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willalove75 · 4 months

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The Estate | Lady Dimitrescu x Fem!oc Chapter 5

Summary: You have a relaxing weekend with your daughter before your first full week of work begins - and it begins with a surprise visitor and a spontaneous conversation with your new boss.

Warnings: 18+ minors DNI

Tags: fluff, angst if you squint, plot development

I'll add more tags as needed!

Notes: Chapter 5! In reference to the gif: if you know. You know. BECSPK gang 4 lyfeee💕 (Although my go-to is egg whites and bacon on a seedless🤤)

I want to SO apologize for not updating this fic in MONTHS! For those of you who haven't seen my Alcina's New Maid update (or my Tumblr post update) the reason for my lack of writing has been because I'm pregnant! I'm officially 20 weeks (halfway! WOO!) and have been trying to get myself back into a regular writing schedule. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the update!

Ik slow burns can be boring and I'm trying my hardest to keep it entertaining while also not rushing too much!! I have a LOT planned for this fic and I'm excited to get into the meat and potatoes of it!

Gif source

Saturday mornings are your favorite. They're usually relatively quiet, not a lot goes on and you get to spend some lazy quality time with Emma. Just as you're clipping her into her booster seat your phone dings with a text message.

Open the door, bitch

Rolling your eyes, you walk to the door and open it to find your sister, Sam, standing in front of you with a brown paper bag in her hands.

"Finally!" She says as she walks into the apartment.

"How long were you standing out there for? Thirty seconds?"

"Thirty seconds too long!" She says over her shoulder as she drops the bag onto the table and leans down to kiss Emma. "Hello my sweet little angel, how are you this morning?"

"Auntie! I'm hungry!"

"You didn't eat yet, did you?" She asks you as she opens the paper bag.

The smell of bacon immediately fills the kitchen and it makes your mouth water. The signature scent of an egg sandwich causes your stomach to growl in response.

"No, I was just about to make Emma something. Fuck that smells so good." You say under your breath. "Where are the kids?"

"Good, I got you a sandwich. And Tyler has them today. It's his weekend." Sam says.

"Ah, gotcha."

Sam hands you a sandwich from the bag and you eagerly take it from her.

"I don't think I've ever loved you more in my life."

"Ha ha" Sam sarcastically laughs. "Yeah I'm sure."

After whipping up Emma eggs of her own you sit at the table with Sam and dig into your sandwich.

"God I haven't had one of these in a minute."

"Consider this a 'congratulations on getting a job' gift." She says and you laugh in response. "How was it?"

"It was good, I keep saying this but it's really great to be back working and doing my thing. I missed it."

"Well I'm glad you're enjoying it so far. How are the people?"

"They're good, my boss is really nice, her kids for the most part are nice too. The CFO is kind of an ass, at least that's how he comes off."

"That sounds about right. Your boss' kids work there?"

"Yeah." You tell her about Bela, Cassandra and Daniela and she chuckles at Cassandra's attitude towards you.

"She sounds like a ray of sunshine." Sam says.

"You have no idea."

"Mommy! I want out!" Emma says.

"Okay baby, let's get you out."

You take Emma out of her booster seat and set her on the ground.

"Can I go play?"

"Yes baby, go ahead."

"YAY!" Emma screams as she runs into her room. You chuckle and shake your head at her.

"Well I'm glad you're liking it so far and that your boss is pretty cool. Have you told her about...?"

"No, not yet. It's too soon."

"She hasn't questioned why you've been out of work for two years?"

"Oh no, she has. But I danced around it. I'm not ready to talk about it in the office yet. It's nice not having people look at me the way they do once they find out, you know?"

"Not really, but I can understand. Is she at least understanding that you're a single mom?"

"Well, she just found that out yesterday, on accident really. Bela asked if Em was a mommy or daddy's girl."

"Ouch."

"Yeah. But I think I played it off well enough. And Bela definitely felt bad for asking because she blurted out that Alcina is a single mother too."

"Oh shit, really?"

"Yeah. Alcina shot her a look. A 'don't tell people about our personal lives' kind of look. Then before I left for the day she thanked me for being so kind to her daughters, especially the youngest one. It was really sweet."

"From what you've said she doesn't seem like the type to get sentimental with her employees like that."

"She isn't. I honestly don't know if she's ever showed anyone else in the office that side of her before. Everything is always strictly business with her, at least from what I've seen so far. But it was nice seeing that softer side of her."

"What does she look like?"

"Why?"

"Because I'm nosey and want to know!"

"I don't know, she's tall, like six feet tall and she wears heels."

"Holy shit she must be a giant."

"She is. She has short curly hair, really pretty blue-grey eyes. I've never seen eyes like hers before, they're beautiful. And she has the best figure I've ever seen, it's almost fake but you know it isn't."

"How so?"

"She has like, massive tits." You say as you imitate the size of her breasts with your hands. "And a small waist, but not like, too small? Nothing about this woman is small honestly. She has a like, perfect hour glass figure. But you can tell it's all natural. And she dresses like she walked out of the 1950s."

"Sounds like you've looked her over on more than one occasion." Sam says as she smirks at you.

"You would too if you saw her! Practically everyone does. She gives off this crazy alpha energy."

"You're single, right?"

"Oh god Sam stop. She's my boss!" You say as your cheeks turn pink.

"That hasn't stopped people before!"

"You're ridiculous. No."

"You're turning red!"

"I've been there three days! I can't have a crush on my boss! Plus, just because she's a single parent doesn't mean she isn't seeing anyone. And I doubt she's into women and she's. My. Boss."

"Whatever you say." Sam says with a smirk as she cleans up the table.

"You are a pain in my ass."

"Yet you love me anyway. So how's sassy pants downstairs?"

"Margie? She's fine, same as usual. She finally gave up driving, thank god."

"Oh fucking finally. Deb's been trying to convince her mother to stop driving for years. What made her finally give in?"

"Well, a few months ago she ran into the garage door."

"Oh Jesus."

"So she bargained. She said she would stop driving if she could start smoking again."

Sam laughs out loud and shakes her head. "She is stubborn as fuck."

"The most stubborn woman I know."

Sam hangs out with you and Emma for a few more hours before heading out. Around one in the afternoon you put Emma down for a nap and you decide to jump in the shower. After your shower you get dressed and clean the house a little. Emma only naps for an hour and a half before you go in and wake her up.

The weather is finally warming up so you decide it's the perfect day to head to the park nearby. Emma squeals with excitement when you pull up and you can barely keep up with her as she runs to the slide. There's a few other kids at the park with their parents watching close by. You keep an eye on Emma as she goes up and down the slide a few times before growing bored of it and moving to play on the jungle gym.

Kids and their parents come and go as you sit on the bench watching your daughter. Dinner time is slowly arriving so you tell Emma she can go on the slide three more times before it's time to go home. After the third time she puts up a little bit of a fight but the moment you suggest going and getting dinner from her favorite place, she's more than eager to leave.

After pulling into the parking lot you and Emma enter the 1950's-style diner. The hostess seats the two of you and when your waitress comes you place your order. Not long after the food comes out and you start on your sandwich as Emma munches on her chicken fingers. Emma squeals with excitement when you tell her that she's allowed to get an ice cream and she happily orders a vanilla sundae, you of course also order one for yourself.

As usual, Emma is wearing her ice cream by the time she's finished with it but truthfully, you couldn't care less. After getting the check and paying at the register you and Emma head home.

Once Emma is bathed and dressed in her pajamas, the two of you pick out a book, as you do every night, and you read her the story as she falls asleep.

The rest of the weekend flies by and before you know it, Monday is back again. After dropping Emma off at your in-laws house you make your way to the estate.

Walking inside you see Cassandra and one of the other bartenders prepping the bar for the day. You wave at them, Cassandra as per usual ignores you but the other bartender, Dave, waves at you with a smile and a pleasant "good morning!"

Rounding the corner towards the offices you spot Chris and Alcina talking in the hallway. Alcina is leaning up against the wall inspecting her fresh manicure, looking like she couldn't be more uninterested in whatever Chris was talking about if she tried.

When the sound of your shoes against the floor reaches her ears her eyes flick up towards you. A bright smile stretches across her lips and she pushes herself off of the wall and steps towards you.

Chris stops speaking mid-sentence and gives Alcina a look. She returns the look and says to him "I already told you you can go ahead with the project, I don't need you to continue to bore me with details that are irrelevant." before turning away.

"Good morning." You say.

"Good morning Kathleen. How was your weekend?"

"It was good, quiet but relaxing. How was yours?"

"Excellent. My weekend was busy, as usual, but pleasant."

Just as you go to speak you're interrupted by the sound of a door being slammed open in the tasting room. A second later a voice rings through the tasting room and down the hall.

"DELIVERY FOR HER HIGHNESS!"

Alcina's head snaps in the direction of the room, her eyes narrow and you hear a low growl rumble in her chest.

"If you'll excuse me." She says through gritted teeth. You notice a vein in her neck begin to pulse and she storms towards the noise.

"Oh this will be good." Chris says with a little excitement in his voice.

"What? What was that?"

"You're gonna want to see this." He says with a smile as he walks in the direction Alcina took off in. You drop your bag at your desk and head towards the direction Chris and Alcina went off to.

Alcina opens the doors to the tasting room and her vision turns red. Waltzing into the room is her brother, Karl, making his way towards the bar.

"Cassie, hook your uncle up will ya?" He says, taking a seat.

"Heisenberg." Alcina hisses.

"Ah, there she is!" He says as he puts his feet up on the bar.

Alcina smacks his feet off and glares down at him.

"Do you not have any manners?" She says as her eyes flash with rage.

"What? I'd think you'd be more appreciative that I worked so hard to finish whatever the hell it was you asked me to make."

You walk into the tasting room behind Chris and watch as Alcina stands next to a slightly disheveled man. He's wearing a stained t-shirt with baggy pants and boots. A hat, sunglasses, and a trench coat.

He goes to grab the drink that was set in front of him, ignoring the fact that Alcina is practically shaking with anger. He takes a long sip of the beer he was given and pulls out a cigar, sticking it between his chapped lips. As he goes to grab a lighter from his pocket, Alcina snatches the cigar from his mouth and breaks it in half, dumping it onto the counter in front of him.

"The fuck was that for?!"

"You cannot smoke in here!"

"You're such a fucking buzzkill." He mutters, rolling his eyes and taking another drink from the bottle. "Cassie I don't know how the fuck you put up with this shit every goddamn day."

Cassandra snickers and Alcina shoots daggers at her. Rolling her eyes at her mother, Cassandra turns around and continues putting away the glasses.

Karl finishes off his beer and lets out an obnoxiously loud burp. Alcina scrunches her face in disgust and wafts the air between them away from her.

"You are a truly vile human being." She says.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry I don't meet your standards, princess." He replies. "Hey Cass, get me another round will ya?" He says, slapping his hand down on the bar.

"Absolutely not." Alcina says. "I will not have you come in here, make a scene, drink all of our imported beers and pay not as much as a dime for them. Up! Go," she says, shooing him away from the bar. "get the table and get the hell out of my establishment!"

"Someone's in a great fuckin' mood this morning. What happened, woke up on the wrong side of your coffin?"

"Karl you are testing the very little patience I have left." She says through her teeth.

"Hah! You? Having patience? I didn't know you were a comedian."

Alcina squeezes her eyes shut and rubs at her temples as Karl gets up and starts to head towards the door. As he turns around he sees you and Chris standing near the door leading to the offices.

"Ho shit! If it ain't the fancy CFO himself!" Karl belts across the tasting room before meeting Chris halfway. "Howya doin' ya son of a bitch?" He says, shaking his hand.

"Karl my man!" Chris says. "I've been good, keepin' busy. How about yourself?"

"Hope slenderwoman hasn't been too rough on ya!" He says before laughing too loud, earning another eye roll from Alcina. "And not bad, not bad. Your boss here commissioned some kind of table from me so I'm just droppin' it off. Nice excuse to ruffle a few feathers too if you know what I mean." He says, nudging Chris in the ribs and laughing. "And who is this little lady here?" He says, looking over at you.

Not a second later you hear Alcina's heels stomping in your direction, looking up you see her eyes narrowed at the back of his head.

"I'm Katie, the new marketing and social media strategist."

"Karl Heisenberg," he says, taking your hand in his. "the pleasure is all mine." He gives you a small bow before kissing the back of your hand and letting it go.

The action took you by surprise a bit and you swore you saw steam come out of Alcina's ears as she walks up behind him. Karl lets your hand go and Alcina grabs him by the back of his jacket and begins to pull him away.

"Will you keep your filthy hands off of my staff? God only knows when the last time you washed them!" She hisses before whipping him around and pushing him towards the door. "Go!"

"What?! Is this how you treat family here?! What kind of establishment is this?!"

"One I will have you removed from if you don't get that table this instant!"

"Alright, alright! Don't get your panties in a twist. I'm going, I'm going!"

Alcina lets out a huff and brings her fingers to pinch the bridge of her nose. After gathering herself she turns back towards you and Chris and makes her way over.

"I do apologize for my little brother, he is quite feral."

"Ah come on Alci, he isn't so bad!" Chris says and Alcina shoots him a glare.

"I told you, do not call me that. And that man is insufferable at best." She turns towards you. "I do apologize for his behavior."

"Don't worry about it, really, it's okay." You say with a smile.

The doors open once more and you can hear Karl barking orders to the guys lugging the table in. Alcina physically cringes as they bang into the doorframe while trying to get it inside.

"Ay! Watch it! That table is worth more than what you get paid in a month!" Karl yells.

"If you will excuse me." Alcina says before making her way over to the men and directs them where to go.

Both you and Chris take that as your cue to leave so the two of you head back to your offices.

"Told ya you'd wanna see that." He says with a satisfied smirk.

"See what? Ms. Dimitrescu and her brother?"

"Yeah! I've never seen anyone else be able to get her riled up so easily. Just his presence is enough to make the woman lose her shit."

"I guess." You say

It aggravated you a little seeing Chris find so much enjoyment from watching Alcina get frustrated and riled up. If anything, you felt bad for the woman. Luckily you and your sister got along great but it would probably piss you off too if you had a sibling that was to blatantly rude and dismissive in your place of work. If anything it's probably as embarrassing as it is annoying.

The rest of the walk back to your office was quiet, much to your surprise Chris seemed to get the hint that you weren't in the mood to revel in Alcina's misery and didn't say anything else. When you sat down at your desk you finally able to get started on today's work.

A few minutes later you hear heels on the tiled floor and see Alcina walk past your office. She looked less than thrilled for the couple of seconds you were able to see her. The door to her office opens and a minute later you hear it close and she walks past you again. Thinking nothing of it, you dive back into answering emails.

Once your inbox was taken care of you go to check your to-do list to see what you needed to prioritize for the day. Digging through your bag you realize you must have left your notebook in the car so you grab your keys and head out the side door towards the parking lot.

As you open the door the smell of fresh air quickly changes into the smell of cigarette smoke. Looking over, you see Alcina leaning up against the brick wall with a cigarette perched between two fingers.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know you were out here." You say as you close the door behind you.

"No need to apologize. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I just left my notebook in my car." You reply.

Alcina brings the cigarette to her perfectly painted red lips and takes a long drag before pulling it away. She turns her head away from you and exhales the smoke. Usually you found smoking to be unattractive but somehow every single thing this woman does is attractive as hell. You'd put money on the fact that she could shovel a pile of shit and still look good while doing it.

You make your way to your car and find your notebook on the floor of the passenger side. Walking back over to Alcina you notice her eyes are still on you.

"I didn't know you smoked." You say as you walk up to her and immediately wish you kept your mouth shut. Why would you say that? What a stupid thing to say.

Alcina chuckles as she takes another drag before exhaling again.

"Yes, it's truly a disgusting habit I've yet to break. I had been doing well, however, my brother certainly knows how to get under my skin."

"I get that, siblings definitely know how to rile each other up."

"He is a man-child. A petulant fool." She grumbles.

As you chuckle a van drives by and slows down. In the drivers seat you see Karl. He blares on his horn a few times as he drives by, causing both you and Alcina to jump. Your hands fly up to your ears and Alcina visibly winces at the noise.

"Nenorocitul acela." Alcina grumbles under her breath as she sticks her pinky in her ear. (That fucking moron).

She takes another drag from her cigarette and looks over at you.

"You said your daughter is starting daycare this week?"

Her question took you by surprise for a second, you definitely weren't expecting Alcina to remember that from the conversation you had last week.

"Yes! She starts tomorrow." You say with a smile that doesn't reach your eyes. Truthfully, you were excited that Emma was going to spend time with other children her age and be able to socialize more, but the thought of sending her to daycare also gave you a lot of anxiety.

Alcina notices your apprehension even though you hide it well in your voice. It brought her back to when the girls were little and she sent them off to daycare for the first time. Granted, it was more of a private school than daycare, but leaving the girls behind and going to work was still anxiety-inducing for her.

