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#and a lot of them are at least made to seem like they’re an active participant
elementroar · 1 day
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So I have been thinking about why Slayer seems pretty invested in what happens with A.B.A and Paracelsus as a couple, and I think it's because he and Sharon actually share a lot of similarities with A.B.A and Paracelsus.
They’re consistently depicted as ‘couples’. A.B.A and Paracelsus as an actual in game battle couple, while Sharon is on the sidelines but is very much present with Slayer prefight, post-fight etc.
Slayer as a Nightwalker also hungers and gains power from blood similar to Paracelsus, tho whether he NEEDS blood to survive I’m unsure (I think Nago survived hibernation without drinking blood so that would be similar to Para who survived 20 years not drinking blood).
Slayer has been able to satiate his own hunger without hurting/killing other people because Sharon is deathless and is a willing endless supply of blood for him. Paracelsus was provided blood by A.B.A tho not directly her own blood (usually), but also, it’s implied her being a homunculus made her tough enough to survive longer than usual as Paracelsus’ wielder. Paracelsus got over his desire of blood by choice though, whereas Slayer simply has an easy endless source of it.
Because of the above point, Slayer is actually really friendly to everyone and peace-loving despite his overwhelming power. He was disappointed with young Paracelsus who he felt was a bore and waste of time for being focused on killing and violence. Afterwards, Paracelsus would recognize that Slayer only wants peace when they next meet while Slayer realized he was already suppressing his power. By STRIVE, Paracelsus has adopted a philosophy close to pacifism as he never actively wants to fight or transform anymore.
Slayer has been alive for a very long time (longer than most of the cast if not all of them, even That Man) and Sharon cannot die, so they are eternal lovers. Similarly, A.B.A has said her and Paracelsus’ “love is eternal”. As Para is a magical foci and A.B.A is likely to be immortal or at least extremely long lived, this may also be their fate where they cannot die naturally. Bit iffy on A.B.A since her hair is actually growing, but whether she ages at all is another thing.
And Slayer can be possessive of Sharon in almost the same exact scenarios and in the same ways as A.B.A:
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Getting jealous of himself, getting jealous of other people eyeing Sharon, and believing in obsession being a form of love, which explains SO MUCH about why he was so helpful with helping A.B.A contact the right people to put Paracelsus in a body.
He's coming up in the next DLC (as long as ArcSys doesn't fake out everyone with the silhouette again) so I really hope we get him commenting on A.B.A and Paracelsus' progress, since that was what he was interested in 20 IRL years ago.
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goth-goro · 2 years
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thinking about how you find confidants wherever they hang out regularly, but most of them they’re doing something on their own wherever you find them. yusuke likes people watching, ann is going shopping, ryuji waits for the crowds at school to die off so he can work out. but akechi… he’s waiting for akira to come by. play a round of darts or billiards with him. challenge him. of course, they’re both games that can be played alone, of course that’s what goro ends up doing when akira doesn’t show. But he still waits outside. he’s not playing a round of darts already, like how kurusu always finds haru hunched in front of a garden box, or makoto keeping an eye on the students she’s supposed to represent. goro is always, always standing, stiff and silent, incompatable with the rest of kichijoji as it bustles by, waiting for akira to invite him inside. he doesn’t know when he started waiting a while before going in alone. he’s not sure if it would even help him learn why.
of course, when he starts to feel a faint disappointment rise in his throat once it’s clear that joker made other plans, goro reminds himself that he was only being courteous by waiting. just in case his rival was tempted by a test of wits and reflexes tonight. goro planned to play a round of billiards alone, that’s how it always has been, so why would he even wait for akira to show up?
(he ignores the voice in the back of his head that hopes akira is just as disappointed when he shows up to penguin sniper and akechi isn’t there) (akira is, absolutely, just as disappointed.)
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flokali · 2 months
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— Concept: Student Yandere and Professor Darling
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Warning: GN! Reader, blackmail, n/on-con, d/ub-con, age gap, student-teacher relationship, push-over reader, unfair ending, n/oncon recording, uhh ask to tag!
A/N: just a concept that plagued me for a while... hhhhhhh;; i'm so normal ab this
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Any dynamics that involve an authority figure and a subordinate, no matter how innocent they may initially seem, are doomed from the start for either or both of the parties involved. 
There’s an underlying power imbalance, someone holds the authority over the other, there is no nice way to put it, unfortunately. 
Most of the time, in fics, I see a lot of Yan professors creeping on their students, but the thought of a student Yan harassing their beloved professor has been plaguing my mind. 
I see the relationship as one that starts sweetly, you’ve noticed a certain student in your course that’s been falling behind, making mistakes that should have long been addressed, their work is always late or partially done and you’re growing slightly annoyed at them for wasting your time and misusing theirs as well, you’d offered them private tutoring when you found out it seemed to be only your course where they were turning in these less than acceptable projects. 
They reject, seemingly embarrassed that you’d even offered such a proposal. You try to calm their nerves down, you’re pretty young yourself, you only graduated a few years ago and you won’t charge them, it won't be a daily thing but they can pop in every once in a while at your office so you can review and work on assignments and such. The hesitant look on their face seems to slowly be melting off.
You continue insisting, you lay out the facts as they are; they’re a brilliant student who has been passing all other courses and extracurricular activities with flying colors, so why is that your course has become such a challenge to them? You’be seen them work and the way they behave during class, you’ve even noticed how some students go to them to try and clear up any questions and study together with them, rumors about them being easily one of the college’s star students were always going around, so it’s either that they’re making shit up and lying to their peers, which you doubt since you’ve seen their works before and after reaching out to them, or they were purposefully trying to fail your class, maybe they thought it’d be easier and decided to try it and decided from the get go not do their best – after all, it wasn’t as if all of the work they’ve handed is bad, there’s some clear understanding of what they’re doing, it’s just that they seem insistent on missing something, even if it means inconsistencies in their resume of work, the assignments that made up less percentage of the overall grade were done well enough but anything that was important was clearly half-assed. You explain your concern; you’re genuinely worried your class might hold them back from graduating with their peers, if things kept going on like this, they’d fail your class and if they did, they’d have to repeat the semester and risk graduating a year or so later.
It’s then that they pull out a card they’d been holding on to dearly for a situation such as this, a perfectly curated story meant to pull at your heartstrings and lead you into their honey sweet trap;
They start going on about a sob story about their parents’ jobs, how they were struggling financially for a while since their parents cut them partially off for choosing a college out of their town, and how they’re supposed to provide for themselves for things such as food and bills, about how their schedule is always so busy trying to balance college, their friendships, mending their relationship with their parents, and their job on top of all studying they’ve been doing, how your class had unfortunately been the least of their concerns and that they’re immensely sorry to have worried you and that they are willing to do anything to make up for their past grades. 
You can empathize with such a dilemma, being fresh out of college yourself, the memories of balancing relationships, work, and academics are still freshly etched into your mind. 
They clearly seem burned out and your heart aches seeing a student as promising as themselves dim down so drastically. You’d hate to be one class that impedes them from graduating on time, you don't want to be the lone profesor responsible for slowing down such a valuable asset to society.
You sit them down and try to offer them some advice, you were in a similar situation when you were in college yourself, you try to explain the ways you managed to survive and bypass college, going into detail about your own problems and how you were able to live through it all. They seem visibly more relaxed during the conversation, nodding along and explaining their own feelings and hardships, you both manage to sympathize with each other and come to an arrangement.
It’s completely under the table since you are worried what it might look like, but from now on until the end of this semester you’d use a more relaxed, less strict grading system for them, after all, they did have a legitimate reason for their behavior and they were willing to make up for it. That is, under the condition that they start taking tutoring classes from either yourself or a fellow classmate, they weren’t able to balance the studying schedule necessary so you’d try and manage at least one aspect of it for them to try and make their life a little bit easier.
They agree gladly, but not before asking if you could be the tutor, when you’d questioned their request they explain themselves, seemingly embarrassed for their own reasoning;
“I don’t want it to get out that I’m failing your class, professor…” The smile they wear seems genuine and shy and you nod in understanding, college students are only older teenagers, after all, most of them are still stuck in their high school mentality and you wouldn’t put it past a bunch of immature little shits to try and mess with someone who was struggling.
What you don’t know is that they’ve been planning for something like this to happen from the get go, always going out of their way to purposefully present themselves as a stupid, pathetic and incompetent student that would need their hot professor’s (your) help to pass the course.
During your first couple of sessions they work extra hard to make themselves seem as ditzy and clueless as possible, making as many mistakes and errors as humanly reasonable without getting you too annoyed at them. They even begin to dress in slightly more provocative ways, their speech seems more flirtatious, their touches linger on your shoulders for longer than necessary, but you brush it off, trying to ignore the signs, and think of it as a silly crush, opting to try to focus on helping them get through this semester with either a decent or average grade.
Their grades are getting better but with the current pace, you were afraid it wouldn’t be enough.
So, you ignore the uncomfortable, sinking feeling in your gut and suggest making your tutoring sessions more frequent - instead of once a week maybe twice or thrice if it was really necessary.
You didn’t expect them to suggest going to your place. Originally, you’d suggested either the library or a cafe, but they said they felt too embarrassed and self-conscious at the idea of their peers watching him, they claimed they’d probably make fun of them for needing help for a course they’d been taking for almost a whole semester at that point.
They insist on your place, but you reject the idea, they say it’s either there or at their place because elsewhere you both risk either staff or some of the student body seeing you both together and getting the wrong idea. The conversation goes on for hours until you’re exhausted and give in. 
They are a good person, right? Even if the thought of a student knowing where you lived made you uncomfortable, it wasn’t like they’d do anything about it… right?
You try to limit the study space to your living room, the bathroom, and the kitchen every once in a while if you notice the snacks you had brought weren’t enough, but never further than that. Your bedroom and office were completely off limits, you’d made it explicitly clear that if you caught them wandering far you’d have no choice but to kick them out and stop the tutoring, possibly even having to call the campus’ authorities if you felt they were getting too out of line – your reputation be damned. 
They also were only allowed to come over during the weekends and on specific weekdays where no one would be able to catch him entering your apartment.
They agree and promise to follow every single one of the rules you’d put in place.
But it doesn’t take long for them to start going back on their word and start “exploring” your living space, it started small – simply walking around your living room, examining framed pictures, looking over books, memorizing the placement of your trinkets and decor, making a mental note of the colors you used in the space, they make sure to remember to try and look up where you got your cushions and everything as well, they start looking into you fridge and pantry to make see what you eat, if there’s any indication of a possible food allergy; it’s all investigative work for your future together. It’s not too long before they’ve memorized your living room and are drawn to the rest of your house. They've gone to your bedroom and studied the space, taking note of the way you made your bed and how many pillows you have, they also have made a list of products you use and like, such as scents and soaps, to make sure your transition to their place is as smooth as possible. Soon, they could very well draw a floor plan of your place and recreate your home in the most basic of softwares. 
The only reason you haven’t caught up to them is because they’ve taken to spiking your drinks with sleep medication, strong enough dosages that you’ll be knocked out for a while, but not enough that you’ll realize you were drugged.
It’s during your sleeping state that the next part of their plan starts to take action. They’ll purposefully plant evidence in your home of their presence and snap pictures, suddenly their underwear is in your laundry basket, and why are you wearing their hoodies to sleep, huh? They’re meticulously planned and staged pictures that make it look like you were engaging in a romantic relationship, but it’s not enough — they need more, something more extreme. More incriminating, something that would absolutely destroy your career and reputation if it came out.
What about a picture of them going down on you? Or one with their cum all over your face? Your naked figure cuddling up to their bare chest? Some makeup to look like hickies could look realistic in pictures too, you know. Maybe them on top of you… or you on top of them? Or one where your lips are sucking their fingers like a —! Ah, the thought has them blushing! All of these photos are like their dreams come true! You look like such a perfect spouse, taking their love~ They make sure to clean up the space, but they’re growing bolder and more confident in their work.
They even have videos of themselves jacking off on top of you, but they’re always so good at making it seem like you’re awake and participating in these activities! It really does look like you’re helping them get off with your own mouth.
You’re such a naughty professor seducing your innocent, sweet student like that!
It’s sick, they’re sick and they know it fully well but they don’t care, as long as they don’t get caught – there’s no way in hell they’ll stop.
Their grades begin improving and there’s no longer any fear of them failing your class, in fact you’d go as far to say they’ve easily become one of your best students in terms of grades. Things seem to be looking up and you’re pretty proud of yourself for having had a positive impact on them, which is why you come to the conclusion they won’t be needing your tutoring anymore. 
You call them over to your office after classes, making sure to be as nice as possible. At first you were annoyed and put off by them, their initial behavior was unsettling and persistent, but after a couple of months of getting to know them you’ve grown to care for them and genuinely wish them the best, you’d pointed out how teaching them had been a joy and you’d always end the sessions feeling better than before, which is why you’d chosen to end the tutoring. You lay out the facts as they are, their grades have improved and there’s no longer any threat of them failing your class, you’d also be risking people misunderstanding the situation if it went any longer, if word came out you’d been using a different rubric to grade them until recently and that they’d been going over to your place, it would simply look bad for both of you. You’d risk getting sanctioned, possibly even losing your job if things were taken in the wrong way, and they could repeat the semester or even have their work in your class be null and having to take a new course entirely, if not even being kicked out.
There’s a minute of silence between the two of you, the air is thick and you wonder if you should have been softer in your delivery as you watch them process your words.
It takes them a while, you decide to give them the time because you have indeed noticed how they’d seem to grow ever so attached to you and they might take this a bit too personally, but you’re soon starting to grow increasingly uncomfortable as the silence continues.
You’re about to say something again, try to soften the blow with some generic encouragement about how they’ll do well regardless of you being their tutor or not, when you hear them chuckle softly under their breath.
You’re taken aback, your eyes widen in surprise and you unconsciously lean back into your chair, but that seems to have further encouraged their laughter as soon they’re covering their face with the back of their hand as they double over in laughter.
It’s strange but you decide to give them a few seconds to regain their composure, maybe this was a nervous habit? You’d heard of people who’d laugh when anxious, but you’d never seen something so theatrical.
They slowly sit back up, wiping tears from their eyes as a few chuckles escape their smiling lips. They haven’t fully calmed down but seem to be making an effort to continue the conversation nonetheless.
“Ah, professor,” your last name tumbles from their lips in a joyous manner but their eyes look icy as they stare at you, their voice feels more aggressive even if the words came out from a smile, “don’t be so ridiculous, I think things are working pretty well as they are, I have no desire to change our… relationship.” 
You’re taken by surprise, their word choice feels odd and purposeful, but you insist regardless.
“There is no relationship between us,” you state, “I am your professor, do you understand? That means that if I say your tutoring is over, it’s over; I have been going easy on you and helping you out but do not misinterpret my intentions, you are my student and that’s where our acquaintanceship ends. If you think you’ll continue needing help, I’m certain our TA will be more than glad to step up and help you out.”  
They smile as they take their phone out of their pocket and your stomach drops for a second, wondering what on earth they could have there. They slide it towards you after unlocking it, they’re carefree in their handling of the device and your nerves start to rise, a gut wrenching feeling settles in your stomach, you don’t really understand what you’re seeing at first but once you do you feel your blood run cold.
You don’t even realize they’ve walked behind your chair, too focused on the picture of your naked body cuddling up to their equally nude form. They’re smiling, tenderly caressing your bare shoulders, embracing your body in such a loving manner it looked like you were lovers. When… When did they take this? 
Your voice is shaking but they don’t answer you, instead opting to crouch beside you and show you the hundreds of incriminating pictures themselves.
They start telling you a story based on the pictures, the one they seemed to be telling you even if you knew that everything they depicted was fake, about a promiscuous professor that seduced their student, coaxed them into a relationship and took advantage of their position to influence the student into falling in love with them.
You want to tell them it won’t work, threaten to call the dean or the campus police, but they quickly clear out any confusion; “Would anyone believe a student would seduce a teacher and that it’s not the other way around?”
You know exactly what they mean; you’re the professor, you hold the authority. You had never been able to put a stop to it because you had no idea what they were doing but that didn’t matter, it was your word against theirs and they had “evidence”.
They seem proud of themselves too, telling you about all the ways they set up the rooms and photos to make sure they looked as real as possible. They’d taken their clothes and belongings over to your place in secret, made sure to apply makeup in the right places with the correct lighting, it seriously felt like an art they’d perfected.
You ask them what they could possibly want, clearly it couldn’t be only your tutoring if they were going this far. They smile and tell you they simply want a relationship with you, one that goes beyond a professor and a student; from that day onwards they wanted to be your lover.
You want to say no, but they remind you of the position you’re in; “You know, I’ve got these backed up in a bunch of places, it’d be a shame if one leaked, right, professor?” 
You feel numb as they lock the door of your office and guide you on top of your desk, you barely even register them going down on you - stripping you naked and giving you oral. From that day onward, you were a prisoner to your own student.
Everyday, they’d act like any other person taking your classes, going to college, making friends, as if when your work day ended they didn’t torment you under the guise of love. Making themselves into your lover without your consent, as if you weren’t their professor, as if they weren’t your student. They celebrate your birthday and make you celebrate theirs, you go on dates outside of town so as to not be caught, there are times you almost forget the perverse nature of your relationship - but it always comes back to haunt you. They always come back to haunt you.
They make sure not to show any of the images to anyone for as long as they’re going to the college. They need to keep an eye on you, make sure your looks and personality don’t charm any other student - they’d hate to get rid of their classmates due to your unknowing seduction. They’re so good at acting like they weren’t bending you over your kitchen counter the minute they followed you home, you’d almost believe they were only your innocent, well meaning student if they didn’t send you videos of you two fucking as extra-curriculum activities.   
They also take your courses religiously to make sure to always be in contact with you; you could never escape them, they’ll follow you home and come inside even if you try to shut the door behind you. Whenever you tried changing the lock they'd find a way to break in anyway, on campus they’d sneakily follow you everywhere and harass you. Those who notice, the few that do, think of it as cute, an innocent puppy crush that would fade by next semester. 
It’s not until they gets their diploma three years later that they releases a drive full of the videos and pictures, making sure to add dates and location, everything to prove you were fucking a student. You were a whore of a professor seducing their students.
You’re fired immediately and it’s not long until your friends and family cut contact with you for seducing a poor college student and using your power over them as leverage. Nobody wants to hire you, they’d make sure to document every single dirty detail of your relationship so as to ruin your reputation until you’d be forced to turn to the only person who didn’t turn their back on you.
You can only walk into their open arms as they suggest finally moving in together, possibly getting married, and maybe even having a couple of children now that they have graduated and received their degree.
But even through it all, they still have the audacity to call you their beloved “professor”. 
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Characters: Lisa (GI), Scaramouche (GI), Al-Haitham (GI), Kaeya (GI), Ayato (GI), Jing Yuan (HSR), Luocha (HSR), Aventurine (HSR), Vyn (TOT), Rafayel (L&DS), Ibara (ENSTARS), Eichi (ENSTARS), Yuzuru (ENSTARS), Cater (TWST), Rook (TWST), Kylar (DOL), Whitney (DOL), literally anyone you want really (TT)
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yanderecrazysie · 3 months
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Twisted Zoo: Chapter One
This is based on the stories of a keeper reader with the octotrio by @ashensgrotto and @merakiui .
Also @twistedcece @ursinaw  @thisisafish123 and @cenatour wanted to be tagged! Let me know if anyone else wants to be tagged for future chapters. If you no longer want to be tagged, please tell me!
Summary: You’re a brand new zookeeper at The Halfling Zoo- a place where half-animals live in captivity. Your job is simple- feed them and study them. Your main worry is that one of the more dangerous halflings might kill you. 
Unfortunately, that may become the least of your worries.
WARNINGS: none for now
Note: All characters are aged up, since there will be mature themes in future parts.
Also, I can’t promise I’ll finish this. I suck at finishing stories.
Thank you for everyone on Tumblr and Quotev for guessing! A lot of you have gotten ones right but there no one's gotten all of Heartslaybul (which makes me worry I did badly there)
Now, onto the Hyenas, Lions, and Wolves!
Prologue here
Next chapter here
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Since the wolves were right across from the lions and hyenas, you would be expected to divide your time equally between the two for your first official day at The Halfling Zoo. That was a pain, since all three of those species were more active at night. 
“You’ll be doing today’s morning feedings, right?” a woman in the zoo’s uniform asked you.
“Yes, for the lions, hyenas, and wolves,” you replied cheerfully.
The woman gave a sigh of relief, “Thank goodness- the lions always look like they’re about to kill you if you make the wrong move. Good luck!”
You stared blankly at her retreating figure. You really wish she hadn’t said that, because now you were absolutely terrified to step foot in that enclosure. Mr. Crowley had said to you yesterday, among all the other welcoming ramblings, that you had to go into each exhibit and give the food directly to the halflings, as opposed to leaving the food near the door and waiting for them to come and grab it.
After the zoo keeper’s “encouraging” words, you decided to give food to the hyenas first.
The hyena halflings were easy to spot- the group of seven or so male halflings sat in a group, talking and laughing loudly. There was one boy in the center of the crowd, waving his hands emphatically as he conversed with his peers.
As soon as you approached the hyena halflings, the mood immediately shifted. The halflings took several steps back, the conversation ceasing at once, all of them staring at you through weary, distrustful eyes.
That’s right- male hyenas are submissive toward females since they are usually aggressive and stronger.
“It’s alright!” you tried to speak as soothingly as possible, putting down the bucket of steaks so you could raise your palms in a non-threatening manner. They watched you carefully, still distrustful.
Finally, the boy from the center of the crowd put his hands behind his head and strolled up nonchalantly, grabbing a steak from the bucket. Although he acted like it was no big deal, you didn’t miss the way he eyed you with a fearful gaze and skirted around you as though you might explode at any moment. 
The other hyena halflings caught on and, walking around you with extreme caution, they managed to fish their meals out of the bucket. The hyena from before came back for a second steak and, not long after, for a third. 
“What’s your name?” you asked him as he fished around for the best steak left in the bucket.
He stopped searching and turned his gaze on you once more. He seemed to size you up for a moment before saying something softly. “What was that?” you asked.
“Ruggie,” he said softly, his ears turning inwards and an annoyed pout making its way to his face.
“I like that name!” you said cheerily. Ruggie eyed you dubiously and finally pulled a steak from the bucket, racing back to the other hyenas. On his way, he looked over his shoulder at you, his gaze uncertain.
You felt like you had made progress.
Now it was time to feed the lions, and the thought made your feet feel like lead. You were not looking forward to a lion halfling murdering you over a steak. 
A part of you wondered if some of the halflings really did prefer this life- or at least, the food. You had learned in class that halflings preferred to eat human food, although they could stomach their animal counterpart’s diet. Halflings, no doubt, preferred these still-warm cooked steaks over raw meat.
You picked up the bucket of steaks and began your journey across the faux savannah. It really was hot in the exhibit and the heavy bucket seemed to weigh you down considerably. Sweat beaded on your forehead and you found it even harder to push yourself across the distance to the lions.
When you finally arrived in front of them, you could feel yourself trembling in fear. In a shaky voice, you called out, “Who wants steaks?”
All of the lions’ eyes turned immediately to the lion halfling lounging across the rock above them. Ah, I get it. They won’t eat until he eats.
Slowly you approached him. You weren’t sure if he was awake until one green eye cracked open and lazily regarded you. You gulped and reached into the bucket, closing your hands around a steak and holding it out to him. He remained lying there, but his eye closed once more.
You began to set the steak next to him when blinding pain shot up your arm, causing you to promptly drop it on the rock. You looked down and saw that the back of your hand was bleeding from four long streaks. The king of the lions was now sitting up, glaring at you, blood dripping from the claws of his right hand.
“How dare you approach me so casually?” he snarled.
You weren’t sure what to do, so you sank into a bow, and murmured, “I’m so sorry.”
The lion gazed down at you, a mixture of surprise and amusement in his eyes. He laid back down, closing his eyes, “Whatever. The rest of you can eat.”
Lions rushed forward, clamoring around the bucket to get the best steaks. The lion on the rock did not reach for his own steak, choosing instead to go back to sleep. You were sorry you disturbed him, and not only because you were now nursing a heavily bleeding hand. The wound was surprisingly deep and you hoped that they had a first aid kit in the office.
A very small lion cub halfling with red hair bounced up to you. Your heart instantly melted at the sight of such an adorable little thing grabbing a steak and smiling up at you. So cute!
“Uncle Leona! Uncle Leona! Are you going to eat your steak or can I have it?” the little halfling asked the lion on the rock.
The lion- Leona, you guessed- glared down at the cub and snatched the steak out of the his reach with a warning growl. While the guttural sound was enough to make you shake in your boots, the cub merely giggled and took a bite of his own steak.
The bucket was empty by the time every lion had taken one. They were big steaks, but you weren’t sure it would be enough to keep them full. You headed back to the keeper’s door with sweat rolling down your cheeks. The heat and dryness may be perfect for the lions and hyenas, but you could barely stand it.
As soon as you were back in the keeper area, you made a beeline for the water cooler. You poured yourself a cup and downed it in a couple seconds. Panting, you filled your cup a second time. You sipped the water a little slower this time, feeling its cooling effects soothe you.
You headed for the nearest first aid kit, conveniently hanging on the wall near the exhibit’s exit. You had a feeling you weren’t the first to need it. You took some bandages from the case and wrapped them around your hand, hissing a little at the pain the pressure caused.
You were ready to face the wolves now. And, as you made your way into their enclosure, you noted with relief that the warm was crisp and cool- the exact opposite of the previous enclosure.
Goosebumps rose on your skin, but you knew that, by the time you had made the trip with the heavy steaks, you’d probably be sweating again. Sure enough, the labor took its toll on your body, your arm aching as you switched the bucket to your other hand.
Deep in the forest now, you could sense eyes on you. Relieved that you had finally found the wolves, you collapsed to the ground. Unprofessional, maybe, but greatly needed. You sat on the soft grass as the wolf halflings began to approach you.
A few had their lips drawn up in a snarl, and one of them called out, “Who are you? You’re not our regular keeper.”
Another wolf was quick to say, “But she’s brought food. Isn’t that all that matters?”
You raised your hands in a peaceful gesture, “I’m a researcher and I’m the one dropping off your food for this morning.”
That seemed to satisfy the wolves. Some of them still glared at you, but they all took their steaks. You looked around at the pack and was surprised to see, among all the gray hair, a head of pure white.
The wolf wasn’t glaring at you, but his expression didn’t give away how he felt at all. He seemed to be eyeing you warily, much like the hyenas. You fished out a steak and held it out to him. His eyes widened a little and he approached you.
“Thank you,” he said in a gruff voice, taking the steak from you. Before you could ask him his name, he disappeared into the crowd of wolves. You weren’t sure why your mind had picked him out from the others, except that his hair was a different color. A little embarrassed by your reaction to him, you held out a steak to another passing wolf, who growled at you in response.
As soon as the enclosure door shut behind you, you sank to the ground, exhausted. That was only the morning feeding- you had a full day (and part of the night) of studying and documenting behavior ahead of you.
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anobjectshowguy · 2 months
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I hope people in the OSC (and other fandoms in general) who are ok with or neutral about Kosa realize that not only will we lose a bunch of platforms that allow us to interact with each other (Tumblr, discord, Ao3, Wattpad, Twitter, YouTube, etc) but will also get rid of at least 80-95% of our fandom.
The OSC consists mostly of people between 13-17 who (if Kosa goes through the Senate and Houses of Representatives and gets passed as a law) will most likely no longer have access to YouTube and other social platforms which actively kills almost all the people who read and watch Object Shows!
By visiting and sharing animated shows like II or BFDI those creators make money which gives them the means to keep making their shows and paying their animators, voice actors, writers and so much more. This bill will actively get rid of most of the people who watch these shows which will cause a large loss in support and revenue for these creators and will most likely mean the end for any smaller object show.
Object show comics rely on people sharing them around in fandom spaces since they’re not animated and put on YouTube like animated object shows are. By losing these spaces and the people who support their content these creators will no longer be able to reach a large audience and get the support they need to continue their comics. This means that we will lose a lot of the comics that the OSC has!
Most of the content you see in the OSC is made by minors, which this bill will actively destroy and thus kill this fandom and many others!
So I am begging of you OSC and other communities, Please please please sign petitions, tell your senators and representatives that you don’t want this bill to pass, and tell anyone that you can reach about how this Bill is a violation of privacy and minors' rights! Re-blog anything you see with helpful information about what Kosa is and keep talking about it! We need to tell people about it so that this doesn’t go through the Senate. Remember, the final day is February 26, we don’t have that long!!!
Here’s some helpful resources:
 https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/07/you-can-help-stop-these-bad-internet-bills
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satuguro · 1 year
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⠀ཾ ༚ MORE FUN WITH THREE!
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chad meeks martin x ethan landry x reader
#SYNOPSIS— nsfw/sfw head canons about dating ethan and chad <3
#CONTAINS— (sfw) domesticity!!, slight angst, comfort, overall fluff ; (nsfw) daddy/mommy kink, degradation, praise, and a lot more but those are the mains!
#AUTHORSNOTE— there isn’t enough domestic chad/ethan/reader stuff so i wrote this xx
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#SFW
— you guys pined for each other for a while until any of you made a move. lots of longing looks and deep talk nights and sleepovers that felt more intimate than ‘just friend’ activities.
— but surprisingly, it was ethan who confessed first. the three of you were sharing a blunt around a pool during a party, and he suddenly started rambling about how much he liked you both romatically.
“it’s just like,” ethan breathes, leaning his head on your shoulder and absentmindedly fidgeting with chad’s fingers. “i talk a lot, right? i ramble and i talk and can’t ever seem to shut up— at least i’m self aware, y/n! —but when i look at the two of you.. it’s like my words just can’t come out. and i become quiet because i don’t know how you two exist.”
— ever since that night, you guys began dating!
— now this is not gonna be one of those head-cannons about how everything went smoothly because trust me it didn’t for a while.
— it was really up and down for the first year. chad has a bad habit of being jealous, which is nice if he wasn’t so in denial when you or ethan point it out.
— ethan has a tendency to space out/disassociate when things get too stressful (a result of his history with his family), which takes a lot of work and patience to work through. thankfully, you and chad have all the patience in the world for him.
