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kpop-kitkat · 1 year

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Vanilla Cookie | Jay Park

pairing | idol!jay park x idol f!reader

genre/cw | love triangle, slight angst, fluff, unrequited love, fluffy sexual content, sadness, happy end, i made up a girl group for y/n’s group, enhypen members included

wc | 2.0k

notes | none.

EDIT: i proofread it this time. aren't y'all proud of me? XD

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

The boys were frantic as they readied themselves for their comeback stage at Mnet. One of them in particular was a bit more nervous than the others.

”Jay, are you alright? You’re sweating like… a lot,” noted Seonwoo.

”He’s fine. He’s just nervous to perform in front of Y/n,” Heeseung giggled.

Y/n was a close friend of the boys. She debuted with her group, LIVLY, through BE:LIFT Lab just like them. They had all grown considerably close with her, but Jay more than the others. The members noticed and began teasing him. And surprisingly, their teasing was the reason he began to like her in a different way. When they acknowledged what he himself did not realize, his eyes were opened.

And now, he was in love. But so was Jungwon. Though not as close with Y/n, he was immediately attracted to her fun and bright personality, as well as her pretty face.

Even though they were unaware, Jay and Jungwon were in a race to confess their feelings to their mutual friend. Jungwon was one step ahead of Jay, planning to confess today. But Jay’s feelings, were in fact, deeper than Jungwon’s.

”What?” Riki and Jake asked at the same time.

”Isn’t it obvious? He’s in love~” Heeseung said in a sing-song voice.

“Am not!” Jay rolled his eyes as he carefully ran his hand through his soft black hair.

“Hyung, you never spend more than fifteen minutes on your hair. You’ve been staring at yourself in that mirror for over an hour. I think that’s proof enough,” Riki laughed.

Jay pouted as he let his hand fall from his hair to his lap. He tilted his head to each side, doing a double take over his features. He was undoubtedly very worried about his performance quality, especially in front of Y/n, like Heeseung pointed out. And truth be told, he wasn’t the only one. Jungwon was a nervous wreck too. But frankly, he was better at hiding it from the members than Jay was.

“Come on! Let’s go!” Yelled the Mnet manager.

Jay quickly adjusted his letter jacket and face mic before heading to the stage with the rest of the members. Jungwon also fixed a stray strand of hair before following.

Y/n gasped before playfully shoving her group mate, Aya, in the shoulder. “I do not like him! Who gave you that misinformation?”

”Nobody. Just the way you look at him. You’ve practically got stars in your eyes,” Aya teased.

”Are you for real Y/n? You literally drool at the sight of him,” added Kaori.

“Shut up,” Y/n rolled her eyes.

Kaori smirked before leaning over to whisper something into Aya’s ear. “Well, she didn’t deny it.”

Cheers were heard as the boys made their way onto the stage. Y/n cheered the loudest out of her members, clearly not helping prove her case. The rest of the members, Jaeha, Nora, and Katie, were situated a bit far from Y/n, but they could tell she was looking at one person and one person only: Jay.

The boys got into position. As Jay got into his spot, he glanced at Y/n, only to find her looking at him as well. He gave her a quick smile before they began performing their song, Future Perfect. And while the gesture was simple and friendly, it gave her butterflies like crazy. She was very grateful to have a friend like Jay. But how long could she keep her feelings contained?

If Y/n’s attention had been on Jungwon, she would’ve seen how many times Jungwon looked at her. But her eyes were elsewhere. And Jungwon noticed. He silently promised himself he’d confess to her before the day’s end.

Cheers were heard as the boys finished their performance. Y/n and her members cheered enthusiastically and clapped, standing from their seats. The boys bowed and waved before exiting the stage. The girls quickly went backstage and cheered again once they met the boys there.

”You guys were amazing!” Katie screamed, hugging Riki from behind. Not only was Y/n close with the boys, but also her members. The two were rookie groups in the same year, in the same entertainment company. Of course they grew close. Very close. “Our maknae did amazing,” she smiled, tickling Riki’s sides.

”Hey!” Riki exclaimed, wiggling out of Katie’s hold.

Out of both groups, the order of oldest to youngest went Heeseung, Jay, Kaori, Jake, Sunghoon, Aya, Y/n, Seonwoo, Katie, Jungwon, Jaeha, Nora, and Riki. So since Riki was the youngest, it was only fair for him to get teased like a child. In the most playful way of course.

”What about me?” Seonwoo pouted. “Did I do great?”

”Of course you did!” Kaori ruffled Seonwoo’s hair. “You all did great.”

”Thanks Kay,” Heeseung smiled. “You know, you’re up next girls.”

”Don’t remind me,” Nora sighed. She wasn’t too fond of live performances. She had major stage fright.

“Aww is our little Nora scared?” Riki teased.

”Don’t ‘little Nora’ me! I’m older than you dummy,” Nora seethed, with a hidden smile.

”I don’t see the issue, we’re three months apart,” Riki shrugged.

”Alright you two, enough,” Y/n chuckled. “Let’s get ready, yeah?”

“Yeah. Let’s go,” Aya beckoned as her and Y/n made their way to the dressing room.

As Y/n was about to enter the room, she felt a hand grab her arm.

”Uh, Y/n?” The person, Jungwon, asked.

”Yeah Wonnie?” She tilted her head with a smile.

“I uh,” he looked at the rest of the girls getting their makeup done. “I’ll tell you later. You have to get ready.”

”Okay,” she shrugged, going to get her makeup done as well. Not like the girls didn’t already have their makeup done, they just needed touchups before they were the ones on stage.

Just like the girls, the boys screamed when the girls entered onto the stage. It was laughable, how they forced their voices to go two octaves higher than normal, trying to imitate their friends. But nonetheless, the girls had their serious faces on. It was more of a dark concept comeback anyways.

With every dance break and high note, the boys cheered, one might say even louder than the girls did for them. Definitely something to be said for enthusiasm.

The girls finished after about three minutes, and again, they met with the boys backstage.

”Our Katie did such a great job!” Said Riki, imitating Katie from earlier.

”Don’t even,” Katie warned, hating people tickling her.

Y/n laughed with her members and the boys as they complimented the girls and laughed together, but she began to zone out. She was snapped out of her trance when she felt arms around her waist. “You did well Y/n,” said Jungwon, whispering it into her ear. Despite what Jungwon really meant by it, it sent shivers down her spine. She mumbled an excuse before removing herself from his hold. In her head, it felt like betraying Jay, even though that wasn’t the case. They weren’t together, and she didn’t even know for sure if Jungwon was trying to flirt or not.

”I need some air, I’ll be back,” Y/n waved to everyone before leaving to the roof of the building.

She sighed as she laid on the concrete of the roof. It was peaceful to be alone and look up into the stars. Until, it isn’t so peaceful.

”Y/n?” Came Jungwon’s voice, followed by soft footsteps. “Can I talk to you?”

Y/n propped herself up on her arms. “Yeah.”

Jungwon took a seat beside Y/n. “I uh… how do I put this,” he sighed, finding a little stone to play with as he tried to formulate coherent sentences. He looked over to Y/n as she listened intently. “I like you. Like… not in a friend way. And I’ve been hiding my feelings for too long. It’s fine if you don’t feel the same I just… thought it was unfair to keep you in the shadows. I had to let you know,” he explained, making Y/n’s heart drop. What would she even say?

”Uh… Jungwon… to be honest with you, I like someone else… I’m sorry,” she said, voice barely above a whisper. She felt horrible.

“Don’t apologize,” he smiled sadly. “I knew it was a long shot. Besides, I bet you’ll make whoever you like very happy. Mind if I ask who it is?”

Y/n smiled to herself. “Jay.”

”Thought so,” Jungwon laughed.

”Thought so?”

”Yeah. Everyone sees how you look at him. I actually expected you to say that you felt that for him. I’m not surprised.”

”Wow. I can’t hide my feelings huh.”

”Yeah…”

”I still am really sorry Wonnie. Can we still be friends?” She asked.

”Of course we can. You’ll always be my friend.”

”Thanks for understanding Jungwon,” she smiled, placing her hand atop his before standing up. “I need to find Jay.”

”He’s back at the dorms.”

”By himself?”

”Yeah, he said he was tired. But I know he was lying. You should go to him.”

”I think I will. Bye Wonnie.”

”Bye Y/n.”

Y/n quickly made her way downstairs and made her way back to the dorms on foot. It was only about ten minutes of walking, and they lived in the nice part of town, so being abducted was the least of her worries.

In no time, she was standing in front of the boys’ dorm. She softly knocked on the wooden door. When she didn’t get a response, she slowly opened the door. “Jay? Are you here?” She asked into the air, glancing around the messy dorm.

“In here,” came Jay’s voice from the living room.

She quickly walked over to the living room. When she locked eyes with Jay as he stood up, she looked to the floor, a bit shy. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

The both stood in a comfortable, yet awkward silence.

“I have something to tell- no you go-“ they said in unison, as they burst out laughing.

”Really, you go first,” ushered Y/n.

”Alright,” he took a deep breath and sighed. “You might think I’m crazy for saying it as it is like this but… I’m in love with you, Y/n. I’ve been in love with you for the past couple months. When we met two years ago, I thought you were the coolest person. You were so caring and considerate towards me, I instantly knew I wanted to be your friend. But recently, I couldn’t figure out why I found myself missing you more and more everyday. I found myself looking at you more and more. I didn’t know why I felt this weird feeling every time I saw you. It was painful, but also, a wonderful feeling. And when Heeseung brought it to my attention that I might just be falling in love, I concluded, that was just it. And now it all makes sense. I love you. I know it’s crazy, and I’ve been hiding my feelings this whole time but-“

Jay was abruptly cut off by warm, soft lips on his. And without hesitation, he brought his hand under her chin, kissing her deeply. He smiled, feeling her hands in his hair, as he put one of his around her waist. To him, she tasted like a warm vanilla cookie and some hot chocolate. Like a cozy night by the fireplace. A taste he would never forget. A taste he would always love.

Jay was left wanting more as Y/n slowly pulled away. “I love you too, dummy,” she laughed. “Thought you would’ve caught on by now. You’re slow.”

”Guess I am,” he giggled, wrapping his arms around her in a warm hug. “So, what do I call you now? Angel? Princess? Baby?” He smiled to himself.

”Anything you want, love,” she smirked.

”Love?” Jay pulled away to look into her eyes.

”You don’t like it?”

”No I love it, angel,” he giggled, touching the tip of her nose with his index finger.

”I could get used to this.”

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pastriibunz · 6 months

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Quatervois - Emma’s Perspective

Paring: Emma Perkins + Kai Drew (platonic)

Warnings: major spoilers for TKWDLM

Summary: (n.) a crossroads; a critical decision or turning point in one’s life | Emma’s perspective of Kai and the events of the apocalypse.

Jane often talked about Tim.

And having a kid, overall.

She loved being a mother.

I never understood.

Kids just seemed like a nuisance.

You raise them for 18 years, and you just have to hope you did enough so that they come out okay and don’t become a total screw up/douchebag/creep/etc.

It seemed like a lot.

And it just seemed like an overall annoyance.

So, I decided a long time ago that I was never having kids.

I was fine with that.

I’d just be the cool aunt or whatever.

I never wanted to be a mom.

But things change.

Especially when a dorky 12 17 year old girl with the world’s brightest teal hair heads up to your counter.

Her order was simple.

Anything with caramel, and make it extra.

I could do that.

And then she tipped me.

I hated that tip jar and the stupid ‘tip for a song’ policy.

I didn’t want to sing just so I could make, what, less than 25 cents after the split?

That’s less than a fucking jukebox!

But, I had to do the singing thing. I needed this job to work my way through college.

Jane would want that, right?

So I did the stupid fucking singing thing.

I half assed it. Nora didn’t say I had to sound good. There was my loophole. I had hoped this kid wouldn’t get too pissed and ask for the manager or something. I did not have the patience for that.

But the kid didn’t.

She clapped like it was the best thing she had ever heard.

I was confused. Especially when she said I did great.

She seemed so happy. She even said she had tips for me. Ones that she said she’d keep to herself.

Usually I’d just laugh it off awkwardly, thank her for the compliment, give her the coffee she ordered and send her on her way.

But something inside me said not to let her go.

I don’t know what it was.

But I listened

So I let her share her singing tips with me.

And she was so passionate about it.

It was adorable.

And I dunno, something just…

…unlocked in me.

The only thought in my head was:

“That’s yours.”

“That’s your kid.”

And who was I to fight it?

She was mine the moment she walked into the coffee shop.

I got her name before she left.

Kai Drew.

Cute name for a cute kid.

She said she should leave, so she wouldn’t hold up the line.

It was sweet how considerate she was.

I didn’t care about the line.

This kid was way more important than whatever those guys needed.

But it was fine.

She could’ve leave if she wanted.

Would I like it?

No.

But I wouldn’t ever like it, so I just had to learn to work with it.

So she left.

I just had to hope she’d be back.

…

And she was.

The very next day.

My favorite little customer walked in through that door.

I understand why Jane would always talk about Tim now.

I wouldn’t be able to shut up about Kai, either.

My only regret is not knowing her earlier.

I sang for her. I was technically required to, so I could keep my job, but I’d like to think I made it special for her.

She loved it.

Of course she did.

She said it was “real grand.”

The best compliment I’ve ever gotten.

She didn’t even need to ask for her drink.

I knew what she wanted.

Same thing as yesterday.

She seemed like the type to have a specific order.

And she was!

She sat happily in the corner, waiting for her coffee.

It would’ve been a great day.

If not for Paul.

Well, it wasn’t his fault.

He just brought to light that our lives were in danger.

I didn’t believe him until I saw it firsthand.

He wanted to run.

I stayed.

Something that the thing that used to be Zoey had said sang.

“We got a triple for you!”

It had caught me off guard.

There was only me and Paul, wouldn’t that be double?

Then her little voice spoke.

“Oh! Coffee’s cool!”

She was safe.

“Welp, Bottoms up!”

But clearly not for long.

My brain went blank, and the one thought in my head was:

“Protect your daughter.”

And so I did.

And I continued to.

Sure, she was technically old enough to take care of herself.

But that didn’t stop me from keeping her safe.

In my eyes, she was a baby.

My baby.

And I didn’t want her hurt.

And I sure as hell didn’t want her dead.

I felt like I needed to protect her.

To hold her in my arms, shielding her from the world.

I wanted to hold her close and never let go.

I’d protect her with my life.

And if I couldn’t, I made sure someone else would.

And if she went out alone?

I’d panic.

I wasn’t a mess, but I was close.

I just reminded myself she could hold her own.

That she was almost an adult, she could take care of herself.

But still.

She was my baby.

I don’t think I’d ever not be scared for her.

I love her, after all.

I finally understand why Jane loved being a mom so much.

I finally understand why people want to be parents.

I love Kai so, so much.

She’s like if you packed all the happiness in the world into one adorable little human being.

She’s my universe.

I love her more than anything.

I just want her to be safe.

…

But of course she couldn’t.

I knew something was up.

I knew it.

I was right to panic.

I had to sprint over.

I didn’t care if I had a pole straight through my leg.

My baby was in danger.

If she was hurting, so was I.

I wouldn’t be okay if she wasn’t okay.

I wouldn’t get better if she wasn’t safe.

It was like a sixth sense, knowing if she was safe or not.

Maybe that was the maternal instincts that Jane had always talked about.

That was besides the point.

I just want my baby to be okay.

She was singing.

She was being forced to sing by that fucking blue shit.

No, no, no.

Not my baby.

She’ll only sing when she wants to, not because some stupid fucking alien infection forces her to.

She’s strong.

Stronger than anyone I know.

She can fight it.

I know she can.

I love her so much.

She can’t die on me.

I refuse to let that happen.

Parents aren’t supposed to see their children die first.

It’s not supposed to happen.

There’s a reason there’s a word for a child who lost their parents, and not a word for a parent who’s lost their child.

It’s not supposed to happen.

And it’s sure as hell not gonna happen to me.

Not to my baby.

Please.

I just want her to be safe.

…

She destroyed the meteor.

Good on her.

But I don’t care.

Fuck the goddamn meteor, is my kid okay?!

Nothing is worth it if she isn’t safe.

Life isn’t worth living if my baby isn’t okay.

…

Oh- oh yes!

There’s my girl!

There’s my beautiful baby girl!

She did it!

We did it!

We won!

She’s okay, she’s safe, she’s-

…

That’s not her.

That’s not my baby.

What happened to my baby?

WHAT THE FUCK DID THEY DO TO MY BABY?!

No, no, no, no.

She’s fine.

This is all some sick joke.

She’s fine.

Why is Paul trying to leave?!

I’m not leaving!

I’m not leaving without my baby!

She’s-

…

She’s infected.

But-

But she’s still in there.

She just needs to snap out of it.

Give her back.

Please, God.

Don’t take her away from me.

Not when I just started to like being a mom.

…

…What’s she doing?

Wait.

WAIT.

NO.

NO NO NO NO NO.

NO!

KAI, DONT YOU DARE-

…

…My baby.

Oh, god, no.

Not my baby.

No.

Please.

Please, God.

Please let her wake up.

Give me my baby back.

Please.

I just want my baby back.

I just want her to wake up.

…

…That’s not her.

What the fuck-

What the fuck did they do to her?!

She needs help.

We need help.

Why won’t anyone help us?!

SOMEONE HELP US!

…

…Nobody’s coming to help us.

Nobody’s coming to save us.

My baby is dead.

My daughter is dead.

Kai is dead.

Oh, god.

We lost.

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backtothestart02 · 1 year

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Just to be Sure - 1/1 | [RC - 9x05]

A/N: My sort-of fix-it fic to the end of 9x05. I hope you all enjoy! Takes place right after the ep.

...

Synopsis: Post 9x05 - Barry can tell something's off after he and Iris get home.

...

Iris was able to feed off the happiness for the duration of the party, but Barry must’ve known something was off about her smile, her laughter, even the way she talked, because he brought it up to her as soon as they walked through the door of their loft hours later.

“Hey, you okay?”

His hand on her lower back, his eyes glued to her face, she knew she couldn’t hide from him.

And yet, she tried to.

“What? Oh, yeah, I’m fine. It’s just been a long day, and I’m pregnant now, so I get tired easier, I think.”

Barry thought about that, thought about how the only thing they’d done today, since it was a Sunday, was go to the going away party for Joe, but he allowed that given how many revelations there’d been there that maybe it was aloud to be a long day.

“Do you feel any better?” he asked, concerned, even as she distanced herself to slide out of her shoes.

“Hmm?” she asked, confused. “What do you mean?”

“I mean…before Khione told us, you were feeling lightheaded. Do you still feel lightheaded?”

“Oh.” She blinked. “No. Actually. My stomach hurts a little though. Maybe I’ll go lie down on the couch after I change clothes. Or maybe I’ll just lie in bed. It’s more comfortable there.”

She was halfway to the stairs when his concerned stare prompted him to talk again, reminding her not for the first time that they were more in tune than ever.

“You wanted to find out first, didn’t you?”

She stilled, her hand on the railing, one foot on a step. She looked over her shoulder at him, her eyes glimmering.

“It’s fine, Barry. I mean, you already told me it would happen in three months, so-”

“So, you already had one person telling you when it would happen,” he said, approaching her. “And today, after you thought you had the chance to choose your future, you had another.”

She looked down at her still flat belly and felt herself well up with emotion as he covered his hand over hers on the railing.

“Iris?”

She swallowed, and her voice cracked when she spoke.

“I just wanted to tell you myself, you know? Take a test, surprise you with breakfast the next morning, and…tell you. And then together we could tell everyone else. You know, like how we did when we got engaged?” She paused. “The first time.”

She tried to smile, but it was more wistful than anything, and her eyes were shining with tears.

“That would’ve been nice.” He shared her sad smile.

“But…I wouldn’t have even thought to take a test for another month and a half, because your book said three months. Plus, with everything going on with Red Death and the rogues, it just….never occurred to me to even buy a test. I just didn’t think I could possibly be pregnant till that three-month mark, as crazy as that sounds. I don’t know why I thought that. When you change one thing in the timeline, it snowballs into all sorts of changes.”

She nibbled on her bottom lip, seeking some sort of logic into how messy her emotions were right now. She should still be celebrating. She was pregnant! Little Nora was coming, for real this time. And yet, she couldn’t stop going over the how of it all, and how it should’ve been her choice. It should’ve!

“Oh, c’mere, Iris,” she heard Barry saying, and then he was taking her into his arms, and she was collapsing into them.

His hands stroked her hair, and she was sniffling and almost sobbing, and it had come out of nowhere!

“God, I feel like I’m PMSing,” she muttered through the tears.

“Not quite.” Barry chuckled softly, making her laugh a little too.

“Won’t be doing that for a while.”

“At least nine months.”

She huffed a sigh and snuggled against his chest, letting him hold the full weight of her where they stood at the bottom of the steps.

“I have an idea,” Barry said after a while.

Iris sniffled.

“What?”

He untangled himself and tilted her face up, so he could wipe away the remaining tears.

“Why don’t we get a pregnancy test?”

Iris rolled her eyes.

“What would be the point? We already know.”

“Yeah, because Khione told us. How does she know? Is she an empath? Some other type of meta? We don’t know, and neither does she. We just took her word for it because she sounded so sure. It didn’t occur to us to get another opinion. But we really should get some solid evidence other than you feeling lightheaded, don’t you think? You can be lightheaded and have the flu.”

Iris blinked.

“We should get a test.”

She smiled slowly.

“I mean, we should find out for sure, that way we really know.”

He nodded and smiled, then kissed the corner of her lips.

“I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

Literally two seconds later, Barry was back with a box of pregnancy tests in his hand and a super grin on his face.

Iris laughed, her sniffles gone, and the remaining tear tracks wiped from her face.

“Go take your test,” he encouraged, holding it out to her. “I’ll wait here.”

She smiled, taking it from him and making a beeline for the downstairs bathroom. Luckily, she’d had plenty of lemonade at the party and didn’t need to drink anything else in order to promptly pee on a stick.

