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#have everything new leaf had and more. and i mean the new horizons features can stay too (except for diy. i HATE diy)
pepprs · 11 months
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acnl is a superior game to acnh in almost every way except the graphics. it’s actually making me mad
#purrs#working at the roost… mr shrunk… main street … multiple shop upgrades… megaphone (and microphone AND CAMERA on the ds)… villagers have#distinctive personalities and spread rumors and ask to schedule a time to come to your house… pattern grass… kappn island minigames… bananas#and mangos and durians and perfect fruit… the town tree and all the history in it… like idk. i love acnh too but it’s just so hollow and i#wasn’t even around for acnl in its glory days. like i STILL haven’t unlocked all the shops or shop upgrades on acnl or even met Gracie yet#or whatever and on acnh the only thing i need to do is get like 2 more reactions and then ive completed the game. and it just feels#pointless logging on and whatever (ik im saying things that have already been said a million times) bc the villagers are just dolls who say#the same 3 things over and over again. meanwhile eunice and benjamin are two of my og acnl villagers and they’re still there 5 years later#and i log on and talk to them and it’s so rewarding to bc they feel like actual.. people! who i love and who love me. whereas my acnh#villagers who i also love will just carry on exactly as they were no matter how long ive been gone. idk. i just don’t understand why they#decided to downgrade so much for acnh and let go of all these features and characters. i really hope they’ll make another game and that jtll#have everything new leaf had and more. and i mean the new horizons features can stay too (except for diy. i HATE diy)#ac#exterior building customization beyond just houses… sitting on rocks and tree strumps (and tree stumps having patterns)…. 😭💔#the basket where you could put stuff from kappn islands in there so it wouldn’t fill up your inventory….
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snackhobi · 4 years
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pairing: taehyung x reader / word count: 13.3k / genre: fluff, friends to lovers, smut (NSFW, 18+)
summary: you’re used to being in love with taehyung. you’ve had a lot of time to get good at it, after all—by this point you’re the world’s expert at keeping your less-than-platonic feelings hidden from him, what with the amount of practice you’ve had.
but then he signs up for a massage therapy course, because apparently you can never catch a break.
or: the one where taehyung gives you a full body massage and then some.
warnings: sexually explicit content, massage with a happy ending (literally 🤧), cursing, edible massage oil/lube, fingering (f), unprotected sex (be safe when you have sex please), multiple orgasms (f), oral sex (m), cum swallowing, pet names, body worship?, brief mention of shower sex
a/n: I swear this was meant to be pwp. this was literally meant to just be pwp with some massage shenanigans. and then I blinked and it had become a soft 13k fic which honestly… kicked my ass quite a bit. but I hope you enjoy it!! thank you as always to @hobi-gif​ for beta reading this and encouraging me and putting up with me changing this multiple times, what would I do without your support miss hope?
--
Taehyung goes through a lot of different phases.
He just finds so many things interesting. Photography, art, art history, music, fashion, thrift shopping; heck, there was even the time he got weirdly into making tea and became some sort of connoisseur, going through the whole rigmarole of buying the loose leaves and weighing them out, checking the temperature of the water, brewing for a precisely measured amount of time.
You still remember the look on his face when you said it all tasted like hot leaf water to you.
Because, of course, as one of Taehyung’s best friends and his roommate, you’re inevitably swept up in everything he does. You’re used to the weirdly acrid smell of photo development fluid and how cold dark rooms can get. You use phrases like chiaroscuro and sfumato to describe the simplest things after listening to Taehyung do the same for so long. You’ve lost count of the amount of times you’ve tripped over his saxophone case when he leaves it lying around the apartment. You regularly wear the baggy t-shirt with the face that Taehyung had painted on it—even if you still refer to it as the Squidward-House-Shirt despite the fact you know he was inspired by Basquiet and Schiele and not the Easter Island themed stone head that Squidward lives in.
You don’t mind getting dragged along with whatever he does, honestly; you don’t have time to attend every class, but go with him when you can. It’s always good to expand your horizons. You also love watching Tae’s face whenever he learns something new, the various expressions that flit across his features—from wide eyed excitement and eyebrow raising astonishment to the more solemn side that appears whenever he’s taking something in and thinking deeply about it, turning it over in his mind, mulling on it.
(You love watching Tae’s face all the time, actually, but that’s a whole other can of worms you’d rather keep shut.)
However, the latest course he’s signed up for is not one you’d been expecting.
“Massage therapy?” Your face twists in equal parts confusion and surprise.
Taehyung’s dropped this latest nugget of information while you’re cooking, trying to fry some rice while also peering at the phone screen that’s been thrust into your face. You’re not bad at multitasking, per se, but Taehyung’s iPhone is drifting so close that you’re almost cross-eyed and it’s blocking you from seeing what’s going on in the pan. 
“I had a coupon,” he says, as if that explains everything. (It doesn’t.)
“Scooch,” you say, and he immediately moves so you can turn the gas off.
“Jiminie and Jungkookie say that my massages help with dance, and that's just from Youtube tutorials.” Taehyung continues to talk as you bustle around the tiny kitchen. He’s already set the table so now he’s free to watch you finish doing the rest of the work. “And Joon-hyung says I have the perfect hands for it.”
You fumble with the pan as you’re scooping the steaming rice into a large bowl, only just managing to save food from scattering everywhere. You’ve thought about Taehyung’s hands a lot, about how large and long fingered and beautiful they are, but he doesn’t need to know that.
“Really? Huh. That’s nice.” You stare at the pan, fixated on getting every grain of rice so you can avoid looking at Taehyung’s face. And hands. Which are still cupped around his phone. Which looks so small in his big, pretty grip.
Jesus Christ.
“It means I can give you massages if you ever start to get tense.” Taehyung sounds pleased, lovely grin on his face at the prospect of being able to rub his hands over you. As if that isn’t going to make every single one of your muscles lock up and turn you into some sort of coiled rope of a human being, which is the complete opposite of what a massage is supposed to achieve. 
“Great.” Despite your inner turmoil, your voice is level and steady as you meticulously scrape the last grain of rice into the bowl, chasing the tiny fleck of white around the huge pan. Scrape, scrape, scrape. “Sounds fabulous. Can’t wait.”
Of course Taehyung would sign up to learn something that he could use to help his friends. He’s so big-hearted and loving. Big-hearted and loving and kind and funny and affectionate and beautiful and deep-voiced and so entirely overwhelming in every single way imaginable. 
You do what you always do when confronted yet again with your all-consuming crush—you bottle that shit the fuck up until he’s not in the room.
And then you have a miniature breakdown at Pickles.
“I am going to die,” you whisper-scream. “He’s going to offer to massage me and he’s going to get a bottle of massage oil out and he’s going drizzle it onto his massive hands and I am going to fucking die.”
The bearded dragon cocks his head as he stares at you. Taehyung had come home with the reptile one day, tank and all, saying that someone on Facebook had been giving him away because they were moving house and could they just look after him for a little while, please, pretty please? Until they found a good home for him? Please?
That was over a year ago. (You’ve always been bad at saying no to Taehyung.)
“I hate my life,” you lament to the lizard, but then you hear the noisy flush of the toilet and know that Taehyung is going to emerge from the bathroom soon, so you have to wrap this miniature meltdown up pronto. “I wish I was a bearded dragon too, you know. All you do is get fed and sit under the heat bulb. Your life is so easy. You don’t even know what capitalism is.”
The silence you get from Pickles is far more support than you get from your human friends once you tell them. Yoongi just raises his eyebrows while Seokjin and Hoseok laugh outright in your face, just like they always do when you cry to them about Taehyung.
You need new friends. These ones are defective. (If only you’d kept the receipt so you could return them.)
“We learned how to do neck and shoulder massages today!” Taehyung says brightly after the first session.
You hum in response. You’re rewatching Pacific Rim together, cuddled up against Taehyung’s side, and you don’t have to turn your head to know what expression is on his face. There’ll be that little upturn to his lips, happiness at learning something new. That warmth in his eyes at being able to share it with you, even if you couldn't be there with him. Those little freckles on his face, under his eye, his nose, his lip; the one you’ve imagined kissing more times than you can count.
“My teacher says I have a natural talent with my hands,” he adds, and you’re so grateful that you can blame your sudden intake of breath on the scene that’s playing on the screen, as high stakes as it is. 
“That’s nice,” you say, and mentally pat yourself on the back at keeping the strain out of your voice. You've had a lot of practice at this. “I’m not surprised, though. You’ve always been good at doing things with them.”
That’s not a euphemism. Taehyung’s always so careful when he makes things; you’d learned how to fold different origami patterns together, matching crane for crane, lotus for lotus, and he’d always been so delicate with his fingers. He’s always so careful and considerate with you, too, fingers splayed wide across your shoulder as he squeezes you closer to his side, leaving you breathless.
“I wish you could come too.” Taehyung sounds disappointed. “We always have so much fun together.”
For the first time in your life you’re grateful that your manager at Olive Chicken is such a hardass and won’t let you swap shifts, so you’d had to miss signing up for the massage course with Taehyung—because you know there’s no way you’d be able to keep it together if there was some sort of tandem practice in class or whatever. Your crush on him is filled with equal parts of tenderness and lust and you’re well aware of that. You’d rest your hands on the soft skin of Taehyung’s shoulders and back, the lust would overwhelm you, and you’d immediately burst into flames like some sort of demon stepping over the threshold of a church. 
Why oh why did God have to make Kim Taehyung so hot?
Why oh why did God have to make you so… not?
You know Taehyung doesn’t see you in a romantic light at all. You’re grateful for this deep, platonic relationship you have, and you love him to pieces, but holy hell is it hard to walk around with Kim Taehyung looking the way he does and wanting to jump his bones while simultaneously being aware that it’s never going to happen. Whenever he smiles at you, or touches you, or holds you, it’s in exactly the same way as he treats any of his friends—and as happy as you are to be one of those friends, it also kind of kills you inside. 
(Because you know you don’t have a chance, have never had a chance, and will never have a chance.)
The idea of offering to massage Taehyung is one that makes you want to melt into a puddle of horny goo. But when he offers to massage you, it’s because you’re a convenient practice partner who he’s comfortable with. It’s no big deal. You could strip naked and slather yourself up in oil and stand in front of him with your bosoms heaving and say ‘Have at me, big boy’ and Taehyung would say: ‘Sweet! A chance to practice deep tissue massage! Gee, thanks for being such a great pal!’
The kind of deep tissue you want Taehyung to massage is very different to whatever he’s talking about.
… Anyway.
You manage to avoid Taehyung using his apparently magic fingers on you for a surprising amount of time, though you’re kept up to date with his progress, because he shares everything with you and tells you about everything and you always, always listen. Because, more than being your crush, he’s one of your best friends and you love him.
Which is why you try your best to be gentle, graciously refusing his offer of a shoulder massage after he sees you wincing, even if with anyone else you’d just tell them to back off with zero hesitation.
“It’s fine,” you say, flapping a hand at him. “I just slept on it funny.”
“A massage would help! It won’t take long, I promise. Five minutes? Please?” 
Taehyung’s looking at you with those big puppy eyes of his, pleading. You waver. You’re torn between being steadfast and avoiding a situation you’ve literally had nightmares about (Taehyung had offered to massage you, and you’d said yes, but then you’d fallen over as you were walking to him and suddenly a lasagne had appeared in your hands and you’d spilled it all down your shirt and he’d pointed and laughed and laughed and you’d felt so embarrassed that you’d woken up, cheeks burning), but then he pouts and you give in like the spineless and lovesick fool that you are.
“Five minutes,” you say, and Taehyung nods emphatically, looking pleased.
(You have the backbone of a chocolate éclair.)
You send quiet thanks to whatever God is listening when he doesn’t ask you to take your top off and doesn’t break out a bottle of scented oil. Instead he just asks for you to straddle a chair, clutching a plushie against your chest to cushion where it leans against the backrest, and tells you to get comfy.
“Just relax,” he says, as you desperately try to remember how your body works and coax it to relax like Taehyung wants you to. You fail miserably. You feel like a ball of rubber bands, each muscle a layer of tighter and tighter elastic that’s circled around you. “Lean forwards a little?”
At least Taehyung can’t see your face from this angle. You have no idea what sort of expression is twisting your features; consternation and horrified anticipation, probably. You're basically throttling your plushie, taking out your tension and frustration on the poor thing, Rilakkuma's placid face morphing into a twisted expression of sympathy under your grasping fingers.
“Perfect,” Taehyung says. The sound of praise in his deep voice has your insides turning into overheated syrup, hot and thick, dripping down and pooling between your legs. You hate yourself. Getting turned on by the most innocuous words from your best friend, really? Get it together.
The second you feel Taehyung's warm hands touch the back of your neck, your shoulders hunch up faster than a whiplash, a turtle sucking its head into its shell. Your friend laughs.
“This is the opposite of relaxing,” he says, voice warm with amusement. 
“You surprised me.” You dig your nails into Rilakkuma's soft brown fur. Taehyung just thinks you're not used to being massaged, not that you're being weird because it's him that's touching you. Because he touches you a lot. He’s just never done it like this. “Sorry.”
“It's fine,” he replies, unruffled and oblivious. “Let me try again?”
You bite your lip, desperately trying to quell the mix of arousal and tension that’s churning in your stomach, begging your muscles to unwind. You’ve kept your crush a secret from him for this long, you can keep that energy up. (You have to keep that energy up.) “Um. Okay.”
You’re still tense when Taehyung puts his hands on you again. The touch is warm through your clothes, firm but careful, digging into the sharp line of tension laid across your shoulders; despite the way your heart is threatening to launch itself out of your chest, you start to loosen up, because holy shit that feels nice, actually.
You melt against Rilakkuma and smother the bear's face in your chest. “Your teacher wasn’t kidding when they said that you’re good with your hands,” you mumble. 
You’ve never gotten a proper massage before but it feels so damn good that you can’t help but unwind, turning to jelly at the confident presses of Taehyung’s fingers and palms into the soft skin between your neck and shoulder. A little sigh spills past your lips when Taehyung starts to work at the part that’s been twinging after you lay crookedly on it, limbs akimbo in your sleep after a long night at work. “Oh, right there, Tae.”
Taehyung goes still for just a second before continuing, trailing his fingers over your shirt. “Here?”
Your eyes have drifted shut so you can focus on the sensation of that tension being pulled out of your body. “Yeah, right there,” you repeat, massaged into a state of lazy euphoria. The breath you let out is long and deep, catching in the back of your throat at a particularly firm rub of Taehyung’s hands; if you weren’t so blissed out you might be embarrassed at how much the noise you make is like a moan, but as it is, you don’t even notice. You just let out a little sound of discontent when Taehyung’s fingers stutter in their motions, displeased that he’s stopped even for a second.
By the time the massage is over, you’re so relaxed that you feel like you could melt into the floor, a wobbly puddle of unwound muscles and loose limbs. It’s official. You’re a massage convert.
“Holy shit.” Your eyes flutter open as you lean away from Rilakkuma so you can turn around. They’re the first coherent words you’ve spoken for a while; small sighs and sounds have been dripping from your lips and it’s only now that you’re able to regain your breath. “Tae, that was amazin—”
You’re met with the sight of Taehyung’s back as he power walks away, steps rapid, a little shaky, awkward. Before you can ask what’s wrong, he’s stepping into the bathroom. 
“I need to wash my hands,” he says without looking at you, before the door slams shut.
You don’t remember Tae telling you about how quickly you have to wash your hands after finishing a massage. But, thinking about it, you suppose it makes sense—you know, with massaging multiple clients or whatever—even if it’s surprising exactly how fast he’d hoofed it away from you. It sounds like he’s switched both taps on full blast as well, noisy even through the wooden door, and judging from how long he’s in there, he’s being very thorough. Hand washing must be a lot more important than you’d realised. 
Once Taehyung emerges, his face is a little flushed, cheeks a soft red. You wonder if the hot water tap is playing up again and filling your dinky bathroom with hot steam, and make a mental note to look into it. You smile at Taehyung from your perch on the sofa, Rilakkuma plopped on your lap, smile spread across your features; one that Taehyung returns, as pink-faced as he is.
“How’s your shoulder feeling?”
“So much better, honestly,” you admit. It’s incredible. He hasn’t even finished the course yet and he's already this good. He really does have magic hands.
“I’ll have to give you massages more often,” Taehyung says, though the end of the sentence trembles a little. He must be light-headed after all the steam in the bathroom.
The thought of more massages doesn’t fill you with as much mind-numbing trepidation as it might have earlier, utterly languid as you flop across the sofa, muscles uncoiled after the lovely touch of Taehyung’s even lovelier hands. No wonder people rave about spa days if they leave you feeling like this. Maybe if you’d been staring at Taehyung in the eye when he’d been touching you, then you’d feel a lot more awkward—as it is, it’s no worse than usual. Your crush is still all-encompassing but you also got a massage out of it, so.
“Sounds great.” This time you don’t even have to fake your excitement. “Now come sit your butt down so we can order some takeout and decide what to watch.”
When you bend down to speak to Pickles later, the bearded dragon is lolling on his favourite branch. “There’s still a high chance that I’m going to die,” you say in a low voice, before you flick the lights off so the lizard can sleep. “But he hasn’t broken out the oils yet, so I think I’ll be okay for now.”
--
Your luck doesn’t last.
“Strawberry and champagne, lychee martini, mint mojito, white chocolate, or tropical coconut?”
You look up from where you’re painting your toenails. “Huh?”
Taehyung bundles into the room and throws himself onto your bed, flopping on his belly and ignoring the way the mattress is jostled. You, of course, are used to his antics, which is why you’d swept your open bottle of nail polish up before he could spill it everywhere.
“What do you think sounds best?”
“Well, that depends,” you say, squinting at your toes and carefully sweeping the polish over the freshly buffed nails. “For candles, I think they sound pretty nice. For sauces to pour over a steak, I’d say I’d give them all a hard pass. What’s it for?”
“Massage oils,” Taehyung says blithely, too busy staring at his phone to see you muffle a curse when your hand slips and you paint your entire little toe blue. “I was wondering which you think sounds best.”
“Oh. Uh.” You fumble to clean your toe and salvage the now-terrible pedicure you’re trying to give yourself. It was only a matter of time before massage oils were going to become part of your life. Taehyung never goes into things half-hearted, so of course he’s going to invest in oils, too. God’s sake. You can never catch a break, can you? “Why these ones in particular?”
Taehyung pauses for a suspiciously long time, but it gives you the chance to furiously rub at your toe while he’s distracted. “We get a free bottle from the course,” he says eventually.
Huh. Okay. “That’s pretty neat. What was the last one? Coconut? Stick with the basics, can’t go wrong with that, right?”
“Coconut is always tasty,” Taehyung comments absently, and you glance up from your Smurf toe.
“Agreed, but it’s not like you’re about to eat massage oil, are you?”
Taehyung pauses, and then buries his face into his phone screen—suddenly very intent on rereading the list of ingredients in each bottle, it seems. “No, of course not, you’re right,” he mumbles.
He’s almost finished the course. He’s not going to be an accredited masseuse or anything, but you definitely think he could be, if he wanted to—you’ve never had less tension in your shoulders and neck in your life. Taehyung always eases his way into your personal space anyway, casual and effortless after years of friendship, but now you’re used to his fingers sliding over the back of your neck, a gliding touch, sending tense little goosebumps over your skin while simultaneously making you melt. 
“It’s pretty cool that you get free stuff, though.” Your toe is clean, thankfully, no longer blue. “And not just, like, a generic bottle of oil or something. They all sound really fancy. I didn’t realise that you could get massage oils that were scented like that?”
Taehyung makes a non-committal noise, which is uncharacteristic of him, but you’re too focused on repainting your final nail to pay it too much mind, letting out a loud huff of triumph when you’re done.
“Get me a bag of shrimp crackers, please?” You have a sudden craving but you don’t want to penguin waddle to the kitchen and risk getting anything on your wet nails. “Ya girl is hungry.”
“Got it.” Taehyung rolls off the bed without protest. You’re used to his antics, and he’s used to yours, indulging you whenever you feel lazy or want him to do something for you. “You need me to feed you?”
“I wasn’t going to use my toes to feed myself,” you laugh, but Taehyung ends up feeding them to you anyway.
When you recount the list to Seokjin later, his face crumples in a way that’s equal parts offended and disgusted. “They all sound terrible,” he says. “White chocolate should stay in chocolate form and not be turned into an oil. Why does massage oil even have to smell like anything?”
You’re both holed up in the tiny smoking nook behind Olive Chicken; neither of you smoke, but it’s a good excuse to go outside and get fresh air during longer shifts. 
“Hey, don’t ask me, I’m not the one who’s taking the course. I think lychee martini sounds interesting, though.”
“Agree to disagree.” Seokjin unwraps one of the complimentary chocolates the restaurant gives to diners with their bill, swallowing it whole. “Besides, we all know Taehyung could approach you with dirty, used fryer oil and you’d let him dip you in it.”
You slap the next chocolate out of his hand before it reaches his mouth. He’s unmoved and simply plucks another from his pocket, which is apparently bulging with them.
“Yoongichi,” Jin says, calling to the delivery boy, who’s just appeared from the dark like some tired-eyed spectre of fried chicken. “Tell me this. If I were to ask you what smell of massage oil you’d prefer, what—”
“I would say that I really could not care less.” Yoongi flops down on one of the rickety fold-out chairs before silently accepting a chocolate from Seokjin’s stash. “And then I’d ask why you’re asking me in the first place, seeing as you’re the one using it, not me. If Taehyung’s asking what massage oil you’d prefer, Y/n, it’s because he wants to rub it all over you specifically.” Yoongi munches on the chocolate, already filling in the blanks without needing to be told the context. You really are that transparent, huh. “Please, we’ve been over this.”