— and you wouldn’t open up to them for a while, oftentimes running how you really felt and the bad parts of your past through a filter to make it seem not as bad (even though chad and ethan could read you like a book).
— there’s a lot more, but i will say that i don’t think ethan or chad is the type to really raise their voice during an argument. disagreements are resolved through firm talking between the three of you, and even when someone wants to scream or yell at the other person, they know that you all hate the sound of angry yelling, so you find others ways to cool off.
— anyways! you guys moved in together a year and a half into your relationship.
— chad’s the clean one and ethan’s the messy one (mainly bc he gets distracted by other stuff and forgets ro clean up after himself).
— both boys love sitting/joining you when you’re doing your hobbies. sometimes they even wanna learn from you! chad is a very quick learner while ethan is very eager to learn
— movie nights, video game nights, study nights, etc. are a very common thing bc all of you procrastinate college shit (except for chad, who is somehow more on top of it than you and ethan).
— chad can cook, ethan can bake, and you can do both! so meals are usually made by you and chad while ethan makes dessert.
— ethan also stress bakes.
the lack of a third body in your bed made you sit up groggily from your bed. “chad? chad,” you mumbled, shaking chad’s shoulder next to you, making him grumble a weak response. “where’s ethan?”
and as the two of you walked out, you still wrapped in your comforter, you were shocked to find your boyfriend making his third batch of cake pops over the counter. his hair was tousled and eye bags hung under his brown eyes, but ethan looked more awake than ever. his spider-man shirt was stained with flour and his pajama pants hung loosely around his waist. “ethan,” chad said with a sigh, “babes, it’s 3 am.”
“yeah but,” ethan began, whisking from frosting. “i have an exam in like two days and i needed to relax so i’m baking!”
“ethan, baby, come back to bed.”
— chad and ethan are sore losers!! every time the three of you play video games and you win they both sulk for like 10 minutes. but if you lose and one of them wins, they’re so cocky and they’re teasing you about it (assholes).
"guys, please talk to me," you said, watching as ethan stubbornly sat next to chad on the other side of the couch, pulling the blanket tight over the both of them and not around you."
"no," chad stated, putting an arm over ethan's shoulders and pulling him close. "this is what happens when you cheat at mario kart."
you huffed in annoyance before standing up, grabbing the blanket and forcing yourself in with them, ignoring their protests.
"y/n, you already won!" ethan groaned, still making room for you regardless of how much of a sore loser he was.
— you guys sleep on a king bed in a shared room and take turns being in the middle. usually chad likes being in the middle because that means he gets to feel both you and ethan sleeping on his chest.
— chad sleeps earlier than the both of you so sometimes he has to listen to you and ethan talk about basically nothing 30 minutes before going to bed.
“yeah, sex is great, but have you ever yawned so hard you felt tears?” ethan said, his face turned to yours as the three of you laid in bed.
chad heard you chuckle softly before saying, “it’s kind of like stretching so hard you cough. wait— does that mean you’d rather yawn with tears over having sex with us?”
“what? no!”
— sometimes when one of you is coming home late, you have nights with only one of them.
— when ethan is coming home late, you and chad both prepare a meal together. light music is playing in the background while you both prepare three plates (another for ethan when he gets home). chad has a habit of wrapping his arms around your waist and leaning his head on your shoulder while you cook. then after dinner you both watch a horror movie with popcorn (chad knows all the best horror movies thanks to mindy.) and take a shower together.
— when chad is coming home late, ethan helps you make dinner (he just chops vegetables and sometimes meat. poor boy can’t cook) and is constantly snacking on the food before it’s even prepared. you both save chad a plate before having a little ‘spa day.’ you both take a bath and put on face masks and (mildly) catch each other up on gossip.
— when you’re coming home late, either chad makes dinner and ethan helps or he does the work and ethan sits on the counter and tells him about all the drama (chad likes to say he doesn’t like listening, but you and ethan know he does). sometimes ethan makes him do a face mask with him and then they go play video games for the rest of the night until you come home.
— your apartment has a loveseat on the side that you all like to cuddle on while your friends are over.
— folding clothes together in the living room while watching shows like bob’s burgers.
— you guys definitely have a cat that’s named ‘kelp’ or something weird like that. when you first got the cat chad was def a little disappointed (he wanted a dog) but now he’s your cat’s favorite (much to you and ethan’s chagrin).
— whenever you say ‘i love you,’ there’s always two responses of ‘i love you more,’ back. and that phrase is something really important to the three of you.
— you like to say it during the times when you really mean it. you always love them, but there’s random times where you’re just watching them talk to each other at the dinner table and you’ll just say ‘i love you,’ because how nice is it that you can always have dinner with them?
— ethan incorporates it into his daily phrases, stuff like, “i’m gonna go now, i love you!” and “good night, i love you.” he also says it a lot while he’s drunk (he’s a sucker for you and chad, what can he say).
— chad says it during random times. sometimes he’ll just walk by you or ethan in the kitchen, pressing brief kisses to your shoulders and murmuring, “i love you.” or he’ll taste something you or ethan made and say, “oh my god, i love you. this is incredible.”
— ethan talks a lot and you and chad listen.
— sometimes chad and ethan both ramble to you about something that you know nothing about but do you care? no, because you do the exact same thing and they are always so interested
— chad and ethan go on gym dates and chad always makes ethan his pre workout for him in the morning before they leave <3
— you guys also have a shared groupchat! ethan uses it to send photos throughout his day of random things with cute little comments like ‘look at this dog i saw ◡̈’ or ‘i ordered what y/n usually gets at starbucks! i think it’s actually pretty good!’
—you use it to send photos of when you see him or chad across campus. honestly you do it cause you think it’s funny how most of the photos you take look like they’re from a stalker.
— chad uses it to send photos of the sky whenever he thinks it’s pretty (because it reminds him of the both of you). he also uses it to get yours or ethan’s opinion on something, whether it’s clothes, what he’s buying from the store, etc.
— whenever one of you is stressed/sad you have two people giving you comfort immediately. of course chad is always the one who asks, “do you want comfort or advice?” just because he wants to make sure he’s doing the right thing. but regardless the three of you have learned how to take care of each other.
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#NSFW
— there was definitely a moment before you all began dating where ethan said, “wait, does that mean i’m gonna die a virgin?” and you and chad caught each other staring at ethan as though you were willing to change that for him.
chad noticed you stare at ethan, eyes set on him as though you were weighing the consequences of fucking your best friend in your head (not that chad could say anything; he was doing the same thing). your eyes noticed chad’s look, making you raise a brow at him.
“what’re you looking at, chad?”
“what’re you looking at, y/n?”
— ethan has the biggest sex drive out of the three of you. he was really inexperienced when you all started dating but after you and chad taught him the ropes he’s literally always horny.
— chad definitely prefers to be in charge in the bedroom (daddy kink for the win) but he’s actually a switch. you and ethan are only people he’s ever been submissive for.
— you’re a switch for the most part, but you do enjoy domming both chad and ethan (because who wouldn’t?) especially when they both start teasing you out in public/throughout the day (which happens a lot).
— ethan’s definitely a switch but he does prefer to be submissive to you and chad because he has a raging daddy/mommy kink oops
— you and ethan are pretty vocal in bed, but chad isn’t. a lot of the noises he makes is groans and dirty talk (which is literally filthy).
— but one time you and ethan were teasing him and chad let out a whine. when i tell you the tables changed so quickly..
— chad also does this lazy smile/smirk when one of you is riding him/sucking him off that makes him look so cocky and he knows it.
— chad’s cockiness also def shows through in his degradation/praise.
“that’s it, suck my cock,” chad murmured, one of his arms behind his head as ethan took his cock into his mouth. you were right next to him, licking at chad’s balls as ethan began bobbing his head. the poor boy was a mess of saliva and tears dripping down his chin, his head of curls gripped tightly by chad as his hips thrusted his fat cock deeper into ethan’s mouth.
a needy whine left your lips as ethan pulled off of chad’s cock, gasping in a breath before continuing to stroke it in his hands. then you both leaned in, eyes set on chad and the lazy smile on his face, before your tongues met at chad’s tip. with his tip in between your mouths, you and ethan made out with each other, whimpers and low moans falling from your mouths. licking into ethan’s mouth and tonguing at chad’s fat tip, you moaned at the sloppiness of it all, feeling yours and ethan’s saliva drip down your chins.
the lewd sight alone made chad moan, head falling back briefly. “god, you’re both so needy. you love sucking my dick that much that you both wanna share?”
“mm.. yes daddy.”
— sex is serious for the most part but sleepy sex/morning sex is always so giggly for you guys. especially when ethan and chad want to eat you out together.
“chad— dude, you gotta move to the side,” ethan groaned, trying to move himself next to the taller man. your legs were spread wide, both of them held open by chad’s hand and ethan’s, and feeling their two eyes on you, you suddenly felt exposed.
“how do we—” chad began leaning his head in at the same time as ethan’s and bumping their heads, making them both laugh. carding your hands through their hair, you couldn’t help but giggle before it turned into a moan.
chad and ethan’s tongue met in the middle as they spread your legs wider. leaning over, chad went to suck on your clit while ethan leaned down to fuck your sopping hole with his tongue, making your back arch. “there you go,” chad murmured, breath fanning over your cunt as he massages the inside of your thighs.
“mm, you taste so good, y/n,” ethan said, eyes hazy as he slipped a finger into you.
— sometimes ethan wakes the both of you up by giving you both head. he gets really needy! and if you wake up before him that’s how you wake chad up
— you love teasing them. sometimes you grind your ass against them a little too much while passing by them in the kitchen or you wear shorts around the apartment that you know chad loves, along with a tank top without a bra (so ethan’s practically drooling at your breasts)
— it usually ends with them being in charge that night. especially if your little teasing game goes on for the entire day and you pretend you know nothing about it; both of them want to punish you <3
“fuck— daddy, ‘m close,” ethan whined, throwing his head back as his cock slipped into your lips again. you peered up at him through heavy lashes, his length stifling your whimpers as chad’s cock sank deeper inside of you.
“go ahead, baby boy. cum all over y/n’s face,” chad said with a groan, watching shamelessly as your cunt took every inch of his thick cock. “fuck, you really love taking dick, huh?” he said with a breathless laugh, thrusting his hips into you harshly and reveling in the cry you let out. “too bad you won’t get to cum just yet. not until we’re finished.”
ethan let out a whine as he came all over your face, eyes set on how your tongue stuck out for him and the way it caught only some of his cum. the rest painted your face so beautifully that ethan couldn’t help but grab some with his thumb and put it into your mouth. obediently, your lips wrapped around his thumb and sucked off the rest of the cum.
— sorry not sorry ethan loves his ass ate idc. he becomes such a slit the second he feels you or chad’s tongue on his hole, arching his back and babbling, “mommy/daddy, more. please— oh fuck me.”
— chad also has an obsession with eating you out. when i tell you that man knows how to eat pussy i mean it. sit on his face, suffocate him— he wants it all as long as he’s between your thighs.
— that being said he also loves eating ethan out. primarily because ethan ends up crying and he’s just so pretty when he cries.
— chad’s sadistic/masochistic (he’s def a service top) and ethan’s the same way. but ethan’s sadism and masochism can go extreme; he loves denying you and chad of your orgasms over and over, but if you were to deny him of his over and over he’d love it more.
— chad sometimes just leans back and lets you and ethan do whatever you want to him. you could use his dick like a toy and ethan could ride his face and chad could die a happy man right there, knowing that he’s pleasuring the both of you.
— ethan has an oral fixation to the max. he always needs something in his mouth, whether it’s your tits, yours or chad’s fingers, chad’s cock, or your pussy, he just loves having his mouth full.
— whenever you’re domming, ethan is always so good while chad is nothing but a brat. but there are some rare occasions when ethan is being bratty and you and chad have to punish him.
“daddy— daddy slow down—!” ethan cried out, his hips automatically snapping against you as a result of chad’s pounding. he was crying at this point, fat tears streaming down his cheeks as he was stuck between chad’s thick cock and your tight pussy. his own cock was so hard, but the cock ring around it made it impossible for him to fuck a load into you. not that you or chad seemed to care.
“you wanted to act like such a brat earlier, ethan,” you said with faux pity, teeth digging into your bottom lip as ethan’s cock thrusted inside of you repeatedly.
“which means,” chad said, slapping ethan’s ass and making the boy moan, “you can’t give us fucking orders.” he thrusted deeper into his boyfriend, listening to the ‘uh, uh, uhs’ ethan let out as his cock fucked him harder.
“i wanna cum,” ethan sniffled, ignoring your scolding as he took your hips and thrusted into you, making your head fall back as you moaned deliciously. “daddy, p—please— mm, mm— let me cum, mommy.”
chad only chuckled darkly at that, letting out a low moan as he came inside ethan’s ass, filling him with cum— his first load of the night. “brats don’t get to cum.”
— i will say this rn; the aftercare is soso good.
— chad basically has all of your needs memorized by heart. bath? he already had it ready. food? there’s snacks on the bedside table. alone time? the guest room has its bed made and the t.v on. cuddles? of course, just let him clean you up and get you some water. don’t wanna get up? good, chad would rather you lay there while he gets everything ready.
— it kind of goes for all of you as well. you and chad are usually giving the aftercare while ethan’s receiving. but ethan knows the aftercare you both need too!
— especially after pretty hard scenes, ethan knows to reassure you both that he’s okay. it doesn’t happen often, but when you and chad feel horrible for talking to ethan in such a way, he goes out of his way to take care of you just like you both take care of him <3
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bitchy-craft · 8 months
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Your Future Spouse In A Theme Park | Pick A Pile
Hello and welcome to this Pick A Pile! In here you'll find out how your future spouse will act when going to a theme park with you. I hope you guys enjoy and find this useful. Do make sure to leave comments down below on your experience! I do want to remind you all that this is a General Pick A Pile which means this is for a lot of people; therefore keep what resonates and leave what doesn't.
Note: I wrote this in a different way I normally do to try out (more of a story-telling way), I hope you guys like it. Also my friend helped me use pretty words since my first language isn't english😭💕
Masterlist > Questions > Paid Readings
Pick A Pile!
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Pile 1:
Amid the whirlwind of excitement at the theme park, your future spouse would be known to everyone around them as the embodiment of thrill-seeking adventure. Ther eyes will sparkle with a contagious enthusiasm as they’ll gaze at the towering roller coasters and the intimidating drop towers that loomed against the sky, wondering how they’re going to persuade you onto going on all possible rides with them.
With a grin that radiates daring anticipation, they’ll turn to you and suggest, "Let's start with the biggest ride here, what do you say? Roller coasters and drop towers, the works!"
But their adventurous spirit doesn’t stop at just ride choices. As they’ll embark on each adrenaline-pumping attraction, they’ll playfully initiate a challenge, a friendly competition to determine who could weather the scariest rides with the least outward fear; you or them.
Yet, amidst the heart-pounding screams and exhilarating loops, their protective nature will shine through. Your future spouse will make sure to hold your hand tightly during every twist and turn, offering words of reassurance that turn the excitement into a shared experience of joy and laughter.
Ever the planner, they will make sure to get a Fast Pass to optimize their ride count or meticulously charting out the day's ride schedule to ensure they make the most of every minute. And just to add a dash of surprise to the day, they showcase their skills at one of the game booths, winning their partner a stuffed animal that brings an infectious smile to their face.
Pile 2:
Wlking hand in hand through the bustling theme park, your future spouse's demeanor exudes thoughtfulness and a deep care for your experience. They regard the map with a careful consideration, then turn to you with a soft and genuinely curious smile gracing their lips.
"What sort of ride are you in the mood for first?" they ask you, their tone resonating with a desire to make you feel genuinely comfortable.
A characteristic of them on this day would be their unwavering patience. In line for each attraction, they engage with you in conversations that weave the passage of time into a tapestry of easy camaraderie.
During breaks, they will surprise you with a well-prepared picnic, complete with their favorite snacks, as they nestle into a shaded oasis. On the rides, their attentive gaze is focused on all your reactions, ensuring they feel secure and are enjoying every moment of going on this date with you.
And when after a couple of hours it’s made clear you get a bit tired, they’ll suggest escaping the crowds by finding quieter places within the park where they can rest, recharge, and savor the ambiance in tranquil togetherness.
Pile 3:
Laughter and meriment seems to follow your future spouse wherever they go in the theme park. With a twinkle in their eye, they’ll challenge you to a series of games and competitions, transforming even the most mundane activities into uproarious affairs.
Near the entrance, they’ll initiate a lively game of mini-golf, where their spirited laughter echoes in the air. But their playful nature extends beyond games – they transform the queue lines into playful battlegrounds, inventing silly challenges and engaging in spiritef banter that turns the waiting time into an exciting prelude.
As they encounter interactive rides, their eagerness for friendly rivalry is evident. Your future spouse will eagerly suggest rides that pit them against you and them, whether it's a competitive shooter ride or a teamwork-based adventure.
Water rides hold a special appeal to them, and their mischievous grin is infectious as they propose taking on the rapids and splashes. Amidst the giddy screams, they embrace the wetness and turn it into an opportunity for shared amusement.
Throughout the day, their laughter and light-hearted approach ensure that your moments together will be saturated with joy, regardless of the activity. Each experience is painted with a hue of playful competition, adding a layer of vibrant colour to their theme park escapade.
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miniwheat77 · 10 months
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Rough. (141 x Reader)
Part 3 to Ice Bath.
!CW! NSFW, Smut, rough sex, p in v sex, unprotected sex, double penetration, gang bang, (sorry if I missed any)
Summary: 141 just can’t take the sounds you make anymore.
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Over the course of the next few months, it’s uncomfortable to say the least. For some reason they’re all very rough on you. Manhandling you when you’re sparring, being extra rough when training. Soap was even your spotter when you were lifting weights and pushed you a little far instead of helping you. But you noticed something else. Activities you were completely used to doing alone, they all joined in on now. Working out in the morning, getting bored during the day and spending that time training. They were always around and it was a bit weird. Usually they kept to themselves, but lately. It’s been different. They always hovered over you anymore.
You were passing through the men’s barracks to get to your post on watch, you were taking over for your Captain. You hear Gaz and Soap talking and you weren’t usually one to eavesdrop, but a little wouldn’t hurt anyone.
“She’s got to know what she’s doing right?” You hear Gaz. “I thought so too but she seems completely oblivious to the sounds she makes when she’s doing something like that.” He chuckles. You think to yourself for a minute. Who was doing what? “I mean. Yesterday working out when you “accidentally” weren’t paying attention and she struggled with the bench press. The sounds she made, straight up sinful. The sound of her struggling is…” he makes a huffing sound with his mouth, and only now do you realize they’re talking about you. Your eyes widen. This just answered all of the questions you had. They’ve been hanging around you because they like to hear you struggle? They get off on it? No wonder they’ve been hovering over you. You make your footsteps louder as you pass by them, smiling at them as you pass by. Feeling their eyes burn into your backside as you continue passing through.
You started slow, making flirtatious remarks to each of them in private when the others weren’t around. You started with the easiest ones, Gaz and Soap. They were so easy to persuade, they would do anything you wanted. Then, your Captain. Of course, despite how professional he was, he was still a man. So easy to persuade, especially since you’re a lot younger than him. He took the bait so quickly. Ghost was last, he was obviously more guarded than the rest. But he still took part in all of it. That day sparring when he wouldn’t let you go, you knew he was in on it. They were all nothing but a bunch of perverts.
It went on for a while, flirting with them, getting close with them. You knew it was only a matter of time until one of them made a move, or told another about it. You were curious which would come first. You liked working out around them now, especially now that you were onto what they were doing. You took your time working out, made as many whimpers and moans without looking obvious as possible, the deeper you dug the hole, the deeper they fell into it. You still weren’t sure what you were going to do to get back at them for being perv’s. You were still thinking of a plan. But for now, you were having fun playing with them. You were warming up, getting ready to train in combat. You were waiting for the others. They always joined you.
It didn’t take long for the rest to fill the room, and you stood on the mat, waiting for them. You were about to give them a run for their money.
Usually when it came to sparring with coworkers, you went a little easy. No tricks or anything too rough. But you were going to push your luck today. You sparred like normal against your Captain and Ghost. Finally, Johnny stood in front of you. You fought like normal at first, until a kick got a little close to his inner thigh. “Woah- a little close there lass.” He pants, “but it wasn’t.” You roll your eyes. After a couple more things, he was getting annoyed by your moves. “Ah fuck-“ he pins you onto the ground. “You keep pulling my fucking hair,” he seethes, “stop it.” He growls. “No.” You look up at him, and he can see that there is something different in your eyes. “Not funny.” He rolls his eyes. “Never said it was.”
“Quit it before you get yourself into trouble.” He’s still holding you down.
“Make me.” Everyone in the room is pausing what they’re doing. Ghost and Gaz sparring stop immediately and all eyes are on you and Soap, and he glances around the room. “Y/N. What’s gotten into you?” He looks down at you. Finally, a deep chuckle leaves your lips. “You’re all ridiculous, especially you right now Soap. I mean for fucks sake.” You laugh. He finally lets you go, sitting up. “What? What are you talking about?” He takes a deep breath. “This? All of you hanging around me for weeks, acting all weird when I’m working out. I mean, I figured you were deprived but I didn’t figure you’d all turn into a group of perverts.” You prop yourself up on your elbows, chest still heaving. You stand up, and they all stay silent. “Pushing me extra hard, being rough with me on purpose so you can hear me moan?” You cross your arms. They all exchange glances. “I mean… seriously? That’s the best way you think to make a girl moan?” You laugh.
Ghost makes the first move, taking slow steps toward you, closing the gap. The rest slowly following after him. They make a small circle around you and the nervousness sets in as they stare you down like a pack of wolves. They’ve all thought about this. They haven’t talked about it yet but they’ve thought about it, they’re all on the same page. “We know a better way, trust me.” Soap chuckles. You glance at each of them, a smile growing on your face. “I’ll believe it when I see it.” You roll your eyes. “Take your clothes off.” Ghost’s voice is stern when he says it. “Fine.” You smile, grasping your shirt and pulling it over your head, bra following. You tug your bottoms down your legs discarding them to the floor. The only thing covering you now were panties. You couldn’t deny it, their eyes on you as you stand there exposed, it made you nervous. Soap is the first to touch you, reaching out his hands and grasping hold of your panties, ripping them right off of you. He starts to take his own clothes off, the rest of them following along. You could tell they were nervous, but the excitement started to take it away. The first to finish undressing is Gaz, wrapping his arms around you from behind and pulling you back into him. He starts attacking your neck with his lips, biting and kissing at the skin. You’re melting back into him, gasping when he glides his hand down your front, over your belly, stopping at your clit. He circles his fingers over it, a small gasp leaving your lips. He nudges your cheek with his nose, his eyes screwed shut as he touches you. He can’t remember the last time he’s touched a woman, never like this. “Such a good girl.” He breathes, inhaling your scent. He grits his teeth, wanting to force you onto the floor and split you open on his cock but he knows he has to be patient.
He backs away from you, Soap grasping you and lifting you up to lay you down on the mat. “Gonna open you up sweetheart. Get you nice n ready for us.” He breathes. Spitting on his fingers and nudging them at your opening. You take him easily and he smiles to himself as you start to squirm as he pumps his fingers into you, you look up, noticing the other three are starting to stroke themselves. A moan leaves your lips, nervousness settling into your chest, you wanted to stop them, get away while you had the chance but the other part of you that knew what was coming, refused. “Relax for me.” He breathes. You don’t understand what he means until you feel his fingers nudging at your ass. Your heart rate picks up and he can hear your heart thumping in his chest. “It’s okay, just need to open you up baby,” he breathes. A whimper leaves your lips, Simon lowering himself to his knees, lips surrounding one of your nipples. He’s trying to calm you, a gasp leaves your lips as Johnny’s fingers slip deeper into you. Simons tongue swirling over you. Once Johnny is moving two of his fingers into you, he knows you’re ready. Simon pulls away, and Johnny lifts you up, moving himself underneath you. “Gonna take my cock now.” He breathes. You nod. You’re laying on top of him, your back to his chest as he lines his cock up with your entrance, he’d already slicked his cock up with spit. He presses his tip at your entrance and you whimper as he slips into you. “Oh god-“ you cry. Kyle moves between your legs, admiring the way you’re opening on Johnny’s cock. When Johnny slides completely into you, you’re squirming on him. “Oh my god- I’m so full.” You gasp, trying to sit up. Johnny keeps you close to his chest, starting to thrust his hips up into you. Kyle wets his fingers, lowering his face down. He slides them into you, pumping his fingers into you and wrapping his lips around your clit.
You’re crying in just a few minutes, your first orgasm approaching at a pathetic rate. Simon and John watch intently, stroking their own cocks as they watch you cry. Tears streaming down your face. “Getting so tight on my fingers baby. You gonna cum?” Kyle smirks. “Yes- yes!” You cry out. He smiles, lowering his face back down into you. He wiggles his face back and fourth, tongue swirling over your clit. This was it, all of the ice baths, the sparring, the training sessions to hear you desperate, coming to a head. You tilt your head back into Johnny, crying out. The absolute desperation, a cry you aren’t trying to hold back leaving your lips. John let’s his eyes roll back, groaning out. He’s getting close. Kyle keeps his face buried between your legs until you’re squirming. He sucks at your clit, licking up against you. He’s good at this, the way your body feels is amazing. Something you’ve never felt before. Kyle is smiling up at you as he pulls away. “Doing so good for us darling, so good.” He breathes. He sits up onto his knees, pumping his cock and moving himself closer to you, cock nudging at your entrance. He pushes his cock past your folds, sliding it into you. He can feel Johnny pushing up against your walls as he moves his hips into your ass. The sounds leaving your lips are desperate, feeling so full of them, already so overstimulated. John moves himself overtop of you, wanting you to suck him off. Before he does, you glance over to Simon, not wanting him to feel left out. Raising your hand and motioning for him to come toward you. As John fills your mouth with his cock, you take Simon’s cock into your hand, beginning to pump him.
John holds your head still, beginning to fuck himself into your throat. You moan around him, hearing them all moaning out. You pump Simons cock in your hand, trying to give him attention too. He grasps your hand, spitting in it. You wrap your hand around him again, pumping him faster. Moaning around John. You can feel him twitch into your mouth, knowing he’s getting close. Johnny is fucking you harder, breaths getting ragged, thrusts getting desperate. You know he’s getting close too. Kyle is right on the edge, pulling out just in time as he finishes over your stomach. He groans out. He stands up, going to clean himself up and Simon quickly takes his spot. Simon’s cock is a lot thicker than Kyle’s and he stretches you. John groans as you moan around him, reaching up and cupping his balls. “Fuck.. fucking Minx.” He groans. His cock hitting the back of your throat. “Ah fuck! M’gonna cum,” Johnny groans out. “Gonna fill your ass-“ he reaches up, wrapping a hand around your throat. John and Johnny smiles as they cut your air off, mouth full of cock. Johnny has a tight grip on you. He groans out when he reached his high, hips halting. You tighten around Simon, and he knows you’re close. He holds your thighs steady, lifting you up as Soap moves himself from beneath you. John moves himself up on you, letting you breath for a second before forcing himself back into your mouth. “So tight on me, so fucking tight on me.” Simon groans. “Fuck-“ he gasps. John’s cock twitches again, “fuck, gonna fill your throat.” He lowers his head lower. Whispering to you. “Gonna be a good girl and swallow it for me?” He smirks. You look up at him, staring him down. He likes the way you’re looking up at him. He tilts his head back, gasping out. You jump slightly as he cums, spurts of his filth hitting the back of your throat but you swallow it down, cleaning him up completely. He pulls away, groaning out as he lifts himself up. Going to get redressed and cleaned up like the rest.
Simon moves up, hovering over you. “S’just me and you now sweetheart.” He looks down at you. Simon wanted to take his time with you, pull another orgasm from you. Show you how beautiful you are. He’s taking slow, deep thrusts into you. Your thighs shake a little, moans leaving your lips as you try to clutch at the mat. “Fuck Simon, ah-“ you cry out, the way he’s stretching you is so perfect. He feels so good sliding into you. The squelch of your wetness eggs him on more, trying to hold back his own high. “I- I’m gonna cum.” You whimper, looking up at him. “Me too. Cum around my cock.” He breathes. You’re squirming a little, overstimulated. Your high is approaching fast. He lowers his hand to rub circles over your clit. He pulls another orgasm from you, your eyes rolling back as you tighten around him again. Cries leave your lips in strings and his eyes roll back. He can’t pull out, he won’t even try. His hips stutter to a stop as he fills you full of his cum, groaning out. He pauses, feeling the mix of your orgasms dripping down his front. “You did so good for us.” He chuckles. You smile up at him, your lazy smile is cute. He groans as he slides out of you.
He stands up, lifting you up and carrying you along to the women’s barracks so that he could help you get cleaned up.
They definitely knew a better way to make you moan.
887 notes · View notes
ichorai · 7 months
Text
hell, yeah ; roman roy ; part four (m).
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pairing ; roman roy x f!reader
synopsis ; pain was an old friend for the both of you.
words ; 18.0k
themes ; fluff, angst, drama, slowburn, smut, childhood friends to lovers
warnings / includes ; depictions of mental and physical abuse, mentions of death, unprotected penetrative sex, a lot of sexual/suicidal jokes and general foul language, tons of business talk, talks of nazis/fascism/conservatism, really morally grey shit, roman’s implied demisexuality, kendall & reader's popsicle war, mencken himself is a warning
series masterlist. main masterlist.
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A conservative political fundraiser weekend was the last place on earth you wanted to be, but hell—Logan wanted you there, so who were you to say no to the boss? Besides, hubs like this were always good to sniff out who would be the most dangerous people on the red spectrum.
The hall was decked out in lavish decorations—chandeliers and golden ornaments and marble statues every which way you looked. It was full to the brim with mingling politicians of all kinds: the kinds being old white men, or…
Hm. Seemed like it was practically all old white men other than a handful of women wandering around. White women, of course.
You and Shiv locked eyes for a moment. Though the two of you shared many common political interests, at least much more than the rest of the family, you often found yourself on the opposite ends of agreement. But today, in a sea of men with confederate flags for dicks, the two of you found solace in one another. 
