#i've spent way too much time thinking about the shenanigans this would mean | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

alexiswritingstuff · 9 months

Note

Just wanted to let you know that I've been binge reading all of your writings and I love them so much, keep up the good work! :)

I know you might have a lot of Gus requests, so it's okay if you put this one on the back burner for a bit. But I read the "Not So Scary After All" work and I was wondering if you could write a sort of sequel to it?

Maybe Jesse keeps trying to tell GN reader how obvious it is that he likes them. How he's seen him try not to smile when talking to reader, the softer tone of voice, things like that.

Reader obviously doesn't believe him and thinks that Gus is just being nice to his employees, especially the ones that are responsible for the cooks.

Anyways, after a few days of Jesse pestering the reader about it something happens to make them realize he might be right. I was thinking maybe they would make another mistake with the cook and Walter is there to see it. Maybe he gets mad, a little TOO mad, and Gus walks in 🤭 Or anything else works too! I just love the premise of a protective Gus that doesn't like to show how protective he actually is

First of all, thank you for the comment about my writings, I'm glad you have enjoyed them so far! Initially I didn't think about writing a part two, so I hope this does it justice, as well as that I hope it was what you were looking for!

Thank you for sending this in!

Not so scary after all. 2/2

Pairing: Gustavo x gender neutral reader.

Other appearances: Jesse Pinkman, Walter White.

Warnings: arguing, walter being a douche.

also be aware of spelling mistakes, or other errors. I do read these over but I can tend to miss stuff either way!

A/N: my brain has been fixated on other characters recently, so if these guys seem ooc then that may be why. It's hard to write scenes where gustavo is interested in another person because we barely get to see that in either show, so I also hope my portrayal of him just generally feels correct.

I hope you enjoy!

more Gustavo fics.

Taglist- @sukunamybeloved - @viviennemuerte - @miwagila - @marksassybanana

previous part.

It never mattered how many times you had gone through the same routine. Surprisingly, considering your line of work, waking up in the morning was always the most jarring part.

You could’ve had a great nights sleep, not woken up at any point, had no distractions or noisy neighbours. Yet the second you were in that car to get to the laundromat, it was like you had to force your eyes to stay open.

Which was apparently the same for Jesse too as there was a series of mumbles and grumbles that would fill the car every few seconds.

Each time you spared a glance to the passenger seat he would be leant further and further into window, his head bobbing whenever there was a difference in ground level or direction of the wheels.

It had you amused, but also a little concerned, “Did you wake up too early, or too late?”

Seeking no comfort from the hardness of the glass, and after his temple ended up smacking right into it, Jesse got himself to sit upright in a speed that closely resembled one of those stairlifts.

He groaned, having to make consistent attempts to keep his body from just slumping all together, “Both?” His hands raised to his head, the sides of his fingers beginning to rub at his eyes as if it would rid them of their tiredness.

In all honesty, outside of the cooking sessions and other shenanigans you found yourself in, you and Jesse never really... hung out. There would be times where you had lunch together, or had to show up to his house if there was something to drop off.

But that was mostly it.

And there wasn’t exactly a reason as to why. You had absolutely nothing against Pinkman, it was like the opposite. The more you spent time with him, the more you felt like some kind of guardian watching over some kid. Even if he also was an adult.

“You had breakfast, though, right?” Your gaze was trained on the lane ahead despite your ongoing conversation.

You had just turned onto a state road, meaning that, regardless of it being early in the morning, people were up and about. Trying to get to their jobs.

It always made it seem busier than it was.

At first, in response to your question, Jesse simply emitted another mumble of something. He was thinking, the intensity in which he rubbed at his eyes increasing for a moment, and then his hands dropped. “Oh,”

“Shit, I don’t... I don’t know.”

You supressed the urge to sigh. It had already happened a few times. Depending on what he did the night before, there would be some mornings where his mind was rattled enough that he would almost forget where he even was, so.

You came prepared.

“Well, I guess luck is on your side today.” you commented, flexing your fingers against the grips of the steering wheel, “There should be a sandwich or something in the back.”

By now Jesse’s head was leaning into the headrest, definitely having the same problem of trying to keep his eyes open like you did. The heat outside probably wasn’t a helpful factor either. “Seriously?”

You didn’t want to take your attention off of the road. The cars in front were starting to slow, and you needed to keep note of the distance from the ones at the back. “Check.” you told him, adjusting the rear view mirror for better visibility.

Jesse sort of rolled his head to the side after a moment, his chin almost knocking into the bone of his shoulder as his gaze cast onto the few items that were in the back seats.

He lazily blinked for a good few seconds, his eyes trying to adjust to the redirection of a sunlight beam. And then he saw it. Right in the middle.

A brown bag.

“No way.”

The next move he made was so fast that the seatbelt strapped around him had immediately stalled against his body, attempting to keep him in place at the assumption of sudden danger.

But that wasn’t enough to stop him at all.

He pushed against it once, then twice, and then one more time before simply manoeuvring himself around the belt so that the top half would basically be protecting the car seat instead of him.

When Jesse leaned himself between your seat and his, it was so much harder to keep your attention on the road. He was reaching out, arm extended as far as it could go and waving almost madly, until eventually, he grabbed the bag.

Jesse practically had to shove himself backwards to sit upright again, but soon he was able to resume his previous position with a big sigh of relief. Your head could only shake.

Now, there was this sound a rustling paper that filled the entire car as you moved onto the accompanying lane. Something that was definitely not supporting your concentration. “Damn.”

His voice was muffled, the noises coming out of his mouth barely even sounding like a word which in turn made you send him a look.

He had finally gotten to the sandwich. “You make this?”

“Nah, I had too many errands to run.” you informed with a slight sigh, finally beginning to let yourself relax in your seat, “Would’ve done it if I had the time, but I think that is better anyway.”

Jesse didn’t even have to speak for you to know his response. He had taken another bite, nodding his head just slightly in proper approval. If his eyes were closed it would look like he was in pure bliss.

After relentlessly chewing for a hot minute, he attempted to swallow it down, “I didn’t-- I didn’t take you as an early riser.” Yet his voice was still almost unintelligible.

“Well, believe it or not, other people are in fact active in the mornings.” you pointed out, slightly leaning to the side for further emphasis on who the comment was aimed at in a way that had Jesse rolling his eyes.

You swear you saw a clump of crumbs fly from his mouth when he next spoke, “Yeah, yeah-- You sure your too many errands wasn’t just you making sure that you looked good for a certain Fring?”

Your head snapped in his direction in a way that had looking back to the road immediately after, and probably almost gave you whiplash. But you saw it either way.

That damn grin had taken over his lips.

Again.

“Please don’t do this right now.”

Jesse had to clear his throat to stop himself from almost choking, “Aw come on, man, it’s-- There’s nothing to be ashamed of if you did.” Your head shook like it had done before, “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

It was always so stupid to you how the indirect mention of someone made your body react the way it did. You were only trying to get to work, yet your heart was acting as if you had just gone for a run.

“But I do.” The look you sent Jesse almost had him wanting to put his hands up if he wasn’t so focused on his sandwich, “What? I do-- Look, I may not have that much experience, or whatever, but there is totally something going on.”

“Definitely on his end at least.” He moved the sandwich around in his hands, trying to locate the best part to bite as he had finally swallowed the last one, “I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve seen him give you the look.”

Your eyebrows furrowed within seconds, “The... The what now?” You tried to turn in his direction for confirmation, but he seemed a bit too busy to notice your movement.

Due to a junction being up ahead, your foot had moved onto the foot break, watching the lights fully change the closer you drew.

“The look.” Jesse finally repeated, his mouth full all over again in a way that needed real concentration to understand the words coming out of it, “Yeah, he gives you the look, like, all the time.”

Soon, the car in front of you had fully stopped, and then so did yours as you put it into first gear, keeping your feet on the first two pedals.

The moment the car had stopped moving, you turned to Jesse within seconds, eyebrows furrowed more than they had ever been. “What is the look?”

Pinkman gave you a simple glance at first, thinking that you were just messing around as he kept munching away... But no matter how much time went by, you didn't move. Still watching him.

His chewing slowed when his head turned back in your direction. He just blinked for a moment. “You don’t know... You don’t know what the look is?”

Your chin lowered, your eyelids slightly doing the same, “Does it sound like I know what it is?”

“Okay, but... how?” Despite Jesse’s previous complete interest in his sandwich, it lowered with his hands to his lap. There was utter confusion written all over his face while he remained smacking away. “How do you not-- How old are you?”

Your attention went to the road ahead all over again, the back of your head sinking into the headrest as a huff left your lips, “Older than you.” you pointed out, trying to sound more authoritative, but that just seemed to spark an already lit flame.

“Then how do you not see it, huh? I mean, even I can tell that it’s pretty obvious-- And not just because of the look either,” Jesse fully twisted in his seat so that he faced you, “He like... He wants to actually, like, talk to you, and shit-- I’ve seen him smile-- genuinely smile at you, okay?"

“Now, if he was doing it to me? I would... Man, I would be terrified-- But it’s you, it’s... different.” You were trying so hard not to shake your head again, but Jesse’s voice practically being right in your right ear was making it a lot more difficult. “It’s something else--”

“It’s not...” You regripped the steering wheel, “You do realise we’re talking Gustavo Fring, right?” Your head attempted to turn back to Jesse, though your eyes were trying to keep the attention on the road as one of the final vehicles seemed to cross through the junction.

“Exactly!” Jesse practically threw his arms up, almost losing his grasp on the sandwich in the process, “You should be caring about this more than you do.”

Your head shook as your gaze fully went back to the road, your foot readying to release the clutch while your fingers tapped against the steering wheel in anticipation.

You were trying to find something to zone in on, something to distract yourself from the kid sitting in your passenger seat as he was still eagerly trying to get you to see the things the way he did. But you weren’t giving it to him.

“Fine then.” Jesse reached behind him, grabbing the top half of the seatbelt, pulling it until it was in front of him again, before he ducked himself beneath.

“But I’m telling you, Y/n.” It was back, slinging diagonally across his torso by the time he was seated properly, and also by the time the lights had finally turned green.

“You’ll see.”

There was something about this day that was starting to feel a little familiar.

You and Jesse had arrived ages ago. You had gone down the windy red stairs, did the whole thing of taking off unnecessary clothing so that you wouldn’t completely boil in the obnoxiously yellow protective suit you would put on next.

And at first, once you were all geared up, the two of you stood in front of the machines. Your heads were raised, eyes cast up to the walkway above as you awaited the arrival of your usual partner at their usual time...

But the door never opened.

There was no proper estimate for how long the two of you just stayed waiting as you had set your watch to the side, and the clock was on the other side of the room, however, there was one thing you knew for sure. Someone was late.

Eventually, the two of you were trying to compensate, finding something useful to do while giving the benefit of the doubt that maybe it was just tough traffic or something going on that made them lose track of time.

Though, the ability to sympathise got smaller and smaller the more minutes began to turn into full on hours.

You found yourself at your usual table with your hand supporting the weight of your head, attempting to occupy your mind by looking over the paperwork from passed cooks. A habit that you only recently developed.

“Dude,” you heard somewhere to your side before there was an exasperated sigh, and a quick creaking of a chair, “What the hell is taking him so long?”

Earlier, Jesse had taken one of the other wheeled chairs from the table connected to yours and had rolled somewhere, enough so that you could only see him from the corner of your eye.

His body was slumped back, the seat beneath him creaking with every move that he made. And considering that he didn’t have anything to do, that was like every. Single. Second.

He had tried out the difference created when he would shift his weight, tested what it would feel like to have his legs hanging over the left side of the chair and then the right, he had pushed his feet onto the floor to roll himself backwards and forwards against the smooth tiles.

And now, as apparently none of that had seemed to have settle his mind, Jesse had resorted to zipping and unzipping the protective suit he was so ready to take off by now. Over, and over... And over again. “Okay,”

“That’s it.”

The pencil held in your gasp was cast to the side of the notepad, you were barely looking at this point, before your hands moved to the edge of the table so that you could push against it enough that your chair started to roll.

You stood up, winding round the seat that was still on the move as you began to walk towards one of the pathways between the machines. Jesse fully planted his feet on the ground, “Yo, Y/n, where are you going?”

Your fingers grasped onto the zip of your suit and you yanked it down as far as you could without having to bend for the rest, beginning to pulling your arms out one after the other moments after.

You moved round that damn settling tank and soon ended up at the wall where you would keep or hang up your loose items. “I...” you began, your voice becoming strained as you bent down to free your feet of those big welly boots, “am going to find out what the hell is going on.”

The squeak of a chair echoed somewhere to the back of the room. “Well, don’t-- Don’t leave me in here by myself.”

Finally, after one last tussle, your, once worn, protective suit was now sprawled on the ground beside the clothing rack. You moved to your usual shoes, putting either feet in their respective ware before tying the laces to make sure they wouldn’t fall off.

Before Jesse could even appear by your side to complete the same process, you were on the move once again, directing towards those windy red stairs that always made you feel like you were going to fall up and/or down them.

“Y/n, wait, dude, wait-- Just give me a minute.” You could hear the hurried rustling of plastic suit echoing through the steps you took on the metal staircase.

Eventually, when your movements had allowed you to arrive at the cat walk, you found yourself complying to Jesse’s words... While the man himself was still trying, and failing, to get the suit off.

It gave you a moment to catch a breath you hadn’t been able to take all day. You were stood high, looking down at the problems below, and not drowning neck deep in it like you usually did.

A deep breath sucked into your nostrils as you let your eyes fall closed, the air of the lab starting to cool the warmth that had festered across your skin--

A sharp whistle squealed through from your left before it bounced around each wall one after the other.

Your eyes had snapped open as soon as the sound appeared, but it wasn’t until your head had started to turn that your brain realised what it had come from.

It was the door.

Your body twisted in the direction of the man who was almost stumbling across the cat walk, a series of huffs and puffs spluttering from his mouth that would have you worrying any other day.

But as of now, all you did was cross your arms over your chest.

“Yo, Mr. White! What the hell took you so long, dude?”

“Sorry, sorry,” he began through a slight wheeze that ended with him doing this horrendous cough. And once he was about three steps in front of you, he stilled his apparently over exhausted body, using a hand to shift his weight onto the railing, “There was... car trouble, and stuff with the kids, you-- you know kids.”

“You would think, maybe, after the first one that it was going to get easier and then...”

In the midst of Mr. White stabilising himself, his head had turned to the right in at attempt to locate Jesse, which wasn’t hard to do considering the fact that he was still taking off that damn suit, to further emphasis his... guilt?

But instead, after he did a sort of double take, he began to slowly face you once again, “Why aren’t any of the machines on, why... Why aren’t you wearing your suit?”

“We were waiting for you. I was just about to try and find at least someone to tell us where you were.”

“Wait... Wait a minute,” Mr. White started, holding his hands up while he took a step closer. “You didn’t start?” His chin slightly lowered in a way that made his eyes peer at you over his glasses.

“No?” you stated simply, your eyebrows furrowing at the sudden change to his demeanour, “After last time... We didn’t think you wanted us to do it by ourselves.”

“But that was-- That was last time, Y/n.” With every word that the man spoke, his hands rose higher and higher until they were inches away from touching his face, “Do you have any idea what time it is right now?”

The urge to scoff was stronger than ever, and you had to hold it back more than you ever had in your life, “I think I should be asking you that question.”

