#today is one where I'm so mad that I'm stuck doing this shit

[brbsoulnomming]

Tell Me Sweet Little Lies Part 1

By the time Eddie is twelve, going to live with his uncle in a trailer in Hawkins, he only has a dozen or so words from his soulmate.

It used to make him guilty, that his soulmate was the kind of person who rarely lied, getting stuck with Eddie who spit lies out like they were the shells of sunflower seeds. Then it made him angry, that he only had a handful of shit like he did it! and I already washed my hands. A small spattering of normal kid shit, while Eddie had to say things like no, officer, I don't know where my father is and Mom's just not feeling well today, Mrs. Anderson.

Then, a year or so before his dad got caught for good, he got It's nothing, I just tripped and Yeah, Mom, I understand, I know he won't do it again and he thought - maybe his soulmate is the kind of kid who knows sometimes it's just better not to say anything.

Eddie can understand that.

Living with Uncle Wayne is - hard. It's hard because it isn't hard, not the way it should be. It makes Eddie say more things that he knows his soulmate will see on his skin, things like I never wanted to be here anyway, and I want to be alone, just leave me alone.

His uncle is endlessly patient, and it grates on his nerves because he wants it. He wants it so bad to be real, but he just - keeps waiting for the other shoe to drop, for something to be too much.

For Eddie to be too much for him.

It comes to a head one night when Eddie's mad at him over something or other, asks why he's doing all this.

"You're my kid, and that means I'm not going anywhere," his uncle says, all gruff and raw honesty, and Eddie can't bear it.

"You don't think your soulmate's going to get tired of all these lies that keep showing up?" he snaps, even though he regrets it the moment it's out of his mouth.

He regrets it even more when there's a heavy, aching silence, and he finally looks up at his uncle, eyes wide and terrified as he thinks this is it, he's finally gone too far -

"It's not a lie," Uncle Wayne says finally, holding Eddie's gaze. "You hear me? It's not a lie. I'm not going anywhere."

Eddie nods, and his uncle relaxes a little, then grimaces, like he isn't sure he wants to say anything else.

"I don't have anyone for lies to show up on, anyway."

He says it like it doesn't matter, but Eddie bursts into tears anyway.

Not everyone has a soulmate. The majority of people do, but it's not uncommon for people to never have words written on their skin. In school, they teach that it doesn't mean you can't be happy, it doesn't mean you can't find love. They teach about soulmate bonds that didn't work out - there's whole plays and novels and movies written about that kind of tragedy and misery, after all.

But sometimes there's still an undercurrent of pity, of bitterness. Outside of school - or inside it, when it isn't the teachers talking - some people say there's something wrong with people who don't have soulmates, some people say that they were meant for bigger and greater things.

Some people say that soulmates are supposed to be between a man and a woman, and every time someone who's queer gets a soulmate, it's because they stole them from someone else.

And Eddie doesn't believe that, not really, but he can't help but wonder if maybe his uncle does, and he can't stop crying.

Now his uncle is the one who looks terrified.

"Son, come here, it's all right, it really is." Uncle Wayne gathers him up in his arms, holds him close the way no one's ever done for him before, and just lets him cry and cry and cry.

Later, Eddie thinks about just letting it go, but - he has to know, he just does.

"Do you think someone stole your soulmate from you?" he asks as he's washing dishes, not looking at his uncle and hoping it doesn't sound anything like do you think someone like me stole your soulmate from you?

Uncle Wayne scowls. "That's a load of horseshit, is what I think. No one can control whether they have one soulmate or two or none, and it doesn't make someone greedy or a thief."

Eddie opens his mouth, then closes it again. He's known about people with two soulmates before, of course, the same way he knows about people with none - and he's heard the comments about them being greedy same as he's heard comments about them being lucky, or a dozen other things people've theorized to explain it. It's just that it doesn't really tell him what he'd wanted to know, and he can't figure out how to ask without being more specific.

Uncle Wanye is looking at him real close, though, and there's something like a quiet acceptance that flashes over his features.

"No one can control who their soulmate is," he says softly. "Whoever yours is - they were meant for you in a way they aren't meant for anyone else. Love like that can't be stolen, kid, it can only be given."

He thinks about that for a long moment, then nods. "Okay."

"Good," his uncle says gruffly. "Now finish those up and get off to bed."

------

First part of a Steddie and platonic Stobin soulmates AU I'm working on, where any lie you tell gets written on your soulmate! No idea how long this is going to be - it was supposed to be a oneshot but it just keeps growing, so I wanted to share at least the first bit of it.

Now with Part 2

#steddie #Steddie fic #eddie munson #Wayne Munson #Steve harrington #Soulmate au

[joeys-babe]

Joey B Blurbs: Baby, It’s Cold Outside

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Summary: Joe is yet again on the receiving end of your mischief. This time you prank him by randomly leaving without saying a word.

Warnings: None, fluff, unserious/funny, pranks!

Pairing: Joe Burrow x reader

Imagine universe: Into The Mystic

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*20 weeks pregnant*

The house was warm but quiet.

Tyson and Miles were asleep upstairs since it was late, and the only sounds were of the crackling fireplace.

Joe was lying down, taking up the entire couch and reading a book, while I sat a couple of feet away on the loveseat.

I was on my notes app brainstorming ideas for stocking stuffers for the boys since Christmas was right around the corner.

Once my list was done, I found myself getting increasingly bored sitting there doing nothing.

The presents for Joe, Tyson, and Miles were already wrapped and Christmas dinner was already planned. There was nothing left for me to do.

I knew better than to disturb Joe while he was reading. After a quick analysis of his body language, his eyebrows furrowing in concentration told me that he was very deep into whatever odd topic he was reading about.

Giggling to myself at his face, I pulled Tiktok up, and almost like muscle memory went to my ‘Joe Pranks’ collection.

There was one video that I had saved that stood out to me because I wouldn't have to interact with Joe to do it. Perfect.

I quickly stood up and walked over to the TV stand, acting like I was moving around decorations, but I was actually setting my phone up to record.

After it was set and recording, I walked to the front door and slipped a pair of shoes on before grabbing my keys out of the dish.

I unlocked the deadbolt and opened the door, by now I had Joe’s attention.

“Where are you going?” - Joe

Ignoring him, I walked out of the door and dramatically slammed it behind me.

Now, I had no idea what he was doing, but I just stood in the driveway. Hopefully, he would come out here.

Not even a minute later, the door opened and Joe stuck his head out. He hadn't seen me yet, and his eyes looked panicked.

“y/n?” - Joe whisper yelled

“Hi.” - you

Joe’s gaze snapped over into the direction my voice came from, and he immediately looked equal parts annoyed and confused.

“What the hell are you doing?” - Joe

I shrugged and he stepped out onto the porch.

“Get in the house. It's like freezing.” - Joe

Now I couldn't contain my laughter as he continuously got more flustered.

“Baby, it's cold outside. Come back in the house.” - Joe

“You just said a song title.” - you laughed

“Yup. C’mon, Mama.” - Joe

I didn't move or even budge so Joe heaved a sigh and walked off of the porch.

A loud squeal escaped my lips when he strode up to me and gently picked me up bridal style. He did so extra carefully due to the baby.

“Joey!” - you giggled

“You weren't gonna move so Imma move you myself.” - Joe

He hurriedly got me into the house and sat me down on the couch before walking back to the front door and shutting it.

Joe made his way back to the couch and found his spot sitting behind me. My back to his chest, his arms around my waist, and his hands on my bump.

“Babe, your cheeks are red.” - Joe

“I'm fine. I was outside for like two minutes, and it was just a little prank” - you laughed

“Shit, the last time you walked out without saying was when we were in high school. Remember you were at my house and I was playing video games? You got mad because I wasn't talking to you and you just left. I remember being scared you were going to break up with me.” - Joe

“Well, I didn't.” - you

“Obvs.” - Joe chuckled

“Do you ever wonder what our high school selves would say if they saw who we were today?” - you

“Oh, all the time. High school Joe would pass out if I told him all of the accomplishments he's made… with his favorite girl by his side.” - Joe

“I love you, Joe.” - you grinned

“I love you too, sweetheart. Now where's your phone hidden? I wanna watch this prank footage.” - Joe

The rest of the night was spent watching the various recordings I have of pranking Joe. He found most of them amusing, but after we finished watching all of them, Joe said something that made me slightly nervous.

“One day, Imma get you back. When you least expect it.” - Joe smirked

“Oh no.” - you

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Authors note: these Joe pranks are my fav thing ever to write 💀🫶

Request for this fic;

Hope you enjoyed! 💕

#joe burrow #bengals #joe burrow imagine #joe burrow x reader #joey b #cincinnati bengals #joe burrow fan fic

[jazeswhbhaven]

Beel, Are You Srs Brah? WHB Event React Part 5 *Spoiler Warning*

okay...I know...I know...ANOTHER part? Yes. But if haven't been here before...let's go back a bit! Go here for Part 4 ->

From there you can backtrack all the way to the beginning if you wish! It's been quite the react journey .-. I hope you enjoyed my bastardized summary and commentary. Let's enjoy the final part together <3

If you remember in part 4, Beel was over here being weird and licking Amon's tears and now he's just like right so when you're done mourning over your parents come to the palace and I'll get you pierced up. <3

Beel. Please.

Just has that personality shining through where he doesn't dwell on stuff like this for long. It's mostly "Ah yah that's sad, but anyways" Not to say that he doesn't care. It's more of he can't really afford to stay stuck in that emotion of sadness and such. He's got stuff to do.

Speaking of which, we're back at the cafe again because Amon is done having his little flashback moment.

So the Jung Hi cosplayer is just reminding them that he's serving the table they're at still, even though Beel is there under special orders, and our bois keep trying to talk to him, but he's really nudging them to eat. They're served pork cutlets, and it's the same reaction yet again lmao

All of them are eating and enjoying the food like how they did at the other places. SIGH

Ngl I was suspicious of why Beel wanted them to eat so badly...like there's gotta be some reason he's adamant about it, right? Is he trying to sneak away?

Uh oh...

so it appears the more they ate, the slower reacting they were being, and at this point I'm like WTF DID BEEL ROOFIE THE FUCKING FOOD?

So our bby Stolas goes down first, then Nabe who's like "I knew it..." like this entire mission he couldn't catch a damn break and I felt so bad for him (╥_╥) Amon is resisting a bit, probs because he already slept so much to begin with, but he gets a few words in!

So during their exchange of words, it is confirmed that this isn't a cosplayer and that it is him. The OG him that's been running around causing trouble, (leaving those damn unpaid tabs), and now he's successfully poisoned his nobles with roofies. Though, I think it's cute that he acknowledged it was good to eat with Amon again <3

So Amon succumbs to the sleeping pills and now all of them are knocked the fuck out. He tells the Jung Hi cosplayer to put them nicely into the room they have so they can sleep soundly. That this isn't goodbye forever so he's fine with just leaving them like that. (So cruel though like I would be mad if you just slipped me a sleeping pill just so you could run away Beel >:p) And it's funny because once he says that, the other customers were like OH WAIT ITS HIM HIM and Beel is like telling them to shush and not reveal it is him.

He's so hot. I hate him. (affectionately) Like imagine him saying that in a deep Southern cowboy voice. Paired with him sounding like he's sleepy all the time??

c r e a m cit y

But as it goes to fade in black, we see our bois sleeping, and they aren't the only ones sleeping!

o(〒﹏〒)o no one talk everyone shut up, the bby Bael is sleepins and he worked his ass off today do not wake him <3

The fact that he had to say it like that just makes me laugh. Because it sounds suggestive as if he plans on like just wanting to spend some alone time with his lover and not his bestie.

So Beel out here complaining about the the mountains of paperwork and is like "wow there's so much shit to file and complain about ugh how terrible" when it was him literally leaving so Bael is the one to deal with it. But our bby is so tired he can't even hear Beel speak his nonsense the man is o u t.

So Beel being cute, he got a gift for Bael, a little trinket made from shells and he's just talking to him about where he got it and Bael is still asleep and doing grumbly faces and Beel is touching his wrinkles to smooth them out and being all gentle and lovingly. The fact that Bael doesn't wake up the entire time has me thinking that physical touch is both his and Beel's favorite thing and it soothes them so Bael is just taking it in and staying asleep.

First, I love this CG...look how Beel looks here. Scrumptious. Yummy. Spicy. Muy Machito. My fucking reason to edge myself to sleep.

And just how he's handling Bael? („ಡωಡ„)

But yes, turns out that Beel had came back on his own, and was meaning to stop by and tell Bael that he was back for a moment but he got distracted, started doing stuff and now that it's time for him to leave again he's like "Whelp!"

So our bois spent their time and money for no reason. But at the same time...was Beel ever gonna close those tabs or just send the bill to Bael anyway?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (screaming, crying, he's so fucking- h e l p)

So Beel is admitting to himself, that even though he knows he's always gonna forget and be distracted about things like this, he never forgets that he has to come back to Bael, back to our Avisos bois <3 And honestly this makes me feel better about my own ADHD because I suffer from not only time blindness, but for my friends it's always 'out of sight out of mind' when they aren't in front of me, paired with horrible sleep schedule and quick social fatigue that sometimes they don't hear from me in days to maybe weeks. But I always remember to come back to message them something small or ask how they are doing or share a thing that made me think of them. I have a good circle where they don't mind this and it's so affirming.

This is why I grow closer to accepting Beel as my personal ship partner <3 That and I feel he won't really care about my chubby self and my stubby arms and legs and think me being 5ft is adorable.

So this scene has me wondering tbh. What is it that he has to reveal to our little crew? I wonder since this is a side story and it seems like it's taking place the same time as the main story, that he's anticipating MCs arrival to Avisos sometime in the future or this whole incident with Levi that's happening in Chapter 4....

Regardless, I also have a couple theories about what he says to Bael here.

This reads like a very strong platonic relationship, possibly the only other person he loves more than himself, his freedom, etc. Because even if there's no romance, you can still call your most trusted friend and person your other self/half, because that's how strong the bond is. Another possibility is my wishful thinking that he sees Bael as a romantic partner, but not in a traditional way. Friends with benefits but pretty much there's only just poor Bael getting stuck with the short end of that. A situationship if you will.

And finally, from other users speaking about Bael possibly being a clone of Beel's from early on...I love the concept of that because it would track and make sense. Especially if the crown...that uh is removable I suppose is not his 'real' horn. But most likely some kind of armor or protective covering for the real horn that's hidden in his hair somewhere. This could be a defect he was born with (or you know clone theory it just didn't grow the same way as Beel's horn)

So now Beel is talking in thin air and I'm just like, huh??? And it's more of like him trying to warn whoever it is that he may not the best to look up to after all and how this person should live for themselves.

oh, it's Dre!!! So He's telling him to not count on him because he may not be the one to stop the war?

So he admits to him, that he's not going to sit and try to put himself in his shoes but that Dre should enjoy life instead of living in such sadness all the time.

Dre is very adamant that Beel is the one who's going to end things and that he will protect him. I really do fucking wonder what Belpeghor did because if you catch Dre's screen line, he says that he snuck away from Niflheim iirc or Belphie let him leave. So this is making me wonder if Belphie is a hardass and is rude to his nobles/citizens. Or is he simply overprotective? We'll have to see later.

Dre also brings up that Beel's nobles don't trust him, they just like him. And Beel just brushes it off and calls them idiots

damn Beel okay ༎ຶ‿༎ຶ fuck your nobles I guess

But then we get on the topic of Dre killing our pathetic buff angel to avenge his brother.

And well it's seem Dre didn't like that being casually brought up.

So he mentions to Beel that when he said he would protect him he didn't mean he would deal with disrespect. (I don't blame him for that cause yeah lol Beel is king and all but come correct)

But Beel claps back, by also aiming for Dre's head and warning him that he doesn't like bad manners either so he better watch it.

Damn, real tense up in here. (crying because Bael is still fucking asleep during all of this, he's so tired)

So Beel decides to further explain himself though. That while he may not understand the true extent of Dre's sadness, he is furious and he hates what happened that day and is glad that one of the angels responsbile is dead.

Dre starts to ease up on him, and Beel offers him some tea randomly (haha cute) but Dre has dissaappeared like Batman or something and calls out from the shadows to thank Beel for that day.

So we go back to that day again with Dre. Which every time they show our bois as children I'm just like awh they all look so adorable and it's fun seeing them age because their horns are smaller and stuff, so it's literally how they would work irl too.

But back to the story...

Dre was on the floor, bleeding out and such and then he hears the screams of the buff angel in that moment, who was holding his face because Beel kicked his ass with the whip. And by the time Dre could even manage to make out what was happening, Beel's swarm of flies left.

Yes Beel, yes they do grow up super fucking fast.

I barely remember my own childhood, (well the good things sadly enough) but that was already so fucking long ago....even irl time passes by so damn fast it's crazy.

But seeing that this memory with Dre probably feels like yesterday to the both of them, is just...yeah it's pretty heavy. So much angst. So little time.

So the doorman that guards the door comes in again and whelp both Beel and Dre are gone and Bael is still asleep this entire time lol Like yes, just let him rest, please.

Speaking of which...the next day Bael is awake and pissed off that he missed Beel again and issued a strike (not sure if he means like a literal strike or like warrant/hit on Beel lol) that our bois had to calm him down from doing.

Then it fades to Beel's cheeky little smirk and then it's the fucking end!!!

PHEW so you made it <3 Part fucking five of this event react.

Honestly there was no way I was going to smush this down to only two parts when there's s o much fucking lore and stuff in this and so many places in Avisos to talk about and just idk there was alot to chime in on this time around where I felt I needed to just say whatever.

Recaps of learning about Dre and why he's even in Avisos in the first place, to how our three Avisos nobles interact (Stolas really can't fucking stand Amon it's comical) Nabe being the logical one of the group, but you can see some emotion in there too when he's comfortable. He does give class president vibes and it's cute.

Nabe-Senpai? Maybe? Hm.

And just learning more about Amon and his personality it's just really great stuff for this event. We even get to see Raphael in action and how he really just doesn't give a fuck. Children? Fair game to him to slaughter. True villain shit. I'm sure the next one is gonna be about Hades though, I have a feeling. Because it would make sense to bring out chapter 5, AND have the next event also give us some Hades lore.

But yes, thank you for sitting with me, vibin' with me, and your lovely admin will see you in the next react <3 ♥( ˆ⌣ ˆԅ)

#whb #what in hell is bad #whb beelzebub #whb avisos bois 💚 #whb andrealphus #whb bael #whb event #finally we're done! #this was one of the ones where you needed a bunch of snacks #I talked about Beel alot here lol

[jadeylovesmarvelxo]

Angel

Summary; Jason calls the reader stupid, among other mean things. Eddie finds out after he finds her crying at their spot and is pissed off that anyone would dare insult his angel.

Warnings; protective Eddie, Jason being an ass, tiny bit of angst and fluff.