"Nervous?" She asks before taking another drag of her cigarette.

Knowing Alcina was asking about you, you decide to divert your answer.

"Oh Emma is really excited. She wasn't sure at first but as soon as she saw all of the toys they had she was thrilled. She was very upset that she wasn't able to stay the day we did the tour."

"I was asking about you." She said with a smile.

"Oh."

"I remember when I dropped the girls off at daycare for the first time. I think I cried more than they did." She says with a chuckle. You notice a faraway look in her eye as she thinks back on the memory.

Alcina walked down the large, ornate hallway with Cassandra's tiny had in hers. In Cassandra's other hand, Bela clung tightly to her. When they arrived to the classroom the girls' daycare teacher greeted them at the door.

"Good morning! You two must be Cassandra and Bela." She says with a warm smile.

Bela and Cassandra clung to each other tighter, staring between Alcina and their new teacher. Alcina bends down and runs her fingers through Cassandra's dark hair.

"Girls, do you remember your teacher? Ms. Jackson?"

Bela's blue eyes scan the room as she holds onto her sister.

"Eu vreau sa merg acasa." She says quietly as tears begin to fill her eyes. (I want to go home).

"It will only be for a little while, draga. I'll be back before you know it." Alcina says, turning both girls to face her. She wipes the tears from Bela's cheeks and shushes her. "Nu plânge, e în regulă draga mea." (Don't cry, it's alright my darling).

"Vreau să merg acasă, te rog." Bela says as her voice trembles. (I want to go home, please).

"How about you give it a try? I have to go to work, but then we will go back home and we can play with your toys." Alcina says.

"No!" Bela yells, taking Alcina by surprise. "Vreau să merg acasă la mami! O vreau pe mama mea!" She cries. (I want to go home to mommy! I want my mommy!).

Alcina can feel her heart breaking in her chest. Cassandra's eyes begin to fill with tears as she watches her big sister cry. Even though she's only a year younger than Bela, she still understands that so much has changed and that they're no longer with their mother.

"O vreau pe mama mea." Cassandra whimpers before she starts to cry as well. (I want my mommy).

Wrapping her arms around the two little girls, Alcina pulls them into her and they grab onto her shirt and jacket as they cry.

"Shh, shh. Nu plânge fetele mele dragi, nu plânge. Va fi bine, doar respira, totul va fi bine." She says softly as she rubs circles across their backs as she tries to soothe them. (Don't cry my sweet girls, don't cry. It's going to be alright, just breathe, everything is going to be alright).

Their small cries chip away at Alcina's already fragile heart. She squeezes her eyes shut, refusing to shed a tear, refusing to let the girls - or anyone else for that matter - see her cry.

After taking a few deep breaths, Alcina begins to quietly hum the girls' favorite lullaby. She may still be brand new to parenting, but the one thing she figured out that works was singing to the girls in their native language. It was one of the few things that have been able to calm them when they were upset or scared. Alcina's mother would sing it to her and her sister when they were young. One night when she was at her wits end, she began singing it for Bela and Cassandra and they immediately began to calm down. It's been her go-to ever since.

The girls finally stop crying and Alcina pulls away enough to look at the two of them. As heartbreaking as it was, she couldn't help but think of how cute they looked. Bela's blue eyes and Cassandra's hazel eyes always looked brighter after they cried. Even their flushed cheeks and runny noses made them look cute. Alcina cupped each of their faces and wiped away their tears before placing a kiss in the center of each of their foreheads.

The girls looked up at her and it was almost pitiful. So much of her wanted to just take them home but she had to go to work and she had to let them go. Taking both of their small hands into each of hers, she looked both girls in the eye.

"I know it's frightening, I know you girls are scared, but I am coming back. I promise, I will be back and we will all go home together, okay?" The both nodded at her as tears began to fill their eyes once more. "No more tears my darlings, alright? No more tears." She says as she wipes away the stray tears from their cheeks. "I need both of you to be brave? Okay? Bela, I need you to look after your sister, to be protect her, alright?" Bela looks at Cassandra and back at Alcina and nods. "Cassandra, I need you to look after your sister, to be brave for her, can you do that for me?" Cassandra wipes her nose and nods at Alcina.

She strokes their hair before pulling the girls back in for a tight hug.

"Vă iubesc, vă iubesc atât de mult fetelor. Mă întorc, promit dragilor mei. Mă voi întoarce după tine. Nu te voi lăsa." Alcina whispers to them before giving them one last squeeze and letting go. (I love you, I love you girls so much. I'm coming back, I promise my darlings. I'll come back for you. I will never leave you).

Alcina stands up and straightens out her shirt and jacket. She takes the girls hands in each of hers and guides them to their teacher. Ms. Jackson smiles down at the girls and points out all of the toys scattered around the room. Cassandra eyes a baby doll and another little girl picks it up. The girl sees Cassandra and walks over to her.

"Play?" The little girl asks.

Cassandra looks up at Alcina and Alcina smiles down at her.

"Go ahead darling, go play."

Cassandra hesitantly releases Alcina's hand and looks at Bela, reaching out towards her. Bela's grip on Alcina tightens and Alcina strokes her hair.

"It's alright love, go play with them."

Bela looks up at Alcina who nods. After contemplating for a moment, Bela takes Cassandra's hand and the three little girls make their way over to the rug and begin playing with the toys.

Alcina takes the opportunity while they are distracted to thank the teacher and leave before they see her again. With her heart still breaking in her chest, Alcina makes it to her car and starts the engine.

Before she can pull away, the floodgates open. She grips the steering wheel and rests her forehead against her hands as she cries. Different emotions bubble up, but the strongest one is anger.

She's angry that the girls were put through so much at such a young age. She's angry at how unfair the last few months have been for them. Angry at the situation she herself was put in.

Alcina slams her fist against the steering wheel before pulling herself together. She takes her makeup bag from her purse and fixes her makeup before taking one last deep breath and driving away.

You can see memories flash across Alcina's eyes, memories you know nothing about. But you can see the emotions in her eyes, worry, sadness, and anger. Alcina snaps out of it and takes another drag of her cigarette and exhales.

"It's certainly not easy," she says. "the first few times are the most difficult, but eventually they were so excited the girls didn't even say goodbye when they ran through the doors." She says with a laugh.

"I'm sure we'll get there, but like you said, the first few times are gonna be rough."

"I have no doubts that the two of you will do great." She says with a smile.

With one last drag of her cigarette, Alcina puts the butt into the cigarette receptacle.

"Shall we?" She asks, nodding towards the door.

"Oh! Yeah." You say sheepishly.

Alcina opens the door and holds it for you. "After you."

"Thank you." You say with a smile before the two of you head back in.

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nyaagolor · 2 days

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Bad Polls and the Art of Engagement Bait

So as anyone who follows this blog probably noticed, I posted a poll yesterday. Sorry ace attorney tumblr, it was bait. That was part of a little social experiment to test some theories I had about engagement bait and the tumblr "algorithm"-- and it was a resounding success!! I even made a replicate, that being a similar poll only hours later, which had basically the same result. Somehow. Now that the cat is officially out of the bag, I thought it would be fun to talk about it!

The entire point of this little social experiment was to combine some observations I had about what posts do well, the general attitude of tumblr users, and how to maximize engagement with minimal effort within fandom spaces. Thus, I'm combining all my thoughts into a little guide: how to make the lowest effort, highest engagement post possible:

Recognize that negative engagement on tumblr travels father than positive engagement Tumblr may not have an algorithm, but the system is still set up in a way where negative engagement rewards the poster more than positive engagement. A simple "like" is enough to show agreement or approval, but dissent or shock requires replies or reblogs (the latter of which are significantly more common). More reblogs = more people seeing the post, and thus posts that elicit a negative reaction tend to travel further than positive ones

Capitalize on the fact that people love to bitch about things when given the opportunity Generally speaking, going onto a random post you hate and exclaiming how much you hate it is a bit of a tumblr faux pas. Same thing with venting about how much you dislike something. While bringing up the topic yourself and being snippy to specific people are frowned upon, however, places like polls that provide an opportunity to bitch about things are a great outlet, and a LOT of people will take it

Take advantage of the poll's inherent anonymity This may seem counterintuitive-- the person posting the poll and everyone reblogging it aren't anonymous at all! This doesn't matter though, only the votes do. The anonymity of the votes on a tumblr poll turn the opinions of others, no matter their relative size, into a nebulous opinion of the indeterminate masses. THIS is the most important part of the engagement bait, because tumblr users love to complain but aren't likely to do so to someone directly for fear of hurting their feelings or getting called out for being rude. If you can take a dissenting opinion and remove the actual user from the equation, people are far more likely to share exactly what they think about it-- this is when the "no reading comprehension" and "you people seriously think (X)" and "ugh I hate fandom" takes come out en masse. Tumblr users may be mean, but more importantly we are also cowards. In the case of the poll I posted above, even extremely small minority opinions were being commented on in almost every single reblog, despite the fact that these opinions made up less than 10% of the votes for a majority of the poll's run.

More buzzwords, less nuance Buzzwords and a lack of nuance work together to make engagement more likely-- buzzwords are often both overused and misused, while a lack of nuance (typically in the form of a yes or no question) eggs people into explaining themselves. Combine these two and you add people justifying themselves, arguing with others, and complaining about the buzzword in general into your reblogs, boosting your numbers even more. In my case, I chose the lowest of the low when it comes to poll topics: "Is (recognizable character) (buzzword)?". How people fell for this twice I'm not sure, but it works!

If things are getting boring, stir the pot yourself You can use alt accounts or just make up tags yourself, but I was too lazy to do this. However, there's always the option of cherrypicking-- screenshot outlandish or dissenting tags, even if it's just one in a sea of hundreds, and post that in a reblog with an incredulous caption. Bringing tags to the attention of the majority invites new focus on those tags AND your poll, giving people another outlet to add their takes. Some people will likely even reblog it Again.

Now that the bait is set, watch people in your notes talk over themselves like a flock of seagulls

Congrats! You've now made a successful bait poll. Fortunately or unfortunately, mine worked so well that people fell for it twice, both of them got thousands of votes each within the day, my notifications are overflowing, and popular blogs have made posts referencing it. Point proven, hypothesis verified. As they say: easy website.

#mod vex #what do i even tag this #ace attorney poll experiment

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halfratsalready · 8 days

Text

Obligatory “My Thoughts on Murder on the Dancefloor” ✨✌️

Spoilers below the cut, ofc

I fucking PANICKED when I saw the “romantic” tag. After watching the dance, why is that there? Why is the achievement called “love on the dance floor?” I didn’t really get romance from that? Maybe he liked her but she seemed more awed and impressed than anything.

Anyways, THAT CUTSCENE!!! I almost gasped out loud when it started. That’s such a cool twist and adds such an interesting element to both Night Swan and the Traveler’s stories. Also, now that we know what Night Swan and Sara have in common, what did the lore master mean in saying that Wander and Jack do, too? I’d say it’s about Leda and the Traveler, but she specified that it’s about their pasts, so I don’t imagine that their parents’ past would be it.

Also, the Traveler 100% brought her there on purpose, right? Like with Wanderlust it looked more like a silly little accident, but the Traveler meant to do that, right?

I don’t remember if it was always like that and I’m too lazy to load the game back up, but I noticed at one point that the Traveler had a pink hazy outline, like Night Swan’s magic, while her outline was normal? Idk if that means anything? I feel like it should?

A little confused on the timeline (obviously because of Discoball but also) because of Leda’s surroundings on earth? It looked very modern, but we’re led to believe that Leda came to the Danceverses, had a child, and he had the time to grow into an adult between MotD and the events of Enter the Danceverses, so idk if time works differently there than it does relative to earth but I’m a little confused on that one. Even if Jack is really young, only 20 or so like Sara (according to that one post), he’d have to have been born circa 2003-2004, meaning Leda would have had to come to the Danceverses around then at the latest, and her surroundings weren’t at all consistent with that. I’m going to assume time works differently there because I feel like it has to or Sara being sucked into the game would have alerted all of her friends, implying she was there and back pretty quickly, but that’s just a guess, so an answer on that would be cool.

I just pulled up the game to watch it and didn’t even try the dance cuz it’s 8:00am and I don’t have the energy, but it looks like it’ll be really fun and I’m excited to try it!

#just dance #just dance fandom #night swan just dance #night swan jd #the traveler just dance #the traveler

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rosapexa · 3 months

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WiP Whenever

Thank you for tagging me @chevvy-yates , @wanderingaldecaldo , @gloryride 🖤

I'm working... Ok, working is not the right word for that. I'm experimenting and losing my mind over this for weeks now. And honestly i've been depressed so many times over this, it really hasn't been fun in a while, unlike making the tattoos for V-Lexa. But also i can't let things go, when i start something, so taking a step back and just leave this for a while, was not really an option (and i tried). And i really wanted to make something for her.

And since yesterday, i think i'm finally on the right track. Maybe. Hopefully. We'll see. Sorry, i'm rambling.

Anyway...

I always wanted to give Lexa some tattoos. But there hasn't been anything so far, which i thought would fit her. And also tbh i didn't even really knew myself what i wanted for her. And tbh it was kinda difficult to find something, cause everything i tried, wasn't "good enough" for her and i was (and still am) constantly unsure, if i'm not ruining her.

It was a lot easier to find something for V-Lexa. Not because i care less about her, but because she's in comparison relatively new and i'm still figuring everything about her out.

But Maelstrom Lexa has been around for quite while now and allthough i want changes, i'm so scared (yeah, it doesn't make sense). Also it doesn't help, that her personal lore is about wanting (Maelstrom) perfection and making her body the perfect weapon -.-

Aaaand i'm rambling again. Ok... Changes:

New tattoos of course. Lexa LOVES skulls. On her clothes, as decorations... So that is also mostly the theme for her tattoos. A lot of skulls. But she also got two "let's get some ink while blackout drunk" tattoos (she's not always perfect xD). On her right hip you can get a glimpse of a "yelling" cat, which she got after Salem adopted her and she just wanted to show off, that she now has a fur baby. The other is a Maelstrom logo on her leg which she got shortly before her initiation, when she got extemely drunk with Royce and Dum Dum and decided it's time for a gang tattoo. And of course they thought it was an awesome idea 😂

There's a tattoo for Johnny as well. It's the heart on her right arm. Not a cute heart, since we're still talking about Lexa, so it's the... literal organ 🫀 I still have to add Johnny's name and their wedding date to it. Also i would like to give him the same tattoo, but i'm not sure about that yet. Mostly because i'm hesitant to change his tattoos and don't want to get yelled at for that 🥴.

I got rid of her vanilla body scars and trying right now to give her some custom ones. Because i always thought she doesn't have enough scars, since she's fighting a lot and she sees them as trophies. But that's just an idea for now and i have to see how this goes, cause i'm not really understanding what i'm doing (normal maps wtf!?). I would also like to work on her face scars, but that is even more confusing.

I also thought about making my own skin color for her, cause sometimes her skin looks too red for my taste. I would like to have her paler and with even less color. But i didn't have any succes now, cause nothing looked good enough.

Other stuff:

I'm tidiying up Johnny's NPC+, cause every time i gave him a new outfit i just threw the things into his mod folder without organizing anything. And now i have a ton of stuff and no idea, what is for what. Also there are a lot of appearances, which i will never use (again).

I'm very slowly working on a mod for the Aurore Outfit: Pants, bra, top and jacket. I like this outfit so much but as usual, i need COLORS 😂 Currently only the pants are more or less ready, so this will take a long while until i can share it, since priority are definitely things for the blorbos.

Also in between i make some poses, but these are mostly just for myself for now, cause i'm actually too lazy to make them good enough for the public (at least i know how to position the camera to hide the chaos) or to retarget them for other couples besides M/F.

I think, that was it for now. Which was already too much again 🥴

I'm tagging @togepies , @miss--river , @thelonestrider , @wraithsoutlaws and @dreamskug for a WiP sharing. As usual without any pressure of course 🖤

#Cyberpunk 2077 #Rosa's OCs: Lexa #WiP Whenever

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writer-darling · 11 months

Text

Are You Ever Dreaming of Me?

Chapter 3: Love Story | Read Chapter 2: Clean!

I NEVER USE Y/N OR ANYTHING LIKE IT THANK YOU SO MUCH :)

Rating: M - MATURE ((for now, but there WILL BE explicit stuff later sooo (18+ MINORS DNI)

Pairing: Ezra (Prospect, 2018) x F!Reader

Warnings: Good old enemies-to-lovers trope. age gap (10 years). Nothing super descriptive for Reader but they are described as having hair. Tension, ofc, especially sexual tension out the wahzoo. Adult language. Alotta feelings and things of that nature. Banter. Fighting. Insults, Flirting. It’s E-to-L, you know where this is going. Feral Ezra (he starts at a 50.6% but ends up at about a 67.9 % in this chapter). Also I'm feeling lazy so these tags are incomplete. If there are any that I missed, please inbox me to let me know and I will add them in :)

Word Count: 10.5k

Summary!: You're forced to play nice with Ezra for one night and things between you two reach a new peak.

