#i reread only 2 times sorry for any mistakes

[gavidaily]

Hello! Here's the full La Vanguardia interview in English translated by yours truly 💖 enjoy!

Pablo Páez Gavira, Gavi (19 years, Los Palacios y Vilafranca, Sevilla) is an one of a kind player. On the pitch, mixes a delicate technique with an overwhelming will, a mix that is rare between midfielders: he is either head or lungs, but rarely both. Outside the field, he is a stranger. Out of shyness, he would rather be sure of himself before letting people know him. The club sees him as ready. Now, Gavi gives his first long interview to La Vanguardia. His first answers are short, but soon he gets comfortable and with more confidence, he gets more open. It's hard not to like him, he sounds genuine in a world of mechanized words: pure and unfiltered, like the way he plays. 

COLORS "Being of Barça is something that comes from watching the best squad in history, Xavi's, Iniesta..." _______

I: More than 100 matches for Barça and you have given a few interviews. Don't you like it?  G: I'm shy, and I'd rather focus on football, but I'm working on it, since I have to do it. 

I: Are you aware of all the surrounding buzz?  G: A little bit, yes. I noticed on the streets and Instagram, but I try to get away from it.

I: What do you like most to hear about yourself?  G: That I'm a shy boy, but a good person with everyone. This is how I want to be known.

I: Whenever you score a goal, you kiss the Barça badge. You are from a town in Sevilla, how come you became such a big culé? G: From seeing the best team in history, the Barça of Xavi, Iniesta and others. Since then I have been and always will be of Barça.

THE WILL "Sometimes I watch the match replay and think 'Why did I do that?'" _______

I: You arrived at Barça very young, at 11 years-old. Were you scared of the change? G: Yes, a lot. I remember that a couple months before the move I told my parents I didn't want to come, that I was scared of what could happen. Today I thank my parents, they were the first to notice that I should be here. 

I: What were you scared of? G: Of everything, La Masia... I was very little and didn't want to leave my hometown, leave my friends behind. It meant changing my whole life.

I: And La Masia became like home for you... G: Yes, I spent my whole childhood here, almost sinceAs long as I've known myself, it is everything to me. 

I: Your first six months here were hard because of FIFA's ban on Barça. Gavi, with 11 years and unable to play, it's hard to imagine. A lion in a cage. G: I couldn't bear not to play, for me it's like breathing. So I deal it with how I could have. I decided to play in the football league my school had.

I: Your team was lucky, you must have won everything. G: I scored four or five goals on each match. We won everything but the day we played in the league. 

GETTING BETTER "I am enjoying this season best. We are doing things better." _______

I: What happened? G: I played my first match for Barça, I couldn't go. My schoolmates still pick on me because of that.

I: In your first year in Barcelona you lived with your parents. G: Yes, in Balmes street, but at the end of the year I told them they could leave me, that I wanted to live in La Masia.

I: Which were your favorite players? G: Iniesta the most, but Isco and Veratti too.

I: The most technical. You can shoot with both legs, did you learn it or is it natural for you? G: It's something that has happened since I was a kid. I actually say that inside the box I shoot best with the left leg, I can define better with it, it's more natural. 

I: Let's be clear: you are an interior. G: I have always been. Left interior. 

I: Now you are playing more in that position.  G: Xavi knows where I'm more comfortable, but he has a lot of trust in me and in each match he decides where I should be and I try my best for the coach. To give everything.

"Ansu will come back, I know it." _______

Gavi has simple habits. His life revolves around football and even during his free time he watches the matches on the television with his friends, most of them from his time in La Masia. "I'm a football nerd, I watch a lot of matches with my friends at home, Premier League above all. I like some clubs more than others. I follow Manchester City and now especially Brighton, because they are good and Ansu Fati plays there", says the midfielder, who misses his ex-teammate and hopes to see him back in the blaugrana locker room after the one year of loan to the english club. "I believe in Ansu. I believe he will get his confidence back and I wish he comes back. We have been friends since we met in La Masia and I wish him the best always'.

I: You dominate both legs, you are good in duels, with the head... Is there anything you see a margin for improvement? G: Taking last year as reference, I have been better on pausing the plays and not making as many fouls with divided balls.

I: Is that a personal work or from Xavi? G: Xavi tries to improve me, we talk a lot.

I: Are you not scared of getting hurt with those divided balls?  G: Sometimes I watch the match replay, I see something I did and think "Sh*t, why did I do that?. But my mother suffers more than me, she always tells me not to get in fights and it scares her a lot. But at the end of the day, it's football.

I: Do you consider yourself a harsh player? G: I consider myself a fighter, until the end, and I won't lose that.

I: Last year, from Madrid, rumors started that said you were an overly harsh player. Did it reach you? Were you annoyed?  G: I was aware, but I was relaxed. Xavi helped me and it didn't matter what some people said.

PROGRESS "I have more breaks, fewer fouls and this year I want to score ten goals" _______

I: It's an unquestionable truth that you don't like losing... G: I have improved compared to the lower categories, any coach could tell you.

I: But what did you do? Being a sore loser it's not that bad. G: Let's say I didn't take well and my teammates paid for it during the training sessions. It used to drive me crazy, I didn't know how to lose.

I: What would you do for Barça? G: Everything. I would do everything, whatever it is.

I: During the summer, with the new signings, they said you were going to be left out of the eleven starters... and now, you’re untouchable. G: I have a lot of trust in me, that's what matters to me. And if Xavi wants to talk to me and help me to improve, I thank him. The coach was one of the best players in my position. 

I: You are 19 and you already are a reference for players that come from La Masia, like Lamine Yamal...

G: I didn't imagine that when I was little, but yes. I try to calm them down, and get them excited. I had Busi, Jordi... I know it is very important to have that support. 

LOCKEROOM "I admire Frenkie. When they said he could leave in the summer, I was screwed and I told him that." _______

I: Which player do you praise for his professionalism in the actual squad? G: Frenkie, Frenkie. 

I: Do you miss him? G: F*ck, a lot, just like Pedri.

I: Well, De Jong was on the market two summers ago... G: At that moment I was screwed, I didn't want him to leave, and I told him that. Thankfully, he didn't leave, and he's still with us. 

I: Are you enjoying playing? That's important.  G: I'm enjoying it a lot more during this season. We're doing things better.

I: With the Joãos the chemistry has been instantly. G: They are very good and have settled in fast. João Félix it's on my side and I can work with him more, but I look for them both. Without them we would not have been able to make some progress this season.

 I: How do you see Madrid? Stronger? G: They have significant casualties, but they are a winning team.

I: Last year you won the League and this year you are finally required to play a good role in the Champions League. G: We have to get as far as possible, we're Barça, like the coach says. Winning with Barça is one of my dreams, one of the biggest, it's what all culés want. 

I: The match against Porto is a key match during the group stage. Do you overthink about the matches beforehand?  G: Yes, even more important ones. I think about how it's going to go and I usually imagine scoring a goal. Thoughts…

I: How many goals do you think you will score this season? G: I said to Iván de la Peña, my representative, that I'll score ten, I already did two.

I: Outside the box the shot doesn't prove much. G: I have to see it very clearly, it is still difficult for me, I have to dare.

I: Do you see yourself playing for Barça your whole life? That's almost impossible these days. G: I wish it could be like that, I wouldn't be happier anywhere else. 

#pablo gavi #gavi #i reread only 2 times sorry for any mistakes #*interview #i worked like 10+ hours and i cant think straight but i will talk about this interview later

[girasollake]

Hi! Can I request a smut imagine with prompt 48 and trope 8 with Theodore Nott.

She’s a slytherin too and a badass bitch who everybody wants to be or date

Thank youuu!

✧ theodore nott x fem!reader x jealousy x "you. are. mine."✧

(this request is a part of my writing event, here is the link to the masterlist of the fics i'll be publishing from said event:) )

this took longer than i expected, thank you for your request anon! x

told u guys i’d post smth… surprise!!!!

warnings: 18+ MINORS DO NOT INTERACT, p in v sex, some swear words, some slight cedric x reader, theo being bitchy ig, fingering, general sex stuff, orgasm denial, ummmmmm yeah i think that’s it

i’ll reread it later to fix mistakes cuz rn it’s 2 am where i live and i’m going to bed bye

•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•

Your relationship with Theo was complicated. At least in your mind that was the most suitable word for this dynamic, you could never find anything else that would quite describe it. You were friends, that’s for sure, this was the only thing you were certain of. Some days you had found yourself tangled in his bedsheets, his soft fingers caressing your back as you lingered in his scent. But, there were also days when you didn’t speak to him at all, strolling through the halls and seeing him tug a piece of hair behind the ear of some Ravenclaw girl while simultaneously giving her his infamous smile. Even though you also flirted and went on dates with others, something inside your guts sunk down each time you saw him with a girl who was not you. And you could barely handle it. Every time you promised yourself you’ll never sleep with him again or give him your attention, you’d always end up doing the opposite. There was something about him that lured you in, it was toxic, but so divine. So, whenever his lips connected to yours in a hungry kiss, you’d forget about all of the other women he probably does this with. It was just you and him and your only thought during these moments was to stay with him like that forever.

‚-it’s not like it’s that important.’

‚Huh?’ You lifted your head and met Pansy’s annoyed face. ‚Sorry, what were you saying?’

¨What is going on with you lately?´She shook her head and sighed. ´I asked if you have a date for the ball.’ She then added.

‘Oh, well, not really.’ You shrugged.

‘Seriously? Is this about Theo again? I’ve told you multiple times that there is a fucking queue of guys just waiting for you and all you do is always go back to him.’ She huffed. ‘What about Mason? Louise? Henry? They were all head over heels for you, I don’t believe they didn’t ask you at least once.’

‘They did. I just said no.’ You mumbled and avoided her angry gaze.

SShe groaned and took a sip of her butterbeer. ‘I was not going to tell you this, but I see there is no other option.’ Pansy took a deep breath. ‘I heard the boys talking about the ball and Nott wants to take Arisa.’

You swallowed a big gulp in your throat and looked down into your drink. You expected that something like this would happen, you just didn’t think you wouldn’t be prepared to hear it.

‘’M sorry.’ She looked at your numb expression with caring eyes.

‘It’s okay Pans.’ You gave her a soft smile. ‘Maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s time to move on.’

Even though you tried to not think about him for the next few days, it was unusually hard. He was on your mind non stop, like a song playing on repeat. On top of that, everyone was talking about the upcoming event. While walking through the halls you overheard people gossiping about the pairs, discussing what they are gonna wear and you were also a witness to roughly 7 performances of the boys creatively asking their crushes to go with them.

You walked into the courtyard and took a seat on the nearest free bench. You pulled out your sketchbook in hopes to finally draw something. Truth is, you didn’t remember the last time you practiced your beloved activity, not that you didn’t have time, you just didn’t have any ideas. This time wasn’t different, you looked around and then your gaze rested on the empty page before you. You made a soft line with your pencil and stopped, it was like your hand didn’t want to listen to your mind. You groaned and closed the sketchbook to put it in your bag again. While doing this, you felt a presence in front of you. Looking up, you saw Cedric Diggory, a charming smile plastered on his face.

‘Hi, do you have a moment?’ He asked and you stood up to face him.

‘Of course.’ You smiled.

‘I have a question.’

‘If you want my help with something, then no. I can barely finish my own essays and-‘

‘No, that’s..’ He chuckled. ‘I was wondering if you’d want to go to the ball with me?’

‘Oh..’ You bit your lip softly from the inside. ‘I.. I’ll think about it. Is that okay with you?’

‘Surely, just don’t take too long, darling.’ He sent you a wink and walked out of the courtyard.

Later that night you were studying in your dorm, soft music was playing in your headphones as you scribbled some sigils for one of the classes. Your back was turned to the door, so you didn’t hear that someone came in. It was the feeling of being observed that made you move your head to inspect the room and there he was. Theodore Nott stood next to your door, his arms were crossed and you couldn’t quite read his expression. You grabbed your headphones and took them off.

‘Knocking exists.’ You told him.

‘Not for me.’ He replied sternly.

‘What are you doing here, Theodore?’ You fixed your position on the bed so that you were fully facing him. ‘Don’t you have any other hoes to tend to?’

‘Are you going to the ball with Diggory?’ He avoided your question.

‘Why do you care?’ You stood up.

‘Answer me.’ He took a step closer to you.

‘Maybe I am, maybe I’m not.’

‘For fucks sake, stop being a brat and answer the question.’ He said through gritted teeth.

‘It’s none of your business.’ You replied while stepping closer to him and poking your finger into his chest.

His scent filled up your nose and you felt this forbidden feeling again. Your body was lustful, for him, but you couldn’t let him win again.

He chuckled, ‘See, that’s where you’re wrong.’

You scoffed, ‘Fine. Yes.’ You spat at him. ‘I’m going with Cedric. Is that what you wanted to hear?’

His eyes darkened at the confession, which wasn’t even true. You just wanted to get on his nerves and see what he would do. You didn’t even have time to react before he pinned you to the wall and hovered over you. Your breath hitched and you tried your best to avoid his eyes, because if you looked into them, you’d lose.

‘No, you’re not.’ He stated. ‘You are not going with anyone.’

‘Why? Why the fuck do you care so much?!’ Your eyes were glued to the ceiling.

He gripped your face with one of his hands and forced you to look at him. You closed your eyes.

‘You.’ He whispered and brought his lips closer to yours before breathily adding the rest. ‘Are. Mine.’

The sound of his voice was angelic and it sent a certain feeling down to your core. You tried your best to resist but your eyes fluttered open and met his. You lost.

He grabbed your face and connected your lips in a hungry kiss. You whimpered into his mouth and cursed yourself in your mind. Why was he so addictive? Why couldn’t you quit? He just felt too good to be true. Kissing you in all the right places, his fingers touching where you needed him most, every time you felt him inside of you, it felt like heaven.

He took a few steps back and tried to not break the kiss. He pushed you onto the mattress and with one of his hands he pushed all the books off the bed. He left wet kisses along your jawline and you moaned at the feeling. He discarded both of your shirts and attached his lips to your chest, leaving a couple love bites along the way.

‘I want you to say it.’ He mumbled into your ear.

‘Hm?’ You were brought out of your trance.

‘I want you to admit you’re mine.’

‘But am I?’ He stopped kissing your neck and gripped your throat.

‘Are you?’ He raised his brow and smirked challengingly, knowing you’d fold under him.

You stared deep into his eyes and swallowed harshly because of his grip, before replying, ‘I’m yours.’

‘Good girl.’ He let go of your neck and connected your lips once again.

Soon enough both of you were a sweaty mess, clothes laying somewhere on the wooden floor, soft sounds escaping your lips as he pumped his fingers in and out of you. His breath on your neck and occasional kisses made you feel dizzy, his fingers making you squirm from the pleasure, but it wasn’t enough.

‘I need to feel you.’ You breathed out and Theo didn’t waste a second.

He positioned himself on top of you and slowly entered your aching pussy. You threw your head back and he used that to immediately attach his lips to your neck once again.

‘’S okay, darling. You’re doing so good f’me.’ He whispered to help you relax.

His voice made you let go of the tension in your lower body, finally allowing him to move at a pace so perfect for both of you. He lifted you up and spinned both of you, so that you were on top of him. His thrusts became quicker and stronger, one of his hands was caressing your breasts, while the other rubbed your clit so deliciously. You cried out his name a few times when you were close, but he always stopped just then. He just smirked every time and continued his actions, it turned him on, watching you whine on top of him. He felt he was getting closer to his release, so he sped up again, and this time his hand stayed on your sweet spot. You reached your high with a loud moan and threw your head back, your hand grabbing Theo’s arm. He released inside of you with a loud groan and you used that to push away his hand which was still rubbing circles on your bud, too sensitive for more. You collapsed on top of him and gave him a peck on his collarbone. Theo reached for the blanket and covered the two of you.

‘I lied.’ You mumbled.

‘What?’

‘I’m not going with Cedric.’ You replied softly. ‘I told him I’d think about it and..’

‘Good.’ He interrupted. ‘You’re going with me then.’

‘Am I?’ You looked up at him playfully. ‘I thought you were taking Arisa.’

