#he also took photos and let us draw images based off of some of them for reference

[samuraisharkie]

why is Ronnie Williford so bland at speaking 😭😭😭 I want to take these classes but he speaks in such a way that just does not engage me

#it’s typical for the type of video classes he’s doing but man. I’m bored LOL #and I shouldn’t be there’s stuff to do it’s just happening so slowly #I wish I could take another class w Wayman Brown at ACC #he was another old guy w a quiet voice but he had a push in his speech that made you excited to draw #he also just had cool fucking art #I’ll never get over how breathtaking it was to come in to a gigantic 6 foot canvas w a morning market street depicted #in limited color and him being like ‘oh yeah I’ve been working on that for years now I’m not done w it’ #DUDE it looked like something I’d see in an art museum it was extremely cool #he also took photos and let us draw images based off of some of them for reference #idk if he reaches there anymore though I couldn’t find him in the website #*teaches #I have very nice notes of his class but I also type slowly so that’s making this longer bc I have to take notes and then draw #Ronnie’s class specifically

[moon-light-jukebox]

see? - [Reid x Reader] - Chapter 3

masterlist

previous chapter // series index // next chapter

Summary: Months after Reader left, Reid has tried to put his life back together. He’s never stopped trying to find Reader, but he may find her in the worst way possible. 

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 3.3k for Chapter 3

Content Warning: Normal Criminal Minds stuff. Mentions of drug addiction. This series has a villain, and he harms women. There is no s*xual assault, but there is brief talk of torture, and then the death of the victims. Spoiler: Our unsub targets pregnant women, one of the infants does not survive. Reader and her baby are fine. I don't go into detail, but if you need to skip this, I understand. 

A/n: How can I ever thank you all enough for being so patient with me? That being said, this chapter does end on a cliffhanger that you probably saw coming if you read “River” by @yours-truly-r​. She shared this plot with me, so this is my version. I’ll try my best not to make you wait too long for chapter 4. Chapter 3 & 4 are in Spencer’s point of view, but the remainder of the series will be in Reader’s POV. 

-- Linear Progression -- 

(Spencer’s POV)

The night we came back from my first case with the BAU, Morgan declared that he was going to a bar near his apartment to "get lucky." When I pointed out the fact that it was almost 2 am, he had told me, "time is an illusion, Pretty Boy."

That was the first time he called me pretty boy, along with the first time I tried to explain a theoretical concept he had no interest in hearing.

He was right to a degree. The way we understand time is an illusion. Time doesn’t happen in the linear way that we as a society perceive it to. The physics of time are still widely debated, but the running hypothesis is that everything that has ever happened is still happening right now. Every single moment in time is happening all at once, and it always will be.

Morgan didn’t “get lucky” that night, but he did give me a ride back to my apartment. I think that was the beginning of our friendship; I had never been able to understand the social constructs of relationships and friendships, but I think he felt some sort of responsibility for the skinny kid with glasses who was babbling about the physics of time at 3 am.

My friendship with Derek Morgan was one of the most important of my life.

Which is why I wasn't going to murder him for banging on my door at 7 am.

“Open up, Pretty Boy!”

Grumbling, I got out of bed and padded down the hallway towards my living room where Morgan was pounding on the door so hard, I was concerned it was going to fly off its hinges.

“If you break my door, you’re gonna fix it,” I muttered out when I finally pulled the door open.

The man who was the closest thing to a brother I had just smiled at me. “I restore houses, kid. It’d be an improvement.”

Smirking, I waved him into my apartment. In the months since…Since February, Morgan had made it a habit of coming by several times a week whenever we were in town. I don’t know if the rest of the team knew he did it, I don’t know if they were as worried about me as he was, but it wouldn’t have surprised me.

“Coffee?” I asked, making my way into the kitchen.

"We'll grab some on the way," he said, flopping down on my couch. "We have a case; I told Hotch I'd swing by and get you. It's wheels up as soon as we get there and finish the briefing."

I frowned. “I didn’t get any message.”

“I know. I asked Garcia to let me wake you.” He turned his head around to look at me. “You haven’t been sleeping, kid.”

He wasn’t wrong. “It’s…I’m trying, Derek.”

I didn’t need to say it, because he knew it. Much like time, recovery isn’t a linear process. You start, you stumble, you go back, sometimes you go up then down. It’s an imperfect journey because there isn’t a finish line; addiction can’t be beaten, only beaten back.

Derek Morgan had been beside me through every step of my recovery.

Lumbering off the couch, he walked over to stand before me. “Reid, you’re doing the best you can. Everyone stumbles.”

I shook my head. “It’s different. I can…I can still see it. I can still see it all, Morgan.”

I could still see the look on Ben’s face when he found the vials of Dilaudid I had hidden all around my apartment. I could still remember the look on Hotch’s face when he told me she was gone. I could still see the anger on Garcia’s face when she refused to help me find her.

Most of all, I remember how y/n looked when I told her I would kill her, give up her precious life, for one more moment with Maeve. Every morning, right before I wake up, that memory flashes behind my eyes.

I’ve called in every favor I’m owed, reached out to every connection; no one could find her. She vanished.

I quickly realized the only way she could vanish like that is if she had help from inside the bureau, and if I had to guess, I’m sure I know who helped her. If she went to all these lengths, she didn’t want to be found, least of all by me.

"We'll find her, Spencer," Morgan said gently, pulling me from my thoughts.

He said the words to comfort me, but even he knew they weren’t true. No one would find y/n y/l/n until she wanted to be found.

Nodding my head, I made my way back towards my bedroom to get ready for the case.

Making amends is very big in the recovery process. I wanted to make amends to y/n, and while I wanted that to be in the traditional sense, I settled for a symbolic one.

I tried to make myself into the man she thought I was before that night. Every time I felt the itch crawl up my spine, I thought of her face. It didn't make the craving go away; it just made it easier to bear.

I didn’t deserve to have her back in my life, but I wanted to be someone who did.

After I had finished getting ready, I made my way over to my bedside table to pick up the coin I carried with me everywhere, running my fingers over the edges before placing it in my pocket.

Two hundred and forty-seven days sober, and each one of them was for her.

--

We never made it to the bullpen that morning. Hotch called and informed us that it was wheels up "immediately," and that we would debrief on the plane. Morgan and I were the last members of the team to arrive. He took a seat on the couch beside Callahan while I opted to sit at the table across from Hotch and JJ.

“Garcia is going to be out for the remainder of the week. She has the flu,” our unit chief informed us, his eyes fixed on the tablet in front of him.

Morgan toyed with his phone, no doubt trying to text his ‘baby girl’ before take-off. “Who is going to be running things from here since she’s out? Kevin?”

Hotch nodded, but I couldn’t help but notice he seemed distracted. “He’s the most familiar with Garcia’s systems.”

“Is that what they’re calling it these days,” Rossi muttered just a bit too loudly, earning a mock glare from Hotch, a confused look from Kate, an eye roll from Morgan and JJ, and a soft huff of laughter from me.

“Let’s get started,” Hotch ordered, drawing all of our focus back to the present. “The Oregon State Police have requested our help.”

I couldn’t help but wrinkle my nose at the tablet in front of me, further proof Garcia wasn’t on this case. Despite how mad she was at me over Y/n, she still always accommodated my wishes for paper files.

The state police?” Morgan asked. “Not the locals?”

"No," Hotch answered, right as I brought up an image on my screen. "He's not sticking to one county."

I heard a strangled gasp from JJ, but I didn't need to look up to know why. “How many?” I asked.

“When the original request was made two women had been abducted. Both of them were pregnant, days from giving birth, and both from the same town of Silverton, Oregon. The first victim was Iris Jenkins. She was a 31-year-old woman, and she was 40 weeks and 2 days gestation when she was taken by the unsub. The M.E. estimates he held her for less than 24 hours before she died.”

“The baby?” JJ asked, her voice thick with emotion.

“He was left outside of a local hospital in Silverton. He was completely unharmed. The next intended victim is Nancy Williamson. She was abducted outside her workplace. Also 40 weeks pregnant with a boy.”  

“Could that be a coincidence?”

Hotch still didn’t look up from his tablet. “It could have been before the latest victim.”

“But Nicole Williamson escaped?” Morgan asked. “That’s lucky. Did she give a description of the guy?”

“No, she said he kept her blindfolded and bound to a chair.”

That caused me to pause. "That doesn't make sense. Why would the unsub blindfold them if he plans on killing them anyway?"

Rossi spoke for the first time. “Psychological torture? Sensory deprivation?”

I thought about that as I swiped through the crime scene photos; pausing when I saw a photograph of a letter on the screen. "He makes them write letters?”

“Just the first victim and the third. The one that got away was only held for 12 hours.”

I frowned. “Is this blood? Or just red ink?”

“The first is red ink, the second letter is still being processed.”

It was obvious based on the letter spacing and how many loops were in the letters that a woman wrote this letter. Based on the contents of the letter, I could also assume she was under duress.

Hotch spoke again, pulling my focus. “Morgan, I'd like for you and JJ to drive up to Silverton. Visit Miss Williamson and ask if she's up for a cognitive interview, then visit the M.E., ask him if he remembers anything about the first victim.”

“Where was the…” JJ’s question trailed off when he got to the same image Kate’s hand had been frozen over for the last 47 seconds, the same photo that was described in the incident report that Hotch had on his screen.

My unit chief, my friend, cleared his throat before he spoke. “Kayla Whitmore was found an hour ago in Eugene, Oregon. The autopsies are already underway, and the scene is being processed.”

“The cause of death seems pretty apparent,” Morgan said with a look of disgust on his face.

"The time between this most recent kill and the last abduction is much shorter. We need to move fast," Hotch said, his voice grave. "Kate, I'd like for you to come with me to the FBI satellite office in Bend, that's where we're landing. Kayla Whitmore's credit card was used to buy gas right outside the town limits. Rossi, I'd like for you and Reid to ride out to Eugene. It should be undisturbed."

"I already don't understand this guy," Rossi muttered. "The first baby survives, the third doesn't. The second victim is blindfolded, but it doesn't appear the others were. He makes them write their own letters. Then he uses the third victim's credit card. This behavior…it's erratic."

“Is the message on the wall the same in both crime scenes?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“Yes.”

--

The media hadn’t named our unsub yet, but I was sure it wouldn’t be long, especially once word of Kayla Whitmore reached the public. This type of violence always draws attention.

Rossi was moving around the room, silent, but his eyes moving rapidly over everything. “He’s a cocky son of a bitch, I’ll give him that.”

I nodded. “Do we have the original note?” One of the deputies brought over an evidence bag, inside of it was the wrinkled piece of paper. “Have we analyzed this yet?”

The man nodded. “It’s red ink, just like the last.”

"It makes sense; blood might start to coagulate and make it more difficult to work with. Rossi, come here." I called, offering him the note.

“Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked,” he read. “It sounds biblical.”

“It is. It’s Psalm 82, verses 3 through 4.”

“Was the first note biblical?”

“The first victim was made to write, ‘Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.’ That’s from Ephesians. There are similar themes in both letters.”

“So, he’s perverting the bible to fit his own fucked up narrative? How original.” The older man handed the paper back to me. “We have to find out how he’s choosing them.”

My gaze moved over to the right wall of the room. "Did the unsub leave any prints when he wrote on the wall?"

It wasn't the first message I'd seen written in blood, but I don't think it's something you ever get used to. “’Do you see this, son of man?’ could be another biblical reference. It’s Ezekiel chapter 8, verse 17. “Do you see this, son of man? Yet you will see still greater abominations than these.’”

“So, are the children abominations? Or the mothers?” The deputy said quietly.

“The mothers,” I answered. “He doesn’t harm the children. I think it must go against his…moral code.”

The deputy scoffed behind me, and I was inclined to agree; the idea that someone could do something like this and have a moral code was almost impossible to imagine.

But devils hide in plain sight all the time.

“His rage is escalating,” I pointed out.

I heard the deputy ask Rossi what that meant.

“This guy is a bum,” the man who developed the art of profiling explained. "He can't get a girlfriend, and he has this idea in his mind that it’s the women’s fault. He thinks women owe him sex, love, whatever he wants.”

I walked away from the wall, turning to face the two men. “He thinks they’re dirty, unclean. It’s why he makes them write the note.  By making them say they deserved what he did to them, he’s humiliating them even after death.”

The deputy’s face was pale as he survived the scene around him. “Why does he make them leave the messages in their own blood?”

“Only one message is from them,” I replied, gesturing to the evidence bag. “The message in the blood is from the unsub.”

Before we exited the room, I turned back to that message again, feeling the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Both victims had been discovered in the exact same way. The women were naked, stabbed multiple times, but with no signs of sexual assault. They were positioned in the middle of the blood-soaked mattress, their arms spread wide.

He had left the same message on the walls of the room, written in the blood of the woman he killed.

“Do you see this, son of man? Do you see?”

--

“The media is calling him The Prophet.”

Rossi scoffed. “I bet it was that wet behind the ears deputy who leaked the note and told him the kid’s biblical theories.”

Rossi and I had arrived at the FBI office in Bend, Oregon about an hour ago. Kate and Hotch had already set up; JJ and Morgan were on their way back from Silverton now.

“So, what do we know about this jag-off?” Rossi questioned, staring at the evidence board.

Hotch came to stand at the head of the conference table, his eyes sharp, his voice clipped. "Reid, Dave, what did the M.E. say about the Eugene autopsies?”

"He said he suspected it was a botched c-section. Kayla was just over 40 weeks pregnant, but he said it's not uncommon for first-time mothers to go up to 42 weeks.”

“I know that’s right,” I heard JJ mutter from the speaker placed in the center of the table.

“Indicates a lack of medical knowledge,” Morgan offered. “Because we know this guy isn’t squeamish.”

I agreed with my friend but didn't comment on it; my mind already on another topic. "What's interesting is that Kayla had an anterior placenta, meaning it attached to the front of her uterus. Usually, the placenta attaches to the posterior wall, meaning it's more towards her back. Because of the unusual placement of the placenta, I think that the death of this fetus was accidental."  

“It wasn’t a fetus, Reid,” Kate snapped. “It was a baby.”

I cleared my throat, meeting her angry gaze. I knew Callahan was the guardian of a young girl, and based on my years working with fellow agents who were also parents, I knew it was best not to argue about definitions and semantics. "I'm sorry, Kate," I murmured.

Her gaze softened. "It's fine. Sorry. This case is just…this is a lot." She looked down to swipe across her tablet screen. "This child was a boy too?"

I nodded. “All three of the victims were pregnant with boys.”

“So, he wants boys?”

Rossi turned to Kate. “He wants mothers of boys. Probably his way of killing his mother over and over again.”

“But how does he know the babies are boys?” JJ asked.

“So, what do they have in common?” Hotch asked. “Let’s add Nicole Williamson into the mix too, what do we have?”

“There were quotes from the bible in the two complete notes. Those specific verses are often referenced when they speak about protecting children,” I said, my eyes moving over the files. “The women were all in their 20’s. They were all at least 39 weeks pregnant, and...huh, there’s not a father named in any of the medical charts.”

“But how does he know that!” JJ huffed again in frustration.

“And are we sure this unsub is a guy?” Callahan questioned. “There was no sign of sexual assault.”

“If we follow statistics, women take babies, and men take children. With that in mind, it would be safe to assume this was a woman, but the amount of rage we’re seeing makes me think it’s a man.” I turned my back to the team, my eyes moving over the crime scene photos. "The letter was written under duress, but the language is very misogynic. Based on the information Kevin gathered about Kayla's online life, she had a normal amount of self-esteem. It's out of character that she'd talk about herself this way. By all accounts, she was excited for the baby. It's also incredibly difficult to stab someone 54 times. All the women would have fought him until the end. He'd have to be stronger to subdue her. It's a biological instinct, mothers' will stop at nothing to protect their children."

Hotch had pulled out his phone before I finished speaking, dialing Kevin Lynch to give him the criteria of the person we were searching for. "We need women in the Bend, Oregon area that are close to giving birth. There will not be fathers listed on the medical charts. She'll be at least 39 weeks into her pregnancy."

“Alright, so that would leave us with…” Kevin wasn’t able to finish his sentence before an alarm started blaring over the speaker, almost drowning out Kevin’s yelp of surprise.

“What is it?” Hotch asked. “Did something happen?”

"I…I don't know, sir," Kevin answered after he had finally gotten the alarm to quiet. "I was running the search, and…it triggered some sort of system-wide alarm. It completely locked me out of Penny’s system.”

Morgan clicked his tongue. “That doesn’t make any sense. Penelope wouldn’t set some alarm without a reason.”

“Wait. Kevin, was there any sort of message that came up when you triggered the alarm?” Hotch asked, his tone urgent.

There was a weird tension on Hotch’s face while he waited for Kevin to reply. “Yeah, uh, just a dialogue box that says ‘Nightingale.’”

“Nightingale?” Kate asked. “Isn’t that the…”

Hotch didn't reply; he hung up abruptly while Kevin was still speaking. I felt a chill run down my spine when I noticed his hands trembled slightly.

“What is it, Hotch?” Rossi asked urgently.

But he never got a chance to answer; a deputy stormed into the room. "We just got a report of an abandoned car outside of a grocery store about half a mile from here. It's registered to a young woman, and there was an empty infant car seat strapped in the back."

Hotch took the paper from him but didn't look at it. His eyes were screwed shut, and his shoulders were tense.

I heard when the voice spoke on the other end of the line. I heard the deep breath Hotch let out before he spoke.

“Penelope, I need to know where y/n is.”

----------

Permeant Taglist : @rachelxwayne​ @pinkdiamond1016​ @sickeninglyshoujo​ @justagirllookingforherplace​ @nanocoool​ @andiebeaword​ @imjusthereformggcontent​ @rainsong01​ @violentvulgarvolatile​ @mys2425​ @al3xmnd @imfalling-inlove​ @cielo1984​ @shadyladyperfection​ @kissingvalentino​ @goofygubler14​ @levylovegood​ @diesinspanishbcimhispanic​ @criminalmindzjunkie​ @addie5264​ @hopefulfangirl24​ @vellichor01 @ellegreenawayapologist @mcntsee​ @eevee0722​ @peacedolantwins2​ @ashwarren32 @goldencherrymooon​ @pumpkin-reads​ @mood---board​ @gublersbooblers​ @lesbian-emilyprentiss​ @badkittybang @quxxnxfhxll​ @jessayln-jpeg

All Spencer Reid: @mediocre-writer​ @haihappen5​ @harrystylesdoesntknowiexist​

See? Series taglist: @bluegoopplaidsalad @notasofti​ @bisoner​ @haylaansmi​ @ameliamonster​ @amirahroronoa​ @gredvb​ @riley-the-pan-nonbinary​ @solangeltorres @gwendolyn02​ @sallyjacksontheweirdauthor @fangirl-nonsense @immahotmess​ @falcon-arrows​ @obsessivereaderchick​ @flor-sin-petalo​ @rexorangecouny​ @keomoon​ @hermanthewormman @sakurashortstack​ @criminallminds​ @boiled-onionrings​ @sierraraeck​ @t0xicllama​ @thequeerishere555 @lexiessimagination @blameitonthenight21​ @abbyg217​ @lil-roaster @wooya1224 @faesyl @tessa-laurel @little-blue-fishie​ @fandomyfangirl​ @youaremyfiveever​ @evelyncade @sunshine-ncs​ @maikanna​  @wishiwasabook @swiftingday​ @thelastfirerbender​ @alligatorrampage​ @notebookgirl30​ @forever-a-cynical​ @alligatorrampage​ @samayoshito​ @readandreid​ @mvlanchqly​ @odetobeetlebum​ @notebookgirl30​ @meowiemari​ @calm-and-doctor

Let me know if you’d like to be on any taglist. 

#Spencer Reid #Criminal Minds #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds fan fic #criminal minds angst #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid x reader #dr spencer reid #Spencer reid fic #Dr Reid #Reid #Spencer Reid x y/n #Spencer Reid x you #Reader insert #Dr Spencer Reid x Reader #Reid x Reader #Spencer Reid imagine #Criminal minds imagine

[autumnsart22]

A Dream Come True: Shigaraki x Dabi x Reader part 2/2

Part 2 of the fanfic my friend wrote! 

Warning: SMUT 🔥

Dabi strode off down the hall and you started to work on putting the rest of the groceries away, and cleaning some dishes in the sink. Shigaraki stood up from the table and walked into the kitchen. He looked around before looking at you, raising the empty beer bottle. You opened the drawer that held the trash and recycling and he threw it in with a loud clunk. He stood there in the middle of the kitchen for a little while before you finally asked,

“Can I help you?” 

“You’re standing in front of the fridge.” he states plainly.  You roll your eyes and move out of the way as he grabs another beer. He makes his way back to the table and sits down.

 You both pass the time in silence as he sips on his beer and you finish cleaning the kitchen. At some point Dabi comes out of the bathroom still drying his hair with a towel wearing nothing but your brother's old pair of black joggers that look slightly too big but the strings in the front were tied tight preventing them from falling any lower. Dear god what have you done to deserve this? He switched with Shigaraki who took his turn in the bathroom while you scoured the apartment for extra blankets and pillows and threw them on the couch. When Shigaraki was done in the shower he came out in a long sleeve white shirt and your ex-boyfriend's old pair of grey sweatpants. He joined Dabi who had heated up one of the soba cups from the store. 

“Okay I’m gonna go shower, you can just...yea” you spoke out loud trailing off as neither of them paid you any attention, and you left to go to the bathroom. You peeled off your work clothes, just some black jeans and a black blouse, throwing them into the same pile of clothes as Dabi and Shigaraki’s. You took your time washing your hair and and shaving your legs feeling like you deserved to pamper yourself a little given your night. You weren’t that tired given that you basically turned nocturnal since working at the bar. When you felt fresh and clean you dried off and wrapped yourself up in a towel to head to your room. Once you changed into some sweats and a tank top you made your way back out to the living room to find Dabi, now wearing a black t-shirt, and Shigaraki on the couch both nursing another beer while talking in hushed tones which again halted the moment they saw you. They both looked at you. 

“What?” You said confused on why they were both staring at you. 

“I have more questions,” Shigaraki stated, finally averting his gaze away from you, although it seemed reluctant. 

“Okay...shoot” you said walking into the kitchen for a glass of water then plopping onto the middle section of the couch in between them. If there was one piece of furniture you splurged on it was this couch. It was a huge ‘U’ shape and could fit up to 10 people if they squished side by side. Shigaraki and Dabi were both sprawled on the two sides of the couch with you sitting in the bottom of the U. 

“What sort of art or shit do people create about us?” 

You almost choke on your water. That was not the sort of question you were expecting. 

“Why?” you said suspiciously.

“You mentioned it earlier and I’m curious,” Shigaraki said, making large hand gestures swinging his beer bottle around. He must be getting kinda tipsy. 

“Fine but if I’m answering these questions. I’m gonna need a stronger drink” 

“All out here princess” Shigaraki says, taking the last gulp of his beer and waving it towards you. 

“Same here.” Dabi says holding his beer bottle up, as though expecting you to take it. You stand up and grab both bottles and chuck them into the recycling, then grabbing a bottle of rum from the back of your cabinet. You make your way back to the couch and take a large swig shuddering as it goes down. Shigaraki motions for the bottle and you hand it over passing it to Dabi afterwards. 

“Okay so back to my question” 

“Well people write and draw all kinds of shit. Everything from just realistic art or funny art to overtly sexual” Shigaraki raises an eyebrow at this. 

“What you don’t believe me?” You ask laughing slightly cause if only they knew. 

“People think of crusty in that way?” Dabi laughs. 

“Hey like you’re any better staples. Y/N who do people like more?” Shigaraki shoots. 

“That’s gotta be Dabi. He’s pretty well known as being attractive” 

“Fuck you” Shigaraki pouts and Dabi smirks to himself. 

“Hey it’s not my fault, and trust me there’s still a ton of shit about you. And some of both of you” You said this last part quickly while taking another large swallow of rum. You couldn’t help yourself. 

“What do you mean the both of us?” Dabi and Shigaraki looked at you hesitantly.

“Well people like to put you two together. It’s called shipping, or they just pair you together as like a duo in fanfiction” 

Both of their reactions looked like they were about to gag and murder the other at just the thought of what people had had them do to eachother. 

“Okay that’s the most disgusting thing I have ever heard in my life” Dabi says reaching for the bottle which you hand over willingly. 

“Moving on from that,” Shigaraki says, shaking his head as though to physically erase his mind. “So Y/N you’re obviously a fan. Who are your favorites?”  

“I don’t know. I have a lot of people I like and don’t like. It depends.” At this point your brain was becoming warm and fuzzy but you didn’t want to let anything slip out that could be potentially embarrassing or would make the two men turn against you. 

“Bullshit. Spill” 

“I told you it depends” 

“On what?”  he said this with a sneer. 

“I don’t know” You said exasperatedly.  “my mood, who’s been most present in the media. It just depends on what I’m looking for.”

“What you’re looking for?” Dabi repeated confusedly. 

“Next question” You state simply. 

The two villains raise their eyebrows at you, curious at your evasion of the question, but your lips stay shut. 

“Fine we’ll come back to that one Princess.” Shigaraki complies.“What do we look like in the show? I mean do we look different in real life?” 

“Shouldn’t we be trying to figure out how to get you guys back?” you ask. 

“Not much we can do about it. I’m sure the rest of the league and Kurogiri are tracking down those thugs right now, so answer my question” 

“I don’t know. I guess you look kinda different, but I can still recognize you. I can show you if you want?” Shigaraki looks at you with affirmation. You get up to get your computer which you hook up to the tv screen in front of the couch. Dabi and Shigaraki turn so they can see the television, both laying down on their backs. You open your laptop (sorry I am basing it off my computer) and type in your password. 

