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#but if it's the best we're gonna get then i'm happy it exists
betweentimeand42 · 2 years
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So I was trying to find this on my blog and it turns out the video of this that I reblogged a few years ago has now been taken down. I will not stand for this. From the Another Day, Another Time: Celebrating the Music of Inside Llewyn Davis concert (held in 2013 to promote the Coen brothers’ movie), here is the rather prescient “Please, Mr. Kennedy”- a song about an astronaut not wanting to go to outer space, performed (in part) by two actors who eventually went to outer space (in Star Wars).
Things that shouldn’t go unnoticed:
-Elvis Costello was not involved with the movie Inside Llewyn Davis in any way, shape, or form, and yet he gets to sing lead on this song from the movie because... he’s Elvis Costello (and Justin Timberlake, who sang on the original recording, presumably wasn’t available)
-T-Bone Burnett, the legendary music producer who also put together this concert, is also there, contributing absolutely nothing but a few handclaps and the weight of his presence. 
-Every time Adam Driver sings “ahhhh,” he whips his head past the microphone. I can’t deal with this.
-Oscar Isaac, who plays the titular character, spends most of his time alternating between the too-tall microphone Adam is using, and the just-right microphone that the living Elvis is using, and consequently is hardly audible. But it’s okay, he seems to be having a good time. (I like when T-Bone puts his hand on his shoulder, as if to hold him in place.)
-Wait, who’s that backing band? Could it be... Punch Brothers?! Towards the end of the song, Chris Thile breaks out into one of his trademark dances, swaying his entire body from side to side. This is proof that the man will rock out to anything, even a song as silly as this. (Something we should all aspire to do, tbh.)
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wikagirl · 4 months
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seeing one of my mutuals post about their psych eval experience and having one of my irls real time texting us updates from a psychward is kinda making me nervous about my own neurodivergency screening in two weeks
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gb-patch · 3 months
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GB Patch Games: 2024 Intentions
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[Adorable guest art by @dreamtydraw]
Welcome to 2024, everybody 🥳️
This is the year of Our Life: Now & Forever (and 2025 will be too, but let's not get ahead of ourselves that much). After a good five odd years of making Our Life: Beginnings & Always content, it's amazing to look ahead and see only the progress that will be done on this new game. Qiu and Tamarack are the center of the GB Patch Games universe now. But even though I'm not creating any new OL1 scenes, there may still be some exciting developments for the existing stuff. Cove hasn't been forgotten.
💚❤️️💙
If you want to know about what will be accomplished specifically in January, you can read that HERE. Now here's the entire year's goals-
Honestly, 2024 is gonna be the most basic year in a very long time, haha. There's not gonna be major launches of new DLCs, or a full game going live, or any bonus Moments. It's simply making progress on OL: N&F. That's pretty normal for game development. It's just not something we've had to go through since 2019. But we're hunkering down for the long haul on this one.
Specifically, Step 1 will be fully completed in 2024 and I'll make as much headway into Step 2 as possible. There will be two updates to the public demo, one probably in May and another sometime in Fall/Third Quarter 2024. Those will focus on Step 1 scenes still. I can't guarantee we'll be able to rework the Step 2 part of the demo with new content this year. As it is, the content was made to be a demo preview. A lot is gonna change for the complete version.
And that's about it for our main game. I appreciate all of you who decide to follow along with the process.
Beyond that, the Our Life: Beginnings & Always digital artbook is going to become available through Steam and Itch.io in early 2024! Maybe not January, but ideally no later than February.
Finger's crossed, we will also launch Our Life: Beginnings & Always for Mac on Steam and make it available for Androids through the Google Playstore. I can't state it with confidence, since there's constantly been roadblocks/issues with those, aha.
My final little note for this coming year is that, potentially, there could be more information coming out about the game that's going into production after OL2, "Project W".
▴ ▾ ▴ ▾ ▴ ▾ ▴ ▾ ▴ ▾ ▴ ▾ ▴ ▾ ▴ ▾ ▴ ▾ ▴ ▾ ▴ ▾ ▴ ▾▴ ▾ ▴
And that's what you can look forward to. Every year I'm amazed I can continue to do this as my fulltime job. I'm always wondering when that will end, but I'd be lying if I said I could see that point. The support GB Patch Games has gotten, and still gets each day, is more than enough to for it to continue for the rest of OL2's development.
I'm pretty confident in assuming that when that game does launch it's going to be successful enough for Project W to go into full production. It's a truly wonderful thing. Thank you so much for being here. We'll do our best with the time and attention you've given us.
Happy New Year 🥰️
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astonmartinii · 10 months
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Hey, I love your work. Could you please do a social Media au with Lewis Hamilton x senna! reader who is the secret daughter of Ayrton Senna and Mick's godmother and Mick introduces them? Don't feel pressured and thank you in advance.
<3
top secret | lewis hamilton social media au
pairing: senna!reader x lewis hamilton
turns out mick is the grid's biggest matchmaker
mickschumacher
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liked by yourusername, lewishamilton and 404,331 others
mickschumacher: summer dinners (not cooked by me)
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username so is this a soft launch or ???
georgerussell63 it's a good thing you weren't cooking i've seen your skills in hospitality
mickschumacher don't worry she'd never let me blow the house up
username no tag, no name WHY ARE WE SO SECRETIVE MICK?
lewishamilton where was my invite then ?
mickschumacher you already steal her all the time let me have my moment
username WAIT THIS MAKES IT SO MUCH MORE CONFUSING
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f1wagsupdates
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liked by 1,045 others
f1wagsupdates: the mystery blonde is back again, this time spotted going into the mercedes hospitality. not much is known about her as she wasn't spotted for the rest of the weekend - so is she with mick or lewis or just friends with both of them?
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username so like she didn't actually stay for the race ??? i'm smelling a gold digger
username like how do we not know who she is it's practically impossible to be anonymous these days
username who can just waltz into merc hospitality like she has to be with someone, right?
username y'all can continue yelling in these comments but like she's serving in all of these like i need her wardrobe
username i mean as much as i would hate to see slag!lewis go ... i think it is time
lewishamilton added to their story
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[caption: the view is something else]
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yourusername
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liked by lewishamilton, mickschumacher and 779,445 others
yourusername: i'm hearing shouts of gold digger, my daddy ran your sport ;)
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username SENNA HAD A KID ???
username y'all been calling senna's daughter a gold digger that's rough
username so wait how did we never know she existed ?
mickschumacher finally it's out i couldn't deal with people thinking i was dating my godmother
ginaschumacher we may have a ranch but we're not from alabama
yourusername citizens of alabama out here catching strays
lewishamilton lovely lady
yourusername knew there was a reason you were made an honorary brazilian citizen
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lewishamilton
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liked by mickschumacher, georgerussell63 and 1,223,761 others
tagged: yourusername
lewishamilton: and suddenly everything made sense when i met you
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username my guy said i'm gonna break senna's records and then bag his daughter and i respect it
yourusername you made me realise the meaning of forever
lewishamilton biggest honour of my life
username okay this is so fucking cute im gonna need someone to confess their love to me asap
georgerussell63 congrats you two 🥂
mercedesamgf1 category is SLAY
username i'm being SO CHILL ABOUT THIS
f1 no biggie just two of the greatest families in f1 coming together
yourusername
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liked by f1, lewishamilton and 1,304,667 others
yourusername: happy father's day pops !! i miss you so much everyday but i know you're super proud of me no matter what. see you soon xx
comments have been restricted on this post
lewishamilton
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liked by yourusername, mickschumacher and 2,130,653 others
lewishamilton: happy father's day to my wonderful dad and the one who i never met but am thankful for everyday. my dad has been nothing but supportive of me my whole life and i am forever grateful to him. ayrton, though we never met i feel you everyday and i promise i will be the best husband possible for your angel of daughter
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username this is all very touching but HUSBAND
yourusername thank you so much lew, i love you so much and i know he does too (also i love your dad too)
lewishamilton can't get rid of us now
username this is honestly like a fairytale
username the fact she said in an interview that she never wanted to watch or go to another race because of what the sport took from her, but now regularly goes to support lewis 😭
mickschumacher hey don't forget about her favourite god son
username OMG THIS MAKES LEWIS MICK'S GODFATHER WTF
mickschumacher
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liked by mercedesamgf1, charles_leclerc and 880,276 others
tagged: yourusername, lewishamilton
mickschumacher: adding professional matchmaker to my resume
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username so like the first born is named after him ?
mickschumacher deal
yourusername mick ???
username this is a trio i never thought i'd see coming schumachers, hamiltons and a senna in one family
yourusername all jokes aside i love you mick thank you for wingmanning me
lewishamilton thank you for finally giving me her number after asking about a billion times
note: i hope this is what you were thinking - i had so much fun writing this !! xx
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⋆ ˚。⋆౨ৎ˚ I Am My Mother's Daughter
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content: jason grace x daughter of hera! reader fic warning: pure pure unredeemable angst author's note: poor you, you already know how this one ends...
"jason, i don't feel good about this quest," you muttered, wrapping your arms around yourself as you paced the zeus cabin. jason frowned, looking over his shoulder from his seat at his desk.
"why? what's up, honey?" jason probed but you just chewed at your nails in response, "c'mon, talk to me."
"i- i just- i have a bad feeling. like, here, right here, and it's so so deep, jase, and i can't shake it," you finally let out, shoving your hands into your chest pointedly. you stopped, closing your eyes and taking a few calming breaths.
"i'll be okay. you know me. i'm good at not dying," jason teased, standing up and making his way towards you. with every step closer, the tension in your shoulders was slowly letting up and you were starting to shrink. jason set one hand against your waist and the other cupped your cheek, which you nuzzled into without thinking.
"but-...what if...?" you let your question hang in the air, not willing to speak the words into existence. saying it makes it real, which was the last thing you wanted.
"y/n, look at me," jason ordered and you instantly darted your eyes up, locking them with his electric blue ones.
"i'm coming back. i've gotta come back. you wanna know why? i've got you waiting for me. looking all pretty, undoubtably," jason started and you breathed out a laugh, which widened jason's smile just the slightest bit, "i'm going to come back. and we're going to get a nice ring and im going to propose and we're going to get married. and your mom is going to be so, so happy."
"yes, her champion and only daughter, finally married. she's gonna scream," you cut in, smiling at the scene jason was playing out for you. his thumb was rubbing against your cheek and his hold was just so soft. he made it easy to fall in love with him, you thought fleetingly.
"oh, she'll be overjoyed. a union between jupiter and hera? best of the best, surely. then we'll go to school and move to new rome like you always wanted. and we'll have all the kids you want and then we can grow old. most importantly, we're doing all of that together. because im coming back," continued jason, nearly getting lost in the daydream as well. he rested his forehead against yours, relishing in the fact that he had you and you had him. as he pulled away following a small peck, you pressed your lips to the palm of his hand.
"promise?" you asked, hesitantly. you wanted to believe in his fantasies - really, you did - but it was hard to suspend reality like that.
"on the river-"
"no, no, not that one! just...just a normal promise," you begged, your hand shooting up and clutching the wrist of the hand that was pressed to your cheek.
"okay, okay. i promise. on our future. how's that?" he offered and strangely enough thunder rolled outside, drawing both of your eyes.
"storms coming," jason explained away, quickly, to ease your racing thoughts.
"you'd know, wouldn't you, weather boy?" you teased, attempting your best lighthearted smile. jason laughed softly, rolling his eyes before looking at you with a fondness you'd only ever seen from him.
"ha, ha, very funny. you've been spending too much time with percy, princess," he mused, wrapping his arms around your waist and pressing a kiss to your shoulder as you giggled.
"duh! you know i love percy! and le-" you cut yourself off, your smiling slipping at the thought of the boy. you cleared your throat, knowing jason had it worse from the way his muscles tensed and he froze. instantly, you muttered an apology to his skin, followed by soft kisses. jason shook it off rather quickly, pressing a solid kiss to your cheek.
"...can i pack for you?" you asked, softly, and jason smiled at you in the way he always did.
"of course, honey. you always know what to pack for me. oh, and spray your perfume in there again. that was nice on the last quest," jason hummed, taking your hand before twirling you around in cabin one, your giggles filling him with a joy he was sure couldn't be measured.
and then that dreaded day came. you had spent the night in the zeus cabin, chrion and mr. d be damned, as you refused to leave jason's side. every day, the feeling just kept growing and spreading through your body. you've felt diagnosed it as dread but you had a feeling will would say its something different...something like preemptive grief. you squeezed jason so tight he teased you about it endlessly. and you'd laugh, but with every minute that ticked by and every breath jason breathed, you couldn't help but think that every single one would be the last.
"i'll see you later?" jason offered as the two of you stood on the steps of the zeus cabin.
"you'd better," you hissed out, wrapping your arms around his shoulder and burying yourself into the crook of his neck. jason couldn't help but respond similarly, his hold around your waist bone crushing and the sprawling of his hands over your back bring you less comfort than they usually did.
"i love you so, so, so much, jason grace. please, gods, be safe. and come home. just come home," you muttered into his skin, praying to every god you could name in your head, hoping they were feeling gracious and kind.
"i love you more than i can think to put into words, y/n l/n. im coming home, it's already written by the fates. they'd have to do more than a measly quest to tear us apart. i still have to marry you, princess," jason hummed into your cheek before planting a kiss there, followed by a solid kiss to your lips. a desperate kiss, a kiss that was the pinnacle of love, a kiss that was also a promise. a sealing and final kiss, the kind you'd see from lovers before travel or before war. a kiss that said all the feelings you couldn't put into words.
nico watched this from a distance, watched as you held jason's hand as long as you could before you couldn't reach anymore and yours hands were pulled apart. he watched as you stood outside cabin one, your hands curled over your heart like you were protecting it and tears steadily pouring out of your eyes. he watched as jason sniffed away his own tears, determined to be the strong one out of the two of you. and he couldn't help but feel a tiny drop in his stomach. like something bad was bound to happen. he had fleeting thoughts of jason looking like bianca and you looking like a younger him. but he was quick to crunch these under his combat boots. because that would make him percy.
in hindsight, nico had wished he'd given those thoughts more time to fester. allowed the possibility to grow mold in the back of his mind. give him time to think about how to deal with a situation like that - no, no, a situation like this. it was happening, nico was watching it in real time. jason grace, the son of jupiter and lover of the daughter of hera, was dying, was dead. and there was nothing he could do. no plan he could make and no trick to pull to make it all go away. no, jason grace's fate was sealed the moment he lost his hold on y/n's hand.
so, when nico walked into camp with out jason grace, he wasn't all that surprised to see you outside cabin one. he could almost believe that you hadn't moved an inch since they left but he could tell that wasn't true from the fact that you were in different clothes. jason's clothes, to be specific. the same clothes that jason always bragged smelled like his lovely girlfriend. his girlfriend, who's gentle heart nico was about to break - shatter, destroy, whatever you want to call it. you knew before nico even reached you, already crying with your clasped hands still protectively held over your heart.
"y/n-"
"he's not coming home...is he?" you managed to choke out, your eyes locked on nico as your lips wobbled and tears began to smear your vision. nico hung his head, shaking it gently.
