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#and so now I’m writing that too
astearisms · 8 months
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fionna and cake drawings before and after watching the episodes so far. it’s nostalgic and somehow cathartic and poignant and relatable and—it just started
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theminecraftbee · 5 months
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task: answer the following question. do you believe in curses? respond as completely with relevant information as possible.
Grian: Well, that's a lie. This isn't a task. I know it's not a task, I set the things up! Not sure why we're getting a question as pointless as this one, but sure, mysterious scroll, I'll answer. There's no such thing as curses, unless you're Timmy, in which case it's funny, yeah? Besides, I didn't actually kill Etho. Even if that did count, self-fulfilling prophecies aren't the same thing as curses, and I know which one I fall under.
Joel: Do I believe in bloody curses what kind of question is that? Do I really get hearts just for answering this? This feels like a prank or something... well, whatever. There are no such thing as curses, except the Boogeyman curse, which I sort of had today, but it wasn't actually the same at all. A lot of the bloodlust, sure, but a lot more... Etho had to be the one to do it, huh? And it's not the same. Not comforting. That's a stupid thing to say actually. Take it out of wherever you're putting this. Cut it out of the recording. Comforting. Please. As if it were ever... Yeah, I'm done actually. Don't have a good answer. Go away.
Scott: What, other than Jimmy? Bless that man, he may not have died first, but he sure tried his best. Sure, I'll believe Jimmy is cursed. I mean, mostly he's just kind of stupid. Lovingly so. I mean, despite him being stupid, I put up with him, right? That seems like a complete answer to this question. Jimmy's an omen but we put up with him anyway. That's all.
Mumbo: NO RESPONSE GIVEN.
Pearl: Oh, I mean, I'm probably cursed. That's what everyone liked to say at one point. I think... I mean, I think this time I have good friends, which is nice. They don't think I'm cursed. And it's not like I--I mean, it's surprisingly fun, acting cursed! And I am just acting. Acting scary, blowing up dance floors, all of that. And I don't really have to this time, so... Maybe I'm not cursed? And since it's acting, it's not real? This is a weird question.
Etho: Oh, man, that's a question. Um, do I have to answer? Because I feel like if I say no, that's really just asking for it, but if I say yes, I have to explain myself. Uh, I think I'm abstaining, unless the zombie thing from earlier counts. That was scary and I hated it. Curses are scary and I hate them in general, but apparently I'm good at them, if you ask everyone else. Um, it's not the only thing I find scary that apparently I'm good at.
Scar: Why, of course I believe in curses! Look at poor, poor... Timbert? Timmy? Jim? Gosh, sorry, I'm very tired right now. That's more proof of curses, by the way! That I'm tired. I've been tired straight since the desert, let me tell you what. And that, my friends, is a curse like no other. What a terrible beast, loneliness is. Wish me luck breaking it, because it's not happening this season!
Cleo: Oh, you mean the thing people like to blame instead of their own actions? Nah. My soulbond was kind of a curse, I guess, but even that's at least half just... bad people. Bad relationships. Good ones, too. We're all just doing what you can, you know? No script, no curses, no characters, just... Oh, I hope everything turns out tomorrow. Sorry, that's unrelated. It's just nicer to hope than to preemptively blame things on curses that don't exist.
Impulse: Well, I mean, I didn't until you just asked me that, but now I feel like I should. Wouldn't that be nice? Being cursed instead of just sort of unlovable? Sorry, no, that's mean to Gem. I shouldn't say that about Gem, she's been good this season. Super, super cursed, mind you, in the like, game mechanic sense? But she's been good, no backstabbing or inability to get love involved. Um, and I guess that's not fair to Bdubs, kind of, except it also totally is and I haven't forgiven him. So I guess if they ask I said I believed in curses, and that's why my life keeps circling clocks? Don't put any of that other stuff down, I'm trying to work on that.
Lizzie: NO RESPONSE GIVEN.
Gem: I was just cursed for a task, but that probably isn't what you're asking about, right? I'm new, so I don't know! A task is a concrete thing to believe in, like bloodshed or victory or fun and games. You don't have to believe in those to know they're real, either! They just are, whether you like it or not. I understand that much!
Tango: Gah, don't talk to me about... Deep breaths. Look, I don't care if it's a curse, or if it's just me being really bad, or what, I'm not going out pointlessly this time. Jimmy managed not to die first, I can manage to not go out to a stray arrow or my own bomb or a misstep this time, right? Is that so much to ask?
Skizz: Huh? Curses? I mean, I don't think so, and to be totally honest I think it's kind of mean the way people sometimes rag on people about them. Everyone's got so many good things about them! Why do people like to focus on the unfortunate luck, huh?
Bdubs: Hah! Curses! Let me tell you about curses. When I see curses, I eat them for breakfast. I don't got curses, I've got better things to do! I've got my buddies with the Mounders, and I've got-well, I'd say keeping Etho safe, but he's being weird at me again this season. Not that it matters. It never matters. Etho and I, we're... The point is, that doesn't matter anyway, because I have the Mounders, and they're the ones who matter here. And because I'm a strong, independent Bdubs, who doesn't need anyone but my bow and my perfect, flawless fighting prowess! Sorry, what was the question? I've been thinking so much lately that it's just sort of made everything else pop out of my head, so it's hard to keep track. I'm sure I answered it flawlessly, though.
Martyn: Of course there are curses. That's half the fun for you lot, isn't it? Putting your little curses on us and watching us rail against them. Bet you think it's real cute to ask us what we think of the things, too. "Oh, what do you think of curses," like we have any control over them. Please. If I had any control over curses, Jimmy--or, well, no, I guess that one was technically broken, wasn't it? Sure doesn't feel like it. Point is, curses are bad, and they're definitely real, and I hate you for them, got it?
BigB: Look, man, if you're trying to get me to write my character out for you, just say so! I won't tell anyone. We can come up with a hole thing about holes and red tasks and the Backrooms together! It'll be fun! After all, you probably don't know what kind of curse to say I have, right? Haha, just kidding. I have no idea what I'm talking about. Luckily, neither does anyone else, so I think that evens out between the lot of us.
Jimmy: NO RESPONSE GIVEN.
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ohitslen · 11 months
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Angry Vash for me and myself specifically
also extra Vashwood:
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ottosbigtop · 3 days
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Attempting to make an active attempt to care about my ocs some more, so I’ve been putting some effort into revamping some old guys I made with my friend!! They’re technically a part of a group w their ocs as well, but I’ve been thinking of the three of them on their own lately :]
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They live in a post-apocalyptic badlands type setting and cart themselves around in a busted up bus and get into schenanigans.
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They don’t reaaally have any sort of story to them just yet but I’m learning to have fun and play in the space and not worry about that yk. Look at my funny women
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bleue-flora · 9 days
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Ok, I recently wrote an essay [here] talking about the definition and duties of civil engineering as well as the ethics because of the brain rot @swordfright gave me with calling Dream Sam’s ultimate engineering project. So, because I actually am a civil engineer I took it upon myself to design the title and summary of quantities sheets just like I do at work for roads but with Dream as the project instead. And in honor of angst day sponsored by @sixteenth-day-event, I figured I’d share it because I feel like it kinda works for the prison of the mind prompt.
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“Sam’s “ultimate engineering project” he deemed too damaged like a bumpy road or crumbling building that wasn’t worthy of patching and filling in the cracks or reinforcing, that’s too eroded to be fixed and preserved. So, Sam strived to tear him down to the bedrock so he could remake, remold, and reengineer Dream according to his design for the common safety, public health and well-fair.”
{These are very similar to the actual sheets I make day to day, which I shall not share for the sake of doxing my location, but yea pretty much everything has a significance. Some of it doesn’t necessarily make sense but that was because I was more so taking inventory of what we see in lore (so you know I counted ;) lol)}
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born to write gay fanfiction forced to have real world responsibilities
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alittlelessalone · 6 months
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Fun Scum Villain fic concept:
So Shen Yuan and Shang Qinghua are sent back to their original world temporarily due to system shenanigans and need to wait x number of days until they can go back. They wake up at the times of their deaths and get to use this time to do some final things in the world before returning back.
So Shen Yuan of course wants to spend the time with his family and getting to see them again and say goodbye in a less depressing way. But Shang Qinghua doesn’t have that and he’s just finished PIDW.
Shen Yuan makes sure he has enough money to get him through the timeframe (after learning about Shang Qinghua’s financial situation), so he doesn’t need to work to keep himself alive, so he decides he wants to write something a little more heartfelt as a sort of last hurrah.