Likes/reblogs, etc is always appreciated 😘 I dont give anyone permission to copy my work

💞

Having to partner up with Jason in maths was enough to make anyone annoyed but as always she tried her best not to let his general asshole self get to her.

That vow had been tested several times in the last hour. All she wanted was for this class to be done and to find Eddie.

She smiles giddily, thrumming with anticipation at seeing her sweet love. At this point, she was lost in her head and only came to when Jason huffed about loud.

"For fuck sake will you concentrate" he hisses to her, she folds her arms and glares at him.

"Why do you have to be such an asshole all the time? Can't you be a nice person for like ten seconds?"

He snorts.

"Maybe I'm pissed because I am stuck with you as a partner today and as usual you are off in a little ditzy dream world where everything is all sunshine, rainbows and unicorns" his words sting but she tries to hide it.

"I don't live in a ditzy dream world. I am well aware of how awful real life can be but why can't I find beauty and goodness too?" She argues.

He snorts.

This only makes her more annoyed.

"Or maybe I am pissed off at the fact you are god damn stupid and I'll have to do all the work" her stomach sinks and as the bell rings Jason storms off.

His words make her feel like shit, she knew she wasn't stupid. Maths just wasn't her strongest subject but she tried and worked hard to get the grades.

The words stick in her mind and she feels the tears fall.

❤

Eddie couldn't wait to see his princess. They were meeting at their spot in the woods and all he wanted was to kiss and hold his sweetheart for a little while.

They have been dating for a while now and he is so in love with her, she was sweet and kind and sometimes she could get lost in a daydream or distracted by things easily, cute animals, and flowers.

She wore pretty flowy dresses and flowers in her hair, fed all the stray cats in the trailer park and sang along dreamily to songs he didn't listen to but loved anyway because they made her happy.

Each of those things made him love her more and more and he was fiercely protective of his angel.

Eddie had never been more certain of anything in his life and that was he knew one day he was going to marry her.

He freezes as he hears quiet sniffles and when he finds yn at their table crying his protective instincts go into overdrive.

Who the fuck would hurt his princess? His fist clenches, he wasn't a violent person at all but how could anyone hurt a sweetheart like yn? She was so gentle and kind to everyone.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" she looks up and rushes over to him. He wraps her up in a tight hug and strokes her hair.

"Do you think I'm stupid Eds? That I live in a ditzy, fairytale world?" he gapes at her and gently wipes away her tears.

"Of course, not sweetheart, you're not stupid and you like to daydream a little? Who cares?" Her lip wobbles and he sits on the wooden table, holding her close to him.

"Who said this to you?" she shakes her head and borrows closer to him.

"You'll get mad and I don't want you to get in trouble for an asshole Eddie" he frowns and tilts up her cheek.

"I can't promise I won't get mad baby because someone made you cry but I promise I won't get into trouble" she bites her lip still looking unsure.

"Well in Math I got partnered up with Jason and"... That's all he needs to hear, he listens to her repeat what happened and he quietly seethes.

"Eddie? Are you okay?" she asks him and kisses his cheek.

"Of course, he's an idiot baby don't listen to a word out of that fuckers mouth. Spews a load of shit" she nods and kisses him again, a little smile gracing her features.

He kisses her forehead already planning on tracking Carver down and giving him a piece of his mind.

💞

Eddie had left yn with Chrissy and Robin as they chatted happily about what new movies were in the theatre.

He had just seen Jason and wasted no time in marching over to him and blocking his path, barely concealing his attempt.

"You want something freak?" Jason spits at him and he glares at the asshole.

"Let me make one thing clear Carver, I stopped giving a fuck what you think of me a long time ago but insulting MY girl is off limits you understand?"

Jason scoffs.

"It's not my fault your girlfriend lives in some fucking fantasy land where everything is sunshine and rainbows, she needs to get a fucking grip"

His temper threatens to spill over but he reigns it in.

"Listen to me dickhead. I am not a violent person, never have been but I will kick your ass if you hurt yn again. I'll probably get my ass kicked as well but it will be worth it. Are we clear?"

Jason's smug smile slips away.

"Whatever Munson." Eddie stands taller, glowering at Jason who steps back visibly nervous.

"I don't know why anyone would want to make someone so fucking wonderful cry, she is one of the good things to me in this shitty place, she's beautiful inside and out, smart, funny, kind, and a literal fucking sweetheart. You don't upset her again. Right?"

After a second Jason snorts and then nods pushing past him.

Eddie returns back to yn smiling as she is laughing at something Chrissy has said.

"Miss me, princess?" He teases her and she smiles sweetly as be wraps his arms around her.

"You two are so cute" Chrissy coos and Robin nods.

"Disgustingly cute but still cute. Where did you go off to anyway?" He shrugs and narrows his eyes as Jason approaches.

"Dealing with some shit," he tells Robin as Jason avoids his gaze and tugs Chrissy along.

"Babe, come on we'll be late" Eddie smirks.

Good. He hopes Carver has learned his lesson.

"Wanna help me set up for Hellfire babe? I created a new character. Based on my favourite princess" he kisses her nose and she takes his hand excitedly as they discuss the latest developments for his campaign.

💞

[raccoon-eyed-rebel]

Under Orders - Part 1

Masterlist

Part 1 🔹Part 2🔹Part 3🔹Part 4🔹Part 5

Pairing: softDom!August x reader (Described Marshall x reader)

Summary: August comes home after a business trip, only to find out his princess is under some highly inconvenient orders...

Word count: 5.3k

Warnings: NSFW, SMUT, 18+, MINORS DNI, BDSM, D/s dynamic (technically D/s/D), praise kink, bondage, oral (m receiving), (first time) anal sex (toys, fingering, p-in-a) (f receiving) (unprotected), slight hurt/comfort, use of pet names/titles (Daddy, Sir, princess, kitten, sweetheart and darling), established relationship, extra light dacryphilia, extra extra light spanking. Also check-ins and aftercare... And as pointed out by a helpful Anon; degradation/name-calling (slut/whore (affectionate))

A/N: Inspired by this little treasure.

I was initially planning on keeping this a oneshot, but if anyone's up for a part 2 of this, be sure to let me know! (Am I publicly begging for reblogs and comments now? You bet your ass I am!) We're doing a little soft!August because anal is serious business and I'm a masochist as much as the next person, but... lube and patience, please.

@geralts-yenn @deandoesthingstome @keanureevesisbae @fvckinghenrycavill (I know you didn't ask to be tagged but I thought you might be interested 🙊 *nervous laughter*)

Anyway: loads of smut under the cut

You check your phone for the time as you wait in the hallway – on your knees, the way you know he expects to find you when he comes home. Sometimes, you pretend to forget, because you know it riles him up, but today you already have some bad news for him, so you’re not taking any chances. The door opens shortly after you put your phone down. Hands on knees, eyes down.

“Welcome home, Daddy,” you say softly. Daddy, he earned the name in the heat of the moment, when it just slipped out of you when he was… you don’t even remember what exactly he was doing, but you know it hurt, and that you probably deserved it. The title stuck – it goes nicely with the nicknames he uses for you and the way he takes care of you, protects you... August raises an eyebrow when he hears your greeting.

“What’s the matter, kitten?” His voice is restrained, as if he knows what’s going on. He probably has a very decent hunch: he always does. It’s what he gets paid to do at work.

“Sir has given me orders, Daddy, and he left a message for you on the kitchen table.” Your voice is even weaker now, and you’re squirming. It doesn’t escape August’s attention that you’re uncomfortable.

“Stay here, darling,” he orders. It sounds sweet, but it definitely isn’t up for negotiation. You won’t make that mistake again.

August makes his way to the kitchen, frustration seeping through in the way he walks. There’s a box on the table, which contains a butt plug – or rather: contained, seeing as the box is empty. It doesn’t take August three guesses to know where he left it. He swears under his breath as he paces back to the hallway and looks down on you.

“What were his orders, kitten?” he asks. “And look at me when I speak to you.”

“I…” You turn your eyes away from him again, but he grabs your chin and pulls it up.

“Speak up, sweetheart,” he says softly. He isn’t mad. Not yet, anyway.

“Sir said I’m not allowed to touch myself until the next time I see him,” you say. Your voice is more stern now that he’s ordered you to speak up, but that doesn’t mean it’s any easier to say it.

“Are you sure those were his words, kitten?” His voice is incredibly sweet, and he emphasizes his words in such a way that you immediately realize he wants to hear the exact words, so you shake your head in reply to his question. “Don’t lie to Daddy, sweetheart.” Shit, that’s definitely strike one. You can’t always accurately predict how many of those you get before you’re in serious trouble, but it’s usually three. He seems to be in a sour mood, so it’s probably more likely to be two.

“Sir said I’m not allowed to touch my pussy until I see him again,” you correct yourself, voice louder than you anticipated you’d manage.

“Did he, now?” You know that tone – so does the rest of your body. Unconsciously, your walls clench around nothing, reminding you of the past afternoon. It makes you squirm again, but you’re under orders, and therefore can’t do anything about it.

“Sir also gave me something special to wear for you,” you whisper, “that I had to show you…”

“Go to the bedroom and get ready for me, then, kitten,” August says. There is a hint of curiosity in his eyes, but another edge to his look that tells you he has a very good idea of what he can expect.

As you go upstairs, August goes into the kitchen and fixes himself a drink. He doesn’t usually regret his idea to share you with his old college roommate – in fact, he usually loves finding ways to play with you while sticking to the rules that you’ve been given and putting you under orders is definitely more fun when he knows his friend will have to get creative, too – but today is different. August quickly dials a number and holds his phone up to his ear.

“Walker,” the voice on the other side of the line says. August can picture the man grinning ear to ear, knowing why he’s calling. “I was expecting your call.”

“Yeah,” August says gruffly, “care to rethink your policy, Marshall?”

“No chance in hell, Walker, have fun.” And with those words, the bastard just hangs up on him. Walter Marshall knows all too well that August’s favorite pastime when coming home from a work trip, is to watch his pretty girl – their pretty girl – play with herself, and now that isn’t happening, thanks to him. August doesn’t doubt that Walter is very pleased with himself, and it makes him livid.

In the beginning of this agreement , the guys would allow it to turn into a bit of a pissing contest between them, trying desperately to frustrate the other as much as possible. You had put an end to that pretty quickly, saying you were more than happy to be their little toy, but you weren’t going to accept that at the expense of every last bit of your own pleasure. They’d both had to admit they had each been going out of their way to make each other’s lives miserable, when they had put the arrangement in place to both enjoy you – and you them. What’s happening now isn’t technically against the rules the three of you put in place, but it’s a frustratingly clever way around it. That being said, they’re still allowed to pester each other from time to time, even at your expense, but never in terms of what can’t be done to you. They’re in charge of you, not each other.

August finds you kneeling in front of the bed wearing nothing – unless you count the intricate collection of rope and knots that run over your body as ‘wearing something’. He takes a moment to admire Marshall’s handiwork before walking over to you.

“Hello my darling,” he says as he gently traces his fingers up your back, “you’re very pretty like this.” His words make your cheeks glow, and you unconsciously clench your thighs. It’s almost enough to make you forget the pain you feel in the few places where the rope scrapes your skin uncomfortably.

“Do you like it, sweetheart?” he asks, still caressing your back, slowly moving to your sides. You squirm as he touches you. There is a hint of concern to his voice. He isn’t here to spank you senseless or fuck you until you can’t walk – not that he won’t, but it isn’t his primary concern. He’s here to look after you, to take care of you when you need him to, and right now, he’s worried you look a little too uncomfortable.

“Yes, Daddy,” you say softly. You’re now moaning as you speak, not from pleasure or even pleasure through pain, but purely out of discomfort.

“Darling, are you hurt?” He already expected you to shake your head the way you do. He knows you well enough to realize you can be stubborn – too stubborn for your own good, mostly. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s had to intervene because you were putting your safety on the line, just because you didn’t want to admit something hurt.

“Sweetheart, what did Sir tell you about these?” August lightly traces the ropes on your body. “And don’t lie to me, now.”

“Sir said to take them off if they became uncomfortable,” you say barely audibly.

“And why did you not listen to him?”

“I wanted to show you, Daddy,” you reply, “and everything went fine, but then you said you were going to be home a bit later, and… I didn’t want to give up.” It’s the truth – he knows it is – but that doesn't make it any better. You should have known better than to put your safety – or at least your comfort – at risk like this, especially while you were home by yourself. Your bottom lip trembles.

“I’ll let him know you went against his orders,” August says. His voice is calm yet stern, and he begins to untie you, pausing for a moment when he sees the mess you’ve made of the rope that was tied between your legs. His words are a promise that he isn’t going to deal with your disobedience tonight – he’ll leave that to Marshall. After all, it was his order you disobeyed. You’re not quite sure if that’s the better option. The easing of the rope against your skin feels good, but it also makes you more aware of just how uncomfortable you have been the past half hour. It takes him a few minutes to take the entire thing apart.

When he’s done, he gently massages your sore muscles and skin, while looking for marks, bruises, abrasions, any kind of serious damage to your skin – he’s glad he doesn’t find any, just some superficial signs of chafing. You whine and groan as his hands move over your body – half of your cries being from the relief his touch brings, the other half in pain. August slowly works his way down your back until he arrives at your ass. You can hear the chuckle that escapes him when he sees you. His hunch from earlier was right; the plug that wasn’t in its box on the kitchen table is currently serving its intended purpose. It’s something he’s considered before, but he has never actually taken any steps to make it happen. Apparently, Marshall was less patient than him– not that August hadn’t always known that.

“And how does this feel, princess?” August gently taps the base of the plug to let you know what he means – not that you weren’t able to guess. You gasp when he does it – finally a sound that’s filled with nothing but genuine pleasure – and wiggle your ass in response, knowing very well that that won’t suffice. August’s hand lands on your behind lightly, but it’s enough to send shivers down your spine. Your core has been on fire ever since Walter tied you up, and feeling August’s hands on your skin isn’t making it any better.

“Use your words, kitten,” he says as he spanks the other side of your ass. The noise you make is almost a chuckle, which makes August smile.

“It feels good, Daddy,” you say shyly. You’d been a little nervous when Marshall mentioned trying anal play earlier this week. It was always a soft limit for you, and you trust him, so you’d agreed. Now, barely five days later, that plug is your new favorite toy, and you whine when August slowly pulls it out.

“Has Sir done anything else to your perfect little ass, sweetheart?” August asks as he runs his fingers through your soaked folds. The rules said nothing about him not being allowed to touch your pussy, and he’s planning on putting this natural lubricant to good use. You whine as he pushes two fingers into you without a problem, slicking them up with your arousal. Thanks to the preparation with the plug, he slips one finger into your ass with ease, and you moan as he starts moving it in and out of your tight hole. He doesn’t need an answer, per se, your reaction is more than enough to tell him that nothing has happened beyond what he’s doing to you now, but he demands one from you regardless.

“No, Daddy,” you say timidly, a tinge of excitement in your voice as you realize what that probably means for the rest of your night. August chuckles. Marshall may have taken his favorite show from him, but he left him a potentially very lovely night of firsts. It’s more than a fair trade, honestly. You moan when August withdraws his finger, looking over your shoulder questioningly. You’re almost pouting, but you remind yourself just in time that August doesn’t like it when you do that. Good girls don’t pout when they want something, they ask - nicely.

“What is it, kitten?” It’s both a question and a warning, and you exhale sharply in relief that you didn’t give him the desperate look you were initially planning to.

“Please don’t stop,” you say softly. Your voice trembles lightly, mostly with excitement, but partially with nerves. The bad mood he was in previously seems to have turned around nicely, but that doesn’t always mean he’ll heed your requests, although he did seem rather excited about the little anal experiment Marshall started earlier today.

“Get on the bed,” he orders as he takes his shirt off. You do as he tells you and wait patiently, not expecting him to join you, lying down, moving you so you’re on your knees next to him. One of his hands reaches for your chin and pulls you closer to him.

“Can I get a kiss, princess?” You know better than to refuse him – not that you would ever want to – so you lean forward until your lips touch his. You don’t expect him to pull you against him completely, but it’s a nice surprise. For a delicious moment, you snuggle into his side, relishing the feeling of his lips against yours, tongues sliding past one another and his teeth grazing at your lips. You moan each time he gently bites down on your bottom lip. He pulls you a bit further on top of him, your legs now on either side of one of his thighs, and gently strokes your skin along the path that was recently occupied by the ropes. The kiss is amazing, especially since you’ve had to miss him for a whole week and when you shift slightly and his thigh provides a bit of that exquisite friction against your clit, you can’t resist the temptation. Your hips grind against his leg longingly and for a moment, you forget everything except you and August – only to be reminded by two sharp smacks on your ass that, unfortunately, reality is a thing, and in this reality you’ve been told not to do what you started doing.

“You’re smart enough to know that counts as touching, kitten.” August laughs as he says it while his fingers dig into your hips, holding them firmly in place so you can’t move them anymore. You whisper an apology before you curl up against his chest. You’ve missed being in his arms, although it was nice to have Marshall around for five days. A part of you hopes the three of you will spend a night together again soon, but you haven’t had the courage to ask either one of them if they’d be up for that.

“I’ve missed you too,” August suddenly murmurs into your hair as he pulls you even closer. When you turn your face up to him, he kisses you again. It’s warm, soft, and wet and incredibly impatient, filled with love as well as lust. When he breaks away from you, you press a few sloppy kisses to his neck. It’s a very weak protest, you’re well aware of that, but you’re sad he stopped kissing you and you have to do something to prevent yourself from acting out in ways that will get you punished.

“Now be a good girl for me and suck my cock, darling.” In another world you might have wanted him to beg for it, but in this universe, his order is enough to turn you on even more than anything that’s happened before now, and you don’t hesitate to undo his belt and trousers. He stops you when you try to move towards the foot of the bed. “Stay here so Daddy can play with you.”

You writhe in anticipation when he says those words as you free his cock from its confinement, fingers wrapping his girth, barely closing around it completely. The rope, your naked body, the swift encounter with your dripping wet cunt, the kiss, and the thought of all the things he wants to do to your tight little ass have left him hard. A hum escapes from between August’s slightly parted lips when your tongue darts out to slowly circle the head of his cock. The sound turns into a loud moan when you waste very little time wrapping your lips around him.

Usually, you like to exploit the fact that this is the only way you get to tease him a bit with no – alright, barely any – repercussions, but it’s been too long since you’ve felt his cock in your mouth and you need him too much. You moan and throw your hips back when you feel one of his fingers push into your ass again. It doesn’t go in as easily as the last time, but it doesn’t hurt. Still, August feels the increased amount of friction and reaches into the nightstand for the lube he keeps there. It’s cold against your skin, but that feeling fades as he works it into you, slowly pumping his finger until it’s completely inside of you. He surprises you when he suddenly sinks his teeth into your flesh before kissing the skin he just hurt.