A/N: REWRITTEN AND REFORMATTED ON: 12/26/23

******

“I got tired of waiting

Wonderin' if you were ever comin' around,”

Your mind slowly lets go of the interaction with Ezra. You get washed up, dressed, and manage to eat a couple of bit bars before you grab your equipment and walk out to the dig site, seeing the familiar faces of your crew also heading over there. The downpour is now steady, rhythmic as it falls, and soon the ground is dampened.

As the crew heads out to the site, Ezra is right there with you all, trying his best to keep his mind off of you. He’s doing a piss poor job of it, though. His mind keeps wandering back despite his best efforts; the way you make him feel both incredibly infuriated and yet incredibly attracted to you. There’s something about you that’s just so damn... captivating. Blessed mother, he can’t wrap his head around it. You’re like the hypnotizing flame and he’s the poorest of moths, helpless to stay away and doomed to burn. He knows it isn't healthy, but he can't help himself. He keeps finding reasons to be around you, even when he knows it isn't the smartest thing to do.

You find a good and relatively isolated spot to work, just a few yards from the rest of the crew and you begin your setup. The dig site is a good 500 square feet, with grids separated by flags to mark the boundary between one space and another. Each area per prospector is about 10 feet around, though it’s hard to say how many gems can be found in one sight. Once you finish with one, the boss removes that mark from the drawn grid map, and it is then considered a barren area before you move on to the next space. It’s nothing too complex, but it does take up plenty of time in the day.

As you settle into your space, you double-check your radio, ensuring your signal is functioning properly.

“Test.. test.. 1-2, 1-2…” You say quietly as you begin to unpack your tool kit and kneel on the damp soil.

“Signal RO-4379, copy.” You hear your boss call back. You look up to his spot as he overlooks from the watchtower and you both give each other a thumbs-up. Out here, radio signals are all on throughout the shifts, and you can hear the thrum of the other workers through your earpiece, but you're so used to it now that you can easily tune it out if necessary.

Ezra finds a spot for himself near the middle of the site and starts his own work after checking his own signal, hearing yours and his heart skipping a beat for a moment. But he ignores it and tries to focus on the task at hand. His mind keeps wandering back to you still, even with the labor head of him. He can't help it, his thoughts just keep cycling back to the conversation from this morning. And more the topic of it: that mysterious, captivating, frustrating girl. He lets out a deep sigh, trying to just keep busy and push the thoughts away for now. But it's hard. It's so hard. He's never felt like this before. He'd never felt this level of attraction to someone before. It's maddening.

As you work, you recognize the chattier voices amongst the men. There is one very clear voice missing from the lull of conversation though. Ezra. He hasn't said a word, not one bit. The verbosity he usually shows is gone. He's clearly much more distracted than usual, and it doesn't take being a rocket scientist to guess why. Your eyes scan the site for him and you spot his helmet a few yards away, the man himself standing a few feet from it as if he just threw it down and walked away. Which, of course, is exactly what he did.

He was so consumed with thoughts about you that he couldn't even think straight. He had to get away before those thoughts threatened to eat him alive. And so, he’s walked away. Now, he's standing off to the side, staring blankly at the ground. He's trying to sort out his mental natterings, trying to forget about you and your infuriatingly captivating ways. But no matter how hard he tries, he’s failing miserably.

You see him standing there, a troubled look on his face, and you feel overwhelmed with the urge to comfort him, surprisingly. But you don't, turning away fully and continuing your work, forcing yourself to focus on the day's labor. Whatever is on his mind is his business, and he’s adult enough to sort it out, you decide.

But, Ezra’s mind is a storm of emotion as he struggles to hold back everything he's feeling about you. The confusion, the frustration, the attraction, the anger. It's all swimming around in his head; a whirlwind of conflicting feelings. And he doesn't know how he's supposed to sort it all out. Finally, something inside of him just snaps, and he yells out loud.

"Damn it!" He slams his fist into the ground, almost as a way to try and release all the bottled-up frustrations inside of him.

The outburst makes everyone stop their work. You turn to look at him and see his expression. No one moves for a long time, not even him. But you do. You straighten up and walk over to him.

"You, come with me. Now." You say, leaving no room for argument. He turns, surprised by the firm tone in your voice. He doesn't argue, though. Not after what he just said, how he just acted. He just nods and follows you, wondering where this is going. He's still not sure exactly what to say or do, but something about you is making him feel less like he's going to explode, even just the simple act of you being near him makes the tension in him soften. A small smile forms on his face. Maybe this won't be such a terrible day after all.

You feel the rest of the crew's eyes on you both as you two walk off together, and you know it'll likely be dinnertime's gossip, but you don't care. When you two are finally far away enough, you stop and turn around to face him.

"What in Kevva's name was that?" You ask him, crossing your arms over your chest. Ezra sighs as he looks at you.

"You heard that, huh?" he asks, raising an eyebrow. He looks almost embarrassed, but then he tries to hide it with a small smirk that doesn’t come across as convincingly as he wants it to.

“Yeah, kinda hard not to hear your little temper tantrum.” His smirk widens and he sighs quietly as he runs a gloved hand through his hair.

"What can I say, rook? You... you make me crazy. Sometimes, I just... I don't know how to react." He sighs, running a hand through his hair. "You have that effect on me." You bristle at that, at his admission. You're not sure to be flattered or offended. And he notices. Ezra raises an eyebrow again.

"You should be flattered," he says with a small smile. "No one else has ever had this effect on me. You're... well, you're special, rook." He lets out a deep, rumbling laugh. "You're just frustratin’... in a good way... mostly." He chuckles, trying his best to diffuse the tension. "You're like a puzzle I can't figure out, and it's drivin’ me nuts. But in the best way possible. Do ya know what I mean?"

“Why are you so concerned with ‘figuring me out’?” You ask him, crossing your arms again.

“I find you perplexin’, rook, and… infuriatingly interestin’.” He says with a light shrug. “Which, as I previously indulged, doesn’t happen often.” He repeats.

"So I should be... flattered? Flattered that you just stopped our progress on this dig and threw a temper tantrum because you can't keep it in your pants?" You ask, scoffing. "We're here to work, Ezra." You respond, narrowing your eyes at him.

Ezra goes scarlet as you throw the word "pants'' out there, almost as if it were some kind of curse word. He clears his throat before responding. "That's... not exactly what I meant, now is it?" he says, a bit of an amused look on his face. "Look, I know I got a little carried away, but... can you honestly say you have no idea what I'm talkin’ about? The way you make me feel? The way you make me want to do anythin’ for you?"

"Ok, now you're just yanking my chain." You say with an eye roll. "You've never liked me, Ezra." You say. "From the moment we met, you made your disdain for me clear." Ezra rolls his eyes right back.

"You're half right," he admits, a wide smile coming across his face. "I didn't like you when we first met, and I have no problem admittin’ that. In fact, I didn't like you for a long time-”

“Let me guess: because I’m a woman-?”

“Because,” He interrupts you. “You didn’t want to learn. You had yourself convinced you knew everything there was to know about the labor because of how you grew up, ain’t that right?” You don’t answer that but he smiles anyway. “But you've grown on me, ya know? You're almost... tolerable now." He smirks, almost as if he's joking, but there's a hint of truth behind his words.

"Oh, wow! The great Ezra has called me ‘tolerable,’ allow me to try and contain my swooning!" You say, your voice dripping with sarcasm as you narrow your eyes at him.

"I suppose sarcasm was the only response I should've expected from you," he says with a smile, a small smirk on his face. "But come on, are you really goin’ to tell me you haven't felt... somethin’ between us?" He looks at you pointedly, then shakes his head. "Maybe I'm wrong... maybe I'm just seein’ things that aren't there..." He looks away for a moment, clearly thinking. "But I don't know ... it certainly feels like somethin’."

You scoff. "Yeah, it's called heat exhaustion, could be deadly if you're not careful." Your alarms ring and you sigh, a warning from the boss that you're both taking too long. "Get your head in the game, Ezra. We've got work to do." You say and begin walking back to the site.

Ezra sighs as he turns and follows after you. As you two reach your places, the prospectors begin to whisper and cast glances your way. Most of them have a look of interest or amusement on their faces, though a few look slightly concerned. Ezra doesn't pay them much mind as he tries to focus on his work. He does, however, keep sneaking some looks at you, as if his eyes just can’t help but want to drift to you again and again.

As you all settle back into the rhythm of work, he can't shake the strange feeling in his stomach. Is it excitement? Anxiety? He isn't exactly sure what to call it. But no matter what, there’s definitely something between him and you, he knows that now. He keeps stealing glances at you throughout the day, hoping to steal just a small smile. But you keep your eyes from him even as you practically feel his gaze burning into your back, forcing yourself to stay focused on the prospecting ahead of you. He finds himself admiring your dedication and work ethic, despite your brief confrontation.

Eventually, he seems to relax, even though the tension never leaves his shoulders and that furrow between his brows never truly softens. But, the day goes on and you’re overall pleased with how the work pans out, even if the mud makes things harder than you’d like.

The next three days pass by slowly. Due to two things in particular: the rain that persists, making things overall more difficult for you all… And Ezra’s behavior.

Seemingly overnight, Ezra’s usual chattiness has lessened. He still engages in pleasantries with the crew at breakfast and at dinner, but his conversations are surface-level, without that signature philosophical wax-poetic bite that’s become synonymous with him. And it’s only worse out in the digs, where his silence is practically felt. Something else almost makes up for it though.

In the span of those three days, Ezra’s eyes are on you more so than they have been for the last almost five months. They’re fixated on you from the moment your shift starts, until right before your shift ends. You know it even when you’re not facing him directly, like a tingling heat that settles over you like a second skin.

It makes you feel so good yet so angry at the same time, which again, almost fills the gap of Ezra’s constant talking. The only time you don’t feel it is when you’re in your tent, and the feel-good mix is then replaced by a cocktail of loneliness, guilt, and even… regret that settles heavily on your heart like a rock.

It begins to actually affect you, not as significantly as it does him, but you find yourself feeling… off, in a way you don’t think you ever have before.

The other prospectors notice the shifts in your respective demeanors but no one brings it up, not even Denver, your crew leader and boss for this expedition. He’s an older man - maybe 50, if you had to guess - older than either you or Ezra, who keeps all of you in check when he needs to. The fact that he hasn’t spoken to either of you to correct this is surprising to you. But it makes you think that maybe you’re just overthinking this whole mess.

Until the fourth day rolls around.

The morning is boring, dull, and grey. It’s unusually quiet in the dining tent, well, as quiet as it can be with about 25 bodies in a space of about 100 feet. You grab your food quickly and scan the room. Denver is sitting with his usual group, save for his right hand. Ezra must’ve overslept. Something he rarely does, now that you think about it. As you’re exiting the tent with your tray, you’re bumped from behind, almost spilling your food all over the forest floor.

“Hey, what the-?!” Before you can finish, Isaiah runs towards the personal tents. You watch him with interest but you don’t follow him, hoping that whatever it is, it’s nothing severe. Isaiah was another member of the crew, only a year or so younger than you. You didn’t talk to him much but he seemed like a good kid, if a little skittish. Other than that all you knew about him was that he was a recent father to a baby girl and had married his high school sweetheart. You shake your head lightly and eat at the nearest tree, taking in the sight of the forest as you do. Your mind keeps bringing Ezra up but you try to fight it, instead focusing on coming up with a game plan on how to tackle the day. Hopefully, it all goes well.

Well, you were pretty wrong about that. It had been a long and frankly frustrating day. You’d gotten much less out of the harvest than you had expected. It had been hours spent under the clouds and a blanket of humidity with very few gems to show for it. You’ve just finished up dinner when the rain finally gives you all a rest. You’re on your way back to your tent when Denver strolls up to you.

“Hey, colt,” Denver says. “Good evening.”

“Sir?” You ask. “Is something wrong?”

“Yes and no,” He says. “I just wanted to let you know that you’ll be taking over Isaiah’s guard post tonight. He seems to have come down with something. I know it’s last minute but I just went to check in on him and he’s been hunched over his toilet, puking his guts out for the last ten minutes.” You nod at him, even as your face contorts in disgust. He chuckles and nods. “Yeah, my thoughts exactly. So, can I count on you?”

“Of course, that’s no problem.” You say and are about to walk away, thinking the conversation is over. But then he speaks again,

“Ezra will be joining you as well. He was supposed to cover for Theodore tomorrow night, but when I mentioned you would be covering Isaiah, he talked to Theo and got him to find someone else to cover him.” You pause and your brow furrows.

“No offense to your judgment, sir, but I really don’t need a babysitter.” You say, crossing your arms over your chest.

Denver smirks slightly, but his eyes remain kind.

“I’m well aware, colt, no offense taken. But Ezra pointed out that during his watch two nights ago, he noticed some groups landing near here. I’ve been keeping the post occupied with two crew members a night, and I won’t have you alone tonight if things go sideways.”

“Then, pair me with someone else, anyone else. This is not… ideal.” You’re starting to sound petulant and almost insubordinate, but you stand your ground. It sounds more genuine than you intended… because it’s true. You’re barely able to keep the tension at bay between you two now by staying out of his way and giving him a wide berth as a buffer. But the idea of being alone with him all night at a small guard post surrounded by nothing other than his… Ezra-ness and this situation between you two is… terrifying.

“C’mon, colt, I know you and Ezra aren’t the best of mates, but surely you can put your differences aside, can’t you?” He asks. “He seems to be alright with it.” You frown and almost protest but you can’t deny Denver. He’s a great boss, all things considered. Strict, but kind. A firm hand, but a gentle one. He could easily weed out the problematic crew members and made sure to handle them before they ever became an issue. He was a rare find in this business, that you were sure of. Besides, the last thing you wanted was to get on his bad side. You knew what that looked like and it wasn’t pretty.

You take a long, deep breath and plaster a clearly fake smile on your face. “Of course we can, sir.” You respond, and his eyes twinkle with amusement as he sees your reaction. But he smiles anyway and nods.

“Good, shift starts in two hours. Try not to kill each other.” He chuckles lightly and heads into the dining tent without another glance back. As soon as he’s gone, your smile drops, and you sigh, running a hand through your hair. Well, this’ll be interesting.

You decide to take a good hour-and-a-half nap before the night watch starts. When you wake up again, you’re not as irritable, but still peeved by the situation. You wash up quickly and prepare yourself for the task ahead. The feeling of being forced into this shift gnaws on your nerves the whole while. You don't need a babysitter, but Denver seems to think otherwise. Still, it’s not like you can ignore his orders. Just do the job and be done with this, it’s only for one night, you think.

You leave the tent and begin your lonely walk toward the guard post, though it’s a much more rustic setup than it sounds. Really, it’s just a makeshift tower the entire crew built with a ladder and four wooden planks cemented together on top of sturdy beams and a tarp to shield from any bad weather. There’s nothing much but only a couple of chairs set up for the guards of the shift.

You arrive and thankfully you’re the first to show up for duty. You climb the ladder as quickly as possible, feeling better once you’re on stable footing. You set your pack down and begin taking out your thrower, your radio, your helmet, and your binoculars. You’re facing directly north, on the opposite side to where the ladder is, and you grab your binoculars, doing a quick sweep of the nearby forest.

Sure enough, there’s a campfire in the distance, about a few miles away, and you see the smoke of another one not too far behind that. You click your teeth under your breath, hating that Ezra had been right. Speaking of which… you hear the sounds of someone else climbing the ladder and turn to glance at him over your shoulder.

“Honey, I’m home.” He huffs as he takes the final step into the watchtower. You snort and turn to face him, still irritated. “Ready?” he asks, his dark eyes locked onto yours, “Or are you goin’ to request someone else?” He says a subtle jab.

You let out a sardonic bark of a laugh.

“Even if I wanted a different partner, apparently you’ve convinced Denver I can’t do this without you,” you say with a frown. There’s an awkward tension in the air between the two of you as Ezra responds.

“I was only bein’ realistic, I just told him you could utilize my aid and abettin’.” He says, “I assured our chief executive we could be civilized about this.” You roll your eyes.

“We don’t need to be friendly, we just need to get this done.” You say simply. Ezra stands motionless for a moment as if he’s holding himself back from responding.

“Fine,” he says after a few moments, “let’s get it done then.” He rolls his eyes and throws his bag down next to yours as he puts on his helmet, his gun strapped to his hip. “Just try not to get us both killed,” he says, but his tone is more like an insult than a joke.