‘Who?’ He replied and you giggled. ‘She asked me to go. But I refused.’

‘Why? She’s a nice girl.’

‘Maybe. But she isn’t you.’ He tucked a strand of hair behind your ear. ‘And I belong solely to you.’

•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•

@ girasollake 2024

#imagine #x reader #🤍 - girasollake writing event ☾ ⋆* #theo nott x you #theo nott x reader #theodore nott x reader #theodore nott #theo nott #theo nott x y/n #theo nott x fem!reader #theo nott smut #theo nott imagine #theodore nott x you #theodore nott x fem!reader

[empresskylo]

𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 – 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟒

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 「 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝 」 r.h. masterlist

━━━━━‧₊˚➛ hopper regrets his building feelings for you, deciding it's best to cut this fling off before you learn to regret it.

pairing ‧₊˚➛ jim hopper x afab!reader

tags ‧₊˚➛18+ content, smut || unprotected sex, age gap, blood, angst, reader described as small and having hair that can be tucked behind ear. reader refers to self as a 'girl'.

w.c.‧₊˚➛ 7434

a.n. ‧₊˚➛ sorry for the wait, but here is the final part to ride home. as you can see, it's longer than usual which is why it took so long. i hope you enjoy! (and yes, this is the final part)

masterlist. navi.

A few weeks had passed since that night Jim Hopper touched you under the dining room table.

Things with Hopper had been going… good. And if by good you meant that you were having sex any time you saw one another and blatantly ignoring the rising feelings stirring inside each of your chests. Then, yeah, things were going good.

Just tell him! A voice rose in the back of your throat like hot bile. You shoved it down. Nope, you weren’t going to bring it up. Isn’t that how things were always ruined? The woman catches feelings and makes things incredibly awkward to the point where the relationship is cut off entirely. You didn’t want to lose Hopper, so you were just going to have to tough it out and accept the fact that he only wanted you for sex.

But what you didn’t know was that Hopper was fighting the exact same feeling. It’s maddening how blind the two of you were. For God’s sake, Jim almost moaned out an ‘I love you’ while he was balls deep inside of you the other day. You convinced yourself that you just misheard him.

Jim pushed you down further into his mattress, his cock hitting you so hard that you had to muffle your cries afraid they would break his eardrum. His hand was locked in your hair and your legs were wrapped tightly around his waist. Your soft whines underneath him were sending him over the edge. Your eyes fluttered up at him as he kept rolling his hips into you. “Jim…” You mumbled, completely entranced. You looked like an angel under him, glowing in ecstasy as you mewled into his chest. He felt himself begin to spill into you, your head shook side to side as you tried to contain your moans but they slid off your tongue like honey. Jim groaned in your ear, “Fucking hell. You’re so good. So—perfect. Shit, I lov—“ He masked his mistake with a loud moan as you tightened around him at his praise. 

Why were you both torturing one another?

Jim fiddled with his pen as he stared down at the same paragraph he had been rereading for the past five minutes. He was busy contemplating a way to get to see you again. 

That’s where the stupidity started kicking in. The two of you each decided—without talking to the other person—that this was solely about lust and sex. So your meetings only ever revolved around that. Both of you would have been happy simply talking most of the time (Jim wanted to take you out to dinner so badly and get to see you all dressed up for him.) But you both also thought the other was in this unconventional coupling for a different reason. So, alas, your rendezvous only ever resulted in sex. (Granted, you both craved each other desperately that it wasn’t much of an issue.)

You came up behind Hopper and tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around to face you, surprised by your appearance. “I was writing a piece for the school paper.” You shrugged the notepad in your hand towards him. “Can I ask you some questions?” Jim tried to look annoyed, but you were so fucking cute as you innocently requested his time. 

“You know I can’t give out information…” You looked up at him with the most pathetically sweet doll eyes, your lips pouting. He took a deep breath in, closing his eyes. 

Hopper was the only one at the scene so he decided it wouldn’t be too risky (i.e. he wasn’t very good at hiding his desire for you and it would be blatantly obvious to anyone who witnessed your interactions.) 

He walked around to the back of his truck and pulled down the tailgate so you could sit. His hands slid around your waist and he helped you jump up. You felt your cheeks warm, the feeling of his fingers lingering long after he pulled them away. You tried to focus and began writing in your notepad while Hopper leaned his hip against his truck. After a few minutes of questioning, you had gotten what you needed. You both wanted to continue talking to one another, but you’d never admit that. You both thought the other would be irritated. This was clearly only about lust. 

“S’that it?” Jim asked. You set your notepad down and reached out and grabbed his hand. “What’re—“ You yanked him towards you so he stood between your legs. His eyes darkened as he tentatively watched your moves. “Just one more thing,” you whispered. Jim’s eyelids fell heavy, your hands slid up to the collar of his shirt and you pulled him in towards you until your lips were connected. His mustache tickled as he kissed you. It made you giggle. That sound almost made Hopper collapse. He was falling for you at an alarming speed. And he knew he could never have you like that. So this would have to be enough. 

He grabbed your butt and heaved you towards him, your clothed core pressing against Jim’s rough jeans. He quickly fiddled with his pants, already hard beyond belief, and you did the same with your own. When he finally slid himself into you, bottoming out completely, you both exhaled in relief. He felt so right inside you. You stared up at him, wanting to savor every moment you had with him. He traced your face, you were so perfect. Your lips were parted and he could feel the heat radiating off of your body. He took a moment to take you in entirely before he gave you what you wanted and thrusted in and out of you so that you moaned out his name. 

You were sat in your living room, spacing out at the television as you laid horizontally along your couch. Your hand raised to change the channel then lazily collapsed and hung off the couch and onto the floor. You looked up at the ceiling. If only you had an excuse to go visit Hopper at the station. You knew he was working late tonight. Usually, your dad was a good excuse, dropping off his lunch or just checking in with him. But your dad was currently rummaging through a box of old paperwork on the living room floor, huffing to himself as he struggled to find whatever ancient archive he was looking for.

Wait. Your dad didn’t have to be at the station in order for him to act as your wingman. You could simply go pick something up that he ‘forgot’. You stumbled to your feet and ran up the stairs, gaining a curious glance from your father. 

You changed and ran out the door, telling your dad you were going to a friend’s house. If you wasted any more time than that, you might have talked yourself out of going.

It was pathetic, really. But you didn’t care, you just wanted to see Jim. The way his grumpy face would slightly soften when you appeared. You loved when he tried to be annoyed with you and would call you silly names. Or the way he would call you kid–like your parent’s friends would– while he was standing before you, rock hard. Your heart fluttered just thinking about it.

Hopper huffed and sat back in his chair, the silent station driving him mad. And just as he thought that, the loud noise of fumbling footsteps sounded outside his office. 

Then the footsteps were coming closer, and closer until they were right outside his door. Hopper felt his heart rush. The door creaked open and Flo stepped in, a clutch of paperwork in her arms. 

Hopper sighed for the millionth time that night (but what’s new?) His heart resumed to its normal pace and he grumbled something to Flo. “Just received these,” she said, gesturing to the papers in her hands. “Said it was urgent.” 

Hopper stood up and sulked over to the door. “Yeah, thanks, Flo. I’ll get right on that.” Hopper took the work from her and she rolled her eyes. “Sure you will.” That gained a smirk from Jim. 

She went to turn around but stopped, then spoke over her shoulder. “Oh, and you have a visitor.” 

Jim turned back to his office door and saw Flo slip away down the hall and your frame appear where hers just was. 

You meekly waved at him. Hopper set the folder down on his desk and turned to you, leaning on the edge of his desk. 

“Are you stalking me?” He teased.

“I can leave if you want.”

Hopper shook his head, feeling a flush rise to his cheeks. “No. It’s fine. You can come in.” 

You shyly slipped into his office, closing the door as you did. 

When you turned to face Hopper again, he saw the look of worry spread across your face. But it wasn’t his place to ask.

“My dad had left some stuff in his desk he needed. Thought I’d stop in and say ‘hello’.”

Hopper grinned. “Oh, yeah? You just wanted to say hi? Nothing more?”

You felt a chill run up your spine. Shit. Did you really sound that desperate?

You stuttered, “No-no, I just—I—“ 

“I’m just messin’ with ya, kid.”

Hopper hated to see this anguish plastered blankly across your face. You barely even smiled at him. Maybe you were finally regretting wasting your time with him and realized you made a mistake sleeping with this mean, old grump. 

Hopper paused before pushing himself off of his desk, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. “Listen, I… I’ve been meaning to talk to you.” He sat down in his chair, his legs spread wide as he leaned on his thighs. 

You approached him, leaning your hip on the edge of his desk. 

His eyes scanned yours and he felt himself try to hold back what he wanted to say. He couldn’t keep being selfish. You were clearly ruining your life being with Hopper. Okay, maybe it wasn’t that dramatic, but still. You were obviously going through something that was making you rebel. What better way than to sleep with your dad’s boss? (Well, technically Hopper wasn’t his boss. But that’s beside the point.) This was never going to sit well on your conscience once you grew up and had an epiphany about all your poor choices. And Hopper didn’t want to be remembered as one of your mistakes.

“I don’t think this is a good idea.” He gestured between the two of you. “Actually, it’s an awful idea and I’m sorry for keeping it going for so long.”

You rolled your eyes. “God, not this again. I’ll admit, it was kinda hot when you saw the ambivalence of the situation, but it’s getting old, Hop.”

“See, that’s what I’m saying. Even you realize that this is wrong.”

“That’s not what I—“

He said your name breathlessly, his fingers coming up to pinch between his brows in annoyance. “It’s just… What are we gonna do?” His voice was raising in tempo and it made you feel small. “Just keep fucking around, until what? How long are we gonna drag this shit out?” 

“Hopper, I—“

“Listen, I know you probably thought it was cool to rebel or whatever and seduce the chief of police, but this isn’t going anywhere. And I can’t keep sleeping around with a high schooler. Fuck.”

You felt tears well in your eyes. “I graduate in a month.” 

Jim sighed. “That’s not the point I’m trying to make.”

“So, you’re just done? Just like that? Because… Because you’re worried about my choices? Because of what everyone in town would think about you if they found out?” Your words were laced with fire.

“Yeah. Pretty much,” he said coolly, but his heart was hurting as he watched your eyes puddle with tears. It was all a facade. 

A tear betrayed you and rolled down your cheek. You quickly wiped it away. Jim’s eyes flickered, breaking his mask for a moment, wanting nothing more than to wrap his arms around you. “Why can’t you just admit you don’t like me instead of making up such dumb excuses!” Your hands balled up in fists. Jim didn’t say anything. “Fine. Whatever.” You spun around and stormed out. And by the time you made it to the end of the hall, you knew Jim wasn’t chasing after you. He wasn’t going to stop you from leaving. No, he wanted you to leave.

That was not how you thought the night was going to go.

A few weeks had passed and unlike before when you tried to jump Jim’s bones every chance you got, you spent your time avoiding him at all costs. 

You felt like you might burst into tears just seeing his face. 

You sat on the bleachers, watching the Hawkin’s High basketball team race up and down the court. Your best friend grabbed your arm, whispering something about how cute one of the guys on the other team was. You nodded your head feigning agreement. 

You watched, bored beyond belief. This wasn’t usually your thing. You only came because your friend dragged you here. On the far side of the gym, you spotted a burly man in a tan hat step in through the doors. Hopper.

You tried to sink down into your seat. Your eyes shifted to focus on the game but they kept darting to Hopper’s figure in the corner of the gymnasium. You watched as Jim was saying something to your principal, it seemed important based on the way they were speaking and gesturing. 

You shook your head and looked back at the players on the court. You instinctively started to pick at your nails, the skin around them beginning to bleed. 

The crowd began to roar–Jason Carver just scored. The people around you stood up and cheered, you think you heard Steve Harrington yelling something behind you but all you could make out was something about ‘Sinclair’ and ‘kicking ass’. Your friend looked down at you and nudged your arm, confused as to why you seemed to be so disinterested. 

As the crowd settled down again and slowly fell back into their seats, your gaze wandered to the far side of the court once more. Your eyes widened, Jim was looking directly at you. You both held each other’s line of vision for a moment, his pupils narrowing in on you. You quickly looked away, your cheeks feeling abnormally warm. 

Suddenly, you didn’t feel like watching the game anymore. “I’m gonna go get some air,” you said in your friend's ear. 

“Want me to come?” She asked. 

You shook your head and gave her a weak smile, “I’ll be right back.” 

She nodded, her eyes still suspicious as she watched you push past classmates to get down to the gym floor. 

Your arms wrapped around yourself, feeling small, as you pushed open the doors and stepped out into the night air. The rumble of the game became soft, locked within the school’s brick walls. 

You jumped down the stairs and walked over into the parking lot. You didn’t know where you were going, but you had to clear your head. 

A few voices carried in the wind off in the distance; some students were trying to be subtle about the fact that they were smoking. You went in the opposite direction until you were on the grass lawn, hidden from the street lamps. 

You sat down on the single, lonely bench, sighing as you tried to shake Hopper from your mind. You were so fucking stupid. How could you possibly think Jim Hopper, the fucking chief of police, would be interested in you? Like really interested in you. You were young and had teased him hopelessly for months, of course, he was going to act. Why wouldn’t he? But you wanted more than that. 

So stupid, you told yourself as you buried your head in your hands. You tried to hold back sobs, you were already pathetic enough as it was. 

A ruffling in the trees past the school’s lawn startled you. Your head shot up. “Hello?” You said quietly. You paused and listened for a moment thinking it might have been those students you saw earlier. You were just being silly, nothing was there. 

You pulled your legs up on the bench and into your chest. Maybe you should go back, your friend would be wondering where you went. 

The sound of crunching, like a dog devouring a meal, made you jump. Okay, now you were freaking out a little bit. You sat up on the bench, fully alert. Your heart was racing in your chest making it hard to hear anything apart from your pounding heartbeat. Branches breaking got closer and closer to you. You were on your feet and backing up. 

That's when you saw it. It was like a person wearing a Halloween mask, but it wasn’t a costume. The bloody skin of the creature reflected in the moonlight, its stature a good three feet taller than you. Your eyes were pried wide open as you backed away, gulping. The creature slowly approached you. You backed away and tripped on a rock, falling to your butt. You made a frightened gasp. The creature came darting toward you. You turned and began crawling away, trying to stand up as you did. You were too scared to even scream out. 

Red hot pain flared on your ankle, the claws from the monster were tearing into your flesh. 

You groaned, yelling for help now. You tried to kick it off of you, your foot stomping on its large mangled hands making it shriek. “What the fuck,” you said breathlessly. 

You managed to get to your feet but you could hear the monster following right behind you, its hand grabbed your shoulder, making you scream. 

Bang.

You fell to your knees, the claw slacking its hold and then disappearing altogether. 

Bang.

You couldn’t hear anything but the ringing of gunshots bouncing around your skull. You turned, looking at the creature struggling in pain. It had already been wounded and now it had two bullet holes burning through its skin. It looked at you, though you couldn’t spot any eyes, then it turned and ran back off into the forest.

You collapsed on the grass, your hand coming to rest on your head in exhaustion and confusion. 

Jim’s frame hovered above you, directly in your line of view. He leaned down and pulled you up, scooping you into his arms bridal style. You could see his mouth moving but you couldn’t make anything out; the ringing washing over everything. 

“What was that… thing?” You asked. You were sat atop Jim’s dining table as he rummaged in his bathroom for a first aid kit. You had only been to his place once before and you didn’t get a good look. You glanced around, taking in all his things. 

“I have no fucking idea,” he called out to you.

Your legs swung underneath you as you anxiously fidgeted. Your nails came up to your mouth, this was not good. You were stuck in Hopper’s home, in such close proximity. Nothing good could come from this.

Hopper came stomping out of the bathroom with his arms full of an array of random medical supplies. You raised your brow, eyeing him as he set it down on the table beside you. He noticed your glare. “S’all I got,” he shrugged. 

He grabbed some spray and a cloth and grabbed your foot. You jumped, his warm fingers grazing your skin. You tried not to think about his hands on your leg as he attempted to clean the wound. 

You cleared your throat. “Hop, it’s barely a scratch, I think I’m fine.” 

