#literally had the most insane fucking customers at that place

[splorpo]

god that “if you work in customer service, what’s something you never thought you’d have to explain to an adult” tiktok reminded me of when i used to work at a skydiving dropzone and a guy called in who was very upset about our prices. he asked if we could attach three people to one parachute so he would only have to pay for one. when told that this would kill everyone involved, he paused and then said “okay, how about two?”

#another man got pissed that we wouldn’t let him skydive in a lightning storm and asked if we could ‘make an exception to our weather policy’ #also had to explain to a woman that her tampon would not ‘shoot up inside of her’ (her phrasing) during her jump #oh yeah and one guy’s girlfriend called in to cancel his jump bc he had just been taken to prison. for first degree murder #cannot wrap my head around how this woman was in the middle of that situation and had the foresight to go #‘well i really should call that skydiving place and cancel his reservation’ #literally had the most insane fucking customers at that place #splorpo speaks

[gracie7209]

Mood board by the lovely, wonderful, and insanely talented @wildemaven

Complete!

Amaryllis Masterlist

Triple Frontier AU

Pairings: Frankie x f!reader, Tom x wife!Reader

A/N: (Reader is of Hispanic descent and is originally from Cuba, but moved at a fairly young age. There are mentions of some ethnic traditions/customs as well etc) This started as a Waitress AU that I completely lost control of and it has now become THIS lol I’ve posted snippets, but have been working on this for the better part of 2 years and I was determined to see it through. Originally had Ana De Armas as a face claim for Reader which is why the character is Cuban. No physical descriptions other than Reader has a light accent.

Warnings: 18+ Minors DNI, smut, fluff, heavy angst, drinking, there are some heavy topics here so please heed chapter warnings, domestic violence, Tom is a piece of SHIT, cheating, infidelity, oral (f & m receiving), pregnancy, pregnant sex, maybe slight lactation kink?? fingering, unprotected PIV sex, therapy mentions, childbirth mentioned (no description), first time (with Tom 🤢 but necessary to the story), Tom is just literally the fucking worst, but Frankie is here to make it all better, leaving out some things so as not to completely spoil the plot. Will update each chapter with more specific warnings

Description:

As a sheltered wife to an emotionally abusive husband, you find yourself in an impossible situation when you learn that you’re pregnant. Up until now, you were content with the way things were, but a child didn’t deserve this life that had been chosen for you. What little outlook you had on life was as good as gone; But then a chance meeting in an unlikely place finds you potentially looking toward a very different future.

That is, until it’s all ripped away from you.

How far are you willing to go to keep a promise you made as a child? And how much are you willing to sacrifice to protect the ones you love most?

A/N: This fic is complete, just doing some finishing touches. There are 12 chapters and an epilogue. Chapter lengths range any where from 1k-9k words. Also, I just have to give my thanks to @just-here-for-the-moment Who basically held my hand and guided me throughout this entire process. I genuinely mean it that I don’t believe I ever would’ve finished this story if it wasn’t for her. Claire you are a Godsend and I appreciate you more than you know!

*******

*Chapters containing smut will be labeled with 🔥

Drabble

Chapter 1

Chapter 2 - Wednesday

Chapter 3 - It’s a…!

Chapter 4 - Tom

Chapter 5 - It’s Been Awhile

Chapter 6 - Want 🔥

Chapter 7 - The Mission

Chapter 8 - The Call

Chapter 9 - The Return 🔥

Chapter 10 - Safe House

Chapter 11 - Stay 🔥

Chapter 12 - Home

Epilogue

A/N: I don’t have an official tag list, but if you would like to be tagged, just let me know!

#frankie 'catfish' morales #frankie x f!reader #frankie x reader #frankie x you #francisco morales x f!reader #frankie triple frontier #triple frontier fic

[antibioware]

ok i'll bite. have you read any one piece fics, and are there any you would recommend?

you're so damn lucky One Piece is a fandom full of shit fanfictions because last time someone asked me a question like this, they ended with a 50+ fanfictions rec list.

Anyway, I'm gonna divide the list between gen/pairingless fics and fics with a romantic pairing.

NO PAIRING:

for all the love and gold (don't just do as you are told) by guiltylights

Nami asks Sanji to reduce the amount of money spent on grocery shopping.

Blood of the Covenant by kiite

Zeff never wanted a kid. A restaurant, sure— but he hadn’t planned for the kid. (Or: a brief look at Sanji’s childhood, through the eyes of the man who raised him.)

triskelion by razbliuto

Sink your fangs in, sister, and don't let go. — The Boa Sisters, still breathing despite all odds.

[this one is insanely good, literally made both me and my girlfriend cry]

UV by razbliuto (Viola/Doflamingo, Viola/Monet)

There's only a one letter difference between ultraviolet and ultraviolent. — Viola, and the art of unforgetting.

[while this one does have pairings, it's less a romantic story and more a deep dive into traumatic relationships in Viola's life. This is my absolute favourite OP fanfiction and it's heavy, be warned]

that certain calmness by grainjew

Because Sanji's rebellion has always been service, and there is nobody he would rather bow to than his captain.

you are not immune by pheenick

It starts with a rather gut-busting sneeze that’s concerning enough to bring all conversation juddering to a halt. Sanji blinks, absently patting his chest before furrowing his brow at a strange thickness congealing in his throat. Another sneeze. Fuck.

Customer Service in the Food Industry by Maldoror_Chant

They were starving. That was reason enough for Zeff to open the Baratie's doors and feed them, whoever the hell they were. Then he offered them a job, because the waiters and most of the other cooks had all jumped ship again and these guys looked kinda tough and not likely to scare easy. He didn't care if they were refugees of the World Government, he didn't care about their past, he didn't care what else they could do as long as the dishes were cleaned, the soup served, the vegetables chopped and Zeff's rules respected. Oh, and the pigeon had to stay out of the kitchen. That was a must. Give the Health Inspector the wiggins otherwise. Oddly enough, it did not turn out to be a complete and utter disaster. Strange things happen on the seas.

[CP9 post-Water 7 start working at the Baratie, the concept is so funny]

nothing to do (with you) by guiltylights

Judge thinks that Sanji is a failure of a son. Zeff doesn't think that much of Judge at all.

the mortality of kings by guiltylights

Zoro and Sanji, the right and left-hand men of the future Pirate King.

breathlessly, live (there's a place for us) by guiltylights (modern AU)

'You don’t have to prove anything, you know,’ Nami says finally. Sanji frowns, puzzled. ‘I’m not proving anything?’ ‘No Sanji, I think you are. It sometimes feels like you’re doing this more for your own sake than for mine.'

we slept on the ocean last night by Origamidragons

It starts like this: Luffy can’t sleep alone. (Pirates have nightmares, too. The Strawhats, as always, find a way through.)



PAIRINGS:

Burning Man by neonglaceon (Zoro/Sanji, multiple chapters, M rating for sex scenes)

“You’re lucky, Zoro,” she had spat, eyes turned up towards the sky, like she was trying to hold in tears. He'd never seen Kuina cry before. He’d never seen any expression on her face other than her teeth gritted in determination or her grinning in victory. “I want to be the greatest swordsman too. But girls grow up, and their bodies become weaker than men's. I’m never going to be the greatest.” Kuina tells him this, and Zoro can barely comprehend the words she’s saying. He thinks of the countless hours he’s spent training by the river bed, the green locks of his hair left on the floor after Koushirou helped him shear it all off, of the people he thought of as family a lifetime ago calling him by a name he despised. Zoro puts a hand to his chest, where he’d hastily wrapped bandages earlier that day, remembering how his body had begun changing and he didn’t understand why- “You’re lucky to have been born a man, Zoro,” Kuina finishes lamely. Zoro sees red.

[This is THE trans man Zoro fic and one of my favourite zosan fanfics, I suggest to pay attention to the trigger warnings before reading]

and then the sun came out by demonzoro (shrinewreck) (Zoro/Sanji, M rating for sex scenes)

Maybe there is something to be said that the first time they kiss, they kiss on a sinking ship. As if to say: this too, is inevitable. The waves are gnashing above the sea’s bottomless maw, and the timbers of the sinking galleon groan their own dirge – as far as this space of sea is concerned, the world is ending. Then there they are, balanced on the cusp of it, concerned only with how they exist relative to each other. There’s an awful devotion to it, and it shouldn’t be romantic. But Sanji is hopeless. He’s always wanted a love like this.

Be Hungry For Me byJacknessofHearts (Sanji/Usopp)

It takes more than years for Sanji and Usopp to confront their feelings. It also takes a lot of good food.

Don't Look Back byJacknessofHearts (Nami/Vivi)

Nami and Vivi and saying good-bye.

[This is the best namivivi break-up fic]

Like Ink Through Her Veins by grainjew (background Nami/Vivi)

Vivi manages, away from her crew. Usually, managing means ruling a country, reading the newspaper, and checking up on her father. Sometimes, though, it means sneaking out of the palace at midnight and getting drunk with passing pirates.

[while this isn't a pairing fic as much as it's a Vivi-focused story, the romantic pairing is important enough to the story to finish on this side of the list]

poison and wine by Origamidragons (Nami/Vinsmoke Reiju)

Nami isn't expecting to run into Vinsmoke Reiju plotting a murder at the same high-society party where she's planning a heist, but, well. Two birds, one stone.

You, Drowning Between My Arms by ginger_snappin (Sanji/Usopp, M rating )

Again and again, Sanji is forced to relive the day after he rejected Usopp.

[God I fucking love "stuck in a time loop" fanfictions, especially if they have characters as well written as this one]

salvage by hongmunmu (background Sanji/Usopp)

Franky offered Usopp a place in his family. Leaving Water 7 on the Thousand Sunny, Usopp considers who he is, why he left, and why he's there now.

[fic focuses more on Franky and Usopp's student/mentor relationship than romance, but as before, it falls more on the pairing fic side of the spectrum]

free and alone, together bysrididdledeedee (Alvida/Boa Hancock)

In which Alvida arrives on Amazon Lily, and everything changes.

Easy as Anything, Simple as That by Trixree (Sanji/Luffy)

“Luffy? What’s the matter?” “We’re gonna’ have a wedding,” he says incomprehensibly. Which—no. Absolutely not. Haven’t they had enough of weddings, lately? Nami's certainly had enough for a lifetime, thanks. “What are you talking about? What wedding?” she demands as coherently as she can while running on only two-and-a-half hours of sleep. “Mine and Sanji’s,” Luffy declares.

a glance that holds the world and all its seas by JacknessofHearts (Sanji/Usopp)

It's the big party after defeating Hody Jones. Usopp gets Sanji away from all the mermaids. (Honestly, Sanji, these nosebleeds are disgusting.)

Inevitable by LibbyLune (Zoro/Sanji, M rating for violence)

A closer call than usual makes Sanji give a precipitously timed confession, and waiting for Chopper to let him out of the infirmary makes waiting for a response much worse than he could have anticipated.

To Argue and to Cherish by modeoheim (Zoro/Sanji)

On a small island, on a lovely night full of music and fun and food, Zoro and Sanji accidentally get married. It is as ridiculous as it sounds—or at least it is at first, until Zoro finds being married to Blackleg Sanji isn't as bad as one might assume.

Variations On A Theme by rainsometimes (Franky/Nico Robin)

Four short interconnected pieces in which Franky does not save Robin from drowning. Although he’d like to.

stolen things by Origamidragons (Nami/Vivi)

A catalogue of things stolen by, for, and from Princess Vivi of Alabasta with regards to a certain thief, as documented by her long-suffering captain of the guard.