“Oh yes, sir I’ll do my absolute best.” Your voice is dripping with sarcasm as you glare at him. Ezra's eyes narrow in response, and he turns away without another word. He knows the routine enough by now to be prepared, and he quickly gets things ready. He checks the settings on his gun, and the radio, and makes sure his helmet is secure. The longer the two of you are in silence, the more tense the moment becomes.

"You know," Ezra says finally, "you're really annoyin’ sometimes."

“Ditto.” Is all you quip back as you watch the trees through your binoculars Ezra glares at you for a moment, still holding the same expression, his mouth tight and his eyes narrowed. After a few moments, he sighs, and his tone softens.

"Look," he says, "we've had our fair share of disagreements. Do we really need to do this now?" He gives you a long stare, even as you refuse to turn and look at him, "We have to work together here. So I'd like to bury the hatchet, okay? Can we do that? If we're goin’ to be here all night, I'd really rather not spend that time fightin’."

“Yeah, so you keep saying, and yet you keep treating me like I’m a subordinate. You told Denver I needed you out here, well guess what? I don’t. I don’t care how many groups are out here, I don’t need a babysitter.” You say angrily.

Ezra grits his teeth for a moment, and there's a flash of anger in his gaze. But then he takes a deep breath, calming himself.

"Do you want to be workin’ this shift?" he asks. When you don’t bother to respond, he continues, "I'm not sure you understand how borin’ these nights can be. I'm just tryin’ to make conversation. If you want to be a grouch, that's fine." He gives you a smile. "Go ahead, be a grouch. I like bein’ in your company, rookie." He says, his tone slightly spiteful but still mostly genuine.

You scoff. “Whatever.” You mutter and finally return your eyes to the tree line.

Ezra sighs, and then he turns his gaze back to the forest. He lets an awkward moment pass before he speaks again. “Are you always so cold? Or am I just especially masterful at bringin’ the worst out of you?” He smiles at you. He’s trying to make amends, but he can’t resist a jab.

“Nope, just you. Guess you’re just so special.” More sarcasm from you.

Ezra laughs, "Well, I appreciate it." He lets out another sigh as the minutes tick by in awkward silence. After another five minutes, he tries again,

"Look, we're stuck here for hours. Might as well try gettin’ along, even a little." You give him another long look, that he responds to with amused mirth in his eyes. "Just tryin’ to keep us entertained, that's all. And you're a tough nut to crack."

“Geez, aren’t you a charmer?” You respond but your voice isn’t as hostile as before as you feel a slight amusement at his words. “I’ve been called a lot of things before but ‘a tough nut to crack’ is new.” You admit

Ezra gives you a small smile. "In my defense, you really are. So far you've shot down my every attempt at light banter." You roll your eyes but can’t help it as an amused smile starts creeping across your lips. "I'm still tryin’ because I hate awkward silences-" He sighs again.

“You don’t say, I hadn’t noticed!” You say mockingly, with more sarcasm.

"-and I'm not about to say you're borin’ but..." he leaves the other half of the sentence unspoken. "You make it hard to carry on a conversation," he finishes after a minute.

“Oh, shut up,” You quip. He laughs in response to that,

"Well, can you blame me? You really do get a kick out of makin’ things awkward, don't you?" He asks, smirking.

“I’m the one making things awkward? Not you who’s been acting weird around me since our rendezvous at that pool?” You retort.

“It was hardly a rendezvous, rook. In my experience, rendezvous have much… happier endin’s.” His tone ends with insinuation and you look away, a short snort your only response. Ezra gives you a long stare, but he's unable to keep a serious expression. "Alright, I'll admit it," he says with a light chuckle, "I, myself, make things awkward. But you make them worse."

“I do not-!” He crosses his arms over his chest again, and he smiles as he cuts you off.

"Ya see? It's more fun when we banter. Why don't we keep at it? We're stuck out here all night. We have to find some way to make ourselves laugh." He gestures to the wilderness around them. You hear the hiss of his helmet, which he sets on his chair. You do the same a moment later, breathing in the oxygen around you two. "We could try tellin’ jokes?"

“Jokes?” You ask with a snort. “Please don’t make me sit through ‘Ezra’s Comedy Hour’ all night, I will literally blow my brains out,” you say, though you’re clearly joking.

Ezra chuckles, "Not my best idea, I admit," he says. He's silent for a few moments before an idea hits him. He leans in, his tone hushed. "Truth or dare?" he asks. His eyes are locked on yours as he waits for you to answer. Oh, great, this isn't awkward at all, he muses to himself.

“Seriously? Kevvasake, you really are 14.” You mumble with a light smirk, shaking your head. “Ugh, fine, if it saves me from shooting myself: dare.” You say.

Ezra gives you a sly smile. "Very good," he says, "So, for this dare, you have to say somethin’ nice about me." He leans forward, locking his eyes to yours. "Somethin’ you actually mean. This is a dare, not a request."

“Oh my god, never mind,” you say, grabbing your pistol in jest.

Ezra full-on laughs at that, raising an eyebrow. "C'mon," he says, "You said dare, not ‘dare-except-for-that-one’." He gives a grin, and then he laughs again. "You'd rather shoot yourself than compliment me, huh?" You sigh.

“Alright, alright.” You say with a small grin as you think. “You’re the smartest person I know.” You admit. His eyes light up,

"No bullshit?" He's shocked and clearly hoping for a sincere answer.

“No bullshit.” You say seriously. “You’re insanely smart… it’s actually kind of annoying,” you add that with a teasing smirk. Ezra's eyebrows raise at your last remark, but he still smiles.

"Well," he nods, "thank you." He lets a moment of silence pass before he speaks. "That was very nice of you to say," he adds. He glances at the tree line before he leans in closer and speaks quietly, his voice dropping to a whisper. "It was also a little mean," he adds in a half-whisper, "but, that's how I know it was sincere. You have to be smart to know how to make a back-handed compliment to that level." You shrug.

“I try,” you say with a proud smirk. “Alright, your turn. Truth or dare?” You ask. Ezra takes a deep breath and nods.

"Dare." He says, immediately regretting his decision. "Hit me with your best shot. I'll do my best to comply." You take a deep breath.

“I dare you to… do something that terrifies you.” You say, keeping it vague. Ezra crosses his arms over his chest, thinking.

"Terrifies me, you say?" he says, tapping his foot for a moment. "You're really goin’ all out with this one, aren't you?" he asks. He raises an eyebrow, his voice light, but there is a trace of hesitation in it. "How terrifyin’ we talkin’ about?" he asks.

“Well, as tempting as it is, Denver would hate it if I killed you via heart attack so… I guess just something relatively scary? Basic phobia stuff?” You offer. Ezra lets out a short bark of a laugh.

"You're a real evil one," he says, "I'll give you that." He sighs and crosses his hands over his chest. "I have acrophobia," he says, "Or a fear of heights, for the layman. I've avoided climbin’ stuff for so long because I'm scared of it." He pauses for a moment, letting that sink in. "But," he says, "a dare is a dare, and I'm not goin’ to back down."

“How do you climb the ladder then when you’re on guard duty?” You ask.

“By tryin’ very, very hard not to look down.” He responds, making you laugh.

“Ok. I can work with that. Fine,” you look around the nearest trees. “How about you climb… this one then? As high as your fear allows?” You say, pointing to the one closest to you two. Ezra lets out a deep sigh. He stares up at the tree for a moment, and he closes his fingers into a fist. His expression is grim as he nods.

"Fine." He says. "I'm not happy about it, but, fine." He adds after a moment.

You two quickly descend the ladder, still keeping an eye out on the nearby forest. He begins to climb the tree, being careful not to fall out of it as he slowly makes his way up. He reaches up and takes deep breaths, trying not to think about the fact that he's so high off the ground.

He’s going at a faster rate than you thought.

“You’re doing great, champ!” You call up to him, watching him climb. Ezra laughs,

"Oh, shut up," He continues climbing, and he tries to ignore his fear the best he can, instead trying to focus on the dare itself. You can do this, he thinks to himself. It's just a stupid dare. You can do this. He reaches a particularly thick branch, and he takes a moment to rest and catch his breath. As he does, he looks up and speaks, his voice tight. "How much higher?" he asks, "To the top?"

“It’s up to you,” you say honestly. “You ready to come down?” You ask Ezra sighs, but he doesn't move an inch.

"Yeah," he says, "I think I'm ready. I'm just.." he says, "This is kinda a lot, you know?" He laughs a little, trying to sound unbothered. He takes a deep breath through his nose, and then he begins to climb back to safety. He moves slowly, and he makes sure to keep his eyes on his footing as he climbs. Once he reaches the ground, he turns to you and he lets out a sigh of relief. "Thanks for that," he says, "I.. hated it."

“That’s kinda the point of a dare, genius. You’re not supposed to enjoy it.” You say with a smirk. “Regardless, you did great. That was brave.”

He's sweating from the physical activity. "It was..." He shakes his head. "A stupid dare," he says, "but I had to honor it. A man's word is all he's got in this world." He smiles and laughs to himself. He looks at you and shrugs. "You made your point though. You got a reaction out of me." He laughs.

“Good, now come on, let’s get back up to the guard post.” You say and walk with him back. He lets you climb the ladder first and when you get back up you’re both a little winded. So, you both take your seats in the two chairs. After he catches his breath, he says,

"So, I guess what's left is for you... Truth, or dare?"

You smirk and use your binoculars to do another sweep. “Truth.” You say, crossing your arms over your chest. He smirks.

“Chicken.” He responds. You turn towards him with a roll of your eyes.

“You gonna ask me the question or not, vet?” You ask. He takes a second to mull it over.

“Alright, fine. Tell me… about your most embarrasin’ date.”

“Embarrassing date?” You ask. He nods, an encouraging and curious look in his eyes. You take a moment to think.

“There was one, a few years ago. It was this guy I had met at a bar.”

“Already off to a bad start.” He remarks, smirking, making you reluctantly nod in agreement.

“Don’t worry, it gets worse.” You assure and he laughs.

“Oh-ho, now you really have to tell me,”

“He was incredibly clumsy. Like insanely clumsy. I mean that’s how we met, he bumped into me and almost spilled my drink but he was really sorry about it. I didn’t think anything of it at first cuz, ya know, you can’t help something like that right?”

“Right.” He responds with a smile.

“He asked me out to dinner. The guy tripped twice before we got into the restaurant, then he almost hit a couple as he went to push my chair in for me when I took a seat.” You both begin to laugh at that.

“Oh, man. Poor sap.”

“Yeah, again, I could overlook it cuz he was cute, but then…” You pause for dramatic effect and he quirks an eyebrow.

“Then?”

“Then, we order the appetizer and he drops a mozzarella stick…” Another pause.

“C’mon, you’re killin’ me, rook, what happened?” He asks, fully invested and he leans forward in his chair.

“Well, our poor boy decides to pick it up, which first off: gross, and then he crawls almost completely underneath the table… When the waiter passes by, he trips over him, making him spill that very same couple’s food.” You take a moment to gauge his reaction and it's clear he’s trying not to laugh, placing his hand over his mouth. “And to make matters worse: after he gets up, he spills his drink on my outfit.” At that last bit, Ezra can’t hold it anymore and he laughs. A genuine belly laugh.

“Whatever happened with him?” You shrug in response.

“He was actually pretty nice, all things considered. We’re still friends but yeah not at all what I was looking for, thank you.” His laughter dies down slowly, and his face is a little flushed.

“Interestin’, do you commonly stay friends with your bad dates, rook?” He asks.

“Not usually, but he’s a nice guy. What’s the harm?” You say and shrug your shoulders with a small smile. He snorts.

“Oh I see, so you’re forgivin’ to everyone but me, is that it?” He asks with a smirk.

“Yup.” You say self-righteously and he rolls his eyes, making you laugh again. “Alright: truth or dare?”

“Truth.” He responds, leaning back in his seat.

“Ok… is it true that this,” You gesture to his patch of blond hair. “is a vanity thing?” He scoffs.

“Is that the worst rumor you’ve heard about me?” He asks.

“Not the worst,” You say with a smirk. “I’m just genuinely curious.” He sighs and lightly shakes his head with an amused twinkle in his eye.

“It’s genetic, actually. Comes from my mom’s side of the family.” He admits.

“Oh, c’mon,” You say and lean forward a little bit. “C’mon be honest: how much upkeep does this take daily, hm?”

“It’s just a dollop of pomade and I am out the door.” He insists.

“Oh no, I think you definitely put some serious time into this look,”

“Well, we can’t all look like we were specially crafted to bring tempestuous thoughts to the mind now, can we?” He asks, and you notice the way he lets his eyes trail over you for a moment, making you avert your eyes with a bashful smile. “Your turn then, truth or dare.” He says.

You smirk. “Dare.” You say, crossing your arms over your chest.

Ezra takes a deep breath, and he thinks for a moment.

His expression is pensive until there's a light-bulb moment in his mind, and he laughs. "Alright," he says, and the grin on his face is wicked, "I dare you to..." He leans in close, and he says, "Make a pass at me." He says, raising an eyebrow.

You give him a long look but he’s unfazed, simply shrugging. "I'm curious to see if you can. So..." He lets out a breath. "Go ahead," he says, raising an eyebrow. "Just try." You let out an exhale through your nostrils.

“Make a pass, how exactly?” You ask. He chuckles a bit.

"However you feel comfortable, rook. I wanna see how it's done," he says. "Hit me with your best shot, I'll play along."

You roll your eyes. “Fine. I’ll do my best,” you say sarcastically, though you are willing to see what his reaction will be.

Ezra smiles, and he folds his arms over his chest. "Go for it," he says, giving you a small smirk.

He waits. He's not breaking eye contact, and for some reason, he seems both smug and curious all at once. If he had any kind of self-awareness, he'd realize that he looks like a massive douche-bagel right now. You think for a minute and try to figure out what to do. This isn’t exactly the proper setting but…

“Screw it.” You mutter before you place a flirty smile on your face. “So… come here often?” That’s a lame start and you’re well aware of it, it sounds clunky and awkward and way too cliché.

Ezra's eyes light up, and he breaks into a laugh. "That's a classic," he says with a grin. "But truly your worst performance to date, rook. Try again. Hit me with somethin’ else. Somethin’ better."

You sigh and roll your eyes but you smirk anyway. “Alright, fair enough… How about this?” You lean forward and meet his eyes, locking your gaze with his as you lean forward. You give him your best bedroom eyes and place your hand on his knee. Just keeping it in place.

“Is… this… any better?” You ask, your voice a little lower, languid.

Ezra's heart almost skips a beat. He can feel his face turn red. "I uh, I..." he says, "I.. uh..." He clears his throat, but his blush continues on. He can still feel your hand on his knee as he recovers his composure. "This uh..." he clears his throat again. "Is definitely better, yes.”

You laugh at his reaction and pull away. “Good. You underestimate me, vet.” You say, even as your skin feels hot.

Ezra sighs. "Clearly." He crosses his arms over his chest with a crooked smile. "You surprised me, star-eyes," he says. "Well played."

“Oh it’s ‘star-eyes’ now, is it??” You ask with an amused chuckle to yourself.

Ezra's eyebrows raise at that. "What, don't like it?" he asks, raising an eyebrow. "You could do a lot worse." He laughs and smirks. "My mother used to call me pretty boy, I'm sure star-eyes can't be much more offensive than that."

“Pretty boy??” You ask with a more genuine laugh. “Oh I am so saving that one,” you say.

Ezra's eyes light up. "No, wait please don't." He pleads. "That's so much worse than star-eyes." You laugh now, nodding.

“No, I am definitely saving that one.” You tease. Ezra takes a deep breath and he sighs, shaking his head.

"You're not makin’ it easy for me, are you?" he says, but he laughs anyway, his eyes light.

“Alright, your turn: truth or dare.”

"Dare," he says. "Come on, do your worst. I'm sure you're dyin’ to." He laughs again. "What could you possibly dare that's worse than what you just did?"

“Oh, what, you think that’s the worst? Ok, smart-ass, fine… you do it too then. Make a pass at me.” You say with a smirk. He takes a deep breath.

"Seriously?" he asks. "You want me to do what you just did?"

“Not exactly, Einstein. Obviously, you have to put your own twist to it. So go on, do your worst: I dare you to make a pass,” you challenge

Ezra sighs. He wants to roll his eyes, but he holds back, just laughing. "This is absurd," he says, "But alright, fine." He chuckles for a minute as he plans it out. He eventually looks up at you and he smirks. "Alright, then," he says, "Just don't laugh." He raises an eyebrow. "Try to take me seriously, alright? I'm only doin’ this for the game." He sighs. "You ready?"

“You’re stalling, pretty boy,” you say, but nod anyway.

Ezra laughs, but he rolls his eyes. "Right, ok, here goes nothin’."