The man before you began shaking his head in a way that was almost not visible. “I told you... I was having problems with my car.” For a moment his expression remained the way it was, a visible attempt at holding back what you were guessing was anger.

But then it failed.

“I have... a family to take care of...” His hands dropped to his sides. When he next spoke the corners of his mouth slightly downturned like there was utter distaste for the words coming out of his mouth, “They are not going to be put at expense because, again, you weren’t able to do a simple job.”

Regardless of how loud it usually was when someone walked up the windy stairs, right now, as Jesse began to do just that, it was barely audible to your ears. The sound fading more and more the longer you stared at the man before you. “Guys, can we just--”

“I am doing my job just fine, Mr. White.” you started up with this lack of emotion to your voice, trying to make it as clear as possible that you wanted to get this over and done with, “We just didn’t want to do another batch all by ourselves, simply, because you couldn’t be bothered to show up.” Though it seemed your mouth had other plans.

There was something that almost satisfactory when you saw a side of his face twitch. But soon, it was one that ended with this sort of smile curling at his lips, his eyebrows raising more than you had ever seen in your time working with him. “Oh.”

“So, you want me to apologise for making a singular mistake? Is that it?” He took yet another step towards you, “You know what, how about we count how many times you have made-- No, caused, a mistake, hmm?”

You couldn’t count the amount of voices that were telling you to take a step back, to move away the closer he got to stand directly in front of you, “But that wasn’t only my fault-- There’s a big difference between actually trying and just not showing up.”

Your feet remained planted on the ground beneath. Your arms were held tighter than ever across your torso as you tried to maintain the blankest expression possible.

“Dude, both of you just... just chill out, please.” Jesse tried to insist as he walked up the last few steps, but no one paid any attention to his words, “We can-- We can work this out--”

“You allowed a contamination,” Mr. White began, narrowing his eyes as if in disbelief, “How did you-- Did they not teach you to read, or listen, to instructions in school?”

“My education has nothing to do with this.” you insisted without missing a beat. And regardless of your attempts to keep your composure, it was inevitable that something began slipping into your voice.

You had been up early.

You had been running back and forth to make sure that certain things were sorted for certain people, had to drive all the way to downtown to pick up Jesse and then all the way back up to get here. To work.

And then, while at work, you weren’t even able do your damn job because your other partner, that was supposed to be there at a specific time by contract, just didn’t show up.

Which then lead you and Jesse to have to stand and do absolute jack shit for hours on end.

Walter just shook his head again, even raising his hands like he was about to shove you or something, though he might have wanted to simply point a finger, “Well, apparently it does, because if you still aren’t competent enough to follow something so basic, then--”

“What is going on here?”

Within the next second, the man in front of you had twisted round in a way that almost gave you whiplash just from watching. He stepped to the side, and moved backwards until he was practically next to you. “Oh, Gus, I, uh... We were just... Slow start.”

But, of course, he was still a little ahead.

Your feet, however, hadn’t moved an inch. In fact the only move you made was to let your arms finally fall free to your sides as you stared onwards.

It was Gustavo. He was stood in the doorframe, one hand pressing against the weighted metal so that he had enough time to take in his surroundings. And then he took the final step inside.

It was only when the door closed behind him that you realised you hadn’t even heard it open in the first place.

The lab was back to what it had been minutes ago. Silent. No sound at all filtering throughout the entire room.

Gustavo stilled himself not far from the door he had walked through, but enough so that you could feel his presence as well as see it. His arms were unmoving by his sides, a trait that would’ve carried out through his entire body if he hadn’t started moving his head.

Like Walter had done when he arrived, Gustavo looked at the room below. He studied it, looked from one section to the other while noting the quietness that was effecting even him.

And then he turned back to the people across from him, the expression on his face unwavering, “Why is that? There’s nothing in the machines.”

“You know, ex-- exactly.” the man to your side suddenly spoke up, snapping your attention from the other guy you wanted to look at a little longer. “I had... countless problems with a lot of things this morning, and I wasn’t able to arrive on time.”

Walter sort of took a step forward, but instead of what you would naturally think of when someone carried out such a movement, he didn’t properly face Gustavo.

He stood side on, his body turned towards the machines so he could look at you or his boss with a simple movement of his head. And as of now, you seemed to be his main target. “Apparently they couldn’t be bothered to start the batch themselves.”

“That’s not true.” You mirrored his stance, faced directly towards him, instead of the man who was just trying to seek answers, as your eyebrows furrowed as much as they could.

Walter tilted his head, “You sure?” he asked, using the most condescending voice that would of set you off had you already lost the grasp on your, slowly dissipating, self control.

“Yes, I don’t understand--” Your hand rose to your face, fingers pressing into the skin beneath before dragging down to your chin. And then they dropped. You took in a deep breath. “Look... I admit it, sure, we could have started the cook. But.”

“Me and Jesse both thought it was smarter to wait after the previous mistake,” you began, emphasising your point by gesturing to the dude who was now stood behind, and his eyes sort of widened at the sudden attention.

This time it was you who took the step forward. “But yet again,” You made sure to hold yourself back from blinking as you stared right at the man who was trying so hard not to cut you off, your fists clenched at your sides. “You. Weren’t. Here.”

Your heart was thudding in your ears, a sound louder than any other thing in the room. The exhaustion was rampant through your body, continuously attacking system, and at this point testing your patience that had already become thin.

The ability to control anything was about one minute away from collapsing.

“Why were you late, Mr. White?”

When Gustavo’s voice caught your ears, you hadn’t even bothered to look his way despite the fact that Walter did. In fact, he took the chance to move away from you, which almost made him bump into the other railing.

“Car troubles, and, uh... family stuff, too, you know... all that.” he informed, his voice and the look of his face switching into one that you could instantly tell was the fakest attempt of trying to get sympathy.

“And you didn’t inform anyone of these... troubles?”

Your head turned in about a second, your gaze snapping to the man who hadn’t moved a singular inch since the last time you properly saw him. His attention was only on Walter, his eyes now slightly narrowed.

“What...” Mr. White started, the shock clear within his voice and the expression on his face, “Are you... Are you trying to say that this is my fault?”

“I am not saying anything, Mr. White.” Gustavo’s turned in the mans direction with such slowness that had a look of regret taking over anything else that was threatening to appear on Walters face. And once he stilled, he had even slightly tilted it to the side, “I am simply asking questions to understand why a job hasn’t been completed.”

Walter let out this sort of scoff of a sound as he gestured with his hands like before, “Well, then your asking the wrong person, Gus.”

He pointed towards you, this time not even bothering to look unless it was to make sure his finger was actually aimed in your direction, “They... They have been here for who knows how long, I... I-- I mean, the batch could’ve finished by now, if they just--”

“You are putting the blame... on them?” Gustavo’s voice was low, deep in pitch that it was almost gravelly and harsh to any ears that heard it. There was no direct tone, or emotion clear within it. But paired with the slow step forward, anyone could tell that it wasn’t good.

“You are putting the blame on a person who was actively trying to solve a problem that you created... because you weren’t competent enough to make a phone call?”

You were use to his intimidation tactics. In all honesty, usually, it seemed even more affective when he wasn’t using them, like when he wore that smile that never really reached his eyes.

But this...

This was different.

When Gustavo wanted to intimidate someone, or remind them of their place in the bigger picture. He had relationships to maintain, an act to keep up so that nothing could expose him and/or his business, so he never risked insulting a person in case it would backfire, create unnecessary problems.

Gustavo Fring wasn’t a man who directly insulted someone unless he was going to gain something from it... Well, apparently, until now.

For the next few seconds it seemed that Mr. White couldn’t find the exact reaction he had. His lips twitched almost every way that they could, his mouth would open and close again and again like he was mimicking a fish, all the while his head began to shake once again, “I don’t... I don’t know what to say-- I can’t... Gus, I just--”

“I have heard all I needed.” There were no movements that accompanied his words. No change to his voice a part from a mild show of a tested patience. Gustavo just stared at the man before him, unblinking, “You still have plenty time to cook.”

“You can’t be serious--”

“That’s what you came here to do... Is it not?” Gustavo pointed out simply, his head tilting to the side in a way that almost made him look like a puppy. But his face said all that it needed to.

Walter sort of cowered, avoiding the mans gaze as he took a moment to think, “I... I-- Well... Yes, but--”

In about a second, though there was almost nothing displayed on Gustavo’s face, everything sort of... dropped? His eyelids lowered in a way that wasn’t enough to hide his eyes but it was still visible, his jaw unclenched, his lips almost looked like they were turning down the way.

But again. Not once did he blink.

“Then cook.”

For a solid ten seconds, there was just utter silence. Someone could have drop a pin on the other side of the room, and it would still echo like any other sound. No one moved. No one twitched. No one spoke.

Walter took in a deep breath, his shoulders deflating when it made its way back out. And then he turned, beginning to do just as Gustavo said this time without any argument.

But the moment you started to do to the same thing--

“Not you.”

You froze. Your body hadn’t even managed to twist yet, so after sending a look to Jesse who sent one right back, you simply rocked back on your feet, resuming the same position you were in before.

His eyes were only on yours. The first time he had fully looked at you since he had entered the room.

“We have... other matters to discuss.”

After you left the room, it was practically silent when you began to walk.

There was the usual sounds that occurred from the machines within the laundromat, and the workers who you were still not sure knew about the giant meth lab beneath there feet, but between you and Gustavo there was nothing.

No exchange of words and barely even the sound of your own footsteps.

He was a few steps ahead of you, which may have been one of the main reasons, as he lead you across the paths that had big machines towering over you on each side.

There would be a few moments were you had to duck, or even completely manoeuvre, around certain objects that were hung, either needing to dry or they were connected to a moving system that would bring clothes from one section to another.

You had no idea where you were going. The second the two of you had officially exited the lab, his lips had became sealed. He just started walking, and of course, you only had one response to that.

Your gaze pretty much remained on Gustavo’s back no matter how far you went, only fleeting to make sure that you weren’t going to bump into anything, as you followed the man in front of you like a lost duckling... Though, you felt more like a child getting ready to be told off.

Eventually, after stopping yourself from getting caught up in the thoughts swirling through your mind, you found yourself walking out of the big vertical door. The entrance of the laundromat.

If your heart wasn’t pounding before it sure was now. And no matter how badly you wanted to just focus on the feeling of fresh air after being stuck in an underground room for what felt like, and probably was, about five hours... Gustavo stopped walking.

He was stood at the edge of the paved platform, hands moving to clasp behind his back as he resumed that usual straight posture.

Your steps grew slower the more close you got to standing by his side. You wanted to gage his mood, predict what was about to happen or what he was going to say, which was a bit difficult considering that you could only see the back of his head.

You cleared your throat when you had arrived to the right of him. Your eyes were slightly narrowed, adjusting to the sudden presence of the sun, while you gently leaned back and forth on your feet.

“Sir, I... I’m really sorry about this... Again,” you had begun, but almost immediately your speech planned in your head seemed to have fallen apart.

You turned your head to the side, trying to properly convey your apology through your face more than your words. “I know it doesn’t help the business, but I really, really, don’t know why this keeps happening--”

“Y/n.”

You had already been looking at Gustavo throughout your words. And maybe it was because you were too caught up in your mind, or because originally the man before you had been gazing into the distance with the usual expression that barely gave you anything to work with.

But now he was looking right back at you.

“Yes?” you answered subconsciously in a way that had your mouth snapping shut immediately after realising that you didn’t need to actually do that.

This time, Gustavo’s chin lowered, “I’m not going to scold you, Y/n.” His gaze was the most gentle you had ever seen it, along with sound of his voice. He may have said the words simply, and matter of factly, but his face told you otherwise.

You sort of just stood there for a moment, blinking at him. “You... You’re...” And then your eyebrows furrowed all over again, your body turning so that you faced him directly, “You’re not?”

Gustavo kept looking at you, and finally, since thatsituation with Mr. White, you weren’t presented with an expression of judgement. It wasn’t a look that visibly told that they thought whatever they were seeing was utter stupidity.

He took in a breath, letting his eyes fall back on the busy town ahead for a split second, before they were back on your own, “I want you to go home.”

His voice was lighter, the expression on his face no longer holding the tension that had clung to his skin.

Your lips parted, even if no sound initially came out. You stared back at him for a moment, your eyes a little wider than they were before, almost unblinking, “Did I mess up that badly?”

Gustavo’s eyebrows furrowed so quickly that you hadn’t caught onto it until he turned his body in your direction, “Forgive my phrasing.” he started, his hands remaining behind his back no matter the change of position, “This is not a punishment.”

With his next words, Gustavo made sure that you were looking at him, right into his eyes, just in case his meaning was conveyed through his voice, “You are not in trouble for the wrongdoings of another man.”

... Were you missing something? Why would Gustavo take you out of the lab?

I mean, sure, you made the deduction that not starting the batch might’ve not been such a great idea, and honestly at some point expected to get a good talking too because of it. Maybe it would be the final straw...

But here you were. Theman himself, the big boss, stood right in front of you. Directly telling you that you’re not in trouble.

“Then... I’m going to have to say that I don’t understand, Sir.” The muscles beneath your brows were getting a good work out from consistently changing between being normal and then furrowed within, practically, every thirty seconds, “We still have a batch to do, a deadline to follow.”

Influenced yet again by a man stood before you, “And who is that for?”

Your whole body felt like it wanted to deflate, fall limp and just collapse on the ground. This time it wasn’t in anger, or fear, or annoyance. It was because after everything, you could exhale the nerves that had clung to your insides. There was no use for them now.

You lightly nodded your head, the fact of not being in trouble officially processing in a way that had your gaze lowering, “... You.”

Gustavo wanted to smile. He wanted to display his pride of finally cracking the code that was your mind, having created even a bit of equal understanding, but he could still see the ghost of the previous expression that held your face hostage. The genuine concern over possible harming his business.

And him.

“I am not asking you to leave because I think that you are bad at your job, or that you don’t do anything for this business-- Because that would be entirely wrong.” he started up with this new voice that was difficult to ignore, “I am simply saying that you have the day off.”

“It is... normal in a workplace, is it not?”

By the time your eyes met Gustavo’s, your brows had furrowed once again, though now, it was for a very different reason, “I mean... Yes-- But not in this business, just...”

There was a huff of air that passed through your lips. Theexhaustion from earlier was presenting itself back into your system, making the want to talk become a lot less than before, “Let me-- Let me go back in there, we can work, we can... we can get it done.”

Gustavo’s head began shaking before you had even finished your sentence, “I can’t do that.”

“And why not?” you questioned, leaning back slightly so that you could fully take in his demeaner, analyse any look that took over his face, “I thought you said that I didn’t do anything wrong?”

“You didn’t.” he insisted almost immediately, the expression he wore going blank the way it usually did. But now wasn’t the time. “Then...” You took in yet another breath to cut off your words, trying to suppress the urges to sigh, scoff, or the sudden want to raise your voice, “Why?”

To say this day felt long was truly an understatement. Things just kept happening one after the other and still you were left in the dark. No answer as to why things progressed into the situations they had.

“Y/n, I am not... risking the loss of more time to arguing.” It was like you could visibly see the words he chose to say. The pure caution, decisions careful enough so that he wouldn’t set off the things he could see getting ready in your eyes, “I know that if you go back in there, Mr. White will not... let go. Not unless I place someone in there to stand and watch at all times.”