“Is that Shoto?” Dabi says disgustedly. There was in fact a fanart picture of Todoroki amongst the collage that was your background screen. 

“Oh yeah. He would be in the it depends list” you say timidly quickly opening up the browser to cover up the background. 

“Why the fuck did he look like some 20 year old model?” 

“I told you, it’s fanart. People draw characters the way they see them or want to see them. Shoto is also really popular amongst fans if not the most I would say” 

Dabi makes a noise of revulsion. You turn back to start typing in Shigaraki’s name into the browser and instantly images pop up as well as the fandom wiki and regular wiki articles. You click on images and start to scroll through. 

“This is weird” Shigaraki says slightly in awe but disturbed at seeing this world's visions of his life. “Here give me that” he says gesturing towards your computer. You hand it over reluctantly. 

“Seriously?!” he says grabbing the laptop. 

“What?” you say hesitantly. Did you forget to close out of something?

He lifts the computer for Dabi to also see the two stickers on the sides of your trackpad. 

“The anger explosion boy and pro eraserhead?” Dabi said, judgement was obvious in his tone. 

“What?” you said defensively. 

“Nothing I just thought you’d be a villain girl and all” 

WTF, you think. What was that supposed to mean?

“Why do you think that? And who says I’m not?” 

Dabi raised an eyebrow in interest but didn't answer your taunts, instead turning back to the screen. Shigaraki has been scrolling through and tapping on pictures of himself making little noises and reactions. 

“This is fucking weird” He states again, the screen was stopped on a very sultry piece of fanart of Shigaraki. 

“Take that down you freak. No one needs to see your crusty dusty body like that. Hand it over.” Dabi tells Shigaraki. 

Shigaraki passes the computer over and Dabi searches his own name seeing all the pictures of him, although significantly more fanart pops up for him. He scrolls for a little bit but becomes weirded out or downright just bored at the photos of him. He then goes back to the wikipedia page and starts to read. While the two men continue to look at the screen and read information about their show, you stand up and head to the kitchen feeling peckish. You wander through the kitchen opening and closing all the cabinets waiting for something to catch your eye. You open the fridge and close it moving onto the freezer. Your eyes scan the contents when you spot the pint of chocolate fudge ice cream. You take it out and grab a spoon making your way back to the couch. When you get to the couch both Shigaraki and Dabi are staring at you again with intensity and amusement. 

“What?” you say, plopping back into your spot, struggling to tear open the plastic and resorting to using your teeth. With both of them still staring at you as though waiting for something, you look at the screen and see that your messages are open. You take a second to read the new text from your friend. 

‘Dude have you read this Shiggy Dabs fanfic? It made me 🤤🥵’

‘This ones similar to the last one you sent me, so be prepared⛓️😂’ 

Your heart sank as you saw the familiar logo of Ao3 underneath those texts. 

“What were you saying about being a villain girl?” Dabi said, smirking. 

“I––” You had no idea what to say. 

“Aww is the Princess embarrassed” Shigaraki says teasingly. 

You try to get up to leave but a hand roughly pulls you back down and you hide behind your hands refusing to look at the two villains. This was so embarrassing. What were you going to do? Now they knew that you liked them. That you were like the other people in this world that they had been disgusted by all night. They weren’t likely to just let this go. If only you could get to your room and lock the door maybe they would just leave. 

“Come on don’t be shy. Are we on your depends list?” 

They take your silence and continued evasion as an affirmation. 

“Hmm…” You hear Dabi hum lowly. “What exactly are we dependent on? What are you looking for when you search for us?” Dabi asks, already knowing the answer. 

“Come on tell us” Shigaraki coos. You shake your head. You could feel both of the boys drawing closer to you like school bullies cornering you in the bathroom,  but you didn’t dare look up at them, too embarrassed. That’s when you heard typing. Your head whips up to see Dabi replying to your friend. 

‘What exactly do you mean by similar?’

By the time you read what he wrote they were already responding. 

‘You know 😂  the usual non-con threesome with you and dabs and shigs. Kidnapping, ropes, degradation, similar to all the other fanfics 😋 tho in this one you cum four times and each a dif way😳 ’

If your stomach dropped even more. It would have touched the ground. 

“So not only are you a villain’s girl but you’re a kinky little slut too?” Dabi says chuckling. He was practically next to you staring at your frozen figure as you looked at the screen. 

“I should have known when you walked out here with these cute little things poking out” He reached over and pinched your nipple tugging on the metal barbell through it. You squealed instinctually pulling away but he caught the top of your tank top effectively pulling it down revealing your breasts, each decorated with a metal piercing. 

You motion to cover them, but your hands are once again forced behind your back, however this time Shigaraki had the pleasure of restraining you. 

“Let go of me!” you yelped at the humiliating assault. 

“I thought you liked this?” Dabi said in mock sympathy. “Just how many times have you gotten off to us?” 

You were squirming trying to remove yourself from Shigaraki’s grip. 

“Answer the question” Dabi said, pinching your nipple again. You yelped in pain but you could feel the slick starting to build between your legs. 

“A lot okay. Now let go!” 

Dabi and Shigaraki complied surprisingly. You regained your breath and pulled your tank top back up. The next few minutes passed in silence as Shigaraki took another swig of rum and Dabi continued to scroll through the different My Hero wikipedia pages. You got up still in shock taking your forgotten ice cream back to the freezer. You had lost your appetite. 

What were you supposed to do now? You were still slightly scared of them after what just happened but you couldn’t ignore the arousal that had been sparked deep within you. You had dreamt of this many times. This wasn’t much different than the different fanfiction you had read, and honestly this would be on the tamer end, but that was just fiction. But were you really going to pass up this chance? How could you? Yet why’d they stop? You were surprised and honestly kinda disappointed they had now that you were standing in the kitchen. And with that you had made up your mind. You are not going to pass up this chance you could never forgive yourself. 

You made your way back over to the couch but didn’t sit down. You stood in front of them silent staring at your feet, trying to figure out what you wanted to say. 

“What?” Dabi said as though nothing had happened. 

“Why’d you stop?” you asked timidly. 

“Hmm? Because you said so.” Dabi said as though this was an obvious answer to a stupid question. 

You looked at him surprised.

“Don’t believe me?” He said with a small chuckle. 

When you didn’t seem to get any less anxious he continued with a sigh.

“Look Princess, I may be a bastard and sadistic villain but I don’t go wishing pain on everyone, especially ones with cute tits. Of course if they’re into that then I’m down” He said this so casually it seemed almost wrong, all while he continued to watch your computer screen. You assumed it was in part due to the alcohol, but still. 

“you’re blocking the screen,” Shigaraki said annoyed. 

“Was that all princess?” Dabi said mockingly

 “Well….” 

“What?” Shigaraki spat. 

“Hurry up,” Dabi said flatly. 

“What if I wanted to continue?” You said finally looking up at them. They both looked at you intently, then gave each other a look and were smiling when their eyes fell back to you. 

“Our little Princess wants to live out her dirty villainous fantasies...huh?”

You nod. Wait did they just say our?

“Come on tell us what you’ve dreamt about?” Dabi says beckoning you over to him with one finger.

Once you’re in front of him, he pulls you down onto his lap so you're facing him. You look at him hesitantly biting your lip.

“You’re the expert of these little situations, Princess” he says holding his hands up for you to guide them. You take his hands slowly, unsure of your actions and guide them back to your breasts. He gives you a smirk and gives you a good squeeze, causing a small moan to escape your throat. You instinctually grind down into his lap feeling his member start to harden beneath you. You lean your head back as Dabi pulls your tank top over your head. You look over at Shigaraki who’s staring at you starting to palm himself through the sweats. 

“Him too princess?” Dabi asks you, giving your nipples a pinch causing you to moan all the while still staring at Shigaraki “Mmmhmmm” 

This was enough for Shigaraki to slide down the couch to where the two of you were. 

“Tell him where you want him, otherwise he won’t know what to do, I can’t imagine he’s done this before” Dabi encourages.

“Oh shut up” Shigaraki hisses, but he focuses back on you when you grab his hand and bring it to your neck. He insticutally keeps one finger raised, but you push that finger down with the rest deep into the side of your neck limiting the oxygen flowing to your brain, enough to give you that high. Flooded with pleasure you grind down again into Dabi feeling your underwear starting to become uncomfortably wet. 

Looking into Shigaraki’s crimson eyes, you could feel them boring into you just as hungry as you felt. He leans in close, lips barely ghosting over your own. You could feel both of your breaths mixing in the millimeters between you two when Dabi gives a harsh tug to both your nipples causing you to gasp. Shigaraki seized this opportunity to violently smash your lips together. Your hand reaches into his hair, gripping for support as the initial ferver and clash of teeth dies down into long passionate tangling of tongues as you explore each other's mouth. His rough lips scratching into your’s was a sensation you’ve imagined many times but none of it lived up to reality. He nipped lightly on your bottom lip making you lean into him more. 

Dabi’s hands continued their exploration of your torso, moving down your sides to your hips and around to your ass. He squeezed and kneaded them with his strong fingers. Shigaraki squeezed your neck again sending another rush of euphoria to your head making you moan into his mouth before he pulled away to attack your neck and take over teasing your breasts. You look back at Dabi with hunger in your eyes.

“What now princess? What do you want?” He says with a devilish grin. 

You grind down into his cock again which is now hard as ever. 

“Uh-uh. Use your words.” he says giving your ass a squeeze. 

Shigaraki rolls your nipples in between his harsh fingers sending waves of pleasure and pain throughout your body, causing you to roll your head again and let out a short moan. When you look back at Dabi, you speak in a low breathy tone, almost a whisper. 

“Abuse me” 

With those few words, Dabi smirks and slips his hands underneath the waistband of your sweats. “As you wish” 

Shigaraki continues his attack to your neck sucking and biting, leaving red and darkened patches curving down your shoulder and back. Dabi continued his groping, and you could feel the rough staples scratching at your flesh and his nails digging in harsher than before. His hands slide down the curve of your ass tugging your soiled underwear to the side. 

“Hmmm you’re so wet.” Dabi said, ghosting his fingers over your dripping entrance.

“You little whore. Getting so wet for a couple of villains” You shiver at the sensitive touch and degrading words. Gripping to Shigaraki’s shirt and grinding down trying to gain friction, you notice Shigaraki palming himself again. You replace his hand with your own, wrapping your fingers around his clothed cock, squeezing lightly. Shigaraki groaned deeply in your ear, sending vibrations straight to your core while Dabi’s fingers dip slightly into your needy hole but only enough to tease more juices and whimpers out of you. You try to push down onto them only for him to retreat. 

“Please...stop teasing” you whine.

“So needy Princess huh? You want my fingers in that little cunt of yours?” 

“Yes. Dabi. Please” you didn't care at this point how pathetic you sounded. The pressure in your core was building and you needed to be pushed over the edge. 

“Go on...make yourself cum on my fingers. Show me how much you want it,” Dabi said sneering at how desperate you looked. He finally allowed two fingers to sink into you as you lowered your hips again. You were always amazed at how much deeper fingers other than your own could reach, and Dabi’s in particular could reach places you could never dream of finding on your own. 

The effect was immediate. You started to roll your hips, bouncing slightly on Dabi’s fingers. You’re grip on Shigarak’s member stalls as you’re overwhelmed with pleasure. Shigaraki, displeased by this fact, guides you inside his sweats, pumping himself with your hand. You could feel the precum leaking from his slit as your fingers smear it up and down his shaft. Shigaraki continued his abuse of your flesh, moving down biting and sucking till his teeth latched onto your sensitive nipple. You whine as Dabi’s other hand had found your clit. He twirled it between his fingers letting his nail drag over it. This added stimulation drove you closer sending shivers up your spine. 

“Mm close” you whimper as your movements on Dabi’s fingers become sloppy. 

“Come on princess. Make yourself cum, make a pretty little mess all over my fingers” 

Dabi presses into your clit and you grind down hard again. Dabi wickedly curls his fingers pressing into that soft spot inside you releasing the knot of pressure that had been building in your core.Your legs shake and you clamp down hard onto his fingers which are still moving in and out of you, prolonging your orgasm. 

You weakly fall forward onto Dabi’s chest as Shigaraki releases your hand from his dick. You can feel Dabi’s fingers pull out of you and when you open your eyes you see him playing with your sticky release coating his fingers. You watch as Dabi brings his fingers to his mouth, smearing some on his lip and licking it before taking them into his mouth, sucking and cleaning yourself off of him. 

“Princess you’re delicious” He says smiling down at you making you blush at the crude compliment. 

“My turn to taste'' Shigaraki said, pulling you off Dabi’s lap. He positioned you on your back, your head resting on Dabi’s thigh. As Shigaraki did away with your sweats and underwear, you pulled Dabi’s mismatched lips to yours. The feeling was heavenly. You could still taste yourself on his tongue as he explored your mouth. You tugged needily at Dabi’s shirt and he pulled it off only breaking the kiss for a brief moment. 

You savored the wet and slow pace opposite to Shigaraki’s fast and rough, both pleasure in their own ways. You’re breath hitched and you moaned deeply when you felt Shigaraki’s wet tongue lick the length of your core, swiping up the sticky left overs from your previous release. 

You look down at Shigaraki. He had positioned himself between your thighs, knees slumped over his shoulders. He was staring up at you licking his lips before attaching himself to your clit sucking at it harshly. You could feel that ball of pressure tighten again in your stomach and you let your head fall back to Dabi’s thigh, eyes shut, focusing on the feeling of the hot wet mouth working at your sex. You’re hand threaded its way into Shigaraki’s silky blue hair, tugging lightly, only making him suck harder. 

You felt Dabi’s hand on your cheek and you opened your eyes looking up into his sapphire eyes before he turned your head. You were met with Dabi’s unclothed cock. Your eyes followed the Jacobs ladder of staples up his shaft to the head where you could see a bead of precum sitting at the slit. You smile thinking how in the hell fanfic got this detail right. 

“What’re you smiling at? Impressed?”

“Hmm...No piercing, huh? Guess they got that part wrong” 

“You people are sick” he says chuckling before directing his dick into your mouth. 

You take it gladly bobbing your head down his shaft, hollowing your cheeks before sliding back up, letting your tongue catch on each of the staples. Dabi let out a low groan, putting his hand in your hair to keep it away from your face. 

You continue to work your mouth on Dabi’s cock while Shigaraki continues to swipe his tongue through your sensitive folds. You moan around Dabi’s length when Shigaraki slips a finger inside, causing you to buck your hips, pushing his tongue deeper into you. 

The vibrations from your tight throat had Dabi pushing your head down taking his entire length. You gagged around his cock, choking for air but that only drove you further into your pleasure. Shigaraki added another finger and started pistoning into you violently while sucking at your clit once again. You moaned, tugging at Shigaraki’s hair, signaling you were close. You could tell Dabi was close too as he took control and started face fucking you, the tip of his cock hitting the back of your throat with every thrust. 

Shigaraki added a third finger stretching you wider and driving you over the edge for the second time as you gasped around Dabi’s cock, legs squeezing around Shigaraki. Your orgasm drove Dabi to the edge as he thrust into you again and kept your head down as your throat tightened around his length. Thick ropes of cum shot from the tip and slid down the back of your throat. You took it all swallowing until you couldn’t breathe anymore pushing Dabi away. You’re head lolled on Dabi’s lap as you recovered from your high. 

Dabi was leaning back breathing deeply with his eyes closed. Your brain was still foggy but it wasn’t long until you felt something back against your sex. Looking down you see Shigaraki lining himself up with your entrance, coating his cock in your juices. Your eyes widen at seeing his length out in the open. It was not as decorated as Dabi’s but it held the same presence, being about an inch longer although not as thick as Dabi’s. Shigaraki looks up at you when he lines himself up, the tip merely resting against you, and sees your nervous expression. 

“Huh didn’t think I was getting you this wet for nothing. I ain’t wasting a drop of this pussy” 

He stared into your eyes as he steadily pushed into you. The stretch was almost unbearable. You squeezed your eyes shut trying to make it through the burning stretch. 

“Shit you’re tight. Feels like my dick is in a vice... fuuuuuck… relax” Shigaraki hissed. 

You could barely register his voice let alone his request. You could barely breath focusing only on the pain as Shigaraki continued to push against your walls. 

“Hey patchwork stop sleeping and get her to breathe” 

Dabi shifts underneath you and you feel his hands run down your sides outlining your torso. Even though he didn’t have his quirk, his hands were hot and soothing as they rubbed against your skin. 

“Come on Princess.” You open your eyes slightly to see Dabi looking down at you patronizingly. 

“You’ve been doing so well,” He said brushing your jaw with the back of his hand. “And you wanna feel good right?” 

You nod meekly. 

Dabi leans down so his lips are hovering centimeters over yours. The smell of alcohol on his breath tantalizing and his minty scent making your head spin. 

“Breathe Princess. Just focus on me” He whispers before putting his lips on yours. You melt into the kiss doing exactly what Dabi says, exhaling through your nose and focusing on the way his cold staples scratch against your skin while his soft tongue dances with your own.  

When you break the kiss for air it’s only because Shigaraki has managed to bury himself to the hilt. You can feel him pressing against your cervix deep inside you. You look  at him again and find him head tilted back, eyes closed, taking in the feeling of you pulsing around him. Even though you know it’s not out of consideration but pure self indulgence, you're glad that he hasn’t started moving yet as you adjust to his length. Eventually it seems the lust of needing to rearrange your insides trumped being his own personal cockwarmer. His eyes fell on you again as you pulled out till only the tip was inside before bottoming out once again. Each time slowly pulling out only to thrust back in at full force.

You were still adjusting to his length, but soon the burning sensation of being stretched and pounded turned into addicting pleasure. You resumed your kiss with Dabi whose hands had found their way to your breast as Shigaraki increased his pace. Soon you were being knocked senseless by Shigaraki’s ruthless pace. He always has been fast on screen, so why did you think he’d be any different here. Moans and gasps escaped your mouth as the tip of Shigaraki’s cock hit your cervix. Once again the pressure began to build in your core. You began to whimper as you were pushed closer and closer to the edge. 

“Fuckkk I’m close. It’s like you're pulling me deeper. So fucking good” Shigaraki panted out falling to his hands on either side of your hips for support. You whimper again and claw at the couch cushions as you could feel yourself just on the brink when Dabi’s hand slides down your stomach and begins rubbing at your clit. You cry out and clamp down hard on Shigaraki legs shaking and eyes rolling back as Dabi’s ministrations send you through your third orgasm of the night.

You feel Shigaraki thrust once more hard and then hot thick jets of white paint your walls. You shudder at the feeling of being pumped full, your sex still milking him of everylast drop. Shigaraki finally pulls out of you and lays back on the couch catching his breath savoring the last waves of his high falling down. 

You too were recuperating and limp, unable to move. Your mind was hazy from the alcohol and the relentless stimulation.  You were so tired that you didn’t even care about cleaning up but rather drifting off to sleep right there. However you were jostled from these thoughts as Dabi had rolled you off his lap and onto your stomach. You could hardly keep up with his movements as he stood and walked around you. It wasn’t until you felt a pair of hands lifting your hips that you looked back to see Dabi fisting is dick that looked painfully hard. You couldn’t fathom another round right now but you were still so weak from your last high that you didn’t have time to prepare before Dabi thrusted into your already abused hole. 

He sighed once he was buried inside you. He leaned down so his chest was hovering above your back the heat making your skin prickle. He leaned down till his breath could be felt on the back of your neck. 

“Mhmm… ’m so close already and you’re gonna let me pump you full, aren’t you princess”

You couldn’t respond because your overly sensitive body was already reacting to Dabi's hard cock pressing into you, stretching you wider around his girth. Even though your mind was fading in and out, you involuntarily pressed your hips back to make him go deeper, seeking out the friction your body needed to overdose on. 

Dabi was the exact opposite of Shigaraki. He took his time, thrusting in and out, making sure you felt every staple and ridge of his cock dragging against your walls savoring the way they pulled him in. Overstimulation caused tears to form in the corners of your eyes only soft whimpers escaping your mouth. Dabi continued slow and deliberate, letting out low breathy grunts with every thrust. On the edge once more, never fully recovering from before, you were longing to be undone one last time.

“Please Dabi” you mewl.

Dabi snickered in your ear before snaking his hand under you and pressing his fingers to your clit which was all the stimulation you needed to moan out and squeeze around Dabi who came at the feeling of your gummy walls constricting around his pulsing length. You felt his seed fill you up and mix with Shigaraki’s inside you. Dabi dropped down next to you, rolling you onto your side so you were effectively spooning with his cock still inside you. You could hear movement apart from you and Dabi, and in opening your eyes you saw Shigaraki standing pulling up the sweats that were bunched at his thighs. He noticed you staring at him. 

“Tch. I don’t cuddle Princess and I gotta piss” His tone was crude but laced with content from having a good fuck. “Don’t let a single drop out Dabi” Shigaraki stated before walking down the hall. 

Dabi didn’t respond but seemed to have no intent on moving as you felt his member begin to soften inside you. You couldn’t be more concerned about the implications behind Shigaraki’s comment or the fact that you still had a dick inside you. You were just tired and groggy from the night's events and thankful that you were finally able to be comfortable and close your eyes. You didn’t think Dabi was really a cuddle after sex with a stranger kinda guy but you weren’t complaining. He was warm and made you feel safe despite knowing he would most likely kill you in any other context. You let your eyes close again, head falling onto Dabi’s arm, giving into the waves of exhaustion coming over you. 

When Shigaraki came back from the bathroom he found you and Dabi still in the exact same position he left you in. Dabi opened his eyes when he heard Shigaraki come back into the room. 

“Is she out?” Shigaraki asked. 

“Think so,” Dabi said, finally pulling out of you and tugging the joggers back up to his hips. He slides out from behind you, but you don’t even realize, body only curling inwards at the loss of heat. Dabi stands and looks down at you with Shigaraki. You look so worn out and peaceful. Your body exposed for them, hickeys and bruises forming where Shigaraki ravaged your neck. Your ass is still red from the pounding, and welts forming where Dabi’s strong fingers dug into you. However the best part was probably the shine of slick spread on the inside of your thighs as a stream white cum dribbled from your used hole. 

Shigaraki notices this and sits down by your feet.

“What’re you doing?” 

“I told you I don’t want any of it out. Got a problem with that?” 

“Nope.” Dabi said rolling his eyes and walking away. “I’ve learned to not try and figure out your sick mind”  

Shigaraki looked back down at you. 

“Good. I have plans for her.” Dabi rolled his eyes again and walked down the hall to the bathroom. Shigaraki ran a hand up your thigh and you flexed at his touch, still unconscious. Shigaraki ran his fingers down the length of your core smearing the juices there before scooping up the stream of cum still leaking out of you and pushing it back inside you. His two fingers easily slipped into your stretched whole, but that didn’t stop a small whine from slipping from your throat. Shigaraki moved his fingers lazily in and out of you pushing the cum deeper. His eyes shot to your face when your hips bucked instinctively against him, your face was scrunched and staggered breaths and sniffs escaping your slightly parted lips, but you were still out, lost in whatever continued fantasy your fatigued brain was conjuring. 

Shigaraki pushed into you a few more times selfishly pressing into the soft spot inside you that had you clamp down onto his fingers one last time. You gasped and curled further into a ball. When Shigaraki pulled his fingers out you hummed, face still scrunched, but he got up and left to the kitchen to wash off his hands. 

When Dabi came back he met Shigaraki in the kitchen grabbing a glass of water and leaning against the counter. 

“What do we do now?” Dabi asked casually.

“Well I don’t know ‘bout you but I’m fucking exhausted” 

“Do you really think the rest of the league will be able to figure this out?” 

“Kurogiri is smart enough, even if the rest of the league is useless with this sort of thing. However I am curious what this sick twisted universe has to offer us” 

“Whatever you say” Dabi says walking back to the couch, and lifting you bridal style. You lean into his warmth as he carries you to your bedroom plopping you down on your bed and closing the door. 

When you open your eyes the next morning, you feel your head throbbing against your skull. The bright light streaming in through your window was enough to make you want to stab the sun till it was nothing more than an ember. You closed your eyes again trying to remember the dream you were having but as you searched your brain, pieces of your dream seemed to turn into memories. You shot your eyes open and sat up. It was just a dream right? Realizing you were naked and that your skin felt sticky and dirty was enough to make your head pound harder than before. Wasn’t the fact you were hungover proof enough that last night events had taken place? No, there was still a chance you had just gotten drunk and imagined it all, but you had to be sure. You sprang out of bed and pulled on some loose shorts and a shirt, impatiently throwing open the door and speeding down the hall to where the proof you needed would be.

The living room was lit by the bright sunlight streaming through the curtains. The golden rays illuminated messy blankets and pillows strewn across the couch, an empty rum bottle, a pair of your sweats and tank top buried on the floor, but no one was there. You felt nauseous trying to piece everything together along with the aftermath of the alcohol. You rush to the sink in the kitchen and puke up the contents of your stomach. You grip the counter and close your eyes until you felt more confident in your body's ability to keep everything inside. You slowly open your eyes and look around, mind going back to what happened last night. However you get sidetracked by a bright blue sticky note sticking up from your countertop. Walking over to it you read. 

“Kurogiri is a smart man. We’ll be back Princess.  PS I want the blood out of my pants.” 

