#I’m really happy to see everyone’s work for this week- so much talent

[mykoreanlove]

i need skz angst like rn??😭

hyunjin x female reader, and they maybe decide to go out to like a club or something, and some guy hits on the reader and hyunjin is like “you were flirting back!” and the reader is just very confused bc they tried to let the guy know as kindly as possible that they are taken, but hyunjin is still really mad and it results in them fighting

and then maybe hyunjin decides to go home but not like a shared apartment thing like he goes somewhere reader doesn’t know about

and then a day passes and he’s like “oh no i fucked up” and comes to readers apartment to apologize

happy ending? tysmmm🎀

I was like sure, let's writing something short and quick but somehow it turned into 6 pages lol. hope u enjoy it :)

The pros of being an insanely hot couple? A lot of sex and affection, a lot of people wanting to be like you and a lot of praise and admiration.

The cons of being an insanely hot couple? A lot of people trying to take your place, a lot of jealous envy and a lot of insecurity.

“Baby, you look incredible”, Hyunjin whispered into your ear as he hugged you from behind. You were standing in front of the mirror, admiring your look for the night. “I wanted to look good for you”, you shyly admitted as you leaned into him. “There is absolutely nothing you have to do to accomplish this, y/n. Nothing, you hear me?”

Ever since you met Hyunjin a couple of weeks ago your whole world turned around. You were used to dating a lot and having fun, but this was different. He was different. Both of you fell for the other rather quickly, a romance that revealed a hidden side within you.

“I want to kiss you so badly”, you whined.

“Why don’t you?”

Instantaneously, you pointed to your lips covered in deep ruby red.

“Ah”, he nodded understandingly. “Is it okay then if I do this?”, Hyunjin asked before kissing every inch of your collarbone, slightly sucking to mark his territory.

Hyunjin was a confident guy, knowing damn well that he was good looking and talented and still he felt conflicted at times. What if this was not enough? What if he was not enough for you? Since you were in your early dating stages, he never had vocalized his concerns, but his body did. His need to be near you, touch you and possess you was evident from the start.

“Jinnie, stop”, you giggled as you pushed him away.

Irritation grew on his face, not understanding why you were distancing yourself.

“I’m gonna be covered in marks that everyone is going to see”, you teased.

He felt his chest tighten. Did you not want others to see them? Did you want to be perceived as single? His own sparks of insecurity got ignited again, waiting to turn into a full-size fire.

The club was crowded with people of all kinds – dancers, jocks, hot models, a real feast for the eye. You were used to people turning their heads, especially when you were together with Hyunjin. It never bothered you that much since you knew how devoted he was to you.

“Can I tell you something?” You were laying on his chest, watching him breathe calmly. “Sure.” “I found your old DVDs in the basement, and I started watching them while you were at work. Binging them, really. And I saw something that really stuck with me”, he explained silently. “What was it?” “Ever thine. Ever mine. Ever ours”, he explained softly. You turned your head and gazed into his teary eyes. “We haven’t been together that long, I know. But this is exactly how I feel, y/n. I can’t imagine my life without you anymore. Cannot. Do not want to. Impossible.” You started tearing up as well, finally feeling at home with another soul. You placed a soft kiss on his plush lips and whispered: “I’ll be your Carry, baby.”

“Come dance with me”, you shouted as you pulled him to the dance floor. It was hot and sticky, but you didn’t mind, in fact you loved it like that. The music was energetic and vibrant, filling the whole room with energy and life force. You only had eyes for Hyunjin, watching his body move gracefully to the music. When he danced, he became one with the tunes, one with the movements. He smirked as he caught you staring, knowing damn well that you were weak for his dancing. As the song changed into a slower, sexier one you found yourself in front of him, grinding on his muscular body. All the other people were forgotten as you swayed your hips on him, feeling him getting hard behind you. His hands on your body and his hot breath on your neck was all you needed to know.

Hyunjin however was more prone to your surroundings. He enjoyed having you like that, but he hated sharing you with others. He was too aware of the other pair of eyes that was set on you. Like a reflex, he pulled you closer, grabbed a bit harder and provoked your surrender, demonstrating whom you belonged to.

“Fuck, baby, if you keep this up, we have to go”, you moaned into his ear.

“Let’s do that”, his whole face lit up. “Let’s get out of here, y/nnie.”

“But we just came?”, you whined in annoyance.

Hyunjin’s eyes darkened as his gaze pierced through you. Just like that, goosebumps formed on your skin, electricity cursed through your body making you feel all hot. He knew exactly what he was doing to you.

“I’m going to the bathroom really quick to fix this situation right here”, he said as he nodded to his crotch, “and when I come back, we leave, you hear me?”

You swallowed and nodded, already anticipating the night ahead.

“Good girl.”

He placed a kiss on your forehead and turned around, quickly looking for the bathroom.

You walked over to the exit and leaned against the cold wall, waiting for your boyfriend, already picturing him doing unspeakable things to you. You were so engulfed in your naughty daydreams that you didn’t even notice the guy from the dancefloor approaching you.

“Hey!”

“Oh, hi”, you replied politely.

“I saw you dancing earlier, damn you got moves!”, he complimented you.

“Thanks”, you replied drily.

“So uhm, would you like to have a drink with me?”

“No”, you shook your head.

“Why not?”

“Well, if you saw me dancing earlier you must have seen my boyfriend behind me, right? That’s why.”

“Shit, sorry. I kinda hoped that he was just another guy hitting on you.”

“Far from that.”

“He’s that great, huh?”

“Y/N”, Hyunjin called out angrily while glaring at the other guy.

You were taken aback by his tone, feeling anxious so you followed him without saying a word.

Fumingly, he marched to the car, while you were trying to keep up. Hyunjin placed both of his hands on the cold metal of the vehicle as he was trying to calm himself.

“Jinnie”, you called out softly.

“Don’t fucking call me that, y/n.”

“What?”

He turned around and faced you, his pupils were dilated, and his nostrils flared – he was angry as fuck.

“Don’t fucking call me that when you were flirting with some dickhead behind my back!”

“Are you serious right now?”

“Of course, I am. That bastard was eye-fucking you while we were dancing, and I left you alone for 5 minutes and you were already cozying up to him?”

“Cozying up to him? Cozying up to him? Are you out of your fucking mind?”

“What? I know what I saw!”

“Enlighten me, then. What did you see?”

“I saw you all smiley and giggly, you were practically shooting heart eyes emojis at him! Is that why you hated me giving you hickeys on your collarbone? So, everybody could see you were available?!”

You felt the punch to your stomach, making it harder to breathe. Every single word of his was laced in the most painful accusation, one that you had been familiar with way too often.

“Yeah, you’re right. I was flirting back and shooting heart eyes emojis at him. It was so much fun! And I was damn grateful that my body was free of your damn hickeys!”, you retorted angrily.

Hyunjin was about to explode, not being able to differentiate between your lies and his perceived reality.

Wordless, he turned around and got into the car. You looked at him one last time, hoping that he would come to his senses – but he didn’t. The loud sound of his engine disturbed the quiet of the night and not seconds later he was gone.

What should have been a fun night out for a young couple turned into a vicious disaster. One was crying hiding in the dirty toilet of a club, while the other was crying racing down the highway. Promises of forever love turned into accusations of unfaithfulness, painting your rosy world of adoration into black loneliness.

You had no idea how you made it back home, nor did you care. The following day was torture – you were ruminating over everything, trying to understand what had happened yesterday. Deep sadness filled your whole being. Hyunjin did not call, nor text. He vanished out of your life, just like he vanished into the night air yesterday. Was that it? Was it over?

“Damn, you look like shit. Why are your eyes so puffy?”

Hyunjin pulled the covers over his head, trying to dissolve into thin air.

“Hey, come on. Talk to me”, his friend encouraged him.

“I may have made the biggest mistake of my life yesterday.”

“Oh my god, did you cheat on y/n?”

“What? No. Of course not. I would never do that”, he explained.

“What did you do then?”

“I accused her of cheating on me.”

“Shit, sorry.”

“Don’t be. This was the last time I let my demons take over”, he mumbled as he left his room.

By evening, you felt better – at least good enough to go for a walk and clear your head. Minutes after you left Hyunjin appeared at your door – holding a giant bouquet of flowers in his trembling hands. He rang your door hundreds of times, knocked on it until his knuckles were swollen and called out for you until his throat was sore. But nothing.

Defeated, he slid down to the ground and thought of what to do.

“Y/N, I made a big mistake yesterday. I am so sorry. I should have never accused you of shit like that.”

He was wiping away his tears again, the thought of loosing you made his heart break every single time.

“You see I’m not perfect. Far from it. Yet somehow you seem to think that way. And I just… I just wait for the shoe to drop. For you to finally realize that I’m nothing special.”

“Jinnie”, you called out his name while stopping in front of your apartment. His eyes widened in surprise, immediately followed by relief. “You didn’t open up because you hated me but because you weren’t home…”

“Don’t flatter yourself, hate is on the top of the list right now”, you glared angrily.

He lowered his head in defeat.

“Are those for me?”, you nodded to the bouquet of flowers.

“Yes.”

You opened the door and passed by him. “Put them in a vase, then.”

Surprised, he got up on his feet and followed you inside.

“Can we talk?”

You sat across from him, giving him the cold shoulder.

“Talk.”

“Y/N, I am sorry. Please believe me, I am so sorry. I was seeing things, I let my insecurities win and I accused you of shit you didn’t do. Please, forgive me.”

“What did you think happened there?”

“I saw you guys talking and then I saw red. Like, you were smiling from ear to ear, practically shooting heart eyes emojis at him. I just, I just saw red.”

You sighed deeply, finally understanding where he was coming from.

“You’re right. I was shooting heart eyes emojis at him.”

“What?” Hyunjin’s heart was about to explode.

“But only because I was talking about you, Jinnie. He asked me out for a drink, and I explained to him that I already found the greatest guy on earth. I was gushing over you, like a freaking fan girl.”

“He’s that great, huh?” “Oh my god, yes. He is the greatest. No really, he is great at everything. Dancing, painting, loving? The best. He is also the kindest and loveliest guy I ever met. Always caring for the ones he loves. Never a dull moment with him. He makes me laugh so much. I swear I got abs because of him. And did you see how handsome he is? Fuck me, it’s like God created him himself and brought him to earth, so we could adore him. Fucking masterpiece, that man.” “Okay, okay, I got it”, the guy gave up. “Must be one hell of a lover.” “One hell of a lover. One hell of a soul. My soul, actually.”

“I feel like the biggest idiot right now”, he admitted ashamed.

“Yeah, you should feel like that.”

“I’m sorry, y/nnie. Can you forgive me?”

Silence lingered between the two of you, only for a moment, until you got up and walked over to him. You put your arms around his lean torso and hugged him tightly, willing to put this past you.

Hyunjin’s body finally relaxed, as he hugged you back. His lips landed on the crown of your head, simply resting there, and holding you close.

“Jinnie, wait. There is something else you need to know.”

He released you from his grip and looked at you anxiously.

“What is it?”

“When I was younger, I got bullied for hickeys. My first boyfriend always left them on my neck and the others harassed me for it, calling me slut and all sorts of names. So, it’s true, I don’t like them being visible.”

Hyunjin’s heart broke once more – for one because you had to endure this harassment, but also because he bullied you himself.

“I’m sorry, y/nnie. I won’t do that ever again.”

“Wait, no. I love your hickeys. I love your lips on me, I really do. But can we, maybe, agree to leave hickeys in places only we can see?”, you asked shily.

Hyunjin chuckled and pulled you in for a kiss, promising to do just that.

“I really meant what I said. I can’t imagine my life without you. I really can’t.”

You grabbed his hands and squeezed them, agreeing you felt the same way.          “I feel like we should talk about your insecurities, but I’m drained from last night.”

“Let’s relax for now, baby.”

“What do you want to do?”

Hyunjin’s lips turned upwards, forming the loveliest yet sneakiest smile.

“Okay, fine. I get the popcorn and you switch on the TV. Sex and the city marathon it is”, you rolled your eyes at him teasingly.

#mykoreanlove #skz scenarios #skz imagines #stray kids x you #stray kids hyunjin #hyunjin cute #hyunjin scenarios #hyunjin x reader #hyunjin angst #hyunjin x you #hyunjin imagines #hyunjin romance #hyunjin oneshot #hyunjin skz #hyunjin drabbles #hyunjin fanfic #hyunjin fluff #hyunjin hard thoughts #hyunjin hard hours #hyunjin soft thoughts #hyunjin soft hours #skz angst #stray kids angst #skz hard thoughts #skz hard hours #skz soft thoughts #skz soft hours #skz x y/n #skz requests #hyunjin comfort

[veggieharumaki]

first date

this is a collab piece with a writer for day 3 of dnf week 2023! Read his fic here.

#DNF NATION WE RIIIIIIIISE #GET THOSE HANDS UP YALL GET THOSE HANDS UP #WE PERSEVERE #WE THRIVE #WE KEEP DNF WEEK ALIVE #FUCK YEAAAAAAAAH #next up is my soulmate au fic so strap in yall #dnfweek2023 #dnf #dreamwastaken #georgenotfound #dream fanart #gnf fanart #dreamnotfound #dnf fanart #fuck this situation fuck antis I hope my **** tastes good cause they’ve been slobbering over everyone elses #I’m really happy to see everyone’s work for this week- so much talent #veggie art

[rhaenella]

CL16 | Is It Over Now? | pt.7

pairing: charles leclerc x singer!reader

genre: social media au

summary: you and charles have been everyone's fave couple on the grid, but when you somewhat unexpectedly break up, you turn to songwriting to cope with the pain

face claim: léon

a/n: the finale... once again, all songs mentioned are either by taylor swift or léon. happy reading x

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part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6

masterlist

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Liked by taylorswift, danielricciardo and 1,292,849 others

y/n: End & New Beginnings. ONE WEEK.

✨Is It Over Now?~Say Don’t Go~Bigger Than The Whole Sky~You’re Losing Me~Now That We Don’t Talk~Pretty Boy✨

View all 12,138 comments

user55: y/n’s latest masterpiece is incoming!!

user56: YES GIRL LETS GO

user57: omg finally 😱

user58: can’t fucking wait 💛

user59: babe are you realizing you’re releasing on friday the 13th 💀

user56: y/n is like “i’ve conquered all this year’s bad luck already, no one can stop me”

6 October

Liked by carlossainz55, maxverstappen1 and 1,450,288 others

y/n: It feels like it’s been a long time coming and now it’s here, my new EP ‘End & New Beginnings’ 🤍 Been a few sleepless nights making this to be honest. Ups and downs like always. But now I’m just so happy to let go of it and let you have it, and hopefully you’ll embrace it and make it yours. 

To the incredible people who’ve been a part of this record, THANK YOU! Couldn’t have done it without you… 

Here’s to the end & new beginnings 🕊️

View all 14,159 comments

taylorswift: Perfection 🥰✨🎼😍💋

y/n: ❤️❤️❤️

danielricciardo: ART.

Liked by y/n

lilymhe: Beautiful work sweetie, I can’t with how talented you are 🥹 You made me cry the entire 23 mins (and then again cuz it was on repeat)

y/n: Awww, thank you love 🥰 and I’m sorryyyy 🙊

alex_albon: It’s so so good! I didn’t cry tho…

lilymhe: Liar

Liked by y/n

landonorris: Wow 💕

Liked by y/n

yourbestfriend: You’ve outdone yourself once again, darling, love you

y/n: I love you more baby

user60: as someone who’s just gone through a terrible breakup too, i cannot express how comforting it is to hear these songs and realize i’m not alone

Liked by y/n

13 October

—

You let your phone drop to the bathroom counter, blinking slowly, unable to fathom the conversation that had just taken place. Had he really just said those things? Scrolling through the texts confirmed that yes, he had indeed. The bastard.

Charles had always been the jealous type. But attacking you like that when he had been the one to… It was absolutely ridiculous. Apparently he still couldn’t—or wouldn’t—grasp the depths of how much he had actually hurt you.

You’d loved him with all of your heart. Until he had ripped it out and hurled it to the floor, letting it shatter into a million tiny pieces. Yet, even then, you would’ve forgiven him. If only he’d apologised. If only he’d shown true remorse. But he hadn’t. And so you’d been forced to walk the path of mending your own heart, and move on with your life.

Perhaps a small part of you had hoped that he could be happy for you. That somehow, even after everything, you would be able to greet each other normally—that you could coexist peacefully. But as his texts just now had demonstrated, that wasn’t going to happen. Not right now. And definitely not next week in Texas. You sighed. It would’ve been too good to be true, anyway. Especially considering who you were currently seeing…

A light knock sounded at the door, startling you out of those thoughts. 

“Are you almost ready to go, darling?” a male voice asked, soft.

Right. Dinner. Celebrations. 

You had been in the midst of applying the finishing touches to your makeup and outfit before Charles had interrupted, quite literally shocking you to the core when his name had appeared on your lock screen. He’d been the last person you’d expected to hear from today.

You swallowed the bitter taste that Charles’ texts had managed to leave behind. He wasn’t worth it, you repeated to yourself. You weren’t going to let his shenanigans ruin a perfect night—a perfect date. You ran a hand through your hair and readjusted the necklace around your neck when the bathroom door creaked open behind you. 

Looking up, your eyes met your handsome, new boyfriend’s through the mirror. He was smiling, eyebrows raised in silent question, ever patient as he waited for you to finish up. You felt your pulse quicken at the sight of him, dressed to perfection in a dark suit, hair neatly tousled.

As always, his presence was able to reassure you within the blink of an eye, the tense muscles in your neck and shoulders relaxing as you gladly let all of your complex emotions fall away.

“Yes,” you nodded, a genuine smile spreading across your lips. “I’m ready.”

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THE END

but who is she with? well, there’s a little (and not so subtle) easter egg that refers back to the beginning of part 6 that will confirm certain things… have you spotted it?

thank you everyone for coming along on this ride! it’s been a hell of a lot of fun writing and creating this story 🥰 my apologies to all the y/n x charles shippers out there, but as our songbird said: here’s to the end and new beginnings…

Now, if you'd like, please cast your votes below :)

･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･

･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･

Tags: @sukisheadlights @eviethetheatrefreak @blueflorals @kiskso @dessxoxsworld @treehouse-mouse @dangeroustacoalienbiscuit @clown-fc @stopeatread @vanishingcherry @bb-swift @leclercdream @scenesofobx @kagatinkita @allywthsr @evieepepi08 @viennakarma @riverjane-d @httpjeonlicious @madnesstaking0ver @futurecorps3 @celesteblack08 @sadg3 @simxican @glow-ish @spideybv28 @laneyspaulding19 @tswizzleismother @slytherinfolk25 @merchelsea @1655clean @urgirlnextdoorr @cixrosie @lightdragonrayne @lxclerc @hopexcroc @nichmeddar @imthebadguyyy

#charles leclerc x reader #charles leclerc x singer reader #charles leclerc x female reader #charles leclerc x y/n #charles leclerc x you #f1 x reader #formula 1 x reader #f1 x y/n #charles leclerc smau #charles leclerc fake instagram #charles leclerc fake social media #formula 1 smau #formula 1 fanfic #charles leclerc fanfic #charles leclerc fic #charles leclerc imagine #charles leclerc blurb #is it over now?