After doing so, the time she had to wait felt unbearable. She kept checking her phone for the minutes to pass, but she felt very much like a speedster with how slow the seconds were going, and then at last, it was ready.

She tilted the test towards her where it sat on the counter, and an overflowing abundance of joy poured out of her, like she was finding out for the first time.

She opened the door, test in her hand, and found him standing almost on top of her as soon as the door swung open.

“Well?” he asked, looking nervous as hell, as if he didn’t already know, as if they both hadn’t before he went and got the test at the store.

She showed it to him.

“Two lines. I’m pregnant!”

His smile stretched wide across his face, and his eyes crinkled. He swept her up in his arms, careful not to spin her too fast, and when he set her down again, her smile was as wide and genuine as his was. She even giggled, overwhelmed with happiness.

“There’s the reaction I was hoping for,” he said, and his eyes were so soft and heartwarming, she didn’t know how she could possibly love this man more.

“I love you,” she said, cupping his face and bringing him down to her for a kiss.

“I love you more,” he murmured and embraced her again.

#westallen #westallen fanfiction #backtothestart02 fanfiction #just to be sure #roll credits series #roll credits #one-shot #tf 905

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razorblade180 · 2 years

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My main issue with BB is that as it is, it’s a very frail relationship that won’t last long because neither girl seems to be mentally prepared to be in one, specially with each other. As it is presented in the show, seems like Yang is gonna need constant reassurance and Blake is gonna have to be there all the time, which is already bad enough, but then you remember… it’s Blake. She has a bad story of people like that. They are each other’s triggers, and the show nor fans talk about it!

I see your points, and I’ve actually mentioned similar subjects in the past. I feel the need to put this on the record on what I’m about to say is no way a rant. I’m simply speaking my thoughts calmly. So please, do the same if you’re gonna type a reply

I like BB. They are cute, and can work, but I do agree their current state isn’t that great. It’s why one of my random predictions I made for V9 a long time ago was some kind of moment where things are bad for everyone and Weiss calls out Blake and Yang for not properly contributing because they’re too focused on one another.

It’s why I really wanted in V8 for Ruby to be a bit upset that the two, specifically Yang, for deciding to tell Robyn about the plan without discussing it first; then shut down the counter argument of Blake being on board with it because Blake is the most likely person to try and agree with Yang instead of pushing back. I think it would’ve been a good character moment for Ruby to acknowledge and be happy that the two clearly love one another, but puts her foot as a leader who should definitely be aware of big choices. After all, one of them literally said they’d “follow her lead” but didn’t.

I would like to see an arc for Blake that is the realization that in her quest to feel like a good partner this time around, she’s actually letting the team down as a whole. It would also bring into light that while Yang isn’t trying to gaslight Blake or anything of the sort, she’s unknowingly using the rockier parts of their relationship to get Blake on the same page as her.

I really do think it’s unfortunate that RT gave Renora the “figuring who we are alone” message and not BB. While anyone can see Ren and Nora were pretty joined at the hip sense the beginning, I personally never got the idea that Nora didn’t know who she was as individual until they made that focus for the volume. Meanwhile, the person who encourages her to find individuality has had all their actions driven by others since the start of the show.

Be it Adam, Sun, or Yang, Blake doesn’t make a big move or really any move that wasn’t based on or pushed by those three. Left alone, Blake has little to no initiative. She has the most to benefit from being single right now and trying to rediscover who she is in my opinion. Much like a real relationship, if you don’t self reflect in between getting out of one and getting into another, then you’re likely to make the same mistakes. The thing is both in the show and especially in the comic they made set around the V4 time period, they talk about how Blake used to be this outgoing individual and cheery. We even see it a little. I would love if her arc was her taking time for herself and trying to gain some up that back; especially with her seeing some of her former self in Ruby. She knows she won’t be able to be exactly the same because that’s what trauma does to people, robs innocence, but that doesn’t stop her from regaining a sunnier disposition and learning to be the active go getter again. I think that would be really nice. Especially if we got scenes of a younger her being happy then Kali and Ghira in the present start seeing that little girl come back in little ways.

Yang is a different can of worms. You can say deep down Yang has never been truly happy and the façade fully broke when Blake left, making it impossible for Yang to act like like she did in V1-V2. Or you can say now that Yang is constantly forced into situations where she can’t be care free and has to deal with more personal feelings that she has to learn life really does just happen and you can’t hold on to every negative or serious thing tightly. Certain conflicts that have been resolved just have to be let go despite the outcome. It’s easier said than done but if she’s really comfortable with things like her arm and is happy to have Blake in her life, then she shouldn’t dwell much on all the things it took it get to that point. Oz lied, but so did she; people are scared and confused. Not everything is meant to be internalized forever. Some things are simple truths you acknowledge and then move forward with.

This was way longer then I intended but yeah. They need work. I hope they get sufficient work because honestly I don’t know about you all but simply being a same sex couple doesn’t really cut it for me or feel as grand as it used to be. Disney somehow beat Rooster Teeth in showing two girls getting into a developing relationship and kissing on screen. How did they let that happen?

#rwby #bmblb #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #ask me stuff #rwby talk

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ground-zero-idiocies · 2 years

Note

How would FO4 companions react after finding the Jamaica Plain treasure? https://youtu.be/TmLr99nQaUA

They’re walking outside and they notice SS holding a bat they saw in the treasure vault

Some random feral comes in and tries to attack

But SS swing at them and the Feral goes flying about 6 feet, dead.

A moment of silence passes and SS goes with as smirk on their face, “Look like I found the treasure.”

How would they react?

Fun little story: I accidentally stumbled into the backdoor to the treasure on my first playthrough when walking around. I threw the bat on the ground because I thought it was useless. I am stupid.

Anyway, the reacts. Anon set this up pretty well, so I'll just go off that.

Fallout 4 Companions React: The Treasure of Jamaica Plain

Cait: “Ok, I gotta get my hands on that. If I ever saw me parents again, I’d punt them off into the moon. No, the sun. Damn, that thing is incredible! You’re one lucky lass.”

Codsworth: “Keeping your enemies far away was never easier, now was it? Ha ha! I suppose that you’ve been using sir’s old dumbells, have’t you mum? I’m sure you have. Soon, you’ll be a true body builder! A strength champion! A macho muchacho!”

Curie: “Every day, your apparent superhuman abilities become evermore present. Surely you do not expect me to believe that it’s only the bat itself that is causing this spike of power? I suppose that the wasteland never fails to amaze.”

Danse: “Soldier, you may have remnants of that ghoul’s body all over you. You know that standard Brotherhood practice is to use laser weapons, as to turn enemies into ash. This is disgusting, even if mildly impressive. Only mildly impressive, though.”

Deacon: “Ok, now I know it. I’m gonna make Nora action figures. I mean, you’ve got superpowers and a magic baseball bat that can send zombies flying 60 feet away? Who wouldn’t want that? I would’ve played with that toy as a child. We can use the profits to build a second Prydwen. This one will be three inches longer, just to piss Maxson off. Deal?”

Gage: “I don’t even know what to say anymore, boss. It’s not like I have a real personality to draw from and honestly I think that OP is just gonna stop writing me into these reacts all together because, lets be honest, no one would miss me. Anyway that’s a cool bat, I guess.”

Hancock: “Imagine using that thing with a dose of Psychojet. Man, we gotta get down to Diamond City and swing that bat around like it was always intended. A swing and a hit, right on McDonut’s ass.”

Longfellow: “I may have come from an amazing DLC but I’m just not an interesting character. I’m a grandpa, baseball, old world, fog bad, yada yada. Why am I here again? OP never wrote about Ada and I’m maybe 11% more interesting then that sentimental robot.”

MacCready: “You gotta show that off to Duncan. He loves baseball movies, and those are all scripted. Imagine what you could do with thing if you actually had a decent pitcher? Best hitter in history.”

Nick Valentine: “I know it was way after his time, but I’d like to think that Mickey Mantle himself once used that bat. I’d love to meet him in person. We’d drink some Chock Full O’ Nuts and just...chat. Maybe the old world wasn’t so bad.”

Piper: “I keep telling you this, but the next time you’re gonna channel Zeus and Jackie Robinson himself into your weapons, please let me bring the camera! These moments are too precious to leave in our minds. And by precious, I mean FREAKING AWESOME!!!”

Preston: “General! I can’t believe I have to tell you this for the eleventh time! Put down the supernatural wooden stick and go help the Slog! I got a report from a definitely reputable source that the Slog has a Ghoul problem! Go help them! Come on!”

Strong: “Little lady has bat that can hit Ghoul far away. Little Lady is stronger than Strong brother? Stronger than Super Mutant? Strong need to have existential crisis now. Little lady should leave Strong alone to rethink his life.”

X6-88: “How many times do I have to tell Father that even though he wants to pretend like he had a normal life he can’t leave a highly advanced baseball apparatus just lying around. We get it, you are traumatized and wanted a father to play ball with because the cruel reality of 21st century geopolitics denies you this opportunity, but you can’t just let this shit sit around. Not ok.”

#gage getting a little meta on us #nick valentine would 100% drink chock full o' nuts #fallout #fallout 4 #fallout 4 companions #companions react #nick valentine

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aria-raven · 2 years

Text

OC-tober, Day 9: Fly

Something I should probably mention here, Hazel can turn into a dragon. In fact, she enjoys being a dragon more than being a human. Nora is a girl who she befriends, and eventually helps her escape from her awful home and parents. @theworldofprompts

“Even if you can’t run away, you could fly.”

Those words still echoed in Nora’s mind, even though months had passed since that fateful night. She remembered watching Hazel turn into her dragon form right before her eyes. It was something she had seen many times before, but not this close. But the shock of seeing that was replaced with a sense of excitement. And a twinge of fear. It had slowly dawned on her just what Hazel was saying.

Flying for the first time was a thrilling, slightly terrifying experience. She watched the world rush past them, and felt the wind in her hair. This wasn’t a real escape attempt. Hazel just wanted to show her the world outside, a world she didn’t know. In hindsight, Nora realized this was partially an effort to convince her to leave. Seeing what she had been missing did help, but it was Hazel’s friendship that gave Nora the push she needed to finally escape.

Only a few days later, when Hazel arrived to take her away for good, Nora was filled with all kinds of mixed emotions. There was fear, anxiety, pure disbelief and shock that she was actually doing this. But despite this, she was happy. Leaving her old life being, the familiar one, was frightening, and yet she was eager to see what the future held for her. The sensation of flying only highlighted her sense of conflict.

She was still getting used to her new life. But things were better now, she couldn’t deny that. Hazel had come to visit her many times now, sometimes taking her to the woods. “You don’t seem quite so freaked out by flying anymore,” she remarked to Nora one night, flashing a toothy smile. “I remember the first time. You were holding on so tight, I didn’t think you’d ever let go.”

Nora had to laugh. “Hey, you’re the one who can turn into a dragon. I can’t just grow wings, you know. Of course I was scared, I didn’t want to fall off.”

“I wouldn’t have let you fall,” Hazel objected. “And even if you had, I would’ve caught you.”

Smiling a bit, Nora replied “Yeah, I know. It was just strange, being up in the air like that. I’m used to having my feet on the floor.”

Hazel shook her head, looking up at the sky. “It’s bad enough that you were trapped inside for so long. I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t fly anymore. When I fly, that’s when I feel the most alive. Alive and free. Nobody tells me when I can leave or where I should go. I just fly away, like a bird.”

“Except you’re a lot bigger,” Nora teased. It had been a long time since she could joke around with someone like this. She considered Hazel’s words briefly. Hazel had always made it abundantly clear that she was horrified by Nora’s situation. It was natural, she had spent much of her life in the woods. The idea of being trapped in a house must’ve been a disturbing one. Perhaps that was why she’d been so adamant about helping Nora. For some reason, Nora had never given it much thought until now.

She watched as Hazel stretched her arms outwards, as if they were wings. “When you can fly, you can go anywhere,” she declared. “There are no boundaries.”

No boundaries. Those words left a strange feeling in Nora’s chest. She didn’t know how she felt about that idea. Her world had always been such a small one. Out here, there was much more space. More space than she knew what to do with. And she knew the land beyond these woods, beyond this town, was even bigger. It was intimidating.

But she knew how much Hazel valued her independence and freedom. Maybe I should try thinking like her. “Anywhere you want,” she barely murmured. “What if you don’t know where you want to go?”

Hazel turned to face her, visibly stunned. She let her arms drop back to her sides. There was a silence as she pondered the question. After a few moments, she hesitantly answered “Then you should look around you. See what you have to choose from, and pick one of those.” She smiled, seeming a bit more sure of herself. “You don’t have to go everywhere right away. That’s one nice thing, there’s plenty of time for you to decide.”

Well, that was true. Nora knew she shouldn’t rush into anything. Her life had changed drastically. It was enough just to be out here, smelling the earth and feeling the grass under her. There was so much she had missed out on, and now she had a chance to experience it. She didn’t have to answer to anyone, nobody expected anything from her. For the first time in countless years, she didn’t have to be something. She could just be. That was freedom too, wasn’t it?

“I can’t fly,” she found herself saying out loud. “Not like you can. But I’m not trapped anymore. And I have you to thank for it.”

Hazel stared at her for a moment, seeming unsure once again. Slowly, her smile widened. Her voice was gentle as she said “If you ever want to go somewhere, even if it’s far away, just let me know. I’m happy to help.”

Nora beamed at her friend. “I know you are.”

#My writing #OC-tober

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miraculouscontent · 3 years

Video

dailymotion

“Sentibubbler” summary? “Sentibubbler” salt?

Why not both at the same time?

Something a little experimental, though also somewhat reminiscent of some of my past videos. Calling it “summasalt” for now, based on the word “somersault” because this episode was an exercise of my patience.

It’s basically just me going through the episode with my usual episode summary, but salting along the way instead of making you guys read a wall of text without any images or clips or me making snarky comments.

(By the way, yes, I did in fact have caffeine before recording.)

script below for anyone who wants/needs it:

"Sentibubbler" begins with Marinette having food with the Cesaires and I already know this isn't real because Marinette is actually getting to interact with her best friend's family. That's only happened, like--when, two episodes of Season 2? [”Sapotis” and “Anansi”]

Marinette sees Trixx and points out how they're supposed to be a secret, and Alya asks why while calling Marinette "Ladybug." Marinette plays dumb but is told by Nino that everyone already knows her secret. Chloe is also there, chiding Marinette for her identity rule - it's not Marinette's rule but after "Reflekdoll" I've just gotten used to Marinette being blamed for things she didn't do - and Marinette goes to question Chloe's apperance when there's a knock on the balcony door. Alya invites Shadow Moth in and--[Shadow Moth has to duck to come inside]--huh, I thought Sole Crusher was seven episodes ago.

Anyway, now obviously, Marinette is just being ridiculous and overemotional as usual, because why would Marinette ever think that Alya would reveal any information to--["Feast"]--oh yeah, that's right.

Tikki doesn't transform Marinette and says that Marinette shouldn't have trusted Alya with her secret. Enter Chat Blanc, who says that they can be together now without any secrets. Not really sure what this episode is aiming for with the mixed message of "your identity rule sucks" but also "your fault for trusting someone instead of having a mental breakdown," but a’ight. Trixx also gets another dig in on Marinette for giving Alya the fox miraculous.

Marinette wakes up from her nightmare and panics, but Tikki reassures her that Alya is loyal. [”Chameleon”] Mm. Also, that kind of support might've been nice from Tikki literal seasons ago when Marinette could've used a confidant.

Wayzz - I swear, they've had eyelashes more often than not in this season - points out that Trixx is mischievous and Xuppu talks about Trixx being the cause of the Loch Ness monster rumors, which worries Marinette further. Marinette runs out in her pajamas and I can already predict that neither Tom nor Sabine are going to check on her later or care.

Marinette finds the Cesaires looking for something, their words vague enough for Marinette to think that they're talking about Trixx. Alya brushes Marinette off and tells her to help with looking instead of lecturing her.

Marlena makes a comment that reminds Marinette of her nightmare, only increasing Marinette's stress. A tarantula crawls up a ladle and Marinette freaks out when she sees it, which Marlena has a laugh at because Marinette's anxiety, fear, and panic is hilarious, guys!

This is my laughing face. [not a laughing face]

Nino exits, having been too afraid of the spider to leave the room, so Nora compares Marinette to him. Nino tries to play it cool, then changes the subject to point out Marinette's pajamas. Alya wonders aloud why Marinette showed up and Marinette tries to act casual, but Alya sees through it and states that she doesn't usually lose things when someone lends them to her.

I presume the exception is Marinette's trust. OH-HOOOOHHH, we'll get there.

Nora takes a jab at Alya for losing the spider and Marinette drags Alya away to talk. Nino tries to join but Alya states that it's between her and Marinette, which makes Nino sad.

Nino, does the phrase "guys' time" ring a bell by any chance?

Marinette is explaining her nightmare and is simply told to calm down by Alya, though Marinette is briefly startled by a phone ringing. Marinette puts together what she knows that Shadow Moth knows, including that Alya is Rena Rouge, adding on that Shadow Moth could steal the fox necklace if he figured out that Alya has it permanently. Alya reassures her that no one will ever know and Marinette states that this must include Chat Noir. Alya agrees and brings attention to the fanny pack around her waist, which Trixx has been hiding in, and Marinette has Trixx promise not to show up at the dining table like in her nightmare. Tikki tells Marinette that everything will be fine and Marinette admits that it was silly of her to worry, which it was! ...If you ignore all the anxiety, mental scarring, and constant pressure to be perfect or risk Paris lighting itself on fire, much like I presume they accidentally did with their original script for this episode.

Alya tells Marinette to trust her and also herself - I'll be sure to keep that in mind, Alya, thank you - then Alya loses her temper at the phone continuing to ring. She leaves to find an empty living room, then answers the phone only to hear Shadow Moth on the other line. Alya turns upon hearing Marinette scream to see that Marinette has been trapped in a bubble. Cue the reveal/return of the Bubbler, who is definitely Nino akumatized and not--like--a sentimonster, because the episode didn't spoil it at all with the title of Sentibub--

show, this is freaking embarrassing. Why even bother akumatizing someone when you can mold a sentimonster with the exact power you want?

At least they reveal it quickly, though that also means I have to live with the knowledge that Shadow Moth wINKED AT ALYA, NO.

Anyway, Shadow Moth tells Alya that he wants her to betray Ladybug. Marinette, meanwhile, is panicking over being unable to transform while in public, whereas Tikki remains calm and reassures her that Alya will figure something out and it's why Marinette gave Alya the fox miraculous in the first place.

Weird, I thought it was for the show to continuously validate Alya as a worthy choice for a confidant despite repeatedly covering up her sINS and so the show can push for more anxiety on Marinette's part while simultaneously not having to make a new hero model for Alya, which they would have to do if the realistic decision had been made to give Alya a different miraculous due to Shadow Moth knowing her identity as Rena Rouge.

Marinette texts Alya to inform her that the Bubbler is a sentimonster and so Rena can tell Chat not to use Cataclysm on him or the bubbles will burst due to the sentimonster's lack of control.

Hate to burst the show's bubble but Alya could literally see Nino up in the sky and they could see her; the bubbles are in viewing range. Did this even go through a quality check?

Alya goes to look at Marinette's text, but the phone is bubbled away by Sentibubbler. Marinette sees the phone floating by and panics, only to be reassured again to trust Alya and at this point I vaguely wondered if I was watching this episode on repeat. Tikki also adds that Alya has never let her down - [”Ladybug”] MMMM - and Marinette agrees, also certain that Chat Noir will show up soon.

Oh yeah, he exists. Oh no.

Cut to the Agreste mansion where Adrien is watching the news - dude, how is there never anything better on when you need to be told that there's an akuma? here, look, I'll show you [”Silencer” Lukabug clip] there, much better, see? - and it's pointed out that the bubbles are identical to the ones Bubbler had, yet Nino is in one of the bubbles. Adrien readies himself while Plagg is - for once - okay with leaving since his cheese isn't "edible" yet.

I feel like he should be a little more concerned about Marinette being in a bubble.

Meanwhile, Shadow Moth is explaining to Alya that Ladybug will come to give her the fox miraculous due to the bubbled people in the sky - plenty of other choices that aren't within breathing range of the obvious danger zone, but a'ight - and SentiBubbler will catch Ladybug. Alya brings up Chat Noir saving her but Shadow Moth states that she'll create an illusion of Ladybug and Rena to lure Chat Noir, who won't see Sentibubbler coming, at which point Rena will hand Shadow Moth her miraculous. He adds that her loved ones will only be returned once all three miraculouses are in his possession, though if she tries to warn the heroes then Sentibubbler will send the bubbles into space, too far for any hero to save them.

[clip of space power-ups] Hm.

Also, I would've just let her keep the miraculous as an extra bribe since he doesn't need the fox and she wouldn't have time to recharge anyway - at least to his knowledge - but that's just me.

Marinette is relieved that Alya still hasn't been captured--TIKKI, I KNOW, YOU'VE BEEN PARROTING THIS ALL EPISODE, I KNOW--but Marinette changes her tune when she sees Alya blindly calling out for Ladybug's help, unaware that Alya is buying time. Marinette laments the idea of transforming there and having using the rabbit to go back in time to reverse, as that's never a good thing (seconded), but gets the idea for Tikki to take her miraculous to someone else. Tikki rejects the idea, as the earrings won't go through the bubble, and Marinette realizes that Chat Noir is their only hope.

I mean, it was nice knowing them. Sure is interesting how Marinette has only been getting herself into these situations where she requires saving when the show needed to present Alya as a valid choice for a confidant.

Meanwhile, Chat Noir is leaving a message for Ladybug about the bubbles in the sky, saying that he'll wait for her; I already see where this is going and I don't like it.