#shigaraki #shiggy #tomura #Dabi #shigaraki x dabi #dabi x shigaraki #dabi x reader #shigaraki x dabi x reader #shigaraki x reader #smut #anime #fanfiction #fandom #fanfic #spicy

[sluttyten]

Hi!!! Could I ask for the “You can’t leave without letting me hug you first.” and “Wait, don’t pull away… Not yet.” with Doyoung? Please? (this is up to you: but if it could be with a chubby/plus size reader it would mean a lot to me). Thank you so much for your time.

I love your writing 💞💞💞

The relationship you had with Doyoung was a long and complicated one. Your families were friends, and when you were younger your families had often met up for holidays—celebrating the New Year together, birthdays, the lunar new year, even going on summer trips together occasionally—so you were rather close.

As you grew up, it wasn’t that your families grew apart, just that schedules grew busier and your families couldn’t see each other as much. But when you were fifteen you celebrated the New Year together for the last time, and you and Doyoung snuck off together with a bottle of wine no one would miss, and you’d sat together in the park nearby, passing the bottle back and forth and waiting for midnight to strike.

You never learned if it was the wine or just an impulse decision or what caused it, but at the stroke of midnight as the country celebrated the calendar turning over, Doyoung kissed you.

It had taken you totally by surprise, and you’d run away, embarrassed and ecstatic and overwhelmed that Doyoung had kissed you.

But you didn’t see too much of him again after that, not for a few years, by which point he was taller and much more filled out and more handsome. Your mother had told you about Doyoung growing up, how handsome he’d grown. And the way she said it made it sound like he’d grown from being awkward to handsome, and you just wanted to tell her that he’d always been handsome. But then you finally saw him.

And damn. She was right.

Handsome Doyoung of the past was gone and now he was just....

“Wow,” you gasp under your breath when Doyoung walks through the door of his parents home.

For the first time in ages your families are getting together. Your whole family and Doyoung’s parents and brother and himself. It hasn’t been this way in many years.

Doyoung’s gaze lands on you, and immediately you feel your face grow a little warmer. You tug at your clothes, trying to get a little air on your suddenly hot skin, and also just trying to make sure it’s laying right. Before you’d left home, your mother had clucked at you and suggested you change, but you liked your outfit so you kept it on.

But now with Doyoung looking at you while he looks like that, you almost wish you’d changed.

And then his face breaks out in the huge, familiar warm smile of his, and he says your name. Instantly the cool handsomeness of him now melts away and he’s just young, dorky handsome Doyoung again.

You’re all together to celebrate Doyoung’s dad’s birthday, so there’s much talking and celebrating, then dinner and cake and presents and more laughter and toasting, and throughout it all you keep looking over at Doyoung, amazed at how much he’s changed in the last few years, wondering what he thinks about how you’ve changed or if you’ve changed at all in his eyes.

After a bit you excuse yourself to use the bathroom. You’re not gone for long at all, but as you start to return to the table, you see Doyoung’s not seated there with everyone else anymore and your heart sinks, thinking that maybe he’s left. You know he doesn’t live wi to his parents anymore; he lives in an apartment across the city. So you don’t return to the table, instead you wander back down the hallway.

This house once was as familiar to you as your own. When you were much younger, before puberty hit, you spent many nights having sleepovers here with Doyoung. And even now your feet tread the path to Doyoung’s bedroom.

As you stand in the doorway, you realize the room isn’t empty. Doyoung’s sitting on the bed, looking at some photos he has stuck to the wall.

“Doyoung?” Your voice seems so loud in the tranquility of his room.

He looks over at you. “Oh, hey. Look, I forgot I had these up here.” He points at the wall, and you step inside his room, move around to see the wall where he’s pointing. It’s an array of photos from his childhood. Pictures from school, from theatre, of you and him with your arms around each other’s necks.

“When’s this from?” You step closer, touching one photo you don’t remember being taken. The pair of you sitting on a swing set together, his arm looped around one chain of your swing to keep you both held together. You’re laughing with your eyes squeezed shut, and Doyoung’s smiling at the camera in his hand.

“New Years.” Doyoung answers easily. “You were so giggly and cute. I took it when you weren’t paying attention.” He stands up and when he’s beside you, you can suddenly feel the memories rushing back to you, can feel the best of the alcohol in your veins on that cold night, the thrill of sneaking out together and the joy of being with Doyoung. And then the kiss.

“I’d better get back to the table.” You say quickly. “I think my family’s about to leave.”

You make it as far as one step away from him before Doyoung grabs your wrist lightly. “You can’t leave without letting me hug you first. Who knows when we’ll see each other again.”

The photo on the wall draws your gaze again, a frozen memory of the last time you saw each other. You don’t want years to go by again before you see Doyoung again, and you definitely don’t want to go years regretting not having felt his arms around you.

As soon as you nod, Doyoung’s swept you in against his chest, and he wraps his arms tightly around you in the warmest embrace you’ve felt in a long time. You sigh and return the hug, loving the way it feels to be held by him, to have his cologne filling your nose.

You could happily stay there locked in his arms, but you don’t want to make it weird.

“No.” Doyoung groans as you start to drop your arms from him. “Wait, don’t pull away... Not yet.”

Your heart starts beating faster as Doyoung holds you tighter.

“I love how you fit in my arms,” Doyoung murmurs, tucking his face even more against your shoulder, winding his arms just a little tighter, pulling you that much more against him. “God, I’ve missed you. I feel like I really fucked up my chance with you back then. I should’ve made my move earlier, but you were just so pretty.”

You pull away to frown at him. “Me? Doyoung, I was such a chubby kid. What do you mean pretty.”

He frowns right back at you. “I mean pretty. Yeah, chubby. And cute and pretty. It’s not like those things can’t all be the same thing.” He reaches over for the picture; one little tug brings it down off the way, and he holds it beside your face. “Yeah, you’re still the same. Chubby, pretty, and cute.”

You whine and push at his arm. “Doyoung!”

“What? You are! And I like you just the way you are.” Doyoung tries so hard to defend himself. “Don’t you like me just the way I am?”

“First of all it’s been years, Doyoung. I’m not going to judge you just based off of visuals.” You sit down on his bed to look up at him. “And you look a lot different. You’re all—“ You gesture you and down at his tall, fit figure. “Yeah.”

Doyoung sits down heavily beside you, places the photo in your lap, and points his finger at his face in the image. “I’m that same Kim Dongyoung. I don’t look different.”

You snort. “You’re taller and somehow more handsome. We aren’t discussing this. If we compare who’s changed into a better looking version of themself over these years, then it’s clearly—“

“You.” Doyoung answers before you can say anything else. “It’s you. You look the same, but you look happier too. And more confident. I don’t think you back then would have ever worn something like this with such confidence. You were always shy and worried about what other people thought of you, but now you seem so much more confident and that’s sexy.” Doyoung leans back on his hands to get a full look at you. “I’m telling you, you’ve always been pretty but now you’re confident and that just so attractive.”

You fold your arms in front of you and look over at Doyoung. “I feel like you’re just saying all this stuff.” Doyoung shakes his head. “So you genuinely mean it?”

He nods his head. “Why do you think that I kissed you back then? I had a massive crush on you. I spent so many days thinking about confessing to you, but always losing my nerve. Then that night was my chance, probably my last chance because I knew I was going to be a trainee and would lose pretty much any chance at having a social life for a while. So I went for it. And then you ran away, so I thought you didn’t like me and I made it weird.”

“No!” You laugh. “I was just surprised. How could I not like you? Back then, you were my ideal type, Doyoung.”

“Back then?” He sits up again, holding his face close to yours. “Just back then?”

You look back down at the photo in your lap. You remember feeling so happy right then, the night air rushing around you, the taste of the wine on your tongue, and the heat of Doyoung’s fingers beside your cheek. That Doyoung made your heart pound just as much as your heart is right now.

“I don’t know you as well anymore. I can’t say,” you tell him.

Doyoung stares at you in silence for a few seconds, and then abruptly he stands up and holds his hand out to you.

“I’m Kim Doyoung.” He says as you slip your hand into his to shake. “I think you’re stunning, and I’d like to take you out sometime to get to know you like we used to know each other. Will you say yes?”

You stare at him, trying to read his face to see if he’s totally serious right now. Is Kim Doyoung, your childhood friend, really asking you on a date right now?

You stand up, still holding his hand.

“Well?” Doyoung asks.

“Take your second chance. Show me you’re the same Kim Dongyoung who gave me my first kiss.” Your glad to see the glint in his eye as he accepts your challenge, his hand tightening around yours as he draws you in for a second kiss, years too late.

requests are closed now! Thanks to everyone who’s sent them in!

#asks #doyoung drabbles #nct drabbles #nct 127 drabbles #sorry this one was so long I got carried away #plus this is the only Doyoung request I got I think so I just put all the stuff I wanted to write into this one I think lol

[heliads]

The Watching Hawk Chapter 1: Case File

Bucky Barnes is constantly haunted by his past, but the memories of his days as a Winter Soldier will come into a new light in the form of the Watching Hawk, his old HYDRA partner. Will he be able to trust her, and will she be able to move on from his mistakes?

series masterlist / next

The hum of the air conditioning is a distant sound as Bucky Barnes stares down at the closed case file in front of him. “You know, you don’t have to take this one on.” His best friend of several decades, Steve Rogers, leans against a wall in front of him. His voice is drenched in concern, like Bucky is a delicate man who could be set off by anything. “I know your relations with HYDRA,” Steve continues, “And if you think this will be a bad idea, it’s fine to stand down.” Bucky looks up at Steve again, then at Natasha and Sam, standing next to him. “I’ll be fine.”

Steve looks at him one more time, a searching look. Some days Bucky swears the Super Soldier Serum that made Steve Captain America must also have given him the ability to read minds. It wouldn’t surprise him if Steve’s been peering inside his head every time he sees Bucky. Steve nods slowly and continues on. “Alright. We don’t have a lot of information on the target, so we wanted to see if you knew anything. You know, from your days as a Winter Soldier.”

That piques Bucky’s curiosity, and so he finally flips open the manilla file folder in front of him. The only thing in the folder is a single, blurry image, but the sight of a woman framed by great arched metal wings in the photo is enough to elicit a sharp gasp from him. “I’m in. I’ll take the mission.”

Instantly, Steve leans forward. “You know her?” Bucky’s laugh is as harsh as a winter night. “Know her? I’m the reason HYDRA has her in the first place.” Bucky clears his throat, as snippets of memories long gone flash by him. He doesn’t remember much about what happened while he was under HYDRA’s influence- the mind control and rigorous programming was enough to erase anything and everything from him. Over the months after Bucky left, bits and pieces have started coming back to him, including the identity of this young woman.

“It was a warm summer afternoon. She was just coming home from work. She didn’t have the metal wings by then, they were still the natural feathers. She kept them hidden under her jacket so no one could tell she was an inhuman. She said hello to a neighbourhood kid, smiled at a passerby on a bike while she was getting the mail, and went into her house. When she saw the HYDRA agents waiting for her in the living room, she was able to defend herself using her wings and her fighting abilities. She took out all the soldiers, so they sent in me.”

Bucky pauses then, as he waits for the pieces of the memory to fall back into place. He hasn’t thought about that day in a long time, and he’s not sure if he really wants to. “She was strong, even without the wings, but in the end, I was able to knock her unconscious and take her in. They made her a Winter Soldier. We were often stationed together on operations.”

Natasha looks at him, her face unreadable as always. If he was supposed to be the ultimate soldier, Bucky supposes she would be the ultimate spy. Even after years of training, he can barely get anything out of her.

“When was the last time you had contact with this woman? Is there anything else you can tell us- a name, a weakness?” Bucky frowns up at the sound of Natasha’s voice. “I haven’t seen her since I was still with HYDRA.” He’s not entirely sure when that was- times and dates all melt together into a pool of distant memories when he was under mind control. “What exactly is this mission, and why does it involve her?”

Steve taps at a screen in front of him. It changes to display an image of a well-dressed politician, making his way up marble steps in Capitol Hill. “This is Dominic Cole. He’s a pretty solid politician, as far as politicians go. Unfortunately, he’s got the interest of HYDRA, because he’s about to present a new policy in a week that will allow the government to look into shady business dealings that could expose HYDRA operatives. There’s a pretty good chance it’ll get approved once he presents it, so HYDRA’s sending in a team to take him out. I think this woman, whoever she is, will be on that team.”

Bucky nods slowly. “The Watching Hawk.” Sam looks at him through furrowed brows. “What does that mean?” Bucky places his hands flat on the table in front of him, the photo still staring at him from in between his palms. “That was her codename. The Watching Hawk.”

Bucky tilts his head to the side as he studies the woman in the photograph. He’s not sure how long it’s been since he last saw her- could be months, could be decades. He has no way of knowing, but she still looks the exact same.

 “We were usually partners. They would send in both of us on the more dangerous field ops, the ones where there was basically a guarantee that no normal soldier would come back alive. She was different from me, though- I was under full mind control, and my memory was wiped periodically. They were worried that another brainwashed soldier could join up with the first and revolt against them, so they gave the Hawk her memory. She had free will, and could do whatever she wanted and say as she pleased, as long as it met with the HYDRA expectations. I think there were still some residual mind blocks, guaranteeing she couldn’t leave the premises unless ordered to, and she couldn’t hurt any of the HYDRA soldiers, but she could still think and do whatever she wanted. You’ll have to take that into account when you find her. Other than that, there’s nothing I can remember that you wouldn’t already know from when you tracked me down.”

Steve lets this information sink in, then looks back down at the photo from the case file. “Well, we won’t be able to have one great ‘Remember who you are’ moment like last time, but we should be able to take her down. Natasha, Sam, and I have experience with finding Winter Soldiers, and you know how they think. I think we’ve got as many cards to play as we can.”

Sam interjects. “Also, I’ve got wings too.” At Bucky’s raised eyebrows, he spreads his hands wide. “Look, if she can fly, it’s probably a good idea to have someone on your team who can fly after them, right? I feel like none of you really took that into account.” Steve does his best to smother a smile. “He’s right. We’ve all got our parts to play.” With that, he goes over the plan in more detail, leaving Bucky to question whether or not this will actually work.

Before he knows it, Bucky is watching a digital readout in a surveillance van parked near the Capitol. Dominic Cole, the man they’re supposed to be protecting, is making his way to work. The team decided to let Cole walk to work, seemingly without a guard, in the hopes of drawing out an attack. Steve’s got a theory that if HYDRA’s plan to take out Cole comes to light, they’ll call it off, but Bucky’s not sure if that will work or not. Regardless, here comes Cole, and just like clockwork, here comes a black van barrelling towards him. 

When soldiers dressed in black start racing towards Cole, Natasha springs out of hiding and starts to take them down. Bucky, Sam, and Steve join her, making sure Cole gets to safety before focusing their attention back on the HYDRA soldiers. They’re actually doing a pretty good job of causing a commotion and keeping them at bay, so Bucky supposes he’s not surprised when he sees a winged silhouette walking towards them from the smoky background of the city.

Bucky ducks around the black van, firing at the soldiers as he goes, making sure he’s headed towards the figure. He’s about a few yards away when she finally sees him, and her silvery wings arch up around her. “Well, if it isn’t Sergeant Barnes. I see you have your memory back.” A gun is in her hands before he can even blink, and it’s all Bucky can do to throw himself behind a nearby car to avoid the gunshots. “Less than you’d think.” He comes back from around the car, grabbing a long knife from his side and plunging it towards her unprotected arm as fast as he can. She blocks it, of course, and the two former allies find themselves locked in hand-to-hand combat.

“You can come with me, you know. Leave all of this behind.” The Hawk laughs, loud and incredulously. There’s a note of manic rage that Bucky swears wasn’t there before. “Now that you finally have your tongue, you use it to joke with me? We both know there’s no chance of that.” The fighting halts for a second, both opponents circling each other warily. “We used to talk about leaving, didn’t we? I may not remember much, but I do know that.” The Hawk charges him once more. “You’re so bold now that you’re out of their reach. Do you really think there’s any possibility that I’d go with you?” 

One of the HYDRA soldiers has a pouch full of small explosives, and they’re hurling them at the two fighters. Bucky is forced to duck for cover while still fending off the Hawk’s attacks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. All I know is that you once fought by my side, and once dreamed of a world where we could live without HYDRA.” The Hawk scoffs. “They were only dreams, Barnes. You know what you did.”

One explosive lands right by their feet, and the resulting explosion launches them both a few feet back. Bucky scrambles to his feet, noticing that the Hawk is holding her fingers to a scratch running across her arm. Her face is streaked with soot, as he imagines his face is as well. At seeing her like this, dirty and slightly vulnerable, Bucky is thrown back into memories long gone.

“Y/N.” The name rises to his lips, bidden by a time circled by darkness. He had called her that, once, when they were both captive by HYDRA. When she had trusted him, as much as you could trust anyone. When they had fought side by side, and sat even closer on the flights back from the operations to the HYDRA base.

For a second, Bucky swears he saw a glimmer of emotion flash across Y/N’s eyes, as if she too sees what he sees- two soldiers who swore to protect each other from everything, even when they had no more control over what happened to them than an infant.

But just like that, it’s gone, and a snarl of anger rips its way onto Y/N’s face instead.

“I will never forgive you for what you did.”

Before he knows it, the Hawk is gone, leaving Bucky behind in a haze of smoke and shouts of fighting soldiers.

He remembers her name, and he remembers her touch, but the only thing Bucky cannot remember is what he did to cause her such pain.

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes imagines #winter soldier #winter soldier imagine #winter soldier x reader #winter soldier imagines #bucky imagine #bucky x reader #bucky series #avengers #avengers imagines #avengers x reader

[coldwind-shiningstars]

ok ok prompts!!! so, I would be Delighted by some more qinxiyao family fic (deleted scenes or things you might have wanted to include in the big bang fic but didn't get to?), or, alternately, anything in the modern tcgf au? anything at all; they're all so excellent <3

both of these are such excellent prompts I started working on both of them, but the modern au got finished first! I’ll probably both a) do a lot of edits on this and b) do the qinxiyao family fic in a week or so, but here this is for now. Also, for those not in James and my brains, this is a very small part of a very large AU! Small note, all characters appearing in this fic are trans; however, He Xuan is still very much an egg and so they are referred to throughout the fic as “he/him,” although SQX at least is aware of this and wondering when to bring it up with her. She is, however, unaware that “Ming Yi” is a stolen identity and He Xuan is actually the eco-terrorist who’s been blowing up her brother’s fish hatcheries. It’s a long story. 

If Xie Lian was being honest, he didn't much like the internet. It was so bright and everything moved too fast. People used a bewildering array of slang and images. It was surprisingly difficult to avoid spending hours reading upsetting news stories. People spent days arguing about pornography. 

Also, his phone didn't really connect to WiFi very well. Even by the loosest definitions of the word, he hardly counted as a netizen.

People were usually shocked when he told them this, though, because Xie Lian's best friend was one of China's most popular beauty influencers.

Xie Lian's face appeared on her Weibo with some regularity. She talked about him often. He'd gone viral three separate times on Douyin, entirely accidentally. 

What Shi Qingxuan was most famous for, however, was makeup tutorials. He had never actually appeared in one of these, but, since there were very few people in the world capable of saying no to a very determined Shi Qingxuan, this was about to change. He was used to being in her charmingly decorated little apartment but not quite used to becoming a decorated thing himself. He'd even put on one of the outfits Hua Cheng had designed and sewn for him, based on some of his old dance costumes and a few frantic weeks of historical research, and kept swishing the skirts around his legs.

Shi Qingxuan started setting up, chattering away to Xie Lian as she did. "You need anything before we start? Bathroom, water, a snack? I edit my videos pretty heavily, so we can always take a break, but it’s good to be comfy." 

"No, I'm fine," Xie Lian said, and then had to close his eyes when she clicked on the ring light.

He fiddled with the makeup compacts laid out on the table.

Shi Qingxuan adjusted her light, scootched Xie Lian’s chair a little to the left and a little back, and then fiddled with the camera. It was quite the involved operation, Xie Lian thought; he knew a lot went into making videos, but he hadn’t realized it took this much effort before the camera was even on. Shi Qingxuan had done his makeup before, of course, but mostly just for fun, or something she could take a picture of and post on Weibo. It had been so long since he'd been filmed.

He watched Shi Qingxuan press record on her camera and then sit back and flash it a smile, putting on her Influencer Face. She squeezed his hand under the table.

“Hi everyone, welcome to Feng Shi!” she said, chirpy. “I’m Shi Qingxuan, and today we’re doing xianxia makeup with my good friend, Xie Lian. Now, for this look, we’re going to need…”

When Xie Lian was little, the makeup artists for his dance troupe had known he took about twice as long as anyone else did to get his makeup done. He was the darling of the company, though, so this was tolerated with fondness.

He didn't like the way the foundation felt on his face when it dried. His eyes watered when they put on eyeliner. He liked to spin his chair from side to side. 

He'd had much worse things on his face than paint since then, and had learned how to be still.

Shi Qingxuan patted his hand cheerfully as she pulled out the setting powder. 

"You're always one of my favorite models," she said. "You're so photogenic and so patient!"

"Thank you," Xie Lian said, and held still while she brushed it in his face.

Ruoye, probably noticing the warmth, slithered out of Xie Lian's robes and curled up on top of his head so she could get the full blast of heat from the ring light. She flickered out her tongue to scent Shi Qingxuan when she leaned in with a liquid eyeliner pen.

Shi Qingxuan made little kissy sounds at her, which only confirmed Xie Lian's certainty that he had good taste in friends. Most people were startled by Ruoye originally, but how they responded to her after Xie Lian introduced them was a good litmus test.

Ruoye settled in, and Xie Lian reached up a finger to stroke her scales. 

He was feeling good, content and warm, happy to sit still. Then the apartment door clicked open, and Xie Lian stiffened.

"Ming-xiong? Is that you?" Shi Qingxuan called.

Ming Yi mumbled something back and shuffled into the room, buried deep in his black hoodie. As always, Xie Lian's first thought upon seeing him was wondering how he could see through all that hair.

The hoodie had a fish skeleton painted on it that he recognized instantly as one of Hua Cheng's drawings; it made Xie Lian smile, thinking of how insistent San Lang was that they absolutely weren't friends, no way, there was no particular reason he would make custom hoodies for Ming Yi. The fish were a coincidence. He’d even made Ming Yi custom salmon breakup boots while proclaiming it meant nothing. 

Xie Lian, wearing an elaborate hanfu Hua Cheng had designed, sewn, and embroidered himself, even making him a period-appropriate duduo to flatten his chest, absolutely did not buy any of these excuses. Hua Cheng covered people he cared about with his art. 

Ming Yi grunted a greeting and wandered off, probably to raid the fridge. Shi Qingxuan winked at Xie Lian.

“I’ll edit most of this out,” she said, conspiratorial, “But my viewers love Ming-xiong. Especially when he’s out of focus in the background. They’ve made memes. I haven’t told them anything about him. It’s good to keep a little mystery! It keeps people watching.”

Xie Lian, having no real idea what she was talking about, smiled and suppressed his instinct to nod. Shi Qingxuan began painting a flower on his forehead with red pigment.

Finally, Shi Qingxuan gently removed Ruoye from Xie Lian’s head and shoulders and settled a wig cap over his hair, then the wig she’d pre-prepared. A few bobby pins, a few tucks, and then she stepped back, grinning.

“Ta-dah! How do you like it, taizi dianxia?”

“It’s beautiful,” Xie Lian said, honestly.

“We’ll end the video here, I think,” she said, “But I’ll get some posed photos of you to edit in here if that’s alright. Oh, tilt your head back and forth a little? Good. Smile at the camera!”

Shi Qingxuan fluttered her fingers at the camera in a wave; Xie Lian waved too, a few seconds later. As she leaned forward to click off the camera he straightened his legs out to try and loosen them up. His knees made terrible crunching sounds as they stretched. 

“You can take a little break if you want,” Shi Qingxuan said. “I’ll set up the area where we’ll take photos, but I’ll try to make it quick. You’re a darling for sitting through all this, you know?"

She was already bustling around again. She seemed to have an endless fountain of energy; Xie Lian found it admirable. He laid flat on his back on her bed, careful to not get makeup on her sheets or wrinkle his clothes. Ming Yi sat next to him, eating shrimp chips. He put a few directly into Xie Lian's mouth, feeding him like a little bird, and Xie Lian felt warm. Like Hua Cheng, it could be hard to know when Ming Yi liked you, but there were ways to tell.

He let Shi Qingxuan pose him until she was satisfied with the numbers of pictures she’d taken, trying very hard not to feel like the chuunibyou teenager he’d once been. He felt himself mostly immune to embarrassment at this point, but he supposed there were always exceptions.

Eventually, they cleaned up, although Xie Lian had promised Hua Cheng to show off the full look, so he didn’t get changed or clean his face. 

“I’ll buy dinner,” Shi Qingxuan said. “We deserve it. You too, Ming-xiong!”

She herded them both out of the apartment and down the street to a small noodles stall. They all ordered (in He Xuan’s case, three bowls) and Xie Lian was fumbling for his phone when he heard Shi Qingxuan cheerfully tell the clerk to put it all on the same ticket. She tapped her phone to pay for it all before Xie Lian could protest.

A few people asked Xie Lian for pictures as they ate. He posed obligingly, hoping he hadn't spilled any sauce on his clothes while eating. When he was done, he packed up his leftovers, let Shi Qingxuan nag him into calling a Didi instead of trying to walk home, and bid both her and Ming Yi farewell. Ruoye, who had spent most of the time they were eating in Xie Lian's backpack, made a brief appearance too like she wanted to say goodbye as well.

Xie Lian clicked his own apartment door closed quietly and tiptoed over to slide his leftovers into the refrigerator. Down the hall, a light shone out from underneath Hua Cheng's studio door.