He decides in honor of the two lives he and Shen Yuan stole, he’s going to share the backstory of Shen Jiu and write a story about Shang Qinghua.
Shen Jiu comes first and it’s mainly just a tale about him and Yue Qingyuan using his unposted backstory, but in the end he decides to make some minor changes so it’s not as depressing. Namely, that when they died, their souls were both sucked into Xuan Su. The pair ended up trapped there, but they were trapped there together in a world that couldn’t hurt them anymore and allowed them to finally be together.
It’s a poignant and bittersweet story that doesn’t excuse Shen Jiu’s behavior, but it does a lot to explain it and expand his character. And while it of course has its detractors, people generally like it and Peerless Cucumber is there in the comments singing its praises for all to see (and there in Shang Qinghua’s apartment smacking him over the head with a rolled up magazine and scolding him for being by such a good writer and selling out on PIDW).
The Original Shang Qinghua story doesn’t really have any old notes to go off. He was never meant to be a fleshed out character and was always just a plot device villain. But Shang Qinghua feels bad for PIDW’s Mobei-Jun, so he decides to write something for his sake too.
In this story, it’s revealed that Mobei-Jun didn’t actually kill the Original Shang Qinghua, but instead worked with him to fake his death after Lou Binghe ordered him dead. Shang Qinghua reveals that the pair were actually lovers and maintained their secret relationship over the years and that was why Mobei-Jun never seemed interested in romance.
And most readers are like wtf except for the bl fans who love it. And even Peerless Cucumber is a little more hesitant to praise it since it sort of came out of nowhere, but he can admit that it’s clever and well written. And Shen Yuan can tease Shang Qinghua relentlessly for it, even if he also approves and finds it very sweet.
Depending on how much more time they’re stuck there, maybe the pair can also write one more story, giving the original Lou Binghe a happier ending too.
Eventually, it’s time for them to go back. Shen Yuan says goodbye to has family and Shang Qinghua says goodbye to PIDW and hopes that his changes and additions can bring people some peace, even if it’s probably too late for those who need them most.
Shen Yuan realizes that Shang Qinghua was trying to alter the canon in hidden ways so that the system could silently incorporate them into the world without breaking anything. He figures it’s mainly for Bing-ge’s universe that’s still more or less PIDW, but being the mega-fan that he is, he decides to put a theory to the test.
It takes a lot less time with the help of the sect, but he manages to grow another plant body like his own. And then with Yue Qingyuan’s permission, he uses some of Shang Qinghua’s new hand-wavy canon to reach out to Xuan Su. And the next thing he knows, Shen Jiu is waking back up in the plant body after years trapped inside the sword.
And of course there’s a lot of questions and Binghe tears, but Yue Qingyuan gets his Xiao Jiu back and Shang Qinghua realizes that his changes must have taken in the other universe too, now meaning there’s less suffering there as well. He gets to curl back up in his king’s arms that night and rest assured that no matter what universe he’s in, both his king and that universe’s Shang Qinghua are well and truly loved.
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stararch4ngelqueen · 6 months
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Mischievous Curiosities
(Part 1)(Part 3)(Part 4)
Time written- 11:52 a.m.
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Titans! Jason Todd/fem!reader fluff/smut
(Tags: 🔞📲 Phone sex, use of toys.)
The same day after convincing him to step off the ledge, you recall taking a seat beside him at the vacant table to listen to what Dick had to say.
From the faintest glance over your own shoulder, you saw many eyes on you. You didn’t care, Jason had never done anything wrong to you. He hadn’t done anything wrong to them, you never understood their abrupt change in behavior.
You only hoped your presence provided him some sort of comfort. You didn’t know them, but even with his hidden, somber expression by his propped up arm, he truly appreciated it.
That very next night, your abandoned phone on your bed rings from an unknown number.
A hopeful bloom of warmth rose in your chest from your immediate suspicion of who it was. You remember slipping him your phone number if he ever needed someone to talk to.
Answering the call, you never smiled so big upon hearing his voice. “Hello?”
“Hey,” he says, a faint sniffle coming from him. “Do you.. do you got a minute?”
“Of course,” your smile waned a little when you detected his wavering emotional state. “You okay?” You question, immediately concerned for where he was now, if he needed some help. “Do you wanna meet up—?”
“No, no,” he’s quick to respond, followed by another sniffle. “No, I.. I just wanna talk. You free?”
“Yeah,” you sit on your bed, crossing your legs as you got comfortable. “I’m here.”
That very phone call had mostly consisted of him thanking you, to your absolute surprise.
Full bodied words of thanks, spoken amidst breath halting sniffles and stutters in between words. Your heart ached as you patiently listened, your own tears invading your screen the closer you clutched your phone to your ear.
Jason was grateful, grateful that the person who he assumed hated him was the only one who believed him in the end. In a sense, you didn’t need his thanks, you were just doing the right thing.
You did what your heart told you to do, listening to him pour out his troubled mind over the phone as the hour grew late. Until his mind was eased enough to let him sleep.
A mere two days passed before he sends you a text while you were occupied with apartment searching on an early morning.
Hey. Wanna meet up for breakfast?
It made you smile, along with a little flutter in your chest as you liked his text before asking for a specific time.
Jason surprised you with flowers at the small cafe, a simple bouquet of roses framed with baby’s breath. He shrugged when you kept asking him the reason for them, a smile nearly permanent on his face at your reaction.
You rarely got flowers. You didn’t care much for them before, but for him to surprise you with them was a heartwarming sentiment. Another way of saying thank you for being there for him when no one else was.
The two of you spent your breakfast learning about each other, leaving the establishment knowing a whole lot more in about two hours than the months you worked as colleagues at the Tower.
The unofficially stated, preferred method of communication became long phone calls when neither of you were available. That, or random texts throughout the day when either of you needed the company and entertainment.
Jason’s texts were never dry, always interested in anything you had to say. You loved that about your quickly blooming friendship, it was never boring, never running out of room to speak of anything and everything on your minds.
As it turned out, your sense of humor was eerily similar towards his. Especially in the friendly insulting department.
One day, he called you up after Dick had finished helping you into your new apartment, your phone ringing merely minutes after the man left your front door. Talk about timing.
His laughter invaded your apartment kitchen after you struggled with how to use your new toaster oven, one of Barbara’s house warming gifts.
“It is even plugged in??”
“It is!” You yell at your phone, your hands occupied with finding a nonexistent on and off switch on the appliance.
“Try turning it on, maybe??”
“You get your ass over here and try it—!” You cut off when it occurred to you that he meant using the knobs. The bright red button blinking to life as the coils inside glow a hot orange.
“Did it work?” He speaks up shortly after your silence.
“Yeah.” You mumble, your defeated tone making him laugh.
“You’re a bit of an airhead, babe.”
Babe? Why’d he call you that?
“Fuck you, Todd.” You spit back at your screen, your cheeks dappled with color.
He would call during when you worked, sitting on the carpeted floor of your apartment. Days like these, he’d share more and more of his interests, pieces of his past, and funny memories of what few friends he has. And had.
You questioned him about this after laughing about the story of Gar hitting him on the head with a staff during a sparring session. You weren’t there to see it and only heard Gar’s version of it. Hearing Jason’s side was just as funny.
“Gar and I… we don’t talk much these days. Especially after everything.”
“You should,” you say, hoping you could get them to reconnect. “I mean, you should reach back out to him. He’s got a big heart, I’m sure he’s wondering if you’re okay.”
You knew they were friends, both boys laughing and talking nonsense behind your shoulders as you worked on the Batcomputer. Back then, the additional noise annoyed you, but thinking of it now, you preferred that then silence after everything that’s happened.
“You want me to send him a text for you?” You offer after a short silence, fingers now mindlessly fidgeting with your laptop keyboard.
“Yeah,” he replies. “That sounds nice. Thanks.”
He started with the minor pet names a little more often, to your surprise.
After waking up one morning in your bed, you were surprised at the nine hour phone call from your overheated phone, clinging to life on a measly three percent battery.
“Jay?” Your tired voice calls for him as you rub your eyes, stretching your arm out over your head. “You up?”
“Yeah,” his exhausted voice responded after a few seconds, his voice riddled with lack of sleep after the both of you stayed up until three a.m. “Morning, babe.”
“Huh?” You ask, a tickle of a smile forming on your lips.
“I said morning,” Jason repeats, as if he’d never said it at all. “Good morning, sleepyhead.”
