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adobe-outdesign · 9 days

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Kung Fu Panda 4 Rewrite Thing

Been chewing on this movie for a while now and wanted to take a shot at improving it. Some parts are a bit rough but I think this gets the general idea across.

As a rule, I'm trying to keep most of the characters and elements/plot beats in place rather than spinning things off in a completely unrelated direction. I also am aware of the restrictions placed on this movie, such as an unwillingness to rehire high-profile VAs and runtime limitations. This is just meant to be a "what if" kind of thing. That said:

We open with a stylized sequence of Po telling the story of his and the Five's latest battle. As it ends it's revealed he's at the grand opening of Mr. Ping's brand new bigger, better noodle shop location, talking to the customers.

As one of them asks where the Five are now, Po explains that they got summoned to their own individual missions, but they'll be back soon.

(Yes I am still having them be MIA, as Po needs to be alone with Zhen for part of the movie. However, they'll only gone for the first part of this rewrite and for a very specific plot-related reason.)

(The thing with Po needing to give up his title of Dragon Warrior makes no sense for multiple reasons, so let's just drop that plot point entirely. I get that it's meant to tie into the "change" moral, but I'd rather have Po imparting this lesson onto Zhen instead of learning it himself, as otherwise it undermines the character growth he had in 3.

Also, Po isn't carrying the staff around with him constantly in this rewrite, as it looks a bit silly and isn't plot relevant here.)

A messenger shows up to report that the Jade Palace is under attack. Po decides to rush over just in case Shifu needs backup... which he does, because he's being kidnapped in a small one of those magic-proofed cages from the actual film.

(Shifu being kidnapped was tossed around in the writing room originally and I want to keep it in this rewrite because it A) gives Shifu something to do, and B) I want to allow Zhen to openly be working with the Chameleon in order to help flesh out her character and avoid the lackluster plot twist, meaning she'll need new leverage against Po later on.)

The figure behind the kidnapping appears to be Master Elephant, which confuses Po as he's been missing for several months. Right as he's about to land a finishing blow, the figure shape shifts into Master Chicken, throwing Po's attack and resulting in him getting a bad head injury. He does his best to pursue the attackers, but can't keep up. Dismayed, he returns to the Jade Palace...

...And finds Zhen trying to steal something, using the commotion outside as a distraction. Po fights, but he's still badly injured and can't give it his all, resulting in Zhen being able to slip away with her prize—a dust bunny from under the furniture. Po is baffled.

(Side note: I would probably redesign Zhen so she actually looks like she matches the other characters' style, but I digress.)

Feeling dismayed, he returns to the noodle shop, where both his dads work on treating his wounds and comforting him. As Po explains what happened, Mr. Ping mentions that customers have been circulating rumors about a shapeshifting sorceress in Juniper City. Po decides that that's where he needs to go, promises his dads he'll be safe, and leaves.

(I'm cutting Mr. Ping and Li's subplot, because as much as I love them they don't really add much to the plot. It also feels like it goes against Mr. Ping's characterization in KFP 1 and 2 in particular.)

This is where we can have the scene of the Chameleon vs. the crime bosses. This can mostly stay the same except one of the bosses attempts to attack her when she shape shifts, causing her to retaliate with a magic-based attack. She also needs to straight-up kill the guy to establish her and her sorcery as a legit threat.

Po arrives at the Happy Bunny tavern to look for a ride to Juniper City. As he talks to Fish and Chip, he notices Zhen nearby doing some black market trading with Granny Boar to obtain a white feather. Po confronts her and she tries to run out with the feather, causing the boar family to pursue in a big fight scene.

Po and Zhen manage to escape, Zhen stashing the feather. Po threatens to have her sent to jail, but Zhen confirms she's working for the Chameleon and can lead Po to her so he can rescue Shifu. Po dislikes this situation, but has no choice but to agree.

(Unlike in the actual film, I would make it so her lair is hidden in some fashion; magic that keeps it camouflaged would be appropriate for a chameleon, or it could be underground or hidden behind something. Regardless, it should be impossible to locate without Zhen's assistance.)

On the boat ride over to Juniper city, Zhen says that she has to "obtain" one more item from the local history museum or she'll be in big trouble with the Chameleon. Po doesn't like this detour, but once again has no choice in the matter.

Po asks why Zhen would want to work for someone so obviously evil, and this is the point where Zhen admits she was adopted by the Chameleon and we get her backstory.

(I would establish that the Chameleon has an actual name, but only Zhen uses it. It shows that Zhen is closer to her than most, not quite seeing her as a mother but not fearing her enough to use her preferred title. Also, the Chameleon's the only KFP villain without a proper name and that bothers me.)

The backstory can be the same, but the part about her living on the streets and meeting the Chameleon for the first time should be merged into a single flashback.

Zhen says that Po couldn't understand, but Po reveals that he's also adopted, and that he probably would commit some noodle-related crime if his dad asked him to. Still, Zhen insists that people don't change, and that includes her.

They arrive at Juniper city (Po is impressed at its size but he very much is not acting like he's never seen a city before). Zhen covers up her muzzle and tucks her tail under her clothes so she won't be recognized.

Zhen is ready to break into the museum, but Po says that he's got this and goes up to the guards to tell them that he has some official Dragon Warrior business to take care of and will need to borrow some ancient artifacts.

Unlike in the actual film, everyone ready acknowledges him as the Dragon Warrior. The guards are more than happy to loan him whatever he needs... until Zhen's tail pops out and the guards recognize her, prompting them to attack.

During the scuffle, Zhen uses a chi blast to knock back one of the guards, but almost gets taken out by the other guard coming up behind her. Po defends her but gets mildly injured as a result.

After the fight, Po asks about the chi move and Zhen states that the Chameleon taught her the basics.

Zhen confirms that the Chameleon is a master of chi, and that the sorcery she uses is a specific type of chi manipulation.

(The reason I'm connecting chi to her powers is that it makes them feel a bit less out of left field, and helps 4 feel like a logical progression from 3.)

Zhen admits that she's not very good at using chi, but Po points out that it took him years to use chi in battle. He also compliments her on her kung fu, and she confirms she's self-taught.

(In this rewrite, Zhen is good at fighting but not quite at the level she is in the actual movie. This is to address the issue of who taught her if the Chameleon doesn't know kung fu.)

He takes a moment to give her a few pointers, which causes her to ask why he took that blow for her earlier, figuring there's a catch. Po just says it's the right thing to do, but Zhen is skeptical, figuring he only did it because he still needs her to lead him to Shifu.

The reminder of Shifu prompts Po to move on, and they grab the item Zhen was after, a 500 year old set of blades, then run for it.

Po and Zhen arrive at the Chameleon's lair, and Zhen shows Po how to get inside and tells him where Shifu is being held. She says that she'll take the items to the Chameleon, which will distract her while Po breaks him out. Po thanks her, and the two separate. Zhen warns him of booby traps on the way out.

There are indeed booby traps, such as those saw contraptions from the actual movie and a bunch of guards. It takes Po a few minutes, but he eventually gets through them.

Po finds Shifu being held in a dark room. Shifu is glad to see him, but warns him to be careful as the Chameleon's likely not far away. Po explains Zhen's distraction and moves to free him... only for a cage to fall down and trap him as well.

"Shifu" is then revealed to be the Chameleon in disguise, who slips through the bars via shape shifting into a mantis and thanks Zhen for her help. Zhen apologizes to Po, who's naturally upset ("I mean, I know you were evil, but I didn't think you were THAT evil").

Zhen hands over the three items she collected, and it's confirmed what they are: a dust bunny that contains a clump of Tai Lung's fur, a feather from Lord Shen, and a pair of blades once wielded by Kai.

Po mistakenly interprets this as the Chameleon being a collector of kung fu memorabilia and tries to chat about the Jade Palace's collection, much to her bafflement.

The Chameleon explains that a trace of a person's chi remains long after their death, and demonstrates by doing The Tongue Thing on Kai's blade, stripping its chi, and immediately taking his form.

(As you may have picked up on, this rewrite removes the spirit world elements entirely. While they are really interesting, I think cutting them is the best option because:

1. There is so much plot involved with bringing Po's old enemies back that you could make that an entire movie in and of itself. It's hard to do it justice when you're cramming it in around the edges of this movie.

2. It makes the Chameleon too similar to Kai in terms of abilities.

3. Having her rely on stealing other's kung fu makes her come across as weak despite being a powerful sorceress.)

Po asks her if her goal is to take over China, but she says no; she just wants to end the practice of kung fu for good, and prove that sorcery is the superior option. To prove it, she has Shifu brought in.

While having your chi stripped does not remove one's kung fu abilities in this rewrite, it is still removing part of one's life energy and thus weakening them severely for a period of time—ergo, Shifu is still unable to fight at his best. Still, he manages to hold his own.

Instead of using kung fu, the Chameleon relies on the brute animalistic strength and inherent abilities of the forms she takes, switching whenever she's loosing to keep her opponents on her toes and even transforming into Shifu himself for a period. She also uses a few chi-based attacks.

Just when it looks like Shifu is about to win the fight, she uses her tongue to strip the chi from the fur clump, taking the form of Tai Lung. Shifu is so shocked and distraught that he fails to attack, allowing the Chameleon to land a serious blow.

She returns to her original form and states that when the blood moon has risen, she will battle and take down every master in the middle of Juniper city, where everyone can learn just how useless kung fu and the people who teach it are. She leaves Po in his cage panicking over Shifu, who's unresponsive.

Zhen follows the Chameleon outside, where we get the "does the blood moon always rise so slowly" gag. Noticing that Zhen looks troubled, she asks what's wrong, and Zhen talks about how Po encouraged her to do the right thing. Even though she's been told that kung fu masters are elitist, selfish people, she couldn't see any of that in Po.

(Side note: I want to establish in this rewrite that while the Chameleon will claim up and down that Zhen is only a pawn for her to use, she does care about her to some extent, even though probably loathes the fact she does. For example, when talking to Zhen here, she might pick some rubble out of her fur or something to show there's a teeny tiny bit of actual affection hidden there.

The reason for this is that all other KFP villains have had an emotional anchor—Shifu for Tai Lung, Shen's parents for Shen, and Oogway for Kai. The Chameleon being abusive but having some real love for Zhen and Zhen struggling with her gaslighting adds a lot more depth to both of them.)

The Chameleon finally reveals her backstory, which should be told in a hyper-stylized way à la the flashbacks in KFP 2 and 3. Just like Zhen, she grew up on the streets as an orphan, broke and starving. She admired kung fu greatly and wanted to learn it, but everyone turned her away for having no money to pay for lessons.

One day, she found a shiny jade amulet on the streets that someone lost, finally giving her a much-needed break. She is able to use that money to enroll in classes.

The problem was that while the money changed her financial status, it didn't change the way people saw her. Her master still considered her a lowly gutter rat and treated her as such, verbally insulting her and beating her down during training sessions. It's very much like how Shifu treated Po in KFP 1, except worse, especially because the Chameleon is a small and fragile animal.

Finally, during one training session she became too injured to move. Her master told her to quit and started to walk away, only for her to grab his leg with her tongue to trip him up. However, at the peak of her self-loathing, she instead discovered her chi stealing abilities and transformed into him. It's not shown, but it is implied she killed him.

As the flashback ends, the Chameleon shifts into Zhen and tells her that no matter how much you change, you can't change the way other people see you. Siding with Po, she says, will only get her hurt. Zhen nods and unexpectedly hugs the Chameleon, telling her she knows, and runs off.

Cutting back to Po, we see him frantically trying to break the bars of his cage. Zhen comes forward and drops down on her hands and knees, apologizing for everything. Po says that she came back, and that's what matters.

She reveals that the "hug" was actually just a way for her to get the key off of the Chameleon, and she uses it to unlock Po's cage. Po runs over to Shifu and he and Zhen heal him with chi, and we get a callback to the "I'M NOT DYING YOU IDIOT" scene from KFP 1.

However, while Shifu's not dying, he is very badly injured and can barely walk on his own. Po asks how they can take on the Chameleon and her army with just three of them, but Zhen holds up the key and suggests they get an army of their own.

Running downstairs, Zhen reveals where the other masters are being held. To Po's shock, the Furious Five are among those captured. Tigress confirms that the summons they received were traps laid by the Chameleon, and she already has their forms.

Also down there are the other crime bosses, as it feels like they just disappear in the actual film after their scenes.

Zhen only manages to unlock the Five's cages before before the Chameleon snatches the key back with her tongue, revealing that she knew Zhen was lying to her. Behind her, her army assembles.

Tigress confirms that that the Five will take on the army, and Po faces off with the Chameleon one-on-one. She strips the feather and uses Shen's form to fly up and take the upper ground, trying to kick a cage onto him. Zhen helps deflect it, and the Chameleon tells her to stay out of the way. Po and her continue to battle.

Despite Po's best attempts at blocking it, she does finally stick him with her tongue. He grabs it and throws her a distance in her fragile base form, injuring her but still giving her some of his chi in the process.

The Chameleon takes on Po's form next, and we get a fight similar to the one in the movie, though once again with her using less kung fu and more magic and physical attacks.

She mentions how she was rejected and tries to tell him that he should be on her side, because a bit fat panda like him must have been treated just as badly as she was. Po denies this, but Shifu admits it's pretty accurate. Po says he's not helping.

Po admits that she has a point, except she forgot one thing, and we get a callback to the "I'm THE big fat panda" moment from KFP 1.

The two attack at the same time. As the dust clears, it's revealed that neither are doing great—Po has gotten a lot of little injuries and the chi stealing has weakened him. The Chameleon is struggling to shapeshift at all, with the attempt causing her pain, and instead settles for trying to blast him. Zhen steps in and manages to redirect the attack back at her.

The Chameleon takes the blow and ends up back on the floor as a parallel to her flashback. Zhen reaffirms that she disagrees with her worldview—people can change, and she's going to prove it. If the Chameleon wants get to Po, she'll need to get through her first.

The Chameleon kind of laughs this off at first before realizing she's dead serious. She states that Zhen isn't even good at fighting, but Po disagrees, giving Zhen a confidence boost. The Chameleon struggles to her feet as if readying an attack, everyone braces themselves... and she surrenders, too injured to fight and unable to bring herself to hurt Zhen.

(There are a few reasons why I think her surrendering makes for an interesting defeat here:

1. There's no spirit realm portal to yeet her into in this version;

2. There's only so many times Po's enemies can be yeeted directly into the spirit realm before it gets old;

3. It adds character depth, and;

4. It ties back nicely in to the theme of change and that it's never too late to do the right thing.)

Zhen helps the Chameleon up, Tigress does the same for Po, and Monkey does the same for Shifu. The five reveal that despite being exhausted, they still managed to wipe the floor with the Chameleon's army, which Zhen thinks is incredible. Po introduces Zhen to them formally, and Shifu asks if they can save the introductions for after they get medical treatment.

Later on, Po (carrying the staff Oogway gave him) approaches Zhen, who's sitting under the peach tree by the Jade Palace. He asks her if she's doing okay after everything that's happened. She says she's alright, but is pretty scared of what's going to happen next, given that the Chameleon's in jail and she has nowhere to go.

Po reveals that him and Shifu have been talking, and he plans to open a new school as part of the Jade Palace that will offer free kung fu lessons to anyone who's interested in learning. Zhen asks if there are any spots open, and we end similar to the actual movie, with her training alongside the five.

the credits still end with the Jack Black cover of Baby One More Time because it slaps

#kung fu panda #kfp #kung fu panda 4 #kfp 4 #po #shifu #zhen #the chameleon #outdesign posts things #outdesign attempts to write #been chewing on zhen and the chameleon's characters like a dog with a new toy #apparently tumblr removed the ability to add sub bullets so sorry if this is a wall of text. hopefully the images help a bit

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snenbubs · 4 months

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Hellooo! I would like to make a request for Mammon, please!

I was thinking of a scatter-brained and clumsy (Sloth) imp reader who manages to catch Mammon's attention. I specifically stated that reader is an imp from the Sloth Ring because she sleeps way more than the imps from other rings and one time she ends up falling asleep while sitting with (or rather, on) him. She's more than a bit shy, so the first time that this happens she is mortified when she finds out that she accidentally passed out on him

Also, with being a Sloth-born imp, I think it goes without saying that she is rather quiet and soft-spoken, so being small and not particularly loud makes it hard for Mammon to spot her at times

Thank you for reading! 🩷

I love this! I love sloth-born ocs so so much bcz they are just absolutely so relatable 😭

FOR YOU ANON; HB MAMMON X SLOTH-BORN IMP READER HCS AND A SHORT, BADLY WRITTEN ONESHOT :D becauze im feeling extra productive and the idea of falling asleep on Mammon makes me giggle.

- NOW, Mammon is a man of ACCURACY. Accuracy = money, and he loves money. He expects all his workers to be on time, prepared and ready to give their all to the respective jobs he had given them.

- You, a ditsy and clumsy imp that had been transferred over from the Sloth ring, was not that. You were sluggish, tardy, and wholly unprepared for the intense environment that came with a job under his name.

- Its this that catches his attention, lucky you!

- He didn't like you at first.

- He was ready to just throw you out the front door and hire a replacement, probably from a different ring - like Wrath, they worked hard in Wrath. BUT, he hesitated. He hesitated because he honestly felt a little bad for you.

- Like, he felt really bad for you. He caught you sleeping on the job, a clattered mess of strewn paper and ruffled hair. When rudely awoken, you were meek and quiet. Insistently apologising for your behaviour in such a pathetic, quivering tone that he really just couldn't throw you out. It'd be like taking a blanket from an orphan.

- He let you off with a warning, and kept an eye on you after that point.

- Your promises of better work were ultimately empty though, as nothing changed.

- It truly frustrated him how you were able to outmatch every single demon around you in failing at your job. Yet, aside from a quick scolding every so often from Mammon or some other advisor, you were never actually punished. His frustrations turned to facinations though, and after a while of nothing changing, he was honestly more interested in why you were like this than trying to change anything.

- With this in mind you find it odd that you keep getting promoted despite your lack of work. Additionally, how you keep finding yourself at Mammon's side, allowing him to engage in a mostly one-sided conversation with you.

- Your quiet, and soft-spoken nature attracts Mammon toward you greatly. Its a vast contrast to the personalities normally seen in Hell, and he enjoys the tranquility of your company.

- He can get quite stressed at times so to have you with him is almost like a relief. He knows he can relax around you, because you're always so absent minded and chilled out.

- It can be a nuisance at times though, as he has often lost you to crowds of paparazzi and fans. You just slip away with no sounds, no protests or cries.

- Sometimes he actually just attatches a cobweb to you to stop you from straying too far.

