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sparrowrye · 2 months

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Alastor x Fem! Reader {soulmates} Part 9

Synopsis: soulmate AU where you have the same mark on your body as your soulmate, and if your soulmate dies, you die too. Alastor needs to make sure that his soulmate is safe so he can continue his reign - whatever that takes. Though it looks like we have a couple secrets of our own.

Previous Part

Part 9: playing mind games

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I started noticing books being left on the ottoman at the base of my bed. Their old covers and texture of the pages told me of their age. I didn't know what any of them were about unless I read them. I knew it was Alastor's doing, though. I kept them by the window and didn't touch them.

I sat out on the porch with Husker again. This time I shared with him what happened in the library. His grumpy face didn't change and he often let out an exasperated sigh over Alastor’s behavior. It felt nice to complain about him to someone. Husker somehow managed to coax me into talking about the big fight.

"I thought you said your powers were dampened up here," I finished.

"They are. But I also told you that Al is different."

"Why?"

He shrugged and took another sip. "Beats me. And I don't really care to find out either."

"What...do you think it would be...easier for me to practice my powers in Hell?" I asked slowly.

His sharp pupil looked at me sideways. "I don't think that's really a place you'd want to explore."

"I didn't say explore. But it might be easier for me to unravel my curse if a Demon's powers are stronger in Hell."

"That's something you'd have to ask Al, about." He leaned his face on his paw.

"The answer is no." Both of us jumped when the Radio Demon appeared by the door. "A curse is a curse and it's just as hard to unravel no matter where you are."

I sighed and leaned back in the chair. I stared off into the white landscape as Husker and Alastor talked about something else. It didn't make sense what he had said. How could it not be easier to unravel a curse? It would make my magic easier to handle and learn from, which would in turn make it easy to unravel it. So why not?

I thought back to my meetings with Rosie. She would always make a comment about the progress I was making. When she would ask me to do something with magic, it took minimal effort compared to when I used it in the house. Did Alastor have some kind of magic constraint on the house to keep me from using too much? Or to keep Husker in check? I had seen them disagree before.

Or—

My eyes widened. I slowly turned my head to look at the two of them bickering. Husker noticed first and went quiet. Alastor uncomfortably turned his head first, then his shoulders followed.

"Is..." My claws dug into the wood of the chair's armrest. "Is Rosie's place...in Hell?"

Husker's eyes snapped up to look at Alastor. His lips parted into a toothy smile. "Of course it is darling. Where else did you think it was?" I couldn't tell if he was angry at me. He always sounded so condescending so it was hard to tell the difference.

"I don't know. I just...didn't know."

"Indeed, she resides in Hell as Cannibal Town's prestige Overlord."

"Cannibal Town?"

He chuckled. "What did you think all their pointy teeth were for, darling?"

I leaned away from him despite the distance already. I couldn't help but stare at his own sharp teeth. There was always something he was neglecting to tell me.

"It's why we always visit Rosie at night and why we always use the back door. Hell isn't exactly the safest for you."

"It would have been nice to have known, though."

"There are some things you don't need to know." There it was again with the condescending tone. I felt like a child being lectured by a parent. "But this you do," he leaned down toward me, "You are not to leave her estate without me. Wouldn't want you getting into the hands of any cannibals, or worse."

"Worse what?"

He straightened up and placed his cane down. "My dear, you are not yet ready for Hell. You have still a long way to go. Speaking of which, I do think it's time for another lesson, don't you think?"

I squeezed my hands tightly together. "Do all your lessons use fear and pain?"

"That all depends on you, darling. Come along." He went into the house, leaving the door open for me to follow. I let out a huge sigh and gently hit my head on the back of my chair.

I dropped my human appearance and walked inside, leaving Husker to his whiskey bottle. I found Alastor waiting in the library, his claws drumming his cane impatiently.

He can't get mad at me for using self defense, right?

The doors all slammed behind me and the curtains were drawn. "Conjure light." To my relief, I could still make out everything in the room. I focused on my palms and conjured light from my hands. "Give shape to it."

I hesitated. Then I cupped my hands together and imagined rolling up a snowball. I took my hand away to reveal a sphere of light.

"Excellent." He appeared directly in front of me and lifted the sphere from my hands. "Now, I want you to snuff it out."

"How?"

"Use your imagination dear." He looked near the window at a sharp shadow cutting through the wood. He wanted me to control the shadows.

I looked around at all the other sharp lines from the single light he held. How did I move shadows? I only ever saw him disappear into them. And how did I get them up to the light?

I tried moving the single shadow from a chair's leg. I saw it shaking at first. Eventually I managed to pull it towards me along the floor. I was practically reeling it in with my hands. It felt heavy. I lifted it up Alastor's leg and to his arm where it promptly disappeared.

"Let's try something more simpler," he said. He lifted his cane and the room was plunged into utter darkness again. His face was illuminated in a nightmarish way from the sphere he still held. "This should be easier. Try again."

My cheeks burned with embarrassment. I looked around at the darkness as I struggled to think. He and Husker always used their hands when they were casting. So I opened my claws and imagined the darkness infecting and surrounding the little ball of light.

The light disappeared.

"Well done." Alastor appeared beside me as did the sunlight. "You seem to have a good grasp on shadow work.” He walked behind me to the other side. "You must really be in touch with your Demon side. Good job." With his condescending comment, he slipped into the shadows and back upstairs.

I looked down at my black claws.

****

I met with Rosie again a week later.

"My my, you've made even more progress," she marveled at the touch of our hands. "I'm so impressed. You must be practicing a lot."

"Yeah," I laughed nervously. I had just gotten comfortable with her before Alastor revealed who she really was to me. I couldn't stop staring at her teeth.

"Well, let's not linger any longer. Let's get right into it." She held my hands and I grudgingly closed my eyes. Would today reveal anything more than just more memories?

We started a trip down my teenage-hood when Striker owned me. He was the roughest when it came to discipline. He always grabbed my hair, held me right up to his face, and whipped his tail at me. He hated my snide comments.

We continued through the years. She asked me to focus on the faces in the crowd above me and those in cages beside me. There were faces in the cages that I recognized, many of whom were now long dead, but the crowd was never recognizable. Until one face stood out.

Husker.

His red wings caught my attention real fast. I could see him pushing through the crowd collecting bets and dishing money out. He wore his usual grumpy face but he wore a long jacket of some kind. I felt hot anger in my arms but my opponent slammed me into the ground. I finished the memory exiting the ring and walking onto a cobbled street. I looked around, utterly confused.

"What do you see?" Rosie asked.

"A town. I'm...wait...I'm in Tidebring."

"Where's that?"

"It's on a beach of the fishing district. It was where I first escaped."

"Tell me what you see."

"I see people walking. All people I don't recognize. And I see children. Their parents are holding their hands and moving quickly. It's almost sunset."

"Good. What happens at sunset?"

"It's more dangerous. Things come out of the ocean and..." I turned around to find myself in Ultopa. It was the city Striker found me. "I'm...I'm...not safe."

"What is it darling?"

"This isn't...They legalized ring fights here." I started spinning in circles. "There's no one on the streets. He's...he's going to find me."

"This is a memory, darling. Don't let the fear get to you."

"He's looking for me. He...he wants me back. He wants...he likes to play tricks." I found myself walking further down the street. I suddenly spotted the orphan boy I had saved in the alley. He was hugging a woman in the doorway. "This isn't...this isn't how I remember this."

"Darling, I need you to pull out of the memory."

"This isn't a memory." I looked intently at the boy. He was smiling and rubbing his face in his mother's skirt. Rosie was saying something else but I couldn't hear. He opened his eyes and waved to me. I waved back. When he smiled his face got really big and he laughed, revealing a set of sharp teeth.

I spun around right as Striker lunged at me. My head slammed into the concrete and his claws tightened around my throat. I could hear Rosie yelling but I was too focused on Striker's teeth near my nose.

I tried pushing him off with my legs but he wouldn't budge. He laughed loudly in my ear and ran his tongue along my neck. My blood ran cold. My struggling turned frantic. I couldn't breathe. He was too heavy.

"You're mine, oh you're mine." His voice didn't match. It wasn't his.

Cold water slammed into my face. I sucked in air and water, rolling over to cough it up. I dug my claws into the wet carpet as I hacked up more water. I could still see his face but I could feel that I was in Rosie's store.

I frantically shook my head and blinked several times. I couldn't get his smiling face out. I began clawing at my eyes but something cold grabbed my wrists and pinned them against a wall. They were glued there. When I couldn't move them I brought my face to them, desperately trying to get his face to go away.

Rosie was frantic as she tried to tell me to stop. "Get him out! Get him out!" I yelled. I dragged my face along the carpet but he wouldn't leave. His smile only grew bigger and closer. I could feel his tongue still on my neck. "Get him out!"

I could sense Rosie wasn't near me anymore, which made me panic even more. I started slamming my head into the wall, repeating the same words over and over. I tried smelling for anything but all my senses were blocked. I was floating in nothingness.

Someone grabbed my chin and pulled it up. Another hand covered my eyes and dragged it across my face. I furiously blinked and the image of Striker faded. His yellow eyes were replaced by red ones and I soon found myself staring up Alastor.

My breathing slowed as I realize I was back. Alastor gently let go of my face and I fell down on my elbows. I slowly looked around at the small, pale room. Rosie stood behind me with a hand on my back. I let out a sigh.

"Welcome back, sweetie," she said softly.

"What..." I swallowed with a dry throat. "What happened?"

"Someone got in your mind," she answered.

"What?"

Alastor stood up from his kneeled position and started looking around. Rosie went to my hands and took the old handcuffs off. I hadn't noticed the random white bar that ran along all of her walls. Was it a decoration style?

I sat up and pushed my wet hair out of my eyes. I started shivering and Rosie was quick to put a blanket over my shoulders. I could still see a faint outline of Striker's face still.

Alastor walked back over. "There was air magic involved."

"I'll have my boys clean all the vents," Rosie declared. She kept rubbing her hand in circles on my back. All I could do was stare at the floor and tremble. "It might be wise for me to visit you next time. She'll need to learn how to use mind magic before she can come back here."

"I think you're quite right, Rosie." He stood next to my cowering figure. "Thank you for saving her." He attempted to pick me up but I panicked and practically jumped over Rosie.

"I—I—I can—I can walk. I'm fine!" I yelled. Rosie looked between the two of us.

"Then let me at least help you, darling." He held out a clawed hand. Still shivering, I slowly accepted the gesture. He carefully lifted me up from under my arm and let Rosie wrap the blanket around my shoulders again.

"I'm sorry it even happened, Alastor. I didn't notice anything different."

"It's no worries," he reassured her, "It might've been too small for you to detect. We'll arrange for you to visit us soon."

"Of course. You may leave in here. I'll need to scrap this place clean again."

Alastor simply nodded before wrapping an arm around me. I felt uneasy and grabbed onto his arm when the ground fell away. We came back to the moon's blue light reflecting off the snow. The cold grabbed at my wet body and my shivering worsened.

The world went dark a moment before I found myself in front of the fire. I knelt down and pulled the blanket tighter. I stared into the fire, not yet feeling it's sweet warmth. I watched the flames wave back and forth.

I flinched when Alastor touched my chin. He still had a smile on his face but he wasn't showing any teeth. He knelt in front of me and carefully touched my chin again. He used his other hand to run his fingers along my face. It wasn't until he touched a wound that I realized my face was covered in them. It had been from my own doing.

They stung every time he touched them. I closed my eyes and braced myself every time I felt his fingers on my skin. My claws punctured holes in the blanket from holding it so tight. I didn't like how gentle he was being. It was uncharacteristic of him.

He eventually moved down to the sides of my neck. If I wasn't tense before, I was now. His claws occasionally brushed against my skin but it was mostly his fingers running across the bleeding cuts.

Then his hands froze. I opened my eyes to see him staring intently at my neck. He ran his finger along a certain path on my skin.

"What is it?" I asked in a hoarse voice.

"You have a rash here. Nothing to worry about." He pressed his palm against the spot and it tingled as his magic worked. I could see the glow of green outlining his figure again. He then touched the remaining wounds and stood up. "Nifty," he called. She appeared a second later excitedly. "Draw a bath for her." She crawled quickly up the stairs.

"What happened to me?" I asked. I was still crouched by the fire and soaking wet.

"Someone got into your head with mind magic." His cane appeared in his hands and he suddenly looked much taller. He looked out the window. "And I know exactly who it was."

"Who?" I coughed up more water. My lungs burned with every breath I took.

He finally turned to look at me. His smile widened but not enough to show teeth. "No one you should concern yourself with, darling. I'll handle it." He held out his hand, helping me to my feet.

The world went dark and my body felt like it was in water again. A moment later I was standing in my bedroom. Alastor let go of my hand as Niffty walked out of my bathroom. "It's all done!"

"Excellent." He turned to me and panic ran through me. "Perhaps you'll ensure that she's well on her own, Niffty?" My shoulders dropped with relief.

"Of course, sir!" she saluted him with the wrong hand.