It seemed like Jason’s response to you letting those little pet names slide was to continue, which he did. After a few more easy to miss little names here and there, he grew more bold, his ego stroked every time he heard your minor stutter over your phone call.
Boundaries were slowly crossed, from playful insults, to minor flirts on his end that left you speechless, not having that quick, witty dexterity Jason was blessed with.
Speaking of boundaries, Jason had a knack for calling you late at night, when you were supposed to be asleep.
Your phone cuts off your music, the ever so familiar Caller ID popping up on your screen before vibrating.
“What, Jason?” You purposely begin with feigned irritancy, your attention focused on your laptop, in the midst of some midnight online shopping.
“Jesus,” his amused chuckle floods your room once you put him on speaker. “Did I interrupt your private time?”
“Private time?” You muse, eyebrows quirking in amusement. “What do you mean?”
“Y’know, late night activities. The usual… y’know.”
“Ohhh,” you vocally express your understanding, shaking your head as if he could see you. “Nope. Not my style.”
“You don’t use those?”
“Use what?”
“A toy, babe.”
It took a few seconds for you to reply with no, your upper body fully flushed with arousal as your fingers halt on your keyboard.
“Why’re you asking?” You question after some hesitation, a strange little hum pooling at the bottom of your tummy, but you ignore it for now.
“Just curious,” he brushes off his out of pocket commentary. “What’re you up to then, mama?”
“Just doing some shopping,” you reply, quickly submerging yourself into conversation with the man. While you had been occupied online, Jason had been lounging in his own room, struggling to sleep.
His habit of calling you up nearly every night since the very first time had never broke, not unless something important had to make either of you reschedule.
“Do you really not have a toy?” His curiosity over the supposedly past subject made you pause, having you wondering why he was so interested on it.
“I do,” you weakly admit, believing it was bad to lie to a close friend like this.
“Aww, why’d you lie to me?”
“Cause it’s embarrassing.” You mutter, slowly forgetting about your pending shopping cart full of clothes you’ve debated on getting this entire day.
“I don’t think it is.” Jason smirks on his end. “What, Is it pink?”
“No,” you bite your bottom lip for a second, closing your eyes in a sort of shame. “It’s red.”
Jason nearly snorts over the phone, muffling out a chuckle to himself. You just know he’s gonna say something about it, you know him incredibly well by now.
“You think of me when you use it, Princess?”
“Fuck you,” you whine out, your cheeks burning as bright as overheating technology.
“Know you wanna,” he rasps. “But first, you gotta earn it. Tell me the truth.”
You grunt again in a jumble of irritation and embarrassment. Jason was your friend, your very good friend. You didn’t have a right to think thoughts of him like that, regardless of how attractive he is.
The man was still fresh out of a relationship, poured his heart and soul out to you, relied on you for structural stability, the bond he craved. In term, you were on the same boat, minus the relationship.
This was wrong, it had to be. Right?
But he knew what he was doing, of course he does. How else did you get to this point?
“I do,” you exhale in defeat, crossing the forbidden border for good.
The muscles in your hips slightly quiver with a growing, aching heat in your core. He lowly chuckles, his voice slowly dropping an octave, pure sex dripping off his tongue.
“Anyone ever done this with you?”
You shook your head at first, quickly forgetting that again, he couldn’t see you. “No.”
“Must’ve had some boring boyfriends, eh?”
“Never, actually.”
This takes Jason by surprise, causing a jumpstart in his heartbeat. “You’ve never—“
“No.” God, you were so quick to reply, making his mind run wild. This means you’ve never… you really shouldn’t have revealed this to him.
“You ever taken dick before, babe?”
“Elaborate, please.” Your nose crinkles with amusement, making him scoff.
“You ever been fucked before?” He questions again. “Ever have a guy make you come?”
“I.. no.” You admit again, your heartbeat running wild in your ears.
“That’s okay,” Jason soothes, a big smile plastered on his face. “Just listen to everything I say, an’ I’ll get you there. Alright?”
You close your laptop before pushing it aside, a large air of nervousness bathing your senses. Were you really gonna do this?
“Does it feel good? Knowin’ you’re fixing to give me a private show?”
A huge part of this was exciting. Any possibility of red flags looked friendly enough to be considered green clean though. You trusted him, just as he had with you.
“Kind of.”
“S’okay to be nervous, it’s just me. Get comfortable, mama. Relax for me.”
“Okay.” You say, laying back against your bed, your hair sprawling along your pillow. It didn’t help that your nightmare was an oversized shirt and plain, cotton panties. Or maybe it did help, all for convenience.
“Touch yourself how you usually do.” Came his first request, a gentle demand that made your heart nearly jumpstart.
Your trembling hand slip under your panties, touching yourself as if for the very first time. The muddled warmth in your tummy that formed since the start of this conversation resulted in your fingers delving along your slippery wet heat, nearly making you shudder.
“You wet, baby?” He asks, hearing the faint hitch in your breath you attempted to hide.
“Mhm.” Was all you could say.
“S’okay, babe,” he exhales, the hem of his sweats pushed down under his waist, grasping the head of his cock in hand. “Let those pretty sounds out. Lemme hear you.”
Your fingers hesitantly trail over your swollen clit, your breath hitching again from newfound sensitivity. Two fingers stroked along yourself, gently pinching your bud in between, making you hold a muffled whine.
Jason pictures the sight of you now, pussy hot and wet and aching for cock. What he’d give now to replace your fingers with his, lips plastered against your sticky clit, your hands grasping against his curls as he busies himself in between your thighs.
Imagining what his mouth must’ve felt like, those plump lips drinking up your syrupy sweetness left you nearly moaning, clasping your phone against your chest. Your pussy clenches over nothing, desiring to know what it feels like to be stretched wide and full of Jason’s cock. Rugged hands grasping the fat of your hips as leverage as he fucks you into the mattress.
“Can almost hear how wet you are, babe,” he mutters against his phone, tucked snugly against his head and shoulder as he brings his hand towards his tongue, collecting spit to smear along his cock.
“Lick your fingers, an’ play with those tits, Princess,” Jason requests, imagining your fingers slipping under your shirt, pinching your eager little nipples. He’d do the exact same, pinching them until they’re sore before repeating the action with his teeth, watching each abused breast bounce once he releases it.
Turns out, you thought the very same, hooking your shirt up just enough with your thumb to squeeze along your chest, sighing with the additional friction.
“Take out that toy you were talkin’ about. Wanna hear how it works.”
You say nothing at first, leaving him slightly concerned. That feeling quickly diminishes once he hears shuffling along your blankets, the dull glide of your drawer getting pulled open making his smirk return.
“No way is that toy gonna fuck you stupid,” he mutters instantly into the phone. “That’s gonna be my job. Y’hear me, babe?”
Those filthy words nearly set your nerves on fire, causing a trembling change in your breathing.
“Mhm.” You nervously reply again.
“Shy little baby,” Jason lightly cooes, amused by your hesitancy. “M’waiting, Princess. Play with that toy, lemme hear you.”
He waits anxiously as your nerves make your thumb tremble along the button of your red vibrator, his own hand coming to a halt as he does so.
It takes a good moment for the phone call to pick up a slow, muffled buzz, but the sudden little whimper that erupts from your lips makes it all worth it.
“Ohh my God.” Jason mutters to himself, feeling lightheaded as he feels himself throbbing in hand.
He fights back a grunt himself while fisting his cock, wanting nothing more than to be buried deep into your tight, warm cunt. Jason wondered just how many noises he could pull out of you, bullying his cock deep into your inexperienced pussy until you screamed.
He never expected this, but he’s beyond glad that he pried. The Titans’ smart brains of nearly every operation, now resorted to becoming his quivering little virgin, getting off on his voice while fucking yourself with a fake cock, imagining it to be his.
Your naturally induced whimpers confirmed that, your phone slipping out of your hand as you weakly your breast again.
You whine a bit louder, your approaching climax so close you could taste it. Having an audience to this otherwise private, sensual event had you feeling unvisually exposed, completely vulnerable to the man who started this.
“That thing have settings?” Jason voices out over speaker.
“M-mhm,” you whimper out, silently thanking him for the question. “Yeah.”
“Turn it all up baby,” he urges, his voice growing raspier with his quick, frantic breathing. “All the way high.”
Quickly doing what you were told, your thumb shifts over the settings, quickly clicking on said highest setting. Your spread thighs immediately tremble with the sudden change of pace, the loud whirr of your toy invading your bedroom, along with your sharp gasps and abrupt moans.