- It can be great fun though, because he's so big and tall you are a lot smaller against him so its easy for you to evade his gaze, you are always able to jump out at him and scare him at the worst possible times.

NOW, ENOUGH TEASING. ONTO THE MAIN COURSE - Falling asleep on him..... bats eyelashes and twirls hair around fingers

The harsh thrum of an engine reverberated through the bitterly silent air like a fish on land, foreign and unwanted. It was a loud sound, invasive to the thoughts of both inhabitants of the slick, dark juniper limousine as it prohibited any sort of conversational utterance.

You and Mammon, the two occupants, sat in a daring silence. Each too fearful to speak over the rough sputter of the vehicle.

Gleaming yellow sceleras, with the blackest of slit pupils gazed outward yearningly, to the side and out of a darkly tinted window. You thought the sky to be quite pretty, a sickly shade of green swirling with pale clouds and smog. The bright surface bled light into the otherwise dark shaking vehicle.

Mammon faced the other way, glaring out with distaste to the polluted domain he ruled over. Though the silence against the limousine was thick, it was not tense, or awkward. Rather there was an oozing warmth and tranquility bestowed between the two of you, allowing the close proximity you shared to remain comfortable and joyous.

It was this tranquility however, that would be your ultimate and metaphorical demise.

With the repetitive swaying of the vehicle, accompanied by an unstirred mechanical buzz and fleshy heat that radiated from the Sin next to you, you were soothed. You couldn't even stop it from happening, one minute you were as alert as an eagle and the next, your eyelids grew heavy. Judging the greenish scenery of the Greed ring came to a halt as your vision was enveloped in a husky gloom. You became groggy, and bleary, and in a feverish dream-like state coiled yourself into the closest thing that provided substantial warmth.

That thing? Mammon.

Upon feeling the slump of your body against his, Mammon tensed. He was torn away from gazing out the window to pore over you curiously, wondering why you had fallen against him so suddenly.

When he found your idle figure against his, limp and unmoving - aside from the gentle rise and fall of your chest with each breath - he quickly realised that you had fallen asleep. Unsure of what to do, he remained frozen for a few moments, cheeks growing hot and flushed with the prolonged contact.

This had never happened before. He'd seen you collapse all the time, falling asleep often spontaneously at work and at events without a care, yet you had never actually fallen asleep so close to him before. It felt... intimate. He was honoured for you to trust him in such a way.

For a few more moments he remained tensed. However, he soon settled with your frame against his, reaching a slow and gentle arm out to wrap against your body and hold you close to him.

For a moment you stirred. Your tail twitched behind you and you lifted yourself just briefly. Mammon oncemore tense, fearing that he had awoken you, and that you would find him clinging to you so sappily. To his relief however, you did not awake. Rather, now clutched closely to his side and secured by his arm, you nuzzled yourself further into his body. Hands intertwining with the fabric of his clothes for emphasis on how comfortable and cosy the situation you were in was.

For once, Mammon found himself to be content and happy. His gaze trailed across your figure longingly, and adoringly - chartreuse eyes gleaming prettily against the darkly lit interior of the sleek limousine, and bathing your figure in a green hue. A fond smile etched its way onto his jagged mouth, and he found himself wishing for moments like this to happen more often.

The tender moment between the two of you was cut short however, when the limousine - which had been speeding through the Greed ring at an alarming rate, screeched across a raised speed-bump without actually slowing down. Such an action rocked the car up and down sharply, making the two of you jump against your seats.

Immediately, you had awoken. Wide eyed and startled, you were shocked to find yourself pressed flush against the warm, clothed flesh of your boss - Mammon, the Sin of Greed. Even more shockingly, being held there by his own hand.

Inch by inch you lifted your head up toward Mammon, the striking yellow of your scelra contrasting against his overwhelming green.

He seemed almost as shocked as you were, glaring down nervously to check if you had awoken. The moment he caught wind of your consciousness he retracted his hand, acting as though he had been burnt from a kettle. Once the limb confining you had moved, you quickly slipped yourself away from the larger man, sliding your body across the black leather seat and cornering yourself against the door to the vehicle.

Mammon disliked the space you had created between them, yet he would never say that aloud.

Totally, and utterly mortified, you dragged a lazy hand across your face.

"Mammon!" You squeaked, voice barely above that of a hushed whisper. Your wide eyes remained glued to his figure, whereas his own now averted away from you, embarassed to showcase his own hottly flushed cheeks. "I am-- so- sorry! I didn't mean--"

"S'okay." Mammon chose to interrupt you before you began to ramble. Through the corner of his gaze he could see you wring your hands together nervously, probably as equally as embarassed as he was to be in such a position.

You gave the Sin a quizzical look, brows cocked curiously and lips pursed thin. "It.. is?" You inquired, sounding almost unsure of yourself. As the initial surprise wore off, you found your tone returning to that of its original laziness.

With an assuring nod of his head, Mammon reached a hand out to pull you closer, effortlessly sliding you across the thick leather seat to be within his proximity once more. You squeaked at the action, however, eventually settled down against him.

"Yeah." He spoke, now more assured as he saw you settled against him again. "And we still have a long journey to go. Best not let one big bump interrupt 'ya snooze."

You gave the sin a coy smile, and within moments the two of you returned to the comfortable position you had been in before. Hopefully this time with no interruptions.

WHEEEY I gotta admit i sorta rushed it toward the end cuz m rlly excited to post this one i loved writing it :D i really hope you like it anon!! Ty for sending in an ask! i appreciate it! i cba to spell check it so if you see anything weird its probably cuz of that

#helluva boss x reader #mammon hb #mammon hb x reader #hb mammon #i love him #mammon helluva boss #hb mammon x reader #i would so live in sloth #its the only place 4 me

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sirazaroff · 6 months

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I have an idea that involves Velvet and i wanted to ask you what you thought of it! :3

A few days after RWBY and Jaune return from the Ever After, Velvet notices that Jaune is keeping his distance from her, and she has no idea why. She asks all of Team RWBY and even Nora, Ren, and Oscar, but they don’t know why he’s doing it either.

She tells Coco about it and she immediately wants to figure it out and the two basically corner Jaune to get him to talk. He relents pretty quickly and says he’s doing it to make sure he doesn’t make Velvet uncomfortable.

Velvet has no idea why he’d make her feel that way, he’s her friend after all, so Jaune explains that soon after returning from Ever After he caught himself reaching to touch her ears out of Habit because he did it with Juniper whenever he was stressed or needed something to ground himself, but he knows that touching a Faunus Trait is a very serious and intimate thing and felt horrible for nearly intruding on her personal space.

Velvet is touched by his thoughtfulness and says she appreciates it immensely, but he doesn’t have to distance himself from his friends, all he had to do was explain from the start and she would understand, and now she does :3

Coco’s still hung up on the fact that Jaune was friends with an honest-to-gods Jackalope LANSKXSBJS

And after Coco and Vel confront him

Sorry I just! I love this scene you’ve set up so much that I wanted to see come to life. Jaune’s always treated so strangely in this fandom. He’s really not that bad if you just focus for a sec.

————

I totally see this scenario being believable. All that trauma from his time in the Everafter. And Juniper was his only stability for so so so long…you don’t forget someone like that. See their ghost in familiar places, in familiar people.

I think it’ll do him good to start being made to process his issues. I haven’t made it to V9 yet but my take on Jaune is he’s just having a bad day constantly. Underdog healer. Being around new company will do him good. Help him process. I think when the trio are alone together they’ll make a lot of progress with that. Unload a lot of that baggage he’s been carrying.

Anyways, boy’s gonna be fine. He’s in good hands and even better company~

Thank you for sending the ask! Here have this for me taking so long.

Now. Time to play catch up with my inbox.

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iamthecomet · 6 months

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Kinktober - Day 19 - Hate Sex

1.4k of sort of angsty Born Under A Troubled Sign - style Mountain/Dew hate fucking. Including rough sex, improper prep, some angst, knotting, overstimulation. Could be read as dubious consent but everyone is fully aware and on board with what they're doing despite the pheromones and emotions at play.

No need to read Born Under a Troubled Sign to know what's happening. But if you haven't and you like angst you should check it out.

Dew thought this would never happen again. That Mountain would never look at him like this. That he’d never feel the calloused drag of Mountain’s hands over his ribs. That he would never feel small like this again.

Mountain’s fingers dig in and Dew knows he should pull away. Mountain’s eyes are clouded. He’s not himself. Deep in his rut, mind fuzzy. Body driven by instinct rather than heart and Dew knows deep in his bones that if Mountain was thinking clearly he wouldn’t do this.

And so, Dew should stop him. Should grab Mountain by the wrists before his hands slide any higher. Before rough thumbs pass over his nipples, hook into the rings there, pull until Dew gasps.

Dew should stop him but he doesn’t. He’s hard. Mountain’s knee is pressed tight between his legs, and Dew’s rolling his hips up against Mountain’s thigh with very little thought. He hasn’t been pinned beneath this big body in months. Hasn’t smelled him like this, looked at him like this. And Dew doesn’t want to stop.

Not when Mountain is gazing down at him with lust blown eyes. An expression Dew thought he lost to his own bad choices. His chest constricts, heart hurting in his chest, but he can’t stop. Won’t. He wants it, needs it.

“Mount,” he whispers. Hoping that Mountain can break free of this spell himself. That Dew doesn’t have to be the one to stop it because he doesn’t trust himself. If he talks to Mountain enough. Reminds him who is pinned beneath him, maybe he’ll back off on his own. It’ll probably break Dew’s heart but that’s nothing new.

“Mountain,” he tries again. Reaching up to cup Mountain’s face between his hands, to force the bigger ghoul to look at him–really look at him. Mountain snarls at him, teeth bared. He shakes out of Dew’s grip.

And Dew feels the gravity of what is really happening set in. Mountain knows. Of course he does. Even fucked up on pheromones he can’t forget. He knows and he’s still thumbing over one of Dew’s nipples. Still pressing his thigh tight to Dew’s aching cock.

Dew doesn’t know if the tightening in his chest is joy or dread. He presses a palm to the back of Mountain’s neck, holds on. Fingers stroking into the soft baby hairs there. Familiar. Like he’s finally come home.

“It’s just this once,” Mountain grits out. Fumbling with his zipper. Reaching for Dew’s so he can pull them off of Dew’s skinny hips. It’s all moving so fast. Dew can’t quite catch up. Mind hazy from the scent of Mountain’s rut. From the way it feels to be under him again–he can’t hope to get himself on level ground.

“Just let me,” Mountain continues. “Just once. I need it–I need–”

Dew nods. Hauling himself up to nose at Mountain’s neck. To fill himself on the scent of evergreen and juniper. He presses open mouthed kisses over Mountain’s skin, salty with sweat.

“Just this once, Mount.”

Dew wonders if Mountain knows it’s a lie. If they’re both just lying to themselves and each other about what this is going to do to them. It won’t make it better. He thinks they’ll probably do this again. Denial coursing through both of their bodies as they ruin each other.

Mountain flips Dew over. Dew has no say in it. One moment he’s on his back and the next his face is in his own pillow. Mountain holds him down with a palm between his shoulderblades. He doesn’t have to. But Dew isn’t going to tell him that–he likes how it feels too much. To be held down. For Mountain to be a little rough with him, demanding. His stomach clenches, dick kicking between his legs, drooling precum onto the sheets.

Mountain makes a gut punched sound as he spreads Dew open and finds him dripping with slick. Dew mirrors it when Mountain runs his finger through it. Smearing it over Dew’s already twitching hole. Pressing in with one finger just a little. Dew keens into the pillow. “Still so wet.”

Dew doesn’t know how Mountain can talk like this. Fucked up as he is on his rut. Dew can’t form words. Not when Mountain is working him open. Pressing two fingers in to the third knuckle and scissoring them apart.

“So warm,” Mountain says, reverence coloring his tone and Dew flushes, hiding his face in his pillow as he whimpers. He feels like he’s the one in heat. Rocking back against Mountain’s fingers, desperate for something else that sounds like a compliment. “Bet you’re still just as tight too.”

Dew hiccups. Rolling his hips back as Mountain pets his fingers over Dew’s prostate. “Satanas, fuck Mountain just fuck me already. End this.”

Before everything Mountain would have chided him for that. Even in a rut he always was level-headed enough to be gentle. But Dew doesn’t get that luxury this time. Mountain laughs at him, low and cruel and then his fingers are gone. Replaced by the blunt head of his cock. Pushing in. It’s a stretch, even with Dew’s copious slick. The burn isn’t unpleasant. It doesn’t hurt so much as it does overwhelm. Dew digs his teeth into his pillow. Ripping holes in the fabric. He’ll have to get a new one. He doesn’t care.

Mountain’s fingers dig into his hips. He’ll have bruises. He’s glad for it. Knows he’ll replay this, dig his own fingers into those marks and cum about it later. Mountain doesn’t so much thrust as he does use Dew to fuck himself. Pushing and pulling the little ghoul. Dragging him up and down the bed as he pulls him onto his cock. Grunting and swearing as Dew bears down on him and wails each time Mountain bumps against his prostate.

“Mount–touch me.” Dew’s lost to it, realizes it as the words tumble out of his mouth. He’s somewhere else–another time. Each rough thrust driving sense further and further away from him.

“Touch yourself,” Mountain growls. Giving up on using Dew as a toy and snapping his hips forward. Driving Dew up the bed until his horns gouge into the headboard.

Dew hiccups on a sob and shoves his hand down between them. Getting a fist around his cock. Hot and twitching in his hand. Pre dribbling over his fingers. Each of Mountain’s thrusts fucks his dick into his own fist. He twists his hand up by the head the way Mountain always did for him.

For a minute, Dew’s not sure he’ll cum at all, no matter how hard he is. Each of Mountain’s thrusts seeks to overwhelm, to claim. It’s too much. Dew can’t muddle through the sensations to find the right ones. But then his orgasm is roaring up on him. Unexpected. Dragging through his veins like electricity until he’s wailing with it. Shooting boiling hot over his own knuckles. Clenching down hard on Mountain, more slick drooling out of his hole as Mountain fucks him with abandon. The edge of his knot bumping against Dew’s rim, pushing in a little further each time. Dew sags. Tears biting at the corner of his eyes. Body gone boneless as Mountain rails him. Cock twitching valiantly between his legs as Mountain abuses his prostate. It really is too much now, and Dew is about to say as much when Mountain shoves his knot in. Dew sobs with it–the sound drown out by Mountain’s growl as he cums. Holding Dew tight to him. Cock twitching and spitting deep inside of Dew’s body.

Time suspends, stretches, as they both pant. Dew’s throat burns. Body sore and satisfied but mind racing. Fingers clenched tight in his sheets. Afraid to move, afraid to look at Mountain and see hatred on his face even after all of this.

Mountain sits back on his haunches and pulls Dew with him. Almost sitting him on his lap except for how Dew stays hunched over.

Mountain reaches down, he strokes some of Dew’s hair out of his face so he can see him. Tucking golden locks behind his ear with gentleness that makes Dew’s chest ache.

“Sorry,” Mountain whispers. “I should have been–”

Dew shakes his head. “Don’t.” Mountain goes quiet. He lets Dew slump back to the bed. He pets Dew’s spine with slow soothing strokes that make the burning in Dew’s throat worse. He’s exhausted, fucked out, hazy. He wants to reach up and pull Mountain down with him. Wants to spoon while they wait for Moutnain’s knot to go down. He doesn’t. That feels more intimate than this. It’s a thing for people who actually like each other.

Tears well in Dew’s eyes. He bites back a sob and promises himself he won’t cry until Mountain’s gone.

#comet writes #kinktober #kinktober 2023 #ghostober #ghostober 2023 #MountainDew #Mountain/Dew #Mountain/Dewdrop #Dewdrop/Mountain #Dewdrop Ghoul #Mountain Ghoul #ghost fic #ghost fanfic #ghost fanfiction #ghost band fic #ghost band fanfic #ghost band fanfiction

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milomilesmib · 10 months

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Since I have been feeling a particularly strong attachment to my comfort item lately here are what I think PJO character's comfort items would be (short answers in bold text for those who want a quick read):

Percy: a blue stuffie from his childhood. He doesn't often have it with him but he always feels safer when he is with it. And yes, he probably calls the stuffie "he" because I said so

Grover: a little mushroom pendant from Juniper. He never puts it on anything, just keeps it in his pocket and takes it out to fidget with when he's stressed. It has a really smooth surface and pretty colours so it's a good sensory thing for him.

Annabeth: her camp necklace. She always has it and when she doesn't she feels bare. Every time she's stressed she looks at a bead and thinks of a good memory from that year.

Thalia: a shirt she particularly favours because she wore it a lot when on the run with Luke and Annabeth. Any time she's in a bad mood she wears it and it makes her feel a bit better.

Nico: canonically, it's his skull ring, but I also feel like he'd have a childhood blanket that he's really attached to. It's a really soft fabric and so he always uses it when he's feeling overstimulated or understimulated cause it works for both

Rachel: a scrunchie with a fall leaf pattern on it from Percy. It was the first birthday present he gave her. It was all he could find and afford to get her that he thought she might like and he was scared she'd be underwhelmed but she really appreciated that he went through the effort and now she always has it on her.

Leo: a rock he found on a beach field trip with Piper back at the Wilderness school. It's pink and translucent, so when he holds it up to the sun it lights up a bit. It reminds him that he's cared about and loved when he has an existential crisis about being the 7th wheel.

Piper: a rock matching Leo's, found on the same trip. It's grey and smooth with streaks of white and green. It was a big source of comfort for her when mourning Jason, and she was able to remind herself that there was someone out there who shared her pain.

Jason: a silver bracelet Thalia gave him with a lightning bolt charm. It's the only jewelry he wears and he always has it with him, even when he dies.

Hazel: a small keychain from Frank. It's a little bear holding a plastic gemstone heart. She always brings it with her on quests and outings, making sure never to lose it.

Frank: a purple and gold friendship bracelet Hazel made him when he became praetor. He always treasured it because it made him feel like he'd made someone proud, despite the fact he'd already made so many people proud.

Reyna: her praetor's cloak. She didn't think she'd form an attachment to it, but she really liked the fabric and it made her feel important and safe. After she gave it up, Thalia noticed her seeming sad without it and got her a new one, but silver and gold embroidered with the symbol of Bellona.

Will: a pressed flower from Nico. Nico started picking flowers to press when he was unhappy as a way to learn how to keep his powers under control when his emotions are strong. He gave Will the first one and Will was so honoured he decided to carry it everywhere with him.

Apollo/Lester: a new ukulele Will got him after he lost his old one. Like Percy, he doesn't usually have it, but playing it always calms him down and reminds him of the people he loves.