"You have nothing to worry about tonight, dear," he told me, "You're safe in this house. Husker will be up shortly to watch over you."

"Where are you going?"

He took a step away and half bowed his head. "I have someone to speak to on this account. To ensure they don't try this little trick ever again." With that, he faded into the shadows.

The hot bath water was instantly soothing. Everything in me slowly began relaxing until I could move my limbs properly again. The relief brought tears to my eyes as I sank lower into the warm water. I kept my eyes on the faucet because closing them made me see Striker's face again.

I wasn't so sure I would be able to sleep tonight.

#alastor the radio demon #alastor x reader #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel #hazbin husk #soulmate au #soulmates #reqs open

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l3xdrigo · 2 months

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I had silly thoughts run into my mind, Regulus igniting Vertin's passion to do art again by showing her an abandoned wall and bringing spray paint.

Vertin is more traditionally on painting but she has known about spray paint and has been wanting to try them for a long time and Regulus gives her the opportunity to test them out.

When first picking up one of the spray cans, she's not sure what she wants to create, what type of mural or artwork. Vertin is pretty unfamiliar on how to work with such a big canvas, and with a tool she hasn't quite got the grasp of yet. Regulus comes back with a bunch of paint buckets and big and small paintbrushes "What are these for? " "To help us with the painting of course, I may not be the best at any painting stuff but this pirate is passionate in anything art based and the freedom of expression! " Regulus happily chimed.

Vertin was grateful but she's not sure what to make yet, so she asked Regulus who gave her one of the buckets of paint, puzzled, she looks at Regulus "what am I supposed to do with this? "

"Throw it of course! Throw it against the wall and watch it splatter, let it be messy, let your artwork be free. It has been awhile since you last painted yes? So why not let all your creative ideas out now? "

Vertin looks at Regulus and then to the paint bucket in her hands, the swirling color inside it, she knows what she needs to do. Taking a slight step back, she throws the paint out of the bucket towards the wall, making a huge splatter to it and some to themselves as well. Regulus let's out a cheer "There ya go! Now, Let's get painting!"

Splashes of colors added to the wall, the more added, the more Vertin felt free. The paint flowing down like raindrops, the lines of contrasting colors overlapping each other, using the spray paints to add more texture and little designs and details. It was messy yes, but it was free, Regulus smiling wildly as she continues to paint the already very colorful wall, this felt nice, it felt great. Vertin was smiling, laughing even at times where they get hit with splashes of paint, Regulus's joy has been contagious and seeing Vertin happy made Regulus even more joyful.

After finally finishing their artwork, both sat down on the ground, facing what they've created. It was a messy mural, with designs of their interest, a music disk, some doves, a golden thread, butterflies and much more. Both were covered in paint and colors, it'll take a while to get them off but that's the least of their worries for now. "I think this pirate can say that, that is one beautiful mural" "It is, thank you Regulus, for bringing me out here and doing this" "No problem, you've been cooped up in that office for days now, I think you deserved a break.. And you did tell me you liked painting so, this was the best idea I could come up with" "One of the ideas you had that didn't end in disaster *pfft*" "Oi-"

Both bickered for a bit, laughing and giggling like children. It's moments like these that make all the work and sacrifices worth it, even with the weight of responsibility of being the timekeeper, others are lending a hand to carry the weight, just like Regulus. Both sat there, as the sun sets and hope rebuilds.

(Or platonic soulmate Reguvert my beloveds<333)

Bonus:

As both sat quietly, a song from the radio that Regulus brought suddenly plays "Oh hell yeah! I love this song.. Say Vertin, do you dance? "

The timekeeper pondered for a bit and gave her an answer "I do, why? "

"Well, would you like to dance with this pirate? I think that'll be fun"Regulus stood up and stretched out her hand, Vertin, slightly surprised by the sudden request, but accepted it, taking Regulus's hand into hers.

" Though be aware that this pirate may not be the best at dancing, but will certainly try her best" It's been awhile since both had danced, and more so with someone but none of that mattered right now, they're just here to have fun. Dancing to the beat of the music, as both moved to the rhythm, a few slip up's here and there but is still going strong. Going with the flow of the music, both have actually made a good dancing pair, being able to move to the rhythm easily and adjusting their movements to near perfection. Despite not even having steps in mind, both have their own, synchronized and adapting as the music goes on. It felt like walking on air as they continued to dance, they kept this on till the music ended and both were exhausted.

"I must say, you're a great dancer Regulus"

"Thanks, you're not half bad yourself, we should do this more often" "I'll check if my schedule can free up a bit"

They realized that it was near dark soon, both headed back into the suitcase, walking and talking about their interest, plans and anything really. They've grown into each other's company, and they wouldn't have it any other way, a captain and her second best mate, a bellwether and her first follower.

#reverse 1999 #vertin #Regulus #Reguvert #I dont really mind if you see this as romantic or platonic #I just have brainrot about them and wanted to share this :3 #the captain's second best mate #the bellwether's first follower after years of walking alone

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ribbonetteart · 3 months

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Tribute to one of my favorite movies of all time + the franchise that has me in a death grip 💖

a bit late for Christmas but at least Valentine's day is around the corner ^^;;

Process below if that interests you:

AS I SAID EARLIER, I had been working on this piece as early as December of 2021 😱!!!

This was the original sketch! I was inspired after learning about Blaze's own design inspiration coming from Takarazuka theater, as well as it being the Nutcracker season so this film was in bouncing around in my head.

and this was allllll the way back in 2021 ^^; I had put the idea to paper to capture the image in my head immediately. But the idea in my head was extravagant and beautiful and would certainly take time to complete, as well as the patience and skill to work with watercolor 😔 I've certainly done my share of watercolor, both physical and digital, but I still feel like my physical watercolor work is a fluke, and I was still a novice digital artist at the time of this sketch.

In short, I was confident my skill could live up to the vision.

So I would put this on the back burner. It wouldn't be ready in time for Christmas, and I could use this as an opportunity to hone that digital art experience so it could be ready next year!

2 Years Later...

It's December 5th. Fuck it. Let's crack this open again, I tell myself.

SO starting with the line art, it's actually 2 different brushes layered over one another.

I also changed Sonic's expression to be more love struck-looking, because I'm a sucker for romance.

The image on the left is a watercolor line brush, while the right is a pencil brush. The reason I wanted a water color look was because I thought it would make the illustration look dreamy and fantastical, and I wanted that to extend to the line art as well. However, my usual lines on traditional usually veer more towards thick and cartoony from years of studying the Sonic art style, so I really felt like I was working against myself here. I had also asked friends for their input and they preferred the lines on the right as well. If my followers actually do read these blog posts, I'd love if you could comment which line art style you prefer drawing or looking at.

The happy medium was to just combine the 2. Here's a better look at that:

I like it! I think it combines the solid line with the rustic water color grain. Best of both worlds :]

For the actual painting, The most notable thing I can say is that getting the right pastel-y color was VERY difficult to achieve for someone like me who often loves to use bright and saturated colors in her art. I feel like I really set myself up to do one of those "evil art style" or "opposite art style" challenges I've been seeing around. I had to repaint Sonic at one paint because the blue of his fur was WAY too saturated for the style I was going for:

I started with painting Sonic and Blaze in first and then working on the background. I think that's probably the backwards way of doing it but one of the perks of digital art is you can do stuff any order you want when you have layers.

The background wasn't actually as difficult as I thought it would be. I wasn't going for any difficult perspective, and I was using a reference so that could be it. I'm usually averse to backgrounds but I really wanna tackle more of my weak points in art. I actually had way more fun than I was expecting, painting the sky and adding texture to the grass. I think I had the most fun rendering the water coming from the fountain (which you can't even see too well anyway, lol).

Funny enough, I had just about finished painting the characters and background by early January. So why am I posting this in February?

The Flowers...

In case you don't know. I love flowers. I love looking at them, I love learning about flower languages, I love drawing them. so seeing that my reference image showed flowers circling the fountain, I was excited! I was already having more fun than I expected to be, working against my usual style, rendering a background, so how could this be a pain in the ass?

Well, I am my own worst enemy 😞I couldn't exactly identify each flower offhand from this screenshot alone. The texture of the flowers is kinda grainy, since I don't think the animators were expecting viewers to look too closely at the set piece to use as reference for my lovingly crafted crossover fanart. If anyone has this in high quality though, please tell me.

(I think I actually got this reference from a tumblr post but I can't find it on my blog for the life of me nor can I find it in the tags I'm so sorry)

I'm a huge stickler for details so I really wanted to be as "accurate" as possible in my illustration. I can hardly identify some of these flowers with confidence. I think there are roses in there? or tulips? I'm not sure if those yellow flowers are roses or some kinda petunia or if I'm way off.

I'm sure these details won't matter to most viewers but it was EATING AWAY AT ME. Eventually I decided to try drawing in flowers that might look similar to the ones in the reference. Or some based on their flower languages. I was certainly overthinking it ;;;; It led me to going "fuck it" and just throwing in whatever I wanted. There are no irises visible in that screenshot but I made it the centerpiece of the flower ring. Who give a shit.

I made some guides for me to follow: The blue ring was so I could make sure the flowers make a half circular border around Sonic and Blaze. I was envisioning how it could look as like an icon or sticker or something, which is why it's framed this way. then the second guide is the sketch of the flowers I made. I always do line art and I'm not great at just improvising with color to paper, or color to screen in this case.

The rest of this process is then just working on each flower piece by piece (with the help of the mirror tool of course) with varying degrees of detail. Some flowers are more abstract than others, and I had debated if that would look jarring and disrupted any kind of harmony I was trying to maintain with the style parameters I set for myself. And then I decided I was overthinking it once again which is why this was taking me nearly 2 months to complete.

At some point during this process, my wifi went out for a whole week! Of course, I could still work on this illustration offline, but I had a lot of tabs open with a bunch of reference images on there (plus I like to listen to music while I draw otherwise I lose focus and I had neglected to download a varied selection on my phone or laptop 😭 Learn from my mistakes).

The most tedious of this process was making each set of gladioluses a unique color.

Was it worth it? You tell me! I think they're pretty, at least.

Along the way, I repainted the grass because it wasn't symmetrical (It didn't need to be but I had been using the mirror tool for a lot at this point and it was bugging me). I made other little final adjustments, like color adjusting the leaves on the flowers, lowering the flower ring border, and so on.

Ultimately, I'm extremely satisfied with the final product. I had my heart set on doing something like this for a long time. I had so much fun just experimenting throwing on color or not worrying about technical stuff. Of course, I did do what I usually do and overthink it at some points, but I'm working on it!

I've wanted to do an extremely indulgent AU illustration and other drawings for a Sonic x The Nutcracker story for a long while. I will be totally honest, I'm still a little embarrassed to share stuff like this, even after years of posting fan art online. It feels like the more self indulgent something is, the more people might judge me for it ^^; But I wanna practice what I preach and kill the thing inside me that cringes at my harmless attempts at joy and whimsy.

I would love to do some more drawings for this AU, but maybe post them around December when it would be more seasonally appropriate. I hope you'll stick around for it!

If you read this whole thing to the end, thank you. Whether you follow my blog or not, I hope you have a lovely day :3💝

#Barbie in the Nutcracker #Sonic the Hedgehog #Blaze the Cat #Sonaze #Jess's Digital Odyssey #Sorry for not posting frequently it may happen again

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meatyarms · 11 months

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˗ˏˋᴊᴏᴛᴛɪɴɢ´ˎ˗

ּ Stalker Sevika ּ 2,494(I'm fucking crazy)

ּ Just like everything else with Sev— from what we can gather so far— when she takes a liking to something, she goes all the way. Looks at it, observes, measures, utilizes, preserves it.

ּ But the ‘it’ would soon live and breathe. A soul, for the first time ever. Odd, but she didn’t have time to be confused. Nothing like she’s used to, you were a free moving thing. She couldn’t keep you somewhere on her worktable for later use.

ּ Started going after you right from the moment her pupils leisurely rested on your fingers running to the back of your head, hair gracefully clasped and moved to the left revealing your nape.

ּ You hadn’t known what the hell you brought onto yourself just by doing that.

ּ Something grew in her that same second, a new appetite bloomed, and so the questions rolled,,

ּ Who are you? Since when have you been down here??

ּ Where were you?

ּ Fuck, is she too late? Are you someone else’s??

ּ She swears your soft movements were to blame. Pointed a finger at the weather, the cigarillo loosely hanging from the corner of her lips, even the harsh texture of the wall she was leaning against behind you that day. Everything but herself, because she knows it’s sick.

ּ But she couldn’t deprive herself of your— distant— company for more than a few weeks…minutes.

ּ The Undercity is one crowded hell of a place, specially near where most trademarks resided, striking shoulders with a stranger is not an uncommon nuisance. One person, however, would not call it that.

ּ She’d ‘accidentally’ bump into you so your eyes finally meet hers, so she marks a smaller distance between your Bodies each time and completely to have you perceive her.