“Ohh, good girl,” Jason nearly groans out, the muscles along his stomach tightened with urgency. “Good fucking girl. Wanna hear you come, babe. Wanna hear you make a mess of my fat cock. That’s what you want, yeah?”
“Yeah,” you whimper out while your back arched off your bed, your bucking hips begging to be held down by his strong, calloused hands. Your chest heaved, dampened nipples exposed to the heated air, begging for a touch other than your own.
Jason’s audible presence was more than enough for you now.
“You wanna cum, babe? Wan’ me to fuck that little pussy?” Jason pants out, his voice slurring with an arousing ruggedness that shot shivers down your spine.
“Gonna ruin you, Princess. Gonna break you in good— shiiit, gonna ruin you for any other guy. That what you want?”
“God, y-yes Jason!” You gasp out, your head tilting back with another vulnerable whine, your eyes sealed shut.
“Good girl. That’s my good girl— Fuuuck!” Jason grunts out, his head buried back against his pillow, adam’s apple bobbing as he pants hard, eagerly stroking his soaking wet cock faster, fully leaking with thick, stringy precum.
“I-Jaaay.” Your sweet, quivering little voice calls out to him, your trembling fingers attempting to keep a strong hold on your vibrator. “Shit. Jason, I-I’m—“
“Yeah, I know,” he pants out, keeping a tight squeeze on his phone. “Come on, babe. Come for me, come on this cock. Lemme fill up that perfect little pussy.”
A sweet, burning release nearly blinds you, muscles tightening as your cunt quivers, releasing along the toy with a series of broken, genuine cries of ecstasy.
Jason never heard such genuinely erotic sounds come from your lips, pushing him off the edge after successfully nudging you to it. Thick, hot ropes of cum bead along his abdomen, the muscles in his neck growing taunt as he vocalizes his finish through gritted teeth, gasping for breath shortly after bucking into his fist.
The nearly two hour call goes quiet, filled with nothing but two deflated, sexually satisfied people gasping for breath in their own beds.
Your cheeks remained flushed as your orgasm died down, your toy shut off seconds before you accidentally set yourself off into overstimulation. Your mind, after regaining some logical sense, wondered what the fuck just happened, but you weren’t ashamed.
Retreating your red toy away from your sticky cunt, your reddened cheeks heat further from the sight of strands of your arousal clinging along the device. Picture worthy evidence of what your close friend had done to you.
Your eyes catch a weak glimpse of a bundle of dried roses along your vanity after your trembling hand placed your toy on your nightstand. The same roses you debated on hanging on your wall for decoration, still secured together by your favorite colored bow.
Oh shit, you quickly realize. He had took you out on a date.
You may never have been friends to begin with.
“Babe?” His soft pant calls for you over the phone, snugly tucked underneath your shoulder after your vigorous activity. “You there?”
“Yeah.” You grasp hold of your phone, putting it off speaker before bringing it close to your ear. “I’m here.”
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emry-stars-art · 11 months
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You may ask “Emry how do you imagine it goes down if Neil and Andrew are comfy enough to use the pool they miraculously have to themselves”
Shameless flirting and simply enjoying each others company ✨
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crybaby-bkg · 8 months
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cw: Bakugou dies but comes back to life, “comes back wrong” trope, implied fighting, angst
When Bakugou died, you’re not sure how you went on living. Grief had taken over your life, sat you in the passenger side while it cruised off the highway into icy waters. And even then, you couldn’t find the energy to drown.
It’s why there’s a sudden uptick of energy when you’re promised to have him back. Some top scientists contact you months after his death, tell you to hurry down to the headquarters labs, come and rejoice for what you’re about to witness. And you’re horrified, to say the least.
“This isn’t my husband.” Are your first words when you walk in, watch the figure on the other side of the glass examine its own hands. It looks like your husband but—but his hair isn’t the right shade of blond all over. His nose bridge had a slight bump after a scuffle with a villain. He had a scar on his hand but—but it never looked like it was to sew a pinky beside the other fingers.
“Is that really my husband?” You ask next in disbelief, slowly entering the room. Bakugou’s head snaps up, his eyes a little brighter than you remember but—they hold so much emotion. So much memory, so much panic, so much guilt.
“I left you.” He mutters, his voice raspy and ragged, and you wonder if it’ll always be like this now. It makes you cry a little harder than it should, but you only embrace each other. He’s cold and his shoulders don’t hold the same mass and his back doesn’t carry the same scars. There’s one, jagged and rough, running down his back, and you think, you think that’s where they slipped a new spine in.
“Welcome back home.” You tell him, weeks after meeting him again, new and not totally—Katsuki. He’s stiff and he doesn’t immediately take off his boots when he enters, and it worries you. Makes you think if you’ve just let a stranger into your home, one that has stolen your dead husbands face. Makes you wonder if he’ll be as loving as Katsuki once was, or if he’ll become your monster looming over you with the guilt of not being able to rest anymore.
“I’ve missed you so much.” You whisper against his mouth one night, a little while after he’s moved back. You don’t know why you lay under him, why you let him nestle himself inside of you, why you let him hold you against his chest. Katsuki always ran his hands over your cheeks and neck whenever he held you like this, but this…man, only holds himself up with his hands resting beside your head. It’s alien, how he looks at you, how his hips are methodically measured with every thrust, how he kisses you every 8 seconds. You wonder if he’s more robot than Frankenstein monster.
“Why did you come back to me like this?” You ask him one night, barricaded in the bathroom away from him. You can hear his sobs on the other side, his pleading to be let in. He tells you he never wanted to come back if he had to be like this, that he’s sorry, please let him in, he misses the warmth of your skin, he’s never been so cold before, he’s never liked the cold.
“Is this considered cheating?” You ask yourself aloud one night, when Bakugou is forced back to the lab when he becomes too…un-Bakugou. To sleep with a man that is your husband in every way but? Your husband has been dead for a year now, and yet you stroke the chin of the man that tries so hard to be him everyday, but fails so miserably at it every time.
“I’ll come back to you right this time.” Bakugou promises to you when he’s strapped down to leave for the lab and before he’s sedated. But you don’t believe him—you never did. Your husband is dead, and this animated corpse has been nothing but a cheap mockery of everything you’ve lost and something you will never truly get back.
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mrzombielover · 2 months
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- slow ride ch2
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feat. sinner!adam x fem!hotel worker!reader
previous chapter || series masterlist || next chapter (wip)
warnings: NSFW, more substance use in this one, a bit of angst?, readers emotional issues
a/n: i feel like my writing sucks esp in this chapter cause im sorta rusty and sick so i cant even tell if this makes sense but oh well😭😭😭 anyway pls send me hazbin reqs!!!!! having the worst brainrot lately esp for this horrible man!!!
wc: 2.9k
“I'm not breaking up inside / I'm much to proud to moan / Baby, please come home”
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Oh my god. What did I just do? Why did I do this?
You turn your head to look at Adam where he’s lying on the other side of the bed, and find his expression closely mirrors your own. Pure disbelief is written on his features, and you grimace, turning to look back at the ceiling.
After a moment, you sit up, grabbing your box of cigarettes and a lighter off your bedside table. Once lit, you swing your feet off the bed to reach for shirt and now ripped panties, standing up when you’re partially dressed. You hear Adam sit up behind you.
“Soo, that was… uhhh…” He trails off, mouth hanging open as he thinks of what to say.
“Let’s… not speak about this again,” You say carefully as you turn back to face him.
“Yeah. yeah, i’m good with that,” He says quickly, finding his robes off the floor. You’re surprised he doesn’t say anything about the smoke.
You cross the room to get your pants off the floor, pulling them up as Adam grabs his jacket. You pull up your fly, and look up to see Adam’s staring at you with an expression you can’t read. His eyes flicker to your lips, and he starts to lean closer.
“Kiss me and i’ll cut your fuckin’ tongue out,” you say as you turn your head away.
“Oookay then. I’ll, uh, see ya,” For once, he has no snarky comment or crude joke to make as he straightens up and leaves your room.
After that, you told yourself never again. It happened once, it’s out of your system, it’s done. A one time thing.
But then it happens a second time.
“It’s a disgusting habit! All your clothes, your whole room fuckin’ reeks!”
“Are you tryin’ to get me to loose my temper here? ‘Cause i’m about to shove you out that fucking window!”
“And look how angry you get, you fucking fiend, it’s been like 2 hours!”
“Why don’t you mind your goddamn business?”
