#edit: i just saw the typo. rip | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

writingmeraki · 10 months

Text

blood red strings.

a lee heeseung drabble !

genre : angst, action!au , spy!au, soulmate!au.

pairing : lee heeseung x gn!reader, enemies to ?, secret pining.

warnings : descriptions of blood, weapons, injuries, bruises, death, murder. cussing ( I think that's about it ) not proofread/edited.

author's note : idk. thas the only explanation I have for this. :D it was supposed to be short but oh well. oh fucking well. enjoy and let me know what you think !! Inspired by a pic I saw of two people point a gun at each other and a red string being formed ( I can't find it :< ) also my ENHYPEN DEBUT!! WOO FINALLY!!! I imagined Heeseung in this and I just went along with the flow because I legit could not get spy!hee out of my brain...... maybe I do love this more than I should and maybe I might end up making this a full fic ha. oh welp enjoy 😆😆😆😆😆 also other works will be uploaded soon ( the ones I've promised I know you have been waiting for a while 😭 ) edit : THE TYPOS ESP THE FUCKUNG ONE I WANT TO KAY EM ES.

word count : 2.3K

You felt it before you could see it.

The pain shot up your entire body, alarming your brain before you could see what caused it. Otherwise you would have even been able to dodge the cause.

Said cause smirked at you, as much as you'd rather burn yourself than to ever admit it, he looked annoyingly handsome, despite his own condition not being better than yours.

A cool breeze passed through the late night, typically a time when everyone would be sleeping peacefully in their beds, you'd like to think you would be too but you knew that wishing a peaceful night's sleep was as good as thinking a bullet shot would not hurt.

Both are far too different from how reality was.

Your knuckles ached, torn and ripped skin bleeding out. The right side of your face hurt, being punched twice was probably the reason. Your stomach hurt too, having been thrown against the concrete floor of the terrace not an ideal place to land was probably it.

Lucky for you, the adrenaline flowing through you, made it feel as though none of the aches actually affected you. Sort of distracting you from even thinking about how much it actually hurts.

Dodging another punch, you swiftly kicked Heeseung's leg, making him lose control himself for a moment, a moment you knew to never miss and you turned around hurdling another kick at his side.

His groans of pain indicated the impact of your blows as it was now your turn to be smug with him as you smiled in satisfaction.

"Aww did that hurt you?" Crossing your arms at him, as he laid on the ground for the briefest of moments, jaw clenching and shutting his eyes to take a deep breath, irritation growing within him when he heard your taunting.

Standing up while trying not to fall down again, his back now faced you.

Clicking his tongue, you couldn't see the anger in his eyes. He had enough.

"Let's just put an end to this pathetic game. It's getting tiring and frankly I have better things to do."

He didn't want to get into what he was actually sent there to do. He knew he would have do to it, but somehow, he wanted to stall it as much as he could.

And now this was the consequence of the stalling, his own state being terrible.

Scoffing at him, you raised an eyebrow,

"As if I have time to waste on you." You spat, venom laced words at him as you scanned his back, more than you should as you took in how broad his shoulders were from the way the black suit blazer stretched across them.

Without wasting a moment, Heeseung grabbed his gun from the holster that was under his shirt. Pulling it out, he swiftly turned around, now facing you.

"Well then, you won't have any time at all it seems." He pointed it at you, raising his own battered hand, his bloody thumb clicking the revolver to load it.

Smirking more widely at his actions, while pulling out your own revolver from your holster under your now maroon shirt, you pointed it at him.

Standing in mirroring positions, guns to your heads, you stared at him directly in the eye.

“It also seems like your time is over, sad how you’d die from the bullet of your worst enemy.”

You found amusement in your statement as your grin shifted to more of a mocking one.

“Darling we’d be dying together, far too romantic don’t you think?” His low voice rang in your ears, glaring at him and you’d excuse the warmth rushing to your cheeks from the mere nickname even though he’d called you way too many over the years of your rivalry as just blood rushing to your head.

Your gaze shifted to the clock tower behind him, the golden roman numerals glinting from the city light, reading the time to have been two minutes to twelve.

Two minutes to your twenty-fifth birthday.

Snorting at the irony of it, you shook your head. You might as well count it as your deathday considering, surely you wouldn’t be spared after this. You both waited for this for too long, having spent almost three years at each other’s throats and you’d be damned if you would let him escape alive as well. One thing you were sure about was you definitely won’t be spared as well.

It was always an eye for an eye and a bullet for a bullet. A death for a death.

It would be exactly twenty five years of your existence if you died today. Not a day more not a day less, a perfect twenty five and in a sickening way you always loved perfect things and this coincidence was no different.

“It would be devastating for you to die before you even meet your poor soulmate.” He grinned at you with a malicious glint and you felt your heart slightly drop at this forgotten reality.

A soulmate you’d never meet. A soulmate whose heart would feel like it would be ripped out before even meeting you. A soulmate who would feel the same thing your mother did when your father was brutally murdered. A soulmate who might spiral into a depression which could even lead into their own death. Just like your own mother.

No. No you couldn't think of this. You couldn't step back from something you'd been trained to do a decade ago. You couldn't. Not for something you found was more of a burden from universe rather than something special like most.

"Lee, if you know me well enough. You know that I don't fucking believe in this shit." You hissed at him biting your tongue, a tendency you did when you lied.

A lie because you did believe they existed, you saw it yourself but the reason it was a burden was because it didn't automatically mean a happy ending, you experienced it, you lived through that alternate ending and saw the toll of it on someone who was supposed to be the most precious person in your life.

"Ah ah ah don't lie now Y/N. You and I both know your pathetic self believes in all of that universally bonded shit." He shifted from holding the gun to his right hand, stepping closer to you and the grip on yours tightened.

"You're saying as though yours will see you alive." You could feel the side of your head aching, a trail of blood dripping all the way to your chin. A drop landing on your new tie dye maroon shirt splattered in dark and light hints of the same.

"I'd rather die while killing you than care about that nonsense. You see, unlike you, I know I'd never have a soulmate." The taunting smirk on his face slightly dimmed because even though Lee Heeseung was true to his words, a small part of his heart was still saddened at the thought of not meeting his supposed other half when he was supposed to.

He recalled his birthday, just a few months from yours, waiting to see if it was finally the year where the universe gave him the supposed greatest gift possible, his other half but no red string of fate showed up on his pinky and he smacked the shit out of Jake when his friend tried to comfort him that maybe his soulmate had also not yet turned twenty five.

Yet. Yet he threw those thoughts out of his mind when he realized what would be the end result of tonight. The end result leading to his own…end.

The loud ticking off the clock grew louder as it neared the twelve mark, indicating a new day, indicating your day.

You deeply inhaled, smiling at your nemesis, taking in the details of his face because well it was the last time you'd ever see him…or anyone probably.

"And oh! How could I forget? It's your birthday isn't it? Here's my little present then."

The clock chimed loudly, the vibrations running through you from the closeness and you tried not to wince from the loudness.

"Happy birthday Love."

Before you could respond to him ;

You saw it before you could feel it.

A dark red thread, looping itself around the pinky of your hand and your eyes widened, no words being able to form from your gaping mouth.

Now you felt the tightening of it. The red string harshly tugged at your pinky as it stretched outwards. It wasn't the only thing that felt suffocating because your throat felt like it closed up as you breathed out heavily.

A loud shot rang in your ears back, your focus still trained on the thread extending itself until it didn't.

It stopped.

Right in front of him.

It stopped in front of Lee fucking Heeseung.

He was frozen, ironically mirroring the same position as you once again but the only difference was the trigger on his gun was pushed backwards.

His eyes followed the movement of the string, pausing and holding his breath as it began to move.

It moved and moved and moved until.

Until it wrapped itself around his wrist.

And then he moved. The gun in his hand fell to the ground as he felt the dark red string tighten on his wrist.

You screamed out in pain before you could even comprehend what happened. Only now feeling the shot to your chest. The gun in your hand slipping from your grasp to the ground.

In your own stupor you didn't even realise you'd launched a few steps backwards, an impact caused by the bullet shot, now dropping to your knees as you put your hand to your chest.

Now it was his turn to feel it before he could see it, see you.

Heeseung felt it before he saw you, grabbing his own chest, feeling as though someone ripped his heart out.

"No…no, this…this can't be happening!" He coughed out as he tried to ease the pain in his chest, tears welling up in his eyes.

You sobbed out pathetically as you tried to put pressure on your chest to stop the bleeding.

Heeseung's gaze turned towards you and before he knew it, he gave into the string pulling him towards you as he rushed to you, dropping on his knees when he reached you.

"You…could have waited for one fucking minute you-" You spat out as you shut your eyes, not being able to even sit up straight, letting yourself fall forward.

A few minutes ago, he would have rejoiced at your state but now…in the matter of one sick twisted cosmic joke, he felt like his heart was being gutted while he held you in his arms.

"I…didn't. I didn't know I just…I didn't even think it could ever be…you." He didn't know what to do as he tried to think of something to do, what he could possibly do.

It wasn't like he was any better, he could feel the pain you were feeling only yours was actually there while his was more due to your freshly fated bond.

He laid you down on his lap, pulling off his blazer, bunching it up and pressing it to your chest.

You laughed humorlessly at his words, "Well it wasn't like I was expecting my soulmate to be you."

You let the tears flow as you looked up at him, pressing your hands on his own. The sparks flowing through you like an electric shock and for a moment right there, you could see why they described holding hands with your soulmates was exactly how you felt. An electric spark.

"Maybe this was how it's meant to be. For me to die, ultimately in your arms, my best enemy and my…only soulmate." You smiled at him, your tears glistening your cheeks. The most devastating part being your smile was a genuine one from the sincerity in your eyes.

He let out the whimper he'd been holding back, his own tears mixing with the blood on his face, and oh, he looked like a messy art piece, one that was only meant for you to look at in your final moments.

"No, I…please don't. It hurts, I can't…" His words came out in broken whispers, contrasting his past self who promised he'd rather jump into a lake full of sharks than to ever beg you.

"Didn't you say it would be romantic if we died together? Well then, Romeo and Juliet be damned." You jocked around, coughing as you learnt that trying to laugh when you have a bullet in your chest wasn't the most ideal.

Heeseung glared at you as he clenched his molars in anger, cursing at himself.

He wished and oh he fucking wished he waited one minute. Maybe then, maybe then he'd be able to change his perspective on you. A perspective that was already there, buried deep in the lockers of his mind, in folders of memories he had with you, how he saw you, how he thought of you.

A perspective he longed to think of since he met you but alas reality was far too different.

"And I never said thank you for you gift did I?" You grinned widely at him,

"Don't…just no." He whispered in such a soft tone that you were probably hearing for the first time in your life.

"Thank you Heeseung." You could feel the weight of the world in your eyes, moments of your entire twenty five years flashing like a film, some the happiest and some the most tragic ones.

It proved to you a question you'd asked yourself when you were 14, whether indeed a person's entire life flashes when they die. And now you got your answer first hand, nearly a decade later.

"And oh…fuck you." You whispered out as you felt lighter than ever and then, it was all over.

Over for you. Over for him.

A soulmate who he never thought existed, taken from him cruelly before he could even see the string turn a brighter shade of red, a shade that indicated true love.

A soulmate who he himself ended.

Indeed. What a devastating reality.

all written works as well as images and edits (unless credited) belong to pri. do not plagiarise, repost, re-edit or claim as yours. pics mostly found on pinterest.

links ! : main navigation | enhypen masterlist

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lenaellsi · 3 years

Photo

zolf WILL turn this car around

#rqg #rusty quill gaming #zolf smith #cel sidebottom #skraak #hamid saleh haroun al tahan #grizzop drik acht amsterdam #azu #sasha rackett #rqg oscar wilde #zolf just wants to get to the harrison cambell book tour event in one piece. is that too much to ask?#meanwhile skraak and cel are VERY excited to die on the fastest rollercoaster in europe #azu and sasha are jamming while hamid naps #wilde started punning 6 exits ago and is showing no signs of stopping #and grizzop doesnt understand why this is taking so LONG doesnt zolf know the speed limits are just suggestions??#LOLOMG my beloved etc.#edit: i just saw the typo. rip

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nishihime · 6 years

Video

Makinishi Scenes Compilation [tri. spoilers]

Took the liberty to put together all their interactions from Part 1 to Part 6 in one video :3 Had to reduce the quality since the file was kinda big so, I apologize for some audio that might sound off :/

Edit and subs were done by me @neorukix Used Crunchyroll subs and my own Japanese knowledge for this.

Enjoy the ship~~~

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emmyhem · 3 years

Text

it’s about time (l.r.h)

a/n: hi again! first of all i want to say thank you for the support on “seven things” it means the world. secondly, my requests are open and i’d be happy to write something for you. this is a jealous bff!luke imagine i wanted to get up this weekend, i didn’t do a very thorough edit before posting so hopefully there aren’t any typos. i am working on the request for a lashton x reader love triangle piece right now and will hopefully have it up by monday or tuesday. thank you, i hope you enjoy - emmy :)

pairing: luke hemmings x reader

summary: being best friends with the guy you’re in love with is extremely taxing especially when you have to watch him be with another girl all night. just when you’ve finally had enough of waiting around for him he ruins your plans for moving on.

warnings: alcohol, using alcohol as a coping mechanism, slight angst, jealous luke, mentions of throwing up, cursing, luke’s a bit of an asshole.

word count: 3.3k

“God, could they get a room?” you scoffed leaning into Calum as you watched your best friend practically eat his date’s face from across the club.

“Jealous are we y/n?” Calum laughed slinging an arm over your shoulder.

“No, just utterly disgusted.” you said before slamming back your fourth shot of tequila.

That was a lie, you were jealous. You were so insanely jealous that you could scream.

Luke had met his date, Hannah at the studio last week. She was new, working at the front desk. She had caught Luke’s eye the second she walked in the room with a bright confident smile, and a flirty look in her eye. Luke had asked her out the next day and was practically giddy when she accepted.

And that’s how they ended up in the corner of the club, Luke’s hands tangled in her hair, and her tongue down his throat. All the while you were trying to not look bitter, and distracting yourself with one too many drinks.

It wasn’t a new routine. You couldn’t count how many times you’ve had to sit back and watch a girl way prettier than you, be in the exact position that you would quite literally die to be in, with your best friend of 4 years. And somehow it seemed to hurt more each time, which meant more drinks for you.

As you felt the familiar and comforting burn of your fifth shot of the night slide down your throat Calum shot you a knowing look.

“Maybe you should slow down there, kid.”

You rolled your eyes and took his Corona from his hands using it as a chaser.

“Corona girl?” you heard from behind you. When you turn, your eyes meet a pretty pair of green ones (you still preferred Luke’s blue, but what the hell).

“Tequila girl.” you clarified.

“Respect.” the man said, extending a strong tattooed hand. “I’m Austin.”

“Y/n” you said, shaking his hand. You glanced over your shoulder at Calum who was now engaged in a conversation with Mikey and Ashton beside you.

“Pretty name, pretty girl.” he smirked. “So, can I get you a tequila?”

You giggled, happy for a distraction from Luke.

“You can get me a margarita, on the rocks.”

“Deal.”

The two of you chatted as you sipped on your drink, mind getting hazier with each sip. And you don’t know if it was the alcohol or your determination to get Luke off your mind but Austin was really, really hot.

“Do you wanna dance with me?” you asked before you had a chance to convince yourself otherwise. You were never really a dance in public kind of girl, normally the closest you got to showing your moves on the dancefloor was Just Dance in Luke’s living room.

“Absolutely.” Austin replied, sliding an arm around your waist to lead you to the dancefloor.

The bass beat shook the floor as the two of you made your way to the middle of the club. As you stopped you realized you had absolutely no idea what to do. You never did stuff like this. You can’t even remember the last time you went on a date, let alone danced to sleazy house music with a stunning stranger. You glanced around you hoping to follow the lead of the more experienced dancers around you.

A redhead to your right swung her hips, inching closer to her partner's body with each movement until she was pressed directly to his chest.

“Seems like a good place to start” you mumbled to yourself.

The second your hips were in movement Austin’s hands gripped them strongly guiding your movements closer and closer to him. As the beat built and your movements slowed to a teasingly slow pace his grip tightened causing your tight white dress to bunch up on your thighs.

With the alcohol in your bloodstream and Austin’s breath on the back of your neck you nearly forgot about Luke and your perpetual sadness, that is until you locked eyes with him from across the room.

Hannah was tucked under his arm sipping on her drink, but his gaze was locked on you, he had an unrecognizable look on his face, and a jaw clenched so hard you feared he would break his teeth.

You took him staring as the perfect opportunity to spin around, inches away from Austin’s face looking up at him through your lashes. His pupils were blown a bit, eyes filled with lust. He was practically breathing into your mouth. You will yourself to just kiss him. It’s not like you were Luke’s girl you thought, so you started to lean in.

As Austin placed his hand on the back of your neck you felt someone grab your arm tugging you out of Austin’s grip.

“Y/n” Luke appeared next to you.

“Is there a problem man?” Austin said grabbing one of your hands.

Luke rolled his eyes with a sly grin on his face, “Cal wants to talk to you.” he said to you not breaking eye contact with the pissed off guy in front of you.

“I’m a bit busy.” you said annoyance brewing in you as you ripped your arm out of Luke’s hand. “Can it wait?”

“Nope, said it was important.” he said nonchalantly “Better go find him.”

You internally groaned, “I’ll be right back.” you said leaning in to peck Austin’s cheek.

“Y/n, C’mon!” Luke shouted over the music.

“Fine!” you groaned leaving Luke and Austin behind you as you scanned the bar for Calum.

After searching for a few minutes you saw him in a booth with Ashton, and Michael talking and laughing.

“Calum,” you called. He glanced up at you waving a hand above his hand. You slid into the booth next to him, your patience growing thin.

“What is it?” you said.

“What?” he said, confusion spreading across his face.

“Luke said you needed to talk to me, what’s up?”

Calum’s eyebrows tugged together glancing at the other guys.

“I haven’t talked to Luke since we got here.”

You rolled your eyes and turned to the corner across the room where Luke had Hannah pressed up against the wall.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” you said out loud, rubbing your temple in frustration.

Ashton gave you a sympathetic smile and glanced at Michael who was practically sleeping on Cal’s shoulder.

“Maybe we should head out.” he said motioning to the drunk mess that was the three of you.

“No” Calum whined, dragging out the oh sound. “y/n was about to get some.” he teased poking your side.

“Just take him home, y/n/n.” Michael groaned, not even opening his eyes.

You pondered the idea, you never did stuff like this. But Austin was hot, and Luke was preoccupied. To say the least.

“I could take him home.” you say aloud trying to convince yourself.

“Then do it.” Calum challenged.

“I will.” you stated proudly. “You guys get Luke. Ash, you get the uber, and Austin and I will meet you at the door. “ you gave a quick nod to the boys and went to get Austin.

Austin stood exactly where you left him on the dance floor.

“Thank god you’re back. I-“

Before he had a chance to finish, you crashed your lips onto his. He quickly fell into the kiss moving his hand to the small of you back. Before it went any further you pulled apart about an inch, and spoke into his mouth,

“Come back to my apartment?”

“Absolutely.” he said an excited smile growing on his face.

When the two of you made it to where your group was struggling to stand by the door Luke pulled apart from Hannah, looking Austin up and down. His eyes stopping where your hands were interlocked.

“Love, a word?” he slurred, nodding his head away from the group.

You walked with him just outside the door.

“What’s up?”

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean with this guy, what are you doing with him?”

“Um, taking him home with me?” you said confused.

“You can’t do that.”

“Who says?” anger began building as you looked up at him.

“Uh, me I guess. You know nothing about him.”

This caused you to scoff, a laugh passing your lips, “And you do a background check on every girl you take home with you?”

“That’s different,” he alleged.

“And how’s that?” your patience was growing thin, and you could feel this conversation sobering you up.

“I don’t know y/n, you're just not one night stand material.”

Okay, ouch. Tears began to prick at your waterline.

“Go to hell.” you breathed, pushing past him.

“No, y/n/n. You know that’s not what I meant. C’mon love, hey I’m sorry.” he called after you.

As you approached the group, holding back tears, you took a glance at Austin in front of you and realized that no matter how hot he was you really didn’t even want this. How could you when you were head over heels in love with your asshole of a best friend.

But it was too late now, you would do it. Even if it was wrong. Even if you didn’t want to. Even if it was just to spite Luke.

“Ready to head out?” you questioned aloud, swallowing your hurt.

“Yep, uber just got here.” Ashton confirmed, guiding a hammered Calum and Michael out the door.

You all climbed into the Uber X Ashton had ordered, Luke, Hannah, and Calum in the back, Ashton in the passenger seat, and Michael, Austin, and you in the middle.

As you pulled away from the club, Ashton spoke over the light music coming from the car radio and gave the driver Luke’s address. The group had made plans to all spend the night at Luke’s, like you typically did after a night out.

“We have one more stop actually” you choked out, feeling Austin lean into you, lips attaching to your neck.

You gave the man your address and turned your attention back to the sexually charged man glued to your side. As he moved his kisses up to your jaw you closed your eyes, in order to prevent yourself from breaking down. The constant reminder that Luke had no interest in you, being thrown in your face as Hannah released soft sighs behind you.

Ashton glanced back at you from the front seat,

“You feeling okay, kid?” he asked.

You nodded gulping, and looked up at the ceiling to deter your threatening tears.

His eyes narrowed in concern as he adjusted his body in his seat so he was looking you in the eyes. Luke turned his attention away from Hannah (much to her despair) to the front of the car as Ashton spoke.

“Y/n, you sure? Maybe you and your friend should continue this another night.” Ashton suggested, noticing how you had tensed up and your expression had faltered since entering the car.

Austin pulled off of you and shot him a frustrated glare from his seat. Ashton raised his eyebrows in response, silently challenging Austin to confront him.

Austin moved in centimeters from your ear, “Your friends are kind of cockblocks.” he complained.

You tilted your head away from him and looked out the window Michael was sitting next to.

“Maybe they’re right.” you muttered. “Maybe you should just go home, and we can do this some other time. I’m not feeling well.”

You kept your gaze directed outside of the car, too afraid to see his reaction to your sudden rejection.

“Your kidding right?” he scoffed.

You were becoming more anxious by the second as he rambled on about how you must be joking.

“I’m not laughing.” Luke interrupted flatly.

“Okay, what’s your deal man?” Austin’s demeanor had quickly changed as he turned to face Luke, aggression clear in his face.