Jin pouts. “You ruined my set up. I had a whole speech prepared.”
“Oh no.” Yoongi remains blank-faced. “How terrible.”
“I hate both of you,” you say. “I’m going to tell Pickles how mean you are.”
“I bet if that lizard could talk, he’d tell you how tired he was of you two dancing around each other, just like the rest of us,” Yoongi says.
There’s no dancing around, though, no matter what your friends say. Well. Not on Taehyung’s end anyway. You’re out here doing the fandango, castanets and all, while Taehyung just stands stock still, oblivious.
You let out an incredibly long sigh. Seokjin hands you a sympathetic chocolate.
The massage oil doesn’t make an appearance in your life for a little while, though. The end of the course comes and goes, Taehyung proudly flapping the laminated certificate at you, wobble-wobble-wobble, filling the apartment with the sound of rippling plastic. But no coconut oil.
The scent of ‘tropical coconut’ has started to haunt your dreams, in a way that’s both good and bad; when you wake up in a sweat, heart pounding, it’s not because you’re having nightmares, let’s just put it like that. It’s like there’s an invisible countdown that you can’t trace and it’s only a matter of time before it ticks over and the shoulder massages (that you’ve gotten very comfortable with) edge into something different. Taehyung’s going to innocently offer to give you a backrub and uncap that bottle of scented oil and you’re going to explode into a mess of putty under his hands.
Well… then again… you had been worried about that with all the shoulder rubs. Now look at you. You weather those like a champ. Sure, your skin tingles and you run hot and you think about the sensation of Taehyung’s hands gliding over you whenever you’re alone, but you’re basically fine. Your friend who just so happens to also be the great love of your life remains none the wiser.
You bet a full back rub would feel great after a long week.
Which is why when Taehyung steps into the apartment with a look on his face that you immediately recognise as tiredness, you sort of wish you knew how to massage people, too.
He falls into your arms with little fanfare. It’s been one of those days, one of those ones that everyone gets, even Taehyung—he’s usually so Switched On and Exuberant and Alive, and people don’t seem to realise that even he feels exhausted, sometimes.
“You alright, bubs?” You can’t massage him but you can rub his back soothingly, let him snuffle against your neck. Sometimes you think about that little space between your chin and collarbones as Taehyung’s, a hollow that’s perfect for him to press his face into, hair tickling your chin as he curls up into you. His and his alone. “Did something happen?”
He just shakes his head.
“Okay,” you say.
(Close proximity and skin on skin with Taehyung doesn’t always have your pulse rising and your heart racing. Sometimes it’s just this: quiet and soft, your heart bright with fierce affection for this boy, the only thought in your mind that you want him to be happy, forever.)
The long silence is broken by the sound of Taehyung heaving in a breath before letting out a long, exhausted sigh. 
“Thank you.” His voice is quiet and low, far less energetic than his usual self.
“Nothing to thank me for, Tae,” you reply. “Always here for you. You know that, right?”
He doesn’t respond straight away. He just burrows closer, draped over you, until he murmurs, barely audible. “Why?”
Your face twists. “Why, what? Why am I always here for you?”
“Yeah.” Taehyung squeezes himself impossibly closer, skin warm against yours, forehead pressed to the skin of your neck. You can’t see his expression from this angle.
“Because you’re one of my best friends and I love you,” you answer, immediately. You don’t even have to think about it. “Because you’re important to me and if there’s anything I can do for you, I will. I’ll celebrate the good things in your life with you, and I’ll be at your side during the bad times, just like you are with me. Please don’t ever forget how much I love you, okay?”
There’s a pause, and then it feels like all the tension leaves Taehyung’s body, slumping his whole body weight against you. “Okay,” he murmurs. “I love you too. Thank you,” he says again. You just reply by squeezing his shoulders.
He’s a little quieter for a few days after that. You’re not sure why, because he’d perked up after a lazy evening of lying around and eating too many snacks, flopped against you like an oversized, clinging starfish—but you’re gentle with him nonetheless. 
(Well. You’re always gentle with him. It just takes you half a second to fold in the face of his whims, rather than a whole, full second.)
So when the dreaded bottle of oil finally appears, you’re far less ready to fight off Taehyung’s insistence on a full body massage, caught off guard after days of indulging him. Fuck. 
“You’ve had a long week!” Taehyung insists as you scrabble your way over the sofa’s backrest so you can hide behind it, clutching a cushion to your chest. “You need to relax!”
Without looking you fling the cushion over the sofa. Judging from the fact that Taehyung doesn’t make a sound, you’ve missed. “I was feeling perfectly relaxed until you started yelling at me about it! Why are you so obsessed with the idea of me being relaxed?”
Taehyung doesn’t respond. Oh, crap. Maybe you did hit him with the cushion?
You pop up from behind the sofa. Nope. It's an embarrassing distance away from Taehyung, who’s got that surprisingly large bottle of oil held loosely in his hands. There’s an expression on his face that you can’t decipher; a little crestfallen, a little unsure, but there’s something else there, too, something you can’t put a name to.
“Taehyung?”
“I just… wanted to help,” he says. “You’re always there for me when I’m not feeling great, and you calm me down, and I wanted to do the same for you.”
You immediately feel like the worst human being alive. Take the feeling you get whenever you accidentally step on an animal’s tail, multiply it by infinity, and that’s only just a drop in the ocean of awful, awful guilt that you’re drowning in. 
“Oh, Tae,” you say. Your voice comes out so much softer and sweeter than you mean it to, but you can't help it. “I’m sorry. I was just joking. It’s really nice of you to be so concerned. You just surprised me. You do help me relax and your massages are great.” (You tell him that often enough that he should know it, but it never hurts to repeat a compliment.)
His face lifts. It’s like the sun bursting forth from the clouds after heavy rain, and you have to resist the urge to shield your eyes, blinded by the brightness and beauty. Kim Taehyung is so unfairly gorgeous (but what else is new?). “So I can give you a massage?”
Despite the fact the prospect makes you want to fling yourself into space, when you’re faced with Taehyung’s dark eyes and wide smile and large, warm hands, you cave, because of course you do. If, way back when you’d first been frying up that kimchi rice and letting Taehyung thrust his phone into your face, you’d been told you’d end up in this position, you would have laughed outright. Haha, yeah, sure, like you’d be stupid enough to let yourself be wrangled into such a vulnerable state in front of Taehyung, nowhere to run, helpless under his fingers. Not.
But here you are. Whipped for Kim Taehyung, forever and always.
The pastel blue towels under your stomach and chest are soft as they shield you from the cold, hard floor. You’re incredibly aware of how chilly the apartment feels, air prickling against your bare skin; you shift to try and get comfortable, glancing over your shoulder to fiddle with the towel that’s draped over your hips and ass, making sure it’s covering everything. Taehyung insists on authenticity (as if you’re not lying on the floor of your apartment rather than on a massage table) and he says that it’s normal to be completely naked for a full-body massage, even underneath any towels that are covering you up.
Authenticity is also why he’s in the other room, warming up the massage oil, because that’s apparently a thing?
(You’re going to die.)
It doesn’t matter that Taehyung will only be able to see the back of your head, your shoulder blades, the small of your back, a slip of your thighs, your calves. None of these things are especially scandalous; all the parts of your body that someone might find more interesting are out of sight, pressed against the floor or hidden under a layer of Egyptian cotton microfibres. 
And yet you can���t help but be hyperaware of how you’re entirely unclothed. Even if it doesn’t bother Taehyung—what with, you know, the fact he’s not interested in you like that and doesn’t find you attractive at all (sigh)—embarrassment creeps hot and uncomfortable under your skin.
It just feels so crazy intimate to be laid out like this, even if people do this all the time, happily strip down to let professionals rub the tension out of their body. 
(Then again, most people aren’t best friends with their masseuses and haven’t harboured long, one-sided crushes on them, either.)
Just breathe. You can do this. You love the shoulder massages that Taehyung’s been giving you; just think of this as a shoulder massage. 
… A shoulder massage that involves warm oil, near-nakedness, and Taehyung’s hands sliding all over you.
… You are going to have a very long venting session with Pickles after all this.
You’re so distracted by your own self pity and distress that you don’t register the sound of Taehyung entering the room; the little pause when he steps over the threshold, feet stuttering, just for a moment. It’s only when he’s kneeling down that you notice his presence, body jolting from surprise before you let out a slip of high laughter.
“Jesus, Tae,” you say. In any other circumstance, you’d be clutching your chest. “You scared me.”
“Sorry.” He sounds genuinely apologetic.
Your cheek is pillowed on your arms. When you turn to look at your best friend you immediately regret it; he’s settled back on his ankles, knees spread wide, and you come eye-to-eye with his crotch.
In an effort to look away from his clothed dick, your gaze flies up to his face, which might be even worse. He has this intense look in his eyes, and wow, alright, you’ve never been able to see Taehyung’s face as he’s been massaging you, but you never realised exactly how seriously he seems to take it, judging from his expression.
(Do all massage therapists look like that when they work?)
“That’s alright.” You’re a little breathless, but you’re going to blame that on how your boobs are smooshed into the floor, and not on anything else, nuh uh. Shoulder massage. It’s a shoulder massage. It’s just like a full bodied shoulder massage. (Maybe if you repeat it to yourself often enough then you’ll actually start to believe it.) “Uh. Do you need me to… do anything? Or do I just lie here?”
Taehyung’s expression lightens a little at the uncertainty in your tone, smile curling up the corners of his mouth. “You’re perfect right where you are,” he says, and then he reaches for the bottle of oil.
You turn your head away again, cheeks burning. There’s no way you’ll be able to handle the visual of him slicking his fingers and palms up. “Cool,” you say, voice only a little strained. “Coolcoolcoolcool.”
(It’s not cool.)
You don’t have a visual, but you do get the auditory experience thanks to the relative silence in the apartment. Goosebumps ripple down the back of your neck and trail down your spine at the sound of Tae’s hands sliding against each other, thoroughly coated in the warmed oil, and you’re so glad that you can blame it on the chill in the air.
At first, it’s okay. Taehyung starts at the parts of your body that are used to receiving his attention, though it’s different without the barrier of clothing in the way, not to mention how easily his palms glide over you, the air full of the light scent of coconut. It’s different, but manageable, and you think you just might be okay; as always, his touches are firm but careful, and your body is used to this by now, relaxing.
But. The second you feel Taehyung’s touch between your shoulder blades, you stiffen with a shiver. The oil is the perfect temperature against your skin, but you’ve always had a sensitive back; you can’t help but clench your fists, digging your fingers into your palms. Relax. Just breathe. 
“You’ve got a lot of tension here.” Taehyung’s voice is low as he digs the heel of his palm into the dip of your spine.
It’s because you’re touching me there, you think to yourself, but just let out a non-committal hum of agreement instead. 
You feel Taehyung's hands, a repeated sliding motion between your shoulder blades; the tension starts to leak out of you again, but your breath hitches in your throat at how you're pressed downwards and into the cotton towels beneath you, nipples hardening against them.
Thank God you're on your front so Tae can't see what effect he's having on you.
“Better?”
Taehyung's voice is always deep, but you'd swear it was even deeper in this moment, pitched low. Maybe that’s because the sound of blood pumping is filling your ears so it’s hard to discern. At this point, who even knows? Not you, that’s for sure.
“Yep.” Why are you so breathless? You haven’t moved at all, but you sound like you’ve just run the 100m sprint, winded and weak. “So much better.”
You regret agreeing to this. You are so out of your depth and there’s no way you’re going to be able to hide exactly how much this is affecting you and you want to collapse in on yourself and shrivel up like a sundried tomato, tiny and wrinkly and underwhelming. 
Taehyung shifts to reach more of you and you squeeze your eyes shut so you don’t come face first with his crotch again, shielding yourself from the view of his loose linen trousers stretched almost taut with how wide his knees are. It’s both a blessing and a curse—a blessing because you’re saved from aforementioned view, but a curse because your sensation of touch is heightened, and all you’re aware of is his hands sliding down your sides. You’d swear those fingers were so long he could circle your waist with ease.
(Massages are meant to relax you and yet you’ve never felt so tense in your life.)
Taehyung clicks his tongue against the back of his teeth. “I can’t get a good angle like this,” he mutters.
Before you can think anything or say anything, you become aware of the sound of moving and shifting and—
Your eyes fly open. Taehyung’s straddling your thighs, heavy and warm, and you suck in a breath so sharp and fast you can feel your chest expand, brain full of the screaming clang of warning bells. There’s no way this is a normal masseuse thing. There’s no way. It’s intimate and entirely too physical and there’s absolutely no way that this is something Taehyung learned in class. 
(What is he doing?)
But then any coherent thought in your brain slips when his hands settle on you again.
They so, so lightly brush the hem of the towel that preserves your modesty, and you can’t help the full-body shiver that wracks through you. You suck your lips into your mouth, swallowing down the noise that threatens to bubble up in your throat. There’s the sensation of fingers trailing up the line of your spine, feather light, smoothed by the slide of oil, and you feel like molten lava, burning hot and bright.
“Taehyung.” Your voice is high and faint.
His fingers splay down your ribcage and run down your sides, confident and smooth, warm with that coconut-scented oil, and you’re dying, you’re living; you want to disappear, you never want this to end. 
“Taehyung,” you repeat. Your voice shakes.
He hums, low and indulgent. “Yes?”
“M-my thighs,” you stammer, unable to articulate yourself. Why are you on my thighs, oh God, you’re so warm and heavy on top of me, oh God oh God oh God.
Taehyung completely misunderstands you. “Oh? Of course.” He sounds nonchalant. “I’ll massage those next.”
You can feel the drag of his linen trousers against your skin as he moves down to rest on your calves, and hear the bottle open as Taehyung drizzles more oil over his hands, far more than he could possibly need. His palms feel so broad and warm against the smoothness of your thighs, touches firm and confident as he digs his fingers into the muscle, and, oh, fuck, this is, this is too much—
Your legs jump when Taehyung hitches the towel up, just a little, baring more of your body.
“Fuck.” You can't keep quiet any longer. “Tae, I’m fine, I’m feeling way less tense now.”
He’s still, for a moment, before his hands slide up the back of your thighs. “Are you sure? You want me to stop?”
It’s only then that you realise how deeply Taehyung is breathing, fast and low, voice rough and gravelled. His fingers rest in wait, warm and slick with oil; you’re so close to losing any modicum of modesty, only one motion away from that towel being rucked high enough that there’s nothing protecting you from Taehyung’s touch and eyes.
“I haven’t finished yet, though,” he continues, digging his thumbs into your skin as he pulls his hands down your thighs, mindlessly following the motions he’s been taught. “There’s still more to go.”
You could twist around to look at him but you’re almost afraid to look at his face, afraid of what you’d find there. He sounds as affected as you are, but there’s absolutely no way. There’s no way.
“You don’t need to do the whole massage if I’m feeling relaxed, right?” 
(Because you’re feeling so relaxed right now, of course, and not like you’re about to go supernova and burst into heat and light. Absolutely.)
(But.)
(But. Taehyung’s hands settle at the back of your knees, swiping the sensitive skin with his thumbs. You can’t see his face, but you can feel something in that touch, something more than skin deep, like it’s sinking into you, through skin and muscle and bone, in in in, settling inside you, a flicker of—of—)
“Want to do this perfectly for you,” he murmurs. You clench your hands at the husky note in his voice, nails digging so hard into your palms it hurts. “You deserve the best. I want you to feel good.”
He must be able to see your back rise and fall as you breathe in sharply.
“Taehyung.” Almost pleading. 
“Yes, love?”
You suck in another sharp breath. The pet name sounds so soft and sweet in his mouth, somehow, even with the heated edge to his voice. One that’s definitely there. You’re not imagining it. 
(You’re not.)
“Do you want me to make you feel good?” he continues.
Before you can think, you nod.
“Yes,” you whisper. “Please.”
You’re trembling. Taehyung’s still heavy and warm across the back of your calves, sliding one hand to the inside of a knee and up the soft skin of your inner thighs. You instinctively shift them apart, as far as you can with Taehyung trapping your legs, and, oh, his hand is going higher, oh—
His hand is so big, cupping your overheated sex. It’s hard to tell where the oil ends and your own arousal begins, flushed wet and hot; when he dips his middle finger between your lower lips, long and gentle and firm, you let out a noise you didn’t realise you were capable of. The angle is off, a little awkward, the motions of Taehyung’s fingers stifled by how you’re lying flush to the ground, but God, you’re so turned on it barely matters.
You’re hyperaware of everything. The soft touch of air on the cooling oil across your skin. The fall of the towel, bunched around your waist, slowly slipping to one side. Taehyung’s hand, his fingertips easing through the heat of you, sliding over your clit, over your entrance, slow and soft and amazing. 
“Again,” you plead. “Again, Tae, please.”
“Feels good?” He asks, and you squeeze your eyes shut as you nod, cheek still pillowed against your arm.
“So good,” you say. “But I want more, please, Tae.”
“Anything you want,” he murmurs.
Taehyung’s hand shifts between your legs again, so hot, so big, so reverent. The slide is smooth as his fingers press into your folds, practically gliding. You twist beneath him, letting out a noise of displeasure when he draws his hand away, but then he lifts off your calves. You let him thrust your legs apart before he resettles between them.
Just as you’re distracted with the towel being tugged away from your hips, baring you entirely, Taehyung slides a finger into your weeping cunt.
You whine. It's so long. Now that your calves aren’t trapped, there’s nothing to stop you from rutting back against his fingers. He splays his other hand over the soft flesh of your ass, encouraging the rolling motion of your hips, and you’re gasping, wanton in your noises of desire and pleasure. One finger becomes two, and then three, Taehyung’s voice a low undercurrent to your stuttered moans as he presses them as deep as he can.
“Just like that, angel,” he breathes. “Want you to feel good, keep making those pretty noises, let me know how good it is—”
“Taehyung,” you whine, dragging the syllables of his name out when he curls his fingers inside you, so amazing, hitting you in all the right places.
“Baby.” He sounds wrecked, words sliding together, and you haven’t even touched him yet. “You’re so hot n’ wet, fuck. So perfect. Just like that, keep moving like that.”
You can hear the slick sounds of his thrusts into you. He’s already learned what you like, twisting his fingers in a way that leaves you breathless; they’re so fucking long, sliding into your greedy cunt with ease, reaching so much deeper than your own can. His pretty lovely hands are on you, inside you, and you’re heady at the thought.
“There, Tae, don’t stop, please, p-please.” The coil twists tighter in between your legs, a taut thread that’s ready to snap. He listens, repeating the motion that’s pulling you closer to the edge, eyes wide, staring at the way you’re writhing underneath him; the way the oil on your back and legs shimmers in the light, the evidence of his touch all over you, shining. “Tae, oh, God, right there, yes, yes, yes—”
Your entire body goes tense and then you’re cumming around Taehyung’s fingers, clenching your thighs together, trapping him inside as you buck your hips. You grind back against his hand, a loud moan falling from your lips, drowning out the noise of awe that Taehyung makes when he feels your walls pulsate around him. You're warm and tight and wet, arousal flooding thick against his skin, and he lets out a stuttered groan, fingers buried knuckle deep inside you, feeling every wave of pleasure that rocks through your core.
You’re panting by the time you settle back down and barely make a sound when Taehyung drags his fingers out of you. When he leans down the oil on your skin feels tacky against his clothes, material sticking to you, chest to back, hips to ass. You can feel the hot curve of him through his trousers, his cock heavy, getting harder—and it feels sososo good.
Taehyung’s face is so close, now, chin hooked over your shoulder. Even though you can feel the hardness of his cock pressed against you, the smile on his face is so gentle. Your heart thrums in your chest.
“So cute n' pretty,” he says, and presses his nose to the soft curve of your cheek. Rather than coconut, all you can smell is his shampoo, familiar and homely and heady. “All over. God, I can’t believe you’d let me touch you like this. I’m so lucky. Was that good, baby?”
“Yes,” you say, and then, because you’re still floating in a light haze of disbelief: “I’m the lucky one.” 
Taehyung laughs, low and quiet. It’s a honeyed moment, dripping slow and sweet, even sweeter when he tilts his head forward. His lips are soft against your cheekbone, your jaw, and when you turn towards him, they’re even softer against your mouth. You can feel the shape of his smile, and it tastes so bright, small kisses that turn open mouthed, so perfect. Because you’re kissing Kim Taehyung, your Taehyung, something you’ve been dreaming about for so long, now—even if this entire situation is pretty unbelievable, honestly.
When you pull back, his eyes spark with unadulterated joy. He’s warm and heavy, pinning you down against the towels that are soft against your front; arching your spine, you lean back against the weight of Taehyung’s body, his cock fattening up through the layers of clothes that separate you. He lets out a breath of surprise before he grinds down, pressing that hard heat against you, and your cunt clenches.
“Can I finish the massage?” He asks, sounding almost eager, even with the rasp of lust in his voice. You can’t help but laugh, an affectionate giggle that has you knocking your foreheads together.
“Of course,” you say, and he catches your lips again, swallowing the last of your laughter, sweeping his tongue over your lips, inside your mouth, wet and hot and a little messy, but good. 
“You need to be on your back,” Taehyung continues, slow after the kiss is broken, and, oh, okay, that has you shivering. “If you want to?”
Of course you want to.
“Okay,” you whisper. “Let me move.”
He shifts to give you room, but not before pressing a kiss to the back of your neck, the bump of the top of your spine, lips sliding against the oil that he’d rubbed there earlier, goosebumps erupting over your skin.
“So good to me,” he whispers. You don’t think he even means for you to hear it. 
(It’s said without thought; not thoughtless, no, but a soft little thing that says so much. A thought that’s slipped across his mind and fallen from his lips, warm and tender. Like you’re always good to him, and he sees it, he knows it, he feels it, he thinks it, and he’s almost in disbelief about it, because you’re so good to him.)