You raise an arm to hit him, but he catches your elbow, twisting you around so your back is to him and he can hold you in place. You struggle to break from his grip, when suddenly-
“Oh my god,” You deadpan, but your voice doesn’t come out as disgusted as you expected at the feeling of something hard poking into your lower back.
“Okay, this is not my fault-“ Adam says quickly.
“You- fucking perv!” You spit, but your words hold no weight when he flips you again and lifts you up, placing you on the counter and you make no effort to struggle. You spread your legs so he can slot between them as items pushed out of the way cascade off the counter, falling to the floor with loud crashes.
You then told yourself that would be the last time. But not even you fully believed yourself. And once it happened a third, fourth, and fifth time, you just accepted this is something that happens now. You’re not proud of it- some of you hates yourself, but another part of you finds a a sick, primal pleasure in it. It’s the only guaranteed way for you to get him to shut up, if only for a few minutes. The fight for dominance- fuuck you’re messed up, huh?
Thinking of the humiliation you’d feel if any of the others found out- oh god, how could you look Alastor in the eyes again- you change absolutely nothing about your behavior around Adam. On the surface, nothing has changed at all. You two still bicker and argue all the time, if anything, worse than ever. Yet the other members can feel something’s up, that something changed. Adam’s insults feel more hollow. He always said shit just to rile you up, but there was usually an undertone of truth to his words. Not anymore- it’s all stupid shit that everybody can tell he doesn’t care about. Nobody says anything about it, though, until-
“What the fuck are you smilin’ for?” Angel’s voice makes Adam jump as he enters, sitting down on the couch beside him.
“What-? I wasn’t smiling,” Adam quickly denies. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh my god- are you’re gettin’ laid?” Angel grins, sitting up. The look on Adam’s face tells him everything, and he can’t help but laugh. “Oh, you so are! No wonder you’ve been in such a good mood lately,”
“Uh, duh i’m getting laid, I’m Adam, I’m the origin-“
“Yeah, yeah, original dick. But that’s not what I mean and you know it.” Angel grins widely, and Adam can feel his face heating up. Oh god- why is he blushing? Since when does he care? He pushes the thought from his head.
“…You don’t know her,” Adam decides to say, crossing his arms and turning back to face the TV, hoping Angel will just leave it at that.
“Try me,” Angel leans closer, looking intently at Adam’s expression. When Adam says nothing, Angel laughs again.
“Oh my god I so know her,”
Adam grits his teeth but says nothing as Angel laughs.
“Okay, fine, don’t tell me who you’re havin’ weird secret kinky sex with,” Angel shrugs, turning to face the TV. “I’ll find out eventually,”
That makes Adam sweat.
You can’t help but laugh, nearly spitting whisky everywhere while Husk chuckles to himself. Sure, it’s a bit trite, ranting to the bartender about your shitty day while he pours you a stiff drink, but Husk could always make you laugh about it, and call you out on your bullshit if needed. He was real, and you liked that about him. Plus, it beat drinking alone when none of your other friends wanted to party on a Wednesday.
“-and not a crazy bitch like I’m a crazy bitch, crazy like she lit her mom’s hair on fir-“
“Husk holy shit!”
Both of you look in the direction of Angel Dust’s voice as he runs from the hallway towards you both. He leans over the bar, eager to share whatever news he had.
“Adam’s fucking somebody- somebody here!”
You choke on your whisky, spitting it back into the glass. Angel and Husk both look at you with a raised brow.
“My bad,” is all you say. you can’t think of anything else that would play it off, so you just quietly wipe off your face while Angel recounts his encounter with Adam. You feel an eye twitch- you could strangle that prick for being so conspicuous.
“You’re quiet, Y/N,” Angel says in a teasing tone.
“I just could not care less if I tried,” You say back, firmly but with a shrug, and you hope it suffices as an acceptable explanation, and that you come off as your usual apathetic self. You finish your whisky, and luckily, Angel doesn’t give you any more shit. Slightly unsettled by that interaction, you avoid Adam for the next few days.
Late one evening, everybody’s gone up to their rooms and the hotel is quiet. You’ve already eaten, smoked, brushed your teeth and put on pajamas, but there’s nothing good on TV and you’re bored and high and just want a task to keep busy. So you wander aimlessly into the kitchen and find yourself doing the dishes that Charlie was too stressed out to do earlier.
As you scrub brown charred bits off a pan, you find your stupid weed-addled brain wandering to Adam. You haven’t fought with him in a while, mostly because you’d run away before he had the chance to start, but still. It feels weird, being so calm lately. No wonder you’re bored. It’s the way things used to be at the hotel, before he arrived. You guess you hadn’t realized how used to his presence you’ve gotten. Gross. You cringe at the thought.
Luckily, your phone starts to vibrate on the counter, giving you a distraction. You pick up and hold it between your ear and shoulder without looking at the caller ID.
“Yo, where are you right now?”
Of course.
“Adam? What the fuck, when did you get a phone?” You snort. When you realize you’re smiling you clear your throat and force your face to relax.
“Whatever. Can you come upstairs?”
You pause. He sounds slightly odd.
“What, like, to your room?” You raise an eyebrow. “Why?”
“ohmyfuckinggod- can you not be difficult for fucking once and just do what I ask?” Then, as an afterthought, he adds “Please?”
Damn, okay. You don’t say anything for a moment, thinking maybe you’re just smacked and he’s being normal.
“Suuuure… Just uh, gimme a minute,” You say carefully, putting the dishes down. Then, he hangs up on you. What a dick.
Unbeknownst to you, while you’ve been thinking about him, he’s been thinking about you way more.
You’ve been avoiding him- obviously. Not unexpected, but it pissed him off to no end. He’s fucking Adam! Who are you to ignore him? Aren’t you supposed to be keeping an eye on him, anyway?
By now, the others have started to accept him- including them in their plans, drinking with him, no longer leaving a room when he enters- so he doesn’t really need a chaperone anymore. Despite this, it still feels wrong. Even in a room with every other patron of the hotel, he’d started to notice when you weren’t there.
He didn’t even notice he was starting to miss you at first. It wasn’t until he and Charlie were seated at the bar, and he drank more than he probably should have, that he mentioned you were avoiding him.
“What’dya, miss her?” Husk asked.
“Awww, Adam!” He still remembers the look on her and Husker’s faces. “You are starting to change! That’s so sweet of you!”
And then because she was drunk she kept rambling about it for like 30 minutes, but he doesn’t remember the rest of what she said, just the utter humiliation he felt. He shut up for the rest of the night to avoid spilling his guts any more, but Husk- the annoying fucker- still gives him knowing looks every now and then.
And after Nifty had washed his sheets, and he’d noticed that his pillows lost the scent of cigarettes, perfume, and shampoo you’d left behind, he knew he was royally fucked.
The worst of all, though, is that he feels helpless to feeling these emotions- and even worse, he doesn’t want to stop feeling them. Before he’d even noticed it, he was thinking about you all the time, and he was fine with it. The embarrassment was killing him, even though, supposedly, nobody knew.
On this particular night, he’d probably had just a tad too much beer with his dinner, because when he’d returned to his room and flopped on his bed, there was a little bug in the back of his brain that kept whining about how empty it felt. He tossed and turned for a bit, just wanting to sleep it off, but he eventually gave up, reaching for his phone.
“Adam?” Before you’re finished knocking, Adam jumps up to get the door, pulling you inside quickly. You make a noise of surprise as he scoops you up immediately, not saying anything as he carries you to his bed.
“Damn, needy, huh?” You laugh. This time, it’s him telling you to shut up as he tosses you onto the bed and crawls over you.
You sit up slightly to help him get your shirt off, and then his lips are on your neck, trailing down to your chest as he unclips your bra.
“Haven’t seen you in a while,” He says with a casual shrug as his hands run up your torso to grope at your tits.
“mm,” You hum, arching your back into his touch. “missed this?” You smile sarcastically. Missed you, he thinks.
“Sure missed these,” He pushes the thought away and grins back, squeezing your chest for emphasis. He pulls back briefly to rid himself of his own shirt, then bends back down to press more kisses to your flesh. He looks up, staring at your expression as he takes one of your nipples in his mouth, reveling in the whimper he’s rewarded with.
“fuckin’ perfect tits…” He mumbles into your chest before nipping at your skin. You let your eyes shut as his free hand slides down, under the band of your shorts and his finger brushes the hot skin beneath, skimming over your lips. Adam thumbs at your clit through your panties, relishing in the whine he rips from your throat.