Luke held his hands in the air before resting them on the back of your seat. “No deal, she’s just clearly not interested, so maybe you could give her some space.”

Calum and Michael perked up in their seats as the mood in the car shifted. In the front Ashton was talking to the driver, explaining how you would be getting dropped off with the rest of them.

Austin was in a confrontational mood now, one that made you uneasy. He and Luke continued to bicker back and forth. Hannah sat confused and aggravated next to Luke.

You were seconds away from crumbling, feeling extremely upset and overwhelmed. Michael placed a hand on your shoulder, hoping to ease some of your distress as you pulled into Luke’s driveway.

Everyone got out of the car, leaving Austin stirring in his own anger. Ashton patted the top of the car twice before it drove away.

“Well, y/n you sure know how to pick em’” Luke commented.

Calum shot him a disapproving look as you shoved past, running inside.

You had officially reached your breaking point. You couldn’t have Luke but you were in too deep to be with anyone else. Not to mention the fact that Luke seemed to be taking pleasure in your misfortune for the night.

You went straight for the bathroom. All the alcohol and confrontation hadn’t been kind to your stomach.

You hunched over the toilet and began throwing up before you even got the chance to close the door all the way. Your eyes were red and stinging from your tears and your throat was stripped raw. Hugging your knees to your chest you sat with your back against the sink.

Three soft knocks came from the cracked door and you peered up through cloudy eyes to see Ashton looking at you with pity clear on his face.

“Can I come in?”

You nodded into your knees, staring down at the familiar tiles of Luke’s bathroom.

You couldn’t count how many times you had been in this exact spot. Whether it be dealing with the consequences of your unhealthy coping mechanism after a night out like you were now. Early mornings after sleeping over, sitting in the steam while Luke showered because he just couldn’t wait to tell you a story, or late nights he would convince you to paint his nails. All of it was replaying in your head.

“Why can’t he just love me the way I love him?” you whimpered as a sob broke from your throat.

Ashton was quick to wrap his arms around you, taking a seat on the floor.

“It’s okay, y/n.” he shushed. “You’re okay.

“I love him, Ash” your voice muffled from being pressed to his shoulder.

“I know.” he comforted you, rocking your frame lightly. You sat in silence for a bit, trying to control your breathing.

By the time you left the bathroom Calum and Michael were asleep on the couch and Luke and Hannah had gone to Luke’s room. Ashton laid on the couch with the other guys and you made your way to the guest room, falling asleep the second your head hit the pillow.

You woke up early with a throbbing headache and an insatiable craving for iced coffee. There was no doubt in your mind that you were first one awake, the guys wouldn’t be up for hours. You tiptoed through the living room past a sleeping Michael, Calum, and Ashton being careful not to wake them. As you turned the corner to leave you heard a voice from the kitchen,

“Morning,” Luke called, his gravelly voice making it very clear he had just woken up. He was leaning on the cabinet in a pair of sweats, a cup of coffee in hand.

“Oh, you’re up.” you responded still moving towards the door.

“Going somewhere?” he questioned walking towards you.

“Yea I gotta go, I have uh…” your mind was drawing a blank. “ya know, laundry.”

“Wait,” he sprung forward in two big steps grabbing your shoulder. “as urgent as that sounds, I wanna talk.”

“‘bout what?”

“I feel like I should apologize for last night.”

“It’s okay, we can talk about it later. I really gotta get going.”

“Y/n! Will you let me say sorry, please?” he pleaded

“You have.” you replied nodding at him before turning away once again.

“Fine, then can I ask why you tried to take someone home last night. You never do that.”

“No reason.” you lied, opening the front door.

“Really? Cause Cal said something last night about you being jealous or something and then I went to check on you and I overheard-”

“I gotta go.” you panicked, taking a step outside.

Right before the door swung closed and you made your escape Luke stopped it with his hand and spoke,

“Are you in love with me?”

You froze where you stood, squeezing your eyes shut completely mortified.

Slowly, you spun back around to face Luke. He stepped out of the door frame allowing you reentrance and led you to the kitchen. Once you had both sat down he spoke again,

“So is it true? What you told Ashton last night, is it true?”

You placed your hands over your eyes and shook your head.

“Does it matter?” you responded.

“Of course it matters, what do you mean?”

“I mean you have Hannah and it doesn’t matter how I fe-”

“Hannah’s gone.” he interrupted.

“Gone?”

“It wasn’t gonna work out with us. I ended things last night.”

“Why would you end things with-” you paused, eyes narrowing.

Luke looked down, suddenly not wanting to meet your eyes.

“Do you...you love me?”

At this Luke shot up from his seat and started pacing around the kitchen.

“Well, of course I do. But I asked you first, and you can’t just..” he rambled on but you stopped listening after “of course I do”

“Lu,” you said, standing up

He continued talking, not even hearing you over his own nervous talking and fidgeting.

“Lu.” you called a bit louder.

He turned to you, stopping mid sentence his mouth still hanging open.

“I am.”

“You…” he spoke slowly, eyes frozen on you.

“I am in love with you.”

Both of you were frozen in place, terrified that if you moved you may wake up and discover this was all just a dream. You stayed like that for about a minute till you broke the silence.

“I have been, for a couple years now. And I never told you, cause I always thought that-” you were cut off by Luke’s lips.

He had one hand on the back of your neck and the other pulling you closer by the waist. You melted into the kiss pressing a hand to his chest. It may sound cliche but you swore you were seeing fireworks as he ran his tongue along your bottom lip.

“I love you.” he sighed as you pulled apart. “I am so in love with you, fuck I can’t believe-” Before he had a chance to ramble again you pulled him back in for another kiss.

After a few minutes you broke away to catch your breath. Luke moved his hands to cup both your cheeks,

“Hi.” he cooed.

“Hi” you smiled. “I need coffee” you turned away walking towards the kitchen.

“Hey no wait” he whined pulling you back by the waist. “m’not done kissing you.”

“We have plenty of time for that, but I need coffee now.” you teased pressing a swift kiss to his lips.

“Mmm, I know but we’ve got a lot of catching up to do” he said chasing behind you and wrapping his arms around your waist as you walked to the coffee machine.

As you fixed yourself a coffee, Luke's chin resting on the top of your head, you heard shuffling from the living room. When you looked up Michael was walking in with messy hair and eyes puffy from sleep. He glanced at you in Luke’s arms, his expression unchanging and mumbled while pulling orange juice from the fridge,

“It’s about time.”

885 notes · View notes

jinkicake · 4 years

Text

High And Dry

The captains’ reactions to when you suck them off before practice, refuse to let them cum, and leave them with a boner right as practice starts.

Bokuto Koutarou x Reader

Kita Shinsuke x Reader

Kuroo Tetsurou x Reader

Oikawa Tooru x Reader

Sawamura Daichi x Reader

Terushima Yuuji x Reader

Ushijima Wakatoshi x Reader

Here you go anon~ AH, this is so long I’m going to add ‘read more’ so it doesn’t clutter your tl. I think this is one of the longest things I’ve ever written so please excuse the typos or weird wording if there is any,,, I can only reread my writing so many times as I edit it LOL