You feel warm and languid after cumming, loose-limbed as you flop onto your back. There’s no going back now. There’s no going back from this moment, naked and vulnerable under Taehyung, nothing hidden away any more—the soft fall of your breasts, your stomach, the lines of your hips, your fingers tightening in the towels spread beneath you as Taehyung’s eyes drink you in, wide and overawed at the sight of your flushed cunt, ripe and slick and ready for him.
(There's no more hiding how much you want Taehyung to have you, body and heart alike.)
You can see the shape of your body silhouetted on his clothes, where the oil has seeped into the material from how close he’d been pressed against you. You can see just how affected he is, cock straining against the loose linen of his white trousers, and you bite your lip to try and stifle the sound you make.
“Look at you,” Taehyung breathes, kneeling between your legs. “You’re so perfect.”
Your cheeks burn. “Taehyung, please,” you say, embarrassed. You really aren’t, especially in comparison to model-gorgeous Kim Taehyung, eyes dark and full of heated lust, hair falling in his eyes, effortlessly beautiful, always.
“You are,” he insists. “You have no idea how perfect you are.”
Before he reaches for the massage oil, he sucks the taste of you off his fingers, sloppy and messy. Your pussy throbs at the sight. And—you were also right about the visual being too much to handle, breath catching in your throat as you watch it drip into his broad hands. His palms shine as he rubs them together, interlacing his fingers, so graceful in their motions. You’re so wet from your orgasm, only getting wetter as you stare back at Taehyung, whose gaze has been heavy on you the whole time.
He starts at your collarbones. It’s even slower than before, and you ease underneath him, revelling in the softness of his touch. He sweeps his hands over your shoulders, down your arms, circling his long fingers around your wrists before lifting one of your hands. Your eyelashes flutter as he presses a kiss to your palm, a motion so full of adoration and tenderness it steals your breath away, and you squirm, shy.
“Tae,” you whine. “You can’t just do that.”
Of course he doubles down, lifting your other hand and repeating the motion, letting his lips linger between your head line and your heart line. “I can,” he says, words warm in your cupped palm. 
“I hope you didn’t do this in class.” Your voice is too weak for it to come out as the joke you mean it to be. 
Taehyung just shakes his head, mouth brushing over the tips of your fingers. “Only for you,” he says. “Did the whole class for you. I wanted—wanted an excuse to touch you more,” he admits, and your heart feels like it’s going to launch itself out of your throat.
“Then touch me,” you say, trying to sound confident even if your cheeks burn.
And he does. He lets your hands drop, gliding his touch back up your arms, down your body, over your legs; he massages your thighs and calves, digs his thumbs into the arches of your feet, circling his fingers around your ankles, shackles you don’t want to escape from. You feel so relaxed and lax, somehow, even if every touch has you biting your lip, anticipation roiling  in your stomach for what’s to come, Taehyung laying your legs down softly before he shifts back up, hands held out towards you—
—then he cups your breasts in his big, big hands and your back arches, fingers sliding over your nipples, glistening with coconut oil, circling them with the pads of his thumbs. You let out an embarrassing whine.
“Oh, Tae,” you beg. “More, please.”
“Whatever you want, sweetheart.”
You smile at another soft, unexpected pet name, flustered, but then your eyes slide shut when Taehyung bends down to kiss your neck as he continues to run his hands over the swell of your breasts. He trails his lips over your oiled skin, shifts down, drawing a line from your neck to the valley of your chest, the hard line at the center of your ribcage.
“Tae,” you murmur, and then, feeling bold under the heat of Taehyung’s dark eyes— “Baby.”
He hums before laying another sloppy kiss against your sensitive skin. You can feel the curve of his smile in the kiss. “Yes, love?”
“Is it really okay for you to… you know… get that oil in your mouth? I don’t want you to get sick,” you say, concerned, even through the haze of your arousal. His lips shine with it, at how he’s been trailing his mouth over all the parts of your body that he’s touched.
There’s a short beat, and then Taehyung buries his head against your neck—in that little hollow that’s his, in a motion he’s done dozens of times. Except this time you’re naked and he still has fingers splayed across the soft skin of your chest, nipples dragging underneath his palms.
“You’re always so considerate.” His words are muffled against your skin. “It’s fine. It’s edible.”
“You got edible massage oil from your course?”
Taehyung hesitates. “No,” he admits. “I bought it. It’s edible and, uh. Safe for intimate use.”
You’re silent, just for a moment, and then you can’t help it. You start to laugh. 
“Kim Taehyung,” you say, body shaking with amusement. “Did you buy edible massage oil that you can also use as lube?”
Taehyung pulls his face away from your neck and glances up. You’re giggling at him, and he feels so full of love and affection; he can’t help but join in, both laughing at him, loud and carefree.
“It’s why I asked which one you liked,” he confesses, once he can catch his breath.
“I can’t believe you lied to me,” you say, but you don’t mind, really, and he knows it. You lift a hand to push hair out of his face, running your fingers down his scalp. He leans into your touch with a smile, bright and lovely, before he abruptly shifts one of his hands down so he can lick a hot, wet stripe across the skin of your breast.
That stops your laughter pretty fast, surprised hiccup shifting into a broken moan when he engulfs your nipple in the heat of his mouth. “O-oh,” you gasp. “Oh, Taehyung—”
“Been thinking about this for so long.” Taehyung’s eyes are lidded and dark as he leans back, watching the way you react to his touch, arching up towards him. “Wanted to touch you like this so much.”
“Wanted it too,” you breathe. “Wanted—oh, God, Tae, fuck—”
It’s overwhelming. Not just the way Taehyung is flicking his tongue over each of your nipples, pressing his lips against your skin, no—but the idea that he’s been hoping for this, too. Each wet motion of his tongue over your pebbled skin drags pulls out of you; Taehyung’s cock twitches at a loud keen that’s drawn from your lips, a wet patch of precum seeping through his boxers and trousers, darkening the fabric, even though you haven’t touched him yet.
When you reach out to grasp him through his clothes, his hips jolt forward and he bites off a surprised gasp, cutting through the sound with his teeth. He feels long and heavy as you stroke him, thumbing over the wet patch at his tip, hot, even through all those layers between your skin and his.
“I want to feel you, Tae,” you say, staring at him. “Inside me. Please.”
His breath hitches when you tighten your fingers around his shaft and drag your hand upwards, slow and intent. 
“The oil isn’t condom friendly,” he admits, abashed. 
“Then you can cum in my mouth,” you reply. No hesitation.
Taehyung’s eyes are so wide, but then he smiles, eyes squeezing into crescents, mouth turning up into that lovely, broad grin of his. He looks so sweet and sincere, and you feel like you could explode, stuffed overfull with love for him.
“You really are perfect,” he says.
“Only for you,” you reply, your smile just as bright.
He lays one final kiss to your chest, above your beating heart, before he starts to strip. The oil has obviously soaked through his shirt and onto his skin because it sticks when he peels it off and carelessly throws it aside. 
Just like his heart, Taehyung’s body is soft and lovely. You sit up so you can touch him properly, catching him off guard when you pull him in for a kiss—one he eagerly leans into, and without the shirt in the way you can feel the way your skin slides against his, softened with oil. 
There really is no one as beautiful as Kim Taehyung. You drag your hands over him, so warm and wonderful under your palms; his chest, his cute tummy, his waist, his hips, the soft skin above his red, neglected cock. He’s radiant in his nakedness, every easing line of his body so perfect as he kneels in front of you, the flush of his skin, the heavy weight of his arousal, head shining with precum, so wet it’s practically dripping.
You lean in to kiss his neck and nip at his Adam's apple as his hands slide over your shoulder blades and down your back, the parts that make you shudder.
“Want you, Tae.” You whisper into his mouth, a soft secret that isn’t really a secret at all, not any more. “All of you.”
“Going to give you everything you want.” The words flow out of him with ease. “Everything you want.”
His chest and stomach shine with the massage oil that’s rubbed off from your own skin. You run your hands across him, and when you finally grasp his cock without the barrier of cloth in the way, he’s almost burning under your grasp, thick, his entire body shuddering when you pump his length. So sensitive to your touch.
“I’m goin’ to make you cum again,” he promises, and you love it, the way he talks when he’s losing himself. “Bet you’ll feel so good around my cock, so perfect.”
A shiver skates through your body. Taehyung’s fingers dig into your skin when he feels you trembling under his hands, and all you can think about is how you want him in you.
“Please,” you say. “Please, wanna make you feel good too—”
“Hands and knees, angel,” he rasps, and, God, yes, those words cut straight through you, sharp and electric.
Maybe you should feel embarrassed at how quickly you obey. The towels underneath you, so carefully placed at the start, perfectly flat, become rumpled as you shift into position; you arch your back, wanting to look as good as possible, and glance over your shoulder to see if it works.
Judging from the look on Taehyung’s face, it does. He looks like he’s never seen anything more awe-inspiring, eyes wide and mouth a little slack, dumbstruck. But then his jaw snaps shut and he splays his hands over the soft skin of your hips, your waist, your ass, shuffling closer to you; you feel the curve of his cock slide against your skin and you bite back a noise of need.
“Fuck, so beautiful.” He ruts forward, and you can feel the wetness of his precum slicking against you, a beaded line drawn across the sheen of massage oil. “My beautiful, perfect girl.”
“Tae,” you plead, already overwhelmed with need, heart squeezing at his words.
“Just one more thing, angel, I promise.”
It’s a good thing that the bottle of massage oil is so big, considering how liberal Taehyung is with it. You gasp when he uses one hand to spread your ass and before you can react there’s a drizzle of oil falling onto your skin, down-down-down, over your cunt, dripping over your inner thighs; Taehyung catches the excess with his palms before he slicks himself up, spreading that sweet coconut over his throbbing cock.
(You wonder what it’ll taste like when you lick it off him.)
When you feel the blunt head of his cock nudging at your pussy, your entire body lights up in anticipation, nerve endings on fire, every inch of your body singing under Taehyung’s touch—and when he finally sinks in, it’s almost effortless. He’s thick and long but everything slides so easy; you gasp and he moans, both lost in how your body opens up for him, hot and wet. By the time he’s bottomed out you're a quivering mess, collapsed onto your elbows. You’re so full. You feel split open in all the best ways, wanting to draw him in impossibly deeper even so.
Taehyung is gripping your sides, hands unmoving even with the slick oil underneath them, fingers digging into your skin. He’s breathing so loud, and when you experimentally shift your hips, he bites back a noise that cuts through that breath.
“How’s it feel, love?” His words slur together in arousal, but the hand that strokes your back is slow, thoughtful. “Feel good?”
“Fuck me, Tae, baby, please,” you beg. It’s so, so so much, so good, amazing, hotter and bigger and harder than anything you’d let yourself imagine, your entire body taking Taehyung and holding him in, in, in. “Please, I need it, it feels good but I want more, please.”
When he pulls away it’s slow and torturous and he goes so far he almost slips out, cock nearly sliding out of your folds. You whine, a little shameless, mostly needy, but then—
The snap of his hips drives you forwards, towels shifting underneath as you scrabble for a hold on something. Each sharp motion of Taehyung’s body has you choking for air and letting out whimpers and gasps, drowned out by the slap of skin on skin; his hipbones meet the soft flesh of your ass, again and again, but all you can focus on is the thick heat of his cock inside you, in-out-in-out, the press of his balls against your clit, everything so wet and smooth and slick.
You can feel how you’re losing yourself to that heady place that’s golden bright with feeling, lust and sex, the rest of the world gone, unimportant. There’s nothing but this—Taehyung touching you, filling your body so well, so perfect, helping you chase that high that’s growing faster and faster, that precipice of pleasure that he’s going to throw you over again, intent on it.
One of his hands trails up your back, between that sensitive dip of your shoulder blades and into your hair, locks tangling with coconut oil before he urges you up. He doesn’t yank or pull but his hold is firm and you end up back on your hands, arms trembling as you try to keep your balance, back bowed, overwhelmed. 
“Baby,” he rasps. “Oh, you’re so tight n’ hot, so pretty, fuck. You feel so good, do you feel good?”
Your answer is almost a wail, so overcome with pleasure, sensation, the glide of his hands over your shining skin, the mix of oil and arousal that drips out of you, only getting wetter with each thrust of his hips into you. “So good, o-oh God, Tae, baby, fuck, oh, theretherethere—”
“Here?”
He punctuates this with a roll of his hips, using the hand still on your hip to pull you back onto his cock as he fills you up once more, throbbing heat. He bends over you, and this time, there’s nothing stopping the skin on skin contact, the slide of his chest against your back as he kisses the soft skin behind your ear, nipping at your lobe, and that’s it, you’re gone. Your eyes slide shut and your mouth falls open as another orgasm crashes through you, legs shaking as you cum around Taehyung’s cock, grinding back against him to drag out that pleasure; the only thing holding you up is the hand still in your hair, the lips trailing up the side of your bared neck, the hard cock inside you, keeping you against him, so many points of connection with Taehyung.
(His chest pressed against your back, heart beating so hard you can feel it, your own heart moving in tandem, matching him.)
He’s been whispering filth to you, heated praise and love, how good you feel, how beautiful you are, what it’s like to see you like this, touch you like this, have you like this. Lovely, pretty, perfect, gorgeous, hot n’ wet n’ tight, fuck, love, oh.
You’re still shivering, the final pulses of your orgasm curling through you with each unintentional shift of Taehyung’s hips, the drag of his length inside your inner walls. You can feel something dripping out of you; oil, cum, you don't know, but fuck, it feels so so good.
“Oh, God,” you say. Breathless. “Oh, Taehyung, oh.”
“Pretty darling,” he murmurs. He swivels his hips, grinding against you, and your entire body jolts with oversensitivity, clit swollen where his balls press against it. You tighten around him and groan at how hot and big he still feels inside, even as you still shiver from the come down of your second orgasm. “Gonna roll you over so I can see that perfect face.”
And when you’re on your back again, fucked out and mussed and wrecked, he just stares at you. You’ve watched his face for so long, seen so many expressions flit across his features, but never something like this—it’s a mix of amazement and awe and tenderness and lust and love, a lift to his brows and a spark in his eyes and a set to his lips.
And when he leans down to kiss you, that look doesn’t leave. It melts and softens around the edges as you catch each other's mouths, as you kiss and kiss, small tender things interspersed with longer, deeper touches, lips and teeth and tongue—his eyes darken and his mouth flushes darker pink, kiss swollen and so beautiful, but that expression stays. It stays for you. 
Kim Taehyung is beautiful and lovely and unique. Kim Taehyung is so far out of your reach it’s kind of stunning, actually. And yet, here you are, existence of his touch over every part of you, in every part of you, lust driven, love full; the carefully balanced weight of his body splayed over you, pinning you down, keeping you close.
“I wanna see you cum, Tae,” you say. “Please?”
And just like he always does, Taehyung indulges you, just like you indulge him. He presses back inside you, cunt opening up for him so easy, so smooth, like his touch has already been etched into the memory of your body, perfect for him. He stays pressed close, face so near as he rolls into each thrust, sweat and coconut oil painted across your skin as your bodies shift together.
He’s been covering you in his words, both heated and sweet, and now you return the favour. You tell him how good he feels, how beautiful he is, so good, so perfect, so considerate, how much you’ve wanted this. So good, so long and thick, oh, Tae, feels so good, ah-ah-ah, baby, you’re unreal, fuck.
You can see the exact moment he starts to reach his high, the way he sucks in air, the way he lifts his chin, starts to thrust a little harder, a little faster, chasing that thread of pleasure that’s spiralling through him, and you urge him on. You lift your hips and clench so tight it has him gasping, hips stuttering, and you press your nose against his jaw, saying give it to me give it to me give it to me, wanting him to feel the same pleasure he’s given you. 
When he pulls out, you’re too busy moving to pay attention to how empty you feel, settling between his legs and swallowing down his shining cock almost desperately. There’s no coconut. You can only taste yourself and when you lave your tongue across his slit it’s all Taehyung-Taehyung-Taehyung, hot and salt and bitter; he gasps and his hips jump and you take it all, lowering your head as far as you can, the head of his cock at the back of your throat before you pull up, dragging your tongue over the pulsing vein at the underside, messy and wet. You drink down the wetness of his cock, your own arousal, mixed with his, the precum that beads at his head, staring up at him, your hands sliding over the sheen of his stomach, his thighs, cupping his balls, everything slick with oil and sweat.
“Oh, God.” Taehyung’s eyes are blown and his hair is a mess and his mouth is wide open as he pants for air, watching. “Baby, baby, I’m gonna cum, I’m gonna cum.”
You suck hard, dragging your lips up from the base of the cock to the rounded tip, swirling your tongue, bobbing your head faster—
“Oh, fuck—”
—and you swallow down each wave of cum, swallow down the way his cock twitches as he spills the evidence of pleasure into your mouth, swallow down the lovely noises that shudder out of him, watching him the whole time, never wanting to look away.
When you take your mouth off his softening cock, you draw a line of kisses with your mouth, up the soft skin of his body, stomach to chest to neck to mouth. He licks the taste of coconut oil off your lips, the taste of himself off your tongue; you curl up in his lap, settled against him, the apartment’s cool air even sharper against your skin, magnified by the oil that still lingers.
(Even without the oil painted across him, Taehyung would still shine, even under the weak light from the cheap lightbulb that hangs above you.)
You feel soft and warm and small in the circle of Taehyung’s arms, pulled close, and you can hear the words in his chest as he speaks, a resonance that touches against your skin.
“‘M sorry,” he murmurs. 
You pause.
“Baby, love, darling.” The endearments are sugar sweet in your mouth, soft against his skin before you pull back to look at him, confused, concerned. “Sorry for what?”
“I really—I really was just planning to do a massage, but you’re so…” 
You let out a slip of laughter. The room smells of coconut and sex, but when you lay your head against Taehyung’s collarbone all you can smell is the light tinge of his sweat. You breathe in, deep, like you can hold onto that ephemeral part of him. “Oh, Tae. I’m so what?”
“You’re so good,” he says. “So good and kind and lovely and—and so beautiful. I was going to do the massage to make you happy and then… tell you. About how happy you make me.”
You burrow your head into the hollow of his neck, the way he does to you, shy. “I’m not as beautiful as you,” you reply. “Tae, you are literally the most beautiful person alive, and—God, I’ve. I’ve been. So head over heels for you.”
There’s a pause. “Really?”
When you pull back to fix Taehyung with all the surprise in your gaze, you can see that he’s surprised, too. His hair hangs into his eyes, and he looks a little unsure, like he believes you, but finds it impossible to fathom.
You leave massage oil on his cheeks when you cup his face in your hands, staring at him with wide eyes. “Kim Taehyung, I have had daily breakdowns about the intensity of my love for you to Pickles ever since we got him. You’re the first person I think about each morning—usually because we wake each other up—and the last thing I think about at night—well, usually because you end up climbing into my bed more often than not, but, it still counts,” you say. You’re both tangled together in so many ways already. “You’ve had my heart for a long time, you know. I just never thought I had a chance?”
When Taehyung kisses you, it’s brief, a hard press of his lips before he rests his forehead against yours. “You really, really have no idea how perfect you are,” he murmurs. “I’ve wanted—I want to do everything for you to show you how grateful I am for everything you do for me.”
“You don’t have to,” you protest, but he just smiles.
“I don’t have to, but I want to,” he says. “Like you don’t have to look after me, but you do.”
“That’s because I love you,” you say. “Like, capital L love you.”
You’ve been so afraid of confessing, so convinced that it was an unattainable dream; that Kim Taehyung would never, could never, has never seen you as more than a friend. But the way he’s looking at you now, the way he’s touched you, the way your body still echoes with the feeling of him inside you: you’re not scared, any more. You don’t need to be.
Taehyung’s eyes are so dark and warm when he replies, easy and effortless. “I love you, too.”
Your relationship has always been a give and take, is the thing. When you climb in the shower together, he washes the oil from your back while you massage shampoo into his scalp, laughing when he makes devil horns in his hair. He catches you by surprise when he presses you against the tiles, swallowing your moans when he coaxes one final orgasm from your tired body, rubbing tight circles over your clit as you buck against his hand and water cascades over you both. His cock hardens in your hands, sliding between your legs when you press them together, tight-tight-tight, his length rubbing against your cunt as he fucks your thighs until he’s moaning and shaking and cumming again.
(The water’s cold by the time you finally climb out, but that’s okay. You giggle and kiss as you dry yourselves, each other, excuses to keep touching and feeling, driven by affection, not lust.)
When you’re both clean, and dry, Taehyung’s leg thrown over your hip as he tugs you in, flush with his body under the covers, you press your lips against the line of his jaw.
“Taehyung?”
“Yes, angel?”
You smile and hunch up even closer to him, scrunching yourself up as small as you can to plaster yourself against his side. “Thank you for the wonderful massage. Definitely the best massage I’ve ever been given, ten out of ten, would do again.”
Taehyung laughs, pressing his rectangular smile into the kiss he lays against your lips, and you think that nothing tastes better than the happiness curling his mouth.
“Love you,” he murmurs. Always romantic. “I love you love you love you.”
“Tae-honey-hyung.” And it feels so nice to not have to filter your words, to bite back that second layer of meaning, to try and keep things platonic and chaste when you speak. “I love you.”
And it feels so nice to have your Taehyung beside you, your body still aching with the press of him inside you, a good ache, a nice ache. A physical ache from good love, rather than a heartache from a love you didn’t think was reciprocated. But it is, somehow, each of you so bowled over by each other.
--
(“Hey, Pickles.”
The bearded dragon looks up at you, placid as he lounges in his tank.
“Well, you’ll be happy to hear that you won’t have to put up with me ranting at you any more,” you say. “Taehyung did break out the massage oil but it’s all good. I didn’t spontaneously combust or anything, like I thought I would.”