Impatiently, you shift your hips up to slide off your shorts and panties, then reach to tug at his belt loops to signal he should do the same. When he looks up and sees the desperate look on your face, he decides not to keep you waiting, and pulls back to rip off his pants and boxers.
You guess avoiding him these past few days has affected you, too, because you’re surprisingly desperate. You sit up, wrapping your fingers around his cock, smearing his arousal across his length, and whatever he had been planning to say dies and comes out a needy garble of nonsense that makes you snicker.
To your surprise, he has no quip as he crawls over you and pushes himself between your legs. He bites back a gasp when you rub the head of his cock between your folds, a groan following a moment after as he begins pushing into you.
Your thighs are trembling by the time he’s fully inside of you, and you wrap your legs around his waist weakly while you adjust to the stretch.
He sits up fully, and from this view, you look stunning. The way you're laid back on his pillow, tears pricking in your eyes, he thinks you look more angelic than anything he ever saw in heaven.
“fuuuck,” He groans, letting his head fall onto the bed as he starts to move his hips.
“Adam!” The way you whine his name is truly sinful, and he feels his dick twitch in response.
“holyfuck, ‘s so big,” The slight burn makes you regret your impatience now, and his face makes you regret stroking his ego. You make a point to ignore his self satisfied laugh, focusing instead on how his cock stretched you open, making you to tighten and release around him. You turn your head, looking at his wicked fucked-out smile that grew wider and wider as his movements got deeper.
You can’t speak, you just moan helplessly as your hands search for anything to grab onto to steady yourself. You throw your hands around his neck and bury them in his now dark wings, in the way you always did. You gripped the feathers tightly and let out a moan and oh, god, he’s not going to last long, he thinks, with you gripping the sensitive feathers like that. He groans again, then his lips find your shoulder, where he leaves messy, open-mouthed kisses trailing towards your neck.
“so fuckin’ sexy, so, so good for me,” you barley even register that he’s speaking, with your entire focus being on the way he moved in and out of you.
“you’re- so beautiful,” he says between grunts. your eyes widen.
“wha-ahh-“ before you can question that, a particularly hard thrust makes the words die in your throat, and you’re clawing to his biceps again.
A warmth of pride erupts in your chest at the way his breathing has turned labored and his grip on you tightens. An arm snakes around your waist, the other under your head, pulling you impossibly tighter against him as he continues to desperately pound into you. The proud smirk you wore is wiped off your face when you feel one hand releases you and his hand trails down, eventually pressing a thumb your clit, rubbing small circles that make you moan and twitch beneath him.
You can’t even warn him before your whole body erupts. You spill over, you lose sense of where and who you are, all the while, Adam pounds into you, strokes you inside and out. You vaguely hear a sudden crash and him mumbling, thanking god that you came before him because seconds later, he’s spilling his own cum inside you with a broken wanton groan.
Adam stills for a moment, panting as he holds you close. When he rolls off you, he keeps one arm around you, pulling you against his chest. Huh. That’s new.
Neither of you say anything. That was… different, than you’re used to with him. You furrow your brows as you think, and find yourself confused. The cogs in your head turning something terrible in your mind, questioning his intentions.
Once you’ve caught your breath, you sit up, pushing away his arm as you go to find your clothes. He frowns, watching you pick your shirt up from the ground and pull it over your head. You looked guarded, like a cornered doe, like you were just waiting for the chance to sprint away.
Adam grabs his own boxers from the floor and pulls them on, quickly crossing the room to where you were. He looks down at you, and feels an odd, tightening in his chest, something he’s felt a lot since falling to hell.
He leans against the door, putting on a cocky smile.
“Soo… this was like a booty call, huh?”
“…Yeah, whatever. See ya,”
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hawnks · 4 months
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I really think Utahime is one of Gojos favorite people. The glee he exhibits whenever they interact is hard to overlook, even when he’s bullying her. And I think it has to do with the fact that she does err on the side of tradition (obviously) BUT she is also willing to listen to reason, and she cares very deeply about her students. She’s like Gojo’s hope for the future, about what they can become, that they can be ruled by logic rather than “this is the way it’s always been”.
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lunar-years · 9 days
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When I was in DC visiting college friends who are all very smart people with very well-to-do jobs they started a conversation about ChatGPT and concluded it by agreeing in earnest that they think AI is actually really useful and a great tool for things such as WRITING ONE’S WEDDING VOWS because otherwise it’s “too hard to come up with what to say.” When I tell you I nearly keeled over on the spot…
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wavesoutbeingtossed · 1 month
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Randomly thinking about “tolerate it” (narrator voice: it was not random) and how under the cloak of fiction it is ostensibly inspired by works like “Rebecca” (which Taylor said she read during the 2020 lockdowns I believe?), with the line of “you’re so much older and wiser” indicating that the speaker is significantly younger and inexperienced compared to the person she’s speaking to and a pretty direct reference to the plot of the book.
But I saw something somewhere once that stuck with me about how it might not be referring to relative age between the characters but chronological age as in the passage of time in a relationship. And that made me think about how in a contemporary context, it might not necessarily be referencing an actual age gap between the two characters, but rather a sarcastic or cynical response to the man’s claims that he has matured (“you’re so much older and wiser [than you were before/than you were when we met/etc.]”), which then made me think about that line in relation to the woman. And that it could be taken like, “you act like you’ve matured so much in our time together and like you know everything, while I’m supposedly still stuck as the girl I was when we first met.”
Which then made me think of the “right where you left me” of it all and did you ever hear about the girl who got frozen time went on for everyone else she won’t know it and the bit in Miss Americana where she talks about how celebrities get frozen at the age at which they got famous, and how she’s had to play catch up in a lot of ways not just in her emotional growth but kind of in general. (Which also made me wonder if she’s ever been called out for immaturity/lack of curiosity/lack of education about things in her life…)
Which then made me think about the rest of the song, and @taylortruther’s posts yesterday about “seven” and “Daylight” and the way Taylor idealizes her youth yet contrasts it with an almost sinister reality in its wake, and the line, “I sit by the door like I’m just a kid,” because the discussion raised that her relationship let her recapture some of the childlike joy and wonder she’d lost. So this line is a double-edged sword: the speaker sits by the door with childlike hope that the person will come home and cherish her, but on the darker side, feels like the child dealing with the monsters she doesn’t have names for yet and the feelings of isolation she felt as she aged.
I’m not saying the song is necessarily autobiographical; like most of the songs on folkmore, it’s clearly a fictionalized story based on media she’d consumed and created, but we know a lot of the fictional songs were infused with her own feelings and experiences and… This idea swirling in my head picked up steam and now I kind of can’t stop thinking about it. Sorry but I’m a little obsessed now.
Like maybe it might start to shed light on why she identified so strongly with the novel in the first place…
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detentiontrack · 4 months
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Sasha is like “idc” and then Anne gets a boyfriend in high school and she throws up and punches a wall so hard she breaks a few fingers
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flowercrowngods · 1 year
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Suggesting/Requesting Eddie having a crush on the valiant knight Steve Dustin goes on about, not realizing it's Steve "the Hair" Harrington and the way he reacts when he realizes they're the same dude. Cue adjustment period.
hi! first of all thank you for the prompt 🥰 i slipped and kinda decided to take your ‘valiant knight Steve’ quite literally and made this a medieval/regency au with knight steve and bard eddie, kinda enemies to lovers. it totally got out of hand, so this is part 1, with all my apologies to your original prompt 🤍🌷
Eddie smiles as the fields and forest that surround Hawkins come into view, kissed by the early afternoon sun with more affection and richness than the city probably deserves. It looks different this time of year, the green seems deeper than he left it, and nostalgia paints him a picture of glory and welcome that would make any traveller linger at the sight. 
He knows it’s only the magic of coming home, the thrill of having been gone so long that he needs to learn his town a-new, and the curiosity of a poet that makes his heart beat faster; but it’s his life’s blood to embrace all of that. So he spurs on his trusty horse to make it home even just a minute sooner. 
The people’s reactions to his arrival come in multitudes, though Eddie can respect the healthy dose of mistrust with which they regard him. He has made a name for himself after all, a bard more than a jester these days, but most people don’t tend to forget the pretty face they chased out of the city on multiple occasions. 
He lifts his head in greeting as he passes the elderly Wheelers as they’re tending to the flowers lining their windows, and grins with glee at both the disapproving scoff and the wary nod he gets in return. 
He’s in good spirits. Great spirits, in fact, the sun shining down on him, welcoming him and lighting familiar paths for him to tread again after years of absence. Hawkins will see his glory, his success, his victory, and it will pale in jealousy and regret. They cannot chase him away this time, not with the title of royal bard and winner of the bardic competition three years in a row. 