ּ “Oh. Do excuse me, sweetheart”, “my bad, doll”,,

ּ This one is brave, doesn’t stop at shoulders. No. It’s not enough. Throws her entire body right in front of you just to feel that extra pressure. Extra everything.

ּ Of your face in her chest, its temperature against it, are you warmer or colder than her?? Just how high do you reach her? What do you smell like?

ּ The shape of the tip of your nose and those beautiful sleek lashes pricking her skin. She keeps at her cool gait afterwards, but won’t deny that the whole area would be boiling the rest of that day.

ּ But she wouldn’t touch it, never disturbs the spots of you on her.

ּ She does it hard, so much so you feel as if your face is being moulded into this strange clumsy woman’s skin by the week.

ּ ‘Why’s that person so bumpy?’, ‘Is she okay?’,,

ּ All she could think of was how right it felt, can already tell how addicted she’s gonna become to this. She knows herself.

ּ Another ‘chance’ instance where her fingers would somehow latch onto your hair messing it up, she starts to feel their weight and softness, just how they look on her skin all within a split second. Then slides back out a little too sharply, casually brushes your shoulders off as if to tidy you up.

ּ “There ya go”,,

ּ You didn’t even feel it but that was her first steal from you, small locks of your hair hidden in her fist as you parted ways. The thrill that burned in her nearly broke her face from the wide ass smirk which you almost caught had she not gone back into the crowd of people as quick.

ּ ‘Fuck yes’,,

ּ Would spend that night touching herself, whispers and mutters all the things she wants to you with your hair just about stuffed in her nostrils. Sniffing them whole, drunk in the pretty turns and twirls that were attached to you just a few hours ago.

ּ Always gives her a satisfying finish— large amounts of slick rolling around her fingers upon pulling out of her boxers. Leaves her marveled. Every. Time.

ּ Minutes pass and so does the sublime orgasm, she sinks back into the couch, blinks her vision into focus. The thin pieces of you in her sweaty palm lines, swimming, even while being all broken and crumbled they still manage to captivate her completely.

ּ “You just wait, baby”, “you’ll be mine, Imma make sure o’ that”,,

ּ Who has memorized your whole wardrobe, shoes, stockings and even your simplest jewellery. How you like to wear your hair and why— assembled together by the end of work week, down the rest.

ּ She absolutely takes advantage of her environment. The city, its darkness, the indecency of its residents and the soil.

ּ Knows what the print of which shoes you’re wearing looks like on the ground, can almost sense your presence just by standing on them way after you left. It could be a thousand feet walking over them, she’d still be able to pinpoint yours.

ּ Like a stalking predator, she hunts the lanes after you, follows your trail whenever she loses track of you. That would be regularly.

ּ The woman is curious, wants to know what your pretty self is doing at all times. What your hands are touching, who you’re batting your precious lashes to, where your little feet are headed.

ּ What you’re thinking.

ּ For someone of considerable size, she’s quickly grown too good at keeping it stealthy. You’d never know she was in the alleyway right next to your place just waiting on you, or has her eyes glued on your glass window trying to get a hint of what the inside of your house looks like through the opaque covers.

ּ Who knows your schedule each damn day, from when your apartment door creaks at dawn to which friend you’re hanging out with at what time.

ּ She’d never admit to being envious of your friends, but god how she so wants to be as close to you as they are. Hugging, holding hands, talkin- sitting next to you.

ּ No one which you know is free from her craziness. knows where each and everyone of said ‘friends’ live, how close you are to them measured by how often you’d hang out together.

ּ Has them all written in red somewhere on one of those personal work blueprints, a whole circle of names where she is missing.

ּ Most certainly has the same exact tattoos as you all over her chest where she can hide them best, but also where she feels you the most.

ּ It’d be both a relief and a heartburn, the lone thought of your face, much like the time she learned about your social status.

ּ Single— would automatically translate to ‘claimed ’in her mad head. Your pretty name and coincidentally your nickname with it— heard one of your louder friends call you from a mile away, felt like she was being elevated.

ּ ‘Holy shh- so fucking cute’,,

ּ Her chest goes hot, involuntarily clenches it under her shawl after every interaction with you, heart beating outa her. Even for her renowned stature, she can’t hide every fluster on her face when you pop in on her. Would punch the wall after each screw up.

ּ “Fuckin-so fuckin’ stupid, couldn’t even look at her”, “shit, now I lost her”,,

ּ But when those events go as smoothly as she wants, oh baby, she can literally taste how your eyes look up at her, how small you stand in comparison. How delicious your attention is.

ּ Gives her a whole ass fever, the tang lingers in her tongue for a while, doesn’t know how to do half the things anymore. She walks faster with not a single feeling in her legs, shuffles the cards carelessly, eyes fixated on a corner of the bar and no thoughts behind other than what just happened— your face out of nowhere.

ּ The other players wouldn’t dare tumble on whatever ‘big serious problem’ is pulling her away, the face she’s making alone says kill.

ּ Would watch your facial expressions closely, when your muscles warp and stretch as you smile and how the little moles on your face would bend with them.

ּ To hell with whoever’s ‘stealing’ your attention away from her, she only needs her imagination running for a minute and she’d be seeing herself in their place. Fuck. It turns her on so hard.

ּ Soon she was able to get every single one of your expressions by heart, that’s where she gets creative with it and starts to imagine you making faces you’d never made before.

ּ And shit, how she enjoys those nights on her bed after a long day of just gawking at you. Her whole strap collection lined up before her, with your mouth in her head, she’d carefully scout which one would best fit. Eyes on the sizable sum,,

ּ ‘Not too big, maybe she could take it but don’t wanna break her. Not just yet.’,,

ּ Opts for a color that would look good going through and out your pulpy lips, snatches it with a force that knocks over the rest. Doesn’t matter, nothing matters. It’s time.

ּ Goes through a process of cutting and editing all that she’s gathered that day with her eyes closed.

ּ Like the time your eyelids stretched out big at the prick of the tattoo gun on your collarbone, gave her a darn heart attack, never seen a sight as beautiful.

ּ “My pretty… so pretty..”,,

ּ Parted lips breathing out small compliments alone, little drops of sweat would glint running down her bare chest and through her ab lines, setting your tattoos agleam.

ּ She’s getting close here, jerking herself off imagining it was you sucking her instead. The same beautiful eyes looking up at her, desperate about seeing your cheeks packed with her dick.

ּ Shit. She already came. That was fast.

ּ This is nasty effective for her, but she doesn’t unbuckle there. Not with the dozen images of you she has yet to cram, will stay up half the night speaking to the air if that’s what it takes to keep at the fresh glimpses of your face.

ּ Has this bizarre obsession with copying you in areas where she can. She never knew how much she detested the taste of coffee up until she tried the same one as you right after you left the cafe. Made an identical face at the gut-wrenching drink, satisfied the crap out of her.

ּ As does every time she realizes you have something in common, it’s a feeling of deep delight she always saw on corny lovebird’s faces, never thought she’d live long enough to feel it herself. She coughed it up and maintained her coolness, rapidly blinking away the tears before they formed.

ּ Would hear bloodthirsty voices whenever someone so much as checks you out, yeah, she sees it before it even happens. Definitely before you notice it.

ּ And if that ‘bastard’ ever steps foot your way and tries a sweet word on you? She’d be seeing a holocaust with his head on top, it fucks with her bad.

ּ It’s the only situation which she has no control over. If it’s a yes from you, might lose it and wouldn’t know how to stop herself.

ּ The fucking thought of someone else touching you the way she dreams of doing every single day and night makes her want to murder. It scares her, to lose control.

ּ But strangely, it has always been rejection from your side for reasons she doesn’t know. Isn’t sure if she wants to, but damnit she’s insanely curious.

ּ ‘Long distance?’, ‘Her partner’s up?’, ’Not into the market?’,,

ּ ‘Does.. she know about ..me?’,,

ּ This girl is delulu, she feels as if there’s some sort of connection between you two. Believes that you’re waiting for her, somehow, even though you’ve never once met properly.

ּ For that cause, the local brothel sees non of her face anymore, just doesn’t serve her. This crazy wants to ‘save’ herself for you ‘too’.

ּ And baby don’t even try to look for something you dropped behind, that thing is gone from you. Stolen.

ּ Your precious napkin, which you embroidered your name on yourself, was missed for weeks before you gave up the search for it.

ּ You did it to yourself.

ּ It was hanging from the edge of your bag, and to her joy, undid itself dropping unfurled on the ground— poor thing must’ve been badgered by Sevika’s glares just bullying it, remotely pulling it till it gave in.

ּ Girl was going rumpus at this four-sided fabric in the middle of the ground, all the feet around it seeming like threats, near tripped landing flat on her face speed walking to it. Felt as if it was withering away every second just laying there— your scent is fading.

ּ ‘Shit, shit, SHIT—‘,,

ּ Puts on a nice little show of ‘whoops, my cigarillo fell’ right next to it, picks them both up at once moving too smoothly. But the havoc in her head,,

ּ ‘It’s mine- it’s- her everything on here’,,

ּ Fumbles even her internal monologue, body’s floating in disbelief. Slides it in her fanny in a hurry only seen on guilty thieves. It’s secured. The moment she got back up she knew, she’s in for a plethora of amazing orgasms that night.

ּ And it was. Sevika couldn’t wait to get home and just fuck herself with this new piece of you.

ּ “So.. soft.. “, “smell so damn goo- gonna cum for you, baby”,,

ּ This erotic play going on in her two-seater couch, her robotic meandering through her hair tousling it as she loses all her senses, the napkin utterly wasted in slick by the splatter. Rubs the characters on it against her clit as she nears her high, presses it wholly and stills for that dear finish.

ּ “Fucking fuck”,,

ּ She never grunted so loud.

ּ Snug leather pulling her in as muscles relax, she holds the fabric up with a little shake in her arms. Hot steam flows out her mouth to the small space between, the look of what she’s done curls her lips into a grin. She’s Mesmerized, pleased.

ּ A total muddle of her release ingrained on and through your name. She recollects her breathing, bringing the napkin closer, its damp edges hugging her face completely.

ּ And just the stir she’s feeling, sweat, hair, slick and your scent all blended into something otherworldly. Sneaks her tongue out poking the fabric for a taste, making out with the scrap of cloth. It helps her recover instantly, feeling the sensations already rising again.

ּ Rubs it in a circular on last time just drenching her face before sliding it all the way down her body and kickstarting another round. Doesn’t stop until your scent is no more, ending up a swamped sticky mess. Would later on cuss herself out for using it all up in one night.

ּ But she’s patient, it's only a matter of time before she gets her hands on another thing of yours after all. The brute guarantees it.

ּ For you? Sevika would hang on to the sidelines endlessly, watching you closely from a distance only visible outside of her head.

ּ As long as your ass is in this city, she owns you.

,,,

ּ I know this is not for everyone and you're welcome to pass over. All I have to say is... this could've been written better. SORRY, the smutiness from this and the last one is getting to me in the form of bad fatigue. Needless to say, I'm thrilled to write the next one!─ sweet cute yummy fluff fluff (∩˃o˂∩)♡,,

ּ Wanted to put lil pictures but Tumblr was completely unhelpful :(

ּ This is only a brief, BRIEF stockpile of stalker!sevika's character in almost every aspect- there is so much more in the twisted mind of yours truly- I could elaborate on every point here but ermm.. let's save that for later.

#MeatysJottings #CAREFUL ITS DARK THEMED #(´ཀ`)#arcane sevika #sevika #sevika arcane #sevika fanfic #sevika imagine #sevika smut #sevika x reader #sevika x you #lesbian brainrot #lesbian #wlw smut #wlw #sapphic #happy pride 🌈#stalker!sevika

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vitentia · 10 months

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YOU WITH THE DARK CURLS, YOU WITH THE WATERCOLOR EYES .lıllıl.

pairings ━━ modern!farm!ellie x curly haired!reader (no mention of race or texture)

warnings ━━ overwhelming hair and fluff, Ellie touches your hair, idk

synopsis ━━ wash day, hell on earth, same thing, right? at least Ellie’s there as an emotional support girlfriend.

playlist ━━ dear arkansas daughter by lady lamb the beekeeper

Ellie knocked on the bathroom door in concern. She’d went out to tend to the sheep about a half hour ago when you said you’d be in the shower, when she came back in she heard no running water but the bathroom door was closed with occasional sniffles filling the silence.

“Babe? You good in there?” She knocked again.

“No.” Your voice finally reached her ears, causing her to let out a sigh of relief.

“I’m coming in, is that okay?” She waited for your agreement before fully turning the knob and stepping into the bathroom carefully.

Inside she found you in a tub of water, untangling brush in hand and tears leaving salty streaks down your cheeks, knees clutches to your chest.

She cooed at the sight and came to sit on the toilet next to you. “Aw baby, what happened?”

“I left my hair in a bun but then one chuck of hair got tangled into the hair tie and I spent so long taking it out the hair tangle in on itself and-“ you rambled angrily, tears welling in your eyes the more you spoke.