“All I am telling you is that you are free to go while I... sort things out.” Gustavo somehow made himself stand taller, trying to prove the confidence in which was already heard in his voice and to also prepare for the possibility of you finally reacting in the way that your body had wanted to for hours.

But despite what he had envisioned playing out, or tried to predict, it was pretty much the opposite. In fact, the only proper reaction to his words was your shoulders deflating, ridding your muscles of its constant worry.

And then you crossed your arms over your chest, sniffing as you did so, “And what about Jesse... Mr. White? What-- What about them?” you questioned, waiting for the words to settle before you looked back into those other pair of eyes, only to find that the look from earlier had repossessed his face, “It may not seem like it, but I assure you, Y/n.”

“Mr. Pinkman and Mr. White can handle it themselves.”

For the first time throughout the entire day, you felt the want to smile. “Okay then.” You nodded your head once, your grip tightening on your arms as you took a step backwards, “Thank you, uh... Mr. Fring. It seems you have saved me again.”

“Gus. Call me Gus, and please, there is no need to thank me.” Gustavo started up before you could even try to turn in the direction of your car, “It comes under being an employee.”

Your body stilled after about one more steps backwards, your eyes narrowing at the man before you, playfully, “Then how come I haven’t heard you getting protective when someone else makes a mistake?”

Gustavo mirrored the look on your face, “I wasn’t... I wasn’t being... protective?” In his case, however, he wasn’t doing it in a teasing sort of manner, he was just genuinely confused at the comment. “I simply understood the situation and acted accordingly.”

Your arms loosened in your hold until they lowered to your sides once again, “And yet you defended me.” If you were close enough to Gustavo you would probably have started circling him, “Even though I was in the wrong... both times.”

Gustavo unfurrowed his brows, “You weren’t in the wrong just because some man has an incorrect idea of authority… and a very poor concept of time.” His tone was the flattest you had ever heard it. There was no emotion behind it until the words of... slight insult.

The urge to smile grew stronger that had you pressing your lips together to stop yourself from letting out a laugh. “Still,” Though, after a moment, you managed to compose yourself, “If you hadn’t arrived when you did...”

Gustavo huffed air through his nose, bowing his head a tad before he let it shake a few times. When he looked back up it was clear that he was trying to hold back whatever was wanting to take over his face, but you could see it in his eyes.

“Go home.”

There was this feeling of giddiness begging to erupt in your chest. It spread a warmth to every part of your body until it was a collective feeling. It caught you of guard, causing the smile you were trying to hide begin to curl at your lips.

So, after a sharp breath and a nod as a thanks, you sort of ducked away, twisting yourself around so that you could make your way towards your car.

However, the nearer that you got to the vehicle, it seemed there was a thought pushing itself further and further to the centre of your mind. It may have been more of a feeling, as you weren’t entirely sure that you wanted to go back to your house.

I mean, sure, being able to take a nice long shower, grab a bite to eat, and completely flop on your bed sounded... Well, pretty nice actually.

But the next session for a batch was now going to be days away.

Days from your work and a certain Fring.

You had completely stilled about a step away from your car. There was a quiet breath that huffed through your nose, one that only you could hear, “You know what, actually.”and then you turned on your heel, the concrete practically scuffing under your shoe. “I’ve worked for you for quite some time now, and yet…”

“I don’t think I’ve ever been inside your restaurant.”

The man your eyes managed to focus on seemed to be closer than he was the last time you saw him. A fact that made your brain almost completely miss the words that came out of his mouth. “Well, it’s not an obligation.”

There was something about the look on his face. Something about the way he pressed his lips together immediately after he finished speaking. He may have assured that the visit wasn’t needed, but... there might have still been a want.

“What hours is it open?” you asked, the sound of your voice almost echoing through the parking area, even if the noises from the active laundromat were louder.

Gustavo’s head slightly rose after a moment, one of his brows slightly twitching as he processed your question. And then he cleared his throat, “That would depend on the day.” he informed, readjusting the hands he still held behind his back.

You hummed in response, letting your gaze fall into the distance as you thought.

Honestly, after the past few hours you could barely remember what part of the week you were in right now. So, instead, you thought back to what a usual week would look like.

What was the day that was perfectly set between the times you would possibly be able to see Gustavo at work? Right in the middle?

“How about Thursday?” you suggested, now watching as Gustavo began to make his way across the concrete, slightly nodding his head, “Then... Seven to ten, I believe.”

“All right,” you breathed out, the speed in which your heart beat increased the more the man approached. “One less lunch to plan for the week.” You practically gulped as you reached backwards, fingers patting against the cool metal of the vehicle for a moment until they located the handle.

Gustavo stilled himself about three steps in front of you, the look on his face signalling that he was thinking about something as he wasn’t making direct eye contact, “Actually... I would suggest to come around dinner time.”

Just as you were about to tug on the handle, your hand froze, along with pretty much every other part of your body.

The man was now looking right at you, his voice sort of timid in a way that caught you even more off guard. And apparently himself too. “It’s... more quiet.” He cleared his throat, “Less people around.”

Your arm slowly moved back to your side, releasing the warm handle from any sort of grasp.

There was a fight going on in your chest. A want to give into the urge of running away like you would’ve done in a situation close to this as a kid. But you weren’t a child anymore, far from it.

It took a good moment for any sound to be able to roll off of your tongue. And as soon as something eventually had, it was like your lungs remembered how to properly function. “Will you be there?”

You felt younger. The two of you may have been stood pretty much right in front of the other, yet neither of you could maintain eye contact longer than a few seconds before you collectively had to look away, no matter how confident either one of you tried to seem.

Gustavo cleared his throat, though it sounded like it had barely done anything. “I believe so.” he finally confirmed, and regardless of the fact that his voice was still quiet, there was this tone that took over his words.

“Well, good...” That giddy feeling returned, even if it had probably never left. “I think I probably would still go if you weren’t there, but... it would be a lot less... fun.”

The man before you let the slightest smile curl at a side of his mouth, “Well, we wouldn’t want that now would we?” He sounded more breathy this time, a natural progression from his already quiet voice. But it wasn’t because of nerves, or a reaction of his lungs, which you had initially thought. It was intentional.

“Not at all.” Your voice in question was more full than his, however, there was this slight whisper to it, as if Gustavo should be the only person allowed to hear it.

“Then it’s settled,” he began, slightly lowering his head in away that had your back pressing into your car. His normal tone had seeped back through his words like he was back in boss mode. But not quite Gustavo Fring just yet. “How does... eight o’clock sound? Unless you eat earlier?”

Your head shook practically without a second of hesitance. The ability to move your lips was barely thereso you resorted to moving to the side, finally pulling on the handle of your car door until it swung out far enough that you could stand behind it.

You could see Gustavo raise his eyebrows just the slightest as the door had created a sort of separation, and it had you biting back a grin. “It’s perfect.” you insisted, trying to sound as neutral as possible despite the, possibly, clear ways you felt at that moment.

And then you lowered yourself into the car, having to slightly shifted backwards a little bit to properly get into the drivers seat before you swung your legs inside.

Your hand grasped the inside of your door, your fingers making certain that they had a good grip, before your eyes landed on the figure through the glass of the window that hadn’t moved an inch.

And then you smiled.

“Gus.”

#gustavo fring #gus fring #gustavo fring x reader #breaking bad x reader #breaking bad #brba #gender neutral reader

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princessozera · 1 year

Text

"Would you mind being a nude model for me?"

Completely Safe for work! No smut or other shenanigans here!

Prompt: MC asks them to model nude. The royal/brother/Solomon get embarrassed and doesn't know what to make of it but MC is actually just a very tired artist that needs anatomy practice.

GN MC (They/them) 3rd ppov as always

Word count: 990

Levi

"Of course you have abs, why wouldn't you?"

"I don't think I've ever met anyone that hates abs," Levi chuckles, but he's trying very hard to not run off and find a hole to die in. He's fully nude, being glared at, and his Henry just scoffed at the only feature of his that he's confident it. “You do know that ‘Grand Admiral’ isn’t just a title, right?”

"No, I- it's not- HMMM," MC hums angrily to themself, tapping their pencil to their head. "It's fine that you have abs Levi. You are attractive. I just wanted to practice drawing different body types, you know? If I wanted to draw more abs I would have gone to the museum and stared at some sculptures."

"And you just assumed I was chubby?" Levi’s snark died out as MC began to circle him slowly. Why had he chosen such an open stance? Why couldn’t the vortex be merciful and swallow him whole? The broom stick in his raised fist was a pathetic excuse for wielding a sword, and he even with the sheet loosely draped around his waist Levi was acutely aware of how close he was to flashing MC.

"Cut me some slack, I’ve never seen you lift anything heavier than an akuzon box of manga.” MC doesn’t notice Levi fall silent, but they see his shoulders tense up. They ignore it, more focused on looking for a good position to sketch from before deciding to sit to the far left- back muscle practice it is. “Anyways, you’re much better company than some stone statue.”

A bonus of live figure drawing is the conversation, although it was a balancing act with Levi. Something interesting enough to keep him from running off or fidgeting too much, but it also couldn't be something he was passionate about because he'd lose his concentration and break the pose. So they spent the better half of the next two hours doing a spontaneous media analysis and ranking list of the movies they've seen in the last couple of years.

Levi carries the conversation when MC falls silent, squinting and tilting their head this way and trying to figure out how to work out the shading onto their paper. He kept peeking over his shoulder to look at them work; serious and so deeply focused that they didn't notice Levi staring at them. He's never seen them put this amount of concentration on something that wasn't a life or death situation. Levi couldn't help how his heart skipped a beat to think they were focusing so hard on him.

"Okay, I'm done, want to see?" MC doesn't wait for Levi to respond, turning their sketchbook around for him. He tries to look away- he would rather not see all of the imperfections MC found on him after staring for so long- but MC is insistent, handing the sketchbook over to him.

"Woah," Levi gasped quietly, fingers running over the drawing. The expression from the side of his face was serious, that of someone wise and calm. His jaw was strong, and his shoulders were broader than he realized. The shoulder blades had such a strong shadow that he started to wonder if he had been unconsciously flexing this entire time. "You even managed to make someone like me look cool."

"I get what you mean, so thank you. But also, not really." MC turns away from him to start packing up their pencils and other sketchbooks. "When you see yourself in the mirror everyday it can be hard to be subjective. That's one of the neat little perks of being an artist- you can show others a new perspective. You're a cool dude Levi, so of course drawings of you are going to come out cool too." There's a small choking sound so MC looks to Levi again. He's holding the notebook to his chest with tears in his eyes.

"MC," Levi starts to run towards them, arms open for a hug.

"NOT UNTIL YOU PUT SOME PANTS ON," MC screams, diving across the tub to get some distance between themself and Levi. He runs to go throw on a shirt and sweats before coming back and hugging MC as tightly as he could. Levi wants to take a hundred pictures of the art but is only stopped by the thought that it might come off as something vain- something that Asmo would do. MC seems particularly slow in packing up their coloring supplies although they were left unused, so when their back was turned he snuck a few pictures to keep for himself.

Other tidbits:

-He resisted the urge to flip through the sketchbook, being handed the book was a sign of trust, not permission. He can remember all too well the times that Mammon had gone rummaging through his things and was caught red handed skimming through Levi's own sketchbooks.

-Levi would soon work up the courage to ask MC to draw together, and set up for a full day of drawing. They'd sit at opposite ends of his room in beanbag chairs, MC working by the light of the fish tank as they draw the underwater landscape while Levi sat closer to his computer, lofi music filling the quiet for a relaxing ambiance. He takes the time to repay the favor, drawing MC as they worked. His eyes on lingered on them, trying to memorize their face as he drew. Every so often MC would catch him staring and smile, lifting up their own sketchbook to show their progress. Levi's heart ran a little faster with that smile and he did the same- MC pretended not to notice that Levi only showed them the left page when he was clearly working on the right.

-Levi chickened out of showing them that day, but MC would find the picture tucked between dvd cases and a snack plate that had been left in front of their door the next time they were feeling down.

((Lucifer))

#obey me leviathan #obey me levi #obey me levi x mc

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illfoandillfie · 1 year

Note

“I’d keep quiet unless you want to get caught” with Jack if you please 🤭. Happy Birthday my Brigid 💜

ahhh ty my Lauren 💙

Gotta admit I struggled with this one a bit and ended up rewriting it entirely but I think I'm happy with it now! Apparently I am only capable of writing properly late at night tho so please excuse any mistakes, ya girl is sleeby. This is also the first time I've written Jack so hopefully I got his voice right...

warnings: P in V sex, secret relationship, hotel sex, but also work sex i guess, hand over mouth to muffle sound, fingering, references to oral (f receiving), ummmm spy shenanigans, jack do be flirty and a bit dom

“And here I was thinkin' a mission in a hotel could double as a romantic getaway.” Jack sat down in the chair behind your desk. You didn’t mind, you were too nervous to sit, preferring to pace about in front of the desk, “You’ll have to be on your best behaviour.” A chuckle from Jack made you stop and look at him, “I’m serious Jack. Don’t you think it’s weird Agent Drambuie would be assigned to this case with us? I mean it sounded like a pretty simple intelligence mission, we’d be perfectly capable of doing it without a third.” When Jack still didn’t seem to be grasping what you were getting at you added, “What if they suspect we’re together?” “Oh come on, sugar, I don’t think they’d care that much.” “Jack you literally have letters, plural, warning you that fraternizing with other agents could land you in a permanent desk job.” He waved his hand dismissively, “That was just about me flirtin’ with new recruits. Nothing to do with datin'.” You weren’t convinced and Jack must have been able to tell because he stood up and moved around the desk to you. He grabbed your hands, his thumbs rubbing over your knuckles, "You don’t have to worry darlin’. I understand why we’re keepin' this secret.” His tone became more playful as he said, “You turned me down so many times it must be hard for you to admit you like me.” You rolled your eyes but unfortunately Jack was very good at disarming you. “And of course we don’t want management gettin' the wrong idea and takin' us out of fieldwork.” “Exactly! Which is why you need to behave. That means no first names, no innuendos about being in a hotel room with me. In fact, no flirting at all.” Jack looked aghast and dropped your hands, “C’mon darlin’ be serious. If I stopped flirtin’ with you Drambuie is gonna get mighty suspicious don’t you think? Especially with you in one of theose cute maid outfits and all. How could I possibly not comment?” “Housekeeping uniforms are nowhere near what you’re imagining. But I take your point. Flirting is allowed. But nothing that might get us caught. If we do decide to go public I want it to be on our terms.” “Of course sugar. I mean Agent.” You leant up to give him a quick kiss on the corner of his mouth and then rubbed away the lipstick mark.