“You can smell the panic,” she told you. “Berlin Bunker vibes.”
“They’re scrambling,” you replied. “Nobody was expecting this. Maybe they should’ve.”
Beside you, Roman cuffed your shoulder. “Ooh—the libtard and the soc-commie. How does it feel to be spelunking in the elephant’s asshole?”
“Calling me a communist isn’t the insult you think it is,” you told Roman, rolling your eyes.
“Mmh. I’m sure they would’ve loved you in the 1930s.”
Shiv crossed her arms. “We’re just corporate observers.”
“The weekend isn’t over yet—we’ll get our white cis-male stank all over you,” Roman commented snidely.
It was then that Greg came up to the group, expression muddled with confusion. “Hey, guys, some guy with an undercut just called me a ‘soy boy’. What, uhm, I don’t really know what that means? What is this, actually? Like what’s everyone here for?”
“It’s just a nice political conference of like-minded donors and intellectuals,” Roman told his cousin.
“I wouldn’t call them intellectuals, exactly,” you said with a frown. You were pretty sure half of these men owned podcasts talking about how toxic masculinity is fake, and the other half were so old they didn’t know how to turn the brightness up on their own phone. 
“We’re picking the next president,” Tom piped up, which made Shiv arch a brow.
“That’s not… that’s not really how it works.”
Roman shrugged. “No, sure, but… it kinda is.”
“Is that—is that constitutional?” Greg queried, looking around worriedly, suddenly wondering if he was participating in yet another illegal activity.
“Welcome to the one percent, Greg,” you told him with a sigh. “Where you don’t have to worry about the constitution anymore.”
Roman pinched your cheek. “Awh, look at you, embracing the right-wing traditions! I love that for you.”
Wrinkling your nose, you swatted his hand away. “Six months till election day and still no candidate. Surprised everyone hasn’t unanimously agreed on putting the vice prez up on a pedestal.”
“Steady old plow horse, huh?” Roman said, directing his gaze to the old vice president, Dave Boyer. “He licks his lips too much. Like a—like a cartoon bear when there’s a picnic hamper nearby.”
You laughed at that, and Roman shot you a grin. 
“I’m going to go take a tour. Check out the fresh meat,” he told you, and you nodded. 
“I’ll be near the entrance if you need me.”
With that, he set off to mingle, hands shoved into his pockets to stop him from his habitual itching and scratching.
“Who are you thinking?” Shiv leaned forward to ask.
“Boyer. Seems the most obvious, easiest choice,” you replied, meeting her scrutinizing stare.
“Are you saying that because he is the easiest choice, or because he’d be the easiest to win against?” she asked with a sharp smile.
There was a momentary pause. “Why, who do you think they should put up?”
“I say we go blue.”
Your mouth fell open as you struggled to find the words to respond with. “Shiv, that just—that’d never work.”
“Why not?”
“You realize ATN is fucking—it’s fueled by everything right-wing! For us to suddenly bat for dems would bring nothing but angry conservatives and we’d lose a fuck-ton of shareholder money.” You shook your head. “Look, Shiv, I don’t like them as much as you do. But forcing your dad to swing blue is just a terrible idea.”
Her features hardened. “The least we could do is try. Right?”
Before you could respond, Roman came hurrying back, phone clutched tightly in his hand. He shoved the screen up against his sister’s face. “Did you know about this, you withholding bitch?”
“Uh, what?” 
“You know Glyn, the, uh, the Brexit pervert?” Roman said, gesturing to the tall British chap with a large nose. “Yeah, he just sent this to me—apparently our mother is marrying Peter Munion.”
Both you and Shiv doubled with surprise. “What?” she asked. “Who’s Peter Onion?”
“I don’t fucking know. I wonder if that first-born fucker knew,” Roman said. 
“I mean, if you guys didn’t know, I’m sure Connor wouldn’t have known, either,” you ventured, glancing over at the eldest sibling chattering to two other politicians about abolishing taxes.
Snorting, Roman replied, “No, the other first-born fucker. Kenny Dick.”
“Ah. Right.”
“Call him.” Shiv nudged her brother.
With a hum, Rome whipped his phone out and called his brother, putting it on speaker phone for the two of you to hear.
“Yeah, what?” Kendall’s voice came through on the second ring.
“Hey. Just wanted you to know that new dad just dropped.”
There was a brief crackle of silence. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Mummy’s getting married, you dingus.”
“Did you know?” Shiv leaned forward to query.
Roman snickered. “Of course he didn’t know, Ken bores the shit out of mom.”
You remembered one Christmas when you were children, the family was exchanging gifts—Kendall had set down a little red box in front of Caroline so she could open it. Something hand-made? You’d always wondered. The wrapping was shoddy. It was forgotten and pushed off to the side in favor of prettier, more expensive-looking presents. You were pretty sure Caroline hadn’t even seen the gift. Or maybe she did. Maybe she just didn’t care to open it. Nonetheless, Kendall, thirteen years of age, didn’t try to give it to her again. That night, when the servants were tossing away all the stray wrappings and ribbons, you caught sight of the crumpled red box chucked into a black garbage bag. You didn’t dwell on it, because Roman had heckled you away soon after to ‘watch’ Shiv play with her new dollhouse.
“What are you even talking about?” Kendall asked. He sounded angry. “You mean, she’s marrying Rory?”
“Uh, no. She took the view ‘Fuck Rory’,” Shiv said, glib.
Sneering, Kendall abruptly changed the subject. “Hey, Shiv, is it true you’re at the hate-fest? Burning books and measuring skulls down in Virginia?” 
“Yeah,” Shiv deadpanned. “What are you doing with your weekend? Planning to send us all to jail? Your favorite past-time?”
Before it could escalate into a full-on argument, Roman pulled the phone close to him and said, “Alright, just wanted to let you know that Mummy still doesn’t love you. Bye, Ken!”
With that, he hung up.
“Do you think your mom is going to invite me to her wedding?” you asked, wrinkling your nose at the prospect of going all the way across the ocean when you had so much work piled up. “And would she be offended if I didn’t come?”
“Oh, she’s definitely inviting you. You know how she is. Needs everyone who knows of her existence to see how rich and pompous she is. She’d have a grudge against you if you didn’t come,” Roman told you.
You frowned, and Roman laughed.
“We can be each other’s date. It’ll be fun. Don’t worry about it.” He rubbed your shoulder, and began leading you off to the bar to get some drinks. 
“Your mother would love that. Us, being each other’s dates? She’d gloat in our faces that she’s known all along,” you mused with a grin, before leaning against the counter and asking the bartender for your preferred drink.
“Or she’d be too self-absorbed to notice. And it’s okay for her to be that way because it’s her own wedding.” Pulling a sour face, Roman shook his head. “Blegh. I can’t believe she’s actually marrying someone named Bunion.”
You laughed softly. “Munion.”
“Whatever.”
Before either of you could say anything else, a figure approached the bar, standing just beside Roman.
“Hey guys,” said Mencken. “What’s up?”
Both you and Roman turned your heads to him. He shot you a glance, noting the unimpressed raised eyebrow.
“Oh, okay. Yeah, it’s the—it’s the ghost pepper. The spicy new flavor, Mencken.” Rome gave the taller man a onceover, drawing a long sip from his glass.
Mencken’s keen eyes darted from Rome to you, and back to Roman, scrutinizing. Burning. You couldn’t quite gauge what he was thinking, but knowing all the hot bullshit he liked to spew on the internet, you were sure it’d be nothing good.
Him as president? That’d be like putting a mask on Hitler and crowning him King of the nation.
“So what’s your deal? Most people here want to fuck me or kill me.” Mencken asked, leaning against the bar. “I’m hoping it’s the former.”
You weren’t quite sure if that was directed to you or Roman, but you were disgusted, either way. 
Roman clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth. “Ooh, wow. I always found it hard to care about politics, so… I trust in Y/N to have enough opinions for the both of us.”
He gave you a fond pat on the shoulder and you spared your friend a stiff smile.
“Right, Y/N. It’s nice to meet you,” Mencken said, sticking his hand out. 
Staring down at his extended palm, you took a second to consider flat out ignoring him. But, not wanting to cause a scene, you shook it firmly, nodding curtly. “Likewise,” you lied.
When you pulled away, you made the conscious choice to discreetly wipe your palm onto your pants.
“I’ve heard a lot about you. The both of you, actually.”
“Oh, really?” you deadpanned, straightfaced.
“Tabloids never shut up.”
“They hardly ever do.”
Mencken crossed his arms. “To be honest, I always thought you two were just a PR stunt. You know the vibes… look away from all the sexual harassment, because the prince and princess of Waystar are being all snuggly at a charity event! But now that I’m looking at you in person…”
His words struck a nerve within you. A muscle in your jaw twitched. 
Roman laughed, nervous. “We aren’t—we aren’t, like, a thing. I mean we—we kind of are, but we’re also not really—”
The older man whistled sharply, lifting a hand to stop him, as if he were a dog. “No need to explain to me. I’ve been down that road many, many times.”
“Roman and I are close,” you told him, voice steely. “The details are none of your, or the public’s concern.”
The way Mencken smiled was wolfish. Greedy, almost. 
“Alright, here’s my party trick,” he said to the two of you. “Tell me who your enemy is, and I’ll tell you who you are.”
A part of you wanted to laugh. Where did he get that from, an alpha male, raw meat-eating youtuber’s podcast?
Roman sucked in a breath, amused. “Oh-kay. Let’s put a pin in that one.” He took another sip. “I’ve seen your poll numbers. You’re dark-horsin’ shit. Are people buying your whole… thing?”
Facism. That’s what Roman was alluding to. This man was a fucking fascist. The two of you were entertaining a fascist! You couldn’t believe what you’ve come to. 
Mencken chuckled. “They better buy it. Or I’ll send them to the Gulag.”
“Jesus Christ,” you hissed, wrinkling your nose. 
“No, no, no. Not work camps. Just—summer camps. It’ll be like summer camps,” Mencken said. 
“Summer camps but with beatings, right?” Roman asked, unsure if the man beside him was joking or not.
“No, no. Shh—no beatings.”
Mencken winked. He fucking winked! To your surprise, Roman laughed, genuine and chesty. 
“Wow. Tough crowd, huh?” Mencken said, meeting your unamused eyes. “You always struck me as the quiet little country mouse. No wonder you’re sticking to the big-gun citymen.”
“Well, I’m sorry if I don’t find labor camps all that funny,” you remarked, drumming your fingers along the countertop. 
“I’m just kidding. We’re joking around.” He elbowed Roman’s arm. “Is she always this uptight?”
You had to admit that it stung just a bit when Roman tipped his head back and laughed. “It’s what I like most about her. Ain’t that right, schnookums?”
You sniffed in disdain, shrugging off his hand when he placed it on your shoulder. You weren’t a huge fan of how… warm Roman was to him. It felt vile, and it felt wrong. 
Tilting his head, Mencken smacked his lips together and started up, “So, uh… do you guys know yet? Who takes over?”
Roman stopped sipping his drink and set it down. “What’s that?”
“When they send the old battletoad off to the hoosegow.” His eyes glinted. “Your dad, Logan. Admiral Grope Boat.”
“Yeah, no, he’s not… that’s actually not happening,” said Roman. He scratched at the back of his head. 
Mencken cackled at that. “Hah, yeah, that’s right. Stick to the line. That’s good.”
The two of them smiled at each other.
A sudden pit of nausea started curling within your stomach. 
Boyer and Salgado approached the bar, striking up a conversation with Mencken, effectively roping his attention away from the two of you. You downed your drink and leaned against Roman with a mild hum.
“I really thought this event would be more interesting,” you admitted.
Shoulders shaking with his chuckling, Roman asked you, “What, did you think there’d be a gun-slinging showdown? Old western-style?”
“Well, yeah. What else do conservatives do?”
The two of you snickered under your breath. 
It was then that Shiv came to stand by you, ordering a drink for herself. “Hey. What’ve you guys sniffed out?”
You offered her half a shrug, glancing over at Mencken. With a lowered voice, you said, “A lot of rotten apples in the orchard.”
The siblings both hummed at that—Shiv in agreement, Roman in amusement. 
“Look at us, playing nice,” you overheard Salgado tell Mencken. To your credit, they weren’t quite using their inside voices. “People might think we liked each other.”
“Hey, I’m a conservative! I like tradition,” Mencken protested. “I doff my cap to vice president Boyer’s years of loyal service.”
“Thank you. I believe you used to call me Martin Van Boring.”
Mencken grinned. “Hey, come on! No, I still call you that.”
Nodding, Boyer shifted to speak to everyone else gathered around the bar. “Listen, Mencken and I may differ in some areas, but, uh, we both agree that this is the party of the working class now.”
Shiv pulled an incredulous face, scoffing loud. 
“What? You don’t agree, Shiv?” Boyer asked. “All the richest counties in America are blue. The Democrats and tech hold all the wealth.”
“Oh, yes, because everyone here is scrounging through their couches for loose change,” you snidely commented, coolly meeting Boyer’s gaze. 
The old man licked at his lips, gesturing vaguely with his hands. “Come now, I’m talking about the general public. We don’t count.”
Why not?
“I just think some of us get so high off of owning the libs, we forget to talk policy,” said Salgado.
Mencken snorted. “Yeah, Rick loves to talk policy! What he does is he memorizes a National Review issue from 2012 and then recites it back to you. Cool policy, bro.”
This made Salgado frown. “Mmh, Jeryd hates to talk policy because it would mean, you know, having one.”
Roman whistled sarcastically. “Sick burn, brosef!”
“Oh, no, no. We’re kidding. We are!” Mencken insisted. He smiled at you and Roman. “We like each other. I listen to his speeches every night. Yeah. They help me drop off.”
Out of the three politicians, you had to admit that Salgado was the most appealing. Sure, he was a pushover and really only concerned about his public image rather than what he was promoting, but it was better than Mencken the fascist and Boyer the conservative lip-licker. 
“Maybe it’s boring talking about populist solutions for working families,” said Salgado.
“Rick, come on! You jerked off to Reagan’s headshot for thirty years, and now you’re Tom Joad?” Mencken jeered.
Rolling her eyes, Shiv told you, “God, this shit is so fucking boring.”
Overhearing, Mencken gave the woman a onceover. “What’s that?”
“Hm?” Shiv met his gaze. “No, I’ve just—I’ve seen your thing quite a lot.”
Mencken uncrossed his arms and then crossed them again. He was frowning, brows knitting together—evidently he didn’t quite like being tested.
“And what’s that? What’s my thing?”
“Youtube provocateur bullshit,” Shiv told him with a bitter laugh. “Aristo-populism. ‘Rape is natural, it’s all red pill, baby.’ I’m just—I’m just so fucking over it.”
“Have you read Plato?” asked Mencken. 
Oh, God. Was he really pulling the philosophical literature superiority card? Was he being serious?
“Yeah,” Shiv said in a mocking voice. “Remind me, what happens?”
“Oh, read Plato! Read Plato!” Mencken told her, his manner condescending.
“Don’t want to!” Shiv exclaimed. “I don’t fucking want to!”
Salgado cut in, “See, he doesn’t actually want to have a conversation. He just wants to yell loud enough to get on ATN.”
“Nah! Fuck ATN,” Mencken said. The room fell silent, and all eyes were on him. For a moment, he looked at you and Roman, the two of you watching him with muted interest. You wondered if he was seeking both of your approvals. “No, really, ATN is treated as a bulwark, but it’s dead. It’s basically a pudding cup at 5 PM in the nursing home. It’s status quo bedtime stories to maximize shareholder value.”
Though you didn’t want to agree with any of Mencken’s sentiments, you had to admit that his take on ATN was a valid one. ATN was hardly a reliable source, with its heavy right-wing influences. To you, it was merely a station to feed into the delusions of the older conservative generation. At the thought, you looked over your shoulder to Logan, seated on a table not too far from the bar. You only saw his back, but you wondered if he was listening in.
“Honestly, it doesn’t speak to me,” Mencken continued on. “Doesn’t speak to the people I talk to.”
“And who is it you talk to?” you asked, raising an eyebrow. 
Mencken stared at you for a moment before answering, “People who want to see the truth. See the natural order of things.”
“Natural order. Wow,” you whispered under your breath. With that, you ordered another drink. You couldn’t listen to all this bullshit sober. 
Mencken nodded. “Logan Roy was an icon. But, you know… he’s no longer relevant.”
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“Do you recognize this fucker?” Roman asked, shoving the phone in Shiv’s face.
“Nope,” she said.
You peered over his shoulder to see the wedding invitation on his screen, zoomed into his mother’s fiance’s face. 
“Fucking jelly-boned, low-T, pip-pip cheerio fucker,” Roman muttered as he shut the phone off and slid it back into his suit jacket’s pocket.
You pressed the button on the elevator to go up. Logan had called all of you up to the royal suite to discuss options for the next red presidential candidate—something you weren’t at all looking forward to. “He doesn’t look all that bad. Do you think your dad knows?”
The doors slid open and the three of you filed in.
Roman tilted his head. “No. But we have to stop the wedding, right?” 
Both you and Shiv exchanged incredulous looks. 
“Stop obsessing over Mom’s new husband,” Shiv told her brother. “Just get over it. Who cares?”
Narrowing his eyes, Roman asked, “Get over it? It just fucking happened. My mother’s marrying some dickhead, crooked-toothed turnip man.”
“His teeth looked quite nice in the picture, actually—” you began, before falling silent at Roman’s loud groan.
“What’s wrong is how little you care about it, you frozen bitch,” Roman commented off-handedly, making Shiv roll her eyes.
“Oh, poor Rome! His dreams of porking Mom are slipping through his little lubed-up fingers!” she leered, snickering a little.
A frown crossed your features. “It’s okay to care about it, Shiv. I mean… it’s your mom.”
“Something she often forgets,” she murmured, and that marked the end of the conversation.
The elevator rolled to a halt, the doors opening once more to a grand hall. The door to the suite was all the way down, and the three of you made your way there in contemplative silence. Logan was inside to greet you, along with Tom, Hugo, Connor, and Greg (who was awkwardly lingering by the curtained windows). 
“There’s a lot of chat flying around. A lot of flapping,” your godfather said once everyone had settled in. “We need one voice on this, or we could fall apart and hand it to the fuck-fuck donkey gang.”
Donkey gang, obviously meaning the democrats. You spared Shiv a look—she was seated away from her husband, frowning down at her hands.
“So… who do we like?” Logan asked.
Shiv cleared her throat and said, “Shouldn’t we kick it around for a bit? Feels like it’s poised, so if you and Petkus come together, and the other donors follow, it just—”
“Exactly,” Logan deadpanned. “We’re picking. We haven’t got all night.”
Occupying one of the long sofas all on his own, Connor put forth, “I like Connor Roy.”
The room lapsed into silence for a few seconds. Roman smiled, amused.
Calling back to the short conversation you had with Shiv earlier, she said, “Honestly, Dad, I think you go Dems.”
Immediately, the two brothers in the room reacted with incredulity.
“Wow,” Connor scoffed.
“Jesus Christ! What, are we all going to hold hands and sing kumbaya next?” Roman exclaimed. Then, he sat up straighter. “Uhm, I… I kinda like Mencken? But—I know he’s kind of shitty, so if it’s now, I guess I’d say Boyer. But can I also just say that I don’t like Boyer?”
Though you were not at all happy that Roman was leaning for Mencken, you had to agree that Boyer was a safe choice. You crossed your arms. “Hard pass to Mencken. I say we go Boyer. Vice is nice, no?”
Shiv sighed loudly.
“What? What’s with the fucking attitude?” Roman asked.
The redhead held her hands out. “Okay, look, no disrespect, but Boyer was yesterday’s papers. The Dems will run on change and blow him away.”
“Ooh, Mrs. Politics,” crooned Roman. “How many big races did you win as a consultant? Four? Three? Did you win two? One?” He held up his middle finger.
She scowled. “Roman, Boyer is not a winner, and we know that.”
“Okay, then, should we talk to Mencken?” he asked. “See if we can deal?”
Vehement, Shiv said, “Uh, can I just say something? Mmh, no. Mencken is an integralist, nativist fuckhead. He’s toxic! He’s fucking—he’s ‘medicare for all, abortions for none.’ And his idea of diplomacy is shooting roe deer with Viktor Orban and then starting the trade war with China! Look, I know that there’s the carnival bark, and there’s the fucking show, but he’s outside the American political tradition. I think we have a responsibility as Waystar—”
She was cut off when Roman began humming the national anthem.
“Fuck you, Roman!” she spat out.
You put a hand on his arm, and he stopped humming. “I know my opinion here means little to nothing, but… I don’t like Mencken. He’s radical, and he’s dangerous. I’m not saying we swing blue, either. I’m saying we stay safe with Boyer. Our position right now is… precarious. It’s the best option we have.”
Logan studied you, and nodded twice. He was never one for safe options, though. You knew that full and well.
Both Roman and Shiv burst into an argument then, lobbing insults back and forth at each other. Tom stared blankly at the ground, looking even more exhausted than he usually did.
“Stop being a dirty little pixie whispering swastikas into Dad’s ear!” Shiv ground out.
“Boom! There you go again! So fucking route one!” Roman exclaimed. 
The scowl on her face deepened. “I’m not saying it’s going to be the full Third Reich, but I am genuinely concerned that we could slide into a fucking Russian Berlusconied Brazilian fuckpile!”
Raising his brows, Roman shot back, “You have a trophy husband and several fur coats. I think you’re gonna be fine.”
“Tom,” Logan said, seemingly unaffected by the harsh bickering. “Who do you like?”
“Me? I, uh… I think Shiv talks a lot of sense. I also jibe with Salgado.”
Blowing out a breath, Roman said, “You jibe with him? Pretty sure that’s racist, Tom.”
“Salgado is another safe alternative,” you said. “Just not… not Mencken.”
This made Roman nudge his elbow into you. “I thought you were all about giving people chances! Mencken, he’s… you and him have a lot of beliefs in common, actually!”
“Oh? And what’s that?” 
“You’re, uh, both against free-market capitalism! That counts for something, right? Why don’t you just give him a chance?” 
You pinched the space between your brows. “Rome—”
Before you had a chance to finish, Roman was addressing Logan. “Dad, I know you came to the market to get a nice milk cow, but we found ourselves a fucking T-rex, okay? He’s box-office. The guy is fucking diesel. I mean, he’s good on camera. He’s fun! He’ll fight. Viewers will eat out of his hand. No downside.”
“Uh, right, no downside. Let’s just invade Poland, Dad!” Shiv scoffed. “His chief of staff broke a kid’s jaw at a rally!”
“If we don’t come to an accommodation, we get outflanked and we lose the ATN dollar machine when we need cash to fight Tech. Right? Shiv wants her way, I want my way, Connor wants his way, so that’s even.”
Vehemently, Shiv protested, “It’s not fucking even! My opinion counts for more!”
Everyone looked to her, miffed. She sounded more like a child than anything. 
“No, it does! It just fucking does! I know this! People hate Mencken. They fucking hate that guy!” Shiv lowered her voice, as if just realizing that she was yelling a notch too loud. “You have to look at the climate.”
 From the windows, Greg raised a hand. “Do I—do I get a vote?”
“Oh, sure, buddy. You get to vote at the election with all the other folks,” Roman told his cousin, humorously.
“Yeah, well, I just thought I’d get a… bigger vote in here?”
Ignoring him, Hugo said, “Boyer is likely to be flexible over the DOJ.”
“Not if he doesn’t win,” Shiv said. “Which… he won’t.”
“Isn’t that what you want?” you sighed. “You’re blue, Shiv.”
“My personal politics and the company’s values are on opposite ends of the spectrum,” she clarified. “I have to put the company before myself.”
“Okay, we’re hearing rumors that the case is weakening,” Hugo said. “No one big is likely to do jail time. With the notable exception of Tom, of course. Sorry, Tom.”
Visibly, Tom’s shoulders seemed to stiffen, but he nodded nonetheless. “No, please, Hugo… understood.”
Shiv turned to address her father again. “If you don’t go blue, Dad, then at least we have to be backing Salgado.”
This made Connor audibly groan. “Ugh. Señor Dickless. Captain of the Tampa Bay Cuckaneers.”
“Look, I don’t like him. He’s a neocon pretending to be a paleocon, but he at least talks base!” Shiv said. 
Roman clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “Wow. I think you’re so brave for picking the brown man. I think that we should get you a medal! A special medal for white women who like brown men.”
“Wow, okay. You’re just being racist! You’re being racist now!” Shiv said, swinging her incredulous gaze from you to her father.
In a mocking tone, Roman said, “Oh, yeah, I’m a good girl! I pretend to care about people because nobody ever cares about me!”
“Hm. Roman, do you have anything you wanna tell Dad? A message from Mom, maybe?”
He recoiled, frowning. “Uh, yeah, wow. Fuck you! Thanks, I do.” Roman looked to his dad, and he could feel the familiar fear creeping up and seizing his ribcage. It helped that you’d shifted your hand to lay over his, but only barely. “Mom’s getting remarried.”
Logan nodded, contemplative. “Hm. To Bertie Woofter?”
“Ooh, no. To Peter. Peter, uh, Peter Munson.”
“Munion,” you whispered.
“Peter Munion,” Roman corrected. 
Anger clouded over Logan’s eyes. “You’re fucking kidding. The seat sniffer? Christ. He’s been hanging around for forty-some years!”
“Yeah, and, well, she’d love it if you came to their big Tuscan wedding.”
“Ooh, La-di-da,” Logan said, sucking in a deep breath. “And they sent you as their messenger boy?”
He laughed and laughed. Roman shrugged.
“Okay,” the old man finally said. “Back to it, then. Who are we picking?”
“I guess there are other names,” Hugo offered. Connor coughed pointedly into his fist, but nobody paid him any mind.
Firm, Logan said, “We have to be united on this. It’s a disaster if we splinter.”
“Salgado has great narrative,” Shiv said.
Scowling, Roman spat out, “Quit butt-huffing Salgado! We all supported your little DC lemonade stand, but this is the real fucking world. This actually matters.”
Lip curled, Shiv replied, voice dripping with venom, “Roman, you just love the boot because you like to be kicked by it.”
Clearly hurt, Roman sucked in a deep breath and picked a piece of lint off his pants.
Connor coughed again, and Logan finally asked him what was on his mind.
“Nothing,” the eldest son said. “No, it’s nothing.”
As if to entertain a ludicrous notion, Logan smiled. “What about Connor?”
“I do believe that idea has good promise,” Connor exclaimed. “I do!”
“I could see it,” Logan said. It was strange seeing him smile in such a way. You couldn’t quite decipher its genuinity. “Kids?”
With a slight snicker, Roman raised his brows. “Uhm… sure, I don’t know.” After a pause, he straightened and asked in a more serious tone, “Wait, but, like—really?”
“It feels very…” You winced, sending Connor an apologetic look. “Very nepo baby? Very rigged.”
Roman shrugged. “They’re all fucking weirdos, anyway. Why not?”
“I mean, he’s a good-looking kid,” Logan said. “He’s smart… in his own way. Fucking Joe Kennedy did it for his boys, no? So let’s get him in there with a smile and a shoeshine and get Ron and everyone behind him.”
No way the matter was settled. Shiv crossed her arms, eyes darting every which way in an incredulous manner. 
“I would fight so fuckin’ hard for this family, Pop,” Connor told his dad, warmth spilling over his features. 
Logan casted his gaze over to his daughter. “Siobhan. As a political consultant… what do you think?”
“Well, no huge name ID, but the family name will be a factor and… uh, he’s got no track record.”
“Nothing to beat me with,” Connor emphasized with a charming grin. “I’m a clean skin!”
They yammered on some more, and Roman rubbed his knuckles along his hairline, seeming stressed. He pulled out his phone and shot out a few texts really quickly, thumbs flying across the keyboard.
Finally, once he put the device away, Roman shook his head. “Okay, but, are we being serious about this? We’re talking about trying to make Connor president?”
All the warmth drained from Connor’s face, replaced by a marring frown. “It’s a big tent, Roman. Why don’t you just come in?”
“Sure. Right. I might just call the guy who waxes my balls, he would be a great president, don’t you think?” Roman retorted.
Shiv interjected once more. “If we’re talking about this seriously, I really think we need to take a look at Salgado. Can I bring him up here without being fucking shot?”
Connor rolled his eyes and Roman groaned.
Finally, Logan’s eyes landed on you.
“You’re for Boyer, Y/N?”
You sat up straighter. “I think he’s safe. Most conservatives like safe. Or, at least, the illusion of safety. Boyer can give them that.”
There was a second of a pause, before Logan nodded. “Hugo. Call Boyer.”
“Well, if Shiv gets to bring up soggy Salgado then I wanna see if we can tame Mencken, okay?” Roman asked just as Hugo handed Logan the phone. In a quieter voice, Roman leaned forward to whisper to just you, “I arranged a meeting with him tonight. Come with?”
You reared back, eyes narrowing. “What? No, Roman.”
“Please? Just… you don’t even have to say anything. Just hear him out. What if he’s not all that bad?”
You blew out a steely breath. Meeting with a fascist was certainly not something you ever thought you’d agree to do. 
Begrudging, you muttered, “Fine. But please, Roman, don’t be serious about him. I’m begging you.”
Roman gave you a half-shrug, which didn’t quell any worries you had one bit. “We’ll just see how the dice rolls.”
When Boyer finally picked up the phone, the two of you lapsed into silence, listening in on the conversation. His voice was groggy, as if he’d just been woken up. He didn’t sound too happy at Logan’s request to come to the room.
“Oh… and my fridge is empty, Dave. I don’t suppose you could bring me a Coke?” Logan said. You raised a brow in surprise whilst Roman smiled down at his lap. It was a power play—a reminder to Boyer that he ate out of Logan’s palms.
“Did you mean to call room service?” the vice’s voice crackled through.
“If you don’t have a Coke, is there something else? Could you, perhaps, fire the deputy attorney general?”
“Fire the deputy attorney general?” Boyer parroted, twinged with disbelief. 
Logan smiled, laughing. “I’m kidding. Come on over. Have a chat. If it’s convenient, of course.”
Five minutes later, Boyer was at the suite’s door. You had no time to listen to his talk with Logan, because Roman was already up and pulling you out the door. He spared no explanation to Shiv, who watched the two of you leave with suspicious eyes. 