Jim felt his gut lurch when you said his name. “Don’t know where that freaky fuck came from, better safe than sorry and clean it out.”

You slouched back on your hands as you reluctantly let him clean the wound, holding back a smile at his word choice. His fingers tickled as he held your ankle, grabbing a roll of medical bandage wrap, and winding it around the cut. When it was fully dressed, he held your foot still in his hand, his finger pads lingering on your exposed ankle. He slowly looked up at you and immediately released your leg, standing up awkwardly. He grunted and scooped up all the shit he laid out moments earlier and brought it back into the bathroom. 

You slid off the table and aimlessly circled his kitchen, hoping he would take you home now. Jim appeared behind you and said your name, reaching out and touching your shoulder. “Ow!” You jumped.

His hand reclined and you both looked to where his fingers just were. Blood was beginning to seep through your shirt. “Shit,” you muttered.

“Fuck, he got you there too?”

“I guess. I think it grabbed my shoulder.” You went to move your shirt and hissed as it clung against the sticky blood. 

Jim went to the sink and wrung out a warm cloth, handing it to you. You walked over to him and took it, giving him a passive look. He leaned back against the sink as you tried to move your shirt to the side. You winced and looked up at him. 

“Come here,” he mumbled. 

You stepped a bit closer and he took the cloth from you, dabbing it on the area to loosen the shirt. He slowly pulled the clothing away from the cut and placed the warm cloth on top of it as a compress. He held it there, his eyes flickering to yours. You gulped. Your cheeks were on fire. 

He cleared his throat. “I’ll get you another shirt.”

He turned and went to his bedroom. “No, Jim. It’s fine. I can just change at home.”

Of course, Hopper being Hopper, he walked back out with one of his shirts anyways. He wasn’t going to make you sit in a bloody–and now wet–shirt. He stuck his hand out to you to give you the clothing. His eyes shifted between you and the fabric uncomfortably. Your fingers tentatively reached up and you paused for a moment, your chest racing. “Thank you,” you said meekly. 

You grabbed the shirt and Hopper rubbed the back of his neck. 

“I’ll go put the stuff away…” Hopper said awkwardly.

You nodded and he slowly turned around to go put away the stuff he left on the bathroom sink.

Once Hopper was in the bathroom again you slowly tore your shirt from your body. You winced slightly but once the shirt was off the cut, you felt much better. You looked over at your shoulder. “Shit, it’s not even that bad,” you mumbled, annoyed for acting like such a baby. You grabbed the cloth and started to dab up the stained blood. 

“Oh, shit, sorry. I—“ 

You jumped and looked up at Hopper who was standing wide-eyed in the doorway. You felt a heat rise to your chest and face. 

You stared at him, expecting him to shy away and let you finish changing, but he didn’t. He just watched you. You cleared your throat, your arms coming up to lay across your chest (but it’s not like Hopper hadn’t seen it all before.) “Uh. Hop…” You said, shaking your head a bit. 

He still didn’t say anything. He stepped closer towards you so he was only inches from your exposed body. “Hop…” You said breathlessly again. 

“You’re so beautiful.” 

You took in a sharp breath. You looked down, not wanting to meet his gaze. “You can’t…” you stuttered. “Don’t say that to me.”

His fingers surprised you as they touched your jaw and tilted your head up towards him. Your words got lost in your throat. Hopper couldn’t help himself. He slowly leaned in, watching your eyes flutter under him. Your lips parted, you couldn’t seem to stop either. Hopper’s nose rested against yours and his lips teased your own. He breathed your name softly then closed the gap. You felt your body immediately cave into his touch, your knees buckling and your head sinking lower. Jim’s arms wrapped around you to hold you up, moving his lips in rhythm with yours. 

Jim’s hands slid around your back, gently pulling your hips into him. He grunted as your body collided with his, your skin incredibly soft under his touch. You pulled away, shaking your head slightly. Hopper looked at you with such certainty, his fingers coming up to trace your unharmed shoulder and then sliding into your hair. 

You wouldn’t look up at him, you were too embarrassed. Instead, you focused on his chest as you spoke. Hopper’s fingers continued to play with your hair, lost in thought. “I can’t…” 

Jim softly said your name. 

You felt hot tears well in your eyes. You shied away, afraid of him seeing you like this. Pathetic. “I’m sorry I ruined things.” Your voice was small. 

Hopper’s hands fell to his side. 

“You didn’t ruin-“

“I did!” The tears began running down your hot cheeks. “I was getting attached. I was being stupid. So fucking stupid,” your voice got quiet. “I shouldn’t have tricked you like that.”

Jim’s eyes stayed focused on you. “Tricked me?”

“Yeah. It was all just a fun hook-up to you. But I had… I have liked you for a while now.” Jim raised a brow at you. You paused before continuing, trying to gather your thoughts. “It’s stupid, but I had a crush on you.” You tried to laugh but it sounded more like a struggling snort as tears kept falling. 

Jim closed his eyes, thoughts racing around his head. You gulped as you peered up at him. You just ruined your chances of this ever working out. He might have been a grump, but he wasn’t mean. Once he realized you liked him like that, he wouldn’t lead you on. He’d cut things off for good. 

You jumped slightly when you felt Jim’s warm fingers brush along the side of your jaw, tilting your head up to look at him. Your breathing hitched in the back of your throat, his eyes were dark, but not like how they usually looked. They were filled with something other than lust. 

He whispered your name and you felt your heart flutter. 

“That’s not what it was to me.” His words were soft. You wouldn’t have been able to hear him if he spoke any quieter. Your lips parted. He leaned down towards you, your lips drawing closer and closer to one another. “I fell in love with you.” His thumb came up and wiped away your wet cheeks. 

You made a noise in the back of your throat. “Y-You did?” 

Jim’s mouth ever so slightly turned up before he connected his lips with yours. You felt your body go loose as his arms wrapped around your waist and pulled you into him. His hand came up to rest on your cheek as he kissed you deeper. Breathlessly, he pulled away. “I thought if I pushed you away, I could prevent you from getting ruined.”

“Ruined?”

“Yeah. What good could come from a big grump falling for a sweet thing like you? You got your whole life ahead of you, kid. I didn’t want you wasting it hooking up with me. So you could get back at your parents? To prove you were mature? I don’t know, but I didn’t want you to regret this,” he motioned between your two bodies.

You felt a smile form on your lips. “And I thought I was the one foolishly-in-love-when-it-was-only-meant-to-be-a-fling.”

He pushed your hair back as he admired you. “Still don’t want you to regret this.” You could hear the worry laced in his words. 

Your hands grabbed the hem of his shirt. “No. I…” You paused. “I want you, Hopper. For more than just sex.” His eyes dropped, his hands falling on top of yours as you clung to him. “I know what you’re thinking.” He eyed you. “That your feelings for me are wrong. How you can’t possibly fall for someone like me, let alone hook up with. You’re the chief of police. And I’m just some dumb girl who likes older men apparently. It would never—“ Jim cut you off, smiling as he kissed you. 

You were right. That’s exactly what he was thinking. But fuck it. He wasn’t sure how he could manage knowing you liked him the way he liked you if he just pushed you away again. Screw what everyone else thought. You could both worry about that when you got to it. But right now, Jim desperately needed you. 

You fervently kissed him back, both of your breathing increasing. “Jim-” you mumbled between kisses. 

“Mhm?” 

“You’re not gonna–push me away–again after–are you?” you managed to get out as Hopper attacked your face. 

He paused. “Not if you want me. I can worry about what Hawkins thinks later. I don’t give a fuck what they have to say–” it was your turn to cut him off. You grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him into you. His mustache tickled your nose as he kissed you. His hands found their way to your exposed hips, sliding up and brushing the back of your bra. 

Jim pushed you back so you wobbled to the couch. Your legs hit the side and you sat on the arm of his couch. Jim was quickly between your knees, his hand behind your head as he pulled you into him. When he pulled back to get a breath, his eyes couldn’t tear away from you. Your face was stained with tears, but that only made your eyes stand out more. Your hair had been ruffled by Jim’s large hands, and your lips were swollen. 

“What?” you asked, suddenly shy under his gaze.

“You’re so beautiful.”

You felt your cheeks flush. Jim pushed your hair behind your ear and placed a kiss on your exposed shoulder. His fingers traced along your bra strap and down to your back where he unclipped it. You felt goosebumps rise in his trail. His fingers gently lifted your straps off, making sure not to touch the cut along your shoulder, and threw your bra to the floor. His eyes ravaged you. You were about to speak, feeling shy, but Jim was faster. His lips grazed your nipple, making you gasp. He drew it into his mouth, sucking and nipping you softly. You felt your eyes flutter and your eyes roll to the back of your head. “Jesus,” you breathed. 

Jim felt himself grin, loving getting a reaction out of you. His hands rested on your hips as he kissed your chest. He hooked your jeans in his fingers and began to wiggle them. You lifted your hips up so he could yank them down. His hands grabbed your thighs immediately, squeezing them and letting his thumb rub small circles along them. His head came up to kiss your neck and jaw, his stubble leaving tingles in their wake. 

You grabbed his biceps, holding on to him as he nuzzled the side of your neck. A small moan left your lips and that was enough to send Jim into overdrive. His hips came slamming into your own, the roughness of his jeans gliding against your clothed clit. His hands were around your jaw, both of them pulling you in for a hard kiss, his tongue sliding along your lips and into your mouth. He grunted when he felt your hips roll into him, your legs wrapping around his thighs and pulling him into you. 

Hopper couldn’t handle it anymore, he needed you. 

He scooped you up into his arms gaining a squeal from you. He moved you to the couch cushions and laid you down before him. He tore his shirt and pants off in one quick motion, then placed himself on top of you, kissing you into the couch. Your fingers ran through his tawny hair, your legs struggled to wrap back around Jim’s waist. His hand slipped between your bodies and into your underwear. You gasped when you felt him touch you. He began to rub small circles across your core, your body already wet and ready for him. 

One of his fingers slid to your entrance and rubbed between your lips, feeling the way you were overflowing. “All this for me?” His voice was far deeper than earlier. 

You looked up at him, your eyes big and sweet. “Mhm,” you cooed. 

Jim removed his hand and slid it up your side then squeezed one of your breasts. You felt sad at the loss of his touch between your thighs. “I want you inside me, Jim.”

His eyes darted to yours, his pupils blown. You swallowed hard as he stared at you. You felt his hard length press against your thigh and you rolled into him. 

“Fuck,” he cursed. You reached down and wiggled your underwear off before grabbing the hem of Jim’s and urging it down. Jim followed your lead and tore his boxers off before nestling himself back between your legs. You could feel his cock pressing against your clit as he put his weight onto you. He kissed your jaw again while his hands grabbed himself and began to rub his tip against you. You moaned, your face heating up and he teased you. 

“God, Jim. Please!” You begged pathetically. 

Jim used his hands to push your hips down and prevent you from jutting your hips up towards him. You pouted. “I’m right here, baby.” He said softly. “No need to rush. I wanna savor you.”

Your chest thumped loudly. Hopper kissed your cheek and then ground his hips against you, his cock dragging along your core. You both moaned as he continued to do it. One of your legs were buried in the couch cushions and unable to wrap around Jim, so only one of your legs came up to rest on him. Jim’s hand instinctively went to your thigh as you lifted your leg to drape around him. He used that as leverage to rub against your harder. You bit your lip as you held back a yelp. 

Without warning, Jim thrusted himself into you. You gasped in shock as he filled you up. Jim grunted above you, his head falling into the crook of your neck. You clenched around him, making him grumble into your hair, sending vibrations throughout your body. 

He let you adjust to him as you squirmed beneath his weight. “Jim. Move,” you said in a breathless tone, desperate to feel him pump inside you. 

His hands wrapped around you and he began to thrust in and out. Your head arched backward as he hit you deep. Jim growled as he felt your walls spasm around his cock. You mewled in response, your vision dizzy as Jim rutted into your hips. 

You felt all your sadness from earlier sink away and you were filled with warmth instead. Both of you forgot all about the monster you encountered. You were pretty sure you both would keep fucking even if that thing had burst through the window. You couldn’t stop now. You wouldn’t let him. 

You bucked your hips up each time Jim bottomed out, forcing him to hit you as deep as possible. You cried out in pleasure. “Fuck, baby,” he grunted. 

Hopper was already so close, and you desperately thrusting against him wasn’t going to help things. He wasn’t going to last. (So much for savoring it.) His hands found your hair and he fisted it, his voice growing deep as he growled. He began to hit you long and hard as he pumped his length in and out of you. He felt his fist squeeze tightly in your hair when he felt your walls clench around him. And just like that, he was done for. Jim groaned so lowly that you could feel the vibrations tickle your stomach. 

Jim let out a long, dragged-out ‘fuck’ as he began to come inside of you. Your own orgasm followed suit, your legs shaking as Jim filled you up. His hot seed seeped out around his cock as he thrusted through his high, obscene noises filling Jim’s quiet place. 

You arched your back into Jim’s chest, bucking your hips up against him over and over as he kept spilling himself into you. Jim moaned as you sucked every last drop from his cock, draining him completely. 

He began to slow his thrusts, your nails digging into Jim’s back as your high faded to a pleasant sense of ecstasy. Jim collapsed on top of you, his weight pushing you into the couch. He gently pulled himself from between your legs and a pool of his seed rushed out of you. 

He kissed your cheek before scooping you up and rolling over so you laid on top of his chest. 

His breathing was deep and his hand wrapped around you, holding you close to him. 

You rested your head against him, your hand coming up to rub small circles on his chest, catching your own breath. “I love you,” he whispered. 

You looked up at him, your cheek still pressed against him. “You do?”

He chuckled and you felt it rumble through your body. “Mhm.” He grinned at you, brushing his fingers against your jaw. 

You kissed his chest. Then kissed him again. And again. Leaving a trail of kisses up to his lips. You had to crawl and shift your body so you were in line with his face as you placed a warm kiss on his lips. His arm squeezed around you. 

You straddled him as you deepened the kiss, a small groan building in the back of your throat. You gently rolled your hips into him, your wet pussy dragging against him as you did. 

Jim grumbled something into the kiss and you felt him grow hard beneath you again. 

You giggled. “Round two?” 

His hands came down to squeeze your ass and pulled your waist harder against him. You took that as a yes. 

You squirmed on top of him, placing delicate kisses along his jaw and to his collarbone as he did to you earlier. Jim felt his cheeks blush at your touch, your soft lips like heaven against his rough skin. 

You slowly slid down so your hips were in line with Jim’s. Then you took his cock in your hand, earning a grunt from Jim, and lined him up with you again. You could already feel yourself pulsing with anticipation, wanting him to fill you like before. You slowly sank down on him, his hands resting against your soft waist. You both gasped, looking at one another with parted lips. 

He stretched you out slowly, your body needing time to adjust to him again. It was almost painful how well he filled you. You finally sank down on him completely, letting your full weight lay against him. You felt Jim’s hips buck slightly beneath you, his hands eagerly rubbing against your hips and thighs. You lifted off of him gently, letting his cock slide out of you painfully slow. 

Jim’s breath got caught in his throat, his cock already dripping in precum. You lazily took him all in again, sitting flesh against him. He growled, his head pressing up against your cervix. You felt his fingers dig into your skin. You began to lightly bounce on top of him, making his fingers press harder and harder into you. Your hands rested against his chest as you rode him, your mouth letting little whimpers escape. 

You felt every ridge of his cock glide against you, your clit bumping against Jim as you sank down on him. You couldn’t help but let little cries weep out of your mouth as you took him in. 

Your bounces stayed at the same pace and Jim couldn’t take it any longer. He grunted as he gripped your hips and began bucking his hips up into you and pulling you down to meet his thrusts. You moaned, his body slapping against yours. Jim began bucking up consistently, pulling you into him each time. Your eyes rolled into the back of your head as Jim took control, wanting to hit you as hard as he could. Your fingers curled into Jim’s chest, your body trembling as Jim thrusted against you. 

“Jim, I–” your words barely made it out before you were moaning again. You were so close. Your cries came out staggered as Jim jerked into you, making your voice waver. You cursed and mumbled under your breath, your eyes lazily looking down at Hopper. His own met yours, both of your eyelids feeling heavy. 