“Good girl,” he praises you, “you’re doing very well.” Your cheeks are burning, and the words send jolts of electricity straight to your already dripping core. Your heart swells with pride whenever he talks to you like that, and you love earning his praise. There is absolutely nothing you love more than being ‘Daddy’s dirty little slut’. You moan around his cock as you focus on taking him in as deep as possible. In this position, you can take him all the way down, but you’re afraid to as long as he’s playing with your ass like this. It doesn’t look like he’s going to stop; after a short amount of time, you feel the tip of a second finger press against your hole, slowly inching its way inside of you.

“You have to promise you’ll tell me if I hurt you, princess,” August says as he uses his free hand to softly stroke your back, “can you do that for me?” You regret that you have to answer him, but you know he’s not going to take some ‘hmm-hmm’-noise that sounds vaguely like agreement as an answer – which just so happens to be exactly what makes you trust him enough to stick his fingers up your ass, to put it bluntly.

“Yes, Daddy,” you reply after you finally manage to pull your mouth off his cock. Your answer is sincere; you know you are stubborn as a mule at times, but by now you’ve learned that August being this gentle means something will go seriously wrong if he’s rough. You trust that judgment – and you’re fairly sure Marshall will get his ass handed to him about leaving you alone to make that call about the shibari harness.

Normally, August’s moans are all you have to get off on when you suck him – and you do get off on them – but now that they’re paired with the feeling of him fingering your ass, you think you might just go completely insane. It’s very hard to keep a steady rhythm with your mouth while you frantically throw your hips back against the movements of August’s fingers, especially when you feel him add a third finger. This is where you expected it to start being painful, but it isn’t. That being said, there’s definitely more friction, and you decide it’s a better idea to stay ahead of any pain than to ring the alarm when you’re already hurting.

“Can you use some more lube?” The sharp pain of a firm smack on your ass startles you. You could have expected August to tell you off for speaking with a full mouth, and making you repeat your question, but you aren’t really in a position where thinking straight is a top priority. He seems more than happy to answer to your request. You’re guessing he’s more than excited you’re having so much fun with this new little experiment. You make a last-ditch effort to continue what you can safely call the sloppiest blowjob of your life, but you definitely can’t keep a level head anymore now that August is fucking your ass with three fingers. When a fourth gently seeks entrance you shriek, expecting pain, but it doesn’t come at all.

August can be a very patient man, he knows it, you know it – Marshall no doubt also knows it, which is probably why he recognized that August would be much better suited for this particular first time than he would be. That, and in the ‘natural equipment’ department, Marshall is just a little more intimidating circumference wise, which wouldn’t necessarily be ideal, either. You’re still throwing your hips back, fucking yourself stupid on August’s fingers, ignoring his soft chuckles while moaning louder and louder, but still too shy to ask for what you really want – unprompted, at least. Luckily, August isn’t in the mood for cruel games or teasing tonight.

“What do you want, darling?” He asks. The smile on his face is audible in his voice.

“I- I want you,” you say in between moans, “I want you to fuck my ass.” As much as your eagerness clearly turns him on more, he remains calm and takes his time, making sure you’re lying on your stomach comfortably, telling you over and over again that you absolutely have to tell him if anything is painful.

“Slow down,” you say, gritting your teeth as the sudden intrusion becomes a little too much, “please add some more lube.” He obliges to every request without question and without delay. The extra slickness makes things a lot easier, but it’s not quite enough just yet.

“More,” you grunt as soon as August adds a bit too much pressure. He halts his movements immediately and pulls back. It isn’t long before you feel even more of the cool liquid against your sensitive skin.

“Relax, darling,” August says as he carefully tries again. You take a deep breath and lean into his movements. This time, he pushes into you without any problems. You shriek at the sudden intrusion, though it doesn’t hurt at all – it’s just a very sudden, very intense feeling of insane fullness, and so different from what you normally feel, that it startles you. August doesn’t move, giving you some time to get used to his size and the feeling, which you’re incredibly grateful for. After a while he leans forward and softly strokes your hair.

“Can I move, darling?” he asks. His voice is as gentle as his touch. There is no doubt in your mind that you can trust him completely, and you nod. He wouldn’t be August if he didn’t need verbal confirmation.

“Yes, Daddy,” you moan. If your words aren’t a plea for him to start moving, your writhing hips have to be. Of course he notices – you are in no way subtle about it – and chuckles before speaking to you again: “Aren’t you an impatient little slut?” His words send shivers down your spine: you love it when he calls you that. A moan escapes you when he suddenly pulls out and slowly plunges all the way back into you, and the noises only get louder with every new thrust. August seems impressed as he picks up speed and you keep moaning only in pleasure without a single hint of pain to it.

“Such a good girl,” you hear him say between moans, “you’re taking me so well.” It’s like you’re floating on air: As he slides in and out of you, increasing his speed with every thrust of his hips, August keeps praising you, talking about how tight you are, how good you feel around his cock… Soon, you’re begging him to fuck you even harder, sinking further into that fantastic feeling than you ever thought possible. It takes everything you’ve got to keep your hands away from your pussy, when all you really want is to give your throbbing clit the attention it’s so desperately craving. Your pleasured moans become frustrated cries as your body keeps screaming for release, but none of the million sensations you’re feeling are enough to provide it. There is one solution, but you’re far too stubborn to open your mouth and ask. It’s a particularly short-lived sense of pride, as every thrust of August’s hips chips away at your determination to keep yourself from begging – and they’re coming in quick succession. If the feeling is as tight for him as it is for you, you’re going to have to be quick about it, too, because even August isn’t going to last forever.

“D-Daddy,” you whimper, “please tou-fuck! – touch me.” You can barely keep your eyes open at this point.

“Do you want to come, kitten?” August’s voice is sweet – the kind of sweet that usually signals a harsh rejection, but he’s in a good mood now, maybe you have a chance. You nod and whisper a barely audible ‘yes’ in between the cries that slip from your mouth every time he shoves his cock into you. “Is your little slut pussy begging for attention?”

“Yes, Daddy,” you manage to choke out. August’s grunts and growls are killing you, especially when he chuckles before he speaks to you again.

“Well, you’re being such a good little whore for Daddy,” he says, and for a moment you allow yourself to get excited, “go on, touch yourself.” You almost do it. Almost. And then you remember you aren’t allowed to. You want to scream, call him names, tell him he’s a sadistic bastard, but the chances of you sitting comfortably tomorrow are actually quite high. If you don’t rein in your attitude, those chances will dwindle below zero fast. Your thighs are trembling – not that the rest of you isn’t – and there are tears in your eyes now. Crying won’t scare him – if anything, it will turn him on more, and it sure as hell won’t help his ruthless tendencies, but you can’t take more of this.

“Please, Daddy, please,” you beg, “please make me come, please.” You say the word ‘please’ another ten or so times before he finally shushes you. It’s a sound you haven’t heard before, full of adoration – perhaps even a bit of admiration. You let out a loud shriek when he reaches around your hip and brings his fingers to your clit. It doesn’t take much – and by that you mean it takes him unbelievably little effort to take you right to the edge.

It’s his voice that ends up pushing you over, when he leans forward to whisper in your ear: “Come for me, you dirty little slut.”

You come so hard it almost scares you, screaming August’s name – which you’re hoping won’t land you in hot water, given the circumstances, but you can’t be sure of that – so loud you’re fairly sure the neighbors can hear all of it, and then you crash. Your cries turn into soft whimpers, and for a while, the only sounds to be heard are the ones from your mouth, his and the sound of his hips slamming into you. It doesn’t take very long before he seems unable to keep his rhythm steady. His breath quickens in that familiar way that tells you he’s close. You sigh in relief. It’s not that you want it to end, but you couldn’t possibly take any more of this.

“Darling, you’re so tight,” he hisses through clenched teeth, “you’re going to make me come.”

“Fuck, yes,” you moan, “please, Daddy, please come in my ass.” He’s more than happy to oblige, and with a loud grunt and an absolutely brutal final thrust, he empties himself inside you before collapsing on top of you.

He strokes your hair and kisses your shoulders and neck gently. Your instinctively dig your fingernails into his ass when you feel he’s trying to pull out, fearing the emptiness you’ll feel when he does.

“Shh, princess, it’s okay,” he whispers softly. You don’t seem to be in trouble for using his first name, but even that is the furthest thing from your mind right now. “You were absolutely amazing, darling. You took me so well.” He keeps talking to you until you finally melt into his arms. You’re exhausted, still trembling, but finally giving in to his touch, allowing him to take care of you. You whine when he finally lifts his warm body off your shivering one, and you only vaguely register that he grabs something off the nightstand.

“I think Sir would love to see a picture of you like this, princess,” he says as he softly brushes his fingers over the curve of your ass, “is it okay if I take one?” You nod eagerly. Something about you loves it when either one of them shows you off to the other, especially when they’re proud of you. You raise yourself up on your knees a little at August’s request. It’s difficult because you’re still shaking, but it doesn’t take long before you can collapse into the heap of pillows again. August’s hands find their way back to you shortly after, and he presses more soft kisses to your back, shoulders and neck.

“Do you want me to run you a bath, kitten?” he asks softly, and all you can do in reply is moan. After gathering your thoughts for a few short moments, you follow him into the bathroom.

“Can I get a moment?” you ask shyly, and August smiles and nods before he leaves you alone so you can clean up a bit. Despite the incredible intimacy of your relationship with August, there are some things you prefer to do in a slightly more private setting. Pushing your boyfriend’s cum out of your ass definitely falls into that category.

You’re shaking and sore, and when you’re done splashing some cold water in your face and you look up into the mirror, you see that you look very tired. August appears behind you after turning the water off, and he gently pulls you towards the bath.

“Join me?” Your words are barely a question, but your eyes are definitely begging him. Of course he agrees, he always does. It’s one of his favorite ways to unwind and reconnect after intense experiences. You’re grateful for that, because you love nothing more than to curl up against him while enjoying the soothing warmth of the water. He helps you get in and immediately pulls you onto his lap. You sigh as you melt into his embrace. His chest is a wonderful pillow, and his hands gently work your sore muscles.

“I’m proud of you.” The words are accompanied by a kiss to your temple. You laugh softly, telling August you’re actually pretty pleased with yourself, too. Your words make him laugh, too, before he tells you it’s well deserved.

“Did you like it?” It’s a redundant question – it would have been from either of you – and it makes you laugh.

“August, I fucking loved it,” you say as you snuggle even closer to him and tell him you’re definitely up for doing this again. Soon.

“I guess we’ll have to invite Marshall over sometime, then,” he says with a devious smile spreading slowly across his face. Your breath catches in your throat as he says it and your thoughts immediately run wild. Oh, yes, you think, you absolutely have to.

#august walker smut #august walker x female reader #august walker x reader #august walker fanfiction #august walker #henrycavill fanfic #henry cavill #henry cavill fanfiction #henry cavill characters #walter marshall x reader #walter marshall #walter marshall fanfiction

[canirove]

Kylian Mbappé Imagine | four

Little summary: This was a very detailed request, but basically, you are Kylian's girlfriend, go watch him play with his little brother Ethan, and it starts snowing, something a bit weird since it is March. Hope you like it and thank you for reading! ☺️💜

Masterlist

"So, what's the plan for today?"

"I'm meeting with Ethan at the stadium and we are watching the game together."

"Same as always, then."

"Yep."

"That kid adores you, you know?"

"I'm a very adorable person" I smile.

"You definitely are, yes" Kylian laughs. "If there is someone who loves you more than I do, that's him."

"But it is brotherly love. Ours is more... You know."

"Oh, I know" he smirks, grabbing me by the waist and pulling me closer to him.

"Kylian, you are gonna be late."

"I have time" he says, starting to kiss my neck.

"No, you don't" I giggle. "With this weather everyone is definitely taking their cars, and you will end up stuck in traffic."

"They say it is gonna snow."

"Then you better hurry up. C'mon" I say, freeing myself from his grip.

"Ok, fine" he sighs. "But we are finishing this after the game."

"Ethan is spending the night with us."

"Urgh" Kylian complains, rolling his eyes.

"We'll have plenty of time when he leaves, don't worry. And now go or you will definitely be late."

"Ok, ok" he says as he starts walking towards the main door. "One more thing before I leave, tho."

"What now."

"Promise me that you will wear your warmest coat today. I don't want a frozen girlfriend" he chuckles.

"I will, I promise."

"There also is a blanket on the car, you can take it."

"I'll keep it in mind. Anything else?"

"Just one more thing."

"Kylian..."

"I love you" he says before kissing my cheek.

"I love you too. Now go, go!" I say, opening the door for him and basically kicking him out while he just laughs.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"Ethan! Finally!" I say when we meet at the stadium's parking. "Where were you?"

"We were stuck in traffic" he shrugs.

"And your coat?"

"Oh, shit! I forgot it in my friend's car!"

"Ethan! It is freezing outside!"

"I know, I'm sorry" he shrugs again.

"You are so lucky your brother left one of his coats on our car..." I say, opening the boot.

"Wait, is that a blanket?"

"Yes, it is. The coat isn't long enough to cover your legs, you'll freeze through all those holes on your jeans. Didn't you have anything else to wear?"

"These are my favourite jeans. And it is almost spring, it should be warm!"

"Yeah, it should" I say, giving him the coat.

"Are you mad?" Ethan asks me while we walk towards the stands.

"No, of course not. I just worry about you, you know? You are like my little brother."

"And you are like my big sis" he smiles. "Kylian couldn't have picked a better girl, to be honest."

"Oh, stop it" I laugh.

"It's the truth. And fuck, it is cold" he says when we walk outside.

"Ethan, language!" I chuckle.

"Sorry."

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"Here they are! My two favourite people" Kylian says when we meet him after the game.

"Hello, handsome" I say, kissing him.

"Ewww" Ethan complains behind us.

"Ewww for now. Rather sooner than later you won't be saying the same" his brother laughs. "Did you have fun?"

"It was too cold to have fun" Ethan says.

"Is that why you are wearing a blanket over your shoulders? And is that my coat?"

"Yeah" he shrugs.

"Your little brother here forgot his coat in his friend's car and chose to wear jeans full of holes, so I had to give him the blanket and even hug him at one point to try and warm him up" I explain.

"It is March! Who knew it was going to start snowing!"

"I did" Kylian says.

"Why don't we make ourselves some hot chocolate when we make it home, uh? That will definitely warm us up" I suggest.

"I would love that!" Ethan says.

"I would love other ways to warm up, but yeah, ok."

"Kylian!" I say, hitting him on the chest.

"What?" he replies, trying to hide a smile.

"Shall we get going?"

"Yes!" Ethan says. "And while we have that chocolate, can we watch something on tv? There is this new show about zombies that looks so cool."

"We can check it out" I smile.

"Yes! You are like the bestest ever" Ethan says, hugging me.

"Aww, thank you" I say, hugging him back.

"Ok, enough with the hugs. Let's go home" Kylian says.

"Jealous?" I ask him while we walk towards the car, Ethan all excited telling us about the plot of this new show he wants to watch.

"Very. I also want hugs."

"You'll get all the hugs and cuddles you want when we go to bed and it is just you and I."

"And what about finishing what we started before the game?" he asks with a teasing smile.

"Maybe."

"He actually is right, you know? You are the bestest."

"Thank you very much."

"Guys, hey, no more kissing!" Ethan says, stopping us when we were about to do it. "I'm freezing cold and can't wait to get home!"

"You mean my home."

"Yes, whatever. C'mon, hurry up!"

"Kids" Kylian says, rolling his eyes.

"I heard you!"

"Congratulations on your good hearing, little bro" he says as he opens the car, he and Ethan still teasing each other while I just look at them and smile like an idiot.

"Gorgeous, aren't you coming?" Kylian asks me.

"Yes, of course" I say. "I was just thinking about how lucky I am to have you both in my life."

"Aww... Cheesy" Ethan says from the backseat of the car.

"But cute" Kylian adds. "Ready for those hot chocolates?"

"Ready" Ethan and I say at the same time.

"On y va!"

#kylian mbappe #kylian mbappe imagine #kylian mbappe x reader #kylian mbappe fanfic #football imagine #football fanfic

[deadsnothere]

Hi!! Could I request an Anthony Lockwood x reader fic where it is dark in the evening and the reader and lockwood are cuddling on the couch and its pouring raining and just like enjoying each others presence. Like stealing kisses and just whispering sweet nothings to each other. I would love that!!!! Please take your time!! Thank you so much!!!!

"One love, One lifetime."

Synopsis - Lockwood & Co finally get a rainy day off! but what happens when a blanket gets stolen from its rightful owner?

Request - YES!!

Word Count - 1.8k

Speak Ali! - I'm not dead, I have a theater competition soon so i probably won't be posting may anymore this week other than me ranting. but you can still definitely request shit!!!

Masterlist

We’d finally had a real day off! Whenever Anthony says we’ll have a day off I'm not sure if I can believe him. I mean we’ll have a few hours off at most but then another case comes in urgently and we’ll deal with that. So we almost never have a real day off.

Until today.

It was 8 o'clock on the dot. I finished the dishes after dinner, since I was the one to cook tonight. Wiping down the water from the counter and my hands. I've spent all day doing nothing but reading. It's amazing. I have this adventurous sort of romance book i'm reading right now, I have only 50 pages left of the 430. I got to the part where the main character finds her long lost girlfriend in this big haunted library where she's been under a sleep spell for years. I'm so excited to see how their reunion plays out!

I folded the kitchen towel up and threw it in the small hamper George put out for the kitchen wash. Passing the library, I opened the front door looking out on the rain and “gloom” outside. Lucy was ‘stuck’ at Norries in all the rain, while George was upstairs in his room. Anthony was doing the same, I’d gone up and visited them both a few times, George to make sure he wasn't stressing over our case tomorrow, and Anthony just to say “Hi”. I closed the door and backtracked to the library to finish my book.

I sat down on the chair in front of the desk, reaching back to pull the blanket I had on me earlier back to its rightful spot on my shoulders. But it wasn't there- Who moved my blanket?- no one else had been downstairs!- I stood up looking around the room, almost jumping when I noticed Mr. Anthony Lockwood himself sleeping on the long side chair. He looked kinda uncomfortable, one leg was on top of his knee, while his head was tilted back. My blanket is laying on top of him. I sighed, rolling my eyes lovingly, he is cute. I can't deny it.

“Baby, you have my blanket-” I poked him softly, but he just whispered incoherently back at me. Scrunching his face up and moving away. Oh my god, he is so fucking cute. I kissed his cheek softly, when he didn't move then I went to drastic measures. Attacking his face with kisses, leaving them all over his forehead, nose, lips, cheeks, temples. He woke up very quickly, laughing when I continued to kiss him. “A-Alias what are you doing!” I pulled back from my attack to talk to him. “You have my blanket.” Smiling at him slyly. “Is that really why you woke me up?” He groaned, pulling me into a kiss. I raised an eyebrow back, giggling when he pushed me into his lap. “Are you really that mad about me waking you up how I did?” He thought about it for a second, just shrugging.