You took the elevator a floor down, where Mencken’s room was. 
Roman was the one that knocked, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet anxiously. 
“Come in!” you faintly heard Mencken’s voice say. Both you and Roman exchanged looks, yours warning and his pleading, in a sense.
He wanted so badly for your approval.
The two of you stepped in, met with an empty hotel room. It took you another moment to realize that the bathroom door was ajar, Mencken standing in front of the mirror with just a towel hanging over his hips, shaving foam shadowing over his chin and jaw. He was dragging a razor through the white foam, a smile to his lips upon seeing the both of you.
“Hey, guys. Glad to see you again.”
Roman smiled back, leaning against the bathroom’s door frame while you lingered behind him.
“So… I—we just wanted to chit-chat a little bit. That was funny earlier, by the way. You tripping the light fantastic on Grandpappy’s nutsack.”
Mencken hummed. “When I called your dad bullshit? Did that bump?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve never seen that before. That was fucking hardcore,” Roman commented. “Y/N isn’t a fan of ATN either, as it turns out.”
For a moment, you sent Roman a half-hearted glare. He’d said that you wouldn’t have to say anything.
“Ooh. Waystar’s princess, not liking Waystar? How meaty.” Mencken tilted his head back to shave the nooks and crannies that were harder to maneuver around. “Good for you, though. The thing is… this monkey don’t dance.”
Roman laughed, pointing at him. “This monkey right here? The monkey shaving in a hotel bathroom?”
“That’s right.” Finally, Mencken rinsed off the last bits of foam from his face, wiping off the excess dampness with a towel. There wasn’t a single nick on his face—you thought of the many times you’ve watched Roman shaved, when he always somehow managed to garner a dozen or so tiny cuts along his jaw. Mencken turned to face the two of you. 
“Listen, I did want to talk to you about something. Fuck it, I’ll just come right out and say it.” Roman eased into the bathroom, leaning against the wall opposite Mencken, tugging you in as well. It was a strange feeling—you’d never had a meeting in a bathroom before. Wrinkling his nose, Roman said, “Fascists are kind of cool… but not really. So, is that, like, gonna be a problem? Will it be a thing?”
It unnerved you when Mencken sighed, stepping closer to the both of you. So close, in fact, that you could smell the shaving cream he’d used. Your brows furrowed in distaste and fixed your stare on the tile down below your feet.
“Seriously? Me? I just… I don’t have a lot of boundaries.” 
Evidently, you wanted to snap. But you kept quiet.
“St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Schumacher. I’ll borrow from anyone. To restrict me to that label is just… it’s not right, is it? You know, if Franco or H or Travis Bickle had a good pitch, fuck it!”
This made you tear your gaze away from the ground, meeting Mencken’s stare head-on. He was much closer that you realized, and that made you all the more uncomfortable. 
“H?” you finally croaked. “As in—?”
He spared you a wolfish smile. “I’m a fully-fledged, small-dicked Democrat.”
“I don’t think you are,” you challenged. 
This made him tilt his head and bark out a laugh. “Which one? Small-dicked or a Democrat? Because I can tell you now that neither of those are true, sweetheart.” Your unamused countenance seemed to only fuel him further. “A well-regulated election is a transmission frequency for God’s grace, really.”
“Holy shit,” Roman whistled. “You really are a Christian, aren’t you?”
“Well, no, no, my only thing is like—who’s the stakeholder, right? I’ve been tending my little garden for a hundred years, and then forty new guys show up in the back of a truck, playing their boombox. When it’s put to a vote, they decide to, uh, give my farm to themselves. I mean, it’s ridiculous, right? Maybe we should be putting in before we get to take out.”
There was so much to pick apart with his ideology. So many flaws, so many weak-links. But you didn’t say anything.
Instead, Roman asked, “Okay, well, who gets to join?” 
“People trust people who look like them. That’s just a scientific fact. They will give more tax dollars to help them,” Mencken said. “And I know you look nothing like me, ma’am, so I’ll just say it plain and clear. I don’t trust you, and you don’t trust me. But that’s just part of the thrill, no?”
You recoiled back into Roman. “What the fuck are you talking about? What thrill? Can you just—back up a bit? You’re all up in my fucking personal space.” 
Your scowl loosened just a tad when Mencken raised his hands and took a step back. He snorted. “Sorry. Don’t cancel me. Or do. I don’t think it matters much, right?”
He was right, but you didn’t say it.
“I like this country,” Mencken admitted. “I do. I like the people in it.”
“Not all the people, though, right?” you carefully asked.
“Of course, not. And don’t get all high and mighty on me. You can’t say you like all the people in it, now can you?” You opened your mouth to say something, but he cut you off. “We aren’t too different, you and I. Roman… I see why he’s taken a liking to you. You have some sense about you.”
You gave Roman a questioning glance, wondering what on earth he’d said to Mencken through text.
You clenched your jaw. “I’m not here for you,” you finally breathed out. “You can’t sway me, Mencken.”
“Oh, we’ll see about that, sweetheart.”
Clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth, Roman finally intervened before you could get too heated, “In terms of, you know, this thing we have… there’s a thing here, right?” 
“Mhm.”
“I get it. You’re fucking 6G and we’re Betamax, but you need us, I think. Our news, our viewers, those fucking almost-deads. That’s a big slice of pie,” Roman explained. 
“Well, if I’m the nominee… are any of them really going to vote against me?” he asked.
Half a shrug lifting one of his shoulders, Rome said, “No, but… it’s going to be a fucking shitshow going into the convention. I think you could really use our push.”
You weren’t happy about any of this. But Logan had already called Boyer. The deal was done, right? You’d walk back up to the suite, and the next red-wing electee would be picked. This was all… for nothing.
Right?
Mencken nodded. “And I think you could use my push.”
“Maybe,” Roman admitted.
“Where are you in all this?” Mencken asked Roman, curiously. “What’s the little forgotten Prince doing?”
Roman made a nervous, whooshing sound. “I’m, uh, you know. I’m creeping on the come-up.”
“Oh, yeah?” Mencken glanced at you, as if to decipher whether or not he was telling the truth. You betrayed nothing, looking back down at the tiles.
“I’ve got some ideas for ATN. Sluice out the fucking porridge and add some sriracha. Poach some of those TikTok psychos, you know? E-girls with fucking guns and Juul pods. Give me some straight-shot blacks and latinos. That’ll get a few generations turning heads. No more of this fucking… pillows and bedpans. We’re strictly bone broth and dick pills. Deep state conspiracy hour but with, like, a fucking wink, you know? It’ll be funny.” Roman clapped his hands together. “The whole show is kinda set up for the star. President Jeryd Mencken.”
Your face soured.
“I like that,” Mencken said, stroking his freshly-shaved jaw. “I like that a lot.”
“Well, I don’t. Good fucking luck, Roman.” With that, you straightened your shoulders and marched out of the bathroom, needing to get away from the two of them. You needed air. More importantly, you needed to get up to the suite and ask if they’d settled for Boyer.
The two men stood in the bathroom, silent for a few moments.
“I think she likes me.” Mencken smirked.
Roman scratched at the back of his head. He was really hoping you’d see the better side of Mencken, like he did. He just hoped that you weren’t too angry with him. You hardly ever got mad, but when you did, it always felt like the end of the world to him.
“Right… can you, uh… come up and say hello or something to him? My dad?” Roman glanced at the door. “Oh, and bring a can of Coke with you.”
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Logan chose Mencken.
That night, you crawled into the cold hotel bed and cried. You felt so… so trapped in a life that you didn’t want to live. You briefly wondered what would happen to you if you quit your job entirely, but you pushed the thought away almost as quickly as it came. It wasn’t something you liked to entertain.
Half an hour later, you could hear your door opening. 
Right. You’d forgotten that Roman had asked for another set of the key card to your room. You quietly wiped your tears away, grateful that it was too dark for him to see.
He slipped in behind you, sliding his arms over your waist and pressing his nose into the back of your neck. 
“Are you mad at me?” he asked.
You chose not to reply, pretending to be asleep.
“It’ll be good,” he said, eventually. “He’ll be good. I promise. His dick is big enough for the both of us.”
You shifted your foot just a bit, but that was enough for Roman to know that you were awake.
“Stop ignoring me.”
“I don’t want you here,” you murmured.
There was a shuffle behind you. Roman cleared his throat. It was so unbearably tense.
“If it’s Mencken you’re worried about—”
“I don’t want you here,” you repeated, a warbling edge to your voice. “I love you, Roman. Please leave.”
He went stiff. One second, then two, then three. 
“I love you, too,” he finally said. It was said with no joking tone, no playful quips, no inappropriate remarks. It wasn’t often that Roman told you that he loved you, at least compared to the number of times you’d say it to him. Maybe it was because he never knew if you meant I love you, or I’m in love with you.
And with that, he slowly slipped his hands off of you, and got back onto his feet. He made a show of leaving the key card on the nightstand, before making his way out of your hotel room.
He shut the door behind him, standing in front for a minute. A part of him wanted you to open up and beg him to come back. An even more delusional part of him expected you to do so.
Instead, Roman could hear your muffled sobs ricochet from behind the door. Something within him seized up. He turned on his heel and left.
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Kendall had invited you to his birthday party, to your surprise. After all that transpired between the two of you, you hardly expected to be wanted at his party. Though, from what you heard, it was hardly a personal affair.
It didn’t seem like your kind of event, honestly, and you hardly had a reason to go. You loved Kendall, but you could tell him that any other day of the year, when he wasn’t surrounded by fucking vagina-entrances, childhood treehouse replicas, and miniature Wu-Tang dancers. Though, Kendall told you to keep that last bit on the down low. The dancers were meant to be a surprise.
But you weren’t at all planning on going. 
That was, until Logan decided otherwise for you.
There was a problem with GoJo, and Logan was pissed that Matsson hadn’t shown up. Something about blatant disrespect, he’d said. 
“He’s going to this fucking party, isn’t he?” Logan had barked. “Huh? Where is he? Getting his nails done? Asshole whitened?”
Roman squinted at his dad. “I think we just have to court him a little, is the thing—”
“Bah. No. It’s bad fucking juju to start like this,” Logan snippily said.
You quirked a brow, knowing Logan was never one to be superstitious. 
Shiv and Roman both tried to broach more options, but Logan shut them all down. “The deal makes sense. It’s a great deal. But he won’t make the deal because he’s being an arrogant prick.”
“Fine. Yeah, sure, Matsson’s an asshole. But should we really burn our only parachute because of that?” Shiv stressed.
Logan leaned back in his seat, regarding his daughter. “It’s just smart business, Shiv. I don’t want to pay over the odds. And eventually, the market will make him make the deal.”
You shook your head. “The market has plenty of better hands to deal him.”
“Someone can make a better offer, and we’d be screwed,” Roman agreed. 
“Dad, we have a scale issue. Our streaming platform is for shit, and we have nothing that looks like growth,” Shiv added on. “This gets us consequently into streaming, into sports betting—social media! We have a little window. Miss this, and we end up being pilot fish nibbling leftovers from Bezos’ fucking teeth. Dad, please. If you don’t want to talk to Matsson, fine. But let me.”
“Let us,” Roman interjected. “We can all do it. He’s gonna be at the party, right? We’ll go.”
“You’re going?” Logan asked, raising an eyebrow at Shiv.
Her eyes darted from her father to her brother. “Mhm.”
Heaving out a breath, Logan nodded. “Y/N, you go with them. Don’t go in too strong. This is a black box, and I don’t want to overpay.”
You wondered if Logan wanted you there to help broker the deal, or if he wanted you there to make sure Roman and Shiv didn’t start clawing at each other’s throats.
Shiv nodded, muttering something under her breath, and darted out of Logan’s office to make some preparations. That just left you and Roman standing in front of Logan. The air between the two of you was still tense since the whole Mencken debacle.
You were about to step out as well, before Logan said, “Since you two are going, might as well give him this in person.”
He slid over an envelope. The three of you, along with Gerri, had discussed its contents: an offer for Kendall to cash out of the company for good. Roman glanced at you, and you used your head to gesture for him to take it. 
“You think he’ll like it?” Roman asked his dad, who offered him half a smile and a shrug.
When he turned to look at you, the glass door was ajar and the spot where you were standing a moment ago was vacant.
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Roman’s palms were sweaty. This was about the fifth time he’d wiped them down the front of his suit’s pants, hoping they’d just air out on their own by the time he got to your door.
They didn’t, but Roman found himself shrugging it off. You’d seen much worse than sweaty palms when it came to him.
It was an hour before the party was supposed to start—more so if he wanted to be fashionably late, didn’t want to seem too desperate—and he rang the bell.
It’d only been a few days since the two of you properly spoke, but Roman missed you. He found his nights staring at your number, thumb hovering over the call button. He’d sent about a dozen texts since then, but none of them were replied to. Sure, the two of you had gotten into fights every now and then but they never lasted long. 
And Roman was determined to get you to stop ignoring him.
When the door swung open, you peeked through, not at all ready yet for the party. Roman snickered upon seeing your eyeshadow only done on one eye, curlers in your hair.
“Looking hot, fuck-face,” he whistled. To his relief, your features softened, and you stepped to the side to let him amble in. Even in your current disheveled state, you knew he was telling the truth.
In truth, you’d missed him more than you could ever admit. It took a great deal of self-restraint not to reply to his strings of texts, especially once you were given time to cool off after what had transpired in the hotel bathroom. He was your Achilles’ heel, in a way.
“What do you want?” you asked, not even bothering to face him as you shut the door and made your way further into your home, standing in front of your mirror vanity to resume doing your makeup. 
Roman watched your reflection in a near somber manner. “Well, I was just thinking, since we’re going to Kendall’s little birthday bash, we could go togeth—”
“No,” you found yourself saying without a second thought. “I can go myself.”
With a sigh, Roman stepped forward, leaning against your vanity so he could look at you instead of your reflection. “I just want to talk. This—whatever’s going on between us—it fucking sucks. I miss you.”
For a second, you let your eyes meet his. You didn’t say anything, simply carrying on with drawing your eyeliner. 
“You’re not gonna say you miss me, too?”
“Of course I missed you, Rome.” There was a sort of bitterness to your words. “That doesn’t make me any less mad at you.”
“Look, I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry I went down the Mencken road. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you. But, cross my heart and hope to die, I genuinely believe he can help us. And, like, what’s the worst he can do? Just because he becomes president doesn’t mean he can do fuck all. I’m just with him because we’d all benefit from him helping out the company.” He scratched the back of his head whilst giving you, as he would so eloquently put it, fucky eyes. 
There was a long stretch of pregnant silence. You’d finally put down the eyeliner, shifting to stand directly in front of him, your chest brushing against his. 
“What can I do?” he whispered. He couldn’t help it—his eyes were fixed on your lips, parted and glossed. “What can I do to make it up to you?”
You smelled so damn good too—Roman felt like he was going delirious. He chalked it up to not being around you for a long while. That was probably why. His hands reached out to rest over your hips. 
“Not much you can do now. What’s done is done. Your dad settled on Mencken—there’s no changing his mind.” You tilted your head, so close now that your nose was brushing against his. He briefly wondered if you could feel the way his heart was slamming imprints against his ribs. 
You were just a hair’s breadth away from kissing him. You were so fucking close—
Until you pulled away with a smug little grin, far enough so that his hands fell away from you, going right back to fixing up your makeup. “I can look past Mencken for now. Mostly because I can’t see someone like him actually winning the election. But I’m absolutely not saying that I’m with you on this. I’m just saying we can put aside our… differences. If he just so happens to win, I’m counting on you to have your hand up his ass, and my hand would be up yours. So we’re good, for now.” 
“You fucking tease,” he grumbled, chuckling slightly. “What was that about your hand up my ass?”
“Awh,” you said in a mocking tone, one of your feet kicking up to knock against his shin. “Did you manage to get a hard on without me even touching you?”
Roman rolled his eyes. “Fuck off. And no.”
He was lying. He definitely had an erection, and the both of you knew it.
“Did you want me to kiss you?” you asked abruptly, starting to pull out the curlers in your hair.
His mouth went slack. His mind was moving too fast for him to formulate any coherent sentences. Instead, he laughed a bit, before it tapered away awkwardly.
“Yeah?” he finally replied, more of a question than anything.
“You don’t sound sure.”
“I’m sure,” he haughtily replied.
“Okay,” you said, though you didn’t look convinced. Another roller came out. 
“Don’t believe me?” Roman placed his hands over your hips once more, and yanked you close. “I’ll kiss you right here, right now.”
A brilliant smile danced across your features. “That a promise, Romey?”
With that, Roman leaned forward and slotted his lips over yours. It was tentative and soft and—surprisingly sticky. Your lip gloss, he registered a second later, tasted like strawberries and honey. A content hum slipped from you and you wrapped your arms around his neck, kissing him back with just as much vigor. Your nose slanted against his, foreheads knocking together. 
You were the one to pull away first, laughing lightly at his hooded eyes and the way he chased after your lips. A second bout of laughter overtook you when you saw the glossy, tinted smudges across his mouth. 
Shoulders still shaking, you pulled out a makeup wipe and handed it over to him, silently gesturing to his lips. 
“The color doesn’t suit you,” you rasped, though you kissed his cheek to leave a faint mark there, as well. “That’s a first for us, you know?”
“What?”
“Kissing.”
Roman looked at you strangely as he wiped away the remnants of your gloss. “We’ve kissed millions of times. Mostly you, because you’re obsessed with me.”
“Yeah, but… not like that. Mouth to mouth. It was always a line I didn’t wanna cross, you know?”
He toyed with a brush laying on your vanity. “Why not?” he asked, his voice sounding a bit more unsure. “You afraid I’m gonna give you cooties?”
“Well, because we’re…” You paused, gesturing between the two of you. “We’re friends. With occasional benefits, I guess. I didn’t know if you were okay with it.”
Lifting a shoulder, Roman offered you a smile. Friends didn’t sit quite right with him. Not anymore, at least. “Well now you know. You can kiss me all you want.”
You huffed in amusement, before pulling out the rest of the rollers in your hair. All you had left to do was put on your outfit, and you were good to go. You wondered if Kendall would be happy seeing his siblings at his party, when you knew for a fact that he hadn’t invited them.
“I’m gonna go change. You want me to help you out with that?” You looked down at his tented pants with a raised brow. “No blow jobs, though. Don’t wanna ruin my makeup.”
This time, Roman was the one that laughed, loud and chesty. He sucked on his teeth, as if debating his options. 
“How much time do we have?” he asked.
You glanced over at a small clock hanging on the opposite side of the room. “We’ve got forty-five minutes, maybe? If we wanna get there before Matsson gets bored and leaves.”
Roman clapped his hands together. “Great! More than enough time.” 
The two of you ended up fooling around for a bit longer than you’d anticipated—he’d humped your ass with you bent over your couch, then finished by jacking off onto your back. You were grateful that you hadn’t yet changed into your outfit for the party, having stayed in a comfortable white shirt that you shucked off and threw into the laundry bin.
To your surprise, he seemed earnest enough to want to try fingering you, and you shyly told him to go for it if he wanted. A permanent flush fixed over your cheeks as you gently guided him to do what felt best. His thumb over your clit, his fingers sheathed deep in your cunt. He was good at it, mostly because he was clinging onto your every plea like it was gospel. You came with a drawn-out moan and your teeth sinking into his shoulder. 
You managed to squeeze in just one more handjob for him since he somehow got hard again while fingering you, whispering filthy nothings into his ear as he whined, eyes rolled into the back of his head. To your curious delight, you’d found that Roman really liked being called a good boy.
Only after all that did you manage to change into a semi-formal dress, touching up on your makeup since a lot of your lipstick had smudged onto Roman. In turn, Roman headed to the bathroom to wash up a bit, comb back his hair, some strands had come loose during your little excursions, and straightened out his suit.
“You ready?” you asked, peeking into the bathroom. The two of you were a bit later than you would’ve liked. “I want to make a stop at the corner store before the party.”
“What for?” he asked, curious.
“Last minute birthday gift,” you replied, hopping slightly as you strapped on your shoes. “Let’s go, Rome. You look hot, I promise.”
He smiled at your reflection, and took your outstretched hand. 
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Upon arriving at the large venue, the woman in front asked to take everybody’s coats and phones. To which, Roman told her, “Yeah, fuck off, I’m not doing that,” and walked right past her. 
You gave her an apologetic smile, shedding your coat and handed it to her. “Sorry, I can’t hand you my phone. Company policy.”
With that, you jogged to catch up to Roman, chatting with Connor, who had also chosen to cling on tightly to his coat. Beneath it, you saw that one of his arms was in a sling.
“Oh, Con, what happened?” you asked, waving hello to Willa.
“Nothing, nothing. Just ranch stuff,” the older man replied, nonchalant.
Roman snorted. “What, a horse didn’t want you to fuck it?”
“He had a fall,” Willa said, and Connor immediately protested.
“You make it sound like I’m ninety years old. No, Maxim and I just got some polling results. We shared a Cognac, and then I slipped doing a little Irish jig.”
“Oh, okay. Ranch stuff. Got it,” quipped Roman. 
You stopped in front of a tunnel-like entrance, the walls lined with soft pink. 
 “This feels disgustingly Kendall,” Shiv said, and the two of you laughed as you strolled in. “So… where’s Tabs, Rome? She busy?”
Arching a brow, you looked to Roman. You knew that his relationship with her had fizzled out, especially after the… corpse sex debacle.
“Yup,” Roman said, clearly not comfortable discussing it with her.
She grinned, snickering. “Again? Did you kill her?”
“We’re actually—we’re not really seeing each other anymore. She was just a bit boring. That’s all I’m saying,” Roman said. His eyes darted to you, and you offered him half a smile.
“Mmh, yeah. Because you find sexual intimacy boring, don’t you?” Shiv pressed, which made both you and Roman frown.
“As if you’re the catch,” Roman snapped back. “You’re more fucked up than me, you know! Seems like Y/N and I are nicer to each other than you are to your own husband.”
Shiv looked between the two of you, expression immediately souring. “You’re so fucking annoying,” she muttered, before turning to mutter something to Tom.
By the end of the pink tunnel, a woman dressed in a cartoonish nurse uniform greeted the group. “You’ve just been born into the world of Kendall Roy!” she announced.
“Oh, Jesus,” Shiv huffed.
Roman turned back to look at the pink tunnel. “Oh. So if we’ve just been born, then that must be mom’s…?” He shifted his weight back and forth by the exit. “You’re telling me I’m repeatedly entering my mom’s vagina right now?”
You snorted in amusement, nudging Shiv. “These your mom jokes just keep getting better.”
She hummed. “Cold and inhospitable. It seems to check out.”
“This is my mom’s cooch, just so you know,” Roman told the nurse. “And you’re implying that it’s massive, so, uh, might wanna get Kendall to see if you can tighten my mother’s vagina.”
The group shuffled off, leaving the poor nurse to gather her wits and greet the next few guests approaching. 
“Where’s Matsson, you think?” Shiv asked.
“Probably standing in a corner somewhere, monitoring his biometrics from his watch,” Roman scoffed. 
“Don’t you think we should find Kendall before trying to find Matsson?” you queried, looking around the crowded room in hopes of finding Kendall somewhere amidst the dancing throng. “I mean… it is his birthday party, after all.”
Nodding, Roman said, “Yeah, good thinking. Let’s just get it out of the way.”
Shiv managed to track down one of Kendall’s assistants, asking her where he’d be. She pointed up the stairs, where the VIP section was. Thanking her, the three of you made your way up the stairs whilst the rest of the group stayed down to mingle. 
The second floor was a bit less packed, but there were still dozens upon dozens of famous figures mingling about. It wasn’t hard to find Kendall amongst them, sticking out like a sore thumb with a birthday crown perched on his head, laughing with his girlfriend, Naomi Pierce, by his side. 
His eyes met his siblings’, and he scrambled to take the crown off, dropping it onto the nearest waiter’s tray. 
“Woah, woah, woah. Wait a second. Who let you guys in? This is friends only!” he exclaimed. 
Shiv made a pitying noise. “Awh. Shouldn’t it be empty, then?”
Roman cackled. “She beat me by one second.”
“Happy birthday, old man,” Shiv said, giving her older brother a sharp smile.
“Just to say, I’m only here because I heard there was going to be a five-dimensional catastrophe, and I want to watch you crash and burn,” Roman told him.
Features mellowing, Kendall stepped forward and spread his arms out wide to give Roman a hug, which he reciprocated with no complaint.
 However, he did have to squeeze in, “Man, it even feels like you’re old. You sure you’re only forty? You look like shit.”
Despite his harsh words, Kendall pulled away with a genuine smile. He was happy that his siblings were here, even if he hadn’t invited them.
He hugged you next, and you reached up to kiss his cheek with a smile. “Hey, Kenny D. Happy birthday—I brought you a little present.” You reached into the cheap plastic bag from the corner store, brandishing a strawberry popsicle, still in its wrapper. “It’s probably a bit melted but if you popped it into the freezer for ten minutes or so, it should be good as new. Sorry it’s not much.”
Kendall’s expression seemed to soften, recalling how the two of you would always argue over the last remaining strawberry popsicle during the summers you were still little children. When you would grab it from the freezer before he could, he’d tug on your pigtails and call you mean as you denied ever taking them, and you’d hide the wrappers in Rome’s room so he’d never know it was you. But he could always tell from the sticky red on the corners of your mouth and your sugar-highs that seemed to last for a little too long. 
“No, this is…” He took the popsicle from you, staring down at the wrapper. “This is perfect. Thank you. I really appreciate it, I do.”
You nodded, pointedly watching as he pocketed the popsicle. “No problem. I promise not to take this one from you.”
Kendall laughed, then looked to his brother and sister. “Really? No card? I’m disappointed.”
“Sorry, I couldn’t find one that said both ‘happy birthday’ and ‘get well soon’,” Shiv crooned. The smile on Kendall’s face faltered.
“Well, I’m glad you guys came. It says a lot,” he finally said.
“It was a ten minute drive,” Shiv deadpanned. 
A part of you wondered why Shiv was being particularly brutal today, especially on Kendall’s birthday. Nonetheless, the two of them awkwardly hugged, Shiv patting her brother’s back a few times.
Connor and Willa ascended the stairs a few seconds later, waving hello. They greeted the birthday boy with hugs, and the smile returned back to Kendall’s face, though it wasn’t quite the same as before.
“So, what do you guys think? Sick party, right?” Kendall asked, arms spread.
Squinting, Roman glanced back downstairs. “It’s cool, but, uh, did you ask for Mummy’s permission to use her, uh… squatch?”
Kendall shook his head a bit, seeming puzzled. “What, from, like, a copyright perspective?”
“Well, it’s just, you know—call me old-fashioned, but I think you should ask before constructing a giant replica of someone’s vagina,” Roman off-handedly said.
“I’d definitely want to be informed before someone decides to make an artistic rendition of my privates,” you chimed in agreement.
“Duly noted,” Roman said in a faux British accent, and the two of you giggled under your breath like schoolgirls.
Kendall, miffed, nodded a few times. “Yeah, okay. Yeah. I can—I can send mom an email. But, relax, will you? Yes, Roman, you can take it home with you.”
Roman pumped a fist into the air at that, and you both burst into another round of giddy laughter.
Rolling her eyes, Shiv said, “Okay, so, tell us. Who else is here?”
Kendall made a show of looking around at the dozens of famous celebrities loitering around the VIP section. “Who isn’t?”
“Your dad,” Roman said.
“Your mom,” Shiv told him.
“Your wife,” Connor added.
“Your kids?” you put forth, more as a question than anything. 
“Any real friends,” Roman chimed again.
With a smile, Shiv said, “I mean, business folks, sure. Stewy? Honestly, we could do with building some bridges. So, uh, Lawrence Yee? He here? Lukas Matsson?”
There it was. She name-dropped the golden goose.
“Yeah, yeah. They’re all here, somewhere,” Kendall assured, gesturing around vaguely. “I have something to show you guys, actually. Come on.”
The siblings and you followed him down a winding hallway, which gave way to black-out curtains, and past that, it seemed to be an art gallery of sorts.
“Hey, Dad wanted me to give this to you,” Roman said, handing Kendall the envelope. You eyed it warily, wondering how Kendall would react to the offer.
“What is it?” the older brother queried, shaking it lightly, as if expecting something inside to rattle.
A dismissive sort of smile fell over Roman’s face. “It’s, uh, an iTunes gift card and a couple of your baby teeth. It’s nice. We hope you like it.”
Kendall looked at you, silently asking for confirmation. You nodded, hesitant, but that seemed to satisfy him enough—he pocketed the envelope to open up for later. 
“Okay, guys, let me show you some shit. C’mon.” He beckoned everyone into the art gallery, before spewing into a long tangent about all the people he had to collaborate with in order for things to work out.
Instead of paintings and sculptures, which you’d typically see hung up in galleries, there were newspaper articles and headlines plastered over the walls. 
The Cincinnati Standard: Waystar Chairman, Kendall Roy Elected President of World Federation!
Boston Daily Express: Wife of Tom Wambsgans Arrested In Sweep of City Street-Walkers!
The Correspondent: Connor Roy Elected President [of shitting his bag]!
The NY Globe: Failed Youngest Roy Sibling Dies in Tragic Jerk-Off Accident!
Both you and Roman stopped to stand in front of his article. You shot him an amused glance. “Who were you jerking off to, do you think?”
“Don’t worry, fuck-face, there’s a lot of Roman to go around,” he said, leaning closer to read the smaller text.
Your grin grew wider, gesturing to the paper. “Not for long, according to this.”
“It’s not a bad way to go.” Roman bumped his shoulder into yours. “Yours is going to happen any day now, I can just feel it.” 
Your brows raised, and you turned around, surprised to see your own article plastered large and tall right beside Connor’s.
New York Journalist: Disgraced CEO’s Goddaughter Kicked Out of Company—Adopted Into Communist Parties!
“Wow,” you breathed out. It wasn’t all that bad, really. 
“You like it?” Kendall asked the two of you.
“You’ve got people in here picturing me jerking off, so who’s the real winner?” Roman sneered. 
Shaking your head, you told Kendall, “I can’t even imagine why you’d have an entire room dedicated to this at your birthday party.”