If his travels have taught him anything, it’s that he is pettiness acts as a wonderful motivation.
Of course, he shall also see his friends again. One of his saddlebags is half full with their letters that have accumulated over the years, all of which Eddie has kept for reasons of muse and a heart entirely too soft for his own good.
Most of all, though, even more than proving his worth and success to his city and its people, it is curiosity that brings him home. 
Dustin and his friends have been mentioning a most valiant knight, waxing poetic about his glorious deeds and his kinder heart — or, as poetic as they get, which is hardly at all. Which consequently made Eddie write no less than five ballads about the stories they told him, three of which have made it into songs yet, one of which he was made to play in every tavern on his long journey back to Hawkins and to Princess Nancy herself on more than one occasion.
The Knightmærs, as he calls his little collection of poeterey, his pride and joy about a man he has yet to meet. Tales about maidens saved and brothers defeated, hearts stolen and retrieved with the gentlest gestures, and children protected against the evils of night, expecting naught but friendship. And friendship he got. 
If Eddie’s heart picks up yet another notch at the thought of meeting this knight as the familiar city walls tower before him, he allows it for a second before announcing himself to the guards. They looked wary upon his approach and blanch now as they hear his name; Eddie does not hide his laughter this time and preens as he is told to ride on. 
“Oh, Hawkins, old friend,” he mutters under his breath, not even bothering to hide his smile. “You and I shall have so much fun, shan’t we?” 
~*~
He barely makes it to the home he has been sharing with his uncle since the ripe age of twelve with minimal fuss, unsaddling his horse and guiding her to the trough, when he hears it. 
“Eddie!”
Halting in his motions the currycomb, he looks up from the rusty brown that shines red like embers in the sun and spots Dustin racing down the street towards him. 
He lowers the comb and steps around his horse, grinning at his rapidly approaching friend. 
“Why, good day to you, young traveller, what brings you to my humble abode?” 
Dustin doesn’t falter in his approach, doesn’t even slow down, and Eddie braces himself for impact. Years of experience have made him quite practiced in handling tackle-hugs, but Dustin has grown quite a bit since he last saw him, and they both stumble backwards when Dustin’s arms wrap around Eddie in a way that seems to press all air out of his lungs. Eddie laughs as he hugs his friend back with as much ferocity. 
“I’ve missed you! I was writing to you this morning when I remembered you said you’d come this week. I didn’t think it would be today!” 
“I came as soon as I could. Such is the Munson way, or did you forget?” 
Dustin shakes his head and finally lets go, though Eddie yearns for another hug. It’s been too long. The boy has grown. He’s hardly a boy anymore, though he shall always remain as such in Eddie’s heart. He smiles and ruffles Dustin’s locks, realising with a pang that they’re almost of a height now. 
An ache like homesickness settles in his gut and wears on his heart heavily. 
“What is it? What’s wrong?” 
“Nothing,” he shakes his head, smoothing out the curls he’s put in disarray. “It’s just been too long. And I’ve missed you, too. You’ve grown quite a bit since last we talked.” 
“I have!” And he looks so proud of it, too, preening a little under Eddie’s faux scrutiny, and it’s what makes him pull Dustin against his chest again. 
Eddie continues taking care of his horse, feeding her, combing through her mane, making sure she has as much comfort as he can provide after their long days of travel. Dustin sits on the fence and watches him tend to her, feeding her the occasional apple when he thinks Eddie isn’t looking. He hides his smile and pretends not to see. 
God, but he has missed his friend. 
Their twosomeness is rudely and entirely too quickly interrupted by Lord Harrington of all people, who hurries down the street in search of Dustin. 
Eddie never did like the lord and his pompous appearance coupled with his rude personality. He always acted like a prince among men, subject to many a jest in Eddie’s younger days. On one memorable occasion, Eddie managed to steal the lord’s clothes and swap them with his own, making him walk about in linen rags and torn-up trousers. 
Days later, all of his lute strings ripped just as he was getting ready to play at the tavern, and he never messed with Harrington again — even though there was a parcel three days later with new lute strings and his old clothes he had made the lord wear. No note attached to it, because Lords didn’t stoop down to converse with lowly peasants even for revenge. 
So, seeing Harrington now on the very first day of his being back, it sours Eddie’s face and his humour. 
“Why, Lord Harrington,” he speaks before the man can get a word in. “To what do I owe the displeasure of seeing you here? Have you suffered a fall from grace yet, or was it a hit in the head that left you disoriented, bringing you to my humble abode?” 
Harrington frowns at him, though Eddie deems to detect confusion more than distaste. 
And then he has the audacity of not even answering to Eddie’s ruse, simply ignoring him and instead turning around to Dustin. 
“Dustin, Master Clarke is expecting you. I will not cover for you once more.” 
“But—“ 
“Spare me,” Harrington says, hands on his hips now, and Eddie is starting to feel defensive over Dustin. How dare his lordship come and steal his best friend away when he hasn’t even been home for an hour yet? 
Before he can get so much as a word in, however, Dustin is already jumping from his perch on the fence and trudging towards Harrington, rounding the man and leading the way up the hill towards the castle. 
“I’ll come back later, Eddie,” Dustin says over his shoulder, and then he is gone, rounded the corner, out of his sight. 
Harrington, however, lingers. Eddie raises his eyebrows in question and challenge, and the Lord scoffs a little. It’s like he wants to say something — but what could it be? What could Lord Harrington have to say to him, years after they last saw each other? 
He does look stunning, Eddie has to admit with a grudge against his self and his integrity. The golden light of the afternoon sun catches in his hair, likening it to strands of gold that kings and queens pay alchemists across the world to procure. Eddie, for a moment, feels like he has found it in Lord Harrington’s hair and the skin of his face, but he quickly snaps out of it, cutting off that particular train of thought before it can run away form him. 
“I hear you are a bard of great renown these days.” 
The words catch him off his guard, for Eddie was sure that the Lord would not attempt to converse. Yet it seems that propriety still has a tight grip on him. 
Does Harrington like his ballads, his plays, his poetry and sonnets? Has he heard them? Or has he heard of them? Has word travelled across the countries, telling of Eddie the Bard and his brave-hearted muse his soul yearns for and his quill bleeds for?
Eddie is not sure which option thrills him more, but whichever one it is, it makes him smile, feeling quite bashful and yet proud. 
“So you hear,” he says, approaching the stiff Lord. “What exactly is it that you hear, my Lord?” 
He swallows, following Eddie’s steps with his eyes, turning his head when the bard circles him slowly. “I hear you sing of beasts slain and brothers banished, a knight at the heart of your ballads.” Eddie smiles at that, knowing that Harrington has at least heard of two of his Knightmærs. I hear it sounds like mockery, the knight but an object of your hyperbolic fascination and flowery imagination, his pain and bravery nothing to you.” 
He stops dead in his tracks, his feet planted right before Harrington. The Lord looks like he is taking personal offence to his works, and it irritates the bard. 
“And what, Lord Harrington, would you know of fascination, pain and bravery? I cannot imagine you have faced a lot of hardship in your life, and the only acts of bravery you had to chance upon were mislead in the name of false honour.” 
“False honour,” Harrington repeats, his words like poison, sharp and dangerous as the sword’s blade at his hip. “You would know something about that, I imagine, telling stories of which you have no idea. Immortalising glory where there should be sympathy.” 
Eddie studies him, the frown between his brows, the hard line of his jaw, set and calmed to keep more words from spilling. Imposing, this Lord is. A sight for sore eyes even in his  purely misplaced anger. 
Eddie huffs, his eyes travelling between the Lord’s where they are standing so impossibly close. 
“Sympathy,” he repeats. “Nobody, my Lord, wants a ballad of sympathy. It is glory that the people seek!” He steps back from Harrington, gesturing with his arms as he dramatically recounts the lessons he has learned over the years, passionate for his craft. “Glory, heroism, heartbreak and love! Yearning and longing and deeds of an aching heart, that is what the people want to hear. That is what deserves to be immortalised in art, in poetry, in song! I shall forgive you for being so painfully unaware of this, my Lord, but I shall not stand to be in your company much longer, calling my work lacking or a mockery when it is borne out of nothing but loyalty, fascination and love.” 
They are close again, because Harrington did not step back when Eddie approached him once more, his feet planted like a tree, fierce and strong and unbudging. 