SMUT // NSFW

WC- 4,317

~~~

Bokuto Koutarou

Bokuto would be sooo happy to get a blowjob, right before practice too? Shite, it’s gonna make him sooo excited

Not to mention he will be a BEAST during practice like he is going to go off, emo Bokuto will not exist that day

Bokuto doesn’t really plan that well so I feel like there is a good chance someone is going to walk in on the two of you

And that person is definitely going to be Akaashi

The setter won’t ‘notice’ though, he will pretend not to notice because of his big heart but he def saw

You may have to smack Bokuto silly for almost getting caught, like he wanted this so badly and didn’t prepare for it?!

Once you leave him high and dry Bokuto will go emo mode

Literally,,, he will be so dramatic and act like he can’t move like he has a broken leg or something…. You know,,, I mean his dick really be a third leg

He will be so lost and clueless, truly

The next time he sees you after you leave him hanging, he will pounce on you

“Please,” Bokuto pouts and you scoff, crossing your arms over your chest.

“No.” You reply and Bokuto dramatically groans before sulking.

“It’ll help me play better,” Boktuo tries to persuade and you tap your chin with your finger. In truth, it is your fault that Bokuto has a boner but that doesn’t mean you have to suck him off! In any other instance, you would be on your knees and Bokuto wouldn’t even have to ask you but right now it’s different. Had you two not been in the storage closet and had Bokuto’s practice not start in twenty minutes you would have definitely said yes but now, it’s too risky.

“Let me think about it,” You tease and purse your lips in thought, feeling slightly guilty at Bokuto’s hopeful eyes. “no."

“Why not?” Bokuto cries and wraps his arms around your waist, bringing you into his chest so he can grind his pelvis against your lower back. “This is all for you.” He purposely tries to seduce you, not understanding what the word subtle means, and you want to roll your eyes at his method.

“Because you have practice in like twenty minutes, Kou! And you know Akaashi always comes in early! You think you’ll be able to cum in ten minutes?” You ask him and Boktuo nods like it’s the easiest question in the world.

“Are you really asking me this, (Y/N)?” He almost wants to scoff but instead kisses your neck.

“It’s too risky,” You whine and Bokuto only tightens his grip on you.

“But me eating you out last week in our classroom, that wasn’t risky?” Bokuto accuses and you scoff while lightly slapping the side of his head.

“Don’t bring that up!” You cringe and Bokuto shakes his head.

“You really enjoyed it, and begged me to do it all day,” He sticks his tongue out and you reach back to cup him through his shorts, roughly fondling him as you sink to your knees.

“Yay!”

“Shut up,” You hiss and start to pull down his shorts when you hear the familiar creek of the door opening. Instantly you rip your hands away from Bokuto and pretend to be looking at your shoe.

“Oh, Bokuto, (Y/N), what are you guys doing here so early?” Akaashi asks curiously as he grabs the cart of volleyballs.

“Just tying Bokuto shoes.” You laugh nervously and Akaashi nods his head.

“Yeah, he sometimes needs help with that. Since you guys are here early you can help me set up the nets.” Akaashi points to the poles and you mentally groan as he walks away.

Bokuto pouts at you when you walk towards the doors of the closet.

“Kou, I’m not sucking you off so stop looking at me like that.”

Kita Shinsuke

Kita is such a sweetheart like why would anyone want to tease my sweet baby like this

It would be great revenge though,,,,, to leave him with a rock hard boner before practice HAHAHA

Let’s say he ditches you for Atsumu or something…. Just suck him off right before practice and leave him like that, it would be great payback…. You’ll learn your lesson Kita!!!

I feel like it would be hard to convince him to let you suck him off in the closet,,, Kita just seems so responsible and level-headed, mature, like how could he let you suck him off in public?!

But then you sink to your knees and all his thoughts of restraint are GONE

It would seriously take some heavy convincing for this man to allow you to suck him off before practice

Like he needs to remain calm, and mentally prepare, before dealing with the clowns he calls a team, but one thought of your beautiful mouth wrapped around him and Kita is HOOKED

He really likes when you give him blowjobs like Kita,,,, becomes such a mess for you because it feels sooo good

If you leave him high and dry,,, good luck…. He will literally plan how to get you back the second you leave

Kita does not care about the boner sticking out through his shorts, he is more hellbent on punishing you,,, even if he deserved it

“Petal, you don’t have to.” Kita tells you but you refuse to listen to him, having him already halfway in your mouth. “My sweet petal, you’re always so good to me.” He groans softly and grabs your hands with his, tangling his fingers with your own.

Kita always lets you set the pace, he never tries to control you whenever you suck him off.

You hum lightly and run your tongue along the underside of his cock, caressing every ridge and vein with your warm muscle. Kita loves hearing you moan, loves seeing the way spit pools out of your mouth at the size of his cock, everything you do leaves him utterly weak.

His fingers squeeze yours and you smirk at how turned on he has become in such a short amount of time. A lightbulb flickers over your head and you purposely take him entirely in your mouth, ignoring the burn you feel in your throat. Kita lurchers forward, squeezing your hands so tightly that you nearly wince. You try to take him deeper, a personal challenge to see if you can touch your nose to his abdomen but before you can do so, you end up gagging.

Kita immediately lets go of your hands, he cups your cheeks and pulls you off of him. Despite the need to cum at the sight of you looking so wrecked, he can’t help but worry about you.

“Petal, are you okay? You can’t just-“ Kita lets out a high-pitched moan as you take him entirely in your mouth once again, you’ve never heard him release a noise like that. It only fuels you to keep going even more. After you swallow around him once more, you let go and pull yourself off him to stand up to your feet. Kita looks utterly confused, and delectable with the way he is oh so spread out for you, you simply narrow your eyes at him. “My love?”

“Next time you want to ditch me for Atsumu, remember that I am the only one who can make you cum.” With one last glare you flip your hair over your shoulder and walk out the closet, leaving Kita with an uncomfortable ache between his thighs and a team to lead in less than five minutes.

Kuroo Tetsurou

Kuroo is such a punk ass mf,,, he wouldn’t have to think twice about getting his dick wet before practice

You… on the other hand, though, might need some convincing,,, which is no problem for Kuroo

Please his smooth-talking and sweet words will have you on your knees before he even finishes his sentence

I feel like Kuroo would purposely do stuff to get caught, not that he wants to be caught but he likes to rile you up,,,, he’ll moan extra loud or knock his head against the wall

He loves it whenever you get mad at him and slap his thigh or tightly grip the base of his cock as a punishment

Kuroo loves his punishments

When you leave him high and dry for whatever reason, most likely because he deserves it, Kuroo will be so confused

“What do you mean no?” He’d pout and frown in a way that makes you want to finish him off for being so cute

But let’s be real, this freak will have no problem jerking off in the bathroom or something like he will finish in less than five minutes

So if you don’t finish him off then it’s no problem, he’d still be pissed though because he loves when you touch him but, he wouldn’t hold it against you

Kuroo’s groans vibrate against the walls of the small storage room and you pinch his muscular thigh as a warning. Your irritating boyfriend simply sends you a cheeky grin before moaning at the way you suck on the tip of his dick.

How you let Kuroo’s smooth words convince you to suck him off before practice, you don’t know, but you have a feeling you’re going to regret it.

You move your mouth along his member, running your tongue along the underside of his cock, bobbing your head with purpose. Kuroo stares down at you, his teeth digging into his bottom lip and you know what he wants you to do.

It is always so hard to fit all of him into your mouth, the ache in your jaw always punishes you whenever you try it but, you always push yourself to do it. This has to do with the way Kuroo will literally fall to his knees, the way you can feel his thighs shaking, whenever you take him down your throat and hollow your cheeks.

He fucking loves it.

With one last deep breath, you squeeze your eyes shut before opening them and taking Kuroo down your throat. Kuroo chokes and his hazel eyes widen, his jaw falls open and he leans his head back against the wall. He looks so ruined, so captivated only by your mouth and it makes you feel all warm inside.

“So good baby, so good.” He praises and smooths your hair over, you moan happily around him.

Much to your horror, you hear footsteps outside the closet. You glance at the door and notice Kenma sliding it open. The pudding head takes one glance at you before shifting his eyes to Kuroo, and with a disappointed shake of his head, he slowly slides the door close without so much as one word.

“Kuroo, what the fuck!” You cringe and push yourself off of him, the hot humiliation floods over you. Of course, someone was going to see!

“Babe, what?” He looks so utterly confused and you simply motion to the door, Kuroo didn’t even notice. You simply cover your face and hide in his chest, completely ignoring the way his cock twitches against your stomach. “You going to finish this or what?”

“NO!”

Oikawa Tooru

Oikawa is all talk, my favorite shit talker. He is THE shit talker of Haikyuu and not one person can beat him

I’m not taking any other arguments because they are all wrong~

Oikawa would literally be like ‘you want to help me get ready for practice?’ All cooly and suggestively but then the second you follow him into the locker room he screams

“W-what are you doing here?! (Y/N)?!” He’d be so shocked… you ….. in the boy’s locker room?!

His precious s/o can not simply breath the disgusting boy air from the locker room and so Oikawa brings you to the storage closet

“Did you not want a blowjob?” You’d have to bring it up or else Oikawa would be so confused, cue Oikawa’s head exploding

Oikawa.exc is not working

You’d have to convince Oikawa to let you suck him off because he would not be that into it,,, it’s in public and he doesn’t want to get caught! Oikawa has standards~

Of course, once you actually get to work and start sucking him off THEN he would be into it,,,, when you stop and leave he’d be like ‘where are you going?!’

Then you can simply tell him to get someone else to finish him off,,, to which he’d bite back and say that he would !!! Oikawa, Iwaizumi is not going to suck you, off I’m sorry.. not in this case >:-)

“(Y/N)!” Oikawa cries dramatically and you roll your eyes while wiping your mouth with the back of your hand. “I didn’t finish,” He pouts and you nearly give in, but then you remember why you are so angry. You instead ignore Oikawa and place him back into his shorts, lightly patting his hard cock over the thin material.

“Go ask one of your other girlfriends to do it.” You sneer and Oikawa places a hand over his chest, gasping in shock. “You always ditch me to go talk to them so why not just ask them to help you instead!” You continue to rant and Oikawa feels himself smirk.

“You’re jealous.” He points out and you snap your eyes to his, his warm brown eyes flirt with your own and you nearly slap him upside the head.

“Wouldn’t you be?” You snap back and Oikawa raises an eyebrow. “Next time you want attention, I’ll just go talk to Hanamaki.”

Oikawa internally sighs, his own ego-deflating a bit when he realizes how upset you are. He never intends to hurt your feelings.

“Baby,” He coos softly and wraps his hand around your bicep to bring you directly back into his chest. “my precious (Y/N), I’m sorry.” Oikawa apologizes softly while running his thumb along your arm in gentle circles. “You know I never want to hurt you, I should have noticed before.”

You want to roll your eyes but you feel yourself faltering when Oikawa begins to lightly kiss your neck.

“You’re all I’ll ever need, don’t you realize that?” He asks while hovering his lips over your ear, moving one of his arms to grip your waist. Oikawa gently blows into your ear and grins when he notices the way you squirm. “You have no reason to be jealous, baby, I promise.”

You timidly look up at your boyfriend, insecurity written all over your face, and Oikawa cups your face with his hands before placing a soft peck on your lips.

“I’m still not going to finish you off.” You snap and Oikawa pouts before kissing you once again.

“And I love you for that~”

Sawamura Daichi

Daichi seems like the type of responsible person who would not be into any sexual interactions in public but,,,,

I feel like if you asked if you could suck him off before practice, Daichi would be like ‘sure’

Only if you are alone, if there are other people around he would scold you and act like he wasn’t into it

It is not that hard to lure Daichi into the palm of your hand but make no mistake, he still has most of the control

Pretty much, all of the control

So,,,, when you get up and leave, literally paying no attention to the fact that you left Daichi with the worst boner he’s ever had in his life-

Daichi is not going to have it, he’d be so confused and I think he would be quick enough that he’d grab you and be like yo wtf

It’s not hard to get out of his grasp though, just play with him a little bit and then catch him off guard and then RUN

Daichi would probably be one the funniest mfs in haikyuu to tease because he is so …. Idk I feel like his revenge punishments would really be worth it

Like this man will plan out everything for his precious baby, he will leave you withering and crying for more,,, all because you ran away before he got the chance to cum

“Daichi!” Sugawara whispers, his brown eyes wide in shock as he tries not to look at his friend’s shorts. Daichi only sighs before turning to his vice-captain, already knowing what he is going to say.

“What?” Daichi whispers back and the grey-haired boy subtly points to his shorts.

“You’re,” Sugawara starts but shakes his head to clear his thoughts. “You have a boner!” He whisper-yells and Daichi tilts his head back, trying not to audibly groan in annoyance.

“I’m aware of that Sugawara.” Daichi sighs sadly and his friend looks appalled by his answer.

“You need to go fix it!” Sugawara scrunches his nose before pushing his friend towards the bathroom, sending a nearly passed out Asahi a sympathetic smile. “Go! Don’t come back until you’re normal!”

Daichi sighs once again and sits down on the bench, irritation flowing through his blood at the fact that Sugawara quite literally benched him. He tries to think about something, something to make him so soft that he can never get hard again, but it doesn’t work. Not when the only thing he sees are your teasing eyes and sinful tongue worshipping his cock.

Is he really going to jerk off in the bathrooms?

Daichi thinks and walks with shame as he heads to one of the stalls, his fist already pumping his length underneath his shorts. This is so disgusting.

Yet, the painful tense feeling in his shorts is more powerful than the shame he is facing. Daichi closes his eyes and tries to remember the way your cheeks hollowed as you swallowed around him. He remembers the feeling of your hands cupping his balls and massaging them with your soft fingers. Daichi bites his lip to hide back the moan he faces after one particularly hard tug.

Each jerk of his hand is associated with some thought of you. Your eyes welling up with tears, your moans, the way you gag around his cock, the way you stick your tongue out after he finishes to show him all the cum you collected.

Fuck. Daichi comes all over his hand, thankfully catching most of it on the tissue paper he had beforehand.

Now all Daichi can think about is getting through practice and punishing you so harshly that you’ll be begging him to stop.

Terushima Yuuji

Terushima would be so casual when asking for a blowjob, the boy has no shame

‘Hey babe, suck my dick after school.’ ‘Please, I’ll make it worth your while.’

Typical fuck boy methods but the only difference is that Terushima genuinely only wants you,,, You’re exclusive

He’d have to persuade you to suck him off,, he would never force you to do it or force it onto you like he will only let you suck him off if you want to do it

If you leave him without letting him finish, Terushima will fall into despair

Like yeah, he can finish off in the bathroom but he doesn’t want to do that!

He’s not mad at all, if anything you teasing him and leaving him dry like this makes the entire situation hotter

I feel like Terushima would be an expert at hiding his boner and he would not do anything to take care of it

He would practice with that boner and will carry the energy of wanting you so badly all the way until you finish him off

Terushima is the type to pull up to your house with such an innocent nice smile, say hi to your siblings and parents before completely destroying you in your room

“Ah, that’s it baby, so good to me.” Terushima groans loudly, he’s leaning against the wall with his legs parted slightly so that you can fit between them. His long fingers are threaded in your hair and he uses the grip he has to move your mouth along his cock. The pace he is fucking your face at is fast, every time you gag it just makes him even harder.

You’ve continuously told Terushima time and time again that if he thrusts into your mouth when he is already down your throat, you would stop. So far, he has listened.

“Yes, shit.” His head falls back against the wall when your nose brushes against his pubic hairs, the feeling of your tight warm walls convulsing around him nearly makes Terushima cum. “That’s my girl.” He moans and you whine at the noise, something about Terushima’s moans make you clench around nothing, it makes you utterly weak. The vibrations from your mouth go straight to his cock and Terushima can’t help the way he bucks his hips, thrusting deeper down your throat. You gag loudly and shake your head, a few tears fall from your eyes at the painful sensation.

Angrily, you push Terushima off of you and hold onto his thighs. You cough loudly to try and get rid of the sore feeling in your throat, but it doesn’t go anywhere.

Terushima feels bad, he really does, but fuck he can’t stop looking at your swollen lips and puffy cheeks.

“Babe, I’m sorry-“ He starts but you cut him off.

“No, I told you what would happen if you did that again.” You roll your shoulders back as you stand up on your feet, flicking his forehead as soon as you get close enough to him.

“Come on,” Terushima grabs your hand and tries to bring you back to his chest but you simply slap his hand away. “I really am sorry.” He apologizes with a soft kiss to your lips, lovingly rubbing his thumb along the front of your throat.

“I forgive you but, I’m not finishing you off right now.” You tell him and turn around to walk out the door, leaving Terushima with his ultimate nightmare.

Ushijima Wakatoshi

Ah, Wakatoshi my sweet baby bear~ Where do I begin >:-)

He’s so chill that if you offer to suck him off before practice he would say yes

I feel like he might lecture you about the risks or something just to talk to you LOL ,,, it’s so casual like he’s talking about what he’s eating for dinner that night... ‘if we get caught, we could get in trouble, I would not mind if you sucked me off though’

Yeah he will have no refusal when it comes to you offering oral like you do not need to ask him twice

He loves when you suck him off so much that he does not care if you have any ill intentions behind your movements

This would be the ultimate tease move, the ultimate power move that would leave Ushijima BENT

Literally, you leaving him high and dry would have him leaving practice as soon as it ends and making a b-line to your room to fuck you until the ache between his thighs is gone

He will go feral and tbh,,,, yeah that’s what you wanted

Truthfully he wouldn’t be mad at all, he would just be confused like genuinely lost. ‘I thought she wanted to suck me off, why did she leave?’

That day he’s going to make practice hell for the rest of the team, he has to get rid of his frustration somehow

“Fuck,” Ushijima hisses through grit teeth, his jaw slightly agape as he holds your hair out of your face. Your innocent eyes stare up at him as you swallow around his aching cock, there is quite the contrast between the two tones. Ushijima’s chest heaves with every breath he takes and you squeeze your thighs together when you watch the way his eyes flutter shut. His entire chest is out on display for you and it makes you take him even deeper down your throat.

At the sound of a bell ringing, you take a deep breath in through your nose before taking Ushijima all the way in your mouth. Your nose brushes his pubic hairs and from there you run your tongue along the base of his cock while swallowing all around him. Listening to Ushijima’s loud grunts and feeling his hands tighten their grip in your hair makes your stomach sting like heat is simmering within you and needs to be taken care of quickly. Despite this, and Ushijima’s refusal, you pull off of him.

Ushijima stares down at you, his pupils blown wide, as his chest continues to move like he had just finished running a marathon. You break eye contact with him to lick at your bottom lip, breaking the line of spit that had connected you to his hard cock. Ushijima’s breath stutters.

You teasingly cup him before placing back in his boxers, you lean forward to place a kiss on the boner poking out through his shorts. Your boyfriend grits his teeth at your movements.

“You have practice babe, good luck.” With that, you stand up and place a kiss on the corner of Ushijima’s lips. Your boyfriend barely has time to even notice that you’re leaving, his brain running with thoughts of how you just sucked him off so well.

He didn’t even get to cum.

A loud sigh leaves Ushijima’s lips as he stares down at his shorts, should he jerk off? He can’t just show up to practice like this. He tries to remember what Tendou had told him, think of something to turn him off, but he can’t stop thinking about your warm mouth.

Fuck, what is he going to do now?

The next day all you heard about from Tendou was how hard Ushijima made them practice, the red head kept complaining about all the running they had to do. You couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit guilty and responsible for it.

Taglist.

@yams046 @why-am-i-sad-and-sleepy @xhanjisungiex @xxashshs @chaosamu @angelkogane @augustdearly @kunimwuah @lovellucy @osamuonigiri @pearzuko @darksxder @macaronnv @nerdygremlin

5K notes · View notes

barbwritesstuff · 2 years

Text

I posted 1,568 times in 2021

1122 posts created (72%)

446 posts reblogged (28%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 0.4 posts.

I added 42 tags in 2021

#rec list - 6 posts

#fanart - 6 posts

#youtube - 6 posts

#oc - 6 posts

#crying wolf - 5 posts

#update - 4 posts

#i will update when the moon is full - 3 posts

#for the sergi fanclub - 2 posts

#vampires - 2 posts

#not werewolves - 2 posts

Longest Tag: 76 characters

#i guess i should actually spend some time trying to figure out how tags work

My Top Posts in 2021

Happy New Moon!

I hope you enjoy this dark, spooky night. I'm spending it locked away in my cabin, working on the update. It's going to be a steamy one!

Thanks for all the fun asks you guys have sent me over the last month.

Unfortunately, I am (due to a series of bad life choices on my part) poor, so if you have any spare change, and if you've enjoyed Blood Moon, I'd really appreciate it if you could send it my way.

But, if you can't, that's perfectly fine too. I really appreciate all the people who have been sending me spelling mistakes, typos, and bugs. It might not seem like much, but you're really helping Blood Moon become a better game, and I am so grateful for that.

265 notes • Posted 2021-12-03 21:02:36 GMT

Happy Full Moon!

The update is live. You can read it here: Blood Moon Demo.

288 notes • Posted 2021-08-22 11:23:59 GMT

Happy full moon!

The update is live! You can check it out here.

A lot has happened to me this month. The biggest of those things is I have moved. I’m not in South Korea anymore, I’m in New Zealand.

I’m still getting used to saying kia ora instead of annyeonghaseyo, but I’m happy to be this little bit closer to home.

A side effect of me being so close to the dateline though is that the full moon might happen on a different date for me than for you. So, I’m sorry if this update feels late. I (as I always do) waited until I saw the moon before posting. It's beautiful here. I hope it's beautiful where you are too.

But, now, onto the serious stuff.

This update is a little different. I’ve been trying to figure out ways to make the final chapters as good as they can be without overwhelming myself. I’ve also been trying to find a way to give the ROs from Pack B a little more screen time. Part of this process has unfortunately involved removing some segments of the story, and changing existing ones. In particular, I have changed a lot in Chapter Nine. Hopefully, when you read it, you’ll understand why.

It’s also not finished. I’m in the middle of this editing process, so it’s a bit messy, and there are bits that may not quite make sense. I’ll try my best to have those cleaned up by next month.

Thanks as always for all your support. You guys are honestly incredible. I’m sorry if this update wasn’t what you were hoping for. I know it’s not Chapter 11 or 12, but hopefully by editing and tightening up other chapters those final chapters will be really good when they do come out. 💙

314 notes • Posted 2021-10-21 09:20:02 GMT

410 notes • Posted 2021-09-13 14:28:56 GMT

Okay so totally random thought: Werewolves that behave like stereotypical vampires! Living in an old castle, wearing either old style clothing or well tailored suits, talking about history like they lived during it... turns out they are just all massive history nerds who like dressing up.

Hunter: "Ah-ha! I've got you now! Take this!" *rips down the curtains*

Werewolf: *blinks*

Hunter: *blinks*

Werewolf: "Why did you just ruin my drapes?"

Hunter: "You're not burning up?"

Werewolf: "Oh... you thought I was vampire. Ah. I see. You just tried to kill me."

Hunter: "Wait... so... you're not a vampire?"

Werewolf: "No." *takes off glasses*

Hunter: "But... the castle."

Werewolf: "I've spent years paying off the mortgage." *undoes his cufflinks*

Hunter: "What about all the bats?"

Werewolf: "Yes... we've been having a bit of a problem with them this year." *takes off his fancy tailored waist coat*

Hunter: "And the bottles of blood?!"

Werewolf: "My boy, it's Shiraz." *pulls out his belt*

Hunter: "So... I was wrong. You're human?"

Werewolf: "Well..." *eyes start to glow gold* "I wouldn't say that."

518 notes • Posted 2021-09-26 13:13:57 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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halpertstuna · 4 years

Note

Could you do 8 and 10 on the prompt list with JJ?

A/N: i’m so sorry it took me so long to answer, i’ve been pretty occupied lately and so i didn’t really have time to write and when i did it was for ‘someone to stay’, anyway, here it is i hope you’ll like it🥺

and PLEASE don’t hesitate to send me requests, questions, messages whatever you want. i would love to make friends and mutuals on this platform plus i love feedback and would really like to hear your opinions(:

also, this turned out way longer than i intended it to be, it was supposed to be a blurb but i guess i’m just gonna turn it into a whole ass imagine cause why not

-> prompt list <-

word count: 1,899 (oops... guess i got a bit carried away)

prompts: “i’m not jealous!”, “you’re hot when you’re mad”

pairing: jj x kook!reader

warnings: a pretty heated make out sesh, jealousy?, platonic Kie, Pope and John B. oh and typos probably.

btw, i was kinda in a rush to post this so please forgive me if it’s not that good, i’m too lazy to edit this again (and this is the first time i wrote something that’s kinda smutty? i mean this isn’t really smut but you get my point. don’t know how i feel about it), anyways, if you’ve made it this far in my insanely long intro congrats! enjoy <3

-> masterlist <-

(gif credit: @anakin-skywalker )

—

It’s been almost two years since you started attending the kook academy, almost two years since you became one of the pogues.

On your first day there you met a brown haired hippie chick named Kiara. The two of you had chemistry together and were paired by your teacher to be lab partners.

On your first encounter you didn’t really talk, and on the following couple of lessons it developed to only small talk and warm smiles if you saw each other in the hallway.

Kiara didn’t like kooks, even though technically she kind of was one.

Judging by the way you dressed and the people you surrounded yourself, she didn’t think you were really the type of person she’d get along with.

But when the two of you got assigned to do a project together, you instantly proved her wrong.

You met up with her at the wreck, the two of you talked about the project then yourselves and bonded almost immediately.

You revealed that you actually hated the people you usually associated with, thinking they were all fake, stuck up snobs with their heads way too far up their asses, and the only reason you hung out with them was your parents.

You turned out to be really reckless and funny which she wasn’t expecting at all, but she liked, it kind of reminded her of someone, her best friend, JJ.

She was quick to introduce you to the rest of the pogues and they welcomed you with open arms into their group. You instantly befriended them and vice versa.

Just as Kie suspected, you got along extra well with one particular blond.

The two of you had a lot in common; you were both hot headed and impulsive which often got you into trouble. You two were pretty competitive, always challenging one another.

You being so similar was the reason you got along so well, but it was also the reason you fought a lot, neither of you ever willing to admit you’re wrong or be the first one to apologize, but you couldn’t stay away from each other for too long. The sexual tension between you two could be cut with a knife.

Hungry glances, longing touches, needy desires that were transparent on both your faces.

Everyone on the island could see it but you. You were both so terribly oblivious.

You tried treating him like the rest of the pogues, you pushed your feelings for him to the back of your mind, thinking he was just being friendly, knowing he was a flirt, and for almost two years, it worked.

But seeing him flirt with Harleen tonight was literal torture.

Harleen was your neighbour and former best friend. A tall, tan brunette you hated with all of your heart.

The two of you have known each other since birth, you were practically inseparable, but as you grew up you noticed she always wanted what was yours, and she always did whatever it took in order to gain it. Whether it was the new shoes you got for your birthday which she bought herself the following day, or the guy you told her you liked in middle school the week prior to her dating him.

With time your friendship grew toxic and you felt like she was bad for you, constantly bringing you down and never caring.

So you decided to defriend her and ever since that moment you despised each other.

You were sat on a log beside Kie at a kegger, Pope next to her as they argued about god knows what. You tuned them out, far too focused on each and every one of JJ’s actions, watching as he whispered in her ear.

He probably said something funny since she started laughing, leaning forward and grasping his bicep for balance, which made your blood boil, you felt like history was repeating itself.