There was an old picture of the two of them on the fridge; it was them in a hospital pediatric ward group room. Xie Lian, age fifteen, was beaming at the camera, his "FIGHT! JUVENILE SLE" shirt a bright red and his pants an immaculate white. Next to him, Hua Cheng, his right eye patched with patterned tape, bald and tiny, stared up at him with devotion. 

Ruoye bonked her head gently on the freezer door. Xie Lian pulled out one of her mice and slid her gently into her tank before giving her the treat; she was swallowing the mouse as he left the kitchen.

Hua Cheng turned to him as Xie Lian opened the door to his studio. His eye got wide, and his face looked like it did sometimes when he looked at Xie Lian, like he was seeing something holy. He slid his headphones off his ears.

Xie Lian did a little twirl for him, letting him see the way the fabric moved, and then tilted his face up for a kiss when Hua Cheng came over to him.

“Gege, you look beautiful,” he said.

“San Lang,” said Xie Lian. “It’s all you and Qingxuan. I’ll get her to send you the pictures later.”

Hua Cheng kissed the top of his head. He was dressed down, in a soft shirt and pants, not wearing his prosthetic eye. Xie Lian leaned his head into Hua Cheng’s chest.

“Gege seems tired,” Hua Cheng said. “Would you like to get ready for bed? Do you need dinner or your medicine? I can help you take all that off.”

“San Lang, you’re working,” Xie Lian said. “I already ate, so I think I’d like to sleep. But you don’t have to help.”

"Gege is more important than commissions," Hua Cheng said, and Xie Lian let him bundle him off to bed.

post about prompts! 

#replies #my writing #body in abyss heart in paradise #paradife-loft

[babysprouseisart]

Honestly more things are pointing to a permanent separation for SH. No indications of any reconciliation sadly. And it makes it even harder without the confirmation. I guess when they start to get papped with their new SOs will be the day that it is confirmed they are done. And I hope it is soon. This push and pull with them is exhausting

Good day, anon, and welcome to hell. Screams for help will not save you, alas, because when it comes to a topic in which I am 99, 9% sure, I have no equals. I'm sorry you probably got the wrong address, but it's too late. I am merciless and bloodthirsty with anyone who tries to contradict my faith, tries to correct my point of view and convince me of their own, although I did not give it a reason. Because it's my fucking blog where I for x-billionth time has already expressed my exact points and agreed with some people which think and proved the exact opposite to all that you are saying. So be prepared to be slowly but surely tortured by my long ass post.

 So, let's start with what I said about my blog: only good vibes here. I am not interested/concerned about other opposite/negative feedings. I just don't want to make a big deal about it. Here, in my blog, we support Lili Pauline Reinhart and Cole Mitchell Sprouse in any case as couple as well as individuals.

 This means that under no circumstances do we talk about them, their relationships, their projects, their family, or their decisions in a negative way. Yes, we may disagree with something they do, where they do it, and how they do it (what they post, what they like/don't like, write or repost, who they meet, with whom they decide to be, live and communicate with, what they archive/unarchive, and so on), but we do not have the right to judge them or decide how to act. We also can't control it and it's none of our business.

 I repent if I once made the appearance of a person condemning one of them or their family for their actions and possible causes of the separation, it was only my objective external disagreement, points and thoughts aloud, nothing more rude, involved and inappropriate. And I think with many of my words said earlier (or the words of those I follow and reblog their posts) about the behavior of family/friends of Lili, Cole, and so on, people with brains and common sense could agree. Remember this, or write it on your forehead, so that the next time you write to me, you will see these words.

 Moving on, taking into account all of the above, I would like to tell you that it probably won't be enough for one blog to explain to you point by point all my beliefs and points of view on this subject, to prove to you that every fucking word you say is illogical shit and the most real nonsense. It feels like you're an alien who fell from another planet and decided to crawl into our hole with your impressions of a newborn baby who doesn't understand much about the world and its creators. Although in this case, I'm more of the opinion that you are a little asshole, in which the vein of hatred is boiling and you like to come to this and some other blogs to tell us your agenda although we have no idea where you have such rash thoughts, perhaps you have an extra chromosome? Dude, treat your paranoia.

 Further, given that I don't have much time and desire to describe all my points of view point by point, which, unlike your random set of words, really makes sense for hundreds or even thousands of people who have the gray matter to be able to think, I will attach my long - standing post, indicating all the facts at that time proving the opposite to yours. Although, I will try to supplement everything else as much as I can.

 While, we all ( I hope) already realized and accepted that for many reasons, during this quarantine, Lili and Cole had some problems, were distant and ended up apart for a certain period of time, immediately after the end point of the explosion and informing us of all these public actions on social media (I hope you understand), then after a few weeks, they were already confidently moving towards resolution and recovery and that's why:

https://babysprousehart.tumblr.com/post/618026656780648448/hello-i-hope-this-doesnt-come-off-negatively

This was written long before, but still has many valid points and I just want to widen some of them.

Take a sit and follow me word by word.

I shall start my addition of evidence, based on all the guesses and great opinions of others, as well as hints from the Lili and Cole themselves. I would like to start with a significant event and the day when Lili posted a photo from the Antelope Valley on April 28th, well, or 27th, depending on where you are.

Perhaps we lose some missing pieces in this puzzle and forget about something that was done earlier, but I just want to start counting from this moment.

A few facts about this photo/photos:

1) It was posted exactly 3 years later from their famous photoshoot, when very, very, very many people, mostly in media, began to suspect that there is something between them in a romantic way. It was exactly in the same place, exactly with the same style, exactly in a similar image (waving curly hair, light flying dress, black and white effect) and even without a capture. The picture marked the anniversary and is very important for the two of them. An undeniable fact, beat me.

2) That photo was definitely taken by Cole. Why?

Here are a couple more facts in addition to the first:

They have the quality of captured on professional camera.

You can see, that Lili did not tag the photographer and said jokingly that the photo was taken by Milo, why would she lie, or hide that it was anyone else, because clearly she just hid that because it was Cole.

You may have noticed that Austin, when asked who took the photo, whether she took it and whether she is a good photographer, says no and her reaction with a grin and laugh is priceless. She also didn't tag nor the photographer, neither Lili in her photos from there.

You can watch the vlog in the Colleen blog and see there are very similar figures to Cole, Lili and Milo walking along the valley, because, duh, they were there.

You can view her post, where you can see Cole from the back (notice his dark clothing, the same as on one of his post in the profile, which he has already deleted, as well as his position from which the photo of Lili was supposedly taken and it is just in the same place).

You can observe his style of photography and how similar the theme is to the photos from 2017.

You can see the same poppy behind his ear in one of the past stories.

You may have noticed that the photo of Lili is processed with the same effect as several photos in Cole's profile, and I can tell you as an amateur photo editor that it is very identical.

Question: why arrange such a significant photoshoot with your ex after a few weeks of separation? Why is Cole smiling in a photo (black and white one with a mustache and black clothes) probably taken there? Why is everything so secretive if they broke up? Why even post a photo that your ex-boyfriend definitely took? How can you calmly go to this place, which reminds you of your joint travels with your former lover? Therefore, this photo and later another one from there were the first iron arguments in confirming the improvement of things.

 I would like to continue with another ironclad proof.

Lili in early may very fiercely, after a few weeks of Cole's statements about slander and threats, which she did not respond to so clearly at the time, defended Cole and pointed out the private relationship and literally said that people should stop it and even though should hurt and bully her, but not him.

Question: did she defend her ex so publicly? Would Lili talk about a private relationship if that was the way her past relationship was most often? Would she have written anything at all if she didn't care about him and didn't feel something towards him? I don't think so, so it's gibberish to say so (about the break up) when it's the second unquestionable argument.

 Next, we need to talk about the general activity of Cole and Lili in social media. I just want to list some observations, in different order, but it seems like everything we have now:

If earlier it was visible in the posts of Lili that it was clearly a show off, then over time and after the published photos, she began to behave more sincerely and tenderly, began to publish Milo less, began to say that there was only the two of them less, has stopped showing how good she is without certain someone, as if for Cole showing that she could cope without him, which was visible in the posts and stories, she began to talk more about improving her mental health as a result of training, spoke about how later she was feeling better and that she was grateful for those who were with her and difficult times and in light moments, that you just need to live and enjoy.

Additionally, I can say how she shone with each photo, and it was a natural glow of happiness and settling down. She no longer sang sad songs or posted sad songs, on the contrary, posted sexy, funny and relaxed ones. She appeared more in photos taken by paparazzi. She posted sexy, energetic, romantic movies, funny cartoons, watched funny clips, was excited about her project, laughed, danced with her dog, played with a dog with macaroni, cosplayed Willy Wonka (we all have a feeling it’s Cole’s thing, no?), playing with sand, puzzles, posted funny memes in story, which unfortunately coolly accepted as the opposite, posted a poem with a typo and funny answered to a fan who corrected it, told more about poems and attached a photo with a fragment of a poem about love from her upcoming book. She liked some photos from the anniversary of the last episode of the series, where we remember there was a hot scene of her and Cole's character, she liked a Bughead drawing. Yesterday, she actually posted one of the sexiest videos that will not be posted, being single and lonely, we saw that she actually spent more personal time with Cole (I am not saying they weren’t doing t back then), which was investigated thanks to many amazing people here, and even if they don't live together yet, they are more likely to meet and have met with each other, and more hints on sexy times (because, come one, maybe Milo was the one who left a hickey on her neck, huh?), which is undeniable, just compare the fact that she is no longer in the old rental, and he is not in Kj's house, she then posted a photo from some place, which is very similar to where Cole shot a video with Jimmy Fallon.

 He also began to be more active in social networks, exactly after she started posting photos of the Antelope Valley, he posted a series of photos of the kissing couple, even if it was a gay drawings, they were filled with love, there was a photo of him with cattle with the sarcastic caption, then the photo about porn bots, with funny ask to leave him alone and saying it’s not allowed to be horny on quarantine, again a photo of himself with heart eyes that I talked about above, he posted a very funny video recently. There were more photos from the paparazzi after some time when Lili's usually flashed, and then it stopped, then his humorous photo in the washing machine appeared, which she probably had taken, and why so I explained in the attached post, he posted a photo from the walk, which was also probably taken with her, because again, she had a similar location, then he jokingly called Tommy ‘the’ muse, maybe roasting fans, but he didn’t use ‘my’, so, indicating he still has his own muse, then we saw him at that damn party, which caused people's panic, although he is an ordinary person and has the right to relax, and by the way at this party he was very happy and frisky, but nothing bad or shameful happened and he is innocent, then we even saw Cole, after Lili, delete many of the photos, although he had also unarchived some of them several times, as she had, which means that he did not delete them completely, but just removed many of them, leaving the most tender photo after or before the kiss at the famous moment when Lili wanted a toast and eggs at 1 am, or many photos reflecting her body, which also marks not a bad phenomenon, but a simple trolling from them. Proof of this trolling and unarchiving is on the vastness of other blogs and on Twitter, thanks to that girl's video.

 The way their condition and activity on social networks have changed is very noticeable and is also third undeniable fact of denial of the break up. You can compare photos of Cole taken by Alex, where he is clearly very sad and depressed, because it was taken somewhere in the interval of their real breakup. And compare this with his smiling and playful state during the interview with Jimmy, where he also sparkled with happiness and fun, constantly smiling and seemed to be aroused about something (or someone). I think even a newcomer will notice a change in their mood and attitude. You will see the difference. And this does not happen when going through the break up after 4 years of deeply imbued with love relationships. Please understand, damn it.

 I have listed alas not everything that speaks so vividly about things going in the right positive direction and is evidence that everything is getting better again, there will be only more I assure you and you will kiss my ass, as Cole said.

 Execution cannot be pardoned.

 You have one attempt to put a comma and decide your fate, but I think you’ll  fail because you are a total sucker anyway.

 Bye!

#cole sprouse #lili reinhart #sprousehart #sprousehart positivity #sh positivity #bughead #only good vibes here #positivity #anon hate #anon ask #ask #cole and lili #relationship #break up #not a break up #shut up dumbass

[nicknellie]

I hope that this didn’t take too much time to do so that you were able to get your schoolwork!! This is definitely after the fact but I wish you the best of luck with your work.

(Accidentally forgot to answer about Reggie having a box similar to Rose’s so I’m going to do that briefly)

1. Unlike Rose’s box which was going to be used by someone else Reggie’s was just going to be used by himself also probably only looked at by the rest of Sunset Curve so he probably didn’t think/care about what it was going to look like.

2. The fact that Reggie would go to Luke’s parents and ask for baby pictures is perfection. Also the fact that he just casually stole a box of baby photos and or has pictures of a random baby (if it’s not Bobby) is hilarious and I was laughing so hard at that.

3. Yes, and that would explain that why Reggie didn’t recognize the box at first just because it was a mindless one he made, maybe not even one of his boxes that he put thought into it (what photos/items should I use ect) but just random stuff

Now onto this post (just starting at 2 so the numbers line up)

2. Yes, maybe the guys don’t even get a chance to ask him what’s wrong but Reggie randomly blurts this out and then about five minutes later they’re all crying. Bobby forces all of them to talk, even Alex.

3. Yes that’s exactly what I mean! Just because although he does have his moments of indecisiveness he’s mostly not really an indecisive person so once he believes in some thing he stands with it 100%. For sure, if someone (usually Alex) points out why/how he was wrong Luke will admit that he was wrong (depending on the reasoning it’s mostly begrudgingly)

4. You took the words right out of my mouth and I also love the fact that you said that it’s usually when he’s writing and not in general, because I feel like outside of writing Luke tries to be as conscious as he can about his bandmates well-being and stuff. (‘Luke, once again you are not a solo artist if that was the case then Reggie would already have a country album out and me and Bobby would make our own little band of ourselves just to spite you’ Alex at some point)

5. Alex definitely has quick wit, however a lot of time he just doesn’t say it (unless it’s the boys)

6. Oh, that’s just hurtful thinking about that. After they passed Bobby was never the same, especially since everything that he loved and did had so many memories of the boys that for the longest time he couldn’t do some of them without thinking of them. Also when he went to the garage he was so overwhelmed with memories and the fact that they would never be anymore Sunset Curve memories.

8. Yes, I love that so much. Also I think part of the reason why the police alerted Emily and Mitch was because Luke was supposed to be a missing person so once Bobby confirmed that the body was Luke’s that’s when they were reached out too (long shot but just thinking)

The Rubik’s cube aw, maybe that’s the one thing that Bobby took just to remember them (a drawing of Reggie’s and a small jigsaw of Alex’s)

10. The theme park idea is genius, and I love the detail of Reggie feeling like a proud parent although the boys would gladly go onto a ride that Reggie is comfortable with (for some reason he loves roller coasters as long as they up closer to the ground, with being afraid of heights definitely not not something that goes up high). However Reggie doesn’t want to be a problem and has no issue watching them for a ride or two, hence the feeling of being like a parent.

Yes, and although Alex can tell that it’s a lie, Reggie gets rather emotional about it. (Reggie might have been the one who gave him the drink with the 6 shots of toffee nut and burst out into tears upon realizing)

11. That’s exactly what they are like, I feel like people may be able to tell that Reggie is lying however that’s a normal thing that he does so he easily could not be. (He is)

Luke “where is your kitchen by the way?” Patterson is the great thing I’ve seen. (yes Bobby is so causal to a point that it’s very obvious that it’s not causal hence for it being easy to tell that he’s lying)

13. Phew, wasn’t sure if I would be able to get the link to work or not so I’m glad that it was! (They are so talented, and that is such a great drawing of Reggie in my opinion)

Line dancing, yes also they random break out into square dancing. (Also the boys in cowboy hats and cowboy boots, all the fashion, is an image that I never thought I would need in my life)

14. I’m glad that you liked it! Also yess, also I just want to see one of the boys kind of make fun of Caleb with the devil point of view (bonus points if ‘nick’ is there and has to see everything)

Also I completely forgot to comment this last time, but Reggie is a huge Johnny Cash fan and those three songs are his favorite from the artist. (They are the most played songs and whenever the other boys hear them they are so done but eventually start singing along)

15. Also just randomly has Star Wars characters in the drawing, for the longest time a small Han-solo is what he used instead of a signature.

16. Wait yes I love that. I wasn’t thinking along those lines but that’s exact what happens. Reggie would also be the one who always tried to eat the batter (as does Luke and technically they are both banned from the kitchen)

17. Oh my goodness young Alex. I completely agree with what you said, also picturing a baby Alex with frosting all over his face from baking gone wrong

19. Yes, also Reggie randomly has the boys join him for dancing in the rain (thought of that due to the fact that you said rain is relaxing so Reggie would just always want to be out in the rain but not when it’s storming)

20. This is literally it’s the mindset of anyone who meets Alex

Even Willie gets on board, especially when he fell off his board (worst line I’ve ever said but Willie would be the pun making type of person)

Also if it was for anyone else then Emily and Mitch wouldn’t let them however since it’s Alex exactly as you said ‘boys let’s get in the car’

21. Yes, Alex always randomly shows up. Even has his own key for whenever he needs to stay there but no one is around, honestly Mitch doesn’t have a lot of characteristics (I mean the song is mostly focused on Luke’s mom and stuff) so him being a supportive father figure is everything

23. Agreed, I want all of this. Honestly anything and everything Rose is needed

24. I just want more performances from both actors because they are fantastic. Also the fact that Flying Solo didn’t have Flynn singing at all was a lost opportunity to be honest. Not sure if you’ve seen lemonade mouth however with Flynn as their rapper they would be that band

Willie and Alex singing together is everything I need, just a duet needs to be in season 2. Also we were robbed of them dancing and I blame Caleb, so them dancing is also needed in season two.

Exactly, Flynn is so loyal and we need more of her (also her and Carrie moments)

25. I agree I think it took him sometime to go to therapy. (Possibly when he had Carrie just because he didn’t want to fail as a father and thought it would help him stress less about being a father, also raising a kid with no support from his friends that would’ve definitely helped out)

26. Wait yes, I want to see all of this as well. Especially him explaining his actions and apologizing, and that idea of him being their manger is brilliant. Going on with that, just like with Sunset Curve he books the gigs and stuff and Flynn is their social media manger (just because she can not be apart of the band somehow)

27. I didn’t think about that fully but yes, the fact that Julie is getting older and he’s not would definitely hurt him

28. I love those songs titles, we also have ‘if you wake me up at 4AM again it will not be nice’ ‘Bobby I don’t care how much I love your pieces if you keep leaving your yarn in random places I will scream’

30. Yes, yes, that is precisely what happens and the only way Ray should find out that the boys are ghosts. Tia Victoria does react that and her and Alex bonding is everything (also her and Willie bonding because)

31. There are so many ruined photos and Reggie being so upset about it which is exactly what causes Bobby to master the skill.

32. Alex always has about five stickers, some that are for Reggie and a handful that fans also give to Alex because they can. Legitimately Sunset curves fan base is so supportive and one of the best boy band fan base ever. Luke was once given a portrait of the bandmembers as animals and it is probably framed somewhere, also Bobby has one that someone painted of the band. Honestly the reason why Alex was probably given a jigsaw is because Reggie randomly said that he liked them to a fan and they just had to give one to Alex.

34. Yes, Luke also got stuck in a fridge once much to everyone’s confusion. Him randomly being in a suit of armour is the greatest thing I have ever heard

35. Willie is extremely photogenic, yes. Legitimately Reggie has so many pictures of Willie and Alex and Willie being photogenic has just cause Reggie to take even more. And once this discovery is made, on the photography account there’s a lot more photos of someone skateboarding (also just in general photos of Willie). Just photo shoots with Reggie, like everyone has had one at some point (even Carlos)

37. Alex just gives Julie a massive hug, all of the time and especially when she is sad. Also she definitely takes that hoodie, all of them take his hoodies. Legitimately by this point it’s not just Alex‘s clothes it is the bands (also Flynn has a hoodie) (Willie has takes hoodies)

39. Wait yes, (possibly could’ve been Trevor who gave Carrie that idea for costumes because he remembers when Sunset Curve did). All of those colours fit so well, also I can kind of see Bobby is yellow. They definitely have matching onesies, like two or three pairs to be honest.

Best photo ever, that is exactly what they look like

40. Alex teaching Willie how to dance is adorable and I’m just thinking about how cute that would be. Due to seeing Willie dance during ‘the other side of Hollywood’ Alex thinks that he would be able to waltz pretty well (at least be a better beginner than the rest of the band who can’t dance) and then is mistaken very quickly

This is just me saying the boys about 100 times because I can’t say three names together apparently 😂😂

You know the drill, under the keep reading 😂

I did manage to do my school work thankfully! We won’t mention the fact that I handed in every single piece late, but I don’t really think that’s my fault, it’s theirs for not explaining how all this was going to work. Anyway! Not the point! I keep getting so excited to respond to these lmao let’s gooo!

1. Yeah exactly, he was probably more concerned with just finding something to hold all his random bits and pieces. Or I just thought right now it could be like not just a “normal box” but maybe like an old case for his bass? Like he got a nice newer one and needed something to do with the older one, and it had locks so that was handy, so he just uses it for that. Or another type of less boring box maybe idk

2. Lmao yeah I laughed so hard when I came up with it and I like I totally think he would! Like if he couldn’t find real Bobby photos (I reckon there weren’t many anyway) then he just got those and Bobby was like “Reggie that baby looks nothing like me” and Reggie just shrugs like “close enough”

3. Yeah exactly! As if he’s only just starting to make the box and is putting whatever in it, not just the things that mean something

Ok now non-box-related stuff lol

2. Yesss omg I love that. They’re just in the middle of playing through a song and Alex notices that Reggie is slowly dropping out and turning distant and he stops drumming (which makes the other two stop playing as well) but before any of them can ask Reggie what’s up he just kind of explodes. Tears all round, mostly Luke because he’s so guiltily relieved it’s not just him feeling like this

3. Totally! Alex points out all the logical stuff and Luke is just frowning the whole time like a furious puppy, and when Alex is finished he just says “right Luke?” and Luke just keeps scowling but nods at him. Doesn’t work if Reggie or Bobby try it, it does work when Julie does it, and surprisingly also works when Willie does it (because Willie is really good at reading people, as seen with Alex, so he knows how to approach any situation like that)

4. Yes exactly Luke is so caring (like in ep 7 when Alex is practically attacking his drums and he just gives a quick “hey Alex you alright?”) it’s just sometimes he lets his passion get in the way, that’s usually where music comes in! And omg that’s so perfect lmaooo I live for Alex kindly telling Luke off to get him back on track I love it

5. Yeah he knows the boys won’t take him seriously but he’s more careful around other people - the first time he says something sarcastic to Julie that he meant as a joke he worries for like a split second but then she immediately comes back with something terrible (because we all know Julie is terrible at comebacks and does not have Alex’s quick wit) and from then on they have this friendly-mean banter going back and forth between them

6. Yes exactlyyy 🥺😭 I feel like he went back to the garage once and then either he couldn’t make himself go back there ever again OR he couldn’t make himself leave for a long time and stayed there alone for days on end - either way he suffered a lot, being alone with his thoughts and his guilt. He started trying to talk to the boys - like Julie talking to her mum when she runs out of the Orpheum in ep 9. “I don’t know if you can hear me guys, but I am so sorry. I’m sorry I let you down, that I wasn’t there, that I can’t make this right. I miss you so much and... I don’t know what I’m ever going to do without you.”