It is intoxicating, though Eddie blames half of it on the passion and the rage, on the bravery that possessed him to send the Lord away, or the fierceness with which he came to his muse’s defence. 
Harrington swallows again, his eyes wandering over Eddie’s face once more, lingering at his lips, both their jaws set in determination and perhaps a sudden tension.  
“Forgive me for insulting you with my company,” he speaks at last, his voice nothing but a rasp. “You will find there is an irony to your words soon. I shall not rob you of that discovery. I ask you do not take it out on our mutual friends when you do, Munson.” 
And with one last glance, Harrington turns on his heel and hurries up the hill, too, leaving Eddie puzzled and quite dazed upon the lingering warmth of their close proximity. 
When did Harrington become so handsome? There was a fire in his eyes that Eddie got to witness for just the blink of an eye, but he wonders where that comes from, what it means, and what other secrets he holds. 
Perhaps, if he cannot meet his muse, the knight Dustin has only ever referred to as Steve, Harrington might serve to inspire a ballad or two himself.
~*~
Harrington catches his eyes on more than one occasion over the next days. Eddie is invited to the castle to play for Princess Chrissy, though she greets him like an old friend and makes him sit close to her at the banquet. Right beside Harrington, who merely nods at Eddie, his fists clenched as Chrissy asks the bard about one of his ballads — the one about the valiant knight slaying a horde of monsters to keep the kingdom’s children safe. 
The Lord must really hate Eddie’s work. It fills him with spiteful glee, for some reason, and he makes sure to play and recite all of his Knightmærs that night. Harrington excuses himself when Eddie hasn’t even made it halfway through his songs, and he doesn’t return that night. 
He takes personal offence now and vows to make the Lord’s life as difficult as he can. 
But still there is no sign of Steve. 
Eddie is starting to get frustrated. 
He was supposed to be here, stand tall and proud with a smile on his face upon seeing Eddie, sweep him off his feet, make him swoon, dare Eddie to fall in love with the face long after the name. 
His mood is sour, and only sours further when Harrington rounds the corner and stumbles upon Eddie who is tuning his lute for tonight’s banquet. The annual royal tournament is set for the next morning, so everyone is in a good mood. 
Well, everyone except Eddie. And Lord Harrington, by the look on his face. 
“Munson,” he says, straightening before he bows his head in greeting. “Forgive me, I was looking for some quiet. I shall look somewhere else.” 
And, somehow, that is enough to snap his patience that was already wearing thin. “Why can you not stand being in my presence, sir?” he asks, rising from his seat. “Does it disgust you so to be around mere peasants?” 
Harrington looks taken aback, shock and confusion clear on his face before a frown takes its place and washes away all further emotions. 
“It is not your presence that bothers me, nor the nature of your birth.”
“And yet you leave every time I so much as strum a tune, Lord Harrington, ready to throw both caution and propriety to the winds. Leaving me to wonder what it is that I have done to deserve such treatment.” 
Eddie finds himself walking closer and closer to the Lord, coming to a stop not one foot before him. He is drawn in by his presence, his charm as alluring as his cold silence. Everything about Lord Harrington intrigues him, horrified as he is to admit it. But with Steve not around to catch his eye and captivate his heart and mind alike, he simply has to find inspiration elsewhere. 
And the way Harrington’s face is taken over by a dangerous expression is the most inspiring, alluring thing he has seen in a while, even though it is directed at him. 
“How can you have the audacity to feign confusion over my disdain, bard,” he hisses, and Eddie shivers slightly. Harrington does not even have the sense to step back, staying right where he is, so close, so improper. “How can you pretend it is not my life you have taken and made your own, singing songs and telling stories, making into nothing but a jaunty tale recited by drunkards with no regard to the blood it was written in.” 
Eddie blinks, not quite catching up with the point Harrington is making. 
“What—“ 
“You sing your ballads, your histories, your Knightmærs like you know what they mean. Making a mockery of me, stealing from me every chance to tell my tale in my own voice, in my own tempo. Entire kingdoms will know before I will have had the chance to wake up from a nightmare, and they sing about it, sing about pain they did not have the misfortune to suffer, sing with a smile, with booming voices because you make them. And yet the only one without a voice remains the one who slew the beast.” 
Lord Harrington speaks to him as though he takes offence at the content of Eddie’s ballads, offence at the reality of their background. But what right does he have to take offence when his songs are based on heroic deeds, recounted to him first hand by his very best friend. What right does Harrington have to question the truth behind them? 
“If it is a matter of truth that concerns you, let me reassure you, my Lord, that all of my ballads are based on true events. I ask that you do not call me a liar, no matter how great your dislike of my craft.” 
“It is not a liar that I call you, but rather a thief.” 
Eddie gasps, offended now. “What do you suggest I have stolen, then?” 
“A person’s right to their own story. To their own nightmares. A man's right to flee from the horrors he lived through, acquainting every tavern in this kingdom and the next with his horrific and desperate deeds.” 
“How dare you call his deeds horrific,” Eddie hisses now, feeling protective over his knight. “How dare you accuse me of ill intent when every word out of my quill is written with nothing but love and admiration.” 
“For whom?” Harrington challenges, disdainful and cold. “Only for yourself, your vanity, your overgrown sense of artistic ambition.”
“No,” he shakes his head, hands clenched into fists as he finds himself incredibly close to Lord Harrington, their faces only inches apart now. “It is love for this person I have never met, whom my dear friend has told me about. A man who has kept me awake at night as I was pouring over letter after letter, hoping he should be well. It is a love so strong it has to be turned into art, into song, love that should be sung in every voice of the kingdom.” He scoffs, stepping back to catch his breath. “I do not expect you to know such a love when all you have in your cold heart is disdain for all things beautiful. You would never know bravery if it looked you in the face, you would never know love if it was the very fabric that makes this world. It would slip through your fingers, my Lord, for you would be busy yearning for the day your life found its meaning.” 
He is seething, heaving breaths, out of control over the words tumbling out of his mouth. Insulted in his pride and his muse, offended, hurt. Confused, still, as to why the Lord hates his songs with such vigour. 
“Is that your opinion of me?” Harrington whispers, though even in that toneless voice of his lies so much that Eddie cannot begin to decipher. 
“Yes,” he whispers back, the fight leaving him now, the very air sucked out of the room they share. “I believe I made that clear just now.” 
Harrington takes one step closer once more, but Eddie does not budge. 
“Then I suggest you forget that knight of yours,” he says, quiet and final. “And forget the idea you have of love. To love someone is not to turn his nightmares into song. To love someone is not to look him in the eye and insult his very existence even further. You love yourself, your craft, your mind. But you do not love him. You would not recognise him if he shared the same breath as you.” 
Eddie huffs, just barely able to stop himself from rolling his eyes. “And what makes you so sure of that, Lord Harrington?” 
A smile twitches his lips, though there is no mirth, no glee. “You have just proven it to me, Mr Munson.” He takes a step back and evades Eddie’s eyes. “I believe you should return to the fest now. Good night.” 
And with that, he turns around and leaves. 
Eddie finds himself rooted to the ground, air returning to the room now but still he is unable to catch his breath, staring ahead as he is. 
Words echo in his mind as the picture paints itself and a horrible, horrible realisation dawns on him. 
You will find there is an irony to your words soon. 
How can you pretend it is not my life you have taken and made your own?
But you do not love him. You would not recognise him if he shared the same breath as you.
You have just proven it to me, Mr Munson.
But… There is no way. There is no way that Dustin’s friend, Dustin’s knight and protector, his saviour, Steve, should be the same as Lord Harrington with his careful, quiet, disdainfully quirked eyebrow. 
Except, Lord Harrington collected Dustin from Eddie’s home, speaking with him in a tone filled with such familiarity, they cannot be mistaken as anything but friends. 
And Lord Harrington had listened with such rapt attention when Eddie played his jaunty tunes and the well-known classics at the banquet days ago, looking like he enjoyed Eddie’s play. His face had only soured when people started requesting his newer original songs, his fists clenched upon the opening chords of The Knight and His Nightmare, leaving the hall altogether when people requested more. 
You sing your ballads, your histories, your Knightmærs like you know what they mean. 
Eddie’s heart falls when he realises what he has done. How blind he was to the frowns and the tension, how deaf to the hints and insinuations, how ignorant he was of the pain he inflicted on Lord Harrington. Lord Steven Harrington. Steve. 
His Steve. And yet not his at all.
He falls back onto the bench, dazed, as the weight of his realisation settles inside his chest. 
onwards to part 2
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