I stood up once again to go back to my book but he didn't let go of my hand. “We could always share your blanket.” Anthony made a fair point, with his real genuine smile. Smiling back at him, I softly pulled my hand away. I think his body physically deflated when we let go of contact. but he was quick to reflate when I picked up my book striding back to him. “If you want you can lay your head in my lap while I read- Or I can lay on you.” He was quick to lean against the side of the chair, letting his legs finally stretch out on top of the soft fabric, patting his lap for me to lay down as well. “Well eager, are we?” Giggling, I finally laid down on top of him, my waist in between his legs and arms holding up my book.

We’d stayed like this for a while, Anthony was reading along with me but half way through a paragraph he’d fallen asleep. He always looked so peaceful when sleeping. No matter how stressed he was when he fell asleep there was nothing to worry about, not a care to be shown on his face. He said he used to have bad nightmares, but with me they were always “better” whatever that meant. I guess it either means I make his dreams better or I've stopped the nightmares.

He’s definitely helped me to...After the night of the Fairfax incident he came to my room to sleep, I planned to go to him but he’d beat me to it. Nothing was better than feeling his arms wrap around me (tighter than normal) He confessed the next morning that he was scared, about what happened with Fairfax threatening me, and I ended up giving them more information about my past and what Fairfax had to do with it.

Once I'd finished the book I set it down on the floor turning around to put my face into Anthony's chest. Humming the tune of “All i ask of you” from Phantom of the opera, A Musical I performed in, for a case and for fun. “My words will warm and calm you.” I placed a hand on his cheek rubbing softly, while singing to him and to me. “Let me be your freedom.” I started to hum again when he stirred abit. mumbling my name softly, and going right back to his deep sleep. “Let daylight dry your tears.” When I placed a kiss on his jaw it wasn't meant to wake him this time, more just a soft reminder I was still with him. “I'm here, with you, beside you.” I kissed his jaw again in a different place. “To guard you, and to guide you.”

I still remember how jealous he was when I was first put in the role of Christine daae. He was there every practice and every show being careful to watch how genuinely my reactions were. He's always been protective of me. But he shows it differently, protective in a silent way.

“Say you love me every waking moment.” I closed my eyes humming the song. “Say you need me with you now and always.” I felt a hand slowly lift my head up, pulling me into a kiss. It was passionate and caring, all the love in the world was behind it. “I need you with me, you're my shelter, my light.”

“One love, one lifetime.”

“One love, one lifetime.”

“I could make out with you right now, that was so romantic..” Anthony laughed at my lack of filter rubbing my cheeks with his hands pulling me into a kiss but pulling away before I could keep my words to my mouth. “Your voice is absolutely breathtaking darling.” “You're an idiot.” He smiled at me trying to keep his romantic words going. “You know you’re only saying that because you can't take a compliment.” I gasped, almost offended. (if it weren't so true). “I can take a compliment! I took the compliment show night!” Anthony looked a little too proud of himself. We both knew why he was so touchy that night, him watching me “flow, flawlessly” with another man made his blood boil but instead of getting mad at me for something I couldn't control. He just simply showed the man who’s I was. whether that meant hickeys in more than obvious places, or getting caught kissing in my dressing room. The poor actor always knew who’s I was, and Anthony was always beaming at that fact.

“Show night was different.” I scoffed, rolling my eyes. “What because you were jealous I danced in another man's arms so you just had to show me off.” He scoffed next, looking away from me with an obvious hint of “I can't protect myself” or I like to think it was that anyway. “I did not show you off. You were on the news and they asked me, how I thought of your performance. When they asked how I was close to you I just don't think they were expecting me to say boyfriend and kiss you…on live tv.” I nodded sarcastically. “My parents called me later that night asking why my shade of burgundy lipstick was being snogged off onto yours on live tv.” He laughed knowing exactly where this was going. “You're lucky they like bold people! you would be dead if it weren't for the fact.”

He swelled with pride. My parents loved him, If it weren't for quill i'm sure they would've loved him even more. “That even got me a few points with your brother.” And in Anthony's position as his “enemy” that's hard. “You don't need points with my brother, idiot.” He knew that better than anyone, if I knew my brother didn't like him for a good reason I wouldn't have joined his company or started dating him. “Alias, Darling, I know. I just feel like maybe earning his respect is still in line here, you are his little sister so I can understand why he would be protective.” He was so sweet when he wasn't wishing my brother dead after saving our asses on a case. “Well baby, I know he definitely respects you after the locket case.”

“The locket case.” During the locket case we were miss informed again. A woman showed up at our door at three am, said she was struggling with a ghost problem. As it was 3 am, George had no time to research, so we all got dressed and went to work on the case. It ended up with me in the hospital, with Anthony in the bed on the other side of the room. He was always an idiot, jumping in front of us and never caring for himself first.

“Those nurses hated us.” The nurses always got mad at us because we were never in our own beds. But we were too nervous to let the other go. Apparently my brother showed up while I was passed out. He said

“Tony sat there bleeding out refusing to room with anyone but you. I thought he was actually going to die on his statement. He was saying all the romantic shit about ‘I can't leave them alone’ and ‘I have to know their ok’. It was disgustingly sweet.”

Quill didn't say it but he respected Anthony for that, I was glad to know they could sort of get along when needed.

Wow I get lost in my thoughts easily, when being pulled out of my head, Anthony had already fallen back to sleep. His heart beat going back to a slow pace, his hands were intertwined at the back of my neck, and his head seemed to be in a much more comfortable position. He's so peaceful. This reminds me of a scene in my book but instead of me finding him in a sleep curse in a giant haunted library, he dragged me down with him.

I kissed his cheek one more time before finally laying my head down to take a nap too. George is going to be pissed in the morning when he finds us, especially since my book is on the floor.

#lockwood and co #anthony lockwood x reader #lockwood and co x reader #lockwood x reader #lucy carlyle #anthony lockwood #george karim #lockwood and co dr #speak ali!! #x original character #x oc #it's not actually x oc stfu #mentions #quill kipps #alias kipps #x reader #the chronicles of alias forman #reader has a name #anthony lockwood x alias foreman

[ohtobeleah]

Roll Of The Dice // Jake Seresin

Chapter Four: “What’s Even Real”

Summary: Jake Seresin has never been a believer in life after death, but when he’s caught in a comatose realm stuck between reality and fantasy—what else is there to do but dream?

Warnings: Jake Seresin x F!reader Jake Seresin Angst. Hospitalisation. Grief of a loved one. Slow decline into grief induced madness. Bradley Bradshaw x platonic!reader

Word Count: 3.2k

Author Note: Well. A phatt 85% of you voted for me to flip the story and here you go. I actually LOVE how this series is taking a drastic turn. But just so we’re all on the same page. There is NO HAPPY ENDING. (Also shut the fuck up I’m still on a break)

Series Masterlist

(Naval Hospital– Jacksonville, Florida. – Present Day)

Bradley Bradshaw had never been good with hospitals. His therapist had told him once that his ever growing hatred towards the far too sterile environment was due to the fact both his mother and father had passed away in hospital beds surrounded by doctors and nurses who he couldn't really give a shit about enough to remember there names.

But here he was, walking down the hall towards room one hundred and nine of the intensive care unit at the Naval hospital in Jacksonville, Florida. Bradley carried two takeaway coffees, one in each hand as nurses who had become all too familiar with the mustache-clad aviator smiled politely and sent him solemn looks of hopefulness that today might very well be the day. But he knows it's just something they’re taught in medical school. Compassion. Empathy for the friends and family members of the loved ones laying near dead, dying or recovering. Bradley didn't know what category to put Jake Seresin in at the moment, they hadnt really been all that chummy prior to the accident. Not friends nor foes. Just long-term acquaintances who loved you both dearly.

Bradley Bradshaw had known you for his entire life, uncle Sliders kid. The military brat with the heart of gold, thousand watt smile and even bigger attitude. It's probably what drew you and Jake Seresin together. That all too similar attitude and love for a good taunt. Rooster always did catch himself wondering what you saw in him, but then again, beauty was forever in the eye of the beholder. 

“Hey, sorry–the line was crazy today.” Bradley cooed as he knocked with one knuckle on the door that had been slightly ajar. Stepping in, the steady beeping of Jake's heart rate monitor filled the room. “How's he been?” 

“No change–” Was all you mumbled as you looked up from watching Jake breath with assistance to reach out for your coffee order Bradley had had the chance to remember off by heart. “You just missed the Doc.” Bradley could tell just how tired you were just by the way your eyes looked sunken, he knew you weren't sleeping, weren’t eating. He knew that you hadn’t left Jake's side since he was brought into his room. “She said that there's definitely brain activity going on–said he must be dreaming.” You smiled at the thought, you hoped whatever Jake was dreaming of was a hell of alot better than what he would wake up to. “The swellings gone down quite a bit, but it’s just up to him if he wants to fight to come back.”

Bradley moved across the room, grabbing the chair that sat empty in the corner of the room to drag it over to where you sat at your fiance's beside. Like every time he came to visit, he sat with a sigh, leaned into where you sat and kissed your cheek softly, a reassurance he was here for you. 

“Sounds promising.” Bradley pressed his lips together before he took a sip of his coffee, watching as you did the same. “Dice, you look like crap.” 

“I'm gonna let you get away with that one purely because I feel like crap.” You chuckled softly, but it had been just enough to coax the corner of your mouth into a curve. Oh how Bradley missed the sound of your laugh, you were one of his closest friends. Seeing you hurt and struggling through such a crisis made his heart ache worse than he ever imagined it could. From what Rooster could remember of his parents love, they set such a high standard Bradley didn’t know if he’d ever have a chance of replicating—he thought if anything he’d get to live long enough to live vicariously through your love for Jake and watch you thrive in some fairytale life with Hangman that he’d be happy enough with that. But that all seemed so up in the air now.

But here you both sat, watching Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin breathe assisted with tubes of all kinds shoved down his throat. Barely recognisable from the swelling, the cuts, stitches and bruises that littered his face. You could tell he was still your Jake though. 

“If you wanna go home, get some rest? I can stay here with him for as long as you need.” Bradley knew what the answer was going to be before you even shook your head. Letting your gaze linger back on the gentle rise and fall of Jake's chest. 

“No thanks, I wouldn’t want to miss anything—“ It was hard not to cry, but as you tried to coax your fiancé to come back to you? The tears just fell so effortlessly. “He knows I’m here.” 

You carried far too much guilt on your own shoulders for what happened. Jake, although an amazing partner—was an even better wingman. He’d come after you when things got a little too out of control during a recent detachment. He’d saved your life and sacrificed his own. When you’d both been brought back to Florida of all places—You’d asked one of the nurses to contact Bradley for you, he’d been on some carrier somewhere in the middle of the ocean—but he pulled whatever strings he could to get back to you. 

“Jake would want you to take care of yourself if anything Dice, he loves you so much.” Bradley placed a hand on your knee, rubbing the pad of his thumb against the soft grey material of your sweatpants. “You aren’t gonna be any good to him when he finally wakes up if you can’t even keep your eyes open.” 

“He’s such an idiot.” You scoffed, your moods had been vile the last few weeks. You were sleep deprived, hungry, running of steam fueled by Starbucks caffeine and sugar free red bulls from the vending machine. “He shouldn’t have come after me, gives me a goddamn headache just thinking about it, it should have—“ A sob ripped through your chest and you were gone in seconds. Your bottom lip quivered as you fell into a heap against Jake's side, your hand reaching for his as Bradley rubbed a comforting circle against your arched back. “So so so dumb Rooster—he should have just let it be me.” It was supposed to be you. 

“If there’s one person on this planet Hangman would want to die saving Dice, it would be you.” It was hard to hear but Bradley knew you had to hear it. “He would do anything to keep you out of harm's way.” 

“Yeah well, what am I supposed to do if he doesn’t wake up, Rooster?” Rising from the side of Jakes hospital bed, you crossed your legs up into the chair you were perched on. “What if he just doesn’t wake up? And he gets trapped in the dreamscape world his mind is creating while I'm out here, all alone?” Bradley knew the breakdown was coming, he had seen it racing towards him at a million miles an hour over the last few days. Not taking care of yourself while giving your all to someone else was a tiring effort that broke the strongest of souls on their best days. You were only human, a much loved one at that. You didn't deserve this, Jake didn't deserve this. 

“Hey.” Rooster cooed, cupping your cheeks as he gently pressed the pads of his thumbs against your swollen cheeks to wipe away the tears. “Hey, Dice, look at me yeah?” You did hesitantly, not ready to take your eyes away from Jake, your Jake, your darling Hangman, your soon to be husband. “Dice, hell will freeze over before Jake Seresin gives up fighting, it’s Jake we’re talking about right?” 

“I just really really miss him Roo–” You could barely hold your head up with how tired you were, falling into Roosters chest as you sobbed your heart out. It broke his heart to know you were in such anguish. “Every fucking breath that I take since he left feels like a waste on me.” 

“He's here Y/n.” Bradley didn't know what else to do except hold you tight, hold you close as you cried in his arms. Over your shoulder, Bradley took in the sight of Jake Seresin, laying there in his hospital bed, with machines surrounding him helping him do the most mundane task of all. Breathe. Jake had always been the better of them, he didn't ever think, he would just always do. He was the Hangman, the top of his class, the cockiest fighter pilot Rooster had ever had the displeasure of knowing. 

But now? well–Rooster kind of wished that he’d given Jake more of a chance, perhaps there was some perplexing rhythm and reason why Jake was the way he was and did the things and did and said the stupid things he said. 

“He’s here, Doc said that, didn't she? He’s here, just needs some time to find his way back.” 

“I'm losing my goddamn mind Bradshaw.” Stifling a laugh, you sat back up, you wiped your tears and fixed yourself up. Taking a sip of the coffee Bradley had brought you to keep you alert. You had had your moment, now it was time to be brave, be there for Jake when he woke up. “I don't know how much more of this I can take before I lose my mind.” 

“How about I go grab you some food?” Rooster simply asked, standing as he kissed the top of your head. “You like that sushi place down the road, yeah?” 

“M’not that hungry–” 

“I don't care, you need to eat, you can't just–” Before Rooster could finish saying that you couldn't just not eat, you were snapping at him. It wasn't the first time but it was still rather jarring. 

“I said im not hungry, Rooster, you want food fine, go get yourself something, but im not fucking hungry.” It wasn't entirely your fault, Bradley knew it was coming from a place of despair and heartbreak. You couldn't control anything happening around you so you clung to something you could. He’d remembered that from therapy. 

“Okay, well, I'm gonna go grab something to eat and I'll be back okay?” Bradley wasn't expecting an answer, he didn't get one either. All that met him in response was the monotone beeping of Jake Seresins heart rate monitor and the overbearing shattering sound of your own. Pressing his lips together as he shoved his fist into his pocket to fish out his phone. Bradley turned on his heels as he left the room. Leaving you to sit in your own existential crisis.

“Hey kid, how's she doing?” Slider greeted Bradley from the otherside of the phone as he left the same way he came in, passing by the same nurses that now didn't even pay him any attention. Their minds on new patients, new charts to read, new turns of events. 

“I'm really worried about her, she's not eating, not sleeping, she's not doing well at all and I don't know how to help her.” It was the honest truth, Bradley didn't. He didn't know how to help pick up the pieces. Slider, your dad, although a million miles away–felt closer than ever when he brought up Bradley's own mum. 

“You were the same when Carole died kid, wouldn't let a single person help you until you hit rock bottom.” Slider sighed as Braldey pressed the button on the elevator. “She's gonna hit it eventually and when she does it's gonna be brutal but you’ll be there, just don't smother her, treat her like you normally would, watch over her but dont force her to do anything she doesn't want to do.” It was the advice Rooster had been seeking. He knew your dad would know what to say, how to keep him on the straight and narrow. “When she hits that wall you’ll know, because instead of pushing you away she’s gonna grip on, hold tight and not let go for love nor money, Goose.” 

***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~

(North Island —Hard Deck Bar, October 16th 2014) 

“I’m here–” It came out more reluctantly than you really meant it to. But the way Jake Seresin jumped as you came up behind him and made your presence known had you breaking out into a fit of giggles on the front deck of the Hard Deck. 

“Fuck–” Jake groaned as he turned around and held his hand to his tan covered heart. “Why are you so quiet? You move like a goddamn prius?” You didn't know you could roll your eyes as hard as you did. 

“Can we just get this over and done with already?” You sighed dramatically, pushing past Jake as you made your way inside. He was hot on your tail, opening the door for you like the true southern gentleman that his mother had raised him to be. “Oh, thanks.” You hadn’t expected it, no one had ever opened a door for you like Jake had just done. Sure men held doors open in coffee shops in passing before, but this had been an intentional act. Jake had a pep in his step to reach the door before you could. “Why would you do that?” 

“We’re on a date.” It was the cheesy grin you received in return that had you rolling your eyes twice as hard as you;d just done, surprising yourself once more at the diameter they could actually roll. Jake stood there holding the door for you—gesturing for you to step inside. “And my mother would slap me across the face full force if she saw my date opening doors all by herself.” 

“Hangman I really don’t think this classifies as a date.” You tried to shut down the idea before it could bloom into something bigger inside Jake's head. But you were already too late. “I asked if you wanted to grab something to eat and have a couple of beers after work—to get to know my wingman.”

“Oh Lieutenant Dixon, if I can help it? You and I aren't just gonna be just wingman and wingwoman.” Jake shook his head. “So humour me a little, entertain the idea for a single night?” You stood in silence for a mere minute before finally admitting defeat. “One date—“ Stepping inside as Jake led you over to the nearest open bar table with a hand pressed to the small of your back, guiding you through. 

“One date is all you’re gonna get, Headache.” You groaned as Jake pulled the bar chair out from underneath the small round table. He watched as you sat down with a reluctant gruff. Laughing to himself at how easy it was to get under your skin. 

“One date is all I need to make you fall in love with me.” Jake replied as he walked around to find his own chair, handing you the menu as he waved over at Bill, the barkeep. “And just so we’re on the same page here sweetheart—“ Jake leaned in closer to you over the table, watching with hooded eyes and a wicked grin as you did the same. Mimicking him. “You’re a terrible wingwoman, so don’t think falling in love with me will affect your already atrocious aviation skills.” 

“Careful there Hangman.” It wasn’t that you couldn’t already feel yourself gravitating towards Jake, it was that you were scared of just how far the two of you were willing to let this go before pumping the breaks. “Anyone with eyes glued onto their head would think you’re a little obsessed with me.” For some reason, there were a few gold coated pens sitting on the table, possibly but also probably for the keno games that Bull liked to scatter around the joint. Picking one up—Jake clicked the top before placing it in his top pocket absentmindedly. You could never have enough pens. Everytime he needed one he never had one. Everytime he had one he never needed it. 

“Why don’t you roll the Dice and find out?” Jake grinned ear to ear, watching as you raised a brow in response. “Tell me a little about yourself? Perhaps I'll walk away all the more obsessed than I supposedly already am.” 