8. Ohhh yes that makes way more sense actually, I like that a lot! They probably just passed Bobby as he was leaving the morgue and they were coming in to see Luke and that hurts to think about actually oh god. And yesss he so took the Rubik’s Cube and for a long time he would fiddle with it when nervous; he never managed to solve it though, not even once

10. Yes definitely!! He loves rides like the Spinning Teacups (or whatever variation they have at the theme park of that ride) and it’s Luke who will sit out on that one because the spinning makes him feel ill. He’s less happy to sit out than Reggie is because he worries he’ll miss out on the fun, but he’d rather not vomit everywhere. Now it looks like I’m going off on a theme park tangent so I’m just gonna let it happen - Alex adores rides, there’s nothing he won’t go on. Like he’s unafraid even though people would expect them to hate it but he knows they’ve been tested and they’re safe so he’s more than happy to spend all day on the biggest rides. Bobby likes water-based rides and logflumes and stuff like that - they always make sure they go on those at the end of the day because they have to do it for Bobby but they don’t want to walk around soaking wet all day. Reggie likes getting/taking photos with all the dressed up mascots wandering around, Luke is thrilled by any interactive rides (except ghost trains because we’ve already established he hates horror movies and he thinks it’s like being in a horror movie), Alex also really enjoys just wandering around the big park and seeing people have a good time, and Bobby actually likes co-ordinating their day and making sure everyone gets to do what they want to

Yes I can totally see that! Like Reggie somehow didn’t know what one of his best friends was allergic to and felt so guilty afterwards. It’s a sore spot, they can’t bring it up or he’ll just start crying and hugging Alex for hours on end. Reggie will say “I’m so sorry Alex I could have killed you that day!” and Alex just goes “dude we all died anyway”

11. With Reggie it always turns into a game of “is he lying or is this actually some totally messed up thing he really did?” The most difficult time anyone’s ever had to figure it out was when he said he’d met Queen Elizabeth - like yeah it’s unlikely but it’s definitely the sort of thing Reggie would somehow accidentally do so??? (It was a lie, but not on purpose - he thought he had met her but it was just some random old lady at a store)

13. Omg yes!!! I feel like they just get bored during the day and Luke would just go “hey Reggie, come and Dosey Doe with me” and it would turn into all four of them dancing around the studio. And yes I think out of all the unlikely things I want in season 2 full cowboy outfits is very high up on my list

14. Ahskfldo YES Nick witnessing the entire thing!! Assuming lifers still can’t see the boys next season it’ll be so funny if Nick can see them because obviously he’s actually Caleb so he has to mentally restrain himself from reacting at all to them mocking him because he can’t reveal himself. So it’s just Nick shaking with anger and Julie saying “Nick? You okay?” and how biting back something mean about the boys and growling “fine” instead. And yes 100% Reggie plays those songs on repeat and the guys pretend to hate them but they can’t deny good music when they hear it so they do join in

15. THAT IS THE CUTEST THING EVER OMG THANK YOU FOR SAYING THAT! A tiny Han Solo in the corner of every piece, no matter if it’s Star Wars or not omg I love it I will never get over this

16. Yes lmao both of them are trying to sneak around Alex and duck under his arms to get at the batter and he’s just like “GUYS I am literally using an electric whisk, are you trying to get your fingers chopped off? Don’t even answer that, you’re banished from the kitchen, goodbye. Go annoy Bobby instead”

17. That is so cute omfg and like all over his clothes and in his hair. He just looks an utter mess but he’s smiling so wide and is the cutest baby ever (he was easily the cutest baby out of Sunset Curve, Reggie as a close second)

19. Wait yes I love that! Reggie’s just like “y’know it’s a lovely day outside d’you want to go dance with me” and Alex just goes “Reg it’s tipping it down. Of course” and it takes a while but Luke and Bobby eventually join them. Lots of splashing in puddles because the four of them are literal children and think it’s funny

20. That is the greatest thing ever andkdllf and I love how that was literally my reaction after episode 1 of the show too like wow Alex really is just that lovable. That pun as well I literally laughed out loud - I’ve reblogged/added to a post a while ago where I said Reggie and Willie communicate with each other only in ghost puns so I wholeheartedly support that. And exactly! If Luke suggested throwing eggs at anyone else’s house he would be sent to his room but he mentions it’s the Mercers’ and Emily just goes “I think we’re out of eggs, I’ll need to go shopping first, come on”

21. Yes omg idk why but the image of Alex having his own key is the sweetest thing ever - maybe because it symbolises him finally having a place to call home?? And yes I totally agree, Mitch doesn’t have a lot of characteristics (I wrote a massive list before where I made a load of headcanons about him because he didn’t have enough screen time lol) and he would develop so much if he took Alex under his wing

24. Omg yes you read my mind! She so should have had a verse in Flying Solo! Like thinking about it it’s totally plausible that Julie read her the poem before and Flynn, being Flynn, wanted to add her own verse about how much she loves Julie and how she’ll always be there for her! Or she could have at least like added harmonies or something?? Idk it’s just that Flynn is in the music program too and frankly I’d like to see her do a little more music. And I haven’t seen Lemonade Mouth but I did see a commentary video about it on YouTube (I think it was I’M LEMONADE MOUTH by Danny Gonzalez if you’re interested (but that might not be the title idk)) and if I’m remembering it right then YES absolutely! And yes exactly Willie would have danced with him if Caleb hadn’t made him leave! I’m still really angry about that because just think about how much fun they would have had together!!!!

25. Omg yes! I love that, I agree that it was because of Carrie being born that made him finally go. He wanted to be strong for her now that he finally had a second (third I guess?) chance at getting family life right and he knew he wasn’t in the right state of mind for it. And omg that mental image 🥺 if the boys had lived they would have been Uncle Luke, Uncle Alex, and Uncle Reggie to Carrie (and possibly even to Julie if they stayed friends with Rose too) and they would have raised her and maybe she would have grown up to be a little nicer and she and Julie and Flynn would have all stayed friends 🥺😭

26. Yes yes yes!! He gets back into his role of managing the band and even though the boys haven’t totally forgiven him he still finds himself able to write good music again and make jewellery again and he steps foot in the garage for the first time in decades because he has his band back and he feels so much happier and freer and he’s just ecstatic to have another chance!

28. Lmfao yes those are perfect! “Bobby I don’t care how much I love your pieces if you keep leaving your yarn in random places I will scream” was written after Reggie tripped over a bit of yarn that was somehow stretched all the way across the garage like a trap and when he fell he somehow managed to get totally tangled up in in

30. Omg yeah I can totally see her and Willie bonding!! I feel like Willie is kind of like an old soul and can just get along with everyone but he takes a special liking to Victoria for whatever reason and loves finding ways to talk to her

32. Yes! Sunset Curve just have the nicest, friendliest fan base and everyone is kind and respectful and all they want to do is give them stickers and fanart! Luke absolutely adores that portrait omg so Reggie and Luke would be puppies, I feel like Bobby could be a cat, and Alex would be something like an owl or something idk but they just are all captured as whatever the perfect animal for them and it’s adorable. Yeah you’re right I think Reggie just likes talking to fans and casually mentions it one day and the fans show up to the next gig with a 1000-piece puzzle for Alex

34. In a fridge omg I love it that’s brilliant. The boys laughed at him for a solid hour before helping him get out

35. Yes to all of that I love it!!! I also thought about Ray helping out - like he can’t see Reggie, but he goes along to all these photoshoots (and mostly can’t see who they’re taking pictures of either) and helps with angles and lighting and says well done to Reggie whenever he does a good job - Ray can’t see but Reggie smiles so wide at that

37. Ahsklfskdlfl yeah Alex has no hoodies left because they’ve all gone to a different band member or Flynn or Willie

39. YES OH MY GOD. When Carrie was just starting Dirty Candi she was saying about how she needed something to make them stand out and Trevor just immediately said “matching outfits, colour co-ordinated” without even thinking about it

40. Oh absolutely - but at some point Alex has to wonder if Willie is tripping so often because he can’t dance or so that Alex is forced to catch him. Willie is very eager to learn how to do lifts and stuff like that (even though it’s been years since even Alex did them) and he thinks it’ll be romantic. It is, but not because the lift is like this perfect moment, because it’s them messing up and being silly and just enjoying each other’s company 🥺

Not gonna lie this whole post might be my favourite we’ve made so far 😂

#williexmercer #sunset curve #julie and the phantoms #asks #emily answers

[96harmony96]

Chapter 11

“But she’s let you in.”

And she’d already shown hints of how possessive she could be about that connection. I accepted that because it was a flaw I shared, but still…

“You’re analyzing this to death, Camila,” Cary said. “You’re thinking the way she feels about you has to be a fluke or a mistake. Someone like her couldn’t really be into you for your big heart and sharp mind, right?”

“My self-esteem isn’t that bad,” I protested.

He took a sip of his champagne. “Isn’t it? So tell me something you think she likes about you that doesn’t have to do with sex or codependency.”

I thought about it and came up empty, which made me scowl.

“Right,” he went on with a nod. “And if Jauregui is anywhere near as messed up as we are, she’s thinking the same thing in reverse, wondering what a hot babe like you sees in a girl like her. You’ve got money, so what has she got going for her besides being a stud who keeps screwing up?”

Sitting back in my chair, I absorbed everything he’d said. “Cary, I love you madly.”

He grinned. “Back atcha, sweets. My advice, for what it’s worth? Couples therapy. It’s always been my plan to get into it when I find the one I want to settle down with. And try to have fun with her. You’ve got to have as many good times as bad or it all becomes too painful and too much work.”

I reached over and squeezed his hand. “Thank you.”

“For what?” He shrugged off my gratitude with an elegant wave of his hand. “It’s easy to pick apart someone else’s life. You know I couldn’t get through my rough spots without you.”

“Which you don’t have any of now,” I pointed out, shifting the focus to him. “You’re about to be splashed across a Times Square billboard. You won’t be my secret any longer. Should we upgrade dinner from pizza to something more worthy of the occasion? How about we haul out that case of Cristal Stanton gave us?”

“Now you’re talking.”

“Movies? Anything in particular you want to watch?”

“Whatever you want. I wouldn’t want to screw with your big-dumb-blow-’em-up movie genius.”

I grinned, feeling better as I’d known I would after an hour with Cary. “You’ll let me know if I’m too dense to figure out when you and Trey want to be alone.”

“Ha! Don’t worry about that. Your tempestuous love life is making me feel dull and boring. I could use a hot, sweaty bang with my own stud.”

“You just had a maintenance closet romp a couple days ago!”

He sighed. “I’d nearly forgotten. How sad is that?”

“It isn’t when your eyes are laughing.”

I’d just gotten back to my desk when I checked my smartphone and found a text from Lauren letting me know she had fifteen minutes to spare at quarter to three. I nursed a secret rush of anticipation for the next hour and a half, having decided to take Cary’s advice and have a little fun. Lauren’s and I would have to wade through the ugliness of my past soon enough, but for now, I could give us both something to smile about.

I texted her just before I left, letting her know I was on my way. Considering the time constraints, we couldn’t waste a minute. Lauren must have felt the same way, because I found Scott waiting for me at reception when I reached the Cross Industries waiting area. He walked me back after the receptionist buzzed me in.

“How’s your day been?” I asked him.

He smiled. “Great so far. Yours?”

I smiled back. “I’ve had worse.”

Lauren was on the phone when I entered her office. Her tone was clipped and impatient as she told the person on the other end of the line that they should be able to manage the job without her having to oversee it personally.

she held up one finger to me to tell me she’d be another minute. I responded by blowing a big bubble with the gum I was chewing and popping it loudly.

Her brows shot up, and she hit the buttons to close the doors and frost the glass wall.

Grinning, I sauntered over to her desk and hopped onto it, curling my fingers around the lip and swinging my legs. she popped the next bubble I blew with a quick jab of her finger. I pouted prettily.

“Deal with it,” she said with quiet authority to whoever was on the phone. “It’ll be next week before I can get out there and waiting will set us back further. Stop talking. I have something time-sensitive on my desk and you’re keeping me away from it. I guarantee that’s not improving my disposition. Fix what needs fixing and report back to me tomorrow.”

she returned the phone to its cradle with suppressed violence. “Camila—”

I held up one hand to cut her off and wrapped my gum in a Post-it I took from a dispenser on her desk. “Before you reprimand me, Miss. Jauregui, I want to say that when we reached an impasse in our merger discussions at the hotel yesterday I shouldn’t have walked out. It didn’t help to resolve the situation. And I know I didn’t react very well to the PR issue with the photo. But still…Even though I’ve been a naughty secretary, I think I should be given another chance to excel.”

Her gaze narrowed as she studied me, assessing and reevaluating the situation on the fly. “Did I ask for your opinion on the appropriate action to take, Miss Cabello?”

I shook my head and looked up at her from beneath my lashes. I could see the lingering frustration from her phone call falling away from her, replaced by her growing interest and arousal.

Hopping down from the desk, I sidled closer and smoothed her immaculate tie with both hands. “Can’t we work something out? I do possess a wide variety of useful skills.”

she caught me by the hips. “Which is one of the many reasons you’re the only woman I’ve ever considered for the position.”

Warmth flowed through me at her words. Boldly cupping her cock in my hand, I fondled her through her slacks. “Maybe I should reapply myself to my duties? I could demonstrate some of the ways I’m uniquely qualified to assist you.”

Lauren hardened with delectable swiftness. “Such initiative, Miss Cabello. But my next meeting is less than ten minutes away. Also, I’m not accustomed to exploring job enrichment opportunities in my office.”

I freed the button of her fly and lowered her zipper. With my lips to her jaw, I whispered, “If you think there’s anywhere I won’t make you come, you’ll have to revisit and revise.”

“Camila,” she breathed, her eyes hot and tender. she cupped my throat, her thumbs brushing over my jaw. “You’re unraveling me. Do you know that? Are you doing it on purpose?”

I reached inside her boxer briefs and wrapped my hands around her, offering up my lips for a kiss. she obliged me, taking my mouth with a fierceness that left me breathless.

“I want you,” she growled.

I sank to my knees on the carpeted floor, pulling her pants down enough to give me the access I needed.

she exhaled harshly. “Camila, what are you—”

My lips flowed over the wide crown. she reached back for the edge of her desk, her hands curling around the lip with white-knuckled force. I held her with both hands and mouthed the plush head, sucking gently. The softness of her skin and her uniquely appealing scent made me moan. I felt the vibration ripple through her entire body and heard a rough sound rumble in her chest.

Lauren touched my cheek. “Lick it.”

Aroused by the command, I fluttered my tongue across the underside and shivered with delight when she rewarded me with a hot burst of pre-cum. Fisting the root of her with one hand, I hollowed my cheeks and drew rhythmically, hoping for more.

I wished I had the time to make it last. Drive her crazy…

she made a sound filled with the sweetest agony. “God, Camila…your mouth. Keep sucking. Like that…hard and deep.”

I was so turned on by her pleasure I squirmed. Her hands pushed into my bound hair, pulling and tugging at the roots. I loved how she started out with tenderness, then grew rougher as the lust she felt for me overwhelmed her control.

The soft bite of pain made me hungrier, greedier. My head bobbed as I pleasured her, jacking her with one hand while I sucked and stroked the crest with my mouth. Heavy veins coursed the length of her cock, and I slid the flat of my tongue along them, tilting my head to find and caress each one.

she swelled, growing thicker and longer. My knees were uncomfortable, but I didn’t care; my gaze was riveted to Lauren as her head fell back and she fought for breath.

“Camila, you suck me so good.” she held my head still and took over. Thrusting her hips. Fucking my mouth. Stripped to a level of base need where only the race to orgasm mattered.

The thought made me crazed, the image in my mind of how we must look: Lauren in all her urbane sophistication, standing at the desk where she ruled an empire, stroking her big cock in and out of my greedy mouth.

I gripped her straining thighs in both hands, frantically working my lips and tongue, desperate for her climax. Her balls were heavy and big, an audacious display of her powerful virility. I cupped them, rolling them gently, feeling them tighten and draw up.

“Ah, Camila.” Her voice was a guttural rasp. Her grip tightened in my hair. “You’re making me come.”

The first spurt of semen was so thick, I struggled to swallow. Mindless in her pleasure, Lauren was thrusting against the back of my throat, her cock throbbing with every wrenching pulse into my mouth. My eyes watered and my lungs burned, but still I pumped my fists, milking her. Her entire body shuddered as I took everything she had. The sounds she made and the muttered, breathless praise were the most gratifying I’d ever heard.

I licked her clean, marveling at how she didn’t fully soften even after an explosive orgasm. she was still capable of fucking me senseless and more than willing to, I knew. But there was no time and I was happy about that. I wanted to do this for her. For us. For me, really, because I needed to know I could indulge in a selfless sexual act without feeling taken advantage of.

“I have to go,” I murmured, standing and pressing my lips to her. “I hope the rest of your day is awesome, and your business dinner tonight, too.”

I started to move away, but she caught my wrist, her gaze on the clock readout on her desk phone. I noticed my picture then, sitting in a place of prominence where she’d see it all day.

“Camila…Damn it. Wait.”

I frowned at her tone, which sounded anxious. Frustrated.

she quickly restored her appearance, tucking herself back into her boxer briefs and straightening the tail of her shirt so she could fasten her pants. There was something sweet in watching her pull himself back together, restoring the façade she wore for the world while I knew at least a little of the man beneath it.

Tugging me close, Lauren pressed her lips to my brow. Her hands moved through my hair to unclip my tortoise barrette. “I didn’t get you off.”

“No need.” I loved the feel of her hands on my scalp. “That rocked just the way it was.”

she was overly focused on fixing my hair, her cheeks flushed from her orgasm. “I know you need an even exchange,” she argued gruffly. “I can’t let you leave feeling like I used you.”

A bittersweet tenderness pierced me. she’d listened. she cared.

I cupped her face in my hands. “You did use me, with my permission, and it was seriously hot. I wanted to give you this, Lauren. Remember? I warned you. I wanted you to have this memory of me.”

Her eyes widened with alarm. “Why the fuck do I need memories when I have you? Camila, if this is about the photo—”

“Shut up and enjoy the high.” We didn’t have the time to get into the photo issue now and I didn’t want to. It was going to ruin everything. “If we’d had an hour, I still wouldn’t let you get me off. I’m not keeping score with you, ace. And honestly, you’re the first person I can say that to. Now, I have to go. You have to go.”

I started away again, but she caught me back.

Scott’s voice came through the speaker. “Excuse me, Miss. Jauregui. But your three o’clock is here.”

“It’s okay, Lauren,” I assured her. “You’re coming over tonight, right?”

“Nothing could keep me away.”

I shoved up onto my tiptoes and kissed her cheek. “We’ll talk then.”

____

After work, I took the stairs down to the ground floor to feel less guilty about skipping the gym and seriously regretted it by the time I reached the lobby. Lack of sleep from the night before had left me wiped out. I was contemplating taking the subway rather than walking when I saw Lauren’s Bentley at the curb. When the driver got out and greeted me by name, I halted abruptly, surprised.

“Miss. Jauregui asked that I take you home,” he said, looking smart in his black suit and chauffeur hat. He was an older gentleman with graying red hair, pale blue eyes, and the softest of cultured accents.

As much as my legs ached, I was grateful for the offer. “Thank you…? I’m sorry—what was your name?”

“Angus, Miss Cabello.”

How had I not remembered that? The name was so cool, it made me smile. “Thank you, Angus.”

He tipped his hat. “My pleasure.”

I slid through the back door he opened for me and as I settled into the seat, I caught a glimpse of the handgun he wore in a shoulder holster beneath his jacket. It appeared that Angus, like Clancy, was both bodyguard and driver.

We pulled away from the curb and I asked, “How long have you been working for Miss Jauregui, Angus?”

“Eight years now.”

“Quite a while.”

“I’ve known her longer than that,” he volunteered, catching my gaze in the rearview mirror. “I drove her to school when she was a young girl. she hired me away from Mr. Vidal when the time came.”

Once again, I tried to picture Lauren as a child. No doubt she’d been beautiful and charismatic even then.

Had she enjoyed “normal” sexual relationships when she was a teenager? I couldn’t imagine that women weren’t throwing themselves at her even then. And as innately sexual as she was, I imagined she’d been a horny teen.

Digging in my purse, I pulled out my keys and leaned forward to set them on the front passenger seat. “Can you see that Lauren gets those? she’s supposed to come over after whatever it is she’s doing tonight and depending on how late that is, I might not hear her knock.”

“Of course.”

Paul opened the door for me when we arrived at my apartment and he greeted Angus by name, reminding me that Lauren owned the building. I waved to both men, told the front desk Lauren would be coming over later, and then took myself upstairs. Cary’s raised brows when he opened the door to me made me laugh.

“Lauren’s coming over later,” I explained, “but I’m feeling so hammered right now I may not stay up long. So I gave her my keys to let herself in. Did you order already?”

“I did. And I tossed a few bottles of Cristal in the wine fridge.”

“You’re the best.” I shoved my bag at him.

I showered and called my mom from the phone in my room, wincing at her strident, “I have been trying to reach you for days!”

“Mom, if it’s about Lauren Jauregui—”

“Well, of course, it’s partly about her! For goodness’ sake, Camila. You’re being called the significant woman in her life. How could I not want to talk about that?”

“Mom—”

“But there’s also the appointment you asked me to make with Dr. Petersen.” The note of smug amusement in her voice made me smile. “We’re scheduled to meet with him Thursday at six o’clock in the evening. I hope that works for you. He doesn’t do many evening appointments.”

I plopped backward onto my bed with a sigh. I’d been so distracted by work and Lauren that the appointment had slipped my mind. “Thursday at six will be fine. Thank you.”

“Now, then. Tell me about jauregui…”

When I emerged from my bedroom dressed in jersey pants and a San Diego State University sweatshirt, I found Trey seated with Cary in the living room. Both men stood when I came in and Trey gifted me with an open, friendly smile.

“I’m sorry I look so ragged,” I said sheepishly, running my fingers through my damp ponytail. “Taking the stairs at work almost killed me today.”

“Elevator take the day off?” he asked.

“Nope. My brain did. What the hell was I thinking?” Spending the night with Lauren was enough of a workout.

The doorbell rang and Cary went to get it while I headed into the kitchen for the Cristal. I joined him at the breakfast bar as he signed the credit card receipt and the look in his eyes when he glanced at Trey had me hiding a smile.

There were a lot of those looks going back and forth between the two men as the evening progressed. And I had to agree with Cary that Trey was a hottie. Dressed in distressed jeans, matching vest, and a long-sleeved shirt, the aspiring veterinarian looked casual but well put together. He was very different personality-wise from the type of guy Cary usually dated. Trey seemed more grounded; not quite somber, but definitely not flighty. I thought he’d be a good influence on Cary, if they stayed together long enough.

The three of us made it through two bottles of Cristal and two pizzas between us, plus all of Demolition Man before I called it a night. I urged Trey to stay for Drivento round out the Stallone mini-marathon; then I went to my room and changed into a sexy black baby doll I’d been given as part of a bridesmaid gift bag—sans the matching panties.

Leaving a candle burning for Lauren, I crashed.

____

I woke to darkness and the scent of Lauren’s skin, the lights and sounds of the city shut out by soundproofed windows and blackout drapes.

Lauren slid over me, a moving shadow, her bare skin cool to the touch. Her mouth slanted over mine, kissing me slow and deeply, tasting of mint and her own unique flavor. My hands slid down her sleekly muscular back, my legs parting so she could settle comfortably between them. The weight of her against me made my heart sigh and my blood warm with desire.

“Well, hello to you, too,” I said breathlessly when she let me up for air.

“You’ll come with me next time,” she murmured in that sexy and decadent voice, nibbling at my throat.

“Will I?” I teased.

she reached down and cupped my butt in her hand, squeezing and lifting me into a deft roll of her hips. “Yes. I missed you, Camila.”

I ran my fingers through her hair, wishing I could see her. “You haven’t known me long enough to miss me.”

“Shows how much you know,” Lauren scoffed, sliding downward and nuzzling between my breasts.

I gasped as her mouth covered my nipple and sucked through the satin, deep pulls that echoed in the clenching of my core. she moved to my other breast, her hand pushing up the hem of my baby doll. I arched into her, lost to the magic of her mouth as it moved over my body, her tongue dipping into my navel, then sliding lower.

“And you missed me, too,” she purred with masculine satisfaction, the tip of her middle finger rimming my cleft. “You’re swollen and wet for me.”

she pulled my legs over her shoulders and licked between my folds, soft and provocative laps of hot velvet against my sensitive flesh. My hands fisted in the sheet, my chest heaving as she circled my clit with the tip of her tongue, then nudged the hypersensitive knot of nerves. I keened, my hips moving restlessly into the devious torment, my muscles tightening with the clawing need to come.

The light, teasing flutters were driving me insane, giving me just enough to make me writhe but not enough to get me off. “Lauren, please.”

“Not yet.”

she tortured me, coaxing my body to the brink of orgasm, and then letting me slide back down. Over and over. Until sweat misted my skin and my heart felt like it would burst. Her tongue was tireless and diabolical, cleverly focusing on my clit until a single stroke would set me off, then moving lower to thrust into me. The soft, shallow plunges were maddening, the flickering against the nerve-laden tissues making me desperate enough to beg shamelessly.

“Please, Lauren…let me come…I need to come, please.”

“Shh, angel…I’ll take care of you.”

she finished me with a tenderness that made the orgasm roll through me like a crashing wave, building and swelling and spreading through me in a warm rush of pleasure.

she threaded her fingers with mine when she came over me again, restraining my arms. The head of her cock aligned with the slick entrance of my body and she pushed inexorably into me. I moaned, shifting to accommodate the heavy surge of her penis.

Lauren’s breath gusted hard and humid against my throat, her big frame trembling as she slid carefully inside me. “You’re so soft and warm. Mine, Camila. You’re mine.”

I wrapped my legs around her hips, welcoming her deeper, feeling her buttocks flex and release against my calves as she demonstrated to my body that it would indeed take her thick length all the way to the root.

With our hands linked, she took my mouth and began to move, gliding in and out with languid skill, the tempo precise and relentless yet smooth and easy. I felt every rock-hard inch of her, felt the unmistakable reiteration that every inch of me was her to possess. she drove the message home repeatedly until I was gasping against her mouth, thrashing restlessly beneath her, my hands bloodless from the strength of my grip on her.

she spoke heated praise and encouragement, telling me how beautiful I was…how perfect I felt to her…how she’d never stop…couldn’t stop. I came with a sharp cry of relief, vibrating with the ecstasy of it, and she was right there with me. Her pace quickened for several slamming thrusts; then she climaxed with a hiss of my name, spilling into me.

I sank lax into the mattress, sweaty and boneless and replete.

“I’m not done,” she whispered darkly, adjusting her knees to increase the force of her thrusts. The pace remained expertly measured, each plunge staking a claim—your body exists to serve me.

Biting my lip, I fought back the sounds of helpless pleasure that might’ve broken the tranquility of the night…and betrayed the frightening depths of emotion I was beginning to feel for Lauren Jauregui.

[bunnymcbunnister]

SPN Season 15 Spoiler Sheet, update 10/3

Lots and lots of updates abound. I took out some old general stuff because this monster is huge (but it will only get shorter, sniff sniff) Spoilery goodness under the cut. 

DISCLAIMER: This is gathered info from various sources. This is not confirmed information. Stuff in this WILL be wrong. Don’t take this too seriously. This is for fun. Also, if you use this info for another publication, please let me know as a courtesy. Don’t be a dick. It's all out there, but it hurts to see my same phrasing on other publications after all the work I’ve done to consolidate it…  

General Info (oldest to newest). This is a blend of pre-COVID and post COVID, so some might change. 