“It’s—it’s unique. An extrapolation into the near future,” he said. “People dig it.”
“You keep telling yourself that,” Roman replied, clapping his shoulder, before wandering off to read the other articles.
Connor threw a large fit about his article, unhappy with the way he was being portrayed as an unserious candidate.
“You did actually shit your bag, though,” Roman said. Kendall guffawed and the two brothers began laughing together, at Connor’s expense.
His scowl deepened. “Yeah, you know why? Because I took you two fucking assholes on a camping trip because Dad couldn’t be bothered! That’s why! I ate some bad fucking fish! This is bullshit, Kendall!” He yelled that last sentence, to which Kendall quickly reassured him that he’d have it taken down.
You remembered Roman telling you about the camping trip, the both of you only barely teenagers. It was harder then, being friends with them—boys were particularly mean at that age.
You remembered asking if you could come along. Kendall told you that it was a boys trip. Only boys were allowed, and you most certainly weren’t a boy. 
You remembered Roman asking if you could somehow fit into the cooler so he could sneak you on the trip. Even now, you weren't quite sure if he was just joking or if he was being serious. Nonetheless, you pushed him away and told him to have fun sleeping on rocks and eating stale jerky that tasted like dirt. When you sniffled, Connor put a hand on your shoulder and told you that there’d be many more camping trips in the future. To your knowledge, they never went again. 
“Alright, guys, I gotta circulate. Lots of people to talk to. We can check in later, yeah?” Kendall rubbed his hands together. You briefly realized that this was the first time you’d seen him genuinely happy in a long time.
“Yeah, yeah, you go on ahead,” Shiv said, urging him on.
“It’s a great night. I’m happy you guys are here. Fucking… best birthday ever.”
With that, Kendall hurried off. You and Roman exchanged glances, mirrors of pity and guilt.
Half an hour of asking around later, Shiv managed to snag down Matsson’s location in this never-ending venue of birthday bash.
“Don’t fuck this,” Shiv warned Roman, to which he rolled his eyes and gestured for her to lead the way.
The three of you traversed up a couple more flights of winding staircases, turning left into a massive hall, where a giant replica of a treehouse was erected, leading into what looked like another secret passageway. You narrowed your eyes, seeming to recognize the little carvings on the wood by the base of the tree. Younger Kendall often went into the yard whenever he was angry, whittling away his frustrations onto the bark. You and Roman used to play pretend that they were ancient runes when he wasn’t around to hear you.
“I think a forty year old man who rebuilt his childhood treehouse should immediately go on the sex offender registry,” Roman snidely commented, eyeing the massive structure. 
Two burly guards blocked the entry way.
“We’re with Kendall,” you said as you tried to sidestep them, but one thrust his arm out in front of you.
“Do you have a rainbow band?” he gruffed.
Roman guffawed. “Yes. I’m a walking fucking rainbow band.”
It was then that Kendall’s head emerged from behind the guards, eyebrows raised.
“Hey, guys. You done downstairs?”
“Mhm. These guys aren’t letting us in. Ain’t that crazy?” Roman asked pointedly. “Do you mind if we took a gander around your mental disorder?”
Kendall laughed, though it sounded forced. “Hah. Yeah, good one. That’s funny, Rome.”
“So are you gonna let us in, or what?” Shiv butted in, clearly impatient.
“That’s, uh…” Kendall smiled, almost apologetic, almost triumphant. “That’s not possible.”
You tilted your head, wondering if Kendall somehow found out that the three of you were after Matsson. “Not possible? Why’s that?”
“You hiding something from us in there, Ken?” Roman jeered. “Nude selfies you don’t feel comfortable with showing? The angsty romantic poetry you wrote when you were seventeen?”
A frown flickered across his face. “Well, okay, the thing is—the treehouse is for cool people, and you guys… you guys aren’t cool. Sorry, Y/N. You know, I would’ve given you a band if they weren’t here with you.”
“I’m flattered,” you said in a flat tone.
“Wow. The coolest grown man’s treehouse I’ve seen in quite a while,” Shiv snippily retorted, which made Roman snicker.
Holding his hands out in a placating manner, Kendall told the three of you, “Okay, no, seriously guys. Sorry, but, like… all jokes aside, there’s actually a real issue here, and I need to be discreet, because there’s a lot of celebrities around, and if you guys were in the treehouse, it would be kinda—kinda wouldn’t feel like the treehouse, y’know?”
Shiv scoffed.
“You’re a nazi lover,” Kendall deadpanned, pointing at his sister. He jutted his finger to Roman, then you. “And you’re a nazi lover. And you’re heavily affiliated with them. Me, on the other hand, I’m a defender of liberal democracy.” 
“Lovely. You afraid of getting canceled on Twitter, Kendall?” you asked, crossing your arms. You let the words spew out without really thinking over them. “Or are you scared to show all your ad-sponsored, money-grubbing buddies up there who kicked you to the ground and spat on your corpse? It’s not a good look, is it?”
Appearing crestfallen for a moment, Kendall shook his head. “You’re being—stop. I didn’t expect you to stoop down to their level, Y/N.”
“Jesus, are you going to let us in or not?” Roman huffed.
“What, to see Matsson?” Kendall finally asked.
There it was. He knew.
“That’s why you’re here. You’re trying to push a deal,” he muttered. 
“Who fucking gives a shit?” Roman asked. “What’s the difference to you? I just want to talk to him.”
Shiv nodded. “You know what’ll happen if we do talk to him? Either we strike out with nothing, or we succeed, Waystar benefits, and your net worth goes up by several hundred million dollars.”
“You’re welcome,” retorted Roman.
“Okay, yeah, but I have to weigh that against the consideration that no losers allowed,” Kendall said, shrugging.
“God, you’re such a fucking child.” You rolled your eyes, the two other siblings following suit.
Trying to step up again, Roman said, “I’m going in. This is fucking stupid.”
Kendall grabbed at his brother’s shoulder, pulling him back, and turning him around to face away from the treehouse.
“Oh, my God. Did you see that? I just got moved.” 
Roman tried again, and the two got into a catty, near indiscernible argument. Kendall pushed, and Roman stepped back, before leaning in again. 
“You really gonna get so worked up over a treehouse?” Kendall hissed. “That’s fucking lame, man.” 
Finally, Roman stepped away, his shoulder bumping into yours. “Fuck. Wow.”
“Don’t let these guys in. This is my treehouse, and they shouldn’t be here,” Kendall warned the guards, before slipping between them, making his way back into his treehouse. “Oh, and, thanks for the offer, guys. Great headfuck from Dad. Really fucking cool of you.”
You thought the buyout would be good for him. A naive part of you had even thought that he’d simply accept it with no complaint. Lord knew it was more than enough money to sustain him several lifetimes.
“Unbelievable. Un-fucking-believable,” Roman groaned. “Now what?”
Curious, Shiv looked over at the two of you. “What was Ken talking about? What offer?”
You and Roman exchanged looks. “That was nothing,” Roman dismissively replied, shrugging. “It was just a little move to ease him out of the holding company.”
“What? And—you two didn’t think to tell me?” she just about snarled, brows drawing together.
“It’s just an offer, Shiv. You would’ve found out eventually,” you sighed, rubbing the spot between your brows, the beginnings of a headache starting to fight through. 
“Whose name was on the paper?” she asked, head tilted.
“Mine,” Roman sighed. “It’s just a name, though. It’s nothing.”
“Okay, so why wasn’t I the name if it was fucking nothing?” she demanded. “Historically, who owns the fucking company has been of some interest. It’s not nothing.”
Tired of the conversation, Roman told her, “We handled it. You wanna figure out the financing, or something? It’s all there.”
A muscle in her jaw twitched. “Yeah, that’s fucking great. You guys are so adorable. Fuck you. Fuck this.” 
She stormed off, heels clanging loudly against the staircases’ steps.
A few seconds of silence lapsed by before you reached out to take Roman’s arm. “You ready to go steal some rainbow bands?”
He used his free hand to cup your face and tug you closer, landing a loud, obnoxious kiss onto your cheek. 
“I fucking love us,” he hummed.
The two of you began to walk around, eyeing all the guests who happened to have bracelets on. 
“I do, too, Rome. I do, too.”
Eventually, the two of you managed to snag down a handsy couple who looked much too busy sucking off each others’ faces to care about their stupid rainbow bands. They handed it to you two with no question and you thanked them with a smile whilst Roman snidely told them to use protection. He was one to talk, really.
The guards also gave the two of you a lot of trouble, but after a bit of charm from your end and a bit of light threatening from Roman’s end, the two of you were finally in the damned treehouse.
“I’m scared we’re going to see detailed exhibits of Kendall’s sex life up there,” you uneasily said. 
“Nah, I think I just saw Anne Hathaway passing by. No way Kendall would embarrass himself like that around this crowd,” Roman snorted. After a second, he tacked on, “But I wouldn’t put it past him.”
Almost at once, your eyes landed on Matsson, huddled up in a dingy corner and playing a shoddy tapping game on his phone. He looked next to miserable, utterly bored out of his mind.
“Bingo,” you whispered, nudging Roman with a grin. 
Once the two of you approached him, his eyes didn’t even bother lifting from his screen. But his brows raised in acknowledgement upon hearing Roman’s voice.
“There you are, fucking hiding from us. You little sneak, you. Like a human VPN.” Roman took the seat adjacent to him, and you sat across from the two. “How you doing?”
A disgruntled noise fell from Matsson’s lips. “Eh. I’m alright. I’m just, uh… you know. You fill in the blanks.”
Your lips downturned slightly. You hadn’t spoken to Matsson personally before, but the two of you had gone to the same conferences before in the past—you were never overly fond of his character. Lazy, erratic, a pure dick-jerker. But you knew he was integral to hold up the company, so you swallowed any and all complaints you had about him.
“I hear you. Yeah. Fucking life, right?” Roman drawled in response, attempting and failing to mimic Matsson’s nonchalance.
“I just wanna find a good pussy and get out, you know?” Lukas muttered. For a brief moment, he looked away from his phone, to you. “You down?” he asked.
Rearing back in surprise, you briefly wondered if he was high on something. He probably was.
A nervous laugh slipped out of you, and you gave Roman a wide side-glare. “I’m not here to get laid.”
“Hm. Pity.” There was lust in his gaze, and you felt a wave of nausea roll over you.
To diffuse the tension, Roman quipped in a high voice, “Yeah, well—pussy’s great. Mhm. You see my mom’s at the front, there?”
Matsson snickered lowly. “Yeah. You seen my mom’s? It’s not… it’s not great.”
Roman laughed, and you begrudgingly cracked a smile at that, too.
“Wow. Yeah, sure, I’m not gonna delve too deep into that one.” Roman leaned forward. “Question—my old man got a little bit grumpy this morning, but you weren’t trying to humiliate him, right? I mean, fucking everyone says we’re the last big legacy content library, and you’re the last fucking super app streaming platform. We fit, obviously. Right?”
Finally, Matsson put his phone down to regard the two of you. He pulled a contemplative frown.
“People say we fit, yeah.”
You eyed Matsson warily, partially worried that he’d get bored of the two of you and go back to his phone. “You help prop us up, and we’ll turn GoJo into a gold mine. A tooth for a tooth.”
With guarded interest, Matsson sat up just a bit straighter. Instead of replying to you, he faced Roman and said, “She’s a bit… how do you get anything done with her around?”
An embarrassed, frustrated sort of flush heated your skin. It was beyond demeaning that he spoke to Roman as if you couldn’t hear everything he was saying. Was it because you were a woman? Because Matsson so clearly saw you as a piece of ass and nothing more?
Though Roman sent you an apologetic, slightly confused glance, he said, “Well, I don’t, really. But, uh, what are you thinking?”
Half of a shrug. “I mean, that’s great and everything, but I do have one small concern.”
“Yeah? And what’s that?” Roman asked.
“When will your father die?”
Roman’s brows flew up in shock. “When will… when will my father die?” he parroted, blinking himself out of his stupor. “Uh…”
The blonde man gestured vaguely towards him. “Like, I don’t wanna be rude, but—what kind of shape is he in? Are we talking less than a year or is it more like five years? ‘Cause if it’s five, that’s… that’s a long time. It would be better sooner, wouldn’t it?”
Roman broke out into a fit of laughter. A nervous habit, you knew.
“No, yeah, I’m laughing here, but, like—that is my dad, so, you know. Go easy there, tiger.”
Though you were well aware that Matsson clearly had a hard time speaking to you without getting a raging boner, you felt it important to voice, “Is Logan’s position on top a problem for you? For this deal?”
The corner of his lips twitched up when he spared you a look. “No, it’s just that I don’t like the idea of a man hanging over me. It’s not my world, media. Not my thing. But Logan’s death, it would… it would clear space.”
Clear space. How airily he threw about the term. A quick peek at Roman told you that he was just as uncomfortable as you were. He scratched the back of his head rather aggressively.
“Uh, I mean, we’re all obviously… hugely looking forward to my father dying,” Roman started, tapering off into a hum of forced laughter. “But, hear me out, there’d be another shape to this. How about you never ever have to speak to him? You could work out of Austin, Geneva, London, Stockholm, wherever. Totally separate corporate identities. And StarGo, we burn, obviously.”
This seemed to please Matsson immensely. It was no secret how shitty Waystar’s streaming platform was.
“Yes, yes. Please. Burn the codes and fucking acid bath those servers.”
Roman cracked a smile. “We can do that. We could do that together. I mean, GoJo, full bore. Our library, our firepower, our relationships for content. And, like, good shit. Not, like, gay moms and wheelchair kids liberal crap. Actual, popular, shit.”
A frown crossed your expression briefly. You never liked it when Roman got political. Nonetheless, you could see now that Lukas was listening intently to what the two of you had to offer. 
“You won’t have to communicate with Logan whatsoever. None of your decisions would be intercepted by him—it’d be filtered through Roman, if need be. And, you know, if it’s beneficial for you, it’d be beneficial for us,” you told him firmly whilst maintaining eye contact. You wanted him to know that you were more than capable of holding your own. 
It didn’t last long, however, because Matsson rolled his head back and blew out a sigh. “I hope you know that StarGo truly is a piece of shit.”
“It’s a huge piece of shit, yeah,” Roman agreed.
“I like to open it just to see how long it takes for the landing page to load,” Lukas said, lazily smiling. A quick glance in your direction, and he slapped at his knees. “Hey, Roman, you wanna go and take a piss on the app?”
A second’s pause. “What, like, literally?”
“Yeah.” Lukas got up to his feet.
Roman hastily stood as well, sending you an apprehensive look. “Yeah, okay, uh—” before he could finish, Matsson was already striding away. 
God. You already couldn’t stand that man.
“Go,” you told Roman. “He thinks I’m distracting. I know. I’ll be around. You just go land a meeting with him, okay? Keep him interested.”
“Okay. Yeah. Are you—? Yeah, okay. You’re great, y’know? So fucking great.” Roman squeezed your shoulder once, before he shoved his hands into his pockets and jogged after Matsson, who was already halfway to the men’s bathroom.
A heavy pit sank to the bottom of your stomach. Everybody was dancing around you, the music pounding so loudly you could feel the base vibrating the ground. There was a distinct sting to the very top of your nose—a telltale sign that you were upset, even though you were doing your very best to push it down. It was times like these you hated being a woman working in an industry made for and surrounded by men.
With pursed lips, you got up to leave the treehouse, feeling incredibly out of place in there.
And so you wove through the crowds, until you saw Kendall walking down a hall with Naomi, his shoulders tensed.
“Hey, Kendall?” you called out, quickening your pace to catch up with him.
“What do you want?” he asked, bitter. “You wanna ask for a condom so you can go fuck Matsson in my treehouse? Sorry, I don’t have one.”
He did—he always kept one in his wallet, but you didn’t need to know that.
“Yeah, no, Roman’s doing that already.” You fiddled with your hands and his eyes softened just a tad, drawing his own conclusions that you didn’t care to spell out. “Hey, uh, sorry, this is a really douche-y thing of me to ask, but… could I have the strawberry popsicle back?”
Dumbfounded, Kendall fixed you with an incredulous stare. “What?”
You cleared your throat nervously, feeling your nose begin to sting more. You weren’t quite sure if those were tears pricking your eyes, or if you were just tired. “I’ll get you another one, I promise.” 
The wrapper was still sticking out of his pocket. Melted, you knew for a fact, but you didn’t care. You wanted it, and you wanted it now.
“What? But this—this is my gift. You said you wouldn’t take this one.”
You were being an asshole. You knew it, and he knew it. “Kendall, just—just fucking give it over. It’s a popsicle! I can get you a million others after this.”
Then, you tried to reach for it, but Kendall sidestepped away from you, bumping into Naomi. 
“Yeah, but this one’s mine. You gave it to me. What is with you?” 
Your lip warbled as you inhaled sharply. “Please? I just—I really need it right now.”
There was a momentary pause as Kendall looked down at the wrapper sticking out of his pocket. In all honesty, he’d forgotten it was even there until you brought it up.
“No,” he finally said. “There’s refreshments and desserts all over this fucking place. You don’t need it.”
You bit down on the inside of your cheek. “Fuck you,” you eventually mustered, tears welling up over your waterline.
A large part of Kendall felt guilty, but he consciously took a step back away from you. “I have to go. My kids gave me a present. Rabbit wrapping. I gotta find it.”
“Eat a dick, Kendall.”
With that, he left.
You harshly wiped away any lingering dampness that spilled over your cheeks and hurried away. As you rushed to get to the bar, you caught sight of Shiv wildly dancing in the middle of the crowd, feet bare and hair tousled. 
It wasn’t long before Tom came to join you, seemingly in a glum mood himself. He was saying something about Greg and his new fixation on Kendall’s assistant, but you weren’t quite listening, merely nodding along at regular intervals.
About half an hour later, Roman finally appeared, grinning so wide it was a wonder his face didn’t split in two. By then, Shiv had joined you and Tom by the bar, breathless and cherry-cheeked.
“You okay?” Roman preened. “Onlookers reported you having some sort of breakdown. People were anxious that you might have swallowed your tongue.”
A frown crossed her lips. “I was dancing.”
“Hm. I heard it looked like a cry for help. That right, Y/N?” Roman casted a look in your direction, noting your glum atmosphere. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
Before you could reply, Shiv shook her head. “Fuck you. Did you speak to Matsson?”
“I’m trying to console my friend here, Siobhan—”
“Did you speak to him?” she gritted out again, completely disregarding his initial rebuttal. 
Rolling his eyes, Roman leaned against the bar, his arm brushing yours. “Yup. I spoke to him.”
“And?”
“Don’t worry about it, Shivvy. I’ll handle it,” he snidely remarked. His arm pressed firmer up against yours. In a lowered voice, he asked, “You sure you’re good? You look all—mopey dopey over here.”
You didn’t quite know how to explain to him that you and Kendall had gotten into a tiff over a stupid popsicle, and you were sick of being reduced to the pretty woman men couldn’t take seriously. Even if you had vocalized all that, a large part of you doubted that Roman would understand any of it. He’d look at you all guilty and puppy-eyed, one of the few ways he tried to convey sympathy, and you’d kiss his cheek and tell him it was fine. That was usually how things went between the two of you, anyway.
“No, seriously, Roman,” Shiv just about growled. 
“I’m being serious,” he shot back, clearly growing agitated that Shiv just wouldn’t buzz off. And also because you weren’t talking to him, and the two of you knew well how terribly he coped with that. “I’ll talk to Dad and see if he wants to loop you in, okay?”
The aggravation written plainly over her features seemed to deepen. “Just fucking tell me! This is important, and I might need to finesse.”
“Oh, you need to finesse? That’s so kind of you to offer! But, uh, how would you finesse something that’s already done, exactly? By ruining it?” Roman jeered, crossing his arms. “Yeah, y’know what, I handled Matsson. I understand him. I’m not sure you do.”
You simply watched Shiv’s face cave in with unbridled frustration. In a way, you understood exactly how she was feeling. Though, you supposed you were more folded in than she was, given Roman’s trust in you.
“You know what, if you wanna show off to somebody, maybe show off to someone who gives a shit. Look—even Y/N doesn’t wanna hear about it!”
The two siblings looked at you, and you lifted a shoulder in a shrug.
“If you landed it, that’s all I care to know,” you gently told Roman.
A nod, and a hum. “It’s all good. Matsson peed on my phone, but we got it. And listen, Shiv, you’re having a very bad day, I know that. What with hearing that you have to continue sharing an apartment with the old meat wardrobe, but, you know—try to keep your wig on.”
There was a certain fire to Shiv’s eyes, darting between the two of you angrily. “I’m the one in a functioning relationship. You guys are fucked up emotionally and using each other as crutches to feel better about yourselves.”
Now that… that struck a nerve. She was right, you knew it, but you never liked facing your and Roman’s codependency head-on. It was an uncomfortable truth that the two of you were quite comfortable not dwelling on.
“Oh, really?” Roman retorted. “I thought you were thinking about all the dick you were gonna ride while he was behind bars? Hm?”
“Oh, my fucking God,” Shiv hissed in incredulous disbelief. “You know what? Nobody likes talking about me fucking guys as much as you do. Why is that? Is that because you’re the COO who can’t fuck?”
This seemed to stun Roman into silence. His eyes flickered over to your silent form, staring down at your half-empty drink. Shiv caught the way he looked over at you, a cruel scoff hitching in her throat.
“Huh. Can’t even get it up for Y/N?”
A deep breath in, and Roman was quick to push the argument back onto Shiv. “Did you think Tom was going to go to jail?”
“No. I’m happy he’s not going.”
“Oh, I’m sure you are! You look really happy. Fucking rainbows and sunshine plastered all over you. Did you think he was, though? Just a smidge? Maybe Dad would go to jail, too? Oh, and maybe I’d go, too! And because Kendall’s all fucked up in the head, you’d… oh, you’d be able to sit on your little throne. It’d be all about you. You thought it was ladies’ night and they were playing your song, but guess what? You were wrong! All the men got together in the man club and we decided, sweetheart, everything’s fine, so just—”
A cord within you snapped.
“Roman,” you sternly barked out. “Shut the fuck up. We get it.”
“Don’t talk for me,” Shiv haughtily told you, before fixing her brother with a fiery glare. “He’s just using you as a messenger boy, but as usual, you’re too fucking dumb to see it.”
“Right. Mhm. It’s difficult for you, I know. It’s hard to have to do the dance for Dad because you just suck at dancing,” Roman sneered. 
“You’re a piece of shit,” said Shiv. 
Clearly on a roll, Roman just kept talking: “It turns out he loves it when I do the Daddy dance, but I guess that’s because he loves me.” He was feeding himself lies. Logan didn’t even have to do it anymore—Roman was desperate enough to believe it. “He loves fucking me, and he just doesn’t want to fuck you anymore.”
“What are you even talking about? You’re so fucking gross!” Shiv just about yelled.
The two fell into more bickering, but it faltered away when Kendall showed up out of nowhere. You glanced at his pocket—the popsicle wrapper was gone.
“Oh, shit. Look who it is! It’s birthday boy!” Roman greeted in a condescending manner. 
Kendall looked upset—far more upset than when you’d confronted him about the popsicle.
“Neither of you should be here,” Kendall gruffly said. “You shouldn’t be at my fucking party.”
“Oh, God, you’re right. Someone call the cops. Intruders have breached the masturbatorium!” Laughing, Roman took your drink and finished what was left of it. You stared down at the empty glass with pursed lips.
Finally, you looked up at Kendall. “You find the rabbit wrapping?” you quietly asked him. 
He didn’t answer your question. Instead, he stared at you for a moment before slowly saying, “I threw away the popsicle. Melted.”
That hurt a lot more than you would admit it did. “Oh,” was all you said.
Roman looked back and forth between the two of you, wondering what on earth he’d missed while he was up watching Matsson piss on his phone.
“You guys are full of shit,” Kendall said. “You came here to fuck me behind my back. You’re ghouls, and you’re disgusting.”
“Sorry. Whoops,” Roman replied, though he didn’t sound sorry at all.
Then, Kendall turned to call a few security guards lining the walls. “Can we get them out?”
“It’s a little late for that, buddy. I already spoke to Matsson. He hates you, by the way—laughs at you constantly,” Roman harshly quipped. 
Shiv shook her head. “Just stop, Roman.”
“What? Go easy on the birthday boy?”
Stone-faced, Kendall stepped closer to his siblings. “Did you come here to see me at all? You didn’t, did you?”
Shiv spared him a sharp, unapologetic smile. “Well, we haven’t been getting along that great recently, so what do you think? You surprised?”
A mutter and a shake of his head. “GoJo was my idea,” Kendall said. “You stole my idea.”
Raising his brows, Roman jeered, “What are you, fucking six? Dude, you lost. No big deal, no need to cry about it.” 
“None of it would matter if you bought out, Kendall,” you said, only barely loud enough for him to hear. “You don’t have to keep biting the hand that’s feeding you. The cage is open.”
A crackling silence. Kendall looked pained, for a second.
“You’re just a stuck-up cunt that can’t bear to see me win,” Roman said, deciding he wanted to have the final blow.
Kendall sized up to him, getting up close to his face. “You’re not a real person,” he said. “You know that? You’re not fucking real.”
Unflinching, Roman stared up at his brother. “Come on. Why don’t you hit me, maybe?”
“Rome—” you began, but he made a protesting noise.
“Come on, shitty Jesus! You know you want to. Just fucking hit me. Do it!”
Kendall watched his brother, eyes empty. Or full of despair. It was the same either way. With that, he stepped away and began to walk off.
“Ugh, look, I’m sorry, okay? Happy birthday—” Roman strode up to him and placed a hand on his back.
Accident or not, Roman pushed, and Kendall fell. He laughed, then apologized, then laughed again. Connor was there, all of a sudden, telling them to lay off each other.
All this time, you hadn’t moved a muscle. Maybe you were still mad about the popsicle. Maybe it was Matsson. Maybe it was the dysfunctional fucking family you were stuck in between.
Kendall forcefully yelled at Connor to take his coat off, and stormed off. Shiv left a few minutes later, mumbling out how much of an asshole they all were. 
“I want to leave, Roman,” you told him, and his giggling subsided, finally.
“Oh, yeah—fuck, yeah. We did what we came here for. Let’s go.”
Down the stairs, out the vagina (or was it in?), and back into the real world. Roman was saying something, but your ears were buzzing with the aftershocks of the loud music.
You hadn’t even registered Roman telling the driver to fuck off, that he wanted to walk you home. Chivalry wasn’t dead, after all. 
Once inside your house, you tugged your shoes off with a sigh and shed your clothes as soon as you stepped into your room. You just wanted to go to sleep.
Roman peeled off his suit jacket, before sitting down at the edge of your bed. “Hey, I have a proposition for you.”
At first, you genuinely believed that whatever he wanted to say was business-related. But upon looking at him, his dilated pupils, his mussed hair, his spread legs—his proposition was very obviously far from professional intent. 
It was a distraction. A good one, one that you were more than willing to take. You clambered onto the bed, straddled his thighs and leaned over him, your nose brushing his.
“Yeah, Romeo?”
“Let’s have sex. Like, actual peen in vageen type of situation.”
You weren’t drunk, but you were tired, and yet you found yourself nodding with hooded eyes. 
“You sure?” you whispered, low and raspy, as if you’d swallowed a handful of gravel. 
High-pitched, he affirmed with, “Uh-huh.”
You brushed your lips over his, only barely there. Roman jerked forward to kiss you properly, but you leaned back. “Say it, Roman.”
He swallowed, throat bobbing. “I’m sure.”
With the green light, the two of you began to peel away the few remaining articles of clothing you had on, your mouths slanted hotly against one another as you ground over his growing erection. It wasn’t exactly a kiss—more like the two of you were just breathing each other in, sighs and pants and whimpers all.
His hands seemed unsure what to do. Clenching at the bedsheets, grazing over your side, groping at your bare breasts, pressed up against him. His mouth fell away from yours with a particularly loud whine, sinking lower to dig his teeth into your shoulder. You smelled like honey, but you didn’t taste like it. Saltier, more human. A breathless curse fell from his lips, muffled into your skin.
“Inside,” he pleaded. “Fuck, I need—please turn around—can I?”
It was hard to think straight when you could feel his dick twitching, the tip continuously brushing against your clit, sending electrifying jolts throughout your whole body. You hummed, rolling your hips over his one last time, before crawling off his lap towards the center of the bed, your back facing him. A part of you wondered if there was a reason why Roman wanted to fuck you in a less intimate position for your first time together. The other, more lust-addled part of you couldn’t bring yourself to care.
Roman’s hands slipped over your waist, and he sank his throbbing cock into your slickened cunt with a pitching groan, tapering off into a whine. 
“So fucking good, Rome,” you cried out once he began unevenly thrusting, pawing at your hips as he grew more desperate—close to his release even though he’d barely even begun.
The sex itself was—it was quick, to say the least. It was clumsy, as well—but he managed to reach over and rub tight circles over your clit, which elicited a choked cry from you. At one point, you swore you felt his lips on your back, but you couldn’t be certain.
When he came, fucking spurts of hot spend into you, you shuddered violently as your orgasm crashed not two seconds later, gasping into your sheets. He thrusted into you a few more times—he liked the overstimulation, your rumbling moans, the way his cum began to trickle down your thigh.
And, finally, he eased himself out, wincing as he sank into the spot beside you. 
He panicked, just a little bit, when you pulled yourself away, getting onto your feet. 
Noticing his jerky demeanor, you offered him a soft expression. “Bathroom,” you said as a form of explanation.
That made Roman relax a bit. 
When you returned, you’d pulled on a comfortable white shirt, before slipping beneath the covers. The two of you laid together, staring at the ceiling, staring at each other, staring at your hands—intertwining together on top of the blanket.
“I’m sorry,” he croaked out, after ages of silence.
Your eyes darted up to meet his, molten brown downcast with shame. 
“For what?”
A click of his tongue, a roll of his eyes. “For—for the shitty fucking sex.”
You barked out a laugh, and Roman appeared mildly offended. 
“It was great, Ro. I actually came, which is more than what I can say for most people I’ve been with. Kudos to you,” you said, grinning cheekily.
“Really? It wasn’t too—was I—?”
“Roman. It was good,” you reassured, shifting closer so that you could press your nose to his cheek. “What do you want me to say? That I saw stars? My throat hurts from how much I screamed your name?”