“Okay, okay.” Ellie cut you off and placed her hands on your cheeks, wiping away the tears. “Lay down.” She instructed.

You listened and let her carry your head backwards into the water. “How are the sheep?” You mumbled.

She smiled, “The sheep are good. The babies are happy.”

Tears grew in your eyes once more. “The babies, we have to name the babies.”

Ellie nodded and agreed with you, pulling your head up from the water and pumping extra conditioner into your hands.

“Wait but-“ you protested, knowing how much she hated going into town for unnecessary things.

“No, no, it’s okay. When I go back into town, I’m gonna find you a huge tub of this that’ll last you years.” She stated, sitting back against the toilet and watching you rub the conditioner back in your hair.

You sniffled and started the untangling process. “They have it on Amazon.”

“Okay, I’ll make sure to find the Amazon man and tell him to get me ten of those.” You shook your head at her unwillingness to confine to modern things unless they directly related to the farm and calmed yourself down.

Or maybe she did, her simple being in the same room as you never failed to have a better calming effect than any anxiety meds ever made. When you began to tug at your hair rougher than you knew you should in your frustration, she was there to gently place her hand on your forearm as a silent way of letting you relax.

By the time you did one side of your head, you whined in defeat and turned your back on her. “Do the back before I kill myself.”

She choked out a laugh and grabbed your untangling brush, situating herself comfortably behind you and starting from the ends of your hair to the top, sprinkling any extra conditioner when needed. It was quite the understatement to say her hands were definitely gentler than yours ever were.

Her strategy was patience, taking extra time to run through already brushed out areas to run her fingers through and taking it all in sections. By the time she reached near your ears, your eyes had lowered to a close and you no longer felt the stress of before.

“I’m done with the back.” She announced, leaning into your shoulders to plant a soft kiss.

“Mhm, no, no, come back. Do it all.” You mumbled. Ellie smiled and kissed your ear, returning to her place behind you and continuing the untangling processes.

When all was well and finished, you thanked her and stretched out your tired muscles. You turned on the faucet again and finished the rest of your routine with Ellie right by your side, sometimes making conversation, sometimes gawking at you naked but hey, can’t blame her.

When you stood up out of the bathtub, Ellie was immediately there with a towel, cheekily excited to wrap it around you.

“D’ya want me to get started on lunch?” She asked

“Are you sure? I can get dressed real quick and-“

“No, no, I have something planned. Put on a nice dress, paint your nails, put on a little something under…” you pushed her shoulder, “and then come down to the front of the house. Got it?”

“Got it.”

She planted a quick peck on your lips and walked away, whatever plan she had setting in motion.

You followed her directions and took your time styling your hair, applying extra layers of lotion and perfume, not to mention her extra instructions were carefully considered. Even after finishing all that, prim and proper, she wouldn’t let you leave the room.

“Can I come down now?” You called out into your empty room, the thin walls echoed your question down to the kitchen where Ellie was.

“Not yet!” She responded, a few kitchen utensils clattering against each other right after.

You winced, “Are you sure? I can always come and-“ You were immediately cut off by Ellie pushing the door wide open, slightly out of breath and holding a bouquet of flowers wrapped in gingham printed paper. “…help.”

Ellie breathed out a chuckle and came closer to you on the bed, holding the bouquet out for you to see. “Is it- did I do good?” She cleared her throat nervously.

You looked up at her in astonishment. “Good? Ellie, this is fucking incredible! How did you- when did you?” Shutting yourself up, you completely threw yourself into her arms, accidentally crushing the flowers.

Ellie, reluctantly, pulled away with a yelp. “Hey, hey! You’re crushin’ my hard work, babe.”

“Sorry.” You apologized but your face showed no sign of it, smile too wide as you held the bouquet in your arms.

“C’mon, there’s more where that came from.” Ellie slipped her hand into your and interlocked your fingers.

She led you out of the farmhouse and into the front yard covered in freshly cut grass. There laid an intricate set up picnic with a red and white gingham blanket that matched the flowers spread out, name brand snacks that would take Ellie a two days trip worth of, and your favorite sandwiches and fruits/veggies neatly placed in the middle. You brought your hand up to your mouth and tried to stop the tears from flowing out.

“Ellie Williams, you are such an asshole.”

She made a noise of surprise, her jaw dropping open in defense.

“I have cried too much today and here you go, making it worse.” You jokingly complained.

She laughed in surprise and wrapped her arms around you from behind, kissing your ear once more. “Cry all you want, my little crybaby.”

Ellie guided you towards the set up and you both sat down, happily devouring the food she made and the snacks she brought. She happily indulged you in everything on the blanket until you had to physically pull yourself out of her arms before your stomach exploded.

It was unclear how long you had been sitting there but when the sheep in the barn started to get fussy and the sun began it’s descent, you knew you’d spend an entire day in this exact moment if you could.

Ellie’s head rested on your thighs as your ran your hands through her short hair and the falling sunlight hit her eyes in just the right way. Her green eyes sparkled, a weight lifting off her shoulders that she never thought she’d get after Joel. Everything was perfect.

“You belong in a painting, Williams.” You said, brushing her hair away from her eyes.

She scoffed, removing her eyes from yours and looking into the sunset nearby. “Oh, shut up.”

“You shut up, why don’t you let me compliment you, huh?” You poked her cheek.

“Because that’s my job, gorgeous.” She winked up at you and deflected the conversation.

You continued, “We are stuck together for life so don’t think you can get out of this.”

“Oh please, I’d crash and burn without you, babe.”

#ellie the last of us #ellie tlou #ellie williams #ellie williams fanfic #ellie williams fluff #ellie williams x reader #ellie williams x y/n #ellie williams x you #ellie x fem reader #ellie x reader #the last of us #tlou fanfiction #tlou2 x reader #tlou2 #the last of us part 2 #lgbtq

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moochalove · 4 months

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Last Nights Mistakes and New Beginnings (Part 4-5)(Final)

(yandere!kazuha x pregnant!reader x scaramouche)

Did you know they call me the yappinator? Anyways i’ve been meaning to finish it but i’ve been busy w school but now i have the time so i will be yapping away more (posting a little more)🗣️ Get cozy bcs this is long asf!

Reader is bi-icon! (+ trauma) If imma be fr, the beginning is a little off bcs i wrote it weeks ago (im lazy and i will not fix it🥶) ANYWAYS ILL STOP YAPPING! TY FOR READING 🤭 (if u do😡)

word count: Pretty fucking long ❤️

proofread: HELL NO! 😋 fill in the gaps/mistakes for me pls🫶

TW: Stockholm syndrome

Arriving at the mall you think about making a break for it but these heels prevent you from doing so. With enough for the heel would surely snap though… Noted. Reaching for the door handle you’re stopped and pulled into a kiss. It’s a little uncomfortable but you play it off with a smile, “Don’t worry Kazu, I’m not gonna run off~” “I know darling, but this is the start of our new life so allow me to take the lead. Don’t worry your pretty mind about anything.” With that, he places one last peck onto your face. Once again, he is opening the door for you and you guiding you to the some shops. Immediately you notice his firm grip on your waist, and it’s uncomfortable. He said you would be buying clothes but you now realize he meant he was picking clothes FOR you. You’re in the dressing room and he has you trying on all these cute coquette clothing. It feels a little uncomfortable but you try to get used to the feeling of the outfits. Some are loose, and some are tighter. In your mind, you already knew which ones you liked based on the texture, design, etc..

Whenever you came out to show off an outfit you felt like a real couple. Showing off your outfit and making comments, no matter what you wore he seemed to agree it looked good on you, even if you didn’t think so. Something feels wrong about this but you can’t help but smile when he looks at you so adoringly.

You guys go to about three more shops, all of them having a different theme. By the time you were done, it was mid-afternoon. Both of your feet were killing you… not to mention you were hungry… You both agree to stop and get something to eat.

You arrive at a very familiar restaurant… Weren’t you just here? When was that though? If it was important surely you’d remember!

•

Scaramouche was frantic, to say the least. You weren’t answering his messages… Has something happened? He needs to get to you asap, but how? What if you’ve been removed from your home? If it came to it he could ask his mother to track you down, since she had that kind of power.

Knocking on the door he’s anxious, and hoping he would be met with a bright smile and worried hushing telling him that you were okay. After about a minute he knocks on your room window… No reply. Should he wait around? No, that’ll take too long. After some contemplation, he decides to reach out to his mom.

They have a long talk before she eventually caves. It feels like it’s been forever since she’s seen her child and when he comes back he’s on an adventure trying to get his girlfriend back. She didn’t think situations like that existed but he’s shown her the possibilities are endless. The way he talked about you so dearly gave her the impression you were a thing. Since she’s such a good and caring mother, it’s the least she can do for her future daughter!

Maybe he should’ve emphasized that you were just friends even though he wished for more

From what some super normal and not shady people told him, you were last seen at that restaurant you both had visited yesterday. Why were you there? That didn’t matter right now! Furrowing his eyebrows he sat there and thought long and hard. How was he going to get to you? Kazuha would most likely be glued to your side so directly approaching was out of the question. Could he signal you to him from afar? No, that probably won’t work… Pounding his forehead slightly he couldn’t form a good plan.

“You seem troubled, Doll.” A sly finger guided itself through his short purple locks.

“What do you want, Miko? I’m busy and-“

“You know it’s nice to run away then come running back when you need help. Your mother was on edge for weeks. Spending whatever free time she had looking for her poor child. Always looking for you despite her own needs.”

“Did you come to ask me what’s wrong only to turn around and try to guilt trip me? You don’t change, do you?”

Without saying anything she placed a bag next to him and then made her way to the door. Peeking through the bad he looked back to her fleeting figure before shouting out, “Wait! What is this for? You really expect me to forgive you with this bag full of clothes?! Plus, this has girl stuff in it anyways-“ “Silly Kuni! This is to help you get your girl back!” “Excuse me?!” Miko sighed while shrugging, “And you say your moms are no help! C'mon, you have to think outside the box, silly!” Taking the bag back she pulled out the cutest dress you’ve ever seen along with tights and heels. “It’d be stupid to approach her directly. You have no idea what kind of mental state she’s in, she may not trust any other man or claim she’s fine with her captor.” Digging deeper into the bag she pulled out a long wig that happened to be the same shade as his own hair, “So you have to coax her out as someone willing to understand and help her out of the situation!” Before he knew it he was all dolled up, shifting uncomfortably in the dress and trying to adjust his posture and his footing, constantly brushing his much longer locks back while puckering and rolling his lips that had a gloss applied to them. Would this really work?

“Miko, I don’t think this is gonna work… I don’t make a very convincing girl….” he awkwardly fussed with his bangs before glancing over at her. Miko held her phone up and with a click and a flash the very image of… whatever this was… saved onto her phone and probably being backed up to her cloud. “Oh, you look just like your sister!” Placing her phone back in her bag she shooed him out of the car before, then rolled down the window offering a few words, courtesy of her never-ending-kindness! “Just be kind to her, her heart will surely realize who you are... Or don’t! Maybe she’ll see through all of this!” Scaramouche could only grit his teeth as she motioned her hand at him. “I’ll be waiting here so once she comes to her senses I won’t be far. Plus! Wouldn’t want you to try and be all hero-like only to trip and fall in those cuttteee heels of yours!”

•

Spoonful after spoonful you swallowed whatever food had been shoved into your face. Were you even hungry? Not that it matters. At this point, you’ve come to treat this as if it were a real date! Yet your heart doesn’t skip a beat when he cups your face. A couple of people do glance over at you both awkwardly but that smile of yours tells them you’re just a young couple in love. It goes on like this for a few more minutes before beautiful swaying locks catch your eye, it’s true you’ve been ignoring the faces of those who’ve been passing by, but this face is stunning. Your heart skips a beat when your eyes meet each other. Now something about all this feels familiar but you can’t quite pin it down just yet. Kazuha notices how your attention is drawn away from him and he immediately pulls your chin towards him, “Is something the matter my love? You seem distracted.” He bluntly states as his eyebrows furrow slightly in frustration. “A-ah, no, I just…” Perhaps you were scared or maybe still stunned by that girls beauty but you can’t seem to form a coherent thought. He shifts around in his seat a little, ever so slightly moving his chair to block your view of the girl. With a short ‘ahem’ you brush it off as just seeing someone you thought you recognized.

If you look past his intense gaze you can still kinda see her fussing with her long hair. A waiter shows her to her table that so happens to be next to yours. You bite your tongue to hide a giggle when you see her awkwardly try to walk in heels, maybe she’s not used to them? Once she sits down it’s obvious she’s not used to wearing such feminine clothes, the way she keeps lifting her feet off the ground and sliding them farther out, or how she pulls the hem of her dress down even though it’s past her knees. The way she covered her mouth and spoke in a quiet meek voice told you maybe she was shy. Kazuha glanced at you both, almost trying to understand the connection you guys had but signed in defeat, “I’m gonna use the restroom then pay for our food. Don’t go anywhere.” And with that, he was gone but surely it wouldn’t take him long to be back.