Alya mutters to Trixx about how they need a plan to release Marinette. Through Alya Vision, we're shown Sentibubbler, a bowl of fruit, and the bathroom door. Alya tells Sentibubbler that she needs to go to the bathroom and - wow, we're really doing this, aren't we? - which Shadow Moth rejects. Shadow Moth is also on top of a building holding a coffee cup which honestly makes about as much sense as the rest of the episode, so whatever. Alya claims that she can't wait and that it'll be awkward for Ladybug to find her like that, which gets Shadow Moth to relent but also remind her of what's at stake if she tries anything. Alya states that she can't do anything without a miraculous anyway, then purposefully falls onto the table, concealing her long enough for her to transform and allowing an illusion of herself to go to the bathroom while she escapes. She detransforms in the twins' room and feeds Trixx with some grapes that she'd picked up.

Alya explains her plan to trick Shadow Moth and Sentibubbler since they don't know that she has a miraculous, though she also has to make sure that Chat won't ruin things. Rena then proceeds to call Chat Noir and claim that Ladybug wanted her to call him with her plan, but adds that it's a two-person plan and Chat himself isn't needed, so he needs to wait for further instructions. Chat demands that Ladybug call him to tell him herself, but Rena insists that she can't, as Ladybug is very busy. She warns him not to use Cataclysm if he sees the Bubbler, as he's a sentimonster, then promises to talk to him later before hanging up.

She uses Mirage again, making the Alya illusion reappear as well as creating a Ladybug. Chat Noir, infuriated at being left out, destroys part of a building with his baton. He then dismisses the action because Miraculous Ladybug will fix it.

Spoiler alert, it will, which is a very fascinating detail! I mean, I can't imagine another situation where a hero did something while there was an akuma going around and Miraculous Ladybug decided to help 'em out, but it just goes to show what happens when you're the writers' pet. Just look a little pitiful and they'll give you all the sympathy in the world.

By the way, didn't expect them to actually confirm my theory that Chat Noir does Chat Noir things because he knows that Miraculous Ladybug will fix it anyway, essentially allowing him to earn brownie points from Ladybug via sacrificing himself regardless of how it affects her mentally, yet here we are and I don't know whether to be sad, angry, disappointed, or a mixture of all three.

Chat Noir sees the Ladybug illusion jumping off and gives chase, refuses to stay where he is. Marinette, seeing that Rena Rouge's illusions are active, panics at the sight of Chat Noir, as the illusion will vanish if Chat touches it.

I like to imagine the immediate concern is the idea that Chat Noir will try to take Ladybug's hand while trying to flirt.

Anyway, Marinette flails inside the bubble in an attempt to reach Chat Noir, while illusion Alya and SentiBubbler get into position. Chat Noir watches what he perceives as Ladybug heading into the Cesaire house with Alya, but Marinette gets to him in order to tell him not to go anywhere. Chat complains about everyone telling him to stay put, but Marinette explains Rena's plan to him. Chat is skeptical of how she knows that, to which Marinette insists that she saw it from where she was. Chat Noir relents with a sigh and stays where he is.

SentiBubbler watches as the illusion of Alya and Ladybug talk to each other, Rena making it look like Ladybug is piecing together what happened and refusing to give Alya a miraculous ever again due to Shadow Moth knowing her identity. She claims that she'll find another holder and give them an even more powerful miraculous, which interests Shadow Moth and gets him to follow after the Ladybug illusion. Once Sentibubbler leaves as well, Chat sees this as his chance to stop the sentimonster, as the Ladybug illusion will vanish if it's touched. Marinette strokes his ego for the token love square moment of the episode, and Chat Noir fights SentiBubbler while Shadow Moth goes after the Ladybug illusion.

I'm noticing a real lack of tension in this episode. Once Alya has her plan, it's kind of a clean sweep from start to finish with no interference or unexpected roadblocks in the way. Even Shadow Moth following the Ladybug illusion goes fine, with Shadow Moth even punching a building thinking that Ladybug actually got away from him.

Dude, it's fine, Miraculous Ladybug will fix it, just put on your best sad face. Maybe Chat Noir gets it from you actually, is treatment from the writers a hereditary thing?

Sentibubbler and Chat Noir are still fighting. Shadow Moth shows up and Marinette tries to warn Chat, but Chat gets caught in a bubble and Marinette apologizes; she doesn't have anything to apologize for but after "Reflekdoll" I--wait I already did this.

Chat Noir uses Cataclysm to escape, only to get caught in another bubble. I'd just like to throw out there that this guy's a hero three seasons going and the love interest for the main character, yet his role in the episode has amounted to complaining about the authority of a hero Ladybug chose, throwing a property-destroying tantrum over being excluded, and wasting his power without a single thought which just got him captured again.

Chat, does the name "Syren" ring any bells by any chance? I'm just sayin', you could always quit. In fact, wasn't it you literally one episode ago saying that you understood if Ladybug couldn't always come get you? Then, after seeing the jump from "Glaciator" to "Frozer," I'm about as shocked as rubber.

Back with the competent one, Alya notes to Trixx that Rena Rouge can no longer be seen by Shadow Moth or else the jig is up. She transforms and texts Marinette to be ready, creating an illusion of Marinette that simultaneously hides the real version, allowing her to transform into Ladybug.

Chat Noir's bubble gets dragged down and Shadow Moth gets SentiBubbler to mute Chat Noir's bubble.

[clip from “Silencer” where Ladybug takes amusement in Chat being muted]

Ladybug uses Lucky Charm and receives a pot, her Lucky Vision spotting Shadow Moth's coffee cup, then SentiBubbler, then the tarantula trapped in a bubble. Ladybug deduces that the cup is the sentimonster's object, then pulls the horse miraculous out of her yoyo and unifies it with the ladybug--oh.

Oh my.

You know, it's times like this where I'm reminded that the show knows nothing about fashion... or girls... or good writing actually--there's just a lot of stuff they don't know.

Sentibubbler does a countdown, then starts sending the civilian bubbles up into the sky. Chat Noir is about to de-transform while PegaBug notices of Shadow Moth's two miraculous, up for grabbin'. She notes that she won't be able to catch everyone, so she forms a portal behind Shadow Moth and goes for the coffee cup first, thus putting her in control of SentiBubbler, who happily brings the bubbles back down at her command.

Shadow Moth erases SentiBubbler from existence though, causing everyone to fall, but Chat and PegaBug manage to catch them. PegaBug de-transforms and presents the Cesaires with the tarantula, which had been trapped inside the lucky charm. Ladybug and Chat Noir watch Shadow Moth escape and Ladybug laments that it could've been the end of Shadow Moth once and for all because it's not a Miraculous episode without Marinette being at fault or feeling guilty in some way! Chat Noir reassures her [*by “reassure,” I mean he might as well have said, “Well, you saved ME, so you did great!”] - wow, that's two token love square moments for the price of one episode, don't I feel spoiled - and Ladybug leaves to retrieve the tarantula's tank.

Rena Rouge is waiting for her and they hug, with Rena repeating that she doesn't lose something that someone gives her. Ladybug states that she never should've doubted the idea of giving Alya a miraculous and Imma just give you guys a counter real quick. [counter that shows that Tikki has complimented Alya four times, Alya has complimented herself/told Marinette to trust her thrice, and Marinette has said that she was wrong thrice]. Miraculous Ladybug is cast and everything returns to normal, with Alya explaining what she did and Marinette being relieved that Shadow Moth won't be going after her anymore. Alya confidently asks if she was smart and Marinette is happy to praise her, confirming it and stating that Alya is a real superhero and honestly? If the narrative wanted to marry Alya this badly, they should've just used some of the budget to buy a ring instead of projecting onto the other characters.

Then again, the apparent budget can't even afford a new hero model nor new akuma to a very noticeable degree, so I guess they're taking what they can get.

Alya praises Marinette as well for her work as PegaBug and they do a fistbump, thus ending the episode. There's also this ever-so-lovely post-episode scene with Gabriel and Nathalie where Gabriel laments the fact that Ladybug never makes mistakes which--I... has he even watched the series at all? Gabe, babe, Babriel Agreste, it's literally part of the show's formula that Marinette makes a mistake in every episode and she felt guilty like a minute ago over not yoinking your miraculouses when she had the chance, where have you been?

But, yeah, anyway, the episode.

Needless to say, not a fan. Like I said, the show seems so intent on immediately validating the choices they make with Alya in order to make her look like a better character. "Gang of Secrets" basically replaced her with someone different at the end of the episode, and the episode immediately afterwards in chronological order, "Mr. Pigeon 72," did everything it could to push Marinette out of her guardian position long enough for Alya to figure out the grimoire despite having zero onscreen experience with it, the episode even trapping Ladybug in a situation that forced Rena Rouge to come into play to validate that decision as well.

And now we have "SentiBubbler" here following immediately after "Optigami," desperate to reassure its audience that Alya is cool, smart, truthworthy, and that not needing to make a new model--sorry, I mean Alya continuing to have the fox--was a good decision. All the while, they continue pushing Alya's flaws under the rug [Note that it’s not even considered that Alya is even remotely at fault for Shadow Moth going after her specifically after her stunt in “Optigami” when no one else but Ladybug and Chat have ever given out a miraculous], hiding them instead of Alya actually acknowledging them, the only reason she did so in "Optigami" being the same as in "Gang of Secrets"; to make her look good while Marinette makes a big decision in their relationship.

The episode tries so hard to drill in this idea that Alya is a good friend who can be trusted, and I'm just not here for how much they try to hammer it in. Marinette's very real anxiety over Shadow Moth's power and ability to plan things is played off as her being silly instead of something to be concerned about, and instead of giving her a hug and trying to help her calm down - [clip from “Heart Hunter” of Luka hugging Marinette] I miss Luka - she's just told to trust and believe and hAVE fAiTh in Alya.

Shadow Moth is an adult; he has abilities that the teenage heroes don't. I'm not even saying that Marinette isn't overreacting [Basically, her concern about Shadow Moth is valid, especially after “Optigami” where her identity was almost found out], but she has anxiety and some obvious trauma over "Chat Blanc." I was already upset that Alya got a free pass to Marinette's identity, but the constant stressing over how much Marinette should trust her just doesn't affect me when I know Alya and I know the kind of stuff she's done that the show blatantly ignored in favor of pushing for her.

But okay, show, I'll give Alya the benefit of the doubt that she doesn't deserve. Let's say that she's turned a new leaf, and has become the reliable, trustworthy, and loyal partner that Marinette deserves. I'm sure that Alya has Marinette's back, and will never go behind said back in order to do something completely unsurprising and wholly indicative of the character I actually know her to be.

Especially not a mere three episodes later...

#MC's Videos #category: episode summaries #category: salt #video: critique #MC's Renders #render: persona #episode: Sentibubbler #((Definitely let me know what you guys think because I don't know if I should do this more or not.))#((Judging from what the response is will help me make a decision on it.))#((I know my editing could be a little better but my video editor has been physically fighting me lately.))#((Is there such a thing as TOO sassy/sarcastic?))#((idk if I'm actually funny or not so definitely lemme know if there was anything that particularly amused you guys))#((so I know in the future where your guys' sense of humor lies.))#((I don't really TRY to be funny I just do whatever comes to mind/is comfortable.))

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andrea-lyn · 3 years

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look at me, I am old, but I’m happy

(for @christchex because I truly believe her to be #1 Sanders supporter)

The damn kids are keeping something from him. None of them are good liars at the best of times, but every time Sanders shows up when Michael’s friends are around, suddenly they go real quiet. At first, he writes it off as stupid youthful hormone shit. It’s probably something to do with that Manes boy that Michael doesn’t want to talk about. Only, then Alex Manes starts coming around, Michael’s a lot happier, and the weird behavior keeps going. Something’s up, and it’s something Michael’s actively not telling him. “You know, I ought to fire you,” Sanders says one Sunday, when he and Michael are working on the sunflower fields. Michael scoffs, glancing up from the seeding mechanism he’s been working to fix, but he avoids meeting Sanders’ eyes. He’s known this boy since he tripped out of a pod and he knows when he’s about to be lied to. “I’d like to see you try,” he mutters, but his curiosity is sparked. “Why are you bothering to do that when most of my time is volunteered?” “Because you and your friends are keeping something from me.” “We’re not,” Michael lies. “You’re a terrible liar, boy,” Sanders warns, but he lets him get away with it. Just this once, he lets him. Michael waves him off and grabs his bundle of sunflowers to take back to the Airstream. He doesn’t say what or who they’re for, but Sanders knows. It’s the Manes boy, who’s been lurking around and grinning like an idiot all the time. With Michael gone, Sanders is left to consider what it is that’s being whispered about behind his back. There’s enough alien secrets in this town to fill a gossip rag, but Michael’s been fairly honest with him recently, even if he’s been trying to hide how gone he is over his thing with Alex Manes. The truth is this -- he’s an old man. The boy he used to be is a memory and a distant one at that. He’s taken Walt and locked him away behind mountains of bottles and liquor. There’s so much trauma related to those days that he actively works as hard as he can to forget it, and that’s why it takes him so long to realize that maybe he actually knows a bit more than he realizes when it comes to one of those alien secrets.

The secret they’re keeping comes to roost soon after. Well, roost ain’t exactly the word. “They still allow relics like you in this place?”

When Sanders had still been a child and had been happy with Miss Nora and Miss Louise, he’d always recalled their tension around the man they called Jones. They tried to keep it a secret from him then, too, and it’s irritating as hell that history’s repeating it-damn-self. “Relics like me belong more than you do around here,” Sanders scoffs, tossing the wrench into the toolbox. “I’m looking for Michael.” Sanders turns to take in the look of him. He blames his age on the fact that Max Evans never made him feel that icy chill down his spine to spark recognition. All those years with that face in front of him and he never remembered Jones, not until the alien himself busted out and started scaring Sanders all over like he’s a kid. He’s not a kid, though. He’s an old man tired of this bullshit and he’s not about to let an asshole push him around. “Michael,” Sanders says sharply, “ain’t none of your business.” “He’s none of yours either,” Jones says calmly. “Besides, you’re right. It’s not business. It’s family.” It comes back in fits and starts. Miss Nora’s discomfort with Jones’ hand on her shoulder, but the possessive way Jones held onto her. The way Jones had always seemed more occupied with one of the pods. The possessive and keen look in his eye when he’d looked at Walt dismissively, like a human child that Nora took a liking to could never pass muster. There’s only one explanation that Sanders sees, but as far as he’s concerned, it’s crap. “You’re not that boy’s father,” Sanders scoffs. “Or, you might be by blood or whatever alien junk flows through those veins of yours. That boy needed a father growing up and I sure as hell didn’t do the job well enough, but at least I’ve been here. At least I’ve been trying. That’s a hell of a lot more than you can say.” He’s an old and very stupid man, seeing as he knows how much Jones can hurt him. That raised alien hand glowing furiously red is a bad sign, but Sanders decides that if this is how he’s going out, defending Michael is the way he wants to go. “I might have been late getting my act cleaned up, but I still gave him everything I could. I’d die for that boy,” Sanders vows. “For my kid.” Jones scoffs, amused by Sanders’ loyalty like it’s a joke, but then, he always has been an ass, hasn’t he? “Funny you should say that, because today’s your lucky day for getting what you want.” He approaches swiftly, but before he can seal that glowing hand on Sanders’ chest, he just … stops. Sanders refuses to blink. He’s going to stare down his death as long as Jones wants to kill him, which is why he doesn’t notice that he’s being held in place by someone else’s alien powers. “Try,” Michael Guerin snaps at Jones, where he’s holding a bundle of sunflowers in one hand, and holding Jones in place with the other. “You’re not gonna like what happens to you.” Sanders is pretty sure Michael’s bluffing and that when it comes to these two, Michael’s not the one with the upper hand. Still, Jones is playing some kind of long game, because he steps back and lifts both hands up, stepping back and away. “Just two old friends catching up,” he insists, a look in his eyes that says he’s coming back to find Sanders when Michael’s not around. Still, he goes. He goes and he doesn’t look back, leaving Sanders to exhale, slumping over the pick-up truck he’s been working on. “What the hell were you thinking?” Michael demands. “Taunting him like that? He’s an evil dictator! He’s…” “Yeah, yeah, I got the gist decades ago,” Sanders cuts him off. “All I know is what he’s not, and that’s any kind of father to you. Because I might not be the world’s best Dad, but when it comes to it these days, he doesn’t get to swan in and make you feel like you owe him anything. He doesn’t get to make you feel like you belong to him.” This is all getting too damn emotional for him, but he wants to make one thing clear. “I know I didn’t manage the way I should’ve, but if anyone’s a father to you these days, it’s me.” With that said, he gives a firm nod, and hopes that he’s not going to do anything embarrassing like start crying about it. Well, he might not, but Michael’s struggling to keep it together, by the looks of it, so maybe that’s exactly what it is he needs to hear. “What the hell are you doing back here anyway?” Sanders grunts, when the awkward silence drags on too long. Michael clears his throat, gesturing to the Airstream with the flowers (and conveniently wiping at his nose). “I forgot some papers that I wanted to go over with Alex,” he says, “Lucky I did, or you would’ve been alien dust.” “I got a few tricks up my old sleeves,” Sanders promises, even if he doesn’t have them yet. “So. You and Alex Manes, huh? You ready to admit to me that it’s a thing yet?” Michael wrinkles his nose, but he’s clearly not thinking about Jones anymore, so Sanders considers it a mission accomplished. “How about you start worrying about how much of a thing it is when Alex needs to come get permission from my Dad to marry me,” Michael quips, and he sounds free and happy and brazen and goddamn high. It’s the most that Sanders could ever hope for. “That likely to happen anytime soon?” Michael shrugs, ducking back out of the Airstream with the papers. “You know I don’t do things slow.” “Don’t I ever,” he mutters. “Just warn me before I got alien grandchildren running around the damn scrapyard, will you? The place needs to be alien-proofed.” The look of sheer glee on Michael’s face settles something in Sanders’ chest. He knows he’s happy. He knows he’s settled. He might have missed too many damn years when he was younger, but at least he’s trying now. “Go on,” Sanders encourages. “Go be with your friend,” he teases. “You gonna be okay?” “I’ve survived worse,” Sanders promises. “Now, get,” he insists, and watches Michael leave the scrapyard, off to woo his paramour. As for him? Well, he’s got a hell of a long drive ahead of him to get to the reservation if he wants to pick up some pollen, but after tonight, Sanders figures he ought to protect himself. He’s got a family to worry about, after all.

#roswell new mexico #fic #my fic #sanders #malex #jones #aka the battle between michael's fathers #rnm fic #s3 spoilers

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chainofclovers · 3 years

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Ted Lasso 2x10 thoughts

GOOD GOD.

“No Weddings and a Funeral” is like being hungover but also coming out of a hangover. Having a terrible cold but also feeling better and appreciating every breath that comes through your nose. Embarking on an organizational project and accidentally falling into a photo album and crying about the pictures and organizing almost nothing tangible but making a few things more clear in your brain.

So much of this episode is about the AWFUL POINTLESSNESS OF DECORUM. How loud is too loud when you’re drinking stolen wine and shrieking about sex in a church right before your father’s funeral? How should you feel--thirty years later, as an accommodating, anger-averse person--about having been too angry to attend the funeral for your father who killed himself? What expression should you make when you show up really late to a different funeral? Why must you wear uncomfortable shoes just because someone died? What happens in your mind between standing up to give a eulogy for a man you’re still angry with and choosing to Rick Roll your mom and everyone else as an act of complicated love, humiliatingly incomplete until someone else starts to sing? Should you worry about your therapist seeing your normally tidy flat in a full-on state of depression mess? Is it okay to be offended that your boyfriend is so uncomfortable about death that he can’t stop making morbid jokes? Should you care about other people caring that you’re crunching an apple in church or squealing with joy to be reunited with a friend you’ve not seen in awhile? Are you obligated to explain your behavior if your kid doesn’t understand how you could stay with someone unfaithful? How far behind the counter should you sink when your [undefined relationship person]’s mother has just let you know she can see your dick through your underwear? Is a funeral reception an okay place to find a hookup? Is a funeral reception a decent spot for a break-up? Is a funeral reception a good time for a love confession when you know the person you’re confessing to is happy with someone else? And who do you make eye contact with when you can’t look directly at the person asking you if you’re okay when there’s so, so much about you she doesn’t know yet? Even if--for this tiny little moment within a vast swath of many okay and not-okay moments--you’re honest when you tell her that you are?

I fucking adored this episode because it answers all these questions very simply: Show up. Show up for yourself. Show up for your friends. Try not to harm yourself. Try not to harm your friends.

I love that this episode is about the messiness of adulthood and the things we bring with us from childhood and that it takes place partially in Rebecca’s childhood bedroom, and in Ted’s childhood memories. Dwelling in those places (whether physically or mentally) isn’t an automatic recipe for regression, but it does get everyone closer to the things that made them who they are, to the unresolved and half-buried parts of them that still make them tick today.

Forever obsessed with every single detail about Rebecca’s childhood bedroom.

Forever obsessed with Deborah’s decision to Rick Roll herself every single morning of her life.

Forever obsessed with Rebecca’s decision to Rick Roll her father’s funeral as a way to not have to make up a single word about her father and to do something very vulnerable and kind for herself and her mother and everyone.

Forever obsessed with Ted’s decision to Rick Roll Rebecca Rick Rolling her father’s funeral.

Forever obsessed with an entire found family backing it up.

I love that it is Isaac’s leadership that ensures every single member of the team attends the service for Paul.

I am very, very interested in Jamie’s love confession to Keeley because I do think it will spark some reflection in Keeley but I do not think it’ll go the cliched love triangle route.

Each scene with Rebecca and Sam struck (for me, a human being sharing a subjective perspective on the internet) the tender-awkward-beautiful-stressful chord I was hoping it would. I think it’s wonderful that Sam is honest with Rebecca about how difficult it is to keep their relationship a secret, and I love that Rebecca has a million mostly-unarticulated reasons for why she’d much prefer the secret to continue. I like that Sassy, Keeley, and Nora respond to the revelation as friends; they might be tempering their judgments in part because they’ve all gathered to bury Rebecca’s dad, but I don’t think their reactions would’ve been that different even on a happier occasion.