"i'm sorry," he whispered but it got lost in your sobs. you fell to your knees, thudding against the porch outside that damned zeus cabin. you were trying, desperately, to get words out but the only thing that managed to escape from your mouth were cries. horrid, horrid sounds of just pure heartbreak and grief. you were rocking yourself, knowing you had to calm down but struggling to find it in yourself to want to. nico was on the ground with you in seconds, hesitating before shooting forwards with his hands, awkwardly fumbling about until they found a soothing pattern on your back.
and nico felt the urge to apologize to percy. yes, he'd been a child when percy broke the news of his sister to him but...now he knew what it felt like. and it was a pain that nico was sure was immeasurable. how percy ever looked nico in the eye again, he wasn't sure.
months passed and things changed, but never your grief. you felt it every single damn day. but, you didn't show it. you pulled yourself back up and only cried in the privacy of your cabin. cabin one would be cleared out, removed of jason's bed and jason's desk, ready for the next poor doomed child of zeus. you clung tightly to jason's dreams, ensure they were still achieved. you fought for alters for minor gods, helping with planning and placement. you ensured the divide between camp jupiter and camp half blood was nonexistent, visiting both regularly. and at the end of every day, you'd cry up in bed and you'd just cry. you'd cry, and cry, and cry until you tuckered yourself out like an infant and fell asleep. and then you'd do it all over again.
"y/n? you home?" called a familiar voice, followed by some slightly patterned knocking against her door. a smile tugged at the voice, leaning forwards to watch the newly back to life son of hephaestus walk in.
"hey, leo, what's up, hon?" you asked, softly, from your curled up position in one of the many fancy lounge chairs in your cabin. leo attempted to offer you a wide smile, but it didn't quite reach his eyes as he plopped down into a seat of his own. he pressed his fingers into his forehead, rubbing at it like he was troubled.
"y/n...this is going to seem cruel, i think, but i- i can't keep it anymore. it's eating me up inside. i tried throwing it away but i just- i just dug it back out again," leo panickily rambled, leaning forwards in his seat as his chest started to heave. within seconds, you were crouching beside the boy, rubbing his back comfortingly and smiling softly at him.
"it's okay, we're okay. whatever it is, i can take it," you told leo, who shook his head.
"no, no, i shouldn't have- gods, this sucks. he sucks for putting us in this position," leo bit out, bitterly, pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes, which you were quick to discourage and push back against.
"i agree," you added, locking eyes with leo's tearfilled ones.
"it's not fair."
"i also agree with that one," you continued and leo smiled the slightest bit before sighing and reaching into his pocket and grasping something firmly in his hand, turning his body towards you.
"he...he had me make this. something about not wanting anyone else to do it. we worked together on this for months because-...because it was never perfect enough for him, for you. but...he finally liked it. right before gaea and all that shit. he was...he was just waiting for the perfect moment. im...yeah, im sorry," leo ranted, slowly uncurling his hands and presenting you with an engagement ring. and it was perfect and beautiful and all a girl could ever ask for. and it was painful and heartbreaking and stood for a marriage that would never exist now that he was gone. but you couldn't help but smile as your shaking hands gently took it from leo's palm, sliding it onto your ring finger. naturally, with how well jason knew you, it fit like a glove.
"thank you, leo. this- this means a lot, thank you," you gasped out, crying while smiling at the boy and grasping his hand with your now ring adorn one.
"im sorry," he whispered out, crying with you. you shook your head at him, giving his hands a tight squeeze.
"don't be," you basically ordered and leo just nodded before takign his sniffling leave. you gave him a box of tissues to take with him, refusing to take 'no' for an answer. you also ordered him to spend lunch with you next week, so you guys could talk, maybe get piper to come too. maybe even all of them.
but, that evening, for the first time in a while, you went to bed without crying. you went to bed with your right hand resting right over your heart, right where you carried your sweet son of jupiter, right where he lived on.
the cold metal of your ring warmed in seconds from the pure love that radiated from that spot. not just your love, but the love jason left behind for you, left to course and beat through your heart. to lovingly haunt your soul until you joined him down below.
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jinnie-ret · 7 months
Text
fake fights
stray kids x ninth member!reader (platonic)
minho x reader focus
genre: fluff, angst
content warnings: none
word count: 2.5k
Remember to reblog if you enjoy, and my asks are open! let me know if you want to be tagged!
you and minho decide to strike revenge and prank the boys after they leave practice early because of the tense mood you both created.
MASTERLIST
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It was getting nearer and nearer to Stray Kids' 5-STAR Dome tour, and it would be wrong to say that you were managing everything just fine. Rehearsing your own solo song and trying to learn new choreography, alongside refining existing dances was taking a toll on you. You felt more irritable at smaller things, so when Minho corrected you on a mistake you made during the rehearsal for 'ITEM', you didn't react very well.
"Y/N, you need to swing out your arms a bit bigger, it looks out of sync compared to everyone else," Minho commented, panting as he went to pause the music, running a hand through his hair feeling exasperated. He just wanted you to get the movement right but this was the third time already he had mentioned it.
"It looks fine. I don't get why you keep making an issue out of it," you pinch the bridge of your nose as you grab a bottle of water and take a sip from it.
"Because it doesn't look right when you can't keep up with the rest of us," he sighed, already picking up on your irritated tone.
"Oh, so now I'm not as good as everyone else? That's real encouraging, thanks," you roll your eyes. You felt like all your hard work wasn't good enough.
Fire was fighting with fire right now. The other members of Stray Kids and Stays knew well that you and Minho were similar so you'd be more likely to clash.
"That wasn't what I meant and you know that," Minho said sternly, arms resting on his hips as he wiped sweat away from his face.
"Guys, let's not fight, just take a break and we'll carry on after, okay?" Chan attempted to mediate the situation, but both of you were stuck in a sour mood. You, because you felt like you were being criticised for no reason, and Minho, because he knew his words weren't getting through to your stubborn self.
"I'm not gonna carry on if he keeps making comments all the time," you throw your hands up in the air feeling frustrated.
"Y/N, I'm sure Minho is just trying to help," Changbin patted your shoulder, not liking how this practice was going.
"Exactly, that's all I'm trying to do, and you're acting like a child having a tantrum just because you don't like what you're hearing," Minho rolls his eyes.
"Me? A child? Well, it's better than acting like I'm better than everyone else," you fight back, glaring over at him.
"Woah, woah, okay I know it's not nice to hear about what we need to improve on, maybe you could comment on it less, Minho? But we don't need to argue," Chan pointed out. It made you feel happy that someone understood your point of view. But it still didn't help your annoyance fade.
"I'm not arguing, I'm just making a point that Minho is clearly trying to tell us all what to do because he's such an 'expert'," you scrunch your nose up.
"Right, okay, that's it. Kids, let's go," Chan calls over the rest of the group.
"What we're just going to completely abandon practice?" Minho throws his head back annoyed.
"Oh, no. You and Y/N will stay here and make up. We're going back to the dorms. Don't come back until you're best friends again, okay?" Chan directs his orders towards us and doesn't leave room for us to answer him as he directs everyone else out of the room without a goodbye.
You grit your teeth as you practice the dance again, seeing Minho stand up in the mirror reflection and walk behind you.
"Don't say it," you don't even look him in the eye.
"I wasn't going to say anything," Minho casually says, grabbing your arms and adjusting how you stand to help create bigger movements.
"You just did," you mutter under your breath, feeling annoyed because his advice actually did help make that particular move look better.
After going through the dance one more time, you sit on the sofa at the back of the practice room, taking a sip of your water and grabbing your phone.
"I don't actually think you act like you're better than everyone else by the way," you break the silence after working yourself up to talking.
"I know," Minho hums, joining you on the sofa.
"And I know you don't think I'm not as good as anyone else," you add on.
"I know," he simply says again.
"I've just got so many things in my head, trying to remember different choreographies and then feeling comfortable with singing my solo song at the concerts and-"
"I thought as much," Minho stops your rambling as he places a hand on your knee.
"Do you know everything?" you groan, leaning back into the sofa.
"Well, I am better than everyone else, so that means I have all the knowledge anyone could ask for," Minho smirks, poking fun at you.
"Hey I just said I didn't mean what I said-"
"You're getting in your own head again, Y/Nnie, I'm just playing around with you," he chuckles lightly.
"I'm sorry," you say chewing on your lip, looking into his eyes as he wears a small smile.
"I'm sorry too for making you more stressy," he nods at you.
You two sat in comfortable silence for a moment.
"I can't believe they just left us and went back to the dorms. They didn't even stay to practice anymore," you huff, enviously thinking about your other members who went back home.
"Well, this just calls for some revenge, my dear Y/Nnie," Minho smirks with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
====================================
Mission 'trick the other members into thinking that you and Minho were still arguing' was a go. It was also an unnecessarily long and uncreative title, but we don't talk about that.
Since returning to the dorms, the two of you instantly went to your own bedrooms, ignoring any of the other members that tried talking to you. You had to keep up the idea that you were both still angry at each other.
Checking the time, you realised it was nearing dinner, when you and Minho would be cooking together for the others. And it was time for the next step of your plan to be set in motion.
Exiting your bedroom, you couldn't avoid your other members.
"Hey, Y/N, how you feeling?" Jeongin asked with a cautious smile.
"I'm fine," you shrug nonchalantly.
"Are you still cooking with Minho tonight?" Jisung asked, a look on his face that seemed like he was waiting for you to say no.
"Yeah," you sigh, trying to act like you hated the very thought, "but it'll be fine, I'm not scared of Minho."
"No, but you should be scared of Minho with knives," Seungmin said with wide eyes, causing the other two boys to laugh.
"I'm sure I'll be fine. The only sharp thing about Minho is his tongue, there's a reason he's part of Paboracha," you joke back.
"Good luck Y/Nnie!" Jeongin cutely cheers you on as you enter the kitchen.
"I heard you call me a pabo," Minho says from where he was getting pans out of the cupboard.
"Well, I had to keep it up for the prank," you easily find a cover up for your words, trying to hide your smile as you grabbed ingredients out of the fridge and cupboard.
"Just for the prank, hmm? I'll remember that," Minho says mysteriously, and your smile drops, knowing he could mean that for real.
"Anyways... So I'll chop up the onion, yeah?" you check in that you were both on the same page for your revenge.
"Yeah, and we'd be better off not talking for now, they could overhear and get suspicious," Minho reminds you, chopping up some beef.
"You just don't want to hear my voice," you roll your eyes fondly, peeling the onion.
"Just for the prank," Minho uses your own words against you, and you can hear the smugness dripping through his voice, and it shuts you up.
You focus on your task of chopping up the onions, feeling your eyes water already, and you still had another one to do.
"Aish, dammit," you blink rapidly, trying to clear your blurry vision as you start to quickly chop the other onion.
"Careful, Y/Nnie, you'll chop a finger off if you carry on, I'll finish it off," Minho takes over from your spot.
"You sure?" you double check.
"Yeah, just get on with the prank," he waves you off, easily cutting up the rest of the vegetables.
And with that, you leave the kitchen, eyes stinging with unshed tears, already red from where you used your sleeves to wipe away where they were watering.
"Oh, Y/Nnie, are you okay?" Felix gently asks you as you bump into him.
"I, I just-" you cut yourself off from continuing to speak, pretending to be upset and hiccuping on your own breaths.
"Ah, Y/Nnie, what's happened?" Hyunjin sees you too and looks concerned, wrapping an arm around your shoulder.
"I hate fighting with Minho," you sniffle, wiping your tears.
"Again?" Felix asks with his eyebrows raised, everyone argued in the group before, but when it came to Minho and Y/N, it was rare for it to last this long. He was worried it was something more serious this time.
"I need a moment," you dramatically walk away to the bathroom, and finally sort out your stinging eyes. You wash your hands and apply a damp cloth to your eyes to soothe them.
As if the boys were actually believing your prank. It only hyped you up more as you heard a knock at the door.
"Y/Nnie, sweetheart, you okay in there?" the sweet husky voice of Changbin gently asked you with a light knock. You sniffle, wiping your eyes to maintain a redness there before responding to him.
"Leave me alone," you whimper pitifully.
"Come on, let's talk about it, yeah?" Changbin tries to coax you out the bathroom. If it weren't for it being a prank, you know any other day you would've ran straight into his arms. Changbin always knew what to say and how to make you feel better.
"It's stupid," you cry out. Yes it was stupid, stupid how the boys were believing this. It was amazing what a couple of onions could do.
"I'm sure it isn't, love, come on, dinner is nearly ready," Changbin tried his best, and you thought you should unlock the door now, to save his patience from breaking.
You're shocked to see Jisung run past you into the bathroom, quickly saying a 'sorry' as he shuts the door.
"Ah, Jisungie needed the toilet also," Changbin scratches the back of his neck sheepishly.
You simply nod, wiping away at your cheeks again, trying not to laugh.
"Let's sit down for dinner, yeah? Sit next to me, you don't have to look at Minho. I don't know what you guys are still arguing about, but I hope it stops soon," Changbin lightly strokes your hair comfortingly, waiting for you to nod again before guiding you to the table.
He sits you between himself and Felix, who leans over to you subtly.
"You ok now, Y/Nnie?" he whispers concerned.
You shake your head, and out of the corner of your eye, you see Chan sternly whispering to Minho. You felt guilty that he was the bad guy in this situation, but he insisted he could handle it.
It was an awkward start to dinner, nobody quite knew what to say. All that could be heard was scrapes of knives and forks, the occasional slurp.
It was time for the final step of the plan.
"I can't take this anymore," you stand up, your chair scraping back against the wooden floors.
"Y/N...?" Chan spoke up warily.
"I can't just sit here and pretend like everything's normal," you exclaim, running your hands through your hair.
"Y/N, whatever happens between you and Minho-" Hyunjin began, but you cut him off.
"It's not about him! It's about the rest of you!" you say, looking at them all.
"Huh? What did we do?" Seungmin stops mid bite, wondering why your anger was being directed towards them.
"I can't keep it a secret anymore," you cover your face, but not just for dramatic effect, but because you were trying to hide your smile. The air was tense right now.
"Should I say it or should you?" Minho speaks up from the other side of the table, purposefully sounding nervous.
"Guys? What's going on?" Jisung looks between the two of you nervously.
"Is it the first Stray Kids baby?" Jeongin genuinely asks.
"Ew no!"
"No Jeonginnie!"
You and Minho both say disgusted at the same time.
"Then what is it?" Chan taps his fingers against the table expectantly, waiting for the answer.
"You've just been pranked," you and Minho reveal at the same time, letting out a laugh at all of their reactions. Seeing their eyes bulge out of their heads, or their confusion taking over.
"Wait... So you don't hate each other?" Felix asks in bewilderment from next to you, making you and Minho laugh.
"Nope," you giggle.
The members stand up from their seats, pacing and exclaiming about how they were 'tricked'.
"So all of that in the practice room earlier...?" Changbin trails off.
"Oh no that was real. But you guys went home after only a little time of practice and left us. So that was our revenge," Minho smirks, ducking from Chan's arms that reached out to grab him into a headlock.
"Only you two would prank someone after having an argument," Seungmin says as if it should have been obvious to him.
"I think it worked perfectly," Minho says as he runs past you, Hyunjin joining in on chasing him with Chan.