Jim shifted beneath you slightly and began to hit you at just the right spot. It made you cry out in pure pleasure. You have never felt this good before. You felt your walls clench around him, your legs wanting to squeeze together as they pressed against Jim. 

You felt your high approaching, your body going limp as Jim kept his pace. You mewled, another orgasm flowing through you. Your walls clamped down on Jim’s cock, squeezing against him and making him growl. He began squirting inside you, giving you what little he had left. 

You both were a mess as you groaned and muttered swears under your breath. Your eyes stayed locked with Jim’s, even if they were both laced with exhaustion. You helped him as he slowed and bounced on top of him, dragging out your highs. You both cried out, his seed spilling out around his cock and onto both of your thighs. 

You hindered your speed as you felt your body cave with warmth. You finally stopped and leaned over, collapsing on top of Jim. His arms pulled you into him, his chest rising and falling in unsteady breaths. 

You mewled as the aftershock hit you, making you shake on top of him. Jim let you ride out your high with his cock still buried deep inside you. 

After a few long moments, you paused, your hands wrapped tightly around Hopper. “I love you too,” you breathed. 

You felt Hopper chuckle against you, his hands rubbing small patterns along your back as he held you. 

You both wanted to stay like this and forget the rest of the world, bodies pressed flesh with one another, and Hopper’s cock buried inside you with his seed filling you up. You felt your eyes flutter shut as Jim’s fingers danced across your back. Sleep began to overtake the both of you as you snuggled up into Jim. You felt him harden inside you again and he groaned in pain. 

You muffled noises into his chest, your hands clenching into fists as you felt him inside of you. You huffed as you began to rub up and down, your body flat against Jim’s. His cock slowly slid in and out of you as you lazily rolled your hips up and down. Your clit dragged along Hopper’s stomach making you whine. Both of your eyes remained shut and Hopper’s arms held you in a hug. You whined again, feeling tired as you rocked against Jim. You picked up your speed slightly, your chest never raising from Jim’s. 

Jim’s arms, wrapped around you, pulled you up to help you up as you rolled your hips against him. Your both groaned, your pussy painfully aroused as Jim’s cock began squirting his seed into you again. You let out a vocal cry as you began to shake on top of him, coming for the third time that night. 

Jim held you close and helped you gently roll on his cock, his chest vibrating as he overflowed your cunt with his seed. It pooled out around your bodies, creating a sticky mess on both of your thighs. You mewled, your walls clenching Jim as you came with him. 

After a few more tired thrusts, you stopped and sighed into Jim’s chest, letting him drip out around you. He slowly pulled out of you and his cock sprang out, rubbing up against your ass as he did. You groaned, your legs trembling beneath you as the last of your high rode through your body. 

Jim leaned forward and placed a kiss on your head, soft snores sounding from your small frame. He smiled, feeling like he didn’t deserve this kind of contentment. He hugged you tighter, hoping you’d never leave him. And he fell asleep shortly after.

#jim hopper #jim hopper smut #hopper #hopper smut #jim hopper oneshot #jim hopper fanfic #stranger things #stranger things smut #smut #hopper st4 #chief jim hopper #chief hopper #jim hopper x reader #insert fic #hopper x reader #stranger things hopper

[redlazuly]

so i've just joined the pjo series discourse on sm (i've read all the books) so maybe people might have already said this but i feel like the monster fights are kinda underwhelming ?? the fights themselves but the atmosphere around them too. i'm just going to say it point by point to be clearer :

Mrs. Dodds: she's the first monster and threat of the show. i was waiting for something scary and surprising, that would have terrified percy or something. but instead the "reveal" was slow, and there wasn't even a fight, he just kind of opened the sword (even tho we don't even see him doing it) and she just. dies like that ?? it was really easy and i get that they can't just kill percy in the first ep but there wasn't even a bit of struggle or anything. tbh this first fight really dissapointed me. there was mystery that creates an intrigue but she just wasn't scary or a menace imo (EDIT : I HAVE NOW REREAD THE SCENE AND IT HAS COME TO MY ATTENTION THAT THIS IS EXACTLY HOW THE FIGHT PLAYS OUT IN THE BOOK (extract down below) so forget everything i said in this part, i'm sorry. )

2. The minotaur : i liked this one much more than the first one, the car chase was thrilling and the atmosphere of the scene was really cool. i've only got one little thing to say about it, but i think it's just a me thing and i'm nitpicking (idk how to make gifs so i hope you can picture it in your head) :

when sally takes percy's jacket to lure the minotaur away from the boys and uses it as a red cape like in a corrida, i think it kinds of take the attention away from the fear of the monster in itself by being comedic. AGAIN i know i'm nitpicking here but why not say it.

(also i regret that the last scene was so far away from the camera and from the camp border. i know it's bc it's percy's pov but i loved percy's desperation in the movie (I KNOW IT'S BAD) when he's failing to save his mother and finally sees her (and her emotions) when she is gets taken away from him.)

3. Medusa : i LOVED what they tried to do with medusa and how they tried to make us sympathise with her. however, the fight was REALLY dissapointing to me. it kind of happened from nowhere. it's implied that it's annabeth plan but it really happened way too fast and did not give enought time for the viewer to appreciate the threat that medusa can be. it felt way to easy for them to beat MEDUSA. the fight lasted 5 seconds max and it felt shy in a way, like as if they didn't not want to fuck it up.

+ special mention : 4. Clarisse: I'M NOT SAYING SHE'S A MONSTER, I'M JUST PUTTING HER HERE BC TECHNICALLY SHE WAS A THREAT TO PERCY. i like dior's acting, idk anything about her outside of the show but i'm going to be honest : not knowing the cast at all, at first i immediately thought she was drew 😭. she IS a really pretty girl but for me she doesn't emanate clarisse's ares' daughter vibe. when her spear broke she was so GOOD, but appart from that she's just really chill i think ? like she's not menacing, she just kind of a mean girl bully (which clarisse is ig but she's not a menace enough imo) and tbh i think she's just not as "rough" as i think she could have been.

tldr : i think the fights were not scary enough and did not set a good tone for the series. they were also too easy and fast for them to be enjoyable.

of course i still enjoy this show a lot so i will be watching the next episodes and the rest of it so maybe there will be improvements. please yell what you guys think !!

it's the first time i ever talk so much on tumblr, so i hope it was readable. if there was any mistakes please tell me, english is not my first language.

#pjo series #pjo fandom #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson #the minotaur #mrs dodds #clarisse la rue #pjo tv show #pjo spoilers

[11queensupreme11]

about the feminism thing, i always saw girlboss MCs as more harmful cuz theyre almost always written to make feminine characters and male characters inferior to boost the "not like other girls" mc up 🤮 its basically like what you wrote in ur guidebook about "strong female characters" like THATS more likely to set back feminism than having a girlflop mc imo

ahhh yeah, i get what you mean!

i'd love a girlboss mc, but only when they're written well. unfortunately so many fic authors (and book authors) keep making the mistake that a "strong female character" means to make your fem mc more masculine and physically strong....

like that is NOT what having a "strong female character" means. the amount of times where i've seen fem mcs in fics and books try to act like "tough girlbosses" by being snarky, sassy, and rude ESPECIALLY towards more feminine female characters (who are usually demonized by the author because "girly girls bad!!!"), and even going so far as to beat up random male characters who have literally done nothing to them just because "haha girl beat up boy! that means she's strong! see?!" just makes me cringe 😬

it reminds me of this one harry potter fanfic i read when i was young and i LOVED the female mc because she always beat ppl up and i was like "wow, she's so cool and strong!" but then i grew up, reread it again in my hs years and i was like ".... this bitch is crazy 💀" cuz she spent the whole book screaming at ppl, hitting them, and just constantly using curse words to look tomboyish and tough and "not like other girls" 😭 i remember in one of the earlier chapters, a gryffindor(?) dude tried to ask her out and she responded by cursing(?) him repeatedly and just started yelling at him like a weirdo, this bitch needed to CALM DOWN there was no reason????? she just had to say "no, sorry" but she could never chill for a second and always overreacts to everything, and everyone praised her because omg she was sooo badass 🙄 girlboss 🤪

i kept thinking about how she needed to chill but she literally had NO character development, she was just a huge bitch throughout the whole fic for literally no reason omg (and she never faced any consequences for it because ofc)

but anyways yeah, this is just one of the MANY examples of a failed attempt of a "strong female character". i get that ppl want super cool girlboss mcs, but if you gotta demonize your feminine characters and make your male characters look weak just to make your mc look strong, you're not doing it right. you're not making a strong female character you're making an overly favored weirdo who needs to chill 💀

as i mentioned in the guidebook, a strong female character is someone who is strong AND female, not strong DESPITE being female. having a 2 dimensional mc who's only personality traits are anger, apathy, violence, and the occasional sassiness, who needs the author to downgrade other characters to boost her up, and has literally no other development, does NOT make her a "strong female character".

make her a girlboss if you want, but give her an actual role in your story aside from "i'm strong, boys suck, and girly girls are weak!".

#👸🏻| asks #👸🏻| arsenic blues #👸🏻| writing

[indiaalphawhiskey]

Hi, India!!

I’m writing my first fic for a fest and I was so excited about it. But I reread what I wrote so far and it’s just soooo bad 😭 I can’t think of anyone reading it, specially because english is not my first language and I fear my writing is not natural or fluid enough.

Do you have any advice on how can I take my mind out of this though and just write for pleasure as I used to? 🥲

Hey, love 💕

I’m sorry this took me awhile to answer. (I’m also not the most eloquent right now, I’m sorry.) Honestly, it’s a little funny that you chose to ask me this question, because I’m notorious for being very, very in my head about my writing and being consistent about quality.

To be fair to that, and to you, I’m going to try and give you a handful of answers, from different perspectives. They can be taken together or separately or not at all, whatever suits.

First, most importantly, and most pragmatically:

1. Get a beta you trust.

I know the face of this fandom has changed, I know content creation has dwindled and that less and less people are able to support writers this way, but honestly, for me, this is more important than almost anything about the writing process, and especially so if you’re writing in your second, third, fourth language. There are just too many nuances to language and verbiage, and it helps so much for someone to say “I know what you meant here, but it doesn’t read like that.”

(I don’t believe in ever letting my work go unbeta-ed, no matter how confident I feel in the raw work or the language, because of course I know what I meant to say — I’m the writer. I need some to firmly (but kindly) check that the audience understands it as well.)

Betas also help in terms of managing self-criticism, because being hard on yourself is just not always something you can change, especially if you care about the story and skill-building. A good beta will help by either saying “it’s not bad, you’ve just read it too often, put it down” or “why do you think it’s bad exactly” and help you improve it.

Second, on the concept of writing for pleasure:

2. Just because something is hard doesn’t mean it’s not fun.

People often mistake “fun” for “easy”; I don’t think it’s the same. I think when you enjoy something and are passionate about it, it’s going to cost you and force you to push yourself. There’s no such thing as “low-stakes passion”, that’s just incongruous. (Marathon runners don’t keep running races that are easy for them. They progress because they like it — process, challenges, rewards, everything.)

Similarly, you clearly write because you love it. But if you’re getting to the point where you’re cognizant enough to be self-critical, that means you’re improving. It means there are things you want to convey that your skill doesn’t allow you to yet.

Hold on to that, because that’s motivation. It means that you love something enough that you’re consumed with doing it justice. That tension is not a bad thing; that’s where a hobby turns into a passion and the solution is not about regressing back to something low-stakes — it’s about finding out how to bridge the gap between your skill and your ambition.

And third, focused on the output:

3. Focus on how much you want your story to exist.

Most of the time, writing is a long game. It’s about consistency and effort and focus and discipline, and all of those things are tiring as fuck.

It’s so much easier to bang out a drabble and get the validation, and move onto the next “fun” idea. And that’s totally fine, except for when you want this particular story to exist this particular way.

I’ve found that’s the only thing that pushes me to stay motivated and devoted to writing — the thought that I just want this story to exist and I don’t want to live in a world where it doesn’t.

My boss always says this thing: “let the content lead”, and I think that’s true of writing. If you’re focused on weaving this idea into something tangible, if that’s mainly what drives you, the relationship stays between you and the story (not the story and it’s external reception) and that can alleviate the pressure a lot, because you shift into writing to fulfill an internal goal, and as long as that story exists, you’ve achieved that.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, I think all of your concerns are valid. You have a very practical issue: the language barrier, that needs a very practical solution: a beta. But you’re also hitting a moment of growth in terms of your writing, and I don’t want you to look at that hurdle and assume it means you need to turn around. Things can be hard and also fun, and I wouldn’t want the fandom to miss out on this version of this story that can only be written by you just because you’ve outgrown your current skill set.

Lastly, and I think this is really important: remember that this is never going to be your last fic. So if it’s not perfect — if it’s not exactly the way you want it to be at the end — write another one that’s better, and another, and another. There’s room in this fandom for every version of you as a writer, and your chances to improve and represent yourself better are infinite. Write what you can write now, and then write something better later. 🩷

#iaw ask #iaw anonymous #writing thoughts #writing for fun

[crystalsnow95z]

Part 2 to my Taejin story. So..it's gonna need a part 3. I cut a lot from it.

Jin takes a break from taking care of Taehyung boiling some water to make himself a quick meal. His nose started developing an itch, similar to Taehyung's a quiet sneeze escaping him. "Hehtigh.."

I sure hope that's the only one..

Jin poured the boiled water into the instant Ramen cup. I should try to give Taehyungie a steamy shower when his fever lowers a bit. It should help with his clogged nose.

Jin continued to think of ways to help the younger vocalist while he tried to eat his noodles as quietly as possible, trying not to wake him. He only makes it halfway through the cup before his stomach feels uncomfortably full.

"Heh..Hah...heitchi..!" Taehyung wakes himself up with his own sneezes, the itch building up again. "He'itxchi!"

"Aiish..You scared me.." Jin places his hand over his racing heart.

Sorry Hyung..

Taehyung texts with a sniffle.

"It's okay. I didn't expect you to be up so soon.. are you hungry? I made some ramen, but I can't finish it.." Jin offers the half eaten ramen, but Taehyung shakes his head searching for his phone.

I'm not hungry.. my stomach still hurts..

"That's okay, Voo.. I'll make you some tea for now. We have to do something for your voice.." Jin uses some leftover water from the pot pouring into a cup adding ginger teabags. "Namjoon got you gingseng, so it might be a little bitter.."

"heh'tixhti!" Taehyung sneezes into the blanket, sniffling, trying to rub away the itch, but without success "HEHTICHIH! Heh..he..Heitchis!"

I don't want bitter..

Taehyung types with a frown, wiping his nose with the back if his hand.

"Tete, please just try for me?" Jin asks gently, steeping the tea. "I'll even drink some with you."

But you don't mind it..

Taehyung pouts, but takes the cup Jin offers him, but as soon as the steam reaches his nose it triggers a series of sneezes quickly shoving it back into Jin's hands.

"Heh'tixhi.. Heh'itch..HEH'TICHI!" Taehyung whimpers with the last one wiping his nose with the side of his hand.

"Aiigo, use a tissue.." Seokjin tuts at him, cleaning off his hand with the wash cloth. "What am I going to do with you? You're like a little baby." He smiles fondly, getting him a tissue.

"Sorry..habit.." Taehyung whispers, trying to clear his nose once more facing away from Jin. More thick mucus comes out, giving him momentary relief, but he knew it'll only be minutes until it's right back where it started. He went to complain to Jin, but when he tried talking again, only a cough came.

"No talking Tae. Okay?" Jin takes a seat next to him tapping Taehyung's phone.

I hate this.. I can't make up my mind if I'm hot or cold, I can't breathe, my head hurts, I keep feeling dizzy, and I can't even talk.. There's no point of using a tissue..it just comes back a minute later.. how am I going to perform?

Taehyung types up his frustrations, feeling tears trying to form with the last sentence. He blinks quickly, looking up to try to stop them, but one still rolls down his cheek.

"Vuu, come here.. don't cry. We'll figure this out.." Jin pulls him close, gently scratching his nails across his back, clenching his jaw when he feels the sweat soaking his shirt. "You can't stress yourself out baby, you'll only make yourself worse.."