“Okay–” You simply sighed, dropping your chin as you frowned. Pulling your elbows off the table as you sat back into a slight slump. “This has been fun, really, this whole act–” it was Jake's turn to frown as he listened, noticing how you wore an expression he didn't like one bit. Something laced with self-doubt. “But you can cut it out now.” 

“What are you on about?” Jake asked as he handed you a menu. 

“The whole, you wanna be more than friends shtick you’re really playing up.” Yep, Jake really made you say it out loud. “I'm not the type of girl whos gonna fall in love with you Seresin, I'm not here for that shit, im here–” 

“Because your daddy is Ron Slider Kerner and he's chummy with Admiral Agony?” Jake didn't mean to say it like that's what he believed, he meant to say it in a way that he thought that's what you were going to say. Maybe the look he’d seen plastered across your face before wasn't self loathing after all, because when you straighten your shoulders and let out a scoff. Jake knew he fucked it. “I didn't mean it to sound like that, I just thought that's what you were going to say.” 

“Sure, because you and everyone else here surely don't think I'm the class Nepotism baby.” 

“That's Bradshaws title, get your own Dice.'' Jake was quick on the draw, it forced a laugh to bubble up from deep inside you as you took in the sight of his smile. So bright and all consuming. 

“No Bradleys the gold star kid, but don't tell him I said that!” You sat up a little straighter, knocking your knuckle against the top of the table. “He’s practically family, which means he’ll plant me in the ground if he ever heard me say that.” 

“Well, for the record, I don't think you’re a nepo baby.” Jake cooed, smirking wildly at you from across the table. The Hard Deck had started to get busier around you as you sat with the sandy blonde. The pair of you didn't seem to notice as you got lost in the conversation you were having. Something about Jake just drew you into him, you couldn't figure out what exactly it was that had your heart skipping a beat at the sound of his laugh or the glint in his eye. But there was something there. “I do think you’re gonna have a hard time following me, but I'll do my best to lead us to the top of that ladder, Dice Dixon.” 

You couldn't let Jake get away with thinking he was better than you, if you were going to be the best dynamic duo Mirimar had ever seen you needed it known who was the brains of this operation. And who exactly is what that was going to led you to the top of that leaderboard, to the top of the class and beyond. 

“Seresin, I have known you for the better half of one entire afternoon and I already know the most important thing about you.” You let your back rest against the plush back of the booth chair. Eyeing off the handsome aviator before you, Jake fucking Seresin was about to be the death of you and you knew it. 

“Pray do tell—“ Jake replied as he mimicked your actions. Letting his back rest and the plush of the booth, waiting for you to say something witty. Something he knew he’d never forget. 

“That the only place you’ll lead anymore is an early grave.”

***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~

Tags: @potato-girl99981 @averyhotchner @dempy @abaker74 @a-serene-place-to-be @starkleila @some-lovely-day @phoenix1388 @auroraboreallisfine @avaleineandafryingpan @kikaninchen-2 @xoxabs88xox

#roll of the dice // jake seresin #jake hangman x y/n #jake hangman seresin x reader #jake hangman x reader #jake seresin imagine #jake seresin #jake seresin x f!reader #jake hangman imagine #jake seresin fanfiction #jake seresin x reader #jake seresin fic #jake hangman seresin

[ryverbind]

Faceless Fixation: Cat-FISHER [19]

A/N: in honor of 50k on Wattpad, LET'S GET ITTTTTT!!!!

----------------

VIOLETVIOLENCE: it's really pathetic that i have to pull you aside like a child to tell you to tone down your shit.

VIOLETVIOLENCE: grow up.

SALLYFʌCɜ: grow up? look who's talking. might i remind you of a verbatim quote by yours truly... "lint licking, cunt flap, cum infested puss bubble of a fucklet"

VIOLETVIOLENCE: i give back what i receive. you can dish but you can't take?

SALLYFʌCɜ: i can take twice as much as i dish.

VIOLETVIOLENCE: i'm so sure that you can. fuck off, sal. quit being an asshat.

SALLYFʌCɜ: so now it's asshat? what happened to llcfcipbf? you're losing your creativity. do better, your fall from grace is disappointing even to me

VIOLETVIOLENCE: fuck you.

SALLYFʌCɜ: i'm sure you want to

He's real fucking cheeky. Excited, if you will. What's gotten into him?

Three days ago, while purposefully and pleasurably butchering Sal's character in Dead By Daylight, if anyone would have told me that the bane of my miserable existence and I would have a personal chat box open— I'd have laughed in your face. I'd have gone full Edgar Allan Poe. You would be in a Speed Bump Grave™️. I'd hear your phantom heart beat under my floor boards.

And now, here I am, simultaneously working through the worst shift of the week and having to bitch at Sally Face Fisher via discord DM's.

I don't know what I've done. Maybe it's just my existence, I'm not sure, but he's targeting me. It's horrifically bad. Every message from him, even if he's in the middle of conversing with one of the other of The Faces, has something about me included. And it is always shitty.

I'm not scared of him, how could I ever be? So I opted (more like I was seconds away from punching his scrotum through my phone screen) to reach out to him personally and nicely ask him to stop... okay so that's obviously a lie but I had to threaten and insult him back. It was the only way I'd feel better.

But now I'm stuck with this loaded last message from him and I have no idea how to continue. Because it's a repeat. A repeat of that fated Discord call that threw my entire existence askew for a week. Or four. Maybe I'm still askew.

His necklace isn't under a shoe in the farthest corner of my room for no reason, after all.

Today was supposed to be simple. Not easy because working at the diner is never easy, but simple. Simple fucking worked. And now I have this conversation with Sally hanging over my head when I was actually looking forward to what's meant to come after I finish my shift.

I brought my mask with me today. My plan is to immediately go back to that mask store after my shift and convince the sweet woman who helped me to sign her work, give me her name, a business card— literally anything so I can tell the world who gave me my start. But now I'm anxious enough to plead not guilty by reason of insanity due to not-so negligent or accidental arson. And on top of that, I'm starting to map out an intricately laid out plan for Sal's Speed Bump Grave™️. Today's ordeals have taken my mind by storm and I'm about to bring everyone down with me in this descent toward madness.

I'm just angry. And bothered. And low key wanting to message Sal back with, "Yea, I am. What are you gonna do about it?" But I must stay strong. I must soldier on. I know the repercussions, I've tasted them for myself— felt them burn my lungs to a crisp. I went through what felt like decades of chain smoking in just mere seconds.

And it's all because of—

A chime rings. A chime that came from my phone. It echoes through the diner's break room, startling me so hard that I nearly leap out of my chair. It's like waking up from a dream where you suddenly start falling.

What was that? What just popped up in my notifications?

Unknown: are you a poe fan, by chance?

My kingdom. My entire kingdom for a chance to start making a Speed Bump Grave™️. For myself? For Sal? For the inexplicable human race? I don't even know anymore.

I thought he'd given up on Lexi. So what the hell is this? Why now? Why today? Why right after he finished— flirting? Baiting?— me.

My mind goes blank. Maybe... maybe he's onto me. Maybe he knows. That I'm Lexi. And now he's finally decided to enact his revenge. On today of all days, when I feel so sick with anxiety and paranoia that I could throw up every square inch of my bowels. My feminine rage is so ragey that I wouldn't be shocked if I sprouted a pair of testicles just so I'd have an excuse for whatever bruised masculinity I'm experiencing right now. Sal must be projecting on me all the way from Nockfell.

Never in my entire life have I felt so hopeless, so cornered. Every time I feel this way, I think it can't possibly get any worse.

And yet.

Me: umm, can't say that i am! don't know much about him.. but how are you, sally!

I don't know what's possessed me. In a normal world, I would have blocked him by now. Or better yet, if I wasn't so disgustingly deplorable and had a damn backbone, I'd have texted him a picture of myself and said "Haha, gotcha bitch!"

The sad truth in this way-too-real life scenario is that I don't have a backbone. And I'm too far gone to go back. I can't revert. There's a part of me that still holds onto my first live interaction with Sal. I just can't get the memory of him— smooth, gentle, kind, and likable— out of my head. No matter how hard I try.

One thing I can be proud of is the amount of petty packed into the fact that I never saved his number in my phone.

Unknown: good. perfect, actually. i brought some poe with me today, a story i think you might like

Some kind of doom-ish feeling washes over me. Like a storm cloud forming above my head. Poison seeping into my pores, infesting my blood. I don't like the way he said that. I don't like it at all. It feels a lot like the time some kid threw up all over me in second grade.

I'll never forget the sickening chill that spread through my body as soon as I realized what happened to me in the middle of educational centers in Nockfell Elementary. This situation feels threateningly similar.

Me: oh cool! so i guess you'll be having a chill reading day? wish it was me :,)

Unknown: not quite. but hey, are you working today?

That storm morphs into a hurricane. And there's twin tornadoes in the background, growing closer and closer to make a torrid, lethal combination. I have to take this in stride. Be smart, y/n. Whatever hell may come, handle it accordingly and do not make mistakes.

Me: ah, no! out of town to visit family :) really, crappy, awkward family get together... yikes...

He'll totally buy that right? I didn't overdo it. It was perfect. Overdoing it would have been an entire paragraph about how much I hate my mom. This is good, this is fine. I'm totally not breaking out into a cold sweat with clammy palms to match.

Oh, God. What if he sent someone to spy on Lexi? What if he hired some murderer off the dark web to take care of me and clean up the mess? I wouldn't put it past him. And this scenario isn't even worst case!

Worst case... I don't even want to think about it. I can't.

Unknown: damn, lex... on the day that i'm finally back in la and you're out of town? :(

Oh, thank God I'm a paranoid chicken shit.

Then again, fuck the fuck off. It's worst case scenario, the thing that I didn't even want to think about. The thing I wouldn't allow to cross my mind.

What do I do. What do I do? I leave work— that's the smartest decision. Naturally, this is the place he once went to and, out of boyish fantasies, he'll probably come back here with some expectation that Lexi will miraculously pop up despite her being in like... Iceland or something, whatever it is I manage to come up with in my next text to him. Which—

Unknown: i'm at the diner rn. was hoping we'd get to hang out this time. when do you get home?

Oh, no.

It's a fucking disaster on top of twenty other disasters. This is what a pregnancy scare must feel like. This must be the equivalent to walking into a room full of snotty, sick toddlers. This is dropping an uncut birthday cake.

I think I'm gonna puke.

I look up from my phone and take in the empty break room surrounding me. The off-white, paint-chipping walls are closing in. I have no escape— this is prison. Trapped in my mind's clawed vices with no way out. Except, my mind's fears have transcended into reality. My worst fear has come true and I had no time to prepare for it. The time is nigh. Ruin is, unfortunately, now.

Think, y/n. It's not so bad. I can just leave through the back door and tell my boss I'm sick again. The door is literally to my left.

But to get back to my apartment, I have to cross in front of the diner that's full of windows. Sal is here, meaning he's paying attention to everything in hopes of finding me... even though I told him I'm not here.I just know he's that kind of romantic, if he even qualifies as such.

He'd spot me in a heartbeat and that can't happen because maybe Vi's mask concealed Lexi who was hidden beneath, but he's about damn near fucked Vi. He knows her body better than she does herself— than I do. Fuck, I have so many different personas I can't even remember that they're all me.

Clusterfuck. That's what this is. A massive clusterfuck, all of my doing.

I'm going to have to bite the bullet. That's my only option. And by bite the bullet, I'm going to fight tooth and nail to keep this bit going. I should just admit the truth, but I'm not humble enough for that, apparently.

My chest begins to ache. It's a slow-to-develop pain that only catches my attention when it hurts a little too much. And then the shallow, short breaths follow. And then the phantom feeling of something lodged in my throat, blocking my airways and filling me with dread.

This is a panic attack, one that is long overdue. One that still can't breach the surface quite yet. I need to make sure I'm home free first— I can weep and be dismayed later. Because the harsh truth is, yes this fucking sucks, but it's not going to kill me. It's just hard for me and my body to truly get a grasp on that.

I swallow down the anxiety that's billowing in my body like linens ominously drying outside a house in the middle of nowhere. I take a couple deep breaths, calming the doubt and fear raging within. My limbs shake a little less, my breathing is better controlled, and my chest doesn't hurt half as much. The pain is still there, but this is bearable. I can do this.

I rifle through my cubby which doesn't give me much to work with. I don't have a change of clothes. I have nothing to hide me, not even a hoodie.

"You... good, y/n?"

I whirl around, hope scraping at the insides of my cranium. Fuck yes. Best lobotomy ever.

I could really cry right now because this is a clear sign that I'm not as alone as I think. Even if it feels like I am, even if my dear coworker Ophelia can't really help me out all that much, she can definitely help me in some way.

I don't have to girl boss everything on my own.

"Lia," I start with, breathless as I practically teleport over to her with the quickness of my panicked steps. "Do you have something I can change into? I can't explain right now but... I would really appreciate your help."

Her big doe eyes take me in curiously, one of her perfectly arched eyebrows raised in question. She bats her long lashes, seemingly processing what I've asked of her before giving me an answer.

"Um, I was planning on going out after my shift tonight? Would a dress work?" She grimaces a bit, probably worried that she won't be able to help me out because Ophelia is just like that.

"That would work fine!" I say excitedly, but think better of it, my hopes crumbling a bit. "But I don't want to take your outfit for the night. I can probably come up with something else."

Lia rolls her eyes lightheartedly, placing a hand on my shoulder. I follow the action, noting her long and sharp blood red nails. I gulp, looking back into her pretty ebony eyes. "Y/n, take what you need. You know Mike can drive me back home to get another outfit! We don't live too far away, and we don't need to be in Anaheim until 9 anyway. Do what you need to do-- you know I'm cheering for you, girl."

I grab onto her hand and hold back the intense admiration infecting my soul. I'm giving Ophelia the most visceral care bear stare I can possibly muster up and she notices, giving me a cute little upside down smile.

"You are an angel," I whisper, "And your future husband is too. Power couple of the heavens, really."

Lia giggles and bends her head down, forcing her pin straight black hair to fall into her face, thus accentuating the really eye-catching red money pieces that match her red nails. I aspire to be this woman. "It's not that serious, Ducks," she says, using my dads nickname for me that she overheard a couple months ago. She thought it was precious, so it stuck. "Let's go get you changed, 'kay?"

Change, I do. But I see where she was concerned about me wearing it too. It's for clubbing, cock-tailing, socializing for sure, but... I can make it work. I've got this. It'll be fine. Thank God I am an avid Doc Martens-wearer. Doc's go with absolutely anything.

Lia has taste too, it's a short, little red dress with spaghetti straps that flares out at the ends. It shows a lot of leg, but not much of anything else. I can't imagine how amazing she must look in this.

"You're super sure that you're okay wearing this?" Lia asks, looking over me. "It looks great on you, I'm inclined to tell you to keep it, honestly."

I scrunch up my face. "No, I'm giving it back to you tomorrow," I laugh gently, using my phone camera to try and get an idea of how I look. I can't see much, which is kind of a blessing because I might hate it and be too afraid to brave LA if I end up not liking it.

"I won't argue with you," Lia sighs, patting my back in a reassuring way. "So do you want to talk about what's going on?"

"Um," I murmur, a shiver running down my spine. I almost forgot why I'm having to do this. It feels like hours have passed, but it's only been five minutes at most. "It's very hard to explain, but I might have to get you or Mike involved, whoever's hosting today." I can't help but grimace as the words leave me, but it's the unfortunate truth that I'll have to talk to one or both of them. I'm ever so slowly hashing out a plan in my head.

Sal is undoubtedly going to ask about Lexi, and what the hell am I supposed to do whenever someone goes, "Lexi? No Lexi has ever worked here." So I have to bite the bullet, again, and stick around to at least inform Mike or Lia about that part of my major, gargantuan fuck up. That also means there's a good chance that Sal will see me, but he'll likely ignore my presence, and then I can slip away quickly.

"Mike is up front and hosting today," Lia says, frowning at me. She's so pretty, like if Marilyn Monroe was alternative. Goth mommy and whatever. No shame on my part.

The chef's booming voice carries into the break room, Lia's name floating along with it. She winces at the sound, flinching in surprise. She gives me a pitiful look, tilting her head almost as if to apologize for having to do her job. Poor little love, she is.

"Will you be able to talk with Mike?" She asks me, heading for the door.

I nod hesitantly. "Yea, I'll get to him. Thank you so much for all your help, Lia. I really appreciate you." I send her my most genuine smile, one that she returns.

"Anytime, y/n! You look beautiful, by the way. Go knock 'em dead, literally or figuratively!"

And she's gone, but she hyped me up in the gentlest way possible. Bless her dark, lovable heart.

I take a breath-- a deep, fortifying, 'ohfuckohfuck' breath that does nothing to calm my soul, but I try to trick myself into believing that it worked... at least somewhat. Then I move over to my work cubby (because we're all still in primary school according to my boss) and grab my old backpack that I bring every day. It's raunchy at best and holding on by a thread. I kept it from my high school days. It's a plain black Jansport with coffee stains on the bottom and questionable white splats that are front and center for everyone to see. I'm pretty sure it's just crusty white paint that I never bothered to peel off, but I won't correct anyone if they guess something else. What's the fun in that, right?

I open the zippers and dig in, working past a random beanie from winter, pads and tampons, and a makeup bag. All the way at the bottom, buried under my other things for protection, is my mask. I put it on then look down at myself one last time.

The flashy red of the dress I'm wearing does not match the deep violet of my mask but not everything can go right, so I'll take my little loss. Things could be worse-- oh wait, they are. Sal Fisher is outside this room. Whoops, forgot things were already devastatingly bad.

I run my fingers over the forehead of my mask, feeling that ache creep into my chest again. I wish things weren't going this way. I wish I was brave enough to go outside and just keep working. Because I'm undoubtedly going to lose my job after today. I'm backing myself into a corner, even risking my finances because of this guy that I'm too scared to face as my real self. I've reached peak pathetic.

My dad must be disappointed to have such an incompetent daughter. No wonder my mother and I don't speak anymore.

I swallow past the uncertainty, the guilt, and the unadulterated fear gnawing at my soul. Then I follow through with my plan by throwing my backpack onto my shoulder and pushing the back door open despite knowing that this is not worth it. It's not worth it at all.

I circle around the outside of the diner, heart rumbling like an earthquake as the putrid scent of garbage wafts into my nose from the dumpster I'm currently passing in front of. The sounds of cars honking, people laughing and chatting idly.

Los Angeles is the people's place. It hosts all necessary components of life, some more than others. Socialization, food. It's a dopamine powerhouse. But when it's me, when I've been living here for over a year and seeing the same things every single day, it's stripped me of all my feel-good chemicals. Especially right now when LA is only bringing me problems and trouble (Sal Fisher).

This doesn't feel real. I can't believe I'm doing this to myself. I can't quite wrap the fact around my head, that I'm about to be in Sal's general vicinity yet again. I thought I had time.