"Oh, it certainly did," you laugh, suddenly squealing as Jeongin lifts you over his shoulder and dumps you on the sofa.
"Now it's time for our revenge," he grins and raises his eyebrows before tickling you.
tagged: @oo-li
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agi-ppangx · 10 months
Note
I have a question…? Could u do a part 2 to the “finding put ur pregnant with minho” where reader and minho plan a fun way to tell the other 7 that they’re pregnant and the kids react in a happy way and how they’re gonna be amazing uncles and stuff?
Thank you in advance 🫶
oh my god my first ask ever !! thank u so much for submitting ‹3 i wrote it in the middle of the night so please excuse all typos and grammar mistakes >< hopefully this is what you wanted, i tried to make it fun and chaotic :D please let me know if you liked it !
part one | part three
feedback and reblogs highly appreciated🫶🏽
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you and minho found out you're pregnant a while ago. the past few weeks were really busy for both of you - going to the doctors, learning about pregnancy and reading about babies and overall implementing a new lifestyle. you've told your parents about the baby as soon as you have been confirmed by your doctor that you are pregnant. however, you decided to wait a while before telling anyone else just to make sure your pregnancy is safe.
now you were about to enter the second trimester and you and minho decided to finally tell the boys about the baby, since the bump was starting to show a little bit. but minho being minho didn't want to just say "hey, just so you know - y/n is pregnant and we're about to be parents" - no, he wanted to do it in a bit of a fun way. that being said, you two organised a little game night with the boys, wanting to share the news during charades.
when they arrived you started with some board games to set the mood. all of you were chatting and joking around, no one suspected anything. jisung and hyunjin asked you a few times if you wanted to grab some beer with them and you came out with some lame excuses, like "sorry, i'm not feeling well now" or "nah, i'm good, i have my orange juice" and they were looking at you suspiciously, but said nothing. after what felt like a hundredth question about beer, you announced that it's time to play charades. minho looked at you and smiled a bit, knowing whats about to happen.
chan went first, pretending to be michael jackson. you laughed a little at his impression since he didn't really know how to do the moonwalk but tried nonetheless. then there was hyunjin, trying to do an impression of bob ross, but it resulted in seungmin making fun of him for a good ten minutes. "okay, now it's my turn,'' minho exclaimed and stood in front of you. "i'm gonna make an impression of someone in this room," he added and he proceed to do his best at pretending to be you - he brushed his non-existent long hair out of his face and imitated your giggling. and then he started to show his non-existent pregnancy belly with his hands. you were trying not to smile, but then the boys started talking. "hey, you said it's someone in this room" jisung yelled and pointed a finger at minho. "he's right, no one ate so much food!" jeongin added at which you started grinning. "right? and the only person who could be pregnant is y/n and-" chan started, but quickly stopped in his tracks when he realised. he turned to you and stared at your face with disbelief, the boys following after him. "y/n, is there anything you wanna tell us?" the boys were staring at you, their bewildered faces making you laugh out loud. minho walked to you and sat by your side, giggling with you at how ridiculously funny the boys looked. when you calmed down a bit, you finally decided to answer their question. "i think you've already realised, but yes, there is something we wanna tell you guys" you started and took minho's hand, suddenly feeling a bit anxious. you took a deep breath and continued, "we are going to have a baby and no - we're not getting a fourth cat" you stated, squeezing minho's hand in yours. the boys looked at you two for a while and then the chaos began. they started yelling and jumping all around your living room. "oh my god, y/n thats amazing! congratulations!" chan said loudly, trying to shout over the rest. "we're gonna be uncles! yeah!" felix started screaming, visibly overjoyed by the news. he then proceeded to trap you in a tight hug, making sure not to squeeze you too hard. the rest of the boys followed him and soon after all of them were hugging you. you didn't see much besides their heads, but when you stood on your tiptoes you managed to take a glance at minho - he was standing next to all of you, his face lit up in a huge grin. "okay boys, let me breathe," you chuckled, feeling quite overwhelmed with their love. "oh my god, of course! hey, stop hugging her!" changbin screamed, suddenly protecting you from the boys. jisung was the last one to break the hug, which he did only because chan used force to get him away from you. "c'mon y/n, have a seat, you have to rest," felix exclaimed, leading you to the couch. you giggled again - you found it adorable how they became so protective over you in the span of ten minutes. "do you need anything? like baby clothes or a stroller? wait, we can help you to arrange a nursery!" changbin started to ramble. "and we can buy you all the essentials, like diapers and baby formula," seungmin added, getting his phone to write down a shopping list. "oh, can i teach your kid how to ride a bike? pleeeease!" jisung begged. "okay, slow down everybody," minho finally spoke, trying to control the situation. "y/n is fine, everything is fine, she's only like twelve weeks pregnant, we have plenty of time to plan everything and no - i will be the one to teach them that," he added, hoping that the boys would quiet down. "minho's right, we're fine by now. but im glad our baby will have such amazing uncles,'' you assured the boys, grinning widely. even though the boys' reaction made you laugh for the next few days, you were happy that you had their support. you and minho were nervous about the whole pregnancy thing, but their will to help and be there for both of you made you think that after all universe made a perfect plan for you.
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auteurdelabre · 5 months
Text
Something to Fight For (SERIES) Part 11
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Word Count: 7.0
Pairing: Dad!Joel Miller x f!reader (no use of y/n, no age or physical descriptions)
WARNINGS: Sexual innuendo, sad angsty shit.
A/N: The story is gonna twist and turn and you may want to jump ship. But I hope you can trust that as your captain I’m gonna get our two leads to a safe and happy shore.
Being with Tess is easy. 
She likes the same movies as Joel, drinks the same beer, and has a kid the same age. She hates sardines and black and white movies. She's a nurse, so nothing much fazes her. She fits well with Joel.
Sarah and Daniel don't know Joel and Tess are dating. As far as the kids know it's just play dates more often and the occasional dinner.  
Tess has every other weekend free. Daniel goes to visit his dad then, plus half the summer. On those weekends Tess comes over after Sarah is asleep. She stays the night in Joel's bed and leaves before Sarah wakes up. She's aggressive in bed which is a nice change of pace for Joel. 
She tells Joel everything. What she loves about her job, her hopes and aspirations. She confides in him when she's anxious about Daniel being at his dad's. There's nothing hidden, nothing secreted away.
It's only been a few weeks but Joel likes it. It feels comfortable. He doesn't worry that Tess will stop calling. He doesn't worry that Sarah is getting too attached.
He just exists in it. 
And if he thinks about you sometimes so what? If he stands in the shower, water running down his back in rivulets as he thrusts into his fists and comes holding in the moan of your name, so what? 
It doesn't mean anything. 
But then last night. The horrible thing he said to you. The way you'd looked at him with such disgust in your features.
"I'm not her mother"
"Damn right you're not."
He wakes the next morning with a stone in his stomach. His bed is full of Tess and her sweet smelling hair and her sleepy smile when she rolls over. But he can't smile back. He can't do anything because he's hurt you. He hurt you in a way that wasn't fair. And you're mad at him and why shouldn't you be? He had so many ways of approaching it, so many ways he could have told you and instead he fell back into what he always finds familiar; irritation and anger. Those emotions are safe, those emotions keep him strong.
But then why does he feel so weak right now?
He wants to phone you but knows how that went the last time.
He presses an absent kiss to Tess' temple as she leaves at dawns first light.
Then he rolls over, curling into himself, hating every moment of the last twenty four hours.
But mostly, he hates himself.
////
"YOU'RE FUCKING ENGAGED!"
"I'M FUCKING ENGAGED!"
You and Maria are jumping up and down in her kitchen, holding hands and giggling like you're teenagers again. She keeps spinning and holding her hand up to look at it.
"Isn't the ring perfect?"
"More than perfect!"
“I didn’t see it coming at all,” Maria enthuses. “I still can’t believe it.”
Your face is hurting from all your smiling. Seeing Maria so elated, so over the moon is making your heart expand bigger and bigger. 
"We're gonna do a little engagement dinner in a few weeks," Maria tells you. "With our best man and maid of honor!"
You do a little mock bow. The wedding is going to be a quick one. Maria and Tommy have never been over the top wedding people. Just something simple with family and a few friends in a few months. You know that this will mean more time with Joel and to your credit you don't wince or act horrified when Maria mentions about you and Joel being in the wedding party. You smile and hug her and say that you can't wait.
But memories of that last conversation you had with Joel are seared into your brain.
And while everything in you commands you to run and hide from the conflict, you raised the phone to your ear later that night, breathing shakily. 
You're not losing Sarah. 
You may have lost Joel in all this bullshit, but you're not losing Sarah. 
Your hand is trembling so severely you hit the wrong buttons on your phone and have to redial. 
"Hello."
"Joel, we need to talk. I know you're busy so I'll keep it brief," you say trying to quell the panic creeping into your voice at his flat greeting. "It's about the other night."
There's a long sigh.
"It was fucking horrible of me to say. I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I tossed the money at you like that, like some fucking asshole.” You can hear him and he’s pacing, the familiar creak of his kitchen floor sounding over the phone. “I’ve been thinking about it since you left last night and I’m fucking sick about it. I just. . . I wanted to call but I thought you’d want me to leave you alone and I just. . . I'm so fucking sorry, please forgive me.”
He trails off and you stare at your phone. You weren’t expecting that. You think you’d been ready for him to be more defensive. So it throws you, causing you to speak stilted and stumble over your words.
"W-well, It’s just… I just wanted. . . yeah, I forgive you. I wanted to say that I'm sorry."
You can hear the delay in his response, the surprise in his voice. "Wait… You're apologizing to me?"
"Yeah," you nod even though he can't see it. "I mean at first I was really pissed off. And I still am about some stuff.  But, then, I thought about it and I think I can see why you were upset. I didn't talk to you or Sarah the whole time I was gone."
Joel gives a small hum in response.
“It was wrong of me to do that.”
And suddenly you can't speak because now there’s a knot in your throat that you're having trouble swallowing through. You hear him moving back and you imagine that he's moved to sit on his sofa. The silence stretches on to an uncomfortable length and you hear Joel clear his throat.
“S'okay if I say something?”
You choke out a sound of agreement.
"Michelle said she'd always love Sarah," Joel says in a voice of quiet solemnity. "But if that were the case it wouldn't have been so easy for her to leave."
You find your voice at that. "That was different, Joel."
"Not to Sarah. You know how she is about her Mom. She barely knew her and she’s still devastated about it. The photos, the stories help but there will always be that missing piece in her that I can’t fix.” His voice catches before steadying.  “It's easy for some people to say they love a person. It's the sticking around that's hard."
"I know."
"And I know you say you had your reasons and I know you never would do anything to hurt Sarah on purpose but the fact of the matter is you did." Joel sounds like he's taking a shuddering breath. "You know she asked me why you hadn't come around? When I told her I didn't know she asked if you were mad at her." 
Sarah had thought you were mad at her? You could not feel worse if you tried. You take a steadying breath, your eyes slamming shut.
"I'm sorry," you say, your throat tight. "I'm so fucking sorry."
Now the tears come, soft and silent. You're so thankful Joel can't see them over the phone. You can hear him sigh gently and it's the sigh of a man whose walls are coming down.
"I know," Joel says soothingly and if he were there with you, you just know he’d be holding you in his arms. "I know you are. And I'm sorry too. It was a knee-jerk reaction.  Its just she's my kid and hearing you say you love her was terrifying. All I could think was how heartbroken she’d be when you never came back."
"I understand."
You hadn't wanted to talk about this. Hadn't wanted to bring up the horrible trip back to Chicago. But you can feel Joel slipping away from you and you panic. 
"If you give me a chance I'll explain what happened when I was gone. I'll tell you everything."
Pathetic hope flares in you. If you explain maybe there's hope. Maybe he'll --
"I don't want you to do that. Don't want you feeling like you have to talk about something that'll upset you.”
“You wanted to know,” you say with a panic in your chest.
“But there's no real point, is there? Doesn't change anything," Joel murmurs. "What's done is done n' I'm with Tess now. I don't want you dragging stuff up that'll make things hard. I don't want you hurtin'.”
Don't you fucking sniffle.
"Right, yeah," you answer him through tightly closed eyes. "Of course."
Don't let him hear you cry.
He's with Tess. There's no confusion there, no wiggle room. You dig your fingernails into your palm to keep from crying, leaving tiny crescent moons in the flesh of your hand
"Just know that I'll always be there for Sarah," you swear this oath ardently. "As long as she needs me, I'll be there. I know you don't trust that right now and that's okay, I don't blame you. If I was her parent I'd probably feel exactly the same. But I need you to know that I mean it. I love her, I really do. I wasn't lying about that."
Joel is silent and you can imagine him looking off into the distance in that silent, introspective way of his. 
“You mean a lot to Sarah and to me too. Even if we can’t be together like I thought, you mean something to me. I don’t want you gone from our lives. You asked if we could be friends and . . .” You hear him inhale sharply. “I wanna give it a shot.”
Is this what heartbreak feels like? This searing pain that goes through a person’s sternum? It sure as fuck feels like it. More acute that anything you felt with Paul, stronger despite the shorter time frame you’ve had with Joel. Well, you had nothing with Joel did you? Not even a day.
"I want that too. I know what it's like to feel abandoned by people you care about," you offer, your fingernails digging into your palm further. "I would never want to do that to Sarah."
"I know that," Joel assures,  and his voice holds all the warmth of the world. "I know you never meant to hurt her. And again I’m sorry for what I said; it was a horrible fucking thing to say and I didn’t mean it."
All you want is to be there in that house in his arms.
"I'm sorry too. I really am. I hope one day you and Sarah can forgive me."
"Forgiveness was never the issue," Joel replies softly. "You had that the minute you asked for it. It's the forgetting that's hard."
"Yeah."
The forgetting.
///
Time has a funny way of making you remember. 
You thought you'd never see him again. 
Never see the way his black hair falls into his blue eyes. Never see the shy way his mouth quirks when you say something funny. 
And yet here you are at a nearby coffee shop talking to Paul. Paul, the man who broke your heart.
He looks better than you remember. He finally got a better haircut. He seems calmer than before as well, his lithe body leaning back in the chair regarding you as the cafe bustles around you.
You've just finished telling him about the sanctuary and he responded in exactly the way you wanted, with a kind of truthful enthusiasm that made you fall for him in the first place. 
"That's amazing," he enthuses shaking his head in disbelief. "Scratch that, you're amazing. Look at how much you've done for that place."
"Not just me," you insist, feeling guilty about taking all the credit. 
"Ah yes," Paul takes a sip of his coffee. "How is James?"
"Alex, actually. James resigned."
"Oh wow," Paul looks shocked by this. You consider talking to him about James being a big booger sugar fan but then decide against it.  But you do tell him about getting kennels built and how your office has been renovated.
Paul has always had this ability to make you feel like the most fascinating person on the planet. When you talk he really listens. 
You've missed that. 
When his face grow sober and he puts the mug next to yours on the table, you immediately tense. Paul means across the table, his hand clutching yours. You note this with passivity. 
"I'm so sorry for what happened. Your mom told me."
"How?"
"She called me." Paul is tilting his head slightly, a habit that always reminds you of the dogs you see at work. 
"Why would you be in contact with my mom?"