Pickles’ tongue flicks out as he shifts, and you smile.
“Okay, that’s it, I’m done,” you finish. “Thanks, Pickles. You’re a real pal.”
Taehyung nuzzles into your neck. His arms are a tight circle around your waist, chin resting on your shoulder as he looks down at the reptile, too. He’s warm and solid against your back, and you lean into him, happiness tingling through you.
“I wonder how much longer we would have taken if you didn’t get that coupon for a massage therapy course,” you muse, and Taehyung chuckles, warm and lovely.
“We would have gotten there eventually. And we would have had each other until we did, anyway. Right, angel?”
Pickles stays quiet as you both kiss, but you can tell he approves.)
--
taglist: @beyoncesdragon​
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aforestlife · 3 years
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i feel the same way about acnh! i don't really think it's lacking content. i've played most of ac games and i've learned that every once in a while i need to step away from it, just to pick it up again a few weeks later. new horizons is for sure different to all the previous games, but not in a worse way – it's just how animal crossing works. you play, you get bored, you stop playing for some time, then feel the urge to play like crazy again. it happens to me with new horizons and it happened to me with new leaf as well. and that's okay! it's still my favorite game ever. at least that's my opinion
I'm glad you agree and see what I mean! I feel like the "there's nothing to do when you've ____" (fill in the blank with paid off your loan, finish your town/museum, or even just played through a year) is one the most common things said about any Animal Crossing game, not just New Horizons.
I've gathered from people that New Leaf just had a massive impact and everyone loved the heck out of it and everything it added, the Main Street, the cafe and police station you could build, the island... So I think that's where the criticism comes from. I think the reason we didn't get these things is because of the desert island concept. You could tell Nintendo was really hyping that up, like every promo vid was a tent with the campsite cookware. I bet Nintendo has heard this criticism and that the next gen AC game if there is one, will go back to having a full-fledged AC cast and shopping district.
I enjoy the AC NPCs and all the things NL added, don't get me wrong... but it's also not really 100% why I play. I'm the sort of player who won't go in Kicks anymore when I have all the shoes, won't go in Harriets if I have my haircut down pat, won't go do minigames usually unless I'm playing with friends. But walking around my town and vibing out and enjoying what I've created? Seeing my villagers, and so on? That's what I focus on when I visit NL actually, and that's the maim appeal for me in any AC game. When I play WW I'm not lamenting all those things, I'm just enjoying the vibe of the town and making it my own and all that. I never even built the coffee shop in NL 👀
You can criticize that NH is only for decorators, but I feel like super long-term AC play is usually geared towards decorating anyways, even in old games. I remember in NL here in the tumblr community, it was the dream address feature that kept so many playing years after the game came out. People saw decorating and releasing themed/aesthetic towns as one of the long-term appeals back then as well, after exhausting the beginning game content.
I think NH would benefit from more of the quirky add-on content, NPCs, updates in general, and so on. Like I think multiplayer isn't nearly as fun as it should be without the minigames (we shouldn't have to create our own with the precedent NL set with the island and the fact that we pay to use the online service now), and I think we could use more furniture patches and more traveling NPCs at the plaza at the very least. But I'm not really mad at NH for not being NL because I can tell they were going for a new feel, and I'm not as mad about the other things as some because I guess it's not really why I play the game long-term anyways. But heck, as far as island decorating and patterms, I can do things I never could have dreamed of in NL or past games. In NL putting a few well-placed public works and foliage was about the extent of it, but it's just wild what you can do in NH now. The happiness I feel walking around my perfect Shire town or excitement at building an illusion castle or something more than makes up for not having those NPCs, shops, or gyroids. I'm not a NH dialog hater either really, I've found it fun and cute at times ans most of the time when I play NL and WW I see stuff I've already seen as well. It's finite in every game. They've actually added dialog in some of the updates, people say.
Anyway sorry for the long reply, I guess I have a lot of thoughts on this. And we're all valid in how we feel about the game, and I think it's human nature to want to share opinions and seek likeminded people. People who think NH is unfinished have a right to feel that way and to find others who feel the same, as do us.
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slade-neko · 3 years
Text
Saw this video game tag thing pop up on my dash a few days ago. Wanted to do it.
1. First game you played obsessively? Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, I believe I was 5yo. Still waiting on that FF7 Remake treatment.
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2. A game that has influenced you creatively? Writing, drawing, etc. Well if I play a game and like it, then I'll create sims of it. Does that count?
3. Who did you play with as a kid? My brother from the day I was born.
4. Who do you play with now? My brother FROM THE DAY I WAS BORN.
5. Ever use cheat codes? I wasn't lying when I made this post. {link}
6. Ever buy strategy guides? Yes! Mainly to look at the artwork though. (Don't need no guide!)
7. Any games you have multiple copies of? Lots of games, most being Left 4 Dead with 6 copies (3 Xbox 360, 1 PC case, 2 PC digitally.) What can I say, its a GOOD GAME!
8. Rarest/Most expensive game in your collection? Gold cartridge Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (maybe that's rare?)
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9. Most regrettable purchase? I don't regret my purchases, but I have received games I have never played like Cubix (PS2) no clue where that game came from, but I have it somehow. Madagascar (Xbox 360) came with my Xbox 360, never opened it from its case. And Monsters Inc. Scream Arena (Gamecube) or something... it was a gift.
10. Ever go to a midnight game release or stand in line for hours? No, because then I'd have to interact with people.
11. Have you ever made new friends from playing video games? I'm only friends with people BECAUSE of video games, so yes.
12. Ever get picked on for liking games? No, that'd be ridiculous.
13. A game you’ve never played that everyone else has? Probably a lot, I'd say Call of Duty, but I technically played CoD 1, 2, and 4. The campaign mode was alright, but I don't really care for CoD games at ALL.
14. Favorite game music? Koji Kondo and Grant Kirkhope are two BIG ones.
15. If it was a requirement to get a game related tattoo, what would you pick? Triforce is the most basic option, but I'd rather not get a tattoo.
16. Favorite game to play with your friends IRL? Super Smash Bros. Brawl with hacks, but that was over a decade ago.
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17. Ever lose a friend over a game? No, that'd be ridiculous.
18. Would you date someone that hates gaming? No, that'd be RIDICULOUS.
19. Favorite handheld console? PSP. 3DS is great, but PSP Monster Hunter has ALL of my portable gaming memories. Like playing in school after End of Grade tests with my friend.
20. Game that you know like the back of your hand? Sims 4 I like to think I know everything about Left 4 Dead. Quite a bit about Monster Hunter, more so of a series though than a specific game.
21. Game that you didn’t like or understand as a kid but love now? I'd say Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic. I loved it as a kid, but had a lot of complex pen & paper RPG mechanics that I never understood. I understand a lot more of it now, but its still complex as all heck. I just know you hit things, they die.
22. Do you wear game related clothing/accessories? That's the only thing I wear.
23. The game that you’ve logged the most hours into? Not sure so I'll list a few. Sims 4, Smash Bros. Brawl, Monster Hunter (its a series though), or Left 4 Dead
24. First Pokemon game? Leaf Green
25. Were you ever an arcade game player? No, don't like paying to play.
26. Ever form any gaming rivalries? No.
27. Game that makes you rage? I don't get mad at games, but I had a custom modded Hard Eight mutation in Left 4 Dead that is absolute bullsh*t!
28. Ever play in a tournament? No, because then I'd have to interact with people.
29. What is your gaming set up? A giant wall of video game consoles spanning from NES to Switch, 4 TVs, but I sit at a desk with a PC.
30. How many consoles do you own? "I own every console that's ever existed." - I Don't Play Games When I Play Games (My STRENTH) original song by Smooth McGroove BUT no seriously I own 32 consoles including handhelds.
31. Does the 3DS and/or Virtual Boy hurt your eyes or give you headaches? Yes. 3DS gave me headaches though I only really played with the 3D feature in Ocarina of Time 3D. I think my eyes broke because I couldn't get my 3D to work very well after.
32. Did you ever play a game based on your favorite show/cartoon/movie/comic? Sure I play games based on a lot of things. Literally any anime game. If I had to pick Dragon Ball Xenoverse is kinda like a dream Dragon Ball game. Oh, Attack on Titan 2 is pretty neat too!
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33. Did you ever have any bootleg games or plug-n-play games? Some SEGA plug-n-play thing once. Played it like once and now its lost to time (or my closet.)
34. Do either of your parents play video games? Yes. Mom and Dad played NES Super Mario Bros. My Dad went HARD at that game until he saved the Princess. Then he quit forever.
35. Ever work in a game store? Or do you have a favorite game shop? "Hi. Welcome to Gamestop!"I never want to hear that again, but it was my main store until I went full digital/ online orders.
36. Have you ever shed actual blood, sweat or tears over a game? No, I don't tend to get upset or emotional, but Bill dying in Left 4 Dead made me pretty pissed.
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37. Have you played E.T. for the Atari 2600? Do you think that’s the worst game ever, or do you have another nomination? Never played it. I don't really play "bad" games, but maybe Sims 4.
38. A game you’re ashamed to admit that you like? The Sims 4
39. A sequel that you would die for them to make? Dragon's Dogma 2 WHICH I think is actually in development, so I'd have to say Fallout New Vegas 2. C'mon Bethesda you cowards, hand the keys back over to Obsidian so they can make another good Fallout game!
40. What to you think of virtual reality headsets or motion controls? Two part question, two answers. VR Headset to immerse in world, yes. Motion Controls, no.
41. A genre that you just can’t get into? MOBAs and MMOs. I don't like paying to keep playing.
42. Maybe it wasn’t your first game, but what was the game that started you on your path to nerdiness? Nintendo 64 opened me up to what video games could be as a kid. Sad to say my parents' NES didn't really do that for me. And years later Fallout 3 was a big game changer for me too.
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43. Ever play games when you really should have been concentrating on something else? Every day of my LIFE.
44. Arcade machine that has consumed the most of your quarters? None. I'd rather emulate.
45. How are you at Mario Kart? Pretty dang good. 3-STARS MARIO KART WII, BABY!
46. Do you like relaxing games like Animal Crossing or Harvest Moon? Yes, both of those. I preferred when Animal Crossing had more character to it. New Horizons looks so pretty, but feels so bland compared to classic AC.
47. Do you like competitive games? No. Not really. Usually amongst friends or if I can get competitive against AI Bots. I love my machine bot friends cause they don't cry like 10 year olds when they lose.
48. How long does it take your to customize your player character? Too long. I've seriously restarted games because I wasn't happy with my character's appearance.
49. In games where you can pick your class, do you always tend to go for the same type of character? Yes, I am always the magic man, my brother is always brute warrior, and my friend is the ranger.
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50. If you were a game designer, what masterpiece would you create? I don't really know. Honestly, I'd rather mod already good games to make them better than create something completely new.
51. Have you ever played a game for so long that you forgot to eat or sleep? No, that'd be ridiculous. But I've had a friend fall asleep playing games at my house 3 different times and currently dozes off during our Minecraft sessions. So, maybe that's not a completely ridiculous thing after all.
52. A game that you begged your parents for as a kid? Kirby 64 apparently. My brother tells me we had to count out pennies to buy it. I must've been too young with no recollection, but I believe it.
53. What’s your opinion on DLC these days? It's good if its not in the game's files from the beginning and is actually developed AFTER launch... and pre-order bonuses should be standard DLC a month or two later. Some games have content lost to time because of that pre-order bullsh*t.
54. Do you give in to Steam sales? Of course. If you want a game and its on sale then why not? I typically wait just for Steam sales to get games.
55. Did you ever make someone you hated in the Sims and did mean stuff to them? No? I typically make people and characters I like in Sims. I've made villains like Dio, but he's an anime villain and I don't really HATE him despite the horrible things he's done.
56. Did you ever play Roller Coaster Tycoon and kill off your guests? No. Never played that game.
57. Did you ever play a game to 100% or get all of the achievements? I try to for all the games I really like.
58. If you can only play 3 games for the rest of your life, which ones do you pick? The Sims 4, Skyrim, & Fallout: New Vegas. Mods make them live forever. Left 4 Dead and Monster Hunter are good choices too.
59. Do you play any cell phone games? Those aren't games.
60. Do you know the Konami Code? No? But I'll take a guess. Is it make an IP and forget it exists?
61. Do you trade in your games or keep them forever? Keep forever... even the bad ones.
62. Ever buy a console specifically to play one game? PS4 Pro for Monster Hunter World. It was basically for early access since the PC version was being developed and releasing after PS4, but I don't like waiting.
63. Ever go to a gaming convention or tournament? Sort of. Been to anime cons and walked into the gaming tournament rooms only to walk out less than 10 minutes later.
64. Ever make a TV or monitor purchase based on what would be best for gaming? No, but I'm going to be doing that soon, hopefully.
65. Ever have a Game Genie, Game Shark or Action Replay? Did it ever mess up your game’s save file? GameShark for N64, PS2, Gameboy, and Action Replay for Gamecube, DS, 3DS. And no not really, I would cheat responsibly... but there was this one time at school my friend and I borrowed another friend's Gameboy game, loaded it up with my Gameshark, tried playing, it crashed, loaded it back up, save file corrupted... we just stared at each other jaws dropped, "Here's your game back, dude. Make sure you don't play it til you get back home!"
66. Did you ever have have an old Nokia with Snake on it? No, but I remember seeing them on billboards in the game DRIV3R on PS2.
67. Do you have a happy gaming-related childhood memory you want to share? Every game I play is filled with happy memories (mostly.)
68. Ever save up a ton of tickets in an arcade to get something cool? These tiger plushes. My brother got white and I got orange. They were the coolest. Got a butt load of tickets from some jackpot spinning light game thing as I was good at the timing with repeated jackpot hits.
69. In your opinion, best game ever made? I've played quite a few masterpiece games, but to pick one, I'd say Fallout: New Vegas
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70. Very first game you ever beat? Super Mario 64. I was a mere child on a Sunday morning and ate celebratory pancakes made by my Dad.
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Wow, that was long... I get the feeling this was supposed to be a "send me ask with numbers" thing, but answering all at once is more fun.
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amlovelies · 3 years
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17. a teasing / sensual kiss for Serena! (or any pairing you might prefer!) :3
random kiss prompts
okay I know you sent this to me months ago, and I’m sorry it took me so long. Writing has been rough in 2021, but hopefully I’ll get it together soon!
This is the first thing I’ve been able to write in weeks, and it’s a bit jumbled and I’m not even sure if it makes sense, but I’m posting it anyway because progress!
This would take place after chapter 5 of Just another liability
Tempered
pairing: Mason/f!oc (Serena Willis)
warnings: lightly nsft and vague mention of past abuse and cursing
words: 1.5k
              I always liked sitting by water. Even when I was young, I’d often wander out to the nearest creek or stream and just let the melody of the water sooth me.  It had been one of the hardest adjustments when I’d moved away. I couldn’t find the solitude I was used to. There were always barking dogs and screaming children. I couldn’t hear the music of the water.
               I’d missed it. A fucking lot. There were recordings and shit I could listen to, but it wasn’t the same. It wasn’t same when I couldn’t dip my fingers in the water and feel the pull of the current. It wasn’t the same when I couldn’t throw in a leaf or a twig and watch it disappear, and pretend I could go with it.
               Wayhaven is more like home. It’s not hard to find a spot around its banks where I can pretend, I’m the only person for miles. I might actually be.
               It’s a good place to watch the sunset; the colors reflecting off the waters and painting the whole horizon in watercolors. It’s a good place to just be. To let the lap of the lake on its banks and the chorus of birds quiet all the swirling thoughts in my mind.
               It’s his cigarette that gives him away. The acrid smell of smoke interrupting my otherwise idyllic afternoon. I turn to the source and see Mason stepping out from the dim underbrush. He tosses his cigarette to the ground and grinds it under his boot.
               “You better pick that up.” I tell him before turning back to the vista.
               “Or what?” he asks with a smirk in his voice.
               I tap my finger against my bottom lip as I try and think of a fitting punishment. From his tone I can tell what type of answer he wants. At this point it doesn’t take much for Mason to get what he wants from me. Mostly because it’s what I want to. I would have thought the sexual tension would fizzle and die once we actually started to mess around, but if anything, it feels stronger than before.
               I’m sure our conversation will descend into innuendo soon enough, but I’ll try to keep it PG at least at little longer. It may feel like no one is around for miles, but we are still in a public place; a fact I’m sure I will conveniently forget the second Mason touches me. It is also fun just to mess with him, “I can think of a few new artists Farah might like. Really intense stuff, lots of bass.”
               He only grumbles in response, but from the corner of my eye I see him bend down to pick the butt our of the dirt.
               The log rocks a little as he sits next to me. I glance over as he settles into place, his long legs stretched out in front of him and his shoulder brushing against mine. Golden light bathes his features and I can’t look away. I should be used to it by now, but I’m not. A light breeze rustles his hair. I have to suppress the urge to reach out and tuck the strands back into place. Sure, I’d seen him naked and undone, but this feels too intimate, a tenderness that hasn’t been present in our exchanges before. I don’t know what would be the worse outcome, if he would stop me and pull away or if he would let me.
               “I thought you came out here to watch the sunset, sweetheart. If you wanted to stare at me, we could go back to the warehouse and I’ll give you the full view.”
               Warmth blooms in my cheeks at being caught staring. “I’m not actually here for the sunset,” I say as if that is some sort of defense.
               “Its about the water and the quiet more than it’s about the sunset.” I begin to explain. “It’s something I used to do when I was younger. Everything felt a little easier after I’d sat by the water for a while.”
               He nods, “I get it.”
               I thought he might. I figure he goes out to sit on the roof for much the same reason I got to sit by the water.
               “Though maybe I should stop. It’s actually how I got stuck here. I was hiking out to sit by the river, and then there was a light, and everything went diagonal.”
               “So, are you out here hoping to find a way home?” he asks his voice soft. Softer than I’m used to and it causes a twinge in my chest, the same one that’s been happening more and more. The same one I’ve been trying to ignore.
               “Oh, I couldn’t do that. Adam would miss me too much.” I make a joke because of course I do. It’s better to make a joke about it that to let myself wonder if he would miss me.
               He doesn’t laugh. Not that I really expected him to. Only a tiny sliver of sun still hangs over the horizon. I should probably head back to the Warehouse if I don’t want to be stumbling in the dark. I shift my weight as a I get ready to stand.
               “Do you miss it?” Mason asks and I know he means home.
               “Less than I thought I would.” I saw with a shrug as I rise from the log. The things I miss I lost long before I passed through the portal, or they never really existed at all.
               I can feel his eyes on me, studying me, and I wonder if he is putting his interrogation skills to use. It’s not a lie, but it’s not the full truth either. It’s hard to miss a place where I always felt alone and unwanted. Being here, being in Wayhaven is the happiest I can remember being in a long time. And that terrifies me.
               Whatever he sees he seems to be satisfied, or at least he doesn’t push the issue. If it was a few months ago I would say it was just indifference, that he doesn’t care about anything but his smokes and chasing tail, but I’m not so sure anymore. It would be easier to put him in that box. Yet, his silence never feels dismissive, but rather accepting. I guess that must be easier when you effectively a walking lie detector.
               “I should head back to the warehouse before it gets too dark,” I say as I rise from the log.
               “Don’t worry I won’t let any monsters get you,” Mason says with a toothy smirk.
               I just roll my eyes. I half want to make a joke about the irony of a vampire saying that, but the vamp jokes got old a month ago.   Little pieces of bark have dislodged from the log and now cover my backside, and I begin to brush it away.
               “You missed a spot,” Mason has his hand outstretched but waiting.
               I’m sure it’s just an excuse to grab my ass, so I slap his hand away. “I’m not going to fall for that.”
               “You’ve fallen for less,” he says with a shrug.
               “Don’t remind me.”
               Then he is standing, so close that only a breath separates us and I can feel the heat rolling of his body. Between that and the scent of smoke I feel like I’m standing too close to a bonfire, and if I don’t move back soon it’ll consume me. I don’t care.
               “Oh?” he asks, his voice gruff and sending a shiver down my spine. “Are you sure you don’t want me to remind you?”
               There is a part of me that wants to be petulant, to tease and coax, but then his hand is on my lower back, and our bodies are pressed together. It’s still not close enough.
               “Well, a refresher wouldn’t hurt.”
               The words are hardly out of my mouth before his lips are on mine. Kissing Mason is always an all-consuming experience. I am used to how quickly my body responds to his attentions, like a spark to tinder.
               But today he holds back, never quiet breaking the kiss he pulls back. His lips move over mine slower and more deliberately than I can remember. This is no flash bang, no explosion of leaping flames, but rather a slow stoking. A building heat until I feel like I have been placed in a furnace, and I am melting.
               When he pulls back, I can still feel the ghost of the kiss dancing over my nerves.
               “Should I continue? Or was that enough of a reminder?”
               “We both already know the answer.”
               “Still like to hear you say it, sweetheart.”
               And I do.
tagging (let me know if you would like to be added or removed 💜): @lord-king-saint, @lilyoffandoms, @tracing-freckled-constellations, @vienocalledmebuddy, @whippedforethanfreakingramsey, @utterlyinevitable
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uncle-jj · 2 years
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My Dream Animal Crossing Game
An Ideal Proposal for an Ideal Sequel
Okay, now I know I love Animal Crossing (especially the New Horizons game) for its quirky charm, the cute cast of characters, and the sweet, peaceful life that our playable characters live (and we wish we lived). I am proud I raised my island good ol' Funklox to be a 5-star island! What's also cool is that I'm getting the knack of designing awesome homes for villagers (especially Katt, my favorite cat next to Kiki and Punchy)!
But I haven't probably told you I always wanted to be a game developer myself. Being indie, publishing my own works, making my own music and graphics...being almost the next Toby Fox or ZUN.