He begins to speak, and he holds his hands up and he makes dramatic gestures. "Dearest," he begins. "Your beauty is unmatched. I love the way you laugh." He takes another breath. God, how am I doing this? "Your smile lights up my day," he says, "There's no other like you." He says, his voice tight. You can’t help it as a smile breaks out on your face, a genuine expression with no hint of mocking or sarcasm.

“Ok, that’s actually very sweet.” You admit. “Didn’t peg you as such a romantic.” You tease

Ezra's face goes red, and he clears his throat. He looks away, looking embarrassed and nervous all at once. "You like it?" he asks. He looks at you, raising an eyebrow even as he still feels embarrassed. You nod and he smiles, scratching the back of his neck a bit. "Well, thank you, I do my best," he says, clearing his throat once more. "You're not so bad yourself."

"Are you kidding? My first attempt was garbage." You say with a grimace, embarrassed. "Luckily, I was able to recover."

Ezra nods at that. "You're not wrong." He says, still smiling. "But your second attempt, on the other hand... Masterful." He says with a light laugh, slightly shaking his head as he still can’t believe you were so bold. “Truth or dare?”

“Dare.” You say, feeling confident, a little cocky even. He looks at you for a moment, and he crosses his arms.

"I dare you to make me blush. And I don't mean a little blush. I mean..." he adds, "make me turn beet-red." He smiles a bit, looking a bit smug.

"Pfft, easy." You say, even as your heart immediately picks up its speed like you've just been injected with adrenaline. "Sit back," You say, your tone now serious as you stand up.

Ezra leans back, but he raises an eyebrow as you stand. "This is where it gets interestin’..." he replies. He leans back, but he looks confident, waiting for your move.

You sigh and in one swift motion, you sit on his lap, straddling him.

“So, does this work, then?” You ask with a smug grin as you take in his reaction.

His face goes from confused to embarrassed as his face reddens again, completely taken aback by this development. He can't contain his reaction. His eyes are wide, and he freezes as you climb in his lap. He flushes even more as he can do nothing but make short, hushed sounds as you sit on his lap. What is he supposed to do, at this moment, with you so close to him? He's too flustered to do much at all.

You can't help it as your face shifts into an expression of genuine amusement, deep laughter erupting from you. "God, look at your face!" You say, pointing at his reddened cheeks. Even as you revel in your joy at one-upping him, the rational part of you is completely panicking. Why the hell did you do this?? There are a million and one other things you could’ve done, but this???

Ezra's blush deepens, and he shakes his head at you. He makes an attempt to look away, but for some reason, he feels physically incapable of doing so. He feels like a teenager, and he can barely believe that this is happening. He clears his throat, and he finally manages to look away with some very concentrated effort on his part. "You're t-too much," he says. Your proximity is driving him wild, and he can't seem to form words. As you watch, his hands are suddenly clutching the side of the seat of his chair, and they’re almost trembling as they resist the urge to touch you.

"Yeah, well, I play to win." You say with a shrug, quickly moving off of him. "Anyway, are we done with this childish little game now? We've got work to do, you know?" In reality, you're just trying to get your mind off of what happened. And you're failing. But he doesn't need to know how much it affected you.

Ezra wipes his forehead as his blush slowly begins to subside. His heart is still racing, however; it's safe to say that he won't forget this moment… not for a long time.

You snort, seeing that he’s still flustered but you decide to spare him. You grab his binoculars from his side, “Here, take these and keep watch over the south end of camp, we've still got a few hours to go." You say.

Ezra sighs, his face still slightly red. He takes the binoculars and walks over to that side of the tower. He raises them to his eyes and he tries the zoom feature as he settles back into focus. What in Kevva’s name was he thinking, asking for that? It was downright utterly foolish of him. Ezra can’t help but blush and feel embarrassed even as he tries to maintain an aura of professional indifference.

You, for the most part, do a good job of hiding how mortified you are by what you did. It shocked you as much as it did him. Maybe even more. But you keep a cool air to you the rest of the night, keeping your chat with Ezra to a minimum, feeling the tension from before feel... different now.

Ezra eventually calms down, but he still feels the occasional wave of embarrassment. His interaction with you certainly left an impression on him, one that he may not fully understand yet. He tries to hide it as best he can, but the fact of the matter is that he enjoyed every single second of it, all of it. Being so close to you, being held by you… the warmth and weight of your body on his lap sent his heart racing. He loved it, if the uncomfortable strain in his pants is now anything to go by. It all felt real and natural. But he isn't quite sure if you think similarly about the experience.

As the sun's coming up over the horizon, you're feeling exhausted. Your eyelids are actually drooping and instead of standing to full attention, you're leaning your elbows against the edge of the railing, feeling bone-tired. As you look over at Ezra, you see he's feeling very much the same. He yawns loudly.

"Oh, this has been absolutely brutal," he says, stretching. "I think this is the longest I've ever stood out here." He looks over at you, "How are ya holdin’ up?" he asks, clearly tired. He reaches up and rubs his temples and the corners of his eyes.

“Tired." You admit, your voice is much less animated than it was earlier in the night. He chuckles.

“Do you want to sleep?” He asks. But then he yawns again and you realize he’s much more exhausted than you are.

"Rest." You say, keeping your eyes on the horizon. "I'll cover and wake you before Denver comes." You say quietly.

“You sure?” He asks. You nod again, still not looking at him as you watch the two campsites in the distance.

He lets out a sigh as he gets comfortable in a corner of the area. He lies down on the floor and closes his eyes for a moment. He tries his best to get comfortable as he waits for sleep to come.

After a few minutes, Ezra eventually relaxes enough to get to sleep, his mind starting to drift to the events earlier that night. Even now he can’t stop thinking about you. His breathing calms as he falls asleep. He lies there on his side, and he rests one arm under his head and the other close to his stomach. While he's sleeping, a few soft, soft snores occasionally escape his mouth, and he seems comfortable. At his quiet snoring, you turn to look behind you. His face is peaceful, the crease between his brows gone and his lips slightly parted as he breathes. You watch him for only a few minutes, not even realizing you've begun to smile.

As you look at him, you feel an odd warmth in your heart, something you can't quite put your finger on. But you can't deny how much you enjoy looking at his face, asleep or otherwise. You stare for only another minute before you turn back to the watch, waiting for the time to come for Denver to relieve you of your duties.

It’s half an hour later before you hear Denver call for you both. You crouch down for a moment. "Ezra, wake up." You say as softly as possible, laying a hand on his shoulder and gently shaking it to wake him up. He rubs his arms and his face as he sits up. Again, he’s surprised that your touch against him felt so... natural. He looks over at you, his face a bit groggy and tired.

"Oh, is that the time?" he asks. He slowly stands up and stretches, rolling his shoulders and stretching out his arms over his head. "Ah, I'm ready to be done with this."

“Ditto.” You say just as Denver is climbing the last step up the tower towards you. "Sir? Good morning, how did you sleep?" You ask Denver.

"Oh, you know. The usual. Exhausting." Denver responds. “And you two? Good to see you really didn’t kill each other last night.” He says with a light chuckle. Ezra laughs too and runs a hand through his hair.

"I'm ready to hit the showers, eat some breakfast, and get some well-deserved rest." He turns back to look at you. "What about you?" he asks, turning to you. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah, I'm exhausted." You agree.

"Get some sleep. We'll see you out on the field after lunch, alright?" Denver says.

"Understood." Ezra says, "We'll be ready at attention." He says and begins to descend the ladder. You follow after him.

As Denver takes over the watch for the morning, Ezra turns back to you, and he sighs once more as you both reach the forest ground. "Well, that was a long night." He says, rubbing his face as he tries to wake himself up a bit. He shakes his shoulders and stretches a bit more. "You want to head to the dinin’ hall now?" he asks. "Or should we grab some food and head back to the quarters?"

"I'm exhausted, I just really want to shower and get some rest before the shift. I'll eat something later." You say, rubbing your neck tiredly.

"You can't go to bed hungry," he says. "What about somethin’ light and easy? Somethin’ to carry with you?" he asks. "No one wants to go through their shift on an empty stomach." Your stomach grumbles suddenly, betraying the protest that was already forming on your lips. Ezra chuckles a little bit. "I rest my case." He says, before looking down at you and raising an eyebrow, "Is there anythin’ in particular you want me to get you from the dinin’ hall?"

"I can get it," You say, already changing direction more east towards the dining tent. "You should rest if you're tired."

Ezra sighs, a look of annoyance on his face. "Look rook, I don't want to be rude, but I'm tryin’ really hard to spoil you, even after I had to babysit you the whole night." He adds, his tone a little harsher than he intended. He folds his arms over his chest, his eyes a little harder as he stands his ground. "Just tell me what you want, and I'll find it and bring it over to you." He says, "Please?"

You roll your eyes. "Fine, goddamn, fine. Just get me whatever they're serving. I just want to eat, shower, and get some rest before the shift. I'll meet you outside the tents." You don't give him a chance to respond, instead briskly walking away to your tent.

Ezra's expression is still sour, but he eventually shakes his head. "Fine," he says as he watches you walk away.

He takes a deep breath and walks toward the dining tent to fetch your food, grumbling to himself. Ezra always wants to do everything by the books and regulations, but for a moment he forgot what a pain you are to deal with. He can’t deny that he enjoys your company, but you drive him nuts at times.

After a short while, Ezra returns with a plate of food and a small cup of coffee, all the while wearing a massive scowl.

You've showered by the time he arrives, though your expression isn't much friendlier. Still, you know when to be civil, even with Ezra. "Thank you." You say quietly, sitting on the small stool outside your tent before you grab both the plate and cup from him. You notice his lack of a plate or coffee. "You didn't get any for yourself?" You ask.

"I don't want any," he says, his tone a tad bit harsher than intended again. "That's for you, not me. So you better eat, because I'm not doin’ any favors for you after this." He says, and he's not bluffing.

You scowl at him again. "Oh, I'm sorry, I don't remember asking you for any ‘favors’." You say, adding air quotes to "favors." "Just like I didn't ask you to babysit me last night either. Both times you volunteered." You say.

Ezra's face turns bright red. "Just... just eat!" he says, not wanting to argue about whether or not you asked for favors. "Why are you makin’ such a big deal about this? I'm just offerin’ to take care of you! I don't have to do this for you. You do know that, right?"

"Because do you not realize how absolutely ridiculous you're being??? What, do you think I got here by being taken care of?? I can handle myself! I don't need to be babysat, I don't need to be spoon-fed, and I sure as hell don't need y-" In your rush, you spill the food and coffee and it shocks you into silence. You hadn't meant to. Honestly. You look up at Ezra with an apologetic look, feeling immediately remorseful. "Oh god, I'm-I'm sorry I didn't mean to-" You start, but he suddenly turns on his heel and leaves without giving you a chance to finish your apology. He has nothing to say to you, none of what was said needed to be followed up. He storms away, leaving you on the ground with the spilled tray.

You watch him walk away and you could try to stop him, but you don't, realizing you both need a moment to be away from each other, to cool off. You sigh and run a hand through your hair, looking off into the trees. What now? You realize you messed up, and overreacted, and the remorse and guilt sit on your chest. You know you have to make it up to him... somehow. At the very least show him you're not a total asshole. You stand up from your stool and leave the mess on the floor, making a beeline for the dining tent.

Ezra heads to his own tent and sits inside, fuming at you for a solid five minutes. He rubs his hands over his face and takes several deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself. Why does she do that to him? He sits for a few more minutes before deciding to get up and shower, hoping that will help clear his head.

Some time later, you approach his tent quietly, cautiously. The tray in your hands is stacked high with food, and the coffee is fresh. "Ezra?" You call out to him as you reach the entrance. "Can-" You sigh, trying to steel yourself for whatever his response may be. "Can you come out here for a second?"

Ezra hears your voice, and with a heavy sigh, he gets up and heads toward the entrance. "What is it?" he asks, as he steps out. He's in his longjohns, a black t-shirt, and black pants, his hair still wet as you realize he showered before coming out to face you again.

"I... wanted to apologize." You say quietly. "And I noticed you didn't get anything for yourself when you brought me food so..." You trail off, holding the tray out to him.

Ezra sighs as he looks at the tray of food you have in your hands. The gesture is very sweet, and he lets out another long, drawn-out sigh.

"This is very kind of you," he says, "But I don't need an apology, rook." He says.

"Yes, you do need an apology." You insist softly. "I was out of line, and I should've been more grateful for your help last night. I am sorry... really."

Ezra then looks down at the tray in your hands, and then he raises a brow at you, "I won't turn down the food." he says as he crosses his arms again, seemingly more relaxed this time. "Not after all that." Ezra leans forward, his arms still crossed as he looks at you. "But," He starts, his tone much less severe. "Just tell me... why are you tryin’ to butter me up?"

"I'm not-" you cut yourself off with a sigh. "Can't you just take this for what it is? An olive branch and not a bribe?" You ask.

He runs a hand through his hair as his eyes move from the tray, to you, and back again. "What am I supposed to do?" he asks, "Am I supposed to make up with you because you're suddenly bein’ nicer to me? Is that it?"

You sigh. "I know it's weird," You say awkwardly. "That's my fault. I shouldn't be such a pain sometimes. I just... I don't know, ok? What you said earlier made me think and- Kevva above are you going to take this damn food or not? The coffee's getting cold the longer we stand here bickering."

Ezra sighs once again. His hands slide down his arms as he drops them to his sides.

"Fine," Ezra says, "I'll eat." He grumbles, "But only because I'm hungry." He says, his tone much less harsh. Ezra reaches out and grabs the food with one hand, while the other hand grips the tray. He's still not happy with you, though, but you can tell his mood has become much less sour.

"Fine. That's fine." You say and step back. "I'm gonna go get some rest before the shift starts... Enjoy your food." You say awkwardly before you practically run from him, heading to your tent.

Ezra watches you scamper off, and he frowns again as he watches you. You are exhausting.

With not an ounce of energy left to waste, Ezra brings the food into his tent and sits down on the edge of his cot. He starts eating, but it seems like his hunger is not enough to distract him from you… yet again.

He finishes the food, and once he's done, he sets the tray aside before putting his hands behind his head and laying back on his cot.

Sleep doesn't come easy, though.

He tosses and turns on his bed for what feels like hours. He's exhausted, but the sleep refuses to come. He can't stop thinking about you. He groans, and he sits up on his bed. With an angry sigh, he throws back the covers and stands up again.

He needs to see you again.

Ezra quietly leaves his tent. He walks toward the tent that you're in, and with quick and quiet movements, he peeks inside. He doesn't want to disturb you, but he's desperate for your company. And maybe, just maybe, he feels bad for what happened between you two before you ran off.

Ezra peeks in through the plastic window to see if you’re inside. His eyes quickly adjust to the dim lighting as he seeks you out. His head swivels toward you, and his breath catches in his throat. He sees you lying on your cot peacefully. His breathing hitches, and he finds himself unable to look away. He stares for a moment, drinking in your beauty.

He can’t help it: he smiles again. He leaves you to rest, heading back to his tent with the image of your peaceful expression embedded in his brain for the rest of the day.

******

Ok soooo please ignore the fact that it's been a month since I last updated ok thank you so muuuuuch. I've been crazy busy with grad school stuff and also been traveling quite a bit so I just haven't had the time to edit and post. Whoops. But I'm making up for it - hopefully - by posting this chapter and the next all at once! Anyway, that’s it, thanks a million, hope you all enjoyed, and see you in the next one!

Tag List: @pedrocentric @luz-introvertida @castleamc @moralesfish @klara-luise18 @supernaturalgirl89 @december-gal1 @pbeatriz @castleamcc @hillarymurray4 @supernaturalgirl @supernaturalgirl20 @sherala007 @littlemisspascal @practicalghost @donnaa @scorpio-marionette @kayleezra @amandanik23 @maxpbxtch97 @mandy-sings @lowlights @shadesofnerdlygrace @harriedandharassed @carefulnowprincess @amneris21 @horton-hears-a-honk @xdaddysprincessxx @trickstersp8 @mswarriorbabe80 @permanentlydizzy @teddy2510 @bitchwitch1981 @jedi-in-crocs (hope it’s ok that I’m tagging you all!)

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#pedro pascal #jose pedro balmaceda pascal #pedro pascal x reader #pedro pascal x you #pedro pascal x female reader #pedro pascal x f!reader #pedro pascal fanfiction #ezra prospect #prospect 2018 #ezra x reader #ezra x female reader #ezra x f!reader #ezra x you #ezra prospect fanfiction #crossposted on ao3 #writer darling #are you ever dreaming of me?