Meg: a chip of a terracotta pot from her childhood home (I forget what it's called). She found it before she and her dad left and decided to keep it as a keepsake.

Lavinia: her star of David pendant, canonically, but I'd imagine she also has a music box with a little ballerina that reminds her of childhood and makes her feel safe.

Feel free to add on with any characters I missed :)

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ashintheairlikesnow · 27 days

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ash i love vince so much he is my number 2 babygirl (antoni number 1 babygirl forever)

i would like to formally request some vince having a Bad Time, either past stuff with owen or present with recovery being a bitch

because there is nothing better than lovely characters having bad times that they absolutely do not deserve

CW: Alcoholism, withdrawal/cravings, alcoholic anger, Vince and Jameson both PTSD-ing all over the place, guilt

Oh, poor Vince. Takes place post-the Same Bed Arc, after Vince is living with Nat and Jameson.

Vince doesn't even look up when he hears Jameson stop in the doorway. He just pours a few shots worth of the gin into the glass, staring fixedly down at it. The liquid, clear as water but with the herbal scent washing over him like a welcome spring rain, spreads over the ice with those gentle cracks he knows better than his own heartbeat.

God, it looks good.

His hands don't shake, now. His heart doesn't race. He doesn't feel sweaty, or upset, or like he'll be sick.

He just feels like he's staring at the solution to all his problems, and all he has to do is swallow it down.

This should feel awful - he knows it should. It should taste awful, there should be something to remind him of the damage he does to himself every time he drinks again. He should hear his sponsor speaking in the back of his mind, he should hear the voices of the others at the meetings he goes to - one for alcoholism, one for survivors of sexual assault, twice a week there's movie star Vincent goddamn Shield among the normal people and admitting he's barely human, just a wreck that only survived Owen Grant because Nat decided she gave a fuck about him for reasons Vince still doesn't understand.

Here he stands, a hollow shell wearing a nice face who let someone else suffer in his place and was grateful for it for far too long.

Kauri hates him but it's nothing compared to how much he hates himself.

Vince lifts the glass, hesitating at the last second with the cool rim just touching his lower lip. Gin smells like blacking out and right now he could use the blessed darkness, hangover be damned.

He can worry about that when the headache kicks in tomorrow morning.

He realizes he's waiting for the sickening crawl of guilt at letting Nat down, at-... at letting himself down. Maybe that will come later, but right now... He feels goddamn good. Settled. Calm.

He and Jameson meet eyes just as he tosses the drink back, three large swallows of juniper-scented gin down his throat like water, leaving only the ice cubes behind.

The burn is perfect.

He pours himself another drink, feeling the warmth slowly spread through his chest to his shoulders, eyes briefly closing. God, it feels like goddamn heaven.

He looks up.

Jameson is still standing there in the doorway, looking oddly soft in a loose sweater that's far too big for him and a pair of old jeans that probably cost a dollar at a yard sale and even that was too much. Vince has jeans that distressed, somewhere.

His cost more than five hundred dollars.

He chokes on the next drink from trying not to laugh.

Jameson's eyes narrow. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Vince takes another sip, eyes half-closed, letting himself take it slow this time and really enjoy the taste.

He'd honestly been surprised the little liquor store down the block even carried this brand of gin. Not that he wouldn't have bought whatever he could get, when he stood there feeling like he would die if he had to go another day, but still. It's nice to have seen his favorite stuff, top shelf, pricier than it had any right to be. It's not even that good, but it's still his favorite. It still tastes, to him, like the nights he sleeps without nightmares, few and far between.

Gin tastes like those nights he gets to sleep at all.

The cashier had looked surprised as she wiped off the dust and rang it up for him. Then, with a shy smile, she'd asked him if anyone ever told him he looked a lot like Vincent Shield. He'd been kind of sad she didn't card him - it would have been nice to see the look on her face when she saw his name.

Instead, he paid in cash, laughed, and told her the standard I get that a lot, actually.

Jameson doesn't move closer, or leave. "It looks like you're fucking yourself up," He says, lingering in the doorway. "You can't just start drinking again. You know that, right?"

"Oh, I sure as hell can." Vince laughs, but it's a bitter sound. He licks the gin lingering on his lips, then gestures at the bottle. "Have some with me."

He's caught, for just a moment, when he sees Jameson wearing an expression Vince has never seen on him before. He looks... nervous. Afraid, almost, instead of angry.

"I-I don't want to," Jameson says, but there's a way he says it that makes Vince think he'd drink if he offers again. Maybe he wants to, or maybe he just doesn't want to make Vince mad.

If he commanded it, if he gave an order... Jameson would be as he's told, wouldn't he? Damn, that would be some power to have over someone.

This must be why Owen liked it so much.

No.

He won't think about Owen right now.

Vince gulps down liquid until he's breathless, almost panting. The warmth is like the familiar cradle of a softer reality settling in. He makes himself slow down this time, picking up an ice cube and sucking the juniper taste right off it before crunching it with his teeth.

"Vince." Jameson's voice gets harsher, and something seems to break his brief paralysis. He moves closer, grabbing the bottle and pulling it away when Vince puts a hand out to pour the third drink. "Fucking... look at me. What the fuck?"

Vince's hand just... hangs out there, reaching for a bottle that isn't where it was. He stares at the empty space, and feels that dark inside of him threaten to well up yet again. "What?"

Jameson swallows, his eyes moving to the glass, back to Vince's face. He steps backwards, and Vince watches the bottle go with him with a piercing need that could easily knock him off his feet if he weren't holding onto the back of a chair. Jameson clears his throat. "Aren't you... like, sober now?"

"Mmmn. Was. Got the like... three month chip thing and everything." He's gotten thoroughly wasted so many times in his life. Nothing relaxes him better than enough alcohol to force his body to stop living in constant, unending fear of who might hurt him next. "Right now, I am tipsy instead. In about an hour, I'm going to be absolutely fucked up. Give me back my gin."

Jameson's hand moves - then he jerks it back, taking a few steps backwards until he's back in the doorway. His eyes are on Vince's face, watching him with a total focus that Vince recognizes from the others he's worked with over the years - Jameson's just a trained pet, in this moment, watching to see if the master will be angry.

It makes him laugh again, more bitterly this time. Is he the master? Has he ever been his own master, let alone anyone else's?

"I... I can't do that," Jameson says, and Vince hears that he doesn't say no. When Vince moves towards him, he backs up a little more, and Vince comes to a stop just a foot or so away.

"Am... am I scaring you?" He asks, suddenly.

It wasn't what he meant to say, he meant to demand his drink again. Instead, this question that... that just sort of falls out of him like a waterfall.

Jameson's jaw sets and his eyes narrow. "You're not doing shit to me," He snaps, but Vince knows he's really saying yes.

Is this why people buy pets? So they can see something pretend not to be scared, and know they're the monster not just under the bed, but in it?

"Oh," He whispers. "What is it? Why are you scared? I'm just a drunk asshole, why are you scared of me?"

Jameson bristles, but then he offers - as if it's pulled out of him against his will - the softest explanation. "Brute and Robert got drunk all the time. I know what happens when-... when people get this kind of drunk."

There's a look in his eyes Vince has seen before in Kauri's. Not fear of him, not directly, but fear of someone like him, maybe. Fear of having demands made that can't be denied.

Is this how Owen felt, every time Kauri had to playact the loving boyfriend with bruises on his wrists and terror making his heart race? Is this how it feels to have power over somebody else when you can't even control yourself?

It's... it's good, almost.

It feels better than he thought it would.

"Back up, Shield," Jameson hisses, like a cat spitting and arching its back, ready to attack with claws and sharp teeth not because it's confident in victory but because it's so small it has to fight to have even the slightest chance to survive.

Vince looks him over, reading with an actor's expertise how he's projecting a confident swagger he never feels, how the irritation layers itself so carefully over a vulnerability that he sees as weakness. Vince has lived that way, too, since he was twenty-one, since his best friend turned out to be a rapist who wanted Vince to himself, since he started drinking to forget every single night and putting on the perfect face during his days.

They both survived, didn't they?

Jameson just did it by fighting his way out, and Vince by pretending to be someone he wasn't until nobody knew who he actually was, and that's a way of surviving, too. Wear another face, and make sure no one sees the fear in your real one, so they can't refuse to help you... because you've never asked.

"No." At least one of them can say it. Although that makes Vince's heart twist with ugly guilt, the petty cruelty of the thought. "Give me my gin," Vince says, pitching his voice low, and holds out his hand. "Now, Jameson. Give it to me."

"I can't." The strength is gone from Jameson's voice, and he looks at Vince with those dark eyes searching his own, trying to make himself understood. "If you drink, your-... your body's not used to it anymore, if you drink the same amount you'll fucking kill your stupid liver."

"What do you care about my liver?" Vince's voice drops low, almost a whisper. "What do you care about me, about my goddamn joke of a life, huh? What the fuck do you care? Why should anyone care?"

There's a flicker of something in Jameson's eyes - recognition, maybe. Something that lights up, just for a second, before the other man shoves Vince to the side with sudden violent strength and stalks to the sink, turning the bottle over and pouring that expensive artisan gin right down the drain.

"No!" Vince's voice is a ragged shout as he lunges after him, but it's too little too late.

Jameson's foot kicks out and slams into Vince's calf, sending him stumbling, clawing desperately as the gin is gone, glug glug glug, down into the pipes, disappearing towards the ocean.

Rage and terror fight in Vince's mind in a sudden white noise and he gets to his feet, grabbing Jameson by the arms and squeezing as hard as he can, shoving him back across the room. He hears Jameson hit one of the chairs, the clatter of wood and Jameson's grunt of pain as both hit the ground hard. The bottle is in the sink, and even when Vince scrambles to pick it back up, there's less than an inch of gin left.

He sucks it down, and only once he's gotten that final drop does he suddenly go still.

Oh.

There's the guilt and the horror and feeling sick at himself, just... twenty minutes too late. He sets the empty bottle carefully down, and then turns slowly around to look at Jameson.

Jameson sits on the kitchen floor, staring up at him with wide eyes. His face is pale, making the scar that twists the corner of his mouth stand out even more. His hair is nearly grown back in now, the bald patches hidden by the rest.

Vince exhales in a rush. "Oh, hell. Jameson-" He holds out a hand.

Jameson flinches.

Vince pulls his hand back, backing up until his back hits the edge of the sink. "Right. Okay. I'm-... I'm sorry Jameson-"

"Yeah." Jameson's voice is gruff, all the vulnerability and fear wiped away as soon as he realizes it's showing. He gets to his feet, shoulders protectively hunched, arms crossed in front of himself defensively. "Whatever. Sure you are. Drink yourself to death, shitbag, if that's what you want."

"I'm so sorry."

Jameson's jaw works. "... Everybody's always sorry. Then I get fucking hit again." Then he turns and walks - limps, really, his knees threatening to give out with every step - away. Vince stands there, frozen, listening as he makes his slow, painful way up the stairs.

Vince stares at the place he was for a while - he isn't sure how long. The gin is sinking its velvet claws into his mind, and he's drunker than he should be after only two drinks.

But then, it's been months.

Months, he made it without taking even a sip.

He swallows, again and again, and then pulls his cell phone out of his pocket, finds a contact, and presses the button to make the call.

The phone rings until he's certain it'll go to voicemail, before a voice he knows as well as his own is in his ear.

"What the hell do you want?"

"I-I need to talk to you," He stammers, his heart cold. "Please. Please. I-I've been drinking. I need... I need help."

There's a pause.

"From... me?"

"Yeah... yeah. You'll-... I need somebody who won't be nice to me-"

"Oh, well, if there's anything I love it's the chance to be mean to you, let me drop my entire life to come listen to you whine about yours."

"Please."

An exhale. "Whatever. Yeah, okay. I'll be over there in like... half an hour? An hour, maybe. Drink some water and I'll be there as soon as I can. Don't leave the house."

"Thanks... thank you, Kauri."

Kauri hangs up.

Vince pours himself a glass of water over the leftover gin-soaked ice, sipping it, barely flavored with a hint of the liquor he wants so badly. He rights the chair he'd accidentally shoved Jameson into, and listens to the creaking floorboards and muffled cursing above him as Jameson makes his halting painful way from stairway to his room, a couple thumps when he clearly falls and had to force himself back upright, until the pacing abruptly stops when he must have collapsed into his bed.

He hears the gentle patting of Trash Cat's paws as she leaves her place on the living room couch and follows him, too, her soft meowing until Jameson opens his door to let her come in after him. Then silence again.

Vince sits back down at the table, leaning over with his head in his hand, staring as the ice slowly melts, cooling the water around it.

He should have called his sponsor instead.

Whatever Kauri is about to say can only make this worse.

But he deserves it, anyway.

Vince doesn't move a muscle until he hears the sound of Jake's truck pulling into the driveway, crunching briefly over gravel before it's on the pavement again, when he raises his head.

Kauri walks in without knocking, stops in the doorway to the kitchen, and looks at him like his younger self ashamed of what he's grown into. Vince knows Jake must have driven him, but he's nowhere to be seen - maybe just staying outside, for now. He's clearly dressed for bed in a matching navy blue silk button-up and pajama pants, barefoot even.

"Hey," Vince says, weakly. The alcohol feels like poison now, not the soothing warmth it had been before. "I... I fucked up, Kauri."

"Yeah, I can tell just by looking at you, you're a goddamn mess." Kauri looks at Vince head-on, even though it still hurts him to do it, and Vince can see the flinch he suppresses as the headache kicks in. His blue eyes are identical to Vince's in nearly every way, except that Kauri's gaze has always been stronger. "What the hell did you do?"

"I got... I drank."

"Yep. I can see the gin bottle. Did you drink all of it?" Kauri's voice is flat and businesslike. It's like having his own younger self dressing him down, and somehow that feels... really good. Better than he thought it would.

"... No. Just a couple drinks. Jameson poured the rest out."

"Good for him." Kauri flickers a smile. "Where is he?"

"I-... I scared him."

"... you scared him?"

"Yeah. I was-... I wasn't-... I didn't mean to, but-"

"Shut up. All right. Tell me what you did. I'll fix it. This time, taking your place so I suffer for years while you run off and become obscenely wealthy is off the table, got it?"

Vince looks at him in horror only to see a surprising warmth in Kauri's smile. Not... not affection, but something like it. A wry compassion, maybe. Something else he doesn't deserve. "I don't know. I don't know if I can fix this, Kauri. I don't know."

"Well... I happen to the resident expert in trying to avoid dealing with your problems while making them all worse, so talk to me. Tell me what you did, start to finish. We'll figure out what comes next."

Vince lowers his head into his arms.

"Thank you," He says, muffled.

"Not enough thanks in the world, dumbass. Lucky for you I'm an amazing person who just happens to have spent most of my twenties making stupid drunk mistakes. So stop stalling and start talking."

@finder-of-rings @endless-whump @arlin-always-writing @newandfiguringitout @doveotions @pretty-face-breaker @gonna-feel-that-tomorrow @boxboysandotherwhump @oops-its-whump @whumpyourdamnpears @cubeswhump @whump-tr0pes @whumptywhumpdump @whumpiary @orchidscript @outofangband @hackles-up @grizzlie70 @mylifeisonthebookshelf @keeper-of-all-the-random-things @autophagay

#whump #ptsd tw #alcholism tw #withdrawal tw #alcoholic whumpee #recovering whumpee #recovery whump #vincent shield is not a hero #erase to control #since kauri makes an appearance #jameson bb #box boy universe #drunk whumpee #whumpee turned whumper #briefly and not on purpose

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softlyspector · 1 year

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becca's the last of us masterlist

here is where I will be storing all my fics for the last of us.

💋 = includes smut/smutty elements, 🌶 = only smut, 🌥 = fluff, 🥀 = angst (happy ending if accompanied by ❤️), 💜 = personal favorites

Joel Miller x Reader (One-shots)

Moss & Mushrooms - You are alone, always. Then, one day, a beast emerges from the forest you’ve never dared to go into. 🥀💋💜

Born lucky, under a bad star. - Joel has always been lucky, in the worst of ways. 🥀❤️💜

Juniper - You’re sleepy. Joel knows a good way to put you to sleep. 🌶️

Grays - Joel likes to be read to and held and have his hair stroked. He would never dare admit it, though. Based on this lovely ask. ☁️💜

sated - Joel just wants you to eat well. [vampire au] 🌶️

Series

Honeyed - You hate being touched, but you might be willing to put aside your discomfort for a tattoo from Joel. 🌥💜

Drabbles

Joel Miller + comfort after a nightmare

Joel has a nightmare

Rubbing your partner’s back until they fall asleep

First conversation alone

Forehead kisses

Joel & Sarah (not xreader)

birds of a feather - Sarah is going to kindergarten. Joel is forced to reckon with his differences with the other parents. 🌥

Miscellaneous content

Joel Miller playlist

Joel Miller birthchart analysis

meta: differences between show and game Joel

#masterlist #joel miller x reader

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wayfayrr · 10 months

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So here's something I've been working on for a while where one of the links and reader get split from the chain, ending up on present-day Earth. And because Totk has now consumed my focus near entirely he's the lucky one to stick with the reader (as a separate link from wild, for extra ✨drama✨ with the chain - thanks to @neverchecking for sparking that Idea for me)

also if anyone has any ideas for what this au could be named any suggestions would be greatly appreciated I cannot come up with a name for the life of me

I've ended up writing a Part two where sage gets to adjust now as well! And a third to go with it!

It’s been a long few months with the chain since I ended up in Hyrule; being torn from your world certainly isn’t an experience I would wish on anyone.

being chased through all of Hyrule's different histories was bad enough, and now getting dragged through the portals that thing creates by those who once told me they would protect me?

It’s exhausting.

The links are welcoming, mind you, there's just something off about them in that uncanny valley where you know something is wrong, just not what. They’re still well, they're still links. And they’ve had to have known me leaving is always going to have to happen; no matter how overbearing they get; no matter the denial they have; no matter how much they may try fight it.

I will never belong in Hyrule, that’s a fact.They know this. I have told them time and time and time again, they swore to me that they’d help me get home and now?

god have they gotten attached, it's like I've been dunked in a potion or something with how comically obsessed most of them are, with how they look at me and treat me like I'm a glass doll.