However, since I also wanted to express two of my sweet passions in this post, I decided, "Wouldn't it be cool to make another Animal Crossing?" Now that I'm writing my first ever large post on Tumblr, Uncle JJ will get to tell you my ideal sequel to New Horizons, hands down!
That's right! Welcome to Animal Crossing: Us-Topia! It's gonna have everything I (and probably you) have dreamed of! I'm gonna show you the features I most likely would to add to my dream Animal Crossing game!
1. Build a Village AND an Island
I'm sure you remember the forest village you first lived in (and/or becoming the mayor of your own town). I myself fondly remember first stepping foot on that deserted island, with my fine winged friends Jitters and Flo. I instantly realized I had the potential to build this paradise on that island, which I would name Funklox.
However, though I am happy with my cute, little island, I wonder what it would be like to run a village, too. I mean, don't get me wrong, but I still can't believe Animal Crossing: Population Growing is more expensive than it used to be! *Laughter reaction*
I mean, you just live in a village IN a forest, hence its birthname (which is Japanese for Animal Forest)! What's up with that, let alone how expensive retro games can be? At least my family has a GameCube in our house, though, so MAYBE we might play Animal Crossing on it as well someday!
All jokes aside, I propose living in a forest village as the main residence (like the games prior to New Leaf, then later on having Isabelle ask us about helping an overseas friend found a tropical island resort (which hopefully Kapp'n or Wilbur will take us to). That way, it'll be like Animal Island, except way cooler than before! Remember inviting islanders to your village with fruits they love? You probably may not, unlike the folks who would be greeted by their neighbors living in their memory card every time they started their day. But still! Running a village AND an island at once, though! That will be the main feature of Us-Topia!
Don't steal this idea from me, Nintendo.
2. Upping the Villagers' A-Game
Back when Tom Nook was living back in his hometown, villagers used to be crass to players! Or at least in the localized release. All rudeness aside, I think they softened up in later games.
Anyways, you may complain not about rude villagers as much as you used to, but how repetitive the dialogue can get. I understand that frustration, which is why I hope Us-Topia! will have expanded, extended, and exceeded dialogues. For example, imagine Audie talking about how she loves to lift weights! Imagine Flip the monkey explaining his hopes for being a pro golfer! Imagine Graham confessing his love for Franchine and Chrissy when you look at their photos! In his home!
Oh, and let's not forget how conservation would go between our villagers:
Punchy: So Al, I know this may sound funny, but would you like to have lunch with me, mrmpht?
Al: Sure thing, ayyyeee! Where you suppose we'll snack?
Punchy: I was thinking we could stop by the mall to have fish sandwiches! Ah huh huh huh.
Al: ...Fish sandwiches? Are you sure those kinds are healthy for some guy who wants to stay strong, Punchy?
Punchy: Oh. I...didn't notice you were trying to live a healthy lifestyle, Al.
Al: That’s okay. But I wouldn't mind having a pretzel to eat! Ah huh huh huh!
That was just an example for reference. And aside from dialogue, I thought I'd present another gender of villagers. Yes, I want Us-Topia! to introduce non-binary villagers! That way, it would help support LGBTQIA+ and they/them pronouns even better! But if we want another gender in Animal Crossing, we'll need 4 more personalities!
Lucky Villagers - Derived from the mummy dog's name, lucky villagers would be a great counterpart to the male jocks and the female peppies! Luckies are energetic, willing and friendly, and not afraid to take dares! They would along with smugs, snooties, normals, crankies and (yes) jocks and peppies. One of the only villagers they wouldn't get along with is the big sister, due to her snarky demeanor. Crankies and lazies would sometimes be confused by the lucky's lifestyle, concerning them.
Simple Villagers - While easygoing and carefree, simple villagers are a proposed counterpart to lazies and normals. Despite this, the simple has a big imagination, and will do anything for their friends! They will get along with luckies, lazies, normals, peppies (due to shared imagination), big sisters, jocks, crankies, but not smugs.
Defiant Villagers - These counterparts to smugs and big sisters are confident, loyal, and hopeful they'll take on the world someday. Despite not having a big ego like their smug man, the defiant villager has an equally shared amount of ambition. Often they'll act like a sidekick to the player, too! Despite getting along with smugs, big sisters, peppies, jocks, crankies, and lazies, they don't hang out with luckies, simples, or normals, due to the defiant's self-centeredness.
Awkward Villagers - This angsty fellow should be compared to their snooty girlfriends and cranky folks. They may appear rude to the player like their counterparts, let alone pessimistic, but all and all, they do provide good philosophies, almost as good as Pascal's. They're likely to get along with smugs and big sisters (because they're all like teens), lazies, normals, and simples (because of their caring attitudes), luckies, and (you guessed it) snooties. They wouldn't even touch a jock, a peppy, or a defiant with a 39½ ft. pole. "Like, dude. That sucks." Crankies wouldn't make them feel better either.
That's my proposed personalities for non-binary villagers. Here's to a grand hoping Nintendo will realize the gender spectrum and implement it even further to a sequel to New Horizons.
"But Uncle JJ," you may ask. "Are you sure that would make villagers better in an Animal Crossing game?" Well, my fellow crosser, this is just a proposal. I would care more about anything else than if it gets rejected. I was just expressing my thoughts and feelings.
And speaking of better villagers, wouldn't it be cool to have variants of already-has-been villagers, along with more special villagers exclusive to Amiibo cards? Think about it! Maybe there could be an Alien!Ankha! Maybe there could be a Swap!Francine and Chrissy! Maybe you could get Raymond dressed as Rayman, or a 1930's!Doc, or even a Nyan Katt!
And please, Animal Crossing gods...please give us more info on our villagers in the game. Please. I just want to get to know Francine better. Even have Pocket Camp's villager thoughts, too. That is what else I want done.
3. More Food to Harvest
Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O! And on his farm, he may have pumpkins, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, wheat, and sugarcane, but the poor farmer is still missing something.
I know! How about some more crops, such as zucchini, bell peppers, peanuts, and even radishes? Don't forget that MacDonald needs back his grapes, bananas, mangoes, and lemons! I wanna drink lemonade in Animal Crossing, but I sold my Mario and Luigi 3DS, so I can't be a mayor in New Leaf. Bummer.
Maybe I can catch up to that lost opportunity by putting those in Us-Topia! so that old MacDonald can love farming again! E-I-E-I-O!
4. Quality of Life (It's a Necessity)
I know Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2.0 doesn't have all the quality of life features we wanted, but at least it has the quality of life features we didn't know we needed.
But I'll tell you what...perhaps I could implement those features, such as stacking ALL items in 99's, just like you wanted, bulk crafting, warning players when their tools run low, and even sort our pockets out, and making our backpacks have space for items, too! At least the backpack thing is what I want. Oh, and better online play.
And let's not forget about switching our players' voices to suit our personality, so that folks can recognize our dialogous voices when they dream of our village! Even yet, give us a guide to help us set our paths and/or dig where we wanted to! And calling folks over so they can remind us they're near! All that cool stuff Nick Ha talked about! That's the truest quality of life ever, baby.
5. Expanding Creativity
We all know Animal Crossing is about creativity, right? Interior/exterior design, fashion, customization, even the famous custom designs we love to share. But all that should change once I expand your canvas in Us-Topia!
With almost infinite custom design slots, and touch screen support, we could make better designs than we anticipated! We could get villagers to wear our handmade fashion again! Just imagine Mint in a Hatsune Miku coat! We could even have sharp notes and flat notes in our town tunes! Endless possibilities just got less limited!
In Conclusion
Those are my proposed ideas for when there should be another Animal Crossing in the future. Though we don't know how the future of Animal Crossing would work out, but I'm sure there's a chance it might happen to end up brighter than before someday!
As our friend Isabelle would say, "A good attitude will always take you further than a bad habit!" Thank you for listening.
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poppopopopopi · 3 years
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Settos GOTY 2020
2020 was a hell world and life is dogshit now. Also I only browse tumblr these days but I like keeping track of this stuff so!...yay.
I’m gonna be honest even I’m not sure what order I should put these games in.
I think I’m done with ordering by top 10 and just gonna put all 10 here equally.
I’ll also show some games I liked for specific reasons but didn’t put in the top 10.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon
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Probably my second favourite Yakuza game ever, Like a Dragon introduces Ichiban as a new protagonist and boy is he a keeper. This keeps that classic Yakuza charm and good writing along with a new gameplay style of JRPG turn based combat. It’s fun, engaging and genuinely full of a love for the genre. I can’t wait to see the future of Ichibans adventures.
Nioh 2
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I genuinely love this game. The soulslike genre has been all over the place the last few years but this one deserves the award for the most complex and well done entry in the genre. Everything about Nioh 2 kept me playing through the game multiple times. It truly is a game where you can build your character in so many different ways that you won’t ever play the same way twice.
Animal Crossing New Horizons
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I’ll always love AC. New Horizons has a load of new wonderful features but is lacking a lot of what made previous entries so wonderful. I’m kinda tired of being drip fed content that was just in New Leaf from the get go. Other than that I enjoy the time I spend wandering around my island and customizing it to my liking. A very comfortable experience, that was well needed.
Disaster Report 4
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Honestly one of the most endearing games I played this year. You can tell the developers had a lot of passion and despite the unbelievable jank, it shines in many places. This game had so many memorable moments and characters that overall I just fell in love with it. It really drives home the feeling of being in a natural disaster and seeing the cataclysmic destruction it leaves on not only the country but also peoples lives.
Sakura Wars
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I’m probably bias because I’ve never played the RPG entries in this series. However I loved the character driven story and general way the game played out. I can’t really say much else, I just adored being in this world and seeing these characters grow together. The gameplay is alright, it’s basic mech based action combat, but I don’t think that’s the big draw here. Azami best girl.
Pokemon SWSH DLC
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Can you spot the Galarian Moltres in the above picture?.
I actually loved SWSH, it’s got a load of problems but the overworld and raid dungeons made me play for far longer than I ever thought I would. Honestly the DLC just made the region even better designed and felt like a breathing Pokemon world. I’ll still buy new Pokemon games constantly because I adore their designs and the characters and just everything about the series.
Hades
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I liked Greek mythology before it was cool.
Hades really drives home the narrative between these famous chracters of Greek mythos. It’s got such good writing with almost always new things to say every time you do anything in game.
The gameplay is a lot of fun and honestly it’s more of a bridge to progressing your dynamic with everyone. I couldn’t be happier it’s getting the recognition it deserves.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
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A genuinely fun game that builds on the musou style combat in massive ways. Every character feels incredibly unique and the gameplay loop keeps remaining fun. Honestly I can’t say much else. It’s a fun Musou game built on a familiar franchise. If you like them, you probably already own it.
Clubhouse Games 51
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I mean it’s 51 board games with online play, designed by Nintendo.
It’s fun as hell and has Koi Koi, Of course I bought this.
If you like board games, you probably bought this too. It’s good, get it.
MOON
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MOON was never translated upon its original release on PS1. It was a game a younger me looked at and it really set in my mind what I love about videogames.
Designed by the same team as things like Chulip, it takes a familiar formula and turns it on its head. MOON out of all games i’ve mentioned here, really set in stone the idea of what an RPG could be about and how characters could be developed through the game design. 
Playing it fully translated, it’s really clear to me how much of an inspiration this game probably was for a lot of more indie based developers and their games.
MOON makes me feel something I don’t feel often in games and that’s that something like this is so special it only comes around every now and then.
This game means a lot to me and really is a seal of actual wonder that I wish I could see more often. A message of Love and care and just genuine passion seeps through the entire thing.
If I was gonna give GOTY to a game it’d probably be this but I feel it’s worth more than that. MOON really establishes what I feel is a high point for all videogames.
Anyway here’s some other games I really enjoyed. I won’t talk about them much but i’ll put them here
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Immortals: Fenyx Rising just came out and is...just a lot of fun. Buy it.
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Kamen Rider: Memory of Heroez is a decent low budget action game with a lot of fanservice for toku fans.
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No Straight Roads isn’t.....the best as a videogame. But it’s gorgeous to look at and genuinely funny and creative.
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Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is lovely and well worth playing if you wanna farm rice and fight demons as a small angry goddess.
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The Pathless is a very nice game that reminds me of Shadow of the Colossus a lot. It’s a lot of fun to explore and solve puzzles, while keeping a good flow with movement and ....may be connected to Abzu which is cool. It’s also very pretty.
A final game that hasn’t even come out yet but I know I will love is
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Puyo Puyo Tetris 2.....I mean It’s Puyo Tetris so ...yeah it’s good.
I hope you all have a good 2021 and a good holiday season. 2020 was awful but you hang in there, okay?.
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sporadicerratic · 3 years
Text
Another Sunrise
Hokay. This is me being brave and doing the thing. Please enjoy this short fic about Sans & Papyrus. Guess this is turning into my fanfic account, lol.
Papyrus stood on the small porch outside of his bedroom, a hot cup of tea warming his phalanges and sending a clouds of steam wafting into the brisk morning air. There had been so many sunrises since the monsters had left the underground, but he never tired of watching the first bright blush creep over the edge of the horizon; signaling the arrival of the brightest star he had ever had the pleasure to behold. As the warmth of the sunlight spread across his face, he noticed a second cloud of steam in his peripheral vision, and looked down in surprise to see that Sans had silently joined him. His brother randomly appearing nearby without a sound was nothing new, but Sans was rarely awake when the sun first made an appearance, and Papyrus was thrilled for the company.
“SANS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING AWAKE AT THIS HOUR?” Concern furrowed his brow as a thought occurred to him, and he reached out to put a gloved hand on his brother’s back. “IT WASN’T A NIGHTMARE, WAS IT?”
Sans turned to Papyrus with a grin, but it wasn’t the mask that he had worn for all of those years in the Underground. Sans had been letting that fall away more and more as of late, and even if his smile wasn’t quite as wide, Papyrus relaxed slightly when he saw that it was genuine.
“nah, bro. i know you’re out here every morning. figured i’d come spend some time with my favorite brother.”
“SANS. I AM YOUR ONLY BROTHER.”
“doesn’t make you any less my favorite.”
Papyrus smiled a bit wider himself at that, and then wrapped his arm around Sans’ shoulder. Taking a deep breath that, as a skeleton, he didn’t really need, he let his sockets slide shut and listened to the birds in the surrounding trees calling to one other.
Sans reciprocated Papyrus’ gesture, but, due to his height, the best he could do was to place a hand on his brother’s spine.
“ya know,” he said in a voice barely above a whisper, “it was about this time of day when I first found ya.”
Papyrus’ sockets snapped open, and he turned his head slowly to look down at Sans, who was very pointedly staring directly at the rising sun.
“EXCUSE ME, BROTHER. DID YOU JUST SAY…THAT YOU...FOUND...ME?”            
Several soulbeats passed before Sans inhaled sharply and turned to meet Papyrus’ shocked gaze. “yep. heard you crying. for a babybones, you sure had a set ‘a pipes. I was surprised some other monster hadn’t found you first, with the way you were carryin on. some things about you have always been great, bro.”
Papyrus stood silently for a few moments, processing this information. Sans had never been very forthcoming about why he had had to raise Papyrus on his own, and after a certain age, it had ceased to be a priority for Papyrus. When Sans didn’t want to share information, he didn’t share information, and there was nothing Papyrus could do about it.
“…..Where?” Papyrus’ voice came out uncharacteristically soft.
Sans’s eyelights winked out, and he anxiously shifted his weight from one foot to the other before answering.
“pretty close to the barrier. the fighting…” Sans choked on the words a bit, and Papyrus couldn’t help himself.
“THE FIGHTING?!! SANS!!! YOU…YOU WERE ON THE SURFACE? DURING THE WAR WITH THE HUMANS?!! SANS!! JUST HOW OLD ARE YOU?!!” The words tumbled out as Papyrus’ world tilted hard enough that he put a hand on the railing to steady himself.
Sans stared hard at some speck in the wood grain in front of him for a moment, then leaned his head back and turned to face Papyrus again. Despite his shock, Papyrus noticed that the circles under Sans’ eyes seemed a bit darker than usual. Had he been worried enough about sharing this information that he had been losing sleep? He felt a pang of regret at his outburst.
“i was a kid when i found you, pap. we’ve always only been a few years apart, yeah? you just don’t remember that you were on the surface before. how could you? you were just a babybones when the war ended.”
Papyrus slowly dragged a gloved hand across his features; the sweet cacophony of morning birdsong forgotten as Sans’ words buzzed about his skull.
It was not often that the boisterous skeleton found himself at a loss for words, but then again, it was pretty much never that his soft-spoken brother let one of his closely guarded secrets slip. The morning had suddenly become fragile, somehow. After blurting out his first thoughts, Papyrus was afraid the wrong words just might cause something between himself and Sans to shatter; something that was far more precious to Papyrus than having his most burning questions answered.
The seconds dragged past and neither monster spoke, but their eyes met. They held each others’ gaze and a plethora of emotions played across their features. Shock; sadness; confusion; compassion; they silently searched each other for something; perhaps permission? When Sans saw the fear in his sibling’s eyes, he steeled himself and quietly took the initiative once again.
Papyrus had to strain to hear him. “the fighting…the fighting was everywhere. when we got the news that we were all gonna be sealed underground, well…it was…we didn’t have a lot of time. those of us who were left just kinda, heh, we just kinda had to make a mad dash for it.”
Papyrus could see Sans’ eyelights flickering in and out, as if he were somehow looking at something far away.
“but you were right up close to the barrier, pap. someone did their damndest to get you all the way there, but…they didn’t…quite…make it.”
Papyrus’ gloved hands flew to his mouth as Sans fumbled with his jacket for a moment before pulling a small, blue bone-patterned blanket out from some inner pocket.
“it was,” he paused for a moment, running his hand over what was little more than a worn rag and almost choking on the next word, “dusty. they almost got you through, pap. i just. i made sure you made it the rest of the way. and they’ve always been with you, right? they dusted on the most precious thing in the world.”
He turned to meet his brother’s gaze and what Papyrus saw there this time pierced his soul; any other questions he might have had were banished from his skull by the ferocity of the love, sympathy and sadness that shone forth from Sans’ sockets. Sans gently reached out and offered the little piece of cloth to Papyrus, who took reverently. He spent several minutes turning it over and over in his hands; holding it up to see how truly small it was; and looking at it very, very closely, before very carefully folding it and slipping it inside his battle body.
 It was a beautiful morning. Birds were singing. Flowers were blooming. And finally, Papyrus spoke.
 “Why Did You Hide This From Me All This Time, Sans?”
Sans didn’t turn his head at all this time, focusing once again on the rising sun, which had nearly cleared tops of the distant hills and set the sky awash with several brilliant shades of orange. He trembled slightly, despite the fact that neither skeleton felt the cold.
“because, Pap. i never wanted you to doubt for a second that I’m your brother. from the moment i picked you up, i knew that i was gonna love you forever, and i never wanted to let anything hurt you, the way the war had hurt me. i didn’t wanna give you a single reason to think that we weren’t family. since coming to the surface, well. heheheh. you know how it is. no more resets. moving forward. coming clean. and that means, the truth. about everything. i figure, you got a right to know. e-even if it means….you don’t think of me as your brother anymore…”
Papyrus watched as a bright blue tear slipped from the edge of Sans’ socket. His grip on the railing had become vice-like, and he was shaking like a leaf. Papyrus made a soft noise, closing the distance between them in a single stride and sweeping his older brother up into a bone-crunching hug; literally. There were several audible pops from Sans’ spine as Papyrus squeezed him as tightly as he could.
“OH SANS. THERE IS NOTHING ABOVE OR BELOW GROUND THAT COULD CHANGE THE FACT THAT WE ARE BROTHERS. IN FACT, I WOULD SAY THAT THIS MAKES OUR BOND EVEN MORE POWERFUL, BECAUSE YOU CHOSE ME, SANS. YOU CHOSE TO PICK ME UP, AND RAISE ME, AND PROTECT ME, EVEN WHEN YOU HAD NOTHING. THANK YOU FOR TELLING ME, SANS. WITH THE GIFT OF THIS NEW INFORMATION, I CAN ALSO SAY, WITHOUT A DOUBT, THAT YOU WILL ALWAYS BE MY DEAREST BROTHER. WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT! NYEH HEH HEH!”
Sans sniffled into Papyrus’ shoulder for a moment before vigorously wiping a gloved hand across his sockets and leaning back.
“augh…heheh…take it easy, pap. i only got the one spine.”
Papyrus had never seen Sans grin so widely; even when he managed to zing him with the worst of puns. His struggling in Papyrus’ arms was half-hearted at best.
“pap. i’m your only brother.”
Papyrus happily took the bait. “THAT DOESN’T MAKE YOU ANY LESS MY DEAREST BROTHER! THOUGH, I AM STILL THE COOLEST. GEH. WHAT *ARE* YOU WEARING, SANS? IT LOOKS LIKE YOU FOUND IT AROUND THE SAME TIME YOU FOUND ME.”
“hey, this is a classic.”
“MORE LIKE BASIC!”
“…ya know what? you tried. i’m so proud.”
“EXCUSE YOU, THE GREAT PAPYRUS DOESN’T NEED YOUR PITY! MY JOKES ARE BONELY THE BEST!”
“oh my god Pap, you’re gonna make me cry again.”
“NYEH HEH!”
The two skeletons exchanged lighthearted jabs at one another as the last vestiges of orange in the sky gave way to a brilliant blue; Sans sitting comfortably in his brother’s embrace as he had done so many times before, and Papyrus making no move whatsoever to set him down. If they were gripping one another a bit more tightly than normal, neither said a word about it.
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sage-nebula · 4 years
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Game Review — Animal Crossing: New Horizons
The first new game I played in 2020 was Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and like many people, this game took up a huge chunk of my playtime this year, and in fact continues to take up a chunk of it each day. With all that said, it’s only natural that this is the game these reviews start on.