While there are a million and one different reasons why a continued relationship between Rebecca and Sam could cause serious ethical problems, I really love that when people share big news on this show, the people who care about them generally react by trying to see why the person is doing what they’re doing. Doesn’t mean they shouldn’t also hold each other accountable, but in my book it’s OK that Keeley’s first reaction was to feel happy that her friend is having some fun.

Also everyone has been making weird judgment calls this season, and this episode felt like a moment of real breakthroughs in terms of people telling the truth about things that happened to them and leaving themselves open to honest responses from others.

September 13, 1991. It’s so tenderly, beautifully, overwhelmingly meaningful that there’s still so much Ted and Rebecca don’t know about the things they have in common in these parallel lives they’re leading. The scene between Sarah Niles and Jason Sudeikis is so beautifully acted, and so is the scene between Hannah Waddingham and Harriet Walter. The way they intertwine to communicate that Ted and Rebecca basically lost the ability to trust their fathers simultaneously, from an ocean away? In the hands of lesser storytellers, it would feel too perfect a mirroring, but here it feels heartbreakingly imperfect. All the things they still don’t know. All the questions they try to ask each other. All the things they don’t dare ask yet. And then the storytellers are holding a candle up to all of it and letting the audience bask in the glow of this connection even if Ted and Rebecca can’t fully understand it yet.

I am so proud that Rebecca and Deborah were able to embark on the beginnings of a conversation about the ways Deborah and Paul’s relationship might have resembled or not resembled Rebecca and Rupert’s. It feels possible that they could get to a point where Rebecca truly internalizes her mother’s pride that she broke a cycle by leaving Rupert, and could maybe even understand why her mother made the choices she made. I love that in the final scene, they’re still relying on their old mother-daughter conversational patterns—the frustrations, the snippy shorthand, the passive-aggression. Mothers and daughters!

I am also proud that Ted—albeit via a joke about Sharon charging him for the house call—indicates that he understands the value of Sharon’s work. He’s changed a lot, all in realistic ways for someone who loves learning and really does want to meet people where they are and appreciate them. I’m very moved that instead of putting himself in a real harmful situation by showing up to the funeral on time at any cost, he did what he needed to do to take care of himself and accept care from someone else. And then Sharon’s suggestion that he think about things he loved about his father? And the way he’s able to share a positive memory of Rebecca’s own father at a time when she really needed it? Gosh.

Awkward, undecorous transition from 1991 to present-day incoming...but SASSY! She’s just, like, a whirling dervish of loyal friendship and not giving a fuck and penis size discussions and being casually, delightfully cruel to Rupert, who so deserves it. Rebecca was going on a real face journey when Sassy goes off with Ted at the end, and I’m sort of *eyes emoji* about all of that, but I continue to feel like Sassy is the most imperfectly wonderful friend-from-the-past kind of person and I love everything she and Nora get to do in this episode.

Keeley saying “That baby is whack” might be my favorite line in the episode? Maybe the whole show? Not really but really.

FUCK YOU, RUPERT. Bex and Diane, y’all are fine. And I truly feel for Nate...whatever scheme he’s getting suckered into. Whatever insecurity Rupert is preying on. I want Nate to go to therapy, too.

I feel like it was an unpopular opinion at the time, but I loved Rebecca’s 2x1 revelation about vulnerability and fear of getting hurt and needing to let someone love her. Sassy doesn’t always word things in the most nuanced way, but I think there’s a real possibility that she did ask Rebecca to really consider what it means to feel either safe or unsafe with a person but to know that in either circumstance, that person could end up causing her pain. Standing in that closet with Sam, managing to make it clear that she’s not asking for a break because she knows he will hurt her but because she has to figure out how to be with a wonderful person who could cause her pain...the growth, man. Makes me emotional.

I emerged from this episode feeling, of course, stunned by all the amazing parallels and revelations and beautiful acting and Rick Rolls and just, everything. I also emerged feeling sad/raw/tender because messiness and decorum and growth and coping mechanisms and death and dramatic irony and not knowing things about people and not knowing what you don’t know...it’s a sad, raw, tender place to be.

To quote a guy who got a whole sitcom (lol) named after him, life is real hard.

#ted lasso #ted lasso s2 spoilers #meta by me #ted lasso 2x10 #a lesbian watches ted lasso #lotta feelings in here y'all #cw suicide

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inmyarmswrappedin · 3 years

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I think I’ve seen you talk before (and I fully agree) about how some of the remakes have taken the og characters and removed a lot of their flaws to make them more “likable” and that the fans always eat it up. I think that Younes is the latest perfect example of this. I’ve seen a lot of people scream “Best Yousef!!!” and I almost kind of want to say well, duh? Wtf has presented him as almost this fairytale caricature of a potential boyfriend

Same anon: who is nothing but understanding, stellar at communicating and hasn’t been shown to make any mistakes or really have a single flaw. Honestly how could you not say he’s objectively the “best” version of Yousef for those reasons? But in a way it also just feels like more lazy writing and a cheap way to lap up praise from the fans.

Hi anon 🐙 Yeah, I think I remember talking about this phenomenon when it came to the Jonas remakes specifically. 🤔 And for Younes in particular, I've read takes very similar to yours.

When it comes to Younes, I have two issues with the character. The first is that wtfock doesn't really give their characters emotional continuity. I mean that for a majority of clips, characters will come into the clip with an emotional blank slate and then will react to whatever happens in the clip, regardless of what happened to them before or whatever backstory they were given. Let me give two examples of this, one about Younes and one not.

One thing I noticed about the clip where Yasmina overhears Blonde Ambition in the girls' bathroom, is that when BA first starts talking, Yasmina has this smile like, "oh, I know these voices! They are BA, the girls I'm going on a trip with!" But this is such a flat (as opposed to nuanced) reaction to BA, because at this point, Yasmina has already noticed Britt isn't friendly to her anymore, she has already had misgivings about the Ibiza trip, both because alcohol and hooking up with boys isn't her scene, and because she wants to ask her parents to go but knows they'll say no. LIke... There's so much about this trip and these girls that already makes Yasmina uneasy at this point, that it's just a super bland character choice (and I'm blaming this on the director, not Nora Dari) for her to smile like an innocent baby. And this is an issue that we saw a lot earlier in the season. In this clip Yasmina wants to go to the trip but doesn't think her parents will approve! She's sad! In this other clip Yasmina doesn't want to go on the trip because it's not her scene! She's frustrated! In this clip Yasmina does want to go on the trip, but BA is mean to her! She's crushed! I'm not saying Yasmina can't have a complicated relationship to going on the trip, in fact she'd be a much more compelling character if she did, it's that there's no emotional thoroughline to connect all these scenes together.

Now, for Younes, Jen made this interesting post, drawing a parallel between Younes' friend who hurt himself, and Yasmina's distressed state. If wtfock had drawn this parallel explicitly on the show, it would've made Younes a richer character that doesn't just exist to react to whatever Yasmina is doing. It would've made Younes be a full character with his own story and trauma and motivations. Wtfock could've chosen to write something like, "Yasmina pls you're reminding me of Badr right now" to REALLY hit people upside the head with it, but something so obvious isn't necessary for people to connect the dots. In the earlier Badr scene, Younes could've been looking at a picture of himself with Badr as he spoke about how distressed it made him to see his friend in such distress, and then in this scene, Younes could've quickly glanced at the same picture before going to hug Yasmina and try to calm her down, and people WOULD have immediately realized Yasmina's state awakened some memories in him. But for the writers/director/prop handler to do this, they'd have to think of Younes (of the whole cast) as a full character, rather than an emotional blank slate that reacts to things.

The other issue I have with Younes is more in line with what you were talking about. Now, Yousef has never been a particularly complex character. He's always kind of been Sana's support in a world where everyone is shitting on her, pressuring her, ignoring her, etc. But Yousef was definitely his own person by, among other traits, having a love language that differed a lot from Sana's. (Such as throwing grass at her as a flirting move.) Younes' character is definitely going a step further by, as you mention, being observant, respectful of Yasmina's boundaries, courteous, prudent, etc. in every single way. His only real flaw is that he's not a Muslim (not because in real life I think this is a flaw, mind, but because Yasmina is looking for a Muslim man), but even this flaw is kind of not really present in the storyline (making Younes come across as absolutely flawless) because the script kind of refuses to deal with it. Yasmina doesn't talk about it with anyone, least of all him, even though her actions towards him are ostensibly affected by this one flaw. It would actually make Younes a well-rounded character if the characters actually addressed it. I know Ally (@nolabballgirl) has written about this extensively, so just let me suggest a possibility. Once Younes told his story about Badr, Yasmina could be like, "I hear you, and I'm sorry you had that experience, but for me, I've always dreamed of having a Muslim wedding, of going to the mosque with my husband every Friday, of sharing a family suhoor with my parents and my boyfriend, and I'm heartbroken because I won't be able to have that with you." Whatever response Younes has to that (and ideally he'd have a nuanced response, rather than just "well I love you :("), already makes him more of his own person, than what we currently have, where Younes only exists to be the flawless love interest.

I understand that wtf fans appreciate Younes, because in a season where NO ONE is giving Yasmina a break, it's nice to have one character who's reacting compassionately to her. But this is a character who could be much more nuanced, grounded and interesting. And he's just... not. And once again, and to be clear, I'm not blaming the actor for this. I'm sure Ismaïl is super invested in the character/storyline/season and 100% willing to put in the work. I'm blaming the writers, who I remain shocked have gotten as far in this career as they have, while many talented, less privileged writers languish in the shadows.

#wtfock #ask #Anonymous

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atlafan · 4 years

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I’m Having Your Baby - Part 2

a/n: professor!Harry one shot! if someone could tell me why I’m a SLUT for professor!Harry that would be great. 9K of angst, some smut and fluff. not proofread. Thank you all for the overwhelming support of the first part, I couldn’t believe how much everyone liked it! The story won’t be continuing from her, and I didn’t want to continue it all, but I got so many kind words I didn’t wanna leave y’all hanging. I hope you all like it as much as the first part!

Read I’m Having Your Baby Part 1 here.

Needless to say, things got very awkward around the house between the two of you after your little romp. It felt amazing, it was so nice to just have someone tough you…but you felt guilty. You used him. He felt guilty too. He knew you were vulnerable and maybe not thinking straight.

“I said yes to a question I should have said no to.”

Is all you said to him before getting out of his bed, and going back to your own. It was impulsive and stupid, and the two of you knew it. He wanted you to answer his more important question, but you couldn’t wrack your head around it. Did you want to be his girlfriend again? Did he truly mean he wanted you again, and not just because you were carrying his child? It was too much to think about, so you didn’t.

You barely spoke over the next few days, or than some good mornings or how’d you sleeps, and the car rides were absolutely silent. During your lunch break on Monday, you decide to call Nora, and tell her what happened. Maybe she could snap you out of whatever it was going through your mind.

“I know you have pregnancy brain and all, but are you fucking stupid?”

“Nora…” You sigh.

“I mean, buy a fucking dildo if you need something up in there!”

“It wasn’t about that! No one had even touched me since the last time he and I had sex, I need to be touched by someone other than myself. You know what’s aggravating? I was supposed to have a date the day I found out I was pregnant. Of course I cancelled it, but sometimes I wish I hadn’t. I mean, people date pregnant people right?”

“Oh please, that would’ve gotten complicated and you know it. How have things been at home?”

“Silent…he can barely look at me. I think he feel used.”

“Good, shoe is on the other foot for a change.” She pauses for a moment. “So you haven’t even talked about it?”

“He tried to after…he basically told me he wanted us to be together again, and I told him we wouldn’t even be talking if it weren’t for the baby, and he said he didn’t believe that. Like he was so confident we would have found our way back to each other again.”

“Horse shit.”

“I know, and then he asked me what he could do to prove that he’s serious, and I got up and left the room.”

“Good! Don’t give into him. You’re living with him out of security and necessity. How was it?”

“How was what?”

“The sex?”

“God, it was incredible! He remembered exactly what I liked, and the familiarity just made everything so much intense. I’d do it again if he didn’t think it meant something.”

“That’s just your hormones talking.”

“Yeah, well, they’re screaming at me now. I want it all the time, and now that I’ve had it again I don’t know what I’m gonna do.”

“Buy a dildo, watch some porn, and stay in your own room.”

You had another bad dream, a nightmare really. You woke up drenched in sweat, and you were horrified at the things your brain was coming up with. You sit up and start crying. It was still early in the evening, it was only around 9:30PM. You had started going to bed earlier since the incident. Harry was just getting upstairs when he heard you. He sighs and goes further down the hall, and taps on your door.

“Y/N?” He opens it slightly and his face falls when he sees your hands covering yours.

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.” He says softly, inching further into the room. “What happened?”

“I had a bad dream.” You whisper. You feel his weight dip the bed, and you look over at him.

“What was it this time?”

“I…I gave birth prematurely, like now, and I was all alone. No one was there with me other than the doctor, and it wasn’t even my doctor. Then they handed me this thing and I could just feel it’s heartbeat, and it died right there in my hand, Harry.”

“Oh, honey…”

He scoops you up and holds you in his arms, rocking you back and forth as you cry into him. He ribs your back and whispers that everything’s going to be alright. He kisses your hairline over and over to soothe you, and you hate yourself because it works.

“Would you…” You look up at him. “I mean, would it be too much to ask for you to stay in here with me tonight? I’m afraid to even close my eyes again. It just felt so real.”

“Of course. Let me just go do my thing and I’ll be right back, okay?” You nod and watch him get up to leave. He’s back in a few minutes in his bed clothes, and he gets under the covers with you. You both lay on your backs staring at the ceiling. You look over at him. “Harry…I’m really sorry about a few days ago.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“No…we should talk about it.”

“What’s there to talk about?” He looks at you. “You obviously regretted it, and then I opened my big mouth and freaked you out even more.” He rolls onto his side and places his hand on your lower stomach. “I don’t wanna do or say anything that’s gonna stress you out, that’s why I haven’t said much in the last few days.”

“I don’t regret it, fuck, I needed it.” You place your hand over his. “But it can’t happen again, that’s not why I’m here, you know?”

“I know.” He closes his eyes and looks at you again. “You wouldn’t even be talkin’ to me if you weren’t pregnant.” And just like that, he flipped the script. Why did you suddenly feel guilty?

“We talk.”

“Only if it’s work related…through email…that day you called me, even if it was just through the office phone, I think my heart leapt out of my chest. I thought maybe you were callin’ me because you missed me.” You scoff at him.

“You think I would’ve be the one to come crawling back?”

“Maybe not crawling…” He smirks. “I don’t know what I thought. Maybe if you came to me first I could just beg you to take me back.”

“Harry, you were already fucking someone else, I wouldn’t have been coming to get back together with you, and certainly not in the middle of the day at school.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t know you knew about Kelly. It wasn’t anything serious, she was just a distraction.”

“That’s an awful thing to say.”

“I know. I’ve come to realize that maybe I’m not as good of a person as I thought I was. Here I am, this professor that students fight for seats in my class for, and I can’t even be a decent fucking person to the one person that mattered to me.”

“Your book smart, not street smart.” You laugh. “You’ve always been better when it comes to work things. You’re cute Harry, but you’re also this very awkward guy. Charming when you need to be, maybe even suave, but one on one, you’re a goofball.”

“And you always set me straight, and called me out, even when we were just friends.”

“I was so shocked that day you asked me out, I nearly choked on my lunch. You were so blunt.”

“I was relieved when it didn’t take much convincing for you to say yes. That was a fun first date, wasn’t it?”

“Mm, you took me to that bar and we danced practically the whole night.”

“And you said the entire night I wasn’t to come inside with you because you knew what would happen if I did.”

“And you said don’t pretend like you’re a good girl all of a sudden.” You giggle. “That shook me to my core, I’m not gonna lie.”

“I know it did, that’s why you brought me inside your place that night, and you showed me how good you can be.” He smirks again.

“Alright, that’s enough.” You take his hand away from your stomach. “We don’t need to go down memory lane right now.”

“Do you think…I mean, I get it, you don’t want me. I suppose I wouldn’t want me either with how awful I was to you…but, we were friends once. Couldn’t we be friends again? We’ve been civil sure, but we’re not friends right now.”

“I think being friends could work. I think that’s what hurt the most when it ended, I felt like I lost my best friend.”

“Nora’s your best friend.”

“Nora’s my best girlfriend, but you…” You reach up and cup his cheek, and he leans into your touch. “I don’t know, I think that’s why my heart was so broken.” You take your hand away. “Like, it killed me that there were things I wanted to tell you first over anyone else.”

“The same thing happened to me, I think that’s why I got involved with Kelly…she was just there, you know?”

“Mhm.” You roll your eyes. “Let’s go to sleep now, yeah?”

“Okay.” He leans in and kisses your forehead before fully turning onto his other side. “Goodnight.”

“Night.”

He always did that when you were together. He’d kiss your forehead and turn over. It was his signal that he wanted to be the little spoon. The only comfortable position was on your back, and you weren’t quite sure if he realized what he was doing. He did just like sleeping on that side, also. You try to shake everything from your mind, and go back to sleep.

“Hi Sally.” Harry smiles at your admin when he comes into your office.

“Oh, hi Harry! How are you?”

“I’m great, how are you?”

“I’m good, thank you.” She smiles. She looks at the large brown paper bag in his hand. “That smells good.”

“Surprising Y/N with a special lunch today.”

“Ohhh, how lucky is she, hm?” She looks over at your closed office door. “She’s just finishing up with her 11:30.”

“Alright.”

Your door opens and a young man leaves. He smiles and nods at Sally before he exits. Sally gets up to go to your office.

“Y/N?”

“I can’t wait for some of these kids to move on to their advisors for next year. Kid gave me a fucking headache.” You sigh. “These back to backs are gonna be the death of me, Sally.”

“Well, I think I know of something that’ll take your mind right off it. Harry’s here with lunch, and it smells greasy.”

“Oh? That’s surprising. He can come on in.”

She nods and lets him know he’s free to go in. He comes in and closes the door, taking a seat in one of your spare chairs.

“This is nice.” You smile.

“Thought we could use a break from the grille. I stepped out quick and went to Burger King. I know you prefer McDonald’s, but Burger King has the impossible meat. S’not much better for you, but I’ve had it a couple times and it’s a nice treat. Got them without mayo, and got you extra pickles on yours.” He reaches into the bag and hands it to you.

“Thank you! It smells so good. I really didn’t want my salad anyways.” He looks at your water bottle and smiles.

“You’re even ahead on your water, good girl.” He says biting into his burger. You can’t help but giggle.

“That’s the worst inside joke there is.”

“Come on, you love it.” He smirks. He watches you take a bite of the burger and you moan. “Good, right?”

“It really tastes like meat! Did you happen to get fries too?”

“Nope, I opted for apple slices.”

“You’re so annoying.”

“The fries there aren’t even that good.”

“You should’ve gone to McDonald’s and gotten their fries, now that would’ve been thinking.”

“Mm, right, and then your doctor would’ve killed me for cloggin’ your arteries.”

“It’s just potato.”

“Fried and greasy potato.” He shakes his head. “I’ll tell you what though, I’ll chop up some of the potatoes we have at home and roast them for you, just how you like.”

“Fair enough. Hand me the apples.” You had scarfed down the burger quickly. He reaches into the bag and hands you the slices.

“Wanna go for a quick walk? You should get outta your office while you can. S’a nice day out too.”

“Sure.” You shrug. “I can’t wait to go to the doctor next week, we’ll be able to know the sex of the baby.”

“I’m really excited.”

You both head out and start your walk. Harry kept a slow pace for you, he didn’t want you getting too tired that you couldn’t do your job later.

“I’m gonna have to go shopping this weekend I think, my clothes are starting to get really tight.” You groan.

Harry had noticed your clothes getting tight, but they were tight in all the right ways. Your breasts and ass were fuller, and he often couldn’t help himself from looking. He thought you got more beautiful as each day passed, and there was something about whenever he’d look at your bump that would drive him a little crazy. It was something about knowing that he did this to you, that no one else really had you.

“We could go to that maternity store at the mall. Could be a good excuse to also start putting a registry together for your baby shower. My mum wants to be us the crib, she’s insisting on it.”

“Good idea, and my mom wants to buy me this like state of the art breast pump.”

“So she’s come around a bit?”

“Yeah, she has.” You smile. “Nora’s gonna be putting the shower together for me, so that takes some of the stress away, and they wanna do one for me at work as well.”

“So it’s settled, we’ll do some shopping this weekend.”

“Have you had a chance to see if there are any three bedroom condos in the complex?”

“Not yet, love. I’ve been busy grading and advising too. Soon though. I’ll have time to look into things once the semester is over.”

“Must be nice to have summers off.” You huff.

“They should just let you work from home, it’s not like you meet with students in the summer. As I recall it was just emails and phone calls. They really only needed you on campus for the admissions events.”

“Honestly, I think I’m going to ask if I can do that. I could easily meet with my team through conference calls. It’s gonna hot and I’ll be way too uncomfortable trying to look professional. At least it’ll be warm enough to wear dresses and stuff.”

“You’ll look good no matter what, I hope you know that. You’ve been glowing.”

“You’re just saying that.” You nudge him. “Everything feels sore, and I’m starting to get stretch marks. I’m starting to think cocoa butter doesn’t really do shit.” Harry can’t help but laugh, and you start laughing too.

After your walk, Harry goes his separate way back to his building, and you go to yours. Sally gives you a knowing smile and you shake your head at her.

“What?”

“Nothing.” She grins. “You just seem to be in better spirits. You always are with him.”

“Not always.”

“You are though, he’s making you happy again. He even brought you junk food, I was shocked.”

“Me too.” You walk up and grab a mint from her desk. “Maybe…I mean, do you really think people can change?”

“I do, sometimes. He should want to change to be better for himself, he shouldn’t just change for you because then it won’t stick. I’ve heard things though. He was a wreck after your break up, even if he didn’t lead on that way. I think he still loves you.”

“I have no doubt that he loves me, Sally.” You sigh. “I never doubted that, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love him too, but sometimes that’s just enough.”