[bakugoushotwife]

kinktober day seventeen: sex pollen kink

>>> god i love me some yuuta he is such a beautiful angel and deserves this! this started out as face-fucking kink but turned into this for storyline purposes LMFAOOO

>>> starring: yuuta okkotsu x curvy!f!reader >>> cw: sex pollen theme, pining, jealousy, face-fucking, oral (f!receiving) creampie, swallowing, doggy, headlock! oops!! >>> wc: 4.5k >>> event masterlist

you two make a dynamic duo. this was evident after he joined the school, drawn to you inexplicably. you were bubbly, funny, beautiful, and immensely talented, and you were the first person to smile at him. you became fast friends, and if he wasn’t sent out with toge, he was sent out on missions with you—where he quickly learned that your technique is beautifully complimentary to his own. you confused him though. you were incredibly pretty—non-sorcerers and classmates from jujutsu tech and her sister school approached you all the time, and you always politely turned them down. all sweet smiles and your caring voice humming out, “oh, thank you—i’m flattered, really, just—focused on working!” 

you always were so kind, even if you had a good sense of sarcastic wit. yuuta got a taste of your spirited jokes and only grew more enamored with you, silently thanking the gods above for your gentle crushing of other men’s interests in you. but you never seemed too interested in him, hence why he was so confused when you glared at him and stomped away when he agreed to a date with maki zen’in during your third year. he didn’t realize that he was choosing something bigger at the time, deciding that if you weren’t into him he should try to move on—he should just focus on your friendship instead of all the boys throwing themselves at you and all the nights he spent wondering if you would give him a chance.

but things were never the same after that. you asked toge to take any mission you were sent on with yuuta, and you kept to yourself. panda was disappointed. he thought you would have fought for him, but you didn’t want to embarrass yourself going after a man who didn’t want you back. you mostly stick to yourself, mingling with toge and some of your underclassmen when necessary. you run solo missions and spend your time in your room or training, all in an effort to avoid him entirely. you hated how weak the whole thing made you feel. you hated being jealous of maki, someone who had done nothing to you and had been a great friend; you hated being away from yuuta, but you knew it would be worse to stick around and pretend that you’re happy for him. 

he didn’t know he’d lose you completely. god knows he wouldn’t have tried this if he thought it meant you would stop sitting next to him in class and start sparring with toge during training instead. he missed you. you used to sneak into his dorm a few nights a week to watch movies and lay your head on his shoulder. you used to hint at your favorite boba until he got it for you on missions in the city. you used to use your curse copying technique to boost his own, paired with the increase in cursed energy output powering his; fights don’t feel like they used to, especially without your arrogant smile as you two dismantle yet another assignment in record time. it was awful, and everyone could tell that he was miserable. that’s why yuuta and maki’s relationship didn’t last much longer after the school year ends. he celebrates his birthday wondering if he should call you—and you spend the day typing and deleting a ‘happy birthday i miss you’ text. 

your final year of school starts, and you continue to debate with yourself over approaching him. it’s been months since you spoke, and you’re struggling to find the right words to say after all this time and distance. how could you explain yourself? ‘oh hey, sorry for dropping you, it was actually because you dated someone other than me.’ that’s hardly a convincing apology—and you don’t even know if he wants to see you. it had been a lonely several months without him, due to your own irrationality and instability, but still. you couldn’t bring yourself to stick around and yearn for him while he was in a relationship. now that he isn’t…things could be different. you decide to find him after you get settled into your dorm. you’re almost finished up, so you hurry out to grab the rest of your things. 

yuuta can’t stop looking for you. it’s your final move in day, and he has to see you. he wants to make sure everything will be okay between the two of you. he knows what room you’ll claim he just has to make the walk from the boys’ building to the girls’. he’s nervous to see you, but he’s excited, too. it all made sense to him now. you did have feelings for him after all, and he stomped all over them whenever he started dating maki. he understands why you distanced yourself even if it hurt him beyond words. but everything could be fixed now, he could admit the truth with the extra boost of confidence that understanding your absence gave him. he could make the first move with the reassurance, he actually cracks a little smile at the thought of your reconnection and acting on the feelings he’s tried to ignore for so long. 

then he sees you, and his smile spreads. he almost calls out your name, until he notices choso next to you, carrying what looks to be the remainder of your stuff towards your dorm. you seemed relaxed and cheerful, smiling softly and talking beside him as he nodded and gave the occasional grin to whatever you were saying. so this is what it felt like for you, then, huh? he supposed it was only a matter of time, every man you came across was charmed by you—and rightfully so. you must have finally decided to move on like he did, but it still feels like he’s been stabbed in the heart with a white hot blade. he’s standing on the sidewalk, rooted in place as choso opens the door for you even with the heavy stuff he’s carrying. you duck under his arm adorably, probably giggling out a thank you as you lead him to your bedroom. yuuta might be sick. 

but he has no place to. he did this to you, worse—in front of your face. at least you have no idea that he’s watching you. even as his heart crumbles in his chest and he does an about face back towards the boys’ dorms, he tries to make himself smile. he’ll be happy for you. this is all his fault. 

the rest of the day passes without you being able to find yuuta. you did run into choso while you were outside of your building. he and yuji were helping nobara out, but the former noticed you struggling to juggle all your things and offered to assist you too. you’ve worked with him before as well, so you didn’t think anything of it as you led him to your room to set everything down. you catch up with him for a bit and thank him for his help before you dismiss yourself in an effort to find your former best friend before curfew. it was a fruitless search. toge hadn’t seen him since he moved in, and panda still hadn’t arrived. he’d leave everything to the last minute. so with sadness settling in your gut, you return to your dorm and prepare for the first real day tomorrow. 

it’s no surprise that the first day means missions for the fourth years. yaga gives a whole spiel on how you all are adults now and all grade one or special grade sorcerers at this point in time. so he partnered toge and maki for a mission in nagoya, panda got a solo mission here in tokyo, and then he sent you and yuuta on a mission in osaka. 

his heart sank. there was no way he could get anyone to take his spot. he would be forced to walk alongside you and pretend he isn’t horribly depressed. you would mostly likely try to reconcile, and he missed you so horribly he would take you back in any vicinity. he wanted to fix things, to make things how they were supposed to be, and you’re supposed to be his girl. but what could he even do? maybe he would have you under his arm for this mission if he hadn’t been so brain dead. he can only blame himself, so yuuta extends the olive branch first. 

he waits for you at the gates. you can see the hilt of his sword as you round the top of the hill, and you swallow hard. you couldn’t help but think he was still avoiding you after looking for him for the better part of a day yesterday, so what would you say to him now? his grayish blue eyes meet yours, and you smile simply from the warmth that builds in your chest at the sight of him. he mirrors your smile easily, and it turns out you two can pick up right where you left off like nothing had ever happened. 

it’s relief. you were both so nervous that too much damage had been done. you wondered if the distance had grown so wide you couldn’t bridge the gap, and he could only think the same, but as soon as you joined his side, conversation flowed freely and laughter followed after. and even as the idea of you and choso nagged at his mind, he knew choso would never know you like he does. he would never fight alongside you so expertly, nor have all the history that the two of you have. if that’s all he’s got, then he can make it through this.  

the mission itself was a bit more of a struggle, for once. you blamed it on the fact you hadn’t coordinated attacks in months, but this grade one cursed spirit had way too many abilities and tactics to use against the two of you. you have the ability to copy cursed spirits techniques after they touch you, but it seemed as if this spirit had several different styles. they were spreading what appeared to be a fertilizer of some sort over the ground and walls, you couldn’t get close enough to it to touch, and you weren’t sure that copying this technique was going to be very helpful. 

“i’ll just boost your energy—we’ll have to fight the normal way.” you determine through a pant. none of your attacks had worked as planned so far. yuuta unsheaths his sword, chewing on the inside of his lip. he nods, seemingly analyzing the spirit and their dust to decide what he would do next. he surveys the abandoned ward of the hospital you were standing in, locating hiding spots.

“i’m going to sneak around, you try to keep it distracted?” he suggested, and you roll your eyes. it’s hardly a glorious plan, but you relent in it, letting him make the first moves would be more effective and decisive for the rest of the fight. he grins at your signature attitude, and jumps high into the sky. you chuckle at his showmanship, then run at the blob-looking cursed spirit with a whistle. you twirl your spear, watching as yuuta drops down in the dust behind it. his sword stabs through it a moment later, and you’re close enough to get your spear into the mix. at the impact, the spirit starts spitting out that powder, and you get a face full of it. 

you sputter and wipe at your face, trying to get it out of your eyes as you stumble back. the spirit laughs, while yuuta digs his sword into their flesh and tries to soothe your worries. 

“it’s harmless!” he calls out, yanking his sword out of its back and circling to the front to retrieve your spear. “just get it out—you’re okay!” 

the spirit laughs again, the glob-like substance melting into a pile as yuuta stabs it again, this time with the intent to exorcize it. “hardly, little woman!” the beast calls out in an automated croak. “cum is the only cure, female—you will die!” it laughs wildly, turning into a liquid under the pressure of yuuta’s energy. his eyes widen as you make a strangled noise of disbelief. 

you’re not sure if you’re blinking in shock or still recovering from its dust in your eyes, but you stumble back as it fully disappears. yuuta rushes to your side as soon as it’s over. you’re going to die? unless you…do something extremely lewd? he’s blushing deeply but it’s clearly out of concern for your life, of course. he’s disappointed in himself for letting you get affected. he imagined it had to get in the bloodstream to be effective since he was fine, but he could tell with one look at you that you were not. 

your eyes were heavily lidded, lips parted in a perfect pout as you stood on wobbly legs. you were covered in a thin layer of sweat, and he could see your hands pulling at your uniform—and your inner battle to get yourself to stop. he walks towards you, concerned beyond belief. you would die if he didn’t help, and you do look so intoxicating like this…

“don’t come any closer—please.” you choke out, feeling around behind you to find a wall to back yourself against. your entire body coursed with uncontrollable heat and need, your pussy throbbing painfully. everything was intensified, your heaving chest, the smell of the man you’ve wanted for years, and the searing lust he looked at you with. you started to shake, and he knew he couldn’t obey your command. “i can’t control myself right now, please, oh my god–” you whine out as his warm and slightly callused hands cup your hot cheeks. 

“you heard it…you’ll die..” he says softly, wide and concerned eyes searching yours. he wasn’t under the same pressure, but his heart was racing and his dick was hurting at the prospect of fucking his crush. his tongue darts out to wet his lips. he looks almost as nervous and needy as you do. “i just got you back—and i’m definitely not letting you die.” 

you’re insatiable, the touch only made your brain fuzzy and scream out for more, your hands reach up for his forearms, whining weakly as the connection doesn’t satisfy you at all. “oh yuuta–it hurts so bad.” you pout, the look you give him is so pathetic he almost whines with you. “h-help me, please~”

he nods and smashes his lips on yours. you let out an animalistic grunt in relief, throwing your body at him and taking the kiss from heated to dangerous, your teeth gnashing and tongue poking at his bottom lip to get even closer. he can’t help but contemplate the words of the curse, they simply said cum was the cure. does that mean his or yours? and where? he doesn’t mind trying everywhere. 

you pull back, but your arms stay around his neck, hands knitted in his soft locks. “my clothes–god it feels like i’m burning.” he gently pushes you off of him so he could help you find relief, popping the buttons on your top and letting out a shaky sigh at the sight of your breasts spilling over your bra. he snakes his hands around your back, slender fingers working quickly to unlatch the clasps. he does let out a little moan this time—your tits sag when your bra drops, and yuuta pushes all the fabric off your upper half and his hands knead at your chest instantly, causing you to wail and moan. he’s trying to be normal, but this is anything but. he’s spent many a night with his fist wrapped around his dick, thinking about the first time he would have you, but it never went like this. he’s hardly complaining though, you’re so sensitive and your noises are so pornographic he’s trying not to bust in his pants. 

“i’m gonna start crying–” you sniffle, none of his touches were satisfying you like you needed, it was getting unbearable. you were burning up and your pretty eyes were filling with tears of needy frustration. he whimpers at the sight and hurriedly peels his own clothes off, shaking his head in worry. 

“oh, don’t cry! i’m here—i’ll..i’ll make it better!” he nods, hooking his fingers under your skirt, shoving it to the perfect dip of your waist. he looks at your soaked panties, and his heart stops. he’s really going to do this, you aren’t even in your right mind—he can’t help but feel like he’s taking advantage of you. 

“yuuta–please, i want you so bad, need you!” you cry out, crumbling to your knees before him. you paw at his pants, untying his belt and yanking at the sides of his pants hungrily. he gasps at your desire. he was perfectly happy to please you only, wanting to save you more than anything—maybe other than this, you looking up at him with your lip between your teeth as his dick springs free, slapping against his stomach and making you moan out before you grab him. “fuck my mouth, okay–i need your cum, you heard it.” you sigh, eyes hazy with need as you lean in and kitten lick his pink tip.

his hand flies to your head, and he shudders just from that. you admire the sight of him, long and leaning to one side, cutely trimmed and a leaky slit meant just for you. “hope you didn’t let maki touch you—wanna feel all of it down my throat.” you rub your thighs together, fingers blindly playing with yourself to keep you from going insane. 

he blinks a bit at your profession of jealousy—and then he remembers choso. “aren’t you dating yuji’s brother?” he confronts, jutting himself forward a bit to see himself splayed along your perfect tongue. you huff at the accusation, brows furrowing as you shake your head. 

“never date anyone but you—” you confess, speech starting to slur. you aren’t able to think as clearly, all you can crave is his dick in your mouth, so you swallow him up. your nose tickles the dark patch of hair above his base, pretty teary eyes batting up at him as you moan around his cock. you want him to be rough? okay. he’ll do that for you–your life is on the line after all. he slides his hands to your cheeks as you work your way along him, up and down at such a sensual pace he’s a moaning mess like he’s affected by the technique. his noises only cause more of your own, his weighty tip hitting the back of your throat and making you gag each time. he makes it worse when he decides to apply pressure, holding your head still and moving his hips instead. he fucks your face brutally, you didn’t think he had it in him. tears run down your face and gags and moans are all to be heard. he looks so good, brows set forward in focus and his pink lips parted to let his whimpers free. he tastes even better, and you think you cum when he does, his thick ropes hitting the same spot his dick was, but you swallow it all down anyway and lick your lips—waiting for more. he shudders, this was far too much for him to handle, he didn’t know how he could return to normal after this. 

“let me see you now.” he blurts out, sitting on his knees like you. he crawls closer to you, easing you to lay back on the floor. you’re not too good for it, especially not if it meant yuuta was going to make you feel better. you were frantic with need, spreading your legs as soon as you felt his touch to them, he sees your soaked panties again, and his semi perks all the way back up again. “can i take them off?” 

“fuck–please, yuuta, can’t take it anymore—put your mouth on me!” you call out his name so desperately he can’t help but wonder if you would be so slutty had someone else gone on this mission with you. the thought quickly disappears when he remembers your declaration, that you’d never wanted anyone but him, and he wants to ask if it’s true. surely he has time, you’re starting to look like pure sex and as bad as he wants to destroy you, he has to do so in good faith. 

“did you mean it—that you wouldn’t date anyone but me?” he asks, peeling your sloppy underwear away from your drenched cunt. you nod quickly, the cold air making you shiver with anticipation. you buck your hips toward him a little, still nodding. 

“why d’you think i stopped talkin’ to you? you chose her over me.” you pout, and he feels the guilt pang at his heart again as he picks your hips up off the floor, hooking his arms around your thighs. 

“it was a mistake–i didn’t know you wanted me–”

“i love you—don’t just want you–need you, pleaseee we’ll talk later!” you squirm in his grip and he snaps into it. your words push him to new heights, you love him. you love him and you need him more than anything, and god he would make sure you never regretted it. his tongue parts your lips and he grows ravenous immediately at the taste of you. he sucks at it, wanting as much of you on his taste buds as he could get. you mewl and pant immediately, bucking into his face and moaning at the way his nose collides with your clit. you can’t reach him with the angle he holds your hips at, helpless and only able to play with your own chest as he devours you. he slides his tongue inside you, groaning at how tight you are. he knows you’re going to squeeze his cock like a vice. you cry out his name in response, and it drives him crazy. white hot need flows through his veins and it's not enough to hear you. he needs to feel you cum in his mouth, feel you buck and writhe in his arms just like this–it makes him feel like the man you need. and the more you call his name, the more he believes he is. 

he tongue fucks you for a minute or two, just stroking your walls and tasting your insides. it makes you moan lowly, a purr almost, but when he slides his tongue up to your clit, your sounds turn higher, towards screams. it makes him feral, his teeth scrape against your hood and you lurch forward, whining to touch him. he makes out with your cunt, watching your face contort with pleasure. 

“i’m gonna cum for you, oh–yuuta!” you warn in a broken wail, and he moans against you, waiting for you to coat him in your juice. your legs clench around his head, shaking and jerking as your release hits you in waves. he works you through it, licking two fingers in preparation to work you open, but you shake your head. “please, please fuck me, can’t wait anymore–.” you press your legs to his face again, the need almost worse now that you’ve cum once. 

“it’s gonna hurt–” he winces, though the brain in his dick agrees with you wholeheartedly. 

“it already hurts—please, please, if you care about me at all, just..please!” you sigh out, thrashing in his arms as you plead. how could he deny you when you talk like that, especially if it will make you think he doesn’t care about you. 

“i care about you—i love you too, i–i’ll help you, i’m here.” he stammers around, lowering your legs to his hips. he angles his leaky cockhead against your hole, and your head falls back at the feeling and his confession. you nod, reaching for his hands that support your weight. 

“good—then fuck me like you love me.” you pant, your body so glorious and splayed wide just for him. he’s in heaven, and he can’t fight off his need any longer—especially if this was what you wanted, what you were begging him for. he fits his tip past your tight hole, sinking his length deeper in fluid strokes. you moan wantonly, and the sounds make his body tingle. you’re walking sex, he’s always thought that, but seeing you underneath him only confirmed your perfection. you nod your encouragement, even thrusting your hips up to meet him, and the pressure makes his eyes roll back. 

he fills you up like he was made to, squeezing between your walls and kissing your cervix once he’s in to the hilt. his fingers dig into your meaty hips, slamming your body down on him repeatedly until you’re both a mess of moans and sweat and heavy breathing. you squeeze down on him, mumbles of his name bless his ears and cause his dick to jump. 

he turns you over, hoping you can still support yourself on all fours. you shake, but hold yourself up, arching your back for him to slip his cock back in without a struggle. he faces no resistance, your juices dribble down your thighs and all around him, gurgling and squelching once he’s nestled inside. you moan at the new angle, only intensified by him laying over your back and catching your neck in his arm, adding support for your pathetic frame. he’s got you in a headlock, his hips driving into your round ass, the sounds of his gentle grunting sing in your ear. you’re so close, backing into him like you’ll never have the chance to fuck again–which he can assure you would not be the case. 

“yuuta–’m gonna cum ‘gain, gonna give yours to me?” you whine out, panting and struggling through your smooshed cheeks. he nods like you can see him, sweat dripping on your back. you massage him so well that he’s surprised he made it this long. 

“yes, i have to make sure you’ll be okay.” he sighs, stilling as a loud moan rips from his throat as he floods your insides, noting that he would have to buy a pill to make sure this didn’t turn into a lasting problem at your young adult age. it feels so good though, he doesn’t know how he would ever fuck you differently. you shiver, squeezing all the seed out of his cock as you come down from your own high. you slump forward, his arm was the only thing keeping you from face planting on the ground. he rubs gentle circles into your bruising hips as he catches his breath. 

“are you alright, does it feel better?” he quizzes, feeling himself go soft after several minutes of keeping you stuffed. “talk to me, i’m worried–”

“i’m great,” you giggle, feeling cum slide down your legs when he slips out of you, “better than ever. as long as that’s not a one time thing.” 

he leans over your back again, turning your head for a sweet kiss to your lips. “no, no. definitely not. sneak into my room tonight and i’ll make sure of it.”

#kyleewritesjjk #kylee's kinktober event #kinktober #kinktober 2023 #okkotsu yuuta x reader #yuuta okkotsu #yuuta x reader #yuuta smut #yuuta x you

[mymoodwriting]

Because You're Mine

Female!Reader x Werewolf!SKZ

Genre: A/B/O

Warning: Nightmares, Delusions, Paranoia, Drugs, Medication, Illness, Deceit, Manipulation, Anxiety, Betrayal, Terror, Non-Con

Words: 3.8K

Chapter Four

(Prev//Next) (@starillusion13 @salfetkablog @youngunknownwitch @loveforred @hydroyaksha @luvyev)

Prompt: With omegas completely removed from society, they needed their own communities and institutions to grow. All your life you had lived and gone to school alongside your fellow omegas, and orphaned alphas. You had managed to keep yourself together, but now at the university level, keeping your secret had grown impossible. You had to face your fears and make friends with an alpha eventually, and now was the time.

“So… who do you guys recommend?”

It was certainly going to be a rather strange conversation, but the sooner the better. Everyone had gathered in the living room, some snacks set out on the table. They each took turns introducing their friend and showing you a picture as well. From what you heard they were all good people. Although in the end you still trusted Jisung more than the others, and went with his option. This alpha named Hyunjin. He was very happy to be the winner even though this wasn’t a competition.

Jisung would talk to Hyunjin, and introduce you later in the week. He never really told you when this was going to happen, so you didn’t expect the alpha to come to you on their own. One day as you stepped out of class you were suddenly approached by someone. When you realized this you took a step back, but he merely chuckled. You eventually hit the wall, unable to meet this person’s gaze. Now that they were close you caught their scent, realizing it was an alpha. Before you’d be hyperventilating at this point, but you could tolerate them now.

“Jisung told me you were cute.”

“Jisung?”

“I’m his friend, Hyunjin.”

“You’re Hyunjin?”

“Yes, a pleasure to meet you.”

“Hi…”

“We’ll be seeing more of each other, and I look forward to getting to know you.”

“Yeah…”

“I’ll see you later.”