So let’s get started.
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Overall Score: 9/10
I feel like it would be disingenuous to give a game that I’ve thus far clocked 545+ hours into anything less than a 9/10. (The actual playtime is probably longer due to a two Switches fiasco, but that’s another story for another time.) I’ve been a fan of the Animal Crossing series since the very first one released on Gamecube, and New Horizons met all my expectations and then some. While I know this game is divisive among some members of the fandom (though I don’t know too many details since I tend to stay away from the negative people), I personally feel like this is the best Animal Crossing yet, and I’m eager to see what the fall update is. With that said, let’s go into a bit more detail with some pros and cons. (Note: I recommend reading this in full on my blog, since bullet point lists now look atrocious on the dashboard.)
The Pros:
Obviously, there is so much to do. You’re essentially building the town from the ground up this time, meaning that there’s literally nothing on the island when you first arrive and you have to do everything to create a functioning society. (Even though it was supposed to be a temporary vacation . . . but that part of the plot is forgotten almost immediately.) While that may seem like a monumental task, what it really means is that a.) you have full control over your experience on the island, and b.) you have hours and hours and hours of playtime ahead of you. Particularly since a nasty pandemic in real life has made game development and release slow, New Horizons was perfect in this aspect.
The in-game tutorials don’t really feel like tutorials. Of course this means that you might have a bit of fumbling as you figure out how to use this or that new feature, but you really feel like you’re a newcomer to an island figuring things out rather than being slowly walked through a step-by-step guide on how to play the game. It made the experience feel more natural and immersive, which I really liked.
You are no longer punished if you don’t play the game for a while. This is a big one, mostly in the sense that although you do still have to deal with cockroaches and the like, never again do you have to deal with your favorite villager spontaneously packing up and leaving because you had to take some time off the game to study instead. While all this does lessen the “the game plays even when you aren’t” feeling a bit, I remember losing all will to play New Leaf when Freya up and left, on top of the Beautiful Town Ordinance making it boring since I never had to worry about weeds or anything like that again. The fact that villagers have to have permission to leave now really takes a load off your mind, especially if you took FOREVER to get your favorite (rather than using an Amiibo or villager trade to get them in).
You can place furniture outside! You can move buildings around! You can terraform! I touched on this a bit in the first bullet, but the fact that you can completely control what the island looks like through various tools is honestly the best thing Nintendo could have given us. I still remember how, in New Leaf, Paula plonked her house down RIGHT where I wanted to build a bridge, and so I had to wait for her stupid, ugly face to get out of my town before I could build it. And it took THREE MONTHS to do that. Now if something like that happened, I could just tell the villager to move their house and they’d do it, no sweat. On top of this, being able to place furniture outside makes the island look so much more natural, since it’s normal for people to decorate patios and the like, and being able to terraform means you can really have fun with the design of your island. It’s great, I love it.
We’re getting a steady stream of updates and events. Holidays are update-locked now, meaning that you can’t time travel ahead to experience holiday events and therefore ruin the game for yourself. Instead, Nintendo is surprising us with new content and updates, which I feel makes the game last longer and keeps it exciting. As I mentioned above, I’m excited to see what they have planned for fall. A Halloween event? Maybe a certain coffee shop opening in time for pumpkin spice season?! I don’t know, but I’m excited to find out.
The day-by-day nature of it also makes it a game that I feel like I can always have on the side, rather than one I complete and then never touch again. When I first got it I played it constantly, and then (due to a pandemic-induced game drought) I immediately did play by time traveling day by day, doing things, and then going back to the present to start the process over the next day. But now that there are other games out to play and I have a 5-star island, instead I play it as the first game of the day to do dailies, and then I save and put it aside. I pluck any weeds, water any flowers I’m growing, hit rocks, dig up fossils, talk to my neighbors, check which vendor we have, and then I save and end for the day. It takes me about 30 minutes to do my dailies, but it’s a nice little thing to do in the morning when I’m still in the process of waking up. One weekend morning I sat on my porch, drinking a cinnamon latte, doing my ACNH dailies. It was so peaceful and nice. ACNH is a great daily game, just a quick little thing to do before you move about the rest of your day.
The Cons:
There are definitely quality of life improvements that I feel should be in the game, but aren’t, even after players have been mentioning wanting them online every month since the game’s release. These features include, but are not limited to:
Being able to craft in your house without needing to remove materials from storage.
Being able to buy multiples of an item by putting in the number you want to buy, rather than having to buy them in groups of five.
Golden tools NOT BREAKING, especially since they NEVER USED TO. (Granted, normal tools didn’t break at all in previous games save for the ax, but the Golden Ax never broke. That was the entire point of getting it. What the hell, Nintendo.)
Being able to group like items, such as manila clams, fish, or bugs in your inventory.
Having Isabelle announce which daily vendor is on the island in her morning announcements.
Being able to buy different color variations of the same item at once at the Able Sisters’ shop.
Being able to switch between crafting and customizing without leaving the bench completely and then going back into it. (So like, you craft an item, and then you can immediately customize it if you want.)
Being able to call villagers to find out where they are on the island so you can easily find them if you have to return an item to them, or want to give them something, etc. Why have a NookPhone if you can’t actually use it as a phone?
Letting you lay down paths with terraforming more than one tile at a time. Like let you choose how many tiles you want to lay down in a row at the start, and then immediately place them.
Similarly, make it so you can’t scuff away custom paths, and also let custom paths keep the shoes-on-brick or tile sound if you have brick or tile beneath them. And so on. Little tweaks that aren’t necessary, but would make the game more enjoyable if they were implemented.
Some of the updates are coming too slow. In particular, I’m thinking about how it’s only possible to upgrade Nook’s Cranny once at present. I have put well over 500 hours into the game; by now I should reasonably have a Nookington’s (or whatever Timmy and Tommy will call it), but I don’t. I could understand if it was one shop upgrade per season, but that hasn’t been the case and I don’t know what the hold up is. It’s a bit disappointing.
That’s about all I can think of in terms of cons, at least at present. Most of my gripes are with minor quality of life implements that they could reasonably do, but aren’t doing for some reason. Otherwise, I think it’s a fantastic game that I still get daily enjoyment out of. If you like slice of life games and are looking for something new and warm to pick up, I highly recommend Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
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rmg91 · 4 years
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Meant To Be (In Any Form)-1
Main Summary: Branch and Poppy are meant to be in any way, from canon to AU. Join them in these stories. Oneshot Collection.
Chapter Summary:  Branch has decided it's time to ask Poppy a very special question.
Heya everyone! Here's the fluffy start of a new oneshot collection! Lots of AUs, canon, canon divergence and more is coming your way here! Since I have no real motivation (at this time) to start another full on multi-chapter fic but lots of ideas I'll be focusing on oneshots and usually dumping them here, will be updated when something's done XD I'll usually say something before hand as not all these will be related to one another (But some will!) Anyway...without further ado....
This little oneshot features a headcanon of mine that Trolls sing their proposals with specially chosen songs. If a troll sings said song and the one being sung to sings back, they are considered engaged. Rings aren't necessary but some choose to give their future spouse one sometimes. Also please listen to the Peter and Evynne Hollens cover of the song sung here, it's the whole inspiration behind it!
Next Chapter; AO3/FF.Net
@writerofberk-Thought I’d tag you for this fluffy thing since it involves a song from HTTYD c: Hope you don’t mind c:
                                                 ~*~*~*~*~*~
The night was dark, calm, stars shining brightly in the sky with all sorts of nighttime critters scurrying around the forest. Most would consider this time for calm reflection, cuddles with loved ones or sleep but not the tiny forest kingdom known as Troll Village. It was alight with flashing colors and pulsing beats, the bass pounding through the ground and into the feet of many dancing trolls. Glow bugs flew through the air, casting multi-colored light everywhere, glitter bombs were shot across the sky to sparkle down and glitter trolls hung from branches letting the flashing lasers catch their sparkling skin, sending rainbow specks of light over the moving mass of bodies. Fireworks were even shot up high into the sky, exploding and letting more glitter rain down on the tribe of Pop trolls. It was all very reminiscent of a party thrown from the, then, princess three years ago.
Queen Poppy danced atop the largest mushroom in the village square, skirts twisting around her legs as she twirled and danced to the music. She was resplendent in her high low gown, the short skirt allowing her free movement and the longer train giving her an air of regalness. Her crown sat inexplicably steady in the center of her head as her bright pink hair waved in the air as she moved. Pink eyes glowed with happiness with a large grin stretched wide against her face as she watched her people dance and sing and enjoy the night. And as she laughed, joy echoing loud and clear, she shined brighter than any star.
Branch sighed as he watched the party, watched Poppy, from where he was hiding behind a large bush, waiting for the right time to give the signal. She was beautiful, as always, so carefree and happy as she danced, her inner light bright enough to warm the darkest of nights. And hearts. She was his Sunshine and he would be forever grateful for all she had done for him and that she loved him back. Watching her now though, surrounded by all the citizens, dancing and singing to their hearts content, a panic shot through his otherwise amorous thoughts and he turned away, intent on running away.
“I can't do this.” He mumbled, trying to rush off to hide in his bunker. As much as he wanted this, wanted her, this plan was stupid. He needed a better one, a more romantic one! No big gesture in front of the entire village. What had he been thinking?!
A kind but strong hand gripped his bicep before he could get too far, “Whoa there, my boy.” Peppy, previous king of the tribe, maneuvered Branch gently backwards until they were facing one another, a soft but amused smile on his face, “It's going to be alright.”
“How do you know that? You can't know for sure! What if I forget the lyrics? What if someone else decides tonight's a good night to do this too? What if we're attacked right as I start?! What if she doesn't want it this way?! What if she doesn't sing back?!” Branch was on the edge of hyperventilating as he thought of all the ways this could go wrong, worrying about all the ways this night could be ruined. One wrong note could through everyone off! Someone could trip or fall and cause an accident before he could even start! Poppy could say 'No.'!!
Peppy firmly placed his hands on Branch's shoulders, holding him steady as he spoke softly, “Deep breaths, Son, deep breaths. There's no reason for Poppy not to sing back, she loves you. It's going to be fine.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “Breath with me now.” He did it again and again until Branch picked up the rhythm and calmed down, the crazed look in his eyes fading. “There we go. Nothing to fret about.”
Branch sighed, “Right...” He wandered back over to peek out at the party, leaf shaped cape fluttering behind him. He watched the continuously dancing trolls, shoulders dropping as he wished, once again, he could be as carefree as them. Maybe then he wouldn't be so nervous. But twenty years of being gray and self-isolated weren't easily washed away.
Peppy watched the younger troll for a moment, comparing the once scared and angry kid to the brave, caring and willing to try young man in front of him, before smiling fondly. There was no one else he'd rather have ruling aside Poppy. And he knew Alder and Willow, and Rosiepuff, would beyond proud of him. Perhaps hearing that would help calm his nerves a little. “You know, your parents would be so proud of you. Your grandmother too.” And for a moment Peppy wished his old friends were here to see how far Branch had come.
Branch turned, a shocked expression crossing his face, “Really?”
“Oh yes,” Peppy nodded as he approached Branch to look out at the party, “You've become a quite remarkable troll, Branch.”
“But I was...gray for so long...”
“And?” Peppy raised an eyebrow as he turned and placed his hands on Branch shoulders, making eye contact, “You've come such a long way since your 'bunker days', my boy, and you're going to continue to grow and learn. So what if you were gray for a little while, you found your happiness again and that's what counts. And I know your family would be...just as proud of that as I am.” The orange troll chuckled, “Probably more. Cammy too, come to think of it.”
Branch blinked in surprise at the mention of the late queen, “Really? You think so?”
Peppy nodded, smiling as he chuckled some more, “Oh yes. She'd be over the moon this was happening.” He suddenly had a thought, placing his finger on his chin, “You know...she probably would have seen this coming if she were still here. Maybe even would have gotten you and Poppy together long before now.” The old king gave a hearty laugh as he thought about his wife and the match making she'd have gone through for their daughter.
Branch shook his head in disbelief but there was a curious smile tugging at the ends of his mouth, “You can't be serious.”
“Oh, I am! Camellia had the uncanniest ability to know when two trolls liked each other and would do everything in her power to help them realize it. There is no doubt in my mind she'd have done the same for you and Poppy.” Peppy continued to laugh softly as he thought about his wife and her brilliant spark. Oh how he wished she was here.
Branch wasn't really sure how to feel about that, the thought of possibly being with Poppy before now both terrifying him and making him wistful it had happened but he chose not to think about that right now. Instead he focused on Peppy's words of his parents and grandmother being proud of him and how far he'd come since he was gray. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he watched the party, “Thank you.”
“Anytime, my boy.”
“And...It's still alright I use your song?” While he felt just tiniest bit less nervous, or at least less panicky, the teal troll was still a little wary about using the same song that Peppy had sung to Camellia for this same occasion.
Peppy chuckled again and gently slapped Branch in the back, “Of course you can! Cammy would want you to, as well. And...I know how much it'll mean to Poppy.”
“Right.” Branch took another deep breath, trying to center himself before going out there and changing his life in one of the biggest ways yet, “Alright....Let's do this.”
                                              ~*~*~*~*~*~
Poppy laughed, her voice getting lost in the loud music, as she bounced to the beat of the song playing. The party was going amazingly well! Everyone was dancing, singing, enjoying themselves to the fullest and she didn't think she could be any happier. Her village was safe, happy and there didn't seem to be anything on the horizon to try and ruin that! The only thing she wished was here, or rather the only one, was Branch. He had come to enjoy parties, at least for a little while before he felt the need to leave, so to not have him here, by her side, was the tiniest little bit disappointing but Poppy didn't let that stop her. She'd party with her people until they grew tired and the party ended then she'd go find her ever sensible other half and tell him all he'd missed. She did wonder briefly where he was but then decided he had probably gotten caught up with a project and lost track of time. Which was fine, she'd just have to pull him away from it later.
Twirling around with another whoop of joy, Poppy was surprised when the next song didn't immediately start playing. In fact the music had stopped and just as she was whipping her head around to look at Suki a whistle started to echo around the square. It was familiar to Poppy, something she could almost place when a voice started to sing and it was a voice she was intimately familiar with. It was the one that brought back her colors after all.
“I'll swim and sail on savage seas with ne'er the fear of drowning...” The surrounding trolls had also begun to hum, adding background music to the angelic voice, “And gladly ride the waves of life...If you will marry me...”
Poppy watched, eyes wide, as they moved, parting and creating a pathway for the now spotlight illuminated troll to walk down. She covered her mouth in happy shock, recognizing the song now, as she watched Branch, dressed in a white suit with a cape fluttering behind him, walk towards her, singing her parents proposal song, “No scorching sun nor freezing cold will stop me on my journey, if you promise me your heart...”
Bouncing on the balls of her feet, she could barely contain herself as she dropped her hands, revealing her smile, and let her own voice sing out and answer Branch's, “And love me for eternity~”
She couldn't stop the tiny giggle as she watched Branch's shoulders drop, the tension he had been holding in escaping. As if she wouldn't sing back, she loved him and wanted him by her side, to sing, to laugh, to have a family, forever. That was when the trolls on either side of the mushroom she was standing on created a staircase for her, and forcing herself not to fly down them and into Branch's arms, Poppy descended, singing sweetly, “My dearest one, my darling ear, Your mighty words astound me~ But I've no need for mighty deeds when I feel your arms around me~”
Confidence settled into Branch as he watched Poppy descend and he strutted forward, letting the song and music guide him, “But I would bring you rings of gold,” He'd a ring for months waiting for this day, “I'd even sing you poetry,” He did that, frequently, “And I would keep you from all harm, if you would stay beside me~” He would do anything to keep the holder of his heart safe and happy, she was his everything.
Poppy couldn't stop grinning as she and Branch got closer, “I have no use for rings of gold, I care not for your poetry!” She playfully tossed her head back, hand on her forehead thinking about how much she actually adored his poetry. She smiled up at him, reaching out, “I only want your hand to hold...”
“I only want you near me~” He sang back, taking her hands and pulling her close, his own matching grin gracing his face before he pulled her into a twirling dance, dancing for all the village to see as they harmonized.
“To love, to kiss, to sweetly hold~ For the dancing and the dreaming~!” They spun around, Branch guiding her and holding her close, “Through all the sorrows and delights, I'll keep your love beside me~!” He gave her a spin, twirling her away before gently pulling her back and touching their foreheads together as the village's voices rose to match them, “I'll swim and sail on savage seas with ne'er a fear of drowning, and gladly ride the waves of life, if you will marry me~!” Their spinning slowed until they were just sway back and forth before Branch pulled away enough to drop to one knee, “If you will marry me~”
“YES!” Poppy cried the moment they stopped, tackling Branch and kissing him soundly as the surrounding trolls cheered. Smidge could be heard over the celebration shouting 'About time!' The couple slowly sat up once Poppy pulled away, happy tears in both their eyes as Branch carefully pulled out and slipped a delicate golden ring with a blue gem in the center on her finger. Poppy laughed joyously and pulled him in for another kiss.
Peppy smiled from where he had watched the procession, chuckling at his daughter's excitement. And as he watched the two of them interact and the village celebrate, he knew things would be in good hands and there would be many years of joy to come.
                                               ~*~*~*~*~*~
Yay! Proposal fluff!!! Hope you enjoyed and stay tuned for more! And as I said please listen to the cover of 'For The Dancing and The Dreaming' by Peter and Evynne Hollens~ I love that version. Also Happy Thanksgiving!
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radfem-reviews · 4 years
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Review #1: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACNH)
With Isabelle as my avatar, this only felt appropriate as my first review! (Please note that I am speaking only to the content of the game itself, not the fanbase, fan works, or other unofficial things.)
System: Nintendo Switch
Summary: Play as one of the first residents moving to a deserted island. There, you can engage in activities such as making friends; catching bugs, fish, and sea creatures; filling out your museum; creating clothing, flags, and town tunes; decorating your house; and gardening.
Overall: ACNH presents somewhat of a utopia for many of us: freedom and safety. Beyond that, it’s cute and the islanders have many funny lines. There are also many things for you to collect, but there’s nothing forcing you to engage in parts of gameplay that don’t interest you once you’ve done enough to unlock everything. Gendered personality types and a lack of variety in female NPCs remain, but allowing your character to be as GNC as you’d like is a nice step toward removing gender roles.
---
Tests (see terms list for explanation): Anti-Freeze: Pass. No characters are injured or killed, barring the player character hitting them with a net or something. Bechdel: Pass, to the small extent NPCs talk to one another. Mako Mori: N/A as there are no narrative arcs. Sexy Lamp: Pass, although there’s no real plot.
Please choose your style.
Let’s start with a big talking point in certain circles: “Please choose your style.” In the original -- and most likely every single version of the game except English -- this was a choice between playing as a boy or a girl. They changed it in English due to threats and harassment from TRAs. 
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[the choice as it appears in English: “Please choose your style. You can change this later.”]
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[the choice as it appears in Japanese: “Please choose one! *You can change this later.   boy / girl”]
The odd thing about the fuss around this is that it actually functionally does not matter whatsoever. I don’t think I’ve seen it come up even once in dialogue. That said, I’m not sure if other languages’ versions have characters refer to your character’s sex. On the bright side, it does mean that male and female player characters would be talked to and about in the same way. On the other hand, there was never a problem of animals treating you differently based on your sex in previous games anyway that I ever saw, so to see it that way is fixing a problem that didn’t exist in the first place.
I’ve noticed that the animals will use “they” to refer to someone they’re talking about. My guess is actually that this is an ease of programming thing rather than a woke thing. Because Japanese uses personal pronouns quite infrequently, and some of the lines are random ‘fill in the blank with a random islander name’ types of statements, sometimes previous English releases ran into a problem where the translators had no way to know whether the character would be referring to a man or a woman, and iirc, seemed to go with male by default... Ironically, using “they” is incorrect 100% of the time, though.
Self-Expression
Unlike previous games in the series, your character’s facial features and beginning hairstyle options are not determined by your character’s sex. It’s a nice change of pace that your character can be as GNC as you’d like from the beginning, although your starting outfit may be somewhat gendered. You also can freely change between hairstyles and facial features whenever you want once you’ve acquired a mirror, so you aren’t locked into one type of self-expression.
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Also, any player character can wear any outfit without commentary. In New Leaf (the previous main-series game), you could wear anything as well, but some clothing options were gendered. For example, Labelle (the porcupine who sold accessories) might say things along the lines of, “That’s made for women, [player name], so it’ll look good on you!” or “That’s usually made for men, but I bet you can pull it off, [player name]!” In New Horizons, these lines are no longer present, at least that I’ve seen in the English version.
In terms of self-expression, I see these as strengths. There’s nothing in the game that encourages or discourages “feminine” or “masculine” expression for anybody.
Gendered Personalities
While gender roles do not apply to the player character, they can be seen in the NPCs.
One thing I will say in the series’ defense is that in the Japanese versions of the game, every personality type uses a different personal pronoun. In Japanese, personal pronouns are almost all quite gendered and, in fiction, tell you a lot about the character’s personality. It would actually feel a bit formal and odd to have all the characters use ‘watashi’ (a less gendered personal pronoun, but for men I think it’s a bit formal). Each personality type has a different pitch to their voice, with higher pitches for female personalities and lower pitches for male personalities, too. None of these are insurmountable barriers if they committed to breaking free of these stereotypes, but they are relevant factors.