I turn the corner, coming out onto the sidewalk in front of the diner. I don't stop in my stride, eyeing my apartment building that isn't very far from me. A five minute walk. I'm almost home. Almost free. I just have to get inside the diner, unfortunately inform Mike of the tea, and hopefully dodge Sal. So long as I keep my eyes on the host table, I may not even have to see him. I might just be psyching myself out. Everything's going to be just fine!

My heart is in my throat, my limbs jittering nervously as I push the glass door open and look forward, noting the short line of people waiting for seats. Sal isn't one of them, so I assume he's been seated already.

I walk past the people in line, getting a few looks from them. That'd be the mask's fault.

Mike's looking down at his seating chart on the host table, most likely mapping out where someone could go whenever I stop in front of him, placing a hand on the table to discreetly get his attention.

He looks startled for a moment before tilting his head up, brows scrunched together as if to say 'The audacity!' but then he sees me and his eyes widen a bit. And then I'm not sure what his next expression says.

"What the--" he chokes out, "Shit! It's you? Hold on-- wait-- mind-fuck--"

I lift a finger to my lips, eyes wide as I hope he takes the note to shut up. Adrenaline is starting to spike in my veins and if he draws anymore attention to us, especially since my mask is already drawing enough, I'm going to piss myself right here. And sue him for public embarrassment, or whatever that thing is. Public defecation? No, that's public defamation... anyway.

Michael's mouth snaps closed, but he keeps watching me. I watch him. We just watch each other as I forget absolutely everything I had planned.

I swallow, blinking at my friend and coworker. "Mike," I say quietly. He flinches at the sound of his name. "I need you to do something for me and I am sincerely sorry about this but..."

"Yea, Yea, y/n-- um, what should I call you...?" He cuts himself off viciously, slapping a hand over his mouth. At least he cares.

I lean my forearms across the table, settling my weight against the front to relax myself at least a little bit. I'm so tense. I feel eyes on me. I need to get out of here.

"Don't call me that," I say lightheartedly, puffing out a breath. "Just call me Vi. For now." I lick my dry lips. Mike of all people finding out about my identity as VioletViolence is the very least of my worries. "There's a guy in here. He has blue hair, can't miss him. I'm sure you already know who he is. He's looking for a girl named Lexi and he'll probably ask his waiter about her. Just say that Lexi isn't here today, you don't have to answer anything else about her."

"I'm guessing... you're Lexi?" He winces, leaning forward a bit.

"Wow," I say sarcastically. "How did you figure that out?" I send him a little smile then focus on the task at hand yet again. "Anyway, I need you to be his waiter. Please. I'll take your entire shift on Friday. I will do anything." I tilt my head down, peering up at him through my lashes in an attempt to portray how badly I need this.

Mike's brows bunch together again and he mutters, "Yea, of course. Whatever you need. But it's-- he came in with the rest of The Faces. Do you want me to... entertain them too? Do they know about Lexi?"

The world stops turning. Everything pauses, no one's moving anymore and I feel like I'm going to vomit with fear, burst with excitement, and pass out right here from exhaustion. The plan I had is ruined, and I couldn't be more equally devastated and exhilarated about it. Ash is here. Larry's here, Todd too. What the hell is going on?

I blink, the action bringing me back to the present.

"Hey, is that Lia's dress--"

"The Faces are here?" I cut him off, holding a hand out in pause, trying to drill this information into my head. Trying to make it real so I can come up with a new plan.

Michael watches me like I'm stupid, a rueful expression on his boyish face. "Yes. I already said that they're here. Why are you wearing my girlfriend's dress?"

"Because we're fucking on the side and she came all over my work outfit." I watch as he makes his little offended face, and my tongue prods at my cheek as instant regret slaps me in the face. He's trying to help me, I shouldn't be giving him this attitude. "Sorry," I admit. "You know that's not true. I'm just-- I'm on edge."

"That's okay," he says hesitantly. "You know I'm going to get you back for that, anyway."

I pinch my lips together, accepting yet another minor defeat. "Fair." I shrug. "I was going to go back home and leave you to the wolves but... I'd rather risk myself. Ash is my best friend. You won't have to handle them alone now, so yay!" I give him a cheerful grin that I'm really not feeling. I even throw in jazz hands.

Michael runs his tongue over the surface of his teeth, clearly not looking forward to the fiasco I've dragged him into. "Alright," he settles on, sighing as he looks down at his feet while grabbing another menu. "Let's see how you manage to back yourself further into whatever shitty corner you've created. I'm eager."

"I'm sure," I grind out, knocking down all the fear that overtook me on my way here and replacing it with impenetrable, desperate yearning to find my friends. I finally cast my gaze around the diner, quickly zeroing in on the one head of blue hair in this entire building. They're seated at a booth all the way at the back of the restaurant and next to the bar, the one place that's away from most prying eyes. A request of theirs, I'm sure.

But my next question, now that I know everyone's here, what the hell are The Faces doing in Los Angeles? And why wasn't I told?

Ash didn't say a word to me. Do they not want me around? Maybe they don't like me as much as I thought they did. Maybe Ash would rather hang around with other friends than me. And that would make sense because we never see each other, besides Vegas, of course. But just thinking about it makes pain erupt throughout my entire body, a pang in my heart. Especially while watching the back of Ash's head tip down while Larry laughs in front of her. Sal and Larry, I can see them, but Todd and Ash are facing away from me.

Another deep breath.

"I'm going to head over there," I tell Michael, looking over to him again. He's watching me closely, his expression of pity mimicking Lia's from earlier. The sight makes me a little sick.

"Alright," he says gently. "I'm going to be there to take orders soon. I hope everything goes well. Don't be nervous."

I huff out a humorless laugh. "Are you and Ophelia psychic or something? Or is my face just that readable?"

He shrugs, grinning slightly. "I can't see your face, so I guess we're psychic. I'll be in your dreams tonight."

That makes me laugh. It wasn't forced or fake, it was genuine and I need that right now. I think Mike knows that too.

I start taking quick steps over to where The Faces are, nerves slapping at my insides to make me turn around and forget that I ever saw them. I'm attacking myself with my own mind, and my mind is attacking my body in turn. Mental illness is crazy, right? Death by anxiety and whatnot.

But, you know, I'm already here. My job is in purgatory, I'm five steps away from them and Larry has noticed my movement, his head twisting toward me to see who's growing near.

Poor Larry. When he sees me walking toward them, he shakes his head and rubs his eyes like he doesn't believe what he's seeing. He looks at me again, and that's when his eyes start to widen, when his jaw drops. And he doesn't say word, that open mouth just turns into the brightest smile I think I've ever seen.

Seeing his excitement makes my insides flutter about and I feel a little better about actually going over to them. Imagine I get there and they shoo me away? But I can tell that Larry won't. That look on his face screams barely held back hugs.

I gulp, trying to ignore my major cotton mouth. I need water. Or tequila. Something.

I also don't give my brain even a second to psych myself out. When I reach the table, I simply plop myself down beside Ash and act like it's a normal, every day thing for me to do.

All heads turn to me (Larry's never turned away from me to begin with) and then I hear a quiet, uttered, "Fuck" followed by incessant, eardrum bursting squealing in my ear.

Arms. A lot of arms. A ton of squeezing. Lots of kisses all over my mask and face. And all the love makes me think that my sweet Ash had a good reason for not informing me of her visit.

I struggle, but I throw my arms around Ash too, squeezing every little inch of her that I can get. Her sweet, coconut and strawberry scent overwhelms me and I feel so at peace. So calm. Home. Back in Nockfell. Comfortable.

Her hair is in my face and I know she's crying because my bare shoulders are wet, thanks spaghetti strap dress. I don't care though because I'm seeing Ash again much sooner than I imagined I would. I thought it would take us years to have some time together like we did in Las Vegas. And Ash is so emotional, I feel like she's being ripped apart by the sight of me alone-- that's both adrenaline-inducing and terrifying.

This is a nightmare, but a dream come true at the same time. I'm so glad that I was paranoid enough to force myself to tell Mike about the Lexi situation. Things couldn't be any better.

"Ash, fucking let go, man. It's my turn." Larry's voice is right next to me, and then another pair of hands that envelop my waist whole. I'm then yanked out of my best friends arms and spun around to face Larry who hugs me so tight that I have to stand on my tiptoes.

I shut my eyes, grinning as I reach my arms up his back, hugging him the best way I can as he nuzzles his face against my mask. The smell of cigarette smoke and pine trees lingers on his clothes, yet again overwhelming me with familiarity. The smoke is a more recent addition, but he's always had a unique scent to him that's always reminded me of Christmas in a way.

The scruff on his cheeks scratches against my jaw, his skin is warm, his grip tight. I really miss home... and LA is not home. Home is back with all of my friends. I don't want to stay here anymore. I don't want to be where they aren't.

Larry takes a deep breath into my shoulder, likely bathing in my comfort just like I did with him. Then he backs up, holding me at arms length and I look up with tears welling in my eyes no matter how much I wish they weren't there. I hate crying, especially in front of other people, but I'm just so happy. It's like the anxiety I felt while walking over here never existed.

"What the hell are you doing here, Vi!?" Larry exclaims, dragging his hands up my arms to cup my face in his large palms. "I thought you lived in Connecticut?"

I place my hand on top of his, a spark of what I thought was fantastical anxiety rushing through me at the instant fuck up I've just made. Again. Crap. I forgot that Ash told them I live in Connecticut...

"Uh," Ash voices beside us, her tone taking the form of the smartest kid in class who's about to correct a mistake. Todd-coded. "I said she's from Connecticut, not that she still lives there." Good save, Ash. "Word choice is important, Lar! Pay attention!"

Larry's eyes swing between Ash and I before settling on me, stars dancing in his irises. "Wait, so do you live in LA, then?"

I can't help the excited little grin that's slowly climbing onto my face. It's Larry's turn to squeal as he suddenly realizes.

I look back over to Ash, catching Sal's gaze momentarily before I look over at Todd to wave. He waves back at me, a soft and pleased smile on his thin lips.

"So," I say, letting go of Larry whenever he backs away from me. I sit beside Ash again, leaning against her side as she throws an arm around my shoulders. "Why are you guys here?"

Ash hisses, frowning suddenly. I frown back, wary of her reaction. "Crap!" she exclaims, rolling her eyes. "Well, I was going to surprise you and the guys. But I guess you ended up surprising us instead..."

"Oh, so it's not just y/n that we're visiting while we're here? You knew Vi would be here too?" Todd asks, chewing on his bottom lip contemplatively.

Another spark of nervousness. They're here for... fuck, all three sides of me are expected in this situation. This... maybe was not really worth it. I'm erasing all the sides of my corner. Everything's starting to get really small and very tight.

Ash side-eyes me, a discreet little look before she answers Todd. "Yea, but I'm not quite sure where she is in LA. I'm going to have to call her later to get some updates on her whereabouts."

"I could just call her now. I'm super excited to see her, I'm sure she'd love to meet Vi too-- oh, and to tell her why we're here!" Larry says, excitement making him shimmy around in his seat as he pulls out his phone.

My body reacts instantly, tensing up like a cat in shock. Ash jumps too, nearly leaping over the table to stop Larry. "No! She's working!" She yells. It's so loud that you'd think she's trying to flip Larry's phone away from him with sound waves alone. True Stranger Things style.

"Oh...kay..." Larry trails off, pulling his phone closer to him so that Ash can't reach. "It's not that serious. I'll call her later, then. What's your deal?"

I swallow. Her reaction was really too much, but at least she's trying to cover for me. I would've sat there and let Larry call while my phone went off in my pocket.

Ash clears her throat, sitting back now that she threw the scenario into the trash. It was rocky, but her deflection was successful. "I know, just don't bother my girl while she's making money," she says matter-of-factly, holding her head high.

I note the way Sal shakes his head across the table. I haven't acknowledged his presence, nor has he acknowledged mine. It's awkward for the most part, but I think that awkwardness is only stemming from me. He seems to be perfectly in control with his short sleeved, black Iron Maiden shirt that shows off his tatted arms. I guess the LA summer heat was too much for him to wear a hoodie for once.

His electric eyes meet mine, no emotion in the endless depths of his irises. Like he couldn't care less that I'm here, which sounds a lot like him. And still, I fidget in my seat under his gaze. Can't help myself.

The edges of his dagger tattoo peek out from behind his hair, the shape of his Adam's apple clear due to the sun shining in through the window, casting shadows in all the right places. Necklaces are around his neck, some kind of silver chain and and old, really intricate cross necklace hanging right below it. And then his hand comes into view, the one that folded into a fist as a result of my touch just weeks ago in this exact restaurant.

There's something different though as he moves to grab onto the drink in front of him, dragging it closer.

The bottom of his prosthetic lifts as he sips from his straw, but that's when I notice what's different. It's a new tattoo-- Saniderm wrapped around his hand. It looks like... a skeleton hand tattooed onto his own. It's pretty sick and I'm so tired of him having great taste in art. Damn. Now I have a terrible excuse to stare at him some more when I shouldn't look anywhere near him at all.

On the other hand, have I ever mentioned how much of a blessing Michael is?

"Hi, everyone," his cheerful voice effectively distracts me from ogling Sal. I look over to my friend, noting his pink cheeks. Huh. "I'll be taking over as your waiter tonight. Your waitress had to leave," he glances at me as if to tell me that I made a good call by stepping out when I did. That's exactly the moment I realize that we're sitting in my section of the diner. Talk about a close call.

Okay, I should get the hard part over for him right? To thank him. I've got this. "Oh, hey, Mike!" I say, "Long time no see."

Poor Mike looks at me like a deer caught in headlights. "Hey... Vi..." he says quietly. Oh, Michael, please don't crap out on me now... I'm going to have to buy this man a cake for carrying me like this.

I smile at him awkwardly, trying to bypass this horrible excuse of an excuse that he and I are about to do horrible improv for. "So, how's Lexi?" I don't dare look a Sal whenever I say the name, but I do feel a shift in the energy at the table. "It's been weeks since I last saw you guys."

"Lexi doesn't work here anymore," Michael spits out nervously, sweat beginning to build on his forehead. Oh no, don't fucking fumble the bag, Mike!

I give him a look. One that has so many emotions and so many questions, but I just force out a simple, "What?" because what else do I say to that? Things are already beginning to go terribly. But it's okay. I'm a pathological liar at this point, and a catfisher? Maybe? Ha... Cat-FISHER.

I'm going to have a panic attack.

Michael pinches his lips together, red-faced as he glances at Sal. I turn my gaze to Sal too, noticing the way he's eyeing Mike like a hawk.

"Lexi is my girlfriend and she doesn't work here anymore." Michael says, his tone brave and assertive, but his facial expression says an entirely different thing.

Great heavens. Okay, so he's radically screwing everything up but that's okay— I'm a flexible person. He's... doing his best. I can work with this. I hope.

I have this image of him and I duking it out in my head. I have him by the collar, shaking him around like a ragdoll while I scream in his face that he's fucking up the plan. And in my mind he's just taking it because he's playing pure sub right now. I'm not even this submissive-- Michael is straight up breaking the BDSM spectrum.

I shove down my nerves and tilt my head at him. "Okay," I start with, slowly, feeling out what little room I have to work with. "I already knew she was your girlfriend," I say, raising my eyebrows even though he can't see. Saying this feels less incriminating for some reason. But I notice Sal snap his head down to the table. I almost feel bad. "But why doesn't she work here anymore?"

Michael looks off to the side, tapping his fingers against the menus in his arms. "Um, she's... she is..." I narrow my eyes at him. He's not even answering the question. I try to communicate with him through eye contact, bellowing at him to not. Fumble. The. Bag.

He gapes at me like a fish, our intense eye contact freaking him out even more. I sigh to myself. He fumbled whatever bag I'm going on about before he even got to our table.

He finally finds his voice after a second and says, "Lexi is working. At a... sperm... bank."

It takes every little inch of my being not to burst into tears. Holy hell. If anything I'm glad he fucked this up because the sperm bank excuse is hilarious no matter how you look at it. Even better is that it's so ridiculous and random that it's going to distract the entire table from the way he's royally screwing up this conversation.

Ash snorts beside me. Larry chokes on his coke. Todd is silent and so is Sal. Maybe the sperm bank thing will officially scare Sal away from Lexi. Yea-- this could work.

"That's a unique job," I struggle to push out, my voice wavering despite trying to forget what Mike just said. But it's hovering in my mind, like old memes from Vine that still make me cackle to this day. I really wish someone would have caught this entire interaction on video.

Michael glances to Sal again. And that's when I turn to find that the bluenette is glaring at my coworker with his arms crossed over his chest, a dangerous glint in his pretty eyes. Wow. That's a scary look, one that he hasn't even pulled out on me yet.

Mike is gaping again, trying to get words to, you know, word. I try to help him by saying, "I hope she likes it there! That's a big deal." But the words don't register in his mind. I can tell by the look of terror on his face, his gaze still glued to Sally.

My friend takes another second to gather himself, and right as a syllable leaves his lips-- one that he used his one working brain cell to come up with-- Sal interrupts him. He took perfect advantage of Mike's vulnerability.

"I'm not sorry for flirting with your girlfriend."

My eyes squeeze shut as butterflies slap at the lining of my intestines. This is ridiculous and I shouldn't feel flattered. I tilt my head down for a moment, trying to gather my wits. I figured out everything for Michael and I, but I didn't take Sal's response into account. I didn't think he'd have a response to begin with. I never would have thought he'd come up with this either.

"We'll, um," I say hoarsely, clearing my throat to regain my voice, but my heart is flitting about with excitement. I wish Sal never would have spoken. I look up at Mike, sending him a dismissive smile. "We'll order in a little bit. I'm still not sure about what I want. Thanks, Mike."

I've never seen someone scurry away so quickly before in my life.

"Is Lexi the chick you were trying to see over here?" Larry asks as soon as Michael's gone. I bite down on the inside of my cheek, watching as Sal glares at his step-brother. Yikes...

"I'm gonna head to the bathroom," I say, scooting out of the booth before anyone can stop me. I need to not be here right now. Ash is quick to stand up behind me, grabbing onto my hand. I turn, fearful that she's going to stop me, but she just smiles and juts her head forward, signaling me to keep walking.

I hope she doesn't ask me about Lexi. You couldn't even beat this information out of my dead body.

Ash and I take a singular step toward the bathroom, only to get stopped by my least favorite customer. I just want to die at this point. The stress is not worth anything. Not at all.

I've said before that many of the men that come into the diner are assholes of the patriarchy, the ones that tell me to stop talking and make them a sandwich, or comment about women's bodies. The shit that ticks me off beyond belief.

This man in particular smells like mildew and three years of straight sleep and bad breath. He's also not a looker, mind you. And then he's an asshole on top of it? I hate when my boss sends me to his table.

Even worse is watching him eye me after calling out to Ash and I with the words, "How much do you charge?"

My eyes narrow and the boys go quiet behind us. We're close enough for them to hear, especially for Ophelia to hear behind the bar.

She glances up at me, cleaning a glass and frowning.

I look back at the man. I never bothered remembering his name. "Excuse me, sir?" I ask, confused. I don't want to converse with this dickface.