It was true, you never stopped loving Harry. As much as he broke your heart, you loved him endlessly. And you knew he loved you too. Every time he looked at you, you could see it on his face. You just couldn’t bring yourself to say anything. You were better off as friends, and that was that.

“Baby’s healthy and so is mumma.” You doctor says to you. “Would you like to know the sex of the baby?”

“Yes!” You and Harry say at the same time.

“Well, you see that little thing right there?” She points to the monitor. “It would appear that you’re having a little boy.” She smiles.

You and Harry look at each other, and you both tear up. You wrap your arms around each other, and he kisses you cheek, lingering for a moment too long, but right now you didn’t care.

“Could we have a couple of those printed, I’d like to send one to my mum and sister.” He says.

“Of course.”

Once you get your belly cleaned up, you two head out to the car.

“Guess your hunch was right.” He puts your lower stomach. “Got a little boy in there.”

“Mhm, we should go through the baby name book and start seeing which ones we like.” Harry starts the car and begins the drive back to campus. “I don’t know how I’m going to concentrate for the rest of the day.”

“You know…I don’t say thank you enough.”

“For what?”

“Most people wouldn’t as lucky as I am. I mean, do most baby daddies get to be this involved? We live together, you’re lettin’ me be a part of so much.”

“Ugh, please don’t refer to yourself as a baby daddy.” You laugh. “And you’re only this involved because you want to be. I never asked to live with you.” You put your hand over his. “If there isn’t someone who says thank you enough, it’s me.”

A couple of weeks later you were just lounging in bed with a book when you felt the baby kick for the first time. It didn’t even hurt like you thought it might. You couldn’t believe he was kicking already, maybe he was just trying to make some room to grow. Harry had to see this. You get up and shuffle down the hall to his room. You tap on the door before opening in.

“Harry?” You look around and didn’t see him in there, but you could hear his shower running. You walk further in and knock on his bathroom door. “Harry?!”

“Shit.” You hear him say. “Yeah?!”

“The baby’s kicking! I thought you might like to feel…”

“Uhhh, fuck, umm, could you give me like five minutes?! I’ll come to your room!”

“Okay!”

You shrug it off and go back to your room. About ten minutes later, Harry comes in, only wearing a pair of shorts. He hated getting dressed right after a shower.

“Sorry, I was, uh, in the middle of washing my hair.” A lie, but her certainly wasn’t going to tell he was jerking it. He gets on the bed and sits between your legs. “Where’d you feel it?”

“Right here, give me your hands, maybe he’ll do it again.” You take hands and place them where you felt the baby kick before.

“Oh my god!” Harry gasps when he feels it. “It doesn’t hurt?”

“Not really. I’m sure it will once he gets a little bigger. This is so cool, it just makes it more real, you know?” He hums his response.

“Have you done your nightly lotion?”

“Not yet.”

“I could put it on for you if you want. I know you’ve been stressed with the kids at work.”

“It’s just another week or two of the crazy busy part, it’ll die down soon. Although…” You were touch starved and the thought of his large hands on you in some way was thrilling. You grab the jar of cocoa butter and hand it to him. “Thanks.”

He lifts your shirt up slightly, just over your bump, and starts rubbing it on gently. A happy sigh escapes your lips and your eyes flutter closed. You feel him tug at your pajama pants, and your eyes snap open.

“What are you doing?”

“Don’t you need some a bit lower?” He was being genuine, not really seeing the problem.

“I can do that.”

“M’not takin’ your pants off, would you relax, lemme get your lower stomach for you.”

You wanted him to take your pants off, you wanted him to rip them away and do what he did best.

“See? All done.” He smiles and hands you back the jar. He gets off the bed, and goes to leave.

“Could you close the door all the way for me?”

“I thought we agreed on leaving them open a crack so I could hear if you called f’me?”

“We did…but…” Your cheeks flush. “Never mind, you know what? I need a pickle.” You get up and pull your shirt down.

“It’s a new jar I think, let me go down and open it for you.”

You both go down to the kitchen and Harry gets the jar open for you. Your eyes sparkle once you’re able to snatch one. You wrap your lips around in and close your eyes as you take a nice big bite.

“Christ.” He says under his breath, and you look at him.

“What?”

“Nothin’.” He blushes and looks away from you.

“Do you want one?”

“No, I’m good, thanks.”

“Really, you can have one. They taste so good, I think it’s the salt. I’ve been really into salty things lately.

He wanted to say he had something salty for you that you could wrap your lips around, but he wouldn’t dare. Things had been so peaceful with you lately, and he didn’t want to ruin it, as much as he wanted to ruin you.

“Did you get a new tattoo?” You point to his upper arm. “I don’t remember that one.”

“Hm?” He looks down at it. “Oh yeah, I got drunk one night with Max like a couple of months ago and we each got one. It was like right after we broke up.” He shrugs.

“I don’t know how you have any room left on that arm. Will you ever fill up the other one?”

“I kinda like the way it looks, it’s sort of lop sided.”

“But your chest and stomach is so symmetrical. Same with your legs, you have those ones on your knees and ankles.”

“My legs aren’t symmetrical.” He pulls up one side of his shorts to remind you of his tiger tattoo.

“Okay, minus that one.” You scoff.

“And you still don’t have any.” He smirks.

“Nope, and I never will.” You grab another pickle and bite into it. “I always like this one.” You graze your fingers over the mermaid. “She’s realistic looking, you know? Think my boobs are just as saggy.” You laugh.

“Y/N.” He chuckles. “Your boobs are not…” He sighs. “You have a beautiful body, okay?”

“Not anymore.” You roll your eyes.

“I disagree.” He crosses his arms.

“Gimme a break, Harry. This is not sexy.” You rub your belly. “It’s gross.”

“Again, I disagree.” He leans back against the counter. “Just more to love, that’s all.”

“God, I’m definitely gaining weight.” You groan. “I don’t know how, we both eat so healthy.”

“You order dessert every time we go out to eat, that’s why.” He says not looking at you. “You have no self-control with your sweet tooth.”

“Gee thanks.”

“I’m just sayin’, you can sit there and pout, or you could make some changed. If you need to have a dessert you could start goin’ to the gym with me. I’m allowed to have guests.”

“No offense, but I’ve seen you work out, and I don’t think I’d have much fun doing it with you. You’re way too intense.”

“We could run together.”

“You’d just go far ahead of me.”

“You’re makin’ excuses.” He turns to look at you. “Make a change or not, but don’t complain to me when you keep getting…plushy.”

“More to love!” You laugh. “You’re like the most fat phobic person I’ve ever met.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Any time I ever talked about gaining weight or anything you just made me feel worse about it.”

“Well…you sort of have a reason for gaining weight now. Before you didn’t, you were eating like shit.”

“I was not!”

“Yeah, you were. You always had like three different tubs of ice cream in your freezer, and anytime you’d have some you always went back for seconds. S’not a treat if you do it all the time. And that wasn’t me being fat phobic, I just wanted you to be healthy.”

“Well, you had a funny way of showing it.”

“My step-father died from a heart attack, Y/N, he had heart disease because he ate like shit all the time. I was scared…especially after you told me your doctor said your cholesterol.”

“That runs in my family! I don’t eat red meat for that very reason.”

“I just wanted you around as long as possible, maybe I had a bad way of showin’ it, but I was coming from a good place.”

“Whatever.” You shake your head.

“I know I was a dick okay? It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it, right?”

“Exactly.”

“Well, I apologize. I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that or made you feel that way. I’m sure there were other ways I could’ve gotten my point across.” You put the jar of pickles down and turn to look at him.

“Yeah, there were. You could be such an asshole sometimes.”

“I know.” You step a little closer to him.

“It was really annoying.”

“I know.”

“And you made it impossible to stay mad sometimes, which ended up pissing me off too.”

“I wasn’t that great of a boyfriend, I don’t know why you put up with me as long as you did, to be honest.” He presses his forehead to yours.

“I don’t know either.” You say, just above a whisper.

He starts sniffling and backs away from you.

“Sorry.” He wipes his eyes.

“Harry…”

“I just, I’m so mad at myself for fucking things up so badly. I feel like I fucked up my one shot at having a real love, and I’m frustrated.”

“You didn’t, you’ll find it again.”

“Yeah.” He scoffs. “Just not with you, right?”

“You don’t want these with me!” You slam your fist down on the counter. “You just think you do because I’m-“

“I swear to god, I’m gonna lose my shit if you say that one more time! I’m still in love with you, I never fell out of love with you! I didn’t want to break up, you did!”

“Fuck you, Harry. If you wanted us to work you would’ve fought for us more. You didn’t even care that we started sleeping separately, or that we weren’t having sex, or-“

“I was trying to give you the space you seemed to have wanted! I may not have been perfect, but you weren’t either. You picked just as many fights with me as I did with you. I really saw a future with you, but there were times I felt like you didn’t see one with me.”

“You literally flipped out on me when I asked you to make some room for me in your dresser.”

“I got annoyed because I said why don’t you just use the dresser in the guest room, and you took it personally like I didn’t want our stuff co-mingling!”

“Well, that’s how it felt!”

“And then, you walked out on me before I could even ask you to move in here, I was preparing for it! I had started looking at new furniture and everything! But you got so distant-“

“Because I felt like I couldn’t even breathe without you having some smart remark. I get it, being a professor is super stressful, but you were always taking it out on me. I felt like a scared little kid half the time, Harry.” Your voice cracks as tears start to fall.

“I thought things were going to get better after went away that weekend, but they just worse…”

“Yeah, they did. We’re not compatible.”

“Please, don’t say that, it kills me.” He takes a deep breath. “I was mad at you for ending it, that’s why I didn’t jump to my feet to fight for it. I figured if you were willing to give up so easily then so would I.”

“But it wasn’t easy! My heart was broken, and it broke more when you just sat there and said okay.” You sigh. “I just couldn’t keep pretending that everything happening was okay, Harry. It was exhausting.”

“I know.”

“So what makes you think starting over would make any difference? Things are balanced right now.”

“No, they’re not.” He raises your chin so you’ll at him. “Do you know how hard it is to have the love of your life, the woman carrying your child, down the hall from you and all you want to do is crawl into bed with her and love on her, and you can’t? I feel like I’m dying slowly from the inside out.” He lets go of you and smirks. “And you wanna know what else is bullshit about this whole thing?”

“What?” You were stunned at what he had just said.

“You said I wasn’t helpin’ your situation by walkin’ around shirtless and sweaty or whatever the fuck else, but you don’t exactly do things that make it easy for me either.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s like you’re doin’ it on purpose.”

“Doing what?! Whenever I’m home I’m in leggings and a tank top.”

“With your tits fully on display.” He gestures to them.

“It hurts too much to wear a bra!” You pout. “I’m sorry…” You cross your arms over them. “I truthfully didn’t think you were even looking.”

“How could I not? You have to know how beautiful I think you are, I try to tell you all the time.”

“I thought you were just trying to comfort me…”

“It’s so much more than that.” You look down and then to the clock.

“We should go to bed, it’s getting late.”

“You always do this! You never wanna finish the conversation.”

“What’s there to finish?! We keep going round in circles. What we’re doing is working, let’s just leave it.” You stick the pickles back in the fridge and go upstairs.

Since you had moved in, you slept better than ever, but lately you tossed and turned. It wasn’t due to discomfort with the baby, you just couldn’t shut your brain off. Between all of the things Harry said to you that night and your work being absolutely stressful, you physically couldn’t sleep. On Friday you have a meeting with your supervisor to discuss the summer.

“You look great, been meaning to tell you that.” She says as you come into her office.

“Thanks Margaret.” You smile. “So I know I’m not due until the end of August, so I’ll be missing the fall semester…”

“We’ll miss you a lot. We’re starting to look into grad students for you though.”

“That’s great! And I’d be happy to train any one of them…just…maybe virtually?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m exhausted, and we really only do a lot of email and phone calls over the summer. Harry has a nice office set up at home, and he said I could use it this summer if I wanted. I was sort of wondering if I could work from home once the school year ends…I know it’s a lot to ask, and I could still come in some days, but all the walking around I do is just killing me by the time I get home, and my doctor said my blood pressure is high-“

“Is that from work, or the fact that you’re playing house with your ex?” She smirks. “I remember what it was like to be pregnant, especially during the summer. You’ll be much more comfortable at home, you’ve got that indoor pool right?”

“Mhm.”

“I’m sure we could work it out, but there’s some paperwork you’ll need to fill out with HR.” You hum your response. “Is it also that Harry has the summer off and you want to be home with him?”

“I mean…it would be nice…but it’s not the sole reason.”

“Alright.” She sighs. “Hey, just between us, are you considering at all to get back together with him? I’ve seen him around here, you two seem chummy again.”

“We’re on good terms, yeah, but the rest is complicated. Every wound I have still feel fresh, you know?”

“True, but are you going to keep holding onto how he made you feel then, or can you let yourself feel what you’re feeling now?”

“Which is what?”

“I think you want to be with him. You perk up the second you seem him walk through the door, and you’re always giggling when you leave together. Sometimes people break up, and it just doesn’t work out and then don’t get back together. Sometimes someone winds up pregnant. But…with you two, I think that if you didn’t want him, you wouldn’t have agreed to live with him or let him be so involved.”

“How could I deprive him of his child? And he said he wanted to be around for everything-“

“A lot of guys say that and don’t mean it. You still trusted his word, Y/N. I’m not saying you need to marry the guy or dive back into a full on relationship, but throw him a bone.”

You were quiet on the car ride home, nothing out of the normal. You keep looking at him and he finally sighs and speaks up.

“Do I have somethin’ on my face?”

“No.”

“Okay, then why do you keep looking at me like that?”

“I wanna go out tonight.”

“You do?”

“Mhm. I wanna put a pretty dress on and go out.”

“Alright, where do yeh wanna go, love?” He parks the car in the driveway and looks at you.

“I miss dancing, Harry.”

“Okay.” He knew your feet wouldn’t allow for it, and by the time you got somewhere you’d be too tired to stay long enough for any fun to start. You both get out of the car and go inside. “Why don’t you go up and take your time gettin’ ready…I have an idea I think you’ll like.” He smiles.

“Okay.” You smile back and go upstairs.

After at least two mental breakdowns, you get your hair and makeup the way you like, and throw a flattering dress on. It was flowy and came down to your mid-thigh. It covered your chest as well. When you come downstairs, you see that the lights are dim, there are candles lit, and music playing. Harry was pouring some seltzer water into a glass for you, and just adding a lime.

“Thought I’d bring the bar to us, how does that sound?” He hands you the glass and you take a sip.

“You’re brilliant, Dr. Styles.” You joke. “What are you drinking?”

“Just a beer for now. I don’t wanna get too wasted since I’m the one drivin’.” He winks at you. “Are you hungry? I popped some of those fried pickles into the oven…”

“You’re spoiling me.” You giggle. “Thank you. Oh! I spoke with Margaret today and we’re gonna go down to HR next week to talk about working from home this summer. She seems to think it could work out well.”

“That’s a huge relief. I like the idea of havin’ yeh home with me this summer.”

You both get silly to a few songs, and then eventually he slows dances with you. Your bump was in the way, but you were able to make it work. Harry was such a good dancer. You always felt safe in his arms. You loved hearing him hum along to whatever song was playing too, it was so calming. You look up at him and yawn by accident.

“Okay, I think it’s time you went to bed.” He chuckles and cuts the music.

“But I’m having so much fun.”

“I know, but you’re tired, honey.” He kisses your forehead and lets you go. “Come on, up the stairs we go.”

After you had gotten into bed, you thought to maybe go crawl into his, just to have a cuddle, but you told yourself that would be a bad idea. It would definitely lead to something else.

“Harry! Harry!”

He bursts through your bedroom door the next morning in a panic.

“Where the hell is she?”

“Harry!”

“Shit.” He goes into your bathroom and finds you sitting, unable to get up. “What happened?!” He steps inside and helps you up. “Are you okay?” He pulls you close to him, neither of you caring how naked you are.

“I…I was trying to shave my legs, but there’s no bench in here for me to prop my foot up on, and I lost my balance. I only fell on my bum, I think the baby’s fine.”

“We should go to the doctor anyways, just to make sure. And then we’ll go to the store and buy a shower bench, or you could just come use my shower, whatever you wanna do.” He reaches to turn the water off and grabs your towel. “You know, you could just let yourself get hairy.”

“But it’s so uncomfortable…”

“What about wax?” You both step into your room. “Or that nair stuff?”

“Wax hurts and nair burns.” You sigh. “My legs are one thing, but I don’t want that stuff near my…area.”

“I could help you shave you know, s’not like I haven’t seen yeh naked before.”

“Again, legs are one thing…” You pat his shoulder. “Let me get dressed, could you call the doctor?”

“Mhm.”

The doctor said you were perfectly fine, but to definitely be more careful. You and Harry stop at the store to buy a shower bench and he gets it set up for you once you’re home.

“Test it out.” He says as you both stand in the shower.

“Okay.”

You put on of your feet up on it and bend a bit and pretend to run your razer over your leg.

“Yup, that should work just fine, thanks.”

“What about elsewhere?”

“I think no matter what I do I’m gonna have a tough time with that.” You sigh. “I’ll live, it’s just uncomfortable. It gets itchy once it grows in, you know?”

“Again, my services have been offered.” He winks at you.

“You’d do anything to get your face close to me there, wouldn’t you?” You nudge him playfully.

“Yep that’s it, you’ve found out my entire scheme to eat you out.” He rolls his eyes. “Come on, you’ve barely drank any water today, let’s get your water bottle filled up.”

You tossed and turned again that night. You needed Harry. So, you get up and shuffle down the hall to his room, door open a crack like he had kept it in case you called for him.

“Harry?” You say, leaning against the door frame.

“Hm?” He shoots up. “What is it? Do you need a pickle?”

“No.” You giggle. You loved him when he was sleepy like this. “M’sorry it’s so late, I just can’t sleep.”

“Do you wanna come in with me?”

“Mhm.”

“Okay.”

You slip into his comfy bed, and lay on your back.

“I miss being able to sleep on my stomach.” You sigh.

“You’d always be so cute in the morning.” He says, turning to face you. “Your arms would be tucked under the pillow and you could just see your face. Your hair was always coverin’ yeh up.” He moves some hair out of your face and tucks it behind your ear. “So sweet.” He says, his eyes starting to droop again.

“It was really nice what you did for me earlier tonight.”

“Mm.”

“It was like…a new first date or something.” His eyes snap open and he sits up again.

“Wanna run that by me again?”

“It felt like a date, didn’t it?”

“I suppose it did…”

“I missed dancing with you like that.”

“Don’t do this to me.” He groans.

“What? What am I doing?” You sit up as well.

“You keep messing with me head, Y/N. One minute we’re getting along and we’re friends, and the next…I don’t I think you want me in the way I want you, and-“

“I can’t stop thinking about what you said, about how hard it was to not love on the love of your life. I’m really the love of your life?”

“You have been for over three years.”

“We only dated for a year, though.”

“I know, but I fell for you so much sooner than that. I’d flirt with you any chance I got just to see if I could get your cheeks to flush.” He runs his thumb along your cheek bone.

“And it always worked, you left me flustered pretty often.”

“And what about now, are you flustered now?”

“Very.”

“What did you come in here for, exactly?”

“I told you, I couldn’t sleep.”

“And getting into bed with me could help that?”

“Well…I miss cuddles…” You say just above a whisper. “And you’re a good cuddler.”

“What else do you miss?” His face was dangerously close to yours. It had been a month since your little romp with him, and you’d be lying if you hadn’t wanted it again almost every day since then.

“Harry…I miss a lot of things, but-“

“Can we just, ugh, forget about everything for a little while and make each other feel good?”

“But last time we did that…things almost got complicated, and-“

“We’re two adults who both have needs, and your needs are a little stronger than mine. What’s the big deal if we indulge?”

“I don’t wanna keep messing with your head, like you said I was.” You frown.

“Do you really not want me? I feel like you wouldn’t be living here if there wasn’t a sliver of you that didn’t want me.”

“I do.” You sigh and lean into his touch, his soft palm on your cheek. “It’s just so hard to forget what happened.”

“I know, and I don’t expect you to. It would be stupid if we both tried to forget or pretend like we didn’t tare each other apart, but we’re bringing a baby into this world now, and I feel like ever since you told me about it I’ve put so many things into perspective. I didn’t treat you right, and I’ll spend every day for the rest of my life makin’ up for it if I have to.”

“You will?”

“I will. I love you, Y/N.”

“I…I love you too, Harry.”

The way he kisses you is so much different than last time. There was an urgency, a pure need. It wasn’t just lust, it was so much more than that. You could taste the tears that had been running down his cheeks. You believed, you finally believed him. He regretted it, every small thing that drove you farther and farther away. He would never let that happen again, baby or no baby.

His tongue licks into your mouth, and you moan into it. Your hands move up to his hair and you tug on it. He draws back and kisses each one of your cheeks, your nose, your forehead and your lips.

“M’not gonna fuck this up again.”

“Neither am I.”

You smile at each other and continue kissing. You both shift so Harry can get on top of you. His lips move to nip at your jaw and then to just under your ear lobe.

“Is this comfortable?” He says into your ear, as his hand snacks down your body, getting between your legs.

“Yes.”

You gasp when you feel his fingers run up and down your slit, collecting the wetness and bringing up to your clit to rub circles into. He starts to shift so he can get his head between your legs.

“No don’t!”

“Why not?” He frowns.

“I don’t want you looking up at me, you’ll only see my stomach, and-“

“I can’t even begin to describe how attractive you are to me, it’s insane. Please, let me get my mouth on you.” You bite your bottom and nod yes.

He kisses down your stomach and gets his lips around your clit, and slips his fingers inside you. Your hips buck up, but he holds you steady. He was going slow, but precise.

“Oh my god, Harry.” You groan. “Feels amazing.”

He moans against you in response. You cry out when you feel his teeth nibble on you and his fingers curl up. He was brushing that spongey spot over and over.

“Harry, shit, oh my god, I’m gonna, fuck, fuck, fuck!” You release around his fingers and he retracts them so he can lap everything up.