"We talk sometimes."
"You do?"
"Of course," Paul replies softly. "Until this most recent one, you weren't returning any of my texts and I was worried. I wanted to check up on you."
Irritation goes through your veins like a drug. You pull your hand back from his, wrapping it around your mug. 
"You broke up with me, Paul, remember? Why would I be responding to your texts?"
"Because it's not like we broke up because we stopped loving each other," Paul insists. "We just wanted different things at different times."
You lapse into silence, considering this. He's not completely wrong, you surmise. For you, it had been the bitter end of a relationship, for Paul. It seems it was simply a pause. 
"I told you I'd always love you," Paul continues. "And I meant it."
"You also told me we were drifting apart."
"its how I felt at the time," Paul answers honestly. His eyes trace your face in a way that feels tender. “I wanted to go on tour, I wanted to bring music to people. You used to want that too.”
“Yeah, well,” you clear your throat, moving back in your chair and shrugging. “Things change. I changed.”
“I know something about change,” Paul offers with a shy smile. "I got a job teaching music. Doesn't pay a ton but it's reliable."
This shocks you. Paul had been so dedicated to his music, so invested in making it his everyday reality by touring all over. 
"What about Jack and the band?"
"Weekends," Paul shrugs. "A hobby."
You’re gobsmacked. A year ago you had needed to split up because of Paul’s unwavering belief that touring with Jack was what needed to happen. That he would live the rest of his life unfulfilled if he didn’t.
And now he sitting here across from you, offering himself up as the exact man you wanted him to be?
Timing is everything.
Fucking timing.
"A lot has changed in a year," you say coolly.
"A year without you has felt longer," Paul confides. "Thought I knew what I wanted. But playing music and touring? It's not the same when you don't have your person to come home to."
You hate the way your treacherous heart lurches at that. Your bruised heart you’ve tried to mend. 
"I missed you, baby."
You feel all the hurt from the past few weeks with Joel heavy on your heart. The realization that yet another relationship didn't work out for you.  The thought that maybe there’s a reason things never work and maybe it has everything to do with you and being unlovable.
"I missed you too, Paul." 
And it's true, you did miss Paul. You'd loved Paul for so long. And even though that love is buried you think that maybe, just maybe, there's a chance for revival if it’s cared for and nurtured.
You talk for a long time. You talk about what it would mean to be back together. You talk about your fears and what it would look like to be a couple again. You talk until the woman who runs the cafe politely tells you to leave. 
Paul wants you, even after everything. Paul is here, not Joel. It will never again be Joel. 
So later that night when Paul gently guides your mouth to his you let him. You let him hold you and kiss you and you think that this is all you can hope for. 
This is all you deserve. 
///
You and Maria pull into the parking lot of the restaurant to celebrate the engagement. You're thankful it's not the shitty Italian place you had your first 'date' with Joel.  This place is more casual with a pub-like ambiance. Despite this, you've dressed up a bit. Done your hair nicely and pressed perfume to your neck. 
Maria thinks you're all done up for her for her engagement party and remarks how beautiful you look, but this isn't true. You did it because as his best man, you know Joel will be there. 
The thought of a whole evening with Joel would have intimidated you a week ago, but after your phone conversation you feel excited to see him. Plus he's undoubtedly brought Sarah and she is the brightest of bright spots. 
"Over here!" Tommy calls and as you turn your head to follow Maria you see Joel sitting at the table beside a beautiful woman who smiles up at you as Maria and you approach. 
He brought Tess? 
The minute he sees you, a look crosses Joel’s face. A look that you can’t actually decipher. He murmurs something to Tess and then he’s moving from the table towards the washrooms. You don’t bothering watching him go.
Tommy offers you and Maria your seats next to his at the booth. You’re directly across from Tess and Joel. You want to hold in a groan.
“Hi, I’m Tess,” the woman says with a small wave from her side of the table. You wave back, introducing yourself.  Tommy pushes a menu towards you and you busy yourself reading the specials, trying to stop the galloping of your heart. 
“Joel says you're the best babysitter," Tess enthuses with a broad smile, determined to talk to you. "And Sarah never stops talking about you. I feel like I'm meeting a celebrity."
"Mmm." You feel sick to your stomach. "Where is Sarah? I thought she'd be here."
"I convinced Joel to let my mom take care of the kids tonight," Tess explains. "Took a lot of convincing though. You know how stubborn he can be."
"Oh sure," you say glumly. 
Tess seems to want to say more but Joel has returned from the washroom and slid into the chair next to Tess and across from you. You could be mistaken but his temples look damp, like he splashed water on his face. 
"Did I miss anything?" he asks, looking between you and Tess.
"Just saying how my mom is babysitting the kids so we could come solo tonight," Tess smiles at him. 
You toss back your drink.  "Does she have her first aid?"
"Huh?" Tess is looking at you confused.
"Your mom. Does she have CPR training?" You continue. "Can she drive at night if there's an emergency?"
"Hey." Joel's voice is a low warning, his eyes narrowed. 
But Tess's face has broken into amusement and she's laughing in a way that can only be described as musical. She rubs Joel's arm with affection. 
"Joel she's kidding."
"Yeah," you say with a forced smile. "Kidding."
"Maria told me you were funny," Tess acknowledges. You don't know what to say to that. You give a polite nod before everyone's attention is drawn to the end of the table. Maria and Tommy are seated there. Tommy has his arm around Maria and she's nestled under his armpit like she was made to be there. 
"Thanks for coming out," Tommy says raising a glass. “Just a little something to celebrate us getting’ engaged. Nothing fancy but let’s raise a glass and…Well, except maybe you. You keep your glass on the table.”
Tommy winks at you as he motions to your pint, the meaning obvious and Maria lets out a barking laugh, turning to you and shaking her head.
“I can’t believe you did that.”
“Tommy!’ You defend, your cheeks flaming. “You told her?”
“He couldn’t stop laughing telling me,” Maria informs you. Tess and Joel are looking at the three of you dissolving into giggles, confusedly.  Tommy sobers quickly, raising his glass once more.
“To finding the right person,” he says warmly. “To love.”
You raise your glass along with the rest of the table, tapping it gently against Tess’s glass when she leans over with her glass extended. You ignore Joel when his tips towards you. Instead you drink deeply, letting the hoppy ale coat your tongue.
You learn more about Tess because she never seems to stop talking. She's a nurse. She's a beer fan. She's nuts about horses. Of course she is. She probably has a secret collection of flannel shirts too.
With every new detail you find yourself pouring another glass of beer from the communal pitchers. The beer momentarily makes you feel more affectionate towards the group, even annoying ol' Tess who seems determined to talk the entire fucking night. 
She's pretty. Closer to Joel's age and very confident. That's the only word you can think to describe her. The way she carries herself, the way she can just interject comments into the conversation all night as if she's been part of the group forever.
“We’re going to the site tomorrow morning early,” Tess enthuses now. “Can’t wait to see it.”
"Oh, are you a construction worker as well as a nurse?"  You don't mean for it to sound snarky, but it comes out harsh and ugly. 
Maria and Tommy shoot you a similar surprised look with raised brows. Joel is glowering at you and Tess is laughing awkwardly. 
"I just mean," you scramble, trying to salvage your faux pas. "You seem to know -"
You watch as she wraps a hand over his shoulder, resting her chin there and looking at Joel fondly. 
"I just wanted to see where my man spends all his time." 
My man. 
Thankfully the waitress is there with pitchers of beer for the table before you can say something hideous. You throw yours back by the time everyone is just finishing their first sips. Maria is still looking at you incredulously. 
"Are you seeing anyone?" Tess asks you politely. And now you can feel so many sets of eyes on you, it causes your skin to crawl. You think about your audience, unsure if you should answer.
But then you feel like there’s this overwhelming air of pity around the table as they look at you. You suppose this is what motivates you to answer how you do.
"Uh, yeah," you nod looking at your dinner. "His name's Paul."
There’s the sharp clattering of cutlery and you wince. You just know that Maria heard you.
"Wait, did you say Paul?" Maria is leaning forward to see you down the table. You can feel her eyes on you. "When did that happen?"
"Maria," Tommy says placing a calming hand over hers. 
"Sorry," Maria says blinking rapidly and forcing a smile. "I just didn't know. Just caught me off guard."
"Wait, Paul Paul?," Tommy says now as his mind finally connects the dots. "The guy you dated before? The musician?"
Please stop. Just stop asking me-
"I thought this whole dinner was about celebrating your engagement," Joel says coolly. "So let's talk about it. Mainly, how much do I have to spend on your bachelor party when you did fuck all for mine, Tommy?"
The tension is broken for the moment and the group laughs before it falls into a comfortable pattern of chatting. For a moment you’re suddenly grateful to Joel for diverting the conversation.  
You begin to like the beer, even though you've never been a big drinker. You like it because it makes you feel fuzzy and warm. 
You try your best not to look at Joel through the dinner. But he's across from you so it's hard. His kneecap brushes yours at one point and you nearly jump out of your skin. It's when he shifts, putting his arm on the seat behind Tess, letting his hand drift lazily against her shoulder that a sudden anger unleashes itself in you. 
All the goodwill you have for Joel from that phone conversation seems to be ebbing away with every pint you throw back. He's sitting there practically rubbing it in your face that he's with Tess!
Fuck Joel Miller. Fuck him for thinking its fine to tell you how much he cares about you and then find another woman so easily. If he liked you so much why were you so easy to replace?
The meal is almost over when you get a buzz on your hip. You pull out your phone under the table and see Paul has sent you a message.
C u at home gorgeous. I'll bring dessert.
You swallow thickly before placing the phone back in your pocket. You feel eyes on you and glance up to see Joel studying you from across the table. You pour yourself another beer. 
"How many is that?" Joel murmurs in a low voice only you can hear. The rest of the group is chatting at the other end of the table. 
"Last time I counted it was..." You adopt a contemplative look, pretending to add in your head before your face drops. "Oh right, none of your business."
You throw the drink back with renewed gusto. Joel watches this silently, his face revealing nothing, before his attention is back to the group.
You start to understand why people love beer so much. It makes you numb to the fact that Maria looked horrified at the thought of you being back with Paul. It makes you impervious to the sight of Tess caressing Joel's forearm in front of you, as if she's purposely trying to rub it in.
"Maria I forgot to tell you, I found the best charity shop by the boulevard." 
"Please tell me it's nothing like the last one you dragged me to," Maria says with a chuckle. "I'm still finding glitter all over my closet!"
She and Tess break into high pitched giggles. Your fork stills on your plate at the sound.
Wait. Maria and Tess have been hanging out just the two of them? It's not enough that she's taken Joel, now she's gonna come for Maria too? 
A coiling tendril of insecurity and anger starts to move through you and as if she can sense it, Tess turns and smiles in your direction. 
"You should come with us next time! Maybe we can find some good stuff for the wedding."
She's coming to the wedding?! She's known Maria and Tommy for what, a month, maybe two, and now she's invading the wedding? A sickening sensation is taking you over. A sensation that has nothing to do with Tess’ offer and everything to do with wanting to slap Joel fucking Miller across his beautiful, horrible face.
"I'm busy," you mutter. 
Tess's smile is fading and the rest of the group is now staring at you awkwardly. Except for Joel, he's openly glaring at you. You can see the muscle in his jaw working overtime as he pins you with his gaze. 
Tess glances at Maria and then back to you giving a weak laugh. "But, I didn't say when we were going." 
Fuck.
Your cheeks burn with embarrassment. You want to be anywhere but here. You hate the pitying look Tommy is sending you even worse than the open hostility that Joel is. 
Maria seems to sense your discomfort because she's talking loudly about dessert. Everyone agrees that a tart sounds great. 
You take this opportunity to slink off to the bathroom feeling properly admonished. You move with a slight wobble as you stand, finding it much harder to walk now that the restaurant is so packed and the room seems to be tilted. 
You stand outside the washroom door, hidden behind the wall for a few moments. Is it too late to just run? No, fuck, your purse and phone are back at the table. Maybe you can tell everyone you got food poisoning?
"The fuck are you doing?"
Your eyes dart to the approaching figure of Joel. He rounds the corner, stalking towards you like a creature of terrifying grace. He comes to stand inches from you, so close you have to tilt back a bit to see his face. 
"Whadda you mean?" You say trying to keep the slur from your voice. 
"Being a bitch to Tess for no reason? Getting wasted?" Joel replies pointedly. "In all the time I've known you, I've never seen you have more than one drink."
"I'm not drunk," you counter even as you struggle to focus on his increasingly blurry face. "You don't see me all the time Joel. You don't know if I drink or not. You actually don't know me at all."
"I do know you," Joel replies in a voice so dark and low it feels siphoned from the soles of his work boots. "You think all you deserve is that asshole that left you."
You give a scoffing noise. Joel Miller of all people is trying to give you relationship advice? 
Joel continues, his neck bending so he can keep your eyes. "Hell, I don't think you even like him. He's just convenient."
You want to scream in his face. You want to pummel his strong chest. And you want to hug him, to have him hold you. It's so complicated being around Joel and it infuriates you that you still feel this way knowing you can't have him. 
"What do you care?" You shoot back, holding the door to the washroom to keep your balance. You make sure to pitch your voice low and quiet so the table can’t overhear. "You have perfect Tess and now you'll have a perfect family and a perfect life. How perfectly fucking perfect for you."
You know you sound absolutely crazy as you say this to him, your eyes half closed in a drunken stupor as you sway in place. Joel looks exasperated.
“You said you wanted to be friends.”
"You guys sleep together yet?” you say over him, not hearing what he’s just said. “You tell her the same stuff you told me that night?"
Joel's gaze hardens. His shoulders are shaking as he breathes in and out at a rapid pace. You want to punch something. Mainly Joel’s face.
"You tell her that you want her for your own? That you need to taste her? You probably do. I was such a fucking idiot."
You go to walk away but Joel is stopping you, his hand on your shoulder keeping you there by pressing it to the wall. He does it lightly and you know if you pulled away from him he’d let you go. But his eyes pin you to the wall, keeping you there.
"Tess doesn't walk out when things get tough," Joel tells you in a low whisper. "She doesn't tell me how she feels and then leave and ignore me for weeks."
"Nope. She's perfect."
"She doesn't need to be perfect. She just needs to talk to me, to not run away from me." Joel is inches from your face. "Do you know how I felt when I heard from Tommy that you'd been talking to Maria the whole time you were gone?" 
You're surprised by this. You weren't aware he'd known anything about your trip away, including who you talk to.  
"I told you how I felt about you and then you pick up and leave," Joel says in a voice that feels dragged from the base of his abdomen. "And I was the one here panicking, calling you, begging for you to call me back like a fucking loser."
"You’re not-"
"You never called once."
"I couldn't."
"You called Maria." Joel defends. 
"Maria is like my family," you say with a deep frown, irritated that you have to defend yourself. "I've known her since we were teenagers."
Joel is silent, his face drawn into a cold frown. 
"Joel, I couldn't call you. We were so... fresh, so new." You run your hands through your hair, tugging. "I couldn't stand the thought of dragging you down with me."
His eyes are searching yours. "That wasn't just for you to decide."
"Yes it was!" you insist, your voice wobbling. "I get to decide when and what I share, Joel."