Time takes advantage of being the oldest, of being the "leader" to arrange shifts where I'm next to him or partners with him for whatever needs be, Warrior seems to be following him to the blueprints when he gets the chance. The smithy looks like he's on the verge of a breakdown when I get within five metres of anything remotely sharp, even just a simple butter knife as if I'm so stupid that I'll injure myself with it. Twilight thankfully doesn't take after his ancestor although that doesn’t mean he’s not without his quirks, that wolf side has indeed left its mark on him after all. Wind’s just a clingy excitable kid, it’s not like he’s doing anything wrong. The Traveler seems clingy while at the same time, he doesn’t seem to think he deserves to be around me; Legend acts both similar to him but also his exact opposite, seemingly hating me with his very soul but being a leech at my side. Sky may play dumb about it to my face but he's down just as bad as the rest taking every opportunity to stake his claim over me with at least one of his clothes, it's uncommon now for me to be without his sailcloth about my shoulders.

Sage is the one I would have to describe as the one who is the worst, it’s not like I don’t know the exact reason either - it’s only natural they handle it worst. Similar to Wild naturally, acting almost identically but with anything even remotely possessive amped up drastically. He’s the one who’s had to deal with loss the most; with the worst possible circumstances, I’m the one who should’ve expected this.

I mean - I guess it’s sweet as well? If having someone cling to you at all times as they’ve glued themselves to your skin is what you’d consider cute. Since he realised I’ll be leaving eventually, the bare minimum doesn’t even come close to how little time I’ve had alone - no not even alone, just existing without Sage holding me in some way.

“[name]? Were you listening to me?”

And there he goes again - looking at me with the saddest of eyes, like I’ll vanish if he ever takes his eyes off of me.

“Sorry juniper, I zoned out a bit there - what were you saying?”

And wasn’t that the wrong thing to say. His reaction to that was immediate, now he’s looking up at me with puppy dog eyes like I’ve just hung the stars in the sky for them; I can barely breathe with how tightly he’s holding me. I hadn’t even said anythin- I called him by a nickname, right.

“... can’t you stay? I don’t- I don’t want to lose anyone else...”

And with that, he’s decided to press his face into my shoulder. Is- why is my shirt getting damp..?

He’s crying... Oh, damn it. How do I respond to this - I can’t stand to see him so broken up like this but what can I say?

"You know I can't Sage, I don't belong here and it's not safe for me either"

"but I can make it safe for you! And you do belong, you belong by my side. I know you do!"

Sage's sobs have to be the most heart-wrenching sound I've ever heard, even worse still when I know I'm the one who's the cause of it; not being able to comfort him with anything that's not an outright lie.

There's something else in his voice though, something much darker than heard from any of the heroes let alone Sage, and it sounds dangerous.

"I have a house, I can hunt, I can fight, I saved Hyrule. I can make sure you're safe and I can keep you happy. aren't… wouldn't you want that [name]? please?"

He's gotten so desperate to keep me here that he's begging me through tears?

"Sage I - you know I can't. it's not fair for me to stay"

"I don’t care that it’s not fair! I just - I just… please, please don’t abandon me. I can’t - I can't lose you as well"

It took a few hours to calm him down but eventually, I managed to get him to stop crying. Granted they did pass out onto me shortly after.

It was after about fifteen minutes of resting there that things started to feel odd? That seems like the best way to describe it.

We were just resting after lunch; of course, due to Sage we were a bit further from the rest of the group when it hit, everything got blurred and distorted. Similar to the portals throughout Hyrule’s history but different. Stronger. It felt as though my very cells were being torn apart and remade, like when - like when I was brought here.

“[NAME], SAGE YOU NE- TO -VE”

Is someone screaming? It’s like everything’s been thrown underwater it's all muffled and faded. Even as I try to get up with Sage’s weight on me, I can barely shift, let alone get away from this portal drawing me in.

...

And then I was back on earth.

There wasn’t a large ceremonial goodbye, there wasn’t even really anything special about the portal.

I'm just here.

And with an oddly familiar weight on my side actually, a very very familiar weight on my side…

“SAGE???”

Sage’s here, of course, he is. Of course, the shadow hasn't had enough of just sending the links between different Hyrules. Of course, Sage gets thrown into my world with me. Do the rest of the chain know we’re even still alive? Know we’re safe? Or do they think - think that we were killed? How long have I even been gone? I spent months with the chain, months, did anyone report me missing, was I gone long enough for that? My phone should have resynced with the time here, I just need to check it.

It’s not even been a day.

All of that, everything and it's been less than a day. I have to slot myself back into everyday normal as if nothing has happened.

Snap yourself out of this [name], there’s no point in getting stressed. Just deal with everything as it comes.

“Sage, wake up, please.”

He’s moving now, okay, that’s fine, he’s fine, He’s alive. He’s alive, the gloom didn’t worsen, can’t have worsened and…

There’s someone who should be fictional, who is famous in his own right, lying on my side in my living room. I've been gone for barely a day and now to everyone else, there's a stranger with a funky-looking arm in my house. How will I - is there even a way to explain this?

Everything in my life is upended now, this isn't a normal thing, not something that can just be explained away. how do I? Where do I-

I don't know - this isn't something I've ever considered dealing with.

Now I wish Sage was up and being clingy, anything would be better than sitting here in silence with my thoughts like this. There are a couple of ways I could think to wake him properly, but just as I move to shake him he sits up immediately. Panic set in at the same moment leading him to hold me close while looking over every corner of the room we’re in.

“Where are we? Did the others abandon us? This isn’t like anything I’ve seen in any Hyrule.” “We aren’t in Hyrule now.”

Might as well just bite the bullet and get this over with.

“Welcome to earth link, in all of its awful glory.”

#linked universe x reader #yandere linked universe #yandere linked universe x reader #link x reader #lu sage

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m4tthewmurd0ck · 3 months

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THE MORNING SKY

── Coriolanus Snow x Fem!Reader

CHAPTER ── 3 [ MAKING AN ENEMY (I’LL KEEP YOU SAFE) ]

PREVIOUS CHAPTER | NEXT CHAPTER | TABLE OF CONTENTS

from here on out, I mention / feature other tributes. click [HERE] for a reminder of who plays who!

this is the longest chapter yet, but it felt odd and too short when i split it up into 2. if you guys would prefer shorter chapters instead of ones this length, let me know!

YOU WERE TERRIFIED FOR ARCHER. From the day you met when you were both just 6-years-old, it didn’t take long for you to declare yourselves best friends. Naturally, Archer developed quite the protective nature when it came to you. And that was exactly why you were so afraid for him.

A few years ago when you were just 15, a boy had shoved you because you said you were glad he wasn’t your soulmate. Unfortunately for him, Archer had witnessed the ordeal. The next day the boy was sporting a black eye and a limp as he cautiously approached you and apologized profusely. He never bothered you again after that.

Another time, just the year prior, you witnessed how quick he was to turn to turn to anger. Never towards you, but to anyone who showed you or him the slightest bit of disrespect. And if did happen to be you that it was directed towards, let’s just say the bullies in district 12 learned to leave you alone pretty quickly.

One thing that had been made abundantly clear was that for the games, there could only be one winner.

Archer was always quick to come to your defense, to put your life before his. You knew talking to him about it would be pointless, and all you could do was hope that he’d put that aside and for once, also worry about his own safety.

To say you were nervous would be the understatement of a lifetime. Even from watching last years games, it was obvious that first impressions amongst tributes were everything.

Make a good first impression, and you’d have most of your fellow tributes wanting to form a temporary alliance with you. Make a bad one and you were more likely to turn them all against you. But on the other hand, your impression couldn’t be too good. Do that, and you’d be labeled a threat. And the biggest threats were often taken care of first.

This was the debate you and Archer were having as you walked to the training facility. It was on the opposite side of the massive property, and a note tapped to everyone’s room doors that morning let them know that mentors would be meeting them there.

“Do you think they’ll have all kinds of weapons for us to practice with?” You wondered out loud.

Archer nodded. “I’m sure. I can’t imagine what other kinds of training we could do. Besides hand-to-hand fighting and weapons, I mean.”

“I know we both want to go for a bow and arrow, but I think we should also familiarize ourselves with everything just in case.”

Turning to look at you, Archer asked what you meant by that.

“Like last years games. I didn’t see any bows or arrows. We should learn to use whatever we can get our hands on.”

That happy feeling returned, and when you looked up, you saw Coriolanus already looking at you, a hint of a smile on his face.

As Archer and Sejanus greeted each other, Coriolanus quickly gave you a kiss on the cheek. “Did you sleep alright?”

You sighed and gave a sort of half shrug. “With how comfortable the bed was, that should’ve been the best sleep of my life. But I was so nervous about today. I did manage to get at least a few hours, though not in a row.”

The 2 of you were joined by Archer and Sejanus, temporarily halting your conversation.

“You two already have other tributes wanting form an alliance,” Sejanus informs you as you head towards the building.

This surprises you both.

“What?”

“Who??”

“Aemond and Cassian. District two. We’re told they liked the show you put on at the reaping,” Sejanus directs this last part towards you. “I’m guessing they mean what you did to Juniper.”

You remembered something you heard at the reaping. “You’re from two, right? Do you know them?” You were immediately wary of anyone who’d want to work closely with you simply because they watched you smear blood all over someone’s face and clothes.

“I—” Sejanus paused, as if considering his next words carefully. “They’re not good people. But you know that district two is known for weapons manufacturing. They’re extremely skilled, probably the best of anyone our age in the whole district. As far as strength and weapons go, you could do a lot worse than them.”

That wasn’t very reassuring, you thought to yourself. You wondered if it was some sort of trick on their part.

Once in the building, the 4 of you were instructed to wait around with everyone else until all tributes and mentors arrived. You were told it was alright to look around, but to not touch anything until specifically instructed to do so.

There was a room dedicated entirely to targets, bows, and arrows. You knew you’d have to refrain yourself from heading straight there.

Another room had walls lined with knives, axes, and spears. The back wall had wooden targets. The 3rd room you looked at had swords on shelves, and mats all along the floors. The 4th room had a more cushioned floor. There were ropes leading up to poles that hung from one end of the room to the other, with rings to hold onto along the poles.

After looking at the rest of the rooms, each one dedicated to a specific way to train, the tributes and mentors were called back to where you’d first walked in.

There was a long speech about how there was to be no actual fighting. For the swords, you could only spar with your fellow district tribute. The bow and arrows, knives, axes, and spears were obviously only allowed to be used on targets. You were allowed to practice alongside other districts, even train together and give pointers, but that was it.

Then it was explained that scores would be kept throughout the 2 weeks. Fighting with other tributes, even verbal arguments, would result in a loss of points. As would mishandling any of the weapons. It’s as mentioned more than once that you did not want to be the tribute with the lowest score.

“Finally, the last two days are for you to show off what you’ve learned to a select panel of judges. This will be one tribute at a time, everyone else will wait outside until it is their turn. You can show whatever skills you wish, and you can avoid any as well. But keep in mind I mentioned that you’re being scored, so I highly suggest utilizing every room. Training ends at exactly five o’clock each evening. After that, mentors will escort tributes back to the living quarters.”

Before anyone had any time to ask questions, you were met with a surprise when Dr. Gaul entered the room. She gave a sort of sinister smile as she looked back and forth between all of the tributes and mentors.

Her gaze lingered on you and Archer, and Coriolanus had to stop himself from saying something. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind, there was already at least a small target on your backs. Still fresh in her mind was the stunt that Sejanus pulled sneaking into the arena, and how he and Coriolanus barely escaped.

“I wanted to personally escort you all to the new arena. We’ll go there, and you will have exactly two hours to look around and familiarize yourselves with it. It is a lot bigger than last years. And just so there are no… stunts,” she didn’t even bother trying to hide her glance at Coriolanus, “you will not bring anything into the arena and this will be your only opportunity to see it before the games. After today and until the games start, the arena will be locked and heavily guarded. I do not recommend trying to get in after hours.”

Everyone was then escorted by Dr. Gaul and what seemed like too many heavily armed guards. Led to matters black SUV’s, you all were told to quickly get in, 2 districts per vehicle. There was a brief moment of panic when mentors were told to get in to the vehicles at the front, but when no one was looking, Coriolanus took your hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. He whispered that it would be alright, Archer would be with you and he’d meet you there.

You and Archer headed or the closest vehicle, thankful you were the first pair inside.

“Are these seats taken?”

Almost immediately, you’re set on edge. You only hope that the 2 boys don’t notice you and Archer exchange a nervous glance, but unbeknownst to you, they do.

“Uh — no, go ahead,” Archer answers for the both of you.

“I’m Aemond,” the one with the eye patch says. “That’s Cassian, we’re district two.”

You attempt to seem braver than you feel as you introduce yourself. “ — and that’s Archer. We’re district twelve.”

Not wanting to make any immediate enemies, Archer puts on a smile and holds his hand out to Aemond. Though he doubts you will want an alliance with them, he knows that it would be stupid to piss them off before training has even started.

The district 2 tributes share a brief glance before Aemond smiles and shakes Archer’s hand. You can’t help but feel uneasy at his smile, as you know it probably isn’t genuine. Sejanus’ words play over and over in your mind. They’re not good people.

“You put on quite a show at your reaping,” this time it’s Cassian who speaks to you. “What did that girl do to you anyway?”

“I—” there is clear hesitation in your life.

That smirk returns to both of their faces. Aemond leans slightly forward. “We won’t tell. Must’ve been something serious.”

Not seeing a point in lying, you tell the truth. “The reaping was rigged. That girl got her father, our mayor, to call my name. She thought… she thought that I wanted her boyfriend. I just got mad when she tripped me as I was walking to the stage.”

Aemond does a slow clap, “made for quite the entertainment. I bet you’ve got sponsors lined up already, just from that.”

“I wouldn’t know,” you shrug. “They haven’t said anything about ponsors yet.”

Cassian speaks up again. “I would’ve killed her.” He says it so nonchalantly that you and Archer freeze for a moment. But you quickly recover, both of you doing a sort of nervous laugh.

Figuring this was your only opportunity to do so, and since both boys seemed to be in relatively good moods, you ask the question that’s been on your mind ever since you learned the names of the other tributes.

“We’re told each district must submit one boy and one girl to compete in the games. How are you both allowed to represent district two?”

“I volunteered,” Cassian shrugs. “It’ll be fun.”

You feel chills down your spine.

“I volunteered as well,” Aemond spoke next. “My sisters name was drawn.”

“They allowed you to take her place?”

He laughs, although there is no humor in his tone. “It’s all about views for them, especially after last years games. They’d never risk the backlash o and deny a brother the opportunity to go in place of his sister. Plus like Cassian said, it’ll be fun.”

Now your mind is almost surely made up. You don’t want Aemond or Cassian as allies. Aemond volunteering in place of his sister was sweet, but based on Cassian’s initial response it seems like he would’ve done so even if her name hadn’t been drawn. The fact that they wanted to compete in the games and considered killing to be fun? You guessed they’d betray you and kill you and Archer at the first opportunity anyway.

Suddenly, the car comes to a stop and the doors are immediately opened. Archer and Aemond exit first, but before Archer has a chance to turn around to help you out of the car, Aemond beats him to it. Not having another choice, you take his hand and step down.

“Thank you,” you speak softly.

“After you,” he steps aside and gestures for you and Archer to go first.

Anxiety and dread are thankfully overpowered by warmth as you get to the massive entrance to the arena and see Coriolanus and Sejanus waiting for you. Aemond and Cassian don’t get another chance to speak, as their own mentors call them over.

But you once again feel a chill when Aemond turns around and gives you that evil looking smile. “I think we’ll be good friends.”

Before the entrance stands a massive metal detector, along with the armed guards from before, all lined up.

Dr. Gaul makes her appearance and reiterates how important it is that you all follow her 3 rules: 1. Absolutely nothing allowed in the arena today, 2. Be back outside of the arena exactly 2 hours after entering, and 3. No sneaking back in after leaving.

Just as everyone lines up to go through the metal detector, you, Archer, Coriolanus, and Sejanus agree that you and Coriolanus will go off separately from the other 2 boys. That way more ground will be covered when exploring the arena. And after going back and training for a couple of hours, the 4 of you will head straight back to yours and Archer’s room to begin strategizing.

One by one, mentors, and then tributes, walk through the metal detector. Anything that set it off, small watches included, were removed and kept in a box held by one of the guards.

“Now, I give you all my latest creation come to life.” Dr. Gaul motions towards the giant doors. 2 of the guards walk ahead and open them, and everyone is finally given permission to enter.

The arena looks ginormous. But what amazed you the most was that there appeared to be seasons in each section. Part of the arena had heavy snow, part was clearly intended to be fall with the leaves on the ground pretty shades of red and orange, and spring and summer sat at opposite ends.

————this is what i’m picture. major the last of us vibes. abandoned buildings, everything overgrown with vines and trees, etc., and i’m thinking an arena the size of the 3rd quarter quell———

ignore the lockers in the bottom left. just liked the pics to show you an idea of what i mean.

You couldn’t help but gasp. You were meant to survive in this? To possibly win?

“Two hours! Your time starts now.” Dr. Gaul tapped a button on her watch and walked out, leaving the tributes and mentors with the guards.

Coriolanus was secretly grateful at all of the rocks and bumps along the roads and paths. He looked around at the mentors reluctantly helping their tributes, and realized this was a rare opportunity to hold your hand in public. Not allowing himself to overthink, he grabs your hand and begins leading you towards one of the buildings. As much as he wants to spend the entire 2 hours simply being with you, you are still tribute and mentor.

“I thought there’d be weapons,” you look around.

“They’ll probably wait until the games start to bring those in,” Coriolanus tries to contain the feeling he gets from holding your hand.

As you walk around and explore the arena more, doing your best to avoid other tributes and mentors, you begin to strategize.

“If you can get to a bow and arrow, a rooftop might serve you well. Unless tributes are looking up, they wouldn’t see you until it was too late. But they’ll most likely scatter and go running as soon as the first arrow hits, so you’ll be pressed for time.”

“What if I’m not able to get to a bow and arrow? Or—”

After checking to make sure no one else is around, Coriolanus pulls you towards a row of abandoned buildings. He turns around and looks at you. “We’ll figure something out, I promise. Turns out district two weren’t the only ones who liked what you did at the reaping. You have some sponsorship money already.”

You force yourself to nod and seem confident, even if you don’t feel it. After a few more minutes of strategizing and Coriolanus pointing out specific buildings or areas that might be good for hiding, or barricading yourself inside if it came down to it, he begins to feel anxious.

“Are you alright?” You glance at him.

“Yeah, I’m— I’m fine.”

You stop, this time being the one to lead him to one of the few buildings you’d yet to explore. “I know you’re supposed to be the one to help me and comfort me, but we’re soulmates you know. If something is bothering you, you can tell me.”