The grip on your red solo cup tightened, you stared and it seemed as if lasers were about to shoot out of your eyes and burn her pretty face off, but you diverted your gaze down to your hand, jumping up slightly when you felt a cool sticky liquid on your fingers, noticing you accidentally created a hole in your cup of beer with your milky white painted nails.

“Wow, what did the poor cup ever do to you?” Pope joked, his and Kie’s attention averted to you the second they heard a pop coming from your direction.

“Huh? Oh, well it didn’t tell me how pretty I look tonight, take that as warning sign” you trailed, trying not to look suspicious, “are you sure it isn’t because JJ told that to the girl beside him instead of you” she implied winking, causing Pope to cackle with laughter.

“What was that?” You asked rhetorically trying to act intimidating, “oh nothing” she gave you an innocent look.

“Anyways... i’m gonna go get a new drink” you swiftly stood up and started walking until you made out John B. from afar who was stood by the keg.

“Refill?” He questions once he spotted you making your way towards him.

You nodded “I accidentally poked mine” you admitted lifting the ripped cup in your hand and pursing your lips as you came to a stop beside him.

As he poured you a new cup of beer with the tap head connected to the keg by a tube, you searched the crowd with your eyes and focused your attention on JJ again.

You’ve seen him flirt with a countless amount of chicks before - kooks and torouns mainly, but none of those times pissed you off os much as seeing him flirt with Harleen did.

I mean he probably didn’t even like you back, so why where you so pissed? It wasn’t different from any other time, except that this was Harleen. She was a bitch. But he’d probably catch on quickly, right?

He placed his hands on her waist and you clenched your jaw at the sight grinding your teeth, you were irritated by the whole situation.

John B. noticed, a sly smile spreading slowly across his face.

“Hey, want some peanut butter with that jelly?” You turned to face him, a dumbfounded look on your face, “what are you talking about?” You raised an eyebrow at him.

“You’re obviously jealous”, he chuckled at the bewildered look on your face and you felt your cheeks heat up. “am not!” You denied huffing.

“Tell that to the vein popping out of your forehead” he teased.

You gasped and jabbed his chest playfully with your elbow, you mumbled a “shut up” then channeled your attention back to the two.

Her hands were rested on his chest, like that wasn’t enough already to send you off the edge. But when he pecked her cheek you lost it.

Abruptly you stormed off from where you were stood, John B. shouted from behind you “where are you going?“ but you ignored him.

When you approached JJ and Harleen you clutched onto his wrist dragging him away from her towards the chateau, ignoring both her and his protests. You led him inside then turned around to face him.

“Hey! What did you do that for? It was going really good for me! This better be an emergency” he sneered.

“Are you fucking serious? Out of all the people in the party you chose to hit on Harleen?” You scoffed.

“What’s the problem with that?” JJ was clueless, he knew nothing about your and Harleen’s rivalry. You never told any of the pogues, well except for Kie but she didn’t recognise her as the one flirting with JJ.

“The problem is Harleen hates my guts and the other way around. We used to be best friends but she became toxic, trying to take everything that I had and I’m not going down that road again JJ”

Your words confounded JJ, what did you care if she flirted with him? It wasn’t like he was yours, although he really wanted to be.

Does you caring about whether they end up together or not mean you wanted to be his too?

Then he noticed what emotion your eyes held, he’d never seen it before on your face, but he immediately recognised it.

“Wait.. are you jealous?” He questioned, the corners of his lips perking up into a smirk when he noticed the furious look on your face from his revolution.

“I’m not jealous! Would everyone please stop saying that?! I’m mad ok?!” You defend.

“Ok! Ok!” He surrendered lifting his hands up in the air “but just know, you’re hot when your mad”. Your mouth slightly agape as you weren’t able to form words to deny, far too transfixed under the fact he directly called you hot.

He started walking towards you slowly, you didn’t want to cave, to admit you have fallen for his charms, so you backed up until you felt your back gently hit the wall. Chest rising and falling quicker as your breathing started getting heavier and your heart beat faster.

The second his hand landed on your waist you felt a million butterflies erupt in your stomach, he tenderly stroked the exposed skin of your v line between your low cut shorts and crop top. You felt as if the skin under his finger was being set on fire.

He brought his other hand to rest beside your head on the wall, he leaned in, inches away from your face. His breath mingled with yours, fanning your lips, it smelled of cheap beer and weed.

He slowly moved to your ear and extolled in a low voice “I mean, really hot”, his warm breath sent shivers down your spine.

He left a sloppy, open mouthed kiss on the skin under your earlobe and you could’ve sworn you were seeing stars.

When he detached his lips you bit down on yours holding in a whimper at the loss of contact as he brought his face back to yours.

His blue orbs gazed into yours, they seemed darker than usual, lustful.

He waisted no more time and captured your lips with his. You didn’t hesitate to kiss him back.

You wrapped your hands around his neck and pulled on the edges of his hair deepening the kiss. As your tongues fought for dominance, he brought his other hand to your ass and squeezed it causing you to moan, he took the chance and slipped his tongue in.

you tugged on the hem of his shirt and he got the message. He separated his lips from yours and within less then a second, practically tore it of his body and discarded it on the floor. The two of you were panting at this point, completely out of air but you didn’t care. Breathless, you reattached your lips to his, desperate to taste him again.

You caressed his much bigger length with your petite hand, signalling you wanted more and he groaned into the kiss.

“Up” he demanded mumbling agains your lips. You jumped up and wrapped your legs around his waist, he grabbed your thighs and without breaking the kiss led you into the spare room.

Almost two years of yearning and craving dissolved in that night at the chateau, and to think it happened because of Harleen.

As much of a bitch as she was, you did owe her that.

319 notes · View notes

mrsren · 3 years

Text

Tom/Hermione Blackmail AU 1

Sharing the first part of this here because I don’t have self-control, but I’m holding back from posting on AO3 until I’m ready to write it steadily. Onto the info/warnings.

I don’t have a summary, sorry to tell you. But I’ve got tags, which will probably give you a pretty good idea of what this story is about.

Tags: blackmail, co-workers, D/s elements, dub-con leaning more toward non-con depending how you feel about blackmail, degradation, humiliation. Most of these come out later on, but there’s a blanket warning.

Now onto the dirty stuff. Admittedly, there is no real smut in the first part, but there is so much sexual tension. It’s about 3k so it’s under the line. It hasn’t been edited, so sorry for the typos.

I would super love to hear what you think, whether that’s on the post, in my messages, or ask box!

At approximately ten past one o’clock, the door to her office swung open. Hermione didn’t raise her head when the handle twisted, when the door knocked against the wall a fraction too loud. Instead, she gestured to the corner of her desk, the only free space and not by much.

“Please leave it in the basket.”

“Do you always speak to the couriers so rudely?” The shadow fell over her desk, and Hermione grimaced before looking up. Tom Riddle peered down at her in the annoyingly irritating way only he had. As though he was sizing her up while simultaneously believing there was nothing to observe. “No need to answer. I’ve sat across from you in enough board meetings to know.”

Placing her quill back into the stand beside a newly opened jar of ink, Hermione folded her arms and gave no reaction. “Ha. How can I help you? Have you gotten lost? Your office is another two floors down, although your desire to be in the DMLE must have brought you here anyway. I hear Harry will be looking for a new secretary soon. Perhaps you’d be a good fit?”

Riddle narrowed his eyes, and his fingers clenched the parcels so roughly that they crinkled in his grip. “The funniest thing happened this morning. Somehow, your mail was delivered to me by mistake. A new courier,” he lamented. “I’m sure you can understand how easy it is to get turned around.” He was enjoying himself entirely too much.

And the slow grin stretching his lips couldn’t mean anything good. Immediately, Hermione’s stomach dropped and her palms grew sweaty. She leaned back in her chair, and rubbed them against her jeans beneath the desk. As she did, she felt his eyes follow the movement.

His lip curled at the sight of her muggle clothes. Riddle had always hated the casual attire that came with Saturdays, when dress code was lax.

“And you’ve come to return it to me, how kind of you.” She reached for them, but he lifted them higher until they would be out of her grasp even if she stood. “Hand over my mail, Riddle. I have work to finish and I’d like to get out of here as soon as possible.”

“I thought you lived at work.” There was an edge to his voice then. “Haven’t you fallen asleep in your office several times now? All Hermione Granger does is eat, sleep, and breathe her work.”

If she ever got her hands on her mail, she was going to smack him with the largest parcel. “Have you been watching me? Perhaps you’re a bit jealous that you were passed over for the position.” That did it.

His eyes sparked, and he slammed a hand down at the edge of her desk. Papers scattered, but she snorted at the vicious glint that had taken over his eyes. “You are undoubtedly the rudest witch to work in the Ministry. What are you rushing to get out of here for, Granger?”

Tom Riddle has called her by her surname since they were first years, and the timeless rivalry between their houses had snapped into place, never wavering. When they were fellow Heads, he had called her by her first name one time, and one time only. There had been liquor involved, and him holding her up while helping her back to the shared common room while hissing that this didn’t make them friends.

She hadn’t needed the reminder. Thing was, this memory was years in the past now and there was no sense in it now. The look on his face reminded her of it though. Crystal clear, as though it had happened last week.

“I’m meeting Harry and Ron.” Hermione waited for him to roll his eyes, but he didn’t. The grin he gave was all the more terrifying. So much that she felt it in her bones, the sense of dread that put her upside down. “We have plans for dinner, and I’d like to get this done. So, if you could just…”

He waved his hand and the door to her office swung shut. The lock turned into place, and the sound of it rattled through the room. “I’m afraid your they’ll have to wait a little longer.” Finally, he hands over a few of the parcels, save for one. His knuckles have turned white from his grip on it. And then Hermione saw that the top of it had been ripped open.

“Did you open my mail?” She shot out of her seat, now regretting that she’d kicked her shoes off the second she got in. Now if she rounded the desk to yell at him from an even closer distance—and it was tempting—he’d only laugh at her. “Riddle, that’s—”

“There was no name on it.” Riddle said slowly, and there was no missing that slow chuckle under his breath. “I had no idea who it was meant for, so of course I opened it. How else would I figure it out?”

“Fine,” slipped through gritted teeth. “Just hand it over and get out.”

Riddle shook his head. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. You see, I don’t think this” –he waves the heavy envelope— “was meant for you. It certainly concerns you, but it seems to me that someone is trying to ruin you.”

Her brows shot up, nearly taking a new home in her hairline. “Spare me the bloody dramatics, and give me my mail.”

He didn’t hand it over, but he pulled the contents from inside and let them fly across her desk.

A knot formed in her stomach, tying itself over and over again. They were all photos of herself in various states of undress—some of them showed her completely nude—and she recognized the hands on her in some as her Viktor’s. He must have kept them after they had broken up. “What the fuck—” Hermione began, but she struggled to take a proper breath. “You’ll hand these over immediately, Riddle.”

He clicked his tongue. “I think I’ll pass, actually.”

“Would you rather be arrested?” Hermione all but snarled it. She’d set them on fire, if it weren’t for the parchment under them. They’d catch fire just as well, but perhaps it would be worth it. A final resort, if Riddle didn’t come to his senses.

Gone was his former irritation, and all there was now was his amusement. He didn’t bother to hide it at all. “Unless you’d like for me to tell them how you blackmailed Cassius Parkinson into voting for your bill last summer…”

Her throat could have closed up with how she couldn’t breathe. I have no idea what you’re talking about. That was what she should have said, but it was nowhere near what fucking came out of her mouth. “How do you know about that?”

The photos were still staring up at her, and he was staring at them too much for her liking. She couldn’t recognize him anymore when he did, or that way his eyes darkened when they lingered. “I have quite a few acquaintances, Granger. His daughter was in our year, you must remember, and when Cassius is pissed, he likes to rant.”

“And I was his most recent topic.”

He shrugged. “A few weeks ago, you were. Now that I have not one, but two things I’m able to hold over that pretty little head of yours, I think you’ll be much more agreeable.”

Voices grew louder as footsteps sounded on the other side of the door, and Riddle came around her desk. Hermione took an involuntary step back, and hated the way he smiled when she did. “Why would you want that?”

He’d foregone his dress robes today, but she wished he hadn’t. The way his trousers fit him were even more distracting, and his sleeves were rolled up, exposing his forearms. Riddle leaned forward, placing a hand on her desk—on the photo, over her bare breasts—and smiled like he knew exactly where his palm had landed. “You’re a quick study, Granger. I think you’ll figure it out.”

She thought she already had with he way he was staring at her. “Please, just let me take the photos. I’ll give you money, or—”

“I don’t want your money.”

Hermione swallowed. “Then what do you want?”

“Right now,” He shifted his stance, and lifted his hand so he could drag his fingertip across the photo. “I want you to tell me why you took these photos and what’s happening in them. You can manage that surely, hmm?”

Her heartbeat was uneven in her chest, to the point that it hurt, and she couldn’t think of a way out of this. “Have you made copies?” The pleading in her voice was very much real, but she knew the answer before he said it.

“Of course.” He lifted his other hand, and brushed her hair over her shoulder. “Now, you know what you’re meant to do, don’t you?”

Hermione would like to snap at him, to yell for the Aurors—which there was no shortage of on this floor. But the truth of what she’s done would be enough to earn her termination, and her achievement of earning deputy department head sooner than anyone else would cease to matter. Not only that, but the legislation it had helped her pass would be called into question.

And he knew it.

“It was for my ex boyfriend’s birthday.” Hermione whispered. “I posed for him on our bed while he photographed me, and charmed the camera when we—”

His finger slid against the base of her throat, warm and coaxing. “Then this was your idea?”

She nodded, and did not lean into him.

She. Did. Not.

“Tell me about this one. And do a good job of it.” The threat was unmistakably clear, and she wished that it didn’t effect her in the way it did.

Fear swirled in the pit of her stomach, sick and vicious, but that wasn’t all. Hermione squeezed her eyes shut, not willing to look at the feeling any closer. “I’m going to get you back for this.” Her voice was ragged, too breathy, and not enough anger.

It didn’t go unnoticed. “I’m sure you will. I’m rather looking forward to it, but I’ve asked you a question. You don’t want to keep me waiting, do you?”

In the photograph he’d pointed out, it was nearly only of her save for the hand on her neck, and the fingers wrapped around her throat. She looked past Viktor’s arm, swallowing, and looked at herself for a moment. “We’re having sex.”

Riddle shook his head.

“He’s fucking me.” Hermione said unevenly. “It was the second time that night.”

“He’s choking you.” Riddle’s voice was low, but not soft, and he curled a finger under her chin to lift her head. When she tried to turn away, his grip tightened and he forced her to look at him. “Was that for him, or for you?”

“For me.” Hermione swallowed tightly, and he watched her. “He never liked it.”

He let go of her jaw, and his fingers drifted lower. Riddle’s knuckles brushed against the front of her throat, and she thought he might try to recreate that photo. “I’m not going to choke you.” His voice softened when she flinched. “Why didn’t he like it?”

Why did he want to know? What difference could it make? From the way this had started and continued on, there was clearly one thing he was after. “If your plan is to blackmail me for sex, you should just get it over with.”

“I can assure you that I have no intentions of simply getting it over with, Granger.”

Of course he would want to drag this out—to savor it for as long as he could. Surely there was something she could find on him so she could turn the tables. It would mean that they would be in a hopefully constant stalemate, but there was no doubt that Tom Riddle was the sort of man that would keep going until he regained the upper hand.

Where would that leave her?

The only option for now was to play along, and to pretend there wasn’t a thrill that came with it.

“Viktor thought it felt like abusing me. He rarely ever choked me.”

“That’s a shame. And what of this one?” He pointed to another photo, but by the time she dragged her eyes back to him, she found that he’d hardly looked away from her.

She was on her back, and it’s a terribly explicit photograph. Hermione’s skin was flush, soft. Her breasts are exposed, and she can see herself in the moment reaching a hand between her thighs.

Her legs were spread, and her head was over the edge of the bed.

“I’m sucking his cock.” Her hands curled into fists.

“It’s impressive.” There were his fingers again, dropping to her shoulder where he nudged her jumper to the side. “You’ve taken him all the way down your throat.”

Under his thumb was a terrifying place to be. “He told me to play with my cunt. Viktor wanted to see me come while I sucked him off.”

He toyed with the hair at the nape of her neck. “Did you come all over your fingers?”

Hermione bit her lip, hard. “I—yes.”

“You’re holding back.” Riddle murmured, and the room grew smaller. There were footsteps on the other side of the door, and anyone could hear them if she weren’t comfortable. If anyone were to unlock the door and come in, the photos— A small sound escaped her when he shifted their stance. He pinned her against her own desk, and he grabbed her by the jaw again. “Tell me.”

“I squirted.”

His breath came out hard, uneven, and she swallowed. For a moment, she hadn’t thought that she should be afraid and yet, she couldn’t drum up an ounce of fear. “Sweet fucking Circe.” Riddle was pressed against her, and she felt him against her lower stomach. “Would you like to know which of these is my favorite?”

No. Absolutely fucking not. You’re a disgusting pervert.

Any of them would have been acceptable. By playing along with this part of his game, she was only being complacent. A dangerous thing to be when he would notice it. Thing was, she desperately wanted to know. Her stomach had turned over on itself, and she knew that she was wet. Hermione did not rub her thighs together, no matter how badly she needed the friction. He would have felt it.

It made her wonder what he would have done if she had.

“Yes.”

The grin he gave her was one she’d never seen. He leaned into her, his chest pressing against hers, and picked up a photo from her desk. “It’s this one,” As he said it, Riddle pushed it into her hands.

Out of all of them, she wasn’t sure this was the one she would have guessed to be his favorite. Perhaps the one where she’s spread out across the bed, her head on the pillows with her legs spread. “This one?” Hermione echoed. “Why?”

She was on her knees, still completely bare, and she’d pressed her chest forward. Hermione’s head was tilted up, her lips slightly parted. It’s not a tame photo—nothing she would ever want anyone else to see—but it’s nowhere near as revealing as the others.

“I want you on your knees for me.” Riddle groaned under his breath. “I want you staring up at me just like this.” He cupped her face, and ran his thumb across her lower lip, then slid it forward.

Hermione took his thumb in her mouth, and swirled her tongue around it, hating how she’d done it.

“You’re going to be a perfect little slut for me, aren’t you?”

She whimpered.

“Oh, do you like that as well? Is that another thing he wouldn’t give you?”

It was, and Hermione nodded.

“What a fucking fool.” When he pulled his finger from her mouth, his fingers came to rest against her throat. He didn’t tighten them as he watched her. “I want to see you on your knees for me, wearing a collar while you take my cock down your throat.”

Hermione caved. She rubbed her thighs together, and gripped the edge of the desk until her knuckles turned white. “Riddle—”

“You’ll call me Tom from now on.” He cut her off.

“And if I don’t?” It sounded more like her.

He flexed his fingers. “I’m dying for you to act like a brat so I can punish you, Hermione.” Her name sounded too good on his tongue. “You’re going to be late.”

Hermione’s head spun. She’d blow off her plans with Harry and Ron. The first thing she needed to do was to get home because she was positively fucking aching.

Riddle gathered the photos, sliding them back into the parcel and left it in the middle of her desk. “I’ll see you soon, Granger.”

#mrsren #tomione #tom riddle jr #hermione granger #Tom Riddle/Hermione Granger #blackmail au #smut

88 notes · View notes

staarshines · 3 years

Text

The Force Awakens Chapter 2: Hidden Force || P.D.

| The Force Awakens Masterlist |

Warnings: TFA Spoilers, torture, cursing

Word Count: 2.8k

After following Poe Dameron to the planet of Jakku in order to retrieve a map that supposedly leads to Luke Skywalker, a series of unthinkable events ensues and you’re left, stranded on a planet you know next to nothing about. After finding Finn, the stormtrooper you and Poe escaped with, BB-8, the droid who holds the map, and Rey, a girl who is surprisingly strong with he Force, you four embark on a mission full of long-lost family members, life-threatening situations, and tricks played by the Force. A mission that will change the fate of the galaxy.

[A/N]: Ignore any typos I’ll edit those out in the morning 😭 But y’all need to bully me into writing more please

“How’s mom?” Those words had been echoing in your head for the past however many hours you’d been in here. How could you have been so stupid? Maybe Mom was right. Maybe his training outweighed how strong you were in the Force. Hell, you couldn’t even brainwash the troopers that brought you in, let alone fight him in a lightsaber battle—

You hear the doors slide open and brace for whatever new form of torture they’d expose you to, but much to your relief, you see Poe—beaten, bruised, and bloody—but still your Poe.

“You look like hell,” he mutters with a grin, and you note the fact that he had four troopers escorting him. Little shit must’ve done something to up his guard count. Just the thought of it makes you smile a little.

“Look who’s talking.” You were lying. He looked hot—hotter than normal, you’d daresay. The white suits throw him at your feet and you reflexively try to bend down to help him up, but your restraints don’t allow you to do so. “Why’d they bring you here?”

“Hell if I know,” he shrugs, groaning as he tries to sit up—something the shackles made it much harder to do.

Before you two can continue your witty exchange, the doors slide open once again, and you know who it is before you even move your eyes from Poe. You let Ben—Kylo? (you’d always hated that name)—make his dramatic entrance and walk over to the two of you.

“Where’s the drive?”

“Hell if I know,” you copy Poe’s last sentence, hearing the pilot stifle a chuckle. Ben’s gaze immediately snaps down to Poe but you practically stare a hole into his helmet, not wanting to let him hurt Poe. He senses it—through the Force or whatnot, that isn’t your concern at the time—and turns his attention back to you.

“The drive.”

“I don’t have it, Ben.” You see Poe look at you and then Kyl—Ben, out of the corner of your eye, his face bathed in confusion.

“Ben?”

“Poe, meet my twin brother—”

“Stop it,” he instructs, but you can’t give a damn.

“—Ben. Solo.” You know he’s a mess of anger under that mask; you can feel it. And call it stupid, but that was exactly your plan. To get him so angry that he’d lose it, letting you see what his true abilities were.

Because fuck being on the frontlines. You finally understood that you were needed here, fighting the battles that nobody else could.

There’s the sensation of fingers curling around your throat, and you immediately regret your plan, trying to hold your breath for as long as you could instead of letting yourself panic and fight against it. Because you couldn’t. You choke a little bit, beginning to see black spots in your vision before squeezing your eyes shut, feeling yourself slowly start to slip away from consciousness.

“What the hell are you doing? Let her go!” Surprisingly, Ben does let go at Poe’s pleads, leaving you gasping for air and trying to focus on the situation at hand as fast as you could.

Poe. He was going for Poe.

Breathe. You can’t do anything if you’re unconscious.

Poe.

His screams shatter the silence that only your gasps were accompanying, which only panics you more. You’ve barely regained your breath before trying to find Poe through your haze, willing yourself to stay awake no matter how much pain it would cause you.

At least you could put up a fight against Ben. Poe was helpless.

“Ben, stop it!” Poe’s yells continue, and you can practically feel the pain he’s going through. “Ben, I said stop it!” You hear a thud and Poe’s screams stop immediately—you suddenly feel drained for absolutely no reason, like your oxygen supply was being cut off but you could breathe again.

“What… What did you do?” You hear Poe gasp, and you look down at him clutching his head, about to ask him what he means until you see Ben struggling to get up a few meters away from Poe, collapsed on the ground.

What the hell just happened?

Oh Maker. You did that.

“I don’t— I didn’t—”

“We have to get out of here. He’s going to hurt you.”

“No shit—”

“No, I mean he’s going to hurt you. He knows things about you that he shouldn’t—”

“What the hell are you talking abo—” Your head is suddenly thrown back, a sick bang resounding around the room as a result. You’re defenseless for now—when you’d look back on it, you’d realize that was bliss in the moment. You couldn’t hear anything except for muffled yells and a sharp ringing, and your vision had gone almost completely black—it was an escape for a few seconds before Kylo started to probe your mind.

And that was hell on its own.

You didn’t even remember what happened—it was all just a blur. It was like a knife being slowly pushed into your head, with you powerless to stop it. You couldn’t separate your screams of anguish from Poe’s yells of begging Kylo to stop.

But one thing you couldn’t understand—the memories of Poe flashing right in front of you. Why was Kylo looking for things about Poe instead of the location of the drive?

“No, I mean he’s going to hurt you. He knows things about you that he shouldn’t—”

That was why.

The knife is sharply ripped from your head and you’re not sure what hurt worse—experiencing the pain or being free of it.

You could recognize Poe yelling in the background trying to get your attention, but you just didn’t have enough energy to respond. The idea of trying to do what you did before to Kylo—throwing him on the ground somehow so that you and Poe could have a few seconds of peace—came to you, but if you were too tired to speak, there was no way you’d be able to channel the Force to do anything.

Through your blurry field of vision, you can see Kylo say something to the troopers then leave, and a few moments later, you have just enough strength to start to process what you were hearing.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Poe, you… you have nothing to be sorry about,” you breathe, swallowing thickly and wondering if Kylo had done some permanent damage to him. If he had, there was no way you’d let your brother live.

“I gave him the location of the drive.” Your heart stops.

“You did what?” You find the energy to look at him, but even then, you just can’t seem to process everything at once.

“I told him where it was, he was going to kill you—”

“That was his plan, Poe.” He stops abruptly. “He could kill us and we’d have no regard for ourselves over the Resistance. But the moment he knew that we’d do anything to keep each other safe, that… that was the weak link.” You’re not sure if you just exposed the fact that you had feelings for him, but that was the last thing on your mind.

“So… So you’re saying the fact that we care about each other could be the reason for the entire Resistance’s downfall?”

“Get up.” You’re awoken by the unmistakable voice of a trooper—the heaviness of the modulator gave it away.

“I can’t exactly just walk out of here,” you quip tiredly, a bit glad to know that the sleep you’d fell into after the stormtroopers escorted Poe out of the room had given you back your usual self.

If you’d ever be back to your usual self after being tortured and seeing the love of your life tortured by your brother, the both of you helpless to stop it.

The trooper removes you from the restraints of the chair, giving you a second to rub your sore hands together. You look up at him while he re-chains your hands in front of you, staring through his helmet as if you’d be able to look through it if you tried hard enough.

You’d seen him somewhere. There was no way you were mistaking him for one of the other thousands of white suits you’d encountered; something just felt… different.

Jakku.

That’s where you knew him from. You’d sensed someone else Force-Sensitive, but their signature wasn’t as strong in the moment, nor was it the one you were focusing on.

“Hey. You were on Jakku, right?” He hesitates—even if it’s for a split second. “You gotta get me and the guy that came in with me outta here. You saw what Kylo did to those innocents. We can save others just like them, but not if we’re held captive or dead.

No response.

You sigh, at least having given it a shot. You’re thinking of other ways to make a run for it without being killed as he leads you down the brightly-lit black and white hallway—no wonder their stormtroopers were depressed. There wasn’t any life on these dreadnoughts. It just looked… Mechanical. Lifeless.

“Turn here.” You’re about to question where he means here, because the closest break in the hallway is about a hundred feet in front of you, but he quickly shoves you into a storage closet, and you go full-on defense mode.

That is, until, you see your favorite curly-haired flyboy staring at you in awe.