“Would you do somethin’ for me?”

“Anything.”

“It’s been torture watchin’ yeh go to town on those giant pickles…would you mind…” He gestures down to himself.

“Oh! Sure, yeah.”

“What would be most comfortable for you?”

“Maybe if you sit on the edge of the bed, I can just put a pillow on the floor for my knees.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

Harry sits on the edge of the bed, completely naked, and you get on the floor in front of him, kneeling on a few pillows. You plant your palms on his thighs as you wrap your lips around his tip. He watches you with parted lips, and you look up at him. He runs a soothing hand through your hair, and you sink down further on him.

“Teeth, love, watch your teeth.” He grunts. You pop off him and look up with embarrassment.

“M’sorry, it’s just been so long…”

“It’s okay, just take your time.” He smiles encouragingly. “I really like when you lick up and down…”

You hum your response and do as he says. You lick up and down his shaft, and his hand tugs at your roots. Your confidence comes back to you, and you suckle on his tip, flicking your tongue along his slit.

“Fucking, Christ.” His head rolls back. You hollow your cheeks and bob up and down on him. You swallow around him, and that nearly sends him over the edge. “Okay, okay.” You look up at him and he pulls you off. “I wanna fuck you now, can I do that?”

“Yes.”

He helps you to your feet, and gets you back on the bed. He puts a pillow under your lower back to help get you comfortable. He really wanted to be on top this time. He puts your legs over his shoulders and he slowly slides into you. You let out a throaty moan when he bottoms out.

“Jesus.” You breathe.

“Yeh like that?”

“Mm, so deep. You can move now.”

He rocks in and out of you slowly at first, not wanting to hurt you or do anything to jostle the baby. He had been looking up safe positions for having sex while pregnant, just in case he got the chance with you again.

“You look so beautiful, Y/N, it’s drivin’ me crazy.”

“It, ngh, is?”

“You have no idea.” He drops your legs and leans down to kiss you. He nips at your bottom lip and you groan against him.

“H, Harry, shit, I think I need to get on top.”

“Okay, baby.”

He pulls out and sits up against the head board. You move to straddle him and sink down on his hard cock.

“God, you feel so good.” He sucks on your neck while you start to move on him. His hand grip your hips to help you.

Eventually you hide your head on his neck to signal that he should just take over the movements completely. He thrusts up into you while he rocks you back and forth. You were both sweaty and panting, and you could feel yourself getting closer. He was close too.

“Harry, fuck, Harry, I’m gonna come.”

“Me too, shit.”

You bite down on his collar but he moves your face with one of his hands.

“No, please, let me hear you, let it all out.”

He gives you another hard thrust and it has you moaning out loudly, your nails dragging down his stomach, just the way his likes. He fills you up, probably making a mess, but neither of you seem to care. He cups your cheeks to kiss you, both of your lips swollen, but it’s what you both need.

“And this time, you’re not runnin’ off to your room.”

“Don’t want it to be my room anymore.”

“What?” His face falls.

“I think that should be the baby’s nursery…”

“Oh!” He smiles. “Yeah…we could do tha’.” He smooths some hair away from your face. “Does that mean you want this to be our room?”

“Yeah, I do…would that be alright?”

“It’s better than alright, it’s all I could hope for.”

Since you were working from home, you had plenty of time to help Harry with the nursery, and you both really enjoyed it. You decide to paint the room light grey, with a nice light yellow accent wall. You were going for a neutral vibe. Gemma and Anne come over to help set the crib up one afternoon while you make everyone some lemonade.

“So…you two are really back together?” Anne asks you while Harry and Gemma argue over the many pieces upstairs.

“Mhm.” You smile. “I suppose it was bound to happen either way.”

“And you’re happy?”

“Very, he’s changed a lot, and so have I.”

“That’s good. I can’t believe I’m havin’ a grandson. Have you two decided on a name?”

“We have a few we’ve been mulling over, but we decided we’ll make the final decision once we actually see his face.” She hums her response and sips from her glass of lemonade.

“How’s your mum been with all this?”

“Are you kidding?” You scoff. “She was over the moon that Harry took me back.” You roll your eyes. “Whatever, you know?”

“Mm, it amazes me that such a wonderful young girl could come from such a…witch.” You nearly spit out your lemonade from laughter. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, no, it’s okay.” You smile.

Harry and Gemma come down once everything is all set.

“Oh, yum!” She says once she sees the lemonade. “Thanks, Y/N.”

“It’s the least I could do.” You hand them both a glass. “All set up there?”

“Mhm, and the changing table is good to go too.” You kiss his cheek, and he puts his arm around your shoulders.

It was the end of August, and way too fucking hot out. You were grateful for the indoor pool. You found yourself going there often with Harry. He thought the maternity bathing suits you found were awfully cute. He was on you more and more about drinking water. He was scared to death that you’d get dehydrated.

Your apartment was already full of the many gifts from your couple of baby showers. Most of it was organized, and you had an overnight bag ready to go. You were due any day now. Nora came to join you at the pool while Harry did some prep work for his fall classes.

“You look so good, Y/N, I mean it.”

“Thanks.” You beam. “I feel pretty good, but also ready to pop. I want him out of me already.”

“Soon.” She puts your belly. “Is it weird that I’m excited?” She giggles.

“Not at all! You’re my best friend, I want you to be excited. This kid is gonna be a part of your life now too.”

“I’ll babysit anytime I can. You know how much I love babies.”

She helps you walk back to the apartment when you both had enough of the crowd that had formed. They stop short when they hear Harry yelling on the phone.

“I can’t teach two extra sections of that course! I’m already at my load, and I said I couldn’t do any more than that this semester! My girlfriend is about to have a baby…” He groans with frustration. “Can’t we just hire a TL?” They hear him suck his teeth. “I can do one section, not two.” He sighs when he hangs up the phone. “Hi.” He grumbles at the two of you.

“What’s happening, Harry?”

“Oh, they’re just givin’ me somethin’ they could easily have the junior faculty do.” He rolls his eyes and grabs a beer out of the fridge. “We need to refill your water bottle now.”

You nod and fill it up with fresh water. Harry offers Nora a beet, but she declines since she’ll be leaving soon.

“I feel like I’m never gonna be home now. Maybe I can convince them to let it be an online section or somethin’.”

“That’s a great idea!” You say. “I bet they’d go for that.”

“The new department chair is just power hungry, she could easily teach the class.” He huffs.

“Well it seems like you were able to bargain a bit.” Nora says. “I gotta go.” She looks at her watch.

She hugs you and gives your belly another rub and out the door she goes. Harry wraps his arms around you and pouts.

“Any day now, huh?”

“Mhm.”

“How are you feelin’?”

“Terrified, but excited.”

“Me too.” He chuckles and kisses your forehead.

You fall asleep pretty quickly that night. All of the swimming really tired you out. You were thankful for the central air, otherwise it would be impossible to sleep through the heat. You woke up feeling sort of uncomfortable, almost like you had wet yourself. You absentmindedly reach between your legs and gasp.

“Harry.” You nudge him. “Harry!”

“Hm?” He rolls over and looks up at you. “You okay, lovie?”

“Yeah, I think my water broke.”

“Oh my god!” He shoots up and kisses you.

“It’s time.”

#im having your baby #harry styles #harry styles fic #harry styles imagine #harry styles x reader #harry styles x y/n #harry styles y/n #harry styles fluff #harry styles fluff fic #harry styles smut #harry styles smut fic #harry styles angst #harry styles angst fic #professor!Harry #dad!Harry #dadtobe!Harry

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hadtochangemyurlquick · 3 years

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here’s 7.1k of Toni pining and Shelby and Toni being childhood friends and also far more character analysis of Rachel than I was expecting? also Marcus is real and I made him a gorgeous himbo. it’s based off that poem by @theycallmedizzy and you can find it here. lmk if you want a second chapter from shelby’s perspective, tho i literally just finished this one. like literally ten minute ago.

Mr. Williams finishes reading the poem and looks over his spectacles at the class. Yes, they’re spectacles, those kind of tiny thick ones that make his eyes too big because he’s much too old to be teaching.

It’s eight am on a Tuesday, Toni walked the three miles to school because she missed the bus only to walk into her shitty honors English class and hear the teacher reading a poem aloud to the class. Her poem. She’d sat down after a momentary pause and listened to him read the final damning stanza.

And then he looks at Toni.

He reads her essays right? What if he recognizes her writing voice? Is that a thing? Or maybe her handwriting or—

“Toni, I was just explaining to the class that whoever wrote this should submit it to the state literature festival,” Mr. Williams says, Toni almost sags against her chair. “I was hoping someone would come forward,” He turns back to the class, eyes hovering over Quinn and Monty, two of the more sensitive guys who sit in the back and ruin the curve for everyone. “But I’ll leave it on the board here,” he clacks it on with a magnet and Toni flinches, “and hopefully someone will come forward. Now onto today’s lesson.”

After class Martha goes up to the board and takes a picture of it, her eyes a little starry at the words and Toni grits her teeth.

“You have to admit it’s pretty,” Martha says. “Even you can’t deny that.”

“It’s dumb,” Toni says flatly, crossing her arms.

“Well I’m keeping it anyway, maybe someday someone will write a poem about me,” Martha says.

“How do you know it’s not about you?” Shelby asks coming out of nowhere and uninvited too. Toni glares at her, letting her open disdain shine through like sunshine through clouds after a gully washer.

“No guys notice me,” Martha informs Shelby sadly. “I bet Andrew wrote it for you.”

Shelby purses her lips and looks over the poem, “I doubt it. He’s more of a doer, I think. Besides, I’m sure that guys notice you, you went on a date with that boy Sam last month.”

Martha sighs and before she can launch into what a disaster that date was, Toni tightens her hands around her backpack.

“I’ll see you in science,” She tells Martha and manages to escape Shelby’s eyes burning at the back of her neck.

———

reasons not to kiss her

1.) this sort of love is not allowed. you are both too soft, and the world around you is all knives and chipped teeth

Toni had played about every sport she was allowed to growing up. Basketball was her favorite, but she loved beat it ball, the game she made up with the other kids in the neighborhood. It was basketball but without rules, devolving into fist fights within the first half. Nothing tasted better than her own bloody lip on a hot summer day. Not even the cool glass of lemonade Mrs. Blackburn always had ready when she ran all skinned knees to Martha’s telling her about how she beat guys two years older than her.

She got angry when she had to stop playing, moving to a different neighborhood. Apparently, Mrs. Blackburn had figured out that she wasn’t only getting her split lip from the older kids in the neighborhood.

The new foster parents were a little stricter, a little richer, and signed her up for youth soccer when she complained about how there was nothing to do without beat it ball.

Martha Blackburn would always be her person, but Toni didn’t expect to find her people so young. Dottie killed as goalie, and Becca’s sweetness made her defense all the better. But it was Shelby and Toni who were the dynamic duo. Toni had a never ending amount of energy as a midfielder and Shelby’s precision made her the perfect striker. It worked the same way every game, Becca would kick it to Toni, who got it to Shelby, who scored a goal. It got to the point that Becca didn’t even need to do much and the coach had to pull Toni aside to tell her to pass to the other girls too.

At the end of the season they sat together at the team party, wearing orange slice smiles. With sticky fingers they held hands and Toni kinda wondered how someone’s eyes could be so green.

Toni doesn’t remember why Shelby’s parents were so angry about them holding hands, but she knows Mr. Goodkind talked to her foster parents and Toni was off to a different home, in a different district, and she lost even Martha for a few months.

———

At lunch everyone’s talking about that fucking poem. Martha sent it around to the whole school and Leah is discussing its merits with Rachel and Nora. Even they don’t seem bored with the topic, though Nora is sure Quinn didn’t write it.

“It could be Monty,” Leah says. “I wouldn’t have thought he had an eye for this stuff.”

“I don’t think it’s Monty,” Rachel says. She looks at Nora, “C’mon, you know what I’m talking about, right?”

“What?” Nora asks.

“I mean it smells like Anna Akhmatova had a baby with Adrienne Rich,” Rachel says.

“Who had a baby with who?” Martha asks.

“Please,” Fatin says. “You’re not exactly the world’s leading expert on free form poetry.”

“Uh, I know when something’s written by a girl,” Rachel says. “I bet you fifty bucks some closet case wrote this.”

Everyone looks at Toni. “You caught me,” Toni deadpans.

“Rachel’s right,” Nora says. “A girl definitely wrote this. Toni, do you know anyone?”

Toni glares at her. “I’ll shake the lesbian phone tree and see what comes out.”

“Well, could it be Regan?” Martha asks. “Maybe she wants to—”

“It’s not fucking Regan,” Toni grabs her books and stalks out, kicking a chair randomly strewn around away as she did.

She hears Shelby sit down just as she leaves, “What’s got her madder than a baptized cat?” Shelby asks and Toni rolls her eyes.

———

2.) no one ever taught you how to love. your war paint and scarred hands could never hold her like she deserves

The worst of it was that Shelby was gentle. Her hands were warm and soft around Toni’s callouses, and there was a crinkle between her eyebrows as she focused on Toni’s hands. No, the worst of it was that Shelby didn’t let go of Toni’s hands when she finished, kept holding onto them as she met Toni’s eyes.

“Well?”

Toni swallowed hard, “I’m not gonna apologize.”

Shelby sighed, her thumb traced little circles around Toni’s hands. “I know today ain’t easy for you.” Toni scoffed and looked away. “But you know you were pickin' a fight. Andrew promised to leave you alone.”

Toni ripped her hands away and jumped from the bench of the locker room. “What the fuck do you know? You weren’t fucking there.”

Shelby’s calm only made Toni’s anger redder, “You ain’t denying it.”

“Why the fuck are you dating him? He’s a self-satisfied little asshole who just wants a little trophy girlfriend to—”

“Toni,” Shelby cut her off sharply and got to her feet, meeting Toni’s eyes.

“You’re not denying that either,” Toni spat.

She could’ve screamed at the hypocrisy. She wanted to scream. She wanted to pound her fists against the walls and bleed all over the bandages Shelby wrapped around her knuckles. She wanted to hurt, to make Shelby hurt. She wanted everyone to see and feel how hurt she was, and hurt them with that hurt. Finally level the playing field.

“Andrew is my business,” Shelby said. “Not yours.”

“He becomes my business when you—”

“When I what?” Shelby asked.

Toni looked at her hands, “Never mind.”

Shelby sighed, “Martha’s helping you move in today, right? Shel’ll be there the whole time?”

“Don’t pretend you give a shit.”

“Of course I care. The last time you lived with your mom you didn’t eat for a week.”

“I was five, not fifteen,” Toni said. “And seriously, stop pretending you give a shit.”

She shoulder checked Shelby as she walked out and winced at the sound of Shelby hitting the gym lockers. Her hands still sting where Andrew’s teeth had scrapped them.

———

Regan approaches Toni during science, her eyes serious. Martha straightens, and Toni does her best not to make eye contact.

“It’s not mine,” Regan says.

“Yeah duh,” Toni mutters.

Regan frowns, “I just—I didn’t want you to—”

“You made it perfectly clear what you want,” Toni says.

Regan sighs and leaves and Toni regrets it.

“Shelby thinks it’s Marcus,” Martha tells her. Toni blinks up at her and Martha nods. “She thinks he wrote it for me.”

“Martha, that kid is dumber than a box of rocks,” Toni says.

Martha furrows her brow, “Maybe he has hidden depths.”

“If you think it’s him ask him out,” Toni says.

“Shelby thinks it’s him,” Martha is quick to correct. “But he doesn’t even know who I am.”

Toni rolls her eyes. Marcus had been in love with Martha since the ninth grade. They had gotten placed as lab partners and he literally didn’t take his eyes off her the entire time. Every time there was a dance he would always look like he was about to say something, shoot his shot, when Martha would loudly proclaim she couldn’t wait to go with her friends.

Toni would’ve pulled the guy aside and told him to grow a pair, but a guy who’s not brave enough to go after what he wants wasn’t good enough for her Marty, not by a long shot.

“Rachel still thinks a girl wrote it,” Martha says.

“Maybe Rachel wrote it,” Toni mutters.

Martha’s eyes light up.

———

3.) no one has ever loved you this full surely you would drown in it all

Being a lifeguard was the worst. It was super boring, the pay was shit, and also Toni would probably get someone killed. Like, they pretended she was CPR certified but she absolutely had no idea how to do it. She went to some hour long course, slept through it, took a test that was just: should you kill people? And then they wrote some bullshit on some papers about a three week long set of classes.

But Shelby was tanned and golden looking and on their shifts they’d text back and forth about which kids they were betting on to win sharks and minnows. Tweenage boys in all their adolescent infancy would gaze open mouthed at Shelby and Toni alike but Shelby was the only one who let them down gently. Toni would ruin them for girls forever with something enough to cut through even the thickest skin.

On the fourth of July the pool paid for fireworks and Toni found a blanket and Shelby found her and they sat watching the reflections of the lights together. Shelby rested her head on Toni’s shoulder, all gentle, like she was afraid Toni would spook.

“I know this ain’t much of a holiday for you,” Shelby said. “But thank you for spending it with me.”

She had her hand on the blanket, splayed out like she was waiting for Toni to take it, there in front of everyone. Toni imagined a world in which she did.

———

“Yeah it’s not me,” Rachel says. “I wish I could write that good.”

Which is such bullshit because Toni knows Rachel could say well if she wanted to. Rachel’s weird inferiority complex about Nora pisses off Toni to no end. Nora’s the smart one, Rachel will be the first to say, and Rachel’s the athletic one. But Nora has a six minute mile and Rachel has perfect pitch so Toni hates them both.

“Maybe it’s Dot,” Toni suggests and Rachel, Nora, and Martha snicker.

Out of all of them, Martha’s the best driver, but they always end up in Rachel’s car after school anyway.

“Most of the school seems to think it’s by Andrew,” Nora says. Toni’s fists clench.

“Yeah,” Rachel rolls her eyes, “I’m sure he would love to take the credit. C’mon Toni, you don’t know any lesbians who could’ve written this?”

“You’re a lesbian too,” Toni says. “You don’t know any?”

“I don’t have a life outside of the pool,” Rachel says, “and none of them have picked up a book since Hop on Pop.”

“Regan says it wasn’t her,” Martha cuts in helpfully. “But maybe it’s another kid in theatre. Shelby says—”

“Oh my god,” Toni grits out. “What is everyone’s deal with her anyway? Why is everyone still obsessed with her? She’s just another basic Jesus bitch.”

The car goes quiet and Toni wishes she could melt into her seat cushion.

“I didn’t mean that,” Toni says.

“Except you did,” Martha snaps.

Toni winces.

“What’s your deal with her?” Rachel asks. “You guys were fine last year.”

“Quinn says there’s a poetry club,” Nora says. “Maybe it’s someone there?”

No one takes the bait and they don’t talk the rest of the way.

———

4.) she belongs in a museum, and you are merely here to gaze. look around you, all the signs scream ‘do not touch’

“Shelby?”

Toni grabbed the shoulder of the girl and pulled her away from Marcus. Shelby was bruised lips and ruined make up and Toni took her by the hand. Thank god Martha wasn’t here, thank god Andrew wasn’t here, thank god Marcus looked just as trashed.

“Toni?” Shelby sorta stumbled, her ankle twisting painfully on her heel and Toni steadied her.

Shelby could do a cartwheel in six inch heels.

“I’m gonna get you home, okay?” Toni called over the music.

Shelby didn’t really respond, just leant into Toni as she led her away and outside. The party had spilled into the backyard and front yard some, the cops probably already on their way, but everyone was too fucking hammered to notice them making their way out.

Shelby’s house was only about a twenty minute walk but it was cold and Toni was only wearing her basketball shorts and her mom’s jacket that she promptly put over Shelby’s shoulders.

“Are you still—” Shelby swallowed hard, “You’re still living with your mom?”

“Mostly with Martha,” Toni said.

“Martha’s great,” Shelby said. “She’s so pretty it makes my eyes hurt.”

“One of our finest,” Toni grunted as Shelby nearly fell on her heels again.

“She could be a model,” Shelby told her. “We should get waffle house.”

“Shelbs, we’re nowhere near a waffle house.”

“What was Becca’s order? At waffle house?”

Toni sighed, looping an arm around her. “I dunno.”

“Neither do I,” Shelby said.

“I’m sorry, Shelby,” Toni said.

Shelby shook her head and stopped right there, circling her arms around Toni and pressing her into a hug. Toni closed her eyes, holding her back as tightly as she dared.

“Oh, Shelby, I’m so fucking sorry.”

———

“Day two!” Mr. Williams calls. He taps the poem again, “I will investigate the handwriting if the poet doesn’t come forward by Friday. I know it’s someone in one of my classes.”

His eyes narrow as he takes them all in and his eyes don’t linger on Toni. Not even for a moment.

There’s a part of her that wants to march up to the front of the room and write her name down, make eye contact with everyone who never even considered her before. But no one expects shit from her, and even if he does go over the handwriting he won’t really be able to pin it on her. He might not even bother checking to see if it matches.

Toni tries not to jump when Marcus takes the seat in front of her during quant lit. It’s not like they have assigned seating but everyone sticks to the same seats anyway. Marcus won’t get shit for it though, perks of being the quarterback.

“So, listen,” he scratches the back of his head and Toni rolls her eyes at him. “I know we aren’t really friends but I—um.”

“Marcus,” Toni says.

“I wanna ask Martha out,” Marcus rushes out. “She’s like the nicest, smartest, coolest girl in the school and like her eyes are out of this world radical.” Radical? “And I would take her somewhere nice like Olive Garden. Or Cheesecake Factory? And pay for it, and open all the doors for her, and I’d carry her books to class—”

“On your date? This is happening during school?” Toni asks.

His eyebrows furrow as he tries to connect the dots. Football players.

“Oh no! I meant like, after, if she wants me to,” He says. “Can I?”

“Can you what?”

“Can I ask her out?”

Toni blinks at him. “What?”