Hyunjin gave you a smile before walking  away. You were still stunned by the whole thing when a bunch of your classmates crowded around you, asking you who you had just spoken to and how you knew them. You couldn’t really answer their questions, but they persisted. It wasn’t until Jisung found you and pulled you out of the crowd, helping you along to your next class. Although news spread around so you had many people asking you about Hyunjin, you just ignored them all. You were more than happy to return to your dorm at the end of the day, snuggling up to Minho on the couch. He was happily surprised by your actions, pulling you close into his embrace.

“Long day?”

“Yup.”

“I got you.”

Minho kissed your head, letting you change the channel and the two of you watched TV together. You were dozing off into a nap when you heard loud voices. You sleepily peeked over the couch to see Felix and Hyunjin entering the dorm with a few bags in hand. Usually when a new person came into the dorm you ran off to hide in your room, but this time you decided to be more friendly. You knew Felix already, but you didn’t want to be so awkward with Hyunjin from the start. Although before you could say anything Jisung brought up what happened before.

“He’ll behave himself.” Jisung assured. “Already told him off about the morning.”

“Sorry.” Hyunjin apologized. “I just wanted to say hello, but I’m looking forward to getting to know such a lovely omega such as yourself.”

“Yeah…”

Since you were more used to alphas now it was easier to build a relationship with Hyunjin. He was really into art and would like to show you his work. You couldn’t believe how talented he was, and he loved to spend time painting with you. Even if your stuff wasn’t as good as his. He did always tell you that you had your own style, and it was great. Although, despite how close you two had gotten, you couldn’t really see each other much at school. Wherever he went there was usually a crowd, so as to not overwhelm you he’d keep his distance. It upset you both, but was necessary. When you were in the dorm though, it was the opposite.

The number was even, and everyone could pair off if they wanted to. You were all friends and enjoyed each other’s company. You never thought you could socialize with so many people, let alone alphas, so this was great. After a long week Chan suggested the alphas cook something for the omegas. You never had anyone cook for you before, so you were very excited. Even if you wanted to help you weren’t allowed to. So you just sat on the couch with the others watching TV and waiting. The food smelled good, and you kept glancing over at the kitchen. When they finally finished you jumped with joy, going over to the table.

“It’s still hot, so be careful.”

You all got a plate and sat down, although you quickly ran off to get your phone, wanting to take a picture. You rummaged around your room for a bit before finding it, going back over to the dining table. Although your smile quickly faded when you returned, seeing everyone passed out around the table in different positions.

“Guys, this isn’t funny.”

You went over and started shaking Minho, expecting a smile and some giggles but nothing happened. You tried to wake Felix, but he was unresponsive too.

“Cut it out! I don’t like this!”

None of them were waking up, and it was starting to freak you out. Something was wrong and you needed to get help. You made your way over to the door, but as you reached for the handle you began to feel dizzy. You stumbled back a few steps and collapsed to the floor, the whole world spinning around you and starting to fade. Your strength was leaving your body, and there was nothing you could do.

“Wa… what’s… help… help me…”

♥♥♥♥♥

You whimpered as you regained consciousness, finding yourself laid out on the couch in the dorm. You groggily sat up, looking around. You seemed to be alone, making you feel uneasy. You got up, stumbling a bit, calling out to anyone in the dorm. There was no response, which started to make you panic. You knew something was very wrong. Your legs gave out from under you, making you feel all the more helpless. Last time you failed to get out of the dorm, but you had to try again. You started crawling, trying not to let the tears fall.

“Y/n? What are you doing?”

You turned back, seeing Chan standing behind you. In the moment you just broke down crying, startling Chan.

“No, no, no, don’t cry.” Chan got down and cradled you in his arms. “Don’t cry love, don’t cry. Everything’s okay, you’re okay.”

You cried for a while, not even sure why. The whole time Chan held you tightly, gently rocking you in his arms, soothing you and petting your head. Once you calmed down he helped you to your feet, wiping away the tears.

“You’re okay, did you have a bad dream?”

“I… I don’t know…”

“What happened?”

“Uh… I went to get my phone… and then… I came back to the dining table and you were all passed out… I couldn’t wake any of you… I tried to leave for help but then I passed out too…”

“Then what happened?”

“I woke up on the couch.”

“See, it was just a bad dream.”

“That doesn’t make sense… it doesn’t feel like a dream…”

“After eating you laid down on the couch to sleep. Everyone was kinda full so it makes sense to take a nap.”

“I don’t remember doing that…”

“But that’s what happened. You can ask the others.” Chan assured. “It was all just a bad dream. It’s still late, do you want to sleep with me?”

“… yes…”

“Alright, let’s go then.”

Chan kept you close and the two of you walked back to his room. He pulled you into his arms and pulled up the sheets, wanting to make sure he was cuddling you. His scent was soothing, and helped you to ease your worries. You weren’t sure if what had happened was a dream or not, but right now you just wanted to safely be in Chan’s embrace. It didn’t take long to drift off from there, managing to sleep peacefully until morning. You didn’t wake up alone, still finding yourself in Chan’s embrace come sunrise. You thought he was still sleeping, but after a moment he pressed a kiss to your head.

“Did you sleep okay?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s good.” Chan yawned. “You wanna get out of bed or sleep in some?”

“I’m hungry…”

“Then let’s get up.”

Chan placed another kiss on your head and got up, stretching as he yawned. You soon followed suit, waiting in bed as he went to the bathroom to freshen up. You rubbed the sleep from your eyes and yawned. Once Chan stepped out of the bathroom you went in. As you washed your face you felt yourself getting dizzy, holding onto the sink for stability. You figured it was cause you had just woken up and would eventually go away. The two of you went over to the kitchen, greeting the others.

“Morning.”

“Y/n, you okay?” Hyunjin questioned. “You look sick.”

“I’m fine…”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Hm. It might be something else.” Chan commented.

“What does that mean?”

“Well, since you’re of age, your body is gonna start going through changes.” Chan explained. “Which means it’s time you get on your meds.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Jisung questioned. “You mean medication? We need to take pills?”

“Yes. All omegas do.”

“Why?”

“To help your body regulate its hormones.”

“Since when?”

“This has always been the case.” Minho added. “We learned about this back in our senior year of high school.”

“Why didn’t we learn about it?” Felix wondered. “We’re the ones that need to be medicated. Unless alphas take pills too.”

“Don’t say it like that.” Jisung exclaimed. “But do alphas take pills too?”

“No, we don’t.” Hyunjin remarked. “It makes sense though, you guys are at that age.”

“You make us sound like children.”

“Anyway.” Chan cut in. “I’ll speak with the headmaster to get you guys your medicine. You should start taking it as soon as possible.”

“No.” You said. “I’m not taking any pills.”

“Y/n-”

“You can’t force me.”

“I… well, no, but it’s important.”

“I don’t need them.”

“You do.”

“Well I’m not taking them.”

Chan sighed. “Alright, fine. If you don’t want them then you don’t have to take them.”

“So are we taking pills or not?” Jisung questioned.

“You should, but it’s your choice.”

“Oh… well, in solidarity with y/n, we won’t take them either.”

“What!?” Felix exclaimed. “We won’t?”

“I won’t. You can do whatever you want.”

“Uh, well I guess I won’t take them either.”

“Are you guys serious?” Minho stated. “If you don’t take them you’re gonna get sick.”

“That’s just what you say.” You countered. “I feel perfectly fine right now.”

“Be honest then. Why don’t you want to take them?”

“Because I don’t have to.”

“Technically you do.”

“Well I don’t want to.”

“Why?”

“Let’s not fight this early in the morning.” Chan interrupted. “I’m not gonna make anyone do something they don’t want. Let’s have breakfast and then get on with our days.”

The conversation ended there, and you were thankful for that. Truth was, you didn’t trust this notion of needing to take medication. That supposed dream you had last night was still fresh in your mind, and it felt too real to think it was just some figment of your imagination. You felt that something was off here, and you weren’t gonna start taking some pills just cause someone else says you need to. You honestly didn’t expect Jisung and Felix to take your side here, but it made you feel less alone.

Funnily enough this was the topic for one of your classes that day. All omegas took a general course that discussed various topics regarding omegas, whether it be history, biology, or general expectations of them going forward. So of course today they talked about these pills you were supposed to take, explaining the reason behind it and why it was important. Your body was changing, and maturing. Things like your claws and fangs were gonna start coming in, but none of this changed your mind though, instead it made you more uneasy. All this coming up after such a night, it felt off. Like it was all too much of a coincidence.

“Should we maybe take the medicine…” Felix mumbled. “It seems like we’re supposed to.”

“I’m not going to.” You stated. “You don’t have to follow me.”

“Why don’t you want to take them?”

“I… something feels wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

You shared with the two about your supposed dream, and how you had woken up. Chan said it was just a nightmare, but everything going on today was putting you on edge.

“I woke up in bed.” Jisung mentioned. “After dinner I just knocked out.”

“But do you remember leaving the table?”

“Well… not really, but that’s something so insignificant, you know.”

“I guess…”

“But hey, if you don’t trust this and don’t want to take it I’m right here with you.”

“Thanks.”

“Me too.” Felix added. “I’m not going to lie, something does feel off here. I can’t put my finger on it though.”

The three of you stuck together and didn’t take the medication, although the others in the dorm always brought it up, asking if you’d stop with your little boycott anytime soon. You wanted to prove a point, that something was wrong and this wasn’t what it seemed to be. In the coming days you felt fine, perfectly normal, and it was leading you to believe you were right. The other omegas were taking their medication, and there was no difference between you and them. At least that’s what you thought.

You were finishing up week two without any medication when you started to feel sick. You woke up feeling nauseous, and you had a minor headache. You didn’t think there was any correlation, figuring it was probably last night’s dinner not sitting well. That is until later in the day. You could barely keep your eyes open and wound up collapsing in the middle of class. You vaguely recalled your classmates crowding around you before everything faded to black.

♥♥♥♥♥

You woke with a soft intake of air, opening your eyes to an unfamiliar surrounding. Well, it was familiar, the white and sterile smell told you where you were, but this place was also new. You slowly sat up, looking around the med bay. You had been in the high school one before, but this was clearly the university campus one. The other beds were empty, and you seemed to be alone until the doors opened and what you believed to be the doctor came in.

“You’re awake, that’s good.” The doctor pulled up a chair. “I’m doctor Kim, you can call me Minseok if you’d like. Now I’m just gonna do a quick exam, is that alright?”

“Sure…”

You let Minseok check your vitals and look you over. You felt fine now despite how things were in the morning.

“You seem to be healthy, so, care to tell me why you collapsed? I’ll give you a guess.”

“Uh… I don’t know, you’re the doctor…”

“Touché. Then let me ask you, have you been taking your medication?”

“…”

“Trick question, I know you’re not.”

“What?”

“Miss y/n, I’ve treated a lot of omegas over the years, and I know what happens when you don’t take your medication. It is important to your health for you to take them. So why aren’t you?”

“I… I don’t want to…”

“You collapsed today, and I’m sure you feel fine now, but the symptoms are only gonna get worse. You could end up seriously hurting yourself or others.”

“Others?”

“Yes. Your claws and fangs will be coming in. Without your medication you could lose control of yourself and cause an injury. I’d hate for you to wind up here again and put me in a position where I have to force you to take your medication. Do you understand?”

“Yes…”

“So, what are we going to do tonight?”

“… take my medication…”

“Good.”

“Do… do I really need it?”

“How did you feel this morning? And be honest.”

“Awful…”

“You don’t have to feel that way. I assure you, once you take your medication and adjust, you’ll be alright.”

“I’m sorry.”

“There’s no need to apologize. Like I said, I’ve treated a lot of omegas, and you’re not the first to deny taking their medication.”

“I’m not?”

“I understand it’s not any easy thing to accept, but one way or another you all seem to come around to it.”

“So there was no avoiding it…”

“No, but now you know better than others why it is important to take your medication.”

“I do.”

“Alright. You seem fine, but I did call over one of your dorm mates to come get you, just to be safe.”

“Thank you.”

“Alright. Now I don’t want to see you back here as my patient, understand?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, go on now, your friend is outside.”

You bowed to Minseok and excused yourself, a little nervous as to who would be waiting for you. Of course it was Chan. He seemed worried, but he didn’t berate you with questions, just got you back to the dorm. It was only then that he decided to ask.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m sorry…”

“For what?”

“I should have listened to you… and my dumb ideas are also hurting Jisung and Felix.”

“Hey, don’t blame yourself. It’s okay to question things, you’re always learning.”

“I’ll take my meds…”

“I am glad to hear that.”

“And I’ll talk to the others too… I’m really sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize for anything. You’re okay, that’s all that matters.”

When Felix and Jisung returned to the dorm later they immediately went over to hug you. Word had gotten around that you collapsed in class, so they had been very anxious to see you. Once you assured them you were alright you told them what had happened, and that you had been wrong. Things could get much worse if you didn’t take your medication, and you had put them both in danger by getting them to join you in your ridiculous boycott.

“It’s alright.” Felix assured. “At least now we know this stuff is legit.”

“Exactly. The alphas aren’t lying to us.” Jisung joked. “Right guys?”

“What would we lie to you about?” Hyunjin questioned.

“I don’t know, nothing I guess.”

“Alright, how about we eat?” Minho said. “Cause I am hungry.”

“Yeah, and afterwards the omegas can take their meds and go to bed.” Chan added. “Okay?”

“Yes, dad.” You teased.

“Ya!”

You all shared a good laugh together before gathering at the dining table to eat. Just as promised, after getting some food in you the three of you took your medication. It would be a bit before you really felt the effects, but this was the first step. You apologized again to Jisung and Felix, but they didn’t hold anything against you. After dinner you showered and got ready for bed, snuggling the sheets when there was a knock at your door.

“Y/n, can I come in?” Chan asked.

“Yeah.”

“Hey, all ready for bed?”

“Yup.”

“You feeling okay?”

“I’m good.”

“Alright. You know, if there’s ever something bothering you just let me know, or Minho, or Hyunjin. We’re here for you.”

“I know, thanks.”

“Sleep well.”

“You too.”

Once Chan was gone you grabbed your phone, checking your alarms and then browsing the internet for a moment. You were looking through your own files when you got a notification to clean the junk from your phone. You figured you’d do that now, looking over the trash in your phone when you came across a video. You didn’t recall having recorded anything as of late, so you had no idea what this was. You couldn’t make out the thumbnail image either so you clicked on the video. As it played you noticed that half the screen was covered, and you couldn’t really make out the rest. Then you heard your own voice.

“Guys, this isn’t funny.”

You felt yourself grow cold, realizing what this was. That night, the one you thought, the one you had been told was a dream, really wasn’t. When you had gone for your phone, wanting to take pictures, you must have accidentally started recording instead. You couldn’t see much, but you remembered what you said that night. You listened to the audio, hearing the moment you collapsed. The screen was dark, and you didn’t hear anything for a while. Then you heard the door open, multiple feet shuffling around.

You could hear people walking around, the sounds of what you think were the chairs moving, and then it all faded away, ending with the door shutting. You thought the video would end there, but it kept going for a while more. After what felt like forever you heard the supposed chairs move again. You could hear voices, but they were off in the distance, and muffled. A moment later you heard someone getting closer, and you really wished you could unhear what came next.

“Uh, my head hurts.” Hyunjin complained. “Was this really necessary?”

“Yes. This is what the headmaster told us to do.” Chan said. “The drugs would only knock us out for a few minutes.”

“And the omegas?”

“A couple hours.”

“This whole thing is a weird experience.” Minho remarked. “Kinda feels like a dream.”

“I know.”

“Why did we have to take the drugs again? We could have just given it to them and have less problems.”

“It would actually complicate things too much.” Hyunjin stated. “Better to just put it in the whole pot than to try and drug certain plates. Even then, it’d be too weird if only the omegas ate.”

“What are they doing with the omegas again?”

“I’m not sure, some kinda procedure.” Chan commented. “It’s for their own health or something.”

“Have they done something like that to us?”

“We’re alphas, all they’re gonna do is train us to look after omegas.”

“You mean domesticate them.”

“Those are old terms.” Minho said. “That’s not really what we do.”

“It kinda is.”

“Whatever. What do we do when they’re back?”

“Nothing really.” Chan mentioned. “They’ll still be asleep, so we just tell them they passed out after eating. The memories will be hazy anyway.”

“Cool, cool.”

“Is that y/n’s phone?” Hyunjin questioned. “What’s it doing over here?”

“It must have fallen out of her pocket or something.”

“Fuck, it’s recording.”

“How?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Chan cut in. “Just delete the video and put the phone in her room. We still need to clean up the dining table and kitchen.”

“I know.”

The video ended there, and you were crying silent tears. You weren’t crazy, what happened that night was very real, and it was far worse than you had imagined. The alphas were lying to you, and so was the institution. Something had been to you, and Jisung and Felix, that night. Those pills maybe weren’t even for your health but to cover up whatever happened, and no one knew, no omega was supposed to know. You stared at your door, starting to feel this sense of fear creeping up. You were trapped again, and you had no idea how you could get yourself out.

#stray kids #bang chan #lee know #changbin #hyunjin #han #felix #seungmin #i.n #christopher bang #lee minho #seo changbin #hwang hyunjin #han jisung #lee felix #kim seungmin #yang jeongin #skz #stray kids au #skz au #stray kids imagines #stray kids scenarios #skz imagines #skz scenarios

[malebodyexhibit]

A Master and his Toys (a Next Door Boy tale)

Possession is the typical service provided by NDB, but that’s for people with no imagination. You have access to dozens of straight, fit, young men and you don’t want to be their masters? Sure you can take over someone’s body and fuck twinks ’til your cock and balls are dry. Or, you can rent 3 dumb, blond, straight jocks and have the agency adjust their behavior.

This 19-year-old twunk is a business major from Texas. I call him Rosebud. He’s your standard Republican trust fund baby who couldn’t hack it in university and got cut off from his parents. He drifted from girlfriend to girlfriend, mooching off them and cheating behind their backs. Eventually, he ended up as talent for NDB. He didn’t want to be possessed by some gay guy, but he was up for a minor reprogramming via his implant. I told him it was an obedience mod and pleasure mod. The pleasure mod being a love for gay sex. Now he loves showing off his body. I often kiss his neck when he’s being a good boy. He loves when I buy him a new jock strap. He can be a bit too much sometimes. For example, when I’m trying to watch the game, he crawls beside me and grinds himself against me. I sometimes just decide to give him a quick fuck. He doesn’t mind if he doesn’t cum, as long as he gets to feel me explode in him, but sometimes I just turn off his mods so he returns to his straight jock mind. He gets so embarrassed and tries to cover himself up, but a kiss from me and his love for attention kicks back into gear. When I’m at work, I have the other guys top him so he doesn’t get too lonely.

I call this one Jack-O. He’s a 28-year-old personal trainer from Colorado. He’s pretty easy going unlike Rosebud. He wanted to work for NBD but not have anyone else in control of his mind and body. He consented to a pleasure mod though. I told him it would just work on his drive for working out. He’d still be in his body, controlling his decisions. That much was true, but I had him have a strong lust for my  workout musk. After a tough workout, I toss him my sweat-soaked gear so he can lick it clean. I had to tie his arms up because he kept pulling my socks and underwear off. I spent a few days in my house completely naked ‘cause he just strips me and slobbers on my clothes. If I don’t shower quickly enough, he pounces on me and gives me a tongue bath. Because this is so closely tied to sex, he drips precum around the house and I have to be careful where I step. He’s almost always erect, but I had him unable to ejaculate until I stroked him myself. Otherwise, he’d just be spraying the house in his spunk. Jack-O has a fiancé, but he agreed to a no-contact during his contract duration. Yet that seemed heartless of me, so I sometimes have Rosebud wear his fiancé’s perfume then have Jack-O mount him to workout his sexual frustrations. I have, of course, turned off Jack-O’s mods so I could see his confusion as he’s sniffing my used underwear and his horror at his tied up body and his erect, dripping cock.

Spot is his name. This 33-year-old mechanic from Colorado joined NDB for easy money like everyone else. He highly values his body and mind, so he also chose to not be possessed. He’s a straight bachelor who used to bring home a woman. He’d treat her right and flirt for a week, but he’d cut them loose after things get too comfortable. I asked him about mods, and he didn’t have a problem with it. He just wanted to make sure he didn’t do gay shit. So I gave him a perception mod. He believes me, Rosebud, and Jack-O are women. I also tweaked with his pleasure mod and and obedience mod. Spot does all the chores in the house. He sweeps (hence, ‘you missed a spot’), mops up Jack-O’s happy trail on the floor, spots the other two during their workout to keep their rock hard bodies. He also tops them so he can keep himself happy. He loves to eat out their pussy (really it’s their cocks) and pound their pussy (their ass) and fondle their breasts (pecs). If I didn’t tape his mouth, he’d just ramble on and on since he just wants to prove how smart he is. With Spot, I never turn off his mod, but I do find myself blowing him. He thinks I’m one of his many female conquests, so it’s sweet to have him wrap his arms around me, but even sweeter to have him on all fours sweeping dirt from under the couch.