“Poe!” you nearly scream, just the mere sight of him making you want to hug him and never let go, but that wasn’t really an option because of the cuffs on both of you. He simply tucks a loose strand of hair behind your ear and you hold his face in your hands, thankful that your flyboy was okay and with you once again. Then, the fact that there’s a stormtrooper right behind you strikes you, causing you to turn around while grabbing onto one of Poe’s hands. “Wait, who are you? And why are you helping us?”

The stormtrooper rips his helmet off, and the sight brings you a little bit of pity—he was just another person scared for his life, running from the First Order. Or about to run from the First Order. You could tell.

“I wanted to do something good for once.”

“Nah, he was running and he needed a pilot. But I wouldn’t say yes until he agreed to bring you along, too.” You smile a little bit as he squeezes your hand, a gentle reminder that everything was going to be okay.

Maker, how could the two of you act like this as “friends” and still not be together?

You shake your head to get rid of those thoughts—why you weren’t dating Poe was an issue, but not the one at hand—and then ask the question everyone was wondering.

“So how the hell are we going to get out of here?”

“Are you sure you remember which TIE Poe is in?” you mutter quietly, starting to wonder if the stormtrooper’s nerves were rubbing off on you. The three of you had agreed that it would be stupid to have one stormtrooper escorting two high-profile prisoners, so he’d take you one by one.

“Just shut up. Stay calm.”

“I am calm,” you state a bit too confidently, still having doubts about the situation. But this was a shred of hope, and as a Resistance member, what you did best was live on the mere specks of hope you could find.

“No, I was talking to myself.” You roll your eyes a bit. “Okay, turn left, now!” The both of you quickly hurry into the tunnels where the access to the TIEs was, with you following his lead and quickly slipping into one part of the TIE, where much to your surprise, you land on Poe’s lap.

“What the hell?!” you yell, immediately jumping off his lap and thanking the Maker that the lighting in here was dim—he wouldn’t be able to see the absolutely flustered expression on your face.

“Oh. Oh.”

“What the hell do you mean ‘oh’?” you ask a bit harshly, already jumpy before you slid into Poe’s lap.

“There are only two seats in a TIE.”

“And there are three of us,” you finish for him, rubbing your temples. “I’ll fly my own one out.”

“And risk us being separated—or worse, captured? Are you out of your mind?”

“Do you have a better idea, flyboy?”

“Just sit on my lap and pilot.” You’re not sure why the idea is making you so flustered, but it is.

“Right. And is that harness big enough for the both of us?”

“I’ll be your seatbelt.” There’s a moment before you burst out into disbelieving laughter, shaking your head.

“That has to be the stupidest thing I’ve heard you say, Dameron.”

“Do you have a better idea, Solo?” He calls out your “true” last name right there, which leaves you speechless for a second. You simply shake your head, muttering a few curse words under your breath before sitting down, sucking in a breath when you feel his hands go around your waist. “Do you know how to fly a TIE?”

“Someone’s forgetting the time I did this exact same thing on my own,” you shut him up quickly, actually trying to recall how, exactly, you did it the first time.

“Are you two done, or do we plan on spending a few more hours here?!” The trooper calls from the other side, starting to fire up the weapons.

“Okay. Here goes nothing.” You push the joystick as far ahead as you can, bracing for the sudden change in speed when what actually hits you all is a jolt backwards. Your heart stops for a second, thinking Ben was pulling the TIE back, but then you realize that the idiot who you were hopelessly in love with forgot to take the leash off the TIE.

“Are you serious?!” Both you and the stormtrooper exclaim at the same time, and you swear you can hear Poe chuckle a little bit before reaching around you to grab some controls, doing Maker knows what.

You were going to kill him as soon as you made it back to base.

“I got it, I got it!” He somehow gets rid of it, leaving you to rely on nothing but memories from a few years ago and your sheer intuition to fly the TIE out of here, all while the hangar shield was closing and you were being shot at.

But, having it in your blood, you manage to do it, grinning as both of the boys cheer you on as you speed past the cannons on the bottom of the dreadnought.

Oh shit. The cannons.

“We have to get rid of those—”

“—cannons, you hear me?” you finish for Poe, making sure the TIE was going as fast as it could. “I’m going to spin around, and you’re going to shoot them. You got that?!”

“I got it!” he screams back, and you take in a deep breath, trying to do what you needed to before you realized how stupid it was.

Here goes nothing.

You spin around, yanking the joystick all the way back so you make a perfect transition from moving forward at full speed to going in reverse at full speed, all while making sure the wings don’t get burnt off by the walls.

“I got ‘em!”

“Well, you have some more TIEs to take care of when I turn back around!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

You do the full-spin again, laughing a little bit when Poe whoops and pulls you further into his chest, hugging you.

“You’re fucking amazing!”

“Tell me something I don’t know, Dameron!” You laugh in glee, shooting out of the tunnel and heading towards Jakku.

“I got ‘em! I got the TIEs!” The aircraft is full of laughter and rejoicing and hope, something you haven’t felt this much of in a long time.

“Hey, what’s your name?” Poe asks the stormtrooper sitting in the back.

“I don’t have one.”

“What?”

“They just call me FN-2187.”

“FN, huh? Well I ain’t using it. FN… How about Finn?” You turn around slightly, just enough to face Poe, and nod a little bit, a wide smile on your face. Looking back on this memory, you wonder whether it was this small action that led to the entire course of the galaxy being changed.

“Finn… I like it.” You seem to forget everything in the galaxy besides the man whose lap you’re sitting in, repeatedly looking from his eyes to his lips, unable to help yourself and not wanting to.

“You’re amazing, you know?” The compliment masked as a question brings a smile to your face.

And perhaps, if you hadn’t been so lost in the celebration and the haze of love, you would’ve kept your head in the game and swerved the incoming blast that Finn didn’t even have time to worry any of you about.

“I know.”

Masterlist

All taglists are open! Send me an ask or a message :)

Permanent: @becausewhyknotme, @browneyedhimbo, @theladyoffangorn, @officialtonystarkprotectionsquad, @justmebeingtheweirdmeiam, @fantasticcopeaglepasta, @talk-geek-to-me, @letsmellowjello, @thescarletknight2014, @bbluespiritzuko, @brooklynsmorales, @marvel-dameron, @marvelinsanity, @softly-sad, @yourbucky084, @mcolbz14

Star Wars: @kittyofalltrades, @arkofblake, @m1rkw00dpr1ncess, @propertyofdindjarin, @coldbreadbouquetworld, @melvls, @thedevilwearsbeskar

Poe Dameron: @poe-damnnn-eron, @lapilark, @peterhollandkait, @demigod-dragonrider-schoolidol, @twomoonstwosuns, @lady-sloan, @poes-stardust, @legamelo, @xremember-me-notx, @imtheoutgoingsidekick-baby, @yourbucky084, @agents-assemble, @asianravenpuff, @daydreamerinadazedworld, @darthadeline

Taglist (Drop Me An Ask To Be Added): @pizzahutmonkeybutt-orgy, @nerd-without-a-cause, @princekooks, @itspdameronthings, @um-chile-anyways, @lil-lex1, @lizajane3, @giselatropicana

#poe dameron x reader #poe dameron x you #poe dameron x y/n #poe dameron fic #poe dameron imagine #star wars fic #star wars imagine #my writing #holy shit i havent written for so long what the fuck #does that cliffhanger doesnt even make sense #its not really a cliffhanger bc you guys have seen tfa but-

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itsclydebitches · 3 years

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RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Divide”

Hello, everyone, and welcome back! It feels good to be doing some normal RWBY-ing in this strange world of ours. First, some supplementary materials.

Number One: In response to any (valid) questions along the lines of, “Hey Clyde, it’s now been a full year since Volume 7 was airing and you still haven’t answered my ask about it. Or the ones about Volume 6… what’s up with that?” I’ve created what I hope is an informative video detailing the problem:

vimeo

(I assure you, the Earth, Wind & Fire was a happy accident during the screen recording.)

Needless to say, there’s a lot and I’ve known for some time now that I will LITERALLY never get through all my asks. Which doesn’t mean I don’t want you to send future thoughts in! Just know that as we head into Volume 8 territory I’ll most likely prioritize those, as well as any Volume 7 asks that aren’t woefully out of date. But I do want everyone to know that I read all the asks I receive, appreciate them immensely, and think too much about hypothetical answers, even if I don’t have time to actually write them out 💜

Number Two: There’s a bingo board this year!

Jury’s out on whether I’ll remember to update it, but at the very least this serves as a decent glimpse into my — and others’ — expectations going into this volume.

Number Three: I’ve collected a list of things I’ve heard about Volume 8 from what seem to be reputable sources. I did this because RT is developing a tendency to talk up certain points and then fail to deliver, either because something was taken out of a volume/moved to another, or because RT apparently has radically different ideas about what including something means. So this might be handy to keep on file and ask ourselves two months from now, “Did RT actually deliver on what they promised?”

Emphasis on Ruby’s leadership and how Summer’s death has impacted her

Insight into Ren and Nora’s flaws

May Merigold will supposedly have a larger part

More information about The Long Memory (Ozpin’s cane)

Theme of the volume is that you can respect someone but that doesn’t necessarily mean you agree with them

Very short timeline (supposedly just two days)

Yang in particular is very suspicious and distrustful

I was also going to include a list of all the threads that need to be continued/wrapped up, but honestly that would have taken too large a chunk off my life. Let’s just throw out the highlights:

Are we really going to have Qrow gunning for Ironwood?

Clover is dead regardless. Press ‘F’ to pay respects

Oscar bb you got shot please acknowledge this

Ozpin bb you got done dirty please acknowledge this

Penny is a Maiden now. I feel like the fandom has been sleeping on this (myself included)

Queer baiting, queer baiting… you’re on thin ice at this point, RWBY. Just skate on over to the queer snack bar before you fall straight into the lake.

Ren spill your deep dark secret already and it had better be something more than just ‘Oh no Nora might someday die :( ’

Salem is here so how the actual fuck is the cast surviving this?

Will Ironwood likewise survive his descent into antagonism? Yes or please yes no?

I think that’s all the biggies. I strive to keep lists like this in mind while analyzing, but honestly RWBY has a hundred moving parts that are abandoned or changed or simply retconned at the drop of a hat. So an attempt will be made.

Number Four (last one I promise!): Normal disclaimers and reminders for Recaps apply:

Please don’t fill up the already full inbox with flames. It’s still 2020. No one has time for that nonsense.

There will absolutely be typos and wonky parts because I try to get these out the same day an episode premieres. I have now been working on this for ten hours, nearly straight, and have no more energy for edits. Apologies in advance and RIP to my Saturdays.

I reserve the right to use stupid GIFs and memes at my discretion.

I strive to keep my focus on recapping/analyzing but salt tends to worm its way in… If you’re a die-hard RWBY fan with little patience for criticism, let alone (at times) snarky criticism, please proceed with caution.

No wait I lied, this is the last thing:

Okay, got that out of my system LET’S DO THIS!

We start not with the episode itself but rather Rooster Teeth’s (RT’s) strange non-promotion of it. If you follow my blog you may have caught the post where I pointed out that there was nothing on RT’s website to suggest that one of their most popular shows—if not the most popular show—was premiering today. Nothing on the main page. Nothing on the RWBY page either, not unless you count the Volume 8 poster background (easily mistaken for the Volume 7 poster) and the trailer buried all the way down past Episodes, past Merch, in the Bonus Features section along with videos like Live From Remnant and the volume intros. RT… the promotion of your feature show is not a bonus. This should be front and center! Honest to god, five minutes before the episode dropped I was checking the website for a Volume 8 section, a countdown, anything that would tell me the episode was imminent without relying on fans on tumblr to keep me in the loop. We got nada, zilch. I’m not sure whether that speaks more to RT’s iffy management of the series or simply the website’s horrible design—RIP losing RWBY on Youtube—but I was surprised when I saw the episode a few minutes after 11:00am. At that point I honestly expected to hear about a dely.

So that’s the mood I entered the premiere in, but truly? We start off strong. Things take a pretty severe nosedive later on, we’ll get to that, but I was impressed with our beginning and that probably has a lot to do with the fact that we start with our villains.

We open on a Cinderella character, Cinder, and thus I’m immediately pleased that we’re getting something about her backstory after all this time. Seven years! She appeared in episode one, folks! To say we’re overdue is an understatement. There isn’t a whole lot to go on, just a younger Cinder sadly scrubbing the floor, poised under a spotlight. What we learn, or potentially learn, is based far more in cultural knowledge than this scene. We know Cinderella’s story, which includes the abusive family, the longing for more, the eventual escape, and thus we’re able to read all of that in this image, despite the image itself not telling us any of this overtly. That means we could be wrong in our interpretation, but if we’re not it’s an easy shorthand in an already packed story.

What I’m really impressed with is the sound bridge between the scrubbing and her nails on the back of Neo’s chair. Fantastic way to confirm that this is Cinder as well as showcasing just how far she’s come. The sound of her labor has been replaced with the sound of her power and given that Cinder’s power is stolen, tied to a grimm arm, the property of a genocidal maniac… that’s messed up. It’s a Cinderella story gone wrong.

So yeah, Cinder tells Neo to head straight into the creepy, grimm infested blood cloud to see Salem and Neo is like, ‘Uh… no thank you?’ lol.

RT does a good job this episode with her expressions, ensuring we know exactly what she’s thinking despite an unwillingness/inability to speak.

Poor Neo might be in too deep, but I quite like the overall atmosphere of this opening. Say what we will about Salem’s awful characterization, at least she has style. This woman knows how to make an entrance and, piggybacking off of the Apathy, RT knows how to infuse horror elements into their fantasy. The red and purple coloring of the clouds, spiked whale teeth peeking through, bright orange in the background looking like explosions… that’s all 👌 Including the intro card.

The only thing I want to gripe about is this:

I’m sorry, why does the whale grimm have landing pads? Or something like it?? The whale otherwise works because it’s poised between the natural and the fantasy synthetic. It looks like a real grimm whale on the outside, but is sporting a throne room, a control panel, and other unnatural elements on the inside. It’s a visual indicator of Salem’s ability to control and change grimm. Now though, the additions are wrong, infringing on the line between organic and tech, the line between what helps the grimm individually (giving monkeys wings) and what just helps Salem. Every other aspect of the whale straddles that line wonderfully, adding to the creep factor, like a grimm version of the Uncanny Valley: it’s not quite a whale anymore… but landing pads? That looks ridiculous. Why does Salem even have that? How many ships are her people feasibly using? Why are there five?

Take it away, please.

Cinder waltzes in like this is a normal home visit, but Neo has an appropriate ‘What the actual fuck?’ face going on.

They approach Salem on her throne where Cinder immediately kneels, greeting her with, “My queen.” I mentioned during my trailer breakdown that I think Cinder is lying her ass off here, and I still think that based on a line we’ll get in a minute, but now at least we have a sense of how she can pull this off. A woman who started out as a (presumed) servant is going to know how to mimic subservience, even if her heart isn’t in it. Salem is very good at playing the girl who will still kneel and scrub the floor for you. She will scrub the floor, she’ll do everything you want, she’ll just be plotting her own rise to power while she does it.

There’s quite a bit of interesting cinematography in this episode, not all of it good, and I think one of the mistakes is here when we get a closeup on Salem’s mouth as she greets Cinder. A closeup like that should be reserved for more significant dialogue—“Rosebud”—and yet we get this shot again when Cinder tells Emerald to be quiet. It’s awkward and coupled with the numerous eye closeups we got in the trailer, I think RT is playing a little fast and loose with the camera. Each shot should add something to the scene, not distract from it. If you don’t have a reason for including a technique like that then leave it be.

Back to the actual dialogue though. We knew that Salem knew Cinder was alive and now it seems that she just expected her to come back? I’m slightly lost. It feels like we’re missing something here. Cinder goes off to secure the lamp, fails, nearly dies, wanders on her own for months, and then randomly shows back up on Salem’s whale doorstep, yet Salem isn’t angry at all? Did she have faith that Cinder would return when she has something to offer? Did she just not care about Cinder, considering her return an unnecessary but otherwise welcome surprise? That would make the least sense given that she holds the key to accessing Beacon’s relic… but that circles right back around to why Salem is seemingly indifferent to Cinder’s comings and goings. Surely she can’t actually believe that Cinder is loyal?

“So I trust you wouldn’t return to me empty handed,” she says. Yeah, trust means nothing in this show, Salem, didn’t you watch Volumes 6 and 7? Again, I simply don’t know. I suppose I’ll just chalk it up to confidence, that if Cinder did bail Salem knew she could track her down again. Deciphering her motivations and beliefs is a lost cause when the show continually gives us so little.

The important thing now is that Cinder does indeed have an offering and you can see that Salem is somewhat surprised at being handed the relic.

Cinder, of course, takes credit for the victory and we’re given another wonderful shot of Neo. ‘YOU took it?’

Oh, Neo. Best get out while you still can.

Tyrian appears having obviously made his way to Salem’s ship sometime between her arrival and now. The exchange is pretty standard for this group. He insults Cinder for failing and needing this victory to make amends, talks about how any win against Ironwood says more about his lack of intelligence than her skill, and Cinder… doesn’t have a whole lot of comebacks, actually. I’d say Tyrian won that verbal spar, enhanced by a better use of the camera when we get his tail looming menacingly towards Cinder and Neo.

He goes on to say that Watts was a “necessary sacrifice” so, uh… I’m just going to toss out the ask I answered yesterday. Based on our intro I’d say Watts is still significant to the volume—hacking Penny is my guess—but by the end? He could be in trouble.

(As a side note: I plan to analyze the intro next week. It’s just easier when it comes first.)

Tyrian also calls Neo “little one” which I just found absolutely hilarious. In an on brand creepy manner, that is. Not that Neo couldn’t kick his ass, but there’s something wonderfully chilling about having the serial killer use an endearment towards a potential victim, one that comments on her size while he’s looming.

In contrast, Cinder refers to Neo as a “valuable asset” and we get our third mood of the episode.

Who’s going to start a Neo reaction image collection?

It’s true enough on the surface—who wouldn’t want an ally who can turn into anyone else?—but we’re still bumping up against question of why Salem needs this. She’s immortal! She has an endless army! Magic! This scene works well with a villain who needs a skillset like Neo’s to succeed, but Salem doesn’t. RT is doing a great job writing a story thus far, just not the story we’ve previously been given. This isn’t the story they set up.

This will come back up when we reach the RWBYJNOR group. Just wait.

Before that though, the gang’s all here as Emerald, Mercury, and Hazel show up, all in new outfits.

I think I like everything except for the weird Xs on Emerald’s jacket—it’s way too distracting and frankly makes an otherwise good look ugly—and the fact that she’s showing her midriff in Atlas. Hazel doesn’t have any sleeves! Oh my god, why doesn’t anyone dress for the weather in this show?

Frankly, I found their reunion to be kind of lackluster. I mean, there was nothing wrong with it. Emerald does sound briefly excited, she does run, and it’s in character for Cinder to cut her off… it just didn’t resonate with me emotionally. I thought after two volumes of thinking she’s dead, then working through the knowledge that she’s alive, that I would feel Emerald’s shock and relief more, but I didn’t. And I’m not entirely sure why. I don’t want to level any accusations at the voice acting because frankly I know next to nothing about that skill (and from what I’ve seen it’s usually praised in the fandom), but I will say that throughout the premiere I was noticing it more than I ever have before. The lack of emotion here and some awkward deliveries later, like when Yang goes, “Ruby, there is no way Ironwood will cooperate with us” and I immediately thought, “Wow, that came out stilted.” These observations stick with me because, as said, voice acting usually isn’t on my radar. It’s not something I’ve studied or had practice analyzing. If you’d never told me that Ren or Qrow’s VA changed then after a year hiatus I literally wouldn’t notice… but there’s something about this episode that didn’t sit right. Anyone else get that sense, or was it just me?

Regardless, the arrival of our other three villains really doesn’t amount to much, though I’m happy for all the Emerald and Mercury fans who get to see them in new outfits. The focus is still on Cinder as she delivers a line indicative of her true motivations: “That power will be mine.” Yeah, she’s not loyal to Salem, she’s just power hungry. Of course, Salem immediately takes note of this and raises her hand, in another nice use of the foreground, reminding her that she hasn’t given that order.

Cinder is shocked, angry even, but quickly covers it up with her “Without you I am nothing” line. If I caught it right I think she also calls Salem “Ma’am”? Hilarious. Again, skilled at playing the servant.

Also, before I forget, it’s worth noting that almost everything from our trailer appeared in this episode. Yeah, there are a few details like Nora attacking some tech and the group on their bikes, but on the whole we’ve already seen the majority of our promo material and will likely get most of the rest next week. It makes me both interested and nervous for what another twelve episodes are going to hold.

Salem opens her whale, or opens a portal type view in it, something that gives us a long-distance look at Atlas. I don’t know what exactly is going on here, but it’s pretty so I’ll take it.

She also delivers the frankly badass line, “Just because you’re more valuable to me than a pawn does not make you a player.”

She waves them all away with perfect ‘You mean nothing to me’ attitude and we sadly leave our villains.

Sad not because I don’t love my farm boy, but because things are about to get a whole lot messier.

Oscar has made his way to a camp of civilian survivors… all of whom are just hanging out in the supposedly deadly cold. Yeah, there’s a single fire, but at least four of them aren’t anywhere near it. Three of them also aren’t wearing gloves. What was that survival rate again?

A nice if gruff dude gives Oscar soup—water?—while showing off his… badger claws? I don’t know what kind of faunus he’s supposed to be, but he feels like the sort of two second, minor character who could easily become a meme lol.

Oscar thanks him (my polite son!) and hands the bowl back after a single sip. Which is impressive because I would have assumed the guy was giving me the whole bowl and just taken it. Hell, I’ve done that even when I didn’t assume it’s all for me. A Starbucks barista once approached me with a tray and a plate of samples, I knew I was supposed to take just one, yet for some reason my hand went to take the whole goddamn plate. He had to tell me off, then I was trying to explain that I didn’t actually want or think I should have eight shots of cappuccino all to myself, I don’t even like coffee, he clearly didn’t believe me… it was awkward. So good job, Oscar. You’re less awkward than me (though that’s not saying much).

Now a question, Oscar. Darling. Brilliant boy who has been through too much: why the fuck aren’t you talking to Ozpin? This will be A Thing later when he presents a lack of time to talk as justification for keeping more secrets (we’ll get to that too…) yet here is time! You’re just sitting there for who knows how long, with plenty of privacy to hide a supposedly one-sided conversation so the Mantle citizens don’t get weirded out or suspicious. Talk to Ozpin. Our headmaster gets two lines in this episode, utterly inconsequential lines like his airship scene, lines that feel like they exist to say, “See? He’s still included in the story!” even though he absolutely is not. Two volumes of mostly silence, a perfect setup to start the reconciliation process, but we’re going to put it off again?

Instead Ruby randomly and conveniently appears. I want to know how she found him. Oscar isn’t wearing a tracker. He clearly didn’t call them because he’s surprised when Ruby shows up. He fell alllllllll the way back down to Mantle and then wandered to a random part of the slums. You’re telling me they flew over the entire city—after beginning this search thinking he was in Atlas—and somehow managed to spot him from up in the air? C’mon. I would have rather had a beginning where Oscar makes his way back to the group himself, giving him and Ozpin time to hash things out.

“Need a lift?” Ruby says, eliminating that potential. Sigh.

Oscar immediately starts beating himself up when he gets onboard, saying that he “was stupid to think the General would listen.” Nah, you were stupid to buy into Ruby’s nonsensical confidence and for telling Ironwood he’s as bad as Salem. Sorry, Oscar, but everyone is written badly these days. I will, however, say that I am THRILLED at the group’s reaction to his return. Ruby says that she’s “just glad you’re alright.” Nora has a wonderfully tender moment where she hugs him gently rather than her usual glomp.

That? That added a year to my life. Everyone else seems relieved that he’s okay too, so kudos there. After four years of Oscar being an outsider in the group, this is one of the few moments that feel like he’s 100% accepted. Really glad to see it.

Now let’s see if it sticks after they learn Ozpin is back...

They fly to the Happy Huntresses’ base and I again feel like I’ve missed something crucial. When did they team up? I mean, RWBYJNOR was working directly under Ironwood up until the last hour and Robyn ran off to fight Tyrian/Clover in the last couple episodes. When did she have time to explain her (briefly) changed allegiance and why would the Happy Huntresses trust the group without that? Did Robyn share that Blake and Yang went behind Ironwood’s back for her? Do the Huntresses instinctively trust them because they’re now wanted by the military? How did they even run into each other?

Again, I think we would have been better served to have an episode before all this. Let Oscar make his way back and let the group struggle with the magnitude of their situation on the airship, before they find new allies. Transferring directly to, “They have help and a secret base and a plan in the works!” makes me feel like I missed the real premiere last week. You know, the one where Salem unexpectedly arrived and we left the group like this.

This is where we’ve ended up though. The group is cozy in this hideout, getting info from Joanna, and my only other thought is, “Why is she giving all this exposition?”

Shouldn’t it be May? I mean, we were told that she was going to play more of a role this volume, a promise that’s pretty important imo given her status as a (so far off screen) trans character, so why not put her in the role of mediator between the Happy Huntresses and RWBYJNR? Giving her that setup as a leader among her people as well as lots of lines would be meaningful. A trans character just existing and being a part of this fight! May could obviously still fill that role—I’m well aware that we’re only one episode in—but it just seems like a missed opportunity to me. Out of all the undeveloped Happy Huntresses, our premiere focuses on the one who has the least importance to the fandom.

As said, Joanna talks a fair bit but what it basically boils down to is trying to get everyone to the crater below Atlas. It’s apparently not safe, but it’s warm, which is what matters right now.

So… let me get this straight. You want to gather everyone into a not safe crater, by leading them through an army of grimm, so that they can wait there in case someone moves the Staff, thus dropping an entire city on top of their heads? That’s the plan? Which admittedly isn’t Joanna’s fault. This is another instance of RWBYJNOR having information that a leader does not and they should really consider speaking up about it. But of course they don’t.

Also, how long does everyone have in regards to the cold? Shouldn’t there be dead civilians by now? The time it would take to find the Happy Huntresses, team up with them, get settled in the base, and find Oscar says that things should be pretty grim right now (pardon the pun), yet every non-aura user in this city seems content to just hang out in the snow. Either the cold is deadly enough to justify moving everyone to the crater, or it’s mild enough to let everyone survive this long, not both.

After hugs are given everyone obviously wants to know what happened to Oscar. His response?

“It’s a… long story. I get the feeling there’s been a few of those tonight.”

That’s a check for the bingo card! We’re halfway through the first episode and we’ve already got another secret. Yes, this is a secret. Oscar actively chooses not to tell anyone that Ozpin is back—something Ozpin himself comments on—and then skillfully draws attention away from himself with “I get the feeling there’s been a few of those tonight.” Indeed, all eyes go to Penny. Oscar’s plight is forgotten, which is what he wanted. His justification?

Ozpin: “You’re not going to tell them?”

Oscar: “You and I aren’t done talking yet.”

Along with this look.

Oscar no. There’s so much wrong with this I don’t even know where to begin. Let’s create a list.

As said, you had plenty of time to talk to Ozpin and chose not to. Miss me with this excuse.

You are now doing to your friends exactly what you and your friends did to Ironwood, which in turn is what Ozpin did to you! I can’t believe we’ve got Oscar critically side-eyeing him when they are still—still—repeating the behavior they drove Ozpin away for.