Taehyung wraps around Seokjin, burying his face in his shoulder. He tries to fight off the tears by closing his eyes tightly, but they still find their way out, landing on Jin's shoulder.

"Shh..it's okay baby..it's okay.." Jin pulls Taehyung closer, trying to calm the sick vocalist. I need to distract him..

"Hey Taehyungie, do you want to watch something together? We can watch a Ghibli movie like old times. Would you like that?"

Taehyung nods slightly, slowly letting go of Jin so he can get up.

Jin feels the itch in his nose, pursing his lips together as he fights off the urge to sneeze scruching up his nose. I can't sneeze with Taehyung already being so sensitive..

"Hang on, Vuu, I gotta go wash my hands, okay?" Jin dismisses himself to the bathroom, turning on the water to try to mask his sneezes.

"Hehitch!" Jin covers his face with both hands. "Hehitcgh!" He takes some toliet paper to blow his nose. "This isn't good.." Jin speaks to himself, looking at the cloudy white goo in the tissue before folding it up and throwing it away, pushing it to the bottom of the trash can.

"Heh'tixhich!" Taehyung's sneeze is heard over the water, Jin quickly washing his hands and turning it off to go to the sick dongsaeng. "Heh'heh..Heh.HEHTITCGHDH.." Taehyung tried to stop it from coming by pinching the bridge of his nose, but it came anyway. "Ugh.."

"Are you okay, Vuu?" Jin offers him the tea cup.

Taehyung shakes his head, pressing his palms into his forehead. His head was throbbing, making him feel dizzy. "Spinning.." He whispers.

"Come here, baby, let me try help.."Jin comes behind Taehyung, gently moving him to lean against his chest, finding his temples and rubbing his thumbs across with small circles.

Taehyung relaxes underneath Jin's touch, ebbing away some of the pain, the dizziness fading. "Than-" Taehyung coughs, being reminded about how raw his throat was.

"Shh.. you don't have to thank me Tae-yah. Move for a minute, I'm going to go get the tea. At least try to drink a little for me?"

Taehyung sits up, moving off of Jin. "Okay.."

Jin gets the tea, handing it to his dongsaeng. "Here Vuu."

Taehyung sips it, face distorting at the bitter taste. "Hyung.." He tries to shove it back into Jin's hands, but he doesn't accept it.

"I know, I know. I'll ask for sugar next time, just drink as much as you can." Jin puts his hand on Taehyungs head, giving him an applogetic smile. "Just a bit?"

Taehyung drinks a quarter of it before the annoying itch returns. "I gotta sneeze.." he whispers hoarsely, barely getting it into Jin's hand before a wet sneeze comes. "HEHTICHIH!"

"Bless you, Tae. Here. Wipe your nose." Jin gets him a tissue.

"Heh..tichizh..!" Taehyung sneezes quickly grabbing the tissue to try to clean up the snot that leaked down his face.

"The medicine should've kicked in.." Jin says softly, heart tightening when he hears Taehyung coughing again. He didn't seem any better than before he took it, besides his cheeks looking less flushed than before.

"I'm feeling better, I am.. my head doesn't hurt as much.." Taehyung tries to reassure Jin, but his voice doesn't come out louder than a whisper, sniffling as another sneeze tries to come.

"Voo, you don't need to lie to me." Jin says, gently rubbing Taehyung's back before getting up to set up his laptop. "It's okay.. we'll figure this out. Let's watch that movie. After we'll get you in the shower."

Taehyung cuddles up to Jin as soon as he sits down again, nodding. He's warm.. Was he always this warm, or am I just running a fever still?

Taehyung quickly types on his phone.

If my fever is gone by practice can I go?

"Practice? Oh Vuu I don't think that's a good idea." Jin's jaw clenched when he sees Taehyung's shiny eyes, not wanting to upset him. "If you do go, you wouldn't be able to sing and you'd have to take it easy."

We usually take it easy during practices close to a concert. I'll be okay..

"I'll ask the others when it's closer to that time. Right now we all need to focus on resting up." Jin gently runs his fingers through Taehyung's hair. "You're still sweating, baby.. Try to sleep a little more. I'll text Namjoon-ah about practice okay?"

Taehyung nods, nuzzling into Jin's neck, the older man wrapping his arms around him watching the brightly colored movie on the screen. He only made it halfway through before drifting to sleep.

"Kim Taehyung, Kim Taehyung!" Army cheered for him, laying flat on the set bed, the music to Stigma playing in his in-ear.

Taehyung goes to sing, but he can't make a sound. The more he tried, the more pain it caused, only coughing.

No..no I have to sing..I have to..

Taehyung sat up to try to make it easier to sing, but the coughing didn't stop scarlet droplets spraying out. He covers his face, trying to stand to leave the stage, but his knees collapse underneath him. He could hear all the voices of Army crying to see him that way hurt even more than his throat, that felt like it was being ripped from the inside.

"Vuu!" Jin runs to the stage to his side, but as soon as he touches Taehyung, he starts coughing, his skin losing all its color. "I..i.."

No.. no Hyung... Taehyung reached to touch Jin, feeling the blistering fever that made him unbearable to touch. He'll die if i don't bring it down..

Taehyung forces himself to endure Jin's body heat. It felt like he was hugging fire to his chest. His blood ran cold when he saw the others rushing to help him.

He tried to scream, but no sound came. No, no please don't touch, you'll get sick too..

Taehyung's silent scream filled the hotel room.

"Woah, Woah Taehyungie, Taehyung it's okay, it's okay!" Jin hugs Taehyung closer to his chest, cursing himself for falling asleep. "Vuu wake up.."

Taehyung's eyes fly open, clinging to the oldest member tears flooding down his cheeks. "Hyung.. I'm sorry..I'm so 'ry..I din nt mean..." Coughs cut off his incoherent sobbing, Jin stroking his hair.

"Shh, its okay, its okay it was only a dream.. Taehyung please you need to breathe. Deep breaths Vuu." Jin strokes his hand down his back. "Y-your making your fever worse.."

Taehyung holds his breath to try to stop himself from coughing, trying to shake the memory of the dream away, cuddling into Jin's cold clammy collarbone.

He's in a cold sweat because I scared him.. he's not burning up, he's fine.. it was just a dream.. only a dream.. Taehyung takes deep shaky breaths.

"That's it..Good.." Jin takes deep breaths along with him. "It was only a dream.. everything is fine except that you're not well.. Vuu we need to cool you down. We need to get you in the bath."

"Will you bathe with me?" Taehyung mouths the words.

"Of course Voo." Jin gently gets him to his feet, letting him lead on him. "Slowly, slowly.." he takes a few steps before Taehyung stops moving. "What's wrong?"

"I..ah..heh'itch! HETHIXH!" Taehyung sneezes, making them fall forward, Jin helping them to their knees. "Hah..hah..etichiff!" He tries to muffle them.

"Don't try to stop them, you'll only feel worse.." Jin scolds him.

"I don't want you to get sick.." Taehyung whispers.

It's too late for that. I'm feeling too weak to even help support your full weight..

"Don't worry about me.. just worry about getting better." Jin helps Taehyung back to his feet, making him to the bathroom. "I'll fill the tub, you get.." Jin felt the itch of a sneeze come, relieved to have his back to Taehyung as he forced the sneeze away.

Taehyung looks at him with confusion.

"Just get undressed. I'll find us clothes." He quickly leaves the room, hoping the running bathtub will cover the sneezes that built up again. "Hehtichih! Heh..itchish!" He sniffles, using a tissue to try to blow his nose as quietly as possible.

Taehyung couldn't hear Jin over his own coughing, filling up a cup of water to try to soothe the pain in his throat. I need to get better. Jin.. he looks so tired, I'm keeping him up..

Jin quickly returns to the room. "Tae I told you to get undressed. What am I going to do with you?"

Taehyung pouts. "Couldn't.."

"It's okay, I know. I'm only teasing you. Let me help." Jin gently pulls the shirt over Taehyung's head. "You're doing your best. Come on, pants.." Jin coughs. "Ah, I'm really thirsty.." he quickly gets a cup of water.

I'm sorry.. you've been too busy with me. I'll try to be easier.

"Don't be sorry. I chose to do this. Get in the bath honey.." Jin gently leads him into the water, getting undressed himself.

Taehyung whines when he gets in the water, curling up into a ball. Jin gets a wash cloth and joins him, wrapping around him. "Cold.." He whispers.

"I know, I know.. its cold for me too.." Jin admits, gently rubbing the wet cloth over Taehyung's body. "We won't stay in too long okay? Just enough to wash you up a bit." He rubs the bar of soap in the cloth, creating a white lather. "Lean against me while I wash your back, okay?"

Taehyung nods, wrapping his arms around Jin's waist as he rubs the cloth down his spine, leaning against his chest, suppressing a cough. His heart is racing.. I'm stressing him out..

Jin washes him quickly, wanting to get out of the water as soon as possible. "Now your hair. Keep your eyes closed tigh..heh'tichi!"

Taehyung quickly picks up his head, giving Jin a concerned look.

"It was only a sneeze, don't worry. I'll be fine. Head down, I have to wet your hair." Jin pushes his head back down, not wanting their eyes to meet.

Jin hummed softly as he washes Taehyung's hair, trying to keep the mood light. "There all...Aiish Taehyung-ah!" He shouts in surprise when the younger member poured water on his head. "What was that for?"

Taehyung smiles softly, taking some shampoo and squeezing it into his palm.

"You don't have to wash me Vuu.."

Taehyung nods, continuing to massage the lather into Jin's hair. It's the least I can do..

The two boys finish washing up, Jin takes Taehyung back to bed. "Here.. you can have your phone back so you can talk."

Taehyung shakes his head, eyes watering.

"Are you feeling okay Tae-yah?" Jin asks, towel drying his hair. "Are you crying?"

Taehyung quickly wipes his eyes,nodding. He takes the phone from Jin, quickly typing.

don't want to miss the concert hyung, but I can hardly talk.. how will I sing..?

"I know, i know. I don’t want you to miss it either.. Don't cry Taehyung, please?" Jin panicks, quickly trying to think of a new distraction. "Oh! Taehyungie..the movie,it reminds me of a fanart I saw of you. You want to see?" Jin quickly searches his phone, pulling up a photo of Taehyung drawn as blonde haired Howl. "I also saw one of Gukkie. See?" Jin tries drawing his attention. Taehyung looks with a sad smile.

Army are super talented. They show us so much love, that's why I want to get better so I can put on a good show..

Taehyung sniffles, wiping his eyes. He's trying his best to cheer me up.. I can't cry about it..I have to be srrong..

"I'll get you well enough by the concert, but you'll probably have to sit. Okay? Even if I have to carry you to a doctor."

Taehyung nods, taking the phone to scroll through the photos, showing him his favorites.

Hyung?

"Yeah?"

"I love you.." Taehyung whispers, sounding clear."Thank you.."

Thank you for trying to cheer me up. I'm sorry you're missing your exploration time..

"You're sounding a bit better Tae." Jin smiles, ignoring his apology. "I can't find as many for me. Jungkookie says it's because I'm too old to be Howl." Jin says with mock offense, getting a giggle out of his ailing teammate.

"I'll draw you as Howl."Taehyung whispers, coughing out the words.

"Vuu shh, don't push it and no drawing me. Your art is weird." Jin teases, stifling a cough, quickly laughing to cover it up.

Are you laughing at my art style? I know I'm not good like Jungkook, but I'll try really hard.

Jin smiles. "I like your art, anyway. I still have a picture you made me in my room."

I didn't see it in your room.

"That's because it's in a memory box, along with other precious gifts."

Taehyung goes to type a response, scolding him for not putting it in a frame, but the sneezes build up again. "He..heh'tichi! Heh'itchugh...HEH'TICHIUGH..augh..hurts.." He whines, covering his face.

"Aiigo, I jinxed it.. I'm sorry.." Jin checks the time. "It's been four hours since the last time I gave you medicine, I'll get you some.. after you need to try to sleep okay?"

Taehyung nods slightly, hiding his face underneath the blanket to cough. Jin looks back at him, taking the opportunity to quickly take a dose of medicine himself, quickly pouring another cup and bringing it to the bed.

Taehyung accepts it with a hiss at the awful taste.

"I know, here, drink some tea." Jin offers, Taehyung looking offended, laughing. "Fine, fine I'll get you water, but after, you should go to sleep.. I'll restart the movie, since we both fell asleep halfway through." Jin sets the laptop back up,gently rubbing his hand down Taehyung's side, suppressing a cough as he gets up to get some water.

He doesn't allow himself to show any signs of sickness until he the was sure he was asleep, getting him a drink of water. "Sleep well Tae.." He whispers, wrapping around him. Jin waits a few minutes to hear Taehyung's soft snores before texting Namjoon.

Me and Taehyung won't be going to practice..I'm not feeling well either..

(To be continued... sorry I didn't edit this.)

#bts sickfic #bts boys #bts fanfic #bts sickie #bts taehyung #sick!taehyung #sick!jin #taejin #bts

[angelpuns]

Ranting anon is actually v interested in ur new au- so they are gonna make a lil list of questions-

Do any of the dudes have a specific thing abt their design that's special to them and like actually has a lil meaning

Does splinter particularly dislike anything about each of them

How often do you think they'd go out together

Do any of them have specially unhealthy and noticeable habits

Who's the quietest and loudest

Who spends the most time alone or with others

Who do u think is more willing to go out in public

Do any of them have a specific interest they can't seem to shake

Fav water brands (bc there is a difference! Nirvana and Aquafina SUCK!!!)

that's all for now :3 have a good day, drink some water, treat urself, don't forget to go outside every once in awhile <3 <3 (I am not rereading this so sorry for any mistakes, brain is still taking a vacation)

HOHOHOOO IM GLAD YOURE EXCITED CAUSE IM V V EXCITEDD

I'll go one by one for the first one ( they don't have super special meanings or anything, just things they like )

Leo ofc has his stars! He just really likes space and the star motif is super cute!! He also has his scarf, its just got all their colors on it - he sewed on the little bits himself.

Mikey likes to make bracelets and has a MASSIVE collection, so he's always wearing em.

DONNIE HAS A TOOLBELT!!! It holds all his stuffs!

Raph has his ripped pants - which he wears exclusively to spite Leo. Also has some dogtags that he found on the ground and decided he was gonna keep forever ( for funsies )

I think Splinter probably thinks that Leo is too...irresponsible? He expects a certain degree of responsibility that Leo doesn't really hit. He also is transphobic :)

For Mikey he definitely seems to blame him for things that aren't his fault. On the other hand, Mikey is also very messy, hates doing chores and Splinter can't stand that.

Same sort of thing for Donnie, but much less so. Excuses it away with compliments and stuff. He is the favorite child after all.

For Raph its like he doesn't even know he exists. He barely talks to Raph or really??? Worries about him?? He's just overlooked due to being the same age as Donnie ig

They go out together all the time! They usually end up arguing, but its always a lot of fun! Sometimes Raph n Donnie stay at home, but almost always its all four of em. Raph and Mikey also go out on their own ( separately ) a lot.

Uhhhhhhh I am actually gonna hold off on answering that cause I have a comic I wanna make about one of Leo's habits ( tee he its just one of my habits but anyway ).

Raph chews on his mask tails. Not really unhealthy but def noticeable. Mikey chews his nails like so so bad. I'll add more when I think of em :)

Quietist is Donnie for sure, Raph is the loudest. Mikey is the second loudest. Leo can be loud if he needs to.

Leo spends the most time alone, he doesn't really have much going on as far as a social life. Raph has a lot of friends and that's usually who he's hanging out when he's out.

Raph is the most likely to go out in public. Sometimes its to spite Leo and sometimes he just wants to go hang out in the city. Occasionally he'll drag Mikey out with him.

Leo has been into space since he was a kid and he hasn't been able to shake it since, Mikey n Raph ofc have their art. Donnie has his tech. The last three are more like just huge aspects of their personalities at this point. Mikey has been watching Project Runway nonstop for like 2 years ( Leo got him into it )

I don't know any water brands- Raph and Mikey are the only two that actually drink water and I think they drink a store brand? Leo drinks tap water :) Donnie is eternally dehydrated

THANK YOU FOR ALL THE QUESTIONS I AM HAVING A BALL!!!