But Patience Boasts by Augment (background Zoro/Luffy)

Sanji and Zoro have very different love languages.

NSFW/Just Porn:

Little Things by KuriKuri (Zoro/Law, NSFW)

“Yeah, well,” Zoro says, “I thought you’d say no.” “Why would I say no?” Law asks, the corners of his lips tugging down in a frown. “Because you’re a control freak,” Zoro snorts, looking away from the sake bottle to meet Law’s eyes instead. “I thought control freaks didn’t drink.”

eager baby, blue by torkz (Nico Robin/Jinbei, NSFW)

Jimbei is training, and Robin is not immune to huge, handsome men in blue.

go back to sleep by itsmylifekay (Zoro/Sanji, NSFW)

His skin tingles with an unfamiliar sensation and he shifts, mind becoming more alert as he takes in his surroundings and the strange, lingering warmth on his arm. If he concentrates hard enough, he can feel the fading shape of long fingers pressed into his skin. “Go back to sleep, stupid marimo,” he hears. Sanji is standing close by, pulling on the last of his clothes and straightening his tie. His voice is low in the softness of the early morning and Zoro grunts at the words.

#long post #one piece #one piece fanfiction

[donnerpartyofone]

I feel like there's an epidemic of businesses trying to make customers and applicants do free data entry for them and it's driving me crazy.

I have complained many times about how seeing a doctor now involves checking in online, and then entering duplicate information into something else when you check in physically, and then answering duplicate questions once you're actually inside the exam room. Sometimes somebody addresses this in a humane way: "Sorry, we're using a new CMS and we have to do all this stuff from scratch," or "Sorry, we have to use these three different systems and they don't communicate with each other." Last time I went I did all this like research into my past appointments because I never ever remember off the cuff exactly what day I had this or that procedure, and I had every impression that the clinic was dependent on me to have all my medical records memorized...so I got in there and started rattling off information, and the nurse asked "When was your last mammogram?", and I gave her the date, and she looked at her monitor and said, "...yup, there it is!" Like WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT, IF IT WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU WHY ARE YOU QUIZZING ME ABOUT THIS, WHY IS THIS A TEST???

I actually asked about redundant check-in procedures on Quora of all places, figuring there had to be a few cantankerous cranks on there who could at least try to explain this to me, but there were absolutely no takers at all. As far as I can see, literally no one knows why this is happening, it's just The Way It Is.

But anyway. Now I'm having this experience with job applications where they request that you upload files for your resume and cover letter in specific formats...and then they direct you to this interface where you are made to transcribe every detail from the resume you just provided by hand, one field at a time. I've been confronted with this insanity when applying for jobs whose wages weren't even worth the mind-numbing exercise of the application process. And actually this is part of my point: Data entry is a JOB. I have had this job. I was paid to examine, reformat, and transcribe data, and upload it to a database for my company to search and cross-reference in the future. If you are an employer and you absolutely require BOTH a pdf of my resume and cover letter that a human being can read and evaluate, AND each piece of data from those documents individually entered into your database for some other form of storage and review, then it is seriously fucking Up to You to pay some wage slave to enter the data. I'm looking for a job. I'm not going to do a job for you for fucking free, in order to become eligible for a job that you might consider paying me for later. Like please don't call me a fucking idiot to my face--or at least, if it's the database part that's the most important thing to you, do not also require me to create a nicely-formatted document containing my history and intentions. Let's just get right to the forced data entry part, let's start this awful relationship from a place of honesty at the very fucking least.

N.B. I realize that there are multiple reasons an employer would do this to a person, ranging from algorithmic candidate-sorting to just having outdated-ass job site shit in place that they don't feel like reviewing or revising. I don't really care why it's happening, I just hate that it is. Recently I tried to apply for some $15/hr part-time job at a local museum that a caveman could do, and I stopped cold when I realized I had to transcribe every detail of the documents I just gave them into this bullshit backend website that looked like it was about a thousand years old. No Thank You. Currently I'm all worked up because I just applied to work at a hip, culty, local theater, and I was shocked that after completing the totally normal application routine, I received an automated email directing me to "complete your profile" as "an important part of the hiring process" on the website of the company they're outsourcing all their HR and billing stuff to. And I go look at the profile thingy, and of course it's just this needlessly complicated interface where I can individually enter each and every piece of information that I just provided in my resume--no more, no less. The theater has exactly two locations and is kind of a niche operation and it is absolutely crazy to me that they think they need to pay for this extra layer of stupidly bloated and redundant "talent acquisition" processing when they're hiring for like two or three basic ass hourly roles where half the question is going to be "have you done this normal shit before" and half will be "can we stand your personality". Nobody needs this garbage at all, least of all ME.

#there is some stuff out there that doesn't directly hurt anybody but that should be illegal anyway

[raisinchallah]

i must say conversations about covid these days are kind of um fucking insane that the people who take it seriously these days i think also are pretty rarely people with in person jobs especially like jobs that involve large scale interactions with the public and idk i think people seem to lack compassion on nearly every side of this or like understandings of the realities of peoples lives you know like idk if there is data on like the effectiveness of being the only masked person in a large heavily peopled environment idk like i cant really judge my former coworkers for not masking for going out drinking etc after work like ur job already is such a high risk situation and like when u work in a restaurant literally zero customers will be masking like i got sick constantly working as a cashier and masking but like i had to eat there was nowhere to eat but the communal break room like literally u gotta eat u gotta drink there are basic human needs and like going to a bar after work ur probably interacting with fewer people than u have to at your job like i dont feel like i can say to someone they should cut their entire life down to a shitty high risk job that ruins your body you know like thats insane but like also it then seems to be like ok well then do nothing just live your life ur insane if you think things should improve or idk like and that all this shit just turns your life so tiny people dont really want to talk to you if you wear a mask ur nothing to anyone you know and its just depressing there are so few places spaces whatever designed for masking these days theres literally so many events activities that could be made safer if anyone fucking cared but it does drive me insane i think that it feels like slowly and slowly the only people who seem to want to talk about covid safety are people who have taken such an extreme stance its like if ur not just as isolated as we are ur evil and like extreme judgement for people who get multiple covid infections as if even the most covid conscious people these days arent forced to live with people who dont really take it seriously anymore like simply denying average reality and not really understanding that like shame based public health measures simply do not work and we cannot ascribe value or moral judgements to health but then also people who argue with their sides i think totally deny the reality of like the misery and loneliness of being so isolated and treat people like theyre insane you know.. its just god whats going on i wish we could figure out what to do with ourselves...

[sugarsnappeases]

hi!! i see your thoughts on bartylily and i am eating them uppp. but i ask any thoughts on regubartylily? do we think they could work out?

hi hi darling!!!

i'm intrigued by this bc ofc i love bartylily, and i love bartylus and i'm occasionally partial to a bit of regulily as well but i don't think i've ever actually thought of them as a trio before….. am pondering it now tho and i feel like i could kinda get behind it??

bc in my mind regulus is the poshest, most pretentious person to ever walk the earth, he’s whipping out the most absurdly formal vocabulary at all times so it sounds like he’s gone and looked up synonyms in a thesaurus w every single word, he’s literally wearing a custom silk suit to bed and rising in the morning like a vampire from a coffin and there’s not a single crease in the fabric, and then he’s being confronted w barty and lily who’re just. they’re just sooooo

i think regulus, my fave repressed loser weirdo, would be just slightly fucking terrified by the two of them, especially if they’re together to start w which for some reason is the way i’m viewing them rn. like bartylily being this insane, incredibly intense couple who commit a lot of recreational arson and never miss a chance to cause a scene and regulus, who would rather die than be perceived while in public but also desperately craves the kinda all-consuming attention that the two of them have for each other, is just So overwhelmed by them

like reg hasn't expressed a single emotion in at least a decade, he's the embodiment of unflappability but in quite possibly the worst way ever, he hasn't had a day off since the dawn of time, he hasn't let himself relax since even before that, he doesn't have a single friend in the world and he's convinced himself he doesn't need them bc he's on his mindset grindset (my poor sad baby is debilitatingly lonely actually) but then somehow he's coming face to face w lily evans and bartemius crouch jr.

lily evans who's highly competent and driven but also messy and outspoken and often rude, who thinks that everything should happen exactly as she wants it to and if it doesn't then she'll make it, who's a force of nature and who has probably killed a man and who is inexplicably in love with barty. barty who's as sharp as a fucking knife and as dangerous as one too, who's wrapping himself up in so many layers of irony that it's impossible to tell what he really means at any given time, who has had a criminal record since the ripe old age of six and who took one look at lily and threw himself down at her feet. and the two of them are angry at the world and taking what they want from it without asking and overly obsessed with each other to the point that it’s uncomfortable to watch but reg can’t seem to look away

maybe this is just typical to me in all of barty's relationships bc in my mind (my mind which has been obsessing over barty/michelangelo parallels for the last month lol) he’s just brimming with undying devotion, he’s putting his entire self into a relationship in this almost masochistic, de-subjectivising translation of the self into the body of the object of his desire or whatever, and lily to me has that sort of intensity as well, kinda selfish in the sense that she's taking and taking and he's giving himself up entirely but it's okay bc she's doing the same for him so in the end they're balanced in that they've both entirely relinquished themselves to each other and merged into one ridiculously feverish entity, they're constantly together, they're a fucking tornado sweeping into regulus' life and uprooting everything that he had so carefully laid into place

and like, in the aftermath of this complete kinda excavation, they're lounging around and getting high together and reg’s having epiphanies like ‘is this relaxation?’ (picture that meme w the butterfly) and he's like. expressing his desires for the first time in his entire life, he doing things bc he wants to do them and not bc someone told him to or bc he thinks he should. and he's swept up in the tornado and just as obsessive and intense and devoted to the two of them as they are to him and he's flourishing like a pot plant being put in the sun and watered, his little sickly victorian child complexion actually gets some colour to it bc he's blushing all the time at the things they're saying to him

and anyway in conclusion, i think i can get behind any bartylily + someone else ship as long as everyone involved worships the ground that lily evans walks on and is also slightly scared of her. but also yes regubartylily has my stamp of approval, we do indeed think they could work out <333

#asks <3 #regubartylily #also sorry this took a while i was Thinking and also sorry this got. kinda long #literally ask me things at your own risk i’m liable to ramble #but also tysm for asking me i LOVE getting asks everyone please ask me all the questions ever <333 #have we settled on the name regubartylily btw?? bc i feel like maybe i prefer #bartylilylus

[fuck-customers]

More of a fuck coworkers/leaders. The other day I was in the stockroom part of my store, on top of a ladder with hands full of product. Someone on our walkie talkie calls for me, saying there’s a customer in my dept that needs my help. Naturally I have to drop everything to go help- and since a coworker had to call for my help, I’m guessing it’s something only I can help with.