The next day you made your way to the hotel. Agents Drambuie and Whiskey were already there and had been for several hours, each booked into a separate room. Luckily the pair you were trying to spy on didn’t seem to suspect they’d been targeted. They’d used their real names and credit cards while booking their rooms, so you’d been handed files on both of them as you were handed the assignment and you knew exactly when they were due. Jack had headed to the hotel the previous night, just in case your targets were smarter than they seemed and would turn up early but he’d reported nothing. Drambuie had spent the morning in the café across the street, under cover as a business man powering through a presentation and staying fueled with coffee. He’d really been watching for the pair to turn up so he could follow them into the hotel and claim his own room. You were coming in last, dressed in a housekeeping uniform and entering via the staff entrance. Acting as if you belonged there you found one of the housekeeping carts and took it up to the right floor. Drambuie had confirmed the room number of the suspects and Jack had confirmed that, after leaving their bags upstairs, they’d headed down to the hotel’s restaurant. He was still their watching them. Which you knew because he was using the coms channel continuously. “I’m very excited to see this uniform of yours sweetheart,” he drawled through your earpiece. You let out an annoyed huff, silently swearing to get back at him just as soon as you could. “Although,” he continued when he realised you weren’t responding, “I think my cover would be much better if you were in here with me. A man drinkin' on his own is much more noticeable than one buying for a pretty girl.” “Keep dreaming, Agent,” you said into your mic, emphasising the title, “I wouldn’t accept a drink from you anyway.” You heard Drambuie chuckle and prayed Jack had the sense not to take the flirting too far while you were being listened to. “Careful sweetheart, keep turnin’ me down like this and I’ll have to send a drink to the woman at the bar instead.” You scowled at the thought but said, “You do that. Just be quiet about it so I can focus on my job.” Jack did quiet down after that, for the most part anyway, which you were pleased about. You were close to the room and didn’t want any distractions while you bugged the place.

It only took a few minutes. You let yourself in, stuck the tech in corners and under benches and behind the TV. You even put one in the toilet cistern. And then you were gone, collecting your trolly of cleaning products and wheeling it off to the floor above. Drambuie let you into his room and you wheeled the trolly in to hide it so you’d have easy access when it came time to collect the bugs and leave. “How’d it go?” he asked, helping you manoeuvre the trolly. “Good, they’re all hidden and on.” “Excellent.” Drambuie pulled out his laptop and began running a diagnostics but before he’d finished there was a knock at the door. You were still in uniform and couldn’t be seen in case it was actual hotel staff, so Drambuie opened the door, but it was only Jack. “They’re still downstairs, probably will be for a while, but I couldn’t resist this party.” Catching sight of you he let out a whistle, “sweetheart you look good dressed like that.” “Stop calling me sweetheart.” His only response was a wink and you sighed, settling in for a long wait. Fortunately, Jack’s behaviour wasn’t just getting to you. After he’d made sure the tech was running smoothly and after you’d had to come up with retorts to three more of Jack’s comments, Drambuie stood up and moved towards the door. “As fun as listening to you two bicker is, I think it’s my turn to hit the bar. Anyone want to come with?” “Thanks but I’ve got to change and all. Feel like I need a shower after this moron’s,” you jabbed your thumb at Jack, “attention,” “Well if she’s gonna be busy I guess I should stay and keep an eye on the screen in case anythin' happens. Let me know if the blonde is still sitting on her own down there.” Drambuie laughed as he left and Jack followed him to the door, peering out of the peephole. “About fuckin' time,” he half muttered, striding back across the room. “What?” was all you managed to get out before he tugged you into him, his lips insistent against yours.

“Woah, hey, what are you doing?” you asked as soon as he’d loosened his grip, a little breathless from the kiss. “Despite what you said, you do look very sexy in that uniform. Been takin' all my willpower not to pull you onto my lap.” You glanced down at the shapeless, starchy dress and then shook your head, before Jack could distract you any further, “What about Drambuie? What if he’s in the next room spying on us?” “Sugar, you’re soundin’ a little paranoid there. I watched him go to the elevator.” “But what if-” you gasped as you felt Jack’s fingers stroking along the front of your underpants. You’d not even realised his hand was under your dress and then suddenly he was teasing you through your panties, pulling a small whine from your throat as he rubbed at your clit. “But isn’t it,” he kissed your throat just under your jaw, “kinda hot,” another kiss, “to do this in secret,” another kiss, “on a mission.” He marked the end of the sentence by nipping at your pulse point. It was impossible to disagree. His fingers felt too good on your pussy and his lips too good on your throat. His voice was gruff with desire and every breath you took made your head swim with his scent. It was intoxicating, especially after all the work he’d put into flirting, even trying to make you jealous. “God Jack, fuck me,” He chuckled, “Anyway you want darlin’. But I’d keep quiet, just in case. Unless you want to be caught?” You shakily managed to say you didn’t, trying to reach for Jack’s belt though he stopped you. “Well can you keep quiet then?” “Yeah.” Your agreement was undermined by the way you whimpered as Jack pushed the fabric of your panties aside and stroked your wet slit. “Sugar, I’m not sure you can manage it. Maybe I should be on top to keep you in line.” You nodded again, letting him manoeuvre you to the bed. He quickly removed your underwear, smiling as he pushed your legs open and caught his first glimpse of your cunt. “Stay there,” he ordered as he undid his belt and got his cock out. You squirmed as you watched him push his pants down just far enough, revealing first the dark curls around the base and then the full length of it. But your eagerness was nothing to Jack’s. The uniform he’d so professed to love became an inconvenience as the skirt slipped and blocked his view, and Jack growled as he pushed the material up again.

With one hand, Jack reached forward and covered your mouth, an act that was hot on it’s own but especially so with his other hand touching your pussy. He slid his fingers along your slit, spreading your wetness around. Circling your clit and then sliding down to play with your entrance, slipping inside a little but never far enough. And then he’d draw them away, following the line of your body down further, towards your asshole, stopping well before he reached it and slipping back the other way to torment you further. You whined with each teasing stroke, his palm keeping you muffled. “Shame I can’t eat you out and keep you quiet at the same time. You’ll have to help me out darlin’.” You expected him to uncover your mouth, maybe replace his hand with your panties or something similar. Instead, his palm stayed firm over your lips. It was your hand that moved as he pulled it down to your cunt, directing you to touch yourself. At first he guided you but soon enough he’d let go to relieve his own need a little, stroking himself slowly as he watched on. You traced a similar path to the one jack had made but quickly decided you needed more. Spreading yourself open with one hand, you began to finger yourself with the other, eyes glued on Jack to catch his reaction. He was as affected as you’d hoped, fighting to control his own self-pleasuring touch, his other hand tightening against your face. It soon grew to be more than he could stand and he yanked your wet fingers up to his lips, indulging himself with your taste. “Fuck, sugar. I should gag you and have a proper feast.” He smirked at your groan, “But maybe I’ll save that for when we get home and I can tie you to my bed. Really take my time. For now I’ll let you have my cock.” You whimpered the word please into his palm, unsure which scenario you were begging for, just desperate for something. But Jack took it as enthusiasm for his dick, notching himself at your hole and sinking into you as he pressed his lips to your chest. You raised your hips and spread your legs as wide as was comfortable, trying to accommodate his length as he slowly worked into you. And you kept up a slew of whines and moans and other delicious sounds that Jack reluctantly kept muffled, trying to urge him to move, to go faster.

Jack however was very conscious of just how loud you both could be. Not just your vocalisations or his, but also the sounds of skin slapping against skin as he fucked you, any creaks the bed might make, even just heavy breathing. As much as he didn’t believe Drambuie was there to spy on you, he still didn’t want you to get caught. So he held back, ignoring your attempts to beg for more without actually being able to beg. Instead of pulling almost all the way out of your cunt and driving forward hard like he wanted to do, he used more sedate thrusts but kept his cock buried deep within you, continuously rubbing against one or two very nice spots. Your attempts to make him switch his pace came to an abrupt stop and you threw your head back, arching up into his chest as you felt the full pleasure of his repetitive grinding. “That’s my girl,” he groaned, realising he’d found the perfect angle, “gonna make you feel so good darlin’.” He made sure he didn’t lose the momentum too much, even if his hips jolted out of time because you’d tightened around his cock. Not even when he told you to rub your clit for him and had accidentally moaned himself when your fingers brushed against his base. Thankfully he’d been able to smother his moan with your lips, uncovering your mouth long enough to give you an equally deep kiss until he needed to pull away for air. He’d recovered your mouth with his hand though, feeling you clenching around him more frequently and wanting to see you cum as well as feel it. You gasped and panted as your orgasm neared, finishing with a stifled cry of Jack’s name. He followed you over the edge quickly, burying his face in the crook of your neck to try and suppress his own sounds of pleasure as he spilled himself between your legs.

For a moment you both forgot where you were. You wrapped your arms around Jack as he kissed you again, trying to dull the ache as he pulled his cock from you. But even after that you were both reluctant to stop. His hand found your breast and you somehow managed to get his thigh between your legs as you rolled over, rocking your hips against it. You might even have kept going, humping him into a second found, but the sound of a door shutting heavily across the hall broke through the sense of solitude and you realised what position you were in. “See,” he said, his cockiness dulled a little by how fucked out he looked, “I said it’d be fun.” “Mmhmm, it was,” you agreed, happy to concede that point to him, “But you should clean up and then meet Drambuie downstairs. Double check he’s still there. I’ll stay and watch the computer.” Jack sighed, “Alright sugar. Sorry, Agent. If it’ll make you less paranoid, I’ll check.” “Thank you, baby.” You smiled, stealing a final kiss before you kicked Jack out of the bed, “If it turns out he’s not spying on us I’ll let you shower with me before we leave.”

#my writing #my blurbs #jack daniels x reader #jack daniels smut #jack daniels imagine #pedro pascal smut #pedro pascal imagine #bday blurbs 2023 #i really hope this is good lauren lmao

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landofanimes · 4 months

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My 2023 Anime Watchlist

Anime (and related-media) I've watched this year

Tokyo Mew Mew New Season 2 (2023)

Second (and final?) season of the Tokyo Mew Mew reboot! Always here for some good magical girls! I never finished watching the original series, so it was nice to see how the story goes. I wouldn't call it amazing, but it's a cool series. I wish they would make a third season for the A La Mode arc which came out later, but it seems they might be ending it here, Idk (I've never read the manga either)...

Subs since there's no dub.

Saint Seiya: The Beginning a.k.a. Knights of the Zodiac (2023)

Live-action movie adaption. Would I watch more if they do it? Yeah. Was it good? Not really... I'm not saying it's horrible, but eh, it was weak. The absence of 3 out of 5 boys is definetely felt. I mean, I didn't expect much of it, so it's not like I was dissappointed! ^^' I'm a SS fan, so I was in to see what they cooked.

I watched it dubbed at the cinema (there wasn't a subbed session but it's fine!).

One Piece: The Series Season 1 (2023)

Live-action adaption of the first arc. My first contact with the franchise! Charismatic group, the power of friendship, adventure in a new world, fun pirate crews... I loved it. Still pondering if I should get into this giant beast of an anime. It's just...So long. Never-ending. I'm sure I would like it but dear lord, is it long. Anyway. For now I'll content myself with waiting for the second season.

I alternated between dubs and subs! I think I prefer subbed but I wanted to check out the dub and it was also very good.

Porco Rosso (1992)

A Ghibli/Hayao Miyazaki oldie! I was keeping an eye out for the Ghibli Fest going on in the US this year and I realized this was the only movie in the list I hadn't watched yet, so. It's definetely not among my favorites, but it was a good movie. A Pig-faced bounty hunter pilot in and adventure through Italy. Needed a little more Gina thought!

Subs cause there's no dub.

Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac Season 2 (2022)

Second season of the 3DCG reboot of Saint Seiya, covering the first half of the 12 Temples arc. It's definetely still way below the classic series, but the battles had quite an upgrade from season 1! Also no time spent on original characters I don't care about :) And of course it's always a pleasure to see the Gold Saints... and the scenes the classic series didn't adapt! I'm glad season 3 is coming next year!

I watched it dubbed (sadly they changed the og cast in my country, but the new one did a good job too).

YashaHime: Princess Half-Demon Season 2 (2022-23)

Second (and final?) season of the Inu-Yasha spin-off sequel. Look, Yashahime has a lot of flaws, but it has its qualities too and personally I enjoyed it. Nice to travel around the feudal era in this world with familiar and new characters. I would watch more but I think that was it? Would definetely want them to make some changes... I heard the manga is different, so...food for thought!

I didn't have access to the dub when I watched s1 but this time I did! (I'm not very fond of parts of the dub, but overall it was good).

Spy x Family S1 (2022) and S2 (2023)

After seeing gifs since last year I finally sit down to watch it! It's cute, it's funny, and it's cool! Spies, assassins, school, AND family shenanigans! Loved it. Bring me more. Looking forward for the upcoming movie and for the s3 announcement.

I watched most of it dubbed but the dub is a few episodes behind the subbed version so I finished season 2 in Japanese.

Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning (2023)

I didn't even watch Kizuna but I heard it wasn't necessary so might as well go, specially since they actually put this movie in theaters in my country and got most of the og dub cast... Sadly I wasn't impressed by the movie. I thought it was pretty meh. Could have given more for the group to do (it was mostly about the new character). Anyway... PS: The opening sequence was LOVELY though!!! ^^

Yu Yu Hakusho (1992-94)

I used to watch it back in the day, but never watched all of it until now! Good stuff. Not perfect, but it's a great series!!! Charismatic group, cool friendships, cool big bads, spirit detective shenaningans, youkai, and of course, battle tournaments!

Watched it dubbed, of course (except for the specials, since they weren't dubbed here). The series was in my watchlist for years but I guess knowing there would be "new" content is always a good push, which brings me to:

Yu Yu Hakusho Season 1 (2023)

Live-action adaption of the first 2(!) arcs. A pleasant surprise! The biggest problem here is definetely that it's too short. There's other flaws too, sure, but still! I had my doubts but turns out I really liked it, overall positive impression. I really hope they make more in the future!

I've watched it twice, once dubbed and once subbed!

#2023 #blog #yu yu hakusho live action #one piece the series #tokyo mew mew new #hanyo no yashahime #spy x family #saint seiya the beginning #digimon 02 the beginning #yu yu hakusho #knights of the zodiac #porco rosso #digimon 02 #digimon #cdz #mew mew power #one piece #I've also rewatched atla s1 and part of s2!

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waitingforwinterwinds · 1 year

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ASOS; Steel and Snow: 26 JON III (pages 355-366)

"You know nothing, Jon Snow." - Ygritte, Mother of Memes

Jon and the wildlings prepare to cross the wall, Ygritte finds a cave with secret tunnels galore and lore.

The Reader thinks they should be allowed to take certain 'romantic tropes' away from some authors, and warns drinking game players to switch to non-alcoholics again. I know one thing, Jon Snow: alcohol poisoning is bad for you.

... Ygritte reconfirming that Jon basically wildling proposed to her, even accidentally and I spent five minutes staring into space on a mental tangent. Modern AU, the boys are at a pub, and Sam is nervous about proposing to Gilly, and Jon's not being much help, he's a few beers in and his advice is all "just do it." Sam's all "but how???" So Jon gets up, "like this," he says, steps over to a young lady nearby, grabs her attention, drops to his knees and proposes to her. She pauses, then "oh my gosh yes!" And the entire pub breaks into cheers. Someone was filming unrelated tiktok shit and the clip of the "proposal" goes viral. Meanwhile, Ygritte is introducing herself to Jon and joining his table because there's a bloke she's trying to avoid lurking elsewhere in the pub. Shenanigans, misunderstanding, and friendships ensue. Several years later, Jon proposes in the same pub but for realsies. Sam managed to propose to Gilly by accident while he was attempting to explain the Jon/Ygritte proposal that has lead to their fake-dating rom-com.

Sorry, super tired tonight. Focusing, Let's Go!

