have a range of different shapes and colours for the ornaments. Also buys a string of multicoloured flashing lights to drape around the tree because 'regular white lights are boring'. Tobias doesn't care too much about whether you put up a plastic tree or a real one, that is until he sees Brooklyn post a photo of his own Christmas tree on instagram and suddenly Tobias wants to buy a real tree too and make it look as aesthetically pleasing as possible. So he's dragging you out into the cold to go and buy one. Finds his idea of the perfect tree after a good hour of deliberating over which one looks best. Wants one that's got a good shape to it and has plenty of branches. In doing so, however, he very much overestimates how big his car is and how big his apartment is. Drives home with the top of the tree sticking between the seats it's basically sitting on the passenger seat with you. And then there's getting it into his apartment. It's just a little bit too tall so the top of the tree is bent over a little against the ceiling. Tobias rejects your idea to buy a saw and cut the trunk down because surely you can just trim to top, right? No, Tobias, you cannot. Ends up deciding to bend it so the top is angled down a little since you won't let him take the kitchen scissors to it. You're about to attempt to put the star on top until Tobias stops you, claiming he needs to make some adjustments before it goes up. Runs into the bedroom and returns like five minutes later with the star but now it has a picture of his face taped onto the front. Reaches up to put it on the tree but because it's a little too tall, the star is angled down so it looks like star Tobias is watching over like some cursed angelic watchman. Leo is very unsettled when he comes over to visit.

#infinite blue #infinite blue x reader #infinite blue fanfic #infinite blue alexei #infinite blue rory #infinite blue brooklyn #infinite blue leo #infinite blue milo #infinite blue tobias #WE ARE SO BACK #IT HAS BEEN A MINUTE BUT IM NOT GONE YET #LIKE AN ANNOYING RASH I JUST KEEP COMING BACK #festive edition #mars writes

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