In an interview, Kripe indicated that the series ending would have “peace” for Sam and Dean

Misha will be in 15 out of 20 episodes this season (he’s missed 3 so far and I suspect will miss 14. Unclear about 16, 19, and 20). 

Dean and Amara’s connection will be explored

JaxCon/Vegas Con spoilers: 

Misha said the ending was “happier than he expected” but also had some sadness. He later used “sad and redemptive”

Misha mentioned that Claire will be mentioned on the show, but as of yet not appear. 

Dean says the line “stop killing my people” (to god?)

Jensen said he doesn’t see how the story could continue past this season, but Jared said its more of “a see you later”

Al Cal posted a pic of a “thrown away” call sheet that seem to indicate Micheal, Lucifer, and a character named “Betty” interacting in the bunker. Unclear as to the validity, could be from 19 based on casting 

Charlie (original flavor) will return

Filming resumed on Aug 18th. Per Canadian policy, they must quarantine for two weeks. Those quarantining seemed to include:

Fairly Clear: Jared, Jensen, Jake Abel (Micheal), Rob Benedict (Chuck/God) Mark Pelligrino (Lucifer), Al Cal (didn't need to quarantine, but he is definitely on set), Jim Beaver (Bobby)

Unclear/Rumored: Misha (he is being deliberately cagey), Osric Chau (Kevin- but likely for another project, he was a week ahead of everyone else)

Reasons Unlikely: Sam Smith (chemo treatment), Kim Rhodes (working at a camp during quarantine), Ruth Connell (posted from Malibu the entire time)

No idea: Shoshannah Stern 

Jensen said sp 19 is more of a season finale, while 20 is a series finale. Repeated in interviews/livestreams. 

Megan Fitz. complimented both Dabb’s and Glynn’s writing on twitter. Not sure if it is in reference to rewrites or the special retrospective that is planned. 

Jensen indicated that the ending did change per COVID protocols. Later interviews (Variety) confirmed this, but it seemed to indicate the changes were in regards to how many people filmed at once (crowd scenes, recurring characters returning)

Misha is being very, very cagey about where he was. Some live streams seem to indicate he is not at home, but he has yet to confirm- his presence in 19/20 is hard to track. In an interview with Metaverse, he was in bed in a hotel looking space and you could see mountains in the background. He was not on set for the first week of filming, so he could be a week behind. 

Misha has thrown around the words “final”  and “what he <Misha> would have wanted” per Cas’ ending. “Sad/Proud” and “poignant” were also used. His latest line is “sad but satisfying”

The final episodes will premier October 8th. The finale will air Nov 19th in conjunction with an hour long special. 

Dabb confirmed to TV line the episode 19/20 explanation Jensen’s mentioned- For the most part, we wrap up a big chunk of our mythology in Episode 19,Episode 20 is more character-based and is more concerned with Sam, Dean and this family they’ve built around them than it is with figuring out the Case of the Week.

When talking about the lightheartedness of returning on ep 14, Dabb said deeply depressing and upsetting episodes are coming (USAToday). He also said we would see “new sides” of Jack, Cas, and Billie. A revisit of Chuck and Amara’s “sibling issues” as well is on tap. Jared said sacrifices are coming. 

From TV Line-  re the battle with Chuck. Allies will return, buit was repeated several times in the article that is comes down to Sam and Dean. Jack will struggle with getting his soul back but will be helped by Cas.

It was confirmed there will be no appearances by mamma and papa Winchester, possible due to COVID. (TVLine)

A trailer was released on 8/27. Scenes included:

A moving speech from Sam to Dean

(Possibly from 18) A teary conversation between Dean and Cas

Injured Dean being helped by Cas in the bunker

Jack breaking some cuffs/bring thrown into a wall/saying he has to kill god

Dean and his grenade launcher and a purple nightgown 

Sam in a sweater vest getting a gun from under a pillow

A glimpse of a body with “Lust” written above it/a matronly woman (I think the villain from 14) saying “Boys”

Ghose Dean? Little Sam cutting off a hand

Some intermixed scenes from past episodes

https://youtu.be/d5AzUa5zABI

A second trailer was released on 8/31. Scenes included:

A monologue from Billie about god coming to destroy the planet plus her banging on a bunker door (with her hand all gooey) and striking someone with her scythe

Jack continuing his speech about killing god but expanding that he has a ritual to do

Lots of red danger lights in the bunker/ 3 people getting tossed around in the bunker/Chuck in the bunker

Chuck saying he doesn't believe Sam and Dean can kill him

Young Sam and not ghost Young dean

Dean angrily driving the Impala then saying “its time”

Cas drawing his blade in front of an old truck to protect someone in a suit (Jack? I can't tell)

More Dean tears

A surprise appearance from Bobby

Some of the same scenes as before

https://youtu.be/mBTwCWkOFKw

A third trailer was released on 9/24. It was a rehash of the other two, but a new new scenes included: 

A handcuffed Jack asking Dean if his plan will work, Dean cheekily replying, and swing a machete at the cuffs

More of Dean and his nightgown

Sam saying “it's our one shot”

A pair of werewolves/vampires?

https://youtu.be/7oVO9BdADnQ

A Shaving People, Punting Things trailer was released on 10/2. Scenes included:

Dean in a bar with a blond woman

Sam by the mountain lake with facial wounds

Sam in a birthday crown

Several scenes with Sam and Dean in a barn

Team Free Will 2.0 in  a bunker corridor, Jack looking injured (?)

Cas digging near a stop sign

Sam, Dean, and Jack walking down a street/later in a church/in the Impala

Sad Dean in the dungeon/Sad Sam drinking and knocking over a book

Sad Jack and Cas leaning on the Impala

Scattered shot of Sad Sam and Dean (drinking in the bunker, learning against the Impala)

Sam/Donna hug

Sad Jack on a bed

Dean entering a motel room

Amara looking blissful

Dean giving Sam an encouraging face pat

Billie choking Cas

Sam and Dean shooting/swinging machetes/knives

Glowing eye lady in the bunker

Sam and Dean getting thrown around the bunker

Sam in Death’s library, hurting

Billie swinging a scythe

A bunker door getting blown up

Many behind the scenes shots, including one of Felicia Day (Charlie)

https://youtu.be/yex3jbuf8Mo

Episode 15x14

Title: Last Holiday

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME – Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) discover a wood nymph (guest star Meagan Fey) living in the bunker who is determined to protect her family, at any cost. Eduardo Sanchez directed the episode written by Jeremy Adams (#1514). Original airdate 3/30/2020.

Written by: Jeremy Adams

Director: Eduardo Sanchez

Filming Dates:1/15- 1/24

Airdate: unknown- October 8th

Photos: https://www.tvinsider.com/gallery/supernatural-returns-season-15-episode-14-last-holiday/

Promo: kind of lumped in with the other promos

Sneak Peak: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CF0HK1blaFU/?igshid=o2ffwvgud56j

Sneak Peak 2: https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2020/10/07/final-supernatural-episodes-lead-climactic-amazing-showdown/3632212001/

Castiel ? eh… I don't think so Jack ? yes

Guest stars:  Meagen Fay (fae lady)

Other Spoilers/info:

Misha mentioned being at an airport the first day of filming, maybe he’ll miss this one

The director shared a BTS shot with AlCal’s chair in the background. He also posted on that looked like the statues in hell. Lots of filming at the bunker. A few impala shots were shared as well. 

In an EW article, “a mysterious woman gives Sam and Dean every holiday they ever missed”

Episode 15x15

Title: Gimme Shelter

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: MATT COHEN DIRECTS – Castiel (Misha Collins) and Jack (Alexander Calvert) work a case involving members of a local church. Meanwhile, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) go off in search of Amara (guest star Emily Swallow). Matt Cohen directed the episode written by Davy Perez (#1515). Original airdate 10/15/2020.

Written by: Davy Perez

Director: Matt Cohen

Filming Dates: 1/27-2/5

Airdate: unknown. October 15th

Photos: http://www.ksitetv.com/supernatural/supernatural-gimme-shelter-preview-images-released/205510/

Promo:

Sneak Peak:

Castiel ?yes  Jack ? Yes

Guest stars: Emily Sparrow? 

Other Spoilers/info:

There was some filming done at the crossroads with only Misha. 

Alex and Misha filmed together

It seems as if J2 didn’t film at all the first week, Misha filmed six or seven days, is this is a Cas centric ep?

Episode 15x16

Title: Drag Me Away (From You)

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: FLASHBACK TO A YOUNG SAM AND DEAN – Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) are asked to investigate the murder of a childhood friend, calling them back to a motel from their past and perplexing the brothers with a case they thought was solved a long time ago. Amyn Kaderali directed the episode written by Meghan Fitzmartin (#1516). Original airdate 10/22/2020.

Written by: Megan Fitzmartin

Director: Amyn Kaderali

Filming Dates: 2/6-2/17

Airdate: October 22nd

Photos: 

Promo:

Sneak Peak:

Castiel ? I think so… briefly? Jack ? not sure either. 

Guest stars: IMDB credits Lisa Berry (Billie/Death)  as well as Young Sam, Young Dean and both grown and young Caitlyn

Other Spoilers/info:

Alex got a cast of his face around the filming of this- so this ep or the one after

Looks like we get Dean in a robe!

They filmed at Rooster’s Sunrise Hotel for 3 days/nights

This is the flashback ep

From TVLine- “It worked not only as a case right now, but also as something that informed the journey Sam and Dean have taken, where they started as kids, how they kind of came together and then how that has [led up] to the point that they are, emotionally, when the episode airs. So it ended up being a really good reflection of our guys now, telling a story about our guys then, which, to me, are always the best versions of those types of flashback stories.”

Episode 15x17

Title: Unity

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS:  ONE WAY OR ANOTHER – Dean (Jensen Ackles) hits the road with Jack (Alexander Calvert) who needs to complete a final ritual in the quest to beat Chuck (guest star Rob Benedict). A difference of opinion leaves Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Castiel (Misha Collins) behind looking for answers to questions of their own. Catriona McKenzie directed the episode written by Meredith Glynn (#1517). Original airdate 10/29/2020.

Written by: Meredith Gylnn

Director: Catrion McKenzie

Filming Dates: 2/19-2/28

Airdate: Oct 29th?

Photos: 

Promo:

Sneak Peak:

Castiel ? yes Jack ? yes

Guest stars: Rob Benedict and Emily Sparrow. IMDB credits Robert Wisdom (Uriel)

Other Spoilers/info:

Chuck and Amara trailers were seen on set when filming in a garden

Jensen was in NOLA Friday, possible Monday

“Uriel” was around for filming (Post COVID update: Misha seemed to indicate that this was because the actor was nearby filming? Not sure if this is to cover up the spoiler or the truth)

Alex and Jensen filmed in the imala

Episode 15x18

Title: Despair (it was The Truth at some point I think)

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: 

Written by: BOBO

Director: Speight

Filming Dates: 3/2--3/11

Airdate: Nov 5th?

Photos: 

Promo:

Sneak Peak:

Castiel ? yes Jack ? yes

Guest stars: IMDB credits Billie

Other Spoilers/info:

Misha and Alex filmed near the impala. J2 showed up later that night. This was the source of the “last time they all filmed on set” photo)

An really emotional scene was filmed with Misha and Jensen. Jared was definitely not there, but Alex was on the flight they took with Rich, so its possible he was too. This was revealed at a con in which the four of them were on a plane that had an in-flight problem.

Filming watchers saw a bro hug

Tape Ball posted a shot of field that looks like where dean came back from hell

Misha indicated this was his “favorite episode” in a recent interview

Episode 15x19

Title: Inherit the Earth

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: 

Written by: bucklelimg

Director: John Showalter

Filming Dates:: 3/12-3/23/cancelled for COVID and then 8/18-8/27

Airdate: Nov 12th

Photos: 

Promo:

Sneak Peak:

Castiel ? unknown Jack ? yes

Guest stars: Jake Abel (Micheal), Mark Pelligrino (Lucifer) 

Other Spoilers/info:

Production shut down as a precaution for coronavirus on 3/13, two days into filming. It is scheduled to start again on Aug 18th. 

Jensen indicated there might be some re-writes for this ep to account for COVID protocols.

When they started filming, they indicated they were on day two. So maybe they could only use some of the scenes they shot? Then they added an extra day all called it day 9. COVID protocols makes things take longer 

AlCal was definitely on set. 

Jake Abel is definitely on set, and he posted an instagram story with his trailer and Lucifer’s (Mark Pelligrino)

Some filming was done at a gas station called Showalter’s (name of the director) with Jared, Jensen, and Alex

Jake “Spoiler King” Abel filmed a video showing chairs for Jared, Jensen, and Alex as well as Rob Benedict (Chuck/God). They were filming near a lake with a mountain view (that looked similar to where Cas died in season 13)

Rob Benedict posted it was his last day in Vancouver, indicating we won't see Chuck past this episode? Or very very briefly in 20? Jake Abel posted a similar message, also baiting fans about Misha’s whereabouts 

Scene “28” took several days and seemed to go across both 19 and 20? So they might have done some combo filming?

 Episode 15x20

Title: Carry On

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: 

Written by: Dabb

Director: Bob Singer

Filming Dates: 8/28- 9/10  

Airdate: November 19th

Photos: 

Promo:

Sneak Peak:

Castiel ? maaaaybe? Jack ? maaaaybe?

Guest stars: Jim Beaver

Other Spoilers/info:

Jensen indicated filming would take two weeks, longer than usual (looks like a 9 day shoot, with a day off for Labor Day)

According to Superwiki, 9/3 was the last day on the bunker set, the final days are on location. 

Scene “28” took several days and seemed to go across both 19 and 20? So they might have done some combo filming?

Filming locations seemed to include a barn (pic with a stunt guy showed wooden walls and straw) and a lake (not the mountain lake from 19), and a forest. Filming signs spotted at Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve. 

Jim Beaver confirmed his appearance on Twitter

There was a pic of J2 with baby on a bridge. Baby had her original plates. They seem to be wearing the same clothes they were in the pilot. There may be grey (??) In their hair, but that could be lighting

Misha posted some creation videos, saying he had been on an impromptu camping trip. He was back in his house. They were posted on the last day of filming and he had pretty decent scruff. He also mentioned that it was the last day of filming and he wasn't up there. 

The show officially wrapped at 6:25 on 9/10

Jared said “the last time Sam and Dean see each other is the last time Jared and Jensen film together” but seem to imply that was not the final scene? It was a confusing answer to a question about filming the final scene.

IMDB credits a vampire?

#supernatural #spn spoilers #supernatural spoilers #spn season 15 #spn 15x14 #spn 15x15 #spn 15x16 #spn 15x19 #spn 15x18 #spn 15x20

[rosethornewrites]

Fic: The Rebellion of Adrien Agreste, ch. 9

Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Luka Couffaine, Lila Rossi/karma, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth/aneurism, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi, Plagg & Tikki

Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Lila Rossi, Jagged Stone, Plagg, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine, Penny Rolling, Anarka Couffaine, Rose Lavillant, Juleka Couffaine, Kagami Tsurugi, Alya Césaire, Chloé Bourgeois, Wayhem, Nadja Chamack, Nathalie Sancoeur, Sabine Cheng, Tom Dupain, Tikki, Fang, Principal Damocles, Caline Bustier, Ms. Mendeleiev, original minor character, Alec Cataldi, Lila Rossi’s Mother, Sabrina Raincomprix, Roger Raincomprix, Mylène Haprèle, Le Gorille | Adrien Agreste’s Bodyguard, Nino Lahiffe, Nooroo

Tags: Lila Rossi salt, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Teenage Rebellion, Swearing, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Crack Treated Seriously, Lila Rossi’s Lies Are Exposed, Cuddling & Snuggling, Luka Couffaine Needs a Hug, Paparazzi, Parentification, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Gabriel Agreste Needs an Aneurism, Uncle Jagged Stone, we’re all queer here, the spirit of punk is sometimes just being allowed to be yourself, Kagami Finds Her Groove, punk rock fashion, Savage Kagami, Marinette protection squad, Good Parent Sabine Cheng, Good Parent Tom Dupain, Protective Kagami Tsurugi, Protective Luka Couffaine, Bisexual Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Pansexual Luka Couffaine, Sharing a Bed, Pet Names, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Instagram, Bullying, Social Media, Anxiety, Makeover, Hugs, will cure your acne, Face Punching, Bad Ass Juleka Couffaine, Rumors, Protective Juleka Couffaine, Protective Adrien Agreste, Lawyers, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Holding Hands, accountability, mental health, Jagged Stone’s well-paid pet shark, How to Make the Evening News, Sexy eyeliner for days, one fish two fish Lila is a screwed fish, How to have fun and piss Gabriel off, Fuckery, sweet litigious karma, Alya sugar, lawyer shark doo doo doo doo doo doo, Schadenfreude, Bad Ass Alya Césaire, Gaslighting, abuse denormalization, Jagged likes his lawyers like he likes his pets: toothy af, Blood in the Water, Everything you didn’t know you wanted and some things you did, Gabriel Agreste is shark bait, Denial, Consequences, Principal Damocles salt, caline bustier salt, the impotence of Gabriel Agreste, snarky Nooroo, lies and the lying liars who tell them, Lila’s brain is a narcissistic hellscape, Lila’s mind is built like an Escher piece, Alec Cataldi salt, Adrien Sugar, wholesome salt, Fu Salt, Kwami Shenanigans, Nooroo is a little shit

Summary: Marinette Protection Squad: Assemble!

Notes: I know this is set after Ladybug. Beyond that I haven’t decided. It is likely before Miracle Queen. But meh beyond that it’s AU so who cares? Also, I might be coming out of my depression. Let’s hope so!

AO3 link

Chapters 1-2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8

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

Huddled around the computer, the three of them considered what to post alongside the pictures, ‘chaperoned’ once again by Penny. Jagged had wandered off, muttering to himself about stupid parents.

They eventually decided on posting a lovely cropped image of Adrien and Luka feeding each other bites of ice cream with the caption “Wish I’d been allowed to do this before. I’m not permitted to go out with friends much. :( But I can’t think of anyone else I’d want to share soulmate ice cream with.”

“You should send a link to that to Nadja Chamack, to get her on it if she isn’t already,” Penny noted.

Adrien took a moment to google his name and laughed. “Yeah, not all that necessary, though she could ‘leak’ some of the other images?”

Marinette’s fingers flew over her screen, and when she finished she immediately got a responding text.

“She wants to know what made you go public.”

Luka got an evil grin. “His father wanted to force him to date his teenage muse.”

Marinette glanced at Adrien, who considered for a moment before nodding. “Definitely. Said it would be ‘good for the brand.’ Put that in quotation marks.”

There was no immediate after the text was sent, so they went back to focusing on social media.

adrienagrestebrand: tbh I wish I wasn’t forced to model so much. I’d like to play with Kitty Section more. I’m the keyboardist but I don’t get to play much.

adrienagrestebrand: Also I hate missing school for photo shoots, and I wish I could hang out with my friends more.

Then Adrien got the idea to remotely check his text messages. The ones from his father were demands he return control of the social media accounts and return home. The last one had come around the time they’d gotten ice cream.

Meanwhile, Lila’s texts were very interesting, about half an hour apart.

Lila: How dare you call me a lying cow!

Lila: You can stop pretending you have a choice, Adrien.

Lila: If you come back now, I’ll try to remember you’re my ‘friend.’

Lila: You ditched me for some wharf-rat boy?!

Lila: Also those clothes are hideous.

Lila: I won’t honor our agreement.

Lila: wtf did you do to your hair! I won’t be seen with you!

Lila: Marinette is fair game. It won’t just be expulsion this time.

Lila: I warned you.

Both Luka and Adrien turned to Marinette, whose fists were clenched on her knees. Her face was pale, and she was shaking slightly. Wordlessly, the two of them pulled her close, until she was snuggled between them, her face flushed.

“What was she talking about, agreement?” Marinette finally asked.

Adrien launched into the story, how he had confronted her at the photo shoot and implied he’d make being a model difficult if she didn’t fix it.

Marinette’s eyes were wide and surprised when he finished. “I… I didn’t realize you were behind that.”

“I had to do something. It just wasn’t enough.” Adrien took her phone from where it sat on the desk, and snapped a picture of the texts from Lila. “Text it to Nadja.”

“And to Kagami,” Luka added.

Marinette did, clarifying in the text to Nadja Chamack that it was Lila Rossi, the Italian ambassador’s daughter and Gabriel Agreste’s new muse, then bit her lip. “Should I send it to Alya, too?”

The two boys nodded in unison. “And Nino,” Adrien added. “Maybe the entire class, even. Can you email it to M. Damocles and Mme. Bustier, too? Maybe Mme. Mendeleiev, too?”

They watched as Marinette’s fingers flew, texting the pic with the claim Adrien sent it to her, then accessing the school website and emailing the two teachers and the principal.

Penny got their attention, leaning around them to screencap the text messages. “I’m going to send this to Jagged’s legal counsel, too. Especially if she’s threatening Marinette… she’s his preferred designer, and thus a freelance employee. We’re obligated to protect her legally, and we intend to go after her for the claim about the kitten and song, anyway…”

Marinette stared, open-mouthed, at that, then her face turned bright red and she launched herself into Penny’s arms. The sound of Marinette’s phone alerting to text messages faded into the background as they focused on her.

Penny, for her part, looked frozen as Marinette almost sobbed against her, and Jagged happened to come in at the same time.

He rushed over, going to one knee beside her. “Hey, hey now. Marinette, are you okay? What’s wrong?”

Penny gestured to the computer. “I explained we’re providing legal protection based on Lila Rossi’s threats against her. She was… overwhelmed, I guess?”

Luka shook his head. “No… I think she’s been more stressed about Lila than she’s been showing. I… I tend to do the same thing. She’s been putting on a front of being okay, but she hasn’t been.”

Adrien stood, pulling Luka with him as he went to Marinette. “Mari, I’m so sorry. I should’ve been better. I should’ve noticed.”

After a few seconds, she pulled away from Penny with a soft apology, her face red, her cheeks wet. “No. I was hiding it. You wouldn’t have known. Don’t blame yourself.”

Luka put a hand on her shoulder. “Marinette… I do the same thing, and I know I need to work on that.” He grimaced a bit at the admission. “But… your feelings matter. You don’t have to hide them, not from us, and not from anyone.”

Jagged’s face had turned stonier than Adrien had ever seen. “Tell the lawyers to draw up a restraining order. For me, and also for Marinette. We’ll see what the school decides to do—but Marinette doesn’t have to change classes. Tell the lawyer that’s the stand.”

Penny slid into the seat vacated by Adrien and got to work.

Jagged’s expression softened as he turned back to the three of them. “Let’s order some dinner and those manicures, eh? Marinette, call your parents and let them know you’re staying for dinner with me, at least.”

“And maybe… tell them about the text message?” Adrien said. “So they know. And tell them what Jagged’s doing. They’re so amazing; I know they’ll support you.”

Marinette frowned. “I just… don’t want them to worry.”

“I think they’ve probably been worried since you were expelled the once,” Luka pointed out.

That got a sigh. “Yeah, I guess.” She grabbed her phone and moved toward the kitchenette.

Jagged pointed out the menu to them. “Have Marinette let Penny know what she wants. Penny knows my usual.”

While they were looking over the menu, Luka’s phone rang. “Juleka’s calling…”

He answered, and his face went blank as he listened.

“I understand. My guitar’s there—didn’t bring it with, unfortunately. Take it to school tomorrow for Adrien to grab?” He was quiet for a moment longer. “I’ll find a place to spend the night. It’ll be fine. Thanks, Jules.”

Luka let out a tired sigh when he hung up the phone.

“You can’t go home?” Adrien asked, concerned. He suddenly realized he was in a similar position—how could he go home and get back out for school. “I guess I can’t tonight either, actually.”

“The news is staking out the boat. Guess they figured out who I am, too.” Luka shrugged. “It was bound to happen—we just need to get our stories straight before we meet the press.”

Jagged broke in. “Oi, you’re staying here. The suite has an extra room. Big bed. You can share. Your pops will have a meltdown, but that’s half the point.”

Adrien stayed out late regularly as Chat Noir, but his father barely paid attention to him usually. Right now, with a very loud and obvious rebellion, he was probably giving a lot of attention to the empty mansion.

“Serves him right,” Adrien muttered.

Marinette made her way back over. “I’ll have to find a way to sneak home. Maman said Nadja is staked out outside the bakery, waiting for me to come home. She thinks I have a scoop, since I texted her. And I guess I do, but not one I’m sharing yet.”

Jagged let out an explosive sigh. “Ugh, the paparazzi doing its thing, I guess. Penny and I’ll take you home after we eat. Say you’ve been helping me plan my next album.”

“But when we release the video you’re making, they’ll know I know more.”

“Eh, but then you’ll have your stories straight. It won’t happen for a couple hours yet, probably after you leave. Pick something to eat and call the other girl, network and plan. You lot are good at it. After dinner we’ll all get manicures and I’ll get you home.”

It sounded strangely reasonable for Jagged, but Marinette seemed to take it in stride, like she was used to his changing moods. After some conversation, they decided on a variety of items from the menu to share. Once Penny had called in the dinner order, they sent a video chat request to Kagami.

She answered promptly, smiling when she saw them. “I have been monitoring your Instagram and the news being released. You’re still at the hotel?”

Adrien nodded. “The press has Luka’s place covered, so he’s staying here, and I am too for obvious reasons. Since Marinette texted Nadja Chamack, the bakery is also being staked out. Jagged’s going to escort her home after we eat and get our nails done.”

“It’s too bad you had to go home,” Marinette broke in. “It’d be fun to have our nails done together.”