What is there to even talk about now? Oscar didn’t punch himself/Ozpin (lol) but he did steal Jinn’s name from Ozpin in the first place. You got what you wanted, drove him away, and have been lying and keeping secrets ever since. The only thing they should be talking about involves apologizing. Any further criticism—which is what Oscar’s expression and curt reply suggests—is beyond hypocritical.

Seriously, what needs to be discussed? There’s no reason not to tell the group unless Oscar wants to talk about whether they should tell them. There’s no good ending here...

Don’t you think it would be nice to know that Ozpin is back and you’ve got super magic powers while making plans to save the entire world?

This is all especially stupid given Oscar’s “Salem wants to divide us” reminder to Ruby in a moment. Oscar, you are doing the most to divide the group right now. By not forgiving Ozpin. By refusing to work with him. By keeping him secret from everyone else.

This is bad, friends, I worry for what the rest of the volume will bring…

The story is done with Ozpin for now so I guess I will be too. The group continues filling Oscar in and we get some shots of the base, including a rather prominent poster of what I assume are two Happy Huntresses. Did they die in battle perhaps?

It’s a little strange.

Oscar: “Where’s Qrow?”

Me: “Likely still making bad decisions.”

No one knows so they just drop it. Which I kind of get, only so much you can do to find him if he’s not out on the streets like Oscar, but it still reads as kind of iffy that two nieces look down at the ground for a hot second and then move on with their plans, content to leave Qrow to whatever fate befell him. In a minute we’ll see Yang firmly take Ren’s side regarding helping the people they can in Mantle, which frankly comes out of nowhere for her. I think an easy motivation would have been Qrow. Ruby wants to save the world, Yang wants to find and save their uncle, and that just happens to align with Ren’s desire to save the civilians who need immediate grimm and cold help. Don’t get me wrong, I like that there’s finally some division between the sisters, I just wish it hadn’t come about so abruptly. Ren had setup for standing up to Ruby. Yang did not.

But I’m getting a little ahead of myself. Joanna lists the grimm horde and no heat as the major threats to everyone. The group agrees.

Me: What about Salem?

Joanna says that this is all doubly dangerous because there’s “no more military protection.”

Me: Oh, so now you want the military?

This is all so disjointed. Even more-so when Joanna mentions that Ironwood has stopped all evacuations to Atlas, likely due to the “hard light shields” that are the only thing standing between Salem and the city. Thing is, the show never makes this connection, I just did it myself based on this scene and the one that comes later. The show presents Joanna’s line as a pure condemnation. Ironwood won’t let more evacuees in because… he’s just evil, I guess. Yet there is a justification here, namely that continuing the evacuations even while he’s stuck without Penny leaves him wide open to a Salem attack, the death of everyone currently safe, but that argument is never presented to the viewer. I don’t need people to agree with Ironwood’s perspective, I just wish that perspective was offered as an option. The show is very good about acting like RWBYJNOR’s opinion is the only justified opinion, or simply the only opinion at all.

After everything is laid out Weiss goes, “We’re never going to sleep again, I just know it.”

I could make a crack about the lack of continuity and how the group should be collapsing right now… but that was a funny line. It can stay.

What is far more of a problem is the fact that no one is talking about Salem. Okay, that’s a lie. They do talk about her, but in a roundabout way like her presence isn’t impacting every decision they make. That’s the real issue. They’re acting as if Salem isn’t here right now, like she’s off far away, maybe approaching slowly, and they��re arguing over how best to prep the world for her eventual attack. There’s no emotion here—let alone action—to reflect that the series’ Big Bad has arrived and is poised to murder them all. Literally what is this? Ruby is yelling about warning the world and, ignoring the continued question of why that’s a good thing when the world can do nothing to stop Salem and knowledge of her continually drives people to horrible acts, she has yet to acknowledge that… she’s the world? Ruby is the world in this conflict. She, Mantle, and Atlas. Salem is here for you all. Right now. You are, this instant, in the situation you want to warn others about, so why don’t you try to do something about it? Or at least acknowledge it. Ruby wants to warn the neighborhood about a potential fire while her house is actively ablaze, and the fire could have totally killed her by now but decided not to for… reasons.

“Ruby’s right,” Nora says. They have to tell the world so “they can prepare.” How? How are they supposed to prepare for this? The story cannot continue ignoring Salem’s immortality.

“Ruby’s right,” is all Blake says and I’m starting to thinks that’s why her character exists now, to agree with Ruby. It’s great that she’s getting a little distance from Yang, but man.

As Ruby asks whether Pietro can get Amity up and running despite it not being finished (called it) we start an incredibly odd sequence of flashforwards to their individual missions. I’ve seen a lot of praise for this already and though I agree that, in theory, it’s a good way to save time, I found the actual execution to be jarring. Upon thinking back through our timeline, it became clear they were flashforwards, but while watching I thought they might be flashbacks (especially since that’s more common).

Some of the shots, like Nora’s, just look awkward when you’ve got the exact expression and pose transplanted from one scene to another, like she’s a cardboard cutout behind a green screen. To say nothing of how the flashforwards ruin any suspense (I use that word loosely) in the conversation itself. If the question is, “Will they decide to go to the military compound?” then that question is answered when we see Ruby scoping out the compound, not when the group actually decides on the course of action.

It just made an already muddled scene worse for me, so I hope this trend doesn’t continue.

And of course, Amity can be used despite all the info last volume claiming that it wasn’t finished. Pietro suddenly acts like it is finished and the only thing standing in their way is Ironwood providing access. If that were the case, he would have used Amity weeks or days ago like he wanted to! When was it finished? Not after Watts commented on how incomplete it was. When did they get back the resources they needed from Robyn? It’s as ridiculous and retcon-y as I thought it would be.

Yang points out that Ironwood will never listen to them and Ruby counters that “he doesn’t have to.” They’ll just take the access from him. Because why wouldn’t they in a series where they’ve already stolen two airships? Stealing from the super evil military that Joanna wishes were helping them right now is just the group’s go-to plan nowadays.

Pietro isn’t sold on this plan though. He lists at least three obstacles they’d need to get through “and then… oh boy, I might need to think about this some more.” “And just to clarify,” Oscar says, “This is the easy option?” Um...no it’s not? We also know there’s an access point in Ironwood’s office so… why not go there instead? They really think the Academy is less guarded than the military base? There’s a potential justification here along the lines of, “After Neo and Cinder broke into his office Ironwood will have the place on high alert,” but unless I missed it the group doesn’t assume anything like that. They just listen to Pietro point out all the ways they can’t get into the military base and jump straight to that being the best option. It feels like a transparent way to create conflict for the group. We’ll just have them taking the most dangerous route despite an easy route being offered alongside it. Why bother mentioning his office at all? Just have the access in the military base. Boom, done.

It’s that conflict and the fact that Ruby tends to hear “You can’t” and digs in her heels. You can’t go to Atlas. I’ll just steal a ship then. You can’t defeat Salem. Watch me. You can’t break into this base. Guess what I’m doing! She’s dangerous in her fairy tale, meta-driven insistence that everything will turn out her way because she wants it to.

Speaking of, we finally—FINALLY—get someone challenging Ruby. Sort of. Not actually but it’s the closest we’ve ever gotten:

Yang: “Ruby, when we came here we said we’d follow your lead… but things haven’t exactly worked out.”

Now, there are two things to take away from this moment. The first is how utterly shocked Ruby and the others are. I mean, take a look at these expressions.

Ruby straight up can’t believe what she’s hearing. Weiss put her hand to her mouth like this is the most dramatic thing to ever happen to her. Oscar looks down in a ‘Yeah, I agree but please don’t look at me and make me admit that’ way. And Nora looks indifferent in the screenshot but animated she goes sort of stern, likely pissed that Yang would dare say that given her own agreement with Ruby. This not only reiterates that Yang’s challenge came out of nowhere—seriously, how did we move from following Ruby no matter what to this? Last volume she asked a single question along the lines of, ‘You sure?’ and when Ruby said ‘Yes’ Yang was entirely on board—but also demonstrates that no one has EVER said no to her before. Ruby is amazed that someone would challenge her. The act of challenging Ruby is, in and of itself, shocking. This group has gotten so used to following Ruby blindly that the teensiest little pushback is greeted with this.

Because it is teensy. This is the second takeaway: Yang barely challenges her and that challenge leads nowhere. She doesn’t accuse Ruby of anything, she doesn’t question her continued authority, she just broadly implies that things could be better. We followed you, now things are bad, take from that what you will. It’s incredibly mild as far as criticism goes, making the shock all the more, well, shocking, but it also amounts to—wait for it—nothing! Because Yang didn’t truly challenge Ruby’s leadership. She’s still in charge, she’s still calling the shots, and they’re still listening to her. We might have gotten some change if this division had been allowed to play out, but instead Jaune comes in with a, “Let’s go for both!” solution. It let’s both groups get what they want which, in turn, releases them from the need to grapple with whether they’ll listen to Ruby when she’s advocating for something they don’t agree with. We have now lost the chance to see whether, when push comes to shove, Ren and Yang will cave to Ruby’s will or stick by their own beliefs.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s more conflict than we’ve gotten in years, but that doesn’t mean it’s particularly compelling conflict. It’s good by RWBY’s standards, which doesn’t necessarily make it good. The actual issues at hand—Ruby’s dangerous arrogance, the group’s loyalty, her choices up until now—are just swept under the rug. For all the visuals we get insisting that there’s this great divide in the group… there’s really not. Not in any way that matters.

Also, Ruby is an idiot. Okay, that was mean, but she really is in this scene. She’s actually not an idiot overall because she was written as wonderfully intelligent in the early volumes, but now? Lately? She makes me want to bang my head against a wall.

“But that’s how Salem got this far,” she cries. “By dividing us!”

Ruby… oh my god, Ruby. No one should have to explain to you that dividing people means turning them against each other, not literally dividing your team to complete separate tasks. This girl honestly thought that because there was this teensy disagreement and that half the team would complete Plan A while she and the other half completed Plan B, both of which notably work towards the goal of, “Protect people from Salem,” that this was somehow what Salem wanted. That is was dangerous. Honestly, it’s a scary look at her view of leadership too: If everyone doesn’t 100% agree with me and do what I say, that’s an objectively bad thing that the grimm queen wants, right? Does Ruby think that unification means following a single person (her) without question or variation? That would explain a lot...

The fact that Oscar needs to explain the difference to her is not good. It really doesn’t say great things about this version of Ruby. Though he was comparing Ironwood to Salem last volume, so really they should all be wearing dunce hats.

Penny offers to take the relic directly to Salem in exchange for her leaving the kingdom alone. I honestly didn’t expect that. If anyone took that risk I would have put my money on Ozpin (but of course, during all this talk of the women he knows best, he’s kept quiet). Oscar is again the voice of wisdom, pointing out that they have no reassurance that Salem will keep her word. At least Penny is thinking about Salem as a threat though, so kudos for that. When this plan is shot down she volunteers to get Ruby past the military security instead and, uh, she’s a little intense about it.

I’m not entirely sure what is going on with Penny. She disagreed with Winter but then seemed to come around to her point of view, enough to help anyway. They had another (stupid) disagreement about the value of individual lives, so that helps to explain why she’s teaming up with RWBYJNOR (if you ignore that Ironwood is also trying to save individual lives...). Did watching Fria die shake her up? Is it being the Winter Maiden that’s not sitting right? Does Penny have lingering feelings about the framing that haven’t shown up until now? Her status as a ‘real girl’? We’ve got a lot of reasons that could definitely explain this sudden need to fight, but we’re not told which—if any of these—is the driving force.

We’re then given a lot of little details. Someone points out that if Salem gets the staff and “create[s] anything else” then Atlas will fall (so yeah, let’s move the people underneath it). We still don’t know what exactly the Staff does because “creation” is kind of broad and “powering a city to float” doesn’t seem to sit within that category at all. Pietro gives Yang the keys to his lab so they can get the bikes. We see the group dividing in the flashforwards, something I do like, especially since the show has gone out of its way to break up most of the usual duos. Nora in particular is pissed at Ren for his choice.

“Oh, I’m saving Mantle because I actually believe we can do this.”

#yikes. Well, I did say I wanted a conflict other than ‘Oh no, one of us might die’ and it looks like I got it. But Nora, the only reason you can do this is because the plot is in your corner: none of you are collapsing from two major fights, you didn’t lose your aura so the cold isn’t a danger, the military is barely a threat all of a sudden, Salem is helpfully hanging out in her whale instead of killing you, and the story decided that Amity can function so long as you all are the ones who get to use it. That’s why you can do this. Ren, who follows in-world logic and doesn’t want to risk a whole kingdom’s worth of lives on a pipe dream, thinks differently, oddly enough.

As they leave though Penny gets a call from Ironwood. I know precisely what the fandom is going to say here: “This evil man is just trying to use Penny to open the vault!” Of course he is. He needs it open to save everyone he can, Penny included. Plus the concept of “using” her is a double-edged sword. What do we think the group is doing right now? Using her to get past the security. Penny’s power is a tool any way you slice it. Granted, Penny volunteers to help the group, but notably here Ruby speaks for her. Penny seems torn and Ruby takes the scroll away with, “She’s not going anywhere until you change your mind about Mantle.”

Sorry, Ruby, but coming from you that sounds less like a reassurance for Penny and more like just an order for Ironwood. Remember Harriet? We’ll stop attacking you provided you do what we want. Ruby has yet to learn about compromises, let alone acknowledge that she might be wrong. How about you let Penny decide where she goes, especially since by all logic she should have a lot of loyalty to Ironwood. She knew him before she ever met you. She’s worked with him since she was rebuild post-Volume 3. Despite what Penny has said, if the story would just let her think about his actions for a hot second—making her the protector of Mantle, sticking up for her after the framing, sending her to the party, teaming her up with Ruby, etc.—she might realize that the ‘He doesn’t want me to have friends’ and ‘He just treats me like a tool’ assumptions are just that, unfounded assumptions. But no, Ruby speaks for them both because Ironwood is evil now.

“If she makes it through our defenses,” Ironwood says, “everything that follows will be on your hands.”

That’s true! Kind of like how it’s own Qrow’s hands that Clover died. When you insist on making a bad situation worse you hold responsibility when the shit hits the fan. You know though that Salem won’t get through their defenses now, somehow, so that there’s no chance RWBYJNOR will be blamed for it. Or, by that point Ironwood will be so crazed that anything coming out of his mouth is dismissed, no matter how accurate it might be.

We then transfer to the Ace Ops who are, despite what the fandom theorized for many months, clearly upset about Clover. Also pissed. Which they have every right to be. Their friend and leader was killed. Imagine for a moment that Ruby had been murdered by Tyrian with an allies’ help. Exactly what do you think the group would do? Swallow it quietly and get over it? Ha.

I’ve already seen some speculation that Clover survived due to details like showing us the bandage and his room being listed as for a “Patient,” but he looks pretty dead to me.

He got gutted through the chest and left out in the snow for who knows how long. We saw him slip away. Qrow screamed over his dead body. He’s not breathing now. If RWBY suddenly claims he survived this, I’m calling BS.

Most of the other visuals we get here were already dropped in the trailer. Winter is pretty injured from her encounter with Cinder, likely permanently based on her new outfit. Ironwood had to replace his arm—and I am calling BS on that “Losing his arm is reflective of him losing his humanity” commentary from RT. Please go read up on a couple decades worth of ableism in media and then get back to me.

We get Ironwood’s line about the light shields and, notably, a whole lot of empathy. Regardless of what he might want Penny for, he still called her with compassion. He’s watching the Ace Ops mourn their friend. He’s talking about protecting his kingdom. The first thing he says to Winter is, “Thank you, Winter. I don’t know what I would do without you.” Ironwood has a heart! It’s always on display, which makes this scene utterly ridiculous.

I literally don’t know how to respond to this. The gunshot made me jump, both because it’s a gunshot and because, again, what the fuck? I know I said that next volume RT might just have Ironwood descend into full villainy, shooting whoever he pleases now that he’s shot Oscar, but I didn’t actually expect them to do it. Because he never should have shot Oscar in the first place! I wanted the story to let Oscar grapple with it a bit and then quietly backtrack, acknowledging it as the mistake it was. The concept that Ironwood, empathetic Ironwood, rational Ironwood, always thinks before he acts Ironwood, let’s kids yell at him Ironwood, tried to team up with Robyn Ironwood, did everything Ruby wanted Ironwood, won’t kill Watts after he destroyed his arm Ironwood would shoot this guy just to shut him up is absurd. It was absurd then, it’s absurd now.

That being said, there’s a possibility he didn’t actually shoot the council member, but rather just (“just”) gave a warning shot down the hallway. I say this because the reactions to this are pretty tame. Everyone looks startled, yeah, but after the initial shot there’s nothing that I would expect if there was now a guy bleeding out on the floor. The council woman doesn’t scream. Winter doesn’t seem overly shocked. No one is running to try and help him. Basically, if Ironwood had just killed a political figure in front of six witnesses, entirely unprovoked, I would expect a bit more of a reaction than this. This feels far more like a, “Damn he’s not joking around, letting off warning shots to get people to leave him alone” not “WOW, our general just killed someone in cold blood!”

What I really hate though—beyond just assassinating his character—is how many fans think my friends and I are delusional for calling it character assassination at all. I hopped onto the RWBY tag for five minutes this morning and was bombarded with posts about how Ironwood needs to be murdered horrifically, anyone who likes him is sick, the Ironwood stans are as bad as Adam stans, you’re an idiot if you want him redeemed… because apparently the concept of a story writing a character badly doesn’t compute. I’m not here to argue that Ironwood didn’t do these awful things (regardless of whether he actually killed the guy or not). I’m not here to argue that they’re not awful. I’m just here to say that we never should have gotten these scenes in the first place, or if we were going to get them, we deserved an actual descent into murder at the drop of a hat territory. I’ve already explained extensively on this blog how early Ironwood was not accurate foreshadowing for this, and Volume 7 certainly wasn’t setup, but it looks like the majority of fans aren’t interested in examining whether any of this adds up. Which makes my job, as someone trying to examine this series somewhat objectively—in as much as that’s possible for any single viewer—as well as simply enjoy it as a show, really hard. It’s bad enough when a story keeps taking the characters you love and villainizing them, and doing that badly, but then when you turn to the community and see them rallying around the idea that you’re awful for being dissatisfied—you’re the bootlicker, you’re the blind stan, you can’t see what’s ‘really’ going on here… that sucks. For those of you happy and satisfied with Ironwood’s arc, that’s great! I’ve also seen a lot of posts hyping up the complexity of his character now. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying what we’ve been given and I’d never want to imply that just because it’s not what I wanted it’s somehow wrong. I’m honestly thrilled that after a year of worry so many people have adored our premiere, including this scene. I just wish that I could say RWBY had given me something I didn’t want in a persuasive manner and that the fandom as a whole was a bit more welcoming of differing criticisms.

Not that I didn’t already know the RWBY fandom had its flaws, but still lol.

That’s basically it for our premiere. Nice note to end on, huh? Our final scene is of Salem using the lamp to set her bloodhound grimm on the city. Why doesn’t she just go herself? What was she planning to do here in Atlas in the first place, considering that getting the relic was a surprise? Who knows. Little about this holds together. But we do end with another awesome shot, so small favors.

It’s always strange concluding a recap, but even more-so when it’s a premiere, during a historical moment in the U.S., amidst all the nonsense that is 2020. So for now I’ll just conclude with three quick things:

The updated bingo board will be listed at the end of each recap, provided I don’t forget about it lol. Today I’m checking off tone (not nearly enough freaking out about Salem), the team keeping secrets (Oscar), and major plot point dropped (Amity is suddenly finished). I could also probably check off the cold not killing civilians and getting Amity up and running, but we’ll see if any changes with those.

I’m including my Ko-Fi link at the end of recaps now. Not with any expectations. Not with anything resembling pressure. I thought long and hard over whether to include it at all—let alone mention it here—because I love doing these and never want anyone to feel like it comes with strings attached. But life is a little harder and weirder than it was last year, so I figure it can’t hurt. Feel free to pass on by and I won’t be bringing it up past this note.

Far more importantly: thank you for reading! :D

(Bonus 4. Editing this was an absolute nightmare — damn you, tumblr! — so I apologize if anything is super wonky when I finally post.)

See you next week! 💜

[Ko-Fi]

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 8 #mymetas #rwby recaps

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icyllic · 3 years

Text

Path of Destruction | JEON JUNGKOOK

PAIRING: Jungkook x Reader

GENRE: Drama, Angst (maybe???), Thriller

WARNINGS: Stalking, obsession, swearing, a little dirty talk & thoughts

WORD COUNT: 2635

*note: ↑ i came across this video and saw this comment by boogieedits (credits to parkchimn & boogieedits for the inspiration! 😍) and felt inspired by this wonderful plot! i’m inspired by the amazing video edit too! <3 i decided to give it a try and welp- truthfully i’m having writer’s block with my Full of Stars series that i might wanna take a break from it for a while until i figured what the next episode’s plot would be. for now, let’s enjoy this oneshot! 🥰 (extra note: several changes were made in this story and yes, the nickname might be a little cringy but i couldn’t think of a better pet name, so....bear with it, i guess 😅😂 also, Y/N’s angered replies are intended to have typos. i purposely did the typos in her texts bcs she was angry af :3)

The night was feeling empty. The streets were quiet and you had no idea where you were heading. You couldn’t believe that you actually managed to get out from your best friend, Suzie’s party that was filled with a lot of her drunken friends and thank God you successfully escaped, even though right now you were feeling a little tipsy due to the amount of alcohol you consumed earlier.

“Fucking Suzie,” you mumbled as you walked home. “telling me it was just a small party and she lied! Who would lie to their own friends?!” You have the habit of talking to yourself if you feel alone and that was what you were feeling right now, so alone in the streets and you were clueless. You felt the need to cry but what’s the whole point? No one was here to save you even if you did.

You were sure you weren’t dreaming or hallucinating at all but you heard footsteps were following you. As you turned around, you furrowed your eyebrows in confusion, seeing as there was no one. When you turned around to walk again, the footsteps were heard. “HEY!” you yelled as you aggressively turned around. “don’t you dare follow me or I wouldn’t hesitate to call the cops!” You rolled your eyes in annoyance, mumbling to yourself again to make the uneasy feeling go away.

As you finally arrived home, you were struggling to grab the keys to unlock the door. At this very moment, the keys were tricking you; purposely tangling themselves with your pocket. “Are you kidding me?! I wanna get inside, you stupid keys!” You widened your eyes when you saw your older sister opening the door for you. How was she still awake at 2 a.m.?

“You look like a horrible mess.” Michelle commented, and you scoffed while pushing her away from the door as you went inside.

“Why are you still even awake anyway? Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping?” You were shaking your head while shutting your eyes to avoid that tipsy feeling.

“How can I sleep when I know my little sister wasn’t home yet? I was worried sick, you moronic bitch.” She shook her head, feeling disappointed with how you acted right now.

You were feeling sleepy and tired, so you decided to ignore her and went upstairs. Before you went to your room, you heard your sister yelling, “Yeah, go ahead and ignore me just like you always do to avoid conversations with me! I’ve had enough of babysitting you, Y/N! You’re so horrible!” You slammed the door before hearing any more of her complains.

Despite feeling so tired, you couldn’t sleep at all. You took the time to stare up at the ceiling instead, filling your head with numerous thoughts. But the thoughts stopped as you heard a Ding! on your phone. You read the texts and to your surprise, it was from an unknown number.

unknown [now]: sweet dreams, twinkle toes

unknown [now]: it took me nearly four years to pluck up the courage to text you

unknown [now]: and i can’t lie, i’m having butterflies

unknown [now]: you don’t know how many times i’ve dreamed of touching you

unknown [now]: by the way, go take a shower before you sleep 🌹

“What the hell?” You got up quick and scanned the whole area in your room, worrying that person who texted you might be in there. Hiding under your bed, maybe? You didn’t know whether to text this person back or not, or to block him but if you block him now, how would you know where he got your number from? ... or how would you know whether this person was a male or a female? So you decided to just leave it be for a while and reply this unknown person’s texts tomorrow. After this dreamland taking over your world, you were hoping that these texts were just all hallucinations due to tiredness.

••••••

....except that they were not hallucinations at all. You started to feel panic when you saw the messages were still there in your message box. Now it was your turn to build the courage to reply this person back.

you [now]: Who are you and how did you get my number?

Anxiety started to form inside you. You were supposed to run some errands today but with the situation you were facing right now, you were having doubts whether it was safe to go out there or not.

Your daydream of thoughts stopped when Michelle walked in to your room. “Y/N?” You raised your head up to look at her. “you feeling better now?”

You nodded, feeling hesitated as you knew that answer wasn’t true at all. You weren’t feeling any better, even after last night for being a little drunk but with this stalker texting you??? A whole new level of creepy started to scare you. You kept wondering how on Earth this person got your number.

“I baked you some cookies, just in case you were hungry and um,” she paused for a while. “I’m sorry for yelling at you last night. I didn’t mean to.”

These words shocked you. Her apology made you give her a look of astonishment. You and Michelle have been through it all; dramas over boys, arguing over little things and never once in your life you ever heard her saying sorry to you. This was so new, she finally apologized to you for the first time in her 25 years of living.

“I’m sorry for being an irresponsible bitch, Michelle. I didn’t mean it too.” She shook her head while smiling, walking towards you and gave you a hug to comfort you. Ding! And this person appeared again, stopping you from hugging your sister.

“Whoa, who’s texting you at an exact 8 a.m.?” Michelle teased while wiggling her eyebrows. You chuckled at her silly attitude, although this wasn’t supposed to be a happy situation at all. You were already feeling terrified as curiosity started filling itself in you, wondering what that person’s text might be.

“Probably just Suzie wanting to apologize too for being a lying turd.” You shrugged it off, chuckling alongside your sister. Michelle then walked out and you quickly locked the door, opening the stalker’s message.

unknown [3m ago]: you’ll know soon enough, twinkle toes 🥰

Twinkle toes??? Who the fuck does this person think he or she is? Calling me twinkle-fucking-toes? Your thoughts started to annoy you right now. You felt the need to slam something out of frustration, but you weren’t feeling like it anymore. You were still feeling scared because of this whole situation.

••••••

“Class dismissed!” Mr. Peterson announced when the bell rang. The whole Math class felt like a living nightmare. You were feeling sleepy the whole time but your attention was drifted off somewhere else.