Coriolanus sighs, not wanting to scare you. “I just don’t want to let you down. I swear to you, I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe and help you win. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

You give him a sad smile and step closer, putting a hand on either side of his face. “I know you will. You don’t have to prove yourself to me. I trust you’ll do everything you can.” You lower your hands and are relieved when Coriolanus reaches out, already missing the physical contact.

Despite wanting to once again stay there and just be with each other, you know that time is of the essence, so it’s only a minute later that you’re back out wandering around.

“ — the fuck where you’re going,” a voice sneers from around a corner.

Coriolanus begins to pull you back towards the direction you’d just come from, but you instantly recognize the voice. You walk around and are horrified to see Cassian looming over Anna, with Aemond leaning against the wall as if he doesn’t have a care in the world.

“What are you doing?” You step in front of Anna.

“She was in my way. I’m just letting her know to stay out of it in the future,” Cassian smirks. You can’t help but think about how you’d like to slap that smirk right off of his face.

“She’s a child,” you shake your head in disgust and turn around, intending to ask Anna if she’s alright.

A harsh grip on your shoulder forces you to turn around. You’re met with a now furious looking Cassian. “Hey watch who you’re tal—”

This time it’s Coriolanus who intervenes. He shoves Cassian back, causing him to stumble and nearly fall. “Don’t fucking touch her.” Somehow, his voice being eerily calm makes the situation more frightening.

“And what are you gonna do about it?” This time Aemond speaks up. “We saw what happened last year. You couldn’t keep your songbird safe. How are you gonna protect my new friend here?”

Before you can even open you mouth to protest him calling you a friend, another voice interrupts you all.

“Is there a problem here?” You all turn to see Roman approaching. He immediately goes to Anna, who has remained glued to your side. When he bends down, she whispers into his ear, pointing at Aemond and Cassian before you. When he stands up again, he immediately walks over to the district 2 boys. Although they’re tall, Roman is taller.

They glance at each other and shrug, turning around and walking out of the room. When no one but you is watching, Aemond turns around and winks.

“Thank you for helping her,” Roman speaks to you, motioning to Anna who is now stood beside him. “I was wary of if I did not like those boys from the beginning, but now I am sure. Have they given you trouble also?”

You’re hesitant, but decide Roman seems nice enough. “A little. They say they want an alliance during the games but haven’t even given me an opportunity to answer. My answer is no, but I don’t think they know that yet.”

Roman nods. “I would have done more, but I fear the punishment for starting a fight before the games.”

Coriolanus, who as remained silent, slowly reaches for your hand and gives it a gentle squeeze. You turn to him and smile, “I’m okay, promise.” Roman watches this interaction but says nothing.

“We’ll be on our way,” he and Anna begin to head towards the door, “but thank you again.”

Thankfully, the rest of your time in the arena goes by quickly and uneventful. Before you know it, the guards are calling out a 5-minute warning.

As you and Coriolanus rejoin Archer and Sejanus and the 4 of you begin your walk back to the entrance, Coriolanus’ mind is now racing.

If you hadn’t done so before, after today you’ve surely made an enemy of the district 2 boys. His fight to help you win and stay alive just got that much harder.

SERIES TAGLIST ── (if you’ve requested to be added to the taglist and don’t see your user, it means I haven’t been able to tag you. once you say you want to be tagged, I make 2 attempts. after that I don’t tag anymore. everyone not able to be tagged so far is either 1. a completely blank account with no profile pic and nothing on their page, 2. there’s a profile pic but still a completely blank account, 3. there is a profile pic but only 1 thing is re-blogged.)

TAGLIST IS FULL! FOLLOW MY PAGE KEMP-STEVE TO BE NOTIFIED WHEN I WRITE MORE!

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whatyadrawin · 2 months

Text

The Fruit After the Flesh 18+ - Chapter 8

Minors DNI!

Masterlist

Approximately 2,872 words

Pairing: Thomas Hewitt (Headcanon) x AFAB reader

This chapters Warnings: Sexual language and events, foul language. This is Slasher smut, be mindful of that and use discretion.

A/n: This chapter escalates very quickly. I want to point something out though, as I feel it is important to note which can be found at the bottom of this chapter due to it being a spoiler. Let me know if you want to be in the tag list. I update chapter progress on the masterlist whenever something changes.

Please enjoy this chapter! I worked very hard on it so reblogs, comments, and likes are appreciated very much.

Tag-List: @fan-goddess

Chapter 8

The sun began to pass the middle of the sky, your clothes were wet after you raced to put them on when Tommy left the pond running.

You walked through the forest, juniper trees are sparingly dispersed with the mesquite, the thick branches are heavy with blue buds which smell like cedar. As you get to the edge of the forest you smile as the dangling foliage of the mesquite tickles your shoulders when passing through.

You get inside the house and Luda Mae lets out a sigh of relief,

“Oh sweetheart, I was worried sick about you. Thought you went and got lost in the dang wilderness!”

You wrinkle your brows upwards, you feel awful having made Luda Mae stressed,

“I’m so sorry! I saw a pond when I was exploring and couldn’t help but go for a swim, it was refreshing” you say apologetically,

Luda Mae smiled as she put her hands on her hips,

“You went as far as the pond? Lord, I haven’t been out there in ages. You best try to avoid going through that forest alone hun, it has a lot of dangerous old garbage left over from past times. Take Thomas with you when you next feel like a swim, he knows the forest well.”

You smirk to yourself thinking about Tommy getting all wet and upset in the pond with you, but then you realized she must have not seen him come in yet, -she would have seen him soaking wet and known he was with me?- You look out the window to see if Tommy was in the barn, Luda Mae noticed you looking outside frantically so she asks,

“Everything all right dear? You look like a hen searchin’ for seeds.”

You turn to her and ask,

“Did you see Thomas come in at all?”

“Charlie said he saw Thomas head inside and go to his room, something happen?” she sounded confused as to what he problem could be.

“Oh no, I just…” you paused and thought it may be best to not let her know you were flirting naked with her son in the pond, “…wondered why he wasn’t up here getting his lunch is all.” You hoped to sound authentic.

Luda Mae squinted her eyes at you through her glasses, she didn’t say a word for a good minute,

“That’s strange, I told him to come right back with you for lunch. He’s usually mighty hungry by this time of the day. I’ll go check on him.” She made her way towards the basement door but turned to you and said, “You didn’t see him at all out there?”

“I was just swimming in the pond” you felt bad not being honest but it wasn’t like you were lying, you were just swimming after all. She closed the door behind her as she entered the basement, you hoped Tommy would keep it on the down low about you being a total tease in the pond -I don’t think Luda Mae would want to hear about her son being a peeping tom- you hoped you could get him to ‘accidentally’ peep on you once more just to see his pants get tight again; it was a unique experience to be so perverted after so many years of chastity. You wanted to let yourself loose and play with danger, the thrill gave you adrenaline that aroused you deeply, but you knew there could be serious consequences if Thomas was the kind of man to go too far when giving in to temptation.

Luda Mae returns, she looks a bit upset and it had you panicking internally,

“Is he ok?” you ask hastily,

She tightens her lips into a crooked form, and raises an eyebrow,

“He was gettin’ changed and said he wanted to be left alone. I’m gonna bring his lunch down to him. Must be tired from all the work he’s been doin’ in the barn what with moving all that old lumber ‘round and what not.”

You feel relieved to hear he didn’t tell her what he got up to, but you didn’t like keeping things from Luda Mae. A feeling entered your mind, one of regret and anxiety, -oh no, what if he’s mad at me? Maybe I overstepped a boundary and now he doesn’t want to see me!- In your excitement of being a tease you didn’t stop to think how it could actually be hurtful to him, -maybe he feels embarrassed or violated, or something because of what I did, fuck!- Now you felt sick, you wanted to go check on him and ask if you upset him and apologize if you did but you decided to give him space and try to talk with him tomorrow.

After you ate your lunch, you spent most of the afternoon moving your belongings into the room Luda Mae gave you. The shelves and armoires were big enough to fit everything you owned if you wanted, and the bay window was so charming next to the writing desk, it made you feel so happy being able to live with this family.

Dinner time rolled around and you didn’t see Thomas come up at all, Luda Mae had to go bring his dinner down to him. That night you slept poorly, the whole night was just rumination about what you might have done wrong and how you ruined everything by letting your libido take priority for once, -of course the one time I let loose, I get punished. Why do I have to live quietly, why can’t I just give in and be free with my body!?- You felt cursed.

You woke up early the next day and put a robe over your racy night garments, you wandered slowly toward the kitchen to grab some coffee and toast, you were still feeling anxious and upset from last night and were not in the mood to eat much of anything. Of course, Luda Mae was already up bright and early, her hair was frazzled and she was wearing a long white nightgown like a Victorian estate owner,

“Hey hun, how did you sleep?” her voice was gravelly and quiet, you didn’t want to worry her so you lied and said it was very good. You went on to ask,

“I need to do some laundry, is there a washer and dryer in the house somewhere?”

Luda Mae nodded slowly, she said,

“Down in the basement, there’s a room with a washer but no dryer, it went and broke on us a few years back and we just hang it all outside now. Theres a clothing line out back, I can show you when the washers finished.” You thank her and finish up your measly excuse for a meal and head to the restroom to get your laundry bin.

You look in the mirror and realize -oh shit, Tommy’s down there! I should freshen up a bit- You brush your teeth and pin up your hair in a cute half up-do, you find a more attractive robe, a short one, black with cherry pattern details on it, you made this one yourself with silk, it matched your sleeping garments. You spritz on a gentle, fresh perfume and thank god that your lash extensions were lasting this long. If you were going to apologize to the man, you might as well look cute doing it, -I hope he is more inclined to forgive someone who looks cute…-

The basement door was really damaged, there were deep cuts and scuffs in the wood which led to the paint cracking all over the place. You felt a bit nervous going down to his domain but you were determined to make things right. Luda Mae passed by on her way upstairs and said,

“Make sure you stay down there for the whole wash cycle hun, the dang thing sometimes stops and has to be manually resumed.” She continued on her way upstairs.

You take a few steps; it was exceedingly dark and you weren’t able to see much, you carefully felt for each step with one foot as you made your way down, your red, fluffy, low-heeled slippers didn’t help much. Nearing the bottom, you see a dim light from an old bulb, it’s enough to help you see the rest of the stairs. The basement was quiet and dark, it creeped you out but it was clean at least. The floor was lined with old cement, you saw a long hall where on the left side there was one enormous sliding door made of steel, on the right you saw a small interior door, an old double door next to it, and towards the end there was a corner, all you could see was a dim red light. You were curious about the basement, but it scared you too much to look around, so you look for the laundry instead.

You turn to the right and see that right next to the staircase was an alcove with an old top-load washer and dryer, you walk over to it, the floor to this alcove was old crème colored tile and dark greyish-blue walls, there was a fluorescent light that flicked on when you used the light switch on the wall, it quietly buzzed at you which just added to the eerie feeling. You let out a sigh and began placing your clothes into the old washing machine, there was powder detergent sitting on the ledge of a tub sink where the washer would flush out the dirty water after its cycle.

When everything was ready to go, you turned on the washer and it quietly starting gushing water onto the clothes. You look behind you and see no one is around, you feel a bit anxious, hoping Tommy would come out at any moment and let you know what was on his mind, but the hall remained empty. You waited for a while and got bored of having nothing to look at, so you decide to wander the hall and see what the red light around the corner was.

As you rounded the edge of the wall you saw an old walnut wood door, there were small brass letters nailed into the door that spelled ‘T.H’ the red color of the light gave the area a menacing appearance. -well now I know which door I can’t go through- you decide to head to the old double door and take a look inside; this room was horribly dark, the slot windows were covered in overgrown plants and the wall on the doors side had a massive creepy looking furnace from another time, the rest of the room was sparsely riddled with old furniture and junk.

This basement was fairly boring to you, the small interior door only led to a dingy washroom with a horribly outdated and unkept tub and shower head. The final door was the huge steel sliding door, it looked like the kind of door you would see in a fish market, this made you curious. You tried to push the door but it was unreasonably heavy, you put your whole-body weight into it and it barely moved. The more you tried the more you were out of breath, you took a second to rest before trying again, this time it was able to budge far enough for you to get a glimpse into the darkness where you could barely make out some silhouettes – are those…hanging hooks?-

Just when you wanted to push for a better view, the door is forcefully slammed shut, your arm is grabbed and you are spun around with your back pushed into the cold steel making you let out a soft whimper. You look up to see Tommy looking down at you, his massive hand was effortlessly pinning your arm against the door, his other hand on the door itself keeping it firmly closed. Your other hand was free, trying to steady your body as it flattened against the sliding door.

“Tommy!” you said his name with surprise, you didn’t even hear him leave his room.

He slowly released your hand and backed away, closing his eyes in relief, he pointed at the door and shook his head.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed in there.” You spoke earnestly.

Tommy ran his hand through his hair, and hung his head as he rested his other hand on his hips, he nodded and made his way back to his room, but you call out to him before he could turn the corner,

“Tommy wait, I want to talk to you if that’s ok?”

He turned and came back up to you, the top of his chest was exposed from his grey tank top which had a damaged rock band logo on it; he had soft and loose black cotton pants on that had a handmade drawstring which dangled lazily over top his generous mound. He still had on that leather face mask, it did nothing but tease you, it felt like you would never get to see his true face.

Tommy followed as you walk over towards the washer which had just finished its spin cycle,

“Sorry, I need to get my clothes out of the wash. I wanted to ask if you were mad at me?”

Tommy furrowed his eyebrows, he looked perplexed by your words but did not respond, so you continue,

“After how I behaved in the pond yesterday, I didn’t know that it upset you and I wanted to apologize.”

Tommy let out a sigh, you felt alone in this one-sided conversation, you wish you could read his mind. You turn your back to him so you could continue grabbing your damp laundry, you follow up saying,

“I didn’t know where your boundaries were and maybe I was feeling a little too confident, I feel like I was inappropriate. I want to know how you feel about it.”

You don’t hear him say anything, you expected him to be silent, yet you still wanted to offer the option to respond. Just when you think you were annoying him further, you are pressed against the washing machine from behind, large arms cover over top of yours and his hands pin yours down, they were so big that they fully covered your own entirely. Your whole body is caged in by Tommy’s massive form, you could feel your heart beating so fast you thought it would explode.

Having this beast of a man enshroud you like this was a swift reminder of just how powerful he was, you could feel an ache inside you, a wet slick began to form between your legs and the moment felt intoxicating. Tommy leaned down, your body was unable to resist following his motion, he had you bent forward and unable to move, but you didn’t want to move. You instinctively arch your back and press into Tommy’s pelvic area, you could feel a growing density press through his soft cotton pants and into your delicate center.

You hitched a sharp breath when he pushed himself into you, it was overwhelmingly erotic and before you could let out a moan you hear him speak,

“You fear me?” his deep growling words were carried by a smooth southern accent, you could hear him begin to breathe a bit heavier.

You bite your lip, and reply in a breathy whisper,

“Yes”

He let out a low, amused laugh. For some reason you felt like being bratty, you couldn’t help but push him, seeing if he would snap and do something about you,

“I’m going to keep doing it”

He lets out a playful “Hm?” he knew what you wanted to keep doing but he wanted to hear you say it. His body now pressing in tightly, making it hard for you to breathe, your breasts began to spill out of the robe which caught his eye. He was now so firm that it hurt your soft folds through your panties, this did nothing but burgeon fluids further out of your entrance which soaked the fabric barrier between you both. You continue, your tone now devilish and seductive,

“I’m going to keep pushing you, until you unravel.”

Tommy knew he could never let loose how he wanted, but he liked playing your little game. He never felt such raw emotion before and you made him feel crazy with desire.

He lowered his head so his mouth was just above your ear, and spoke hushed, but firm,

“Good”

He releases you from his grip and heads back to his room. You remain there still, and speechless, you were left an aroused mess from the interaction, but it gave you clarity for your anxious concerns. You never upset him, you didn’t go too far, Tommy was just as twisted as you were and wanted to see how far you could take him. You knew however, that he was restraining himself, you knew there was a potential for him to break. You wanted him to claim you, You wanted to feel something raw and real, something free and wicked. You wanted him to pour kerosene on the fire inside of you and touch the flames as he watches it burn.

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A/N Continued: So, Thomas behaves in a way that has some real world controversy. He is forceful and threatening, Y/N is depicted as wanting to play cat and mouse with him and push him to break so they find out how dangerous he really is. The same interactions are nowadays being used as part of a harmful rhetoric spewed out of the mouths of misogynists which they claim excuses sexual assault towards women and femmes. I want you to be comfortable in knowing that I am not about that shit and that my only relation to it is via consensual and responsible kink. The activities in my fics are all JUST fantasy and nothing more. I know I shouldn't have to clarify that, but none of you know me as a person and it can suck when you read a fic and find out the author is a creep (it taints the story IMO), so I wanted to put you at ease. I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)

#what ya writin #thomas hewitt #thomas hewitt x y/n #slasher community #thomas hewitt x afab reader #leatherface 2006 #texas chainsaw massacre #my art #the fruit after the flesh #slasher smut #slasher x reader #slasher thirst #slasher fandom

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foreverdolly · 1 year

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𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐄 | ex's best friend! austin butler x reader

summary: after a bad breakup with your cheating ex, the last thing you're expecting is for his best friend to side with you. at his insistence, you decide to let him accompany you to the arctic monkey concert in las vegas. what happens in las vegas doesn't always stay in las vegas.

warning/notes: one bed trope, SMUT! exhibitionism, fingering, unprotected sex, choking, begging, creampie, protective!austin, austin really said "fuck cheaters" with his whole chest in this fic

word count: 13,138

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“Austin wouldn’t do that to you. Besides, I don’t even really know Jeremy anyway, so why the hell would he bring him?” You were currently holding Juniper, placing a few quick kisses to the top of her head as you bounced her in your arms. Your best friend was in the process of cubing cheese, getting ready for the wedding anniversary party she was throwing. You had offered to help earlier, but she had simply handed you her daughter. Juniper loved you the most out of any of her other friends, which was why she never threw fits when you were around. She simply tugged on your hair and played with your necklaces, content with just being around you.

“I don’t know. I’m just anxious, you know? I broke up with him a week ago, and you know how vindictive he is.” Jeremy was the type of person to go out of his way to make you uncomfortable. He was the absolute king of getting a rise out of you, and you hated that. You had a feeling that he had been spewing all types of bullshit Austin’s way, and despite the fact that you and Austin had been friends before you and Jeremy even dated, you knew that his loyalties would probably be with his male friend. It only made sense.