I feel a LITTLE bad posting about them so much when Kid Leo isn't over but its my coping mechanism <3333

Enjoy my rambles haha

#angelpuns tmnt iteration #TMNT:HME #TMNT:HME asks

[katnissdoesnotfollowback]

In your opinion, please rate thg movie series with 1-5 scale.

(1 = I hate it, 3=neutral, 5 = I love it.)

1.The Hunger Games :

Things that you like :

Things that you don't like :

2.Cathing Fire :

Things that you like :

Things that you don't like :

3.Mockingjay

Movie 1 :

Movie 2 :

Things that you like :

Things that you don't like :

Thank you 😊

@curiousnonny

So let me preface my ratings here by saying that I really think these books are already so well edited in terms of necessary content that making a movie version of any of them is a mistake. Maybe I'm biased and greedy, but I honestly feel like 99% of the scenes in the books play a crucial role in either plot, character, or theme development and removing them waters down the story too much, in my opinion. I would much rather have seen a series version on screen than a movie. Not to mention, Collins made her name as a writer in television, and you can SEE IT in how she writes her novels. It's structured like a TV series so it should've been shot like a TV series. Anyways. So my rankings are gonna be... kinda low for the movies. Sorry not sorry.

But also... my thoughts on this are fresh. My youngest was supposed to read The Hunger Games with his 6th grade class. The teacher sent home a form requesting parents' permission to do so. I signed it gladly and sent it back, but apparently there were a lot of parents who sent it back with complaints instead of approval. Enough that the class read the first Percy Jackson book instead. I'm fine with that too, lol, especially since my kiddo really liked it and is now on book five of that series. I've been trying to reread along with him and will hopefully be catching up to him this week, lol.

After his teacher switched books for the class reading, he and I decided we'd read THG books together once he's done with PJO, but then, my oldest skipped a field trip he really didn't wanna go on and wound up staying at school and watching... The Hunger Games and part of Catching Fire. He came home with QUESTIONS, which immediately sparked a "Hey, not fair!" from the youngest and prompted a movie marathon. We made it through all four movies back in March, and I'm still not forgiven for not warning him about Finnick btw...

Okay enough story time. *cracks knuckles*

The Hunger Games

Ranking: 2/5

Things I don't like: Ugh where to start? The removal of Madge and therefore the significance of Katniss's mockingjay pin as a symbol of wealth and power bestowed by the Capitol only to be flipped on its head and turned into a symbol of rebellion. Also, the implications of removing Madge in terms of how they tried to make Katniss into STRONG BADASS WO-MAN while dulling some of her softer edges and dependencies on other people. See also: leaving out the gift of bread from D11 to Katniss.

The dialogue is shit. Sorry, those are my thoughts. You already had really good dialogue in the book why change that? Also, the gutting of the dialogue results in the gutting of both Katniss and Peeta as characters. The first movie turns them into The Watson character, i.e. the character whose purpose it is to ask questions so that the audience can learn about the setting/plot/other characters/whatever. The first movie made Katniss and Peeta look naive and dumb about the Games and the very world they inhabit, which makes no sense for their characters. I get it. It's a storytelling technique to quicken up the process of world building and make up for the fact that we don't get to be in Katniss's head where she tells us what we need to know about her world. BUT their characters suffer for it. Katniss and Peeta are sixteen. Anyone who has interacted with a teenager knows that at that age, we usually have #OPINIONS on things, so in the books, both already have developing opinions about the Games because they are by necessity and by exposure aware of how the Games and the government essentially work. They've lived in this world long enough. They've started to develop opinions and world views, and they act accordingly. The first movie loses this completely from the books.

Do not get me started on the dialogue in the cave scenes we will be here until the next century if we go there.

Buttercup. Christ how hard is it to cast a yellow/orange cat?!?!?! Not that difficult. And granted, this is a minor detail in terms of symbols but at the same time... it's a minor detail. The fact that they didn't even bother showed a lack of caring about the details. Also see: Rock Peeta.

The stakes of almost everything are lowered, from the bread scene (we don't realize until MJ2 that she's literally starving and knocking on death's door in that scene) to the berry scene (and here it's Peeta knocking on death's door and Katniss is desperate to save him, enough to put POISON BERRIES IN HER MOUTH and risk her own life too)... the movie lacks the desperation for both of those crucial parts.

Peeta's leg Peeta's leg Peeta's motherfreaking amputated leg!!!!!!

Things I liked: The sound and sound editing. It's such a small thing, and I have a story to go with this okay? When I saw it in theaters, I disliked a lot of things, but one of them was something I could not put my fingers on. It bugged me for weeks until the movie came out on DVD (yes, I'm old and also saw it at the veeeeeeery end of its theater run where I live... like it was a $5 special...). Anyways. Mr. Kdnfb is an electrical engineer by education and is suuuuuper picky about our sound system in our house. So when I watched it at home, the Thing clicked in my brain. The SOUND. It had been Waaaaaay Off in a way that was awful in that theater for some reason. And once I watched it at home, there was just something about the way they did the sound that made a lot of what I had hated become less of A Thing to me. The more I've watched it, the more I've realized the sound and sound editing was excellent, and I put this as things I liked because my story goes to show how such a tiny thing can really screw up a movie.

Catching Fire

Ranking: 3.5/5 (Omg I'm gonna get barbecued for this one.)

Things I didn't like: See my caveat at the top. Okay, so. One of my biggest problems is just how much got cut to adapt this one to screen. Sooooo many scenes. Finnick "hanging" himself in training, "someone else can get the stupid goat knocked up," all the hullabaloo about the wedding is talked about but that doesn't happen in the movies, the setup for the existence of D13, the plant book and Peeta caring for an injured Katniss, training like Careers, scaring Peeta with the medicine, Katniss really starting to come around to the idea of a rebellion even before the Quell announcement, "Poor Finnick. Is this the first time you haven't been pretty?" Just so much cut for the sake of time and results in the story feeling rushed and sloppy ugh.

While the cast and crew for this one did a much better job adapting the dialogue to the screen, there are still a few crucial bits of dialogue that make me itch with hives. The post jabberjay scene and the death of the morphling mainly. Good lord. You finally let movie!Peeta be as eloquent and convincing as book!Peeta in D11, why not give him the space to do it in the arena, too?

Things I do like: The casting. Hear me out. After the first movie, I was still not entirely sold on Jennifer, Josh, and Liam for the roles they were playing. Really, the only main characters who live through the first movie that I was happy and 100% on board with with were Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, and Stanley Tucci. Catching Fire is where I accepted Josh's portrayal of Peeta a little bit more, mainly because of the process of film making and what they put forth with CF showed me that he could nail the part if only they'd give him the dialogue and choose the cuts that best showed what he could do. I have no idea what sort of dialogue they were given or how much free reign they were allowed to improvise, but I do know that they will shoot a scene multiple times with multiple different delivery styles and slightly different dialogue. Which means that the actors really don't get a say on which version of their performance makes the final cut. But when the dialogue was spot on in the final version, I felt like Josh pulled off Peeta very well. I also think the way they shot CF allowed Jennifer Lawrence to put forth a better overall performance as well, although I'm still not in love with her as Katniss.

But really it's the Quell Victors/Tributes that I loved about CF. I went in unsure and came out convinced. My caveat here is that I tend to think of the movies as their own thing. The movie versions of the characters are their own iteration and I try really hard not to let them bleed into how I see or think of the characters in the books. That doesn't always happen, but I do try.

Okay this one is kinda not the fault of the first movie, but the increased budget for CF is apparent in several of the things that I liked, namely the costumes, the staging, the special effects. Much better all around.

Mockingjay Part 1

Ranking: 3/5

Things I did not like: Gale. MJ1 finishes off the complete removal of any depth Gale had as a character, a process that started with him rage rushing Head Peacekeeper Thread in CF and culminates here with him condemning Peete's words as a TORTURED PRISONER OF WAR rather than him not only intuiting what's probably happening, but explaining it to Katniss, then trying to protect Katniss from it, like he does in the books. The reason why book!Gale is so much more compelling to me than movie!Gale is because Gale's anger and fire and indignation has REASONING behind it in the book. It is chillingly easy to see the lines his reasoning could possibly take. As in... I've worked in weapons development and I have worked with real people who think like book!Gale or Beetee. Whereas movie!Gale is basically just RAWR!!! fury.

The rescue scene. I could write an entire essay on what's wrong with this, but it all boils down to they tried to shorten it by overlapping the video of the rescue with Finnick talking. Which makes zero military sense btw why the freak would you broadcast helmet video of your team going in on a stealth mission and risk someone intercepting it or noting the presence of an encrypted signal and figuring out what was going on holy hell you would NOT. You'd be freaking SILENT and just waiting to find out!!!!!!! And yes yes, but we need to see it. Okay, but you've already shown scenes with Snow and Seneca talking, Seneca and Haymitch talking, Snow and Plutarch talking, Snow and his granddaughter!!!! cuts from D11 and so much more that Katniss would not have seen, so play this like that. You can still show the audience but clearly keep Katniss and everyone back in D13 in the dark. The way it's shot is nonsensical and also pretty much waters down the horror of what Finnick went through and the impact of his words.

And while we're on this topic, they somehow used that overlapping and ridiculous video feed to try and shorten the scene, but wound up making it interminably and unbelievably long with the layers upon layers upon LAYERS of rooms the rescue squad has to go through and also the Skype Call of Inanity. The whole debacle is so freaking long that I no longer feel tense by the time it's finally over. It's so obvious that the Capitol is letting them take back Peeta, Annie, and Johanna because of how long a stealth mission (which should be almost too fast to process) takes that it becomes stupid for D13 to not suspect something. There's no desperation or high stakes for me with this scene because it's too long and too messy, makes no sense tactically and basically just erases all the emotional depth and pacing of what's in the books ugh. Seriously. You could've spent that time on the torture of the prep team or some of the Boggs and Katniss or Katniss and Finnick content we miss out on. Delly. Gale's siblings. Literally anything that you cut out. Rant over.

"He's gonna kill Peeta".... um no actually it's that Snow won't kill Peeta but keep dangling him in front of you, Katniss...

Things I did like: The sets. District 13 is... perfect. Sterile and drab and utilitarian. Zero luxury or any real sense that humans live there. There are zero personal touches in any of the spaces. No connections to art or joy or life.

Effie. I really wish we'd still gotten the prep team in D13, because it's an avenue through which we see how brutal and lacking in compassion D13 really is, but if it's Effie there with her for the movies, then Elizabeth Banks did a stellar job with what she was given to do. I do wish they'd allowed Finnick to keep his line: "They'll either want to kiss you, kill you, or be you." And if not that, then don't freaking cut the "Why, do you find this distracting?" scene. But overall, Effie in D13 works for me in terms of the movie universe.

Mockingjay Part 2

Ranking: 2.5/5

Things I didn't like: Facepalm worthy wigs and dye jobs. Dude. You are the final chapter of a big budget blockbuster franchise. I understand that the dye jobs have taken their toll and wigs may be just more practical for the actors at this stage, but DO BETTER with the money you have.

Just how much of Johanna they cut out of this part and what that does to Katniss's development.

The ending. It's so lackluster in so many ways. One of the things that I loved about the theme of the ending is how it shows that with the right kind of care, a life can be lived and be worthwhile even after the worst kinds of trauma. We get this through the sheer beauty of Katniss's final words in both the final chapter and the epilogue. To me, the movie ending felt just... blah. And I get that maybe they were aiming for a sense of calm and peace, but instead it came off as blah, we're broken and just going through the motions. Which makes sense right after the war ends, but not as the ending continues into the "Real" scene or the epilogue.

Mahershala Ali is highly underutilized in this movie. Let the man play the freaking part. He's already good with what you let him do. Let him unleash the acting chops and make Boggs sing as a character. And part of this has to do with what they cut from the film, like him carrying Katniss to the hovercraft in D8 and her vomiting on him. Same with Julianne Moore. Coin was not nearly cold or controlling enough nor did she convincingly clash with Katniss enough leading up to Peeta showing up in the Capitol.

The omission of the heartbreaking silence Katniss puts herself into and how they turned the sadness of the final breaking of her friendship with Gale into "Goodbye Gale." Ugh. I laugh at it, but it's not a good change. Like we can't allow a Strong Wo-Man Character to be sad or hurt about this, why not????

Burn. Scars. Burn. Scars. Burn. Scars. BURN! SCAAAAARRRRRRRSSSSSS!!!!!

Things I did like: The music. Odd pick I know, but even though the ending is not well done for me, I almost always start bawling the second Katniss starts singing the meadow lullaby as the credits roll. And that's just one weird instance of me liking the music for this film.

How they brought the hijacking to life. I can't even explain why this works so well, but it does. My only wish is that they'd given more time for the Real/Not Real game to develop on film and included more of Peeta's dialogue that shows both the struggle and him regaining parts of himself -- the cafeteria scene, his words to Pollux and Tigris for example.

And there you have it, @curiousnonny. My super long answer to your question. ;)

#thg thoughts #curiousnonny #anonymous #look at that ask

[alstroemeriadissonance]

Close Friends - Pt 2 (NSFW)

Part 1 here

This was an unplanned Pt 2. Rereading the first one made me think that it can be continued, then ideas just came and...well.

Long-ass at 15k words. Grab some popcorn.

There's some (fictitious, consensual) drug use

Kiki is something here.

NSFW, MDNI, etc.

“Rosa.” Vyn put down his tablet onto the glass surface of the conference table, brows creased. “There is something wrong with the numbers in the report you’ve uploaded in our database. Have you checked with Luke for the updates from the NSB laboratory before you put these in the system?”

The doctor—now functioning as the most senior member of the NXX Investigation Team—swung his swivel chair to face the holographic display projected against the wide wall of the NXX Headquarters’ conference room. A few taps on his smartphone switched the display to show the data in question. “There is a discrepancy of more than ten percent when compared to NSB’s report of increase in drug related activity in Area 9H. Luke, can you confirm?”

“Huh.” Luke, seated at the farthest end of the conference table, squinted at the display, running the numbers through his head. “Er. It is off by 19.7 percent, to be precise. But I can’t make out the error in distribution off the top of my head. Sorry.”

“Yes. Which is tantamount to losing whatever lead we had,” Vyn sighed as he took off his glasses to rub his eyes. "Since we cannot determine the possible entry points among the harbors in this district." 

Rosa fidgeted in her seat. “I’ll…I’ll fix it…” 

“By the time it gets fixed, Rosa, the trail would have gone cold.” Vyn put his glasses back on. “It would take me several hours checking the numbers and straightening them. And I have several items on my plate already,” he said, a slight trace of misgiving in his voice.

“Richter, if there are any mistakes in the numbers, only your judgment is to be blamed,” Artem said, tersely. “Why did you even assign Rosa to—”

“I assigned it to her because I have faith in her capabilities, Wing,” Vyn cut in. “And yes, I know that this is merely a one-time, elementary lapse, which unfortunately had dire consequences.” Then, to Rosa, “Please stay here for a bit and help me sort out the data. Two heads will make quick work of the inconsistency.”

“No need for you to burden Rosa any further,” Artem said. “As her boss, I will take responsibility—”

“You are currently in NXX, Wing, not Themis Law,” Vyn reminded the senior attorney, an unmistakable jagged edge in his voice. “And do not forget that you have your own task, as equally important as hers, if not even more so.” 

Rosa only looked down at her hands folded on her lap. Then, with a quiet voice, “Yeah. I’ll fix it.”

“Both of us will fix it,” Vyn said. “We cannot afford any delays. We will need to make sure we get an accurate projection by…” He checked his wristwatch. “Seven hours from now, give or take. Can you pull an all-nighter here, Rosa?”

“Y-yes, that’s no problem, Dr. Richter—”

“Richter! That’s too much, she still has work to do tomorrow.”

“Literally lives are at stake, Wing, if that still needs to be emphasized.” Vyn was gradually losing his cool. “I will not tolerate any one of us being deadweight in our team who requires hand holding, we are already lean enough as it is—”

“I am not a deadweight!” Rosa’s voice reverberated loudly across the conference room. “God damn it, I hate being talked about as if I am not here!”

Vyn merely looked at her silently, expression unreadable.