Wrong. I finally find the customer and he’s like “do you guys carry this brand?” And I’m just like are you fucking kidding me I dropped everything for THIS? So I ask the guy what the first employee did and he’s like “yeah he didn’t really try to help me he just said someone else would come.” So I finish helping this guy, but afterward I’m pissed bc these are the type of questions EVERYONE should eb able to answer. We literally carry around little cell phones to look up this kind of shit. It would’ve taken that coworker maybe a MINUTE of his time, at the most, to help that customer but no instead he made me drop everything I was doing to answer the most simple fucking question. And this happens all the time, and after this one I was fed up, so I get on my walkie talkie, and mind you I was not ugly or rude or anything, I literally just said “hey guys if a customer has a simple question that can be answered with your device, pls try to help them before you call for backup bc it’s not always easy to drop everything you’re doing.” Bc not only are you wasting my time, but the customers time too. You’d think the leaders would back me up on this, because we’re constantly lectured on how we need to do anything and everything for the customer, but nope! Instead, my boss (he’s cool, the only cool one tbh) tells me that THREE different leaders came to him to complain about that comment I made. Which is insane bc that day I made the comment on the walkie, I had several coworkers AND a leader tell me they liked what I said bc the exact same shit happens to them too and it gets rly fucking old. You expect customers to waste your time with dumb shit, but not your coworkers. But yeah apparently those leaders thought I was way out of line or summ which in retrospect I can agree that it wasn’t rly my place to bring it up, but the issue i raised was important nonetheless and clearly not just to me. But no we’d rather focus on being petty and cliquish than actually addressing this problem, bc how dare that lowly employee criticize my leadership, even in the most indirect way... idk I just really hate all the leaders at my store (besides mine) bc all they do is complain and talk shit about my dept, and not just me specifically. One complaint was that we didn’t look like we were working hard enough (even tho we consistently meet all goals and quotas), and ofc my boss is just like “I’m sorry my workers aren’t constantly stressed out and running around like headless chickens…?” And I’m also pretty certain this is all just bc our dept is (and has been for some time) wiping the floor with all the others. We have the highest sales while everyone else is leagues behind on goals, AND the other depts are having hella turnover bc, guess what, EVERYONE HATES THESE PETTY CHILDISH ASS LEADERS

[ace-of-zaun]

The Wrong Place at the Wrong Time: pt. 1

Silco x f!reader - SFW

CW: swearing, threats, some violence, some injury, but nothing too serious

4.1k words

Summary: You meet Silco due to an unfortunate misunderstanding, but to your surprise, you’re not the only one who finds themselves kidnapped and bound to a chair…

A/N: this is kinda daft, but hopefully a fun read. enjoy a bit of sassy silco and just a hint of soft silco -elsie x

PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 | PART 7 | PART 8

-

The first time you met the King of the Undercity, you were in a dusty, old warehouse, tied to a chair, with a likely concussion given the way your head throbbed and your vision was blurred. It took you a few moments for your eyes to finally clear as you blinked slowly, trying to take in your surroundings the best you could. 

It had started out as a fairly average day for you. You’d worked a full shift at your boss’ market stall, selling various nick-nacks to the regular customers, fighting the urge to jump the table and throttle the rude ones – hell, you’d even sweet-talked one of them into buying an automatic egg separator that they definitely didn’t need. It wasn’t until after your shift, when you were walking back home to your shoddy, one-roomed apartment, that your day took a turn for the unexpected. 

You should have known something was up when you decided to take a brief detour to the docks but didn’t encounter a single dock-worker the entire time. In fact, it was eerily silent, up until the moment you passed a deserted loading bay and felt someone smack you on the back of the head with something dull and metallic. When you’d finally woken up, with the worst headache of your life and your stomach churning, you’d found yourself in your current predicament.

You tried to block your eyes from the, quite frankly offensive, light pouring through one of the windows where a loose board had fallen down from it. But your hands wouldn’t budge. A frown etched on your face, you looked down and realised exactly why your hands wouldn’t co-operate. They were tied behind you with some thick rope, arms looped around the back of the chair. Upon further inspection, you noticed that your ankles were also tied to the front two legs of the rickety wooden seat.

Your first reaction was to sigh. Thinking through the series of events at a later date, you decided that it must have been the concussion. Any sane person would have probably screamed or began to cry or at least tried to get out of this sudden entrapment. Of course, you weren’t feeling very sane at that particular point in time and in hindsight, the fact that you were about to meet the King of the Lanes made the whole situation infinitely more insane.

No, not in a million years would you have ever expected to meet the most dangerous man in the Undercity, on a miserable Tuesday, no less. Of course, you didn’t know it was the crime lord himself at the time, because if you had, you definitely wouldn’t have spoken aloud the first thing that popped in your head.

“Well, fuck me sideways, they could have at least asked before kidnapping and tying me up.”

“I dare say that asking beforehand would have rather defeated the point,” was the reply you heard from directly behind you, in a low, gravelly timbre.  

You hadn’t realised there was someone else in the room, so of course, your first instinct was to scream. In a panic, you tried to sharply turn to look at the man who had spoken, but quickly found that with the way you were tied to the chair, you couldn’t see much more than his shoulders that were covered by a sleek-looking coat.

“What are you doing here?” you blurted out, your thoughts swimming as you took in this new aspect of your situation.

“I could ask you the same question.”

“I literally have no clue. I’m honestly the most boring person ever. I mean, for Janna’s sake, I’ve never even-” You cut yourself off when a thought struck you and your voice dipped low to an almost conspiratorial tone.

“You don’t think this is because of the time I convinced a customer that putting a spatula under his pillow every night would make his wife love him again?”

You were met with a few seconds of (most likely stunned) silence from your new-found friend, before he responded, a sigh lacing his words.

“I highly doubt it.”

“Good, because I swear I-”

“Are you carrying any weapons?” the man cut you off before you could voice your concerns any further.

“Oh, uh, no. Sorry.”

You thought you heard a huff of frustration, but the noise was too quiet to be able to tell with any certainty.

“Are you tied up as well?” you asked, trying again to turn your head to get a glimpse of anything that wasn’t his shoulders.

“I wouldn’t be wasting my time speaking with you if I wasn’t.”

“Well, geez, you don’t have to be so rude,” you shot back, annoyance making your headache feel even sharper, “I mean, you can’t be as high-and-mighty as you clearly think you are considering you’re in the exact same position as me.”

Okay, this time you definitely heard a short exhale through his nose, making his frustration very clear. After a few seconds of heated silence, you felt a strange urge to clear the air. Something about annoying the only person who had any chance of helping you out of this state just didn’t sit right with you.

“So, what did you do to get yourself kidnapped?”

“Oh, I can think of a few things,” was the sarcastic drawl you received in response.

“Oh yeah? What like?”

“That is none of your concern.”

It must have been the concussion. You really weren’t one to argue or react when your buttons had been pushed (I mean, come on, you worked in customer service for crying out loud). But there was something about this man and the situation you found yourself in that was, to put it delicately, really getting on your tits.

“Seriously, mate, what is your problem? I’m just trying to figure out what the hell is going on right now because one minute I was taking a nice stroll down by the docks and the next I’m talking to one of the snarkiest people I have ever met.”

You could almost hear his jaw tightening at your pointed tone.

“How about instead of wasting your time figuring out what led us to these circumstances, you re-direct your efforts to getting us out of here?” he replied, in a dangerously low voice that could only serve as a warning.

You were about to scoff in response as you turned your head towards him again, but this time, instead of glaring uselessly at his shoulder, you let your eyes wander down his sleeve. Your indignant reaction was halted when you thought you spotted hints of crayon on the soft material of his coat. For some reason, you felt a strange ache in your heart at the sudden realisation that this kidnapping might have separated the man from his child, or possibly children. Reasoning with yourself that his anger towards you was probably from a place of worry, you felt all your previously built-up annoyance at the man drain away from you.

You took a small breath before softly directing your next question over your shoulder.

“Do you have children?”

“…What?”

“You have crayon on your sleeve.”

There was a pause. The voice that was carried through the air a few moments later was the softest and quietest you’d heard from the man in the very short time you’d known him.

“I have a daughter.”

You nodded, even though he couldn’t see you.

“I hope she’s okay, you know, considering you’re here,” you told him sincerely, “and I hope you get back to her soon.”

The man didn’t say anything. Not even a breath that could possibly betray his thoughts about your surprisingly kind words. The thought of his potential anguish over his daughter made your heart twinge in that funny little way it had done only moments before. You might have been annoyed at how haughtily the man had been speaking to you, but you weren’t a monster, and despite it being a near-constant phenomena in the Undercity, you didn’t like the thought of anyone being in pain.

Recognising that both of your chairs must be back-to-back, you twisted one of your hands as much as you could in its binding and reached back far enough to graze your fingers across one of his own hands. You’d hoped the action might bring him a little comfort. Of course, you were wrong.

He jerked his hands away from you at the sudden touch and it felt suspiciously like he was trying to slap at them as he wriggled about in his chair. “What are you doing? Get off me!”

“Sorry, I was just trying to make you feel better!” you quickly rebutted in defence.

Before he could voice his displeasure, a loud bang of the main door being slammed open made you jump in your chair. Your head whipped to the other side of the room, where you observed a man entering the space and walking towards you both. You half-expected him to be holding a gun or a weapon of some kind, but you were surprised to see that he was empty-handed. He hadn’t even covered his face with a mask. As he got closer to where your chairs were situated, he turned up his nose and began to saunter arrogantly, as if he’d suddenly gained the persona of an aristocrat. It didn’t suit him.

“You know, it was almost too easy to get you both here. Just one shovel and one sedative was all it took to bring down the two filthiest rats of the Undercity.”

At this point, alarm bells should have been ringing in your head (additional of course to the ones already ringing from your concussion, that you now knew was caused by this eejit with a shovel). As far as you knew, you were no filthier than the rest of the poor souls that found a home in Zaun. But you’d been called much worse than ‘rat’ in your time working at the market, so that didn’t faze you either.

“And the best bit is that this wasn’t even part of the plan. Hendrick had this whole plan to steal your little empire right from under your nose and kill you both slowly and painfully.”

You didn’t even have time to consider the ‘empire’ comment the goon had made before the man tied to the chair behind you cut in, speaking again in that low, dangerous drawl. Only this time, it was tinted with rage.

“Did he now?”

“Yeah. Except he won’t need to do it now because we saw you both on the docks and took the opportunity. Honestly, I thought it’d have been harder to grab you both, considering all the stories everyone’s heard about you, but I guess you’re no match for me and Toddy. Man, I can’t wait until Hendrick sees you both. I’m gonna be rolling in it when he promotes me. Shit, I might even get to be his right-hand after this.”

By now, the goon was pacing slowly back and forth at the side of your chairs, making your neck ache as you strained to look at him, before you finally gave up and stared impassively in front of you. You wished you could look at your co-kidnappee’s face, if only to see if it matched your own one of utter disdain at this idiot’s pretentious monologuing. Instead, you could lightly feel him clenching his hands in anger. They were just slightly touching yours, but he was likely too infuriated to even notice.

“And-”

The goon was interrupted when the front door slammed open again to reveal another man, who took in the sight in front of him and stormed towards you all. This one had the sense to wear a mask, but it was made redundant by the fact that his colleague had just revealed his name to you both.

“What are you doing?” the second man snapped.

“Just telling them how easy it was to capture them both.”

“You’re not supposed to reveal the plan, you idiot!”

“Oh, sorry.”

“I’ve sent word to our boss that he should get down here as soon as possible, I-”

The masked man stopped short when he glanced down at you.

“Who the hell is this?”

There was a pause while the first man seemed to consider the question, confusion painting his face.

“Uh, Silco? Can’t you tell by the creepy eye?” was his reply.

You felt like someone had just sucked out all the thoughts from your brain, bar from the faint sound of circus music playing in the back of your mind. Fuck, fuck, fuck. The man tied up behind you was Silco?? King of the Undercity? The Industrialist? Crime lord extraordinaire?