“Come on, Y/n. Jeremy is a-” She lowered her voice as she looked up from the cutting board. “Asshole,” she whispered, shooting you and Juniper a small smile before going back to work with her knife. “But Austin isn’t. He asked specifically if you were going to be here tonight because he wanted to talk to you. He loves you both. Besides, you weren’t the one that got caught with a Tinder account. You aren’t the bad guy in this situation. Austin is a loyal friend, but he’s fair. He knows Jeremy is the one that messed up. When I talked to him last night he sounded super angry about it all.”

You rocked back on your heels, spinning around in a circle a few times just to make Juniper squeal before continuing your train of thought. “Yeah- no. . . you’re so right. I don’t want to make him choose a side, but he’s known Jeremy the longest. I know that if push came to shove, it wouldn’t be me he’d stick beside. That’s all.” You’d have to be an idiot to think that Austin would pick you over his longtime friendship. You had met Austin through a modeling gig towards the beginning of his career. The Hannah Montana era- which he still visually cringed at the mention of. You had been an assistant photographer back then, fresh out of high school, and the two of you had clicked. Two years later you both ran into each other at Ashley’s birthday party and decided to exchange numbers. Austin was the person that had introduced you to Jeremy in the first place. Of course, he probably never thought that the two of you would end up dating. You and Jeremy were polar opposites, which you had once found cute and quirky, but now realized was incredibly annoying and a waste of your fucking time.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” You heard Ashley mumble under her breath, but when you hummed at her, she merely shook her head. “Nothing. I didn’t say anything.” She was quick to flash you an “innocent” smile.

There was a knock at the door, and you were quick to shuffle off towards it. “No, no. I’ve got it.” Christopher called out, jogging ahead of you before opening the door. A few familiar faces shuffled in, giving Ashley’s husband tight hugs before moving over to you. You gave them side hugs, smiling softly to yourself as they cooed at the adorable baby in your arms before moving towards the kitchen. Words of congratulations were exchanged before they were ushered out the back door. “I’ll take her from ya.” Ashley walked over, scooping Juniper out of your arms before nodding towards the kitchen. “Can you cut up the carrots and celery for me? That’s all that’s left.” You were quick to salute her, a silent ‘you got it’, before moving over towards the kitchen island. She wrinkled her nose at you, blowing you a quick kiss before floating out the back door and to the waiting guests.

“I think you should stay another week. Having you around has been an absolute blessing, Y/n.” Chris told you, and as you looked up you could see that he wasn’t joking, but telling the truth.

“Ah, you guys need your privacy though. I just didn’t want to go back to our apartment until he moved all of his shit out.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “We have a big house. Besides, Juniper hasn’t been this well behaved in a while. She’s teething, and with you around she hasn’t been as fussy. Not only that but Ashley loves having you here. You live an hour away, and she misses you.” You shot him a warm grin before ripping open the bag of organic carrots, cutting off the stems before slicing them down the middle.

“Hey! In my defense you two are the ones that moved away from me.” He laughed, holding his hands up in surrender. “I’m sorry for stealing her from you.” He teased before heading out the back door to follow after his wife.

You’d met all of Ashley’s previous flings, and none of them were as fantastic as Chris. You couldn’t imagine her with anyone else. He loved her as well as her family and friends. He treated you like family, and you adored him for that. There was a soft knock on the front door again, and instead of putting your knife down to open the already unlocked door you simply called out that it was open. A lanky blonde pushed his way in, a large bouquet of flowers in his arms. For a second the two of you stared at each other, anxiety already gnawing at your stomach. Ashley’s words from earlier had only calmed you down a little. You weren’t sure what kind of conversation he wanted to have with you, but you were sure that probably wasn’t going to be good.

“Long time, no see.” He smiled softly at you, walking further into the house so that he could set the flowers down on the kitchen table before making his way over towards you. He stood across from you at the kitchen island, leaning over so that he could place his forearms against the granite. You rolled your eyes, shooting him a soft smile.

“It’s been two weeks.” You retorted.

He returned the smile, his blue eyes dancing over your face before he nodded. “Exactly. Long time.”

For a few seconds the only sound that could be heard in the house was your constant chopping. You weren’t sure if he was waiting for you to say something or not. You weren’t sure what to say in this sort of situation. You were sure that something along the lines of ‘hey there, i know my shithead of an ex boyfriend is your best friend, but i’ve known you longer than i’ve known him, so i’m hoping we can still be friends’ probably wouldn’t go over too well with him.

“So Jeremy called me last week.” He started.

You sucked in a breath before placing the knife down on the cutting board. “Oh yeah? What did he say?” He cleared his throat before walking around the island, moving closer to your side. He leaned his hip against the counter, crossing his arms over his chest. He looked good, but when did Austin not look good? He was wearing white wash jeans, old boots that made him even taller, and a jean button up the same shade as his pants- tucked in with a belt. You would be lying if you said that you had never been attracted to your friend. He was a good looking guy, but he had just started dating Vanessa right around the time that the two of you got close. Not to mention that, but you weren’t the type of person to cross the boundary of friendship with someone that you were close to like that. That was how things got messy, and you didn’t like drama.

“Well. . .” He pursed his lips for a second, his blue eyes flickering up to the ceiling for a second before he finally looked back down at you. It appeared that he was trying to find the right words to say. “He tried playing the victim for a few minutes, but caught on pretty quick that I wasn’t falling for it. I scolded him a little bit, and now he isn’t returning my texts.” Your mouth fell open, eyes going as wide as saucers. Austin had stood up for you? God, you knew that he was a wonderful person, but you didn’t expect that.

“He isn’t talking to you?” You were stunned.

Austin shook his head, mouthing the word ‘nope’ before reaching over for the knife that you had placed down. He went to work doing what you had been doing before, giving you the opportunity to assemble the vegetable board in a way that Ashley would find aesthetically pleasing.

“I’m sorry if I look a bit shocked, but I wasn’t expecting you to actually say anything to him.” He cleared his throat, his long fingers gripping the hilt of the knife tightly as he started to work on the celery.

“Being cheated on is a shit feeling, and the fact that he threw away almost five years with you is just plain stupid. He knows how I feel about it, and now he’s choosing to ignore the problem rather than to own up to anything.” Ashley had been right. It sounded like Austin really had picked a side.

And it was yours.

“How are you holding up though? I was waiting for you to reach out to me, but you never did.” He sounded a little hurt. You licked your lips before grabbing one of the small bowls Ashley had taken down out of the cabinet, filling it with the green goddess dressing the two of you had picked up at Whole Foods a few hours back.

“I’m doing surprisingly alright. I’ve been staying here with Ash and Chris for the last week, which has been pretty great,” You took a deep breath before continuing. “I didn’t reach out to you because I didn’t want to put you in an awkward position with Jeremy. I didn’t want you to feel any pressure on my end. Maneuvering friendships after a breakup like this is really hard.” He hummed in understanding, scooping up the celery in his hands before distributing it on the plate. His hand brushed yours, and he kept it there for a couple of seconds before moving it back down to his side.

“Look, I appreciate that, but I’m your friend too. You’re having a hard time, and I want to be there for you. Jeremy can be a selfish dick, but I’ve known him since we were kids. He’s always been like this. I don’t really expect too much out of him anymore, but just know that I’m really upset with him over this. When you two first started dating I had a feeling that this was how it would turn out. I tried to warn him about hurting you, but he didn’t seem to heed my advice.” He scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest again. “Which isn’t surprising.”

Sure, you’d heard some pretty choice words about Jeremy from Austin’s lips before after a drunken fight or some play-teasing that one of the boys took too far, but this was pretty full on. Whatever picture Jeremy had tried to paint for Austin the other day over the phone must not have been very nice. It made your stomach churn just thinking about what he had told his other friends. God, they must have thought you were some kind of a monster. That was the one thing you absolutely couldn’t stand. You were the one that had been hurt in this entire situation, but suddenly you’re the bad guy. You had done everything you could think to do in order to save your relationship with him. You knew that it wasn’t going to work out long term, but you still loved him. You don’t just waste five years of your life on someone you don’t love. The longer you spent away from Jeremy, the more and more you started to pull your head out of the clouds and come back down to earth. Even if it was a long way to fall- the realizations had been hard- but it was good. You had been biding your time with Jeremy. The two of you never really talked about marriage or children. It was almost like the two of you had just been in a relationship because it was convenient for the two of you. You were attracted to one another, you had mutual acquaintances, and it had just made sense to be together in your early twenties. Now? Now you just felt like a moron who had allowed herself to be mistreated all in the name of “love”.

“Well I don’t know how you’ve put up with him for so long. I’ve only known him for five years and I’m starting to regret the day I ever met him.” You tossed a carrot onto the plate a little harder than you had meant to, and you cursed under your breath as it bounced off and landed right on the floor.

Austin bent down and picked it up for you, tossing it into the trash. “I guess you have me to blame for that. I wouldn’t have introduced you two if I knew that he would have hit on you. You aren’t the kind of girl he usually goes for. You’re unique and actually have a personality.” That made you laugh. Austin couldn’t wipe the smile off of his face as he watched you, and soon he was bumping his shoulder up against yours. “Do you need help with anything? I’d be willing to drop some of his stuff off at his place. Maybe egg his house? Might be therapeutic.”

You snickered, shaking your head. “No, he should have all of his junk out of my place by now. I gave him a week, and my neighbor said that he hauled a whole truck load of shit out. The only thing that’s causing me some stress right now is the fact that I spent way too much money on those Artic Monkey tickets and a hotel room up in Vegas, and now I can’t even go.”

His nose wrinkled as he looked down at you. “Why the hell wouldn’t you go? You need to get out of the house and have fun after all the shit you’ve been through this past week.”

Yeah, you could really use a night out.

Sure, getting wine drunk and watching Married at First Sight with Ashley was a blast, but you needed to get out of California for a bit, even if it was just a two day ordeal. The tickets had originally been a late birthday present for Jeremy, but he’d gone and fucked everything up. You’d already called the hotel only to find out that they don’t do refunds so short notice, and it was impossible to find someone to go with you. Ashley didn’t like the Artic Monkeys, and even if she was willing to go with you, there was no way you were going to inconvenience her any more than you already had. Jenny from work said that she would have loved to go with you, but her fiance had planned a surprise trip to Arizona to visit her elderly grandparents. The rest of your friends either weren’t big fans and weren’t willing to take the time off of work or already had plans. Sure, you could always go down there and stay by yourself. It would nice to have meaningless sex with a hot stranger, but over the years of inconsequential hookups you knew that doing something like that after a bad breakup only ever hurt you worse in the long run. There’s nothing bad about chasing your own pleasure, but you were better than that. Besides, getting even with your cocksucker of an ex wasn’t worth the possibility of contracting some kind of sexually transmitted disease, and Vegas was probably chalk-full of those.

You also had your own safety to worry about. There was no way you trusted yourself to get drunk at the concert, hail an Uber and then crawl back to your hotel without something bad happening. Human trafficking was a real and serious thing, and you’d rather waste a little over a thousand dollars than something bad happen to you. “I wish I could go, but I’ve already asked everybody I could think of and they’re all busy. I’ll probably just try and sell the tickets or something.”

Austin’s eyebrows furrowed as he took a bite out of one of the carrots. He chewed a few times before hurriedly swallowing. “You didn’t ask me.”

And for a good reason. You didn’t hate the idea of being petty. Jeremy totally deserved it, but Austin didn’t. There was no way you were going to pull him into your drama. You gave him a look, and he let out a small chuckle before shaking his head, his blonde hair falling into his eyes. “No, I’m serious. I’ll go with you. I don’t have any shoots or interviews for a full week, and my upcoming project doesn’t start for another month and a half.” Ever since he was in that Elvis biopic his face had been plastered all over god’s green earth.

“Jeremy would-” He cut you off before you could finish.

“No, fuck that. You told me you spent like. . . five hundred dollars on the hotel room for the night. Let’s just go, have a good time, and then we can both come back home refreshed. Besides, I love the Artic Monkeys. You know they’re one of my favorite bands. The tickets were sold out by the time I decided to buy one. Not only that, but I didn’t want to crash you and Jeremy’s date.” Austin did love the band just as much as you did. Also it was always a blast hanging out with him. You hadn’t been alone with him for years. You remembered how much fun the two of you used to have back in the day, and you could really use a good laugh.

Breakups make people do dumb things. Some people bleach their hair in a desperate attempt to reinvent themselves, while others go on a month long drinking binge. You? You agreed to go to the concert with Austin. Your ex’s longtime best friend. Alone. “Yeah! You’re totally right. It will be fun.”

Austin threw his fist in the air, and once he had heard you laugh he threw his leg out in a half-assed move he had probably learned during one of his karate lessons, which only made you laugh that much harder. “It’s going to be great. God, I’ve never seen them in concert before. I’m actually pretty psyched right now.”

And you could tell. He was grinning ear to ear. That smile remained on his face for the rest of your best friend’s celebration, and he stuck to your side like glue throughout the entire night. Later that night he shot you a text, as if you would possibly forget the promise that the two of you had made.

You had asked a very tipsy Ashley what she thought about the situation, but her input wasn’t much help. “I think you should have sex. No! For real, girl. He thinks you’re hot so I think you should go for it.” She was ridiculously inebriated, and mostly everything she says when she’s drunk is either highly dramatized or completely nonsensical, so you disregarded the last comment.

If Austin found you attractive at any point during your friendship, then there was no reason why he would have introduced you to Jeremy in the first place. The two of you were strictly friends. . . even if you did find him attractive yourself. That didn’t mean that the feelings were mutual.

You always used to enjoy road trips. That is, until Jeremy came along. The man always had something to complain about. Either his legs were cramping up, his ass felt sore for sitting too long, or he didn’t like the music you had turned on for the both of you to listen to. Going anywhere with that man was always a chore. Not to mention the fact that he always had something to say about your driving. Driving in the car with Austin reminded you what you loved so much about the open road. It was supposed to be fun and carefree, and when you had good company it was always a blast. Austin insisted on picking the music, which you definitely didn’t mind. He was still on an Elvis kick, and because of his major role in the movie he had a newfound love and respect for blues music. Towards the end of the four hour trip he had turned on the Artic Monkeys to get you both ready for the concert. You had sped down the interstate listening to his favorite songs by them, screaming the lyrics right along with him. Austin enjoyed driving with the windows rolled down, not caring about how his hair looked or how his ears popped. He must have enjoyed the feeling of the wind on his face. You followed his lead, rolling yours down as well. It really was therapeutic to get out of the state for a little while. The second you saw the sign for Nevada you practically moaned in relief. You were free, even if it was just for a little under forty-eight hours.

A couple of times during the trip you had seen Austin lift his phone up, taking pictures of the desert road and videos of you singing your heart out, your hair in your face from the wind and a wide smile dimpling your cheeks. Ashley would always be your best friend, but you hadn’t felt this happy in months. Maybe even years. Austin appeared to be in the same boat. You hadn’t seen him stop smiling. Not even once. When the two of you finally pulled up to the hotel, which was only about ten minutes from the concert venue, the both of you were in high spirits. Austin grabbed your overnight bag for you as you climbed out of the car, which you thanked him for by opening the lobby door so that he could step into the hotel first.

“Hey there. I booked a room here about two months ago.” You gave the front desk clerk your first and last name, but he was staring straight behind you with wide eyes and a slack jaw. You almost rolled your eyes as Austin used his free hand to wave, knowing damn well that the man must be momentarily star struck.

“O-Oh. . . okay. Give me just one second.” The young man’s face flushed as he began typing away furiously at the computer. “Here’s your key cards for the room.” He went to hand it to you, but his hands were shaking so horribly that he dropped it. The short brunette cursed under his breath, scrambling to grab the small packet before handing it off to you.

“Before we head up, I just wanted to see if there might be any rooms available with two beds? I know that the one I booked was a suite with a king size.” You didn’t want to be difficult, but it was certainly worth a try. Austin took a step closer to you, leaning against the counter as he looked down at you. You ignored his gaze, waiting for the boy to check.

“I’m so sorry, but we’re completely booked for the night. There’s a pretty big concert going on down the street in two hours, so all of the hotels in the area are probably completely booked up for the next week.”

You should have known that this would happen to you. You’d seen enough romcoms to know how this sort of situation went. Two platonic friends get stuck in the same hotel room together with just one bed. Of course this would happen.

You closed your eyes tightly for a few seconds before pocketing the hotel pamphlet. “Thank you.”

The boy shuffled awkwardly where he was standing before nodding his head towards Austin. “I know that this might be super lame, but my girlfriend absolutely loves you. I saw Elvis and. . . y-you killed it, man. Do you mind signing something for me?” Austin smiled warmly, placing the bags down on the floor.

“Not at all. Hey, thank you so much for seeing the film by the way. And tell your girlfriend that I said thank you for the support.” The boy nodded, quickly grabbing a blank sheet of paper out of the printer that he had beside the computer monitor, sliding that and a pen across the counter towards the blonde. You were used to people stopping Ashley while the two of you were out, so it wasn’t anything that you weren’t used to. For some odd reason, in this case at least, you felt an immense amount of pride wash over you. Seeing the way that he so sweetly interacted with a fan who was very clearly freaking out made you feel proud to have him in your life. Austin wasn’t just an amazing actor, but an amazing person as well.

“What are you all smiley about?” He asked you with a small smile on his face, bumping into you with his shoulder as you both walked into the elevator, pressing the button for the top floor.

“Just proud of you is all. It’s really amazing to see how far you’ve come.” Austin leaned back against the stainless steel wall as the doors began to close, and as you turned your head to face him he was quick to face the other way.

“Are you blushing?” You teased lightly. He was quick to wave you off with his hand, shuffling his feet until he had his back to you. You could still see him in the reflection of the wall, and you were quick to let out a small chuckle. “Don’t get all shy with me when I compliment you.” He shook his head a few times before facing you, blue eyes wide with shock. He had a sheepish grin on his face, and there was something about that expression that made your insides feel uncomfortably warm.

“I’m not used to you saying stuff like that to me in person.” Compliments had always made him feel embarrassed, which was why press tours made him feel a bit anxious. Austin was humble to the degree that whenever people went out of their way to remark on his work he sort of. . . shut down. His cheeks would heat up, he’d begin biting his lip, and he’d find it hard to make eye contact. He’d always been like that, ever since you first met him. Teasing him was fine, but whenever you very honestly commented on how well he was doing in his career? That was when the nervous ticks began.

He was smiling to himself, staring straight ahead at the glowing buttons, watching as the numbers flickered on the screen, signifying that you were still a long way off until the top floor. The confined space was beginning to make you feel. . . odd. Your heart was pounding, you were becoming overly aware of how close you were to Austin, and all you could smell was his woodsy cologne. You were the type of person that used humor as a coping mechanism, so under your breath you began singing what you could remember of the Hannah Montana theme song. He was quick to give your arm a light thwack, his loud laughter echoing in the confined space.