Scaramouche had to be quick about this. The least he could do is get you outside.

Trying to keep his ladylike demeanor he tried starting the conversation with something normal. Of course, this meant he would have to speak a little louder in order for you to hear in the louder environment. He would be lying to himself if he said he hadn’t “practiced” his female voice.

“Isn’t the food here the best?”

Taken aback by how cute she sounded you cover your mouth slightly. “She even has a cute voice!”, you thought to yourself. Once again stunned you take a moment to respond.

“Y-yeah!” your response is a little fast-paced but she just smiles in response. “Haha, you seem a little nervous, what, too stunned by my looks?” Even though he was supposed to be portraying a meek, innocent girl, he couldn’t help but still be cocky. It’s as if you were on autopilot with the way your response was the same yeah…

Part of you felt like that’s something he would say. Who was he again?

“It’s a little stuffy in here, don’t you agree? How about we get some fresh air?” The girl suggested so innocently that you’d completely “forgotten” what Kazuha told you NOT to do. As if you’d been under a spell you followed a girl you didn’t even know the name of out of the restaurant. Her name! You need her name! This can’t be the last time you see each other you need her contact info! You reach to where you would normally keep your phone only for your attention to be stolen away by her.

She handed you her phone that had a picture of a very certain cat. Your heart fastens as you start to recall some things, you couldn’t submit to someone who only half-loved you. No, you had to get home to your first baby. Tears threaten to spill as everything comes back faster than you can comprehend.

He didn’t love you, no, he never did. If he did he would’ve stayed the first night. He was just looking for something to sedate his own woes. You come to the realization that your delusions you made up to protect yourself were false. You haven’t been in love for years like your mind had told you, you don’t know what he really feels, you just filled in the blanks with lies your mind fed you. In reality, you’ve probably only really known each other for a couple of days, during those 4 months you spent pregnant and alone your brain spun a story as if you were real lovers. Hating yourself could come later but for now, you need to get a grip and get out of here. Suddenly you’re caught up to speed and all it feels like you’re gonna vomit, your clothes feel tighter and you can feel your own skin, every pore feels open and you hate every second of it. What feels like hours is only a matter of seconds.

A hand is gently wipes your tears away,

“It’s time to go, Y/n.”

“I cant.. I’m sacred. I-“

“Don’t be. I'm here now, and I’m not letting you go.” He looked so serious, although a little funny since he was still in his getup.

Reaching for your wrist he gently and slowly led you farther away from the establishment and closer to your getaway car.

Both of your steps got faster and faster. You didn’t want to look back, no, you shouldn’t.

A voice you’ve come to hate shouts out to you. Ears pound loudly and your heart skips several beats when you hear fastened footsteps approaching. A wave of pain crashes onto you when your lower back aches in pain. You stop even though you don’t want to and clutch your stomach in retaliation.

You have to move right now otherwise he’ll catch up. Scaramouche turns back around for you and effortlessly picks you up and carries you to the car. When he turned to place you in the car he’s sure Kazuha has seen his face. Crap… Not like it mattered right now. He rushes to the other side of the car but is pulled back by a hand that is placed on his back, it’s cold and uncomfortable. Almost as if it triggered something in him he shouts and pushes him back into the ground.

Once Scaramouche is in the car Miko doesn’t hesitate to slam on the gas pedal and get you both somewhere safe.

Final Part:

When you wake up you’re in a very comfy bed. Moving your legs a little you wince uncontrollably. Memories come flooding back and your eyes dart to where Scaramouche is sitting. A smile makes itself known on your face and you reach out to him. He melts into your touch but avoids looking at you. You know you messed up big time by not running away from Kazuha like you should have… But you were in a deranged state! Surely he won’t blame you completely. Breaking the silence you ask him what’s wrong.

“I know we kinda just met but I hope you know I love you…” he trailed off, still avoiding eye contact. “I always have… It’s a shame you don’t remember me. If you did then I guess you could technically say we didn't just meet.”

Huh? You two knew each other? Maybe he’s got the wrong person. Innocently you ask, “Have we met somewhere before? I’m sorry but I don’t seem to ever recall-“ “Just take a good look at me and try to recall. We used to be playmates when we were little. Your parents were busy like mine so they would drop us off at that one daycare.” Your eyes squint as you take a good look at him, “And we went to school together for a little while- I tried stealing your pen-“ Eyes widening you can’t help but burst out laughing.

Now you remember him!

“It’s you! I- How could I forget? Oh my gosh, it seems work has made me forget my younger days!” Covering your mouth to hide a smile you can’t help but laugh a little louder. His face seems upset but eventually melts into a smiling one along with you. For a couple of moments you both laugh and exchange playful banter. Everything in the world is right at that moment.

But once again, your mistakes will catch up with you.

After the laughing dies down he squeezes your hand and places a handle on your stomach. This causes you to shift uncomfortably but you try to play it off as a cramp.

“When the Doctor came to relay your status he told me one bit of information that… you probably didn’t want me to know.”

Oh shit. Oh shit- Your heart fastens and you try to muster out a response but it hitches in your throat. “I-I canexplain p-please let me-“You fumble your words and tears pool up in your eyes.

With an affirmative squeeze to your hand he smiles softly, “It’s okay.”

“But it’s not- I messed up and now-“ You covered face with your hand, attempting to hide yourself away from him.

“And now- we can work this out, together. I promise I will do my best to be a good parent. If you’d just give me a chance- A chance to take care of you and your child. I would do anything to be with you once and for all. Please, Y/n, don’t leave me again.” His hand came up to yours pressed against your face, and slowly removed it from you.

A part of you feels raw, and exposed, yet, this time it’s different. Part of your brain tells you to run from his affection but the other part feels so defeated that you just want to cry into his chest and beg him to stay with you. Lucky for you he was willing to stay with you. Even if you were going to have your kidnapper's baby. Leaning into him you cried out all your sorrows that had been bottled up for the past couple of months. All he could do was rub your back and listen to you cry your heart out.

It felt good to finally tell someone how you truly felt. How much has been troubling you? Although you’re sure if you were to tell this to a professional you’d been locked up….

After you’re done crying you wipe your tears and take a deep breath. Your chest and shoulders feel lighter. The whiplash of everything could hit you later, you couldn’t care less right now. All you wanted to do was eat, stretch, and take a nap.

Scaramouche looked at you dead in the eye and you feared the worst. Was he joking? Did he actually hate you and never want to see you again? Did-

“Goddamit- I dropped my wig…”

You stare at each other for a second before you burst out laughing. “That’s a shame! You didn’t look half bad in it~” you joked. “Oh please- You were head over heels for me and you know it!” “Ah, you got me there! Who knew you’d make such a fine girl! If only you could say the same about you know-Ow!” he punched your shoulder gently, but considering your current state it hurt more than he intended. “I’m sorry, Y/n- I-“ He checked the area to see if it was bruised or anything but was immediately met with a flick to the forehead. “Ow-!” “Haha, got you!” “You little-“

Both of your bickering would soon die down as soon as his parents would enter the room. It was obvious how you both turned stiff as boards. Acting as if you weren’t pulling each other’s hair like you once had.

Ei placed some flowers on the bed stand and Miko would sit down on the bed with some sweets in hand. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Miss Y/n.” Ei bowed politely, “I’m not sure if my son had mentioned us to you. If not it’s alright- But we are his parents.” Miko started feeding some cake with a fork as she nodded along. “I’m very happy to see you make my son happy. It used to worry me that my son would die alone-“she feigned a tear falling from her eye. “MOM.” Blush spread across Scaramouche’s face as he crossed his arms. “Ah, excuse me, that’s beside the point! What I mean to say is that you shouldn’t worry about the wedding founding- Your new moms will buy you everything you will need-“ “THATS NOT ANY BETTER!” He exclaimed even redder. She smiled so innocently all while still looking a little confused. Miko finally chimed in, “What she means to say is that she supports you both no matter what. Even if you don’t think she agrees with you,” she turned her head towards him, “she believes you both will make the right choice. We hope you both can treat this as a new beginning. As I like to say, carpe diem!” “You never say that.” Ei tilted her head with a soft smile. “Well, I do now!”

All four of you burst out laughing. You guys talk a little more before they leave for their business dinner. Once again you and Scara are alone.

“Are you really sure you’re okay with marrying a pregnant woman?” “Of course I’m fine with it, since it being you and all.” Rubbing the back of his head he laid his head down on the bed, “Are YOU sure you wanna get married right away? Just because my mom mistook us for dating already doesn’t mean we should skip that part… Plus, what if you don’t like who I am…” You pet his soft purple hair with a smile, “Well, as long as you promise not to be a complete asshole, then I suppose we’ll be just fine!” “You think I’m an asshole?” “Haha, anyways…. What kind of wedding cake should we have? I was thinking of a [favorite flavor] cake! Ooohh and we can look at the different types of venues! Ah, I guess after that we need to plan a baby shower!”

He’d completely tuned you out and just stared at you, lovingly. Your skin glowed perfectly from the artificial light, and that smile of yours was perfect. You no longer looked tired and stressed; instead, you looked happy and not so tired. He couldn’t blame his ex-friend for falling for you. Although he feels a little jealous that he’s seen parts of you that now belong to his eyes only now.

Fingers tap up and down on the bed as if he’s contemplating something. You take notice and tap his shoulder, you ask if he’s listening. Suddenly he gets up- His soft lips are placed against your slightly chapped ones. It’s warm. Your eyes widen in surprise as you slowly melt into the kiss.

Once he pulls away you’re both gasping for air. Out of embarrassment, he hides his face in your neck. He’s embarrassed- you are too. “A-a little warning would’ve been nice. I was talking yknow?” “Shut up before I kiss you again..” You knew he was too embarrassed to do it again so you teased, “Yeah, I think you’d like that-“ Instead of another passionate kiss he instead peppered kisses all over your face. “I hate you.” “I love you, Scara.”

•

The wedding went amazing since his parents had done most of the planning (of course you both directed them) And your baby shower went just as well! Initially, you were both worried a certain someone would catch wind of it- and you’re sure he did. Thankfully the place was heavily guarded (, courtesy of Miko) and was also in a secluded area, along with there being a very strict guest list. You both already knew the gender so the part just consisted of fun baby shower games and many gifts from your friends and families.

You had been getting intensive therapy for the rest of your pregnancy. Those couple of months left you with deeper wounds than you had thought. Of course, you still have trouble with going out on your own and you’ve completely dropped going out (since you’re a mother now ofc) When you do have to go out alone you wear your hair differently each time along with a mask and sunglasses. Whenever someone gets a little too close they happen to get stopped by someone. Your bad dreams usually consist of you trying to run away but your legs move slowly or trying to scream but nothing comes out, and other things you’d rather not discuss...

Your delivery went well and luckily you gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Ei and Miko informed you that you had a week to name him. On the fifth day, you and Scara decided on [name], since you both liked the name and agreed on it. When both of the families came to see him you got the chance to meet Scara’s aunt and sister (who both happened to be named Makoto, although Scara called his sister Raiden since she was “scary”) The boy was blessed with your hair color (he has a red streak through it) but had his fathers eyes. At first, it scared you but with some affirming words from both sides of the family and your lover, you’ve grown to love them.

Some of your friends and family didn’t approve that Scara wasn’t the father, some even berating you and calling you names. The name-calling mostly came from Scara’s side of the family. Area

On your son's first birthday, he spoke his first words. “Mama!” You nearly cried tears of joy when he said that. Scaramouche frowned and pinched the boy's cheeks gently with a huff. Much to his surprise the boy spoke again, “Daddy!” Now both of you were crying tears of joy. You swaddled your boy in the softest blankets before you both cuddled him off to sleep. Both not believing you had been blessed with such a joy.

Once your son has gotten a little older he learned how to say the cat’s name, always gesturing his hands and babbling, “Meowmeow!” The now healthier cat would come to the boy and rub its head against your son accompanied by a purr.

Once he turned two years old you noticed how he started taking after his father, often mimicking him by making an angry face and huffing. All you could do was smile and kiss him while his father pouted behind you both. One time you had joked around with your young son by asking him, “What face does daddy make when he’s angry” and your son crossed his arms with a scowl on his face. You burst out laughing while your husband messed with his hair pretending to be upset.

You went back to work while Scara was a stay-at-home husband. On stressful days you would come home, sore and tired, but the moment your eyes laid on Scara’a resting figure along with your sons. Well, your heart simply melted into mush as you took about 30 pictures of them from all angles. You were convinced that all of the time you spent alone and suffering was worth it for this moment.

It felt like that person was a bad dream- but now, you’re wide awake and ready to face the future with your loving husband, and adorable son.

Gawdamn I don’t stop yapping🙏 If you read all of this ty pookie!! there will be a $10 mil block of gold under your pillow when you wake up 😍😋 I will be writing some hcs (maybe) and a scenario where u encounter kazuha w your kid soon!!! (i promise) Anyways i’m knocking tf out… BAI><!!