So that’s my collection. I’m not overly malicious. Everything was written out in the fine print. If they read carefully, they’d know what each mod entailed. NDB fully requires consent. At the end of their service (like one month), they’ll be returned to their normal mental state. But in the past, many prefer their new simpler lives.

#male body #male takeover #gay male story #slave #mental change #male hypnosis #male mindcontrol #male body exhibit #a next door boy tale #next door boy #straight to gay

[bullet-clubs-bitch]

Can you please make an Kenny Omega X Fem y/n story fluff

Reader had an hard/tough week at work and no off day to recharge and he's makin sure that she feels loved and that he's always there for her?!

Mondays

Kenny Omega X FemReader

Kenny Omega Masterlist Main Masterlist (Word count 1.1K)

I didn’t hear Y/n come in last night. I didn’t even know she took a red-eye home after revolution. I woke up this morning to find Y/n lying next to me. In a peaceful slumber, catching up on much-needed rest. As much as I was happy that she was home I couldn't imagine how tired she was. I knew more than anyone how hard Y/n had been working to ensure the upcoming PPV would be perfect. I had grown so used to traveling with my wife over the years that it was weird not having her at home with me. I didn’t even care that I wasn’t able to wrestle, I missed traveling from town to town and watching from a backstage monitor all the young talent in AEW. Y/n hadn’t been home in two weeks, I knew she must be exhausted. That is why I wanted to plan a little something something for the 72 hrs Y/n would be home. I decided I would make breakfast in bed, surprise her with a spa day and even go out to dinner. 

“Good morning beautiful,” I said to my wife as she walked down the stairs tiredly. “Morning” “I was going to bring you breakfast in bed” “Aw, that’s so sweet”  “Well since you’re up why don’t you sit down and we can have breakfast?” I poured Y/n some coffee and layed out the variety of goods I prepared for her. The two of us sat in a comfortable silence for a while until Y/n broke the silence. “What did you think of the show?” She asked “I thought it was good. I can’t believe they had Sting lose his retirement match to the Bucks. I wasn’t expecting Flair to cost Sting the match either” “Yeah, that was not my decision. In my eyes that creates a rivalry between Sting and Flair that doesn’t need to be there. As long as I live I will not let Ric Flair wrestle in an AEW ring. I don’t want to be held accountable for that trainwreck. Plus, Sting is retired now. We did all of that hard work for him to have a good send-off. Why would he retire for five minutes just to come back and wrestle Flair? It doesn’t make sense!”

“Sounds like you have a lot on your plate” 

“You have no idea. Like, I thought I would be okay not wrestling anymore Ken. I thought being a Vice President would be fine, writing storylines and doing all that Jazz was fine. But- I don’t think I can take it anymore. I’m going insane! Why do we keep signing talent left right and center when we have SO much talent we don’t use. If you want new talent, fine, but release some people then. I know how hard that is but it has to be done. It’s not personal It’s business. It’s like we can never win. People bitch and complain about using the same talent every week but when we use different people they complain they don’t get to see their favs. If we sign someone great! Then people complain we have too many wrestlers, then it crates a rift and everyone gets fucked. Like Jay White for example. Remember how HARD I had to work to get him signed, You and I had to do so much for that to happen. He is an amazing wrestler who deserves to be doing so much more than what he is doing now. He was supposed to be the new Champion after MJF who by the way should have NEVER broken your record for the longest reign, But then of course no one likes to listen to Y/n anymore and that never happened. If you wanted MJF to win, fine but why randomly drop the title to Samoa Joe, I know Max is injured but that is why I said to drop the title to Jay! Now everything is fucked and everyone is complaining and I don’t know what to do because all my ideas aren’t being used and everyone is pissed off!” 

I didn’t say anything, I just sat in peace across the table listening carefully as Y/n got everything off her chest. She needed this. 

“Don’t get me wrong I like Bullet Club Gold but did Jay really leave NJPW and Bullet Club just to be back in this new version of Bullet Club? The Bang Bang Scissor gang is absolutely ridiculous. He should be a world champion not in this super faction. I just can’t Kenny! At every press conference, I get asked when I will make my return and when I will wrestle again. They know I won’t wrestle again and it makes me feel like I’m disappointing everyone.” I saw the tears start to form and then fall during that last sentence, god how I hated people. 

“Y/n you're not disappointing anyone. You don’t owe it to anyone to go back to wrestling. They need to learn to let it go, your mental and physical health is more important.” I told Y/n as I went over to comfort her. “How about we move somewhere more comfortable?” I asked. The two of us moved to the living room, continuing our conversation as I held Y/n in my arms.

“I’m really sorry you have to deal with this baby, I wish I could help.” I told her sincerely. “It’s not your fault. I’m just under a lot of stress right now. I just really missed you, It’s been hard without you.” I felt a wave of guilt wash over me. I knew none of this was my fault but I wished I was able to be there with Y/n so she didn't have to go through this alone. She flew in at 4am just so she could get a day at home before the next show. 

“Is there anything I can do for you? I can book a spa day. A nice massage is always good!” I hated seeing her like this, poor thing looked so tired. 

“No, I just want to stay here. Can you just hold me? Can we spend the day cuddling in bed,  eating chocolate?” Y/n asked, her face buried in my chest

“Whatever you want my love,” I told her “Maybe later you can give me a massage?” “Of course baby. I love you, so very much Y/n” “I love you too Kenny”  "I'm always going to be here for you. I'm just one text, one phone call, one plane trip away. If you ever need me I'll be there"

#bullet clubs bitch #all elite wrestling #aew smut #aew #aew fanfiction #the elite #kenny omega #kenny omega x reader #kenny omega fanfiction #kenny the cleaner #kenny omega njpw #kenny x reader #kenny omega imagine #kenny omega fluff #kenny omega smut #kenny omega aew #kenny omega bullet club #kenny omega fan fic #kenny omega fic #kenny omega masterlist #kenny omega oneshot #kenny omega x fem reader #Kenny bi-god omega #the elite fan fiction #kenny omega is so hot #I love kenny omega #aew wrestling #kenny omega gif #aew revolution

[architect-2015]

For the world to see.

Genevieve Heyman and Roman Reigns are the couple everyone wants to be.

Married in 2014, the couple have had a non stop life since, a reality TV show, a first set a triplets: Koa, Layla and Elle.

You’d think the couple would stop having children after that, Joe being on the rise to be the top dog in the WWE having a full time schedule and Genevieve being the head of creative backstage, the husband and wife duo are very busy people so it came with a shock that Genny was pregnant again, with another set of triplets!

Aveline, Levi and Max were born in 2019, the boys Koa, Levi and Max were inseparable, independent and the wildest kids you would ever meet. Whilst the girls Layla, Elle and Aveline were complete daddy’s girls.

The family showcased a lot of their home and family life in a reality TV show called Behind the curtain.

The show had given an opportunity to show the world how much the Anoa’i family has grown since the debut of the Wild Samoans: Afa and Sika.

————

“Good morning!”

The episode starts with Genevieve, Levi resting on her hip, descending the stairs. Joe is stood over in the kitchen, cooking up his famous blueberry pancakes for the children.

“Mum, dad said that Uncle Jon and Auntie Trin are coming today!” a very giddy Elle ran up to her mothers frame, wrapping her arms around Genny’s waist.

“They are baby, so that means you’ve all got to go get changed out of your pyjamas. Aveline, mummy will come help you with your hair once she’s spoken with daddy.”

With that the 35 year old women sends her children up the stairs.

Walking over to the stove, Viv stands behind her husband, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head on his broad back.

A sigh leaves her lips, Joe immediately notices this. Turning he takes his wife face between his hands.

“What’s wrong baby girl?”

“Hmm, I’m just feeling a bit off. Threw up when I woke up. I think it’s because works a bit stressful right now. Wrestlemania is coming up so i’m trying to work out all the final details with storylines.”

Joe nods in understanding, Wrestlemania is a stressful time for everyone talent and crew alike. Genevieve has a tendency to push herself too hard to create the perfect show.

“Well mama, how about me and Jon take the kids out and you and Trin can have a chill girls day, see if that helps you feel any better.”

“That’s sounds wonderful, thank you.” Ending the conversation with a kiss, Genevieve walks upstairs to go tend to her youngest daughters wild hair. Joe turns back to the stove to finish breakfast.

————

Trinity and Genevieve are sat on the lounge chairs in the garden of Joe and Gen’s Tampa home.

“Girl are you okay, Joe said you haven’t been well?” Trinity question the women across from her.

“I’m just not feeling like myself, i feel so like sluggish and just tired. I’ve been throwing up and i’m just so bloated. It’s really not what i needed this week.”

This week was crucial for Viv, she had to make Wrestlemania perfect.

“Genny, when was the last time you were on your period?”

Genevieve’s face instantly pales, she was late.

“Oh shit Trin, i’m late.”

————

“Obviously me and Joe are already parents, and it’s the best thing in the entire world. Becoming a mother has made me a better women in many ways, but already having two sets of triplets and having the work schedule like me and Joe have can prove difficult. I’m grateful for my friends and family who help out with babysitting when needed. If i am pregnant i’m just hoping it’s not more triplets!”

————

A pregnancy test sits face down in Gen’s bathroom that is currently occupied by Trinity. Having had the trust of revealing the result to an anxious Genevieve.

An alarm rings out through the bedroom indicating the time to wait is over, in one swift movement Trinity flips over the rest.

A light gasp exits her mouth followed by one sentence.

“Mama, congratulations you’re pregnant.”

“Of course i’m happy to be pregnant again, and no matter how many children i have the feeling of overwhelming joy is indescribable. I know Joe will be ecstatic when i tell him the news.”

————

It’s been a week since Genevieve found out she would introducing a new life to this world, to their family and she was yet to tell Joe.

A romantic dinner was set up with the intention of being the location of the reveal. Joseph sat across from his beloved wife, a steady conversation drifted between the couple.

“Baby i have something to tell you.” Genevieve muttered to her spouse. No matter how many pregnancies she has had, sharing the news always made her nervous.

“What’s wrong baby girl? are you okay?”

“Joe i’m fine, i’m really happy in fact. Handsome, you’re gonna be a dad to another little baby” She shyly placed the test in the table.

Joseph quickly stood up and rounded the table to take his wife into his arms.

“Baby i swear down if it’s another set of triplets i’m gonna murder you” was the phrase he was met by, slightly muffled by his shirt, he sensed the humour in the statement.

“Baby girl, we’ll have to wait and see.”

————

The pregnancy of Genevieve Anoa’i has been going fantastic, she was very familiar with the feeling of morning sickness and her loving husband was very familiar with how to help.

Revealing the news to Paul was a highlight, the short man burst into tears. Paul and the Anoa’i family had a very close bond even before the romance of Geni and Joe so the pride he felt in a new addition was worth the tears.

Many backstage moments were showcased on the show, the twins arguing over who the best uncle would be, Trinity convincing Geni the baby should have a mini ‘feel the glow’ outfit.

Hunter and Stephanie were such inspirational characters in Genevieves life so to find out baby Anoa’i would be named in honour of them caused Steph to become a blubbering mess!

————

“Baby Anoa’i will be named after both Stephane and Paul/ Hunter. Since i joined this company they have truly helped me in many ways and trusted my ideas to help further the WWE and i’m truly grateful.”

“You say the baby will be named after both of them? so a first name and a possible middle name?”

“Oh no, both individual names.”

Geni’s light chuckle is what closes out the confessional.

——

“Good afternoon guys, my name is Doctor Hemp and i’m just gonna check on little baby if that’s okay?”

The segment starts out with the Anoa’i’s in a hospital room, a check up for the mum and the baby. A cold gel is applied to the pregnant women’s belly and the doctor begins the ultrasound.

“Oh my! would you look at that! you’ve got a healthy set of twins! how exciting!”

Genevieve’s head slowly turn towards her husband who is wearing a sheepish smile, it had been an ongoing conversation between the couple. No More Triplets and whilst twins is two not three Joe knows what she is thinking.

“Joe baby i love you, but twins. You and your family genes for multiples is killing me here.” He voice hold a tone of humour so Joe and more importantly the nurse knows she’s happy with the news.

Joes hand strokes his wife’s hair, his eyes glued to the little screen. Two little babies.

“At least it not more triplets.” That’s all that leaves Joes mouth seeing as he’s quite chocked up, he loves being a father, he gets to be a father to two more little kids.

A gentle laugh echos throughout the hospital room.

————————

Delia Stephanie Anoa’i and Jasper Paul Anoa’i were born on the 14th of July 2022.

The children are loved endlessly throughout the backstage area by many. The Anoa’i children will continue to be a part of the great Samoan Dynasty with many of Joe and Gen’s children following in their father’s footsteps.

With a family of the size of theirs, even with its high and lows, there will never be a shortage of love.

@bakugoumarianawrites

Okay i know this is shit but i had writer block for the longest amount of time and had no idea how to finish this. Feel free to use the request to write your own version!

#wwe x reader #roman reigns x female reader #roman reigns x reader #wwe imagine #roman reigns fic

[punk4ndisorderly]

light on

The one where Y/N is the daughter of a legendary Team USA coach and used to attend the development program with the boys. 8 years after they last saw each other in person, a reunion brings Jack and Y/N back into each other’s lives... and hearts.

if you keep the light on, i'll keep the light on

I  II - something about the way you look tonight III

 “Coach Jr., you look great!”

 Y/N laughed as Alex got closer to give her a hug.

 “How long has it been?”

 “Too long, you dick. How’s the missus?”

 “Rehearsing. Stressing. Driving herself crazy because of tiny details. The play is premiering in a week and she is so happy I swear she’s skipping around like he’s in a fucking prairie… I love her so much.”

 “You guys are so cute, I swear to god… I wish I would be able to make it but I’m so happy she’s finally doing musical theatre!” she beamed, looking past him to see Jack walk through the door, clearly being nagged by Trevor, who was almost jumping up and down around their friend, not ever shutting up.

 Alex looked back to see where her attention had been diverted to.

 “You two really need to just get it out of your systems.” he stated simply, with a blank expression.

 Y/N’s jaw almost hit the floor at her friend’s crude comment, but she couldn’t say she was surprised, he had always been one to be forward when it came to speaking his mind.

 “Turc!” she scolded. “We are polar opposites who happen to be good friends and…”

 “Sweetheart, you’re rambling. You and Jacko have always had a weird chemistry, and I mean that in a good way. It wouldn’t hurt to bite down on that apple. Also, I’ve already been recruited by the drama queen to fix you two up, so…”

 “Your girlfriend?”

 “Trevor.”

 She stifled a laugh, shaking her head and rubbing his arm up and down.

 “Alright, Alex, thanks. I’ve got to go, though. I’ll see you later?”

 “Count on it!”

                                           *

 Jack waited alone in the media room Coach had arranged for the photo ops to take place in, leaning against the wall, going through his Instagram feed. Apparently, his former commander in chief had already posted the famed picture they had taken earlier and everyone was freaking out over it. The duo did look couple-y. He smiled when he got a text notification: Y/N had forwarded the picture to him.

 We’re too cute for words, Hughes! xo it read.

 He wondered if she’d ever see him as anything other than plain old Jack from camp. Trevor was right, he did have a huge crush on her. How could he not? She was gorgeous, kind, funny and extremely talented. He couldn’t get enough of her. He never grew tired of her presence. Something about her had a stranger hold on him.

 His relationship had become tiring and dull so when his girlfriend told him she wanted to end things he was torn between feeling heartbroken and being relieved. Even though he felt a heavy weight inside his ribcage, he wasn’t reminded of it as often today because her presence eased his mind, soothed his heart.

 Y/N walked in, rolling up her sleeves and moving to stand beside him.

 “We’re a hit.” she announced, showing him her million-dollar smile.

 The brunette man returned her grin, shrugging.

 “I’ve always known we were epic.”

 Soon enough, in came the mini tornado known as Y/N’s father, followed closely by the kids who had earned their picture with hard work. They took a couple of photographs before a young girl, brought as one of the boys’ plus one, requested they’d pretend they were gazing adoringly into each other’s eyes while she stood aside looking annoyed.

 The doctor wrapped her arms around his neck and did as she was asked. Jack’s blue eyes burning into her own, his intense gaze making her feel something she couldn’t quite explain. He had a way of always making her feel special just by looking at her.

 “I think you two should date.” the teenager blurted out. “People would go wild.”

 “I’ve been hearing that quite a lot lately.” Y/N replied, avoiding to meet Jack’s eyes as she waved the girl goodbye.

 Jack didn’t say a word, burying his hands in his pockets as he tried to act casual.

 The photo ops were finished and both were looking forward to their well-deserved break. They walked side by side down the hall back to the improvised green room assigned to the star athletes.

 “They went with formal wear for the benefit dinner, Tkachuk told me his team only did casual wear last year… I guess they really wanted to milk the whole glamorous superstar deal.” Y/N pointed out, breaking the silence that had settled between the pair.

 “I’m hardly an example of what glamorous stands for.” Jack chuckled, scrunching up his nose.

 “Oh, no, I meant Trevor. I wonder what he’s wearing.”

 He stopped on his tracks, pretending to be deep in thought. 

 “That’s actually a pretty good question. He is known for making bold choices.”

 “That’s one way to look at it.” she snorted, instantly covering her mouth with her hands.

 “Did you just…”

 “Don’t!” the smaller woman pleaded.

 Jack erupted into a fit of laughter and Y/N groaned, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

 “You’re never going to let me live this down, are you?”

 “Not for a second, Messier.” he winked, finally managing to stop laughing, noticing the frown on her face. “Oh, come on… I promise I won’t mention it to anyone, alright? It was kinda cute, actually.” the brunette man joked as he placed his arm around her shoulders, squeezing her tightly against his side in an unexpected moment of bravery.

 “Yeah, yeah…” she rolled her eyes lightheartedly and opened the door, only to find the room empty. “Where is everybody?”

 “They let about ten minutes or so ago to get ready for dinner.” an older woman explained, as she entered the room to restock the refreshments table for the next day.

 “Shit, Alex and I were supposed to share the car we rented for the weekend!” Y/N grunted.

 “I was stuck with Z and Cole.” Jack said, checking his phone for any texts or calls letting him know he was on his own. “Unbelievable.”

 “Guess I’m calling a cab.” she sighed.

 “We can share one if you’d like.” the brunette man offered. “Where are you staying?”

 “The mighty Saint John’s. Courtesy of the boss.”

 “They really booked us all to stay in the same place, hu? I’ll call for a car.”

 The cab didn’t take long to arrive. As the gentleman he was, Jack opened the door for Y/N to climb in, joining her and letting the taxi driver know where they wanted to go. When they got to the hotel, Y/N saw the time on her phone, mumbling something about not being able to get ready on time, tapping her foot impatiently while they waited for the elevator to come down.

 Jack chuckled to himself as she checked her watch time and time again while they went up.

 “This is not funny, Hughes… I thought we had more time!” she whimpered, just before the familiar ring let them know they had arrived.

 “I don’t know why you’re worried about that, you’ll look great even if you have had less time to get ready.” he stated, matter-of-factly when they stepped out into the hall. “I have seen you sweaty, red and disheveled before.”

 Y/N scoffed, looking for her room key, hidden somewhere in her purse before halting in front of her door. 

“This is me.”

 “I’m staying right down the hall. Do you think they managed to book the whole floor?”

 “Knowing the boss and how much of a control freak he is, probably, yes. He knows Turc and Z are way too rowdy together and didn’t want to disturb other guests.”

“They did try to drag me out of bed to get pizza at 4 am the last time the three of us where in the same place.”

 “Why am I not surprised?” Y/N pondered, turning her back to him to open the door. “Go get ready, unfairly handsome man. We’re supposed to be meeting downstairs in twenty, right?”

 Jack simply nodded, taking in the way she had called him handsome once again and waiting until she closed the door behind her to walk down the hall into his own room.

                                         *

Y/N took a shower, wrapping a towel around her body and rushing back and forth her neat room, looking for the dress and shoes she had packed specifically for that night, laying the satin fabric carefully on the bed before she put on her lingerie.

 She heard a knock on the door and hastily grabbed the first thing she found to put on, going to answer it.

 “Hey, birdy!” Alex greeted her sheepishly, waltzing into her room in a dark blue suit.

 “You look good, Turc.” Y/N smiled, tying the fluffy robe around her body.

 “Hey, hey, hey! Is that how you’re going to show up at the benefit? You little rebel, disrespecting the dress code, I like it!” her bubbly friend gushed, sitting down on the bed.

 “Haha, very funny! I’m still pissed you left me at camp without saying anything.” she pointed out, turning on the hair dryer, missing Alex’s reply over the noise.