“I would very much like to do that in the future,” Kagami responded. “And I will impress upon my mother your situation with that Lila girl and her threats, so that I may have some free time to ensure you are properly protected.”

Marinette flushed. “I appreciate that. From the texts I’ve gotten since sending it to my classmates, most of them believe me now. We also sent that image to two of my teachers and the principal.”

Jagged broke in here. “And I’ve got my lawyers drawing up a restraining order, so the legal end is covered.”

Kagami nodded. “Very efficient. This girl, however, may decide to do worse, perhaps going after Marinette physically. I absolutely intend to defend you, as I hope Adrien will in my absence—though it will be difficult for him to do so if you use the school bathroom.”

“Good point,” Adrien said. “I’ll use Marinette’s phone to arrange a girl squad to escort her if that’s needed. Last time Lila got her alone, she claimed Marinette pushed her down the stairs.”

Anger passed over Kagami’s face. “Marinette is to be protected, at all times. We need to decide who will escort her to and from school, as well. Perhaps someone not bombarded by the media.”

“Yeah, so not me, or Adrien,” Luka said with a sigh. “Sorry, Marinette.”

“I guess I need to go harass the school anyway. Ugh, haven’t gotten up at an ungodly hour like that in ages, though,” Jagged groused. “But if Adrien’s going tomorrow, I guess it’ll be easy enough. Uncle Jagged can make some sacrifices.”

“We also need to plan for a united front to the media,” Luka said. “We can chat through dinner, and plan at least for tomorrow.”

“Acceptable. My mother has already retired as well, so I will not be interrupted.”

They settled in to plot.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous fanfiction #my fanfiction #The Rebellion of Adrien Agreste #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #luka couffaine #lukadrien #jagged stone #uncle jagged #penny rolling #juleka couffaine #kagami tsurugi #nadja chamack #lila rossi #lila 'the liar' rossi #lila salt #ml salt #miraculous salt

[tealin]

The Road to Cape Evans

This is a crosspost from twirlynoodle.com/blog. If you're reading it in beta mode on NeoTumblr, the remote-hosted images won't show up, so please either turn off beta or see it at the original location, linked above. Enjoy!

Having done Sea Ice training at last, I was clear to head out on snowmobile. My coordinator’s intent had been to do a ‘shakedown’ one day – a practice run, to get used to the vehicles, how to load and tie down the sledge, a chance to get things wrong when it doesn’t really matter – and go to Cape Evans the next, but the morning of the shakedown she said ‘It’s a beautiful day, let’s combine the two.' Thus was initiated a de facto rule of my month in Antarctica: One Must Only Ever Go To Cape Evans By Surprise. I ended up going three times, all by surprise, while every excursion that had been planned, even the night before, fell through.

Having been the headquarters of the Terra Nova Expedition, Cape Evans was obviously central to my research and the most important location for me to visit: I’m going to be drawing people doing stuff there for the next decade, probably, and I need to be able to place myself in that space to depict it truthfully. The hut itself is copiously documented, and while dropping in there was obviously valuable to me, the urgent holes in my knowledge were the less photogenic but no less important surroundings of the hut. How far was it to walk up Wind Vane Hill? How far to the Ramp? What was the Ramp? What did the named landmarks between Cape Evans and Hut Point look like, and how did they relate to one another? There was a lot of travelling done over that route – perhaps not quite as frequently as you’d visit the grocery store, but it needs to have that degree of familiarity.

So when we set off on a bright and amazingly balmy November morning, aside from learning the basic practicalities of snowmobile driving, I was keen to document as much of that route as possible.

You can’t see Mt Erebus from McMurdo, but I knew from Sea Ice training that only a little way out on McMurdo Sound, the Ross Island panorama comes into view. Once we’d made our turnoff onto the main road and had a clear shot of our objective, I captured it.

A little further on, I got one facing the other direction. This is what you would have seen any time you were setting off for a grand adventure to the south.

Once clear of Arrival Heights, I got a panorama of the whole of Erebus Bay, with several features I was finally seeing for the first time. Probably the biggest surprise of this trip was finding out just how low Glacier Tongue was. When you see it on a top-down map, or a satellite photo, it’s a hugely prominent feature, but unless you’re very near to it, it is perfectly possible to look right over it to what’s beyond.

Here we were further into the bay than the usual route would have been, but it means we got a better view of the Hutton Cliffs than we would have done otherwise. They are not so much cliffs as hills which, between them, create a cliff of ice and snow. In the frustration of waiting for the sea ice to freeze and allow them back to Cape Evans, the Terra Nova men frequently discussed alternate overland routes back, often starting up the Hut Point Peninsula and going down the slope north of the Hutton Cliffs, so it’s nice to see what they meant.

As we approached Glacier Tongue, the ice effects on Erebus really started to shine. The Sea Ice Master had previously been a mountaineer, and the other person training with me was a skier; when the latter saw how much ice was visible under the snow on Arrival Heights, he commented on the bad skiing. “Yeah, there’s a lot of bad skiing in Antarctica,” the Master replied, quite a historically relevant observation from someone with plenty of expert first-hand experience.

If you look closely, just under the ‘horizon’ line at the base of the slope is a line of undulations that cross the image. These are the saw teeth of Glacier Tongue, the top of which forms the apparent horizon. You see, quite low!

The road took us around the tip; this was the closest I got, but it was close enough to see the height, and how the drifted snow to leeward would provide a ramp from which to climb onto the firmer ice. This was about as far south as the Terra Nova got, when scouting a location for the hut in January 1911, and they weighed up building the hut here vs. on solid ground at Cape Evans. The latter was considered the more sensible option, and rightly so, for only a couple of months later, the end of Glacier Tongue broke off in a big swell and floated out to sea!

From here you get a million-dollar view of the ice falls down Erebus. Reading Cherry-Garrard’s description of them in Worst Journey, after seeing them in person, I have to give him full marks for descriptive power.

Here are the southern slopes of Erebus; but how different from those which you have lately seen. Northwards they fell in broad calm lines to a beautiful stately cliff which edged the sea. But here—all the epithets and all the adjectives which denote chaotic immensity could not adequately tell of them. Visualize a torrent ten miles long and twenty miles broad; imagine it falling over mountainous rocks and tumbling over itself in giant waves; imagine it arrested in the twinkling of an eye, frozen and white. Countless blizzards have swept their drifts over it, but have failed to hide it. And it continues to move. As you stand in the still cold air you may sometimes hear the silence broken by the sharp reports as the cold contracts it or its own weight splits it. Nature is tearing up that ice as human beings tear paper.

All the schemes for finding an overland route to Cape Evans had to contend with crossing these ice falls, and none could think of how to do it. So the sea ice it had to be.

I have been directing all your attention to the view to the right of us, but there are some interesting things to the left as well. Once we pass Glacier Tongue we are almost alongside Tent Island. I have no photos from this end of Tent Island because the road was horribly chewed up around here so all our concentration was on ploughing through, but here is one looking back at it.

Tent Island’s neighbour is Inaccessible Island, named for its steep slopes affording no access. I was surprised how big it was, something I struggled to capture on camera. Having spent many hours of my childhood on I-15, it reminded me of nothing so much as the top of a mountain in the Mojave, lopped off and stuck in the snow. Some of my photos from Cape Evans give a proper sense of scale, but seeing it end-on shows why it was called ‘inaccessible.’

This is also a good vantage point for Great and Little Razorback. They are aptly named: both are a straight and narrow with a very sharp ridgeline. Great Razorback is the larger of the two; Little Razorback is very wee indeed.

While on the subject of scale, Erebus was always a problem. It never turned up as large in a photo as it seemed to be in real life. The trouble is, trying to get all of it in one shot, you have to zoom so far out that it is inevitably small in the frame. This is more what it felt like to be at the foot of Erebus:

We’re nearly there! I’ve seen an awful lot of the Barne Glacier as seen from Cape Evans; the pieces were in front of me now, and I knew that with only a little change in parallax, Cape Barne would slide behind the glacier face and then we’d be home.

Finally the road rounded a low promontory of blobby lava, and it came into view for the first time:

. . . And seeing it here, in its full setting, in 3D, I realised properly how this is just a shed in the middle of nowhere, and that, for all the stories it contains, it is so very very small, in a way I had never imagined.

But as I pulled up to the snowmobile parking area just offshore, it still felt like coming home.

#antarctica #cape evans #travel #history #polar exploration #mount erebus #sea ice #snowmobiling #usap #united states antarctic program #dellbridge islands #erebus glacier tongue #seals #weddell seals

[ecoamerica]

Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc

The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!

#ACLA24 #ACLA24HighSchoolStudents #youtube #youtube video #climate leaders #climate solutions #climate action #climate and environment #climate #climate change #climate and health #climate blog #climate justice #climate news #weather and climate #environmental news #environment #environmental awareness #environment and health #environmental #environmental issues #environmental education #environmental justice #environmental protection #environmental health #high school students #high school #youth #youth of america #school

[carlatsukinamistolemyhamsandwich]

These Fanfics of Shin and Carla of nice and all...but we want the story on how Carla Tsukinami stoke your ham sandwich! The greedy bast*rd he is...

Anon, this is one of my favourite asks ever and I love you. Thank you so much for giving me an opportunity to shamelessly insert myself into the world of DL I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it :)

I wrote myself as a nameless herione (because I don’t think most of you know my name) which also means you can treat it as a reader insert if you want to, but bare in mind this is based on how I would react in this situation and there are some details that are a bit specific to me.

“Hm, I wonder if I’m allowed up here?” The girl glanced back at the door to the rooftop of Ryoutei Academy, trying to spot any sort of kanji that could translate to “Keep Out” but found none. Shrugging to herself she concluded that if anyone caught her up here when she wasn’t supposed to be, then she would have to play the confused foreign student card and hope for the best.

A mild scolding seemed better than going back to the cafeteria anyway.

She looked down at the slightly sorry looking lunchbox in her hands and loosed a sigh. It was only her second day at her new school and already she felt herself desperately missing her friends and the familiarity of her old school. 

The other students had all been pleasant enough- aside from the boy with glasses in her class, who she’d caught eyeing the hemline of her skirt with obvious disapproval, as though it was somehow her fault that whoever made the school uniform had not done so with five foot nine female transfer students in mind- but the thought of trying to navigate getting food when almost all of the signs were in kanji she didn’t recognize made her gut roll with anxiety.

Besides at least the rooftop was pretty, with troughs of well kept roses lining the space and a perfect view of Kaminashi town, just beyond the iron railing, the lights from the small shopping district a warm glow against the midnight blue sky.

The girl walked over to the edge of the rooftop, intent on giving herself a moment to admire the townscape when a nearby rose caught her eye. It’s petals were such a dark red, they looked almost black in the modest illumination provided by the few lights lining the roof. She crouched down on the balls of her feet and set her lunchbox carefully to the side. Something about the scene, the dark flower with the night sky behind it, made her fingers itch with the urge to sketch it. 

“I don’t think I could do the dark colors justice with my watercolors and I can’t do realism with markers so maybe colored pencils would be best?” She muttered to herself she tried to find the perfect angle for some reference photos she could use later, while reaching into her pocket for her phone. “Acrylics could work I guess but I don’t have any canvas here and I-”

“What are you doing?” A low voice came from right beside her ear. The girl let out a high-pitched shriek and jolted in surprise, barely catching her balance in time.

She loosed a breath before turning her head in the direction of whoever had spoken, but before she could, they spoke again.

“Hahh, that’s no good… Hmph!” A rough shove sent her sprawling into the roses. Thorns scratched at her skin and she cursed as her hands plunged in the damp mulch, just barely stopping her from face-planting into the dirt. The rest of her however, was not so lucky, and she knew from the way her torso had landed in the soil that her skirt’s hemline had just become the least of her worries as far as her uniform was concerned.

A cruel laugh came from behind her and she turned to look up, filled with some mixture of anger and embarrassment. 

But whatever had been brewing petered out the moment she laid eyes on the culprit. He was quite possibly the most beautiful boy she’d ever seen; short choppy, strawberry blonde hair framed pale face with an eye the most incredible shade of gold. 

He was utterly stunning.

The effect was promptly ruined however, when he opened his mouth, face twisting into a sneer.

“Haha, how pathetic, crawling around in the dirt.” He continued to chuckle as she pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, wincing slightly at the way they stung where they’d scraped against the ground. 

“Heehhh, aren’t you going to say something?” The boy asked, the humor in his expression dying down as he regarded her as one might a spot of mould on a piece of bread. “Or is it that you’re so stupid, you can’t understand what I’m saying?”

The girl froze slightly, unsure how to navigate whatever was going on. Was this guy a bully? Her strategy for dealing with bullies until now had generally been to avoid them or ignore them, neither of which seemed like a good idea here.

“Oiii Miss idiot, are you going to keep ignoring me until I do something like this?” Before she could react the boy placed a heavy black boot on her hand and started to put his weight onto it.

Shit.

“What do you want from me?” She blurted out, praying silently that she hadn’t messed up the Japanese grammar, which really shouldn’t have been a concern given this encounter could feasibly end with a broken hand.

The pressure stopped briefly and she took the chance to tug her hand out from her under his shoe and get to her feet. The girl was a little surprised to find that the boy was no taller than she was, although his general aura of menace certainly made him intimidating enough without needing any extra height. 

“Ah, so you can talk. As for what I want… why don’t we start with an apology for shrieking in my ear earlier? It hurt you know?” He made a show of obnoxiously cleaning out his ear with his finger and the girl found herself completely lost for words. Well, that wasn’t entirely true, there were a lot of words swirling in her brain, all of them English and not to be used amongst polite company.

Biting back the urge to tell him to fuck off, she reminded herself that she was currently alone with this guy on a rooftop and angering him further probably would not end well. “I apologize for shouting in your ear, you surprised me. I’ll be going now.” Lunch forgotten, she went to make a hasty retreat to the rooftop door but was stopped short when the male put himself directly into her path. 

“Not so fast, you haven’t answered my question yet. What were you doing up here, sticking your head into the roses like some kind of animal?” The girl tried to keep her breathing even, as she felt panic rise in her veins.

“I wanted to take pictures as drawing references, I didn’t realize that-” an arsehole like you would show up “-someone else was already here, forgive me, I’ll be on my way.” She went to take a step around him, when the boy took a step towards her, forcing her to take one back. Soon her back was pressed up against the railing and she internally cursed.

“You just wanted to draw some pictures of the flowers? Isn’t that a bit childish? Well, I guess you still wear kid’s underwear so I shouldn’t be surprised.” The girl spluttered and instinctively went to yank down her skirt, a slightly ridiculous action, considering he must have seen everything when he pushed her earlier. 

“That-that doesn’t have anything to do with it,” she said, eyes on the ground as her face burned with shame. “Please, just let me leave.”

“You know, you still sound pretty demanding for someone who’s shaking and is covered in mud. Also,” he paused, sniffing the air briefly before glancing down at her knees, “ah I wondered where that awful scent was coming from, geez human blood really isn’t appealing at all.” The girl looked at her legs and caught sight of red liquid staining her knees, but that wasn’t what made her pause.

“Human blood? What are you-” A cold dread spread through her as she looked back up at the boy and the inhuman color of his iris. This had to be some sort of awful prank right?

“Oh, maybe I spoke too much, but that reaction isn’t bad, haha. Hey, what do you think I am?” He asked her, opening his mouth just wide enough to reveal a pair of gleaming white fangs.

“That’s… There’s no way… You can’t…” The girl struggled to process the image in front of her, trying to find some sensible sounding explanation. He had to be a nutjob with fake fangs right? A nutjob who liked to terrorize girls on rooftops and happened to go to a night school.

“Ah how boring. Shouldn’t most girls be crying with fear by now? I don’t want to but, would you react a bit more if I pierced you with these fangs?” He lowered his face and panic surged through her. Lunatic or something else, she had no intention of being bitten by him. The girl went to shove him away from her, but before she could blink he had her arms pinned above her head.

“It seems you still haven’t learned that I’m not the sort of person you should fight back against. Hey, how much would it take to make you cry?” His grip on her wrists tightened and she winced at the strength in his grip. “Your wrists are pretty thin, I’d barely have to use any of my strength to snap your bones.”

“Please stop!” She begged, as she silently prayed for someone, anyone to intervene.

“Oi Shin, what are you doing?” An incredibly deep voice came from the entrance to the rooftop and the girl said a silent word of thanks.

“Huh,” Shin looked over his shoulder, allowing the girl a glance at her savior. He was tall, with long white hair, that appeared dyed pink at the tips. A dark scarf covered the lower half of his face, while above it were a pair of piercing golden eyes. 

A shudder ran down her spine as her gaze locked with his for a moment, suddenly feeling a lot less safe than she had just a moment ago.

“Ah brother, I was just having a bit of fun.” The girl wasn’t sure which part of this statement horrified her more. That her so called savoir was actually related to the demonic pile of steaming garbage in front of her or that this was Shin’s version of fun. 

“That’s enough, we have matters to discuss.” The man walked over from the door to the roof, his footsteps stopping just behind Shin.

“Tch,” Shin let go of her arms, only to grip hold of her chin, moving his face uncomfortably close to hers. “Hey, if you tell anyone about what happened here, I’ll rip your tongue out, got it?” His fangs caught the light as he spoke, and the girl felt very close to tears as she muttered a soft yes. 

Shin flashed her that nasty smile of his before letting go. “Well then, get out of here!” 

Needing no further prompting, she hastily got away from him, pausing only to grab her school bag. As she did so, she caught sight of her lunchbox in the older boys hands and faltered. 

“Go!” Shin yelled and the girl concluded that the ham sandwich and peanut butter flavored chocolate bar contained in the hundred yen tupperware were not worth her life as she borderline ran to the rooftop door, slamming it shut behind her. 

***

Carla watched the girl flee from the rooftop with a dispassionate expression. 

“What exactly did you do?” He asked, more concerned with trying to keep their low profile as they furthered their objective than anything else.

“Nothing much, I just toyed with her a bit. She’s only a human so it doesn’t really matter does it? More importantly, why did you keep hold of that?” Shin nodded towards the plastic container in Carla’s hands. 

Carla said nothing as he opened up the box and pulled out a modest sandwich wrapped neatly in clingfilm. Removing some of the wrap, he sniffed it briefly before muttering.

“I thought so.”

Shin took a deep breath through his nose. “Ah, I see, a dry cured ham sandwich huh?”

“Normally I would never eat something prepared by human hands but to take away the taste of that polluted blood, it can’t be helped.” Carla lowered his scarf and took a bite of the sandwich, chewing a few times as he deemed it to be palatable before swallowing. “Oi Shin, take this.” He threw a plastic wrapped bar at his brother and Shin caught it without effort.

He turned it over in his hands before spotting the reason why his brother had given it to him. “Peanut butter huh? Well at least it seems that girl’s good for something.”

#own post #my writing #self-insert #I realise that the heroine/me is a bit lackster but that's because while I get embarrassed chronically easily #I don't get angry very easily at all and my normal strategy when faced with anything unpleasant is to try and leave by all means necessary #Also I genuinely do stop to take photos of flowers because I want to draw them #I love that upon being given a chance to insert myself into DL I just used it to have Shin bully me #I could have gone on longer with this but i think 2000 words of me is enough for anoyone #This is based on the idea of me being 18 (which I was when I started this blog although I was in Uni already) #and spending my final year of highschool at Ryoutei Academy

[haikyupid]

Order from Lunatrix B,

Hey there! First of all THIS IS SUCH A GOOD IDEA! I can only imagine the time and dedication it took you to think this through and make the orders! (Also I am lowkey so shy doing it off anon like AAAAH) May I please order a Dalgona Matchup Latte? (If it's possible to go with more than one drink then it would be nice to have the Strawberry hearts frappineccino as well!)

So I am an ENFP capricorn and my enneagram is 7w8! My behaviour with other really depends on my mood and on their personalities so other's image of me goes from "wow she is so friendly" to "wtf she is so conceited and manipulative". But most of the time people describe me as crazy, outgoing and bubbly! Since my height is on the shorter side and my cheeks are always red and freckly, I look younger and more innocent than I actually am.

I'm adaptable, super spontaneous and hate overthinking stuff. Also I am shortsighted lol but I don't really like wearing my glasses in public, they make me look so serious and studious when LOL no. I don't really care now but when I was younger I hated the 'honor student' label it gave me. I am a TROLL, super sarcastic and my sense of humor is hard to understand for some people since it's super ironic and kinda dark sometimes.

I have many hobbies and love learning new skills but the most important ones to me are definitely drawing/painting, cooking/baking, piano, reading, acting, swimming, travelling and learning new languages (I am fluent in 5 and learning 2 more). I used to be super passionate about martial arts and reached a black belt but had to stop due to health issues 😭. I'm ambitious, mischievious and cunning. I laugh super easily and smile a lot! I laugh at really inapropriate times, and since I don't cry easily my friends and family call me insensitive oupsii.

I have a super flirty personality but since I do it unknowingly or ironically sometimes, when people take it seriously I freak out and run away. I am hella oblivious to people flirting with me though like even if I notice I go nah there is no way they are serious, so when cute guys confront me about it and say it straight out all my confidence crumbles I BECOME SO SHY and speak in tiny font (and deny it like haha wow you're funny).

 I am really honest about my 'positive feelings', like I compliment people a lot and am the type of person to text others saying that I am happy to have them in my life, that I had a great time hanging out, etc. But I SUCK with my negative feelings?! Like I just ignore them and never voice them out. Friends and family sometimes blame me saying that since I never confide they feel like I put a wall between us and that our relationship is kinda unequal since they tell me everything (I am a really good listener) but I really don't do it on purpose... I kind of feel obligated to be the 'strong' one who does not really feel anything...

I am sorry this is so long, thank you for taking the time to read it! Good luck for all your other orders i'm sute you'll do great!)

Thanks a lot for sending in your order here at Kyupid's Love Shop. One Dalgona Matchup Latte coming right up!....... where’d the side effec— oh, here it is! I matcha with ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥

➞ this relationship thrives on the fact that you’ll both feel like you’re on top of the world when together; but honestly though, boring is not a part of this couple’s vocabulary like whew— (lemme be a part of this, ples, like i’ll third wheel)

➞ don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t mean that you and nishi are immature (it’s actually quite the contrary) it’s just that you both don’t feel that societal pressure that most do, you’re both just so free and that’s not something the majority of the population can afford

➞ so to say that you’re both beyond lucky to have found each other is a huge understatement; this be the type of relationship that iconic romance anime movies are based off on 

➞ nishi will be the first one to make a move for sure, like bby did not even hesitate for a second — i want it, i’m gonna try to get it typa man

➞ it won’t even matter if you push him away or if he has to court you for a year or so, he’ll only stop if you actually say that you’re not interested but i mean WHO in the world would reject him?! 

➞ your looks will definitely remind him of a tropical paradise he’s visited, which is what he feels whenever he’s around you, so best believe this man won’t let his walking paradise go; he’ll probably also call you his lil’ firework

➞ he values the fact that you both can view the world the same, but if there’s a difference in your viewpoints, it doesn’t lead to arguments like most do, but instead having each side doing their best to understand one another — nishi is the type to be very open-minded and always fights for what’s right, i also get that vibe from you

➞ nishi is up for anything; so when he found out about your abundance of hobbies, he will bombard you with questions about them, your advice to get the hang of them, and always asking if he’s doing them right 

“look babe, i tried to draw something for you!”

“aww, yuu, this cow looks so cute.” 

“.......”

“...it’s a baby bear, but thank you so much, baby, it’s definitely an improvement from the last one. i love you!”

➞ he has a very innocent type of humour... maybe sometimes perverted, but that’s not the point— so if he does find one of your jokes to be too dark, he will ask if you’re okay, but he definitely won’t be like ‘wtf is wrong with this betch?’

➞ you two would always be traveling whenever your schedules allow you two; and you guys would always be learning something new! surfing, atv riding, bungee jumping, hunting, fishing (durh), learning some catch phrases in the place’s native language, cooking their national dishes, and so so much more

➞ with nishi, there’s never a time where you’ll be bored, everything will just be perfect when you’re with him; literally you’ll both be the couple who probably doesn’t even plan their days unless it’s like something so important

➞ ‘there are some flowers you only see when you take detours’ type of life motto/vibes

➞ oh, and you always complimenting him and telling him how much he means to you? mans could die from to much heart palpitations... uwu, just pure uwus

➞ he’s not very romantic all the time, so most of the compliments he’ll be giving you will be like:

“baby, you’re way cuter than this. you’re the most beautiful person i’ve ever laid my eyes on. you’re perfect!”

“...but you’re holding a fish i— y’know what, thank you... now can you throw it back in the water, please?”

➞ loves, and when i say loves i really mean it, when you wear your glasses, but he definitely will be cheeky and say, ‘oh, sorry, i didn’t know this was the library. i was looking for my very beautiful girlfriend... oh, that’s you? well you look a lil’ too gorgeous to be her’ but foreal, pls wear you glasses more often, he literally melts when you do

➞ he’s always telling you that he loves you; and when he’s in another country, expect photos and vids from him that look like those tinder fish-boys (idek if this’ll make sense to you) but he has the most beautiful smile a man could ever have and such a sincere paragraph of how much he misses and loves you to follow along with it, that it doesn’t even matter anymore that he looks like a dad

➞ a relationship that make the people around you, whether they’re strangers or not, go ‘they’re the main characters’ — to them you two were in your own beautiful world, and no one would ever dare to interfere with a love so magical and true

Kyupid hopes that you enjoyed your Dalgona Matchup Latte! Here’s the view from the top of the world with your out-of-this-world relationship with Nishinoya Yuu: he always does things that end up turning you as red as a tomato, but he doesn’t even intend to, mans is just naturally smooth... so you either malfunction or just straight up push him away; when he wants you to listen to his 3 AM thoughts/honestly just some weird shet he probably does all the time with you; when he tries to make you talk about how you’re feeling when he knows your ‘i’m fine’ reply is a straight up lie; and when he finally comes back from one of his trips around the world, just wanting you to be safe in his arms again.