“My buddy said if you want to get with a girl you get close to the best friend first, and I figured I’d ask you for your blessing because that’s what they do in old fashioned stuff right?” He bounces up in down in his seat. “Can I? Or like, do you wanna give me your blessing?”

She feels like she’s having an aneurysm.

Listen, Marcus having feelings for Martha is one thing. Everyone on the planet who’s ever met Martha falls a little in love with her. That’s kinda just how she operates. Toni narrowly avoided that pitfall by being lucky enough to know her since she was five, but it was a tough time. But Marcus was never gonna act on it. Marcus can’t—he’s the quarterback.

It’s basic math, Marcus is a six foot five football player with shoulders wide enough to bench press the Subaru Forrester Toni’s legally required to buy when she turns thirty-two. He’s got that all American boy smile that shows of perfectly white teeth, and dark hair that sweeps in front of his eyes. His face looks like it was sculpted out of marble, like literally he looks like some sort of roman god, except if that roman god volunteered at the humane society on the weekends and called his mom Mami.

Martha is a res girl who’s best friend is the dyke with anger issues. And like yeah, she’s stupid pretty, but Marcus has exclusively dated varsity cheerleaders since the seventh grade.

So yeah, even if Marcus may have feelings for Marty, everyone fucking does, and there’s a host of reasons why she doesn’t have a date to every dance and a new guy every week. And most of them are the cliche high school movie hierarchy sort.

“It’s really none of my business, man,” she says.

“Dude, it’s totally your business,” Marcus says. He leans closer, “you two are like sisters right? What do I gotta do to prove I’m not gonna hurt her? I’ll do your math homework for a month, no two months.”

A thought occurs to Toni and it’s a terrible one. But when has that ever stopped her?

“You’re in my honors English class right?”

Marcus’s face screws in, “Uh, yeah. But I don’t think you want me doing your homework in there, I’m like totally failing.”

“I have a better idea.”

———

5.) she touches you like youre fragile, and if you break you wont be able put yourself together again

Dot was asleep which was Toni’s first indication that something was deeply wrong. The second was that Shelby wasn’t. She was definitely trying her darnedest, but Toni could tell she was awake. Awake in her arms.

Toni shifted, just enough to let Shelby know she was awake too. The movie was some horror flick, something dumb and flashy and almost muted it was so quiet. It was the only thing rated R that they could all agree on. Dot’s house was the only place they were allowed to watch anything rated R when they were still thirteen, so it was all they watched there.

She felt Shelby shift up, so her head rested on Toni’s chest, shifted until her lips met Toni’s clavicle.

Toni wondered if she’d die.

Shelby went up instead of down, pressing kisses up the length of Toni’s neck, soft barely there things that made Toni’s breath catch as she watched Dot snore on the couch next to them.

Toni’s hands moved to the inside of Shelby’s thighs and they stared there, tracing delicate patterns that only made Shelby curl closer.

“I think you’re probably the most beautiful girl I ever saw,” Shelby whispered.

“I—”

“I’m not done.”

Toni’s mouth clamped shut.

“I think about you all the time,” Shelby whispered. “Even when I—”

“Shelby,” Toni warned. Shelby pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth.

“You’re right,” Shelby said.

Neither of them slept that night.

———

Toni walks into class three minutes late with Mr. Williams, and takes her seat with a sulk.

“He still won’t let me redo that paper,” Toni mutters to Martha who’s eyes are wide.

“Toni, Marcus just—” She nods her head at the poem where Mr. Williams is studying it too.

“Marcus Gonzales?” Mr. Williams asks.

Marcus gets to his feet.

“You wrote this?”

“Yessir.”

“This poem right here?”

“Yessir.”

Mr. Williams blinks and takes off his spectacles, setting them down on the desk. “We’ll talk after class. I should hope everyone has a copy of—”

“I wrote it for Martha,” Marcus doesn’t sit down and the entire class stares at him.

“—Franny and Zooey and I would like you all to turn to page 52. Begin by annotating—”

“Martha, can I take you out on a date?” Marcus asks.

“—this first section, and on to page 64. Remember what Seymour serves as in—”

Martha blushes hard and glances at Toni who smiles before she looks back at Marcus in all his golden boy 6’5” glory.

“Um, okay,” she mutters out and he grins.

“Cool.” Marcus finally sits and gives Toni a thumbs up. She rolls her eyes.

“—this story and compare that to his roles in the other parts of the work we’ve read.”

“I told you it was for you, girl,” Shelby says on Martha’s other side. “People always have a way of surprising you.”

———

6.) she is all bubblegum skies and chapped stick kisses, and you cannot watch the love run out of another persons eyes

They were all a little bit slap happy by the end of the night. A little bit drunk, a little bit high, and laughing far too hard at one another.

“I’m scared,” Shelby told them, still grinning wider than any pageant smile.

“Girl, you picked dare,” Fatin said.

“I did,” Shelby bit her lip. “But all y’all dared Leah to do was finish the vodka.”

“That was—that was bad vodka,” Leah slurred from her position on Dot’s lap.

“But now we’re out of vodka,” Martha sang. “You picked dare.”

“I’ll go with you,” Toni got to her feet, surprised when they were more steady than she assumed they’d be. “Two chairs right?”

“Alright,” Shelby said. “And you’ll hold my hand?”

“Sure princess,” Toni rolled her eyes.

It was an office supply place, probably. The parking lot had this killer decline, and it was one of those spring nights where nothing could really ruin anything. Not forever.

The rolling chairs were kinda gross, left there but not yet picked up by the garbage men. They had to do a special pickup for that, which costed extra. No one in the office had done it for the weeks the girls had been going there after parties.

“Be careful,” Nora urged.

“Don’t fall,” Rachel suggested.

“Hold on, I’m not recording yet,” Fatin said. “Okay now go.”

They pushed off in their rolling chairs, holding hands, and sped down the decline laughing as they barely managed to hold on and steer at the same time.

Toni went flying as she bumped into a patch of grass and for some reason, Shelby went flying with her, landing on top. Toni grunted, but she wasn’t in pain, not really.

They met eyes.

“Sorry,” Shelby said. She didn’t sound sorry.

“You okay?” Toni asked.

Shelby smiled, this real soft thing, Toni wondered what it’d taste like.

“Fuck yeah bitches! I’m so putting that on snapchat!” Fatin screamed and Shelby pulled away, turning white.

“God if this is you in in freshman year, I’m terrified of you as a senior,” Toni called back.

Shelby’s hand slipped out of her’s and Toni tried very very hard not to overthink it.

———

“So I’ve been thinking,” Leah said. Toni took her gym bag out of her locker, pretty much the only thing she kept in there.

“Oh no.”

“Rachel was right about that poem being written by a girl,” Leah continued. “Which meant Marcus lied. And Marcus would never do that unless someone gave him permission to take credit. And since Marcus lied so he could ask Martha out that means the person who wrote the poem wanted Martha to be happy.”

Toni swallowed hard and tried not to fumble with the lock, stumbling with it.

“Toni,” Leah walked over to her. “You need to face the facts: Shelby’s into you.”

Toni blinked, “What?”

“She wrote that whole poem for you, don’t tell me you don’t see it. It’s about you!”

“She—” Toni stopped and furrowed her brow, finally making eye contact with Leah, “You think she wrote that poem for me?”

Leah nodded, “And she let Marcus take the credit. Listen, I know I’m right. I’ve been thinking about it for ages. Whatever fight the two of you had—you need to get over it. She’s into you, Toni. She’s been into you.”

“You have no fucking idea what you’re talking about,” Toni told her. “Seriously, fuck you Leah and fuck off. This is none of your fucking business.”

“You aren’t denying it,” Leah crowed. “Shelby likes you.”

“No she fucking doesn’t!” Toni spat at her. “She fucking hates me! She didn’t write that poem Marcus did! For Martha!”

Leah’s brow furrowed, “But… but you wanted her to. Didn’t you?”

Toni looked away.

“Shelby’s actually straight, isn’t she?” Leah asked. “Fuck Toni.”

“I’m happy for Martha,” Toni said, and marched away.

———

7.) if you jump, she might catch you, and then youd have to watch as she tumbled through the dark

“What if we ran away?” Shelby asked, which was Toni’s third indication that the punch was spiked.

The first two were her arms wrapped around Toni’s waist, swaying in the soft breeze to the distant music of Junior prom.

“Oh yeah?” Toni asked. “Where’d we go?”

“Peru,” Shelby said. “Or LA, or New York or—” Shelby sort of trailed off, losing her thought halfway through it.

“Our parents,” Toni pointed out. She’d moved in with Martha a few months ago but her mom had taken it as a wakeup call, promising to get her shit back together as soon as she could. Toni couldn’t help but believe her, even if it put her in stasis.

“Right,” Shelby sounded cold, “Our parents.”

“Are things worse with them?” Toni asked.

“No,” Shelby said. “The same, really. They’ve lightened up since—since Becca. Have you heard from your mom?”

“Every week or so,” Toni said. “And if you ever need a break you know—“

“Martha is happy to have me,” Shelby finished.

Toni smiled and pulled away enough to meet Shelby’s eyes, her hands slid from behind Shelby’s neck to either side.

“Did I tell you you look beautiful tonight?” Toni asked.

“You did,” Shelby said.

“Can I say it again?”

“You can.”

“You look beautiful tonight.” Shelby closed her eyes and Toni tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “You’re gonna get out, you know that right?”

Shelby nodded, leaning into Toni’s hand.

Later, Toni will learn that was one of two lies Shelby told that night.

———

Martha gets home at 11:30, exactly when Marcus promised, and Toni smiles as her sister collapses backwards into her bed.

“Toni,” she actually giggles, giggles like a little school girl. “It was amazing.”

“Where’d you go?” Toni asks.

“Olive Garden, I think he was trying to win points with you,” Martha says.

“As he should,” Toni nods.

“He was the perfect gentleman,” Martha swoons. She rolls onto her stomach and looks at Toni and oh god, Toni knows that look. “He did tell me something about you, though.”

“Oh yeah? How I’m better in quant lit than him?” Toni asks.

“He told me you wrote the poem,” she says.

Toni looks away, “Okay, and?”

“You told me you were over Regan,” Martha says.

“It’s complicated,” Toni decides. “And whatever. I wrote it awhile ago anyway.”

“Have you thought about submitting it to that contest Mr. Williams was talking about?” Martha asks.

“Can we go back to talking about your date with Prince Charming?” Toni says. Martha acquiesces, she’s too damn giddy to do anything else.

———

8.) her gaze is too gentle. you will not be the one to tell her that not everything can be fixed with a smile

“Toni,” Dot began, and Toni could tell she was looking at her. “Toni, is Shelby—is she gay?”

Toni snickered, “Dot, Shelby is possibly the biggest straight girl in our school. Maybe our state. She’d sooner give herself a buzzcut than she would ever even kiss a girl."

“Andrew said Shelby got a job as a counselor at this church camp—Guiding Light—in Plano,” Dot said. “I wanted to find the address so I could write to her and it’s a conversion camp.”

The breath left Toni’s body.

“What?”

“And I got to thinking,” Dot said. “About what a mess she was after Becca died this year. Ignoring us, going to all those parties, signing up for a crazy number of pageants. Hell, it was only once you two started talking that she talked to us again.”

“Stop it, Dot.”

“Toni is Shelby gay?”

“Dot,” Toni said.

“Because if she’s gay, if she’s not there as a camp counselor—Toni, did you know about this?”

“Of course not! Jesus!” Toni said. She jumped to her feet and started to pace, “Jesus Christ. Oh my god.”

“Toni is Shelby gay?”

Toni looked at Dot and Dot sighed, her entire body sagging.

“What do we do?” Toni asked.

Dot, her solid, steady, friend since fucking youth soccer was silent.

“Dot, what do we do?”

“Dot, what the fuck do we do?”

———

Shelby finds her before school, Toni smoking like she hasn’t since ninth grade when Bernice gave her a stern lecture about lung cancer. It made Toni cry, actually. Not because it was so stern but because Martha and Toni had been separated for three years and Bernice still cared enough to get angry with her. She promised then and there to stop, and each drag she took now makes her feel like she’s committing treason.

“Smokin’ kills,” Shelby tells her, like they didn’t all go to Dot’s dad’s funeral last year.

Toni takes another drag, just to watch Shelby roll her eyes.

“How’d Martha’s date go last night?” Shelby asks.

Toni glares, “Seriously? You avoid me all year and now you’re asking about Martha’s date?” Shelby looks away. “It went fine. Whatever.”

“I just—I was surprised Marcus wrote that poem is all.”

“You literally said multiple times you thought it was him,” Toni says.

“I know, I know but—”

“Still holding out hope for Andrew?” Toni sneers. “Marcus may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but he cares about Martha. Even a fucking idiot could write a half decent poem if they had someone worth writing about.”

Shelby meets her eyes and Toni’s breath catches.

“Know a lot about poetry, Toni?”

Fuck fuck fuck.

Toni flicks the only half used cigarette away. “I have to go to class,” She says, aware it’s just about the worst thing she can do.

Shelby doesn’t even need the last word, she’s aware she’s already won.

———

9.) she is so good. she is so good, and you cannot ruin one more good thing

It hadn’t been the first time Toni found her mom overdosed on the couch, but it’d been the most terrifying. Toni had waited in the school parking lot for a pick up for twenty minutes before Shelby had offered her a ride.

When they trooped inside, after having to use the key Tamera kept tucked away in a loose brick, her mom had been passed out on the couch. And the stupid thing had been that Toni had known her mom hadn’t been doing great. Like she’d known Tamera had lost her job, and was close to losing the car, that the pain in her back had been getting worse again from stress. Toni had known that.

But for some stupid, naive reason, Toni had never thought she’d pull this, go back to who she was.

Her tolerance was low, the doctors had told her, because she’d been clean for so long. She hadn’t realized it and had taken more than she could handle.

Shelby had taken the three of them to the hospital, helped carry Toni’s drooling mother into the ER, and held Toni’s hand until the other girls showed up, who she texted to come.

Shelby had been there when the police and social services came to talk to her about going back into foster care. Shelby had never left her side.

Toni couldn’t help but contrast that to the Shelby she saw now. The Shelby who showed up for senior year was barely christian, barely anything, just sort of blank and empty and waiting to grow up so she could have daughters that'd also wait to grow up so that they could have daughters that’d also wait to grow up so that they could have daughters that’d also

Shelby didn’t even look at her, for the first week of senior year she didn’t even look at Toni. She talked with Martha in that faux friendly way, she passed off on lunch invitations to do school work and Toni felt like she was going insane.

Sometimes she would just stare at the back of Shelby’s head in English class, writing whatever gibberish came to mind, and not listening to Mr. Williams at all. Just stare, for forty-five minutes, at a girl who wouldn’t even make eye contact, Toni’s pencil moving rapidly as she barely even glanced at the words her hands produced.

On the last day of the semester Toni finally looked away and came to two realizations:

a. Her mother was never getting better. Not really. b. Toni had written P E R U over forty times in her notebook.

As quietly as she could she tore the page out, and maybe about fifteen pages behind it, filled with similar drivel and recycled them at the end of class.

When the next semester started the seats were changed and something she’d written that she barely remembered was on the board.

Her mother was still in rehab.

———

Toni watches Marcus carry Martha’s backpack to class and watches as Martha giggles at him, argues with him. She is literally so happy it makes Toni’s heart burst.

“Shelby’s quite the matchmaker, huh?” Fatin asks.

Toni looks at her.

“Leah told me,” Fatin explains.

Toni rolls her eyes.

“Yeah, that’s what I said too,” Fatin says. “Leah’s good at noticing things but putting the pieces together is not her strong suit. So I called Dorothy.”

This makes Toni’s shoulders tense and Fatin wraps an arm around them.

“Dorothy didn’t want to talk but what she didn’t say was enough.” Fatin sighs, “I’m all for a little drama but this is cutting into my me time.”

“What going from twenty-four hours a day to twenty-three and a half?” Toni asks.

“God forbid,” Fatin nods sagely. “I didn’t know you could write.”

“I can’t.”

“Clearly not.”

Toni slips out from under her arm, and follows Martha into class. Mr. Williams glares as she comes in and Toni realizes if Marcus came clean to Martha he definitely came clean to Mr. Williams. At least the poem is off the board.

When he passes out papers from a recent essay her’s has a “see me after class” sticker that makes Toni slide down in her seat. Martha doesn’t even notice enough to give her an odd look because she and Shelby are yukking it up about the quarterback.

When everyone files out she hangs back and he looks at her, over his spectacles.

“I’m disappointed,” he says at last.

Toni scoffs.

“You write essays based off spark notes, you never participate, and half the time you don’t even do the homework. But you write this.” He slides the crumpled paper over his desk, her poem shining back at her. “So all I can conclude is that you’re lazy.”

Yeah, obviously.

“Why did you have Marcus tell everyone he wrote it?” Mr. Williams asks.

“So he could ask out Martha.”

“He didn’t need to have written the poem to do that,” Mr. Williams says.

“Can I go?” Toni asks.

“I want to submit this poem to a contest, I want you to start trying in this class, and this,” he hands her a slip of paper with about twenty sets of numbers on it, “is a list of Dickinson poems I want you to read by next week. Pick at least three to write me at least a page about. Single spaced.”

“What?” Toni asks, “You can’t make me do that.”

“I know half the kids in this class write off spark notes, I can easily have them all—including you—fail. So yes, yes I can actually.” He takes off his spectacles and Toni glares at him. “You’re a smart kid, Toni. You’ve got a talent for this.”

Toni shakes her head, “I’m a one hit wonder.”

“You know Britney Spears said the same thing after Baby One More Time.”

“That’s not true,” Toni says.

“Yeah,” Mr. Williams says. “Because she kept working at it.”

And Toni takes the slip of paper with the numbers on it, and marches to her next class and he watches her the whole way, not bothering to put on his stupid spectacles.

———

10.) you will not watch her crumble under the weight of your sins. she is too light, too breathless to be caught up in the dizziness of your heart

Dot didn’t invite them all to the funeral but they came anyway, even Shelby who Toni knew had been waffling back and forth.

Some of his army friends showed up, a doctor or two, and Mateo—the hot nurse Dot steadily ignored. It was a small and quiet service, and the seven of them sat towards the back, holding steady for her.

There was too much on Dot’s shoulders, there always had been, but she didn’t look any freer now that the burden was lifted. She just looked scared, small, and sad.

Toni couldn’t help but wonder if that was what she’d look like, if she got the call about her mom. It was a terribly selfish thought but who could blame her?

Shelby’s hands interlocked with hers, in broad daylight, and stayed there for the entire day. When Toni met her eyes she saw pure terror reflected back at her.

God, were they really only seventeen?

———

Rachel is complaining at lunch about owing Nora five bucks, how she was so sure some closet case wrote the poem but it’s no surprise Nora got it right.

Fatin and Leah don’t contribute and Martha probably wouldn’t have either except she was eating lunch with Marcus, they had found their own little table and were smiling at one another.

“They’re certainly cute together,” Shelby says, glancing back at Martha and Marcus.

“I say it’s weird they have the same name,” Rachel says.

“Says the girl who dated a guy named Raymond,” Nora says.

Rachel throws a straw wrapper at him, “That was a phase and you know it.”

“Marcus is sweet,” Shelby says. “If anyone deserves someone sweet it’s Martha.”

“Don’t you think he’s a little,” Leah trailed off and they all looked at her. “You know a little…”

“Spit it out, Leah,” Rachel says.

“Like the porch lights on but no one’s home?” Leah says.

“Martha is smart enough for the both of them,” Toni says. “And thank god because I was sick of doing his homework in quant lit.”

“That’s literally the easiest math class there is,” Fatin says and Toni shrugs.

“What’s that?” Shelby asks, pointing at the yellow slip sticking out of Toni’s binder.

“Some extra credit stuff, from Williams. Apparently I’m not doing so hot in that class,” Toni says.

Rachel leans way over from the other end of the table. “What is that, Dickinson?”

“It’s a list of numbers,” Shelby says. “Why would it be Dickinson?”

“All of Dickinson’s poems were numbered. It was only after she died that other people named them,” Nora says.

“And Nora said it so you know it’s true,” Rachel smirks.

“Join the fucking club,” Dot says to Toni. “I don’t know why y’all didn’t take non-honors English twelve with me. We just sit around and talk about whatever football game was on the most recently.”

“Well I’ve never liked football so.” Toni gets up, “I’ve gotta talk to my science teacher. I’ll see you guys after school.”

“I’ll go with you,” Shelby smiles and Toni clenches her jaw. “Ms. Roberts said I needed to rework my psych paper.”

“See you guys,” Rachel says and as they leave she’s arguing with Dot about why football is stupid and Toni can feel Fatin’s eyes on her all the way out.

———

reasons to kiss her

1.) she loves you, and her eyes are closed, and didnt your mother ever tell you not to leave a good thing waiting

Toni hated the magnet program kids at her middle school. Like everyone not in their cluster she found them annoying, rich, and privileged as fuck. They only hung out with each other and it was clear they’d never give—

———

“Toni?”

The stair well is empty, it’s the short cut through the language hallway and no one goes there during lunch.

Toni is working hard on ignoring Shelby but is forced to turn around when Shelby stops halfway up.

“Ms. Roberts doesn’t need me to rework my psych paper.”

Toni stares at her.

Shelby takes a step up, one step closer to Toni.

“I had hoped maybe you wrote it for Regan,” Shelby says.

“No such luck,” Toni croaks out.

“That’s a lot of reasons not to kiss someone,” Shelby says. “You’d think if you really shouldn’t kiss someone you’d only need the one.” She takes another step up, until they’re only separated by a few inches.

“I guess,” Toni says.

“Are you really gonna keep me waiting?” Shelby says.

Toni blinks, “You mean you still—”

“I have to do everything myself,” Shelby says.

She kisses her.

#did something different with time than i usually do #and with structure #lmk what you think #shoni #the wilds fanfic #the wilds #goodfoe fanfic #goodfoe #shelby goodkind #toni shalifoe #gus writes #ren don’t

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razorblade180-heated · 4 years

Text

Dinner?