 The man got up, grabbing the device from her. “Let me help you with that.”

 “Thank you.”

 “I see you brought the red dress. Nice!”

 “You and your girlfriend did threaten to pinch me really hard if I didn’t.” Y/N snickered, closing her eyes while Alex picked up a brush and the dryer.

 “We have our ways…” he shrugged. “So… Are we going to talk about the elephant in the room, or…?”

 “What elephant in the room?” the doctor questioned, turning to look at her friend.

 “Well, you know, the whole Jack-is-single-and-you-should-totally-take-advantage-of-that situation.”

 “Did Trevor set you up to this?”

 “Maybe…”

 “He just broke up with his girlfriend, Turc. They had been dating for a while, according to the press. He needs to grieve and figure his life out before you nerds try to set him up with someone else, you know that…” she shook her head, looking down at her hands.

 “You would make an adorable pair, though… Just putting it out there.” Alex mumbled as he finished tying Y/N’s hair in a low bun, leaving out some strands to frame her face. “Voilà!” he cheered triumphantly, satisfied with his work once he saw a small smile creep up on his friend’s face.

 “You do have some weird fairy godparent hands… I trained you well. Can you pass me my make-up from the bedside table, please?”

 “Your wishes are my command.” he grinned, handing her the beauty products.

 “Thank you so much, Turkey. How late am I, right now?” she asked, spraying her favorite perfume on her neck and the back of her ear, before getting up and picking up her dress.

 “You still have time, don’t worry. I’ll go down right now and tell them you’ll be ready in a minute.”

 “Just do me one last favor and zip up my dress, please.”

                                           *

 Downstairs, the group had been divided into two, so they could fit into the large taxi vans parked outside. Jack adjusted his suit jacket, looking around the room from time to time, checking if she had come down yet.

 Alex walked out of the elevator, smirking once he recognized the disappointed look on the brunette man’s face when he realized he wasn’t the one he was so eagerly waiting for.

 “Hey, beauty.” he greeted him.

“Hey, Turc.”

 “She’ll be down in a minute.”

 “What?” he mumbled, snapping back to reality, having clearly missed the suggestive tone of his voice.

 “You don’t fool anyone, Hughesy.” his friend winked, leaving him alone to join Cole by the front desk.

 He pretended he didn’t understand what he meant, leaning against the pillar next to the large couches in the main entrance, going through his social media feeds for the tenth time in half an hour. Nothing new.

 His older brother had texted him to let him know he had seen the picture Coach had shared and that he “totally approved” but had “dibs” on her since he had known her for longer than he did to which he had replied with a middle finger emoji.

 “Finally!” Trevor chanted, throwing his hands up in the air as he approached Jack by the pillar. “I was beginning to think I was going to have to get you ready myself!”

 Jack looked up from his phone, being left speechless at the sight of her. He knew she’d look amazing, but he had no idea that, ten years later, she could still knock the wind out of him.

 Y/N had chosen a beautiful red A-line dress with a generous square cleavage that accentuated her tiny waist. She could only be described as a fallen angel. He bit down on his bottom lip, clearly too distracted by her beauty to be more subtle about checking her out.

 “Okay, beauty, you can breathe now.” Alex came up from behind him, tapping him on the shoulder. “Come on, everybody, Coach Jr. is here. Let’s go.”

 At the sound of Alex’s voice, Y/N glanced in their direction, locking eyes with Jack. She smiled softly, scrunching up her nose the way she always did. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

 Alex linked arms with Y/N, leading her outside and leaving him standing there, completely dumbfounded. 

 “Dude, did you just choke?” Trevor asked, trying to hold in a cackle.

 “Shut up.”

#jack hughes x reader #jack hughes blurb #jack hughes #jack hughes fanfiction #fanfic #trevor zegras #hockey boys #hockey blurb #team usa #cole caufield #alex turcotte #y/n x jack hughes #hockey

[quixoticall]

This Could Get Ugly Track 2: The Beginning

Summary: It's 1983 and The Downsides need another lead singer and you just happen to need a band--it's a perfect match. The only issue? You have to pretend to be in a relationship with your bandmate, Steve Harrington, but you can't help but be drawn to the band's broody guitar player.

pairing: s.h. x fem!reader, e.m. x fem!reader, j.b. x n.w., r.b x n.w.

warnings: Heavy drug use, era-normalized!misogyny, everyone is a dick, Mention of French people, angst, fake relationships, partial interview style, no use of y/n

WC: 12K

MASTERLIST🎸

PLAY PREVIOUS TRACK 🎤

NANCY: Eddie was... not what we expected.

ROBIN: Eddie Munson looked like he’d been through some shit.

I’m not talking about the fact that he was covered in tattoos and never got a haircut. It was more that he just always looked sad and tired and kinda strung out.

NANCY: He looked a bit out of place with the rest of us.

ROBIN: He did not fit in one bit. I mean to be fair, we were a bit of a hodgepodge anyway but Eddie took the cake. 

He was pure metal, the kind of guy who should’ve been in like Iron Maiden, not a synth band! So, we were kinda confused as to why Starcourt thought it would be a good idea to bring him on board.

And then we heard him play.

NANCY: Eddie was the best guitar player we ever had and the best songwriter up until that point, too. Don’t tell Jonathan or Steve I said that, though.

ROBIN: Yeah, he was better than Steve and I would say that to Steve’s face. In fact, I did say that to Steve’s face when we first heard Eddie play.

He was not happy about that. Actually, he wasn’t happy at all when Eddie first joined.

NANCY: It didn’t take very long for us to figure out that he was only there to fulfill a contract. I mean, it wasn’t like he was the most enthusiastic to be there but he wasn’t rude or hard to work with, he just treated it like any other job. He would be polite, but not overly friendly, do his thing in the booth, and then go sit and read until we needed him again.

Steve’s ego was still a bit tender after what had happened between him and me. I think seeing Starcourt bringing in this amazingly talented guitar player did him in a little. He was always used to being the best at what he did and suddenly that was no longer true. On top of that, Eddie just didn’t care and that made it worse in Steve’s eyes. They would butt heads all the time while we were recording our self-titled album. Things were a bit tense at the beginning, but we sounded better with Eddie there, much to Steve’s chagrin.

ROBIN: If you ask me, they hated how similar they were and that’s why they didn’t get along or maybe Steve was jealous of how little Eddie had to try to be good. Either way, those few first months after Eddie joined were almost as intense as the weeks following Jancygate. Don’t get me wrong, we always sounded great but there was no cohesion. We were trying to record our first full-length album but nothing ever came out sounding right, it was driving everyone crazy.

NANCY: When you’re first starting out in the industry, you don’t really have much of a say. You do what you’re told, you go to the meetings you're scheduled, and you add whatever member they throw at you. So, when Starcourt set up a lunch meeting with one of their producers about adding someone else to the band, we had no choice but to go.

May 26, 1983: The Bull and Bush

“Tell me again who this meeting is with?” You ask Murray from across the suspiciously long table.

When he had called you earlier in the week to set up lunch, he had been uncharacteristically cryptic about who the lunch was with and only told you it was with, “A few folks over at Starcourt,” he parroted again between bites of a bread roll. You stare him down silently over the rim of your martini glass and he gives, a little.

“I think I found you a way out of all these duets and possibly a chance to write music.”

Your eyebrows shoot up. Yes, that all seemed great but with Starcourt things were rarely what they seemed.

“By the looks of this table for 10, I’m starting to think that maybe you’re trying to recruit me to the company softball team, Murray.”

“Not today, sweetheart, but don’t worry, the Comets will get you eventually.”

Your second drink is interrupted by a tall, imposing man approaching the table. He has thick eyebrows that naturally knit together and a thicker mustache that rests straight along his mouth. You vaguely recognized him as an exec from the record label but his casual flowered button-down and white linen trousers make you doubt your memory.

“This is Hopper. Jim Hopper,” Murray says to you in a sweeping introduction, “he manages some bands at Starcourt.”

You can feel your face twist in confusion before you quickly temper your features and rise to introduce yourself.

Hopper takes your small hand in his comically large one and shakes it hard before sitting down next to Murray.

You watch as your new lunch companion flags down a server to order a double scotch, your mind buzzing to put the pieces together. What the hell was going on?

Hopper and Murray turn to you in tandem, reminding you of parents on sitcom TV.

Murray starts keeping his voice low, “The label thinks that you make the most money when you’re singing with others and causing some buzz. Since you made it very clear that duets are no longer an option for you, we came up with another solution.”

“I manage a band,” Hopper says then, “they’re talented but they’re newer and still trying to figure out their image and sound. We think you would be a good addition.”

This last part comes slowly, as your lunch companions try to gauge your reaction. “You want me to join a band?” You repeat, stunned. “Why?”

“As I said, they need help establishing a brand, a reputation, and that’s something that you have plenty of—“ Murray snorts “— plus, they need a solid songwriter and Murray tells me that’s you.”

Your eyes volley between the two men in front of you, trying to figure out what the catch is. There’s always a catch.

It’s like they can sense what you’re thinking because they lock eyes, and Murray sighs, “And it just so happens that they have a very handsome male lead singer and maybe part of the deal would include a bit of a front-facing, romantic narrative that would entice the public to buy your albums and go to your shows.”

“You want me to pretend to be in a relationship with some guy in a band so people buy our music? That’s your great plan?

“I’ve proved myself, Murray. I’ve done everything that’s been asked of me. I sang your stupid duets and recorded that vapid EP. Are you just going to string me along forever, asking me to do stupider and stupider stunts?”

You stand and swing your arm back to grab the purse hanging from your chair. The two men mirror your movement and suddenly it feels like you’re in a stand-off.

“It’s not stupid,” Hopper says, matter-of-factly, “and we do believe in your talent, but it’s not just about talent anymore, it’s about image and it’s about what sells. Scandal sells. Look, you’re a talented kid, everyone knows that. But, talent isn’t what sells anymore. People want something to gossip about and you’ve already given them that.

“This is not some hair-brain scheme Murray and I cooked up in the fucking restroom between lines. This is years of marketing research and scouting to get the perfect combination of talent. You should consider yourself lucky that Starcourt— that Brenner, personally— picked you out of thousands to execute his little pet experiment.

“They’re going to talk about you anyway, why not have a little control over what they say? It beats them calling you a slut, doesn’t it?” 

You glare at Hopper as he’s towering over you.

“Listen kiddo,” purrs Murray, sliding into a different approach, “we’re not asking you to marry the guy. Just, have lunch with them and maybe we get you featured on their first LP, do them a favor like The Letterman’s did for you when you were just getting started, huh?

“Plus, the guy’s handsome, like total frontman full-package, so, who knows, maybe he’s your type and you won’t have to pretend!”

Murray guffaws at this like it’s the funniest joke in the world.

“Fine,” you say, your mouth pitching down in a scowl, before haughtily dropping back into your chair. They follow suit.

“One lunch, but you—“ your finger waves at Murray “—are gonna get me on the list for a cottage at the Mormont and you—“ you pivot to point at Hopper “—are getting me a French 75.”

“Please,” you add after a beat.

The two men exchange a look and Hopper rolls his eyes and stands.

“Was gonna get me another scotch anyway,” he grumbles before ambling over to the bar.

While Hopper is at the bar, Murray fills you in with as many details as possible: the band’s name (“The Downsides”), the lead singer’s name (“Steve Something”), and the rest of the band members’ names (“Johnny, Natalie, Robin, Ed... maybe?...and Argyle, no wait, that’s not a name”).

As if on cue, just as Hopper approaches the table from one side, a motley bunch of individuals, that you know have to be The Downsides, file into the restaurant. Hopper waves at them and they walk over, in a single line, all following their big-haired leader.

“These misfit toys are the band?” you snark to no one in particular and Murray shoots you a warning glare before waving at them with feigned enthusiasm.

Hopper reaches the table before they do and hands you your drink while announcing your name to the band. 

You smile in a practiced, charming way.

“Hi, you must be Steve,” you say rising to greet the tall, slender man with a mane of wild hair. Admittedly, he is much more hard-edged than you had imagined, decked out in leather and hardware with thick, silver rings adorning his fingers. Maybe this is what Hopper meant when he said the band needed help with their image--this guy was far too metal to ever break it into the mainstream.

He burst into laughs and then bumps his fist into the shoulder of the guy standing next to him, another long-haired man whose eyes were rimmed red.  

“Did you hear that, she thought I was Harrington! Buckley, come here, she thought I was Harrington!”

Your face flushes in embarrassment and you wince. So, that was not Steve.

“Hi, I’m Nancy Wheeler,” a voice says softly at your side. You turn and find yourself facing a pretty, doe-eyed girl probably around your age. The gentleness in her voice lets you know that she had witnessed your embarrassment at the hands of Not!Steve and she was trying to smooth things over, and make a good impression.

After Nancy, you shake hands with the bouncy, sometimes-bass-sometimes-brass-sometimes-synth player Robin Buckley and the shy-bordering-on-morose guitarist Jonathan Byers. The spaced-out drummer with the long locks is Argyle and Not!Steve’s name is actually Eddie Munson, which you learn only from Robin and Nancy as he doesn't bother to introduce himself. He looks vaguely familiar, but then again, everyone at Starcourt does. 

He catches you staring at him and shoots you a mocking wink. You want to scowl back, maybe even flip him off but you are too aware of how that moment, snapped by a paparazzi and sold to a gossip rag, could impact your already- precarious public image. So, instead, you raise a glass in response.

“Where the hell is Harrington?” Hopper barks at the group once they had settled. “He needed to park the car,” explains Jonathan.

“Park? Why would he need to do that?” You ask, “this place has a valet.”

An awkward silence blanketed the group as they all looked at you and then exchanged amongst themselves. You were under the impression you had just said something wrong and you weren’t sure what. 

Before you have the chance to smooth things over, the group is interrupted.

“Sorry, I’m late everyone, parking here is terrible.”

Oh, so that’s what Murray meant by ‘full frontman package’.

Steve Harrington was tall and leanly muscular with a face as sharp and bright as a jewel and hair graceful and tousled.

His eyes land on yours and your shoulders straighten with a jolt.

“Hi,” he breathes, “I’m Steve. Uh, Harrington.” 

“Hi,” you all but sigh back, an unfamiliar warmth moving up your cheeks. 

***

ROBIN: Steve “Loverboy” Harrington. He used to fall in love like three times a week back in the day. Everyone at the table could tell he was immediately smitten with her though. I mean who could blame him? She was like distractingly gorgeous. I’m pretty sure I spilled soup in my lap from staring at her. More than once. Steve spent most of the lunch making eyes at her and the crazy part was, I think she was into him! Honestly, I thought he was getting ready to propose. Until Hopper told us all why he’d really brought us there. 

***

“What? No way, Hops, we’re not adding another person to the band. Plus, we already have a lead singer—me.” Steve’s whole demeanor changed once Hopper started talking shop—he had gone from smiling flirtatiously at you from across the table to huffing like a petulant child. 

“It’s just a feature on one song, kid. If it goes well then we’ll revisit and if it doesn’t well, we better hope the rest of the album is pure gold because Brenner really wants this to go well,” Hopper tries to assuage. 

“This is never gonna work,” Steve spits out, “she doesn’t match our sound at all. Or our vibe—we have, like, substance.” 

The table goes standstill quiet upon hearing this. The only noise you hear is what you think is Robin kicking Steve under the table. 

 Steve turns to you after a beat and says, “No offense,” with a dismissive shrug. 

***

NANCY: Steve has always had a habit of putting his foot in his mouth at the worst times. He didn’t mean to come off as an ass, I don��t think, it was probably his way of lashing out against all the change that was happening without our input. First Eddie, now this, he probably felt so out of control he—I think we all did. He still shouldn’t have said it though. 

ROBIN: Stupid, stupid, stupid. 

***

All eyes land on you, awaiting the imminent explosion. 

It never comes. 

Instead, you school your features into a neutrally pleasant expression—you never know where there’ll be a camera after all—and respond sweetly, “None taken. You’re right to not want me on your track. After all, I've only had like, 6 Top 10 Singles in the last year which is nothing compared to your…wait how many have you had, again?” 

Steve’s face falls as Murray chortles from the other end of the table. 

***

NANCY: It wasn’t the nicest way to put it but it wasn’t like she had been unprovoked. Steve needed a reality check. 

ROBIN: I mean, she had a point. She was doing us a favor by recording the track with us. Dingus just needed to get over himself. 

The rest of the lunch was super awkward, in case you were wondering. She was still nice to the rest of us, but she barely acknowledged Steve, or Eddie for the matter. 

If you would’ve told me then what would eventually become of those three—ha!—I would’ve said you were insane. 

STEVE: Yeah, I know I had fucked up. Like, as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I regretted them. I don’t know why I did it, I think I felt threatened or something. Listen, I think about what happened all the time and there isn’t one singular moment that we can pinpoint where everything went south, really, we all made mistakes, a lot of them. But sometimes, I can’t help thinking to myself that if I had just handled that day at the restaurant better, our whole lives would’ve been different. Or… who knows? Maybe not, maybe we were always meant to end as bad as we did.

***

June 7th, 1983–Los Angeles, California

A few days after your lunch with the Downsides, you see your own face peaking at you from the cover of a Subrosa magazine on a grocery store newsstand. 

You glance around before surreptitiously crouching down for a closer look.

It was a grainy picture of you and Steve, sitting across from one another at lunch, clearly in conversation. The picture had been taken from outside the restaurant and framed in such a way that it looked like it was only the two of you dining together. You can tell by the looks on your faces that it was before everything had blown up—the two of you looked like you were enjoying yourselves.

Sultry Songstress Sees Upside with the Downsides’ Flirty Frontman reads across the top of the page, and you gag. They sure do love their alliteration over at the Sub.

You briefly wonder to yourself what Steve and the others will think of this once they see it. Shrugging that thought off, you toss the magazine into your cart.

***

You actually find out pretty quickly what Steve and the others think about the cover later that evening when you receive a call from an unknown number.

“Hi, it’s Robin,” you hear from the other line as soon as you pick up.

“Hi Ro—”

“Robin Buckley, from the Downsides? I don’t know if you remember me, but we met at lunch the other day when my friend made a huge ass of himself and— ow, Steve that hurt, God.”

Sounds of some sort of physical struggle echo through the telephone line until you decide to interrupt.

“Hi Robin, of course I remember you and your ass of a friend, what can I do for the two of you? Also, how did you get my number?”

You’re more curious than bothered when you ask the latter question.

“Four.”

“Pardon?”

“Four. There are four of us. See, you asked what you could do for the two of us but it’s not just me and Steve. Nancy and Argyle are here too—” At this point, you hear a faint ‘hello’ and ‘what’s up’ from the background—"For the sake of full disclosure I felt that I should mention that. Jonathan is visiting his family in Lenora Hills, otherwise, I’m sure he’d be here too. Oh, and to answer your question I got your number from Murray.”

“Uh-huh.” 

You glance at your wristwatch; there’s a party in the Hills that you were planning on going to and you were going to have to leave soon if you didn’t want to be stuck in traffic all night.

As if she had read your mind, you hear some shuffling on the line before Nancy decidedly takes over the conversation with a much more serious tone.

“Hi, sorry to bother you this late but we wanted to ask if perhaps you had seen the latest issue of Subrosa? It seems like you and Steve are on the cover.”

Exhaling a laugh, you answer, “Yes, actually, saw it at the grocery store today, sorry you guys didn’t make the front page, I’m sure you’ll get them next time.”

“What? No, I mean, have you read the article? They’re printing lies about you both,” Nancy stutters out, indignantly.

“They’re saying that you and Steve had a private lunch and that he’s been seen sneaking out of the Hotel Mormont for weeks and that you might be pregnant? They’re even alluding to a fight breaking out between him and Jason Carver of all people.”

 This causes you to fully chortle.

“I wish, that guy deserves a few punches to the face. I wouldn’t worry too much about it, though, everything they say about me is a lie.”

“What do you mean? Aren’t they supposed to have some journalistic integrity? Don’t they get in trouble for printing lies like this? Have you tried to contact their editors about this?”

The confusion you feel about this conversation is outweighed by how weirdly touched you feel that these girls who had only met you once seem so offended on your behalf.

“No, I mean, it’s a gossip rag, not like The New York Times or anything,” you placate, “and after all the terrible things they’ve said about in the past, I’m kinda just glad they got a half-decent picture of me.  I appreciate you all calling about it though.”

And then, after a beat, you address the band’s lead singer, who has been oddly quiet throughout the whole exchange.

“I hope being pictured with me didn’t sully your reputation, Flirty Frontman.”

Really, you didn’t care if Steve was bothered by the whole thing, you just hoped that he wasn’t making his bandmates call you on his behalf. You didn’t know what to make of the guy quite yet. On one hand, he was completely sweet to you most of the lunch, he spent the meal asking you questions about yourself and refilling your drink without you having to ask. But the tantrum he had thrown reminded you a little too much of the dangerously self-absorbed musicians that had grown sick of these last few years.