(Legit though, Book!Ygritte ignoring Jon's clear attempts to shut that shit down in the previous chapter really do colour this relationship in a bad light, unfortunately, between the canon accidental proposal and the sheer number of times I've seen this same/similar set up in someone chasing someone else to the point of stalking and having it framed as romantic by the narrative, especially by male writers who seem to have a secret to desire to be considered that desirable no matter how much of a piece of trash they are or how often they (their character) reject affection it is still offered to them (their character), to (by proxy) live out the fantasy of someone wanting them no matter how they behave because they can't just contextualise being desired in a normal or healthy way... where was I going with this? ... oh right: I've seen this relationship redflag played for laughs so often it's become background noise which is perhaps the most terrifying thing about it as a recurring trope.)

... Focusing for realsies, Let's Go!

I have no choice, he'd told himself the first time, when she slipped beneath his sleeping skins. ... A part, he tried to remind himself afterward. I'm playing a part.

yeah, see, the problem with written word is that there's only so much context regarding tone.

I could honestly read this internal dialogue as either "Jon's trying to cope with being coerced into sex he genuinely didn't want, attempting to justify and rationalise what happened so he doesn't have to face the idea that he was raped" or "Jon's looking for excuses to justify doing it, because he genuinely wanted to, but he didn't want to admit that he had abandoned his oaths so readily when he's spent so much of his life convinced he wouldn't be swayed by sexual interest."

Cause on the one hand: this series doesn't shy away from various form of sexual abuse, but on the other hand, I have way too often seen this type of scenario written in basically the same way, and the author thinking it is genuinely healthy and romantic.

Which one did GRRM mean? I don't know and it bothers me.

... Ah, and there's "you know nothing Jon Snow" back for sex joke meme purposes.

...teenage hormones, the true foe of the Stark household.

... Arson Iceaxe sounds like the online handle of a 12 year old edgelord.

... and meme'd again. Is this the chapter where GRRM subconsciously sensed "you know nothing, Jon Snow" would one day become a meme? should I add it to the drinking game list, do you think? things I add to the list seem to bugger off more quickly once they're on... except for Lemons in that one Arya chapter... (I've collated the list at the bottom of the post.)

"- There are hundreds o' caves in these hills, and deep down they all connect. There's even a way under your wall. Gorne's way."

Oh? And will that be playing a role at a later date, or is this just more flavour text?

"The way under the Wall was lost as well?" "Some have searched for it. The that go too deep find Gendel's children, and Gendel's children are always hungry. (...) There's naught to east in the dark but flesh."

Cave cannibals. awesome. I think I saw that episode of Supernatural. Oh but legit, Cave Cannibals would be so terrifying. Like that movie, The Descent? I think it was called.

🎶Secret Tunnel🎶Secret Tunnel🎶Under the ice Wall🎶secret secret secret secret tunnel!🎶 uhhh, then it goes... uhmmm... oh right 🎶AND DIEEEEEEE🎶

"He's of my village. You know nothing, Jon Snow. A true man steals a woman from afar, t' strengthen the clan. Women who bed brothers or fathers or clan kin offend the gods, and are cursed with weak and sickly children. Even monsters."

Wildlings and old gods not into incest, and understand the correlation between inbreeding and the genetic degradation caused by inbreeding.

Yet more people smarter than Cersei and Jaime.

His guilt came back afterward, but weaker than before. If this is so wrong, he wondered, why did the gods make it feel so good?

I have a sinking feeling, I know which interpretation GRRM was going for.

*casually kicks GRRM out a window onto a safety net below* You live only because we still await the Winds of Winter.

Well, at least Jon feels some shame over breaking his oaths. Unlike Robb.

Drinking Meme Game:

"-There now, there now, yes, sweet, sweet. You know nothing, Jon Snow, but I can show you. -" ... "A dead end?" "You know nothing, Jon Snow, It went on and on and on. -" ... "- He died as well." "You know nothing, Jon Snow. Gendel did not die. -" ... "You're older than me." "Aye, and wiser. You know nothing, Jon Snow." ... "If you want to look, you have to show. You know nothing, Jon Snow." ... "You know nothing, Jon Snow. Noth-oh. Oh. OHHH." ... "He's of my village. You know nothing, Jon Snow. A true man steals a woman from afar, t' strengthen the clan. -" ... "- I thought you'd know to pluck me then for certain, but you didn't. You know nothing, Jon Snow." She gave him a shy smile. "You might be learning some, though."

You know nothing, Jon Snow = 8 x 🧋

#a storm of swords #steel and snow #a song of ice and fire #jon snow #a chapter a day reading #asos #asoiaf

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soleil-aelius · 9 months

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https://www.tumblr . com/soleil-aelius/721989127737884672/the-baby-of-the-family-s%C3%B3ley-grew-up-surrounded

can you tell anon/everyone more about your ocs pre wol importance life?? + anon thinks your wol is cool

(post anon is talking about)

Oh, thank you for the kind words! ^^ I've been having a lot of fun exploring Soleil's backstory as more than a "place he was before the events of the game" thing. This got away from me so I'll pop it behind a read more.

Soleil's forest name was Sóley Hyskaris (Sóley is an Icelandic name meaning Buttercup. It's pronounced similarly to Soleil, though you put the stress on the first syllable). As I mentioned in the post, he's the youngest of his siblings, with a ton of older sisters. With how long-lived Viera are, I imagine they tend end up with large families with siblings spaced out haphazardly. In Sol's case, there's an especially large gap between him and the next youngest sibling (Yrena).

Soleil was kind of a spur-of-the-moment baby. His other parent was an especially reclusive Wood Warder named Vrel, who very, very rarely ever returned to the village. Arís had one other child with them previously (Kajsa) almost a century before Sol came around. Vrel and Arís had the potential to have an epic, fairytale romance, but they both found found too much fulfillment in their respective roles/jobs to be happy with the compromises they would need to make to be together. It might not be ideal, but they're content with the choices they've made and cherish the moments they do spend together. I like to imagine that if Soleil had stayed in the forest/as a Warder, he would have eventually ended up working alongside Vrel.

As far as Soleil's siblings go, I don't have an exact number yet. Kajsa was the first family member I fleshed out, and she and Sol definitely have a special relationship because of it. She was fully an adult and settled into her life when he was born, so she got to watch him grow up in a way that didn't happen with her other siblings. Soleil was a very shy child so he spent a lot of time looking over his shoulder for encouragement from his family. Kajsa is an absolute whirlwind of confidence, so she was always one of his loudest cheerleaders. Honestly, her encouragement and prodding for him to go explore the village/forest is probably one of the main reasons baby Sol ever left his mother's side growing up. She's also the reason Soleil got into most shenanigans lol.

Yrena was also an adult by the time Sol came around, but she was still very much the baby of the family (until she was able to hand that title down to him). She's all warmth and sunshine, with unerring optimism and a dreamer's imagination. She taught Sol that there's beauty and worth in everything and everyone. Her brand of support was much gentler than Kajsa's, but just as valuable. In his darkest moments I think memories of her quiet acceptance help Sol find his way back to the light, as cheesy as that sounds.

I could probably go one for much much longer I didn't even touch on his childhood friend Máni but I hope that was a decent primer! And thank you again for giving me the opportunity to ramble about my blorbos :3

#Heart and Sol #ask answered #ffxiv #Sorry this took me so long to get to; I was away camping with spotty reception #gosh i love viera #[gently pats]#I am once again asking squenix to give us more viera lore for me to play with

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ramblings-of-a-mad-cat · 2 years

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Hi there. I don't know if you remember me, but I'm your Verucca Salt Anon. I thought it might be prudent to reach out seeing as Verucca was just introduced into the game.

I think the last time I reached out was mid 2021, but since then I've graduated high school and am college bound. I've cleared up some family medical issues as well. Things are pretty good right now. I've spent the past year managing my schooling, community theater, and part-time job. Unfortunately, that hasn't left much time for me to create content for tumblr. On a bad day, I deleted all my content (still have the google docs tho) and now I just reblog good luck posts. They seem to work!

As for HPHM, what can I say, but I'm still a slut for year 5. In my canon, Olivia and Duncan play much larger roles in year 7, and it's great to see the game recognize them- at least Olivia, that is. My current project is a rewrite of the dinner scene in chapter 41 (sorry datamine spoilers) where MC, Jacob, and their invited friends (Tulip who replaces Corey for MC, and Duncan and Olivia for Jacob) meet with Uncle Hugh (Peregrine) and his son Drew. Shenanigans ensue as the group tries to sus out Hugh's true motives while trying not to be indoctrinated into R.

While I cannot say this was how I intended my canon to work out, Uncle Hugh and Drew were preexisting characters, even if a minor ones. I can say proudly that I predicted and headcanon Veruca being the Auntie. Jack still works at Tesco, and he's recently gotten a raise.

Thank you for the support and always answering my asks and ideas. My favorite times of day where at night when you posted your asks. On hard days, it gave me something to look forward too. Thanks again!

I remember you! How could I forget you? My old friend! I never forget one of my recurring anons. (Which does remind me. I wonder how the Sleeping Erika Anon is doing? Haven't heard from em in a while.) Either way, can I just say well done? Can we give a round of applause for the V.S. Anon, seriously? That sounds intense, and it sounds like you've been working hard. Medical issues in particular are never easy to go through, and I hope everything's going better now.

Also, have to pause and give a shoutout to my fellow thespian. I recently came back to my children's theatre program and it's like the breath of life. Like I've been in a coma for the last two years and I'm finally awake. Theatre just makes everything better.

I'm so sorry you deleted your content! For real, I hear about my friends doing that from time to time and it's always a crying shame...but at least it's safe in a backup! Google Docs is such a lifesaver. I remember finding it in high school and never looking back - I grew up on Microsoft Word but I haven't touched it in years. I do know what you mean about the good luck posts, though. They are wholesome and make the day that much better. I follow a blog that posts things like that alongside Undertale characters. It's always a spirit booster.

Holy heck, if that line doesn't describe me as well. We should, frankly, get that posted on tee-shirts. #StillASlutForYear5. I can relate, so damn much. I will never complain about more content for Olivia and Duncan. That whole trio is just a goldmine. I'm also seriously digging all of your ideas. You know me so well. When you mentioned substituting Tulip in? Oh, you knew what you were doing. Anyone can get my attention using the Rebellious Ravenclaw. All they need is a box, a stick to hold it up, and a post about Tulip. I'll always get caught. I also like how a lot of people are replacing Peregrine with an uncle - Jacob is one thing, he was a major presence in the game from jump, but by Year 7, most of us already have a defined character in place for MC's dad.

It feels good to have a theory be confirmed, doesn't it? While I was technically off, (I figured The Leader would be MC's mum) I knew it had to be one of the parents, if not both. Congrats on having your Verucca headcanon proved to be true!

V.A. Anon, do you have any idea how much messages like that mean to me? Because they give me a good feeling on MY bad days. You are so damn kind, and creative as well! I am lucky to know you, and honored to have you a regular in my inbox!

#The Verucca Salt Anon #The Prodigal Salt Returns!#HPHM Headcanons #HPHM Datamines #Wholesome #My anons are the best

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anxioussailorsoldier · 5 years

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gourry: aren’t your tits meant to get bigger when you’re pregnant? lina: you’re walking on thin ice, mister

I got this slayers idea when I was thinking about how the heck they’d manage to eventually have kids, when they can’t even admit how much they love each other. SO, immaculate conception! I think this is fairly in-line with the crazy shit that happens in the series, so I hope you like it or feel like checking this old anime out :’)

#long post #slayers #gourry gabriev #lina inverse #gourrina #comic #gourry #lina #スレイヤーズ #bonus page to follow soon starring zel and amelia :')#next panel immediately following this one would be lina going 'wait so does the lake not take into account what *I* want?!'#and gourry telling her to go to sleep #because they both know she'd never admit she wants this too #anyway i love mumma lina #i've spent way too much time thinking about the shenanigans this would mean #gourry being the one to notice Lina is ‘late’ because he keeps track of her periods (‘times when she’s more likely to want to fireball me’)#lina making gourry get her weird food in the middle of the night #taking birthing classes together and being so awkward about it because they have barely touched each other and not in an intimate way #ahahaha #imagine poor lina going to the doctor and saying 'i dont know how i became pregnant'#and the doctor just looks at the strapping young man who came with her #and back at lina #and says 'uh huh'#X)#i hope this captures their dynamic well!#lina in charge and making gourry do shit and she's the brains of the operation #he's along for the ride because he loves her very much #its weird that we dont know much about his family but im fairly sure its canon he loves kids and babies so GIVE LETS HIM THE FAMILY HE WANTS

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batmanisagatewaydrug · 2 years

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reading update

what's up gang! I've accepted that I probably won't hit my stated goal of reading 69 books before the year is over, but I have been on a MAJOR reading kick lately and I have way more to report than last month.

what have I been reading?

Folklorn (Angela Mi Young Hur, 2021) - I stand by everything I said last month when I was just starting to get really absorbed in this novel - the prose is deliciously engrossing, rolling around in the expanse between scientific observation and poetic description, the two melding seamlessly to create a sharp-eyed and cynical perspective - and am so glad I happened upon it. a contemporary story filled with ghosts, a fascinating framing device for stories about immigration, identity, mental illness, and trauma.

Superman Smashes the Klan (Gene Luen Yang, 2020) - I don't read a lot of comics, and I read even fewer comics by the big two publishers, but every time I do I'm left with the unshakeable feeling that I should really read more comics. Yang pulls together a tight and charming story of 1940s Metropolis, weaving together the story of Lan-Shin "Roberta" Lee, a young Chinese-American girl who faces covert and overt racism upon moving to the city with her family, and Clark Kent, who is early in his career as Superman and struggling with the burgeoning realization of alien heritage. their stories converge as a hate group that's definitely not the KKK targets the Lees and forces Clark to decide whether or not he's willing to let the world know exactly how different he really is if it means saving the day. 10/10 feel-good superhero shenanigans, strongly recommend.

Empire of Gold (S.A. Chakraborty, 2020) - man, what's even left to say? Chakraborty sat me down for a fucking masterclass in how to end an epic fantasy series, with resolutions for each of her main three characters that took my breath away with just how satisfying they each managed to be. I spent the last 60 or so pages sobbing pretty much continuously and that's the highest recommendation I can give.

Bloodchild and Other Stories (Octavia E. Butler, 1996) - I really ought to savor each of Butler's books when I read them, because there are only so many and I'll be terribly sad when there's nothing new left for me to read, but I devoured this small collection in a day because I simply couldn't put it down. the inclusion of a short afterword for each story makes so clear the degree to which Butler wrote to engage her own curiosities, and as ever she brings an amazingly human touch to the strange and dangerous. as always, my utmost respect for the queen.

The Girl Who Kept Winter (Giao Chi, 2020) - my understanding is that this is an English translation of a Vietnamese novel published in 2007, and my GOD have English-speaking audiences been missing out. The Girl Who Kept Winter feels like a lot of things - Labyrinth, sort of (Leatherback, Anole, and Switch would be excellent Muppets), and Galavant, a little (if people burst into elaborate displays of magical kung fu instead of musical numbers), and maybe the Princess Bride (if I liked the Princess Bride). it's a romance, it's an adventure, it's a martial arts movie, it's a comedy, it's a whale of a good time that took me by surprise at every turn. I want to recommend it to everybody I know.

Once More Upon a Time (Roshani Chokshi, 2020) - a delicious little nugget of a story, an offbeat fairytale about a king and queen embarking on a quest to recover their lost love. at a petite 144 pages it goes down like literary cotton candy, sugary and sparkling and gone before you can think too hard about it at all, leaving nothing but a sweet aftertaste in its wake.