"You're dressed like a whore so you gotta be selling yourself right?" he continues, a humorless chuckle following the grubby words.

I open my mouth then snap it shut, heat taking over my body. I'm embarrassed, really insecure about myself now, and pissed off. He thinks he can just say shit like this to anyone? What a pathetic joke.

Usually I can't do anything about this man since I'm the one serving him, but he doesn't know who I am and I'm not working at the moment. I can reign whatever hell that I want.

But I'm also exceptionally tired. Tired of this horrible job and little pay. Tired of holding up some persona that's already beginning to crash around me. Just tired.

"I'd rather look like a supposed whore than look like I just stepped out of the dumpster, sir. Have a day," I say dismissively. I don't have time for him and I've said my piece. If I go on any further, I'll get kicked out anyway and I've already given my coworkers enough trouble today.

'Have a day' is my favorite thing to say to customers who piss me off because they don't know if I forgot the 'good' or purposefully left it out. It's ominous and vaguely threatening.

Ash and I go to the bathroom and we don't stay there long. Neither of us talk. She just waits for me, like she knew I needed space but that I also needed her companionship. Just a moment away from the mess. Silence. Which is so much more than appreciated, I can't even begin to explain how much I adore my best friend.

She watches me wash my hands through the mirror, her arms crossed over her chest and a content smile on her lips. As we start to walk out, she says, "I'm not sure how long you'll be able to keep up the lie about y/n." and she's right. I'm going to face a dead end soon here. "You're obligated to have a sleepover with me tonight so we can come up with a plan, and so you can answer some major questions I have about you right now. My spidey senses are tingling super hard."

Her hand rubs my back and I nod, smiling thankfully at her. Of course she has questions. My entire presence here is questionable right now.

We resurface next to the bar, but looking up at where our booth is shows that it's empty. I'm about to voice my confusion to Ash, but then I notice Lia running around the bar to get to us.

My eyebrows scrunch together as my coworker stops in front of me, eyes on Ash before they focus on me. She mulls over her thoughts for a moment, gaping just like her boyfriend does. Did the boys do something bad?

"We had to... We kicked Sally Face out," is what she says, shocking both me and Ash.

"What?" Ash asks, startled. "What happened?"

Ophelia blinks at Ash, cheeks turning a light shade of pink. "He, uh, he walked up to that... that guy at the bar. Kicked his stool out from underneath him. Then he asked me for a drink. Malibu and pineapple."

Ash sighs and I blink at Lia. I don't even know what to think. Did Sal do that for me? And to ask for my favorite drink on top of that...

No. It's impossible. There's no way he would. He just did it for the sake of feminism. That feminism that is nonexistent when it comes to me. Yea, he definitely didn't do that to avenge me. And he was probably just in the mood for alcohol and pineapple juice right? He could never remember the one drink I ever brought up around him. There's no way.

"Sal doesn't even drink all that much," Ash hisses. "What the hell is he doing?" She bites down on her thumb nail, free hand on her hip.

I swallow down all the emotions building up in me. There are so many that I don't even know how to distinguish a single one right now. This is too much. This entire day is too much.

"Okay," I whisper to myself. "Thanks, Lia," I say gratefully. "And thank Mike for me, too, please. I'm going to get everyone out of here before-- yea." I nod to myself, but it isn't very reassuring.

Lia grabs my hand. "We didn't call the police because that asshole had it coming, but someone else might have. It's better to go now."

I nod again, taking yet another deep breath before guiding Ash to the front doors of the diner. The boys are standing right outside, no doubt waiting for Ash and I.

I feel very similar to the way I did when Sal ended our shit-uationship. I'm so confused and so hopeless, but hopeful. So pained, but relieved. I don't know how to handle the way I feel. I can't work myself out of this awful situation now because he's here. He's here and his hair is billowing softly in the wind, showing off his tattooed neck. And a cigarette is between his index and middle finger as he looks out at the jam-packed street. And then his boot is stomping out the butt of his cigarette on the ground.

The nail in the coffin is when he bends over to pick up the cigarette butt and throw it into the trashcan right outside the diner. He would be perfect if he wasn't such an emotionless prick.

I want to cry. I want to feel him again. I want to shoot him with a paintball gun one more time. I want to run my fingers over all his tattoos. I want him to shiver in fear and pleasure because of me. I hate him so much that it's become obsessive.

I lick my lips as I come to a top in front of my friends, more notably, right in front of Sal.

He turns away from the trashcan behind him, his shoulder-length hair following his movements. When he notices me, he stops and stares disinterestedly. The action is so forced though that it feels like it's hiding something else. Like he doesn't want me to know what he just did in the diner.

I watch him. My eye contact is a threat, a warning, a question, begging. Everything, I try to show him through my gaze.

And then I nod at him subtly despite myself. Even if it wasn't for me, he put that guy in his place and I think that's something to appreciate. But at the end of the day, he still left me upset and he's an asshole so I can't find it in myself to physically tell him thank you. The nod will do.

I turn my attention to the rest of The Faces. "I can make brunch in my apartment if that works with y'all?"

And that's how I've made another mistake today. That's why The Faces are walking down the streets of Los Angeles, my apartment just two buildings away.

There's so much wrong with this decision I've made. I should have never invited them over. What if dad is home? He shouldn't be-- but still. There's so much that could go wrong.

But the walk is going disturbingly well. Ash and Larry ooh and ahh at the streets of Los Angeles— which are normal to me. But I understand the charm too. I was very fond of LA when I first came here.

We walk into my apartment building, everyone speaking a little quieter as we traipse through Lobby. I don't speak, I just listen. And I take it that Todd and Sal are doing the same.

My apartment building is nothing special. It's boring, it's the lowest end of mainstream you can get. It's like a 90's apartment in Manhattan, but make it modern and LA. To put it short, it's the cheapest Dad and I could find here.

Having The Faces step into my territory feels like a time bomb ticking down the last few seconds. It's scary, and it puts me in a vulnerable position. I don't have much of a choice— I'm the one who thought of this idea. And I feel like I owe it to my friends to make them something to eat after they got kicked out of the diner. Not that it was my fault, but it was my customer's fault. I feel guilty for some unreasonable reason.

There's always risk though, and I run through my list of said risks as we take the elevator to my apartment. Being in someone's living space is daring, considering that family stuff is all around. Photos on the wall, artwork with family name's on them, doctor appointments and reminders on the refrigerator. Everything is risky, risky, risky.

Lucky for me, dad and I still haven't quite settled in yet. It's been a year, but we're also both constantly moving around. Dad is in hotels for weeks on end and I work most days. We unloaded and fixed our necessities, but other than that, our walls are bare and nothing of note is on our refrigerator. I should be fine.

We finally empty out into the hallway that leads to my apartment and I have to swallow down the anxiety rushing through me. Nothing has gone wrong and I can only hope that the last leg of this walk will go well for me. I just want one thing to go right today, just one. That's all I'm asking.

I get to my door, I shakily slide my key into the lock, and I open it and let all my friends in, watching their eyes bounce around the living room. I nearly slam the door shut once everyone is safe and inside.

I got my wish. Thank you to whoever granted me a little bit of peace on this unfortunate day.

"You need to get a new carpet."

It's the second time I've heard him speak today. The raspy, monotonous, alto tone of his makes me pause. He wasn't insulting, the way he said that was just commentary. But his voice alone feels like a declaration of war and all the panic and fear I've been enduring for the past— what? Half hour?— is replaced with some kind of desirous agony. Like I've been waiting for him to just... just speak.

"You have a problem with everything, don't you?" I respond, my voice biting into the stale air of my living room. I should've simply asked why he felt that way, but I have reasons. For example, the shit I've put up with today has me on edge. Another reason is Sal bombarding me on all ends without him even realizing it, then being so tense with all these horrible decisions I'm making. I'm really itching for a fight right now and I know I can get it from him. I can practically feel my eyes dilating with the excitement that's ransacking my body at the mere prospect of an argument.

Sal's head turns over his shoulders, body somewhat rigid. One hand in his pocket, the other with the fresh tattoo resting at his side. His eyes are narrowed, scrutinizing me and no doubt wondering who the hell I think I am.

"There's a giant fucking stain on your black carpet," he snaps, gesturing his tatted hand at the light green splatter that dad fussed me for weeks ago. That time I was watching The Faces' Youtube video and spilled my damn mint chocolate chip ice cream. When this entire thing between Sal and I was started. Because he had to go and judge me without getting to know me first. "Be happy I even mentioned it," he mutters, tone clipped.

"You think I didn't notice?" I laugh humorlessly. I wasn't lying when I said he has a problem with everything. Seriously— he just stepped foot into my home and has something negative to say about it. "And why don't you guess who's fault it is that the carpet is stained, huh?" The words rush past my lips, all hardly held back fury and expectation for the worst.

Sal tilts his head in a way that begs me to try him again, then turns his entire body to me. He shuts his eyes and holds up a hand, pausing before saying, "It surely isn't my fault if that's what you're implying." He even adds a snort at the end.

"Actually," I say cheerily, chin up and head high because it's quite literally all his fault that I dropped my ice cream whenever I heard him talking about me all those weeks ago. "Yea it is. I was sitting right there," I point to the edge of the sofa nearest the stained part of the carpet. "While listening—"

I feel like I've been punched in the stomach, and I did it to myself. Again.

How could I be so stupid? Here I am, openly and happily about to expose my true identity just to make a point. Just to be right. To win. To gain some catharsis from a meaningless argument.

I snap my mouth shut, swallowing over the relentless pounding of my heart. I blink at Sal who's waiting expectantly for me to finish what I was saying. What do I say? How do I save myself?

My palms sweat, my legs quake. Oh, this is so bad. Is this my real downfall? Is this where I break? It's going to happen. I'm going to pass out or have a psychotic break. Maybe I'm going insane— maybe I've been clinically insane for weeks now. At least I could plead not guilty at my murder trial. I've had a lot of murder on my mind today, haven't I?

But there's a knock at the door and bless the heart of whoever is about to punch my door hinges off. Any other situation and I'd be losing my mind over someone knocking so hard, but my savior is behind this hunk of wood.

I let out a shaky breath and tilt my head downwards, pretending like I'm too fed up to continue my argument. It's perfect. The best excuse.

But Sal's eyes burn into me, the scrutinizing, heavy blue trapping me in my own guilt. A narrow waterway hidden behind the confines of his prosthetic, haunting me day and apparently at night too. I find myself stuck, my gaze piercing his and waiting for something that will never come. I don't even know what that something is.

"Never mind," I grunt, spinning on my heels and taking a singular step toward my door.

I twist the knob, relieved by the silence behind me. No one cares enough to ask what that was about. I escaped... somehow.

And then I swing the door open, gaze up at the last person I expected to see, hear a resounding and excited, "Bitch!" and intellectually (smartest decision I've ever made) slam the door back in their face.

Oh no. Oh no, oh fuck.

I forgot.

____________

A/N:::::: 50K is such a dream come true and i really wish i could find more words to explain how excited and whole i feel. when i first started writing at 13, i was also reading on wattpad and fanfiction.com. I saw all these writers getting so many views and comments about their works, and i wondered if that would be me some day. i worked hard for the first couple years of my writing career and my only reader was my lovely sister (thank you amititty) and i realized that i needed to do something different. i started practicing more, and then i got into fanfiction rather than just fiction. and that's when something changed. i'll never forget the day when maybe today got 1k views-- i cried and wept like a baby for HOURS because it meant the entire world to me. little 18 year old ryver had no fucking clue that we'd get this far. that 1k on my trial book would turn into 50k on the next. i'm in tears typing this right now, in disbelief. every single one of you are my reason for writing, for brainstorming, for getting through my day... i consider you guys in everything i do. all the love in this world-- every ounce of affection, of adoration, of admiration-- does not compare to how special all of you are to me. you are all so dear to me, my friends and penpals that keep me going and remind me that the world isn't all bad, that not everyone is bad. so thank you for following me down this road and i hope we can continue like this. i wish we could all stay this way forever! but maybe, just maybe, i'll get to sign published copies of my books for you guys someday. get to follow through on my dream to hug all of you. there's never a way to tell what the future holds, but i believe it's pretty bright. thank you. i love you all with all the working neurons in my brain and numerous blood cells in my body <333

so about this chapter-- i have been looking forward to it since the very first chapter of this story. a lot of things have changed since then, including the chapter, but i still think the contents are a nice surprise and fucking HILARIOUS >.< i just hope you guys like it too! it was kind of hard to get out because i had all these ideas and images and feelings that i desperately needed to portray perfectly, but some things are just unable to be captured by words. my goal was to get as much as i was feeling onto paper (or computer?), so i hope you guys feel all the fear, desperation, and admiration going on! i deleted, retyped, and deleted again so many scenes and parts of this. and jesus christ this is an exceptionally long author's note MY BAD

anyway, as always, you guys own my heart and i love you to infinity and beyond!! i'll link pictures of y/n's red dress and sal's tattoo below <3

p.s. i have an announcement coming soon! nothing big, but i am trying something new so stay turned :3

#sal fisher #sally face #larry johnson #ash campbell #todd morrison #travis phelps #enemies to lovers #sally face fandom #sally face fanfiction #fanfic

[taggedmemes]

SENTENCE MEME THE WOMBATS / FIX YOURSELF, NOT THE WORLD

spare me the drone of your conversation.

spare me my lack of sophistication.

i don't wanna sit around and just get high.

i'm all dressed up.

you walk in the room and my tongue gets tied.

it's such a heavenly sight.

i just hope i don't ruin this.

i just hope i don't ruin this, getting too fucked up to remember this.

you flip me upside down.

you take me out of my head.

i'm kind of getting into it.

you pull me out of my lows.

let's see where this shit goes.

i can't recall all the things you said.

i'm feeling pretty good about the two of us.

i've got a couple secrets.

dwelling on the past just kills the vibe.

one last slide down the rabbit hole.

there's still no room in paradise.

the kids aren't wrong.

i'm looking for a spark in the heart.

you can drag the years behind you, or you can let them go.

i see a tunnel at the end of the light.

i'm always a mess come the end of the night.

i'm forever locking myself in the glass of your rearview.

if you ever leave, i'm coming with you.

you know i'll do whatever you want me to.

i'll get out of bed.

i'm your reluctant optimist.

i'm stuck to the gum that's stuck on your shoe.

am i losing you in the dark?

no more breaking stuff.

no more acting up.

you only ever catch me out.

if you ever leave me, i'm coming with you.

you can scream like a banshee and still nothing comes.

i am ready for the high.

nothing works worse than the weekend fix.

i'm ready for the high life.

a kiss without a fist fight.

a bang without the dynamite.

i always think in extremes.

i should be pulling you close to me.

maybe generation x are the chosen ones.

they've got everything they need beneath their aching thumbs.

underneath the low there's a lower part.

no hotel guaranteed.

a professional learns from all their rookie moves.

there must be some method to the madness.

just one more smile and then i'll go.

this could be a holiday or an intersection where two roads fuse.

stop. i don't need to know.

fuck my sadness.

fuck our options.

fuck the life plan.

no more worry, i've killed it with both hands.

just give me something to light the fuse.

she was dreaming of her big break.

she constructed the right attitude.

the universe has got plans.

competition can dry you up.

people don't change people, time does.

we're all trying to get better.

we've all had quite enough of this pleasant displeasure.

i'd love to help you out.

i'd love to get us off this swing, this roundabout.

today i had a big idea.

there's no room for mistakes out here.

everybody wants to be the man.

everything i love is going to die.

keep your big mouth shut.

stop wasting my time.

icarus was my best friend.

i'm going to make him proud in the end.

there's no experimenting here.

no threesomes like we talked about when we were blacking out.

what a crazy pranged out year.

we spent most of it kissing teeth.

the moment starts to pass.

i start reverting back.

sell my spine to save my neck.

i'm starting to forget.

howl into the void again.

why don't you chop my tongue out and put my insides inside a jar.

you shake me up, you shake me down.

work's easy, but life's getting hard.

you don't speak for me.

could use some peer pressure.

you're so well put together.

tell me, sugar.

is there something i need to know?

pull the trigger.

pull me back from the edge.

pull me out of my head.

she is wildfire.

i could live in here forever.

let's find a drug to fix me.

guess i'm always blinded by the emperor's new clothes.

there's always something lurking down the rabbit hole.

in the back of your mind there's a crosshair.

don't wanna cause any trouble.

don't wanna poke the bear in the zoo.

drama becomes elastic then snaps back into place.

i saw your temperament running out the gate.

don't wanna stand in your way.

i'm pretty much worried about everything.

i worry that i'm worrying so much.

i worry too much.

multiples of three keep me warm, keep me stable.

superstition's a wasp at your picnic.

i'll say it again but without feeling.

i'll get what i think if i keep on thinking.

it's not paranoia if it's really there.

i'm not sure how much milk is enough milk.

bang my head against a wall.

i let the smallest of things ruin my day.

i'm the voicemail that you coulda shoulda checked sooner.

i'm the only obstruction in the way.

i don't wanna lose myself in someone else's game.

#roleplay meme #sentence meme #rp meme #sentence starters #rp sentence meme #sentence prompts

[rorywritesjunk]

Some point Thistle will stop climbing trees since she always gets herself stuck. Only difference today was the dumb boy from Whitebeard's crew who watched it happen.

~

"So, you're Roger's pet cat that I've heard about."

Sis bristled as she looked back at the boy standing behind her, a stupid grin on his face as she stretched her arms up to grab a tree branch. Rayleigh told her not to climb any trees this time as the Captains were meeting and the crew would be busy so there would be no one to help. Buggy and Shanks were exploring the island with some of the crew but Sis decided to stay back.

She didn't give him an answer, instead turning her attention back to the tree. This one would be fine to climb. The branches looked strong, close enough together to make it easy to get up and down.

"So do you put your hair up like cat ears every morning?"

Rolling her eyes, she hopped up and grabbed the lowest branch, letting her body hang for a moment before she hoisted herself up. This would be easy.

"Didn't I hear that first mate tell you not to do this?"

"Do you like the sound of your own voice?" Sis finally asked as she climbed up the tree, wanting to find the perfect branch to sit on.

"Kinda, but I like the sound of yours better." He grinned. "I'm Marco."

Sis paused for a moment in her climbing, turning back to look at him. What was his deal? This was a distraction. Shaking her head, she resumed climbing, choosing to ignore the dumb boy, but it didn't seem to work because he moved under the tree, looking up at her, still grinning.

"What's your name?" He called up to her.

"You're distracting me!" She shot back as she grabbed a brittle branch; it snapped under her grasp and she scrambled to grab another one for balance. "What do you want?!"

"Careful up there!"

She grumbled and finally got to the branch she wanted, getting herself comfortable on it and leaning against the trunk for support before grabbing a snack out of her bag. The boy was still down there, though no longer talking to her but someone else. Frowning, Sis leaned forward and looked down. Oh, her brother was back and Rayleigh was there too. Marco seemed to shrug when Rayleigh asked a question and the first mate walked away. Buggy lingered for a moment before he left as well.