♡ taglist: @swivy123

#genshin x reader #genshin impact #genshin x y/n #genshin fluff #fem!reader #genshin angst #kazuha x reader #pregnant!reader #scaramouche x fem!reader #angst to fluff #stockhom syndrome

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kit-williams · 3 months

Text

Bye Bye Birdie

tw: sexism, body horror

Nakht Rhan you seethed at the thought of that man. You were going to show him! You had already been blessed by the Changer of Ways as your iridescent feathers ruffled in the light of the ritual room. With a soft pleasing light coming from the floating crystals around. Your clawed hands looked like that of a birds texture wise but you still had the dexterity of normal hands as you continued to set up your ritual circle.

Oh Birdie He would coo at you Why worry so much about all of these tedious rituals and plans he said with such distain as if he wasn't crafting plans on screwing her over. Let me handle everything so you don't overfill that dumb and pretty feathered bird head of yours.

You screamed at him that day and that was the final straw. When he just simply one upped you without a care without a concern... WITHOUT a STRUGGLE. You pushed air out of your nose as you finished the delicate ritual circle. "Alright Nakht we'll see who just is in capable." You purr as you get to your position and start the long ordeal.

Perhaps you should have put more wards as you were in the middle of your long chanting before your rival was suddenly in the room... you couldn't stop your chanting at the cadence or else it would be disastrous. You watched them hum moving to the opposite side of your circle and wave a hand as you watch the final rune change before they grinned at you and vanished.

Sweat gathered on your brow as you couldn't stop or else Tzeentch would punish you but if you didn't stop the spell would complete and since it wasn't any known spell it was up to fate himself to decide what would happen to you.

You closed your eyes as you said the last word and your back met the wall. You blink as you look around at your limbs... they work you're moving you can breathe you laugh but your laugh sounds muffled. You check your ears and snap your fingers and that sounds clear. You go to check your mouth and feel yourself scream as it is smooth flesh over where your mouth should be.

You rush out of the room clawing at your face trying to forcibly make a new mouth opening but it's healing over faster than you can force it open. You just have to get to Jallen! He owes you a favor?! You're certain as in your panic you slam into ornate armor.

"Ah there's my pretty Birdie. You hear to-" Nakht starts but his voice stops, which you are thankful of, but you don't like the look on his face. He grabs your chin and your wrists to stop you from clawing your face. You glower at him and try to pull yourself free, "Sit still!" He orders and you can't help but flinch at the rough tone.

"I'm sorry little bird I just need to look at this." He apologizes as his thumb swipes over the smooth flesh that is over where your mouth should be. He smiles fondly at you, "I can fix this for a price. And you're in a position you can't exactly refuse."

Like Khornes ass I can't refuse! You think as you glare at him going to simply walk away but he still holds your arms in a tight grip. No amount of tugging and trying to pull free well frees you.

"First demand..." He says licking his lips as you know he was fond of your lips. "I get a kiss from you. Second I'll take you out on a nice date. Third... you're going to tell me who did this to you."

#warhammer 40k #tw: body horror #tw: sexism #Yandere #Yandere Space Marine #Space Marine #Yandere Thousand Son #Thousand Son #x reader

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lemongogo · 6 months

Note

what's your process for coloring like? the look of that elendira is so textured and interesting, i can't figure out how you do it

AA THANK YOUU ^__^ !! textures & brushwork are my favorite things abt my art, so im happy you find it interesting hehe . its SOO cool to look at & so much fun to draw imo

i prefer to color by building in layers , if that makes sense 🤔!! hundreds of them !! such that i'm always drawing on Top of previous layers, working from big & messy blocks of color to, eventually, small and refined blocks of color until it feels processed enough. as a result, i rarely ever erase (!!) and i rarely ever draw lineart aside from the initial sketch

a rough, patchy textured brush is key here, as it'll give you dimension and variability w/ your colors. i recommend "Brush and various sets of fountain pen style (万年筆風ブラシと色々セット)" on Clip Studio (ID: 1679706) !! :3

im terrible with explanations though, so i'm going to show a step by step of that elendira drawing if you dont mind :3

sketch layer !! because i mostly render through color alone, i try to make this as close to the finished thing as possible . ^__^ i hateee drawing the same thing over and over and like the expressivity and movement of my sketches anyways , so the more i can preserve at this step, the better. if u were to look at a side by side of my sketches and finished pieces, youd notice a lot of those og lines are present in the final drawing :3

2. flats !! pretty self explanatory, but the solid background gives me an idea of where the figure begins & ends while the colors themselves help distinguish whats what . i stick to ambient lighting @ this point because im usually not sure what i want to do with the overall palette or lighting yet . having two tones (ex, dark and light in her hair or dark and light on her skin) can also help in identifying key features early on that u wanna preserve. as you build layer by layer, sometimes these areas will remain untouched and i think it makes for a rly lovely feel at the end

3. start blocking !!! to be totally honest with you, i dont really know what i do here HAHAHA. like i just scribble the shit out of it, usually focusing on what i might want to do with lighting (ex: grey areas to accentuate folds in her costume). i think i like to start "erasing" the sketch where possible by coloring on top of it .. like if you look at her hat or her arm , you can tell i'm starting to get a sense of the shapes i like vs the ones i dont. it's at this point that the final image starts to emerge in my mind , like im gradually pulling her from a tarpit of scribbles until shes recognizable lol. chipping away at the marble until i can free her. tbh.

4. keep blockingg...when u think u are done , block some more . as you can probably see, the brushwork becomes more intentional as i add more shape, with specific focus on line weight. this is also where the patchiness of that textured brush comes in - notice how none of the colors seem totally uniform (ex: the red cross or the original sketchlines for her waist). you can see bits and pieces of the layers underneath pushing through and i really like that !! ^__^ its very fun and sketchy to me, so i try to keep them around. those areas are also great to colorpick from, because it'll give you "new" colors to work w/ that are already part of your palette.

5. GRADIENTS & GRADIENT MAPS !! TONE CURVE !! COLOR PICKER !! this is the best stage tbh. flatten your image so its all on one layer and just go crazy with all the color settings in ur program. add gradient layers and set them to darken, or overlay, or subtract, orrr. lighten or dodge glow or divide or soft/hard light.! OR!! edit the hue, saturation, luminosity and contrast.and then color pick from these edits, block even more on top of ur image, flatten, color edit again, etc. etc. until u feel satisfied.

ANYWAYSS . i hope that makes sense @__@ sry i wrote this out and deleted it like 23 times trying to make it make More sense but thats what ive got HAHA i hope its useful though :3 !

#SRY I STRUGGLED 2 EXPLAIN THIS #dude its like my brain bcomes stuffed w/ cotton anytime i try 2 write #i hope it makes sense tho..#it also probably sounds so redundant to make new layer one after the other for just a few brushstrokes #but those brushes i linked have a multiply property so if you draw on top of prev lines they'll create dark patches #and so if im working over a large area ill generally need like . 5 layers each with one brushstroke :sob: if that makes sense #this one had . 84 i think. total. layers i mean. the merylvash one had 300+ HAHAH so it rly depends #like YEAAH i could just use a normal brush but i really like the way this looks #andd sometimes the multiply function works really well or will give me the proper shadow tone im looking for #anywas.wanywaysn anyways #asktag #anonymous #long post

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cloveroctobers · 1 year

Text

CARMY BERZATTO — x BLACK! Reader — spring prompts 🕊️

A/N: happy for season two! OC/Reader Cambria” is intended to be black and of color. Not fully described but she’s got textured hair. I also incorporated characters from two other shows for this bit: Abbott Elementary and Power Book II — Ghost — mostly a character is mentioned from Power…lurking at best! and it all takes place in the same setting for story purposes 😬

Using this prompt list and number 3.) spring fever + [gif belongs to user: @heardchef]

SYNOPSIS: Carmy’s got a teeny crush and when he’s invited over…he’s not really expecting this to lead elsewhere. It’s only some fluff and humor y’all!

❝ ᵕ̈೫˚∗ ❝ ᵕ̈೫˚∗ ❝ ᵕ̈೫˚∗ ❝ ᵕ̈೫˚∗ ❝ ᵕ̈೫˚∗ ❝ ᵕ̈೫˚∗ ❝ ᵕ̈೫˚∗

Carmy’s late by the time he’s pulling up to her condo downtown. Todays in the low fifties so he has to pull the collar of his jacket up around his neck to protect himself against the spring breeze. He’s a bit jittery with a few other thoughts on his mind but he’s quickly pulled out of that anxiousness as his shoulder is bumped.

“How the fuck is she paying for this shit?” Richie questions, cigarette perched in between his lips while he cradles a juice jug underneath his arm, “what did you say she does for a living again?”

Carmy can’t help but to roll his eyes and thinks about ignoring the taller man. He didn’t even invite him nor did Cambria but yet here Richie was in all of his brash glory.

“Why do you feel like that’s your business, Richie?” Sydney spoke what Carmy was thinking, now exiting the car behind them.

“Damn! I can’t make conversation and be curious about my cousin’s girl—

Carmy interrupted the bearded man, “Shut the fuck up will you? And let’s just get inside, we’re already late because of your bullshit.”

“My bullshit? You’re the one sneaking around Chicagoland—

“It’s the bear now Richie.”

“Whatever!—Making meals and thinking you can just ride off into the sunset with your sidekick here to this undisclosed location as if I don’t know Cambria. A pretty customer.” Richie argued while Sydney shook her head at the “sidekick,” insult.

Carmy flared his nostrils in annoyance, “it doesn’t even fucking matter. I went over this already. I was doing something for a friend and Sydney showed up and decided to help. There was no sneaking around because we’re currently closed, are we not? Also Weren’t you supposed to be with the kid this weekend?”

Richie grumbled to himself at that, not caring for the topic switching over to his child and it wasn’t Carmy throwing a jab back per say but it was genuinely a question on his part. When Carmy received a text from Cambria telling him to slide through when he had the chance, he didn’t want to show up empty handed so yeah he entered the bear (yet again) to whip something up. Sydney showed up while he was waiting on the prime rib to finish and she got to work preparing the grinders for the meat to go on, then together they dressed the sandwiches and wrapped them to go.

Richie caught them just as they were gathering the sandwiches and of course gave them a hard time about it. Now here they were with Richie stalking off to the gates of Cambria’s condo.

“I think you hurt his feelings.” Sydney muttered as she held the back car door open.

“The both of you can fuck right off!” Richie yelled on the front stoop of the condo, alerting them that he heard what was said even if there was a increase of distance between them.

Carmy scoffed, “he’ll get over it. He wasn’t even invited.”

“Neither was I.” Sydney pointed out.

Carmy slightly dipped his head, “true but I sent out a text to Cambria to let her know and she didn’t get back to me. I’m sure she won’t mind, she actually likes you.”

Sydney gave a small smile at that before Carmy followed through the gates and walkway to Cambria’s home.

“What’re you five?” Carmy and Richie were in a mini slap fight, the long-haired one out of the two yanked Richie’s hand away from repeatedly ringing the door-bell.

Richie mocked Carmy, sending him a nice middle finger in response followed with a squat.

“Wow I’m surprised your knees still work, Richard.” Sydney tossed in with a laugh, which Carmy snickered at.

Richie’s round blues widened in irritation and before he could spew something misogynistic, the front door was pulled open.

At the front door stood a brown skinned man with broad shoulders, lean but fit frame, low-cut fade, large brown eyes, and some facial hair.

“Hey, Carmy right?” He spoke first to Carmy on his left.

Carmy dipped his head, “yeah?”

“Oh. I’m Gregory, friend and co-worker of Cambria’s. She gave me the green light to let you guys in…but she didn’t say there would be a third person coming too.” His large eyes shot to Richie who put the unlit cigarette back behind his ear.

Richie than held out his hand for Gregory to shake, “yeah I guess my cousin forgot to mention that the life of the party was also comin’ through! I’m richie, man. Nice to meet ya!”

Gregory shook his hand with a slow nod of his head, blinking quickly, probably at how loud Richie was.

“If you or Cam need to kick him out, please don’t hesitate to do so.” Carmy added while Richie blew a raspberry, “it’s cool to finally put a name to the face, Gregory. Cam’s told me a little about you.”

“Same man.” Gregory smiled making Carmy start to wonder what exactly Cambria shared and hope it wasn’t his depressing life story, “Come on in…oh also as a fair warning to you guys, Cambria’s a little bit on one.”

“How so?” Sydney asked from behind, “also I’m Sydney by the way.”

Gregory nodded his head silently letting her know that he was aware due to the text messages, “Nice to meet you. Oh it’s nothing too bad just something to be prepared—

A soul beat became prominent as the group of four now stood in the industrial living room with bright lighting. There Cambria stood on top of the square coffee table, fuzzy feathered scarf wrapped around her neck as she sauntered across the table on her tippy toes to the lyrics.

Cause you’re a cool cat ♪

She spun just in time to hop down from the table, snatching the swifter handle back up to her lips as she mouthed the lyrics:

Tapping on the toe with a new hat ♪

She began to sway:

Ooh, just cruising

Driving along with the swing of the king ♪

Carmy watched in amusement as Cambria carried on, walking on her toes as she swung the scarf around along with her head, her now chopped soft waved hair glistened from the natural night, while she went to slap the scarf against Richie’s chest.