Outlawed (Anna North, 2021) - the entire time I was devouring this book I couldn't help but this that it was exactly what I had hoped Upright Women Wanted would be. a queer, crunchy western, taking place in an alternate American history in which the country has been left in fertility-obsessed shambles in the wake of a population-destroying flu, where barren women are liable to be hanged as witches at worst or cast out from their societies at best. our protagonist, an aspiring midwife named Ada, finds herself unable to conceive a child by her husband and does what any sensible young woman would do - starts serving at the doctor to a gang of outlaws led by a charismatic, enigmatic, and seemingly genderless leader known only as The Kid. a rip-roaring story full of gender fuckery and shootouts.

what do I have checked out now?

Velvet Was the Night (Silvia Moreno-Garcia, 2021) - this honestly feels like a huge get; Moreno-Garcia's new releases usually have a waitlist a mile long. I'm only three chapters deep so far, but I feel like this thriller set among the political unrest of 1970's Mexico might be my favorite of Moreno-Garcia's novels yet.

Fireheart Tiger (Aliette de Bodard, 2021) - I haven't started this yet, but if there are two things I love it's political fantasy intrigue and a good little novella.

Milk Fed (Melissa Broder, 2021) - also haven't started this, but I am EXCITED. this is probably the contemporary novel of the year that I've been most looking forward to getting my hands on.

what do I have on hold?

Iron Widow (Xiran Jay Zhao, 2021) - STILL!! reader, I'm losing my mind here.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Becky Chambers, 2021) - if I go too long without Becky Chambers' gentle reflections on what it means to be a person I start getting antsy :)

#bookblr #reading updates

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fallowdoe · 3 years

Text

Massage one-shot GN! MC x Lucifer FLUFF

@cherryjkj thank for requesting love!

My keyboard broke at some point and I’ve never been more thankful to myslef for keeping my previous one

Requests are still open BTW

"You don’t really have to do this, you know?" MC sighed "It's not that bad anyway." they tried to convince him, but the eldest already knew not to trust the words of the stubborn exchange student. "I mean, I've had worse. It's really nothing out of unusual, haha." They tried casually laughing it off, despite being the one to loudly complain about it just a few minutes ago.

Outside the window, the wind was gently shaking the branches of trees surrounding the House of Lamentation. Most of the trees didn't have any leaves and were just swaying their thin, naked branches around. It was a cold day, the kind that required you to put on a few layers of clothing if you wanted to step outside. All of that added to the fact that the Devildom's usual sky and weather resembled the perfect Halloween night, could wear you out from time to time. On top of that, the universe decided to combine it with an incredibly exhausting day at RAD, leaving everyone spent and tired. You know that kind of day when you just can't wait to go home, bury yourself under a blanket and doze off? Yeah.

The great thing about the Devildom was that every day was full of exciting shenanigans, and as for the other thing, well… Some days just leave you a bit more worn out than usual and this was the current deal for MC.

"Oh? And I take that it wasn't you who just walked in here talking about, if I recall correctly, your back being a little…" Lucifer paused and pretended to be lost in thoughts for a second "ah, right, a little bitch today."

The two were sitting on the couch in his study. The fire was cracking gently, making the shadows looming behind them move playfully. It shouldn't be too surprising right now, that despite his usual cold attitude, seeing his love in pain really did make him melt at the spot. The least he could to help them relieve was offer a massage, right?

"Uhh, maybe it was me," they admitted and leaned further against him. Well, it wasn't exactly their back that was being a little bitch. In fact, their poor spine was the victim here. The victim of thick textbooks, stairs and other responsibilities. "Can you blame me, though? I mean, I feel like I've been carrying a bag of rocks with me the whole day. Good thing I don't have that ancient back of yours, it'd just crack heh- Ugh! Hey, don't pinch me!"

Lucifer let out a soft laugh, the one kind he kept only for them. His hands were pressing soft circles around their shoulder blades. MC sighed contently and leaned further into him so that he could work their magic. As cliche as that sounds, this man did work wonders.

Their eyes were following the chaotic movement of flames dancing in front of them, while their mind slowly drifted away. The pain, still present was slowly vanishing under the work of Lucifer's hands. He was much better than a regular person, that's for sure. MC wondered whether was it just a skill that he had or did he have to learn it. They tried to contain the laughter caused by the image of the mighty first-born taking special classes, earning a raised brow from the demon.

"This is much better than any painkiller. Not gonna lie, I could really get used to this." they smiled.

"As much as I love spoiling you like this, I'd rather prefer it if you didn't have to experience any pain in the first place." He said while placing a soft kiss on their neck. "If you wanted to I could take you to a good doctor, but the most important...-" it seemed like he was about to deliver one of his "old-man" lectures again.

"-I know, I know. Gotta take care of myself and all that stuff." They smiled again feeling the pain slip away from another part of their back. "You're the one to talk though, sitting at your desk for hours. I bet your back isn't doing any better than mine" they scolded him in the same fashion.

"My dear, it seems that you're forgetting that, unlike you, I don't have to worry about such ordinary human issues." He huffed, clearly amused at how even now, they were thinking about his wellbeing.

MC wriggled their way, somehow even closer, to him and leaned against his bigger frame. Lucifer wrapped his arms around them buried his face in the space between their neck and shoulders. They could clearly tell that a small smile was ghosting his lips, pride making him hide it from the world, so only they would know how they're making him feel.

"Feeling any better?" his breath tickled their skin making them giggle quietly.

"Much. Thank you, Lucifer." MC rested their head on his shoulder and smiled.

#obey me #obey me!#obey me lucifer #obey me shall we date

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fuckinuchihas · 3 years

Note

Emergency request! Around valentine day I requested an emergency request where male reader felt lovable and lead to sugawara confessing. And it was really comforting so I know it's weird but I've want a part 2. I just went to a wedding and it kinda hurts seeing people be in so much love. I was think just a part 2 where reader is like " do you really love me" and suga tells him yes and then proposes please and thank you , your work is amazing.

Okay so this came spilling out, apparently I really wanted to write this too! Well I hope you enjoy and while it does start off with insecurity and sad thoughts, I promise you its 100% happy ending, the happiest of endings so no worries please <3

Something has changed, shifted...and you’re not sure where you went wrong but you can feel him pulling away.

It’s been a while since this beautiful man came into your life and turned everything on its head by actually wanting you. Sometimes you still wonder if it’s a dream but then you’ll wake up with a feathery silver strand of hair stuck to your lips or his arms wrapped so tightly around you that it feels like he’s just as terrified to let go as you are that he’ll want to someday.

That day seems to get closer and closer with every breath.

It started with his jacket.

He’d been leaving it at your place for a while now but when you opened the small closet off to the side of your bedroom the familiar navy blue was gone, as was a couple of his shirts that had managed to make their way into your laundry.

You told yourself he probably just needed them because it was getting cooler, but then he wasn’t...wearing them.

Then there was the early Saturday morning spent with a friend, which by itself wasn’t a big deal, but he’d never intentionally left you out of his plans, not-not even as a friend.

You rack your brain trying to find anything that you could have done to change things...were you too clingy? Too insecure? Too...overwhelming?

Every insecurity you could think of suddenly rose to the surface and made it hard for you to breathe.

No...No, you forced the thoughts back down. Sugawara wasn’t perfect, not nearly as much as you’d initially believed but he wasn’t a coward or deceitful. If he wanted the relationship to end, he’d tell you outright. Even if it was a difficult conversation.

You sigh to yourself as you change from your slippers into actual shoes so you can check the mail. You shake yourself out of the funk as much as you can on your way down to the small mail office in your apartment complex.

When you open the box you feel a moment of soft surprise before your heart sinks back to your stomach.

Yet another wedding invitation.

You don’t mind spending money on a gift or even dressing up for the occasion when it’s someone close to you but the more weddings you attend the more disheartened you become.

Maybe that’s it…

Maybe Koshi has picked up on your wedding fever/depression and got scared away. You hadn’t really thought about it when mentioning your future plans that you had in mind. You didn’t need all the fancy stuff, not into the large crowds or dove releases, or any other number of shenanigans that normally turned out to be disasters.

Even if it were just you and him, a couple friends to witness and someone to officiate…that’s all you cared about.

*sigh*

Your phone buzzes in your pocket just after you step back through your front door and you glance down to see a text from the man himself.

Message from Koshi: You free this Saturday?

You narrow your gaze down at the phone.

Message to Koshi: You ask that as if I’m not always free on Saturdays….

Message from Koshi: Well it’s only polite to ask, otherwise I think it would be considered kidnapping...adult napping? Personnapping

You chuckle under your breath despite it all and smile down at your phone.

Message to Koshi: I’ll try to pencil you in.

Message from Koshi: Okay, I deserved that one...still, don’t make plans.

Message to Koshi: Well I can’t make any promises...if Kakashi sensei shows up I don’t know if I can hold back.

You know wherever he is right now he’s rolling his eyes at you but that’s okay, because he’s smiling too...or at least you hope he is. The old Sugawara would have smiled and laughed…

Message to Koshi: Is Saturday the next time I’ll see you?

You were almost too afraid to send it, not wanting to see the affirmation of that given it’s only Wednesday and you’ve gotten used to not sleeping alone.

Your mind goes through a variety of scenarios for the thing Saturday, is it a breakup thing? Is he going to explain why he’s been so distant? Is it...no, you won’t get your hopes up. It’s better to deal with worst case scenarios so you know how to handle yourself with whatever comes to pass.

Finally your phone buzzes again and you let out a low sigh of relief.

Message from Koshi: Of course not, I’ll be over for later...want me to stop and get food?

Message to Koshi: No, I’ll take care of dinner. You just bring yourself. TTYL

Message from Koshi: TTYL

That’s another thing that’s changed lately….he still says he loves you, it’s still there and it feels nice to hear it. But it’s changed somehow, like it’s as if he has to push it out rather than it flowing naturally. He gets this odd look in his eyes sometimes when he says it and if you didn’t know him better you’d worry he didn’t mean it at all.

But Sugawara isn’t insincere or deceptive.

Saturday comes and you wake up alone, it’s...not a great feeling.

You blindly reach for you phone waiting until your vision is actually useful before you check your messages.

Message from Koshi: Went for breakfast, bbs.

Well...that’s not so bad.

You check the clock, it’s a little earlier than you usually get up… maybe an hour or so. You contemplate going back to bed but if he’s getting you something warm to eat and drink, it might be worth staying awake.

When that hour passes alongside another, you start to worry.

Message to Koshi: Everything okay?

Almost immediately you have a response.

Message from Koshi: Yes, sorry I got caught up with something but I’ll be back in 10.

You try not to focus on the long absence instead, moving to get dressed. Something about still being in bed half naked leaves you feeling vulnerable.

When he enters the apartment a few moments later, as promised, he’s wearing a warm smile, flushed cheeks, and holding out a bag of piping hot food and a warm drink that heats your hand when you take it.

Things aren’t adding up… how has he been gone so long, gotten caught up in something unplanned, and still carrying hot food and drink when he returns?

Something dark and ugly curls in your belly.

“Suga…” you start, wanting to bring it up but part of you is also terrified that this will spur the impending talk ahead even faster.

“Yes?”

“Nevermind,” you say, taking a sip of your drink. “This is good thank you.”

“Of course. Anything for you, Love.”

It almost hurts more than it heals.

It’s nearly time to get ready, he mentioned wanting to leave around seven so you start to ask questions. “Where are we going? What should I wear? Etc…” all the accompanying answers are vague at best, but you don’t push. Despite the logical part of your brain knowing you need to confront this, something that feels protective, or like a defense mechanism, is screaming at you not to push. As if holding your tongue will make him want to keep you around, even for just a minute longer.

When he shows back up at your apartment after leaving to get dressed, you feel completely lost. He looks good, well he always looks good but...fuck you were not prepared for the sight of him in dark slacks with a crimson button up and a silver vest that hugs his form.

“I am-I’m completely underdressed...why didn’t you tell me…” you say, feeling both frustrated and emotional because wouldn’t it just be your luck that the man you love looks his most beautiful on the night he breaks your heart.

“You look amazing, don’t worry… there’s not going to be a crowd, c’mon.” he says, offering his arm and though neither of you usually engage in pda, there’s something that seems so inherently romantic about it that you can’t stop yourself from taking it.

“Are you willing to tell me where we’re going...now?” you ask, but he just winks at you and shakes his head.

You try to hide your frustration, it must not work too well because he just laughs, “Don’t worry, I’m not personnapping you, if you don’t like it we can leave.”

You move together side by side for a while until a familiar path comes into view.

“The pier?” you ask, blinking at him.

“Surprised you didn’t figure it out sooner.”

“Why did you get all dressed up for the pier? Wait when did they put lights up? Is this new?” you ask, glancing around at the countless strings of fairy lights hung from the posts of the nearby shelter and all along the handrail of the dock.

“I’m not sure, I think it’s a recent addition…” he says, and you can hear a slight quiver in his voice.

“Oh okay,” you say, as you let him lead you to the small picnic area.

On the table there’s a huge basket filled with food and a bucket with a bottle of wine chilling.

“Koshi this is- this is-” you want to say sweet, romantic, amazing… but the words get caught in your throat.

Surely he wouldn’t do all this, make this amazing picnic just for you, only to dump you...right? Like there’s such a thing as too amicable at the end of a relationship…

“You don’t like it?” he asks, rubbing nervously at the back of his neck.

“No! No that’s not it at all,” you say in a rush, the volume a little loud in your hurry to reassure him that it’s amazing. “I just...can we sit and talk for a minute first?”

“Yeah, of course…” he says, though he’s still clearly very nervous. Maybe he knows you’ve caught onto him…

“Sugawara-”

“Koshi-” he says, with insistence.

You nod, “Koshi, I just-I’ve noticed that you’ve been pulling away lately...It’s not that I-I mind I guess, I just, I want you to know that if I’ve done anything or...or you’ve just changed your mind-”

“I haven’t,” he says firmly, reaching his hand out to pull your chin up so he can look directly into your eyes. There’s a soft whisper of your name but then he’s smiling and shaking his head, tears forming at the edge of his eyes. “I guess there’s only one way to prove it to you though.”

“What?” you ask, a little alarmed that he seems so close to crying and this close you can watch it happen.

He says your name, like a whisper like a prayer and then he drops to one knee in front of you.

Your brain, the one that’s constantly overthinking everything, goes still in that moment. All whirring brought to a quick, silent stop.

“For me it wasn’t immediate, though sometimes I like to think it was because it makes me look a little brighter, but falling for you was a slow progression of events to the point that I didn’t even realize how deep I was until you told me that no one would ever want you... I just sat there staring at you thinking you were the most fascinating, most hilarious, most warm human being I’ve ever known,” he says, hand shaking as he reaches into his pocket.

Your pulse spikes but you’re still struck frozen, speechless.

“Every day your smile, your laugh, the way your nose pulls up when you’re angry, all of it...it makes you even more gorgeous than you were the first time I saw you...I haven’t been pulling away, I’ve been trying to surprise you with this,’ he says, opening a small bright red box up and holding it out to you.

You gasp when you see the minimalist band, gems embedded into the metal to give it a smooth finish rather than the traditional engagement rings that stick out like a sore thumb.

“Koshi I-Are you sure?”

“I’m absolutely certain,” he says, “The question here, is are you? Will you marry me?” he asks, a soft whisper of your name shakily coming out after the question but you barely even heard it over the loud pounding of your heart in your ears.