When you walked outside the classroom to pack your stuff in your locker, you were stopped by Adrian. Adrian, the guy you knew had a crush on you since sophomore year. He was indeed cute; shaggy hair that really matched with his bright, green eyes and had a very nice personality that could make every girl fall in love with him. Unfortunately for Adrian, you weren’t one of those girls.

You’ve been taking the time to appreciate and love yourself for several years now. Your last relationship ended because that asshole cheated on and lied to you a lot of times, leading you to have trust issues and hence the reason why you didn’t wanna give Adrian a chance too. But Adrian, being a nice guy he was, stated that he’d wait for you no matter how long it might take.

“I brought your favorite snacks, Y/N. I hope we can eat lunch together today.” Adrian showed you your favorite snacks that were hidden in his brown bag. You softly smiled at how thoughtful Adrian really was.

“Thanks, Adrian. But um, I don’t think I wanna eat lunch today. I might just head home this afternoon. I’m not up for afternoon classes.” You felt bad for lying to him. Truthfully, you just wanted to investigate more about this stalker of yours.

His face was sad, but he seemed to understand. “Oh, okay.. are you okay, Y/N? You don’t look okay.” His voice was recognized with genuine concern.

“I’m having headache, that’s all. I need rest.” You scratched the back of your neck, feeling this conversation becoming awkward already. You were uncomfortable, your negative thoughts made you feel like this was an uncomfortable conversation to participate in.

Adrian nodded as he understood why, so he patted your back gently. You didn’t see it wrong, though. He wanted to kiss your forehead, but hesitant to do so since he knew that might be wrong. It was because he knew you didn’t feel the same for him.

••••••

{8.47 p.m. with Adrian walking in the streets alone}

Adrian was listening to music on his phone as he was on his way home from his friend’s house. But eventually stopped when he felt a sudden presence behind him. He turned around and it wasn’t there anymore. He shrugged it off, thinking it might have only been his imagination.

When he was singing along with the song he was listening to, the footsteps were closer and closer and suddenly, two strong hands grabbed Adrian’s hair and pulling him to the ground, kicking him hard and punching him numerous times.

This unknown person who punched Adrian was wearing a black mask, a black hoodie and ripped jeans that matched with a pair of motorcycle boots. Despite wearing a mask, his eyes sent deep, horrendous message. “If you ever touch Y/N again, I’ll make sure to have all of your bones broken so you can’t do anything in life anymore,” he aggressively grabbed Adrian’s collar this time. “Y/N is mine and mine alone. Don’t you fucking dare come near her.” He released it roughly, spitting on the spot of the ground next to Adrian and leaving him alone as he walked away. It was an unfortunate night for Adrian, no one was there to rescue him and call for help.

••••••

{10.11 p.m. in your room}

Ding! You groaned, knowing whose message this was from. You rolled your eyes as you read the person’s texts.

unknown [now]: i’m feeling so happy right now

unknown [now]: you have no idea how happy i really am 🥰

You shook your head and scoffed whilst reading them. Who even decided to care whether this unknown person was happy or not? Definitely not you.

you [now]: Lmao do I even care if you’re happy or not though? All I know is that you’re crazy

Ding!

unknown [now]: i am crazy indeed

unknown [now]: crazy about you

You groaned in annoyance at this unknown person’s response, not wanting to reply anymore. But then as you were about to place your phone on your side table, there was another notification from that person.

unknown [now]: i’m happy because soon enough, i’ll have you in my arms. no one’s gonna rescue you from me

“What the absolute fuck?” you got up and this time feeling so angry to the point you were having typos as you typed your words in all capital letters.

you [now]: GO FUCK YOURSELF WHOSVER YOU ARE, QUIT BUGFING

ME!!

you [now]: I’M GONNA BLOCK YOU NOW, YOU CNT DO THIS TO ME

Heaving a sigh, you grabbed a pillow and stuffed it on your face, screaming as loud as you intended.

Ding!

unknown [now]: you can try blocking me

unknown [now]: but i have a lot more phones that i’ve stolen and your number is saved in every phone i keep

unknown [now]: like i said, twinkle toes. no one’s gonna rescue you and take you away from me 😉

This time as your courage was already built, you dialed this person’s number but they quickly rejected your call. You tried again and you got the same result; your call was rejected.

you [now]: What’s the matter, huh? No balls to answer my call???

unknown [now]: i’m not going to make you hear my voice yet, princess. where’s the fun in that?

unknown [now]: i’m saving it for our date soon

you [now]: Screw you, you fucking creep

unknown [now]: damn, say that again

you [now]: FUCKING SCREW YOU!

unknown [now]: i’d love to be screwed by the one and only Y/N 😍

You were scared again. Not only this person secretly got your number, but he knew your name too! This was another whole new level of creepy!

You shut your phone off, not wanting to take this conversation further with that creeper. You closed your eyes tightly to move yourself in your dreamland, and thankfully, it was successful.

••••••

{Meanwhile at someone’s place}

He watched you through the one of the screens in his room. You had no idea about this at all, but this stalker had already placed a few cameras in your house. One specific camera he always watched was outside the window of your room so he could have a clearer and nicer view of your sleeping face.

“My God, she’s so beautiful,” he said as he attentively watched you sleeping. He was playing with his fingers as his eagerness started to bloom. He was starting to feel desperate now, wanting to touch you, wanting to hold you in his arms, wanting to kiss you until you’re unable to breathe.

“don’t worry, my Y/N. You’ll be in the arms of Jeon Jungkook’s soon.” Jungkook started to smirk with the dirty thoughts of you forming in his head. He really, really, really couldn’t wait to smother you with his kisses. ....once he catches you.

••••••

The next day at school felt so weird as you found Adrian absent. Adrian wasn’t the type of a person who’d miss a day at school, but today he decided to do that. You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion as you looked around for him. Weird. Where is he? you thought.

Ding! “Gosh, what the fuck does he want now?!” You opened to see who the notification was from, but thankfully it was from Suzie.

suzie patootie [now]: bubs, wanna hangout tonight? mum’s having a date with her 5th boyf. house is free for us girls

you [now]: Girls night, eh? I’m on

This girls’ night was all you needed to avoid feeling scared as you were right now. Sure, you were feeling brave already to confront that person through messages but you were still scared too. What if that person was watching your every move right now and you weren’t aware of it?

••••••

You decided to head to grocery store to buy some foodies and drinks for your girls’ night. You didn’t bother to head home first to take a shower since you knew that this girls’ night would be a sleepless night for you, anyway.

As you walked out from the grocery store to head your way to Suzie’s home, the footsteps were heard again. You stopped your tracks. Oh no. What if this is that person? You were standing still and the footsteps stopped too. You didn’t care and you walked forward quickly and the footsteps got faster following you from behind.

You started running and the follower chased after you so quick until he finally caught you, locking you in his strong arms.

“Don’t run away from me, Y/N,” he whispered, placing a kiss on your earlobe and you started to cry. “didn’t I say I’d have you in my arms soon?”

Before you could scream, he covered your mouth quickly and dragged you backwards with him to an unknown place while holding you tightly.

“No one’s gonna save you. You’re all mine now, twinkle toes.”

#jungkook x you #jungkook angst #jungkook fluff #bts angst #bts fluff #jungkook oneshot #jungkook fanfic #jungkook imagine #jungkook scenario #jeon jungkook #jungkook #jungkook x reader #bts jungkook #*written

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mittensmorgul · 3 years

Note

(re: trad authors vs fanfic authors and the “nine levels of removal") Yes. This. Story time! I went to a book event for a well known, critically acclaimed, best selling author once about 20 years ago. He'd never done a proper "book tour" before and as a fan I was excited. Myself and other fans from a Yahoo Group (RIP) met up at the event and gave Mr Popular Author a fan art book we'd put together. He later wrote that he’d had to go off to a corner of the bookstore to hide and cry for a few minutes because he'd always thought he was writing into a void. Then BOOM, there we were, a big group of us, right in front of him, loving his work and giving him feedback (and gifts!) He’d never so much as read a review of any of his books before. The sudden realization that actual humans had read (and liked!) his work was apparently very emotional for him. Fanfic authors don’t have the luxury of that distance. And I don’t envy them for it. The feedback they get is immediate and devastating. Trad authors often won’t even get told how many copies their book has sold for the first six months after publication. Fanfic authors see every single view and kudos and comment in real time.

Yep. This.

I mean, it’s shifted a bit in the last 20 years. A lot of traditionally published authors have websites, or twitter, or other social media. Before I ever came to fandom, I was trying to go the traditional publishing route, too. Heck, a decade later I’m still on author twitter (most of my twitter is authors/publishers/agents/editors because those are the people I befriended when I first started seriously writing). But there is a sense of removall still there between authors and readers. And twitter followers and interactions don’t always equate to readers.

I mean, look at any author’s twitter, and a lot of it is just... like anyone else’s twitter.

Authors can also go look at their reviews on Amazon or Goodreads or wherever else online, and see their book’s daily ranking in sales if they really want to, but trust me on this, everyone involved in the publication of their books has probably told them not to do this. It’s not helpful in any way, unless they’ve shot to the top of the bestseller lists. Learning their new release ranks 32502905 in their genre... isn’t worth bothering, you know? And there’s nothing to do by obsessing over it.

When your agent is sending you all the good reviews, all the positive feedback, and encouraging you to finish the draft of your next book or your next round of edits, you don’t HAVE to think about responding to every comment anyone makes on your work. You’re encouraged NOT to respond. Because those reviews are NOT FOR YOU. They’re for other readers, to help them decide whether or not to make a financial investment in your already published book.

Fanfic comments ARE NOT THAT. Fanfic comments are written directly TO the author. Sure, other readers might see them, and I’ve had conversations start in comments on my fic before so I know it happens. But when a reader writes a comment on a fic, it’s generally to thank the author for the story, for having entertained them for a while.

Not all fanfic authors reply to comments, but I think the vast majority of us TRY to at the very least. Thanking the reader for reading, expressing the happiness we feel that our work has brought someone else a bit of joy (or angst, or whatever feeling we’ve inspired with our words). Or else answering questions the commenter has asked, or otherwise expressing gratitude.

It’s a DIRECT CONVERSATION, the likes of which most people will never have with a traditionally published author. The absolute ridiculousness that anyone expects the works we publish on AO3, for free, can be compared in any way to a traditionally published novel is beyond belief. The conceit that works we write-- again, for free, in our spare time, out of love for doing it-- should be as polished and free of any sort of errors as works that have spent more than a year and often more than two years going through multiple rounds of editing, proofreading, line editing, typesetting, etc. where MANY PEOPLE have scoured it for errors and yet still a few slip by here and there... I mean, HOW can anyone hold writers working on our own, in our spare time, for zero pay, purely for our own enjoyment to the same level of exactitude that we hold commercial novels? It’s laughable.

And honestly, it reaches a point where we’d rather just post the thing and move on to the next thing. I have gone back and done minor edits to some of my older works. If I’m rereading and notice a typo, I’ll fix it, for example. I once switched a character and wrote it as a different character because I felt bad about how the original character was portrayed. But for the vast majority of them I have zero intent of going back and making major edits on anything I’ve written, because I have moved on. I’m writing something else now, and maybe that will be more polished for having written the previous things with the wonky sentence structure or the awkward choice of words.

Mostly I write because I want to tell the stories that are stuck in my head. I need to get them out or they wedge in there like a big old log jam. Enough words build up that if I don’t start lining them up and pushing them out, the pressure builds up and bursts out in really inconvenient and messy ways. I’m personally not writing fanfic as “practice.” Or because I hope to some day be “good enough” to publish original works for money. I came to fandom to write fanfic so I wouldn’t have to deal with the rest of the publishing industry lol. I don’t need encouragement or approval or advice on how to improve. I just need an outlet. And if other people enjoy anything I write, that’s just a bonus to me.

(I had a publishing contract in my hands, stared at it for three days and then cried as I tore it up... I didn’t want to put myself through the publishing mill... I was already burnt out just getting to that point, and couldn’t imagine it becoming my life for years to come. It wasn’t worth it to me, and then I found fandom and AO3 and fanfic, and got all the benefit from writing with none of the angst of commercial publishing. This is where I WANT to be, this is not a stepping stone or training ground for someday becoming a “real author.” Sure, it is for some folks, but for a lot of us, this is just what makes us happy.)

Can you imagine going to a craft show where everyone has spent their time making beautiful handmade things and walking directly up to each artist and critiquing their work? Going up to a knitter and complaining that you saw a nicer hat in Macy’s the other day and pointing out everything about her hat that you don’t like? Or going to a jewelry designer and saying you prefer gold to silver, and demanding to know why they chose to inlay green stones when clearly they should’ve used blue ones?

Same vibe on critiquing fanfic in the comments. Or at the author in general. It’s just rude.

#writing is hard #fandom problems #and granted i don't tend to get negative comments or critical comments #so this dosn't really apply to my wonderful readers <3 #but just in general... I know other authors who have stopped writing entirely #after being deluged with negativity or 'helpful advice' that is in no way actually helpful #Anonymous

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lilydalexf · 3 years

Photo

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with Chimerical

Chimerical’s stories aren’t at Gossamer, but you can now find them at AO3. If you have not read them, are you in for a treat! For instance, Regular People and Regular People Still are some of the X-Files fics I have read and re-read. You may also know Chimerical from her site Chimerical Publications, which was an extensive Mulder and David Duchovny fansite. Big thanks to Chimerical for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

I’m not surprised at all that X-Files fandom is still popular, it was an amazing, creative show with iconic characters. Aside from just being entertaining, like all good Sci-Fi it asked deep, profound questions about the nature of relationships and humanity. It’s these things that people remember more than the MOWs.

However, I’m surprised to hear that my stories are still read, mostly because there is always something new, someone has a new take, and of course, we have the more recent episodes which provides all new fodder for writers, which is wonderful. But it’s super nice to hear that stories from the classic show still mean something. Also, I wasn’t a prolific writer, there are only 12 stories, but perhaps they struck a chord and people like to revisit them the way you like to re-watch a favorite episode or movie.

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?

Fanfic is certainly not new, but The X-Files was absolutely at the right place, at the right time. The internet was just really taking off, and it enabled fans to connect instantly in ways that hadn’t before. I remember that Fox used to send out Cease & Desist letters in an ill-considered attempt to stem fanfic because the Suits just didn’t understand what it was. Nowadays, of course, they embrace much of it, encourage it, even. Supernatural wrote whole episodes about it. But in the early days they were really stupid about it.

But what I took away from it was that great community can exist with people you have never met in person. There is a great sharing of ideas and love of great characters.

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

It’s true, no Facebook, twitter, tiktok – it seems strange!

But I connected to fandom though the old Usenet message boards, you couldn’t wait until the episode was over until you could leap on and start discussing the episode. And it was painful if you were on the west coast as I was because you would get spoiled. In truth, it wasn’t must different than Twitter, just without the character limitation. But it was rather the wild, wild, west, no moderators and no terms of service. It could be a free-for-all, and some of the disagreements were legendary! For writing, certainly ATXC was the big dog for fic, and of course alt.tv.x-files for discussion. There were many different Yahoo Groups and AOL mailing lists, that catered to interests in fanfic (Friendship/Adult/Slash) or to the characters and/or actors.

But frankly, the main thing I remember was what a complete PITA it was to just get anything posted. There were all these size limitations and ASCII issues that don’t exist today, you had font and formatting limitations, which cause people to get weirdly creative with italics, bolding, quotes and so on. And you had to break your story up in weird way simply to jam it into the email because there were size limitations. And it never failed that no matter how many Beta Reads you had, you didn’t see that last damn typo until AFTER you hit the send button. There was no edit button, all you could do resend the whole damn thing. It was the fanfic version of the 20 mile walk to school through the snow……Kids today have it so easy! LOL….

What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

Actors are, and always will be, the face of the show. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are amazing actors, and the nuance they brought each week was a wonder.

But one of the things that the X-Files also did was make people aware of the people behind the scenes, the showrunners, the writers, the directors. This was also something new. For most TV dramas, most people couldn’t tell you who wrote an episode if you had a gun to their head.

But people knew the writers like Vince Gilligan, James Wong, Darin Morgan, and of course Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz. And they knew the directors, Rob, Chris and the late great, Kim Manners.. It was like a repertory company. You could count on Morgan & Wong for the creepy, you could count of Vince Gilligan for the humor and relationship stuff, you could count on Darin Morgan for the “what the hell was that, but I loved it.”

So I guess what I took away was a deep appreciation for the craft, for the work. This carried over to other fandoms. I’m more aware of the creative team beyond the actors.

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

Believe it not, I didn’t watch at the beginning. I’ve always been a Sci-Fi fan but for some reason this wasn’t on my radar. I came in about the middle of Season 1. I was channel surfing and stopped the X-Files, it was the episode “Ice.” I won’t lie, I stopped because I saw David Duchovny in a henley and I’m never one to pass by an attractive man. But as I watched, I became intrigued by these two characters, and their conflicted relationship with each other, even though I didn’t really know what was really going on. But I had to know more. That’s good writing, where you can walk in half-way through an episode and be captured.

I immediately checked out the old AOL Service forums and found a group. Of course, back then, there was no streaming, there was no BitTorrent. So, you just had to wait until when and if the network decided to show a repeat, which meant you were screwed if you were trying to catch up. But someone on one of the boards offered to send me VHS tapes of the episodes of missed. That’s fandom as its best - I’m excited about this and I want to share it with you. So in about a week I was caught up and hooked. I had to see how these two people’s story turned out.

What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

I’ve always written as a hobby, taken many writing classes, have always written short stories, worked on a novel or two. I’ve got friends who are writers by profession. But the closest I ever came to doing it professionally was co-writing a play that ran for a month off Broadway many years ago, so I’m a dabbler, at best. I’m a big reader, and good stories always make me think, “well, what if this happened….”

So, X-Files wasn’t my first fanfic rodeo. I had been involved in Quantum Leap fandom and Beauty and the Beast, some Star Trek. Once I good hooked on the show, I immediately began searching out fanfic. But it took me a long time before I wrote anything. I’m not sure why, perhaps I was waiting to see where the story went. But X-Files was different in that it blended one of my favorite genres with a truly compelling relationship story. And I don’t just mean romance, it was a melding of two entirely different ways of looking at the world that was captivating. Scully was so strong and Mulder so complex, how could you not love them.

So, I enjoy writing, I learn from it. I learn from the feedback, both good and bad. I’ve never understood fanfic writers who say “just sent me nice feedback.” No one loves criticism, and not all criticism is valid. But you learn from it. I’ve had people tell me they hadn’t looked at an episode from that point of view and they like it - and I’ve had people tell me that I didn’t know what I was doing, everyone knew that Scully would never cuss (to which I say, please, she grew up on military bases!) But it helps you improve.

What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?

It was a period of my life I cherish because I met some friends who are still my friends to this day, all these years later because we found other things in common besides a show. It was great to share ideas and debate storylines. And it was a fun, creative, and exciting time. Each episode was must-see and then talking to my friends about it later was the best part.

I started to drift away when David Duchovny left the show. I thought then, and still think, they should have called it a day because the beating heart of that show was Mulder and Scully together. You can’t rip out half the heart and expect the patient to live. On an intellectual level, I got why Duchovny left, I got why Anderson stayed and I got that Fox was a fledging network back then and XF was a cash cow. But on an emotional level, it all turned upside down, especially when the much-promised “search for Mulder” never really happened.

Fans got angry. They were angry at David for leaving, they were angry at Gillian for staying, and they were angry at poor Robert Patrick, perfectly decent person, for merely existing. It got ugly and I got up caught up in that. Frankly, I was as much to blame as anyone in carrying on stupid arguments about crap that didn’t matter. And one day I just realized I’d let all the joy be sucked away, and this just wasn’t who I wanted to be, or how I wanted to spend my time. So, I took a break, I still watched the show as it limped on, but I disconnected from the fandom part of it. And by the time I’d had my break, the show was done!

Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

I’m always a fan. There are many shows I’ve followed and liked, Supernatural, Fringe, Walking Dead, but I don’t get involved in the internet drama. So, I don’t get as invested.

Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?

I assume you mean besides Mulder and Scully! In literature, My favorite writer is John Steinbeck and every character he created was indelible and singular. East of Eden is my favorite book and the characters of Adam & Caleb Trask, as well as Cathy Ames are so well drawn. Of Mice and Men, Cannery Row, they’re all perfect. Another favorite book and character is Alexandre’s Demas, The Count of Monte Cristo. The arc that Edmond Dantès’ life take is quite Mulder-esque. And of course, Harry Potter, I’m a sucker for a character fighting against overwhelming odds.

On TV, Sam Beckett from Quantum Leap. That was an amazingly well-crafted series, also featuring a female show runner, Deborah Pratt. I love the character of Raymond Reddington on The Blacklist, there is something about a completely unapologetic bad guy. I would have once said Dean and Sam Winchester, but sadly that turned into a case of staying too long at the fair and I stopped watching a couple seasons ago - But the early seasons rocked. Literally every single character in M*A*S*H was golden, and they knew when to call it quits. Thomas Magnum from the original Magnum PI. (People my age will still remember the “Did you see the Sun Rise, Ivan” episode!)

Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?

Oddly enough, a few weeks before you reached out to me, I watched the X-Files movie again. I remembered the incredible excitement when it came out. Fox did this tour across the county; it was like a mini-con. But I remember they had the trailer on a loop and my friends and I sat through it so many times we could recite the entire thing by heart. TV shows, such as Star Trek, had made the leap to movie, but I don’t believe a TV show had ever made the leap to films while the show was still on TV. But damn, it was good.

I watched the two recent XF mini-series. They did much to revive the old feeling, especially the episodes by Darin Morgan, who is a national treasure. And it was wonderful to see David, Gillian and Mitch. I’m sorry there won’t be more.

Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?

I haven’t in quite a while. Mostly because real life has interfered (work, personal stuff, Covid) over this last year and I have trouble concentrating. But I would certainly return to it, you need the escape of a good story.

Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

Oh yes! But they were all from the time I was writing. Lydia Bower, DashaK, BlueSwirl, XFBandit, Paula Graves, Taverl, Prufrock’s Love, and dozens of other are still on my PC.

What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

Like children, they each have their virtues but some may be harder to love than others. While I love a good smutty MSR, I was also a big fan of conflict resolution. So, I’m going to cheat and split the baby here. Based on feedback, I’d have to day my most popular story was Regular People and its sequel. And I really enjoyed writing that. It’s simple, it’s sweet, it’s what I hope for Mulder and Scully. The chance to just BE, if only for a while.

I wanted to try a slash story, so Wind River. That story was inspired by the murder of Matthew Shepard. I have dear friends in the gay community and I was so angry that this could happen in this country, so that one was about the need to treat people compassionately and who better to do that than Mulder and Scully.

But in truth, my own favorite is one that didn’t get much attention, called Rock Bottom. I wanted to explore that the fact Mulder and Scully, were, on occasion, just truly awful to each other and yet still reason to come back together.

Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?

I have a couple unfinished stories. There’s one from Quantum Leap, I want to finish first and when that’s done, I would like to finish the two X-Files that are half-baked.

Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?

I do legal writing as a profession now, so I write all day long, but analyzing a case or a legal matter is not the same creatively and I do miss that, so I see returning someday, you need to feed your soul.

Where do you get ideas for stories?

Well that’s all over the place, much like my mind! Often I was inspired by something I thought was unaddressed in the episodes. That’s where the Just One series came from. Or it’s a Rosencrantz and Guildenstern kind of thing -- That is, what’s happening off screen while the main action is going on. I find that intriguing, and that’s where Risking Everything came from. The incident in By Coincidence actually happened to a friend of a friend and I thought it would make good fodder. Pentimento came to me following a lecture I attended at a gallery, what happens when you peel back the layers you thought were true. You never know what’s going to connect.

What's the story behind your pen name?

“Chimerical” means existing as the product of unchecked imagination, given to unrealistic flights of fantasy- which seemed right for a fiction writer, especially for XF. In the early days, it became the phonetic “KiMeriKal” when I was on the old AOL service simply because Chimerical wasn’t available as a screen name! But I’m finally [email protected]!

Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?

Yes, my friends are aware, some of them have been my betas over the years. My brother knows I write, but I don’t think he’s ever read anything because he would find the smut elements uncomfortable coming from his little sister!

Is there a place online (Tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?

The most recent versions of my stories are at AO3. If I ever get around to anything new it will be posted there as well.

Is there anything else you'd like to share with fans of X-Files fic?

Thanks for reading, thanks for remembering me, and it was a great time in my life. Fandoms are great communities as long as we can always remember there’s a human being at the other end of the keyboard. Be kind, be compassionate, and never stop imagining the possibilities.

(Posted by Lilydale on February 23, 2021)

#old school x #xfiles fanfic #xf fanfic #xf fanfic author interviews #chimerical

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redeadepression · 3 years

Text

Heart to Heart | John Marston x Abigail Roberts | SFW

Characters: John Marston, Abigail Roberts Marston

Warnings: It’s ‘mentions of’ everything because I don’t feel it’s fair to send you all in blind but also, there’s no sex in this story. | Mentions of BDSM relationship, Mentions of Dom/Sub dynamic, Mentions of dubious consent, Mentions of Mommy Kink (dubious as to whether or not there is one 😂), Mentions of Humiliation Kink, Verbal fighting, Heart to Hearts, safe-words

Word Count: 3281

Summery: An argument leads to John accidentally exposing one of his kinks. Abigail is delighted by this turn of events while John is terrified at the thought of what she could do with this knowledge.

~ Well, well, well if it isn’t me back on my bullshit. Enjoy this mess of feels that is set in the same universe as my other kink related John/Abigail works such as Apologies and Caught. ;)

Again, edited by me at midnight. So please ignore the typos.