Your mind raced through all the rude comments you’d made to him in the moments prior to this revelation and you felt bile at the back of your dry throat. In your heart, you now knew that you were going to die. If it wasn’t at the hands of whoever Hendrick was and if by some miracle you managed to escape these dire straits, you knew that Silco would be the one to end your miserable little life. If not for your impertinence, but for your lack of decorum when speaking to him. Fuck, you’d tried to caress his hands, for Janna’s sake!!

“No, you wazzock, her,” the masked man continued, pointing rather rudely at you.

“That’s his right-hand, isn’t it?” the first man responded, confusion still prominent on his features.

“That is not Silco’s right-hand.”

“What?”

“Are you stupid? That’s not Sevika!”

“But she was at the dock with him?”

“That is not Sevika.”

“Shit.”

Great. Just great. Well, that explained how you’d ended up in this mess. It was all a complete misunderstanding. A simple case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. In other places, that would have been a relief. But not in the Undercity. No, in the Undercity, even the act of being involved in a situation like this, accidental or not, almost certainly meant you would soon be meeting your demise.

“How much did you tell them about the plan?” the masked goon demanded, folding his arms as he glared at his colleague.

“Uh, not much really, just that Hendrick was plotting to murder Silco and-”

“You told them we work for Hendrick?! How stupid can you get?”

As the two goons argued between themselves, you wondered why Silco wasn’t saying anything. From what you’d heard, he was a master of words, could talk his way through any situation, could get anything he wanted. But the one time where talking was his only weapon, he wasn’t using it. Then you remembered the goon mentioning something about a sedative. If Silco had been drugged, maybe he was still feeling too groggy to even try to talk his way out of the situation. Then again, he’d been plenty awake enough to snap at you earlier. You were brought out of your ruminations on the Kingpin’s potential state when the second goon gestured to you with a wave of his arm.

“Let’s just kill her and wait for Hendrick to arrive so he can decide what to do with Silco.”

Wait, what? No. No. It couldn’t end like this! Not yet! You still had so many more customers to annoy before you met your maker! In your panic, you started doing the two things you knew best. Rambling and bullshitting.

“Wait! Don’t kill me! I may not be Silco’s right-hand, but I am pretty high up in his gang’s pecking order!”

You felt the slightest brush of Silco’s fingers against yours at your blatant lie, but you ignored it in favour of developing a convincing enough story in your head.

“Really?” the first goon asked.

“Yeah. I’ve been working for him for about three years now.”

“See! She was going to meet him at the docks, I knew it!” the goon gave his co-worker a smug look, his arms folded triumphantly across his chest.

“Fine,” the masked man sighed, “we’ll just wait for Hendrick to arrive and decide how he wants to kill them both.”

You felt yourself speaking again.

“You don’t want to do that!”

“And why not?” Both men were frowning at you now.

You felt Silco reach back and rhythmically tap his fingers twice on your hand. A clear warning to Shut. Up. Of course, you didn’t listen to him because when did you ever listen to anybody?

“Because your talents are wasted with Hendrick. I mean, you captured the both of us all by yourselves and with barely any weapons. You’d be much better suited working for Silco here.”

“Really?” the second man asked slowly, looking at you with no small amount of suspicion.

“Yeah. Despite all the stories you’ve probably heard, he’s really quite a good boss. I mean, for starters, the pay is beyond anything you could even imagine. He really takes good care of us… financially I mean,” you hastened to add.

“Hendrick barely pays us anything, says we’re not worthy enough” the first goon admits with a scoff.

“That doesn’t sound very fair to me. Silco’s not like that at all, if anything he over-pays us! And not to mention unlimited free drinks at the bar, the weekly parties we all have, the bonuses when you do well on a job. Hell, if you two were part of our gang, you’d be climbing up the ranks in no time.”

“You really think so?”

Bless his soul. The poor guy looked so entranced by the idea, doubling down was the only real option you had.

“Absolutely. Hendrick must be an absolute idiot to let talent like yours go to waste,” your voice lowered, causing both goons to lean in further when you spoke again, “I bet you don’t even get Snowdown Day off, do you?”

You had them now. You could tell by the look in their eyes. The second goon tried to pretend he was still sceptical of your words.

“So, what? You’re saying we could work for you instead?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Untie us, join our gang and you’ll even get a reward for it. Upfront. Isn’t that right, boss?” you directed the overly confident question to the man behind you.

You had no idea how the Kingpin was going to respond. In the last half hour, you’d argued with him, insulted him, stroked his hands, lied about being his employee, and asked him to partake in your little deception, all in a desperate attempt to get you out of here alive. Honestly, you weren’t quite sure whether you wanted this ploy to work or not. Even if the goons did agree to let you go, you were almost certain that Silco was going to throttle you after he’d finished killing the two men.

You waited with bated breath for his answer. Luckily, it came only a few moments after posing your question, in that smooth tone you were embarrassingly just starting to miss.

“Of course.”

“See,” you beamed at the two men, hoping they couldn’t see the panic hidden deep in your eyes.

A beat passed until the second man finally relented.

“Fine, untie her and we can talk about our rate of pay.”

That was all well and good, but it didn’t feel right that you were the one leading this dangerous dance. You had to keep up the pretence that Silco was in charge. Which wasn’t very difficult, considering he absolutely was.

“Untie my boss first, he’s the one who’ll be paying you,” you told them, trying to maintain the confidence you’d somehow gained in this new character of yours.

“Yeah, alright.”

You felt the second man reach in between your chairs and drag Silco’s towards him. You hadn’t noticed until they were ripped away from you, but Silco’s fingers had been gently clinging to yours throughout your entire performance as his new fake employee. For some strange reason you couldn’t decipher, you mourned the loss of his touch that you hadn’t even been aware of.

You tried to turn your head to look at the man, hoping the distance would allow you to finally see him as you heard the ropes being cut away from his ankles and then hands, but you were once again startled by the sound of the door being smashed open for the third time that day.  

It all happened so fast. A tall woman burst into the room and you heard an affronted yell from one of the goons. You then heard a scuffle behind you, as the woman charged across the room towards the goon standing beside you. Craning your neck around to see what was happening with Silco, you were caught off guard by your chair being kicked harshly, causing it to topple over and unceremoniously crash your head against the concrete floor.

And boy, if your head didn’t already hurt after being smacked with a shovel, it sure as hell hurt now. You could barely make out what happened next as you fought to stay awake given how the room was now spinning out of control in your vision. A groan escaped your lips before you realised the sounds of struggle behind you had stopped, the air being filled instead with heavy breathing. You thought you vaguely heard the sound of a door opening and closing again and a muffled conversation, but you couldn’t make the effort to tune into it. Instead, you favoured closing your eyes in an attempt to stop feeling like you were on a carousel.

“She needs medical attention.”

You heard that one well enough, that smooth, self-assured voice appearing directly above you. Peeling your eyes open took no small amount of effort, but you endeavoured to do it anyway, if only to finally get a glimpse of the infamous kingpin.

And there he was. Stood tall above you, peering down his nose with his arms folded behind his back. You’d never seen him before, your market job not quite meeting the conditions to be considered a criminal enterprise (except for the downright criminal way you sweet-talked your customers into buying items they would never use once they got them back home). You wished you could get a clearer look at him, but the blur made it much too difficult.

If your eyesight had been better, you’d have noticed that he was breathing heavily, strands of his dark hair strewn across his forehead. Instead, all you could focus on was his eyes. No, not the black one with it’s infernal orange iris, but the seafoam green one, that if you weren’t so heavily concussed, you might have thought held an almost soft look to it as he peered down at you.

He continued to stare intensely at you and in your fatigue all you could do was stare back.

“What should we do with her?” you heard the woman say from somewhere in the room.

“We’ll take her back to the Drop. Give me your knife,” Silco replies, not breaking eye contact with you.

You blinked once slowly and by the time your eyes were open again, Silco was holding a knife and stepping closer to you. He crouched over you and began to cut through the ropes that tied your ankles and arms to the chair. And you’d be damned if you didn’t immediately think how attractive he looked as he loomed over you, knife coming dangerously close to your skin as he cut the rope away. Curiously enough, you didn’t seem to mind.  

Soon, your body was finally free of its captivity and you slump inelegantly on your side, finding no strength to pull yourself up from the floor. The movement caused the room to spin again and you decided to focus on breathing instead. That is, until Silco re-entered your line of sight. This time, he was close enough that you couldn’t mistake the concern he showed, his brow furrowed as he looked at your face. His mouth was moving, but you couldn’t really hear what he was saying.

You feel him lift you by the arms and suddenly you’re kneeling face to face with him. Gods, he’s even more attractive up close. You shake your head at your intrusive thought, looking down to see his hands either side of your shoulders, holding you steady. Staring at them with a concerning amount of intensity, you snap your gaze up to meet his when his fingers squeeze into you gently.

Any normal person would have been horrified that they were being touched by the most dangerous man in the city. But you’d never really been one to fit the mould. So instead of being horrified at your proximity to the crime lord, you leaned into it and blurted out the first thing that came into your head.

“Has anyone ever told you that you have lovely hands?”

There was no time to hear his response or even see his reaction because that one question apparently drained you of the last of your  energy and you promptly collapsed forward into him as the world went black.  

PART 2

A/N: I’ve never written fanfic before in my life… the middle-aged pixel man has got me baaaad. hope you enjoyed reading!! i will inevitably do another part bc i have no self-control and need to do something to distract my stupid brain

#silco #silco x reader #silco x f!reader #silco fic #silco arcane #silco x you

[girlindelusionn]

oh my god HELLO i just logged back into tumblr and i screamed when i saw the two chapters you posted 😭 THEY ARE SERIOUSLY everything i could��ve dreamt of and more holy shit u are now my fave person in the world. also yes dw i did mean lover by taylor PLS. u have seriously made me the happiest person on the planet and i will be reading all 10k+ words. ily never stop writing

HI LOVE IM SO GLAD YOU'RE LIKING THIS 😭 you're officially my fave person in the world too, ily and thank u for such sweet words!!

here's chapter three <3

i want them all, robin x you (part 3!)

"We could let our friends crash in the living room

This is our place, we make the call"

part 2! part 4!

You leave the living room to go find more ice and smile like an idiot when you see her cleaning a couple of cups on the sink. Seeing her exist so naturally in your own house still made you unreasonably happy. 

She was always beautiful, but tonight it was almost too much. Happiness did that for her. And, against all odds, she had been wrong all those times before. People, or a few of them, weren't that bad. Having friends was not a time bomb, a catastrofe waiting to happen, an eternal countdown. It was pretty cool. And it made her happy. So happy. 

This year had been absolutely insane. It was exhausting to even think about it. But along the chaos, hatred and tragedy you two had grown closer to people you'd never in the world would’ve thought. I mean, fucking Steve Harrington was in your house right now! And you were okay with it! You were more than okay. You –and don't you ever tell him– kinda liked him..? Sophomore you is probably calling you a traitor in every language possible, how could you like that idiot?

Honestly, it had been just as surprising as it sounds. It’s not like you planned it.

But Robin and you desperately needed jobs during the summer –cause again, the running away thing– and the mall had recently opened so that was the most obvious choice. Besides, it meant spending all that time together without thinking excuses for your parents, and for two hormonal teenagers who had started dating just a couple months before, it was the best news in the world. Until you found out who was the third person that was gonna be working there. No joke, you almost quit on the spot. Not Steve! Literally anyone but Steve. And you knew Robin felt the same, even though she assured you pretty much every day that Tammy Thompson was not someone she thought about anymore.