“Yes! Yes yes, no takebacksies,” you say, feeling and maybe sounding like a damned kid you’re so gleefully happy.

“Not even if Kakashi shows up?” he says, raising an eyebrow at you.

“Not even then,” you say, pulling him in closer until he gives in and gives you what you want.

You get lost in the kiss for a bit, long enough that you’re grateful none of the food was meant to be served hot.

“I kinda thought you were going to break up with me…” you confess softly, a little while later while lazily plucking grapes from the bunch and passing them over your shoulder to your boyfr-fiance...your fiance. The word itself gives you a rush of excitement up your spine.

He splutters a bit but eventually just decides to chide you a little, “What do you take me for? An idiot?” he says, “Only an idiot would leave you...I was umm, I was planning this and I was slowly moving some of your things over to my apartment. You didn’t notice?”

“No...I noticed your stuff missing but not mine…”

He sighs, and pats you on the head. “Of course you did. I’m sorry, Love. Next time I’ll just ruin the surprise and tell you.”

You laugh, “Oh so you plan on proposing again?”

He shrugs, “You never know.”

You do know...two weeks before your tenth anniversary, Sugawara stops grading papers to look up at you while you’re drinking your morning cup and says, “I’m going to propose to you in two weeks...so don’t get any crazy ideas like I’m leaving you again.”

You choke on your drink and glare at him when he laughs at you for it.

“You’ll be lucky if I say yes, Sugawara Koshi!”

“Yes I will.”

Thanks so much for reading!!

Masterlist

#not naruto #not knb #haikyuu!!#sugawara x reader #sugawara fluff #sugawara proposal #🚨 emergency request 🚨#kel answers #my stuff

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jaskiersvalley · 4 years

Note

just read thru ur whole blog instead of finishing my midterm that i forgot about that was actually due on march 17 and can i just say thank u i don't think i've ever enjoyed hours of procrastination this much 💕💕 (also rip in absolute pieces to the fact i actually have to work on my midterm now)

*Looks at calendar* Well, it only took me a month and a half to get to your ask. I do hope your midterm went okay and you managed to get it finished! While I’m super flattered that your procrastination involved my writing, I’m also feeling a little guilty for distracting you. In honour of the time lost and as thanks for your lovely ask, please have some time related angsty shenanigans.

CW for injury and character death (which is rectified through implication and screwing with time).

Time had a funny way of working. The war was in full swing, Jaskier traipsed after Eskel, writing songs about witchers and their deeds. But Nilfgaard had been gaining ground, there were whispers of a witcher with a child surprise that was taken from him. When winter came again, Jaskier couldn’t go to Oxenfurt, he’d been outed as a spy for the resistance and had a considerable bounty on his head. With nowhere else to go, Eskel offered him sanctuary at Kaer Morhen. He’d been there once or twice before, was familiar with Lambert and Vesemir. They often spoke of another, Geralt of Rivia. Sometimes they were fond, other times they cursed him.

This winter was different. A portal opened up one afternoon and a haggard looking witcher staggered through with a sorceress in tow. They snapped and snarled at each other, obviously tied by destiny against their will.

“Geralt,” Vesemir rose from his seat and looked over the two new arrivals. “What is the meaning of this?”

“Cirilla wants revenge.” Geralt coughed. “She thinks witchers stole her childhood. She wants to obliterate us all.”

There were murmurs from the others and they were all clamouring to get more information. In the end, they settled with some drinks so Geralt and Yennefer could explain. Jaskier listened raptly, sat next to Eskel and looking to him from time to time.

“Cirilla is hellbent on destroying and conquering. Nilfgaard had taken her from us.” Geralt looked utterly world weary. More so than a witcher usually did. Jaskier would know, he’d spent enough time with Eskel to pull him out from a mindset of exhausted self-loathing. It looked like Geralt could do with someone too.

“Yennefer and I were too busy arguing, at odds over where Cirilla would serve best. She wanted Aretuza, I thought Kaer Morhen. Anywhere but Nilfgaard would have been okay. But Cirilla had enough. After one too many arguments, she slipped away one night and went to Nilfgaard, probably to spite us. She now rules with an iron fist and has a thirst for vengeance.”

When Geralt broke off, Yennefer picked up, “There is no winning. She’s collected all manner of allies from rock trolls to dragons. The resistance is dying if not dead already.”

“So you came here to die?” Lambert spat, angry.

“We came here for help,” Geralt corrected sharply. “Yennefer and I weren’t enough. But we found a way that might change the future.”

“What could another witcher do that the White Wolf couldn’t?” Eskel asked.

“Nothing.” It was Yennefer who cut in. “But your bard might be what we need. At every key moment in time that Aretuza had been able to discern before it was obliterated, he was doing something significant. Not enough to change the tide of the war. We think that in a different timeline, where he is the court bard of Cintra, he will be able to influence Cirilla. I can create a time stone, he can pick a moment in time to jump back to and try and change this whole mess. The key objective is to ensure Cirilla likes witchers and sorceresses.”

If anybody had asked Jaskier, he would have called bullshit on the whole thing.

“We’ve seen how he worked wonders with witchers in the public, his songs about the Scarred Wolf and his deeds are sung across the Continent.” Yennefer finished. “I will make the stone and have it ready for tomorrow afternoon. So I will ask that we have a decent meal this evening as it shall be my last.”

Silence filled the room before Vesemir nodded. There was no other choice. Contracts were thin on the ground, people were turning against witchers once again and it seemed that Nilfgaard was coming to Kaer Morhen. That night, they ate and drank as much as they could, knowing that it would be their last.

Yennefer retired to a room. There was no fond farewell between her and Geralt but a slight grudging respect. That night, the witchers stayed up late, staring silently into the dying fire, making peace with their lot.

By morning, Nilfgaard was advancing on the keep, humans and monsters alike bore down the path.

“We’ll need to get Jaskier to the eastern clearing,” Geralt said. “Nothing else matters. Lambert, Eskel, you’ll take flank, Vesemir, you’re rear and I’ll take point. No matter what, we get the bard to the clearing with the stone.”

Everything was left behind in the keep, nothing to weigh them down, not like they were going to have anywhere to go from the clearing anyway. It was a dead end and no escape. In a way, it was brave of them to assume they would make it as far.

When Geralt left to retrieve the stone, he looked grim. It was in a bag, glowing red through the material.

“It’s all of Yennefer’s chaos and time granted to her. Don’t waste it.” Geralt shoved it at Jaskier. “We need to move out. Now.”

There was nothing left to do but go. As agreed, Jaskier was in the middle, hemmed in by four witchers. They started off at a light run, determined to get as much distance covered as possible before Nilfgaard caught up.

It started with small attacks. Forktails and dragons trying to pick them off. At least their swords and signs could fend against the worst, even if Lambert cursed at the burns that ended up covering his arms when caught by surprise from the side.

The creatures were gaining on them, while the witchers could pick up speed, Jaskier was a human and had much more severe limits. He panted and gasped even as Eskel tried to urge him on.

“Keep going we’re almo-” His words were cut off with a grunt as a leshen stepped out from the trees, caught him in his midriff and sent him crashing through the woods. Jaskier turned in time to watch a pack of werewolves jump at him, tearing him apart without mercy.

It was a lot harder to run when tears were blurring his eyes. Almost thirty years by Eskel’s side and this was the unfitting end. Jaskier wanted to stop and cry but Geralt was moving on while Lambert and Vesemir took posts just behind and to the side, completing a triangle.

The clearing wasn’t too far now, it couldn’t be. To Jaskier it had felt like they’d been running for hours. From ahead, there was the whistle of arrows and he ran harder. A thump from behind and Jaskier turned, letting out a strangled gasp.

“Don’t turn around. Keep going.” Lambert snarled as he took rear post, Vesemir lost behind them with arrows riddling his body.

Up ahead, Jaskier could see the clearing and he pushed harder, knowing that some kind of rune circle would help him with the time stone. Someone grabbed him from behind and all but threw him into the clearing. He landed with a pained cry and watched just in time for a dragon to snatch Lambert while another attacked Geralt.

“Jaskier!” Geralt yelled. He was on the ground, blood coating half his face, matting his hair. “The stone. You have to!”

With trembling hands, Jaskier pulled the stone out. He could see Lambert’s broken body not far from Geralt and he sobbed. All he had to do was think of Cintra and then he’d be pulled back in time to the point where he could fix things. Because this wasn’t the end he’d hoped for, neither for himself, nor his witchers. The whole continent was a ghastly, tyrannical place. Soon there wouldn’t be anywhere that was free of Nilfgaardian brutality and oppression.

“Please,” Geralt begged and Jaskier looked him in the eyes, watched as he lay there, not even trying to evade the soldier who raised his sword. Squeezing his eyes shut, Jaskier still heard the sound the blow made. He didn’t want this. Clutching at the time stone, he wished and wished hard.

The world shifted around him, years fell away, aches and pains along with old injuries disappeared. Jaskier opened his eyes mid song, in a tavern. He was eighteen again, a whole life ahead of him. It wasn’t Cintra, that was for sure. Some backwater settlement on the edge of the continent. Looking around while singing, he tried to figure out what he was doing in such a shithole. As he spun, he spotted a figure in the corner, alone and brooding. White hair, armour, nobody going near him. He’d recognise Geralt anywhere. Finishing his song and being pelted by bread, Jaskier took a breath. If this was his mission, he’d accept it. Eskel had been a wonderful travel companion but time obviously thought he was the wrong witcher if they wanted to survive Nilfgaard’s attempts. Jaskier took a deep breath, thinking “well then”, it was time to make things right.

#jaskier #geralt of rivia #eskel #yennefer of vengerberg #lambert #vesemir #time travel #tldr: alternate timeline means unhappy ending for all until jaskier goes back and fixes things #cw: character death

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boredom-reigns · 4 years

Text

Ken Amada : Character Introspection

Persona 3 and some P4:AU Spoilers!

Ken Amada is honestly one of my favourite Persona 3 characters. I know the way his character arc was handled was somewhat flawed (like when he basically doesn't matter after the closure of Oct. 4), but I still love him a lot nevertheless.

My main problem is honestly the fact that a lot of people in the fandom hate him so much it can get grating, especially if it's for nonsensical reasons (like him apparently being the cause of Shinjiro's death even though the person who shot the guy was right there).

I mean, not liking characters is fine. I respect other people's opinions. But spreading misinformation based on a misinterpretation of a scene is... yeah.

Note: These are my opinions and interpretations of his character based on P3 and P4:AU. Other opinions and interpretations are welcome!

First off, like most Persona characters, Ken's character is based off an archetype. Ken's archetype, you could say that it's based on the Adorably Precocious Child trope. He's acts too mature for his age, even trying to hide his childishness by denying the fact he watches Featherman and saying that he drinks black coffee.

But this maturity came at a cost. From the little glimpses of childishness that Ken has shown (for example, the movie showing event where he's basically jumping up and down in happiness because the superhero movie was so cool!) along with his reinforcement of the idea that no, he's capable even at 11 years old (one of his battle voice lines is "Don't underestimate me because of my age") makes me believe that he wasn't always like this. He was forced to mature due to circumstances or he forced himself to mature due to circumstances.

What was this circumstance?

Obviously, the death of his mom.

Ken's mom is a huuuggeee part of his life and basically affected him a lot. Her death made him what he was today. First is that he saw her get murdered right in front him. Of course he's going to be traumatised. Not only that, he had something to direct his anger and hatred to (I'll talk about that later).

But when he told people about what he saw, nobody believed him, obviously. But remember this, Ken was a kid. He was 9 at the time. And he was 100% sure that what he saw was real. When he was being basically labeled as a liar because everyone won't believe him and just treated him as some fragile, traumatised kid, he's going to lash out. He knew it was real yet everyone just thinks that he was lying. He didn't think that obviously no one would believe him because he was deep in grief and hatred. He wanted justice. But no one would help him because everyone's saying that it was an accident. And he hated that.

He had a target to hate, yet he was powerless to inflict punishment (his idea of "justice") on that target.

So he wanted to be capable. If no one's going to help him, then so be it. He'll do his own justice. So Ken forced himself to grow up. He forced himself to be more mature, copying the image of capability he believes in.

Another thing that possibly added to Ken forcing himself to mature is the way people treated him afterwards. To outsiders, he was a traumatised kid. Ken says in his conversation with Shinjiro that he just receives pity no matter where he goes and he hates that pity.

I've seen LPs where they're like "huh, but isn't that good?" to that line. Speaking as someone who has lost a loved one and dealed with other people who lost a loved one, expressing pity is a balancing act.

It's hard to express pity because people deal with grief differently and some people despise pity when they're grieving. Some people are of the mentality of "what use is your pity because it's not going to bring them back!". Being treated differently because you lost someone or being treated as some fragile person made of glass who's going to have a breakdown at any time is horrible. Moving on can be so hard when everyone is tiptoeing around you. And I think that's what Ken felt.

What Ken needed during his grieving was someone who would support him. Someone who believed in him. He didn't need someone who just stood along the sidelines and pitied him. He needed someone who actually approached him and bothered to listen. I feel like that was what Ken was looking for: someone to listen to him. Because everyone around him never listens and just calls him off as a liar. He had no support system whatsoever. He was staying alone in the elementary school dorm and from the convenience store bentos in his room that can be seen in P3D, you can infer that he was forced to take care of himself for 2 years. For 2 years, all he got was financial support and never the needed emotional support.

Because of this, he was left to internalise his grief which then evolved into hatred. He didn't have anybody anymore. There was no point in living for him because his mom, his light, was gone. No one else was there to give him a reason to live. No family, no friends, no one who believes in him. Ken felt that it was only him against the world.

So why should he keep on living?

And this is where the idea that he has a target enters in. This target of his hatred became his one and only purpose. Why? Because it was the only thing that was there for him. He had no one and nothing. The only thing he had in life was this target of his extreme hatred. The target for his justice. Giving the rightful punishment to this target became his only purpose in life to the point that after killing Shinjiro, he was going to kill himself. Ken's only reason to live was to kill Shinjiro for revenge.

As for his entire "Mom would've wanted this.", I feel like that's more of him trying to justify his actions. He had a target of his giref: Shinjiro. He wanted to kill Shinjiro because Shinjiro killed his mom. But murder is a very daunting task. Even Ken hesitated. I feel like he just justified himself with "Mom would've wanted this." so he can do it. Because killing Shinjiro is the only thing left in life for him. It's the only thing he can do now. He had no reason for living other than Shinjiro's death. So he tried to justify it so he would be able to get through doing it and to give him more reasons as to why he should really do it and not hesitate.

On October 4, it was an utter disaster especially when Takaya (*cough* Shinjiro's real killer *cough* people who keep insisting that Ken is the killer) arrived. At this part, Ken finds out about Shinjiro's drug deal. He loses his shit because he finds out that Shinjiro's going to die early anyway no matter what he does. Killing Shinjiro at this point felt like knocking someone who was already down. It had no point. And because killing Shinjiro had no point, Ken's entire purpose for living had no point. So... He had no purpose.

And this was why Ken went "I have no reason to live."