She frowned, wondering what that was about, but she suddenly dropped her snack. She watched it fall, eyes widening slowly as it seemed to take forever to land on the ground. Oh, she... She was pretty high up, wasn't she?

"Um..." How was she going to get down? Usually Rayleigh or someone else went up to help her but the dumb boy sent him away. What was she going to do?

"You good up there, Sis?" He called up. "You lost your snack."

"I'm fine!" She hoped her voice didn't crack as much as it seemed. She was frozen in her spot, grabbing onto whatever she could touch to keep her from falling down. Dammit, why did she climb up so high?

"Yea?"

"Yea..." She cleared her throat. "I'm stuck. Where's Rayleigh? I need him."

"Oh, he left." Marco told her. "He said you better not be climbing trees because otherwise he was going to leave you up there if you got stuck." He grinned. "I told him you weren't here, so he went to find you."

"W-Why did you say that?!" She shrieked at him. "I'm stuck! I can't get down!"

Marco shrugged. "Jump down and I'll catch you."

Did he really just suggest that? She was up so high, higher than any mountains, and he is suggesting she put his faith in him and jump down from the trees?

"Are you mad?!"

"Probably." He chuckled as he held his arms out. "Now jump down. I promise I'll catch you."

Sis considered this for a moment. "You're on Whitebeard's crew. You could just let me get hurt."

"I could, but I think you're kinda cute, so why would I do that?" Marco asked.

"Do... You promise to catch me?" Sis asked as the branch creaked and groaned under her. Oh, shit, was this one going to suddenly break under her?

"Of course!" A pause. "Besides, don't cats land on their feet?"

She huffed in annoyance, considering her options. There was no way to get down. She had to put her trust in this dumb boy. There was no one else around and knowing Rayleigh, if he said he'd leave her up there then he would. She'd be stuck up there until the next morning.

"Look, just grab the branch, let your body hang down, then let go." Marco told her. "You got a straight shot down to me and I won't let you hit the ground."

"F-Fine, but if you don't catch me then I'm gonna kill you!"

"Sounds fair."

Sis tried to keep a hold on the branch as she followed his instructions. There weren't too many branches on the way down so she shouldn't get snagged. Swallowing heavily, she gripped the branch and let her body swing down to hang for a few moments. The branch made a few noises as it held her.

"You're okay, just let go."

Cursing Rayleigh, the dumb boy, and herself, Sis let go of the branch. It should have felt like forever but instead she fell fast; he kept his word and caught her.

"See? Don't have to kill me." He grinned. "Told you I'd catch ya."

"Sh-Shush!" She squeaked. He set her down on her feet but she didn't budge, slumping against him as she tried to steady herself. "I could have died!"

"I wouldn't have let that happen." He grinned. "Now, do I get a reward for rescuing ya?"

"Not punching you in the face, how about that?"

"Oh, I was hoping for a date."

Sis just stared at him as her cheeks turned a shade of pink. "I'm sorry, a date?"

"Yea! How about it?" Marco chuckled. "It won't be a fancy restaurant or anything since we're all on this island, but we can make it work!"

She stared at him in disbelief, wondering if there was a way to kill him and hide his body so his crew could never find him. Did he really just ask her that after she fell out of a tree? She took a step back from him.

"How about it?"

Then again, he did help her, even if he was a big distraction. She had heard of dates, of the crew bringing them up as things to do and that maybe some day she could go on one (if the crew approved of the suitor, of course). She just never thought she'd have the opportunity to go on one.

"When?" Sis asked. Marco just shrugged, still grinning at her.

"How about tonight?"

She frowned. Maybe she could just do one dumb date with this boy. One date only and she would never see his dumb face again.

"Fine, one date."

"Great! I'll come find you in a few hours then." Marco raised his hand up and gave a wave. "Later!"

Sis waved back, her brain trying to process that oh, someone actually asked her out on a date and he was from a rival crew. Maybe that was okay.

#mini fic #buggy's older sister #marco x sis #thistle x marco #marco the Phoenix x oc

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

I am sorry I am going to disagree on a couple of these.

First, it was normal for pjms to be upset about jimin not winning. I saw them calling out that k account for misguiding k army. I don't understand how calling out fans for not voting = hating on jk winning. It would have been best to ignore them and let them deal with it, instead of constantly quoting them or replying to them with "You'll jealous jk won", or "you'll hate jk won" or whatever. No, cause what do people think the response from them would be?

Secondly, why are jikookers always in pjms' business but snoozing when jjks were tagging military accounts? Didn't see any of talk against it.

Everytime pjms or anyone in the fandom says "jm didn't get xyz" and others are like oh that's jk shade, ur hating jk, u hate jk's success or whatever. Can't even talk about jimin not getting something coz apparently now that's hating jk. I am so tired of jikookers and jjks.

Can we not twist everything into hating jk. This constant inserting of jk and victimizing him is getting annoying.

Do you want to know how I see it? I think both the previous anon that I posted and you (and a bunch of similar asks that I got in the meantime) are both right. What is impossible - because of the current climate and how a fandom works - it's more difficult to see it. For now, being in the middle of it, is about taking sides. It's a ongoing fight that sees no end and fans need to choose.

What you and the other anon are doing is simply expressing your views on the situation, which are determined by the online spaces which you inhabit. And again, you're both right. I'm not trying to say there's no factual reality here and each group/person is building its own (although we do that to some degree, but it's not about that), but that the things we see on our timeline shape our perception.

If I say that it shouldn't be a competition when it comes to bullying, harassment and hate towards an artist, I'd be reminded that Jimin has it worst (trust me, I know all about it). If I do take Jimin's fans side and how they see it, then someone will come and tell me that they are saying awful things about Jungkook as well. And when it comes to shippers, in this case jikookers, they'll take a side depending on who is their actual bias or choose the easiest route if they consider themselves army. Now, where does that lead us? Nowhere, because we'd be stuck in a loop.

From where I'm sitting, it looks like everything that is happening today is the result of the mentality bred by a fandom that operates like a cult and influenced by label propaganda. BTS is seven and all are treated equal brainwashed the fans in the first stage, which was the perfect recipe for solo fans as they know it is impossible. We all do. Army is following company narrative, as always. If the main goal was for the last 6 months to focus most of their attention on the Golden project, then army will follow. They will always follow. Of course they listened to that account who tells them how to vote. Of course they listen each time an army uses the solo narrative excuse. I mean, aren't we all tired of the same 20 words used in this fandom in different variations? It is a limited vocabulary, used by armys, solos, shippers and what like. It amounts to nonsense and nothing because of it and no one listens to one another. It's complete madness. And they all talk shit and they threat these guys in the most horrible ways when ultimately, I believe that at least in some capacity, that behavior is the result of how this fandom came to be in the first place and how the company has it in its grip.

#m thoughts #bts army #pjms #jjks #bts #hybe #bighit #bts fandom #I allowed both perspectives and shared my thoughts on each #I hope this is clear enough #i won't let this transform into a forum anyway #and let's put it to rest

[bellybiologist]

Don't Mind me. Reminiscing~

Really fucking enjoying the Super Mario RPG remake, and it's really making me think about to how influential it truly was.

I lived in Maryland and was 6 years old when I first played Super Mario RPG for the SNES. My parents rented it for me from fucking Blockbuster.

See, I didn't know how to read at the time, and my parents picked it up because they were like "hey, this is a Mario Game," recognizing it because both have played and are familiar with arcade stuff. My late mother LOVED tetris, atari games, galaga, etc and i remembered fondly when I was age ~3-4 where I played co-op Ms. Pacman with her on our Sega Genesis. And I spent those ages playing Sonic the Hedgehog games and the Gameboy Donkey Kong on this:

However, JRPGs werent really a thing anyone except my uncle played at the time. But yes, my unable-to-read ass played this game and didnt know what the fuck was going on. The game had an approx. 75% complete file on it already (People didnt always erase their files on rented games), and i just fucked around on that. Didnt know what i was doing, BUT Super Mario Rpg was a very easy game and baby trans-girl verzi was 10000% enamored with ANY game that allowed The Princess to be a playable, and BOWSER too???? holy shit!! UNprecedented. WHY WAS HE A GOOD GUY??? IDK who the fluffy guy is, but I fell in love with the Cool Blue Dude Too. He had lasers and made Cool Rainbow Beams Smash down from the sky.

But alas, we only kept it for a couple days, and my dad returned it. I had him re-rent it later, but!! it was a different copy!!! It had NO save files, so I was forced to do a new one.

Needless to say, I had a rough time. I had to guess which decisions were the right ones cuz Couldn't Read, so i got stuck in Toad's explanation loop for a while. and my inability to reliably get the action commands meant I kept getting killed by THIS fucker.

Alas, I never got past the first area, and baby verzi was MAD cuz i wanted to use the PRINCESS and throw BOMBS at people with her. So!!! Baby Verzi used this drive to learn how to fucking READ. She asked her parents to buy this game (and they did) and she learned her reading, finally learning how to PLAY THIS GAME. With newfound Literacy, I was able to figure who Mallow was, and learned that Geno was a Cool Star Dude possessing a Doll which was incredibly rad to me at the time. His intro scene is burned in my brain, and seeing it in 3d today was incredible. I've beaten this game so many times that I know exactly what's happening when and where.

It really set the bar for me when it came to JRPGs, since it was legit my first one. My 2nd ever JRPG, Breath of Fire also for the SNES, had me baffled cuz why COULDNT I do more damage if I timed my attacks??? wtf. (Love that series too. BoF4 was also another Formative Verzi Game).

This game meant/means a lot to me and I'm a sucker for any media that referenced it, or built off of the groundwork it set (like the paper mario and Mario&Luigi games, and hell, Sea of Stars!!! It has!!! SO MANY MARIO RPG REFERENCES). So I just wanted to ramble a bit as I dug up memories, as we old folks are won't to do.~

#verzi rambles

[moregraceful]

sincerepostin about friendship under the cut, which i'm only cutting bc it's long as shit

found myself going aw man i didn't do anything today :/ tonight and had to remind myself that actually i got bloodwork done and went to class and! picked up bunny from the airport to take her to bex's house. and then i was thinking abt how isn't helping a friend the most productive action we can take. AND THEN (bear with me, i'm getting to the point), i was thinking abt how a couple years ago i was feeling really stuck in a rut with my offline friendships bc a lot of my close childhood friends were moving and another offline friend group had completely imploded in a really miserable way. and then a bunch of my offline friends all started telling me i needed to get out there and make more friends.

but i was working full time at a job i hated with a two hour commute every day and the last thing i wanted to do after work was go out and socialize with new people in a space where i had to watch my behavior and not be unhinged on main. i just did not have the energy to face performing a certain kind of self when i was pissed off about work and mad abt bay area traffic. i really just wanted to post dumb shit to uncoil my brain from being stressed out all day. so i said ok, if i don't have the energy to go to bars or social clubs, i'm gonna make an effort with my online friendships. i'm gonna try to talk to people more and i'm going to try to open conversations with strangers and i'm going to try to stay awake and engaged with my existing online friendships and not just take it for granted that we will always find each other.

and that was hard! bc it doesn't come easily to me! i have a lot of social anxiety in every space! (but kasper, i hear u say, you literally work a job where you have interact with new people every day. YES but that's a performance. a worksona.) but like i tried and kept trying and i did start cultivating new online friendships and nourishing old ones and this whole year has just been example after example of like. i have more online friends! and some of those online friends are now offline friends bc they're local! some of those online friends visit me regularly! i have casual acquaintances and close friends of the online and offline and online-offline variety and my life IS more enriched by all of that! in some ways it's even making me a better friend to friends i've known for a long time who are not terminally online! (not in all ways, to be honest. but in some ways. i've gotten better at thinking, ok, maybe i need to talk to this person and see if we can go to a baseball game or make dinner bc we haven't seen each other in a while. and it's not embarrassing if it's bc i miss them.)

it's still like. EXCRUCIATINGLY hard to start a conversation with a stranger in literally any online or offline space for me outside of my jobs, but it's gotten a lot easier than it used to be. i'm a lot less afraid of trying, in both online and offline spaces. like what is the worst that can happen, someone doesn't respond to a message? someone at a hockey game thinks i'm cringe? how does that make my life worse in any meaningful way, people are allowed to draw boundaries in what they engage with online and i AM cringe. it's gotten easier and life is way less of a chore these days.

like very wonderfully the baby goat guy WAS right, we MUST engage in the mortifying ordeal of being known, but the mortifying ordeal of known isn't always getting blasted for being vulnerable, sometimes the mortifying ordeal is just going, ok, time to try. and then trying

friendship ✨

#fresno oilers.txt #spiritually this is a livejournal post except i wasn't old enough to have this much self-awareness when i was livejournal poster

[sibyl-of-space]

It's almost midnight I spent literally my entire day working on ghost trick romhacking and I feel like I have Nothing to show for it. I fixed the approach issues from last time and spent So Many Hours painstakingly testing the chapter.xml.lz file and I am now 900% more knowledgeable about that file's structure than I was before, I know exactly which hex codes to edit to make it try to load a different stage than the one it's supposed to (in fact there are two different ways I can do this that have slightly different results and one of them sometimes causes crashes), but some things are breaking in ways that I simply cannot explain. And unfortunately everything that I did successfully learn has inevitably brought me to the conclusion: the data that I want is not here. I can change everything that there is in the code to change about a particular chapter, and it does not appear to impact how the progression for that chapter is loaded. It impacts everything else but that. I think that the progression data might just be pulled from a save file.

(on the plus side, I did SO much testing of the chapter file that I could probably publish a document on it, which I might do eventually. I spent literally an entire day on it so even though it's useless for my purposes I might as well put that out there.)

I am running out of places in this entire game's code for the data I'm looking for to be. Where the fuck is it. This shit is going to drive me insane.

I do think, however, that there is a good chance these last two Things may be considered part of the UI and not rendered at all like normal talk sprites despite looking the same. I have many reasons for thinking this.

- still present when the text files associated with them are removed (for all other talksprites in the game, the text and the sprite are defined at the same time in the same place)

- so far, basically none of the changes that I've made have impacted the overall game UI, so if this is a UI thing that would explain why I haven't found where it's modified yet

- one of the remaining sprites is animated which is not true for any other talksprite in the game so it's not hard to imagine that even though it looks like a talksprite, in terms of implementation it might look very different

- one thing I've been testing for the database and system files is replacing the English ones with French ones just to see what gets translated in the game when I do that. And I haven't found where the UI gets translated yet. This translates database entries and text bubbles but it does not translate the text on buttons, the menu categories, and such - if I can figure out what file translates those UI elements maybe I can figure out this final extremely infuriating piece of the puzzle I've been stuck on for so much longer than I have wanted to be.

There were at least four different things I tried today that I was like "this might legitimately solve the problem and if it does I'm going to be mad (because it's something I overlooked early on) but at least it'll be done"... and then none of those things panned out. I hate romhacking never let anyone tell you that it's a fun hobby they're lying

#leo tries modding ghost trick #just had an ADHD moment today where I was like I'm going to just spend my entire day doing nothing but this in super mega focus mode #which is great when that pans out and it sucks when it doesn't

[purrincess-chat]

I really cannot understand this fandom. One half of it has been complaining about Adrien's "just a friend” thing for 7 years, while the other half has been proving that friendship and platonic relationships are in no way worse than romance. But somehow this all has flown out of the window as soon as we got romantic pre-reveal Adrienette and platonic Ladynoir.

It's become increasingly obvious to me that some people in this fandom never truly understood the love square. The outrage I've seen operates as if they are separate people, but they're not. The "true selves" mindset is still a bullshit way to make one side seem better than all the rest and isn't rooted in canon no matter how many mental gymnastics people do to justify it. I mean how many times does canon have to say that they are the same people with or without the mask before it sticks for some people and they understand that the love square is ONE SHIP with 4 unique dynamics as a result of secrets. That has always been its appeal. If I see another "the love square is dead bc adrinette is canon now" post I'm gonna scream. The love square as a set of 4 dynamics comprising one ship isn't dead just because one side got together. There has always been platonic dynamics in the square, and saying the other sides are "dead" just because they're platonic is just evidence that people don't know how the square works. The only thing that will ever dissolve the love square is a reveal because that is the only reason we have the love square in the first place. If the kids always knew their identities, we wouldn't have had it. So as long as they don't know their secret identities, the love square dynamics still exist, they are just different now. Something finally changed and development happened, and now people are mad because it wasn't the side they wanted? As if the development of all sides aren't linked and one day going to morph into a unique post reveal dynamic that takes from each side? I mean, it's not like one side hates each other, damn. All sides are pretty much good with each other at this point.

As I've said numerous times, the Adrinette development needed to happen this season. Clearly, or they wouldn't have done it. Marinette's issues stemmed from loving Adrien, so the only way for her to work through them so they can have a healthy post reveal dynamic is for her and Adrien to work through their romantic issues together as a couple. She has no qualms being his friend. All of her stammering and fumbling was always linked to love. The panic she has felt around him this season was linked to love. And I'm glad they're addressing it and finally helping her become comfortable around him. That development is long overdue. Them dating is a good thing, some people in the fandom just never quite grasped the concept that they're all the same people, so they made up this version of canon in their heads where their favorite side was the star of the show and most correct while the rest were just for show. There is no "most correct" side, even with one of them dating. That mindset is reductive and stems from lack of understanding of the characters and their relationship. Even as an Adrinette stan, I'm not saying Adrinette is better than the other sides bc they're the side that has stuck romantically. All of the sides are important and have offered important key development for the ship as a whole. Adrinette couldn't have gotten where it is today without the other 3 sides and vice versa. All of the development is for the benefit of the post reveal dynamic. That is what this show has been building to since day 1.

Honestly, some people in this fandom love showing their ass too much. As someone who has actually watched all of the released eps, the plot this season is actually the best we've had. The development is great and believable (for the most part), the adrinette is simultaneously the sweetest and most angsty shit I've seen in canon thus far. I haven't enjoyed the show this much since s1, yall. Some people just don't value friendship/platonic dynamics and view them as lesser than romantic ones, and it shows. There's no reason to be outraged by the other sides being platonic while one side is dating unless they view platonic relationships as being lesser than romantic ones. It isn't a race, nor a competition, and platonic relationships have just as much value to add as the romantic. They are building to a full completed square where all of the sides dissolve into one dynamic that will be an amalgamation of all sides. Idk why that is hard to understand. RIP to everyone else, but I'm different I guess. 💅

#asks #cat replies #ml revelation #ml pretension #ml fandom salt #honestly i just laugh at this point #ive seen people vague post about me and claim im spreading true selves shit (LOL) bc i understand ladybug is marinette and chat is adrien #and then the same people turn around and share a true selves post that props up their side #and see no irony in their actions at all #i just laugh yall #i highly recommend laughing at the clowns and letting them sit and pout about canon not going their way #dont take them seriously #just let them be bitter and drown in their own salt #s5 discourse