But he was pretty chill now that he was out of Hawkins High. Which only proved your theory, school was a monster. He was great with kids, (he had a lot of kid friends, that was kinda weird) he knew how to handle customers (unless it was pretty girls) and he would always cover your shift if you needed to. He was also falling for your girlfriend, which wasn’t great but it was a bit amusing. Overall, he was a good guy. 

But you liking Steve was only the beginning of the crazy things that happened during the summer. First there was the code, then the fucking elevator, then the russians (how could you forget the russians?) and then the magic kid and the giant monster.  

So it was safe to say, summer had been wild. 

Autumn had flown by after all that mess, and senior year had been good so far. Nobody tells you how exciting school can be when you have someone to secretly make out with in the bathroom. Your relationship was as good as it's ever been, keeping secrets was basically second nature for both of you. As sad as that might sound. 

Good thing is, your mom and dad had decided to take a vacation for the holidays. Three. Entire. Weeks. Of an empty house and a possibility for you two of, inside these four walls, having a normal life. She had packed a bag and told her parents you were going to yet another break up and were in the urgent need of a “girls week”. Sometimes, like two percent of the time, being gay ruled. 

You had spent these weeks cooking, reading, singing and wearing down every vinyl on your collection. Doing all those things you normally wouldn't. And it has been the best time of your life. Every time it got clearer and clearer that Robin was who you wanted to spend your life with. Even if that was something you would never confess to her right now. Even if legally that couldn’t even happen. 

“You’re staring” she says. You just snort and hug her from behind. Struggling to get to her shoulder. 

“Who gave you the right to be this tall, huh? Who do you think you are?” she laughs at your tease, pretending she can't hear what you're saying from so far above. With that she earns a light punch to her side.

“Ow!”

“You deserved it” you say with a smile that gets quickly attacked by her kiss. Surprised, you look at her with your eyebrows up. “What was that?”

“Oh, it's just something called kissing…” she jokes “I can give lessons anytime soon if you want. Ow!” another punch to the side.

“I mean– we have guests in the house”

“So what? They’re over there and it wouldn’t be so bad either if they found out, right?” your face shows confusion but you keep your smile. “Why are you looking at me that way? If you don’t want them to find out, I won’t tell them or do anything in front of them. At least not on purpose, but you know how hard it is for me to actually shut up! I mean the other day Steve heard me say goodbye to you over the phone and I had to tell him my grandma calls me babygirl and–- “

You kiss her again just to shut her up. A very recurrent situation in your relationship. 

“I don’t care, Rob. But I thought you did…” you hug her a little tighter and you feel her relax in your arms.

“I mean, it’s not like I want the entire school to know about it… But maybe just Steve?”

“You wanna tell Steve?” you ask once again just to make sure she’s really okay with it.

“Yeah”

“Alright, then we’ll tell him.” you smile and she follows right after “We wait until Nancy and Jonathan are gone?” she nods and you let her continue with the dishes. The music sounds muffled from here, but you can hear laughter above it. 

“So, just for the sake of the tradition…” you ask, sitting above the counter, next to her. “Where are you thinking of running away this year?” 

She smiles to herself and thinks for a minute before answering, gaze never leaving the cups. 

“Honestly… nowhere.”

You gasp, jokingly. “Who are you and what have you done to my girlfriend?” 

She laughs a bit, but she’s serious when she says:

“What have you done to me? You made Hawkins a livable place!”

That thought, the fact that she didn’t care about where she was physically as long as she had you, made you melt with love. She was the sweetest person and you loved her so much it hurt. So, naturally, before leaving the kitchen with the ice in hand you have to steal one more kiss from her. You had planned a simple, quick kiss, but your girlfriend decided to grab your face and deepened it. You had cero (0) complaints, of course, but when you hear Jonathan’s steps in the hallway you barely have time to pull away.

“Guys? Steve just landed on the sacred stair and he might have to go back all the way to the start!” he explains as he enters the kitchen. You both hope he wont realize the faint traices of sexual tension left on the air. Or how you two are a liiitle closer than usual “Hurry up!”

You grab the ice and follow him out of the kitchen, not before shooting Robin a grin. 

The other two were still in the living room playing some kind of game Dustin had invented. It made absolutely no sense, but Steve had promised to learn the rules and play with him. Robin had landed in some kind of pit so she had lost fifteen turns. Jonathan was a little ahead of you, but he had terrible luck with the dice. You were doing pretty good, but had drawn a curse card at the beginning of the game, which made it impossible for you to advance more than five steps at a time. And Nancy and Steve were currently fighting for the win. Nancy, who had landed on the “silence cave” and could not talk for the next two turns, was four steps behind him, but now Steve had landed on the “Sacred Stair”.

“So now if you get anything but a three you're doomed?” you ask, incredulously, as soon as you sit back on the table. 

Nancy nods, Jonathan checks the handwritten manual for the fifth time, and you can’t help but laugh at Steve’s worried face.

“C’mon, Steve. You can do this.” he cheers himself up. You hear Robin scream “WAIT FOR ME” from the kitchen. A couple seconds later she's back at her spot next to you.

“Give me a three, a three, a three…” he throws the little dice a little too hard, it rolls and rolls and falls under the table. “NOBODY MOVE” All of you four find it hilarious how seriously he was taking this game.

“ITS A FIVE” informs your girlfriend with a smile on her face. 

“NO WAY”

“YOU LOST!” joyfully screams Nancy, who was also taking this more seriously than she should.

“WHERE IS IT?”

“Now you have to go back to the book of secrets, babe” laughs her boyfriend. 

“ITS A FUCKING FIVE. OH, C'MON!” he laments “After all the time that I spent trying to get the fives for the Philosopher Monster!”

And for a second everyone is happy –except for Steve, obviously– and for the first time in your life you are certain you have found your people. 

The rest of the night practically flies by and when you all notice it’s ten thirty. Jonathan and Nancy had promised to be home by eleven, to celebrate with their families, so they say goodbye and thank you for the invitation. Nancy doesn’t lose the opportunity to make fun of Steve one more time before leaving. 

“Let’s do this again sometime!” says Jonathan, kind as always.

“Yes! Can’t wait to beat you again, Steve!”

“Oh, shut up”

After a little more bickering the couple is gone and Steve stands by the door awkwardly. You know the problem, he didn’t have any family to spend the night with and he was also too embarrassed to tell you both, which was ridiculous.

“Well… I should get going too…”

“Steve, dingus, you can stay over '' clarifies Robin. His face lights up a bit, but he’s still a bit unsure. 

“You’re sure?” he asks you, the owner of the house.

“Of course, Harrington.” You smile and he gives you a hug that catches you off guard. He even takes advantage of the height difference too and lifts you a little off the ground. You laugh and hit him on the back of the head, jokingly. “Put me down, idiot!” he does so and thanks you once more “Now, when you had the genius idea of knocking the board off the table–“

“Nancy’s fault!”  

“… you also knocked the little carrots, I want them out of my floor by the time I’m done with dishes. Robin you’re in swapping duty, or the spilled soda it's gonna end up sticking to the floor”

“Yes, ma’am!” They both say. Posing as soldiers, with hands on their foreheads. You roll your eyes, and make your way to the kitchen.

After a while of tedious cleaning, —those damn carrots had flown everywhere— you take downstairs the couple of mattresses you kept for visitors and make a big bed in the middle of the living room. Steve’s early Christmas gift for Robin and you, a Queen record, was playing softly in the background and the clock on the wall marked fifteen minutes till midnight.

Steve’s in the bathroom but Robin and you are already in bed. She’s nervous, you can tell. She’s slightly trembling and fidgeting with her hands. It isn’t really the first time you both do this, but it’s as terrifying as the last time:

You two walk the distance between your math class and Mr Hauser’s classroom as you damn this fucking school for being so closed minded. All you wanna do right now is hold her shaking hand.

“We don't have to do this, you know?”

“But I want to.” She reminds you. You’re unsure “I really do. I'm just a bit nervous.”

“Are you sure this is gonna be fine? Maybe we could start with someone safer?” you offer when you face the door. Robin shakes her head no.

“Trust me, there’s no one safer than Mr Hauser.” you’re still not a hundred percent convinced, but she looks sure of her words and you would trust her with your life, so you knock on the door.

You both enter after you hear his “come in!”. He looks surprised to see you. 

“Robin! Y/N! How nice to see you both” he greets. 

“Hi” says Robin, who’s getting more and more nervous every second that passes. 

“Hi, Mr Hauser.”

You occupy the first two seats as you chat about your winter break. Well, you and Mr Hauser, Robin is weirdly quiet because of the nerves. You try to help by holding her hand under the table.

“All the way to California?” the teacher is telling you about the winter break he spent visiting his family “That must have been nice"

“Yes! Great weather. And I even managed to find a copy of–” 

“SO WE'RE DATING” says Robin out of the blue. You look at her astonished. “Y/N and I, we’re kinda– not kinda, we’re dating.” she explains. Her face is the same shade of red as her converse.

“Oh…” he says with a confused smile. You hold your breath, you know how much Mr Hauser means to her and not having his support would be devastating for Robin. “That’s great! I’m happy for you both"

You continue with the conversation, Robin actually participating this time. You even get to tell him all about your traveling plans. You also find out Mr Hauser was already aware of Operation Croissant, apparently Robin told him all about it, and he confesses he pretty much knew there was something going on between you two. 

You’re having a really good time, but after a while you need to go. Today you had a geography test and you needed every second possible to study so you say goodbye to her and the teacher and make your way to the library. As soon as you leave Robin turns back to see Mr Hauser, who’s looking at her with a grin, waiting for her to talk. 

“I know that you feel like I'm rushing into this, and it's probably a bad idea to make all these plans when we’re so young and delusional but—” she starts to ramble.

“Robin…"

“No, no, I know what you’re gonna say. ‘That’s just me being really in love for the first time’ but honestly it feels like i'm never gonna love anybody but her. Which I know sounds ridiculous cause we’re only seventeen and we have all our lives ahead of us an–”

“I was going to say that you look genuinely happy for the first time, Robin.” he explains with a small smile. 

“Oh…” she breathes “I am. I really am.” 

“Then there’s nothing more to say.”

So the whole telling Mr Hauser had gone well, and chances were telling Steve would go just as good. But it still felt awfully scary. 

“STEVE, CAN YOU HURRY UP, DUDE?” Robin yells at him. She just wants to let it out.

“IM IN THE BATHROOM” he complains.

“AND WHAT’S TAKING YOU SO LON—?”

“WE DON’T WANT DETAILS. I REPEAT, WE DO NOT WANT DETAILS” you look at her with an ‘are you insane?’ look. Robin shrugs and you sight. “Rob, it’s gonna be okay, dummy. It’s just Steve.”

She looks at you and you know she’s really trying to believe you, but it's just not that simple. 

“I know, I know. It 's just… too much, sometimes.” She shows her trembling hands and this time you do kiss her, taking advantage of the fact Steve’s still in the bathroom. Starting to realize this might be the last time hiding kisses. At least from him.

That sounded wonderful. So wonderful you kiss her even fondly. She accepts it, running her hand through your hair. 

 “WHAT?”

Oh, fuck. 

You drift apart from your girlfriend, who is still too shocked to even speak. She has the same guilty smile as you do. Like two kids caught red handed.

“…WHEN? W— WHAT?” 

You might have broken Steve.

“YOU TWO ARE…” he starts to guess. 