“You ruined it. We were having a bonding moment, and you totally killed the mood.” He was still laughing though, his eyes twinkling mischievously. Exactly. Of course you didn’t admit that. Instead you only laughed, moving away from him as he gave you a gentle shove.

“Come on, dude. . . I mean- sometimes I’m in a jam and I have to make a plan. It might be crazy, but I do it any-” He grabbed you by your shoulders, giving you a few shakes. At this point you were both belly laughing, barely able to keep yourselves up as the elevator continued to jostle as you climbed higher and higher. The sound of his cellphone loudly ringing made the both of you quiet down though, and the second that he dug the device out of his pocket and you saw the name that was flashing across the screen? Dead silence.

“Shit.” Austin cursed under his breath, his thumb hovering over the answer button as he debated whether or not he wanted to answer. Anxiety locked up your limbs as you fell limply against the wall, watching with wide eyes as he worried his lip with his teeth. “I’m going to answer it. Be quiet for a second.” He swallowed thickly before pressing the phone against his ear. “Hey, man.” There was a beat of silence before Jeremy’s loud voice came over the other end. He sounded mad. Really mad.

“What the fuck, Austin? Are you with Y/n right now?” Austin licked his lips, turning down the volume in an attempt to keep you from hearing whatever rotten things the rancid man was bound to say.

“We’re seeing a concert together. Why?” The blonde sounded guarded, a stark difference from the soft, teasing tone he had been using with you just seconds ago.

“Why? Are you seriously asking me that right now? You’re on a date with my girlfriend of five years after only a week of us being separated. What the hell is wrong with you?” You kept your eyes on the elevator, breathing a sigh of relief when you noticed that you were almost to your floor. It was almost as if Jeremy knew that you had finally allowed yourself to let loose and have fun. Whatever joy you had felt just minutes ago had been sucked from your body. Hearing his voice had been a catalyst, and suddenly all you were reminded of was just how wrong this whole situation was. Sure, he deserved it, but you weren’t the kind of person to go out of your way to be cruel.

Austin seemed to notice your shift in mood, because he reached a hand out, placing it on your shoulder as he spoke. “Y/n and I have known each other for well over five years, so I don’t think it’s weird for me to spend time with her. You can’t dictate when and where I see her anymore, Jeremy. She had an extra ticket and I offered to go. End of story.” Austin’s tone left no room for argument, but that didn’t mean that Jeremy didn’t try.

“I had to find out through your instagram story that the two of you were even with each other right now. Do you know how embarrassing this is for me? You’re supposedly my best friend, and now you’re in Vegas with my ex. Do you not realize how fucked up this is? Am I in the fuckin’ twilight zone or something?” You didn’t even think about the fact that Jeremy might see Austin’s private story. You had been too preoccupied with actually being in the moment to even think of the repercussions. You knew that your ex would eventually catch wind of the two of you doing something like this, but you didn’t think he would have the audacity to call within the same day.

“Embarrassing for you?” You flinched at Austin’s tone, your heart rate picking up even faster. God, was this going to turn into a fight right now? You started shaking your head, trying to signal for him to give you the phone. Whatever anger Jeremy had, you were used to taking the brunt of it. You didn’t want Austin to be the one that got reprimanded over this situation. He had been nice enough to come with you, after all. Even if he loved the band, he was still doing you a major favor by tagging along and keeping you safe from whatever creepy men were surely lurking in the shadows of Las Vegas. He shooed you off with a gentle flick of his wrist, his eyes hardening on the steel elevator doors. “You got caught trying to cheat on your girlfriend of five years, and you’re the one that is embarrassed? Why? Because your ex and your single friend- who have known each other for years, might I add- are hanging out? You’re a fuckin’ piece of work man.”

“Fuck you! How the hell do you not see how big of a deal this is? You’re fucking her, right?” Austin groaned, letting his head fall back against the wall behind him with a gentle thud, his eyes screwed shut.

“I’m not fucking her. You’re painting this out to be some huge deal when it really isn’t. Stop spinning this false narrative so that you can play the victim. It isn’t going to work with me, Jeremy.” You ran your hand down your face, listening to the elevator as the floors continued to ding past. Jeremy must have recognized the noise too, because he was quick to speak up about it.

“So where are you two right now?”

Austin didn’t hesitate. “We’re heading up to our hotel room.” You instantly recognized the mistake though. Room. Singular.

“So you’re sleeping with her tonight? Austin, how fucking long has this been going on?” Great, now the paranoid asshole thought that you were the one that had been cheating. Maybe this had been what he was fishing for the entire time. He needed a reason to continuously slander you to all of your mutual friends.

This was turning out to be a car-crash of a day. A fiery one too. You couldn’t seem to catch a break. You’d been smart enough to block Jeremy on all social media the night that you saw the notifications on his phone and kicked him out, but now you felt the need to unblock him just to message him. This wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that he could try to move on whilst still being knee deep in your relationship. Suddenly you’re the bad guy for trying to do the same? You hadn’t even come here with the intention of making a move on Austin. That had been the furthest thing from your mind, but you were so angry that suddenly it was on the table. You had always liked Austin. He was a fantastic guy, and had always gone out of his way for you without fail. Having sex with Austin might make things a bit awkward, but you sure as hell wouldn’t hate it. You just didn’t want him to think that he was a rebound hookup.

Because let’s face it; you’d always had a bit of a crush on him. Seeing the way he was viciously protecting you right now only solidified that. He must have known that he was potentially ruining one of his longest standing friendships for you, and he didn’t seem to care. Austin wasn’t pulling any of his punches either. He was going straight for the throat.

“If I’m so disappointed in you for cheating on her, why the hell would I go for her while she was still in a relationship with you? How does that make any fucking sense? Not to mention you went out of your way to control and nitpick every single little fucking thing she did, Jer. I wouldn’t do that to you, and I’m pissed off that you would even accuse me of something like this.” The door to the elevator opened loudly, and Austin was the first one to walk out, the two duffle bags swinging in his right hand while he held the phone up to his ear with the left. You couldn’t hear what Jeremy was saying now that you were out in the hall, but it must not have been good, because the second that Austin walked up to the correct room number he tossed the duffle bags down, throwing his free hand up into the air exasperatedly. “You’ve always gone out of your way to keep us away from each other. It hurt my feelings, but I understood and dealt with it. We get along too well and you felt threatened.” You scrambled to reach into your pocket with a shaking hand, trying desperately to find the keycard.

“Yes you were,” A beat. “No, Jeremy. You felt threatened. Every single adult woman that I know has at least one male friend. Ashley has a husband and we still call and text almost every day. It’s normal. The only thing that isn’t ‘normal’ is you in this situation.” Austin nodded his head in a silent thanks as he pushed his way past you and into the hotel room. He placed your duffle bag down onto the bed, keeping a hold on his own as he made his way towards the bathroom. You were still standing in the entryway, feeling like your limbs were locked up from the shock and stress of it all.

He brushed past you, and it was then that you could hear what Jeremy was saying. “-and I always knew you had a thing for her! So why the hell would I leave you alone with her? I’m a guy! I know how guys are!” Austin was quick to shut the door to the bathroom, not wanting you to hear any more of the conversation. You could hear the zipper to his bag and his hushed voice, but other than that you couldn’t make out anymore of the conversation.

“I’m not trying to be difficult, but my friend will most likely get ambushed if we try to enter through the main line.” You had asked to speak with the manager of the venue, chewing your bottom lip anxiously as he narrowed his eyes on you.

“And tell me again who your friend is?” The man asked gruffly.

The last thing you wanted was to try and come off privileged, but this certainly wasn’t a ploy to try and cut the lines. Someone was bound to recognize Austin, even in a dimly lit concert hall, but the last thing you needed was for all hell to break loose. There were at least a few thousand people that would be attending the show, and protecting your friend was your top priority. He had gone out of his way to show you support throughout the entire day. He had ruined his friendship with Jeremy all so that he could be there for you. You could tell just by the look on his face when he had stepped out of the bathroom that things had blown up far worse than they had in the elevator. It was over. By the time that the two of you headed back home, you were sure that everyone in your tight knit group would think that you were a homie hopper of epic proportions, and Austin would be losing one of his oldest friends. For now the two of you didn’t want to think about that though. Right now, at this very moment, the two of you wanted to drink overpriced beer and act like fools in front of Alex Turner.

“Austin Butler.” The guy blinked a few times before realization dawned on him.

“Ah!” He pointed at you, nodding his head enthusiastically. “He was in that Quentin Tarantino film.” You snapped your fingers, nodding your approval.

“That’s the one. He was recently in the Elvis biopic, which is really the only reason why I’m hoping you can just scan our tickets and get us in the dark building.” The short, stocky man nodded a few times, music pumping away loudly in the building. The opening act hadn’t started yet, but they were bound to play any minute. Adults and teenagers of all ages were lined up around the building, chattering excitedly with one another.

“I loved that one line of his. ‘I’m as real as a-’”

“‘ Donut, motherfucker,’” You finished hurriedly for him, laughing nervously. “Yeah, yeah. It was hilarious. What do you say though,” You looked down at his nametag. “Anthony? Can I go ahead and wave him on over? I don’t want him to get out of the uber if you can’t help us though.” The second that people started clamoring out of line to get pictures and autographs was the second that you would both probably be forced to leave. Anthony nodded, grabbing his walkie talkie off of his hip and bringing it up to his mouth.

“I’ve got two VIPs up front that are going to need an escort. Stand by.” You turned your body towards the silver Hyundai, waving animatedly at the car. Austin must have been watching you, because the second you gave him the “okay” signal, he was up and out of the car.

“Thank you.” You heard him say to the driver before closing the door, quickly jogging over to your side. He tucked in close to you, smiling down at Anthony.

For a second the older but shorter man just stared up at Austin. “Holy shit, you weren’t lying.” You let out a nervous laugh, bouncing on the balls of your feet. You thanked god that you were wearing your comfortable heeled boots. You had already been standing outside for nearly thirty minutes. You could hear whispers in the line beside you, and while Austin didn’t dare to turn his head to face anyone, you anxiously did. Sure enough, a group of young girls were staring directly at the both of you.

“Come on you two, I’m going to take you through the side entrance.” He told the both of you, already walking off in the direction of the building.

Austin breathed out a quick thanks before reaching down, taking your hand in his as the two of you began walking through dimly lit doors. The concert venue already smelled of alcohol and women’s perfume. Whether it was the Nevada temperatures or the amount of bodies that were already packed in the room, the building was stiflingly hot, even in the back corridors. You blinked your eyes as you passed by a few black chests, squinting ever so slightly to read the words painted on the side.

“I think this is their stuff.” You leaned in to whisper to Austin, who was quick to whip his head around.

“Holy shit. Are we. . . backstage right now?” He mumbled, though quickly shut his mouth as Anothony turned to face the both of you.

“Did you guys want to get any beverages? Once I put you guys in your spots, there’s really no leaving.” Austin reached into his back pocket and pulled out his card.

“Is there any way that someone could grab us a few beers?” Anthony took Austin’s card from him and waved over another person who was wearing a black “staff” shirt. They whispered something to one another before Anthony quickly shuffled off.

“What if he stole my card?” Austin turned to look at you, smiling widely.

You rolled your eyes, letting out a small scoff. “Oh my god. You’d shit yourself.” The blonde let out a small laugh, rocking back on his own vintage boots.

“The night would definitely go to shit, that’s for sure.” He wrinkled his nose in that adorable way that you loved so much, and you found yourself getting caught up in the moment again. Austin had this wonderful way of making everything feel alright. The world suddenly felt steady beneath your feet. You could breathe in his presence. “Let’s have a good night, alright? We didn’t drive here.”

“Meaning we can get wasted?”

His lips twitched up into a small, naughty smile. The moment felt very personal. Special. You had almost forgotten about his hold on your hand, because you nearly jumped when he gave it a small squeeze. “I think that we both deserve a drink.”

You lost count somewhere after your fourth beer. You weren’t a lightweight, but the last time either of you ate anything was hours ago, so the alcohol went straight to your head. You excitedly raised your beer above your head as the band finished up their third song of the night. Austin laughed at you, but was quick to raise his own beer as well. You couldn’t remember the last time that you felt this comfortable around a guy before. Here you were, in a highly populated area and drunk to boot, feeling more safe than you ever had in your own home with your ex. Austin stood behind you, his free arm wrapped around your shoulders, his forearm pressing against your neck. Maybe he wanted to make sure that you didn’t leave his sight. Or better yet, maybe he just wanted to be as close to you as possible. You were too inebriated to think too far into things. During the opening act, when you were a little bit more perceptive to your surroundings, you had seen a few people taking photos of you and Austin. You were positive that he must have known as well, but he didn’t bat an eye. He stuck close to you, leaning in to whisper jokes, his lips brushing against the shell of your ear. He had even pulled out his own phone, pressing his forehead against the top of your head as he kept the camera pointed at the stage. Every once and a while security would walk over and take the empty beer bottles out of your hands, waltzing off so that they could quickly replace them for you both.

Austin had the top buttons of his shirt undone, so when you turned your cheek further into his embrace, you felt his bare skin against your face. It was hot enough in the building that you both were sweating, your hair sticking to your cheeks and the back of your neck. A few strands of wavy hair currently clung to the skin just below his temples. You were trying your hardest not to stare up at Austin, because the longer you looked, the more beautiful he became. You could feel your hair sticking to his chest as you leaned your head back against him, blinking up at him as the stage lights flashed. Fans began to cheer loudly as Nick O’Malley played the opening notes of the song Arabella. You watched Austin’s smile widen, his eyes twinkling in the bright blue lights. He must have felt your gaze on him, because he looked down at you.

“What?” You couldn’t hear him with how loudly the music was playing, but you could feel his chest vibrating against your cheek as his deep voice sounded. You could see his plush lips form the words.

“I just love you.” You shouted back up at him. Because you did. Really and truly. Austin was one of the best people that you ever had the pleasure of meeting, and you hoped that he felt the same.

You weren’t an idiot though. You saw how he treasured you and your friendship. He had proved how wildly protective he was over you. You saw the way that he was looking at you right now. He didn’t have to say it back, because everything that he had done tonight said it for him. Every gentle brush of his knuckles against the skin of your bare shoulders. Every featherlight kiss on the top of your head. Every sway of his hips as he danced right along with you, matching your goofy energy effortlessly. The smile that he shot back down to you was blinding, and right on cue one of the staff breezed by, reaching out for your empty drinks. Austin grabbed yours out of your unsteady hands, leaning in close to the other man to say something that you didn’t hear. Now that the two of you were no longer nursing your drinks, Austin swung you around, throwing his head back as you let out an excited shriek. You pressed your chest in close to Austin, breathing out a small laugh as Austin pressed his forehead against yours as the two of you swayed back and forth. His large hands were holding tightly to your hips, dragging them against his as you both swayed in place. His knee was in between your legs so that he could be the one in control of your movements. You weren’t sure if you would be able to keep either of you steady if he had let you take the reigns.

The other concert-goers bodies were pressed in tightly to you, but they were all dancing with their own partners, some of them kept their phones out to film the performance and the crowd. In that moment you suddenly remember just who he was and the fact that he was dancing very provocatively with you.

“What if someone takes a video of us?” You pressed your lips against his ear as you spoke. You felt him shiver against you, having to bite your own tongue to keep yourself on your best behavior.

He was shaking his head before you even finished. “Fuck it.”

We deserve it.

You remembered his words from earlier on in the night. You were usually the kind of person that over thought every decision that they ever made. You were anxious by nature, which was why being with someone like Jeremy had only served to worsen your mental health. Dancing with Austin like this in a crowd of people that no doubt knew exactly who he was probably wasn’t a very good idea. Drunk or sober, you probably would have put yourself into this exact same situation. Why? Because this was the most fun that you have had in years. You felt free. Actually free. You were with someone that looked out for you and cared for you, and if he wanted your chest pressed right up against his so that he could feel you better- then damn it. You were going to let him. His long fingers tangled themselves into your hair as he slid his palm up to the base of your neck. You could see your lashes as your eyes became half lidded, and felt the heaviness of the thick mascara you had applied before leaving the room. The glitter that you had applied to the tops of your cheeks and the inner corners of your eyes had rubbed off on Austin. It was on his chin, his own cheeks, and his chest. The stage lights flashed from blue to red as the chorus picked up, the drums pounding in your ears.

As Arabella! Arabella! Just might have tapped into your mind and soul.

You leaned up on your toes so that you could press your forehead against Austin’s, both of your eyes still half lidded and glued to one another’s. “You can’t be sure.” He mouthed the words, his plush lips brushing against yours. Once again your lips were twitching up into a smile, and you reached your own hand up, grabbing a fistful of his wavy locks so that you could press his forehead even harder against yours.

That’s magic in a cheetah print coat. Just a slip underneath it I hope.

The lights flashed again, going from red to a deep purple. The two of you were now fully wrapped up in each other, the both of you covered in your glitter, your bare skin dewing with sweat. You’d never wanted to kiss someone so badly before. Not once in your life. It was painful just standing there, gripping onto one another like your lives depended on it. Neither of you were dancing anymore. You both had stopped your movement the second that Austin’s lips had brushed against yours. You could see the gentle question in the man’s blue eyes. Would it be a mistake? Would this just be a one time thing for the both of us? Would it mean as much to you as it would for me?

Asking if I can have one of those organic cigarettes that she smokes. Wraps her lips round the Mexican Coke.

You were too buzzed to overthink anything anymore. You were sick and tired of being worried about everything. You had a bad habit of overcomplicating things in your head, when in actuality it was really quite simple. You and Austin were far from strangers. You found him attractive, and his actions tonight had you questioning whether or not Ashley really had meant what she had said the other night about him having a thing for you years back. Would it really be a mistake if something really did happen between you? You were both single, and even though you and Jeremy had only been separated for a week, things had gone sour years ago. The tears that you had shed over the situation were those of anger. You were embarrassed about the fact that you had unknowingly allowed yourself to be taken advantage of. You didn’t miss him. If you kissed Austin, it sure as well had nothing to do with Jeremy. So as Austin leaned forward, his blue eyes still locked on yours, you couldn’t help but urge him forward.