“Me? No, I’m fine. Did you see how great my hair looked?”

You laugh silently at his answer. His hair did look great in the photo, but you were not about to give him the satisfaction of letting him hear that from you.

He continues, “Plus, they never really said anything terrible about me. They’re like, totally after you which is why Nance and Rob have been so worried, I guess. Are you good?”

His question comes out more hushed than everything else he’s said, and you are once again reminded of the earnest smiles you exchanged across the table a few days ago.

“I’m fine, Harrington, this is a regular Tuesday for me.”

With that, you bid goodbye to the band, citing your lateness, but not before expressing a very sincere thanks for their naïve concern.

The unexpected phone call makes you hit traffic, as you had predicted. You spend nearly an hour and a half in the back of a cab, the whole time, you can’t stop replaying the conversation you just had in your head.

Maybe there was more to the Downsides than met the eye?

***

This theory is proven, in part, after Hopper sends you a demo recording of some of their songs the following week.  

The Downsides, you quickly find out, are good, like very good. Their music is like nothing you’d ever heard before: experimental and fun but polished and very technically sound. Steve’s vocals are annoyingly impressive—his growly timbre grounding the lighter sound and keeping it from sounding too saccharine. You can see them dominating the charts and blowing The Letterman’s and every other one-trick band out of the water.

The track they wanted you to jump on was part of the demos Hopper had sent out. It was called “Feel It”, a romantic song, tinged with melancholy but paired with an upbeat synth sound.

You had been sent a copy of the lyrics that included a cue for you to come in.

You practiced your part for days, agonizing over how you wanted to deliver the lyrics, and eventually, you came up with exactly what you wanted to do after making some minor adjustments.

You were actually excited to record the song until you remembered that you would have to come face-to-face with the band’s two asshole guitarists again.

On the day of the recording, you tried your best to be early, but you had been up tossing all night which caused you to oversleep then you lost your keys, and you were moving at the time, so your things were all over the place. You also had to turn around and come back when you realized you had forgotten the gift basket of cookies you were planning on bringing for the band—something left over from a package Charles Riva's team sent you as an apology for him blowing you off. All in all, you were about thirty minutes late.

You pulled into the Starcourt parking lot a harried mess and as you rounded the corner into the studio, you could hear the booming voice of Eddie Munson.

“She’s probably stuck circling the parking lot trying to find some working-class sucker to park her car. Harrington, why don’t you go check out there? Maybe you’ll get papped again and get another 5 minutes of fame.”

You hear Steve respond and while you can’t make out the words, you can tell he’s annoyed, embarrassed, or possibly both.

You can see the faces of every other band member fall like dominos as they each caught sight of you rounding the corner to stand directly behind Eddie.

Eddie though doesn’t seem to pick up on what’s clearly written on all their faces and persists through his tirade, “She’s only coming for the photo opp anyway—she doesn’t care about any of this.”

It’s Argyle who finds his voice first, “Eddie, man, isn’t that her?”

Eddie whips around and with comically wide eyes, looks down at you, grimacing.

You consider telling the guy off but decide against it.

If there is one thing you have learned these years it’s that while the male artists can throw fits, yell, scream, and even damage equipment without anyone as much as blinking an eye, one emotional misstep from you and you would be branded a diva. They would say you were difficult, rude, and find any excuse to toss you aside like they had so many women before you and you refused to let them have that satisfaction.

So, instead, you smile at the band, eyes lingering on Eddie for just a moment longer than on anybody else, to let him know that you had heard him, and then say brightly, “Sorry I’m late everybody. I brought some cookies.”

***

EDDIE: Yeah, it was a dick thing to say, and I regretted it immediately and not just because she brought us cookies.

I wasn’t—that wasn’t me.

I was just so angry about everything that I had lost, and I didn’t know where to put it all and then she shows up: this rich, spoiled girl who just seemed to float through life without a single fucking care or struggle, and suddenly I had an easy target.

I felt bad about it until she changed my fucking lyrics.

***

Unlike their guitarists, most of the band seemed pleased to see you and you spent a few minutes greeting everyone and handing around cookies while Eddie and Steve kept their respective distances—Eddie, sulking in a corner and Steve doing a poor job at pretending to tune his guitar.

“Okay kids let’s give the voices some space to do their thing,” Hopper says waving them through the door sounding more like a disgruntled parent than a manager.

In the end, it’s just you, Steve, Murray, and the sound booth tech. The latter two are busy prepping the sound and mic, leaving you and Steve standing in the back.

“Hey, I wanted to apologize about what I said the other day at lunch,” he leans in close to your ear, his eyes transfixed on his shoes.

“I didn’t mean it—not really. I guess I was just lashing out because, well, they keep changing things about the band without even talking to us. First, they made us go pop, then they made me give up lead guitar to Eddie because his previous band didn’t want him anymore, and then it seemed like they wanted to replace me with you and like, it’s not that I wouldn’t want you it’s just that—well they never even asked what we wanted, you know? I was frustrated about that, and I took it out on you and I’m sorry about that.”

You watch him as he digs the toe of his sneaker into the carpet, eyes downcast, clearly waiting for you to respond. You’re too busy contemplating his words, however, because an apology was the last thing you were expecting from him, much less such a sincere one.

Out of all the difficult men you had dealt with in your life—producers, musicians, lawyers, managers, former flings, hell, even your own father—you had never received an apology from any of them regardless of how poorly they’d treated you.

Steve’s eyes finally trail up to meet yours, searching your face for signs that he didn’t say the wrong thing yet again.

Seeing no trace of dishonesty on Steve’s face, you decide to trust the apology for what it is and nod in acceptance.

“I get it,” you say, and truly, you did, “I’ve had most of my career decisions made for me, and a lot of times, they weren’t really what I wanted. It makes the whole thing feel kind of…empty, doesn’t it?”

His face floods with relief as he nods along in understanding.

“Yeah, like does success matter if we can’t do things our way? Me and Rob, we’ve been best friends since we were little and this has always been our dream and now that it may be coming true, it doesn’t feel like we imagined. I guess that’s kinda stupid though, expecting things to be like you imagined them as a kid,” he laughs at himself nervously.

“No, it’s not,” you counter, “that’s not stupid at all.”

You understand Steve’s disillusionment completely because it mirrors your own.

“Listen, I get how you feel, trust me, but you got to keep going. You guys are good, and I think you could all be big one day and then it’ll be you who’s calling the shots and then you can kick me and Eddie to the curb,” you clearly say the last part in jest but that doesn’t stop the shame that rolls across Steve’s face.

“Hey, don’t say that. You’re really talented and we’re lucky that you’re doing us this favor. We’d be even luckier if we could get you to stick around. Munson I could give or take, though.”

His joke makes you laugh so loud that Murray turns around and glares.

***

Steve was sent into the booth first to record his final vocals for the song, leaving you to observe.

As they set Steve up, your eyes kept bouncing over to the newly appeared Eddie, trying to figure out what exactly he was doing there.

“I wrote the song,” Eddie explains, after catching your eye.

“Oh,” you say, not bothering enough to hide your surprise, “well, congratulations, it’s a good song.”

You catch him eyeing the plate of cookies at your side. You open your mouth to offer him a cookie, but the echo of his words rings fresh in your mind, so instead, you reach for one and make a big show of savoring it.

Steve records his part of the vocals in five takes. He appears a bit nervous at first but eases into his groove rather quickly.

As the audio engineer is setting up the booth for you, you feel your own nerves rise. You wanted this to go well. You wanted to impress Steve and Hopper and even Eddie.

They signal you into the booth and the first two times, you record the song exactly how it’s written. Then, on the third one, you switch up the final chorus.

The original lyrics were: Fear in your heart, can’t conceal it/ But baby, my loves your cure, can’t you feel it? / Lay your hope bare next to mine/ and even if the world caves in, we’ll be fine

You changed the lyrics to: Fear in your heart, can’t conceal it/ But baby, my loves your cure, can’t you feel it? / Lay your flaws bare next to mine/ because when the world caves in, I’ll leave you cryin’

The change was slight, you thought, but meaningful.

The original version—Eddie’s version—was too hopeful. It was a boring portrayal of lovers staying with each other through thick and thin.

Your change added some conflict and dimension to the narrative. You made it better.

“What the hell was that?” Eddie pushed past Murray to yell into the mic that fed into the booth.

You roll your eyes at him dramatically interrupting your take, “I was just trying something out.”

Hopper pulled Eddie back by the shoulder while Murray wrestled the mic from him.

“Woah, sweetheart, pump the breaks. That was good. Better than the original. Can we run that one more time but with your lyrics instead? Harrington, we’ll re-record some of your parts too.”

Hopper has to all but carry Eddie out the door after he hears that.

***

EDDIE: The thing that pissed me off the most was that her version of the song was better. I just didn’t want to admit it because I wrote that song about Chrissy, about how even though I was so scared I was going to fuck up our relationship, she understood that and was willing to work through that with me. Her version was much closer to what actually happened and that hit a little too close to home.

***

“Woah, what did you two do to Eddie?” Robin demands as soon as you and Steve are dismissed into the hallway. “Hopper pretty much had to drag him out in tears!”

You worry at your bottom lip, caught in the wondering eyes of the group. At the time, you felt like you were doing the right thing, but now you wonder if you had forgone the common courtesy of at least letting him know you had changed the song. You didn’t want to come across as unprofessional as he accused you of being.

“I should probably go talk to him,” you say in response.

“Geez, Robin. Was the third degree really necessary there? This is just like last week’s DMV visit all over again,” Steve chastises as they all watch you walk away.

***

You find Eddie in the smoking area, cigarette in hand. “Hey, listen can we talk—"

Eddie turns dangerously to face you, cutting you off.

“You know what your fucking problem is? No one’s ever said no to you so you think you can do whatever the hell you want and that everyone else just rolls over and gives it to you because you’re so pretty and charming and rich.

“Well, you may have the rest of those assholes fooled but I see right through you, okay?”

Your eyes narrowed in response before you snap back.

"First of all, you don't know anything about me, so stop pretending that you do. I have worked hard to be here, just like the rest of you, and as far as this song goes, my name is going to be attached to it too, so I have just as much of a right to give input as you or Steve. It was wrong that I didn't say anything to you beforehand, sure, and I apologize for that, but let's not pretend that you've been the epitome of professionalism here either because you've been an ass to me since we've met, and I don't know why but I won't stand for it again. Fuck you, Eddie Munson,” you spit out before turning on your heel and stomping away.

***

EDDIE: That was hot, not gonna lie.

***

“Are you really going to let some mangy metalhead from Bumfuck, Nowhere keep you from finally doing what you want?” Murray asks exasperatedly when you call him to complain about the exchange later that night.

“Listen, I’ve recorded a lot of songs in that studio, some of them great, most of them mediocre, but today blew all of them out of the water. The band’s never sounded better and neither have you, frankly. If you gave up the chance to finally write your own songs and sound this good while doing it, that would be flat-out idiotic. You know that, right?”

The line goes still.

“Yes,” you finally say.

“Great, now that that’s settled, why don’t you get some rest, huh? Ruining Muson’s day must have tired you right out.”

You exhale a laugh before saying goodbye.

Although you would never say it to his face, you were grateful for Murray. It was nice having someone looking out for you.

***

MURRAY:  Brenner loved the track. After that, we had a very short time to make a lot of big things happen. The Downside’s debut album was already 70% recorded, but now that we had a whole other person on vocals, we had to scrap a good portion of the work they had already done and rerecord with our new vocalist. We couldn’t even celebrate our victory because we were just getting started.

Those poor kids had no clue what was coming.

***

When your phone rings a few mornings later, you suspect it’s Murray again with an update on the song, and while you’re right about the message, you’re wrong about the messenger. 

“Hi, it’s Steve, uh, Harrington. Obviously,” you hear a familiar voice crackle over the line.

“Oh? And to what do I owe the honor Mr. Obviously?” you respond.

“Oh, very funny. Listen, I wanted to call and let you know that we just heard from Hopper that Brenner and his guys liked our song, and they want us to continue, you know… recording together and stuff. So, yeah, would that be something you’re interested in… being a part of, you know, the band?” his voice wavers a bit as he asks.

“Is that even a choice?” you fire back, “I was under the impression that once Brenner gave the go-ahead, it was pretty much a done deal.”

He clears his throat in response, “I think you deserve to have a choice. I talked to the rest of the band, and they agree and if you don’t want in, we’ll back you… even if that means breaking our Starcourt contract.”

The line goes silent as you contemplate the gravity of what Steve has just said. The Downsides would be willing to put their own career at risk just to assure you the luxury of choice.

The answer was easy after that.

“I’m in,” you say after a few moments of terse silence. “I want to be a part of the band.”

You can all but see Steve pumping his fist on the other side of the line.

“That’s great! That’s great news. I’m glad my asshole tendencies didn’t put you off,” he laughs, relieved.

“I mean, it was a tough sell,” you tease back, “but I think we can be good together. The band, I mean.”

You wonder if you’ve said the wrong thing when his joyous peals of laughter stop suddenly at your words.

“Actually, um, about that,” he begins, once again nervously, “I’m really grateful that you’re giving us—the band—a chance and that you were nice enough to record the single with us in the first place. And, I mean, I know I’m already pushing my luck with the universe and you but maybe—uh, maybe today it’s my turn to be the luckiest guy in the world? Who knows?”

You have absolutely no clue what he’s getting at, and you let him know as much.

“Right, hm, I was wondering if I could take you out, on a date, to celebrate us becoming a band but also like, you know, a date. I know I made a total ass of myself, but I really like you, and I think you're gorgeous and talented and smart. I know I may not deserve another shot, but I would love it if you gave me one.”

You’re at a loss for words. First, you’re not even sure if you want to trust Steve fully, not quite yet. Sure, he apologized, but a part of you wonders if he only did it to get on your good side once he had seen how your pre-established infamy could serve him after that Subrosa article ran. Murray mentioned how radio runtime for the few EP songs The Downsides had in the rotation tripled since the publication. It definitely wouldn’t have been the first time you were being used like this.

Even if you could find it in yourself to look past that (and who knows, maybe you could?) there was still the matter of what Murray and Hopper had so delicately mentioned that day at lunch.

“I’m sorry, Steve, I don’t think that would be very professional. Especially on account of our…  front-facing, romantic narrative.”

“Our what?”

***

MURRAY: I thought that Hopper had gotten his team on the same page about the more personal aspects of the band’s arrangement, but apparently, I was wrong. None of them had any clue what was going on and the thing about running a ruse is that people that are in on it kind of have to know that they’re in on it.

A few days before we began re-recording, the girl called me all in a tizzy because she accidentally spilled the beans, not knowing that Harrington had no clue at all about the plan.

I then call Hopper; it turns into this whole thing. We had to arrange an emergency meeting with the two of them and the entire legal team.

A bit slow on the uptake, that Harrington kid, but he got there. Eventually.

He was harder to convince than the girl, though. At least she didn’t have a problem with lying to the public. But Harrington was all about that Midwestern “integrity” and “letting the music speak for itself”. Hop eventually had to spell it out real simple for him: either they do this, or the entire band was cooked.

STEVE: I guess after like 15 years the ruse is finally up, huh? Yeah, the relationship was fake. Or, at least, it started out that way. Listen, it was complicated and we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

But, if you’re asking about what I was thinking when they finally told me their plan, well, I wasn’t happy or on board at all. It felt like we had already given up so much of ourselves for this—like, where do you draw the line, you know?

But then Hopper reminded me that it wasn’t all about me: Nancy had dropped out of college to be in the band, Jonathan…he had his sick little brother to take care of, and even Munson was going to be in trouble if he didn’t fulfill his contract with Starcourt.

It was selfish to say no, in my opinion. And really, what was I losing? I got to make music for a living and parade around, pretending to date a total hottie while doing it. I mean, the only way it could’ve gotten better was if the relationship had been real.

***

After what feels like days—but is most likely hours—with the Starcourt legal team, you and Steve are finally released with a very long grocery list of instructions that include a minimum number of required public appearances; a very specific list of acceptable PDA; and interestingly, enough, a sample NDA in case either of you wanted to “be involved” with anyone on the side.

“Nothing says romance like NDA, right?” you weakly joke in an attempt to break the ice.

“How are you so okay with this?” Steve shoots back, seemingly stunned.

“Well, it’s not like this is my first rodeo, or my fourth, or my sixth.”

And before he can question further, you tell him everything, starting with Jason fucking Carver.

***

STEVE: I couldn’t believe it. They had been forcing her to pretend to be involved with all these guys for years. It was super fucked up, but she stuck with it. That’s how much she wanted it. How could I possibly let her down after that? Especially with my own selfish, dumb feelings? She was right, we needed to keep it professional, no matter how hard that was going to be for me.

***

JONATHAN:  Jonathan Byers, bassist and guitarist for the Downsides. never wanted to be famous, I just wanted to play music and make enough money to support my family. I could do all of that and more with The Downsides.

I felt like the luckiest guy in the world then. We were finally starting to see some stability as a band and even though things weren’t exactly as we expected, things were good. I mean we were making music we loved with people we liked—back when we all still liked each other.

***

October 1983—Los Angeles, California

As the studio had predicted, the band’s single was a total hit, as were you and Steve in the press. The gamble Starcourt was starting to pay off.

Everyone was more relieved than happy about that news.

What followed was a few grueling weeks of rerecording the band’s nearly completed album while also strategically traipsing arm-in-arm with Steve around every romantic spot in Hollywood trying to bait the paparazzi.

Things had finally slowed down a bit since the album was in post-production, but Starcourt still had you on a tight schedule. You had transitioned into rehearsing for the band’s upcoming tour. That’s how certain Startcourt was that the Downsides were going to be a success—you were rehearsing for a tour that hadn’t even been announced yet for an album that hadn’t even been released.

You try not to think about what it would mean if the band didn’t meet the label’s expectations. Instead, you focus on figuring out how to adapt to the band you’re now a part of.

The obvious lack of familiarity between all of you was not as pronounced when you were re-recording in the studio, now that you’re all rehearsing together, it is impossible to ignore. The original members of the band share a bond that keeps them incredibly in sync, oftentimes leaving you and Eddie struggling both on and off the stage. You’ve been working to adapt though, and you’ve made progress, sometimes you’re even close to feeling like the band has accepted you as one of their own. But then something will happen that will leave you feeling like an outsider once more.

***

The last thing a hungover you needs to see at seven in the morning is a Subrosa article questioning your moral character and calling you a man-eater. The universe—in the form of one Nancy Wheeler—has a different idea.

“Have you seen this?” the keyboardist asks, indignation coloring her tone, as she slings the offending publication across your lap.

You hadn’t seen it, in fact, but one look at the grainy picture of you and Steve and you can assume what the article says.

You sigh tiredly in response, “Honestly Nancy, you shouldn’t pay attention to this shit. I don’t know why you let it bother you so much.”

“It’s just so unfair that they’re singing Steve’s praises and are still dragging you through the mud, even though you’ve done nothing wrong.”

“Exactly, there’s no winning with them, not for me. So why don’t we just say fuck them and do whatever we want?” You find it in yourself to waggle your eyebrows playfully at her earning a giggle from the otherwise serious girl.

You catch Eddie watching your exchange from across the large warehouse that is serving as the band’s rehearsal space with a curious amount of interest.

The two of you have barely spoken since your row outside of Starcourt. It’s not like you’re missing out on much though, since Eddie barely interacts with the band beyond rehearsal which makes his apparent engagement with your conversation unusual. Eddie, realizing he’s been caught staring, opens his mouth to say something but is quickly interrupted by a very late Steve and Robin.

“Hey, have you seen the latest issue of Subrosa?” Steve asks, harried and out of breath.

You try not to think about the fact that this is the third time this week that the two of them have shown up together and late.

“Yes, we were just talking about it, which you would’ve known if the two of you were on time for once,” Nancy jabs back with no real heat, just the annoyance of an older sister chastising her siblings.

“Hey, don’t blame me, Robin wanted to—” he stops short as soon as his eyes land on you and coughs awkwardly.

“I wanted to stop by the post office,” Robin rushes to say. “It’s Bastille Day and I needed to send a card to my French pen pal, Celine in honor of the occasion.”

“Isn’t Bastille Day in July?” You ask Robin.

She flushes scarlet. “Right, exactly, that’s why this is so important, my card was already like three months late. You know how French people are about punctuality.”

She then exchanges a meaningful glance with Steve and Nancy who seem to be having their own sort of conversation consisting solely of glances and eyebrow movement.

“Fine, whatever,” Nancy exhales after a few terse moments of silent communication, “let’s just start please.”

She stands and the others follow suit. You, however, remain sat, trying to figure out what exactly had just happened.