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thewildlorelei · 1 year

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Love is Sick and Love is Blind (Mob AU)

pairing: wally darling/original female character(Millie Morning)

rating: M

pretty obvious but this is fan content of welcome home

author's note: Millie is my Welcome Home oc! Millie is a bunny puppet so there will be mention of things like her ears and tail and bunny feet. Just didn’t want people going in and being confused about the bunny talk. I will add reference art for what Millie looks like in this au once I get around to actually designing it lol. The design and concept for Mob Boss Wally comes from the Welcome Home Mob AU from clownsuu which is also linked. I highly recommend you check out their stuff if you haven’t already, it’s amazing. Please also note that this is more inspired by their au so I will be adding some of my own interpritation of things and won’t be 100% accurate to their canon lore for the au. Ok I think that’s everything for now, sorry this is so long lol Also the inspiration for the garden comes from "The boss's garden" on AO3 by Anonymous.

ao3 link, check here for tags related to rating

Mob Boss Wally Darling

Chapter 1 - Somewhere Only You Know

Today just had to be the worst day of Millie’s life. Why else would she be hiding away in the corner of a magnificent garden crying. She was in the most beautiful garden she had ever seen and she was sitting there, not enjoying any of it.

To be honest she shouldn’t even be here. She didn’t know who owned this garden. It was in the middle of town and didn’t seem to be a public place so she was technically trespassing. It wasn’t her fault though. She just needed a place to hide for a bit, just until she calmed down. There wasn’t anyone else here that she could see so she figured she was relatively safe.

Millie had only been living in the city for a couple of months now but things were already going badly. She just didn’t know what to do anymore, and so here she was crying. Because crying was what she was good at, it was like she was born to cry. She did it all the time, over every little thing. Most people around her thought it was annoying, that she was just being dramatic and a big cry baby. It really bothered her that they thought that, as if she could control it.

She wiped at her eyes under where they were hidden by her bangs, trying to stem the flow. It wasn’t helping. She had created a wet spot on her skirt where she had been leaning with her head on her knees. She was trying to think about her options, what she could do about her problems that were piling up. That was until a voice startled her from her thoughts.

“Hello there, neighbor.”

Millie gasped. Her ears shot straight up as she quickly lifted her head from her knees. There was a man standing beside the fence leading to her hiding spot. He was short, about the same height as her, his hair was blue and curly and pulled up into a messy roll on top. Curls fell loose beside his ears and down between his eyes. He was dressed nicely with striped pants, a white button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, suspenders, and a red ascot. A too large jacket was draped around his shoulders and he had his hands in his pockets. But the thing that was most notable about him was the scar over his right eye.

The eye was closed, she wondered if that meant it was gone. His other eye was trained on her, half lidded with an almost lazy look. He was smiling, so at least it didn’t seem like he was mad to find her here.

“I don’t mean to interrupt but I heard you crying.”

“Oh! I’m so sorry, is this your garden? I didn’t mean to intrude, I didn't think anyone was here.” She started to get up, wiping at her eyes again. “It is, but that’s alright, I usually come here to be alone, but it seems like you needed some alone time too.” He said with a laid back smile on his face. She couldn’t help but blush in embarrassment at getting caught, happy her face was so hidden behind her hair.

“I’m really sorry, I’ll just go.” Millie started to move from the corner she was in.

“You can’t leave yet, you’ve made me so curious why a beautiful girl like you is crying by herself in my garden.” He gave her a charming smile. “Please, walk with me. I’ll show you around the garden and you can tell me about it.” He tilted his head to gesture that she should come over to him. He had an intimidating air that she couldn’t quite place. It felt like he must be in charge of something, he had a commanding presence. She really didn’t want to upset him but she also knew not to trust strange men. He must be rich and powerful, she thought, for him to own such a large beautiful garden in the middle of the city.

He must have sensed her hesitation. “I promise I’m a good listener.” That was it, she couldn’t just walk away when he was being so nice about it. And honestly? She really could use someone to talk to, and she didn’t have anyone else at the moment. She smiled. “Alright. I would love to see the garden after all. I used to do some gardening myself, this place is magnificent.”

He led them over to a brick pathway that wound its way through the whole garden. He slowly walked beside her with even relaxed steps, pointing out a couple of things here and there that he liked most. About halfway through he slowed his pace. “So tell me, what brought you to my garden?”

She looked away. “Oh it all feels so silly now.”

“I’d like to hear about it anyway.” There was a slight tone in his voice that made her feel like this was more of a demand than a request. “Well, I moved to this city only a couple months ago. I moved in with my grandparents cause they are the only family I have left and I had nowhere else to go after my mom died. I didn’t have enough money to support myself at the time and they were nice enough to let me stay.” She started to fidget with her hands again. “But..they have changed since I was little. They have very strong expectations for people and have rigid ideas on what a person should be and do with their life. I ended up lying to them about what I was doing for work because I knew they wouldn’t like it.”

“What do you do?”

“I’m a bartender. I really enjoy it actually, despite the drawbacks.” He nodded in understanding. “But this morning they found out what I had been doing. They were so mad, more than I thought they would be. They said what I was doing was sinful and that if I was going to do the devil's work that I wasn’t allowed to live there anymore. Not only that, they told me that they were disowning me, that I wasn’t their granddaughter anymore.” Her voice was tight, trying to swallow the tears that were forming again.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Family should be there for each other no matter what. And disowning family? Just deciding you don’t want to be family anymore? It doesn’t make sense. Family is for life.” There was something intense in the way he talked about it. “You must be very close to your family.” Millie prompted. “Oh yes, my family is everything to me.” She smiled. “That sounds so nice.” There was longing in her voice. They continued walking in silence for a moment.

“You know, that doesn’t actually explain how you ended up here in the garden.” “Oh yeah. Well, it’s sort of related. Like I said, I work at a bar nearby and a couple of days ago there were these two guys in there giving me a hard time. I work alone most of the time, except for the bouncer of course. They were so drunk and just wouldn’t leave me alone and I finally had to kick them out. They were pretty upset about it. They kept yelling and threatening to send the mob after me for treating them like that. It did freak me out a little.”

“The mob, huh?” He said, a hint of mirth in his voice. “What did these guys look like?” She described them to him and he hummed. “Sounds about right. I don’t think you’ll have to worry about them. Either they were lying about being in with the mob or they are so low level that no one will care if they got kicked out of some bar.” “Oh really? That’s honestly such a relief. I’m not trying to get on someone’s bad side right after I just got to this town.” Millie stopped for a moment to admire a bush of incredible multi-colored hydrangeas.

“Anyway, today I was taking a walk trying to clear my head and I just happened to see those men ahead on the street coming towards me. I was so upset from getting kicked out earlier and I really didn’t want to chance anything happening with them so I came down the alley over there.” She pointed to the fence where you could see a gap in the buildings on the other side. “I think they saw me cause they started following me down the alley. So I jumped the fence and ended up here.”

“You…jumped the fence? There’s razor wire at the top, how did you manage…?” She stuck out a foot, showing off her bare rabbit feet. “I’m really good at jumping high.” She laughed and continued her story. “Luckily it doesn’t seem like they kept following me. I was just so overwhelmed that I sat down and cried.” She turned her face away from him, feeling a little ashamed. “I cry really easy, people tend to call me a crybaby.” She laughed at herself a little.

“There’s no shame in crying, neighbor. All of that sounds like you are justified. I think I'd even shed some tears if I lost my family.” She looked back to him, giving him an appreciative smile. “So that’s it, that’s my sad story.”

“Hmm.” He thought for a moment. “What I’m hearing is that you need a new place to stay.” Her head fell forward slightly. “Yeah, I guess I do. I was planning on staying at a motel or something till I can find a new place.” She knew she shouldn’t be offering up so much information about herself to him, he was still just a stranger, but there was something about him that made her want to tell him everything.

“No, we can’t have that, neighbor.” He stopped beside a bush of beautiful shasta daisies, leaning down to pick one. He twirled the stem between his fingers. She noticed he had a silver ring on every finger on both hands.

“I know an apartment building nearby, it’s very nice, recently built. Rent’s high but I’ll give them a call and tell them I know someone looking for a place and ask them to lower rent to match what you can afford. How does that sound?” Millie was silent for a moment, shocked by the offer. “Really? That’s…that’s amazing…and..way too generous of you. We’ve only just met and you’d do that for me?”

He laughed, it was an awkward stuttered laugh, but it felt genuine. “Of course. I couldn’t very well just let you leave here knowing you had nowhere to go. Here…” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a business card. “This is the place. Give them a call later and they’ll get you sorted out.” She took the card and just stared at it like it was too good to be true. “Wow, how can I ever thank you for helping me like this?” He brought his hand to his chin as if he were considering it. “I’d like you to stay in touch, and go out to dinner with me sometime.” Her face felt hot. “Well I suppose that’s the least I can do to repay you for helping me like this.” “Deal?” He reached out as if to shake on it. She took his hand and laughed, shaking it. “Deal.”

He turned to keep walking along the path. “There is only a little more to see, then I’ll show you the door so you can leave without hopping over the fence.” She winced. “Sorry again about that.” She could feel him looking at her so she tried to pretend not to notice.

“What do you know about the local mob?” He asked suddenly. “It’s just that you mentioned those men and I’ve been wondering how much you know since you’re so new in town.”

“Hmmm, I know some stuff. I hear things in passing working at the bar. As far as I know there are two main families in this town. The Flowers?” He nodded stiffly. “And the other is the Home family I think?” “Yeah that’s right.” He was looking at her again. She almost felt like he was testing her. So she tried to offer more. “I really don’t know much beyond that. Oh! I do know the names of the heads of each family. There’s Aster Flowers, for the Flowers family of course, and the other is Wally Darling if I remember right. The guys at the bar talking about it said he was pretty scary. I’d really hate to get on his bad side, so I hope you’re right that he wouldn’t come after me.”

He laughed again, lighting touching his fingertips to his forehead. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about.” He raised his hand, gently placing the daisy in her hair behind her ear. She felt butterflies fluttering in her stomach. There was just something so charming about him. He felt dangerous in a way but she couldn’t help but feel drawn in. They finally reached a gate that led out back to the street.

“Let me ask one last favor, let's say as ‘payment’ for entering my garden.” She laughed awkwardly again. “My sob story wasn’t enough?” “Not quite.” He sounded serious. “Um, sure.” That made her nervous, what if it was something she didn’t want to say or do?

“Let me see your eyes.”

“My eyes?” She asked. Well that was certainly much better than anything else that had flashed through her mind. “Yes.” He said, staring at her intently. She looked away for a moment. “Alright, I suppose.” She didn’t really mind, there was nothing to hide, well except for her face in general, but that was more of a comfort thing than an insecure thing. She reached up and pushed her bangs out of the way of her eyes. “It’s not like they're anything special.” She laughed to herself. He was silent for a moment. Actually maybe she was starting to feel insecure.

“Beautiful.”

Her eyes darted to his, he was so focused on her it made the heat rise in her cheeks again but this time she couldn’t hide it. His pupil dilated and his smile grew. After a moment he lightly shook his head. “Sorry for staring, but you have lovely eyes. Also that heart on your cheek is a surprise.”

She dropped her bangs, feeling safe again from having her emotions on such obvious display. “Oh yeah, I’ve always had that, kids used to tease me about it.” Ske mentally kicked herself a little, why had she said that. She thought that she better get out of there soon, this was all very intense and she felt like she needed time to breathe and think about all of this. He was staring again despite his apology for doing so, it gave her goosbumps. She thought she better thank him again and get going.

“Thank you again, mister…” She stopped, eyes going wide. “Oh! Where are my manners! You’ve been so kind and I haven’t even introduced myself.” She stuck out her hand. “I’m Millie Morning!” The smile that appeared on his face could have made her melt. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Millie.” He took her hand in his.

“I’m Wally, Wally Darling.”

#welcome home fic #welcome home mob au #wally darling #millie morning #love is sick and love is blind #i really hope y'all like this cause im so aaaaaaa about actually posting fics lol

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sejanuspiinth · 2 years

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Hey there! I'm getting back into giffing after a long hiatus and was wondering if you had any tips/tutorials you could link for a newbie? Your gifs are so pretty and I aspire to be that good but I'm nervous.

hi! this is an honor jsakljslkajslka first of all i use photoshop cs5 (very outdated i know but im lazy to learn how to use the newer ones).

im probably not the best at explaining and this will sound repetitive but going for the highest quality footage really helps - so always go for 1080p, 720p at a stretch; also, i gif by the screencap method - which is time and storage consuming, but i'm not sure if it makes gifs more or less hq, i jut never tried the other way LSALSJLAJ. i currently use a tweaked version of an action i bought, so i wouldn't be able to share it but for the longest time ive also used this one by the always iconic val (i actually learned how to color using her tutorials!) and ive also been eyeing this one. another thing that REALLY helps is using actions:

this is my action set, and has all that i need ( five / seven / eight / nine are for time, i usually use 0.09 for my gifs because i find that 0.05 is a bit too quick for me ) and it makes giffing very faster, too.

as for coloring, its very relative. this is my standart layers, in order (if i add anymore, it's mostly to change the tone or make things even brighter - like on period shows that have too much yellow, my to go is photo filter or channel mixer ), and i use all of them, but with different tweaks ofc depending on the OG coloring.

i'm not sure if this is super helpful. i don't usually read tutorials anymore because i dont have the attention spam and photoshop for me is just...clickity clakity until i find what works JSKLAJSKL but cat and mouse have a tag full of cool ones and if you ever want specific help feel free to IM me!! i really dont mind and thank you once again for the kind words <3

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nanairomelette · 2 years

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still one of my favorite out of context pjsk dialogs

#project sekai #pjsk #prsk fa #pjsk fa #fanart #art #my art #mafuyu asahina #kanade yoisaki #yoisaki kanade #asahina mafuyu #kanamafu #i think?#n25 #niigo #i've been cursed with the inability to color #they both look ugly here sorry #honestly too lazy to add more relative tags so #niigoesque art

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idleorbitals · 9 months

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OF ep 2 watch through part 1

ok! ok. ok. goddamnit this show has me wrapped around it's pinky. this got long so I am cutting it in hopefully only two

come relive with me let's talk about this beast

#1 this scene does so much so fast to establish:

mew again as someone with his own agency...the way he talks about top is like surprisingly? healthy? idk I'm glad they're making these characters so smart and nuanced you know they're feeding us well

ray's feelings for mew as (again, surprising to me) relatively pure seeming. he's going to suffer but he's not going to take it out on mew he's probably going to take it out mostly on himself and secondarily on people he doesn't think matter to him (*cough* sa– *gunshot noises*) also ray starting this scene day drinking alone 💀

the power play is so loud in this laser tag arena. why do I feel like top is going to get hurt and they're going to make me care. I don't want to care

side note but very distracting to me personally isn't anyone going to fix mew's one squished up ear? bookie that's not uncomfy??

same ray. god they're both going to get hurt so bad

ok we're in the club now. can't believe the one frame of ray smiling at the dancer is the only moment he's acting to hide from sand and not trying to crawl out of the scene. they were really playing us with that trailer huh. also ray being so polite to everyone there even though they're all just in his way hashtag not as much of an asshole as he'd like to think

lots to say about bostonnick but more importantly about mark pakin eating this pose for breakfast

boston is a rich boy too? did we know this? he's definitely a terrible person playing with nick's insecurities "if you weren't cute I wouldn't sleep with you a second time" boston shut tf up. lmao I'm sorry but atp I love neo in this role so much I'm just enjoying it

not sand this invested in what ray thinks of his wine and ray this flattered by him calling him someone with good taste. now sand likes ray's music too, or at least his dead mom's music. "how and when did your mother die?" sand back off a little baby

okay the cut from the bottle and glass next to her body to him drinking? yikes. I bet we're going to learn more about this and I'm ready and already torn up about it. was it an accident? was it intentional? or mirror on the secret third thing where ray is self-sabotaging himself into oblivion because wealth and privelege don't make you happy but do give you the tools to feed your worst tendencies

not to detract but on the first watch I was so hyped up and fully did not get that was supposed to be baby ray and was like: murder suspect? no it was the maid???

sand noticing he introduced too many feelings and going to lighten the mood: cute. correct

sand starting his forecasted "sugar daddy" storyline by saying very loudly that he doesn't want to call ray sugar daddy but also, you know, he would, you know, if he had too, but only if he really /had to/, you know

this totally-uninvested-gaze lasts for so many frames my screencapping fingers got lazy

okay we're at the water now. some people are shirtless and some people look hotter than they should in rash guards (*cough* khaotung *cough* nonnie wtf)

this devastated me I had to pause and add precious seconds to my live watch to recover

ray is really one of those people crashing through life taking psychic damage at every turn huh. I'm sorry I am so weak for characters that think they are terrible people

april and namcheum interactions so cute. april unfortunately looks and is styled so much like my ex in these scenes that I'm having trouble seeing objectively

this is so intriguing god damnit. boston is playing aggressor but top is into it? a little? swear he's smiling in this scene. but also not engaging. does he want it a little but not as much as he wants to not wreck things with mew? did something else happen in that photo booth? how does he like it

...top secretly loves to bottom and boston's going to woo his seme-acting ass by seeing through to the real him

jk jk.

or? 👀

yeah same top honestly. I don't trust either of y'all

📣 multiple types of queer sex on screen 📣 p'jojo we love you!

oh god the friends with benefits vs fuck buddies talk. Nick's going to get so screwed. does he already know this? he sort of knows, right

the problem is that even though they are clearly winning the most-uneven-investment contest I am enjoying both these characters more than top and mew atp. maybe just because I enjoy a trajectory I can visualize a bit even if it's fucked up who knows

alright we're back at the bar and ray is trying to pick up a girl with his plant line. this is relatively wholesome but ray is not watching the show he's in. buddy you only get to sleep with people if at least one person is going to be fucked up about it

(part 2) (all ofts watch throughs)

#ofts #only friends the series #ofts meta #raysand #sandray #fair warning my bias will show up here #but I am loving every bit of this show so far god damn #ofts watch through

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opluffys · 2 years

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Haunted

i was so lazy i didn’t add the italics i’m so sorry. anyway i posted this to my archive first as always, luffys. this is meant to be multiple chapters, but the ending is open-ended so in case i drop it, i won’t leave y’all on a cliffhanger. pls let me know if there are errors or if it copied weird, it might happen sometimes. i hope you enjoy:)!!