This seemed to crack Roman’s insecure exterior, and he guffawed lightly. “You bitch. Fuck you.”
“Fuck you, too.” Another moment of silence. You let go of his hand, watching him carefully. “Roman?”
“Mmh?”
“Did you fuck me to prove a point? Because of what… what Shiv said?”
The air crackled with uncertainty. Roman squinted at nothing in particular. 
Eventually, Roman crooned, “You know I’ve been wanting to stick my dick in you ever since we hit our first fucking round of puberty. You know that, right? That means we were little baby teenagers and I was fucking—fantasizing about dicking you down when I should’ve been doing my homework.” 
It felt like a weight lifted off your chest—a weight you hadn’t even known was there. “Ew, Roman. You’re gross.”
He groaned loudly, dramatically tossing an arm up to cover his eyes. “Don’t say that. I’ll get hard again.”
274 notes · View notes
luffyvace · 3 months
Text
BSD character’s reactions to screwing up they’re first date with you ( T_T)\(^-^ )
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Includes (most) the ada and port mafia <3
they’ll be pretty short since it’s a lot of characters :P (these exclude kyoka, Q and lemon thing aka kajii)
ADA
Fukuzawa 🗡
he’s probably slightly embarrassed but knowing him I’m sure it wasn’t too bad of a screw up
in fact it was probably a minor embarrassing moment that happened
it was silence for a split second before you two changed subjects from what happened
the date went pretty smoothly after that
the typa detail that gets left out when you talk about how the date went
Ranpo 👓
he’ll probably realize what’s gonna happen to ruin the date before it does, and either act to make sure it doesn’t
or smoothly addresses it and moves on
just cuz he’s like that 😎🤷‍♀️ (LOL)
but if something he doesn’t predict happens that crashes your date he’ll be pretty butt hurt
like? How come the worlds greatest detective didn’t see through this??
🙄
you likely end up assuring him it’s fine and continue the date
he sulks and eats snacks when he gets home
your probability of still going on the next date anyway is 89% but he’s still mad that happened
Yosano🥼
she will be pretty bummed out and will starting drinking wine mid date
she may ask if you want some
she’s not sulking or anything but if like where y’all was gonna go is booked/closed you end up just going to some open public area and talking
about how this sucks, what you’ll do next date, if you can do something last minute, that you both doubt you’ll try and go there for a date again and eventually to lighter topics like your hobbies n such
but yeah the date decently recovers
kunikida🤓
YOU ALREADY KNOW THIS MAN IS UTTERLY ENRAGED
in all seriousness he’s s t r e s s i n g
he kinda panics because he planned this out so perfectly and now it’s ruined??
over course he has a back up plan down to z but it’s was supposed to go PERFECT.
(if dazai ruined it for you two he’s gonna choke him out as soon as he sees him)
eventually he stops mumbling and pacing and just takes you to plan b
which actually goes really well!
thankfully it ended in his favor but he’s still gonna spend everyday of his like repenting his first date
because you were his first date with anyone ever
and it was….spoiled. 😀
Dazai💀
you already know mr. slick bounced back immediately
like he went “oh well” and took you to do something else without batting an eye
made it just as fun as the original activity was gonna be
you’d think he had a plan b in mind but he indeed did not
he just had the money to make it look like it 😉
smooth operator 🤪😚
Tanizaki😅
apologizes like a million times
he didn’t mean to ruin it!!
especially if this is your first date too
cuz this is definitely his seeing as though Naomi won’t let him date nobody else 😃😅
(you only got away with him bc Naomi likes you /j)
you guys probably end up walking around and get some ice cream
sitting on a bench and talking
a cat came up to you two and you pet them
All in all it ended peacefully !! <3
(he sulked to Naomi but was grateful things still went alright)
naomi💗
she went “awwww” 🙁
you all likely end up in a arcade and eat some snacks too
You guys use the money you were gonna spend at the original place
it still ends up being pretty fun but you can tell she’s bummed out
you give her a kiss on the cheek at the end of the date to make her feel better 💖
(she immediately perks up)
Kenji🐄
he was kinda like “that stinks” but didn’t even seem sad about it
you two rerouted but couldn’t find anything to do
so you pretty much ended up wandering
not either of you mind, passerby we’re really kind to you and gave you free stuff
At least you didn’t leave empty handed 🤷‍♀️😋
atsushi🐯
your his first ever date- canon.
so when he realizes he (wasn’t his fault but he feels like it anyway) blew it, he’s utterly disappointed
he explains this is his first date and he wanted it to be special, even more so since it was with someone so cool like you
you hear him out, patting his back and giving him head pats to make him feel better
he even went out of his way to buy some new clothes 😞
you tell him it’s okay but he doesn’t feel that way
he asks if there’s anyway he can make it up to you and insists to buy you something before you go
he gets you something you picked out from a shop
although he’s practically hyperventilating over whether you’ll ghost him or not since he screwed it up
PM
Mori💉
another smooth one
i doubt whatever store/place you were trying to go to was closed because he could just pay to open it back up
so it’s likely something embarrassing/awkward happened instead
HE PROBABLY TOOK ELISE AND SHE SAID SMTH 😂😂😂😂
anyway
if so he immediately corrects her then deactivates his ability……
he wanted her to come on the date so he could take her in the future and have you be used to it
clearly that talk he had about not saying private stuff went in one ear and out the other
he apologizes for whatever inconvenience happened and does what every rich man does :)
throws money at the problem :)
no fr y’all went to every shop and he bought you what you wanted from it
(Hey just the for the record I don’t condone mori’s behavior and i genuinely don’t know why the creator did that—they coulda just left that out he coulda been so much better🧍‍♀️)
Hirotsu👔
he doesn’t let little things bother him, but a date with someone that’s important to him?
and it gets ruined??
now that’s kinda disappointing
he formally apologizes and asks if there’s anything you have in mind or like to do for compensation
or maybe if it’s not that drastic he’ll just apologize and try to direct the conversation else where
he isn’t sweating it or anything but the blunder was a pain for a hot second
either way he gets through it without letting it stop the entire date as a whole
Koyo👘
is really embarrassed for 3 hot secs before she collects herself, sighing
Is blushing a bit when she asks if your upset and apologizes
she likely planned this date and told you not to worry about it because things like this wasn’t so supposed to happen
luckily for her she switched from her original idea to something else, so now that that hasn’t worked out she can go back
from there the date returns to smooth sailing
she spoils you and tries to get you forget as much as possible
she especially doesn’t want that getting on her reputation if you work at the PM as well
Chuuya🥂
really irritated and swears under his breath while facing away from you
tries to make it look like he has it under control but he’s kinda freaking out
he liked you so much he really wanted this to go well :/
In the end he can’t think of anything and ends up muttering an apologizing before suggesting to go get some wine together
gets even more embarrassed if your not a drinker
he’s mentally slapping himself at this point
you probably end up pitching in and throwing an idea out there yourself, to which your idea works and the rest of the night is really fun! ;3
he keeps mentioning how good your idea was because it totally saved him
He’s happy when he walks through the door of his place, but when he remembers he blew it he gets upset again
spends the rest of the night drinking and thinking about it hoping you still wanna date him
Higuchi🔫
she is a lover who wants to do everything for the one she loves
so finally landing a date with you and blowing it is like her whole world exploding 💥
she becomes frantic in apologizing asking how to make it up to you
even if it was just a minor thing
if she can turn things around she still feels successful but makes precautions not to let that happen again
if not she’s totally bawling her eyes out to gin about it
she does her best to get on your good side before asking for another date
Tachihara⚔️
gets a bit flustered and sheepishly looks at you to see if it bothered you
his reaction depends on yours
if you start complaining about how much of a bummer it is he’ll start to feel bad
he tries to cheer you up and suggests to move to something else
but if your calm n cool about it so is he
he kinda shrugs one shoulder and says “so what now/wanna do somethin’ else instead?”
Akutagawa🧥
*coughs*
”err..guess the place is closed. I checked yesterday and they were open so this must be a fluke..”
he probably awkwardly stands there from there
if your response is too negative he’ll apologize for wasting your time and offer to drive you home
he will likely hesitate before asking you on a date again and makes sure everything is perfect this time
”curse the weretiger” (you hear him mumble this like it’s a swear word before you close the door to your house)
If you don’t mind as much you two will probably just end up chatting somewhere
it ends with him apologizing anyway
(say you enjoyed talking with him and you might be met with wide eyes and a little blush on his face <3)
Gin☺️
blushes, stammers and apologizes like crazy
she feels really ashamed since this is your first date and something went wrong
she covers her mouth with her hand to sort of “hide” out of embarrassment
she even took off her mask and dressed up all cute for you!! :(
luckily! She brought you a gift !
you ended up really liking it and you hugged her for it, which made her feel a bit better
you ask to return the favor by buying her something too
she insists you don’t have to but you end up doing it anyway
you wrap your arm around each other’s waist while you walk which was pretty romantic :)
you kiss her atop her forehead before separating to head home
(if your not in the PM or can’t physically hand yourself—she probably follows you home from a distance, BUT NOT IN A CREEPY WAY. In a ‘she wants to know your home safe’ loving way)
she squeals when she gets home and tells ryuunosuke about the highs and lows of your date 💗
yes as I said pretty short but these were mostly a trial run for fun :)
again this is just me branching out and expirmenting ;P hopes to you enjoyed!!
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Note
AITA for block evading to make sure someone is still alive?
So this whole situation gets rather complicated and quick, so please bear with me… TW for mention of suicide.
I (20m) previously made friends with a younger artist (about 17f by now if I’m remembering correctly; please keep an open mind here) after being unaware of their age and just following them for their art for a few years. One day, when I was 18 and I believe they were maybe 15-16, I reached out to let them know that I had been deeply influenced by their art and thought a lot of their work was very fun and humorous, and we kept in contact afterward mostly through public chat spaces, just joking around with each other and sharing art and memes and the like.
I want to stress that I had absolutely zero foul intentions here. They were a lonely kid without many friends, and I felt for them; I went through a lot of the same shitty situations (namely an abusive home) they were actively going through, and genuinely all I wanted was to offer them a safe space and a friend. I know that people sometimes get weird about friendships across age gaps, but I sincerely only wanted to help where I could. To this day I’m still not sure if I went about it the right way, but that’s a discussion for my therapist and not for here.
Fast forward some time. I discover that the other artist didn’t have a lot of friends for various reasons that were all linked mostly back to their immaturity, which I didn’t mind considering that they were. Y’know. Kids. But part of this immaturity was just… not understanding time restraints and boundaries, and that reflected back at me, despite multiple instances of me sitting them down and having talks with them about it as gently as I could. These talks were usually just about them messaging me constantly, literally non-stop, in the middle of the night, during school hours, etc etc etc. During this time, I became sick — very sick. I stand now chronically ill and permanently disabled. I was sick, scared, and exhausted, and yet I was expected by this friend to talk to them literally constantly, or else they would get upset. And it took a further toll on my ailing health, because no matter how many times I tried to tell them that I physically couldn’t talk to them as much as they were demanding I do, it never seemed to resonate.
I started reaching out less and less, because I just physically couldn’t handle talking to someone That Much for That Long… It wasn’t personal. It came to a point where our chats went completely silent, and even if I did reach out to try and talk, they wouldn’t reply or would only do so in very short, clipped responses. So I respected the obvious decision they had come to and just… kind of stopped trying to reach out. I was still a follower of theirs, though, so I would visit their profile every now and then just to make sure they were doing okay as a means to soothe my own worries.
Then they made a post alluding to offing themselves, went radio silent across all their platforms for a few days despite my best efforts to reach out, until I tried to check up on them again and found myself blocked everywhere. This made me panic; I genuinely didn’t know what to do. It took me a while to even remember that I could just… log in to a new account online rather than the app to check up on them, and after a few weeks of doing this, I was relieved to find that they’re still doing okay and back to posting semi-regularly. I don’t know the details, but at least they’re alive, y’know? That’s all that matters to me. Now, I just try to check every month or so to make sure they’re okay, and I’ll send them little anon messages trying to uplift them, or tell them to stay strong… I’m aware that it probably falls under stalker territory or something, but I genuinely only want the best for them, and as it stands, I don’t have a whole lot of other ideas for how to at least make sure that they’re okay…
Anyway… I’m making this post because there was another “AITA” post that got torn apart by people for someone evading a block for some reason or another, and I guess I was just compelled to see if this story would get a similar reaction… 🤷‍♂️
So yeah. AITA for block evading to make sure someone is still alive?
What are these acronyms?
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lizhrs · 2 years
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judgmental nerd ! eren x bimbo y/n (wc: 3173)
warnings: nswf, slut shaming, slight dubious consent
“no please, take your time. it’s not like we’ve been here for hours.” eren’s sharp voice brings you out of your thoughts.
his piercing gaze is right there to meet yours when you finally stop staring at the wall. you chew on your pencil, quickly diverting your attention to the paper in front of you. you’ve done your best to avoid looking at him the majority of the time you’ve been here.
it’s not your fault you can’t look into his eyes for longer than a second. he’s the one who’s always observing you with that cold, calculating stare. you’ve been on the end of judgmental looks and not so quiet whispers for years now and have learned to not let them bother you—well you thought you mastered the art of simply ignoring those kinds of people. until eren.
you didn’t even know he existed until a few weeks ago. the introduction for you two consisted of a simple bumping into each other in the crowded hallways of school, it ended with him bitterly muttering something about idiot cheerleaders as he stumbled away. not even sparing you a second glance. after that, you saw him often and he made his dislike for you evidently clear.
which makes no sense. how can someone not like you?
it’s usually jealous girls giving you the stink eye and making up the ridiculous rumors. they’re the ones who don’t want to associate themselves with you. not nerdy nobodies who can’t walk without stumbling over their own two feet. no, people like him usually worship the ground you walk on. or at least drool a little.
seriously you’ve tried everything to get rid of that menacing stare and frigid tone he always greets you with. it’s like he’s immune. “jesus y/n, how dumb are you?”
and they definitely don’t talk to you like that. you know you’re not the brightest, which is why your teacher got this jerk of a nerd to tutor you right before exam week but is that really an excuse for him to treat you like this? biting the inside of your cheek, you nudge a corner of your sweater until your left shoulder is exposed. leaning forward and batting your eyelashes which gets no response from him other than a blank stare. “i’m not dumb. i just don’t get it.” you pout. “can’t you just tell me the answer? we’ve spent like thirty minutes on this question.”
“thirty minutes cause you’re an idiot.” he mutters more to himself.
“i’m trying my best!”
“you should’ve learned this months ago. you would’ve if you didn’t spend your time skipping class to hang out with your pig muscle boyfriend.”
“he’s not my boyfriend…” you go back to chewing on the pencil.
“so you just make out with any guy behind the bleachers?”
“you seem to know a lot about me.” you look at him again, that stupid cold stare looking back at you through those glasses.
“who doesn’t. you’re y/n. the whole school knows of your…activities.”
“those are just rumors.” some of them are. most are true. you enjoy living life to the fullest. it’s not your fault the people in your school saw a confident, attractive woman and instantly decided to put less than appealing labels on her. “and besides they’re none of your business.”
“whatever. just solve this, this is taking longer than our usual sessions and my mom will be home soon.”
you groan, looking down at the textbooks and not understanding a single word. “please just tell me the answers.” you ask one last time, desperate.
“no.”
you huff, returning your attention to the book. “you’re going to age badly with all that scowling you do. just so you know.”
“shut up.”
“eren…” you say after five minutes which causes a frustrated sigh to leave his lips. “do you have an issue with me?” it’s been four sessions of the frigid tension he always puts between you two and there’s a lot more to come before graduation so you just want to get whatever problems he has with you out of the way.
it takes a few seconds before he’s looking up from the textbook, pushing his glasses up as he sends you probably the most intimidating glare you’ve seen from him. “excuse me?” the very tone of his voice has goosebumps forming on your skin but you force yourself to stand your ground. you’re not going to let some loser who’s probably never even kissed someone to look down on you.
“you— you just seem to—”
“i don’t have an issue with you y/n.” he slams the book on the table causing you to jump. “having an issue with someone like you would imply i care enough and trust me i’ll never care for such a ditzy little slut who doesn’t respect herself.”
you’ve been called worse than that and usually by scorned boys you hooked up with. but they were popular gym rats, not some overconfident lanky freak. you had a snarky reply on the tip of your tongue but with the cogs in your brain suddenly malfunctioning, you could only stutter out a pathetic, “i—i’m none of those things!”
“really?” he scoffs, actually getting up and walking over and as he does you think maybe it would’ve been a safer option to just keep your mouth shut. “wide doe eyes without nothing behind them. check.” he starts. “plump lips perfect for what you do best. check.” and the asshole has the nerve to slowly swipe his fingers across your bottom lip.
you should stand up, tell him to go to hell and get out of here but you’re frozen. limbs not moving an inch as he continues, “empty little head. check. skimpy outfits to attract attention. check. i mean let’s face the facts..”
you never would’ve thought the loser that always sits in the back of the class with his nose buried deep in a book would speak like this to you. it’s insulting. freaking degrading. he knows nothing about you and yet he has that expression on his face like he does. “if i’m such a ditzy little slut as you so nicely put then i’d be jumping at the chance to hook up with you but here we are.” you seethe.
that seems to finally strike a nerve as he scoffs, crossing his arms over his chest. you cut him off before he can defend himself.
“is that it…you’re angry i haven’t made a move on you because that’s what sluts do isn’t it? bone everything they see? is your pride wounded that i don’t see you in that way, eren?” you let out a mirthless laugh. “well news flash, pretty girls like me don’t go for freaks like you.”
you got up, ready to grab your things and run out all while trying to ignore the nerves inside of you. he just stands there, rigid and glaring. “really?” he asks once your books are back in your bag.
“y—yes. now if you’ll excuse me—” your wrist is being grabbed before you can take another step and for a second both of you are stunned, you mostly frozen in your spot because this creep has the audacity to touch you after everything he just said. you don’t know what his excuse is but he only stands there like a shocked puppy before pushing you on the desk.
a gasp escapes your lips at being manhandled by him of all people, what the fuck is he doing? you’re on your stomach, feet on the ground as the fucker puts a hand on your back, keeping you there. “w-what are you doing?” you pant out, bewildered at everything that just happened.
“i…” he trails off, not saying anything before manhandling you again. only this time it’s for you to lay on your back and fuck, you could fight back. he’s surprisingly strong for such a lanky freak but you’re a cheerleader who does complex moves out on the field almost every day. you could kick him off, slam that big textbook in his face to the point his nose breaks and run out, making sure to report him.
but you don’t. it’s not that you can’t. for some reason, you just don’t want to. maybe it’s curiosity, to see what exactly he plans on doing. to see if a loser like him actually has the balls to do anything but back away and apologize profusely.
“you’re not fighting back.” he simply says, sounding a bit confused as he comes to lean over your body. his hands on either side of your head as he stares down, those stupid piercing eyes staring down at you. “why?”
“shouldn’t i be the one asking the questions here? like why the fuck you have me on this desk?”
he raises an eyebrow, leaning back and grabbing your thighs causing you to squeal in surprise. he spreads them, raising the dress you’re wearing until it’s pooling at your stomach before you can even blink.
shit. what’s wrong with him?
what’s wrong with you? you should be kicking at him, you could easily shove him off. you could do it in a blink of an eye so why the hell aren’t you.
where there’s supposed to be fear…there’s only anticipation. “you really are a slut.” he laughs cruelly, pulling your panties down until they’re completely off. where he throws them, you don’t know. probably in some corner to hide so you forget about them, who knows what a pervert like him would do with it?
“you barely know me and yet…look at this.” you shudder as his finger circles your clit before swiping across your cunt, bringing his hand up to show you your slick as if for emphasis.
“shut up.” you grit through your teeth. “you're—” you don’t have time to finish your insult before he’s kneeling down, tongue immediately latching onto your clit.
your nails instantly scrape against the desk, shuddering as he begins to suckle on your clit. his tongue delves into you, fingers digging into your thighs on purpose as if the freak wants to hurt you. you can play that game too if he wants, fingers going to grab at the strands of his dark hair, pulling as you ground your hips against his annoyingly experienced tongue.
usually, your sexual partners don’t willingly choose to eat you out but here is he. practically eager to get to business. he acted so high and mighty and still has the gall to continue doing so yet he’s the one on his knees right now. freaking nerds are so easy. even overly judgmental ones with sharp gazes.
he’s basically lapping at you, moving from sucking your clit to eagerly drinking up your juices. never coming up for air as if he was made to simply do this. “f—fuck.” you didn’t want to make any noises, any implications that what he’s doing is actually making you feel good but dammit it’s hard when a tongue is diving deep into your most sensitive parts.
a particular bite has you instantly bringing your legs together but he quickly grabs them, forcing them apart to shove his face in between your thighs again. your breath catches in your throat as he licks up your dripping pussy. he doesn’t relent even once and the moans won’t stop escaping your lips, “sl—slow down. gonna…dammit.”
his tongue licks…freaking everywhere. the obscene noises causing you to hang your head back, he’s licking and sucking everything up as if it’s his favorite meal.
and it’s embarrassing. how fast you come. but how can not you? you mercilessly pull at his hair and shamelessly moan when you do. somehow you’re the sweating and panting one as he stands up. “so that’s what all the hype is about?” he tsk, seemingly bored.
it takes a few seconds for you to find the breath to say “don’t act like you didn’t enjoy that, with the way you were eagerly—”
“shut up.” he takes his glasses off, putting them to the side before grabbing your thighs and pulling you closer to him.
“you’re disgusting, you know? the nerve you have—”
“i spent the last two hours teaching you simple biology and somehow you couldn’t do one question by yourself, if i’m testy that’s all on you.
"it’s not my fault.” it comes out as a whine and you hate it, you were supposed to be insulting him. at least have some pride when you’re about to be fucked by the guy who looks at you like you’re nothing but a dirty piece of gum.
“shut up, for crying out loud. shut up.” his voice is raspy as he unbuckles the belt to his revolting khakis.
you can’t help as your eyes widen once his cock is in view. for such a nerd, he’s actually packing. one hand holds your hips as the other guides his dick towards your leaking area and slight panic starts to take over. “a-aren’t you gonna prep?” as orgasmic as that oral job was, you doubt just that will be enough to prepare you for that.
he grins, probably the first smile you’ve ever seen on his annoyingly handsome face. “don’t worry, i’m sure a slut like you has a loose enough cunt.”
“you little shit! that's—” your words get caught in your throat, back arching as he moves his hips forward, piercing inside of you. “fuck.”
a broken sound leaves your lips as he continues to push his length in. it doesn’t hurt like you expected it to but there’s still a strong ache that you know will leave you limping tomorrow morning. it burns, burns so good you have to squeeze your eyes shut. you need something to hold onto as he starts to move, anything to give you some sort of balance but the flat surface underneath you offers no help. “ngh…eren…” you’re not sure what you want to say but he doesn’t give you time to think of something before he sets a rhythm.
it’s surprisingly slow at first, like he wants you to feel every vein on his cock and you do. your walls desperately clench around him as you bite on your bottom lip, the room suddenly feeling too hot as his fingers grab your chin, forcing you to look at him. into that stupid gaze he won’t stop staring at you with. his mouth is slightly open but no sound comes out. he’s perfectly collected and you hate it. people like him should be cumming the second you touch them but he’s…it’s annoying.
his pace starts to speed up—he doesn’t even give it another second before he’s ramming inside of you. holding your hips with both hands as he sets a brutal pace that has you moving up and down the desk. “p-pretty decent for a nerd—ah!”
still, he stays silent. ugh, what’s wrong with him? you bring your arm up to your mouth, muffling the moans spilling out of your lips in spite but his hands are immediately pulling them off. he chuckles, coming close enough that his breath fans against your face and a lewd moan comes out of you as he hits an even deeper spot. “don’t do that, we all know this is what you want. to be fucked hard and fast to the point you’re nothing but a mindless whore whose only purpose is to scream in pleasure.”
you don’t respond, biting down hard on your lips. his thrusts became more aggressive as he scoffs, “fine.” his hand finds its way to your throat, squeezing slightly.
you suck in a shuddering breath just as his hold tightens, bordering on dangerous but for some reason the lack of air only makes your pussy throb, clenching tight around him. why does it feel good? why does everything he’s doing to you only make you want more? his thrusts have now gotten erratic, almost forcing your body off the desk but the hold on your hips and throat keep you right where you are. you want to let out the moan clawing out from inside your throat but his grip stays, merciless as he pounds into you.
you don’t know how much of this you can take, everything feels too hot. it’s too much. “fuck look at you, didn’t think you could look even more dumb.” he pants, staring down. he finally removes his hand from your throat and you cry out the second he does.
“eren, please i'm—fuck…too much, it’s too much.” you gasp even though a sick part of you knows you could do this all night.
but right now…with the way his voice is dripping with cockiness— you hate it, hate the way he looks at you and talks to you. it’s infuriating and too much. a tsk comes out of his mouth, “who knew you had a limit?” he rolls his eyes and in the next second, he’s spilling inside of you. spilling and spilling until some drip on the floor.
like he’s been holding himself back all this time.
fuck. he could’ve at least let you release a second time. you didn’t think the asshole would be finishing right after you said that. you’re panting, eyes staring at the white ceiling as he pulls out. he zips up his stupid ugly looking khakis as he steps back. “can you get off my desk now?”
the nerve of him…ugh. you slowly sit up, dress sticking to your skin due to the sweat and you have to refrain from asking to use his shower before leaving.
he gets you your bag and you slowly take it, throat aching and dry. there’ll definitely be bruises around your throat and hips tomorrow and you’re sure he’s secretly delighted at that fact. “uh….” you trail off.
this is usually the part where they ask for your number, pleading for a second night with that desperate look in their eyes but he doesn’t even send you another glance as he gathers up the papers on the desk, putting them into a binder. “make sure to study before sleeping tonight…if your body can handle that.” his lips slightly curve up at that last part but he’s not bragging, no just mocking you.
“o…okay.” you lick your dry lips, suddenly needing a mint. “uh…bye?” you stand up too fast, cursing at yourself for it but his arm is around your hips before you can fall.
you bite the inside of your cheek, the proximity too close even though he was just inside of you a minute ago. he sighs, “do you need a ride home?” he asks grudgingly.
and you should say no. you don’t need to be in an enclosed space with this asswipe for another second. just say no and walk into class the next day, demanding for another tutor. and then you’ll never have to talk to him ever again.
but instead a weak nod comes out.
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fizziepopangel · 2 months
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“I’ll shelter and adore you more than anything…”
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Touch and words of affirmation are his top love languages. He’s been through a lot that’s really shaken his confidence and his beliefs. Hearing someone actively reassure or compliment him is a huge boost for him, as is feeling something solid and consistent in the form of touch (especially when these come from someone he cares for).
Lucifer absolutely blasts show tunes and sings at the top of his lungs while he’s in the shower.
Flirting goes straight over his head sometimes since people often use the “did it hurt when you fell from heaven” bit on him and it usually results in him trauma dumping and showing them the actual physical scars he has from literally falling from  heaven…. He never understands why people seem to drop out of the conversations after since they did ask him.
He frequently uses the phrase “I knew him personally, so I know that God only lets things grow until they’re perfect. Some people get there sooner than others.” when someone makes fun of his height.
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He sleeps in duck footie pajamas that Vaggie gifted him on his first father’s day since he and Charlie began talking again. Though she was embarrassed to give him a gift, he was absolutely over the moon excited since this means that his daughter’s girlfriend likes him.
Unbeknownst to the rest of the inhabitants of the hotel, Lucifer has a rubber duck that resembles them all. He often has to remake Alastors because when he’s upset with him, he tends to take his anger out on the Alastor-themed duck. At least one radio demon duck gets destroyed a week.
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Eats candied apples religiously
He only wears the hat to look taller. Alastor knows this and frequently steals his hat and then pokes fun at his height as the king of hell wanders around looking for the accessory.
Lucifer loves animals so once a month he gathers all the pets (this included Razzle and Dazzle prior to Dazzle’s death) of the hotel for a little playdates. He buys them cute little outfits, takes them to pet parks to play, buys them each a new toy, and gets them hell’s version of a pup cup.
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Yes, he did try to take Husk once because he does in fact view the man as a giant kitty that he really wants to win over…. And yes, Husk does go once, he regrets it immediately.
Despite them not exactly seeing eye to eye (partially because of the height difference), Lucifer and Alastor both enjoy cooking and get together with snacks to watch their favorite cooking show once a week. It started by accident, but since it became a weekly occurrence, they put aside their differences for the one night to enjoy the show together.
Lucifer bakes muffins and banana bread every weekend. He even teaches Niffty how to do it, she’s a flour covered mess by the end of it and her bread usually comes out rock hard and her muffins rarely rise, but Lucifer actually really enjoys the company and he finds the tiny woman rather amusing to spend time with.
After reconnecting with Charlie, Lucifer made it a point to have father/daughter dates once a month in an attempt to get to know her again. After realizing how big a role Vaggie plays in her life, he would start inviting her out with them too and referring to her as his future daughter in law.
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He absolutely hates geese.
Lucifer keeps his wings tucked away for most of the time when they aren’t needed, but he usually sleeps with them unfurled and spread across the bed when it’s warm out, or with them wrapped around himself when he’s cold.
While most people would think that the big boss of hell would be the all business type that drinks his coffee black, he actually prefers a soothing warm tea to coffee when given the option…. But if he has to have coffee, he usually has a cup that tends to be more creamer than coffee and it has to be tooth rottingly sweet.
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There’s a cabinet in the Hazbin Hotel kitchen full of mugs. Lucifer has 4 duck themed mugs in that cabinet… there were 6 but Alastor “accidentally” broke two.
Lucifer keeps one of Charlie’s baby photos in the pocket of his jacket, but as their relationship improves, he keeps a newer photo of the two of them together in his pocket with it too.
There’s a cabinet in the Hazbin Hotel kitchen full of mugs. Lucifer has 4 duck themed mugs in that cabinet… there were 6 but Alastor “accidentally” broke two.
Lucifer keeps one of Charlie’s baby photos in the pocket of his jacket, but as their relationship improves, he keeps a newer photo of the two of them together in his pocket with it too.