Steve, sensing you hadn’t moved, turns to throw you an apologetic look over his shoulder before beaconing gently with a nod of his head. You sigh but join him, nonetheless.

This happens a lot.

***

JONATHAN: When the whole staged relationship thing first started, I don’t think any of us had any idea what that meant.  I mean, sure, it started out as the gimmick that got us through the door but it soon became something bigger than that. Their relationship was synonymous with the band and it's success and I'm sure that resulted in a lot of pressure. 

I think for the two of them, though, the most difficult part was trying to keep things professional, especially when other people began to get involved.

***

None of the personal dynamics mattered when you were all playing together.

What you loved most about your bandmates was that they cared about the music just as much as you did. That had become clear from the very first rehearsal and even now, nearly a month in, you’re still in awe watching them all perform alongside you.

 Prim, soft-spoken Nancy turned into a wild thing on the keyboard, her whole body moving with the music, fingers flying over the keys like it was nothing. Ever the perfectionist, she would never miss a note, and on the off chance that she did, curse words you had never heard before streamed out of her mouth, causing your eyes to go wide every time.

Jonathan, too, became something else: full of bravado and fire, hair swinging wildly and even jumping around on stage. His playing had a smoothness to it, he knew when to show restraint and let someone else shine and when to bring it himself.

Argyle and Robin were the biggest transformations, though. Gone was goofy and easy-going Argyle the person and all that was left behind was the laser-focused drummer, who seemed to move on instinct to create a strong musical foundation for the rest of you. Robin, who normally was a bit erratic and all over the place, became the self-assured, quick-thinking driving force behind the band. It was like she knew exactly how the song needed to sound and what each person needed to bring to get there. She was the first to let anyone know there was something amiss and no one took it the wrong way because she was rarely wrong.

Steve and Eddie were exactly what you had expected, however, what you did not expect was how alike they would be. They both moved gracefully and with careless precision. Showmen in equal measures.

Once you had familiarized yourself with your bandmates, figuring out how you fit into the band’s onstage dynamic was easy.

Off-stage was a whole different story.

***

JONATHAN: I mean, yeah, I think it was natural that there was a bit of a divide in those early days between the ‘original’ band and our two new members. It’s not for lack of trying though, it’s just, well the five of us lived in a house together and had known each other for years, it was probably kinda intimidating trying to jump into that dynamic. I also got the feeling that the other two weren’t really used to having friends. They both seemed to have their guards up in their own way.

With her you could tell she was holding back, almost like she was afraid of doing the wrong thing and well, with Eddie… you know how he is.

I think it was that feeling of sort of being on the outside that first drew them together, honestly.

***

Your eyes scan over the small craft services area that makes up part of your rehearsal space. Most of the band starts at one table, chatting amiably over lunch. Before you can even take a step in their direction, though, your eyes zero in on Steve and Robin, whose heads are bent, close together, whispering to one another intimately and you falter.

As much as you enjoyed Robin and Steve individually, watching them interact with one another often stoked an aching loneliness in you that you struggled to put out and the more time you spent with them only made it worse. After six weeks, you were worn thin.

Deciding that you’d rather not foster any unearned feelings, you turn to the only other table where Eddie is sitting alone bent over a thick paperback.

Trying to play it as cool as you can, you reach inside your bag to pull out your own book, and casually sit down across from the long-haired boy.

He stares you down. You raise an eyebrow in response.

“Didn’t know you could read,” he says casually.

“Funny, I was just about to say the same thing about you,” you shoot back with no real bite.

He chuckles to himself, seemingly impressed before gesturing to your book. 

“Didn’t peg you for a Baldwin type either,” Eddie says, eyes scanning the cover of your book.

You shrug, noncommittally, “I found a copy Beal Street sitting with a bunch of junk on my neighbor’s curb and I’ve been a fan since.”

He barks out a laugh so loud it catches everyone’s attention.

Conversation halts and you feel your bandmates’ curious gazes fall on you all at once.

“Forgive me, princess, but I have a hard time imagining you digging through other people's trash for books from what I know of you.”

“And what do you know about me, Eddie? I mean, other than the stuff Subrosa prints.”

His face falls in response.

The two of you spend the rest of your lunch in silence, pretending not to notice the way everyone else is staring.

***

JONATHAN: They ate lunch together every day after that, barely talking, reading their books.  I don’t think they were friends or anything, but I did see them exchange books a few times.

It did stress Nancy out, I think, the divide. It made her think we weren’t doing enough to be “welcoming” to them. Argyle and I didn’t really care, and Robin was dealing with her on shit at the time.

***

ROBIN : Yeah, I was seeing this girl, and I was trying to keep it under wraps from well… everyone actually. Steve was a really great friend though; he would always give me rides to and from her place when I needed them.

***

JONATHAN: ...a nd Steve liked to pretend that he didn’t care but he definitely did.

ROBIN: Of course, Steve cared, are you kidding?

NANCY: We could tell it bothered him.

STEVE : Did I care that she was eating lunch with Munson and kept avoiding me outside of rehearsal? No! Of course not.

***

November 1983, Los Angeles, California

The Downsides’ debut album was released on November 6, 1983, to commercial and critical success.

People immediately took to the upbeat synth sound paired with the introspective and clever lyrics. On top of that, you and Steve were, quite literally the talk of the town.

There were entire articles in gossip magazines dedicated to parsing out details of your relationship from the song lyrics on the album and coming up with theories about what the lyrics were about.

And all of that just from a few pictures of you two holding hands. Starcourt was ecstatic, they had bottled magic.

As much as everyone wanted to celebrate, you weren’t out of the woods yet, there were still the press junkets.

A growing list of TV and radio appearances that the band was required to be at plagued Hopper who was tasked with making sure you were all present and willing at these appearances. And of course, that you didn’t make fools of yourselves or Starcourt.

The label had taken it upon itself to send everyone PR briefings—essentially a long list of things no one should say under any circumstances during interviews.

Normally, you would think a list like this was overkill but knowing some of your bandmates, it was definitely needed.

All the eyes (and the pressure) would be on you and Steve, though, everyone knew that. You two were the ‘It Couple’ everyone wanted to hear from, and you weren’t quite sure what you were going to say.

The pap photos were easy: it was just walking around or sometimes getting lunch, holding hands, and looking like you were enjoying each other’s company. Something that wasn’t difficult since conversation flowed easily between the two of you.  At first, you would talk music—Steve was incredibly dedicated and knowledgeable, you quickly found out—but eventually, the two of you had branched into other topics. You learned about Steve’s life growing up in Indiana, about all his likes and dislikes, and everything about the band. He managed to pull the same information from you and you let him.

Even the physical stuff was easy, with time. In the beginning, it was an experiment of firsts. While you were pretty well-versed in the practice of feigned affection, you were used to the guy always making the first (fake) move. Most of the guys you had been "set up" with were the "act first, ask permission later" type. Steve was polite and considerate to a fault, and it took you two full dates to convince him that he didn't have to ask before holding your hand and an entire week more to work up to the kiss on the cheek. After those conversations though, touching Steve, in one way or another, had become second nature.

So much so, in fact, that it had begun to bleed into your everyday lives. It was not unusual during the time of your re-recording, to be at the studio and have Steve come up from behind you to rest his hand in the gentle dip of your waist only for you to lean back as you inhaled that scent that was uniquely him: smokey sandalwood and hair pomade.

Right around the time rehearsal started you realized that perhaps the two of you were becoming too comfortable with that type of affection, especially given how much time he spent with Robin, and you had begun to keep a subtle distance between the two of you whenever you weren’t on stage.

Steve while intelligent in his own right, had never struck you as the kind of person to pick up on subtleties, so when he brings up this distance you realize that either you severely underestimated his abilities, or you were not as subtle as you thought you’d been.

It’s a few days before the first stop of the Press Tour—An early morning slot with Wake Up, USA! —that has the two of you sitting on your couch when he brings it up. You had invited Steve over to practice answering any possible questions you may have to field together and make sure you’re on the same page.

As it turns out though, outside of music, Steve is not much for rehearsing.

“Can’t we just wing it?” Steve asks as he lies sprawled on your couch.

You huff in response, “No, we can’t just wing it. This is a big deal! This is our first time out as a couple, and we have to be believable.”

Steve scoffs at this and you raise an annoyed eyebrow in response.

“What?”

“Nothing,” he shrugs in response, “it’s just hard to act like a couple when you’ve been avoiding me for, like, the past month.”

He doesn’t sound accusatory or angry when he says this, just matter-of-fact. 

“I haven’t been avoiding you,” you sputter out, weakly.

It’s his turn to raise an incredulous eyebrow at you.

“Really? Could’ve fooled me. Last time I checked you and Eddie weren’t the best of friends, but you’d rather eat lunch with him than the rest of us. You know, if you didn’t like us, you didn’t have to agree to be in the band, we would’ve understood,” he deflates as he says this last sentence and it crumples your heart just a bit.

 “I like you guys,” you say quietly, nudging his leg with your knee as you do.

“Then, is it me?” He asks, voice small and eyes low.

“No, no, it’s not you, Steve,” you rush to say.

“It’s just, I’ve never really been any good at this,” you mumble, shy under his gaze.

“Good at what?” He urges gently.

“At being friends with people.”

You continue, words clunky and difficult to get out, “At being friends with someone I’m also pretending to date.

“I mean, with the rest of the guys Starcourt set me up with, I only had to tolerate them for a few weeks, at most. With us, well who knows right? Plus, I actually like you,” you wince at this uncharacteristic display of vulnerability from yourself, “I like all of you and I don’t want to ruffle any feathers or cross any boundaries and hurt anyone’s feelings.”

He chuckles at this, “Trust me, you won’t hurt my feelings by spending time with me.”

You shake your head, “It’s not you I’m worried about, Steve. There are other people.”

Steve’s brow furrows in confusion, “I’m not following.”

You are not sure what to say, now. You don’t want to call Steve and Robin out, it’s clear that they’ve been trying to keep what they have going on a secret, and you don’t want to call attention to that. You’re also afraid that if you mention him and Robin, you’ll eventually have to explain how when you see them together, your chest gets painfully tight. Pivot, you demand of yourself.

“What I mean to say is, it’s easier for me to keep everything professional when I have a little more space because I’m not really used to this friend thing. I’m sorry if I made you feel like I didn’t like you or the band. I like you all a lot, actually and I guess I’m just worried about messing that up.”

You can feel yourself retract into yourself the more you speak and by the end, your knees are tucked under your chin. You can’t bring yourself to meet Steve’s gaze.

He doesn’t respond right away, but you feel the warmth of his palm spread over the expanse of your back.

“Listen, I think… if this is gonna work, we have to be on each other’s team and part of that is talking to one another, right?  And letting each other know when we're having a hard time. I want to be on your team, will you let me?” His voice swells as he asks, and you are so aware of his warmth next to you.

“Yeah,” you nod, finally meeting his eyes, “ I want to be on your team too if you’ll let me?”

He nods enthusiastically, smiling so brightly you question if the sun has ever been as bright.

“Great, now can we please practice some of these questions?” You demand, playfully. 

“Or, or, and hear me out, we could go get burgers," he offers back.

You end up doing both.

***

November 13, 1983, Sunset Studios, Los Angeles, California

Call time for Wake Up, USA! was insanely early and you don’t think you’ve ever seen an angrier Hopper than one that has to be dealing with Eddie Munson at 5 AM. Eddie is decidedly, not a morning person.

“Well, aren’t you a ray of sunshine today?” You deadpan to the disgruntled guitarist from your makeup chair next to his. You were not fairing much better: not only were you running on little sleep, but you were also wound tightly with nerves about your first live interview as a band and as a couple.

“Can it, Your Majesty, or we might have a case of regicide on our hands,” he warns with no real heat behind his words.

“Isn’t it a bit too early to be throwing big words like that around, Munson?” Steve asks, from his spot on your other side.

“Don’t even know what that means,” he mutters, mostly to you.

“It means the murder of a king or queen,” you respond automatically.

“Doesn’t have to be just one, either. You could always kill more than one monarch at a time,” Eddie raises his eyebrows at Steve as he says this, making his implications very obvious.

“Wow, look at us,” Steve exclaims, grinning, “already making veiled threats at each other. We’ve finally made it, honey.”

He says this last part exclusively to you punctuating it by reaching for your hand and giving it a squeeze and you laugh.

The lightness of the exchange distracts you from your nerves for a moment. And from the way Eddie’s eyes linger on your hand interlaced with Steve’s.

Your brief reprieve is interrupted by the soft thud of a heavy object landing in your lap.

“What’s this?” You hold up a beat-up paperback to the culprit.

Eddie shrugs, “The Two Towers, Dustin finally got it back to me, took his sweet time too, that little asshole.”

You nod. He had lent you the first Lord of the Rings book weeks ago, while you were still in rehearsal after you had shown up bookless one day and you had devoured the book. You had been needling him for the second one since, but he had lent it to the audio engineer’s son, a kid named Dustin who idolized him and Steve in equal measure.

“Thanks,” you say, surprise coloring your voice, thumbing through the pages, eyes hungrily scanning the pages.

***

EDDIE:  I dunno, she seemed nervous.  I thought if she had something to distract her, it might’ve helped.

***

You get through the first chapter of your new book before they pull you into wardrobe.

They outfit you in a light blue dress, with exaggerated sleeves and a belt around your middle to compliment Steve’s dark blue blazer and stripped t-shirt combo.

 You feel your nerves mounting as you are helped into your heels and given your mic pack. Suddenly, everything that is riding on this is suffocating you from all ends—a visceral crushing pain that you can’t shake.

Steve appears at your side and the band had been escorted onto the soundstage your hand has been tightly wrapped around his like a vice the entire time.

“Can you, uh, loosen your grip a bit, please,” Steve asks, finally.

“Right, sorry,” you say, letting go of his hand completely and instead focusing your nervous energy on straightening his lapels.

After the third time you’ve readjusted his collar, Steve grabs both of your hands in his, and pulls you close, giving you no choice but to focus on his face.

“Hey,” he says in a hushed tone, just for you, “you don’t need to worry, okay? We’ve got this. I’m on your team, remember?”

You swallow thickly, and nod, before adding, “And I’m on yours, Harrington.”

“That’s my girl,” he says sealing the exchange with a kiss on the cheek.

***

JONATHAN: That first interview, on Wake Up, USA! was what really sold them. I mean, they couldn’t keep their eyes off of each other the entire time.

And then, when one of the hosts asked them how they met, Steve told this story about seeing her for the first time from across the restaurant during our first lunch together and how he was sure he had made a total fool of himself because he was so nervous to be around someone so beautiful, of course, Steve Harrington would say something like that. The audience swooned. Hell, I swooned a little bit.

And then they asked her about all the guys from her past, which was totally fucked up by the way, but she handled it great. She said she was grateful for all the mistakes she had made in the past because they had led her to The Downsides and to Steve.

Between that interview and our live performance, the audience was hooked. 

***

“Good job, you two,” Hopper says gruffly, patting you and Steve on the shoulder as you're ushered off stage after your performance.

“Thanks,” you squeak out, all the tension slowly deflating from your body after hearing Hopper’s approval.

It was done, your first live appearance complete, and it hadn’t been a total train wreck.

Actually, thinking back, it had been pretty good. There was a good variety of questions; everyone had gotten to speak; and when it came to you and Steve, well, it seemed believable at least. And the band managed to preform the new single without a hitch, all of the kinks that had plagued you during the last few weeks of rehearsals ironed out. 

Maybe you could pull this off after all.

***

By the time the band had wrapped up the week-long press junket, you were exhausted.

What had taken more of a toll than the hours of sitting in makeup chairs, too-tight shoes and repetitive questions was having to pretend with Steve.

You realize now that your problem was never the risk of not being convincing enough, but instead of being too convincing.

You had spent the entire week so physically attached to Steve, that it was beginning to feel like you were one single being. Like he was an appendage you couldn’t move without.

And every kiss on the cheek, every look, every squeeze of your hand, felt like a jumpstart to your heart.

Then there were actual interview parts. Steve was good with the press. He would draw audiences and hosts alike, in as easy as if he was winding up a thread. There was never a question that would catch him off guard and he always came off boyish and genuine in his responses. Like the time he was asked what his favorite thing about you was and he told the story of you showing up at the recording studio with cookies and having the guts to change Eddie’s lyrics in the same afternoon.

You knew better than to ask if he meant it. 

The next day, Hopper called to let you know that your album was breaking all sorts of records, and the label was incredibly pleased. So much so that they were thinking of increasing the tour dates and they were even starting to plan for future projects—projects that they wanted you to write.

The news didn’t make you feel light with joy like you had once hoped it would, instead, it made you feel heavy like a sinking stone.

A few weeks later, when the band went their separate ways for the Christmas break, you all knew something big was coming, you just had no way of knowing what.

***

JONATHAN: Right after New Year, Hopper pulls the band into a meeting in his office. First thing he told us was that they were announcing a tour with twice as many dates as they had originally planned for, demand was that high. Then he said, “From this point on, everything is going to move really quickly, there’s no getting off the ride now.”

Subrosa Article

PLAY NEXT TRACK 🥁

#eddie munson x reader #steve harrington x reader #Steve Harrington x you #Eddie Munson x you #stranger things x reader #stranger things imagine #eddie munson #steve harrington #rockstar!eddie Munson #nancy wheeler x jonathan byers

[mickimomo]

W’Kabi can never be redeemed.

So, I’ve been rewatching Black Panther 1 to work on a fanfic and every time I see W’Kabi I just want to throw hands. This man really abandoned his best friend because a stranger walked in with his enemy’s head. Theeeeen he had the audacity to go against Okoye’s wishes time after time after time. 💀

I’m probably super late to the party on this one- but I ended up digging around on reddit to understand why tf this man was such an awful friend to T’Challa. Like dude was literally king for maybe a week. He almost brought Klaw back to Wakanda. T’Challa only needed a little more time... or even another opportunity to get Klaw. But no. W’Kabi just had to throw a hissy fit, as if his parents were the only ones that died when Klaw infiltrated Wakanda. AS IF KILLMONGER’S DAD ISN’T THE REASON THEY’RE DEAD TO BEGIN WITH. (But that’s none of my business. 🐸☕) AS IF KILLMONGER WASN’T THE ONE THAT BROKE KLAW OUT OF PRISON. (again, that’s none of my business. 🐸☕)

This man was really smiling as his BEST FRIEND got the paint, sonic rings, and mario coins beat off of him and tossed over a waterfall to his supposed death. AND THEN proceeded to eagerly try to kill him so that N’Jadaka could succeed in sending out weapons. Even though Okoye told him not to. Even after T’Challa asked him to stop.

W’Kabi was the main villain of the film. I don’t care. I don’t care. 

Anyways, I NEEDED TO KNOW WHYYYY- and a brilliant soul dropped this link on the reddit post of a deleted scene:

This is the link 

and after watching it- oooooooooooooooh. The way I wanted to bonk him upside the head. I swear to the moon and back- this is why nobody remembered Okoye was married to his trifling ass. 😭

I’m happy she crossed paths with Attuma. They had more chemistry trying to kill each other anyways. 😭 W’Kabi can keep his ol’ dusty forehead kiss and shove it. 

OKOYE DESERVES HER FLOWERS!

p.s. No hate to the actor who plays W’Kabi. He acted up and down this movie with the rest of the cast. Everyone was and is super talented. I wish they hadn’t cut this scene out because it adds so much more to why W’Kabi didn’t even think twice about supporting N’Jadaka. I’m just looking at the characters and their story.

#w'kabi #general okoye #okottuma #I can't stand w'kabi #t'challa #t'challa deserved a better friend #w'kabi was the real villain #okoye #black panther #is this a fever dream #bad friend #ready to throw hands #villain origin story #marvel #marvel mcu #rewatching movies #okoye x attuma #just thinkin #but that's none of my business #writing fanfic

[robininthelabyrinth]

Prompt: WWX and NHS's adventures in both children's storybook and adult porn publishing

ao3

“It’s not that we lie,” Nie Huaisang explained to the very nice lady at the convention booth next to his. They’d both been placed at complete random by their publishers, or possibly the organizers of the literary convention they were attending; at any rate, not knowing someone had never stopped Nie Huaisang from pouring his sorrows into their ears. “It’s that no one ever believes us.”

“Oh?”

“I mean, look at me,” Nie Huaisang used his fan to gesture at himself. “I mean, really look at me. I’m soft. Round-faced. A bit chubby, even. Short. Harmless. Cheerful.”

“Well, of course you are, dear! Not, mind you, that those are anything bad to be.”

“They aren’t! Standing alone, I’m sure no one would judge me purely based on my looks – authors come in all shapes and sizes, wouldn’t you say…? But, you see, the problem is that I’ve shacked up with…him.”