-Michael Myers x Reader-

-smut/nsfw-

It was nearing Halloween, the green leaves transforming into beautiful auburn and golds. You figured you should go Halloween shopping sometime soon, even though there would be only a trickle of kids coming to your neighbourhood. You didn't live in a populated area, but you were still close enough to the town where basic grocery shopping wasn't too much of a hassle. It had made you a bit worried, moving into such a secluded area of town- but when you had gotten the opportunity to settle in, it was so peaceful. You did have neighbours, but they lived some ways away. Not like you cared, anyway. You enjoyed the quiet life.

Figuring a couple of days before Halloween was the perfect time to stock up on candy, you grabbed your keys and coat, making sure to lock your door on the way out.

You climbed into your relatively small car, it treated you nicely, not breaking down yet. You were too scared to look at the miles, though.

Turning the key into the ignition, you heard your cars engine sputter to life. About to reverse and be on your way, you couldn't help but feel that you shouldn't go out today. You shook it off, you needed to pick up some things, and besides, nothing has ever happened to you in while residing here- why would something happen now?

•

Following the large and festive orange signs, you finally found the shelf full of heart attacks and bliss. Grabbing a bag of rather expensive chocolates for you to snack on, and a cheaper bag of tacky sweets for the kids, you tossed them into your cart. You figured this year, you would finally decorate your house. You recently moved in, after all. And you certainly didn't want to be 'that house' where kids are too scared to go to. Maybe next year.

Hunting for the cheaper side of Halloween decorations were no easy feat- or maybe this store had tried to overcharge you at every turn. A plastic pumpkin nearly had you choking at its price tag. Still, Halloween comes once a year, and while you weren't too well off with funds, you decided you could splurge, just this once.

After deciding your feeble budget was well over the limit, you went into the line for checkout. Part of you had started to question if you really should've gotten half of this stuff, but you were already in the line, so it's obviously far too late.

While waiting in line, you had been playing a mind rotting game on your phone, but you couldn't help but overhear some teenagers conversations.

"Did you hear about last Halloween?" One with a shrill voice asked, tone slightly hushed- not low enough for you not to hear.

"Well, duh. Everyone knows about it, you'd have to be stupid not to know what happened. Do you think there'll be parties this year?! God, I hope so, I totally need to-"

You stopped listening after that. You slightly hoped that they'd go more into detail, since you are absolutely clueless about what happened last Halloween. Hell, your last Halloween consisted of you stuck at your previous office job, before you got a better job opportunity here.

Too lost in your thoughts, you missed the cashier signalling you over to her. Only after a loud, and extremely annoyed 'next' came from her, you realised you were holding up the line.

"Oh, shit. Sorry," You whispered, an embarrassed heat settling on your cheeks.

You placed all your items on the conveyor belt, the woman scanning all of your things with an incredible speed. It was impressive, considering the fact that she was quite an older woman.

"You're still celebrating this year?"

Staring at her dumbly for a moment, you figured she was talking about Halloween.

"Yeah, is there a reason I shouldn't?" You hoped your tone wasn't rude, you were just curious as to why everyone, so far, has been avoiding Halloween. Usually, the holidays aisle is packed full of people, you would have to fight for your life just to get a bag of candy. You did find it strange how you and a few others were the only ones in the aisle.

"Just a year ago we had this deranged son of a bitch- I forget his name," She turned towards the younger man who was bagging your items, who whispered something to her.

You found it odd how she would forget such a key part of the story, but you blamed her old age.

"yeah, yeah.. That Michael Myers guy. He went and killed some people, ain't his first time, neither."

You giggled, there's no way. If that were true, why haven't you heard more about him? A town as small as this, you were sure everyone would be talking about it.

Taking your card from the chip reader, (and not bothering to see the balance) you took your bags and rolled your eyes. If that was an attempt at a horror story, this lady needed some serious work.

"One good scare, right?" You smiled, grabbing your receipt from the woman. She didn't bother saying anything else to you.

Hurrying back to your car, the chill winds stinging what exposed skin they could as you walked. It felt nice, though. The cool air rushing through you, a small breath able to be visible into smoky wisps that dissipate instantly. You weren't a huge fan of shivering violently, but you did enjoy the scenery of autumn.

Shoving your bags into the backseat, you sighed as you sat down in your car. Placing your forehead on the steering wheel, you sighed shakily. You didn't want to actually think this woman's horror story could be true, and while you were thankful she spared the gruesome details of his murders, you at least wanted to know what he looked like. Well, a small part of you did...

Turning your key, you heard the engine make it's usual bursts of sounds. But you didn't hear the hum of the car spring to life, like it always did.

You weren't worried, your car did this on occasion. It was cold out, you probably should've warmed it up, so you put aside the thought that your car could be screwed.

Turning the key countless times, you nearly cheered once you heard the thrum of the engine. You knew your car wouldn't give up on you, at least for another few months...

•

Pulling into the small driveway, you kicked the car door shut. You grabbed as much bags as your hands and arms could handle, you didn't want to come back.

Miraculously placing all the bags hooks onto your arms, you went over to your door, pushing the key into the slot. You struggled with it for a moment, before realising that the door was already unlocked.

You did lock the door, right?

Classic case of 'I swear I locked the door', you thought nothing of it. Besides, you were too far away for anyone to rob you, and if someone did, you had decent insurance. And there weren't any obvious signs of a break-in, so you had no reason to think that someone could actually be in your house.

Practically throwing your bags onto the floor, you rubbed your arms, the weight of the bags making them sting. The plush of the coat did help a bit.

Kicking your shoes off and tossing your coat up on a chair in the kitchen, you threw yourself onto the comfortable confines of your couch. You could put the items away in a few minutes, you wanted to relax, just for a little while.

Scrolling through social media to find your friends accounts, you were happy they were doing well. You missed them all like crazy, but this job opportunity was too good to pass up. Plus, you got this house for a pretty cheap price, and you called them up from time to time.

Turning off your phone, you stretched your tired limbs. The tendons and muscles sighing in bliss. You looked at the dark screen of your phone, able to see your reflection. You cleaned some fingerprints and smudges off, and squinted at it. You must be seeing things, because it looked like someone was standing right behind you.

Taking a moment to turn around, you were surprised your neck didn't snap. You sighed, you needed some sleep. Now you're seeing imaginary people standing around you.

Haphazardly placing all your grocery items away, you groggily climbed up the stairs. You yawned as you entered your room, changing into baggy pyjama pants and a plain shirt. One of your favourite parts of being alone included your ditched bra on the ground. You smiled climbing underneath the comforter, ignoring the feeling of becoming too hot too quickly.

Also ignoring the feeling that someone was watching you.

You tried to succumb to the dire need for sleep, but your mind and body just didn't let you. Was it because of the coffee you drank earlier? Or maybe you were sleeping in a weird position... Whatever it was, it bothered you too much to a degree where you actually could not fall asleep.

Opening your eyes, your setting didn't change much, except for the stripe of light that poured in from under your door. But, you turned off that light, you surely remember that.

With what little light you had, you found your phone, the brightness making your eyes squint. The light from your phone alone was able to illuminate most of your room, and you finally connected the dots.

You did lock your door.

You did turn that light off.

Somebody was watching you.

And that somebody was looming over you, large kitchen knife, your kitchen knife in hand. You got up quickly, the man above you slashing your thigh. A scream died in your throat as you cried. You scrambled for the door, somehow prying it open and rushing down the stairs.

You questioned if that lady from the grocery store was actually telling you the truth. You felt stupid, throwing all caution to the wind. After noticing your door was, in fact, unlocked, you should've went over to your neighbours, or someone else. Alas, you made the mistake to not note multiple things wrong, and here you were, paying the price.

You held the cut on your thigh, it wasn't too deep, but it hurt like absolute hell. You sobbed quietly as you limped to your coat. If this notorious murderer wanted your house, it's his. You blamed the lack of decorations outside your house as a 'yeah, come on in' sort of message. He was most likely deterred by the other houses fully immersed in orange lights and jack-o-lanterns, that he chose your boring house instead.

Why he was even here is the question of the century. You were terrified, but you recognised the idea that freaking out as a serial killer is after you was not the best idea.

Pulling your jacket on, you had no idea where your keys were. You cried after checking all the usual spots, cursing your disorganised lifestyle.

Hearing a familiar jingle once you ruffled your jacket, you sighed. You put them in your damn coat pocket.

Not noticing he was right behind your clueless figure, you somehow dodged his grasp, your arm not being so lucky as it was a victim of another cut. You shouldn't have bought new knives.

You pried open the door and rushed to your car, slamming the door shut and fumbling with your keys. For a person who only walks to go after someone, this guy was quick.

You heard the engine, but it wasn't its usual array of sounds. No, this one was an 'I'm fucked, you should've gotten me checked by a mechanic.' kind of noise.

"Come on, please, please... Fuck, not now, come on!" You screamed, figuring turning the key harshly as fast as you could would do the trick.

The man easily caught up to you, unnecessarily breaking your cars window, and grabbing your hair and pulling it. The pain exploded throughout your entire scalp as you yelled in agony. You instinctively clawed at his hand, internally wincing after noticing he had a couple of fingers missing.

You pushed the car door open, causing him to back him up and loosen his grasp. You nearly fell out of the drivers seat, holding the excessively bleeding cut on your thigh tightly.

"Don't, p-please..! Please..." You whimpered, not even being able to run away. You felt pathetic, you should've been like a Final Girl in this situation- but you had no plot armour, instead you were cushioned with the bittersweet sense of reality.

He approached you, stumbling. You hadn't injured him, and, until now, you hadn't gotten a good look at him. He was huge, sculpted to absolute perfection. He nearly fell into you, missing his target with your knife. You pushed your hands onto his chest, feeling a warm substance stain your hands.

It was blood.

But it wasn't your blood.

You didn't realise it instantly, but you knew. It wasn't yours, it just didn't look the same. Maybe a shade darker, but it didn't come from you.

It was his.

You felt as it was impossible for such a man to actually be injured, but you figured that he just came from doing illicit things, things that you didn't want to know.

"Hey, hey, I can fix it. The," You gagged, the smell of copper and other grime flooding your nostrils, the scent of death. "the injuries. I can make it feel better- you, feel better..." You lied, not having the courage to look up at him. You thought if he saw the terror in your eyes, he could figure out your ulterior motives.

"Just, come follow me..." You grabbed his hand, his good hand, and led him into your house. You were amazed with the idea that you were letting a mass murderer into your home, and that you promised you were going to fix him up. You had zero knowledge about basic first aid, and his injuries looked anything but basic. Most of them looked like they could get infected if he didn't get the proper care, and that was what you could see on him.

"Okay, sit down here," You pointed to a wooden chair in your kitchen. It seemed like he preferred your newly purchased couch instead. You resisted the urge to scream at him and mourn at the loss of your couch, but you were more concerned with the potential loss of your life.

You climbed the stairs as quickly as you could, nearly forgetting where your bathroom was. You opened every cabinet, grabbing whatever resembled first aid. You didn't have much, an old bottle of hydrogen peroxide, petroleum jelly, and a dingy roll of bandages. Thankfully, it wasn't too old, as you remembered extremely aged hydrogen peroxide would lose its 'healing power'.

Carefully you made your decent down the stairs, walking into your laundry room to grab a hamper to put the items in. You didn't want him to get his bloody laundry all over your floor.

Trying your absolute best to appear calm, you sat on the edge of the couch, right next to him. Being in a well lit room, you finally noticed that his terrifying face, was in fact, not his face. He donned a white Halloween mask, which looked quite burned. You took note of how the latex used to mesh with his skin due to the melting. You reached out to touch the faint burn scar just shy of his Adam's apple. It looked mostly healed, now a ring of healed skin cells surrounded his neck. It could've healed better, no doubt. You didn't think he knew how to deal with such an injury of that magnitude on his own. You continued to absentmindedly caress the healed scar on his neck, only halting once you took note of what an embarrassing action you were engaging in. It seems he shockingly didn't mind, though.

He sat perfectly still, you thought for a second he actually passed away. But you noticed the soft rise and fall of his chest. He was still breathing, and you weren't going to get away so easily.

You saw your knife still in his impossibly tight grasp, there was no way you would get any closer to him if he still had that blade.

"Could you, ya know..." You motioned to the kitchen utensil, though it clearly was something else to him. "Please, I," You sighed, your breath shaky while your cheeks were stained with tears.

He loosened his grip on the smooth end of the handle. You, like anyone in this perfectly normal situation, thought that if he agreed with you, he'd move the knife on his own. But you quickly made the connection that he wanted you to take it from him- or maybe you were reading too deep into this.

You made a move closer to his relaxed hand, slowly outstretching your arm to not look like you'd do anything stupid. The last thing you needed was for him to think you were going to try something.

You figured it would be better to tend to him yourself, instead of asking him to help you. It already looked like he was quite stubborn, but the issue was that he was hurt pretty badly.

Unzipping his mechanics coveralls, you quietly gasped at the sight of him. He was surprisingly toned, and even more surprising to you, he was an older man. The bruised skin scattered with snowy chest hair. You unconsciously raked your fingernails through his taut chest gently, muttering out an apology once you noticed his stomach flex. You retracted your hand like you'd been caught by a flame. You blamed the loss of blood for your idiotic action.

Unzipping it further, you quickly stopped at his impressive v-line. You nearly started to drool, embarrassingly looking away at the very noticeable bulge in his coveralls. You traced the veins that led to his hardening cock with your eyes, desperately wanting to unzip the garment further.

You couldn't.

He had so many deep gashes on him, some of them being rather fresh, but the majority were older scars. You saw how many of those old scars were recovered bullet holes. You lost count too many times. Could he even be killed..? Not like you could be the one to do it, anyway.

You flipped the hydrogen peroxide lid open and placed a fluffy cotton ball under the steady stream. "It'll sting." You whispered, pressing the ball to an opened wound on his shoulder.

Not even having the chance to blink, you felt his hand tangle in your hair once more, slamming you against your coffee table. You wailed as you felt the pain radiating on one side of your skull.

"I'm sorry! I t-told you it would sting a bit! I'm sorry," You repeated yourself countless times, fearing that now was the moment he'd be fed up with you, and kill you.

It seemed like he wanted to do exactly that, but with the amount of injuries he had sustained, his aim wasn't the best. He flipped you over and grabbed your knife, but instead of cutting your clavicle, like you thought he had intended, he sliced your shirt right down the middle. Maybe he did it on purpose, too.

Your head was spinning, small black spots filling your vision. You tried your best not to pass out, since you had no idea what he'd do once you were unconscious. You didn't even know that your shirt was cut.

Until he touched you.

It wasn't a threatening touch, to your amazement. It was like how you'd touched him earlier, gently and somewhat uncoordinated. Pressing down your sternum, he fondled your breast a little harshly, a hitch in your breath that was painfully obvious to the both of you.

It was clear that he, at first, did not know what he was really doing. A somewhat clumsy squeeze here and there. But watching your many reactions just to the slight brush of his fingers against your nipple spurred him on.

You didn't want to let him know you slightly enjoyed this, it felt wrong. It was wrong. You were starting to want a man who had done evil things, a man who had no problem hurting you. Yet, here you were, laying under him, melting into his touch.

You couldn't bite back a mewl when he had accidentally, or so you thought, caught your nipple between his thick fingers. It shocked you how quickly he was learning how to play your body, strumming it perfectly in return to hear you sing.

Focused on the pleasurable feelings coming from the man above, you were utterly caught off guard when he had slashed just below your navel. You cried out, your mind not being able to handle the continuous onslaught of two radically different feelings.