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spadesolace · 8 months
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childish antics: wil! minji x fem!reader
they say, you know they’re the one if they support your childish antics. minji just so happens to be the same person who wants to stay at home and build legos with you.
warning/s: none, established relationship, not proofread
spade speaks: you can read this as stand alone, no need to read what is love first
as childish as it may seem, you managed to persuade minji into buying lego sets.
college life has been hectic, within the first three months at Korea University, the amount of papers and experiments you and minji have done just led to burnout. providing a solution to it was playing with legos, at first minji was hesitant because shouldn’t you two be saving money to pay for your necessities?
“well… yeah but i have enough money saved up to at least buy two lego sets.”
“save it, yn. who knows when we might need those funds.”
hanni was right, you two do act like an old married couple. considering you now both live together, do weekly hangouts with your friends and treat them as your children, and discuss things that only married couples do. that’s probably due to the fact you’ve been friends since elementary.
“please, we can just get those small ones and not those big sets.” minji was already planning on buying a set for your 8th month anniversary but then again, this is one of the rare occurrences of your professors being chill.
“fine, we’ll just buy the small ones.”
“this is why i love you.”
looking around the big lego store that was near their place, minji slowly regretted agreeing to buying the small sets. the small ones were something you could finish on your own right away, while the big sets, specifically the one you’re eyeing, is perfect for the budget and an activity of you two. those puppy dog eyes that usually don’t work easily on minji suddenly paid off as she saw you holding the starry night set. she deeply regrets saying yes to the small sets, now that she sees the way you’re jumping up and down after paying.
before you could actually leave the store, you noticed the make your own character, pulling minji back in and telling her your genius plan of making one for the both of you and the last one being a complete mess of a character.
“I’ll pay for it, i promise.” you’ve always been true to your words and minji could only nod but explained she wanted to build you as a lego, while you make her character. simple, but not a lot of pieces have that specific wow factor that made you think of minji. 
after 10 minutes of making your own minifigure, deciding to surprise each other, only ended up with the two of you laughing.
“WHY’D YOU GIVE ME A RAT AS AN ACCESSORY?!”
“DON’T ACT ALL INNOCENT, YOU GAVE ME A COKE ZERO!”
you continued teasing her about that one song she wrote on the whim about coke zero, it was catchy but it felt out of place at the same time. the way minji just laughs at your antics catches you off guard on how you manage to be her girlfriend. you spent years pining for her and finally you’re together still acting like best friends who kiss each other and are staying under the same roof. as minji’s laugh died down, she could only stare back at you with confusion, a small smile on your face and seeing as your minifigures are holding each other’s hand.
“what?”
“nothing, i’m just- in awe.” you kissed minji on the cheek, pulling away you started looking for pieces for the last minifigure.
“don’t give it an afro.” as childish it may seem, when you’re with minji, you don’t care anymore. she’s definitely the one you want to spend the rest of your life with, someone who supports your childish antics and lets you have fun when things get rough.
“the last one surely looks like it got my style and your looks, darling.”
“maybe that’s something we’ll see in the near future.”
gosh, you really love kim minji.
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in1-nutshell · 2 months
Note
I have been thinking a lot about the neutral teen not buddy Who is skillied in combat and edgy, like maybe they keep meeting with smokescreen and eventually properly meet the others?
Another Buddy we haven't seen in a while, lets see how this works!
Hope you enjoy!
Bot Buddy the edgy neutral assassin meeting with Smokescreen again
SFW, Platonic, Cybertronain reader
It was a couple of days before Buddy realized the bot they had been chatting to wasn’t another Neutral.
He was an Autobot.
One of the new recruits named Smokescreen.
That was their mistake for assuming.
They originally thought of just ignoring him since he did give them a nice talk.
But soon enough they found it nearly impossible to ignore the mech. He seemed to be everywhere Buddy was going and they did not want to draw attention to both.
They weren’t going to lose the only other nice bot in this war.
Not again…
Ultimately, they decided to maybe talk to him again. At least then they would be able to talk with peace of mind that no one would be watching them.
Hopefully.
Maybe they could even get him to see their side of the war, maybe join forces.
Become an assassin duo.
Oh, how were they kidding, Smokescreen was not assassin material.
He was more Wrecker material than anything.
Not good for stealth.
Buddy waited at the same place again a month later.
They found him seated in the same spot.
They quietly joined him when he waved and patted the ground next to him.
His grin grew once they sat down next to him.
“Hey! It’s been a while!”--Smokescreen
Buddy nods and takes the spot next to him.
“I saw a cool looking bird heading north with a whole other group of the same one. Where do you think they’re going?”--Smokescreen
“Maybe they’re heading home? Doubt it’s because of any cold temperatures.”--Buddy
“Why would they want to get away from the cold? That white stuff that falls from the sky is awesome!”--Smokescreen
Buddy chuckles a bit.
“Yeah, it kind of is when is falling.”--Buddy
He didn’t say anything about the war much to their surprise.
Or maybe it was because he didn’t know who they were yet.
Smokescreen talked more of the things he saw around while on patrol.
This little routine continued for about another two months.
It was a nice change of pace for Buddy.
A little breather from their usual activities.
“I have a question.”--Smokescreen
“Yeah? And what would that be?”--Buddy
“How come you haven’t offline me yet?”--Smokescreen
Buddy stiffens.
“You came across one of my friends not too long ago, you spared her. But we’ve been meeting for a while now and have had multiple times that you could have…you know. So, why?”--Smokescreen
Buddy looks down, playing with some of the sand.
“I’ll admit. I didn’t know you were an Autobot before, I thought you were another Neutral. When I realized that you weren’t I planed on just ignoring you.”--Buddy
“Why not…”--Smokescreen
“You were nice to me. It’s been a while since I had any nice talk like the ones we have. Nothing with the war, nothing about political views… just peaceful things.”--Buddy
“So, if I wasn’t so nice to you—”--Smokescreen
“You wouldn’t have made it back to your team.”--Buddy
“…”--Smokescreen
“…Listen I know this could change our thing and that you probably want to leave… I’ll respect your decision and I won’t—”--Buddy
“Who says I want to leave?”--Smokescreen
Buddy looks at him with wide optics.
“Any bot with any common sense would leave.”--Buddy
Smokescreen chuckles a bit.
“Well, I have been told I lack some of that.”--Smokescreen
“…You really want to keep meeting? Even after all I admitted?”--Buddy
Smokescreen pats their back.
“I still want to be friends with you Buddy. You’re a good bot.”--Smokescreen
Buddy smiles at him.
Both look back at the horizon in silence
Smokescreen did bring up the option of bringing them to the base to meet the others.
But they declined.
They didn’t want to give either side any idea that they were going to join a side.
He pestered it a couple more times before just dropping it.
Smokescreen knows he’ll wear them down eventually.
But for now, he was happy being their friend outside of the base.
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heesdreamer · 1 year
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PAIRING ➩ hyung line x reader
SUMMARY ➩ life brought you four boys at different times, somehow knowing when you needed them most. how could you possibly choose?
WARNINGS ➩ sexual content, um they’re very punk so piercings, fights, etc
WC ➩ 12.7k
AUTHOR NOTE ➩ so this one’s a little out of the ordinary but i hope you like it because i do despite the issues it gave me lol. little reminder that you can request additional scenes or specific scenarios you’d like to see but i don’t think ill just write a “part 2” also i originally started this as a specific member one shot try to guess who she was going to end up with! (NOT PROOFREAD)
There were three rules you religiously followed when it came to hooking up with people and any sign of them even slightly bending and you were gone before your side of the bed had even cooled.
The first one was the most simple and the one people had a problem with the least, no exclusivity. You didn’t want to belong to anybody and considering the crowd you ran with seemed just as against commitment, you didn’t find yourself having to argue this point a lot.
Your friend group had been close since a young age, only adding on a few additions as you all got older and branched out into different social circles, some of you bringing back worthy contenders into the main group of people. But for the most part things remained tight between you all and you liked it best like that, knowing the scandal that could unfold if some of your weekend activities were made public knowledge.
You’d met Jake and Sunghoon fresh into elementary school when they moved into the house next door, Jake’s parents taking in Sunghoon pretty much full time to the point he had his own bedroom in their house. You’d learn over time as you got closer to them that his home life was shaky and he slowly and slowly stopped going home at all as the years passed.
Jake caught your attention from the first night you’d seen him, standing on your porch in front of his parents legs with a scowl on his face and messy hair.
The same scowl he had now as he leaned back against the couch you were sat on, groaning and settling his feet into your lap. Jake wasn’t necessarily the troubled kid your parents had made him out to be, growing concerned and warning you away from him once they realized he had caught your interest. He was more sensitive than he let off and could do more damage with his clumsy feet and the way he threw his whole body into a laugh than his fist, but his bark was always a lot bigger than his bite.
You liked him immediately.
You’d spent the first few months of knowing him watching him from your porch and he tried to learn how to skateboard, seeing him fall and scream words that you’d only ever heard your parents say when they were particularly stressed about something.
He’d fall off the board a few times and you’d watch him stand back up, knees and hands bloody from smacking against the concrete. He didn’t pay any mind to it and you wondered if he felt any pain at all.
When you were 16 years old, you let him take your virginity. You’d spent the previous hours leading up to that drinking on a random week day, Sunghoon having thrown up in the kitchen sink and then falling asleep sprawled across the cold tiles.
You were both young and drunk, extremely stupid, and his handsome face was rambling about something that had happened in detention that pissed him off when you sloppily fell forward on your hands and kissed his sneering face.
It wasn’t good and it definitely wasn’t romantic but you trusted Jake more than anybody on the planet, with Sunghoon following at a tight second place, and you didn’t regret it the following morning. Jake, of course, showed no sign of awkwardness and if you didn’t sleep with him yourself you would’ve had no idea anything had even happened between the two of you.
That’s what you thought at least, quickly being proven wrong over a hungover breakfast when Sunghoon immediately sniffed the two of your out and bluntly announced it in the middle of the quiet restaurant.
That was your favorite thing about being friends with Sunghoon, you absolutely never had to worry if he was telling the truth or sugarcoating things to protect your feelings. He couldn’t care less how you reacted to his honesty, as long as he told you exactly what he was thinking.
Sometimes when Jake had little outburst of anger or isolated himself from the two of you, Sunghoon staying temporarily at your house during those times, you got stuck in your overthinking about him. If he actually liked being your friend or if you were just leeching onto him and he was tolerating your company for convenience.
You never had to think about that type of stuff with Sunghoon, directly opposite to Jake in the way he handled his emotions. You figured that’s why they managed to be so close for so long, their differences balancing each other out.
It became apparent to you that Jake had a habit of befriending people different than him when you finally graduated from high school and all entered college together (Sunghoon had been accepted to better schools but he didn’t want to miss out). It had only taken a week of classes before Jake was showing up to lunch dragging a boy you hadn’t seen before behind him.
The boy looked nervous and you watched them as they approached, getting the urge to push his round glasses back up the bridge of his nose.
“Made a friend.” Jake was declaring as he swung his leg over the tables seat and smiled at you and Sunghoon. He looked back at the boy impatiently and patted the spat next to him, implying he wanted him to hurry up and sit down.
“If he kidnapped you let us know.” You were addressing the boy, a bored tone in your voice at Jake’s antics. “Sunghoon can hold him down while you get a head start.”
He looked like he didn’t know if you were joking at first, eyes going to Sunghoon who had looked up from his plate and was observing the stranger with his usual stony face. Then Jake was bursting out into a laugh loud and you cracked a smile, extending a hand towards the boy who relaxed slightly.
Lee Heeseung was a stark opposite to your trio, even more so than your usual dynamics. Jake explained he had befriended him because he was smart and you were all struggling, minus Sunghoon but he was less than helpful when it came to helping you out with academics. Immediately following up and saying that he seemed cool too when Heeseung shot him a hurt expression at his shallow reasoning.
You found Jake’s influence over people very interesting from somebody who was unaffected by it for the most part. You wondered if people were partly fascinated by him because they carried the very human urge to fix things that they deemed broken.
You’d seen it on random people who’d been in your life, classmates and week long girlfriends who’d came and went quicker than you could memorize their names but it was especially noticeable in Heeseung, more apparent as the years went by and he remained in your lives.
It was hard to remember when exactly in time he had stopped being so quiet, stopped being so kind and dedicated to his studies and started to become a bit more like you and your friends. You felt small pangs of guilt when you’d come home to your shared apartment and see him sitting on your couch in a haze, missing another important class that just six months ago he would’ve broken into a nervous sweat over.
Still, he was an adult and capable of making his own choices.
“This is a terrible choice.” Your voice was mumbling today, watching him as he was perched on your bathroom counter with his back pressed against the mirror. You were stood between his knees and staring at his face with a disappointed look.
“You’d do it for Jake but not for me?” He was complaining, trying to get on your good side.
You fiddled with the metal stick in your hand and glanced down at it. Last week you had drunkenly fulfilled Jake’s request for a home style eyebrow piercing, amateurly piercing his smooth skin and ignoring Sunghoon’s groans of disgust at the blood dripping down his forehead.
“Jake’s an idiot.” You sighed and pressed the sharp point of the needle into your thumb for a second. “That’s why I don’t care if he looks like an idiot.”
“When’d you get so motherly Y/N.” Sunghoon’s flat tone was ringing from behind you and you looked over Heeseung’s shoulder at the mirror, seeing him leaning against the doorway and watching the scene play out.
“I don’t know, I guess something about cleaning after three boys in their 20’s for four years does that to a person.” You were sarcastically responding, bitterness in your voice. His mouth quirked up into a half smile and you grinned at his reflection.
You looked back at Heeseung who was watching you with excited expectant eyes, bangs pushed back so you could have clear access to his eyebrow when you inevitably fell for his begging and negotiating. You hummed at his expression and stood on your tiptoes, pressing forward to kiss him.
He wasn’t at all surprised by this, or unnerved by the fact Sunghoon was standing right there and still watching the two of you even when his hand came up to hold your hair.
Bringing you back to your original point and the most important things to you as you entered your young adult life, your three rules.
No exclusivity was the most important to you for multiple reasons, the main being the fact it made your skin crawl for anybody to consider you something they owned, something they had any say over. And more selfishly, you’d quickly realized after sleeping with Jake that you liked sex.
You didn’t discover this through him, in fact after the first time you slept with him, the two of you never once spoke about it. Then three years later at a college party you were tipsy and dancing together, pressed tightly against his front and you weren’t sure if it was the alcohol running through you or the way he looked under red lighting but you suddenly found yourself desperate for him.
So you let him fuck you against the wall of a grimy frat house bathroom and tried not to think of the consequences with him panting into your open mouth and roughly tugging on your hair.
It’d been three years now and you’d still yet to feel any negative effect from that night, waking up the next morning to bruises on your skin and him sleeping off the liquor soundly next to you.
It almost drove you crazy how normal he was about it, how normal he continued to be every time he was coming into your room at night to let off steam or pushing against you in the kitchen. At a young age you admired the way Jake handled tough situations but as an adult it weighed heavily on your mind, not being able to get a read on his emotions.
So when he had walked into the living room after a late shift at work and caught you pressing Heeseung into the couch, mouth moving against his and his shirt thrown onto the carpeted floor, you aren’t sure why you expected him to care.
He froze for just a second, mirroring the way Heeseung did from underneath you. You sat up to look at him in the doorway, breathing heavily from your spot in your friends lap. He watched you for a few seconds, holding your worried gaze, before he was smirking slightly and walking down the hall towards his room.
Much to a distraught Heeseung’s displeasure, you were too thrown off by his reaction that you immediately hopped off the boy and you didn’t sleep together.
Still to this day you hadn’t ever fully had sex but you’d built up a casual habit of intimacy in other forms, including, and the one you did most frequently, kissing him. You liked the way he sent you a text when he couldn’t sleep, coming over to lay on your chest and get some rest and you liked sitting in his lap in a packed car and letting him rest his head on your shoulder.
So the first rule was silently installed and despite your initial confusion at Jake’s careless reaction you eventually found yourself thankful for how normalized it was in your small group to find comfort in each other in different ways.
The second rule started right around the time you met Jay.
It wasn’t often you yourself made friends outside of the boys, despite your frequent stops at parties and clubs you tended to stick near one of the three or make light conversation with somebody who knew one of them and you by association.
So when you brought home a boy after a particularly hazy night, spending an open weekend smoking on some random frat boys uncomfortable couch, it was a big shock to your roommates and best friends.
An even bigger shock when the next morning he was shirtless in your kitchen, cooking breakfast suited for five and acting like the scratch marks across his back weren’t an obvious tell to what you had been doing the night before, just a few feet from where they’d been sleeping. (Or not sleeping considering your lack of volume control.)
Somehow Jay had understood your friend groups dynamic without needing it explained, automatically fitting in and proving himself an asset both to the boys who happily devoured every home cooked meal they’d been missing out on, and to you.
If you need a distraction, an outlet for you to forget temporarily everything weighing heavy on your mind at night, you could call Jake over to your room or barge into his no problem. He wouldn’t ask questions, he wouldn’t give advice, he’d understand your silent need and pin your down and help you pretend for a few hours that things weren’t as bad as they were.
But that was where he was comfortable and you never experienced tenderness with him during those moments, not that you were complaining while it was happening.
Jay was similar to Jake in personality, although a lot less angry, but opposite to him in the way that he treated you during your time together.
So you established rule two in a whisper against his chest as he slept soundly, hand moving in slow soothing circles on your arm. You were absolutely not allowed to catch feelings.
You were reminding yourself of this now as you moved against Heeseung’s mouth, stomach pressed into the bathroom counter and the feeling of his knees on your sides. You pulled back from him and smiled at the way his soft pink hair was covering his eyebrows again, pushing it back so you could get a look at the area he wanted you to pierce.
“If she hits something important and you can’t move that side of your face you owe me 20 bucks.” Sunghoon was remarking from the doorway, still unphased by the kiss or the fact Heeseung’s lips were red and glossy now.
“Facial paralysis and short on cash? What kinda bet is this?” Heeseung was smiling over in his direction and you pressed his skin together softly, squinting your eyes to try to find the best angle to send the needle through.
You could hear the front door opening and closing, sound carrying easily in the small apartment. You weren’t sure which of the other two boys it was, despite the fact it was originally just you, Jake and Sunghoon living here the other two had gradually stopped going home over time.
Jay still had his own dorm, less than twenty minutes from your apartment since you lived right off campus but for christmas you’d gifted him his own key on a lanyard with your faces on it. As for Heeseung, you weren’t exactly sure when he had started living here but he was a permanent fixture now, bouncing between the three bedrooms and the couch.
“Are you guys ever going to be doing anything normal when I get home?” You could hear Jake’s tired voice getting closer, sounding half amused and half annoyed.
You imagined the latter emotion was due to the fact you were hogging the only bathroom, slapping Heeseung’s bare chest when he turned his head to look at the approaching Jake and messed up your measurements.
Heeseung smiled apologetically in your direction, leaning back down to kiss you again. You kissed him back for just a second before pushing his chest so he would sit still, eyes catching Jake’s in the mirror now that he was standing in the doorway with Sunghoon.
They were hardened as he looked at you and your expression fell slightly, not knowing if he was just in a bad mood in general or if you had done something directly to piss him off. As much as you cared for the boy, he was completely unpredictable in his mood swings and sometimes it was best to just leave him alone until he found an outlet for his anger. Sometimes said outlet leading him straight back to you.
As much as they both were judging you and Heeseung as you situated yourself again, they both watched with interest and let out sharp hissing when your shoved the needle through his skin. It came through the other side and you were relieved to see he wasn’t bleeding nearly as much as Jake had.
“I didn’t even feel it.” He was remarking with a small frown, like he was looking forward to the pain.
“It’s going to bruise.” You were explaining to him, having gone through the process yourself already twice. “You’ll have a black eye for a few days.”
“That’s kind of sexy though isn’t it?” He was smiling down at you, the needle still in his eyebrow and he groaned in pain when he tried to quirk it seductively in your direction. You laughed softly stop him and heard Sunghoon chuckle dryly from behind you.
“If she found black eyes sexy she’d just need to sleep with Jake more.” Sunghoon was saying, catching on to what Heeseung was implying with his comment.
“If she slept with me she’d never be able to fuck Jake again, black eye or not.” Heeseung joked back and you looked at Jake in the mirror again, jaw twitching slightly at the comments regarding him. You knew the boys were just having fun and typically he would know that too. You figured he must be in an extra bad mood.
You shushed Heeseung with a small shove to his chest, cupping his face to hold him still while you interchanged the needle for a small piece of jewelry with two balls on either side. He leaned into your touch and quieted down, stopping his jokes so he didn’t accidentally mess you up.
“Does it look good?” He was whispering once you’d put it through, trying to stay as still as possible.
It did look good, better than you’d originally thought it would and surprisingly nature on his kind face. You were reminded of the kind boy with fluffy black hair and big round glasses you’d met at the start of college and your heart softened slightly. As different as he looked aesthetic wise, he was still peering down at you with doe like eyes waiting to hear words of approval.
“You look hot.”
——
Sometimes you missed being a freshly turned nineteen year old, away from home for the first time and just getting by on gas station meals. You missed the free feeling that came with curing a hangover with more drinks and finally getting home from the night before after the sun has already risen.
You still carried some bad habits now that you were slightly older, in your last year of college and only now legally allowed to engage in all the things you’ve been doing since middle school but other things were overwhelmingly different.
“Literally what the fuck is the difference between a red and green pepper.” The reason for your thought process was speaking now and you looked over to see Sunghoon angrily glaring down at a piece of paper.
You wanted to laugh at the fact that he was having a rare show of extreme emotion at something as simple as a grocery list, but you held back. You walked closer to him and leaned against his arm, looking at the list Jay had sent with the two of you after he had gone through all your cupboards, becoming more and more appalled at every empty one.
“Aren’t you meant to be the smart one?” You muttered to him and he stuffed the list into his pocket, looking down at you from where you were still leaning against him.
“Maybe I’d know how to cook better if I hadn’t had such awful influences growing up.” He looked annoyed, face flat as he watched you but you knew him well enough to understand he was teasing you.
You took a step away from him with a sigh, scanning the aisle and shifting the basket that you were holding in your hands.
“Influence, singular.” You reminded him, excluding yourself from his comment. “Don’t complain too loud, I feel like Jay can hear you from the house.”
He looked amused at that and you started to walk down the aisle again, bumping into each others sides. As different and foreign as it felt, you were having fun with him. It was strangely domestic to be grocery shopping on a random week day. If you were lacking the dyed hair, piercings and specific clothing style, you imagined you’d look like a regular college couple with normal responsibilities and living situations.
“I’m sure he can. Everybody is so uptight there these days.” His voice was still light and flat as he voiced his concern and you frowned slightly, agreeing with him. “Is the sex not good?”
You shoved him once you processed what he was implying and he groaned, nearly knocking over a display of cans as he tripped over his foot. He steadied himself and gave a half smile down in your direction at your angry expression.
“I’ll have you know sex with me is amazing.” You were suddenly aware of your loud volume when an older woman passing by the aisle you were stood in gave you a disgusted stare, speed walking past you when you offered her a small apologetic shrug.
Sunghoon didn’t respond as he grabbed something off the shelf, tossing it into your half full basket and turning on his heel to head back to the front of the store where the registers were, now that your list was fulfilled. You followed him to the self checkout where he took it from you and started to scan the items slowly.
“I wouldn’t know.” He was saying after you’d gathered up the plastic bags and started to walk outside towards the bus stop. You were glancing over at him and cocking your head in confusion. He looked down at you and shrugged. “How sex is with you.”
You were beyond used to his bluntness and the fact it sometimes created uncomfortable situations, other times hurting your feelings even though at the end of the day you were always thankful you found out things from him first and directly. So you were only half thrown off at his comment.
And he was telling the truth.
You always wondered what he felt about the fact the two of you strictly didn’t sleep with each other or ever even do anything non platonic. You knew he would tell you if you asked but for some reason you never did and you never wanted to talk about it, this being the first time he’s brought it up on his own.
Truthfully you weren’t sure why you hadn’t. Sunghoon was probably the most stunning person you’d ever seen in your entire life, so pretty that you were genuinely taken back sometimes when you saw him doing casual acts around the house.
Not to mention how much hotter he was considering his usual attitude and demeanor. He was already strong in the literal sense but he felt sturdy and solid in his calm direct approach to things and you liked the way his dark eyebrows always stayed unmoving on his inexpressive face.
You think maybe it was a weird complex thing. The thought of sleeping with not only some, but all of your closest friends on a regular basis made you have a strange sense of insecurity. You knew they liked you and cared about you and if you decided one day to never touch one of them again that way, they’d accept it immediately and not treat you any different. You were their friend first before anything and you felt reassured in that despite your occasional habit to overthink.
“Do you ever wonder why?” You decided to ask him the thing you were curious about directly, knowing he wouldn’t judge you.
He took a second to respond since you were approaching the bus stop. He grabbed the bags you were holding and added them to his pile, setting them down on the bench as you stood together and waited for it to arrive. Eventually he was turning to peer down at you with a small look of amusement.
“Saving the best for last I guess.”
——
The third rule was one that needed no discussion, undeniably the one that needed to be honored above all else.
Sometimes you forgot about it, especially it’s importance. When you were at home and it was just you and the boys, you felt comfortable and hidden away in your little bubble of a world. Things were unconventional, maybe a little dingy and immoral at times but there was never any judgement and never any type of conflict you couldn’t work out with all of you together.
So when you left this space you were struck with the reminder that things were not like that in the real world. There was consequences to your actions and considering you were still in college and surrounded by your peers and gossip most the time, most your consequences were social.
You were currently sat on a couch at a party, a common occurrence still despite you not being at the age where you wanted to be black out drunk every saturday. You still liked to have fun, or at least watch the boys have fun while you sat and smoked.
It made you feel good to watch them feel good. You liked the way Jay danced with strangers, a bright smile on his face and you liked watching Heeseung chat animatedly with people standing near the kitchen, almost forgetting how shy he used to be. Sunghoon was typically with you or off somewhere doing… whatever it was he did.
You normally didn’t see Jake until the end of the nights, having to drag him away from an argument or a full out fight at least once a week if his attitude called for it. You were always amazed at his ability to have a problem with absolutely anybody.
So you were slightly surprised at the fact he was sat next to you on the couch right now, a hand on your thigh and his side pressed against yours tightly. He was passing the joint back to you and letting his fingers linger against yours when you went to grab it from him. You could feel him breathing against the side of your face and you almost wanted to laugh at how fucked up he was this soon into the night.
Sunghoon was on your right, similarly pressed against you but he seemingly wasn’t paying any attention to you. He was scrolling on his phone and occasionally watching the people drunkenly dancing on the floor infront of you.
“What was with your mood the other day?” You were speaking out a cloud of smoke, face curling into a grimace as you coughed and nudged Sunghoon to take it without looking, keeping your eyes on Jake. You blamed said smoke for being the reason you asked, normally you’d avoid it knowing it could go one or two ways with him.
“You worried?” He lazily smiled over at you and you felt his hand squeezing your thigh as he spoke. Thankful he hadn’t gotten defensive at your question, you leaned into his space slightly and shrugged.
His eyes were darting sideways suddenly and you followed his gaze, seeing a girl across the room watching the two of you. Her eyes were low and hazy as she took a sip of her cup and you glanced back at him in confusion. He kept his stare on her, either not noticing you were seeing him or not caring. His eyebrow was cocking in her direction and he squeezed your leg again.
You frowned slightly and leaned away from him, feeling your back bump against Sunghoon’s side and ignoring the noise he made.
From your knowledge, Jake didn’t sleep around a lot. He never brought girls back home with him and you or one of the other boys were there almost every time he went out, he stated once he simply couldn’t be bothered to do small talk every single time he wanted to fuck something. Even if the thought of him fucking somebody else when you were sat next to him bugged you a little, you had no right to say anything. However the fact he was only touching you as some form of flirting method with some random girl made your stomach flip in disgust.
You smacked his hand off your bare thigh, Sunghoon’s head turning at the sound, and scoffed at him. Now he finally turned his attention back to you, eyes sparking with slight anger and a challenge.
It was clear to you now that he hadn’t gotten over whatever was bothering him before and you frowned at the harshness in his eyes.
You scooted away from him slightly, now fully pressed up against Sunghoon to the point you were nearly halfway into his lap. Jake shook his head at your reaction, letting out a mean humorless laugh and standing from the couch, disappearing into the crowd of people.
“The fuck is his problem.” Sunghoon’s sudden voice caused you to jump slightly and you felt his arm move so it was resting on the couch behind your head, helping him get comfortable now that you were a lot closer.
“Your guess is as good as mine.” You frowned and shifted in your spot slightly, not understanding what he was possibly so upset about. You didn’t recall anything happening but then again, Jake didn’t always seem to need a reason to lash out. “He makes no sense to me sometimes.”
“I think Hee pissed him off.” Sunghoon was telling you and you were slightly surprised at the fact he had also caught sight of Jake’s reaction to Heeseung’s comments in the bathroom.
You looked over at him to find him already watching you, heads so close your nose brushed against his.
“Why would he care about that?” You were still frowning as you spoke and his eyes were looking down at your lips before meeting yours again. You’d never been this close to Sunghoon before and you were starting to think about the conversation you’d had at the grocery store.
“Maybe he’s worried Heeseung was right.” He said it like it was obvious but that confused you further.
“That still doesn’t make any sense. He knows I fuck Jay and he’s never cared about that.” You were reasoning your side of things but Sunghoon seemed pretty certain in what he was saying.
“Jay doesn’t fuck you like Jake does.” His voice was nearing a whisper as he spoke and you tensed for a second at his words. He was right of course, he always seemed to be, but you weren’t quite sure how he knew that in the first place.
He was staring at you intensely, somehow more intense than he usually looked, and you had a feeling he also knew that you were thinking over the things he had said to you at the bus stop. His hand that wasn’t around your shoulders was coming over and resting at your knee, pulling your legs forward so they were over his and you were halfway in his lap. You took the hint, lifting your butt up off the couch and moving forward so you were fully sitting on him.
He hummed softly in approval, looking up slightly now that you were sitting on him and above him. It didn’t feel weird or too new being this close to him. Living in the same small place and growing up together didn’t leave much room for privacy, you’d seen each other in different states of undress and slept together in beds on dozens of occasions.