“Rosa, let’s—” Artem’s words were cut off with an elbow jab to his side, courtesy of Marius. 

“Just shut up,” he hissed to the lawyer in a stage whisper. “Read the fucking room. Do you think Miss will leave without fixing this mess?”

===

Luke, Artem, and Marius had already left the conference room.

Vyn and Rosa remained, both of them not speaking to each other. 

Vyn watched the CCTV camera feed intently through his smartphone; Rosa stood near the holographic display, her eyes staring at the numbers yet not really looking at them. Her back was turned towards the doctor; her arms crossed.

A dead, cloying silence hung thickly around them. 

Not one of them uttered a single word; the only sounds between them were the faint sound capture from the CCTV coming from the speakers on Vyn’s phone, and the faint tapping sound of Rosa’s fingers against her arm.

The silent stalemate lasted for only a few minutes, finally ending as Vyn broke the silence. 

“They have left,” was all he said, voice devoid of any emotion or inflection. 

The screen displayed on his phone showed Artem’s car finally pulling out of the NXX Headquarters basement parking lot, the last vehicle to finally leave the premises.

“Really,” murmured Rosa.

Vyn did not get a chance to put his smartphone down when his swivel chair suddenly turned around; his chair spun so quickly that the momentum knocked the phone out of his hand and sent it clattering across the smooth, cold floor.

“Rosa, wha—” The rest of his words did not make it through his lips. 

The junior lawyer bent down to force her tongue into his mouth; wedging one knee between his thighs and both of her arms clinging to the armrests on either side of him, she effectively caged Vyn in her trembling arms, her arms that betrayed the tension she had to endure for those few minutes that she had to restrain herself from having her way with him.

No words were said: Their lips locked with such ferocity that Rosa eventually straddled his lap, arms coiled tightly around his shoulders while their tongues hungrily slid against each other.

Not one to be outdone, Vyn's hands slid down her back until they settled on her ass. Impatient hands kneaded the swell of both cheeks through the fabric of her skirt, pushing her pelvis closer against his to make Rosa feel the growing erection in his pants, as he grinded his hips against hers.

Rosa tugged at his wine-red necktie hard; hard enough to make the man dry humping her from underneath wince in pain. 

“What the hell were you trying to pull?” she demanded, as her other hand grabbed a fistful of Vyn’s silver locks and pulled it down, turning his face upwards towards hers. “This was the only time I made an error!”

“The only time, yes. Still, mistakes were made, which need to be rectified, my darling,” Vyn said, his voice strangled. “But before that, you look like you need a fuck.”

“Indeed I do,” Rosa whispered, her hands letting go of his necktie and now mussed-up moonlight silver hair. “I need some stress relief, Dr. Richter.” Her fingers found the buckle of his belt, fumbling as she nibbled on his lower lip. “Think you can let me blow off steam?”

A low, menacing laugh came from his throat. “Too bad, my precious pet, I also need some relief. It has been a long day and your lapse is not helping. At all.” Vyn said before sucking hard on her tongue, feeling perverse pleasure in hearing the lusty moans coaxed out of her mouth. “But only one of us can be on top. Coin toss?”

"Mmm. Sure," Rosa hummed against his lips now red and slightly swollen with the heavy kissing. "Need a coin?" 

"Yes please," Vyn takes the Stellin coin Rosa produced from the inner pocket of her blazer. "Now, heads or tails for you?" He leaned in for yet another lingering kiss. "I do not mind either outcome, but I do so need to relieve my own pent-up stress." 

"Heads," Rosa whispered as she finally undid the zipper of his trousers. "Mmm…would really feel nice if I can give you head," she remarked as she grasped his swollen cock, freeing it out of his underwear. "I missed this…" 

"Patience, my love," Vyn drawled as he palmed the coin, then tossed it high up above them with a flick of his wrist. As the gold coin fell to the rules of gravity his hand shot up and caught it in midair. "Well then. Will the lady get to ride her favorite doctor, or will I get to…" he licked his lips, slowly, as his lustful gaze held Rosa's eyes misted over with anticipation. "...eat my little beloved all up on top of the conference table?" 

Rosa laughed breathily as she nibbled on his neck, her hand slowly jerking him off. "Your stress relief is to eat me out?" 

"Mmm—why not?" Vyn held out his closed fist holding the coin. "Let the coin decide.”

He slowly opened his fist.

But they never knew what the result was: Rosa had, with as much force that she could muster, batted Vyn’s coin-bearing hand away, sending the coin flying to the floor.

Silence once again draped over them like a thick veil. 

“Would you like to explain yourself, Rosa.” Vyn said, enunciating his words slowly, with very little inflection to his tone. “I have my own stress to consider. Even I have my limits, pet. And I am still upset over the data.”

“Riding my favorite doctor is nice,” Rosa said, repeating Vyn’s words from earlier. “But, not exactly what I really want to do.” She took his throbbing cock in her hand once again, a smile spreading on her face when she felt Vyn’s body shudder—despite his misgivings—with every up-down movement of her wrist as she worked up his shaft. “It’s still the same thing as before, Dr. Richter. I want this in my mouth. You do know what I am getting at?”

“Hahh—haha…” A rare red flush suffused over Vyn’s cheeks. “You…you are proposing that we relieve each other’s stress?” He planted a small kiss on her smug lips, pulling away with a teasing lick. “At the same time?”

“Like what happened in the priest smut novel you borrowed, yes,” She massaged the underside of his tip with her thumb. “I always wanted to do something like that. Since your stress relief is to…well…” Rosa let her voice trail off, staring intently at the man now panting heavily, open mouthed, underneath her touches.

“My little succubus,” Vyn breathed. “I accept your proposal.”

With great urgency they laid themselves out on the conference table, both of them quite eager to receive from and give each other pleasure: Vyn, still fully clothed, lying flat on his back over the glass surface; Rosa, also fully clothed but with her skirt now hiked up and gathered around her waist, clambering over him with her hips straddling his face.

“So, the sixty-nine,” Vyn murmured underneath Rosa as his fingers tore into the crotch of her pantyhose. He was amply rewarded with the sight of Rosa’s moist cunt barely covered by scant lace; she obviously came to the Headquarters prepared for something that did not involve accurate data analysis and projection. “...is something that had piqued my interest, but have not had any chance to—aahh, fuck.”

Rosa’s lips enveloping his cockhead effectively cut off his train of thought.

He hissed through his teeth, struggling to keep his wits together even as her lips tightly wrapped around his cock descended even lower, taking in more of him inside her hot, wet mouth, tongue swirling against his shaft. “Rosa,” he moaned. “Rosa—”

His sweet singing of her name was rewarded by Rosa sucking his cock in her mouth.

His chanting of her name soon transitioned into lust-filled, needy groans and whimpers. "Rosa, hahh—yes, you are doing so good…" His voice cracked, sounding as if he was almost crying in rapture. 

After some time Rosa slipped his cock out of her mouth and said, “Dr. Richter, your voice is really making me horny,” she moved her hips a little. “Please, I need you to…”

“Haahhh—my apologies,” Vyn's fingers finally ripped through the black lace panties, her throbbing flesh now in full display right above his face. “Tell me your preferences in underwear and stockings later,” he whispered, before he grabbed her ass with both hands, pushing her hips down to let him lick her cunt with abandon. “I will—I will—haahh—”

Vyn was going to tell her that he intended to buy her replacements for the underthings that he tore; that he was also going to have a full lingerie set custom-made for her, for her to parade in for his pleasure. 

Yet his words receded back into his throat at Rosa’s every lick, every suck, and little kisses on his dick. Left without words, Vyn’s response to her was to slather loving attention to her clit, sucking on it and relishing the way Rosa’s thighs squirmed at every flick of his tongue, her thighs pressing against either side of his head…

“Ah. Did you need this, Rosa?” Vyn eventually managed to rasp out, lips thickly coated with her juices. One of his hands slid down from her ass, fingertips slightly lodged in the entrance to her pussy. “I’d rather fuck you with my dick, but I am quite comfortable where it is, at the moment.”

“S-stop teasing me and just fuck me…”

“Heh.”

Three fingers plunged into her cunt, and Rosa cried out in utter delight.

“And the lady shall be thoroughly fucked,” Vyn murmured, more to himself. 

Wet, fucking sounds echoed rhythmically in the cold, almost forbidding conference room, as Vyn thrusted his long fingers deep within her flesh in a measured cadence, with force enough to jostle her body forward every time his fingers plunged inside. 

“Mmmph–!!” Rosa—her mouth still full of Vyn—moaned with his cock almost pressing against the back of her throat, letting him feel the full brunt of the vibrations resulting from the guttural sound.

“Shit,” Vyn muttered. He was getting near. “Rosa, I am almost…you should—”

Once again, his thoughts were cut off by her sucking; Rosa had doubled down on her efforts. The once faint sounds of her blowjob have turned loud, wet, and downright obscene. 

“Rosa, please,” Vyn begged. “I cannot hold back, so pull away—hnngh!”

His beloved’s fingers cupped and gently kneaded his balls, while giving his cock a good, strong suck. 

His total undoing. 

Without warning, even to himself, Vyn suddenly blanked out, and most of his hot come shot directly into Rosa’s mouth; when she let his cock slip out of her mouth he was still coming, and her face was streaked with his hot, white fluid.

“Fuck,” he groaned into Rosa’s cunt. 

When he regained full control of his senses Vyn saw it fit to repay her in double: once again he fucked her with three fingers, with even more vigor, enough to move her body with every plunge and pull. His hungry lips and tongue—insatiable, desperate to be imprinted with Rosa's flavor—worked her clit, alternating with licking and sucking her sensitive bud.

The shivering tension that he could feel through Rosa’s thighs betrayed just how near she was.

“Vyn, please, don’t stop, don’t stop, I’m…almost…”

He sucked on her clit hard.

“Aaah—VYN!” Rosa’s shrill cry bounced off the walls, her inner walls twitching around his still-fucking fingers.

Vyn. She calls me Vyn in the throes of heavy sexual arousal and climax…

“Yess…you do like this, do you not?” Vyn hissed as he helped her ride out her orgasm with flicks of his tongue onto her clit. “Still stressed out?”

Rosa slumped over his thighs, her lips planting a soft kiss on his cock now almost half-mast. “I just want to sleep, but…work to do.”

“While I do appreciate that you have our work in mind, there is merit to taking a little break for a rest.” Vyn murmured, an arm slung over his eyes, catching his breath. “Think you can…cuddle with me for a bit, my love?”

“Mm.” Rosa shifted her position on top of him, letting her bury her face in his neck. She took a deep breath, and sighed. “This conference table is hard and uncomfortable, but you’re warm and nice and smell so good…” she murmured lazily.

Vyn let out a soft chuckle as he slid an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him. “I am glad. You are also soft. And warm.” He bent a little to the side to nuzzle her hair. “You also smell and taste good.”

With a gentle finger he tipped Rosa’s face towards his, allowing him to fully behold the traces of debauchery on her face: traces of his almost dried come streaked her flushed visage. “Ah…let me clean you up,” he whispered as he shimmied a little and pulled out his handkerchief from his back pocket. Tenderly he wiped her face clean of his come, and when done he gave her a peck on her lips. “There. All clean.”

Rosa’s lips curved into a small smile, then leaned forward to lick his lips and chin.

“Rosa, darling. What are you doing?” Vyn asked, all too amused.

“Cleaning your face, too,” Rosa replied, before slipping her tongue between his lips and they kissed deeply, languorously. Taking their sweet time as their lips and tongue moved against each other’s. 

Vyn had to break away for the kiss. He was getting hard again. “Rosa, we cannot afford to lose more time,” he murmured, a small smile playing on his lips. “There is urgent work to be done.”

“I know, I know,” Rosa said. “Dr. Richter…I really like this arrangement that we have.” Once again she buried her face in the crook of his neck. “I’ve never felt better…”

Ah…

Vyn felt a part inside of him die, along with her words.

An arrangement. Was this only an ‘arrangement’ for her?

“Is this merely an arrangement?” he murmured, not entirely addressing it to the woman slumped over him. 

“Mm? What do you mean?” Rosa looked at him with her big, questioning, olive gaze. “By arrangement I mean…well…we can call each other for um.” A blush bloomed from her neck, eventually engulfing her face with a pink heated flush. “When we need relief…”

Vyn could only manage a half-smile as numerous pinpricks of sad disappointment pierced his poor, vulnerable heart. “Ah. Yes. Yes, of course.”

Of course. 

Just an arrangement.

Vyn was not surprised. 

Yet he still felt immense regret and disappointment.  

===

“So, you’re telling me, you’ve been, er, intimate with this girl, and still she thinks you’re only friends?” The bar’s Owner did not bother hiding the pure schadenfreude in his amused tone. 

It was a tone that truly belonged in the atmosphere of his bar, The Abyss: Den of thieves, smugglers, hired killers, and other sundry undesirables who belonged in Stellis City’s shadows. A place that did not take kindly to people who stood on the right side of the law.

The Owner merely smiled at the silver-haired man half-slumped over the bar counter, an empty glass spinning right in front of him.

“...Like I said, yes,” came Vyn’s quiet reply. His hand idly played with the empty whiskey glass, spinning it on the small puddle of moisture it created on the varnished wooden surface. Sullen gold eyes bereft of their usual brightness passively looked on as the glass spun on its axis. 

“Hah! Serves you right, shrink,” The Owner hummed happily from behind the counter, obviously in good spirits. “So even your magic mind tricks have their limits. That’s good to know,” he grinned as he wiped down a freshly washed wine glass before setting it on the wine glass rack. 

His words seemed to have struck a nerve in the doctor; Vyn’s eyebrow twitched imperceptibly, his jaw set. 

The Owner, ever observant, grinned. “Ohoh? I first pegged this as a case of wounded pride, but don’t tell me…you really are in love, aren’t you?” His smile twisted into one of pure gloating. “Even the ice prince of Stellis City is capable of losing his mind over a girl?”

Vyn’s upper lip curled in distaste. “Is that what they are calling me these days?”

“A few birdies did, yes.” The Owner said as he took out a bottle of bourbon off a shelf, and laid out a few other ingredients on his work table. “They are asking me about a…certain silver-haired pretty boy they sometimes see by the counter playing with cards. ‘Such nice hands!’ they said,” the Owner scoffed as he started to prepare a drink. “If they only knew…”

“Birdies…you mean, the sparrows?” 

The Owner raised his eyebrows. “So the shrink knows the parlance,” he said, approvingly. “Yes, the sparrows. Three of them, at least. They want to see you, you know,” the Owner said as his fingers placed a lime wedge garnish on the drink he was preparing. “The sparrows; they are discerning with who they bed outside of missions, you see? Consider yourself honored. And lucky.”

“Not interested,” Vyn murmured. “And men who fall for their charms deserve to either die or find themselves bereft of fortune the next morning.”

The Owner flashed Vyn a knowing smile. “Do have faith when I say they like you…really like you,” he said, taking away the empty whisky glass in front of Vyn, replacing it with another filled with an amber-colored liquid on the rocks. A wedge of lime garnish sat on the rim of the glass. “Here. On the house, for our lovelorn shrink.” He smirked. “You look like you need it.”

“What is this?” Vyn lifted the glass, peering at it as he inspected the glass and its contents as if he would do evidence, on the rare chances he accompanied Rosa during some of their assignments. 

“A trade secret,” the bar Owner said with a cryptic smile on his face. “But you’ll find that you need it. Trust me.”

“Hmm.” Vyn took another good look at the swirling liquid the color of dark caramel. Then, with a swiftness that took even the Owner aback, knocked back the entire contents in three full gulps.

The glass landed back onto the counter with a resounding thud.

Vyn’s lips spread into a wan smile. “Well then,” he said, “Let us see what the drug you slipped in can do,” he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. “You need to work on your sleight of hand if you want to sneak in something in people’s drinks.”

The Owner let out a guttural laugh. “You knew, and yet you still drank it? Fucking madlad,” He shook his head. “I always knew I’d be entertained whenever you drop by.”