Thanks very much for ordering — Kyupid hopes to see your cuteself again at the shop in the future! Have a magic-filled day ⁀➷

an: henlo, i hope you didn’t mind too much that i bombarded your dm’s with questions 😅 thank you so much for being patient with me!

i didn’t know what to do about the url thing, so this was what i resorted to in a short amount of time, i hope that’s okay with you. i almost lost your submission twice, huhu. also, is the gif working??? tumblr’s being a bitch again, so idk if it’s working and i’m freakin out.

btw, now i can’t stop being jelly over this ship like— this is too cute and i feel like this kind of relationship only exists in movies 😔

#kyupid's love shop #dalgona matchup latte #haikyuu matchups #hq matchups #haikyuu headcanons #hq headcanons #nishinoya yuu

[facesofthefog]

@shrouded-jed [TW: Torture, blood, degradation]

The small apartment was coated in silence except for the faint sound of ripping paper. Even without such an obvious clue, Olsen would have been able to realise something was wrong the moment he stepped into his home. Everything appeared to be in its rightful place, but the energy was different. It pulled him towards his bedroom, not letting him stay off course as if for just those few steps he was turned into a puppet. Once he opened the bedroom door, he was greeted with two out of place sights. One, being the black-haired male sitting in the apartment owner's chair with his legs stretched out onto the bed, and the other being his prized possessions torn or broken scattered on the floor like disposed bodies of survivors after an unsuccessful trial against the Ghostface. A suiting comparison considering how both were a sacrifice to the Entity who blessed the killer with his presence. 

The Entity was busy holding onto a scrapbook dedicated to their lovely Sammy and taking in all the sights with great interest. He was so lost in observing the images, that it might have looked as if he did not notice Jed's return, yet he was fully aware of his presence and did not even have to look away from the object to know what sort of expression the other wore behind his mask. 

"You must excuse the mess, I did not expect you so soon" he lied in a joking manner, a laugh at the end of the sentence. "Please, make yourself comfortable." 

Whilst he spoke the last few words, he stood up from his seat and closed the scrapbook keeping it in one hand. He knew the ghost would not have stayed still without some help, but looking towards the man he was pleased to see the killer's own strands of black fabric, his connection with the Entity, working against him, keeping him nicely in place. Only once the man was wrapped up in the lovely "ribbons" did the assailant decide it safe to approach. With his human body not regenerating as quickly as he would prefer, he did not want to risk getting stabbed. Not when he was the one that was supposed to do the stabbing instead.

The book was placed on the table with great care as if not to damage even the cover and the Entity walked over to his killer, setting the chair by his side. Sitting the man down was not as easy as gagging him with the red ribbons, but it was something he succeeded in regardless. A lovely view indeed, the dominating being mused whilst he stepped back to take in the sight of his work. Only then did he remember that the true beauty hid beneath the mask - the possibly hateful glare covered by an eternal scream. That too was dealt with quickly, the hood pulled down to make removing of the mask easier. 

"Ah, so beautiful my little one." A wide grin on his face spoke of true pleasure. His soft, cold fingers brushed against the man's cheek and just for a few seconds it was as if the Entity was lost in thoughts. "I know, I know. This was rather childish of me, but you see, if you touch and break my toys…" he glanced back towards the room to observe the shattered cameras and ripped articles that were previously so carefully stored in the draws or on display. "I will touch and break yours. And then I will do the same to you."

The energy shifted, the Entity being no longer amused. His black and gold eyes glistened with dark intent and spoke of rage that was yet to be released. A knife appeared in his hand and he brought the blade to the killer's face, pressing the blade into his cheek almost cutting the skin.

"You made a mistake with that one photo, my dear. Sammy is mine. Not Franks and most definitely not yours. I know how to share my toys, but I cannot stand a spoiled brat who wants to take everything for himself."

The blade was moved away from the skin and the Entity grabbed a fist full of Jed's hair to keep him in place. A threat was offered, move and your pretty face will not stay pretty for long, and then he began cutting into it. Letter after letter, two on his left cheek and two on his right. A perfect "LI" and "AR" decorating his face for as long as the Entity would want it to remain. Of course, Jed could have killed himself to make the regeneration progress quicker, but the killer’s owner doubted that the man would be capable of such an action. Then again, it would probably depend on which would hurt his ego more - dying or walking around with the newest addition to his lovely face. 

"Now don't move, I will show you what I did in just a second." It was not as if the man could escape, but he preferred to give a warning regardless. He let go of the other's hair and used his now free hand to search the killer for the last of his cameras. The Entity knew that he always had one with him, documenting his kills and his tortures. Amusingly, the killer possibly never expected that he would become a model for the newest photoshoot. 

"Smile" he ordered with a grin of his own. The flash brightened the room and blinded the killer for just enough time to develop the newest photo. Samuel took it in his hand and looked at it with a satisfied expression. Then he turned it over in his palm and showed it to Jed. "You should have smiled. It would have made you so much prettier."

A thought passed through his head, cut the smile into his face, but it faded just as quickly, as it appeared. What he already had on his face would be enough and there was more space on Jed's body to break skin in patterns. Carefully he set the camera to the side, leaving the photo on the floor so that his little pet could have a perfect view of it. The blade returned for more cutting, this time opening material instead of flesh, revealing the killer's bare chest. 

"What should I do now, my darling? A word? Some cuts? Which would you prefer?" It was obvious that he would not get a proper answer from the gagged victim, but it was not like he cared about the male's opinion. He pushed the tip of the blade just below the collar bone and lazily cut the word "FAKE". Letters the length of half an index finger were supposed to be visible whenever Jed would look into a mirror. The Entity wondered if his pet loved to spend time in front of the mirror. If he did, he would stop doing so once they finished their little play session. 

WEAK

FOOL

JOKE

BRAT

Four new words appeared on his torso accompanied by random cuts, some deep enough to stick a tip of the finger into them. Every so often the camera flash would return, and new photos embellished the floor documenting each new addition to the killer's body. This made the process longer. Cut, pick up the camera, take a picture, retake the picture if it was not good enough, return the camera to the bed and continue slicing. Sometimes the Entity would stick his finger into the wound, dig around, drench himself in the thrilling screams. Sometimes he would just stand and admire his work. Give the killer a few seconds to rest and return to the torture to make sure that the ghost did not get used to the constant pain. 

"Who should I give them to?" He asked as he took another photo. "Frank? Sammy? All of the survivors?" Click, a new photo dropped to the floor, the Entity no longer caring about holding onto them or placing them down neatly. "Oh, I know. Why don't I make a whole article about our little play session? You would love that, wouldn't you? And it would also replace all the ruined articles. You could become a star once more."

The blade came close to the killer for the last time and the Entity wiped the blood off from it on the other's clothes. The ruling being was now much calmer, his bloodthirst quenched for the time being. The knife disappeared in a small cloud of fog and gold allowing Samuel to grab hold of Olsen's chin for the final photo. "This one will be a personal memento for me to cherish." 

The newest print was then carefully folded in half and slipped into the pocket of the black trousers for later. No longer having any need for the camera at hand, he allowed his fingers to grow into claws and crush the brittle object with ease, letting the broken parts crumble to the floor and join the other of its kin. 

"I know, she is rather addicting. No wonder you just can't help yourself and want our little Sammy all to yourself. But you should learn to share." He took a deeper breath as if the whole situation was tiring, as if he was the one that just faced an exhausting task. The ghost mask returned to his hand and he watched the white screaming face considering something that Jed could not have been ready for. "But I can be kind. I will permit your play sessions. I will let you do to her as you please, as long as you don't kill her out of trials. Instead, you will repent."

The mask in hand began to melt as if exposed to a high temperature. Drops of white and black stained the floor and any paper that stood in its way. He did not inform the killer that all of his other masks were destroyed too. He would learn in his own time and find out that his punishment revolved around having to take part in trials without his mask or memento moris available. There would be more trials too and only based on their results would he either heal up and have his items returned in normal shape or be left with scars and deprived of all that he held important.

"I will keep this too, for now." He stated as he took the scrapbook dedicated to Sammy. "Should you behave yourself, you will be allowed to retrieve it. You will know when the time comes. For now, behave yourself." 

He walked over to the man and gave a pat to his shoulder. With that, the strands of fabric eased their hold and by the time the killer was released, the Entity was no longer in his proximity returning to his personal realm to focus on reading the notes the other formed on their favourite survivor. Jed was left with wounds and photos to remind him of their nice time together.

#shrouded-jed #tw: blood #tw: torture #tw: degradation #one-shot #entity event

[warofshadowstheorder]

Chapter 08

The search party continued looking all night and into the next day for the man who had escaped.  Agent Taylor was especially furious when their efforts met with no success.  He hated the fact that Odin had pulled off the assassination to begin with, but the thought of him getting away with it was even worse.  What added to Taylor’s frustrations was that Odin had just, there was no other word for it, disappeared.

Taylor was now in the base commander’s office where he’d just gotten off the phone with Assistant Director Andrews.  Taylor had expressed his belief that with the assassin at large there was a threat to the President and had been granted some time to stay and help with the search.  The authorities were already sending out Odin’s booking photo to every news media station in the world and telling them to regard him as armed and extremely dangerous and to not approach him.

Bledsoe had gone back to sleep after her altercation with Taylor.  She tried to sleep, but found that she was restless after all that had happened.  She spent most of the night lying awake on the cot that had been provided for her and staring at the ceiling trying to fall asleep, to no avail.

She eventually decided that the only way she could move on was to look into the matter herself.  After that, sleep came to her and she passed the rest of the night in peace.  The only time she had anything but a peaceful rest was when her dreams turned to memories of the night that had led to her pending suspension.

She couldn’t get the Prussian blue eyes out of her mind.  Not knowing what the rest of the man looked like was driving her crazy.  Ever since she was a little girl she hated not knowing anything that she wanted to.  This trait had been what led her to study as hard as she did in school and eventually earn her a full-ride scholarship to Yale, where she became a staple on the Dean’s List.

Since this trait had gotten her most of the success she’d acquired over the years, she decided to go with it.  She had three months of free time coming her way that she was determined to use to find the other man.

She woke up at dawn, then dressed in the sandals, cargo shorts, and white t-shirt she’d brought with her.  Having no need for formality, she let her hair down and did her best to look like a tourist.

She packed her bag with everything else she’d brought, careful to put her Secret Service badge and Passport where she could get to them quickly, and called the airstrip to let them know when to expect her.  She put on her sunglasses and left the base, turning in her visitor’s pass on her way out.

She walked out to where she’d met with Taylor and remembered where she’d seen the guards and others pursuing Odin.  Her first impulse was to go down the same way and see if she could find anything that the search party missed.  But then, in a moment of realization, she thought of what she would do if it had been her fleeing the facility.

She thought to herself that she would want to throw them off from the beginning so that she could stay at least one step ahead of her pursuers.  She took a look at the detention facility and got an idea.  She realized that there was a direct route to the sea, but that a roundabout route was also available.

She walked to the rear part of the facility and took a look at the ground before returning her gaze to the facility.  She then walked the route she would have taken, which happened to be the same one that Odin had used the night before.  She walked until she came to the sea.  Thinking for a moment, she decided to hop a ride on a ferry instead of swimming across.

When she reached the other side, she started walking along the shoreline, careful to look for any sign of where someone swimming would have surfaced.  She expected to find something very early in her search, so much that she double checked several areas.

She began to think that her instincts were starting to turn against her.  There was no way that anyone could have swam as far as she had walked, while simultaneously avoiding an entire search party, and not be passed out on the shoreline.  Then, she remembered who she was dealing with.  Specifically, she remembered the man she had fought with at the pavilion and had heard incredible stories about in reports she had read during her plane trip to Miami.

Remembering this, particularly the account of him dodging bullets, she kept moving forward.  She was finding it difficult to focus on the task at hand due to the fact that she had those Prussian blue eyes stuck in her memory and still gnawing at her thoughts.  They were expressionless in her memory, but it was still as though they were taunting her.

Pushing that image and the feelings she associated with it aside, she continued in the task at hand.  After a while longer, her diligent search was rewarded with her discovery of some strange-looking marks in the sand.  The shape and structure were obviously not footprints.  Bledsoe was not an expert in tracking or in identifying different kinds of prints, but it was obvious to her that someone had crawled from where she was standing.

She looked around and saw footprints a short distance away, she could tell that they had been left there recently.  She eagerly ran to where the prints were and followed them up a small ridge that led to an outdoor cantina.  It looked deserted, but as she got closer she could hear something from inside the small enclosed area behind the bar.

She walked up to the bar and heard a splash behind the door.  She wondered at this and knocked on the bar counter a few times.  She waited patiently for a few more moments and was about to knock on the bar again but decided on calling out ‘hello’.  When she still heard nothing, she briefly considered drawing her weapon and barging into the backroom.  Her desire to not potentially cause an international incident restrained her, and a moment later she heard another splash followed by the door opening and Eduardo walking out.  She could immediately tell that he had splashed water on his face, but wondered why she hadn’t heard a faucet running.

There were a few moments where Bledsoe’s suspicion coupled with Eduardo’s surprise at a beautiful and unexpected guest caused an uncomfortable silence.  Both of them were waiting for the other to make some kind of indication of their intentions.  Bledsoe waited for Eduardo to indicate if he had anything to hide.  Eduardo waited to see if Bledsoe was a tourist or one of the people Odin had alluded to might be pursuing him.

“No ingles,” Eduardo said breaking the silence.

“That’s okay,” Bledsoe answered in Spanish to Eduardo’s surprise, “I think that no one should go someplace on vacation unless they speak the language.”

“Que bien,” Eduardo answered genuinely impressed to hear Bledsoe speaking Spanish, “but I’m afraid we’re closed.  I came in here to clean up, it was quite rowdy last night.”

“Just one drink please,” Bledsoe answered doing her best to sound alluring while not being completely flirtatious.  Eduardo relaxed and nodded his approval.

“What can I get for you?” Eduardo asked.

“Do you have coffee,” Bledsoe asked, “I’ve wanted to try real Cuban coffee for a very long time.”

“We do,”  Eduardo said with a slight smile, “I trust that you know something about our particular blend?”

“I take mine trong anyway,” Bledsoe answered with a smile.

Eduardo returned the smile and set about getting Bledsoe’s request.  Bledsoe let out a deep breath and looked around the bar.  Despite not drinking, in between college and hangouts with colleagues in the Secret Service she had been in enough bars to be able to compare Eduardo’s to other establishments.  As such, she could tell that it was a dive.  She figured that any place like this that had an enclosed area complete with a deadbolt was trafficking in a lot more than booze.  Her eyes eventually found the Wurlitzer and she wandered over to have a look at the selection.

It only took a glance for her to see that it screamed pre-embargo.  Unable to resist, she put in a coin and selected Buddy Holly’s “Maybe Baby.”  Bledsoe couldn’t help but smile as the small records moved before stopping at her selection where a small mechanical arm picked it up and put it on the turntable.

As her song of choice played, she couldn’t resist dancing back to the bar.  She was puzzled to see a shot glass on top of a coaster by her seat.  She sat down and, her native customs taking hold, downed it in one gulp.  She realized her mistake before swallowing it, and felt her eyes open as wide as they could.  She involuntarily let out a loud gasp and looked toward Eduardo who let out a light chuckle as he looked on.

“I heard that Cuban coffee was strong,” Bledsoe said with fainted breath, “but I had no idea it was that concentrated.”

“Everyone has a similar reaction when they try it for the first time,” Eduardo replied jovially, “can I interest you in some more?”

“Okay,” Bledsoe answered, “but I’ll sip it this time.”  Eduardo filled another shot glass and set it down on the coaster.  Bledsoe took a sip and looked around, her eyes wandered the area searching for anything out of the ordinary, any clue that might help her know if she was on the right track, or that she could use as leverage to pressure Eduardo.  After a few moments, she noticed that the door to the enclosed area was ajar just enough that she could see an item that was completely out of place in that location.  She took the best look that she could inside the enclosed room while unconsciously moving her head up and down in time to the music and humming along.

She chose to act as though she had just noticed the strange object behind the door and decided to commence with the reason she had come.

“Senor,” she called out to Eduardo, “where did you get that?”

Eduardo froze for a few moments when he realized the object of her inquiry.  He frantically tried to think of a reply that wouldn’t raise suspicion.  He got a little distracted when he looked in her direction and saw Bledsoe looking expectantly at him with her beautiful face as she took another sip from her shot glass.  He shook his head, remembering his wife at home, and then blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“Oh that,” he scoffed, “my wife’s family owned that, some kind of antique.  My mother-in-law gave it to my wife but we can’t keep it in the house so I’ve just been leaving it in the backroom.”

“That’s interesting,” Bledsoe said, “I only ask because my brother has something nearly identical to this.  He told me that he got it in Istanbul when he was out that way with the Navy.  Do your wife’s ancestors come from that area?”

“I don’t know how they got it,” Eduardo said after a pause, “all my mother-in-law told me about it was that it was made anciently and designed for executions by boiling in oil.”

“Interesting,” Bledsoe said still looking at it, “I’ll have to ask my brother more about his the next time I see him.”

“I have no idea what it was used for,” Eduardo said, “all I know is that I’m stuck with it here.  Although I do make good use of it, especially in the summer.”

Bledsoe looked at him quizzically, Eduardo picked up on her body language.  He walked through the door, got on his knees in front of the cauldron, cupped his hands together, and quickly plunged them into the water.  The motion created a small wave, which flowed back into his hands.  Once the wave was over his hands, he  brought them up to his face.

“I hate to say this,” Eduardo said after a few moments, “but I need to get home to see my family for a while before business starts picking up.”

“Damn,” Bledsoe remarked as she finished her coffee and put an American 5-dollar bill on the bar, “there isn’t much of an opportunity if someone wants to grab a drink in the morning.”

“What can I say,” Eduardo remarked doing his best to be friendly and to not let on that he knew something serious was going on after seeing what Bledsoe had placed on the bar, he knew that Americans did not come to Cuba unless it was for something official, usually related to the government, “pretty much everyone here works during the day and drinks at night.  I try to accommodate them.”

“So,” Bledsoe asked, “am I the only one that’s been here this morning?”

“Claro que si,” Eduardo said after pausing for a few seconds, “as I said, the locals work all day and drink at night.  So, for now I am completely at your service.”

Accustomed to receiving sleazy comments from strange men, Bledsoe ignored the remark about him being completely at her service.  She knew that he was lying now because she had heard him talking with someone when she had arrived.  She wanted to keep pressing Eduardo for information, but she didn’t want to be too forward.

“Are you sure,” she asked attempting to put on a tone of curious interest, “because I could hear you talking with someone when I got to the bar.”

Eduardo knew he was caught.  He attempted to do his best to tell the truth while leaving out important details.

“A friend called earlier,” Eduardo said struggling to sound casual, “the phone is in the office.”  He gestured to the door as he uttered the word ‘office’.

“May I please use your phone,” Bledsoe asked, “I need to call my hotel to make some arrangements.”

Eduardo was surprised by the request, but he answered quickly.  “I’m afraid that I can’t let you do that,” Eduardo answered, “but I can call a taxi for you to take you to your hotel.”

“Senor,” Bledsoe started as she set down her bag and took out her ID, “I’m going to be honest with you.”  She took her badge out and showed it to Eduardo.  “I’m an agent with the United States Secret Service and I’m looking for a murderer who escaped from the prison.  I believe that he may have come this way.”  Bledsoe gave a brief description of Odin’s appearance, “have you seen him?  I ask because he seems to have escaped by way of the water and I think he came ashore close to your establishment.”

Helping Odin had been Eduardo’s only assignment up to this point, and he was now wondering if it would be his last.  He was panicking inside, and then he realized that there was no way she could prove that Odin was ever in the cantina.  He also knew that she could search up and down, even tear the entire place apart, and not find any trace of him.

“I will certainly keep an eye out for him,” Eduardo answered after a little while, “who should I contact if I do see him?”

Bledsoe thought for a moment and then suggested that he contact the local police.  “Just to put myself at ease,” Bledsoe said, “may I go look through your office?  You may feel free to observe if you are concerned about me going through your things.”

“Feel free,” Eduardo answered with no hint of the anxiety that had threatened to surface moments before.  All Bledsoe found during her search were materials typical of any business owner’s office.  Her eyes continually wandered back to the cauldron, unable to get over how similar in appearance it was to the one she had seen at her brother’s house.

She thought of everything in her search, even checking the floorboards for trap doors or other hidden compartments.  After several minutes, she was forced to conclude that Clark Kent had not come this way, or that if he did there was no way to prove it.

“I’m finished,” Bledsoe said trying to mask her disappointment at her lack of findings, “I appreciate your cooperation Senor Gomez.”  Bledsoe extended her hand to Eduardo as she finished speaking.

“No problem,” Eduardo replied, taking her hand, “I hope you and your friends find this man.  He sounds dangerous, and we do not need men like that running around in Cuba.”

“No one does,” Bledsoe replied coldly, “que te vaya bien.”

Eduardo repeated the phrase and watched Bledsoe walk away.  He waited for a little while until he saw Bledsoe going back the way she came.  When she was out of sight, Eduardo quickly went inside the office and back to the cauldron to write a quick note:

Eduardo Gomez, Cuba, needs to talk.

He repeated the same procedure that he had done with Odin’s note.  Dropping it into the cauldron and waiting.  While he waited, he went over what he was going to say in his mind.  He wasn’t sure how long he’d need to wait, but he had plenty to go over in his mind before then.  After a while, Eduardo saw the water change and the image of a beautiful young Asian woman appear in it.

Eduardo stared into the water, this was his first time communicating with the Monastery and he wasn’t sure about any protocols that might be involved.  The woman looked up at him from the cauldron, waiting for him to speak.

“Hello?” Eduardo eventually got out still unsure of how to proceed.

“Is this your first time doing this?” the woman asked in a tone that was simultaneously serious and understanding.  Eduardo could only nod in response.

“Okay,” she said, “the only thing you need to know is that normally in the note you’ll want to also list how high a priority your message is.”

“Well,” Eduardo answered, “I think what I have to say is very important.”

“Then tell me,” the woman said, “and I will relay it to one of the Shepherds here.”

“Earlier today,” Eduardo began, “I helped a Knight get back to the Monastery.  Right before he even left, an American Secret Service Agent came looking for him.”

“Did he find anything,” the woman asked, “would he have any way of suspecting how he got out?”

“The agent was a woman,” Eduardo answered, “and even if she suspects anything, she doesn’t have any proof and it would be difficult for her to describe any suspicions she might have.”

“Good,” she answered, “but the Shepherd will probably want to know about this just in case.  Did you happen to catch the agent’s name?”

“Bledsoe,” Eduardo said remembering the name on the badge, “Alexis Bledsoe.”

“I’m certain we have a contact in the Secret Service,” the woman answered, “I’ll talk to our U.S. Shepherd.  Thank you very much for this information, Watcher Gomez.”

“It is my pleasure,” Eduardo answered, “let me know if I can ever do anything to assist the Order.”

“We’ll do that,” the woman answered, “and we hope that nothing bad comes to you through your service.”

“If it does,” Eduardo answered, “I will accept it gladly.  It would be a small price to pay for helping such a great cause.”

“We’re glad to have a Watcher like you Eduardo,” the woman replied, “remember to take the rock out of the cauldron when I send it back to you.”

Eduardo nodded and soon the water returned to its normal state.  A few seconds later, the rock he’d tied the note around was at the bottom of the cauldron.  Retrieving it promptly, he put it back with the others and took a breath of relief.  It had been an eventful morning for Eduardo and he needed a few moments to unwind.  He decided that now was the time to do what he had said he was going to do.  He locked up his office, put up a cerrado sign, and went home to see his family.

Bledsoe searched the area around the cantina.  Finding nothing, she retraced her steps back to the ferry station.  Finding nothing, she boarded the next available ferry and made her way back to the base, the return trip giving her an opportunity to consider her next move.  She concluded that any further efforts on her part in Cuba  would be fruitless.

She thought of what she would do when she got back to the states.  She knew she had to meet with Assistant Director Andrews to start her suspension, but after that she had three months to do whatever she wanted.

She had originally planned on being on the campaign trail for the next several months, but that was out of the question.  She figured she could stay around the D.C. metro area or even take a long overdue vacation.  But inside, she knew that she couldn’t relax while Clark Kent was still at large and could not leave the matter alone until it was resolved.  She didn’t have much information, and could not investigate through the Secret Service, but she had more than enough motivation to justify investigating by herself.

With her plan for the next three months resolved, Bledsoe finished her journey to the airstrip.  She met up with the pilot and he informed her which plane they would be using.  She got on the plane and took a seat.  Quickly taking out a pen and small notebook she had in her bag, she began writing everything she knew about her pending investigation.

The main things she wrote down were fifteenth century cauldrons (ask Hunter about his), and Secret Service insider (?).  She had decided on investigating, but she needed to know where to begin.  The pilot came back and the plane took off soon afterwards.  Bledsoe had nothing but time to think during her flight back to Miami and the flight that would put her back in D.C.

Relaxing into her seat on the plane, she figured it would be a good idea to be quiet about her investigation, the last thing she wanted was to get jumped again.  The mania now running rampant inside her provided the perfect distraction to her dislike of flying.

#novel #action-adventure #fantasy #historical fiction

[ecoamerica]

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