Yet it was different all the same. His eyes were more narrow and hazy, a clear want in his expression and he was watching you with interest as your eyes studied his features from this angle.
“You think he’s worried Heeseung will make me feel better?” You continued on your conversation in a low challenging voice, trying not to flush when he was putting one hand in your hair and the other around your waist to keep you steady in his lap.
“Maybe.” He was mumbling, distracted now. “Or maybe somebody else.”
The implication in his words were obvious and a heavy tension settled over the two of you as he spoke his mind. His multiple shows of confidence made your skin feel hot and you had completely forgotten about the girl and Jake’s random attitude.
“I want you to show me.” You spoke bluntly, knowing he liked it best when you did that. He didn’t respond, quirking an eyebrow at you like he was expecting something. “Please.”
He let out another hum as you quickly pieced together what he was expecting and delivered it, your voice soft raising an octave and you leaned against him. You wanted to kiss him or have him touch you, not minding who saw.
“Rule number three.” He was basically whispering against your lips as he spoke and you frowned at his words, mind spinning and hazy from both the weed and the heavy tension between the two of you.
So it took you a second to understand what he was trying to say before you gathered your thoughts and immediately deflated in disappointment, knowing exactly what he was implying.
Rule number three clearly stated that the most important thing in your friend group was that nobody, and absolutely nobody, was allowed to find out about the things you did. It had actually been Heeseung who suggested this become an official rule, not just a silent acceptance. He wanted a firm promise that the entire campus wouldn’t figure out you were essentially all spit buddies.
You imagine you were already slightly teetering this line with the way you were perched on Sunghoon’s lap, especially with how rare it was he was seen interacting with somebody so openly and how obsessive his fan club could be. But you were sure it could be brushed off as the drunken need to have contact with somebody.
“Are you rejecting me?” You made sure to quirk your mouth into a small smirk so he would understand you were just messing around with him, waiting for him to take the bait.
“I’m actually trying to take you home.” He confirmed what you were thinking but for some reason hearing him actually say it made your cheeks flush.
You looked down at him for a few seconds, not saying anything just yet. Your eyes were going around his handsome features as you felt your resolve completely sway and shatter.
The two of you didn’t speak for a long time after that, not when you stood from his lap and took his hand in yours and not when you started to make your way out of the party. You briefly met Heeseung’s eyes as you pushed through the crowd with him behind you and he continued to watch you with a clouded expression until you were out the front door and into the cold outside air.
You didn’t speak when he whistled for a taxi, feeling less than sober as you leaned into his side in the backseat and pressed a kiss to his neck as he muttered your address to the driver.
He didn’t touch you the whole ride other than a hand on your hip and you were growing impatient and desperate, moving your mouth and teeth against his warm skin while he occasionally squeezed your side. If you cared a bit more you would have felt guilty for the driver regarding the loud noises filling up the otherwise silent car.
But your head was spinning with desire and you almost didn’t even realize the car was stopping and you had gotten out until Sunghoon was pushing open the door to the apartment.
The second you were inside your back was hitting the wall. He wasted no time and immediately was pressed against you, kissing you feverishly. You moaned against his mouth, hands going to his dark hair and making sure he couldn’t pull away from you.
You were drunk off excitement and lust, clumsily walking forward until his legs hit the couch and he was falling onto his back, taking you with him.
He laughed into this kiss and you smiled at him, pulling away for a second. You were suddenly hit with the fact that you were making out with Park Sunghoon, your childhood bestfriend who you’d gone over a decade without touching once. He seemed to be having a similar thought process, eyes darting around your face and back to your mouth.
You kissed him again and he groaned, hands clumsily sliding down your back before grabbing the back of your thighs and pulling you up slightly so you were more on his lap and not sprawled on top of him.
Your hips were moving instinctively at the new position, rubbing against him and drinking in the way he cursed into your open mouth. His hands were moving to the top of your thighs, kneading them as a form of relief and your breath hitched when his thumb accidentally dipped forward and pressed too close to your underwear.
He froze at the noise and pulled out of the kiss to look at you. His eyes went down to your puffy lips and then back to your low hazy gaze that was watching him as you panted. He pressed his thumb down again, purposely this time as he held your stare.
He smirked slightly at the way you immediately rocked forward, mouth parting in a soft whine as he kept his hands just a few inches away from where you needed them.
“Ask me.” He was leaning forward to speak, pressing his mouth against yours and you felt his tongue snake between your open lips. You unfroze at the feeling, closing your mouth around him and sucking his tongue softly while he waited for you to respond.
“Touch me.” You eventually breathed when you couldn’t take it anymore, your voice whiny and bordering on a beg.
“So now you want me to touch you?” He was humming mockingly, eyes darkening softly at your request. As attracted to him as you had always been, you never took too long to think about what Sunghoon would be like in bed. You should’ve guessed he wasn’t going to be easy on you, a mean tone to his voice.
“Please.” You were too desperate to show any dignity, grinding down into his lap again and kissing messily against his jaw. “Please I want you to touch me so bad Hoon.”
“So needy for a whore.” He was whispering the words but you caught it loud and clear, breath catching at the word. He noticed your reaction and you heard a smirk in his voice when he started to speak again. “Three cocks isn’t enough for you, right baby?”
You were nodding your head, sitting up slightly to look him in the eyes and make sure he knew you were agreeing with him. He smiled fully at this and kissed you softly, caressing your cheek and nodding along with you mockingly.
“I want you to speak.” He was repeating with a soft voice, directly contradicting the hard expression on his face.
“It’s not enough.” You were rushing out and you felt slightly embarrassed at how slurred your words were, not thinking clearly. “It’s not enough, I need you.”
He seemed momentarily pleased by your words but he didn’t say anything, still not moving his hand and just watching you. Your gaze fell down to it’s placement and you felt another wave of need pass through you at the sight of his large hand and long fingers resting just close enough to the end of your skirt to fuel your imagination. You put your hand ontop of his and looked at him, feeling satisfied when he didn’t tell you to stop.
You slowly moved his hand with yours, pushing your skirt up onto your waist so he could have a clear view of your panty clad lower half sitting in his lap. His breath hitched slightly and you suddenly were curious how often he had done this, if ever. You seemed to just now realize he’d never spoken about being with anybody and knowing him, that would be something he’d casually mention like it was no big deal.
You were distracted from this train of thought when he was suddenly kissing you again, your hand leaving his inside your skirt and coming up to hold his face so you could deepen the kiss immediately.
Before you could process the movement of his hand, you felt his fingers pressing against your underwear. His hand was practically cupping your entire core and you bucked into it instinctively.
“You’re so cute like this.” He was smiling into the kiss and curling his fingers so they were pressing against you harder, you were embarrassed at the way you pathetically held onto his broad shoulders and practically sobbed at the feeling.
“I’m always cute asshole.” You were pushing out, voice breaking. He laughed softly and kissed your cheek, a weird show of affection that almost caused you to pause your movements and question him about it.
He seemed to notice your change in demeanor and for the first time in a long time, you saw him look visibly thrown off and embarrassed. You quickly forgot about it when he was grabbing your hips and turning your bodies so he was on top of you now.
You didn’t think about it for the rest of the night.
——
“What’s going on with you and Hoon.” Heeseung’s tired voice was mumbling above you in your bed and you frowned against his chest although he couldn’t see it.
“What do you mean?” You were laid against him, leg thrown over his waist and hugging his chest. Your room was warm and silent, perfect for a nap before he started to speak.
“He brought you home the other night.” He was explaining in a weird tone. You could hear his slow heart beat and you picked your head up off his chest so you could look at his expression, eyes locking on his bruised eye for a second. “Never seen you guys do that before I guess.”
He was holding your gaze with soft eyes and you felt a bit worried at the hurt in his features.
“Yeah.” You didn’t explain any further, knowing the simple answer would tell him what he wanted to know and what he was asking without asking. You didn’t have sex with Sunghoon but you did go home with him. “Why?”
“What’d you guys do?” He asked, his hand coming up to push your hair behind your ear and rub against the smooth skin of your cheek.
You didn’t say anything for a few seconds, trying to think about how much you wanted to tell him about that night. You shifted in your place on him, basically laying on top of him with his hip between your legs.
“He fingered me.” You answered him bluntly and his eyebrows shot up, a small amused smile appearing on his face at the information. “And we just kissed alot.”
“Oh, you kissed a lot?” His voice was teasing and you were overwhelmingly glad that his weird expression from earlier was gone. He sat up slightly so he could lean closer to your face, pressing a small kiss against your lips and sitting back again. “Was he a good kisser?”
You groaned at his nosy line of questioning, laying your head down on his chest so he couldn’t look at your flushing face. You could feel him laughing with the vibrations against your forehead.
“He better be considering he watches us all the time.” He was continuing on and you picked your head up quickly, eyebrows furrowed in an accusatory stare.
“You like it when he watches us.” You pointed out and he shrugged with a small smile. You were the telling the truth, something he admitted to you during a particularly tension filled make out session you had at a party a year or two ago.
Sunghoon had been a few feet away from the dance floor, leaning against the wall and keeping an eye out like he always seemed to be doing. You were too caught up in kissing Heeseung to notice, his hands on your hips pulling you into him as you half danced half grinded into his leg.
“Our guard dog is watching us.” He was whispering into your mouth and you opened your eyes to look at him in confusion, finding his eyes over your shoulder. They were low and hazy, arousal apparent at the observation.
“Tell him to cut it out.” You were half whining, upset his attention wasn’t fully on you and too out of it to process his reasoning for saying it wasn’t because he was feeling uncomfortable. Quite the opposite you’d quickly realize.
Heeseung hadn’t responded verbally, instead keeping his eyes over your shoulder open as he grabbed your chin and pulled you in for a wet sloppy kiss, moving his mouth against yours deeper and deeper in a lewd display.
Thinking back on it now you shifted ontop of Heeseung, arousal flaring up at the thought of him keeping strong eye contact with Sunghoon that night. You wish more than anything you had been in sound enough mind to look back and see what his expression was, if it changed at all.
“So he was good then.” He hummed softly and cupped your face. His expression was a bit guarded again and you frowned causing him to mirror your frown in confusion.
“Why are you so curious?” You asked him softly but your heart felt tight and heavy, fearing you already knew what his response would be.
“Why not?” He shrugged again but it looked more awkward this time, like he was trying to fake casual. “You already know that I’m i-.”
“Don’t.” You cut him off quickly, freezing on top of him and you suddenly felt the urge to get off the bed. You didn’t because you didn’t want to hurt his feelings but you felt a sick wave wash over you when his eyes deflated looking into yours. “Don’t say it.”
You weren’t stupid and you knew Heeseung had feelings for you. It was obvious from the first year you’d spent together, back when he was still nervous and didn’t talk as much. He’d follow you around like a lost dog and listen to you speak with big wide eyes like every word was important to him. You ignored it at first because you figured it was just because you were the first girl he’d really spent time with, it would just go away with time.
You admit you still feel guilt sometimes now regarding the way your relationship progressed. Kissing him and letting him hold you while you slept together probably did nothing but sink him in deeper and confuse his feelings now that they mixed with arousal and want.
But you did love Heeseung. You loved all the boys and you wanted them to be happy and feel cared for no matter what. And selfishly, you liked how much he liked you.
He still, after years of having time to get sick of you, looked at you like you personally hung the stars. He made no move to hide the way he felt about you but you’ve warned him before not to say it. You reminded him of the rules and what it would mean if you heard the words yourself, how you wouldn’t be able to do this with him anymore.
He didn’t respond to your interruption and you laid your head back on his chest hesitantly, feeling relieved when he wrapped his arms around you and squeezed you in a hug.
You still felt sick with guilt. You hoped he knew that you loved him too, even if you’d never say it yourself or allow him to. But things were far more complicated than being two friends inlove with each other and you weren’t willingly to pop your bubble just yet.
——
You were sat on the kitchen counter, watching Jay attempt to coach a simple meal prep, when Jake slammed the front door shut.
All four of your heads turned in his direction, Heeseung slowly halting mid vegetable cut in confusion. Jake looked over at the feeling of being stared at and glared in your directions, taking in the sight of everybody packed into the small kitchen.
“Hi.” You hesitantly greeted him. You weren’t sure if he was angry again or if this was his current resting face. “Do you want to come help? Jay’s trying to show us how to…”
Your words slowly trailed off as you watched him start to walk away, down the hall towards him room. He completely ignored you and you felt your heart sink.
Jake had mood swings, he was rude to strangers and he didn’t talk about his emotions or personal thoughts as much as you wished he did but he had never been this angry at you for this long and you still had no idea what was causing it. You always felt special at the fact he seemed to have a soft spot for you, outside of sex he was always gentle and showed you he cared about you in little indirect ways.
You felt a hand on your knee, rubbing it softly in an attempt at reassurance and you looked to see Jay’s worried expression watching you carefully. You imagined the other two had similar looks on their faces but you didn’t check to verify this, sighing softly and giving him an attempt at a smile to signal you were okay.
“You should go talk to him.” Sunghoon’s low voice was muttering and you looked at him now, meeting his expressionless face.
“She’s tried already.” Heeseung sounded annoyed and was shaking his head, eyebrows furrowing. You wanted to smooth out the crease in his forehead and remind him to be careful because his piercing but you stayed still. “He’s just in one of his moods.”
“No it’s different.” Sunghoon was responding, still watching you and you suddenly remembered what he had said about Jake at the party. You wondered if he knew more than what he was telling you or if he was just making his usual observations.
“If I go in there he’s either going to ignore me or tell me to fuck off.” You shook your head in denial, slightly anxious at the thought of confronting an angry Jake. You knew he’d never hurt you, or any of your friends, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a habit of saying harsh words for the sake of shutting people up. Even if he didn’t necessarily mean them.
“Then you can come back out here and watch a movie with us.” Jay shrugged like it was an obvious solution and you smiled at him because it honestly was.
As much as you wished Jake would calm down and join the four of you, you knew that regardless you could lean back on your friends and find comfort in them.
“If I’m not back in half an hour, save yourselves.” You were joking with them as you left the kitchen towards the bedrooms. You smile immediately dropped when you rounded the corner, feeling nervous for how many ways this conversation could go wrong. You reminded yourself again that this was Jake, the person you loved and trusted most in the world.
You kept repeating this to yourself as you knocked on his door, soft taps as you shifted from side to side and waited for him to open it and invite you. The door was swinging open and he was glaring down at you, one headphone dangling out of his ear.
“Why are you knocking?” He mumbled and turned to sit back on his bed. You felt stupid after his comment, considering he was right and you’d never had to knock on his door before.
“Didn’t know if you wanted to be bothered.” You shrugged and sat on the end of the bed near his feet, anxiously picking at a loose thread on your sleeve. He was watching you with a guarded expression.
“Well are you planning on bothering me?” His tone caused you to frown and look down at your lap.
“What did I do?” You felt slightly childish for your disheartened tone but you truly didn’t understand why he was treating you so bad. You glanced at him when he didn’t immediately respond and his face softened at your sad expression.
He sighed softly, taking his other headphone out and leaning back against the headboard. You watched him from the side of your eye as he patted the spot next to him and waited for you to climb fully onto the bed.
You hesitatingly did what he said. You didn’t want to acknowledge the fact it was rare you spent time in Jake’s bed with your clothes on. He wasn’t like the others in terms of cuddling or taking naps together and you slightly appreciated the show of vulnerability.
“You didn’t do anything.” He was saying once you were situated. You weren’t sitting that close but your shoulders were pressed together. His legs were laid out flat down the length of the bed and you were sat hugging your knees as they were pulled tight to your chest for comfort.
“So why are you being so mean.” You voice broke slightly and he swayed a bit into you, bringing your attention to him.
He was holding his hand out, palm up, on his lap and you looked at it for a few seconds in frozen shock. Jake was blankly offering you affection and comfort and you were starting to get worried something was really wrong for him to be acting so out of character. Still, you took his hand in yours and waited to see what he was going to say.
“I think I’m losing my mind.” He was laughing as he was saying it but it was dry and humorless, a sad heavy tone to his words.
You didn’t say anything and gave him a second to explain, squeezing his hand and trying not to think about how strange it was that he started to rub yours with his thumb in smooth circles.
“I think you’re making me lose my mind honestly.” He was turning his head to look at you for a second and your eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “I’ve noticed it for a while but I think Heeseung being a dickhead really made it a sure thing.”
You felt like you were holding his breath as he spoke, still not sure where exactly this line of conversation was heading towards. You felt a tightness in your chest at the thought he might suggest you stop sleeping together, or even worse, you stop being friends.
Maybe hearing Heeseung directly mock him in a way, woke him up to the fact they were both involved with you.
“Then he told me you left that party with Sunghoon and I didn’t think I could ignore it anymore.” With every word he spoke you were becoming more and more certain your current arrangement wasn’t working out and he was about to completely remove himself from it.
“What can I do to fix this?” You were squeezing his hand as you spoke. You respected his comfortably but the thought of Jake not wanting to be with you anymore and thus pulling himself even further from your tight knit group made your stomach lurch.
He let out a soft laugh at your statement, shaking his head and leaning into you again so you swayed slightly to the side.
“You didn’t do anything wrong.” He was explaining his reasoning for the laugh and still shaking his head. “I know the rules and I fucked up, it’s my fault.”
This confused you even further. What rule was he implying he broke? He could be saying he’s longing for exclusivity but he hasn’t broken that yet even if he is finding himself insecure or jealous and you highly doubt he’d told anybody about your arrangement considering he barely talked about it amongst the five of you.
“What are you talking about?” You urged and he slowly looked over at you again, an expectant and nervous expression on his face like he was waiting for you to piece it together any second now.
When you finally did you felt the breath get knocked out of you, your hand going limp in his and your mouth parting in a shocked exhale. He grimaced at your reaction but he didn’t move or pull away, letting you process the fact that he was seemingly saying he had developed feelings for you.
“I know you’re inlove with Heeseung… or maybe Jay I’m not sure but I just needed to tell you.” His voice was strangely vulnerable and for the first time in your life you were saying him look upset and out of control, his mouth moving faster than his thoughts as he rambled on. “I’m sorry I’ve been such a dick that probably didn’t help my case at all, I was just freaking out.”
You didn’t say anything for a while and tried to decide how honest you wanted to be in this situation.
He was right and you weren’t denying it anymore, feeling more and more suffocated everytime you felt your heart warm or your stomach tighten with happiness around one of the boys. He was right about who you were in love with and he was also wrong that you weren’t in love with him.
If anything, you had loved Jake first and most passionately. You’d been glued to him since the second you saw him on your front porch and you’ve stuck by him despite his bad habits and people constantly warning you that no good could come from a boy like that. Because good did come from Jake for you and you’d always been sure of that even when things were messy.
When you first moved in together and you had barely enough money for rent, Jake was working multiple odd jobs late into the night to make sure you all had meals on the table and you didn’t have to worry about missing too many classes to try to individually support yourselves. You were a family and you shared resources because you wanted to see everybody thrive together, not just one person or one pair.
Jake was the type of person who befriended Heeseung without a second thought because he looked lonely and nervous and he was the type of person who you still felt you needed to see at the end of a hard day even after all these years passed.
So you think a large part of you always knew you were in love with Jake, maybe that was the reason you’d established the second rule in the first place. You never thought he’d date you or even really see you as somebody he could do that with, normally teasing each other or sitting in comfortable silence outside of when you were having sex.
You let yourself bury it down deep, to never be unearthed, and you watched him continue to be the funny and out of the box boy he’s always been.
He didn’t need to know you loved him, you didn’t need to make things weird or ruin such a good thing while it had managed to survive everything else thrown your way. So to go through all that and now hear him say the things you’d been biting your tongue on for over a decade, you felt a bit breathless.
Your first instinct was to tell him he was wrong and that you did love him, more than he could ever know. But he wasn’t wrong and you felt bad lying to him.
But you also weren’t sure you could bring yourself to tell him that you loved the others too. You were barely processing it yourself, you knew of people who had multiple crushes or even multiple partners but somehow throughout this whole arrangement, you never considered being able to be with all of them at the same time.
On the other hand, you also never considered having to choose one of them.
Heeseung was the light you needed in your life. Things didn’t feel hard around him and you could just have fun and bounce off his intoxicating puppy like energy. And you knew he truly loved you, certain of it for the first time in your life.
He never rushed you to be with him or implied he was upset that you always stopped your hookups before things got to that point. He was patient and warm.
Jay was similar to him in that aspect but he had an added sense of being grounded that Heeseung lacked. He’d always make sure you ate on days you couldn’t find the space to remember and he took care of the other boys just as eagerly despite not knowing them for as long as you had all known each other.
Realistically Jay probably had figured out you loved Jake, being kind enough to never bring it up and only giving you vague advice when you inevitably found yourself teary eyed in his bed looking for comfort. It wasn’t a rebound thing, or seeking what Jake didn’t give you in him, you just genuinely felt most comfortable and safe when you were around him.
Sunghoon had been the most recent development for you.
He was always an anchor in your life, both as unruly kids and misbehaving teenagers. You knew nobody would ever be as important to you as him but you hadn’t fully considered the idea of being with him in the extra way that dating required.
Yet you hadn’t stopped thinking about what it felt like to kiss him and more importantly your mind had been replaying the gentle way he kissed your cheek. You’d never seen him with that look in his eye before and you wondered how long he’d been looking at you like that without you noticing.
“I am in love with Heeseung.” You finally responded to Jake now, turning on your knees so you could fully face him as you said the heavy weighted words. His face dropped at your sudden statement before he was slowly nodding in acceptance. “But I’m in love with you too.”
He didn’t say anything when you said this, face unchanging like he was waiting for you to deliver the punchline of a joke.
When he realized you were insanely serious, your eyes teary as you anxiously chewed on your lip and rocked slowly back and forth on your knees, a self soothing action you didn’t even realize you were doing, his face changed.
“Oh.” His one worded response made you feel sick and your watched him with desperate eyes as you waited for him to continue. “Somehow I didn’t see that coming.”
You groaned softly at his attempt at a joke, leaning forward so your head was hitting his knee and you were able to grab his hand that he had left loose in his lap since you abandoned it.
“I’m sorry.” Your voice broke in a cry and you looked down at your conjoined hands, not be able to see his confused expression for another second. “Do you hate me?”
“Hate you for what? Why are you sorry?” His voice was smooth and calm, taking you by surprise as he cupped your cheek with his free hand and lifted your head so you were looking at him again.
“Sorry for falling inlove with people you’ve spent your whole life with? What’s wrong with that?” He was reassuring you and you imagined you looked extremely confused and thrown off because he smiled softly.
You shook your head through your tears, face scrunched up as you tried to make sense of what he was saying to you.
“You don’t care that I’m inlove with somebody else, with all of you?” He didn’t look at all surprised as you spoke, bringing up the fact it was more than just him and Heeseung.
“I mean it’s definitely a surprise but it makes sense when I think about it.” He was shrugging and weirdly casual, almost like he was just relieved to have his feelings reciprocated. You never treated him any different even when you started sleeping with Jay or forming your strange relationship with Heeseung. He was starting to think you had way more than enough love for all of them.
It was silent for a few seconds as you both looked at eachother, observing the multiple pieces of new information you’ve just brought to light.
“Do they know?” He was asking after a bit, voice so soft it was almost a whisper.
“I’ve never said it until now.” You suddenly flushed at the reminder you had just casually done the one thing you swore you never would. He gave you a smile that looked prideful, like he was prepared to brag he heard it first. “I think if any of them know it’s Hee.”
“Because he’s obsessed with you.” He said it matter of factly, always teasing your friend for his obvious feelings towards you.
You half laughed at his joke, not fully being able to relax at the thoughts of how many different ways this could go wrong. Jake was okay with it but who knew how the others would react and even if they accepted it for now, you knew a relationship like this wouldn’t be easy or conventional.
You had no idea what you were going to do and you were starting to feel yourself cry again, squeezing Jake’s hand absentmindedly. He was scooting forward on the bed so he could wrap his arms around you slightly, rubbing your back.
“Maybe I should bring them in here and we can have a talk. Does that sound okay?” He was whispering and you were nodding your head before he even finished talking, knowing that was the best idea.
He pressed a loving kiss to the side of your head before getting up and disappearing out of the room.
You felt worse at his absence, scooting back against the headboard now that you were alone and sniffling softly as you anxiously waited for him to return, this time with a lot more company. You were trying to think of what you were going to say but nothing was coming to you and you realized you were just going to have to wing it.
That idea was completely blown out of the ball park when you actually saw them, following swiftly behind Jake with varying levels of worry and distress on their faces. Minus Sunghoon who seemed calm, more so than usual, and almost expectant.
They silently sat around the bed and you felt your heart warm slightly seeing them all together like this, knowing it could potentially be the last time you did if things were to go as wrong as you were expecting. Jake was scooting back into his spot beside you, Jay following so he was on your other side. Heeseung climbed into the middle of the bed and hesitantly placed a comforting hand on your knee like he wasn’t sure it was appropriate.
Your gaze locked on Sunghoon’s as he sat on the end of the bed, slightly distanced from the rest of you.
“Do you want to say it or should I?” Jake was murmuring from beside you and you appreciated his nice gesture, willing to take the heat of voicing it out loud.
“She should say it.” Sunghoon was immediately disagreeing in a stern voice and all of your eyes went to him. You noticed a slightly hurt look in his eyes and you were beginning to think he didn’t know as much as you assumed he did. “If you guys are together now, she should be the one to tell us.”
He immediately proved you right in your assumption, clearly misreading the situation and coming to a false conclusion.
You felt a heavy guilt and sadness wash over you at the thought of how he must’ve been feeling this entire time, sitting and thinking you had chosen Jake after just sending him mixed signals by hooking up with him. You wished he wasn’t sitting so far away so you could reach out and touch him but now you understood why he was.
“We aren’t together.” You were shaking your head and Jake nudged your side gently with his elbow, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively with a smirk and trying to lighten the situation. “Okay well maybe we are apparently but it’s more than that.”
You looked over to see their reactions and if anybody had caught on to what was happening yet. Heeseung was looking down at his hands with furrowed eyebrows, betrayal and sadness radiating off of him but Jay on the other side of you almost looked happy for you, a soft calm smile on his face.
“I want to date Jake.” You started to explain, hands coming out in front of you in slight frustration for your lack of words. You decided to just say it outright. “But I want to date Heeseung too, and also Jay. Sunghoon you too.”
Similarly to how it was when you said this to Jake earlier, the room fell silent and you almost bodily cringed at the way the words seem to just hang in the air obnoxiously. You wanted to curl into a ball and not move until they all left the room.
You didn’t want to look at their expressions, not sure you could handle the confusion and possibly heartbreak on their faces at this news. You were still figuring that this was going to be the end of it all and knowing you were sitting here and tearing apart your family for the selfish sliver of hope they could accept your feelings was crushing you.
“I mean,” Jake was clearing his throat from next to you and you glanced at him expectantly. “Feel however you guys feel but, just for the record, I’m okay with it.”
“What?” Sunghoon’s voice sounded just as upset as it had before you clarified and you forced yourself to look at him. His body was turned towards you guys now like he wasn’t sure he was hearing you properly. “How could you be okay with that?”
“Personally I don’t think it’d be that different.” Jay sounded casual next to you and you turned your teary eyes towards him just in time to see his shoulders fall from a nonchalant shrug. “I’m basically already dating Y/N while she’s with you guys so what’s the major shift in adding an official label to it.”
“She may be with you guys but she’s not with me.” Sunghoon was scoffing and you looked at him again, slightly hurt at his angry words. He wasn’t one to lose his temper but you imagine the fact it’d only been a new development between the two of you was making it harder on him than the others, who had plenty experience being with you. Both alone and in pairs.
“But I want to be.” You were telling him as earnestly as you could, scooting forward slightly so he’d keep his attention on you. You wanted him to see how sincere you were, not wanting him to feel like a last choice. “I’m not saying it just so you’re included, I really mean it.”
“It’s always been you and Jake.” He was spitting, looking more frustrated at your closing distance. “After all these years suddenly you notice me?”
The other boys didn’t say anything, understanding this was something that dated back before their addition to the friend group. You didn’t speak immediately either, professing what he was trying to say.
Sunghoon was displaying insecurity you’d never seen from him before and you felt a wave of guilt at the fact you’d never even considered it to be something he’d feel. If he had any feelings for you other than sexual, he’d done a good job at hiding it but you felt shameful that he had apparently felt left out or like you’d picked Jake over him at some point.
“You’re crazy Hoon.” Heeseung was finally speaking and Sunghoon dropped your gaze to look at the boy. You couldn’t see his expression since he was looking over his shoulder to face your upset friend. “I knew she was inlove with you guys the day I met you all, atleast you had a shot.”
“Are you not listening to what she’s saying?” Jay suddenly sounded annoyed and you could feel him tensing next to you.
The room got quiet again as you all looked over at him. You were starting to feel like you were getting whiplash from the constant focus changes, mixed with the different statements and scenarios suddenly being confessed.
“You all had a shot, and guess what it landed dude.” It was weird hearing Jay sound so fed up but as he implied earlier, he clearly has been observing this long enough to know it without being told, having entered the group most recently and spent alot of intimate time with you. “She loves you all, us all.”
He was looking at you as he said the last two words, correcting himself with a small smile on his face. You tried to return the warmness in his eyes despite the tears still clouding your vision.
“You love me?” Heeseung was talking again, sounding breathless like he had just fully processed what was happening. His eyes were big and round and you felt your heart warm at the sight of him. You knew suddenly that no matter what happened now, you had made the right choice.
“Of course I love you.” You said it to him more directly and he looked overwhelmed for a second before smiling softly at you and nodding.
“For what it’s worth, I don’t necessarily need to be making out with you idiots but I do love you guys too.” Jake was shrugging from beside you and you heard Jay snort a laugh on your other side at his casual comments.
“This is actually what you want to do?” Sunghoon was finally talking again but he looked and sounded a lot less angry, still having a slightly guarded expression on his face.
You looked at each boy carefully, all laying together in different ways on Jake’s bed and your heart felt full and happy, most of all safe. They’d been your family for so long and you didn’t want to be anywhere else, with any of them missing or somebody different in their place.
“More than anything.”
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