Suddenly, you grabbed his hand, not showing any emotion to your unanticipated touch, he looked down at you expectantly. You stared into the dark eyeholes of his mask, almost able to see his eyes.

"Are you going to kill me?"

Your voice swayed, more tears escaping from your wide eyes. Your pupils were blown out of fear, your heart hammering in your chest. You wondered if he could hear it, but a small part of you knew he did.

He got off of you, returning to his spot on the couch. You had no idea where the sudden spur of arousal came from within him. You didn't want to acknowledge the uncomfortable heat that pooled in your abdomen.

You had some trouble of your own getting up, he had done some serious damage to you. You knew you couldn't tend to either of your injuries. But seeing his many healed wounds, you figured he would survive to see another day. While you on the other hand, needed medical attention. If he wasn't a seemingly invincible killer, you would most definitely suggest that he come with you.

You didn't want to sleep in this house, as long as he was here with you. You left the 'medical' supplies on the coffee table, trying to leave to your room. You felt a large hand wrap around your fragile wrist. You flinched at the feeling, looking at him with a terrified expression.

"I'm just going to be upstairs. There's food in the fridge if you get hungry, and," You lost your train of thought, feeling woozy and nauseous. "sorry, if you need to shower, bathroom is upstairs. If you need anything from me, you know where my room is." You prayed he didn't need anything.

Wobbling up the stairs, you nearly collapsed on your bed. You would buy new bedsheets and a comforter another day, since you bloodied everything below you already. You really needed to go to a hospital, you hadn't known how much blood you'd lost. You hoped you didn't have a concussion, either.

You figured you could leave after he fell asleep, so you lay perfectly still in your bed. You couldn't take your car, even if it would start, the process was way too loud. It would probably wake him up. You opened your phone, quickly downloading a generic ride service app. You scheduled a ride for a bit later, figuring he should be asleep by then.

Pushing your phone under your pillow, you turned to your side. Trying to ignore the cut on your thigh, being the deepest cut he made on you. Facing the wall, you heard your door open. You nearly stopped breathing, your heart beating rampantly against your rib cage.

Hearing his heavy footsteps nearing you, your eyes screwed shut, trying to appear as you were asleep. You felt his asymmetrical touch on your hip, lifting the comforter from you. You tried your best to lay still, attempting to slow your breathing.

Feeling his good hand run through the gash on your thigh, you nearly screamed at the burning sensation. He manipulated your blood into his hand, smearing it across your still exposed sternum. You felt him continue to paint your body with a beautiful shade of carmine, and all you could do was lay there, and try not to weep.

As abruptly as this situation had happened, it ended. He left without a single word, as you were used to. You didn't question why he was silent, not wanting to converse with a man who kills.

You desperately wanted to shower, ridding the mixture of blood on your body. Deciding it was a good idea, you grabbed a dark towel, not wanting to dirty it with your blood.

Grabbing your phone to check the time, you cursed, tossing your towel onto your dirtied bed when you saw a notification saying your driver was outside. There was no way he would be asleep, considering the fact that he was just in your room a few minutes ago. But you needed to go, and you could just sneak out the back, hopefully without him noticing.

Wiggling out of your bloodied clothing, you pulled on some loose clothes, as not to agitate your cuts. The bleeding on your arm and underneath your navel had slowed, or even stopped, but the cut on your thigh had crimson still flowing steadily. You could get it stitched relatively quickly, and be back before he realised you were even gone.

What were you thinking?

You had still wanted to come back to this home, with that man in it. Your only thoughts should be run, run as far as you possibly could. You should call the police the second you got in the car.

Looking at yourself in the mirror, you couldn't believe how shitty you looked. Your blood was smudged all over your skin, painting yourself in a deep crimson. Your hair was disheveled, your cheeks stained with tears. Shades of indigo rung around your eyes, the whites of your sclera was now an angry red.

Pulling your shirt down to cover the mess, you fixed your hair as best as you could, and as quietly as possible, left your room.

Every creak of the door and floorboards had you fearing for your life. Was he around the corner? Holding your knife and ready to finally end you?

Bending and twisting your body to make your way across the hall as quietly as possible, you began to get giddy once you snatched your coat. Sneaking downstairs, turning to look at your couch, seeing two large legs hang off the armrest. You smiled, the tall man looking comical on your tiny settee. A bit of you actually found it kind of cute.

Leaving through the back door while craning your neck to check your back, you made it out to your driver. Pulling open the door and cringing at it's squeaking hinges, you sat in the backseat.

The driver was all too talkative, blabbing about his previous customers. While you would've been happy to falsely engage with him in conversation- you simply had no energy to do so. Only when he turned to see you all marked up did he shut his mouth and focus on the roads.

Your battered skin was surrounded by a hazy glow from your phone, your finger shaking on the last digit. If you called the police, all your problems- your problem, would disappear. Your lonesome digit continued to hover over the final 'one'. It would be so easy, just a shout of your address and it was over.

But you couldn't.

There was something holding you back, the thought that maybe- just maybe- he was a confused old man. A confused old man who killed some people.

The thought that he killed people was bothersome enough, but furthermore, he was after you. Or rather, the fact that he wasn't after you, was most concerning. And when he had touched you, God- it felt absolutely phenomenal. Even if he hadn't been the most harmonised with your body yet, he would fine tune his touches soon enough. You had no issue teaching him.

You lagged for a minute before noticing you wanted, actually wanted, him to touch you. Had you been that touch starved, that you wanted someone who murders others for no reason?!

Yes.

Yes you have been.

•

Thanking the man and paying him a nice tip (and hopefully not bloodying his seats), you hobbled over to the front of the hospital, chatting with a woman who was clacking away on her computer.

"Hello." A flat greeting, her eyes not leaving whatever was on her computer screen.

You had no clue how you were even standing, no doubt thanks to the endorphins creating an analgesic feeling throughout you.

Thanks to you not saying a single thing to the woman, she tore her eyes off her computer and took a look at you. Judgement pierced your soul, her nose crinkled, typing something.

She asked for some insurance and basic patient information, to which you were barely able to give her. You just wanted to awake from this hell of a nightmare already.

Half-assing pretty much everything the woman had to do with you, she chirped out something that was too cheery for you to understand, while clasping a wristband around you.

Another woman came out, ushering you over to a room, offering water and other nice things with a soothing tone. You practically melted into her while she helped you onto the bed.

You didn't even feel the torturous invasive prick of the intravenous drip sticking out of your arm. The nurse began to question you- how you got your injuries and such.

She seemed rather concerned, and she had a right to feel such a way! You looked like quite the patient- all bloody and bruised.

You for sure could not say 'a mass murderer snuck into my house, and he almost killed me. But instead of killing me, he started feeling me up.' or else the nurse would look at you as if you were insane. You totally weren't, you were just having recurring sexual thoughts about a man who has been trying to kill you. The way he had touched you, it wasn't a complete oddity that you were having these thoughts.

You quickly racked your brain for any shitty excuse, "I think someone tried to rob me, I don't remember much... I'm sorry." You didn't have the capacity to become your inner actor.

"Oh, no sweetie! You don't have to be sorry 'bout a darn thing!" She took your hand, her smooth index finger rubbing over the gaps of your knuckles.

She offered you a dark hospital gown, leaving the room so you can change.

You hurled your old clothes on a spare seat in the cramped room, messily tying the back of the gown before laying on the bed. You hadn't even given reality a fair chance to settle in. You could've been dead, you should've been dead. You were starting to feel, actual emotions. The number one hard-hitter being absolute agony- both physically, and especially mentally.

You hadn't felt the tears that began their inevitable flow, streaming in steady rivulets down your cheeks. You embraced it, silently weeping, curling in on yourself on the uncomfortable hospital bed.

"You doin' alright?"

Not noticing the doctor and his assistant, you became extremely embarrassed. You wanted to scream no, to shake him back and forth and tell him everything that's happened. Inhaling shakily, you dug up some generic dialogue, "Sorry, just.. shaken up, I guess." You sniffed, rubbing the itchy corner of your eyes. The two began to comfort you, assuring you were safe.

The man began to explain what he was going to do, check your injuries, your body. He asked you if you were comfortable with it, and you told him everything was fine. You wanted him to fix you, and that's what he was going to do.

He asked you to show your injuries, you started with your worst one- right in the centre of your thigh. He showed true commiseration towards you, which had been slightly unwanted. His assistant handed you a cup of sweet juice and downed it quickly, your burning throat soothing instantly. You whispered your appreciation.

The doctor began to clean and stitch up your cut, simply bandaging the other slashes. He checked you out for a concussion, ordering some scans. He asked you if you were well off enough to walk on your own, you guaranteed him you were fine.

•

After getting a reassurance that you were somewhat healthy, and clearly very shaken up, the doctor left you to sleep. He told you to press the immensely sized red button that was labeled 'nurse', in capital white letters if you needed anything. Feeling a little uncomfortable to plainly summon somebody into your room, you wouldn't need to press the button anytime soon.

Before the doctor left, you quickly request nobody come into your room lest you press the button. He nodded, somewhat hesitantly.

You didn't want to go home, fear that he was still in your house. You were terrified of the medical bill of an overnight stay, but you hoped your insurance would assist heavily.

Nuzzling into the itchy linens and sheets, you easily drifted off to much needed rest, the blocky pillow not helping much...

•

Slowly but surely getting dragged from your sleep, you felt a stinging sensation on your thigh. No doubt the rawness of your stitches and the antiseptic that seeped into your sensitive cut.

You felt it.

Felt him.

Maybe it was the nurse, checking on your fatigued figure. You needed to stop making these scenarios in your head and accept what was truly going on.

"How did you.." You whispered, feeling the damned unbalanced touch of his heavy hand. You knew he came to finish the job, too disturbed to think of how he had found you- relatively quick, too.

Realising that, you were indeed, in a public place, you took a sharp inhale. He knew you were trying to scream, the flat of his blade pressing against your carotid artery. You shut up after that.

Moving slowly, you snaked your arm to the back of the hospital bed, grabbing the nurse call button. You felt it, the shiny exterior brush by your fingertips.

He took it from you, destroying it with impressive strength. The veins and tendons of his hand flexing. Your thighs squeezed together, feeling a surge of excitement blast throughout your body- you felt disgusting.

Your pupil devoured your irises, you were fucking terrified. Your breath quivered with every inhale, you couldn't think right. You looked him over, still wearing his dark coveralls. You noticed some bandages on him, feeling a bit sad that you couldn't put them on him yourself. Looking lower, then immediately higher after seeing something you shouldn't have, your face set aflame.

He was hard. He was enjoying this, instilling fear into you.

You couldn't help but start to drool at the evident print in his coveralls, growing excited seeing how large he was.

He tore the old blanket off of your shivering body, not because of the cold, no. He knew why.

Not bothering to use the knife, which was still yours, he ripped your cheap hospital gown, exposing your breasts once more.

Not taken aback by the slightest, he ran his thumbs over your pert nipples, feeling your breasts push flush against his hands- thanks to your body arching in response to his minuscule and fumbling touches.

You couldn't take anymore of his teasing, slithering your trembling hand lower and lower, feeling your sopping cunt. You didn't want to pay attention to how you were so wet so fast.

But you couldn't help but know that you hopelessly wanted him. You wanted him to absolutely ruin you.

Biting back a gasp once you slipped a finger inside your begging hole, you felt him continue to pinch and grope your breasts. Squishing them harshly, then swapping to an experimental knead. It all had you shuddering against him.

He stopped, watching your pleasureful expressions, even after he had quit touching you. He looked at your free hand, then the other that was occupied with your pussy. Seizing your hand quickly, he looked at the slick that covered your quivering digits.

"It's because of.. you." You whimpered, thighs clenching, attempting to slow the mess of your arousal on them. You assumed in such a situation, it'd be best to tell him what he wanted to hear.

Eyeing your dripping pussy, he spread your thighs further, wanting a better view. You gasped when his finger grazed against your slit, your warmth gaping over nothing. You needed him to fill you.

Accidentally bumping against your clit, you felt lightning strike through you, involuntarily jolting against his touch.

"Fuck, right there," You gasped, taking his hand and pushing it against your clit. He wrapped his free hand around your frail throat, cutting the steady flow of oxygen through your lungs. You quickly got the message that he did not like being told what to do, and you knew you had zero rights to give him orders.

Holding his hand against your throat, you looked down at his large hand against your pussy, cupping your hot sex. You bit your lip, rocking your hips against his hand, trying to get any kind of friction. He retracted his lower hand, using it to unzip his coveralls. You eyed the fabric until it gently flitted to the ground, revealing his large cock.

You silently gasped, your mouth open dumbly. Your abdomen tightened, the warm palpitation of your pussy becoming wildly uncomfortable.

He gave a few hard squeezes to your neck, causing your head to spin. You gazed to his large and dangerous hand, holding his heavy dick in hand. It was so thick, and his girth had you nearly begging for him.

Kneeling on the small cot and feeling him inch closer towards your needy being, you started to grow nervous that it couldn't support his massive frame. He grabbed his cock, lining his engorged tip to your cunt.

He slid his cock against your slit, coating his length with your slick. You hissed lowly, trying to encourage him to push into you by moving your hips.

The grip on your neck tightened as he shoved himself in quickly, causing you to scream out. A large hand over your loud mouth, you moaned and mewled against his palm. The stretch of his dick painful, but fuck, it felt so good. Being this full, his fat cock dragging against your gummy walls slowly. You were tight, too tight for him, to the point where you were uncomfortable. Your cunt hugging him as he tried to slam back into you.

He couldn't fit entirely, his cock already kissing your cervix. You cried out against his palm as you clawed the back of his hand. His cock breaking you open as he continued to pierce you with his length.

Your eyes rolled back, the pain blurred by the immense bliss he was giving you. His dick filling you to the brim as the lewd squelching sounds of your pussy sucking him back in filled the small room.

Muffled moans came from your mouth as he continued to stuff you full of him, his hips slamming against your own as you stared where the two of you were conjoined.

He leaned closer to you, all that was audible to you-that weren't your own noises, was his heavy breathing. It made you clench tighter around him, knowing that your body was impacting him. You whimpered feeling his cock swell deeper inside you.

Harshly flipping you around, his hand raked through your hair, gripping it tightly as he pushed you into the cot, fucking you deeper and deeper into the hospital bed.

You screamed into the linens as his cock pushed against that utterly magical part inside of you- making you see stars as you convulsed around him, finishing on his cock as you squealed as quietly as you could. The bliss quickly turned once he continued to slam into you, your overshot nerves begging for a break. You wailed against the sheets, your velvety walls squeezing his heavy cock inside of you.

You felt him silence you when he pushed your head against the cot further, his thrusts still relentless. You persisted with the sounds, the pleasure doubling once he memorised that bundle of nerves nestled inside of you, hitting it with unknown accuracy.

Turning you over once more, both of his huge hands on either side of your hips, biting marks into the soft and smooth flesh. He growled deeply, his thrusts slowing, but still powerful. You looked up into the empty eyeholes of his mask, the pale moonlight that snuck in from the curtains illuminating the black holes. You gasped, looking deeply into the mismatch of his eyes, beautiful blue, while the other iris had milky splotches, you couldn't quite tell if it was scarred, too.

His pupils were enlarged, irises swallowed whole. His eyes made you shake with want, whimpering against him. His eyes showed there was a beast harboured deep within, ready to pounce on you at any given time, sinking its teeth into you. You shivered and looked at his pectorals instead.

Keening in on you, he groaned under the mask, pumping his cock into your wanton pussy. Again and again, he pressed against your cervix, making your toes curl and back arch. You moaned and mewled, a symphony of sounds just for him.

"Oh, oh f-fuck..!" You sighed, anchoring onto the corner of the bed as he continued to rail into you at an unforgiving speed.

Your knuckles blanched as your grip on the bedsheets was ridiculously tight, your eyes screwed shut, wailing out as you felt your orgasm wash over you once more. It felt phenomenal as you cried against him, insides dragging him deeper while you hugged his cock tightly.

His thrusts stuttered, hands squeezing your hips harder, eliciting a whimper from you. He doubled over, body pushing into your own. Shoving himself deeply into you one last time, he finished deep inside of you with a groan.

He pulled out of you slowly, pearlescent cum leaking out of your abused cunt. He wasted no time in stuffing it back into you, hearing you gasp in surprise.

You lay on the hospital bed, chest rising and falling quickly, your tits moving with every breath. He squeezed your breasts and pinched your nipples to get another reaction out of you. Asshole.

Not wanting the realisation of having sexual intimacy with a serial killer set in, you curled into the bed, throwing the thin blanket over you.

You were absolutely exhausted, your mind only set on sleep. Snuggling against the uncomfortable bed once more, you painfully noticed once he had left. For your hairs were no longer bristled, your heart rate was calmed, the cold sweat had been absent.

You wanted him to stay.

#michael myers x reader #slashers #fanfic #smut #michael myers #halloween

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