~~~

John stared at the canvas wall of his tent; eyes unblinking as he wondered what the plan was going to be for the day ahead.

Dutch had been increasingly petulant lately and John wasn’t sure exactly what he’d done to earn the man’s distain.

Or if he could fix it

If he even wanted to fix it.

He sighed heavily, bring a hand up to rub at his tired eyes. Desperately wishing he could sleep.

He had been awake for hours. Just staring. Thinking. He was starting to drive himself insane.

He’d tried to remember the last time he’d slept well. Frowning at the cloth in front of him as he came to the realisation that it had been months.

Footsteps behind him caught his attention and he finally ripped his gaze away from the wall, turning to see Abigail standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips.

He turned back to his previous position. He didn’t really have anything to say to her lately.

She had been increasingly impatient with him and his lack of motivation and he himself was cranky and irritable from lack of sleep.

It seemed every conversation they had lately ended in fighting or fucking. He couldn’t really complain about the second part but if he was being truly honest, he was tired of that too.

Abigail had always been the dominant one in their relationship but lately he was finding her domineering personality intolerable even inside the bedroom.

She was pissed at him whether she knew it or not and while he didn’t usually mind being her plaything, lately he was suffering at her hand. Unable to complain because ultimately their encounters always ended in his orgasm regardless of his deeper feelings.

“Will you get up?” Abigail scolded, interrupting his thoughts. He didn’t reply, staring blankly ahead of him as he heard her draw closer. “John?” She asked, touching his arm lightly and exhaling softly as she caught sight of his face. “You look like crap.” She commented bluntly, making him scowl.

He turned to face her as she sat down on the cot next to him. Knowing her comment was meant in jest but also made out of genuine concern.

Or at least he hoped that was it.

“It’s still early.” He said eventually, eyes locking on to hers as he blinked wearily.

“It’s nearly Nine.” Abigail corrected, her tone implying that he was very lazy.

He stared at her sadly, admiring the way the sunlight played on her sharp cheekbones and made her hair shine.

She was beautiful.

Mean.

But beautiful.

John placed a hand on her thigh, thinking momentarily before opening his arms and gesturing for her to lie in them. She furrowed her brows, looking annoyed before pushing his arms away.

“I ain’t in the mood.” She said briskly, adjusting the collar of her shirt before letting her hands fall to her lap.

“I just want you to lie with me.” John said frankly. Frustrated by her assumption and her rejection.

“Why?” Abigail asked, sounding irritated.

“Ugh.” John grunted, rolling his eyes. “Forget it.” He muttered, rolling away from her once more.

Abigail felt a tinge of regret at the way she had spoken. He had been annoying the hell out of her lately but he was a good person and he always tried his best for her.

She huffed a small sigh, placing her hand on his arm and rolling him back towards her.

“I mean why…” She struggled with the words. Not usually one to be comforting. “Why would I lie with you when you’re about to get up?” She asked, smiling as kindly as she could. He saw right though it. Sad eyes looking away from hers as he rolled away once more.

“Because I can’t sleep.” He answered honestly, surprising himself. “I always sleep better when you’re around.” He mumbled softly, feeling embarrassed by his admission.

“Oh.” Abigail said quietly, not expecting such an honest and open answer. John wasn’t usually this free with his feelings. Perhaps the lack of sleep was finally starting to bring him undone. “Well, I guess I could lie in for a minute.” She said as he turned to look at her once more.

“Forget it.” He grumbled, moving the covers off himself and pushing passed her to stand. Abigail watched him regrettably, standing herself and saying something about having breakfast together while John pulled his boots on.

“Mhmm.” He hummed tersely, pressing his heel into the dirt so it was snug with the sole of his boot.

“Why are you in such a crappy mood?” Abigail asked, her feathers ruffled by his dismissal.

“Could ask the same of you.” John countered with a sarcastic smile as he rummaged through his things looking for his belt.

“Well maybe sometimes your crappy mood rubs off on others and puts me in crappy mood.” Abigail snapped, trying her hardest to stay calm and prevent another fight. “Did you ever think of that?” She asked bluntly as John returned to her side, fastening his belt.

“Well maybe sometimes…” John began in a mocking tone. “You nag me too much and don’t give me a minute of peace.” He said, only a few octaves off shouting.

“Well maybe…” Abigail growled. “You shouldn’t be such a lazy bastard and I wouldn’t need to nag you as much!” She snapped.

“Well!” John began, seething. “Maybe sometimes…” He paused, huffing out a breath as he looked her in the eye. “I just feel like you don’t even love me.” He finished softly, clenching his fists as he slumped down hard onto the cot behind them.

Abigail swallowed her retort. Surprised for the second time that day by his candour.

She rolled her eyes, knowing he couldn’t see her from his position. She hated when he pulled this crap.

She turned to look at him pointedly, pursing her lips and sighing heavily through her nose.

“I love you.” She said tersely, slinking down so she was resting on the cot next to him.

It was John’s turn to roll his eyes. Tilting his head and giving her a look of contempt.

“You have to say that when I complain about you not saying it.” He mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest and staring at her.

Abigail threw her arms up in exasperation.

“Well, what the hell do you want from me?” She asked in frustration. “You want me to not to say it?” She asked, already knowing the answer.

“I want you to mean it.” John mumbled, not taking his eyes off her. “And you could at least try to sound like you care.” He added.

Abigail exhaled sharply, sucking on her teeth with her tongue and then inching closer to him. She placed a soft palm on his cheek and nodded in his direction.

“I love you John.” She repeated firmly, as naturally as she could but her tone was dripping with condescension.

John glowered at her, not breaking his eye contact as he pushed the hand away from his face and let his arms fall by his side.

“Whatever.” He murmured, finally looking away. Feeling stupid for whining in the first place. He was a man. He shouldn’t be grovelling for affection like a lost puppy.

He was just tired.

Abigail snickered softly. Feeling bad that she had been so cruel. He was good to her for the most part and she loved him dearly. But sometimes he annoyed her so much that she found it physically hard to say out loud how much she adored him.

She inched closer again, her knee scraping his as she placed both hands on his cheeks and pulled his face close to her. Wanting what she said next to be something special that he would remember the next time he felt like complaining. She took a deep breath before she spoke.

“I love you baby.” She whispered tenderly, watching as John’s expression change.

His breath hitched momentarily, his cheeks flushing almost instantly as he averted his eyes. Staring off to the side as he tried his hardest to act natural.

Abigail frowned.

“What?” She asked, confused by his reaction.

“No, nothing.” John said hurriedly, shifting uncomfortably under her gaze. “Thank you.” He croaked, swallowing thickly and refusing to look her in the eye.

“Thank you?” She asked, pulling her hands away and giving him a once over.

“Love you too.” He muttered quickly, his hands coming to rest in his lap as he continued to look anywhere but her eyes.

Abigail’s eyes trailed from the flush on his cheeks to his hands in his lap. A smirk playing on her lips as she started to piece things together.

“Did you… Like that?” She asked softly, eyeing his badly concealed erection. John didn’t respond. His jaw clenching as he tried to compose himself. “You like being called baby?” She asked in a sultry tone.

John closed his eyes, inhaling deeply and refusing to engage with her. He wasn’t sure he’d ever been quite so embarrassed while he was alone with her. His body had betrayed him before. But nothing like this.

Abigail was smiling far too widely for the situation. She was grinning like an idiot as she leaned towards him. Taking advantage of the fact he refused to open his eyes and bringing her lips to his ear without his knowledge.

“Baby.” She whispered, making him jump and shiver violently. His eyes flew open and he looked to her with a panicked expression.

She was going to tell people.

Abigail studied the look on his face, feeling a little bad for playing with him like that. Lord knows she had her own kinks and he indulged them eagerly.

It just so happened that one of her favourite kinks was humiliation or more specifically, humiliating him.

John knew this well and judging by the look on his face in that moment he was terrified of her getting her kicks using this newfound information.

“Don’t worry.” She chuckled, bringing her hand up to push his hair out of his face as she smiled at him cheekily. “Your secret’s safe with me, baby.”

“Stop.” John grumbled as sternly as he could.

“Come on John, you think you’re the first man I ever bedded with a Mommy Kink?” Abigail asked with a laugh, causing John’s eyes to widen in horror.

“I don’t have a Mommy Kink!” He exclaimed heatedly. “I just…” He stuttered. “I.. Sometimes I…” He trailed off, groaning in exasperation as he finally moved his hands from his lap and rubbed at his face irately.

“Like being my baby?” Abigail asked casually, shrugging as John exhaled forcefully.

“Stop.” He demanded gruffly. Danger in his eyes as he glared into hers. “It’s not… Like that.” He grunted. “I just, like the word.” He said, crossing his arms once more. “I guess.” He spat, shrugging and looking away.

Abigail hummed in reply, letting her hand trail lightly over his thigh as she thought. John fidgeted under her touch, desperately wanting to be mad at her.

“Is that why you always want to be the little spoon?” She asked after a moment, making John groan as he placed his head in his hands. “Or why you love it when I stroke your hair?” She asked, thinking out loud and making him whine.

“Please…” He sighed through his palms, begging her to let it go. He didn’t want this getting out. He didn’t even want her to know. The thought of the other guys finding out he loved to be babied made his blood run cold.

It was absolutely mortifying.

Abigail chuckled to herself, taking the hand that was on his thigh and letting it run through his hair. Her nails scratching at his scalp in just the way she knew he liked.

They had been together a long time and during those long years John had only occasionally plucked up the courage to tell her about some of the things he liked. She always indulged him when he was brave enough to talk to her. But she was also well aware there were lots of things John thought about in the privacy of his own mind that she might never know about.

She never really understood his secrecy. She was an open book when it came to sex. He had known from day one who she was and what she liked. But she supposed a part of that came from her history as a prostitute. She couldn’t expect everyone to have the pluck that she had when it came to naming their kinks.

“You know you can talk to me about this stuff, right?” She asked after a long moment of silence. Her voice uncharacteristically soft as she brought her hand to his shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. “I guess I just don’t understand why you always keep your desires from me.” She said quietly, thinking out loud once more.

John swallowed audibly, tongue darting out to lick at his lips before he pulled his hands away from his face.

“I’m scared.” He said quietly. Shocking her. John was never one to admit his weakness if he could help it. She’d once seen him carry two sacks of rice over his shoulder with a broken ankle just to prove he didn’t need to rest.

Of course he’d spent the next 3 days in bed with his ankle swollen up to the size of a large grapefruit but he’d made his point.

“It’s okay to like things that are diff-” Abigail began, being cut off abruptly as John spoke.

“No.” He said firmly, his face serious. “I’m scared of you.” He clarified, making her balk.

“Wha-“ She began, being cut off again.

“I’m scared of you telling people about the things I like because you get off on it.” He hissed, looking away from her sadly. “You’ve done it before.” He reminded her. “I… I like being pushed around and told what to do, okay?” He asked, taking a tangential turn as he tried to gather his thoughts. “But I like it, because you like it and only when we’re alone. When you involve other people it makes me want to die.” He said strongly, making Abigail blink in surprise. She had no idea he felt that way. She was under the impression he was into the games they played.

“You always take the things I say in our arguments and throw them back at me when we’re fucking.” He snapped crudely. “You want to humiliate me. I get it. I’m okay with it… Mostly.” He swallowed, pursing his lips as he held out his hands like it would help him think. “But, sometimes you go too far and… fuck.” He whispered, feeling a burning behind his eyes and trying his hardest to ignore it. “I’m… having a hard time reminding myself that you don’t mean it.” He said softly. Trailing off as he lost his momentum. “I love you but I... I can’t trust you not to hurt me.” He said tiredly.

Abigail moved her hand from his shoulder, placing it in her own lap and thinking carefully before she spoke. She had an inkling that sometimes she pushed him too far. But she always figured that if he had a problem with it he would speak up.

He was always so confident and outspoken outside of sex. She never would have guessed that he would be too timid to tell her off if he didn’t like something.

“I’m sorry.” She said earnestly, with a small shrug of her shoulders. “I had no idea.” She explained, knowing deep down that it didn’t help.

John eyed her suspiciously. It wasn’t like her to take responsibility so easily.

“Okay…” He replied after a moment. Unsure what to do now that she had simply agreed with him. If he was honest he had been expecting a blow-out fight.

“I thought you liked… everything.” Abigail said softly, not making eye contact as she spoke. “I’ll try to be a little more in-tune with what you want from now on.” She assured, placing her hand on his thigh and petting him softly.

“Okay.” John repeated, feeling silly for not being able to say anything else in the moment. He was still riding the high of letting out his feelings without a rebuttal.

“Maybe, we can come up with a word or something.” Abigail suggested with a shrug, making John frown.

“I guess.” He said bluntly, looking uncomfortable. He didn’t want to need a safe word. He didn’t want to come up with one just for him. He didn’t want to be weak.

Abigail followed his train of thought, feeling bad for him.

“There’s no shame in it, John.” She whispered, making him avert his eyes once more.

“Not for you.” He spat, a little more aggressively than he’d meant to. “You won’t be the one usin’ it.” He said, quieter.

“Sure I will.” She replied kindly. Trailing off and letting the silence fall over them as she tried to think of what to say next.

The day was getting on she had only intended to step away from Jack for a minute. Not to sit down for a proper heart to heart.

A small part of her was screaming that John needed her in this moment. But another was crying out that she needed to get away from him. Take time to process everything that was said so she could really take it to heart and prevent another fight in the future.

“Well anyways… It’s getting late and I want to check on Jack.” She said finally, trying to end the conversation as tastefully as she could.

“Okay.” John replied quietly. Not really sure what else to say. His chest felt weird and while the burning behind his eyes had dulled significantly; it was still there.

He swallowed thickly, staring at his hands as he waited for her to leave.

“So… No calling you baby?” Abigail asked with a chuckle, feeling the need to try and lighten the mood before she left.

“Well…” John said quickly, opening his mouth to speak but not finding the words. “I… I mean. Maybe.” He trailed off once more, his throat suddenly feeling very dry. “Maybe, maybe sometimes.” He sputtered. “Maybe when, you’re…” He paused, hands moving to his lap once more. “T-telling me what to do.” He stammered. A far cry from the confident, assertive man he had been during their fight, minutes earlier.

Abigail’s lips quirked as she looked him over once again.

“Alright.” She said softly, nodding. She really did want him to feel like he could tell her anything and if she was being totally honest, she definitely wanted to explore whatever this new kink of his was.

She figured if she played her cards right, she could be calling him a naughty boy and spanking him by the end of the week.

Once they’d worked out their safe-word of course.

She grinned lightly, trying to hide it as John gave her an incredulous look.

“Seriously?” He asked in exasperation.

“I’m sorry.” Abigail said as sincerely as she could manage before forcing herself to stand. She straightened her skirt with her palms before placing them on her hips and turning to him with the most serious face she could manage.

John blinked at her slowly, rolling his eyes.

“Go on.” He sighed, knowing full well she had something she wanted to say.

Abigail snorted, losing her composure and breaking into an all-out grin as she cackled.

“Well, Mumma’s gotta’ go get some breakfast.” She chortled as she walked outside and left him alone to regret getting out of bed.

End.

~~~

Just to clarify I wouldn’t say John actually has a Mommy Kink per say, that was more Abigail teasing him. (not that there’s anything wrong with that, you do you as consenting adults) but he definitely does like being taken care of and babied in the privacy of his own tent/home. So do with that info what you will. ;)

Please let me know if you liked this/what you liked about it! I’m feeling a rush of motivation lately and would love to keep this streak going!! ❤

#Look I'm not tagging all the mentions of again please just read the warnings #John Marston #Abigail Roberts #Abigail Marston #Abigail Roberts Marston #John Marston x Abigail Roberts #John Marston/Abigail Roberts #Johnigail #angst #feels #heart to hearts #dom/sub relationship #dom/sub

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