Feeling the beat of my heart ♪

She walked the line, singing that into Gregory’s face, making herself almost his height while he gave her a nod and a smile. He then shot a look to the three, hinting at this was what he was talking about as he closed the front door to the home.

Once she got to Carmy, she grabbed one of his hands to place right against her chest, alarming him as she continued the lyrics.

Feeling the beat of my heart ♪

Ooh, you’re a cool cat ♪

She shoots a wink at Sydney who gives a equally awkward thumbs up.

Coming on strong with the chit chat ♪

She turns back to Carmy, stepping back from him with a wiggle of her hips as she sung:

Ooh, you’re alright

Hanging out and stealing all the limelight

Messing with the beaaaat of my he-aaart

She lowered the mop as she actually attempted to hit Freddie’s high note.

Ooh, messing with the beat of my heart, yeah ♪

Cambria brought it back up slow as she clutched her chest, before letting out a smile and bowing as the instrumental played on. Richie was the first to clap it up for Cambria who grinned over at him while Gregory sped-walked away to the kitchen.

“Hey guys,” Cambria greeted as she lowered the music then turned back to them, “glad you made it. Come make yourself comfortable.”

Carmy cleared his throat, “hey uh, we brought some steak and pepper grinders. You know your favorite, from the spot.”

“With prime rib?” Cambria stared over at Carmy underneath her eyelashes, anticipating his response.

“The one and only.”

Cambria squealed, doing high-knees that Richie couldn’t help to chuckle and shake his head, looking over at Sydney who was still wide-eyed at Cambria’s antics.

The short haired woman tossed her arms around Carmy, squeezing him tightly to her chest and pecked his cheeks with kisses, further making Richie smirk at his cousin who seemed to be folding.

“Where’s Syd and I’s kisses? We helped too!” Richie boasted as Cambria turned to Sydney first to also give her a tight squeeze and rocked her from side to side.

And saved Richie for last, who purposely made the hug last a little too long for Carmy’s liking.

“Okay, back off.” Carmy shoved the taller man away from Cambria, who laughed and took the bags of food from Carmy and Sydney to take to the kitchen.

Sydney moved to sit on the mustard couch, followed by Richie who didn’t excuse himself as he crossed over Sydney to sit right beside her, arms stretching along the back of the couch.

“I hope we made enough.” Carmy started, eyes scanning the place.

He’s been here once or twice before but it’s clear Cambria did lots of updating since then. It felt much bigger than before with Cambria deciding to transform the walls to eggshell compared to the dark gray they once were.

“I’m sure you did.” Cambria commented, smiling over her shoulder at Carmy.

A door to the right creaked open, revealing a very short brown skinned woman with curly short hair, she was probably the shortest in the room smoothing down her long-flowy skirt as she entered the space. Carmy watched as Gregory’s eyes seemed to immediately lock on her before she even spoke, her gaze setting on Cambria instead.

“Whew! Cambria, I see you’ve decided to finally take a break. Good for you.” She swiped her fist through the air in a supportive nature, that Carmy wondered if she was really as happy go-lucky as she put out.

Cambria shook her head, leaning back against the counter as she looked over at the woman, “absolutely not! There’ll be no rest for the wicked. This is just a brief intermission Janine and you should know this. Also say hi to the new guest who just arrived.”

“You should have just gone with the flow and let her stuff her face then we wouldn’t be in this mess.” Gregory hissed before yanking the fridge open to bury his head inside.

Janine was a gaping fish as she slowly turned to the new faces in the room before glancing at the crew that were to the right of Carmy then back, “oh, my apologies! You guys sure did get here quick! Not as fast enough to help prevent the bruises on my back but nonetheless you made it!”

“What happened to your back?” Sydney sat up on the couch.

Janine awkwardly rubbed at the sleeve of her cardigan, “I’d rather not say—

“She tried to secretly do the running man in my bedroom to ‘Put Your Records On,’ tripped on my moss rug and broke part of my bookcase.” Cambria informed, making Janine clench her eyes shut in embarrassment.

“So that’s what happened?” Gregory peeled out of the fridge, “I warned you about that rug earlier.”

“I know! But I love that song and you can’t say Cambria doesn’t have a solid playlist. It’s so broad. And I’m going to do my best to help you rebuild the shelves.” Janine clasped her hands together in sincerity.

Cambria fanned her hands at the woman, digging into the bag to retrieve a sandwich, “Don’t worry about it. I can’t tell you how many marks I got on my body from almost breaking my neck to my jams. My playlists are fire and I’m glad you acknowledge that, bestie.”

Janine grinned at the mention of being considered someone’s friend. She soon cleared her throat realizing the crew was probably zooming in on her face, considering one of the men stepped closer to her and whispered, “I thought you guys left with Jacob and hope you consider deleting that footage from a few hours ago.”

Soon Janine moved into the living room to greet the new faces she had yet to officially meet, “Hi! I’m Janine Teagues. Cambria’s bestie and a fellow teacher at Abbott Elementary.”

richie sized Janine up and held his hand out, “Richie, hun. Are you sure you’re not one of those kids?” Before letting out a obnoxious laugh, elbowing Sydney who shook her head at him, ready to whack him with the diffuser that sat on the table.

Carmy pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Please don’t pay this idiot any mind. Hi, I’m Sydney. That’s Carmy,” She pointed back at him who stepped a little closer with a wave of fingers, “and we all work down at the bear.”

Janine bounced on her toes and seemed to smile a little brighter as she put Carmy’s name to his face, “Cool! What’s the bear?”

Richie chatted with his hands, “It’s originally called the original beef of Chicagoland, sweetheart. We’re rebranding right now but if that helps jog your memory that’s what it’s called. We own a restaurant.”

“You don’t own shit.” Carmy huffed, “its mostly a sandwich shop but we’re getting more variety of items coming soon. The restaurants been in my family for years.”

“Am I not your family, Carmen?” Richie placed his hand on his chest, while Carmy simply looked at him, “wow! Okay! I’m gonna eat!”

He squeezed himself by Janine, heading over to the kitchen where Cambria teared into the sandwich, cheeks puffing up like a chipmunk as she danced next to Gregory, who appeared as if he wanted nothing more than to leave already despite his expressionless face.

A small smile of satisfaction appeared on Carmy’s face before he brought his focus back to Janine.

“Oh, is he—

“He’s fine. He’s always like that, real dramatic.” Sydney assured Janine who pursed her lips glancing over her shoulder just to make sure Richie didn’t decide to explode, but she was sure she would probably hear it if he did.

Janine turned back to face the two and smiled with her signature gap, “hey, you know you look kinda familiar.”

“Me?” Sydney questioned, pointing to herself and peeking back at Carmy who lifted his shoulders.

“Yeah…what did you say your last name was again?”

“I—I didn’t?”

“It’s funny because you kinda remind me of my sister. The resemblance is almost pow! In your face you know?” Janine slowly sat down where Richie previously sat.

“Really?”

“Yes,” Janine nodded her head and called behind her, “Cambria, Gregory! Doesn’t Sydney remind you of Ayesha?”

Cambria lowered the music again and titled her head as she stared hard at Sydney who hated that the attention was on her now, “She does!”

“I don’t see it.” Gregory disagreed, taking the sandwich Richie handed to him.

“What?! I’m gonna find my phone and FaceTime her.”

“That’s okay. A picture would be fine.” Sydney tried to suggest but Janine was already up on her feet, searching the room for her purse.

Sydney looked back at Carmy who smirked and raised his hands in surrender. He left Sydney despite her calls for him not to do that as he entered the kitchen. Carmy eyed the updated stainless steel appliances and dark almost gray wood cabinetry. He then leaned against the large island, focusing only on Cambria who had her back to him, now fumbling with her phone; probably looking for the next best song to play.

“You’ve got something on your face Carmy and it ain’t the ugly.” Richie yelled with a mouth full of food.

Gregory’s large eyes went back and forth between the two, watching as Carmy unconsciously rubbed at the corner of his mouth, making Richie smirk. Gregory’s also noticed that Carmy’s been eyeing his friend real hard since he’s got here and it was evident that he felt something for her…possibly more than platonic.

Yet it wasn’t his business so he didn’t bother speaking on it like he knew Janine wanted to…if she got around to it that is.

Carmy sent two middle fingers his way and before he could spike up a conversation with Cambria, she slammed her hand on the counter in front of her. “Oh shit!”

“What was that for?” Gregory flinched but also asked calmly.

Cambria stared off into space thinking, “what time is it?”

“Four thirty.” Janine told as she tried to call her sister.

“I’m late!” Cambria disappeared from the kitchen for a moment.

Richie waved his hands about, “For…?”

Gregory shrugged his shoulders, “there’s no telling with that girl. Man, this sandwich is something.”

“Good something or shit something?”

“That doesn’t make sense but good something.” Gregory replied, “super flavorful, colorful and tender. It’s a well made sandwich. Where did you guys get it?”

“From our spot: The bear. You should check it out when we reopen in a few. I’m glad you’re enjoying it.” Carmy felt pride that Cambria’s friend was also enjoying something he made.

Gregory snapped his fingers in acknowledgment, “that’s right! Cambria did mention she’s got a potential chef husband but i of course didn’t take that seriously. You must be it.”

“Potential husband? This guy?” Richie jabbed a thumb at Carmy who tried not to roll his eyes.

“Let’s not go there, Richie.”

Richie scoffed, not saying anything more.

Smart choice.

Carmy can be lethal with his clapbacks when he wanted and Richie was always talking shit. He couldn’t help it, it just seemed to be in his nature for as long as Carmy’s known him.

“Meech, where’s my bag?” Cambria entered the room again.

Richie frowned, “Who the hell is meech?”

Gregory just shook his head, silently telling the older man not to further question Cambria’s mind.

Carmy sat up from the island, “uh, what color is it?”

This wasn’t his first time looking around for lost bags thanks to his disheveled mother.

“Aw, Ayesha can’t answer right now. She’s about to board another flight to some place tropical. Must be nice being able to travel the world whenever you please.” Janine thought out loud before zoning back in on the conversation, “what’s happening?”

“My bag, Janine.” Cambria notified, “it has my birth control in it and it was in the chartreuse bag that Jacob was modeling—he stole my bag.”

That’s the thing with Cambria, she wasn’t too private about much. She was a open book and Carmy found himself also being somewhat open with her when they had the chance to hold one on one deep conversations. So this wasn’t much of a shock to him whereas Richie choked a bit on his sandwich and Sydney patted at the back of her braids.

Gregory stopped eating, saying with a dry tone, “Nooo, not Jacob.”

“Who’s Jacob?” Sydney asked.

“Another co-worker of ours. He was here earlier dealing with Cambria’s spring fever. I mean cleaning.” Janine slightly stumbled over her words.

“I’m gonna call him and if he doesn’t answer then I know he took it. That’s the only place where I keep my pills.” Cambria snatched her phone up from the counter while Janine got to her feet, ready to ease the tension.

“If jumping to conclusions was a person, am I right?” Richie joked.

“We all know that you have a very active brain so maybe you decided to put them somewhere else.”

“Or jacob put them somewhere else.” Gregory added, making Janine widen her eyes at him.

Janine defended the man, “Jacob isn’t a thief! If it was Mr. Johnson here…then that maybe a different story but Jacob wouldn’t do that. We don’t steal from our friends.”

“I don’t know…Cambria did say he was modeling with it.” Sydney said, “could it be a possibility?”

“Jacob can be easily impressed. He was trying his hardest to get me to help him determine what color the bag even was.” Gregory stated.

Sydney hummed, “So he brought the bag to your attention? Did you see him leave with it?”

“I can’t say for sure…when he gets to going I learn to tune him out majority of the time. There’s a lot going on in this house if you haven’t noticed.”

“Gregory!” Janine hissed.

Cambria shushed everyone in the room, making all eyes turn to where she stood behind the couch, phone raised in the air.

“I might have taken the bag with me, forgetting that it was attached to my body after getting some pics…and I realized I was all the way on the other side of town by then. So I’m borrowing it for now. I will return it if not by tomorrow then definitely on Monday at work. Oh wait…you quit. You know, the bag would also work quite well with my dinner date outfit with Zach tonight so it all works out. Sorry for the inconvenience, love you bye!” Cambria lowered her phone as the automated message carried on after the voicemail.

Janine gasped and dropped her head, “Jacob is a thief! And I was ready to go to war for him and he let me down.”

“Mhm. Can’t defend someone who committed the crime.”

“That’s circumstantial.” Richie argued making Gregory frown back.

Janine deeply sighed, “Don’t do Jacob like that.”

“Jacob did Cambria like that.” Gregory fired off.

Cambria’s fingers went flying over her phone screen, sending Jacob a lengthy text as she began pacing the floor and abruptly stopped after pressing send. She then let out a wiggle, shaking her body about, “enough of that low vibration! It’s over and done with, if I end up pregnant or with a period then Jacob will be held accountable. Let the festivities resume!”