“Dating, yeah.” You explain. But that doesn’t erase his frown and confused gaze.

“For how long?” He says after a few seconds of silence.

You turn to Robin with a knowing look. “…a while”

“FOR HOW LONG Y/LN?” He’s not mad, just surprised. How could he have missed this completely?

“Nine months.” you reply.

“WHAT? SO YOU WERE ALREADY DATING WHEN I MET YOU?”

“Technically–” finally speaks Robin “ …yes. But only for a few weeks.”

“Wait, and all that time I…”

“Wanted to bang my girlfriend?” You complete his sentence “Yes, that was funny. But I don’t blame you, though, look at her.”

“Oh, shut up” complains Robin, rolling her eyes at you. You respond by sticking your tongue out. She tries to hide her smile, but, as always, fails miserably. 

You’re about to make fun of her yet again, but remember Steve’s still sitting in front of you. He’s wearing one of your giant t-shirts, those he's been trying to steal for the longest time, you make a mental note to make sure he actually gives it back before leaving tomorrow morning. He’s still processing, you think, but just to make sure Robin asks:

“Are you… Are you okay with it?” there’s worry in her voice and that makes him snap out of his thoughts. 

“Of course!” he assures and you feel her breathe again. It physically hurts to see her that anxious. She didn’t deserve a single bad thing. Ever. “I mean it’s a lot. And I feel like an idiot for not noticing–”

“Oh, that’s old news, Steve.” Robin chuckles, he doesn't find it as funny. 

“Well I was gonna talk about how you two are actually a match made in heaven and how I'm so happy for you guys, but whatever...” 

“Dear God, you’re such a drama queen.” 

“Come over here, you dingus.”

You three hug and when you drift apart Robin’s smile could light up the room. You have never seen her smiling so big. It takes you every bit of self control to not kiss her right there on the spot.

Then you remember. You can! You can kiss her right here right now! In front of someone!

So you do.

“Gross!” Jokes Steve. Earning not one but two punches, one in each shoulder. 

#wlw #stranger things #robin buckley #robin buckley x you #dating robin buckley #robin buckley x female reader #lgbt #steve harrington #nancy wheeler #jonathan byers #nancy and jonathan

[dianight]

Found myself reading stories about how people got "radicalized" (their words, not mine; left not right) and they are the expected (sadly) injustices that I assume people learn about sooner or later.

Some tragedy that'd be 100% avoidable if profit wasn't the single motivator of society. Some person working for decades only to get fired with no savings/benefits and struggling. Some person in an accident/by chance becomes disabled and they see how unfair and unaccommodating everything is. Some person who thought they made all the right choices in life and still got fucked (this is about someone in particular) and now they literally have no goal in life.

Like, you get the idea. There are more but top of my head those are the ones I see the most. I have seen all of those, and more, and more than a singular case for each.

And this will sound a bit underwhelming I suppose, but what made me look into "serious" leftism beyond "I want nice things for those with no money" wasn't any of the nightmarish or fucked up situations that I encountered working several jobs (hospitality mostly) but a single time that we had to listen to the owner (billionaire) of the company I worked for talk about food:

In a restaurant, almost finishing breakfast and getting all the prep for lunch ready we get told this guy wants to talk to the staff and it's like, no one ever says no to this clown because he owns the place. So we had to stop cleaning/preping tables/mise en place just to have some 50 something dude with a pea for a brain and awful storytelling skills telling us how he likes to cook some dish (can't even remember what it was). The insane thing is that he didn't cook it himself but rather he liked telling his personal chef how to cook it. And after that everyone (mainly the managers but regular staff played along) was like, clapping and smiling and shit and it was surreal to me. We get back to work and now we are 10+ minutes behind on a normal (nonbusy) day so of course I get shat on for not having my prep ready. And all I could think about it was how confident this moron looked while telling his repulsive anecdote.

I got more crazy stories about that restaurant. Managers doing coke in front of customers. A manager having to physically stop another that was fucking a customer on one of the hotel rooms with the door open. A GM headbutting a musician we got for an event in the face and having to pay him ~30k pounds and getting him a car so he wouldn't sue. You know the usual.

And the one that shook my understanding of the world the most was some fucker talking about how he liked to "cook".

#dia talks

[trickstarbrave]

i saw some people bitching on tiktok about art/commission prices again and i feel like ranting

idk why someone got it in their heads all artists are upper class rich folk trying to scam you out of something that isn't hard at all for us to make. art takes time and energy--time and energy we could literally spend doing ANYTHING else. we could be spending time with our loved ones, working a regular job with reliable pay and better benefits, or even just making art WE want to see. most of us are working class or poor.

"but you could charge less and get more customers" who the hell wants to work more for less pay. genuinely. would you rather work 90 hours for 10 bucks an hour or 40 hours for 35 bucks an hour? like get real. past a certain point of popularity you will be literally unable to keep up with commissions bc you cannot physically make them fast enough and stay healthy so higher prices mean you can dedicate more time to people who want it more

"well your art isnt even GOOD" if someone's art isnt your taste or technically worth it to you then dont buy it. to really get good at commissions you do have to build an audience and if they havent then they'll figure out they need to improve or network/promote more. you bitching about it isnt helping them figure it out any faster, and you bitching to artists who DO reliably get commissions at that price makes you look like a whiny brat

"but you COULD charge less and still survive. that means youre scamming people" listen i know you are used to be catered to by large corporations who can use literal slave labor to make things dirt fucking cheap but ethical labor costs more. we are not large corporations with big art machines shitting out subpar garbage you can buy off the rack. you are asking for handmade, customized things from someone in a place with a higher cost of living. we cannot and will not bend over backwards to appeal to the lowest common denominator. see above: we have better things to be doing with our time and this shit costs time and labor to produce. if you dont want a handmade custom art piece or dress or jewelry consider buying from shein then you cheapskate and get out of this market.

because, see above: we have better things to be doing. you are the one asking me to spend my free time making you something because you want it supposedly. i could instead be making things i like. i have the luxury too where if i dont wanna do something i dont have to. i dont have to pick up extra work for you. other artists can find other customers that arent you. if YOU want something you should make it worth the artists wild. no i dont wanna do a full custom painting for you for 40 dollars. i would barely get out of bed for 40 dollars. if i told you to clean my whole house for 10 dollars and deep clean it you would probably tell me im insane and you're not gonna do all that work for 10 god damn dollars. 10 dollars wont even pay for the cleaning supplies.

i dont take commissions anymore specifically bc i kept getting burnt out. i felt i had to make it cheaper to get more when in reality all it did was make more work with little reward. i didnt feel happy making art anymore. it became a chore, and i didnt wanna make anything for myself after i spent hours and hours making other stuff for other ppl. im lucky enough now to have a corporate job with more free time so i can get paid enough to survive and still make art. if i ever decided to again i would probably price it rly high bc tbh. if you want me to make you a custom piece i dont rly wanna draw you had better make it worth the soul crushing work that is turning a passion of mine into a profit.

and lastily with the "you could charge less and still survive" artists deserve to not only survive but thrive. artists deserve free time to make what they enjoy and have other hobbies. artists deserve to not have to work overtime to have stuff in savings. you do too in fact as a non-artist, but attacking artists for wanting that and trying to make it a reality that they get paid not just a survival wage but a FAIR wage is not actually helping anyone.

#no one here btw this is mostly tiktok again #i see this on clothes and jewelry and dice and art #its ANNOYING

[issie-https]

𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐍 - 𝐒𝐋𝐈𝐏𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐓

𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏.

𝑾𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔: 𝑲𝒊𝒅𝒏𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒖𝒂𝒈𝒆 & 𝑴𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏.

𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔: 1029

𝑨/𝒏: 𝑰 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒆𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔! 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒕 2 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓.

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍�� - 𝐂𝐀𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓

I could feel something or someone watching my every move. Every breath, every blink, every thought even — everything I did was being watched. Maybe I was going insane? Surely no one was watching me, its not a normal thing to do in todays society — stalking and staring was frowned upon. I told the voices in my head to shut up and continued stocking the shelves at the small store I worked at. I had death metal was playing in my headphones, quietly enough so I could hear if anyone was asking for help but loud enough so the low hum of the air-conditioning was drowned out.

I heard the quiet noise of the hinges on the door creak, signaling to me that someone had entered the shop. I assumed it was just another skateboarding, monster drinking teenager wanting to ogle at the newest hip hop album. Couldn't blame them though, I do like Eminem's music but if we're being honest, metal and rock music owns my heart. I was quickly pulled out of my head by someone saying, "Excuse me,".

"Hello, can I help?" I asked, pausing my music. "I was just wondering if you could help me find the metal records?" he asked. His eyes we're gorgeous, a captivating shade of blue. "Of course, any specific genre of metal?" I asked. "Heavy metal," he replied. "Good choice," I said, "it's all in this section here, as well as that shelf there". "Cool, thanks," he grinned.

I sat on the spinning chair behind the counter, changing the cd over to Nirvana's 'Nevermind' album and skipping to track 3. The sweet sounds of Kurt's voice filled the store as I hummed along to the lyrics and bounced my knee to Dave's drumming. The same guy came up to the sticker-covered counter and placed a Deftones vinyl on it, "Just this,". I picked up the record and scanned the label, "Sophisticated taste," I said. "Says you. Nirvana is a great choice," he replied. "Thank my dad for that part of my music taste," I said, "Your total is twelve bucks,". He handed me the money as I slid the vinyl over to him. "In that case, my compliments to your dad," he smiled before leaving the shop.

I sat there after, picking at some of the older stickers that needed replacing as the image was almost completely faded and the edges were sticky, dirty and coming up.

I went through the rest of my day, a handful more customers came and went, some buying Britney Spears, some buying HIM and others buying 50 Cent. I couldn't get that one guy off my mind. He was literally perfect, black hair with red streaks, blue eyes, an amazing smile and killer music taste. A guy like that is hard to find nowadays, most of them have short, slicked back hair and only listen to songs based around misogyny. I should've asked for his fucking number. Idiot.

Its rare we get someone that likes heavy metal come into the shop. So that one person that comes in and buys a metal album always makes me smile. I had been raised on metal and rock music, my mum being into Guns N Roses, AC/DC and KISS while my dad was into Nirvana, Green Day and Blink-182.

I had also always been fascinated by the rock/metal culture, the music being loud and deafening while also serenading my ears. Metalheads as a group also peaking my interest, other people thinking that we're freaks or Satan worshipers when in reality, we just need an escape from reality. Metal and Rock music is our home, comforting on a bad day and making us smile on a good day — bringing people of all kinds together.

༺✧༻

As the time reached 6:45pm, it was time to close the shop. However, five minuets before I left that same feeling that someone was watching me took over again — it sent chills down my spine, causing goosebumps to rise onto the surface of my skin. I, as usual, brushed it off and locked the store, closing the shutters and went straight to my car. A black van was parked two spaces away from mine, death metal blasting from the slightly parted windows.

I listened to KoRn the whole way home, my vocals sounding butchered as I did my best John Davis impression. I'm sure that if anyone was to hear me, they'd think I sound like a cat being strangled.

I got back to my small house and immediately kicked off my shoes, the blisters from the harsh leather already stinging on the surface of my skin. I noticed the light on my back porch was on, making me mumble to myself, 'fucking cats'. I don't hate cats but they annoy me when they shit and piss on my garden. I shoved my frozen pizza into the oven and grabbed a beer out the fridge. I clicked the television on and put on a random movie on MTV.