"You do," Joel replies airily. "Just don't expect everyone to be waiting around for you when you finally decide to do it."
"You certainly weren't," you bite back. "How long after you told me about all those feelings did you go running off to Tess?"
Silence.
“C'mon Joel," you demand, your drunkenness feeding your ire. "All those feelings you claimed you had churning up inside you. Where did they go so quickly? Be honest." 
If looks could kill you'd be dead five times over. He pulls back, his hand moving from your shoulder and falling to his hip.
"Or maybe they weren't as strong as you led me to believe," you say swaying as you try to keep your gaze focused. "Maybe you just liked the attention, Joel. And now you have someone new, someone easier, someone who doesn’t know that you ran just as quickly as I did."
Joel shuts his eyes and takes a deep, steadying breath, it's slow and even and you are terrified at the sound of it. It's as if he's a giant balloon releasing all the hateful tension of the last five minutes.
“I wanted you so fucking badly. I told you things I’ve never told anyone. Ever. Not even Tommy.”
You feel sick to your stomach listening to Joel because in all the time you’ve known him you don’t remember him sounding this defeated. Then his eyes open and it's like you've been kicked in the gut. All the hatred and the fury you'd been expecting is gone. Instead all that remains is a naked sorrow that makes you do a double take. 
“And I get to your house that morning and you won’t look at me and your bag is packed and all I can think is that it’s Michelle all over again. So yeah, I fucked up and left. I’m sorry.” Joel’s breathing is unsteady. “But you don’t get to act like it’s the same as what you did to me. I called you how many times that day to apologize? And I didn’t expect you tell me everything. I just wanted to know you were okay. I wanted to be there for you. And you shut me out.”
Please Joel. Please don’t look at me like that. Not with eyes that sad.
“And you don’t want me. That’s fine. You tell me you want to be friends? I agree to it. I moved on with a woman who has made it clear that she wants all of me and you’re mad at me for it?”
Are you mad? Its what you wanted wasn't it? Less complication? Joel as your friend?
So then why are you this fucking angry?
"I. . . I thought you wanted us to be friends," he says in a voice so quiet you almost don’t hear it. 
You stare up at him, blinking as his words register with you. Friends. You can't be friends with Joel Miller. Not when you like him this much. Not when the sight of him still makes your stomach do cartwheels.  
But there’s still a fire in your belly, multiplied by the alcohol but definitely not reliant on it.
"I don't want to be your friend," you bite back. "I don't need you using me as free babysitting so you can go off with Tess and get your dick wet." 
This is the ugliest thing you've ever said to him. Maybe to anyone. It's such a cruel, twisted thing to say to a man who has done nothing besides not wait around for you to decide whether you like him or not. Joel stares down at you with a look of such disappointment you're convinced you could shrivel away to nothing under it.
"That was a shitty fucking thing to say."
You wonder if he's going to yell at you or slap the wall beside your head. You never find out because Maria rounds the corner to see you both locked in a mutual glare. 
"Hey guys, was wondering where you got off to," Maria says eye-balling you both. Its clear there is tension, made even more obvious by the seething glare Joel shoots you before stalking back to the table.
You both watch him leave and then Maria is staring at you with a look of someone solving a very large and very obvious puzzle. 
"You like Joel."
You want to shake your head and insist that she's wrong. You want to deny everything and force a laugh. But instead your head drops forward onto your sternum and you're holding in tears.
"Yeah." 
Maria brings you stumbling into her arms and guides you to exit the restaurant. She's brought your purse and she holds you steady as you weave out the doors. 
"I'm taking you home."
"The dinner -"
"Over anyway," Maria insists as you both buckle in. "The dessert was disgusting."
She lets you sit in silence the entire drive home but inside the suite after leading you to your sofa, Maria fixes you with a stern look.
"So how long? And you better be fucking honest with me now."
"A while," you admit. 
You tell her about the butterfly's at trivia. You tell her about the kennels he spent hours making for you. You tell her about the ice cream and the park.  The way you’d felt when Joel took your hand in his, driving you home after James. You tell her about his finger tracing your lip. You tell her about the kiss at the party. You tell her about how beautiful he kisses and how he told you how he felt. You tell her everything because she’s Maria and not telling her has been hurting you more than you realized.  (You don’t tell her about after the party though because. . . Well, some things are sacred to you alone.)
She holds you and she wipes your tears when you tell her about what you said to Joel at the party.
“I am not team Joel by any means, but why didn’t you just call him?”
“I couldn’t, Maria,” you say with a quivering chin. “I just couldn’t let him know that part of my life. Not yet. And now look how quickly he moved on. I was gone for what, a month?”
“Honey,” she says in a way that feels far too maternal coming from a woman near to your age. She pulls you into her arms again and you cry there, hating everything about that night and how much it has ruined. “Look at it this way, he admits everything to you, you leave and don’t call for six weeks. He thinks ‘oh fuck, she doesn’t want me like I want her. I’m an idiot. Plus I have a kid who’s grown attached. I better get out now.’”
“And get with another woman?”
“Joel is a guy. Guys are simple,” Maria explains  flatly. “He has an ego and you crushed it when you left and ignored him. So he found a woman who built it back up. Made him feel good. A woman who he can see without it being weird for Sarah. A woman who, let’s be honest, is hot and cool and doesn’t really demand much of Joel aside from his time and attention.”
Maria is right. You know it. Tess is a better fit for Joel and Sarah.
You think back to your childhood, sometime between the good and bad years. You were no more than seven and you came upon an abandoned kitten half buried under leaves in the park, left by its mother. It was small, a runt, and probably hours away from dying.
You'd rushed home with it in your jacket, your little heart pounding as you brought it to your mother. A wise woman with a sensitive heart to animals. Of course she helped you bathe it, feed it, nurse it back to life. For two weeks you and that kitten were inseparable. You held him tightly to you, warming him. You read him stories and you sang sweet melody's as he slept. And he grew, his mewls turning from sad yips to mighty meow's. He began to follow you around the house, playfully nipping at your heels as you squealed with delight.
You told everyone at school about the kitten who you named Marmalade because of his orange color. And one Wednesday two weeks after you discovered him you arrived home to see his blanket at the end of your bed was gone. The carrier you'd bought was missing from the hall closet and when you ran to your mother terrified she had told you what you would ultimately come to know: You'd thought love was enough and it wasn't. The cat needed more. A family that could take better care of it. 
You'd sobbed for hours with your mom rocking you in her arms.
"They have lots of money and room for him," your mom had told you as your face pressed into on her shoulder sniffling. "That kitten is going to have a better life then most people. Letting him go was the kindest thing you could have done, sweetheart."
You think of that kitten now as Maria mentions Tess and you realize that once more your love is not enough. Joel will be better off.
You can't keep him.
He's not yours.
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cozy-cinnamon-roll · 19 days
Text
We Interrupt This Broadcast...
(Another two-part-er! Stay tuned for part 2 very shortly!)
Fandom: Hazbin Hotel
Pairing: Ler!Rosie, Ler!OC, Lee!Alastor (strictly platonic)
Content/Trigger Warnings: tickling, very brief blood mention, medical themes (non-graphic & painless). One comically graphic description of cannibalism (first paragraph). Also, this is set right after Alastor gets his ass handed to him by Adam, so you can expect a lil angst sprinkled in there (don't worry, he gets better).
If there are any trigger warnings you'd like me to add in the future (and/or to this fic), PLEASE let me know! I am always happy to oblige. 💕
This is a ticklefic! If that's not your cup of tea, kindly move along.
Ok... I'm gonna be honest folks, I have no idea if this fic is even coherent. This ain't my Best Work™ - this is literally the coping mechanism I've been relying on to put myself to sleep every night this week because HOLY SHIT my life is stressful at the moment. 😅
But anyway, I've decided I'm just gonna go ahead and post it, because 1) the world needs more lee!alastor, and 2) I'm not here to do my Best Work™, I'm here to write cute self-indulgent little stories about Alastor getting tickled to bits by his platonic wife. I'm here to decompress my hypervigilant ass at the end of long days by imagining my favorite endearingly creepy characters get wrecked by my other favorite endearingly creepy characters.
In summary, I'm here to have a good time, and I certainly did with this fic. So I hope you do too!
Featuring my new oc! (Rosie and Al still take center stage though, don't worry lol)
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It's a little-known fact that cannibals make terrific doctors. When you spend every meal tearing the human body apart with your face, you end up with a pretty comprehensive intuition for demonic anatomy.
So Alastor supposed he should consider himself lucky to have Rosie and her loyal posse so close at hand after his battle with Adam.
He was certainly relieved when Rosie had stumbled upon him, barely conscious from blood loss on the floor of his wrecked radio tower - and especially a few hours later when, having been rushed back to Cannibal Town, he was whisked into a warm, familiar parlor and deposited on a comfy couch.
Within minutes Rosie had summoned a woman in a white coat who swooped in, produced a bottle of a strange, foul-smelling gel from her medicine bag, soaked a rag with it, and pressed it firmly against Alastor's wound. The searing pain evaporated almost on contact.
"What is that?" Alastor breathes, visibly relaxing against the arm of the couch he's propped against.
"Anesthetic." She begins preparing a needle and thread.
"Didn't know such a thing existed down here."
"Of course! We're demons, not barbarians," Rosie scoffs, watching from the sidelines.
Cannibals, as a rule, rarely last long enough to need a doctor, but Rosie is no ordinary cannibal. And Dr. Trudy Sawblade - a young surgical resident in life, and Rosie's personal physician in death - is the best of the best. While she hadn't quite completed her medical training before her untimely death, in Rosie's service she's gained more than enough experience to make up for her education cut short.
"That salve is derived from a distant cousin of the poison dart frog. Evidently most of the frogs are assholes, because hell has an downright enormous population of them." Trudy's voice is measured and matter-of-fact, with a soft lilt that is both soothing and vaguely unsettling. "Haven't been discovered on earth yet. Which is good, because one whiff of this would end a mortal life in a matter of seconds."
"Lucky you, you're already dead," Rosie chimes in cheerfully.
"Lucky me," Alastor murmurs, without conviction.
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Truthfully, with the pain from his chest wound numbed, the weight of his recent defeat presses even more heavily on Alastor's heart. Someone - probably one of the cannibals who helped transport him from the rubble pile to Rosie's parlor - must have grabbed the broken microphone as they carried him out, because the fractured pieces are sitting on the side table at the other end of the couch. Under normal circumstances the awareness that someone had touched his staff without permission would spark a flash of rage from the Radio Demon, but now he can only stare dismally at what remains of his cane - aware that it's no longer capable of accomplishing much anyway.
It takes only a few minutes for Trudy to stitch Alastor back up and wrap his chest in a stretchy gauze. Meanwhile, Rosie quickly mends the worst of the tears in his clothes - if only to avoid having to watch her friend stare down the couch at his broken staff, with an uncharacteristic half-smile that damn near breaks her heart.
"Alright, sir, that should do it for now. It's a nasty gash, for sure, but the salve should keep it from getting infected."
"Thank you, my dear." He gives an appreciative nod to the surgeon, and Rosie too, as his fellow overlord hands him back his clothes.
"Can't have you going around with a big hole in your chest, can we?" Rosie steps back and scrutinizes her own patch job as he slowly dresses himself again. "It ain't perfect... especially for a classy fellow like you. But I'm sorry to report that I saw my tailor at a Sunday brunch just last week. Inconvenient, but I gotta admit, he made a wonderful casserole."
For the briefest of moments, this aside manages to tweak Alastor's smile into something vaguely genuine. "I'm sure he did."
"One more thing, Mr. Alastor, sir," Trudy jumps in as the radio demon pulls on his coat. "So sorry, I almost forgot. The angel also threw you against a wall, correct?"
At the recollection, Alastor's smile stiffens into something more closely resembling a grimace. His antlers rise between his ears. "Does it matter?"
"You may be at risk for internal injuries." If Trudy is at all fazed by inviting the most powerful overlord in hell's annoyance, it doesn't show. "I really ought to check, just to be safe."
Alastor looks away. As loathe as he is to even acknowledge his own fragility, he truly isn't sure of the extent of his own injuries - given that he's not used to receiving them in the first place. And he'd be damned (well, damned twice) if Adam had ruptured something vital, spelling the radio demon's second death a few hours after the fact.
He grits his teeth. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt."
"Lovely. If you could just lie back, sir..." As he obliges, she kneels beside the couch. "I'm just going to feel for any swelling..." Her hands hover over him-
"Er, wait." Alastor abruptly sits up.
"It's alright, I won't touch your wound!" Trudy soothes. "I'll just be feeling down here..." She gestures to his midsection (which elicits a sharp flinch).
"No, I-" He hesitates. "I'm... not sure this is necessary."
"Oh, Alastor, stop worryin'!" Rosie reassures him with a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Trudy is quite picky about her meals. She'd never go for venison."
"That's... not what..."
Alastor pauses, and evidently decides against trying to explain what he meant. He reluctantly lies back against the cushions again.
"I'm going to place my hands under your shirt, sir. If you feel any pain, please alert me."
"Very well."
As Trudy lifts his shirt, he looks like he is going to say something more - but whatever it is dies on his tongue the moment her hands make contact with his stomach. He brings one knee up sharply.
"Tender there, sir?"
"No! No, your hands are cold." His words have gone uncharacteristically stiff.
Trudy methodically probes one side of his belly, then the other (which in turn causes his other knee to pop up). This time when Trudy asks if he's in pain, he merely shakes his head.
The surgeon furrows her brow, concentrating. Human-animal hybrids like Alastor already take a bit of poking around just to get a sense for each unique configuration of organs. It doesn't help that the man is bracing for every touch...
"Are you sure this doesn't hurt, sir?" she murmurs tentatively. "You're very tense."
"Yes." The word comes out like a hiss. She glances at the radio demon's face. He's wearing his typical showman's smile, but his eyes are fixed on the ceiling with a weird, wide, unwavering stare.
Finally the surgeon sits back. "Well, I don't feel anything concerning. But to be honest, sir, I can't feel much of anything." She turns apologetically to her employer. "His stomach is all clenched up..."
But Rosie is simply standing there pressing a huge grin into her glove. She's known Alastor for decades. She can read his expressions like a magazine.
"Alastor, darling," Rosie drawls casually. "Are you ticklish?"
From the radio demon's reaction, you'd think she'd asked if he was an Exorcist. He scrambles to sit up. "No! Why would-"
"You're ticklish. That's..." She catches herself just before the word precious.
"...What?!" There's an edge of defensiveness to his voice that Rosie very rarely hears from him.
"Why are you embarrassed?"
"I'm not emb- That's not- what-" Oh, she's giving him that look. "I'm just- I wasn't-"
As he speaks, Alastor's voice suddenly goes thin. His gaze turns inward. "I'm stuttering. I don't stutter! I've never stuttered!" He clutches his coat closer around himself. "I am the RADIO DEMON, for heaven's sake, I don't sta-AHH! Haha-!"
Evidently a scribble to the ribs is a very effective way to interrupt a panicking demon. Rosie runs her fingers from his hip up his side to his arm and back a couple times for good measure.
The amount of startled laughter she is able to draw from just this surprise touch delights her - the poor man is so ridiculously sensitive that a five-second one-handed tickle leaves him fully breathless.