The personality types are as follows: Normal (F): Friendly and kind characters who want to help you out. Peppy (F): Cheerful, energetic characters. They may come across a bit “ditzy.” They dream of being idols (actresses/singers in English). Snooty (F): Haughty, vain characters who value fashion and beauty. They can be standoffish at first, but are loyal friends once you’ve gotten close to them. Big Sis (F): Similar to normal types, but more mature. Jock (M): Athletic characters who are obsessed with sports and muscles. They can often come across as lacking in intelligence and one-dimensional. Cranky (M): Rude, standoffish characters, though they can be protective and kind once you’ve befriended them. Lazy (M): Most likely self-explanatory. Lazy characters want to lounge about and not work too hard, mentally or physically. Smug (M): Conceited, ostensibly "charming” characters.
Overall, the female personalities are kinder and more intelligent. However, even this “positive stereotyping” is still putting us in a box, and these “personalities” are indeed very much stereotypes.
The situation with special characters (shopkeepers and such) aren’t much better. There are a variety of male special characters with a variety of different traits: intelligent with good business sense, sneaky, timid, friendly, daydreamer, cheerful, artistic... Meanwhile, female special characters are basically sweet, shy, and/or fashionable. The only exceptions that come to mind are Saharah (who was a man in the Japanese version, but changed to a woman back in the original GameCube game due to long eyelashes, I can only assume) and Luna (who has so few lines it’s hard to even describe her personality).
On the bright side, ACNH did get rid of the gendered speech bubbles. It used to be that male villagers’ names would have a blue background and female villagers’ would be pink, save for special characters for whom it would be green. Now in ACNH, the color seems to be determined by the character’s aesthetic, which is a nice change.
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Little to No Sexualization
Unlike many forms of media, ACNH is pretty free of sexualization as far as official content goes. (Obviously the internet is another story entirely, but that’s not Nintendo’s fault.) Only one character has any form of secondary sex characteristics (Luna has breasts), and while I question the need to give a tapir breasts, her outfit is modest, there are no “jiggle physics,” and there are no sexualizing camera angles or dialogue.
I’ve heard that the smug characters flirt with the player character. I don’t like them so I can’t say with confidence whether this remains true in ACNH, but as far as I saw in New Leaf, all they said in that regard would be like “you’re looking as cool as a cucumber.” It was enough to weird me out, but still, it’s obviously quite tame.
I haven’t seen any official* clothes that are sexualizing, and there are many clothing options that aren’t heavily gendered. (*I’m sure someone somewhere has designed clothes that are sexualized, nude, whatever, using the clothing design feature. I don’t think this is technically allowed by Nintendo, so if you encounter this you are able to report it however.)
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euphoriacrossing · 4 years
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I hope tomorrow is better. It has to be, right?
My day has been spent crying and mostly asleep. It's just trivial nonsense, but everything is getting to me. I have even considered not naming my island "Euphoria" after deciding for sure over a week ago because I don't believe I can FEEL that anymore. It's stupid, I know, but things just aren't good lately.
I could have really used the game early. I cried when I heard others were getting to play today because I've been waiting so long, and my luck has been so bad, I could have used that kind of pick me up early but it's just my luck not to get it. And it's not that I don't want those who have it to enjoy it, it's not that at all, but i won't lie about being jealous because i really needed something like that today and so of course it wouldn't happen for me. It's not about anyone else OR their enjoyment of the game, as I have seen so many people posting that jealousy about it implies we don't want them to enjoy it, it's not like that. Jealousy is selfish, like it's about me, not them. Though I should be more afraid to say I feel this way I guess, but I know a lot of people feel similarly and hell, everyone gets jealous sometimes. Sometimes you have to be self-centered, especially when things get bad, or you wouldn't survive.
I was very excited for the game this morning but as things got worse, my excitement faded a bit. And now I am only moderately excited because it feels like it will never come, at least not before more bad things do.
I'm simply trying to hold on to hope here. I hope things will be better once the game comes out. There is I suppose a strong possibility they will be. But there is a whole day until then and a lot of shit can happen in a day.
I have to redo my journal pages because I stenciled the word "island" incorrectly. >.> and I never liked the title page anyway, so I'm gonna redo that one. I think this time I will make them match instead of going for a totally separate look for each of them. I'm anxious I won't finish them before tomorrow night, BUT I have the time so I'm gonna try not to worry too much. As long as the cover is done and i have some paper in it, it's more than functional, and I can do the pages at a later date, I'm just worried with the game out i won't do anything else. But yeah, I will finish them sometime for sure.
And I guess I am going to name my island Euphoria because it's a little late now, it's on my journal's back cover. I mean granted I can scrape those stickers off and name it something more suiting, like gloomily (I just made that up for an example but feel free to use it if it speaks to you!) or something. I am hoping that tomorrow might be a better day though and that these feelings will pass and when I FINALLY get to play, I will feel excited and euphoric perhaps and then it will seem like the perfect name once more. And I mean, it goes so well with the aesthetic i have in my head. So yeah...
We're in the homestretch now, though. If you feel like everything has been crashing around you and it's possibly because it HAS given the current state of affairs, just realize we're SO close to a distraction of the BEST kind. Less than 24 hours and we're there. Hold on, please, and maybe, just maybe (definitely) it'll will all have been worth it.
It seems like my sister is finally getting excited too. Maybe I'll help her to figure out a name for her island tomorrow... maybe I'll do a page in my journal for hers, my "neighboring island of ___". She isn't the type to prepare for a video game much in advance, so I usually help her think of names for places and her characters and stuff. I was (though keyword is was) the writer in the family so coming up with fictional names for fictional persons, places, and what nots is kind of my thing.
I'm also very excited to play with my sister. I might not get to until Friday because she goes to bed at night, so I might can persuade her to get the tutorial part of the game done (i assume there is a tutorial-ish part... the part where you arrive and then maybe they teach you to craft and whatnot... i am only guessing, though) before she heads to sleep tomorrow but we probably won't be playing long. Still, I like playing games "with" her too. Like where we both have separate copies but we're going through the same steps together, like we played the first part of sword (her) and shield (me) like that and such, to me that is kind of like the opposite of when we had to trade the controller back and forth to play one single player game on gamecube or playstation, and we did that with Animal Crossing as kids so it's extra cool to each have our own game, we never did until New Leaf (we shared a Wild World cartridge) but it was major fun when we did New Leaf like that. We would play New Leaf together for hours everyday shortly after it came out (I think it came out in June, and we got ours on my birthday July 2nd... her birthday is the 8th but my dad let her have New Leaf, and I think she got a new DS, early so that we could play together so we unlocked everything at the same time pm and all that) either doing separate things or together through wireless multiplayer. I hope there are minigames because we laughed so hard playing the games on Tortimer's island together.
Okay, yeah, now I feel a bit better. It will be fun. Things always are with my sister.
And hopefully if any of you want to play with me, you won't mind including her. She's a bit shy, and doesn't socialize with others a lot, but I am hoping to use New Horizons to change that and help her learn to socialize more online with other people. She is constantly at home due to being disabled, even more than myself and I pretty much online leave for dr's appointments, but while mine are frequent, for her that means she leaves the house every six months or more sometimes. She has a couple of friends who call her occasionally, and I think semi-recently she's been playing CTR online but I feel she could benefit from more social interaction. I hope I can get her to participate some in online play with me and some others. Maybe just my closer friends at first, but then who knows? We'll see how all that goes eventually, though.
But I am gonna go try and prepare Mayfield (New Leaf town) for my departure. I feel a little sad leaving my town behind, but it's easier since it's new than it would be if it was my original town on there. I feel almost sad leaving Pocket Camp, too, I can't see myself playing it much probably ever again once New Horizons releases because I had basically quit for good with no intentions of going back until I started getting so impatient for New Horizons and needed a distraction. So while both New Leaf and Pocket Camp are still THERE, I can't see myself going back to either for at least a good while if ever. And when you have characters you bonded with, it's hard to leave them I guess. But New Horizons await somewhere out there and they are bound to be better than before, combining all the best features of both games in better ways than the past games have, I hope once I start playing I won't feel bad for "leaving".
Anyway, those beetles won't farm themselves. (Will there be beetle farming in NH? I love it so much genuinely, not just because it makes sooo much money, but I think it's fun. Hopefully there is some way to do something similar. We'll see.)
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cloudyyoonji · 5 years
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Night Changes.
Hwang Hyunjin x Reader 
BASED ON ANON REQUEST
Summary: He was your summer, your autumn, your winter, and your spring.  
Genre: Fluff with lots of angst. A fluffy ending!
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The summer was full of so many good memories. You both lived so dearly in each moment, reveling in the endless concerts and road trips. You were both like the wild Fae, dancing and dancing into the night with no one but each-other by your sides.
So as the leaves turned brown and dancing became afternoon strolls, you readied yourself for a blissful winter, one full of hot food and comforting nights.
Autumn bought new experiences, new ideas even. Hyunjins birthday had seemed to come quite fast, and you weren’t sure what to get him. Something meaningful perhaps? This led you to enslave Minho as your personal shopping assistant.
As you step outside, Minho at your side, the air is cool, the breeze carrying the leaves down the street in a tornado-like hustle. Padded jackets on and laces done tight, you push through into the day, cheeks left slightly red and stinging when you arrive at a small jewelry shop not too far away from the dorms.
“I think he’d like a bracelet, you know. Actually, he’ll like anything that comes from you.”
You glare up at the male, flat look on your features. “It has to be perfect, you know that. That’s why I need you to help me.”
The boy smiles, rolling his eyes before pointing to the bracelet you were looking at. “I know for a fact he’ll like that bracelet Y/N.”
You examine the bracelet carefully in your hands. “You really think so? It’s not too boring of a gift?”
Minho leans down to catch your eye, a gentle smile on his features. “Get the bracelet. He’ll love it.”
Smiling brightly, you turn to the cashier, asking her if you can purchase the bracelet.
You’re to caught up in your thoughts to notice Minho turning around, phone pressed to his ear, but when he suddenly grabs your arm as soon as the bag touches your fingertips, you know somethings wrong.
“Pull your hood up. Paparazzi know we’re here.”
And with his words, your tugging at your hood, the boy doing the same.
Both sprinting out of the shop, you try your best to ignore the flashes and focus yourself on getting to the car to get out of this flurry of people.
Breathing a sigh of relief, both of you are quick to get into the car. The sound of camera flashes almost nonexistent over the sound of the engine as you speed back to the dorms.
“Shit that was close.” Minho pants, looking back at the group of people who seem to be fading out of sight entirely. 
You nod in agreement, too puffed to even speak. The bag is held tightly in your fingers, safe from total damnation.
Minho gesture to the bag. “Are you going to hide that somewhere?”
You nod, a quick smile playing on your lips. “In the laundry, right on the top shelf where I keep the extra washing powder. He’ll never look there.”
The boy smiles, nodding. “That’s a good place indeed. He’ll never find that.”
Only a few days later, your winter coat seems to hold a different meaning, one that disguised your true intentions. You’re keen to get home, the long day of shift work at the local coffee shop making your back sore and your feet desperate for just even a second of a break. Your punching in the code to your apartment fast, craving the warmth of your heater in this cold weather.
But your shuffling feet come to a halt when you see a disgruntled Hyunjin in the living room, now standing as you’ve entered.
The silence is eerie, too eerie. It’s as if a string between you two had broken, but neither of you knows what string it is as work at desperately trying to repair it.
He’d seen it, the photos of you and Minho, more malicious then you’d expected. The news article depicts your search for the right birthday present as a secret date, a secret date with Minho.
And just like that, the leaves fade from a yellow-orange to a crumpled brown, stems bare as they face on the winter to come. 
Talking turned to screaming in one falling leaf, so much doubt anxiety just adding fuel to the fire as you fight about one photo, one photo that has been read so completely wrong it makes you sick.
As the words come flying, it is clear there can be no take backs once they leave your mouths.
And just like that, autumn becomes winter in only a few short minutes.
The temperature in your house not only dips but as does the communication with Hyunjin; frozen, damaged and dying.
It only got colder.
The air around you is cold, thick with rain that seems to turn to ice the moment it hits your skin. Much like the water below you.
Gongdong bridge is nice this time of the night, one of your favorite spots in the whole of Seoul. A spot that made you unconditionally happy. There was just something about the way the skyline met with Han River that made it so beautiful and fascinating.
But yet again, the water below seemed to reflect your missing half in the water below.
Pushing through the rain, you step closer to the railing, eyes falling to the rippling water below. The wind seeps into your bones, but you barely feel it over your eerie emptiness.
The rivers reflection of the night sky makes it appear as if an everlasting galaxy is laid across its surface. It almost looks peaceful; unsettlingly perfect. But beneath the surface is black, something much sinister than darkness itself, but somehow more comforting than the black abyss.  
And the creatures in the river, were they sleeping? Were the fish sheltered under rocks or plants lying dormant until the first rays of sun hit the water? Or were they darting around, as awake as you are now?
You lean further over the rail, desperate to catch even a glimpse of the scaley creatures below. Are you awake? Are you here with me at this ungodly hour of the night?
"Y/N?"
The voice gives you a heart attack, body turning in the direction of the voice before your mind can even register. 
Felix is walking towards you, fingers flexed over his phone. There's something a little off about his appearance; it being more tattered than it usually was - hair wet and tousled by the wind and clothes soaked by the pouring rain. The boy takes deep breathes, suggesting that perhaps he'd been running. But in this weather?
"Y/N, we've been looking for you."
"We?" You question, eyes narrowing in on the boy.
"Yes, we. Hyunjin too," He swallows, hand reaching out from his pocket to gesture at you. "Just please move away from the railing, it's making me nervous."
So you push back, standing your ground a few feet from Felix, trying not to let the boy see how shocked you are.
Felix takes out his phone, pressing it to his ear to give a few short replies to the person on the other line.
"Yeah, I've found her... Gongdong Bridge... Okay, I'll do that... Be there soon."
He steps forward, phone now tucked into his pocket, and freehand raised to grab your arm. "I'm taking you back to the dorms."
You immediately recoil, pushing your wrist out from his grip, stepping back. Fresh tears roll down your cheeks, eyes filled with more to come.
The rain couldn't mask everything. Especially not your pain.
Shaking your head, you look up at the boy who seems just as shocked as you were. 
"You're not taking me anywhere."
Soaked to the bone, your words make you shiver, light cardigan doing nothing in keeping you warm.
"Y/N please." "No," Now you're physically shaking, tears rolling with the rain. "I will not go with you. I won't see him, I won't."
"Y/N."
This time it's not Felix, but someone else from behind you. Turning quickly, your eyes are wide and glassy; vulnerable.
It's like he was untouched by the winter, eyes still holding the same glimmer as they did in the summer, just the way you remembered them to be. Clouds of breath swirl around him, damp hair catching ever so slightly in the breeze of the winter that seemed it would never end.
As he shifts to hold out his hand to you, you immediately back up, pulling not just your soaked cardigan closer to you, but your guards too.
But when you notice him tug at the sleeve of his own coat, revealing a glint of silver that seems to hit you straight in the chest.
The boy scans your features for a moment, looking down at the bracelet he now cradles with his other hand.
"Minho gave it to me on my birthday. He said it was from you.”
You say nothing, eyes wide and unblinking as you stare at the item you’d come to hate, despise.
“Well,” he sighs, “I say gave, but he actually threw it at me.
Hyunjins arms drop back to his sides, hands slipping into the pockets of his coat. “He had every right to.”
Finally, you two make eye contact. It’s everything you remember, the brown bringing back so many fond memories of late night cuddles and peaceful mornings. You find yourself melting into the summer a little, losing touch of the winter you’re in, the reality you’re in.
“I had no right to say what I did to you. To Minho too.”
The words make you break, another stray tear lost to the rain.
“You know,” Hyunjin shifts his gaze to the watery horizon, now barely visible in the dark. “He told me everything a few days after it happened. How it was a surprise for me, how he felt nothing towards you, everything you said to me that night in your apartment. I was stupid, stupid enough to ignore you-”
His voice breaks off with a crack, eyes desperately searching for something lost in the distance before coming to rest on you, his lost treasure.
“You’re stupid Hyunjin.” You finally speak, eyes scanning his, your eyes as cold as the river below you both.
“I know!” He cries, “I know I am! I let the most precious thing I ever had slip out of my fingers. I loved you Y/N, I still do love you!”
“You have no idea how hard these few weeks have been” you monotone, eyes glazed over; frozen with tears. “Hwang Hyunjin we both said some terrible things.”
His gaze is now on his feet, the rain barely masking the tears rolling down his cheeks.
“But I’ve missed you too much.”
Eyes wide, his gaze snaps to you as you almost subconsciously walk towards him, attracted like a magnet.
Standing in front of each other, you can practically see just how the winter has affected him; eyes red-rimmed, breathing labored, cheeks wet with a mixture of rain and tears.
Throwing your arms around the boy, you can’t but help let out a sigh of familiarity at how it feels, how well you just fit together.
In an instance, the ice melts away. Spring ignites your senses, waking them from the harsh winter as warmth spreads up your veins, through your bloodstream.
Pulling back you see the same warmth in his eyes as they held in the summer, gleaming with a softness only you knew. His jacket around your shoulders is as warm as you remembered, hands tangled and afraid to let go.
“Will you come back? To the dorms?”
“Of course.” You smile, heart full.
The spring has bloomed at last.
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kootenaygoon · 4 years
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So,
The sky glowed light purple as Chelsea wandered down the train tracks to Red Sands. Our friendship had fizzled a bit over Christmas, while she engaged with a short-term boyfriend, but as summer approached we’d been hanging out again. She lived in a party house up in Rosemont that was covered in psychedelic paintings, and through her I’d been introduced to a local tattoo artist named Joe Nillo who specialized in avian artwork. He was in the midst of creating a trippy metaphysical version of Mother Nature, using one of her roommates as a model, and I’d written a glowing feature about him for the Star.
"There’s two quotes from that Joe Nillo story that I really love. There’s one where he compares watching Alex Grey work to ‘watching God with a sore back watering some flowers’,” I told Chelsea.
"Then the other was: ‘God made man in his image, but that doesn’t mean he looks like us and wears T-shirts. It means he’s a creator and he wants us to create.’”
Chelsea took a slug from the beer in her hand. “I like that. Except God is a she, for sure. The divine feminine giving birth to the universe.”
“I’ve always figured God would be a mix of both, like masculinity and femininity mashed together into a giant cosmic mix. Do you even believe in God?”
She shook her head. “Not God like most people understand it, but there’s definitely an energy that’s bigger than all of us. A power to the universe that’s beyond our comprehension.”
“I like that quote ‘a God comprehended is not God’.”
She turned to me, intrigued. “I’ve never heard that.”
“I picked it up in this comparative religions class in college. It’s this German hymn writer named Tersteegen. I get a kick out of that idea, that we can’t even try to wrap our heads around God, like we shouldn’t even try.”
“But we do anyways.”
“Exactly.”
As we rounded the bend towards Red Sands Chelsea was balancing on the track with her arms out, clearly tipsy. We’d been drinking for a few hours and had smoked three or four joints during that time. She always had killer weed. At least one of her roommates was a pot dealer, if not all of them, and they sustained a party lifestyle I was already too old for. At one point she lived with Blayne, who was now permanently settled out in Victoria, but now the house was occupied by her, her adorable friend Aussie Chris, and Joe’s ex Kylie.
“For me, it’s not even a choice,” she said. “I just have to create. My work just sort of flows out of me without my permission. I don’t even like thinking about a life without that creative outlet, without my writing, because it would just be empty.”
I nodded. “Plus you have that performance element. Most of my work is designed to be read in silence, but your poetry begs to be sung.”
She laughed. “I’m not singing for you tonight. Not while I’m drunk. I’d be too embarrassed.”
When we reached the opening in the forest that led to the beach, I walked in front of Chelsea so she wouldn’t slip out of her sandals as we worked our way down the slope. The horizon had darkened to a royal purple that made the ground lilac.
“So how does your friend feel about Joe spending all this time painting her? They broke up, right? Isn’t it kind of awkward he’s obsessing over an art version of her?”
“Kylie was kind of weirded out at first, but she gets it. His art is his whole life. And I think secretly she’s flattered. Even through all their fighting, he’s still spending all this time trying to get her exactly right. And I bet when he’s finished he’ll give it to her.”
“I saw the painting in his studio, with the universe growing out of her palm. Trippy shit.”
“Yeah, it’s dope. He’s been slaving over it for like a year now, adding details and layers and new elements. He works on it live at music festivals, feeding off the energy of the crowd.”
“That’s so cool. He told me he’s going to be at Kamp and Shambhala this year, and I’m going to both. I told Ed that this is the year I want to go to all the major festivals, become the resident expert.”
Chelsea took another long haul of her beer as we settled on a spot, right in the middle of the beach, to lay down a towel. This was becoming an increasingly romantic encounter and I was feeding off her flirtatious energy, even though I knew she was on the verge of road-tripping down to California for the summer. We’d established the platonic nature of our relationship many times, but tonight felt like a good opportunity to nuke that plan. I maneuvered my body under hers and she settled on my chest with her eyes heavenward.
“I heard you took naked pictures of Blayne here,” she said, after a long comfortable silence. “She showed them to my roommates.”
I took a sip of beer, not sure how to play this. “She asked me to do a photo shoot with her last year and there were just a few, yeah, that were nudes. She wanted to show off her new tattoo. I knew her from burlesque world.”
“And you guys weren’t even hooking up?”
“It wasn’t about that. It was the images I was most interested in. I feel like it’s more intimate than sex, letting someone see you like that. I actually wrote a non-fiction piece about it while I was at UBC years ago called ‘What I look like naked’.”
She rolled over, pressing her body tight to mine. She was close enough that I could smell the alcohol on her breath. “Have you done that a lot? Taken erotica shots for women?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think of them as erotica. I mean, I’ve sexted before and I’ve taken photos that are pornographic, but shoots like that are about worship. I want the women to feel worshipped. I want the images to reflect that. Reflect my obsession with the female form.”
She blinked for a long moment, her eyes in shadow.