Richie mouthed, ‘who the fuck are these people?’ As he walked by Carmy, then Cambria before tossing Sydney a sandwich.

“Any requests?” Cambria asked.

Gregory was quick with it, “Reggie Becton, Stevie Wonder, or Victoria Monet.”

Janine also added, “Maybe VanJess, Whitney Houston, or Otis Redding.”

Cambria settled on a Doechii track, proceeding to vogue towards Carmy before grabbing his hand and pulling him away to her bedroom. Richie noticed this, ready to yell out something but Sydney shoved the remote into his gut.

“Or not…” Janine sighed as she moved towards Gregory.

Cambria welcomed Carmy into her spacious bedroom, placing her phone onto the night stand. Carmy hopped up onto her bed, spotting the few broken shelves that were once built into the wall and was knew that Cambria loved a good book resulting in many that covered the entire wall.

“Love what you done with the place,” Carmy complimented, as Cambria kicked the door to her closet closed.

Cambria smiled as she crossed over Carmy, her scent lingering in the air that he knew he had to fight within to contain himself. She pulled herself up beside him and picked up her buzzing phone, “why thank you Carmy, mhm no cane we’re not dealing with your back and forth today. Decline and on officially do not disturb for him specifically.”

“Cane…” carmy started, curious.

She shook her head, “nope! He didn’t show up for me so therefore he doesn’t matter. Only my real friends do so…how’re you today?”

Carmy raised his brows with a smirk playing on his lips, “Jesus you’re gonna give me whiplash how quick you’re able to switch everything up…but I’m good how are you? Finally slowing down for the evening with this spring fever?”

“No. You’re taking me to your apartment tonight so I can get to planning what needs to be organized with yours.” Cambria beamed sweetly at Carmy, hands clasped in her lap as she lifted her shoulders in happiness at the thought.

Carmy asked with a curl of a smile, “are we? When was that decided?”

“My place is done so it’s time to move onto the next and don’t say you can’t because you’re taking a break from the bear.”

“It’s not really a break. There’s still plenty that’s being done behind the scenes: lots of planning and brainstorming recipes, budgeting, taking inventory and figuring out what needs to stocked with those new and old recipes, paying off debts, possibly getting some new appliances, utensils for the place—

There he goes rambling but that’s what happens when you’re so passionate about your craft. Cambria admired that, she used to be like that with teaching but…we all know how that worked out.

She quit, if you missed that earlier.

Cambria briefly massaged her fingertips against Carmy’s temples, attempting to calm his mind, “Yes but you can’t fully do that without a clean space. A clean space helps the mind breathe better.”

“Ah, okay. Whatever you say.” Carmy scratched at his brow in thought after Cambria placed her hands back down. He was feeling a bit tingly? Just from her briefly touching him…was that norma?

Anyways, Carmy knew Cam wanted to help his mental the best way that she knew how and if it was anybody else he was positive he would have shut this idea down.

“So that’s a yes? I get to stay at your place tonight?” Cambria asked.

Carmy stammered then, “I—um. I dunno everything is kinda all over the place and I’m not prepared to have you over?”

“Are you being shy on me? I don’t care what you have going on, we’ll take care of it. I only need two to three days tops.” Cambria expressed.

Carmy rubbed at the back of his neck. He hasn’t shared a space with anyone in a long time, especially with someone that he was fond of. Was he making a mistake or would this be a bonding moment?

To be closer to Cambria did actually sound nice and before Carmy’s mind could berate him about not being good enough to even be in her presence, he answered.

“Okay.” He decided.

Cambria clapped it up, throwing her arms around Carmy’s shoulder to squeeze his cheek against her’s. “Great! Let me get my bag together and we can go.”

Carmy rubbed at his face in nervousness as Cambria went into her closet to grab her things. His eyes zoned back on the buzzing phone and figured this cane guy was trying his hardest to get a hold of her but Carmy didn’t know anything of their relationship. So to avoid the curiosity, he got to his feet and walked through the bedroom while Cambria danced to herself in the walk-in closet making Carmy scoff out a laugh, as he went by standing in front of her wall of a bookcase.

His fingers trailed over the spines of books in a daze that it seemed mighty quick that Cambria was ready to go with a duffel bag.

“You have everything already?” Carmy was surprised.

“Of course!” Cambria shoved her phone charger into the bag, then put the phone into her coat pocket, “this energy is unmatched baby, let’s go.”

Carmy walked by Cambria as she shut the door to her bedroom along with the lights before following after him. The house echoed with the tv rather than music and only Sydney and Richie remained.

“Where’s the other two?” Carmy asked.

Richie uttered, “They snuck off as soon as they got the chance and I don’t blame them.”

“They’re probably off to elope.” Cambria sighed, “love that for my friends.”

Sydney eyed the bag Cambria had in her hand as she went around shutting off the kitchen light, “are you going somewhere?”

Carmy cleared his throat, “um…Cam’s gonna crash at mine for a day or two to help out with my place.”

“Ohhh…” Sydney drawled out, peeking back at Richie with a knowing look, who was all snickers.

Carmy snapped his fingers at the two, “aye, dont do that.”

“You got it, Chef. Sorry, Chef.” Sydney stood up, brushing her jeans off as she shut off the tv for Cambria who walked around the home placing the swiffer into a closet, turning off the diffuser and shoving in the chair at the oak table off to the side.

Cambria called out after double checking the side doors, “alright, everybody ready?”

“For what…you and Carmy to play house?” Richie groaned with a stretch, his arms raised high in the air.

“Only if you be his best man.”

Richie’s mouth formed into a o-shape while Carmy gripped the roots of his hair, glaring up at the ceiling and fighting his brain to not think about alters and wedding attire. It’s not something he ever thought about.

Ever.

“I’d be fucking honored.” Richie said into Cambria’s face as he went to the door, winking over at Carmy.

Sydney and Carmy followed Cambria to the door, her allowing them to exit first before she locked up her place and set the alarm through her phone then followed them to the car.

Carmy pointed, “get to the back, Richie.”

“With these legs? Hell no.”

“Sorry, I am a passenger princess.”

“What about a pillow—

Richie started just for Sydney to shove him away from the passenger side. He grumbled to himself as he awaited Carmy to unlock the door but he was preoccupied taking Cambria’s bag from her to place in the trunk.

Soon everyone piled into the car with Cambria pulling the aux cord to Sydney, “let’s see what’s on your playlist, girl. I’ve put in enough overtime today with mine.”

“Okay, sure.” She smiled, pulling her phone out.

Richie folded his arms as Cambria pulled the seat up as far as comfortability allowed for them both, “This ought to be good.”

As soft upbeat tune began to fill the car, with Carmy beginning to pull off from the curb and kept glancing over at Cambria.

“Hey…I forgot to mention earlier…I like the um, the new look. You look great. Really great.” Carmy chewed down on his lips.

Cambria ran her fingers over her slicked down 4C hair for the day, still getting used to the processed hair being gone, “thank you Carm…yeah I did the thing since you last saw me. The big chop and got shitted on for it.”

“From who?” Annoyance was clear on Carmy’s face, “Not from Janine and Gregory I hope.”

“Oh no! They’re very encouraging when it comes to life changes for the better. I thank them for that especially when I quit a few days ago, they were really there for this change of course for me. It’s just worse when it comes from people that claim they love you. The ignorance is so hurtful especially when it comes to my appearance.” Cambria vented before reaching to crack the window open, welcoming some spring air.

Carmy peeked over at Cambria sensing she felt a way about her new do. “Fuck them then. It’s your life and if you want to adjust some shit and they don’t like it then that’s their problem. You don’t need anyone’s validation but your own.”

“What Carmy said. Fuck them and tell ‘em to go scratch.”

That earned some laughter from Cambria, followed by the rest in the car.

“Really richie?”

“Well yeah! I don’t play that bullying or verbal abuse shit. Not saying that’s the case but no one should make you feel low because of what they say. Which I know might be a shocker coming from a guy who doesn’t know how to shut their own trap but I stand by what I said.” Richie ranted and it was clear he meant that.

Carmy was glad Richie was being serious about this.

“How ironic is it that the shuffle is playing India.Arie right now? You’re so much more than what anyone says…remember that Cambria.” Sydney quickly added, making the woman smile as she settled into the passenger side.

It was a joy to be accepted when there’s been multiple decades full of trauma. Cambria only hoped she could do the same for everyone in the car, including herself.

The ride consisted of uplifting songs thanks to Sydney reading the room— or rather car which provided a sense of contentment for everyone even if it was only for a little while.

Carmy dropped Sydney and Richie behind the bear where Richie’s 1998 Toyota Corolla sat, the blue eyed man patiently waited for Sydney’s response on if she wanted to take Richie’s offer on getting her home this Saturday evening. When Richie turned his back after kissing both of Cambria’s cheeks through the window and attempted to lightly slap Carmy’s face, Sydney held up her phone mouthing that she’d text Carmy later to let him know she made it alive.

Doing the honors of waiting for Richie’s car to start, which was shaky mind you—Carmy let Richie lead the way from the alleyway, both turning right towards the lights. The ten minute drive to Carmy’s apartment was more nerve-wracking for him than it was for Cambria who seemed like this was the most normal thing.

Going home with him.

And little did they know, the high beams that followed them to Carmy’s apartment contained Cane, watching their every move since they left Cambria’s condo.

“Can I get you something to drink?” Carmy stood at the entryway of the kitchen as Cambria sat criss-cross on the floor, pulling off the sweater she had on underneath her discarded jacket in Carmy’s room, leaving her in a hot pink tank top.

“Gatorade?”

“As if you need anymore sugar. What about some water?”

Cambria tossed her head back letting out a groan, “you’re killing me. Yes, anything is fine, Carm.”

The water bottle slips from his shaky hand, making him let out a few curse words before he retrieved the dented bottle and made his way to the living room. The itchy couch is pressed up against the wall, a glass table is in the center, a floor lamp is tucked in the corner in between the couch and where his small black bookcase sits, which is what Cambria is currently preoccupying herself with, and the tv sits on a stand Carmy scored for a bargain at a flea market back in Fordham.

If it was one place Carmy didn’t mind to be in at his apartment, it would shockingly be his living room opposed to his kitchen. Although he spent the least time at this apartment, Carmy didn’t feel pressure just simply sitting in the center of the home. He didn’t like to get attached to places and he wasn’t sure if this was even that but there was so much surrounding him in the living room that it didn’t feel suffocating like the other rooms.

“Your bookcase is solid,” Cambria mentioned as she flipped the pages to one of the many cook books Carmy’s collected, “not as speculator as mine though. You could use a bit of variety but A- for effort.”

Carmy scoffed out a laugh as he sat back on his couch, “I’ll take it but until you recommend me something just as inspiring, I’ll take that with a grain of salt.”

“Oh I have plenty, just name your genre.” Cambria placed the book back, before sitting back on the floor to almost chug the water.

“Non-fiction.”

“Type?” Cambria almost panted from the water.

“Memoirs.”

“Locked in.” Cambria tapped her temple to remember it.

“So what’s your analysis of this shitty place?” Carmy questions after moments of silence.

Cambria almost whips her head back to look at him, not liking him taking down on this place but said, “just a few tweaks. Nothing that can’t be handled with the power of Cam and Carm.”

“Oh shit, really?” Carmy snorted, “you’re making this out to be like some sort of sitcom.”

Cambria smiled at him, chin tucked into her shoulder that he almost forgot the usual fatigue that was starting to set in, “Cam and Carm has a little spice to it, don’t you think?”

“What’re we a new seasoning now?” Amusement was in his bright blues.

Cambria nodded her head in satisfaction as she popped her collar, “let me cook, chef.”

“Heard.” Carm raised his hands, water bottle in one of them as he gave her a crooked smile before placing the bottle to his lips.

Cambria got to her feet, moving to sit beside Carmy as he placed his feet onto the table. The look she shot him made Carmy roll his head over to meet her burning stare.

“What?”

“It’ll be your task to wipe that down.”

“Fine.” Carmy sighed, making no move to put his feet down as Cambria scooted closer to him, letting her head rest on his shoulder.

Carmy hoped his heart wouldn’t burst right out of his chest at Cambria’s comfortability. So he played it cool, switching on the tv, which illuminated the dim room as he flipped through the channels, settling on some survival in the woods show, which put Cambria right to sleep.

And he followed suit, not long after, with his head gently resting against Cambria’s and her squeezing his tatted arm tighter and locked with her own.

That turned out to be the best sleep Carmy’s received in awhile.

❝ ᵕ̈೫˚∗ ❝ ᵕ̈೫˚∗ ❝ ᵕ̈೫˚∗ ❝ ᵕ̈೫˚∗ ❝ ᵕ̈೫˚∗ ❝ ᵕ̈೫˚∗ ❝ ᵕ̈೫˚∗

Continue along with my anthology works I’ve written during this spring season here.

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