"Okay! Okay, okahay! Keheh- Rosie!"
"Sorry dear, couldn't resist." She holds her hands up, still beaming like a stadium light. "I'll stop torturing you."
Alastor clears his throat. "You're not torturing me, dearest." He straightens his bowtie, clearly attempting to salvage his dignity. "You know what I always say, laughter is a powerful sign of-"
He cuts off with a sharp inhale and defensive flinch as Rosie perches on the edge of the sofa beside Trudy. She grins.
"You're right. That's certainly your specialty, isn't it?"
Alastor forces a nervous chuckle. "Never fully dressed without a smile, you know."
"Well don't worry, darling. I understand." She pats his knee. "Just because you've got the scariest evil cackle in hell doesn't mean you appreciate having it tickled out of you."
Rosie had expected this assurance to put him at ease, but if anything, he seems more troubled.
"Why would I mind a little, ah..." Tickling. Tick-ling. He can't bring himself to articulate two syllables. Is this all he's left with without his staff? "...Er, a little bit of levity? Can't let things get too serious, can we?" With another quick cough, the radio demon finally manages to get his voice to fall back into his familiar breezy cadence. He turns to Trudy. "Now, are we... quite finished with that examination?"
"Nothing seems amiss, from what I can feel." Trudy takes a step back. "Which is not much, but I think I've already made you uncomfortable enough..."
"Nonsense! I'm perfectly at ease!" He lies back again and smooths his coat. "Please, finish your little checkup. I insist."
Trudy regards him curiously for a moment. "Right." Her hands hover over his belly again. "But if you want me to stop, sir, just say the word-"
"I assure you that w-won't be necessahary..."
Trudy watches him seize up before her fingers even make contact. This time she presses a little deeper into his belly, trying to feel around his defensiveness.
"You are punching holes in my couch," Rosie remarks dryly, watching the poor demon's claws bury themselves in the cushions.
"I kn... ohow, I'm just-" He squeezes his eyes shut as Trudy hits a particularly bad spot. And then another. And another... hell, his torso one big bad spot.
"What do you think, Trudy?"
The young doctor just shakes her head.
"Alastor. Darling. You have GOT to relax."
"I am!" Alastor's composure is dangling by the thinnest of threads.
"Maybe it would help," Trudy says, with infinite caution, "to just go ahead and laugh, sir."
A beat. And then Rosie bursts into laughter.
"Giving new meaning to the 'deer in the headlights' expression, my friend." She scoots closer. "I thought you just said you don't mind a little 'levity'..."
"I don't!"
"In that case. Carry on, Trudy - Auntie Rosie is gonna help our patient out a bit while you work."
Too late, Alastor realizes what his fellow overlord has in mind. "Wait, wait! Ros-"
A delicate set of nails find the region just under his ribs - and it's all downhill from there.
"Ah! Fuhuck!" Alastor chokes on a curse before he can catch himself. He twists sideways, collapses into muffled giggles, and briefly manages to pull himself together - just barely - with a few hyperventilated breaths. "Rosie, really! This isn't- please- ack! I can't-" There's that damn stutter again. He hadn't even stuttered when Adam slashed him.
And now, Great Alastor the Radio Demon, undone by some scribbles? And a medical exam?!
Meanwhile, Trudy can feel even less now than she could before, her patient's belly now quaking with silent, suppressed mirth. But she takes one look at Rosie's delighted expression... and continues probing anyway, curling a subtle little smirk of her own.
It seems Rosie has picked up on a slightly less tangible injury than anything Trudy can address. But fortunately, they've just stumbled upon a promising potential treatment.
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Part 2 is already pretty much finished - my brain is just too mushy at this point to contend with Tumblr's shitty text interface any longer, and this feels like a good stopping point.
Lemme get a good night sleep and another dose of Prozac and I'll have the rest out shortly 😅
💜 - Cozy
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itsmattchou · 8 months
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when and how might our relationship start ?
pairing: zb1 maknae line x gn!reader warnings: ricky's and your mom are just ANNOYING🤬, GYUVIN AND READER ADE LIARS, pining gunwook, yujin has communication issues, the reader in yujins is considered a CHILD (if you ain't a child dni tf?), english isn't my first language!!! genre: fluff, maybe a slight bit of angst if you squint your eyes real hard synopsis: why you started fake dating. notes: i know i said I'm only gonna write for mline + matthew from now on but honestly fuck matthew (lovingly). FUNFACT gyuvins is basically what happened to me 😍😍 life is a fanfic fr. for some reason i am not aware of i included some smau... maybe my urge to write one finally took over? who knows. ignore the bad quality pls.
shen quanrui - to get your parents off of your backs
it was basically like this: rickys family and your family knew each other for decades now. your moms were already besties when they went to s highschool together 😭
so best believe they were THRILLED when they got pregnant around the same time
and since day 1
seriously. since ricky and you were little INFANTS
you two were being shipped by your parents
"oh, they must marry one day!" 🥰 no
you two grew up together and were naturally really close to each other
but ROMANTIC FEELINGS? nuh uh. not a thing. not happening 🙅🏻‍♀️🙅🏻‍♀️
but your parents- or more specifically, your mothers- did not want to hear it
they're CONVINCED you two will fall in love eventually and won't leave you two alone
after years of suffering and repeated "no mom we're not gonna be dating!"s you two hit your LIMIT
so you two went ahead and decided to get your family off of your backs and to start 'dating'!
only to 'break up' like a month later and tell them that you actually aren't a good fit at all🔥
your parents literally threw a big ass party once you announced your relationship… awkward
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kim gyuvin - to prank your friends
you actually thought it would be funny to tell your friends that you two started dating; they wouldn't believe at all you but it would be hilarious
hilarious you said. TURNS OUT, it wasn't all that funny
instead of not believing you when gyuvin and you dropped that bomb as believable as possible, they started cheering and congratulating you
"we knew this would happen eventually! finally!" you what. 😃
originally you planned on playing the prank for one day and then tell the truth- but by the way everybody started congratulating you (even a teacher exclaimed that she was happy for you!) you two couldn't help but feel incredibly bad at the end of the day
so you two did the only plausible thing to do in a situation like that; continue on lying instead of simply telling the truth 👍🏻
the very next day you two came to school again, still as a couple. it hurt your heart to lie to your friends like that, but they would be SO disappointed in you if they found out about the joke :(
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park gunwook - to make your crush jealous
gunwook was a close friend of yours and he was aware of your unrequited crush on that one guy in your class
well, kind of unrequited? it was honestly hard to tell for sure. your crush sometimes acted like he was interested in you, on other days you didn't even exist to him
his mixed signals drove you CRAZY🥴
so out of pure desperation you asked gunwook for a small favor.. to please fake date you in order to make your crush jealous
AND REVEAL HIS TRUE FEELINGS!!!
gunwook was reluctant at first but he also had a small but secret crush on you so he took his chance and RAN
you had like an hour long talk to him about your great plan, about do's and don't's, about boundaries and what not
he was just silently listening and nodding his head whenever needed
(his heart shattering could be heard whenever you mentioned your real crush) 💔💔💔
you let your other close friends know about your plan too in hopes they will help to make it believable
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han yujin - to prove that he is not a 'child'
poor yujin has to go through that 'youngest in the friendgroup' treatment 😪
everybody treats him like a baby and he feels as if he's not taken seriously by any of his friends
bro should probably try COMMUNICATING with them homies but oh well
and in his mind, the ultimate proof to not being a baby is having a significant other 👍🏻
and this is where you come in!!
you're one of the very few people who did not make fun of him- maybe because of your similar age- and that's why he felt save to propose that idea to you
and considering that you weren't taken all that seriously either due to your age… he was sure that you would understand where he was coming from!!
and to his delight you actually agreed to fake date him! 🤗
so after discussing everything further, you two announced your not-so-real relationship to your friends the very next day
YUJIN'S PLAN WORKED! there was gyuvin who dramatically whined about "his two babies growing up way too fast"
but the question now is… for how long should this keep going…?
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angelthemanspanker · 30 days
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my most tinfoil hat AtS opinion is that legit straight up canon spangel was like RIGHT beneath the surface of season 5, like the show was ready to pivot in the direction of them being at least friends with benefits at a moment's notice despite fate and the censors' best efforts
Season 1 had shit like Angel's first power walk shot set against a pride flag and him awkwardly telling guys he wasn't hitting on them, going for a kinda Adam West Batman kinda gay thing where people assume that about him bc it's the early 2000s and his clothes fit VS Season 5 in the premiere alone giving us Angel correcting a guy who calls him a "little fairy" with "I'm not little" and the legendary, blog-inspiring "I have no problem spanking men" (one of which he says to a guy he's about to kill and one to a guy he knocked out, almost like Angel lets gayer behaviour slip if he's around people who can't bring it up later hm) followed by the only man we KNOW Angel has fucked literally appearing from thin air in his office
then you get Life of the Party where Angel's Whacky Magic Antics are set off by Lorne telling Angel and the person he's having sexually tense arguments with to get a room, causing him to have ill-advised hate sex he ordinarily would not have with someone he is reluctantly attracted to. and I believe in my BONES that at SOME POINT in the scripting process that that person was gonna be Spike. Even setting aside my admittedly subjective opinion that Angel and Eve had even less sexual chemistry than Xander and Willow, it just... scans. Angel and Spike have their "I need to get our faces within an inch of each other or I'll die" arguments in front of EVERYBODY in literally every episode of the season, so I feel like if Lorne was gonna say it about ANYONE it'd be about them. I will never budge from my belief that Spike still being a ghost at this point and early 2000s tv politics caused them to abandon the Angel And Spike Magically Fuck At The Party plot early in the writing process for the episode and slot Eve in there instead while Spike gets the easy-to-write-into-existing-scenes positivity thing.
and THEN. AND THEN. it becomes a plot point that the show Angel's friends are suddenly really on board with him getting back out there dating-wise (the unperson-ing of Cordelia helps here. whee.), with us all suddenly being in agreement that there is little to no danger of his curse being triggered by sex (even though both times he's lost the soul since his curse, real or imagined sex played a significant role in the moment of happiness). Like, Nina is one of the more one-dimensional characters in the Buffyverse and her midness seems to be for the purpose of setting the audience at ease that Angel's soul ain't going anywhere from hooking up with her.
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WESLEY is all for it! Wesley "Most Paranoid and Prepared For The Return of Angelus" Wyndam-Pryce is saying look man we're all rooting for you go have a relationship with a girl whose only flaw that I can come up with is that she's a werewolf. Like sir??? How can you be sure the Beautiful Engaging Young Woman Who Actually Wants You won't accidentally make Angel happy with her extremely inoffensive flavour of Nice?
Whereas if, say, there was a beautiful, engaging blonde who actually wants Angel and Angel wants but comes with the caveat that THIS beautiful blonde not only drives Angel up the fucking wall but recently had magical sex with Angel at the office party in front of the whole main cast, proving that as much as Angel gets off on screwing Spike that he is Not happy about it? I can see Wes giving the all clear on that one ngl
bonus points that Angel and Nina got the Official Couple upgrade in Smile Time which comes right before the Illyria tragedy forces Angel and Spike into the... maybe not friendly but LESS hostile dynamic they keep for the rest of the show, so the season structure of their relationship still follows a lot of the same beats. honestly besides getting a lot more moments of David Boreanaz and James Marsters trying to out-six-pack each other in their post-coital shirtless scenes the only thing you'd need to do is change the world-shattering "Me and Angel have never been intimate. Well except that one..." to something along the lines of "Me and Angel have never been intimate, I just shag the bastard"
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mydarllinglover · 1 month
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Stars Collided || Seven
Previous
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"You would think she was being sentenced to death." Ahsoka sighed.
"Privileged people have a weird way with coping." Anakin shrugged, as they watched Lovisa pour another glass of  wine.
"I can hear you." She sniffled, as she sipped the red drink.
"Why did we need to be here for this?" Ahsoka asked her, directly.
"Because I don't like to be alone, and you're hired to do what I say."
The two shared another look.
"Not because we're great company?" Anakin asked.
"I asked the two of you here, and no one else, didn't I?" She glared at him, as she grabbed two more glasses, filling them.
"Basically, what she is trying to say, is that she loves us, and we're her best friends." Ahsoka smirked.
"You may go now." Lovisa switched her glare to the girl.
"Always in such denial." Anakin grinned widely, as he moved around the counter to stand near her.
"I must love terrible company." She rolled her eyes, sipping her drink, and stepping away from him.
"So, you do love us." Ahsoka cheered.
"Bye." Lovisa walked out from the room, where they stored their wine.
"Where are you going?" The two pains in Lovisa's asses, followed her.
"To drown myself." She answered, walking down the hall, and towards an exit of the large castle.
"But then Anakin's gonna get in trouble for letting you die, and I'll be out of a job." Ahsoka told her.
"That doesn't really seem like my problem." She shrugged. "I won't care, if I'm dead."
"That's what you really want?" Anakin asked.
"No." She groaned. "But it doesn't matter what I want."
"What is that?" He pushed. "What do you want?"
She continued to march through the grass, no destination in mind.
"Everything that I can't have." She refused to give details. "I don't want to be tied to a stupid throne." She tore her tiara off her head, throwing it away from her, but Anakin moved to swipe it up, as he and Ahsoka both followed.
"It won't be terrible, Lovey." Her friend told her.
"Like you could even begin to understand." She snapped.
"Then explain it to us." Anakin urged.
"My life has just been poured down the drain." She was frustrated, and angry. "I have spent my whole life, knowing that I was the spare, whatever I decided to do with my life, never really mattered, as long as it didn't affect the Kingdom or my family, in a bad way, and I would be able to do whatever they needed of me, but now?" She laughed harshly. "Now, my father is going to force me to find a suitable husband, to share the throne with, and it won't be mine, it will be his, and I will have to bare his children, so that he has an heir, they won't be mine, but his, I don't even want children! I won't ever be able to get away, my duties will be doubled, I will never get a say, for my own country, but everyone will be looking at me, when something goes wrong. I wanted to travel, to see great, amazing sights, from all over, and be able to paint, and be happy, and to live, but that's gone, it's all gone! And she got to make that decision, because she gets to be happy, with the one she wants, because she's older, and she gets to step away, because she had a back up, and I don't, so I'm stuck here, and its not fair, it's not fair!" She fell to the ground, to her knees, as she breathed heavy, the weight lifting from her chest, as she continued to stare down, at the skirt of her dress. "I've never been allowed to make a decision in my life, I hate it, I hate them, I hate my title, I hate it all! And I'm going to be miserable and alone, for the rest of my pathetic existence, I hate being alone, my biggest fear is coming true, and no one even cares to ask about what I think, how I feel. They didn’t even bother to tell me, they all knew and kept it from me" She dropped her face into her hands. "Everyone just thinks of me as this wild and selfish, spoiled brat, that always wants her own way, but nothing ever goes my way."
Anakin and Ahsoka looked at each other, they both felt guilty, they felt terrible for teasing and tormenting her, for not bothering to truly see things from her side, yes, she was living lavishly, and was better off than them, she never truly knew what it was like to come from nothing, but unlike her, they had made choices to be where they are now.