Him being Wei Wuxian.

Wei Wuxian was tall, dark, and rakish. He had a devilish smirk and swagger, and he looked like trouble.

He was trouble.

What he was not, however, was an author of pornography.

Unfortunately, everyone thought he was.

See, there’d been a fairly terrible mix-up at some point. Wei Wuxian had moved out of his home – there’d been a fairly complicated sequence of events which Nie Huaisang was no longer even trying to keep track of, which given his usual love for all sorts of terrible gossip was saying something – and ended up briefly in Yiling with a group of Wens in what was an even more complicated sequence of events, but long story short…really, honestly, this was the short version…he’d ended up getting his happy ending, true love and all.

(The true love, Nie Huaisang wanted to be clear, was not Nie Huaisang. This was something that was very important to make clear, on account of Lan Wangji – the true love in question – being exceptionally jealous and also rather viciously petty, albeit only in ways that Nie Huaisang would notice. They were childhood sandbox enemies, these things stuck around.)

Anyway, finding a happy ending didn’t necessarily excuse Wei Wuxian from having to make a living, so he’d decided to become employed. Only, see, for all of his talent and competence, Wei Wuxian actually wasn’t very good at the whole ‘daily work’ thing. He could work non-stop for three days, then sleep for a week, he could work wonders and be competent at everything, but with his problems with authority, quick mouth and quicker temper…well, he couldn’t keep a job.

Now, again, this wouldn’t necessarily seem to be a problem, as Wei Wuxian had grown up shoulder-to-shoulder with a wealthy family (Jiang Cheng might sulk all he’d like about some of the aforementioned not described complicated sequence of dramatics and all, but he’d probably shove an unlimited credit card and a new apartment into Wei Wuxian’s hand if Wei Wuxian would take it) and had also married a very wealthy husband (it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility for even casual acquaintances to have heard of Lan Wangji, actually, though usually under the name by which he was better known, ‘Hanguang-jun’), and he also had a fair set of wealthy friends – Nie Huaisang included – but apparently Wei Wuxian didn’t like the feeling of being a kept man.

(More fool him. Being a kept man was awesome…not that Nie Huaisang would know about that. The only person who kept him was his extremely long-suffering older brother.)

Anyway.

Long story short – too late, yes, but whatever – at any rate, when Nie Huaisang – who was an author of pornography, and an exceptionally good one, too, with a range that spanned the high-brow type that was traditionally known as erotica and the much more pedestrian smut that made up the majority of sales – went to go visit his dear friend Wei Wuxian, he found him telling stories to a bunch of fascinated little brats that he’d been babysitting. Having listened to them and thinking they were quite good, he suggested that Wei Wuxian take up a writing career similar to his own.

Only, you know, more kids and less porn.

Wei Wuxian had been doubtful, but he’d given it a shot, and the agent Nie Huaisang had introduced him to had gone from mildly bored to exceptionally enthusiastic upon reading the draft.

And that, really, was that.

…except for one little thing.

See, Wei Wuxian worked better with people around, and since his so-respectable husband had an actual job, that meant he needed someone else – someone, say, who kept similar hours to him, meaning sleeping late, staying up late, and not, say, waking up at ungodly hours of the morning every day because that was the routine they’d grown up with since childhood unlike some people.

(Lan Wangji. Nie Huaisang was talking about Lan Wangji. All the Lans, really, but Lan Xichen made up for his terrible waking habits by being perfect, so the problem clearly was with Lan Wangji.)

They’d ended up solving the problem by buying a penthouse duplex, where Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian lived on the bottom floor and Nie Huaisang on the top, and if Wei Wuxian slept with Lan Wangji at night he still spent most of his days with Nie Huaisang – it was a bit like having a part-time roommate, really, which was quite nice. Also, they’d tried it the other way around (meaning Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian at the top apartment, Nie Huaisang in the bottom one, not by mixing around who lived with whom) only there had been an awful lot of floor shaking if one got the drift.

Not that that’s relevant, just, you know, he was stating for the record.

(He was a porn author. He had to make sure these things got into the record.)

Anyway, and, really, he swore he was getting to the point this time, the main issue with that set up, really, was that most people one look at short round smiling Nie Huaisang and his roommate, lanky smirky bad boy Wei Wuxian, and made a snap decision as to which one of the two authors was which – and they were always, always wrong.

It would be one thing if it was just strangers, or maybe someone from the publishing house, or whatever…but the person putting together the dust covers for their books (a first for each of them: Nie Huaisang’s first officially published collection of erotic and filthy short stories, when before he’d mostly been working in magazines or online or whatnot, and Wei Wuxian’s colorfully animated children’s story about a little boy who was planted in the earth like a radish) had also made the same mistake. And people had continued to make that mistake right up until they’d put the wrong picture with the wrong book.

By the time anyone figured it out, the books had already been spread out in bookstores throughout the country, flying off the shelves – they were both very good at what they did – and that wasn’t counting the people who’d pre-ordered…well, long story short, it was too late to take it back.

People had expectations now.

“…and that,” Nie Huaisang concluded, “is why he signs for my books and I sign for his. You see?”

“I do indeed,” the nice lady said, nodding along gamely. “In fact, my own first publication was a bit of a comedy of errors as well – I really wasn’t expecting it.”

“What, really? You?” Nie Huaisang’s eyebrows arched. “But you’re – I mean, you’re famous! You’ve written so many books! You’re…you’re Jessica Fletcher!”

She smiled. “Oh, don’t you flatter me! I’m far too wise to that sort of thing. Anyway, it wasn’t just the first publication that’s been odd, it’s that I keep getting all wrapped up in all sorts of strange situations, time and time again, and sometimes I just like to lend a hand…oh, heavens, I’m getting distracted again! It must be contagious. Tell me, now – what was that you were saying earlier, about your roommate having once been friends with the victim?”

“Oh, Wen Ning? Well, see, that’s also a bit of a long story…”

Her nose wrinkled a little, involuntarily. “Make an effort,” she said dryly. “Keep it short.”

#mdzs #nie huaisang #wei wuxian #wangxian #crossover guest star #my fic #my fics

[rriavian]

I loooooove how u write Dream. He is powerful and prideful cat energy. ❤️❤️

What is your fav Dreamling/Coritaneus trope? Which fic would u like to recommended?

Powerful Dream with prideful cat energy is a wonderful description of how I write him! Thank you so much! I’ve been overjoyed reading all of your comments over the past few days <3 really brightened up my week and I’m just incredibly happy you’ve been enjoying my work :)

I think my favourite trope has got to be anything that leans into (and respects) Dream’s nature as an Endless and explores how that is navigated in a relationship.

As a trope it can be serious, can be humorous, but I just love Dream being the most confounding thing in any room. Even to his own creations. Just at any given moment there’s Dream 100% ready to radiate sheer incomprehensible energy to everyone around him, perhaps also to test if a lover has the mettle to navigate that part of him. In Corintheus I love how that’s this irresistible (if sometimes irritating) challenge, a nature that the Corinthian wants to triumph over in some way, coveting it in a way I don’t think many others ever have.

The infinity within Dream is so easily misunderstood.

This is probably not even a trope per se, but it's very much what I most enjoy in a narrative. I suppose I love Dream getting to feel desired for the parts of himself others might find unsavoury/indecipherable/difficult. And that sort of leads into the other side it—I love the Corinthian’s nature as a nightmare being leaned into as well, and how perhaps the ‘dream’ part of Morpheus is something he both does and doesn’t always understand. Absolutely love when people play with the mix of the Corinthian knowing Dream so intimately—perceptively predicting him, understanding who and what he is in a way few others do—while also being like ‘my lord what the actual fuck?’

Ok so I lost interest in Dreamling pretty early on for a myriad of reasons.

And I actually wrote a fair bit more about it here than I meant to before condensing it down (though I will elaborate if you want!) but I think this trope translates as slow burn for them. Hob doesn’t have a) any real context and b) any real information about who/what Dream is. I think a lot of people forget that, or assume Dream will be open with him so quickly/easily, or assume that Dream should be open with him so quickly/easily.

It’s not something you see very much but I really feel like the fact that Hob knows absolutely nothing about Dream has so much unused comedic potential.

A fic rec! Ooh! There are so many talented people in this fandom, but I would definitely recommended Thymoeides by @aisalynn. It’s a WIP set in an alternate universe (human AU) where Dream is hired by Burgess to cleanse his haunted manor, and it’s so so good I absolutely love it!

#rria answers #thank you! #hope you enjoy my answer <3 #sandman #dream of the endless #the Corinthian #hob gadling #corintheus

[desswright29]

Hi, you asked for a Tish fantasy so here’s mine. I am not a writer and this is the first time I’ve written anything so my apologies for using your ask box because I’m not brave enough to post it on my own page. This is really informal. Just my thoughts really, but I’ll try to make it decent:

First person POV:

Tish and I have been dating for 3 years now. I’m having a milestone bday so Tish, my family and friends are throwing me a big ass party. They tried their best to surprise me, but I’m a Taurus so um yeah there’s that lol. It’s an all black affair but Tish and I pull up wearing all white cuz we feeling GAWDLY lol. I’m in custom Laquan Smith. Tish in custom Prada of course. We walk in and my jaw drops. This party is something I could’ve never imagined. Now mind you, after demanding I clear my schedule, Tish has been pampering me (and fucking me mercilessly) all week. All leading up to this party. Everybody that I love is in attendance. The decor is posh and expensive, but still keeping a party-like ambience. The DJ is playing all the hits and all my favorite party songs from when I was younger. Tish been catching this ass all night lol. Alcohol is flowing and we really going up. I’m giggling at Tish while they’re presenting me with my cake and singing happy bday bc she’s slightly tipsy and doesn’t realize how loud she’s singing into the DJ’s mic. As soon as I blow out my candles Tish passes the mic to my bestie who then turns my attention to a big ass projector screen that’s been let down. She gives a little sentimental speech then tells me that I must pay very close attention to the video and to not take my eyes off of the screen or I’ll miss a very important message. I’m tipsy too so I’m confused af, but I follow her instructions. The video is so sweet! It’s a collection of my baby pictures, school pictures,vacations, me w/ family and friends, pics of Tish and I, etc. All of a sudden the screen goes blank and a message appears that says “Your life has been a beautiful storybook and now it’s time to turn around and start the next chapter.” I’m so busy focusing on the video that I hadn’t noticed that Tish stepped away from my side. Still following instructions I turn around and all I see is my stunningly beautiful girlfriend getting on one knee with a small Cartier ring box in her hands. I can’t believe how quickly I just sobered up. I’m shell shocked so my mind is trying to catch up with what my eyes are seeing before me. Someone passes the mic back to Tish and she begins to speak in a bit of a shaky voice. “Baby, for a long time I didn’t think genuine love would ever be possible for me. I didn’t think there was anyone out there who could truly understand me…understand the way my mind works…my quirkiness…my ambition…my lust for life…and the way I love. Just when I had settled on being the fun, SEXY and single friend” *everyone giggles* “God sent me you. God took a lil extra time on you innit!” *crowd giggles again* “It’s truly been a privilege to love you and I wanna be everything to you, that you are to me and so much more…and I wanna do it for the rest of our lives. “Y/N, will you marry me?” Remnants of my mascara mixed with my tears are flowing like a river down my face. My mind is still registering so it takes me a few seconds to respond with the emotion filled “yes” that I’m able to muster up. Tish slides the ring on my finger so fast then jumps up and scoops me up with strength I didn’t know she possessed while everyone is cheering and clapping. We kiss each other in way that could invoke world peace. Finally coming to my full senses, I softly whisper in her ear “I can’t wait to run this shit with you.”

*Edit Note: Let me take my motherfucking hat off to you writers!! How do y’all do this shit on a regular basis??? Now that shit I just wrote was so basic and it stressed me OUT. You guys are so talented and so creative and I have a whole new respect. Thank you for sharing your talents on here. Love you guys!

This is awesome! You should def give us more! As a matter of fact anyone who wants to write but is nervous about it, feel free to use my ask to give it a shot!

#dess asks #letitia wright #letitiawright

[ilovecupcakesandtea]

Chapter one Chapter ten My master list

Title: Chapter nine

Word Count: 927

Archive Warnings: Smut in future chapters. Slight angst. Alcohol misuse.

Rating: E

Pairing(s): Eddie Munson/Steve Harrington Robin Buckley/Chrissy Cunningham

Character(s): Eddie Munson, Steve Harrington, Robin Buckley, Chrissy Cunningham, Benny, Uncle Wayne & The Party

Tags: Smut. Angst. Steddie. Buckingham. Steve Harrington. Eddie Munson. Robin Buckley. Chrissy Cunningham. Band AU. TW Alcohol use.

Summary (optional): Two different styles of music, two boys that really don't like each other. What could possibly go wrong?

Beta Reader: Thank you so much to my beautiful beta readers @slippy-slip @ladydarklord & @dontwasteyourchances

Art link and credit: Art is by the wonderfully talented @pink-luna-moth (as is the banner)

Fic link and credit: Ao3 Link

AN: First off thank you to Alex for the art and being just amazing to work alongside. Thank you to Slip for dragging me back from the edge so many times over this. I really am so excited to have this out here!!

I wrote this for the @strangerthingsreversebigbang event and had a lot of fun doing so!!

Divider links: reblog and music notes

Welcome to Rolling Stone! We’ve all been really excited to finally get you guys here!

Eddie: Thank you for having us! 

Robin: This is amazing, I’ve read Rolling Stone for so long, so it’s awesome to have our own interview in here. 

Steve: Thank you for this.

Chrissy: Such an amazing opportunity, thank you for having us. 

From playing in a garage to selling out Madison Square Garden in just over 18 months, that’s quite something. How does it feel?

Steve: It’s insane how quickly this has all happened. It’s been a whirlwind. I feel like we’ve come so far and I’m incredibly proud of us all for it. 

Chrissy: It started as just something fun for us to do a couple of times a week and then we started playing more and more gigs and I’m thinking “holy shit this could actually go somewhere” and now I’m about to play a sold out MSG with 3 of my best friends.

Robin: It feels surreal that this is happening to us, and so quickly. 

Eddie: Little 10-year-old me is screaming at this. I dreamed of this for so long so for it to be finally happening is immense.

Are you all excited?

Eddie: I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited over anything in my life. 

Steve: I just can’t wait to get out on that stage. It’s going to be amazing.

Robin: I’ve got so much nervous energy I don’t think I’ve stopped moving since we found out. I’m just ready to take it on now. 

Chrissy: The most excited! I’ve not stopped talking about it to everyone who’ll listen to me. I’ve got us all special outfits and everything. 

How did the band get together? 

Chrissy: Me and Robin got talking and had the idea to start playing together.

Eddie: Then Chrissy came to me with the idea of starting a band when we were writing one evening. 

Steve: Robin asked me to join seeing as they didn’t know any other drummers and that’s how The Spitfires came to be. 

Now rumour has it that there are two couples in the band, can anyone confirm? 

Eddie: Okay, so I’ve actually been dying to talk about this. We’ve discussed this as a band and how to approach these rumours we’ve been seeing. I am actually in a very happy relationship with our ridiculously attractive and talented drummer. We’ve been together for a few months and it’s going really well. He’s certainly a keeper. 

Whilst he’s saying all of this Eddie is looking at Steve with the fondest expression on his face, mirrored by Steve himself. It’s clear these two are IT.

Robin: And me and Chrissy have been together since the band started basically. I mean, look at her, how did I of all people get to say such a thing of beauty is my girlfriend?

How did that happen? 

Chrissy: So I was a cheerleader, Robin was in band and I sat next to her on the bus to an away basketball game, we got talking, I asked her on a date, and it just went from there.

Eddie: Mine and Steve’s story is a lot less PG than that, I’m pretty sure you won’t be able to print it so we’ll leave it there.

Your self-titled album is getting rave reviews from across the board, talk us through the process.

Robin: It actually happened kinda quickly. We’d been speaking about an album for a while but never really knew how we would go about getting it done. 

Chrissy: Then my mom [“We love you, Rach” is shouted by Munson.]  just booked us a studio and that forced our hand basically. 

Steve: Eds called in a favor from someone we went to school with and we suddenly had a producer for the album too. 

Eddie: A load of practice and a few very late nights later, it was ready. We can't believe how well it's been received if I'm honest. It's like wow. 

Can we expect another one in the near future? 

Steve: Oh, absolutely! We've been talking about it. We want to get this tour finished and take a couple weeks vacation before we hit the studio, but it is written and we are working on the songs so worry not.

Eddie: Not to give any spoilers, but it’s going to be better than our first.

Robin: It’s going to have a different feel to our first that’s for certain.  

You must have been really busy these last couple of years, has such a busy schedule left you with a lot of time for relaxing? 

Eddie: Not really no. Between the band, gigs, and working until recently,  there hasn’t been a lot of time for fun. 

Steve: Yeah it’s probably a really good job we’re all in relationships with each other, it means we can actually see our partners. 

Robin: We try our hardest to relax but it can be difficult. 

Chrissy: We wouldn’t change a thing though, it’s been a wild ride. 

Eddie: Oh yeah, I’d do it again in a heartbeat, especially with my Stevie by my side. 

So, what’s next for The Spitfires? 

Eddie: World domination, obviously. [Munson cackles.] 

Chrissy: We want to continue what we’ve been doing. Selling out venues and getting our music out there for everyone to hear. 

Robin: Some time off for sure! But yeah, maybe a stadium tour next! That would be so cool.

Check out The Spitfires self titled album out now, read the next issue for a review of the Madison Square Garden show.

#eddie munson #steve harrington #stranger things #steddie #robin buckley #steve x eddie #steddie fic #steddie fanfiction #steddie fanfic #buckingham #smut #tw smut #tw alcohol

[sp1rit-realm]

₊‧꒰ა 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍 ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ ⧿ 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐩𝐬! 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟, 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢'𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞!

Happy 900!!!! Ummm Marauders maybe? but if you think someone else fits better I assure you I don’t mind.

Where to start, i’m pretty quiet, like very very soft spoken until im really comfortable in a room. Once I know someone I’m still quiet in volume but then i can talk for at least 15 minutes straight without losing my rhythm and i get very very animated, lots of facial expressions, too many hands waving around. I like reading but I can’t call myself a bookworm because I take too long to finish them and usually give up so i’m more of a book dragon. I love writing and art and being creative and I love to learn but i hate to be graded. My favorite color is burgundy and my favorite season is whatever one it currently is until the very end and i’m sick of it, then i like whichever one is coming next. I like to collect things and i’m way too sentimental. I like rain and leather jackets and i don’t know if you want any physical attributes but im short enough that literally everyone comments when i wear tall shoes (i have platform doc martins with a heel so it’s only like 4 inches which i guess is a lot over all but even then Im only up to like 5’6-‘7 barely) And my hair is stuck an almost auburn color because I dyed it dark plum/burgundy in november and now the final claws of goldish red are dug in and i don’t see it letting go, which is especially annoying because my roots are returning much lighter than i last remember but I’ve been dying my hair since at least last June so i don’t know what I really expected. I have identity crises over my hair at least every other week.

In terms of how I love people it’s very much however it works with that person. I like when people like to pay attention to me and look for me in a room and that kind of thing, I also really like to be held and have my hair played with,,,,i find dogs very relatable (but don’t let that sway your decision in anyway, do what your heart tells you)

I’m sure 900 people leads to a lot of asks, but i have no idea, so please take your time and don’t feel rushed or obligated at all. I am so proud of this milestone for you and i’m so proud of all the people coming to their senses to appreciate such a talented spirit like you 💖💖💖

HI MARA!!!!!! THANK U SO MUCH

if you mean marauders era in general, i say (drumroll please)

you and dorcas!

to me, her character is very laid back, but secretly she's so passionate. like, she pretends she doesn't care, but really secretly does. she would adore all the things you collect, and will listen to anything you have to say about them. she'd still have to lean down to kiss you. she would say, "really? new hair again, mara?" and then she would whisper to you, "it's cute, makes your eyes pop." because nobody can know that she adores anybody, until you become official. then, she can't stop talking about you. she will read books to you as you lay your head on her lap, hair being played with. she would dance with you in the rain. she would steal your jacket because it smells like you, and because it means everybody knows you're hers. she would sit and listen to you rant/ramble/infordump and watch lovingly as your mouth moves a mile a second and your tongue gets all twisted. she would hang up your art, proudly displaying it as to say: "yeah, my girlfriend? they're perfect, and talented, and beautiful, and look at this art they made." she would kick someone's teeth in for you, and she winks at you during her quidditch games, loving how much you blush; stark red in the sea of green.

#mara ✩‧₊˚ #i had so much fun with this #dorcas meadowes #mara and dorcas my new otp #hannah has asks #₊‧꒰ა 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍 ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ #₊‧꒰ა 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓 ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ #sp1rit realm