Makes you wish that you were the bottle. Takes a sip of your soul and it sounds like-

His lips were softer than you expected, but you blamed it on the fact that you had been kissing your ex’s dusty ass exclusively for far too long. He kissed you tentatively at first, testing out the waters, but as the guitar solo continued to press on, the crowd cheering loudly all around you, the lights flashing behind your closed eyes, his timidness began to dissipate. You clung tightly at his shoulders as your lips moved fluidly against his. It felt like years of pent up attraction was being put into this kiss. It felt heavenly and hellish all at once, and you knew that if you could devour Austin in that moment then you would have. The venue largely smelled of other women’s perfume and beer, but now that you were as close to Austin as you could possibly be, you were able to really smell him again. His signature scent had changed multiple times over the years, as had yours. His natural scent was something that you had never been able to fully describe though. It made everything smell a bit darker- more earthy in a way. The woodsy, amber notes of his current cologne made your head spin.

His rings pulled on a few strands of your hair as he gripped harder onto the base of your neck, pulling you as close as humanly possible. If you thought that it was hard to breathe before, now it was impossible. Austin was crushing you to him, the hand that had tangled itself into your hair gripping hard at your hip. There was a small, nagging voice chattering in the back of your head, trying to tell you that it wasn’t a good idea to be making out in the middle of a crowd of people. You normally would have been worried about whether or not you were making others uncomfortable, but you couldn’t think of anything else outside of Austin. You could feel his fingers digging into your hip, his digits slipping beneath the flowy fabric of your top. The band had only played four songs and you were already more than ready to head back to the hotel. There was raw desperation in the way that Austin was touching you, almost as though he was panicked that at any second this might be taken away from him. That you might be taken away.

His lips were no longer timid against yours, rather demanding and possessive. Whether you knew it or not, he was claiming in that sea of people. Pressing hard enough to bruise and committing your taste to memory. His tongue claimed your mouth, the palm of his hand dragging upwards over your stomach, his fingers grazing over your underboob. He froze, pulling away from your lips to let out a small hiss. You didn’t need to hear every word he said- you felt them against your mouth. Swallowed them as he spoke to you.

“You’re not wearing a bra.” It was less of a question and more of an observation.

You could feel the drums echoing in his chest against yours, and let out a small whimper as his fingers moved upwards another inch, cupping you through your shirt. All someone had to do was look over at the two of you and they would immediately be able to see what was going on. You weren’t about to shy away from Austin because of a few prying eyes.

“No.” You breathed against his lips, swallowing thickly as you felt him groan deep in his chest, giving your breast a small squeeze.

“I’m trying so hard to be good right now.” You pulled away another inch so that you could look up at him.

His cheeks were flushed a pale pink, lips kiss swollen and glossy with the combination of both of your saliva. His eyes? No one had looked at you like that in years, and even if they had, they sure as hell weren’t Austin. His dirty blonde hair, in the yellow stage light, looked golden halo. The damn near biblical beauty that the man possessed was offset by the dark look in his eyes. They were blown out wide, practically black as he looked down at you. His jaw was clenched, and you could tell that every bit of beauty that you were currently finding in his face, that he was currently finding in yours as well.

You weren’t sure how many minutes had passed, but you must have missed a few songs. People were cheering all around you as “R U Mine” echoed over the speakers.

“This ones a classic.” You tried to lighten the mood, swaying your body back and forth ever so slightly.

Your hips dragged against his with the movement, and you could feel just how hard he was for you. You hadn’t even touched him yet, and he was stiff to the point of pain. He let out another groan, letting his head tilt back towards the ceiling as he closed his eyes tightly. His hands were still holding you to him, but you could feel them beginning to shake. His restraint was steadily crumbling.

“Yeah,” He breathed, pressing his hips harder against yours. “Classic.”

You weren’t sure how you were even able to stand anymore. You were suddenly stone cold sober, all of the alcohol burning right out of your system. You felt like you were burning up, suddenly overaware of the warmth pooling in between your legs. Consequences be damned, you wanted to fuck him. You needed to fuck him. You didn’t care about how other people might feel about it, or even how it might make you look.

You were sick and tired of being unhappy. You were sick and tired of being sexually unfulfilled. You were sick and tired of being attracted to Austin and unable to say anything. People often say that “timing is key”. Well. . . now was the right time. You were sure of it. Jeremy, over the years, had somehow convinced you that it was better to be docile. Women that were bold with their sexuality weren’t sexy at all to him, rather just whorish. You felt yourself beginning to hesitate, worried that somehow your brazenness might send him the wrong message. Because you were needy, but that didn’t mean that this didn’t mean something to you. The way that Austin was staring at you though silenced your fears without him having to utter a word. In a sea of beautiful women, he had stared at you all night as though you were the only one that existed. He had tunnel vision, and it had been that way for years. He had been happy for his friend when the two of you started dating, and moved on with Vanessa. But you’d always been on his mind. Whether this was just a one night stand to you, or perhaps a backwards way of getting revenge on Jeremy. . . He couldn’t find it within himself to care. He’d let you use him in whatever way you saw fit, just so long as he could have you. Even just once.

People were pressing in on the two of you as they danced and sang along to the music, and he pressed you in closer to him to make room for the others. Your hands brushed over his chest, slowly making their way down his abdomen to the front of his jeans. He sucked in a breath, eyes widening as he took in your delicious expression. He loved seeing you so confident. You were always gorgeous, no matter what you did, but you were otherworldly in your confidence. If there was enough room to do it, he would have fallen to his knees in front of you. Dressed in all black, your hair slightly limp with sweat, your glitter face catching the light just right. He’d never seen anything so beautiful. His expression pushed you to go further, pressing your palm a bit harder against his length and giving it a few gentle rubs. He twitched in his pants, lurching forward a bit as he let loose a rather loud groan. You two had earned a few stares throughout the night, but thanks to the popular song no one was paying either of you any attention.

“I need to fuck you. Please. Please let me fuck you.”

The uber ride was spent in tense silence, the two of you unable to take your hands off of one another. He never let go of your hand, placing soft kisses against your face as the minutes ticked by and you began to get closer to the hotel. The driver must have realized that now was certainly not the time to make small talk, because the only thing he said to either of you was your name when you opened the car door, just to make sure that you were the right person. You both uttered a quick thank you before climbing out of the car. Austin practically yanked you through the double doors of the hotel, still shaky and slightly sweaty from the concert. The second that he had gotten you into the hotel and pressed the button, the heavy metal doors rattling closed, he had you pressed against the wall. In the blink of an eye you had been pushed back a few steps, his large hands scooping both of your wrists up so that he could press them above your head, rendering you useless. The cool stainless steel bit into your skin as he pressed you harder against it, his jean covered hips pressing against your stomach.

He kissed you like he loved you and hated you all at the same time.

You felt like you were going to explode. Like he was pressing into you so hard that your ribs might give out and break. Honestly you didn’t mind that idea. If you could have absorbed Austin into your body somehow, you would have. He was everywhere. His scent was heavy in your nose, the taste of him on your tongue as he devoured you, and you could feel every inch of his body pressed up against you. Trapping you there against the wall. He kept your wrists gripped in one hand, his free hand running down your body, hastily unbuttoning the front of your tight pants.

“C-Cameras.” You mumbled against his lips, opening your eyes so that you could nervously eyed the corners of the elevator. Sure enough, there was one situated right on the both of you. “The front desk can see us.” Your voice came out hoarse, and as his lips moved to your cheek and down your neck, you couldn’t help but let out a breathy sound. A cross between a sigh and a moan as you tried to keep the noises at bay.

“He can watch.” He mumbled against your skin.

“Holy fuck.” His voice had never sounded so deep in your ears before. You could barely breathe as his hand slipped down the front of your pants, easily slipping past the thin fabric of your underwear. He took a second to feel the fabric between his fingers, and you could feel him smile against your neck. “Lace?” You couldn’t even nod. All words had completely escaped you as well. “Cute.”

And then he was pressing into you, fingers running along your velvety folds. He swallowed thickly, his hold on your wrists becoming so tight that it was slightly painful. You didn’t care. You wanted him to hurt you. Any sensation was a good sensation at this point. He must have felt how wet you were already for him. Now he knew that kissing him at that concert had practically killed you. “So soft.” He spoke gently to you, but his deep voice cracked. He was trying to stay soft with you, but now that the dam had finally broken, it was hard to keep himself in check. There were years of pent up sexual tension finally bubbling to the surface.

His lips continued to press against your neck, his teeth nipping at your skin every once in a while. You were sure that there would be marks tomorrow morning. Either he wasn’t thinking about the dark hickeys that he was leaving or he just didn’t care. You would take whatever he gave you. You wanted it all. His finger pressed against that small bundle of nerves, causing your hips to jerk forward in surprise. He let out a small hiss, removing his lips from your neck so that he could run his nose gently up the expanse of your throat, straightening out to his full height so that his smoldering eyes could bore into you.

“Be good for me, okay? I need you to stand as still as possible.”

You nodded quickly, the elevator floors flashing on the digital screen behind Austin. You didn’t even remember pressing your floor number. You could be headed to the roof for all you knew. He leaned back down, pressing his face into your neck once again so that he could get better leverage. The height difference, in this case, was beginning to get annoying. His fingers gathered up your slick before pressing against your entrance. He didn’t ask for permission or warn you, rather he just slipped them inside of you without any hesitation. It felt good to be full- though you still weren’t as full as you would have liked to be. Having something inside of you was still enough to have your head lolling back against the elevator wall, your eyes screwing shut tightly as you tried to keep your hips as still as possible.

“That’s my good baby.” My.

You wanted to scream. His fingers curled slightly inside of you, his thumb pressing against your clit as he began to successfully work you up into a frenzy. You were already worked up to the point that you could feel yourself immediately building up, your abdomen tightening with every thrust of his fingers and every brush of his thumb. That combined with his teeth and tongue constantly teasing the skin of your throat- it was more than enough. When was the last time that anyone had actually made you cum? It was sad, really. You always went out of your way to pleasure your ex and never got anything in return. Austin was taking his time with you though, almost like his own pleasure was an afterthought. He wanted to possess you first. He wanted to work you up until you couldn’t think about anything else other than fucking him.

The elevator chimed, the doors rattling open. You let out a whimper when he slowly slipped his fingers out of you, watching as he smiled that slow, sly smile of his. Much to your relief there was no one in the hall, so when he let your sore wrists go you practically stumbled through the hall, trying desperately to find your room. Austin’s large hand found your wrist again, pulling you in the right direction. You tried to keep up with him and his long legs, your own feeling unsteady beneath you.

“W-Where’s the keycard?” He seemed so put together and in control in the elevator, but his stutter told you everything that you needed to know. He was just as wrecked as you were. Barely able to hold it together. He reached into your back pocket before you could tell him, his hands sliding over your rear. He “tsked” softly when he found what he was looking for, quickly sliding it into the handle and yanking it open wide. You winced as the knob slammed against the door, but you were past worrying about any noise complaints or the possibility that you might have neighbors. Austin was slipping his shirt off of his shoulders before the door was even fully closed, kicking off his boots as quickly as he could before descending upon you. His hands gripped at your hips, pressed the fabric of your pants down and off of your legs. He took a second to pull back so that he could admire your panties.

“Just like I thought. Cute.” You squirmed under his heated gaze, moving your hands to your shirt so that you could remove that too. He brushed your hands away though, wanting to do it for you.

There was a possibility that this might be the first and last time that he got to do this, and he wanted to be able to fully enjoy the moment. He let his eyes explore every inch of your skin, his fingers dancing along the soft skin of your back, moving to cup your breasts in his hands. You felt impatient, but you didn’t complain. You allowed him to admire you. Seeing the way that he looked at you reminded you that you were worthy of love. You hadn’t felt beautiful in a while, but seeing Austin panting over your body put it into perspective for you. You were never the problem. It was him.

“I want you to keep your feet planted on the ground, but turn around and face the bed.” Austin was unzipping his jeans after what felt like an eternity of gentle touches and heady exploration.

You were quick to do as he said, but grunted when he gently pushed you forward. You planted your forearms on the bed, keeping your back arched, your ass in the air. He sucked in a breath, his belt jingling as he kicked the pants off. He must have liked the panties more than he was letting on, because he merely slipped them to the side, taking a good look at your warmth.

“Fuck, so pretty.” You believed him.

He slid his hand over his length, giving it a few good pumps before he froze. “I don’t have a condom.” He mumbled out, defeat edging its way into his voice.

“I’m on birth control.” It was irresponsible, you knew that. Saying something like that was so unlike you, but you truly felt like you would regret it for the rest of your life if you didn’t fuck him tonight.

“I’m willing to risk it if you are.” He seemed to be in the same boat.

You quickly nodded, gripping the duvet covers tightly between your fingers as you felt the head of his member press against you. “Please. Please just fuck me.” You didn’t need him to try and warm you up- to gently slip in so that it wouldn’t be a painful fit. You needed him inside of you. He didn’t say a word, rather he let out a loud moan at your panicked insistence and pressed his hips forward. At this angle it felt like he was in your stomach. Pain and pleasure melted together, a loud moan leaving your own mouth as you let your forehead press against the soft mattress. The pace that he immediately set had you gripping for dear life onto the blankets, the nicely made bed a mess in seconds. Austin kept one hand planted on the small of your back, the other one gripping hard at your thigh. You could feel the weight of his stare on your ass, and you somehow managed you twist your torso so that you could watch him. Seeing the expression on his face was enough to have you letting loose another moan. He was gorgeous, his sharp jawline twitching as he clenched and unclenched his teeth. His blue eyes were fully focused on you, eating up every jiggle of soft supple skin. You watched him pump in and out of you, reaching a hand back so that you could feel the assault. Your fingers ran along his length, slick from your own heat and his precum.

“Fuck.” He cursed again, his eyes flickering to your face. He removed his hand from your back, reaching out for you, leaning over your body so that he could grab your neck. He pulled you until your back was against his chest, still pistoning in and out of you. The hand that was on your thigh repositioned itself so that he could lift your leg, making it easier for him to fuck you at the same startling pace. He was using the height difference to his advantage.

He squeezed down on your neck, his wet lips pressing against your cheek, the corner of your lips- anywhere he could reach. You were close. He had edged you enough in the elevator, and the angle was enough to have you gasping for air. “Not yet.” He must have felt your fluttering walls and known what was about to happen. You weren’t sure how long you could push off your climax. You shook your head quickly, your lips parted, eyes squeezing shut. He quickened his pace, his hips snapping into you. You could feel his moans rumbling in his chest, his breathy pants hot in your ear.

“Gonnacumgonnacumgonnacum-” You were past the point of being able to form coherent sentences.

“I wanna cum with you. I’m close.” There was something so endearingly intimate about the way that he said it.

“Where do you want it? Tell me quick.” He breathed out. And maybe your decision made you stupid. Maybe Austin had fucked all of the common sense right out of your body, but your answer was immediate.

“Please for the love of god cum inside of me.” His grip on your throat tightened, and he breathed your name against the top of your head. “Fill me up. Please-”

“Oh fuck, I’m going to pump you full.” He spoke through clenched teeth.

Without any warning the hand that was on your throat moved down, his palm pressing against your abdomen as he worked your clit. The stimulation along with the brutal way he was fucking you was enough to push you over the edge. You didn’t have time to silence yourself. Didn’t have time to try and be courteous to anyone else. Your moans turned to screams, your eyes closing tightly as he continued to pound into you. You felt him twitch inside of you, his hold on your thigh tightening to the point where you were sure to have a palm sized bruise there tomorrow. His warmth spilled inside of you, his heavy pants dissolving into moans. It was a string of curses, followed by your name. He took extra care with shaping each syllable of your name. He wanted you to know without really having to actually say it.

Please don’t let this be a one time thing. Please- god.

You woke up to the sound of your alarm clock, your hand blindly reaching for the bedside table so that you could press the snooze button. Austin grumbled at your side, his hold on your waist tightening. He had held you all throughout the night. He had been insistent on it, following you closely even when you moved in your sleep. You were scared that he might regret having sex with you in the light of day, but judging on the way he nuzzled his cheek against your bare skin, he didn’t regret a thing. You smiled lazily, reaching down to detach one of his arms from your stomach so that you could bring it up to your face, giving it a warm kiss. He sighed contentedly into your hair, returning the sweet sentiment by giving the back of your head a kiss.

You were quick to check your phone notifications, wanting to make sure that your ex hadn’t found some way to harass you throughout the night. Thankfully you saw nothing from him- but a hundred messages from other people. Co-workers, friends- even family members had texted you. Ashley’s contact was the first one that you clicked on though- per usual. Your best friend had barraged you with texts throughout the night. Asking you how the ride up there was. Then asking you about the show. Somewhere around the twelve o’clock mark she had sent you a screenshot from instagram. From the person’s profile picture it looked like a regular girl- but right there, in the crowd, was you and Austin.

You were quick to scroll down, clicking on one of the many links that she had sent you.

“Austin Butler caught in a heavy makeout sesh with a mystery girl at the Las Vegas Artic Monkeys show.” “Who is Austin Butler’s mystery girlfriend? Read more to find out.” “Austin Butler caught locking lips with talented photographer friend.” And sure enough, people had been able to find you. Your instagram had been leaked, internet detectives able to find you within the timespan of less than twelve hours. You had old pictures of you and Austin posted from years ago, and so of course news outlets had uploaded those.

“Um. . . Austin?” He grunted, and you were quick to try and detangle yourself from his arms. “L-Look at this.” You were quick to push the phone into his face. He tried to blink the sleep from his eyes, focusing on the words. “Oh.”

“Oh?”

“They called you talented. That’s nice.” “Good God, why are you like this?”

thank you for the emotional support, you sweet sluts: @powerofelvis @ggwritesstuff @woundmetender @eliseinmemphis @polksalademma @sournatromanoff @flwrs4aust @headfullofpresley @cryingabtab @austinbutlersbaby @lindszeppelin @rosaminny

@knoxvillesshoes@cosmorant@ol1viam@simply-sams-things@haim80s@gabbcabb@8hgel@slutt4him@busy-bee-angel-misska@kaitaesupremacy@dazedshoon @4rt3m1ss@cryingabtab@kittenlittle24@austinsrealgf@austinbutlersgirlfriend@clearbolts @dark-as-love@anni-secret-account-75@ab4eva@starcatchxr @julietamidala @obbsessivereader@gwuide@blurredcolour@the-little-red-haired-girl@meladollsims@poppet05@shrekstheloml@randomwriter888@idc123sworld@vane28282@mirandastuckinthe80s@girlblogger2002@rockerchick05@screechingstrawberrysong@simpforevery1@girlabirla@dre6ming@obetrolncocktails@fairyjanes@jensenswinchester@lo-bells @in-my-body-bag@fxntxsix@petrparkrslut@eliseinmemphis @lelifesaver @screaching-cookie@fantuhsise@areuirish @bcofl0ve@mslizziesblog@shynovelist@ssstrangersblog @harrysthecraic@hangmanswhore@jyvnho@mymamalife @melodydior

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