"You won't be alone, Lovey." Ahsoka told her, gently, "You will always have me, and I won't let that happen."
Lovisa looked up, her waterline was brimming with tears, "Do you swear?" Her voice cracked, as she asked.
"On my own life." Ahsoka held a hand to her heart, as she also sunk to the ground. "And that does not need to happen, you can rule, make this what you want it to be, you don't need anybody else, and your parents aren't going anywhere, you still have so much time, to do all the things you want to do. You can travel, and fall in love-"
"I can't." She interrupted.
"Yes, you can" Ahsoka smiled encouragingly.
"No, Ahsoka, I can't fall in love." She looked past her friend, at the boy stood behind her, who was already looking at the princess, and he didn't care to look away.
His own chest was beginning to feel heavy, the idea of her moving on, getting married, and starting a family, with anyone but him, it drove him crazy, and since their first kiss, it had been keeping him up, at night, thinking about it, but he could not help himself, the jealousy was too consuming.
But she was a princess, and he was a Jedi.
"Oh..." Ahsoka whispered.
"I wish to go to bed." Lovisa sighed, getting up from the ground, shaking the grass out of her dress.
"I shall accompany you, princess" Anakin told her, nodding to Ahsoka that it was okay for her to go to her own space.
"No need, Jedi." She continued to walk back to the castle.
"Of course there is, I have to make sure that you get to your quarters, safely. That is my job, after all." He replied, walking beside her.
"Very well, then." She wiped her tears, as she kept her focus on where she was going. Her palms were facing down, as she tried to walk properly, like she was taught, and yes, she was made to walk with books on her head, as a child.
But then she was swooped up, in someones arms, Anakin's arms.
She let out a squeal of surprise, as she hooked her arms around his neck, scared that he might drop her, but he carried her through the castle, as though she weighed nothing, even with her poofy skirt, he didn't even seem to care.
"What are you doing, Ani?" She asked him.
"Carrying you to your room, Princess, you seemed to have been struggling." He told her, not bothering to look down at her face, so she was looking up at his. "And I just wanted an excuse to be close to you." He also admitted.
Her cheeks turned rosy, but she didn't say anything else.
When they had reached her bedroom, He only set her down, once he had reached her bed, so he could sit her down on her mattress.
"Do you need anything, before I go?" He asked.
She hesitated, before thinking.
"Yes, I do, actually." She told him.
"And what is that?" He rose a brow in curiosity.
"Well, normally Ahsoka helps me undress, and I can't do it myself." She looked down, bashfully, what if he said no? Then she'd be stuck sleeping in an uncomfortable corset all night.
"O- Of course, M'lady." She didn't miss how he looked taken aback at her request, she had found that it didn't take much to fluster the skilled Jedi.
"Thank you, Skywalker." She called him by his last name, she thought that it would make things less awkward, sound more professional.
She turned around, so that her back was facing him, and she waited for only a few moments, before she could feel his presence behind her, it sent goosebumps all along her skin, and he hadn't even touched her.
Anakin untied the knot at the bottom of her dress, before unravelling the ribbon, finally letting her body relax from the tight prison.
His finger tips danced around her back, she could feel his breath on her ear, and she fought the reaction to shiver.
His hands moved towards her shoulders, then he was gently pulling down the small sleeves.
"Thank you." Lovisa gasped, sharply, breaking herself out of the spell, as she took a step forward, creating distance from him, then she moved towards her divider, so that she could change, picking an blue nightgown, with a matching sheer blue robe, with the fluffy cuffs and hem.
"Would you like me to leave now, princess?" Anakin asked her.
"No, you haven't checked whether my room is secure." She made up an excuse, just to keep him a little longer.
"Of course." He nodded, before walking towards her bathroom, to check it, and then it was her balcony, he even bothered to check under her bed, as she watched. "Well, it looks safe and sound." He told her, as she sat on her bed, he was only a few feet away from her. "I shall leave you to rest."
He only walked a few steps, towards the door, before she stopped him.
"Ani, can you-.... would you wait with me?" She asked. "I don't want to be alone, and I want you- your company, I would like your company." She reiterated.
He was by her side in milliseconds.
"Yes." He said. "I can wait with you."
"Thank you." She said in a hushed breath.
She then got off from the end of the bed, so that she could get underneath the duvet, and lay at her pillows. "Will you lay with me?"
"If that is what you desire." He answered, copying her movements, as he got into the bed, on the other side.
“Are you comfortable like that?” She looked at his clothes.
“I suppose so.” He shrugged. “It’s not what I typically wear to bed, but that’s okay.”
“Well, how do you usually sleep?” She asked him.
“Not a lot.” He bit down a smirk, as he avoided her eyes.
“Oh.” She hated that her cheeks turned red, she focused on her duvet, to avoid the mental images in her head.
The two layed on their side, looking at one another, not sure what to say or do.
Then she took his hand in hers, rubbing her thumb across his knuckles, feeling the scarred tissue, and the roughness, a show of hard work.
"I can't believe I'm laying in bed, with the future queen of Naboo." Anakin joked, breaking the silence, and causing a chuckle from her.
"Shut up." She rolled her eyes, with a small smile.
"You will make an amazing queen." He told her, with seriousness, now. "You don't have to make it the way things are now, you could make a difference, make things the way you want them to be, and fix Naboo, change all the bad that there is, here, there's so much you could do, and I know that it's you, who could and will do it, help the people, be the queen that this country needs."
"I don't think I would be very good." She shook her head. “The kingdom loves my mother and father, I would never reach their expectations.”
Anakin scooted closer towards her in the bed, he used his other hand to lift her chin, so that she would look at him, then moved to hold her cheek, swiping his thumb at the soft skin.
"Yes you will, Vis, you're the best option this place needs, I know you will do great, you're amazing, and I believe in you. You're a good person."
Her eyes softened, as she looked at him.
"But, I don't want to give you up, Ani, I don't think anyone could ever make me feel the way you do, I won't settle down with anyone." She shook her head in protest.
He kissed her, cutting off her next sentence before she could say it.
"Then don't." He said. "Don't end this, with me. We can be together, okay, no one has to find out, you don't need to marry, you don't need to marry anyone else, your sisters getting married, she'll most likely start a family with the senator, so the throne can just go back to them, after your reign, it'll be perfect."
Lovisa had no faith in his plan, she knew that was not realistic, and her father would never have that, it just wasn't the way things were, but to let herself be happy for just one more night, to enjoy his company, she nodded and smiled.
"Okay." She said, causing his own smile to grow wider, and he kissed her, again, with so much passion, that it broke her heart, just a little, she then pulled away. "Stay with me, for the night, please?"
"Of course, M'lady." He kissed her forehead, his hand in her hair.
She looked at his eyes, as they sparkled, as if he held the stars in them.
“You can undress, if you wish to, I promise I won’t look.”
“I don’t mind if you do.” He winked at her, playfully, as he did what she said, sitting up to pull his shirt over his head, tossing it onto the floor by her bed.
“C’mere.” He laid back down, opening his arms for her.
Lovisa scooted even closer to him, wanting to be wrapped up in his warmth, Anakin hugged her tightly, his face buried in her hair, as they eventually fell asleep.
Next
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casinoroyale · 4 months
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Hi everyone!! Theseus cquackity viceduo zombur revivebur here.
This blog has seen several hiatuses (my bad seriously my bad), and bouts of irregular posting. So I'm sure people who regularly check it have noticed that we (Fiona @quackbur and I) haven't been posting daily anymore and haven't for a bit now. So below the cut I'm gonna talk more about that, and our plans for this blog going forward
For starters, I love roleplaying on this blog so much, as does my cohost Fiona @quackbur. Fiona has done so, so much writing for this and I feel kind of bad for taking her credit over the past two or so years, so props to her for being such a good sport and for everything she's done. This blog wouldn't exist without the shared passion she had for it.
To get sappy, I love the friends I've made in bedrockverse, they remain some of my best and closest companions. I would not trade the times I've spent with them for the world. Beau, Holly & co, Met & Co, and Thunderbottles are some of the loveliest, most supportive, and insanely talented people I have ever had the pleasure of writing with and meeting.
This includes people who aren't part of the bedrockverse that I've written with!! Shoutout to Javi anonymous-jey casino-duckling, TGM the-g-m duckofthelaw, and AD anonymous-dentist therealnoodleman. It was so much fun bringing all the quackverses together, and I respect all of you so much as writers.
AND that also includes EVERYONE who has interacted with her!!!!!!!!!! Everyone who has sent asks (thank you so much, sorry we're terrible at replying), reblogged threads, commented, posted/liveblogged, DREW FAN ART (BLOWS OUR MINDS. THERE'S BEEN SO MUCH INCREDIBLE ART CREATED, WE CANNOT THANK ALL OF YOU ENOUGH), even just liked a thread, thank you. Seriously, it has meant a lot to us to be part of this community, and have so many people enjoy this blog. Insert Pitbull image happy you enjoyed.
So, going forward it would make us really happy if you all pictured casinoroyale as happy. He has songbird-sunrise, goofygoop, and a nation full of citizens that she loves. She babysits for tubbolul and latenightmining, and terrorizes rp!emduo not infrequently. All we really wanted was to bring c!quackity to a happy place and I feel we've done that. Of course he still has shit days, as a ptsd baddie, but the good days are more common. And if we never get to it (though I hope someday we do, maybe in the form of a collaborative one-shot or fic) know that casinoroyale and songbird-sunrise DO eventually get [REDACTED]. And one of them DOES get [REDACTED]. That was always the plan! Yay! [REDACTED]!
Not to say that we don't have more arcs planned for this blog, because we do! I just don't know when/if/how they'll ever get written, especially because a lot of my friends have moved on from their rp blogs as well. But I really do still feel happy with where he's at and happy with everything I've done. This is a project I'm really, really proud of and I will always look back on fondly.
None of this means that I'm not interested in c!Quackity or DSMP as a whole anymore, either. Actually that couldn't be further from the truth. But now I'd like to be able to focus on fics, and other forms of writing, which I've been doing more recently :D actually, you can read a short one shot I posted for exile's anniversary HERE
If you've made it this far into this long, sappy post, THANKS!!!!!! The TLDR; this blog is on an indefinite hiatus, and won't be returning to its formal glory, and that's okay. We had a really good run. Now, off we go to other things
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abstractelysium · 2 months
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uuuuuugghhhhhhhhhhhhh this is gonna be long I'm sorry in advance -
An Alternate Timeline Headcanon for the Final Episode of Last Twilight
or; There Was A Much Better Way To Handle This And It Wasn't Timeskips: Plotting Out MorkDay Post-Breakup to a Satisfactory Happy Ending
or; I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS THE SECOND TIME IN LESS THAN SIX MONTHS I HAVE TO DO THIS! THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE A FREAKING SERIES!
... *ahem*. Apparently this is my coping strategy.
Disclaimer: I'm keeping the breakup at the end of episode 11, because I actually believe the conflict of it was in character for both of them, and I wanted so badly to see it handled well, and... well, we all know it wasn't.
Let's set some parameters for this. Going into this finale, we needed to sort through three main things (thank you very much @lurkingshan, your post about this is the inspiration and I 100% agree):
Day's trajectory of acceptance in the narrative
ableism in Day's family and the unresolved issues they have
Mork's trauma vs. Day's trauma, aka the reason for the breakup
Before we dive into the plot part, let's go into a little more detail on each.
As many have noted, it is not an unrealistic outcome for Day's disability to have a cure. Day recovering his sight is not outside of the realm of possibility, and doesn't mean he wouldn't still learn from his journey as a disabled man. And I don't want to slight anyone's real-life experiences at all. But, given that so much of the framework of this show was about Day growing towards acceptance and agency, being able to live his life the way he chose while still being a disabled man... in our version, Day will not be getting his sight back. I wouldn't have minded if they left it as a "maybe someday" hope-for-the-future thing, but to me, in terms of narrative function, the central message of the story was largely undercut in the last 15 minutes. This is about what will best serve the narrative; so, Day stays blind.
In terms of ableism in Day's family, especially the way Day's mom got off the hook for her treatment of him... I have to admit, I'm not going to completely fix or solve that in the finale. We'd have to go back further (episode 10/11 at least) to truly address her wrongs to my satisfaction. So why not do that, go back and fix this issue from its starting point? ...I'm tired, y'all. We're going to do what we can given the parameters I set myself: one episode. It might not be enough, but let's try. (I will be retconning at least a little of the moment immediately following the breakup, so there's that.)
And as for the breakup itself... I just want to give a little clarity on why I think it works. In episode 11, there was some focus on the caregiver vs. boyfriend issue - Day bored and alone, Mork working but worried; a need for growth beyond existing patterns in order for Mork and Day to make it, the proving ground for their success as a couple. But given all that, I see their fight and breakup as competing trauma responses from two well-meaning people. We understand Mork's choice not to take the job in Hawaii based on his feeling that he failed Rung in the past - despite his reluctance to share that with Day until forced to by their fight. And I understand Day's choice too, as 1) a person who holds his anger unnecessarily long (see: Night) and 2) as a stubborn young man who hates being pitied, because it denies him a say in his own life and the lives of others, especially and most hurtfully in the context of his own family, the people who are supposed to understand him best. Was Mork's choice made out of pity? No, I don't think so. But I believe Day would interpret it that way, and I believe he would feel like a breakup was the best option in the moment.
SO! With all of that in mind... let's fix episode 12.
Part 1/4
We open in the immediate aftermath of the breakup. Mork has just left, and I want to linger on Day's line "Did I make the right decision?". (I think it shows some good growth for Day that he questions himself in the immediate moment following, considering that he has been known to hold a grudge far too long without looking back.) Night wants to understand why Day would go to that length, and wants to defend Mork. Mhon probably says something about how she feared this might happen, that sometimes love makes you make difficult decisions. Day gets to lose his cool at them both here, particularly Mhon. "I can't tell between love and pity anymore, Mom!" Day says he's just so tired of being pitied by everyone, and not being allowed to have a say in his own life, including in his family. He brings up the lengths Mhon went to to keep him and Mork apart, and the way they've rarely treated him as normal or capable since he lost his sight. Mhon will be somewhat ashamed about this, and probably break down. Night, meanwhile, can gently express that he just wants Day to be happy with his choice, and now Day can wonder if he truly is.
Meanwhile, a miserable Mork has Phorjai over to help him pack. He's going over the details with her: he's taking the job in Hawaii, his flight leaves in four days, and he'll be on a six month work visa. Phorjai will ask him how he's feeling, and he gets to be honest with her. He doesn't understand Day's choice, but he wants to respect his decision. She says the job will be good for him, and he agrees, even if he's sad now. They end up talking about Rung, and Mork gets to break down about it, about how miserable he feels, like he's failed all over again, despite his best intentions. (This would be the first time since the flashbacks we have seen Mork get to actually process his grief so this is very important!)