I did my regular night routine; get home, eat dinner, drink a beer or two, watch crap on tv, get into my pyjamas and fall asleep on my couch. I could feel myself get taken away by sleep, off to a different world — a better world, mentally satisfying my every need. That was until I heard the front door unlock. Someone was breaking in, just my fucking luck. I grabbed the nearest heavy object which just so happened to be a shoe from my pair of Doc Martins. "Who's there?!" I yelled. I tried to keep my voice strong but my nervous tone seemed to slip through. I could hear a series of hushed words, something like 'I told you she wasn't fully asleep'.

The last thing I could remember was some kind of smoke filling the air as my lungs felt like they were getting tight inside my ribcage, suffocating me as I struggled to keep consciousness. My eye lids felt heavy, straining as they fought against falling asleep. The last thing I saw was four men standing around me in funky looking masks. Great. This is how I die.

#slipknot #taken #issie https #corey taylor #joey jordison #jim root #craig jones #shawn crahan #sid wilson #paul gray #mick thomson #chris fehn

[stargazeraldroth]

McDonald's AU from what I can remember:

Nightmare: The manager of the location and the most toxic motherfucker you will ever meet. Do not ask to see the manager, you will go home crying because he will not have any mercy. He's also extremely biased and bossy.

Dream: The star employee and he always gets the Employee of the Month reward. He's a genuinely good worker, but holy shit is Nightmare biased. He'd probably sneak you an extra nugget... and sneaks a bunch of nuggets and fries during his shifts.

Ink: The mascot of this specific location. Everyone likes Ink, he's too adorable to not like him. He's trying his best but he has some of the most unpredictable luck ever. He either ends up giving you extra ice cream with perfect swirls or he blows up the ice cream machine just by looking at it, there's no in-between. One time he almost got crushed by it because he pulled on the lever too hard.

Error: He either doesn't show up at all, shows up at the end of his shift, or shows up and half-asses the entire job. He only bothers showing up sometimes because of Ink, who is the whole reason he applied there in the first place. He likes arguing with Nightmare just to argue and to give the others something else to focus on for the day.

Killer: He would fight customers in the McDonald's parking lot for complaining about small errors, such as there being one less napkin or getting paper straws instead of plastic ones. He will give you a bloody nose and he will laugh in your face about it. He encourages Dust's behavior.

Dust: If you get food poisoning from this location or your order is completely fucked up, like you somehow get a Whopper when you ordered a McChicken, it is this man's fault. He is full to the brim with contempt for the world and he's taking it out on the McDonald's customers. He would tell you the ice cream machine is broken just so he wouldn't have to get you one. He encourages Killer's behavior and records the fights.

Horror: He's absolutely disgusted by this kind of food, but man, he really needed a job. He's one of the only sane ones here and he's trying to keep everyone under wraps. He has a water spray bottle designated for Killer and Dust. He's the one who saved Ink from being crushed by the damn ice cream machine.

Cross: Literally on the last thread of his sanity in this awful place. He's had it with everyone- Killer, Dust, Error, ESPECIALLY Nightmare. The only ones he gets along with are Ink, Dream, and Blue. He's on the verge of quitting his job and letting Dream be his sugar daddy. Do you know how many times he's vented to Epic about the stress of this job?

Blue: The only normal worker here. That's it, that's Blue. He's probably also on the verge of insanity, but does a better job hiding it.

#mcdonald's au #i can't believe i just typed that #this is such a dumb au but it makes me happy

[icarodamiano]

You're so right about their stylist they have since beginning of the year. She isn't doing them too many favors. I think I wrote something like this.

I pay the most attention to Vic's style bc I take the most inspiration from her fashion so most of these critiques are about her outfits. Sorry, I wish it was different too. Under the cut bc this is just me being a bitch.

I would say Vic's style (at least personal style but that bleeds through into style for work) is pretty 1970's & early 200's inspired. Like a good mix of those two. And I generally do Not like the Y2K fashion style but she has somehow SLIGHTLY made me hate it 0.2% less but I am still an unashamed hater of y2k fashion. <3

My main problem is the tops. What the fuck are these little scraps of fabric that I just know cost like $60? Not the bras but whatever's on her arms. They remind me of this tweet.

Also, I like to save clothes that remind me of something Måneskin might wear and tell me why this top immediately reminded me of Vic's recent style. A turtle would get caught in this and suffocate skdndknd

While we're talking about it: Ethan. Baby. ...????

How did they even get him in that? Sjsndn I love seeing Ethan's chest as much as the next Må Stan but as a Libra rising I must step in to say, gently, hey, what the fuck are you wearing?

Vic's also been wearing more skirts and dresses recently! Which is cool and great but why are they ugly.

I thought Damiano was going to wear the outfit here to the concert when they posted that ig story and was just like "alright, so we've given up entirely" but he did not so I won't roast him for this. Although the boys' outfits have been pretty forgettable for me. More on that later.

I watched Beyoncé have this problem on her and Jay-Z's OTR II tour. She was wearing these mini dresses but they would ride up during the show bc it's literally a Beyoncé concert, the choreography is insane. Ofc she would have shorts of something like that underneath the dresses so she didn't flash the crowd but still. Also Vic's boots are egregious. They make me nervous just looking at them. Did she trip during this show bc if not, HOW?? I know Damiano did a shoe change bc he was tripping on them but not Vic?? Wow, The power of women.

Pamona, California. *sighs* I believe this concert took place on April 20, 2022 which makes sense bc I would've believed the band got dressed while high.

Where should I start? Okay... The shoes? Start at the bottom maybe? Yeah. This outfit makes Vic look short. And, she is short. She especially looks short next to her tall bandmates who also like to wear heels. The tan folded over part of her boot creates a gap and interrupts the all black on her legs which stunts any height the outfit may have otherwise been tricking you into seeing. I thought that her tights/leggings just ended there but, no, it's her shoes. Then the hotpants (shorts). These are actually customized by the brand that made them, R&M Leathers, to remove the band at the top, I personally think this makes them look worse. I'm nitpicking now but it's my post and I will be as negative and unimpressed as I want when it comes to fashion.

Lastly, what is the top. Literally just tell me what's going on here. Mesh attached to a fur collar thing? No. Burn it.

This outfit is so disjointed and I dislike it so much that not even Vic being tits out can save it for me. Moving on.

Speed round.

1. Nobody, not even Damiano, can make that black and yellow bee striped sequin suit look good. I don't care that it's Gucci so when they make ugly clothes it's actually fashionable bc it's Gucci, this suit is horrid on the eyes. 2. Pinkpop Festival. The way Damiano had striped his outfit down to his underwear by the end of this show. So true king why did they put you in something so ugly. 3. Is he wearing five belts?? Pirate serve, I guess. 4. Why does Ethan have this grandma-ly corsage on his neck. 5. I kinda live for the idea of Vic's mesh dress, actually. The holes of the mesh are so big that her entire nipple shows through and I love that for her. I do however kind of think that the leggings ending is awkward? And the dress was falling down and riding up the entire show. 6. Overall, their outfits at Nova Rock 2022 did not beat their outfits at Nova Rock 2021.

I hate hate hate hate HATE the whale tail. I cannot stress to you enough how much I hate the whale tail.

I also hate when an outfit is only good is it's worn by a skinny person. That doesn't mean a fat person can't wear the outfit but it means that washboard abs are an accessory in the outfit. ie; people like Kendall Jenner & Dua Lipa being praised for their casual wear when it's boring at best and wack at worst and you know the only reason regular people like the outfit is because it's on a tall, skinny person. I hate outfits where a flat stomach is a required accessory.

In the ask that Tumblr ate, you said that they've had this stylist since January 2022. My reaction/response was iirc, quote, "Since JANUARY???" I had only been noticing how much I wasn't wowed by their style in the past two months since they started doing concerts more and had presumably been dressing themselves in day to day life while in LA. Dresslikemaneskin (real life savior) has been citing Anastasiia Gutnyk as a stylist since coachella so I'm pretty sure that, at least recently, is the stylist I'm not liking.

I could go on but it would be more cherrypicking and I dont want to do that. I know I hardly mentioned Ethan or Thomas in this post and that's because I've actually kinda liked their recent outfits. I liked Thomas' at Rock Am Ring, Rock in Park, in Lignano Sabbiadoro, supermodel mv, at Cannes, and both weekends of Coachella. Come to think of it though, his outfit at Jimmy Fallon recently was fucking wack. I liked Ethan's outfit at Cannes although it was reminiscent of a grandma's couch I think the fur on the sleeves elevates it. His rock am ring outfit was questionable. I cant even remember what he wore at Summer in the city fest. I didn't care for his Nova Rock outfit, I thought it was boring. Plus the boys end up taking their shirts off throughout the concert bc it gets too hot and then they're just in some boring pants. Work on the trousers. Okay I'm actually done now.

#anon asked #long post #oops #fashion tag: flop era #answered 📬 #pinkpop festival 2022 #summerinthecityfest #måchella #4.16.22 #lollapalooza 2022 #festival season 2022 #nova rock festival 2022 #goldenvoice #france may 2022

[timeoverload]

I'm disappointed but I guess I'm not surprised anymore. I kept trying to say something. I am putting myself out there even though you keep telling me I'm not. I felt like you were brushing me off. Why are you avoiding the conversation? I guess I don't know how to say the right things but I am trying my best. I tried to get you to come outside and talk to me. What am I doing wrong?

Sometimes it's hard for me to focus on a conversation when I have a needle in my arm and I'm overstimulated because there's so much going on. I can't help that I perceive the world differently than other people. I feel like my sensory issues have gotten worse as I've gotten older or maybe I'm just more self-aware now. I'm not sure how to fix that.

It seems like you are scared to commit to me or something. I feel like I'm getting lead on. Are you trying to get me to leave you alone? I talked about wanting to get married and having a family because you asked what I really wanted in life. Maybe you don't want the same things that I do. You implied that I needed to go out and meet someone else. Nothing I say matters or changes anything. I guess you have more fun without me around. You're too busy. Why do you read my blog if you don't want to be with me???

I was literally crying but I don't think you noticed because I was trying to hide it. It wasn't just because I was in pain. I'm actually still crying and I don't think I'm going to stop any time soon.

I don't know why I always spend hours getting ready. I'm also starved for physical affection and I am so miserable. I don't want anybody else. It really sucks that you had to tease me earlier and I got my hopes up. I think I would be in a better mood if I got a hug more than once every couple months too.

I don't know what I did to deserve this. Is this just going to keep going on for years? Is this what you want? I feel like I am just another customer to you and I'm getting the vibe that isn't going to change. Maybe none of this is real and I'm just fucking insane. Maybe it's time for me to get myself committed at the psych ward.

I can't remember the last time I was this upset. I feel like a fucking joke. I am a fool sometimes. Maybe I did something wrong to deserve all of this suffering. No one wants to be around me or spend time with me. I'm not going to hurt myself but sometimes I wish I wouldn't wake up in the morning. Sometimes I wonder if you would even bother showing up to my funeral if I died but maybe that would be the only time you would ever come to see me.

I was really looking forward to next weekend but now I'm not. I will spend most of it alone again. It sucks that you don't want to spend the holidays with me.

I'm sorry if I'm acting crazy right now but I feel like I'm going to explode. I'm obviously not in a good place right now mentally. I don't want to drag anyone down with my pessimism. I'm not trying to be dramatic but I need to express how I feel. I don't even remember the drive home. I hope I can calm down soon. I am going to focus on myself for a while. I want to be alone right now. Sorry for being a bitch. Of course I still love you but I don't feel like talking. It was still nice to see you even though it didn't end well. I'm going to shut up now.