Other things we can actually see on October 4 is that Ken does care about SEES. He joined SEES with ulterior motives but in the end, he cares. He pretended that he was the navigator to make sure that Takaya won't find out about Fuuka and that Takaya would target him. The time he spent in SEES was most likely the most emotional support he got (and that's kinda sad because SEES is like the most dysfunctional party out of all the Persona games (except maybe P2:EP?)). He got people who saw the same things he saw, people who understood him. He got people who actually bothered to talk to him and listen. Heck, you can even bring him to the movies which I'm sure is great because who knows how long has that kid haven't seen a movie or had fun. There's people who actually don't treat him with so much pity. That fact that you can bring him to Tartarus, I think he's glad about that because he's not underestimated. Ken was respected in SEES as an equal and he appreciated it.

After the entire Oct. 4 shenanigans, Ken has learned to look into himself. He realized his mistakes, his deep hatred blinding him, but most of all, he found a reason to live. He finally moved on, and decided to live as that was what his mom and Shinjiro would've truly wanted.

Then fast forward to P4:AU we can see that he's indeed living. He's pretty much the most popular guy in school, he's in Student Council, and he's even in the soccer club. But he can't fully live yet.

If you've P3 episode of P4:AU, you'd play the Ken vs Shadow Ken part which actually reveals a lot about post-P3 Ken. If you haven't, watch it here.

Ken can't be 100% content with his current life. He feels fake, being a child again, going to school normally and having friends his age to talk and laugh with. This is because of how much his past has destroyed his childhood. He was forced to mature, forced to see things his age shouldn't see, forced to experience things that he shouldn't experience that age. No one his age could understand. They were too innocent while the ones who could understand him (SEES) were too old.

An interesting thing about his entire image post-P3 is that he was basically the "ideal student". He was handsome, smart, athletic, responsible, etc. It makes me wonder if he got that image because it was what he thought was what living was (which his mom and Shinjiro wanted) or because that was what people expected of him. I can see him trying to be more of a child because people expected him to be lighter as the entire Tartarus-Nyx dilemma was gone. I can also see him forcing himself to be more of a child as he feels the obligation to take back the childhood he lost. But that's it, he forced himself. He's not content because for him, he's fake.

Ken's fake he only wanted to fight and this affects him. I think he wanted to fight because that felt the closest to his true self: who he was when he was with SEES. He wanted to help the Shadow Operatives because it was the only environment he can be 100% honest to himself. No pretending that he had a normal life. It was living as him, with people who knew him. In the end, it circles back to the point that he finds fighting Shadows as a purpose to live.

This chapter also showed that Shinjiro still affects him. He blames himself for what happened on October 4, with his monologues saying that he committed a mistake in relation to Shinjiro's death. Shinjiro is an important person to him and his death was very much impactful.

Then Ken fights his fake, where he says that he's been "conceited" and "didn't understand anything at all". I take this as a point of enlightenment for him. What he didn't understand was "living". He followed a mold that be felt he should follow. He thought that he could only feel true to himself by only fighting supernatural creatures. He realised that he wasn't truly living at this point. He thought he understood that he was living like how his mom and Shinjiro wanted but he wasn't. He was still stuck in the past.

This was why I loved his epilogue. In his epilogue, he decides to quit the Shadow Operatives. He decides that it was time for him to move on from their dark past and continue living, not only for his mom and Shinjiro, but also for himself. He thinks that it was better for him this way. He gets to regain his childhood.

His fangirls notice that he's become less distant and more warm to approach, showing signs that he's beginning to open up to people. Despite the fact that he can never tell people about the whole Shadows and Personas, he can still make new bonds. He doesn't have to be stuck on one bond.

This doesn't mean he's abandoning SEES. He still recognises his string bond with them, one might even say that they're family at this point. But just because he has a bond with them doesn't mean he should only restrict himself to them. He can make new, true bonds that aren't fake.

He finds out how to truly live. He just enjoys the moment and finally lets go, showing his inner child.

Ken's character is all about the purpose of life. Because even if life is so hard it feels like death, there's always a reason to live. Even if you can't find your purpose to live now, you will find it someday.

#persona 3 #persona 4 arena ultimax #ken amada #shinjiro aragaki #character introspection #i love him if you couldn't tell #im also curious about other people's interpretations #long post

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ansu-gurleht · 5 years

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I've never heard someone assert that talos didn't mantle shor before, and I think that's an absolutely fascinating take. Would you mind explaining a little more? The nords seem to think they're the same entity, although to be honest, maybe I just spent too much time on teslore when I was getting into the fandom.

talos wasnt even originally a nord deity lol. he was a cyrodiil hero-god, and the nords didn’t give a shit about him until skyrim for some reason. maybe it was over those couple centuries the whole “talos is shor” theory became prevalent in-universe, meaning the nords took a liking to him. dunno.

anyways, it’s pretty commonly accepted that talos is made of three people: hjalti early-beard, zurin arctus, and ysmir wulfharth. at least one of those people, wulfharth, and maybe also hjalti (aka “tiber septim”), was a shezzarine, and therefore an avatar of shor. then because of shenanigans with the mantella and numidium and stuff, they ended up becoming one divine oversoul known as talos.

most people figure that talos mantled shor, like you said, but they’re honestly nothing alike, and to mantle somebody you have to become like them. talos was a cyrodiil war god, and shor was the god of men and human endeavors. wrong domains, wrong cultures.

it’s possible talos is an aspect of shor - as a war god of men, he could fall under “human endeavors” - but he’s just not the whole deal. at best he’s a warlike avatar of shor. i don’t think any of the three members of the talos oversoul “mantled” shor - i think shor clumped together a few scraps of his soul into something resembling his former self, but also obviously shaped by the non-shor parts of those scraps.

wulfharth, the true underking, is the one closest to what shor actually was, whereas tiber septim is kinda just a war criminal along for the ride (while also stealing all the credit), and arctus, the false underking, is there too i guess. maybe arctus is sort of the glue holding those fairly disparate parts of the talos tribunal together.

fun way to look at talos: might morphin lorkhan rangers

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alj4890 · 6 years

Text

Chapter 35 Reunited

The Royal Romance Fan Fiction (Liam x MC*Riley) (Maxwell x OC*Amanda) (Drake x Olivia) (Hana x Rashad)

These characters are from the amazing writers of Pixelberry's Choices stories: The Royal Romance and Red Carpet Diaries. The only character of my own is Duchess Amanda Bridgerton of House St Orella.

Masterlist The Other Friend TRR

Chapter 35 summary: Drake, Maxwell, and Riley go to see Savannah. Amanda is giving interviews with Thomas in the Four Seasons George V hotel in Paris.

Chapter 35

Amanda groaned when her alarm clock went off at 6am. She started to get up when Maxwell pulled her back down. "You know you would rather stay here with me," he mumbled against her neck.

She groaned again. "You have no idea how badly I want to. I promised Thomas and I have to go to some of those meetings with Liam."

She swung her legs over the bed and was yanked back. "Maxwell!"

He grinned. "15 more minutes. Then I will atrempt to let you get up." Amanda laughed and got back under the covers.

An hour later she was on her way to the Four Seasons. Thomas was waiting in the lobby for her. A small smile appeared when he saw her. He gave her a quick hug. "Excellent. I have printed out an itinerary for the next few days. If I need to change some times for your courtly duties, then do not hesitate to let me know."

Amanda looked at the list and felt her heart sink. Both day and night had interviews scheduled. This along with her other obligations meant that she would not have much time with Maxwell in Paris. So much for romance.

Thomas studied her face. "Something's wrong. You aren't pleased with the schedule."

"No. It's fine. I understand we need do do this. I noticed I won't have a lot of free time this week. I was hoping to take advantage of the City of Love with my husband. That's all."

Thomas stood there a moment. "Ah. Well, we will see if we can move things around. We will come up with some idea. Now, come with me. We have the first interview in my suite."

Drake, Maxwell, and Riley were standing outside of Savannah's apartment close to noon. Drake hesistated knocking.

"What if she is mad I'm here? If she wanted to talk to me, then she would have contacted me sooner, right?"

"Drake, from what you have shared about Savannah, I don't believe she will be angry. I think she must have had a reason for the silence." Riley waited to see if he would knock. When he did not move, she decided to take action.

Riley moved in front of him and knocked. Drake and Maxwell stood nervously behind her.

Savannah opened the door. Her mouth dropped open when she saw Drake. "Oh my...Drake? Drake!!!" She wrapped him in a hug, tears falling down her face. "I've missed you so much!"

Drake held on to her, overwhelmed with seeing her again. He had finally found her. "Savannah. You have no idea how much I have missed you. I--" A cry interrupted him.

"Hold on sweetie!" Savannah pulled on Drake's hand and grabbed Maxwell's. "Please, come in. All of you." She ran into the bedroom. Riley, Drake, and Maxwell stood in the small living room.

When Savannah came out with a small bundle in her arms, introductions were made. She smiled a timid smile at them. "I think it is time to tell you what happened."

Drake shook his head. "You don't have to. We found out through Bastien's investigation what basically happened. I just wish you had told me. I would have helped you."

Savannah's eyes were filled with remorse. I'm so sorry. Bertrand told me that this...that getting pregnant was my fault. He told me I would ruin your life in Cordonia if I told you. I didn't want you punished for my actions. Everyday, I would pick up the phone to call you, but I knew if I did, you would leave for me. I could not let you be ostracized because of me."

Drake was so angry. Bertrand had so much to answer for. He wanted to beat him into the ground. He looked over at Maxwell. He had his eyes on the baby, sadness etched in the tense lines of his face. Maxwell turned to Savannah. "I wish you would have told us. There is no way I would have let you believe my brother's words."

Savannah glanced down at the baby. "Maxwell, your brother is a duke. His words carry more weight. I...had to do what I could to protect those I love."

"Liam would have helped you." Riley said.

Savannah shook her head, "I did not want the infamy of causing a court scandal. I know I made a decision that hurt everyone. I did not see a way of not causing hurt to someone. I had to protect this innocent one. I had to protect you, Drake. You spent your life looking out for me. I wanted to do the same for you."

Drake sighed. "Savannah you are the only family I have left, well other than this little guy. We could have found a way. We still can find a way."

Savannah gently rocked the baby. "What do you mean?"

Maxwell sat forward. "We want you to come back to Cordonia. Bertrand is not the only Beaumont who's a duke now. Since I married Amanda, we have both power and influence. You have the King and Queen of Cordonia on your side also. Bertrand would be a bigger fool than he already is to try and defy all of us."

Drake nodded. "You also have Olivia's backing. So that's another powerful noble. Everyone loved you, Vanna. Many of the nobles will support you. Bertrand's actions recently have pissed a lot of them off. I don't think there will be many who would stand with him."

Riley nodded. "They are right. Please think of returning. We all want to be there for you and little Bartie. You will always be welcomed at court and I dare anyone to say differently!"

Drake chuckled. "As you can tell, Riley has a bit of a temper when she thinks someone is being bullied."

Savannah sat there thinking of everything. "I need some time to think about my decision. I want to believe you. I need to think about if I'm ready to face Bertrand and if he should be a part of Bartie's life."

Maxwell swallowed and looked at his little nephew. "Do you...do you want me to stay out of his life until you decide?"

Savannah reached for his hand. "Not at all! I expect you and Drake to fight over who is going to be the favorite uncle. Maxwell, you are nothing like your brother. You are a man I would want my son to be like, minus some of the crazy shenanigans."

He grinned. "Do I get to hold him?" Savannah placed him in Maxwell's arms. Riley snapped a picture with her phone. After a few moments Drake held him. His heart swelled when he saw that Bartie had the Walker chocolate brown eyes. "Vanna, he is perfect." Riley snapped another picture, catching him off guard.

Savannah smiled with pride. "He is the best thing to ever happen to me." They sat and visited for another hour. Drake made plans to come back the next day. Maxwell promised to find time to come back and hopefully bring Amanda with him. Riley hugged her goodbye, making her promise to call her if she needed anything.

On their way back to the train, Drake was relieved and excited. "Do you think she will come back home?"

Riley smiled, "I believe there is a very good chance."

"Thanks for going with us, Riley." Drake said.

"Anytime gentlemen, anytime. You both have been there for me. It's what friends do."

Maxwell's phone vibrated with a message. It was from an unknown number. When he opened it, he was shocked. There were pictures of Amanda. Some of them were from her time in California, a few months ago. Some had been snapped today. The ones in California were of her and Matt Rodriguez. It was the pictures of them on the beach, kissing. This was what Drake had been talking about during truth or dare. These pictures were more in focus.

He could see her bathing suit clearly and Matt wrapped around her. He could make out the towel's color and pattern they were laying on. There was a question written on the picture. "Was this the only time?" The pictures taken today showed her and Matt sitting at a table on a balcony with Thomas, Ryan, and some other Hollywood people.

The closeup of her and Matt showed them looking at each other. He was leaning toward her smiling and she was laughing. There was another question written on it. "Was this planned or an accident?" At the end of the message, it showed a copy of a hotel reservation. Amanda had booked the Royal Suite at the Four Seasons for the week. One more question for him was attached. "What does she need a hotel suite for?"

Maxwell swallowed hard. His hand gripped his phone. It was hard enough knowing she had been kissed by both Matt and Ryan while in California, but to actually see it was worse than he thought. They had not been together during that kiss, but it still felt like a punch in the gut. Questions were swirling through his mind. What was Matt doing in Paris? He was not a part of Thomas Hunt's movie. Why did she book a suite? Why did she not tell him about the suite?

"Maxwell? Are you okay?"

He looked up at Riley and Drake. "I'm fine."

Their limo pulled up to the train. Riley smiled at the two of them. "Don't forget about tonight's ball. It will be at the Four Seasons. We will have such beautiful views of the Eiffel Tower and the Arc De Triomphe. I can't wait!"

"Did you plan this?" Drake asked her.

"No, Madeleine did. She wanted to since her house did not host the court during the social season. I know I am supposed to meet her mother this evening too. Hopefully that will go smoothly." With a wave Riley left to get ready.

Maxwell was looking at the pictures again. Drake glanced over at his phone. His eyes widened. "Maxwell? Where did you get those."

He shrugged. "It is from an unknown number."

Drake looked at the last one. "Was that taken today?" Maxwell nodded. Drake looked panicked. "Someone's following Amanda!"

Maxwell's head jerked up. He had not thought of that. Guilt hit him hard. That should have been his first thought, instead of jealousy. "Why would anyone follow her?"

Drake looked at him. "Probably the same reason why anyone would send those pictures of her to you: To cause trouble." He scrolled through all the images and stopped at the hotel receipt. "Did you know she was getting a room there?"

"No."

Drake studied him a minute. "You don't actually believe she is cheating on you with Matt or any of these movie guys?"

Maxwell shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. "I don't think she is cheating. I guess sometimes it's hard to believe she did not choose one of them."

Drake put a hand on his shoulder. "She chose you out of everyone. She's been in love with you for years. Don't let whoever sent this win. Don't doubt her."

Maxwell nodded. His phone beeped with another message. He reluctantly opened it up. It was from Amanda.

"I'm running behind. I have another interview to do. I will meet you at the ball. Oh and I have a surprise for you! 💋💓U!"

Drake read it over his shoulder. "See, the suite has to be the surprise. You need to tell her that someone is following her when you see her. Text her back that you can't wait or what ever you would normally."

Maxwell sighed and went to get ready. He did not know what was going on. Why would someone want to cause doubt in their marriage? What could they possibly gain? Who was doing this?

@fullbeaumonty @darley1101 @cocomaxley @katurrade @krsnlove @hopefulmoonobject @annekebbphotography @mynameiskaylabella @umccall71 @museofbooks

#choices trr #trr #the royal romance #trr maxwell #trr drake #choices

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