Part 2/4
A couple days later, Night takes Day to the university. Day has a cane in hand and is ready to re-enroll, and Mhon doesn't want to stand in his way. We return to the same professor from episode three (!), who is happy Day is back, and ready to discuss how they will be accommodating him. Day goes over the courses he wants to take, and there's one that the professor has hesitations about, but decides to let Day enroll anyway. Outside the office, Night asks how it went, and Day says the professor pitied him enough to let him into all his classes. But the door to the office is open, and the professor overheard this. He enters the conversation and corrects Day - to Day's surprise - that it isn't pity that changed his mind. He believes Day is capable and he wants to see him succeed, so he gave his approval. The class will be hard, but Day is up for it. Day can be visibly moved by this. (NOT EVERYONE PITIES YOU IN ALL SCENARIOS BABY BOY TIME TO LEARN THIS)
Mork says his goodbyes to Phorjai and Poomjai (who we did not get enough of! give me more cute baby!) and, with a heavy heart and a reprise of Last Twilight in the background, gets in a cab to go to the airport.
Day is now definitely unsure if he made the right choice, wishing he could have a chance to talk to Mork, but thinks he's too late because Mork is conveniently not answering his phone. Day finds out that Mork is on his way to the airport (because the information pipeline still goes Mork -> Phorjai -> Night -> Day even when Mork and Day aren't talking 😂) to leave for Hawaii.
So guess what! We keep the stupid rush to the airport! (Although this time we're NOT doing it at the freaking wedding, dear lord. Namtan was precious in that scene but nope.) Night gets the flight information from Phorjai, and we see a few cute flirty texts between them on his screen. Day asks Night to hurry but Night says he doesn't want to get them into an accident, and Day softens and says "I know, me too. Just do your best." (BROTHERLY FORGIVENESS!)
Day makes it to the airport in time, and finds Mork, but Mork has only like a minute to spare before he has to go. Day tells him he's still upset about everything, but he'll miss Mork while he's gone. If he's coming back to Thailand in six months... can they talk things out then? Mork agrees. Day wishes him a safe flight, and they part.
Part 3/4
Instead of a time skip, we now enter a quick MONTAGE of the next six months! We see Day at university, doing well in his classes! We see Night and Phorjai on a cute date with Poomjai! We see Mhon with Day at the Society, attending meetings and making an effort to unlearn some ableism through Aon and Pla! We see Mork on a video call with Phorjai and Poomjai! We see Day comfortably using a cane, and teaching his replacement caretaker his routine, and being respected for his choices! We see Mork thriving as a chef in Hawaii, getting compliments from customers and his boss!
There's a quick scene where Mork has to go back, but his boss offers him an extension of his work visa, if he wants. He can go home and have time to think about it. Mork is happy to have options.
The six months are up, and Mork has returned to Thailand. Day has been waiting for this moment, but he's nervous - maybe we see Night helping him get ready, teasing him a little.
Day, in this version, is the one who asks for a second chance. His apology is sincere. He's been working on things, on himself, on his future, and he wants the chance to give them another go. He's sorry for assuming Mork's choice was made out of pity, and he admits they aren't perfect together, it's not always easy being a couple. They'll need to communicate clearly if this is going to work, if Day is going to be more than just a burden to Mork. But he wants that chance. "We might have more problems, in the future. If we're going to fight, I want to be with you when we do. I want to fight at your side. Will you let me try?"
They meet at a cafe, and Night leaves them to it. They ask how the other has been, both sharing small talk about them both doing well. Then Mork asks if he can take Day to meet someone. They go to Rung's grave, at the temple, and Mork 'introduces' Day to his family. Day asks if Mork will tell him the whole story of his sister, and Mork does. Mork takes the chance to say that he still doesn't really understand their breakup. He'll admit Day was right at the time, Mork was treating him differently because of his disability, and he's sorry about that, but if Mork could go back to that time, he'd still make the same choice all over again. He loved Day then, and just wanted to stay with him. And as hurt as he feels, Mork still loves him now, and he just wants Day to know that. Even if they don't have a future together.
And he will, of course. Mork takes Day's hand, and with a rainbow in the sky, they get a fresh start.
Part 4/4
Okay, now you can have your damn timeskip! (We earned it as a happiness epilogue, you see.) A reasonable amount of time later, no more than a couple years.
We definitely keep the happy family dinner moment where Mork's cooking impresses Mhon, and she asks him to call her Mom. We get Day moving in with Mork, and Mork's replacement caregiver, now only part-time, helping them smooth out worries and helping Day lead his independent life. Day graduates, opens his bookshop, and does become a public speaker. Night asks Phorjai to marry him. The final scene is of Mork and Day dancing at the wedding.
A happy ending, at last. One they - and we! - actually deserve. 😊
(Anyway this is now apparently a thing I do sometimes, and this was obscenely long. But if you made it all the way through, I appreciate you so so much. I hope you can see the love I have for this show, even through all my disappointment. Let me know what you think!)
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techs-ass · 9 months
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Happy Shark Awareness Day!!
In celebration of the best holiday to exist, I'm gonna share some of my favorite shark facts!! (I have a lot of favorite shark facts.)
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Sharks have no bones!! None! Nada! The only bones they have are their teeth. But Mal, what happened to their bones?? Idk buddy, we probably stole 'em or something.
Lemon sharks love getting pets and will even have favorite divers they seek out to get attention! If they see their diver giving attention to another shark, they can get jealous and try to chase the other shark away.
The largest Great White shark ever recorded is a female named Deep Blue! She is over 20ft long and weighs an estimated 2.5 tons!!
Sharks have been around for almost 455 million years!! That's why most of them are grumpy. They're just old :/
The smallest species of shark is smaller than the human hand. (Psst, it's the dwarf lantern shark.)
Sharks!! Can have!! Personalities!! Just like humans!! Some are confident and social, while others can be shy and cautious. There have been some sharks even found having anxiety!
Although sharks having AMAZING eye sight, scientists belive that sharks are mostly colorblind.
Sharks are continually shedding their teeth! Some sharks will shed over 20000 teeth in their lifetime!
Hammerhead sharks have binocular vision l, which means they can see 360 degrees!!
Humans don't taste good to sharks. I'm serious!! We really don't taste good to them. That's why most sharks just bite us and let go. We're nasty. (I wouldn't wanna eat us either)
Sharks are really, really cool creatures that don't deserve all the hate they get.
We depend on sharks to keep our oceans alive and healthy.
There are over 400 species of sharks. 75% of them are threatened with extinction.
But you can help!! Tell friends and family how awesome sharks are, and avoid buying products made with sharks.
You can advocate for the protection of sharks by signing petitions and calling your government officials and saying, "hey!! I'm a voter and I want sharks to be protected!"
Happy shark awareness day <3
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sturniolowhore · 3 months
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☁️ BROTHER'S BEST FRIEND #2
summary ⎯  venus has had her eyes on her brother's best friend chris for as long as she can remember but she is far too scared that's all she is to him, his best friend's little sister. what happens when she realises he sees her in a different light and how will she and chris keep it hidden from her brother who has always told his friends never to meddle about with his sister.
part one! ♯ part three! ♯ part four! ♯ part five! ♯
part six!
warnings ⎯  suggestive and sexual, eventual smut, chris x fem!oc, fluff, cursing, kind of angst (?)
A/N ⎯  finally working on something with parts to it so i'm excited!! as a reminder, leo and venus do not exist irl, i just chose any random names for the sake of the story.
i hope you enjoy <3
❛ ━━・❪ ִ ࣪𖤐 ❫ ・━━ ❜
chris 🤍
saturnnn
saturn 🪐
mhm? is everything okay?
chris 🤍
everything is all good
wanted to let you know we're like five minutes away
saturn 🪐
okay thank you sm chris
you have no idea how much easier you made all of this
chris 🤍
what can i say 😏😏
saturn 🪐
andd you ruined it!
chris 🤍
cmon saturn yk i always make things easy
saturn 🪐
actually you don't
you make everything so very complicated
chris 🤍
ouch 💔
saturn 🪐
aw did i hurt your feelings?
chris 🤍
mhm.
are you gonna make it up to me?
saturn 🪐
no i'm sorry the truth hurts darling 🥰
chris 🤍
the darling made me feel better :)
saturn 🪐
shut up you idiot
chris 🤍
okay😊
saturn 🪐
i'm sorry i'm being annoying
are you sure he has no idea? i just really want it to be a good surprise
chris 🤍
hey no you're not annoying
he just thinks i'm taking him out for his bday and then we're hanging out at your place like normal
it's all going to be okay saturn i promise
saturn 🪐
you can be so sweet sometimes
it's like another person possesses you but honestly thank you, that made me feel tonnes better
chris 🤍
are you going soft on me darling?
saturn 🪐
noo you can't use my own word against me??
chris 🤍
why not darling😇
saturn 🪐
fuck off
pay attention to leo
chris 🤍
yes ma'am see you in a few
i'll text you when we're in reception
saturn 🪐
see you 😊
venus smiles at her phone as she clicks it shut before she realises how happy she seems over a few messages and calms down a little. she turns to the rest of their friends with the newfound knowledge, "they're a few minutes away. chris said he would text me once they were in the reception area."
"relax vene, it's all going to go exactly as you planned," nick puts his hand on her shoulder to comfort her after a few minutes when he notices how panicked she looks; she's always been one to stick to plans and things not going the way they're set to makes her anxiety sky rocket.
before she has time to dwell on her nerves anymore though, her phone vibrates again and she looks at it quickly.
chris 🤍
we're inside darling
saturn 🪐
good now drop lee off and go home
you're not wanted
chris 🤍
always a sweetheart aren't you
saturn 🪐
i try 😇😇
after that, it's the last few moments of chaos and rushing around to get into position. it takes about a minute for the sound of the front door clicking open to reach their ears and the moment leo steps into the living room, they all scream surprise and he practically glows at the sight of all his friends. he starts to greet everyone one by one and venus leaves him to do exactly that, walking to the snack table and scanning it for what to eat first.
her small search is interrupted when she feels hands on either side of her waist and a chin propped onto her shoulders. she doesn't need to see or say anything to know who it is, he's always doing something like that and each time it's fucking instant butterflies at the touch.
"this looks fucking amazing," he says so close to her ear and it makes goosebumps settle on the skin beside it and the hairs on her neck stand slightly.
"you think so?" she asks, fully aware it looks good but wanting to hear him say it again purely for the sake of it.
"are you kidding? never seen anything like it. i knew you'd be able to pull it off," she can hear the smile in his voice as he speaks and she can't help but mirror it herself, her cheeks slightly flushing making her a little thankful he can't fully see her face.
"vee!" the sound of her brother's voice pulls her out of her trance and chris quickly removes himself from her, leaving her to frown at the lack of contact as she already misses the feeling of his hands against her.
chris watches from the side as leo pulls her into a tight embrace and he briefly makes out her mumbling into the hug, "happy birthday lee."
they pull apart and the smile on her face makes chris want to capture a picture in his head forever. everything about her is beyond adorable and there's just no way he can avoid the way he feels about her. he tried to at first but every time he so much as thought about her, it felt like his feelings were growing. now he silently embraces it, flirting whenever he can in the hopes that one day it'll be reciprocated and not something he does as a joke. it's hard with her being his best friend's sister but he still hopes for something to blossom between them everyday.
he watches as the two siblings continue to speak, both of them smiling as though they have no other purpose. his attention after a few moments stays glued to her because there's just some force of attraction that pulls him towards her. it's like he doesn't even realise he's gravitating towards her until his eyes are on her or until he's standing beside her. his body has a mind of its own when it comes to her.
eventually he gets pulled to other side of the room by matt and he'll be lying if he says he doesn't feel slightly upset that he has to separate from venus. still, he puts aside his sadness and engrosses himself in the conversations everyone is having and finds himself enjoying his time. that isn't to say he doesn't sneak glances at her whenever he can but he's still having fun nevertheless.
after hours pass, he still hasn't managed to corner venus on her own again. they've had many group conversations but none alone and he's a little bummed but it's time for leo to open his presents as now only the closest of friends remain. he's very excited to give leo his gift and his stomach bubbles at the thought as they sit down in various spots in the living room.
he pays attention to everything leo gets but he just really wants him to open (or rather see) his present. he almost jumps when it's his turn and leaves the room to go get it. when he's just outside the door he tells them all to close their eyes and they oblige happily.
he sets the item right in front of leo, sat beside venus might he add, and then with a large smile he says, "you can open your eyes now."
"oh my fucking god!" venus yells before anyone else can and okay maybe this is also part of the reason chris wanted to get the gift so badly.
"you did not," leo beams brightly as he picks the cat up in his hand before stroking it and looking at its collar, "vee, look at the collar."
venus does as he says and she literally jumps up and crashes chris into a hug that makes his breath hitch instantly, "you named it stitch. i feel like i'm the one getting the gift sorry but this is literally amazing."
"he's so cute," matt says as he takes the cat from leo and begins tickling him behind his ears.
leo stands up and pulls chris into a hug, one less dramatic than venus' but still one that shows chris how thankful he is. chris knew he was excited for a reason and seeing their reactions makes his heart soar. he'd genuinely do anything for the siblings.
later on when he's on the couch on his phone, only him and his brothers with leo and venus left at the house, venus approaches him and flops down next to him with an exhausted sigh.
he clicks his phone off within seconds and gives her a gentle smile that she returns with an even greater one before she starts her adorable rambling again, "i can't believe you actually got a cat. this is the best day of my life, i could kiss you right now."
chris knows she's joking but his heart flutters at her words and he suddenly starts to find it very hot in the room. normally he's the one flirting or making a comment like such but hearing it from her is another thing entirely. he's actually rendered speechless. chris sturniolo is fucking speechless.
"oh come on kissing me can't be that bad, you don't have to be so disgusted to the point you can't speak," she rolls her eyes at him but he swears there's a little flicker of sadness in her eyes as she speaks.
"come on i never said that. i'm just a little shocked you're the one saying something like that and not me," he tells her somewhat truthfully because she could not be more wrong.
"oh so you can flirt with confidence but the confidence disappears when you're flirted with. cute," she laughs and he wants to kiss her so badly, it's practically insane.
and she has the audacity to keep going as though she isn't completely flipping chris' world upside down, "come on chris, let's get straight to it."
she puckers her lips up jokingly but chris feels his heart racing, beginning to imagine how he'd react if this was all real and he actually was about to kiss her. if it were anyone else, he probably would have kissed them but he has something good with venus. it might not be what he wants to have but he has her and he doesn't want a kiss to ruin that. it does hurt not having her like he desires but he knows losing her entirely would hurt even more.
"venus what the fuck are you doing?" leo's voice is sharp as he enters the room and for the first time, chris finds himself filled with relief that it isn't just himself and venus in the room anymore.
she turns to him with a sheepish smile and basically questions, "um... showing chris a meme?"
"a meme that looks a lot like you're going to kiss him? and why the hell are you not moving away chris?" he shifts to chris and chris sighs inaudibly to anyone but himself.
because it's not real.
because even if it was real, i don't think i'd be able to move.
because i wanted to kiss her.
"because do you really think saturn here would kiss me? how many times have i flirted with her and all she does is tell me to fuck off? come on lee," chris decides to say and leo does calm down at that because he knows it's true.
chris is too focused on leo to see the way venus' face falls as a result of his words. her mind is producing dozens of thoughts all at once. does chris' flirting actually mean something to him? has she been denying herself of having him this entire time? surely not but then why does chris sound different when he says his words? what the fuck just happened?
❛ ━━・❪ ִ ࣪𖤐 ❫ ・━━ ❜
tags: @mattslolita
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