“I hooked up with this girl in Thailand right around the end of my trip overseas a few years ago. She was a geneticist from Berkeley and she showed me these nude photos her boyfriend had taken of her in Yosemite Park,” I said.
“She took them in the exact place her mother had taken nude photos thirty years earlier. Her mother had told her that when she grew older she would want these mementos of how she looked in her prime, with the flush of youth and love. They weren’t crass or sexualized at all. They just showed this empowered girl mid-hike in love with her body and in love with life.”
“Cool.”
“I figure if that’s a gift I can give someone, then that’s pretty fucking meaningful. And honestly, those pictures of Blayne are some of the most beautiful images I’ve ever captured in my whole life.”
“I didn’t actually see them, but Kylie described them to me. She said there was one where you had her hold a little leaf to cover herself, Eve-style?”
I laughed. “Yeah, and I used the smallest leaf I could find. The whole shoot had a Garden of Eden vibe, an innocence to it. It was like going backwards in time back to Genesis, before the shame God rained down on us, and finding something pure.”
For a while we were quiet, as the wind picked up and pulled at our clothing. Chelsea kept her face against my chest, one hand stroking my ribs, as we segued back to the topic of God. I told her about my Christian upbringing, about Camp Qwanoes and how I lost my faith. I told her about how I’ve never really gotten over it.
“You’re going to find a way to believe again. I’m sure you will. I don’t know what you’re going to believe in, but you’ll find something.”
I sighed. “I hope you’re right.”
Then she was kissing me. We rolled together until I was looming over her on the blanket. She watched as I undid her jean shorts and shimmied them down her legs. Our mouths surged back and forth while my left hand stroked her legs, massaging them. I hooked her underwear with a thumb and pulled. When she began to moan moments later it sounded exactly like her singing voice, a rhythmic ululation.
“Hold on,” she said. “Hold on, hold on.”
I stopped, pulling my head back.
“I’m really into this and everything, but I can’t go there tonight. I’m sorry. My heart’s too raw, I don’t want to leave for California with any attachments, I just need to stop here, okay? Is it okay if we stop?”
I nodded. “Of course. That makes perfect sense. We’re okay.”
For the next few moments we fumbled our way through getting her clothes back on, my erection screaming disappointed. I stroked Chelsea’s hair and held her face with both hands. Sometimes I forgot she was a decade younger than me, but it was very apparent in these moments. She was a girl, open-minded but still inexperienced. I’d been consumed in the grey chaos of the Kootenays’ sexual landscape, but ordinary monogamy was the only mode she understood. It was either fall in love or don’t engage at all, which was how I used to be when I was her age. Her purity was heart-breaking.
“You’re such an awesome guy, really,” she said, apologetic. “It’s not about you.”
“Don’t say anything else about it. I understand. No worries.”
Chelsea stood up, cracked a new beer, and gazed up at the black silhouette of Elephant Mountain. She was visibly trembling. I wondered if I’d done something wrong here, if I’d fucked up our friendship irrevocably. Was everything going to be different now? It had felt right, connecting with her, but maybe I needed to fundamentally course correct how I approached relationships. I finished my beer, threw it down, then walked over to embrace her from behind. She sighed into my hug, pressing her face against mine. Then she turned to face me.
“One day I want you to take my picture.”
The Kootenay Goon
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crystalized-dreams · 5 years
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So, I still have my full press conference thoughts coming soon, but I really want to break down my thoughts on ACNH separately because, well, I have a lot to say and think about. I know some people are upset that the game won’t be out until 2020, but ignoring my own personal reasons of relief from that date, I kind of expected it. There was nothing beyond a teaser until this point and with Pokemon also out this Holiday season along with Smash’s updates, I would’ve been very surprised to see Animal Crossing added to that. It being next Spring just works out a lot more in my opinion and helps it stand out.
I’m also VERY happy the game has a universal release date this time… I just need to… debate if I am crazy enough to try and buy it from Australia or something for an extra day of play despite my hate of downloading digitally.
Anyway, I’ll be talking a lot about the details of the trailer and the Treehouse segment currently happening so if you haven’t at least seen the trailer, be sure to watch it!!:
I love the little ticket look and the whole traveling by trip thing to this island. Considering we had the higher quality models from Animal Crossing Plaza and a bit from Pocket Camp as well, I’m hoping most, if not all, characters will make a return including new ones.
To start, the initial thing I’ve noticed is everything seems to have a bit of a rounder/softer touch–our character also seems a bit older/taller again:
While I may be looking to much into it and it could just be an atmospheric touch, I am wondering if the specification of it being “The Deserted Island Getaway Package” is that we’ll actually have other packages we can check out. Anywhere from being able to check out other islands to maybe things like “The City Getaway Package” where you can live it up in an apartment and/or some kind of exploration focus or traveling aspect. Maybe it could even be a DLC option.
I think that would also give a lot more to do. While I loved Desert Escape, I’m not sure how I’ll feel about an expanded game mode on that, even though it DOES seem like some usual Animal Crossing features will still be around. Essentially, we started living it up as Mayor and are now camping on an island.
And it really does bring in some new features from Desert Island such as collecting materials (though, twigs from trees is new) and some of the crafting aspects (which in the game prior, was only partially through Cyrus). #gallery-0-5 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-5 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */
You can get twigs, lumber, rocks, clay… Definitely a lot to work with. On the bright side, if you’re not a big crafter like me, you also have the option to just buy more.
I will say axes being able to break is something I’ve never enjoyed so I’m not thrilled by an even more flimsy one 😛 Unfortunately, it looks like everything has a flimsy version: Which between this and the farming makes it feel even more like Animal Crossing crossed with Harvest Moon.
On the bright side, being able to place furniture anywhere on the island is really great and it’ll be fun to decorate the island as well as your tent.
On a side note pole vaulting is amazing:
And you can apparently just… dig up trees? Definitely makes moving them around easier if so. Also, I love seeing Olivia just sitting there and I’m hoping we’ll see a lot more from villagers too. I wonder how many villagers can be on the island with you. It’s also really nice to see the Villagers in different outfits?? Eunice has a jacket instead of just a scarf and Freya actually has sleeves!! AND FUCHSIA IS WEARING A DRESS: Also that red set with the white hearts for some of the accent is new and really cute. Maybe for Valentine’s Day??
There’s also more inventory space–up to 20 from 16 (and you’ll see the pole vault item there in the third slot): Unfortunately, still no designated tool section, but maybe that can change in the future.
We can even make natural paths:
And being able to play with 8 characters is so cool!! It also looks like the back items that were introduced in Pocket Camp a few months ago will be a feature in New Horizons as well. I’m also so excited about local couch co-op as well which means I can play with several members of my family who love this game–even all at once:
In the new footage on the Treehouse, they confirmed that we’d be able to move things in halves like Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer rather than full squares which is nice and offers a lot more decoration opportunities. They also confirmed the new flowers/weeds and one thing I find really cool, being able to see some of the special NPCs (like Nook and his nephews) walking around as well:
Moving onto the Nook Phone, seeing all the blank spaces makes me wonder if you can get more apps for it in the future:
Fishing has also been expanded with clams you can use to make fishing bait (I would guess there could be other baits you can make too). It seems you can get ideas for new DIY recipes which is really cool: Clams are indicated by these little shadows that spurt water which is really neat: I just hope it won’t be too convoluted and it won’t be like “YOU CAN’T GET THIS FISH WITHOUT THIS BAIT” because like. dealing with the weather and seasons is enough, Nintendo.
Anyway, I’m sure I’ll end up adding more observations and thoughts as this goes. But honestly, I’m excited to play. It feels like it could almost be more relaxing in some ways and honestly, I could use that. I’m so looking forward to playing with so many people. I made so many great new friends with New Leaf and I look forward to playing with them again and making new friends as well.
For those who followed my New Leaf blog, I WILL be doing a similar blog series, just over here instead 🙂 And with videos and streams again too. I can’t wait.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons!! (Breaking things down & my thoughts) So, I still have my full press conference thoughts coming soon, but I really want to break down my thoughts on ACNH separately because, well, I have a lot to say and think about.
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my-love-peterp · 5 years
Text
Mistaken Chapter Three
Word Count: 2807 THERE ARE NO ENDGAME SPOILERS, THIS IS A DELAYED UPLOAD FROM AO3
Fic Summary: Peter Parker has been given the responsibility of bringing in a new recruit. Now, as an adult, he realizes that none of the trashy YA novels he read in high school could have prepared him for this. There was a storm on the horizon, and all they could do from the Tower is watch.
Chapter Summary: So we’ve got a little of Peter’s point of view to start the chapter off, might be a little OOC but I figure he’s probably changed a lot, post-Infinity War. Also more smut, but not the healthy or fluffy kind, just two broken people being broken. ALSO after this chapter, it’s going to start diverging from my AO3 fic because now I can introduce Carol Danvers. 
Warnings: language, underage (barely) drinking, smutty smut, mentions of the snappening, again NO ENDGAME SPOILERS
Chapter One  Chapter Two
Peter had never seen anything like her.
Over the past week, he’d been in the room for every moment of Kaida’s introduction to the team and her new life.
On that first day, after seeing her all but naked and needing to quickly run for a quick shower before training started, he’d gotten to see her in action.
There was no taking it easy or soft starts for new Avengers. They started with a brisk 10k, after which it didn’t even look like she had broken a sweat.
Then she’d been pushed in his direction. This was a routine Peter had become accustomed to by now, with a few new recruits filling up the roster, primarily temporary placements by SHIELD as they recruited enhanced individuals. Peter was the first line of hand to hand combat examination because while he wasn’t overly skilled, he was obviously extremely agile and very strong.
Kaida cocked her head at him and cracked her knuckles. “Give it all you’ve got Bug Boy, I’m not holding back.”
She and Peter had circled each other for a few seconds before she lunged, aiming a blow at his face that, unfortunately for him, was a ruse to get him to block upward, leaving his sides unprotected. With a quick jab to his kidneys, he grunted and instinctively bent over, nearly face planting with a strangled screech as Kaida then swept his legs out from under him.
He rolled over and she was immediately on top of him, pinning him down. “Easy as pie,” she crowed in his face, taunting him with a wink. Angry that he’d been made a fool of so easily by this girl, he channeled all his strength into flipping over her over and pinning her down on the mat. She grunted and struggled, but Peter’s hands were like iron, easily encircling both wrists and caging her hips in with his knees. His grasp was inescapable. But Peter, it seemed, could only make mistakes around this girl.
Fire flaring in his eyes, he bent his head to whisper in her ear, “It doesn’t pay to be cocky Kai, now who’s big and bad?”
Her breath caught for a second as she tensed below him, and a moment later Peter was tossed into the air, screaming as Kai had managed to open her palm and blast him up and away from her.
“Not cool, Kai. You know that powers are off limits,” Peter croaked indignantly. The other, observing Avengers cackled at Pete’s distress, even Natasha looked slightly impressed.
“Still me, it would seem,” she said, answering his goaded remarks and popping right to her feet and turning on her heel and walking towards the rest of the team that had decided to come in and spectate that morning.
Perhaps not so strangely, Peter noted, only Mr. Stark was missing.
It was then unanimously decided that her next test would be facing Natasha in hand to hand combat. He thought he couldn’t be more impressed or dumbfounded by this woman, but as the day progressed, Peter almost had to pinch himself. She matched Natasha jab for jab, move for move like it was as easy as breathing to her. “Holy shit,” he heard Clint mutter next to him.
“Wait, you mean we didn’t know she could… well, do that?” Peter gestured helplessly towards the Master Assassin and the twenty-year-old runaway who was proving to be her match in every way.
“No kid, we had no idea. We don’t know shit about her. Not even Fury does, despite our digging and searching. She’s essentially a ghost. But we figured… Well, after she stopped that school building from collapsing a few weeks ago until all the kids got out, we figured she couldn’t really be a threat. After all, it put her on our radar in a big way. An enemy operative would have known better, acted differently…”
Clint’s explanation petered off into silent awe as he saw Natasha, the Black Widow tap out, calling a cease-fire, if not surrender. No one had ever seen that. No one had ever done that without extensive training over the years. But this spitfire who ran away with a suitcase full of books and apparently sleeps with billionaires… She could.
“If you all are done staring,” Nat snapped them all out of their shocked stupor, “I believe we all have the training to do. Kaida, Banner wants you in the lab next. F.R.I.D.A.Y. will show you the way.
“Actually, Nat, I’m supposed to head up to the lab anyway, we’re working on testing the exact trigger to my Spidey senses, so I can just show her the way.” Natasha just inclined her head in an obvious dismissal so he took off jogging after the rapidly disappearing figure.
He skidded to a halt next to her. “Who are you?” He asked without hesitation.
“That seems to be the question of the day, isn’t it Peter. But I came here under the agreement that my past didn’t matter and I don’t intend to hash that out with anyone, least of all you,” she huffed and just kept walking.
“But, how did you get your abilities? Like, I was bitten by a radioactive spider. Wanda was experimented on with the Mind Stone and well… everyone knows Captain’s story…” Peter again trailed off after he realized, belatedly, that she had frozen and begun panting and trembling like a leaf.
Peter recognized this, understood what the clenched jaw and wildly roaming eyes meant. Something he said had triggered a panic attack, but he just wasn’t sure what. But then, as though it wasn’t a big deal, her mask of calm indifference slipped back over her features and she resumed walking.
“Just shut up Buggy. And if you mentioned what just happened to anyone, I will not hesitate to relentlessly humiliate you with all the weird shit you keep in your room and write in your diaries.”
“Ex-excuse me?!” Peter cried out. “Who the fuck let you into my rooms?”
“No one, Peter. Unless you count me. Good luck getting your friend Ned laid though, it sounds like it’s been an exhaustive search so far. You’re a good friend. When you’re not being a huge idiot.”
Peter didn’t know what to say to that so he just kept leading her to the lab.
A few hours later in the lab with Bruce and Tony. 
“How did you say you came to have powers again?” Dr. Bruce Banner spluttered as he reread the data from his most recent blood and DNA tests.
“Uh… I didn’t but, I’ve always had them, at least for as long as I can remember. My parents never mentioned anything. My sister wasn’t gifted either. Which would make one think we weren’t really sisters, but we’re identical twins so it’s hard to miss the relation, but you know how it is these days-.”
“Excuse me, what did you just say?” I jerked in surprise as I heard none other than Tony Stark speak from the doorway which was directly behind me.
“Uh, I was just going to comment on the state of truth and relevance in modern-day America… something tells me that’s not what you’re talking about though. My twin sister, Nadia, she never had any gifts. At least, none that were overtly obvious. But we did have this strange connection, mentally. We could feel each other.
Thoughts and emotions, even pain sometimes.”
“And where is she now, your sister,” Bruce asked after a moment of stunned silence. My expression must have told them everything they needed to know because no one pressed it further.
“Let me see the charts, Banner. What do you see in there?” Wordlessly Banner handed Tony the papers he held in his hand, which Tony grudgingly accepted, despite his disgust at being handed literally anything.
“Well kid,” he said after a moment, “It doesn’t appear that you’re entirely… human. I’m not sure what you are but it’s absolutely not solely human.
Instead of the spluttering and probably generally overexcited reactions that he had anticipated from me, I just looked up and into his eyes before smirking and remarking that “you certainly weren’t calling me ‘kid’ last night.”
Bruce choked on his coffee, again, receiving what I could only imagine to be a terrifying death glare from Tony. He then shortly excused himself.
“So Stark, how’s it feel to know you’ve fucked an alien?” My eyes raked up and down his form, decidedly provocative.
“Didn’t your mother ever teach you it’s not a good idea to poke the bear in the room,” he asked, hardly looking up from her chart. He was treating her flippantly, almost distantly. And that simply wouldn’t stand.
“You know, Mr. Stark, I could think of some other… ‘endurance tests’, if you will, that we could perform right here. In the name of science, of course,” I purred as I slipped down on to my knees in front of him.
He certainly didn’t stop me as I peeled down the waistband of his sweatpants and boxers, half-hard cock coming back to life.
I could tell when he was getting close, but instead of letting me finish him off and cumming down my throat, he pulled me up and bent me over the cold, metal work table and set to work taking off my leggings before slipping up and inside of me without any resistance.
“God Kaida, so tight and wet. And all for me.” It wasn’t but I wasn’t about to correct him as he pounded into me from behind, grabbing me by the hair and yanking my head back so he could lean forward and kiss along my neck. The tiny sensation of pain sent bolts of pleasure through my core and seconds later I was coming undone. But Tony, it seemed, was far from finished with me. He picked me up and pressed my back into one of the support pillars in the lab.
Unfortunately for him, the lab door was still open, which we both had been too oblivious to rectify. A slight shriek and a clatter had Tony looking up and over my shoulder as I twisted around to see the commotion. Rhodey, Steve and Peter were standing in the doorway, holding five coffees between the three of them. Six if you counted the one now spilled all over the floor.
Rhodey looked exasperated but not surprised, Peter looked like a nun who had mistakenly found herself in an adult toy store. Steve, well, Steve was unreadable to me. The stoic faced super soldier never dropped his gaze and gave nothing away.
Instead of pulling away or, I don’t know, stopping anything that he was doing, Tony continued to shallowly thrust into me and circle my clit with his thumb as he winked before glancing back towards the doorway.
“Boys, if you could give us a moment, we have a bit of an… well a test of endurance of sorts and we’d hate for the evidence to be skewed by outside forces,” he jested before commanding F.R.I.D.A.Y. to close the door to the lab and tint all windows to shutter us in privacy again.
“I can’t believe Steve-fucking-Rogers just saw me getting fucked,” I muttered as Tony repositioned himself and began to languidly stroke in and out of me.
“I can’t believe he looked like he wanted to join.”
My heart stuttered and was heard on the monitor. Tony simply took that as a cue to blow my back out.
As I came around him for the third time in the lab, he simply leaned down and whispered something along the lines of him being the only one who could fuck me like I needed to be fucked.
I was too tired and limp from pleasure to argue with him.
“So, uh, not to sound ungrateful but what exactly am I even doing here?” I asked Tony as he fastened his belt buckle as I reclined on the hospital-esque bed the doctor had used when drawing my blood and taking tissue samples.
“Recalibrating after being worked over by an expert, I’d imagine,” came Stark’s snarky reply. I, honestly, don’t know why I expected a serious answer.
“You sure like to stroke your own ego, old man,” I fired right back, bringing my arms behind my head to lounge while he typed away and entered various data points onto his monitor. “No, seriously, why am I here doing all this,” I gestured to the room and testing sites but really meaning my entire presence amongst internationally-known superheroes. “How’d you even find me in the first place? It’s not like I was stopping buses or crashing planes like Bug Boy. I just…”
“You and me both, kid. But as for finding you, social media is a terrible curse and a blessing in disguise. You’ve gained quite a reputation just from your small deeds, but really what set it off was the sch-.“
“The school,” I finished with a groan, letting my head bounce back as I covered my face with my hands, massaging my temple. “You try to do one good thing and then all of a sudden, you’re expected to continually prevent everyday tragedies. All I wanted to do was go home after my shift at work.”
“Yeah explain that one to me, bucko. You’re just heading to fuck off when you hear sirens and kids screaming and decide for the first time, to actually really use your powers. Why?”
The answer was simple, actually. The kids I could hear were the same age as my nephew would be wherever he was now. So I’d tossed up my hood and prevented a burning building from collapsing on top of a bunch of innocent kids. And of course, the press had a field day with that.
But I wasn’t about to tell Tony any of that. Ever.
“Fine, don’t say anything. But that’s why. You showed you had the capacity for good in a big way. And to be honest, we wanted to snatch you up before SHIELD or worse could come creeping in and saddle you up with them.”
More silence. Then, a timid knock on the door. F.R.I.D.A.Y. announced that it was Captain Rogers who waited on the other side of the door and Tony muttered his command to open the doors up.
He didn’t even lower his gaze or blush as he took both Tony and I in. Instead, he stared me down, eyes boring into mine until I was forced to look down and examine his thin, gray cotton tee that hugged his pecs so tight it left nothing to the imagination. I felt blood rush to my face and the tips of my ears burn.
So much for the prim, proper and prude Captain the media marketed him as. I suppose recent events forced everyone to change. There was no such thing as innocence anymore. Not really.
Cap’s burning gaze finally left mine, turning on Tony instead. Walking to my side, he handed me a cup full of the richest Americano I’d ever smelled. It was exactly what I needed at that moment.
Without turning to glance back at me as he handed Tony his own cup, he murmured, “mind giving us some time alone, Kaida? There are a few things we’ve been needing to discuss.
I just nodded and slid off the bed, sweatpants bunching up around my waist. I had no intention of actually leaving though.
As I walked through the door and a few steps down the hall, I waited two seconds before becoming a shadowy puddle and gliding along the side of the hallway that held the still open door to the lab. Moments later, Steve poked his head out and around, checking to make sure the floor was clear before pulling the door closed behind him. Like doors had ever stopped me before.
“So Cap, what’s got your Star Spangled panties in a twist this time?” Tony jabbed without hesitation.
Steve tensed his shoulders, letting out a rough, almost anxious sigh. “When are you going to own up to your grief and stop being such a slut, Tony? It’s been almost a year now since Pepper died. You’re compromising yourself, you know this. You know, it is so like you to start banging the first new female recruit we’ve had in years. Is that why you pushed so hard to bring her in? Just to chase some new tail?!”
Honestly, I wouldn’t have been surprised if the answer was ‘yes’. Seemed like a Stark thing to do. And in a weird, twisted way, I got it. Sort of.
“You know what, this conversation is over. Just because you haven’t been laid in over 70 years doesn’t mean you get to pull the morality card. No, Capsicle, I think we’re done here. F.R.I.D.A.Y. lock up the lab after Rogers and I. I’m going out.”
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