I hope everybody else has a great weekend and a good thanksgiving...

#personal

[sammygvfslut]

i like you a latte | s. kiszka

Summary: Words cannot espresso how much you mean to Sammy Kiszka.

Word Count: 2.3k

A/N: Hey besties!!! this is my first ever sam fic, and i really hope you guys enjoy it! it’s super cheesy so beware of some tooth-rotting fluff ahead. any and all feedback is appreciated <3

Loud chattering and the sounds of espresso machines hissing and whistling filled the cafe. Every few seconds or so when a new customer walked in, a soft ringing above the door rang. Glancing at the clock, you sighed as it read 7am. Way too early for your liking. You wished to be back in bed under the covers with your cat Joey snuggling. Plus, the cold weather made it even harder for you to get out of bed every morning. Damn you, winter.

“Good morning.” A voice said suddenly, startling you as you slightly jumped. “Whoops, didn’t mean to scare you there for a sec.”

Turning around at the voice, your heart fluttered and a smile pulled at the corners of your lips. “G-Good morning, Sam! Nope, didn’t scare me at all. I was just uh...focusing very hard and you caught me off guard.”

A chuckle rumbled from his chest, his own lips curving and flashing that beautiful grin. God, he made you melt. You took a quick chance to admire his appearance for the day, luscious brown locks pulled back into a low bun with a few stray pieces framing his face, and he wore a slightly oversized brown grandpa looking sweater. He exuded true fall energy today and all you wanted to do was snuggle with him watching a movie while sipping on hot chocolate. “Right. Focusing on what exactly? Staring at the register?”  

“S-Sure. Yes, the register.” Totally not him instead. “Um, I realized it turned off right now and my mind blanked to turn it back on.”

Sam placed a hand on your shoulder as he laughed, his touch leaving a wave of goosebumps to rise out of your skin. “You’re so cute. I’ll leave you to that then, but if you need help trying to get the register to turn back on again, let me know.” And with that, he sent you a wink and turned on his heel away to start on the customers orders.

Alright, alright. So maybe early shifts weren’t as bad as you thought thanks to your insanely charming co-worker. Sam and you had been working together for the past year, and almost instantly you started falling for him. He welcomed you with open arms and he was a great help when it came to your training. Your co-workers were nice too, but Sam took that extra step in making sure you were comfortable with what you were doing. If you made a mistake and were freaking out about it, he somehow knew the way to calm you down. He was too precious and good for this cruel world. And most of all, out of your league too.

With his dashing looks and amazing personality, you just knew there was no way he’d ever feel the same about you. Except, any time you’d voice that thought to any of your friends at work, they’d tell you you’re crazy and that he likes you too. Apparently they caught on to the signs more than you did, which wasn’t a shocker considering that you’d have no clue if a guy was interested in you unless he blatantly confessed. So, trying to figure out hints was completely pointless for you.

“Uh oh, she’s deep in thought,” one of your friends/co-workers, Danny, teased. He also happened to be Sam’s best friend, and current band mate since the pair are in a band with Sam’s older twin brothers. “I bet I can guess what, or who you were thinking about.”

“Don’t even say it,” you warned with a finger, “He’s literally four feet away from us—”

“So?” Danny rolled her eyes with his arms folded. “Why don’t you just tell him how you feel? Come on, it’s been almost a year now. What’s the worst that can happen if you confess?”

“He can hear me.” You stared blankly at him, shaking your head. “Absolutely not though, Danny. I will not embarrass myself from the humiliation I’d have to face from his rejection.”

Danny groaned frustratedly, placing his hands on both your shoulders and shaking them. “You’re so hopeless! Y/N, how many times do the guys and I have to tell you he likes you too!” He raised his voice a little louder than necessary which accidentally caught the attention of almost everyone in the cafe. Sam included unfortunately. Danny’s eyes widened, silently cursing under his breath. “Carry on, everyone.”

As much as you hated to admit it, Danny wasn’t lying when he mentioned about the guys agreeing that Sam likes you too. Every time you came over Josh’s apartment and Sam was there he’d find any little excuse to have his arm around you or teasing you constantly. You’d shake it off that he was just treating you like a friend would, but of course the guys would disagree with you.

“We’ll finish this conversation later,” Danny told you sternly, “But for now, and don’t make it obvious, but Sam’s looking at you.” A mischievous grin spread across his face as he winked and stepped to the next register before greeting a new customer and taking their order.

Heart pounding out of your chest, you slowly looked over your shoulder in Sam’s direction. You saw his head quickly turn and finish off the drink in front of him. Your cheeks burned at this and tried taking deep, slow breaths to calm yourself down. Didn’t work much, but as a new customer waved and told you their order, your breathing turned back to normal.

On the other end of the counter, Sam was currently freaking the hell out from what he heard a few minutes ago between you and Danny. He didn’t mean to, but he also wasn’t that far from either of you. Plus, Danny wasn’t the best at keeping his voice low. He had a strong feeling he knew you were talking about him, and for that reason alone he overflowed the cup he was pouring into and made a mess. He cursed under his breath and wiped his hands on his apron, shaking his head.

You caught sight of this and rushed to his side, grabbing a cloth from under the sink and started wiping the sticky counter. Sam was certain his cheeks were tomato red from his embarrassment, making a complete fool of himself for not paying attention to what he was doing. More so focusing on your conversation and your damn smile from earlier. You weren’t the only one here with a crush.

“T-Thanks, Y/N.” Sam chuckled nervously, throwing the cup in the trash and tossing the drink pitcher he held in the sink. “I’m normally not this much of a dumbass.”

“I’m not too sure about that one, Kiszka.” You teased lightly with a grin. “It happens, don’t worry,” you assured. “I’m just glad it was cold tea you spilled and not steaming coffee. I’d hate for you to get a third degree burn. That happened to me once, don’t recommend it.”

“Didn’t I drive you to the hospital for that?” he asked. “I think that might’ve happened a few months ago.”

Your eyes widened at the memory. “Oh shit, you’re right. God, I’m still so sorry I had to drag you into that.”

Sam shook his head, lips curving and cheeks no longer flushed. “For the hundredth time, stop apologizing about that, Y/N. You know you can count on me for anything, so of course I didn’t mind driving you to the hospital. I remember even blasting some ABBA on the way over there so you’d have something else to focus on instead of the pain you endured.”

You smiled at the memory. “Didn’t we also go out for ice cream afterwards?”

He nodded, lightly rubbing his arm. “Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I mean, I always have fun when I’m with you.”

Your breath caught in your throat at his last few words, blinking slowly. “O-Oh.”

Oh? That’s all you have to say? Nice one, Y/N.

Sam’s heart dropped. Fuck. Maybe you weren’t talking about him after all. Maybe it was Danny or one of his brothers that you had a crush on and he was mistaken about it. He wanted nothing more than for the ground to swallow him whole right about now. Being anywhere but here sounded splendid to him.

“Y-Y/N, I—“

“Ihavefunwhenimwithyoutoo,” you muttered all too quickly, and poor Sam barely even understood what you said. He didn’t have the chance to ask you to repeat yourself because you quickly walked away to the back and he was left with a tug at his chest, frowning.

Within the next few days after Sam’s tea spill, literally, things between you and him became...awkward. Something went off in him to become even more clumsy than normal and forget everything he’s ever known when you’re near him. He’d get flustered, stuttering a lot, messing up orders, dropping dishes, and nearly tripping all the time. He hated it so much and wished he could just muster up the courage and apologize for being such an idiot and confess his feelings to you. Even during your hangouts with the guys, Sam and you wouldn’t interact as much and honestly you were well aware you were being super childish and immature about the situation. Sam did too, and he needed to snap the fuck out of it.

The next few days at work Sam would ignore Danny’s little side comments about his immaturity and continued working in silence. For the rest of his shift he didn’t talk much to anyone other than the customers. He wanted to talk to you when he had the chance, but then he’d quickly back out and walk the opposite direction.

He couldn’t figure out why it was so futile for him to just grow a sack and tell you he likes you. He’d never gone through this struggle before. Then again, as cheesy as it sounded, the other girls he’d asked out in the past couldn’t compare to you. Never in a million years, and maybe he was too afraid that he didn’t deserve someone as amazing as you.

Nearing closing that same day, it was only you, Sam, and Danny. The flow of customers died down and not many people came in towards the end of the night which you were grateful for. It finally gave you the chance to relax a bit and start cleaning things up ahead of time so you wouldn’t have to stay after. Joey and a nice warm bath were waiting for you at home.

While Sam decided on working the register and you and Danny would clean, he grabbed your arm and led you into the back.

“What are you two still doing not dating each other or talking?! It’s been way too long now, Y/N. And since it’s only us three tonight, you have no other choice. Come on, I know you can’t take this any longer, and he can’t either. I can take over the register for a bit while you and him talk.”

You chewed on your bottom lip, contemplating his offering. As incredibly thankful as you were for his help, you were also scared shitless of the possible outcome. Perhaps it was finally time though that you say fuck it and say what you needed to. You couldn’t go on for any longer to keep your feelings bottled up inside. Maybe, just maybe he might feel the same way, and by God you hoped that would be the case.

Inhaling, you nodded slowly and made your way back to where you were. Your eyes searched for Sam and saw he was busy making a drink, except there was no one else here besides you, him and Danny. It could’ve been a drink for him, so you shrugged this off and went towards the sink to start washing the dishes.

A few moments later, Sam cleared his throat from behind you. “H-Hey Y/N, so um, I know the créme brûlée latte is your favorite, and I thought I’d make you one. You seemed really stressed and busy today and I wanted to try to cheer you up. I hope that’s okay.”

Your heart swelled at his generosity and your cheeks burned as you felt his gaze burning into you, his palms soaking from nervousness. “Sam, you didn’t have to do that for me.”

He shrugged casually, a small smile on his lips and his cheeks tinted a light pink. “It’s okay, I wanted to. And I uh, tried my best on the art. Hope you like it.”

Raising a brow, your gaze dropped on your cup and your eyes widened as you saw what he was referring to. A small coffee cup with the words I like you a latte around it.

“It’s true,” Sam chewed on his bottom lip while running his fingers through his hair. “I really like you Y/N, and I’m so sorry for acting like such an idiot these last few days around you. I don’t know what came over me, and I’m sorry that I didn’t talk to you much either.”

Setting your cup on the counter, you took a step closer to him and cupped his cheek, rubbing your thumb softly against his soft skin. “You don’t have to apologize for anything, Sam. I’m sorry for not talking to you too, as well as for making a fool of myself. I tend to do that around someone I like.”

Finally, the realization dawned on Sam as a wide grin pulled at his lips. “Glad we’re on the same boat.”

“I-Is it alright if I kiss you?” he asked shyly, his eyes sparkling as he looked at you.

You giggled. “You don’t even have to ask, loverboy.” You playfully rolled your eyes and cupped his other cheek before connecting his lips with yours.

A smirk pulled at Danny’s lips as he glanced at the two of you, shaking his head. Josh and Jake owed him $20 now. 

It was about damn time that Sam and you finally espresso’d your love for each other. 

tagging these lovely folks bc they helped inspired me and their work is amazing <3 @godlygreta​ / @flowervanfleet​ / @dharma-divine​

#sam kiszka imagine #sam kiszka x reader #greta van fic #greta van fleet #sam kiszka