[Smut]

It was a regular day at Beacon Academy. A little rain, a tad stuffy, but bearable. Jaune sat on his bed in a white tank top and uniform pants. Being a leader meant he got one less class than his teammates so he could organize their gear and come up with tactics for them. It was sorta a class, but not in the traditional way. Jaune was even sure he got graded on it somehow. The only hard part about it was the occasional bullet that shot into his room from across the hall. You would think Ruby knew how to handle her own sister’s weapons with extreme care.

Jaune nonchalantly wrote down the inventory of ammunition when his dorm room door swung open abruptly. Nora walked with her shoulders slouched, textbooks in her arms, and head held down. The normally energetic plopped the pile of books on her nightstand before belly flopping onto her bed. A mighty scream came from her and bombarded her pretty pink pillow.

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!”

Jaune didn’t know how to take that. He slowly put down his pen and paper and got up to shut the door before someone or something got curious. Stray bullets already get in easily. He didn’t need to add people who would be curious about the sound of murder that Nora let out. “Ummm, you okay Nora?”

“School sucks…” she muffled, still face down in the pillow. She felt her mattress sink in slightly. Her head popped up to see Jaune with a raised eyebrow.

“You’re just now figuring that out?” He responded, half jokingly and the other being completely serious. “Tell me what’s wrong. Who do I have to get Pyrrha to beat up?”

Nora chuckled, “you saying I need help beating someone up?”

“That’s a fair point. I don’t know what I was thinking. If it isn’t a person problem, then it’s a school or Ren problem.”

“Is Ren not a person?”

“Not a person you want to beat up or anything like that.”

He got her there. Nora couldn’t imagine hurting a hair on that sleepy ninja’s head, but he was part of a greater problem. “I already said it, school sucks! I thought it would be more...everything! It’s mostly just work though and trying to stay awake! How do people do this for basically two decades!? I’m half a year in and overwhelmed.” She let out a sigh.

It was easy to forget that Ren and Nora fell into the category that didn’t go to combat school or regular school. They simply survived for years until coming here. It was amazing actually. Jaune studied pretty hard and yet his grades were usually right behind there’s. Not to mention his complete lack of combat experience for obvious reasons. Still, he knew what school was, how the game was played. Nora probably only had the perception of tv and books to paint the picture of school. Not the most reliable medium by any means.

“Yeah, school can be a lot to deal with. Honestly you’re doing amazingly. Ren too.”

“Ren is pretty good at most things, except socializing.” Nora said bitterly. “He’s not the best at any social thing really.”

“Then there’s you, the social butterfly.” Jaune watched Nora spring up suddenly. She grabbed him by the shoulders and stared intensely into his eyes.

“That’s just it, I can’t socialize with anyone outside of this team and RWBY! Everyone either doesn’t click well or thinks I’m too much!” She shook him. “I’m stuck in a bubble!”

Jaune grabbed her arms to stop the shaking before he got nauseous. Nora had realized that she might have crossed into “too much” territory again and laughed nervously. “Sorry.

“It’s fine.” He said, holding his stomach for a second. “Is the bubble you’re in bad or something? I mean, it has seven cool people in it.”

Nora narrowed her eyes. “I hope you’re not counting me because it’s my bubble, instead of excluding yourself as a way of saying you’re not cool, right?”

“I don’t think that’s important to this discussion.”

“Hmmm, we’re talking about that later. As soon as Pyrrha and Ren get back from town. They wanted extra tool kits.”

“You didn’t want one?”

“Jaune, it’s raining outside. It just might thunderstorm and I’m a human lightning rod. I’m not about to carry metal tools in the rain, then get on an airship.”

Jaune made a mental note to stand so far away from Nora if a situation happened where they are caught in a thunderstorm. Nora finally kicked off her shoes and undid the shirt ribbon. Nora also flung off her blazer and unbuttoned the top three buttons of her shirt. Today was just too stuffy for the multiple layers of restraint. Even if the uniforms were cute. She breathed a deep sigh of relief, finally more comfortable. At the corner of her eye, she caught Jaune’s eyes dip down for a split second before looking away. “Huh…”

“What?” Jaune said as he turned back around.

“Nothing, just thinking. Anyways, I guess I had this grand vision of school. Tons of friends, classes that weren’t boring, sports, guys flirting with me; maybe even a girl or two as a shock value.”

Jaune raised an eyebrow. “I thought you liked-”

“No! Well, it would be nice admittedly, but Ren is doing his own thing and I’m doing mine. If he wanted to date me then he would’ve done it ages ago.” Nora sighed. Clearly she was a little bothered by that fact. She leaned backwards and did that weird sound whenever a person’s lips flap real fast. Jaune followed suit by laying next to her and mimicked the noise.

“If it makes you feel better, school isn’t panning out exactly how I wanted to either.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better Jaune. It just means we’re both unsatisfied, you dummy.” She elbowed him. “You’ll get the hang of combat. The best is training you.”

“I know but it isn’t just that. I’m fine with our friend group, but I do wish I could not look like a complete joke to my fellow peers at all times.”

“Confidence is key.”

“Ugh, you sound like my dad. Confidence is in short supply when you always try and whiff, terribly.”

“Weiss…?” Nora hesitantly said.

“I was still talking about things in general but yeah sure, we can stab the sore spot.”

“Sorry.”

“Eh, it’s fine. It doesn’t bother me that much anymore. I was a little annoying. I can admit that.”

“Yeah… but she’s also just kinda rude to you. I think you could do way better than the ice queen. I mean you’re handsome and tall. Sure you’re dorky, but-”

“Wait wait wait, you think I’m handsome?” Jaune questioned. He wasn’t expecting her to say that.

“Of course, do...do you not think that?” Nora watched Jaune shrug his shoulders in confusion. “What do you mean you don’t know!?”

“No one has ever told me that so I just sort of assumed wasn’t or average I guess.”

“Are you trying to tell me that your seven sisters and mother have never called you handsome?”

Jaune rolled his eyes playfully. “We both know that doesn’t count.”

She nodded. Nora just had to make sure. “Yeah well anyways, I think you’re handsome. I’m sure other people do too.” Both of them stopped talking for a moment. Nora fidgeted with her fingers while toying with a thought that was at the forefront of her mind. “What about me? Being beautiful, I mean.”

“Oh that’s easy, of course you’re beautiful. Anyone would have to be crazy to think otherwise.”

“I don’t see any boys trying their luck. Maybe I really am just a lot to deal with?”

“If someone likes you then it isn’t ‘dealing’ at all. It’s accepting and loving that individual for who they are.”

“W...wow, that was unexpectedly deep. So, you don’t ‘deal’ with me or think I’m too much?” For some reason, Nora was nervous about his response.”

“Sure you’re energetic, but like you said, I have seven sisters. I’m used to being energetic and bubbly. You like having fun and it’s not your fault sitting still is hard when you’ve been on the go all your life. I think you’re just fine Nora. I wish I could have half of your enthusiasm. Now that’s real confidence.”

A bright pink blush came across her face. That had to be the sweetest thing someone has told her. Nora felt so moved by it. “Thank…” she said, the words slipping out. “I think you’re pretty great too. Ever since initiation.”

Jaune cringed, “I was constantly flying through the air for one reason or another. How did you get the impression of me being great.”

“You didn’t run away. You stood by us, planned for victory, and even fended off some attacks. I knew I saw a fearless leader from the get go. I’m glad to be on your team.” Nora smiled.

Now Jaune was blushing a little and “thanks…” was also all he could say too. The two turned to look at each other quietly, their eyes fixated on one another.

“Jaune, by any chance, do you think I’m physically attractive. As in my body.” She wasn’t sure why she was asking the question after the glance earlier but she just had to hear him say it.

“I do.” Jaune stuttered, “You a- are very attractive.”

“What part?”

“Huh!?” His heart started racing. “What’s with the sudden game of twenty questions?”

Nora sat up and pulled Jaune up with her. Nora grabbed his shoulders again and positioned herself on top of his lap. The two of their faces were now crimson. Nora dragged her hand down to Jaune’s chest and felt his heart race and he shivered a little bit. “I like your chest the most I think. I can tell you’re training seriously. Try not to get too buff though. You can move your hands too, to what catches your eye the most.”

Jaune wasn’t sure what to do. His hands felt like stun until the sound of Nora giggling lightly snapped him into action. This was fine. This was going to be fine. Jaune thought about it for a moment. Hips, thighs, toned stomach, a chest that basically rivaled Yang. There wasn’t a bad part of Nora anywhere. Jaune finally settled on her thighs though, before his hands went further up to Nora’s butt. She let out a yelp by surprise. It was really cute.

“Funny, I thought you’d go for tits.”

“It was a really hard decision.”

Nora shifted closer to Jaune. Their blush increased. Nora could absolutely feel something poking her thigh. “It’s not the only hard thing either.” She took her left hand and grabbed her leader’s clothed shaft. It didn’t stop him from letting out a subtle groan, or throbbing. Nora bit her lip softly. Jaune was turned on, and it was for what she was doing. “Want me to help with your confidence?” Nora said, her voice slightly shaking and fueled with teenage desire.

“Are...you actually okay with-” He was cut off by Nora’s lips. She pushed against him freely until Jaune started pushing back, slipping his tongue in eagerly. His grip on Nora’s ass got firmer while she started wrinkling his shirt. It was impossible to deny they were both horny for each other. The kiss unfortunately ended to get air.

“Confidence rule number one: Don’t second guess a woman who’s grabbing your dick and asking you to touch her; hell yeah I’m sure…” she put her arms around his neck and claimed his lips again. It wasn’t long after that her hips moved back and forth on their own. Jaune let out a grunt Nora didn’t know he could make. She pulled back again and puffed out her chest. Jaune got the hint and made quick work of her shirt, then removed his. Seeing Nora wearing a frilly pink bra wasn’t something he thought would be happening today, but here he was. Her entire body radiated heat and looked soft, despite the power that it held.

“Does Mr. Seven sisters know how to remove a bra, or does he need help?” She egged on.

“Let’s not bring up my family while I’m doing this.” Jaune’s hands went to the strap. It took a couple seconds but it unclasped without fail. The fabric was removed and gave Jaune the sight of Nora’s boobs. The orbs were definitely rivaling Yang’s and Nora’s light pink, slightly puffy nipples made him very anxious. It felt like staring at a goddess. Nora took his hand and placed it on the right one. Jaune’s fingers sunk into the soft mound immediately. He started slowly groping and massaging it, earning a gasp the most his index finger traced around Nora’s nipple.

“They’re sensitive…” she gasped again, feeling his other hand come to keep the left one company. Jaune pushed them together and kept rubbing them firmly. Nora could only whimper as Jaune kissed her again. His tongue was invited in again to claim Nora’s mouth without fail. The grinding became more and more difficult to handle as Jaune and Nora kept their liplock. Minutes passed by before Jaune fealt Nora breath heavenly against his chest until her legs clenched and let out a whimper more intense than the others.

“Mmmmmmhhhh~” Nora started to calm down a little before realizing what just happened. She broke the kiss to see Jaune stunned. His pants were stained, heavily. Not to mention her underwear. Nora covered her face,“sorry, I have a short fuse.” She confessed. “I can still go for sure but...I didn’t think I’d get this wet so fast.”

She got off of Jaune quickly and removed the rest of her clothing. Being completely naked was less embarrassing than what already happened. Except for removing her panties. Strands of her arousal clung to the fabric briefly and ran down her thighs. The way Jaune was hypnotized by the glistening pink flower only made her body feel hotter. Therefore, keeping her wet for him. But Nora needed to do something first.

The beautiful woman walked back over to her leader and got on the bed with her hands and knees. She gave Jaune a quick kiss before leaning him back and pulling off his soiled pants. Jaune couldn’t say a word as he watched Nora pull down his boxers, springing his erect cock straight up. Nora marveled at the six inch phallus. Jaune let out another groan as she grabbed it, slowly jerking it. “Do you like that?” Nora moaned.

“Yes…” Jaune had never been this excited before. “I love it…”

“Then you’ll love this.” Nora kissed the base of his shaft, sucking lightly on it as she slid her tongue up to the tip, then wrapped her mouth around the whole thing.

“Nora!” Jaune gasped. Nora eagerly sucked and slurped on her leader's dick. Her tongue swirled around it and she held his heavy balls. The vibrations of Nora moans and his leg twitch every time she sucked a little harder on the tip told her that Jaune wasn’t gonna last long. She was hungry, craving his taste. Nora’s free hand made its way down to slide inside herself as Jaune placed a hand on top of her head. Her heart started racing faster and her mind zoned out as his hips rose to meet Nora’s soft lips. Nora took him all the down her throat one more time before the man reached his limit. Jaune groaned in ecstasy as he shot ropes of his pent up cum down Nora’s throat. The girl never stopped her assault. Nora slowly bobbed her head and sucked as much seed as she could, reveling in the sounds of Jaune being pleasured like he never had before. Nora finally came all the way, licking his sensitive tip clean as her lustful eyes met his. She ran her finger across her lips and went back to slowly jerking his still very hard erection.

Nora gave a smile full of pride. “You should see your face. You’re as red as Ruby's cape.”

Jaune didn’t doubt it. He was still catching his breath. “Nora, That was...fuck. Why are you so good at that?”

Nora played with her, a little embarrassed by the question. “You may have filled my mind a few times when I was alone in the shower. I’m living out those thoughts right now.”

“You think about me?”

“Like I said, I think you’re pretty handsome. I know we’re both new at this but our first round should last longer now that-eep!” Nora yelped. Jaune had pulled her leg unexpectedly and put her underneath him. His left hand put both of hers above her head slowly, before holding them down by interlocking his fingers with her own. Nora quivered as Jaune’s fingers spread her open and rubbed her soaked entrance. A single digit slid in to be immediately wrapped by immense tightly. Nora craned her neck up, letting Jaune kiss and nip along the tender skin and collarbone.

“Jaune~” Nora moaned. Her body never felt so hot. “Don’t tease me, I want it. I want you.”

Jaune was ready to fulfill that wish, but a single thought bothered him. “I know we talked about that first rule but you’re safe right? I don’t have protection”

“Hehehe, relax, it’s a safe day. Kudos on asking though.” Jaune smiled and gave her a gentler kiss. The fact that he did that after what her mouth was just on only made her heart flutter. “Please fuck me already…” The heat from his length pressing against Nora made her feel so weak in the best way possible. She could break out of this pin so easily but had no intention on doing so. Slowly the tip pressed into her. Inch by inch made her breathe quicken as a feeling more electric than lightning shot through her in waves until Jaune was buried inside her constricting walls. Then sensation of their skin against each other only made things more intense. “I feel so full…” Nora whimpered. There was no real resistance with how wet she was.

Jaune dared not to move immediately. This feeling was way too much. The soaked heat of Nora’s walls beckoned him to move through with intense lust. “Nora! You’re so tight!” Jaune rocked his hips forward and could only moan with Nora. She had gotten tighter.

“Jaune! Move!” Nora cried out. She didn’t need to ask twice. Jaune tried to go slowly but couldn’t help himself to start thrusting into Nora’s pussy to the point wet slaps echoed through the room. Jaune released her hands and Nora pulled him into yet another makeout session that could hopefully contain her from screaming. It didn’t do much with Jaune grabbing her waist. He got up on his knees while raising it. Nora could barely see the look of lust on Jaune’s face passed her boobs, but felt him as his dick started ramming straight into her and pressing against her womb.

“Ah fuck! Jaune! Y-You’re-aaaah!” Nora couldn’t think. She could only feel the pleasure Jaune was giving, her own arousal dripped down onto and coated Jaune’s dick; spurring him on to keep making her bed rock. Nora could feel herself getting closer to the edge. It felt as if a knot inside of her was getting pulled tighter and tighter. Every thrust, every touch, every noise; it slowly kept stacking up to the point her nails dug into sheets in a desperate attempt to cling on to anything. Until finally…

“JAUNE!” She snapped. Nora’s orgasm hit her body like a train, tensing up her entire body and gripping Jaune until he couldn’t take it anymore. Despite their earlier talk, Jaune pulled out and came right on Nora. Unleashing thick beads of white that reached to her chest, all the way down to her throbbing red soaked pussy. It was still quivering and leaking like a faucet, but her attention was too busy focused on controlling her breathing and feeling Jaune’s hot load on her skin. Nora got some off with her finger and let Jaune watch her lick it like a dessert. “You came on me.” She gasped, trying to breathe right.

“Yeah.” Jaune gasped as well. “Better...safe than sorry.”

“I guess, but…” Nora kept her legs spread. Gently she rubbed her clit as her face was gaining the same level of red from earlier. “I wanted my leader to mark me up. “ Nora could see how much Jaune’s dick was still throbbing, excited her. Both were thinking the same thing, one more round. They knew their teammates could come in at any time but they didn’t care.

“I’ll mark you this time. Jaune said, getting excited at the idea. It got even better when Nora turned around. His teammate got on all fours and rested on her forearms. She looked back at him, waving her magnificent ass enticingly to get what she wanted, Jaune back inside of her.

“You said my ass was your favorite part right?” She lightly painted. Nora watched Jaune get right behind her and teasingly rub his tip to tease her, before spreading her out again. “Ah! It feels bigger like this!” Her pussy kept spasming and Jaune’s hands gripping her ass only made her want to cum faster. Jaune began thrusting into her yet again. The wet slapping of his hips crashing into her again made Nora’s arms want to give out. “More~” she moaned, arching her back further. Nora was about to drop her entire upper body down to the mattress but Jaune had other plans. His strong arms went under Nora’s and squeezed her breasts. Jaune made her stand on her knees while he did the same, fucking her deep. Jaune pinched her nipples enough to make her jolt. Nora’s head leaned back on his chest and she could only look up at him as she squirmed.

“You’re so sexy.” Jaune moaned. His right hand traces her gorgeous body down to her clit. Nora wasn’t ready to feel him press up against the hood of her swollen clit.

“Ahhh! Jaune!” Nora reached up and all but guided his tongue into her mouth with a kiss that could only be described as lustful. Any decency left was completely abandoned as Jaune and Nora held that position. All of her buttons were being pushed and they all made her tighten around Jaune’s cock . Jaune felt her ooze down his shaft. Knowing how good he made her was a high he didn’t know he needed until now. To think Nora Valkyrie would be into him was like a dream he didn’t wanna wake from. Jaune broke the kiss and whispered in her ear, “I’ve thought about you too.” He said, kissing her ear.

Nora whimpered and whined when she felt him pound harder after his confession. His hands held her firmer in place. She was sure he’d leave red marks all over her. “Am I as good as you hoped?”

“Better, you’re so much better Nora!” He could himself reach the end of his rope. “Fuck I’m gonna cum!”

“Give it to me! Cum in your teammate. She’s cumming for you!” Nora gasped, sweaty and on the edge again. Jaune captured her lips again to control their moans. He got several more blissful thrusts before he hilted himself in her, climaxing. The sudden warm feeling of Jaune unloading inside Nora pushed her over the edge and made her walls squeeze down on the shift to get all Jaune had to give. The two held each other tight, shivering as their shared orgasm went through their bodies. Jaune slowly kept rocking his hips to draw it out as he made out with Nora. The two finally fell over. Jaune caught himself so not to crush Nora underneath him. She could still feel him inside as they desperately caught their breath.

“That was...everything!” Nora tiredly laughed. “Hot damn, I’ve never felt like that before.”

“Same here.”He kissed the nape of his neck and laughed.

Nora felt Jaune slowly start to pull out her. The sensation still gave her chills beyond belief. Her high sex drive was working over time. What surprised her though was the slow plunge but into her. Nora gasped, turning around to see Jaune still breathing heavy, but with eyes that adored her. “Let me too this time.”

Jaune smiled and got off of her. Nora felt like she couldn’t move fast enough to straddle Jaune again and spread herself on him. She made Jaune lay on his back again and his hands grabbed hips, while Nora leaned forward to put her hands on his chest. Jaune was mesmerized by the view of Nora’s flushed body as she began riding him. Her boobs bounced up and down in a rhythm of slamming down onto his cock. Nora’s toned thighs were on display too. It wasn’t long before leaned back and groped one of her boobs, giving Jaune a shown.

“I’m not gonna last long.” Jaune groaned, thrusting up into her. He missed pressing against her womb. “Fuck~”

Nora smiled devilishly. Her hands went through her hair to give Jaune a perfect view of everything. It fired her up to see his eyes fixated on watching her envelope his twitching erection. She wasn’t gonna last long either. “Just a few more minutes!” Nora moaned, closing her eyes and biting her lip. “Let me ride my leader's cock a little longer.”

Jaune could tell Nora really got off from being on the same team. Truthfully, he could completely understand. The two only lasted two more minutes at best before having their final orgasm. Nora felt her energy drain, laying right on Jaune’s chest. This time she felt him slide out all the way. He is most likely soft again. Nora looked up to see Jaune absolutely tired. His hair was sticking to his forehead and everything. Jaune reached over the side of the bed to feel around for his pants. Once he found it, he pulled out his scroll and started texting.

“Who are you texting?” Nora asked.

“A leader should maximize his time and take advantage of opportunities. I just texted Pyrrha and Ren the list I made of ammunition we need.” He smiled when they texted back with a thumbs up. “There, now we don’t have to move for awhile.” Jaune sunk into the bed while Nora laughed.

“So….umm, is this a regular thing now?” She asked. “I know you just kinda threw you into this.”

“You really did, I mean you could’ve at least bought me dinner first.” He joked, holding her close. “You know you should really have more confidence.”

“Oh ha ha, I can’t believe I’m dating a wise guy. Italian?”

“Hell yeah. Just let me lay here for a second.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.”

The two comfortably enjoyed the afterglow of their surprised sex session. Across the room, the leader of their sister team could only stare at a blank piece of paper, too flushed by all the sounds she heard.

“Stupid Jaune.” She thought, covering her face. “And he thought gunshots were loud!?”

#rwby #jaune arc #nora valkyrie #nora’s arc #ruby rose #rwby ships

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