“Glad to be of service.” Vyn felt his limbs slightly go numb. Ah. Not a common sedative. My awareness seems to be intact. Yet the motor functions…I will be back to normal after a couple hours, give or take, once the drug metabolizes…

Realization dawned on him. “This drug affects motor functions only...you were planning to send me off somewhere?” Vyn murmured, licking his lips. My mouth is going dry. “Who? How much did they offer you?” 

The Owner grinned. “I’m sending you off to the sparrows for a bit. And no, no offer, but, I really think you just need the fucking of your life to cure yourself of that stupid lovesickness of yours. It does not become you, shrink.” A pause. “Just say yes, and I’ll have them…retrieve you.”

“Heh. Bold of you to assume what is in my best interests,” Vyn said as he mustered all he had to push himself off the counter seating. “I do not like to fuck strangers,” he said, voice clipped—or what passed to be one, in his drugged state. Even breathing is becoming constricted. But all I need to do is wait it out. “I best take my leave.”

“You sure you don’t want to play with them?” The Owner asked after him. “I am very rarely this generous with my clientele, you know. And there’s at least three of them willing to bed you, at the same time.”

“You mean you do not want to miss a chance to get on their good side,” Vyn now stumbled his way to the door, trying his hardest to wrest control of his limbs. He cared not about how undignified he appeared at the moment. Right foot. Left foot. Grab hold of the door knob. “I shall not be party to your networking. I bid you a good night, my friend.”

The Owner sighed as he left. “Fine. Pity. But, do be careful on your way home. If you can find your way, that is.”

“I will.”

It was an odd sensation, especially when Vyn himself was experiencing it: he still possessed full mental acuity, yet his limbs were not responding accordingly. Vyn struggled to have his hands grab whatever he could hold on to, just to keep himself upright on the way to the exit.

He inwardly laughed at himself. He drank the questionable drug-laced drink. Why? It was not the ideation of suicidal thoughts—that was farthest from his mind, and there were much larger things that needed to be done, on the horizon. And he knew the Owner, and his twisted sense of humor.

The idea of leaving things to chance, to finally let go and let things take their own course, to throw himself into the open elements where there are so many uncertain factors…the idea seemed refreshing. 

Liberating, in a twisted sense. 

The truth was, Vyn was getting tired. 

His was an exhaustion that blotted out all sense of priorities; there were things that needed to be done. Some life-threatening. All of them were cases against public safety. And yet he was willing to tear himself down over the affections of a single woman.

One woman, a single life among many who needed saving.

The only woman who upended his life, all with a single smile and her hands that toppled over his proverbial house of cards, one which he painstakingly built over time…

He managed to force open the heavy wooden door that led out of the Abyss and into the shadowy, light-speckled nightscape of Stellis City.  The night breeze felt cool against his skin, now blazing hot with a drug-induced flush. 

Stumbling out of the bar, he managed to hold onto the pedestrian railing and avoid a perfect face plant onto the sidewalk. 

Easy does it.

His car was parked quite a ways away, a few blocks, yet the path towards it was straightforward from the Abyss’s location. Vyn could easily support himself upright while holding on to the pedestrian railing on his way back to the car…

It felt like he was walking for an eternity. Drugs may muddle sense of time, Vyn recalled. This instance was a perfect example. The fact that he had to be conscious of his every draw and exhale of breath certainly did not help.

“Dr. Richter?” a perky voice cut through the darkness of the surroundings. “Are you okay?”

That voice. Vyn looked up, and his bleary eyes were met by Kiki’s worried gaze. “Miss Bennett.” His voice came out raspy, breathing now becoming labored. “Fancy bumping into you on this fine evening,” he said, as if he was not hunched over the railing, ready to tip over.

“Well, yeah, good evening to you too, but…” Kiki reached out to grab one of his upper arms, pulling him up. He must have looked worse than he thought. “Are you…drunk?”

“You act as if this is not your first time encountering a drunk in the streets,” Vyn murmured as he let Kiki sling his arm over her shoulders. “Nor helping one.”

“Eh, I see a lot of…ugh, you’re heavy…casualties around the gig venues,” Kiki grunted under the weight of the taller man. “The things I do to chase autographs…um, where were you going? Lemme help you.”

“I am on my way to my car.” 

“Lol. You can’t drive in this state.” Kiki held onto his wrist firmly, locking his arm across her shoulder in place as they started to walk, slowly. “But, let me help you on the way there anyway…”

“I was planning to sleep this off in the safety of my car. Do not worry about me.” Vyn said, now acutely aware of the fact that he let a mere acquaintance witness one of the lowest points in his life, and for what? A mere trifle. Certainly one he would probably kick himself over in a later dictaphone rambling. But that was for later. “You do not need to trouble yourself over me, Miss Bennett. And it is quite a late hour.”

“Geez, you and Rosa are alike in some ways,” Kiki muttered as she half dragged, half carried Vyn along the pedestrian path. “Anyway, I do have a driver’s license. Want me to drive your car to your place instead?”

We are alike in some ways? That is surprising, Vyn mused. 

He was going to ask more about it, but his consciousness had started to turn dim. This is dangerous. I may go out any moment now.  “Y-yes. I…appreciate it.” His sight was already dimming. This drug’s effect is worse than I thought. “Miss Bennett, if I ever lose consciousness, do not bring me to the hospital, and…my keys…wallet…back pocket…”

“Huh?!” Kiki heaved at the now deadweight of a doctor slumped over her small shoulders. “Dr. Richter? Dr. Richter?”

===

When he came to, he was already laid out on the sofa in his living room.

How…

Gingerly he tried to move his fingers, and toes. All of his extremities responded, and his sense of touch seemed intact. Good. 

“Oh hey, you’re finally awake! I sorta helped myself to your kitchen. Made some coffee. Hope you’re okay with it.”

A short-haired girl sporting a hair band sat on one of his living room chairs, her feet tucked underneath her haunches. An open book in her hands. 

Sharp, observant eyes, behind big round glasses, looked at him intently. 

She must have been waiting for me to come around.

Vyn, having proper etiquette engraved into his very being, struggled to sit himself into a proper posture befitting for greeting a guest.

Bones creaked as he propped his back against the backrest. Some joints popped. It seemed that he laid down, unmoving, in a rather uncomfortable position on the sofa for an inordinate length of time. 

“Miss Bennett…” Faint memories of what happened last night flowed into his head. “I really do apologize for causing you trouble.” He winced in pain. His temples hurt. “And I do not mind you helping yourself to anything in the kitchen. There are some…baked goods in the fridge, should you be hungry.”

Kiki peered at him from where she sat. “Er…you don’t look too good. Do you need medicine? Where do you stash them?”

“My first aid kit is in the medicine cabinet located in my bathroom, first door to your right along the corridor.”

“Got it!” 

Kiki scrambled for the bathroom, dropping the book she was reading onto the floor. The cover clearly showed. The priest novel has a new volume, he noted despite the haze of migraine. 

She returned in less than a minute. “Here,” Kiki placed a nondescript white pouch onto his lap. She also held a glass of water ready.

“Thank you.” Vyn rummaged through his pouch to locate a blister pack of headache pills specific to his usual type of migraine, and popped a couple into his mouth; washing them down with several gulps of water from the proffered glass.

“Thank you,” he said again, closing his eyes. And now, we wait for the headache to subside…

It only took around half an hour for Vyn to start feeling like himself again. Headache gone, he finally managed to notice the sliver of light trickling in through the French windows. 

Morning had already broken. 

“Are you feeling okay now?” Kiki peeked at him over her book, not even bothering to hide the risque cover. Vyn supposed that she didn’t feel any need to, not when she knew he borrowed the previous volume from Rosa. “You were, er. Calling for Rosa in your sleep.”

“Ah. Did I?” Vyn gave her a taut smile. “That would make this the second time you have seen me at my lowest point. I would appreciate it if you keep this from your friend.” He held her gaze intently. “Please. This is very important.”

Kiki nodded. Vyn appreciated that she could somehow understand. “Yeah. You sounded like you were upset, so I didn’t bother letting her know about what happened to you. I thought you guys were fighting.” 

She did not waste any time and went straight to asking the most important question: “What happened between you and Rosa, anyway? She doesn’t seem to be bothered. But you?” Her brows furrowed in concern. "You sure look like you have a story to tell."

Vyn sighed, more upset at himself than anyone else for being too transparent for his liking. He did not have much energy to put on masks at the moment, certainly not around people with the same level of curiosity as Kiki Bennett. “Does Rosa say anything to you about me at all?” he asked instead. 

Kiki blinked at his question. After some thought, she said, “Yeah. She sometimes tells me about your lessons, and the places you both visited. How good you are at making desserts. Things like that. And, um.” She chewed on her lower lip, and added, “...how you’re a really great friend.”

Vyn winced. Of course. 

“Judging by your face and how you almost cried out her name in your sleep…you’re stuck in the friendzone, aren’t you?”

“That is one way of putting it,” Vyn laughed at the absurdity of such crude terminology used on him, and the laugh was so bitter Kiki did not know how to react to it. “If being intimate with her still has her consider me ‘a really great friend’, I have to admit I am at a loss on how to further proceed.”

Kiki’s eyes widened at the mention of the word ‘intimate’ but quickly recovered.

“So even you can have these kinds of problems,” Kiki said, finally putting down her book. “Didn’t really expect it. You look so put together you make everything seem effortless.”

“So they say,” Vyn said, taking on the tone he usually employed in classes and lectures, talking about himself as if he were his own case study. “Of course, people can only see the outward, curated image. They do not see the hard work and effort required to support the illusion.” 

He felt like having a cigarette, but considering the present company he thought the better of it. 

“The illusion?” Kiki’s head tilted to one side, inquiringly. “What do you mean? Your achievements are legit, right? Even your skills when you played the keytar onstage.”

“By ‘illusion’, I mean how effortless all of it seems to other people,” Vyn said as he stood up to stretch his limbs. “It is not. The hell I have gone through…” he let his voice trail off, then shook his head. 

He padded to the kitchen area. “Do you want something to eat? It may be a little too early for sweets, but…” He opened his fridge for a cursory check of its contents. “...Sweets are all I have. Cakes, cookies…”

Kiki walked over to the kitchen and joined him. “I actually checked your fridge, haha,” she smiled sheepishly. “I was going to ask why you have so many mont blancs stashed in there.”

Vyn pulled out the French apple cake that he baked a few days ago, and placed it on the counter. There still was enough for two slices. “Ah, those…they were failed attempts. Things that I do not deem fit for giving away, but too much of a waste to throw out.” He sighed. “I used to throw away my failures, but I now realize how much of a waste that is. I consume them by myself now. Bit by bit.”

“For a doctor, you sure love your sugar.” Kiki remarked. “You sure you’re still okay?”

“Daily training and physical activity offsets my sugar intake,” Vyn said. “Would you like a bit of caramel sauce on your apple cake?”

Kiki’s eyes widened. “Oh, do I ever!” She then craned her neck to look around where the cutlery and tableware were. “Um, let me help set up the table, at least,” she said as soon as she spotted the dinnerware rack. 

“Much appreciated, thank you.” Vyn reached for a suitable knife from the magnetic rack set in front of him, and sliced the cake into two equal slices. 

===

“...So,” Kiki said, in between bites of cake. “Dr. Vyn Stuck in Friendzone Richter. I know you’re a shrink but do you want to talk about it?”

They sat themselves by the counter seating of his kitchen, each with a slice of apple cake and steaming cup of Earl Grey tea. 

“I will, as long as you do not give me sad nicknames like what you just did.” A sip of tea. A forlorn smile. “My feelings have been kicked around enough as it is.”

“I’m sorry!” Kiki blew onto her steaming cup of tea before sipping on it. “It’s just that I don’t have a lot of guy friends, much less guy friends who open up about these sorts of things.”

“So you find my…distress fascinating, is that it?” Vyn took another sip of tea. “But I do owe you a great favor, for ensuring my safety during my most vulnerable hour. I shall regale you with words I usually keep to myself, then.”

“Um,” Kiki piped up after swallowing a big bite of cake. “Don’t get me wrong. Not like I’m actually enjoying your suffering or anything. Just that I’m curious, is all. Also!” Kiki smiled sincerely this time. “I want to hear about a real love story, you know? And yours with Rosa sounds pretty intense, from the looks of things.”

“Heh.” Vyn uncharacteristically poked around the remaining bits of cake on his plate. “Rosa…is someone special. I shall not bore you with the specifics; the specifics are such that it will take me days to enumerate them all.” He smiled to himself, mind running through various pleasant memories. “What I can say, however, is that…” he chewed on his lip, deep in thought. “I have mostly seen what human nature is capable of. The typical darker tendencies that no longer surprise me, not one bit.”

Kiki ate her cake in silence, listening to Vyn.

“But Rosa…” Again, the soft smile on his lips. “She with her radiance had proven to me the potential for humanity to be good. Those many times when she took me by surprise. Showing me that when all options appear to be bleak, there is always one sliver of light that can lead one out of the darkness…

“But I am talking about high concepts now, am I not? Very well then.” He topped up both of their tea cups with the ceramic teapot set nearby. “Let me talk about things that may tickle a romance reader’s fantasy: I like her bright eyes. Especially when she smiles. I like her presence, and the way she effortlessly brightens up a room. Her scent awakens a sort of hunger I never knew I had…”

“Oooh,” Kiki murmured quietly, trying her hardest to suppress her glee. “Go on.”

“...Her child-like curiosity, and how her willingness to learn new things indulges my own desire to share knowledge. I like her voice, and how her laugh dispels my day-to-day exhaustion. And…” Vyn finally speared the last bit of cake, taking his time chewing it as he inwardly debated with himself whether or not to say the last words he meant to say. 

The need to say it eventually won out. He did owe Kiki a lot, and he knew these types of things were right up her alley. “...I love, desire, obsess over her, physically, intimately. When she confessed that she wanted to share herself with me, in that manner, I was more than ecstatic.”

Kiki’s face turned hot, and she grabbed her cheeks with both hands. “Oh my god, this is so steamyyyyyy…!”

“Heh,” Vyn looked up at Kiki with a roguish smile, which turned wistful at the drop of the hat. “But then, she told me that…intimacy between us is merely an arrangement.”

“Er, what?” Kiki also dropped her smile. “Did she just tell you, uh, forgive my French, you guys are fuckbuddies?”

“If by ‘fuckbuddies’ you mean friends who call each other when they feel like being frisky, then yes,” Vyn murmured sullenly into his teacup. “An arrangement. To fuck.”

“Uhh. Rosa…” Kiki laughed nervously. “She’s not that type, you know? Are you sure there’s no miscommunication between the two of you?”

Vyn shook his head. There was not a lot of room for any misunderstanding, not with how he had danced around her many, many times; his whispers of promises that talk of forever, all of them happily accepted by Rosa yet whose meanings still escape her. “I have tried so hard, so hard…” His smile has twisted into one of unbridled self-scorn. He buried his face in his hands. “Rosaaaaaa,” he keened, voice muffled by his palms. “Rosa…”

“Er…Dr. Richter?” Kiki did not know what to do at that point. 

Vyn then took a deep breath to quickly gather himself, and ran his fingers through his hair. “Ah, my apologies,” he muttered. “I did not mean for you to see that.”

“That’s okay, really, I get it,” Kiki said. “Anyway…yeah.” Kiki cut another piece of cake. “Silly question, but.” She chewed on it thoughtfully. “Did you even tell Rosa? Does she even know?”

“I keep on telling her, but she doesn’t seem to understand.” A bitter smile. “It is almost as if…she is rejecting me. Rejecting the idea that she stay by my side. That all she is interested in is this arrangement.” 

Vyn could feel the despair slowly seep into his heart. 

Yet Kiki’s voice cut through the dark haze of his melancholy. A certain smidgen of clarity. “I mean, okay, just let me know if I misunderstood anything but…” A pause. “Did you even tell her “I love you” outright? Something like that?” 

Her brows furrowed, as if thinking that something wasn’t quite right, something clearly wasn’t adding up, something that was missed in all of the tragic comedy that was Dr. Vyn Richter’s very rare love life.

“Not verbatim. But everything I do for her…”

“Aha,” Kiki said, nodding. “That might be it, actually. Rosa is dumb as bricks at this kind of thing. Trust me, I know. There is one other guy in Themis Law who is also struggling, but thankfully she is dumb as bricks about this and so his efforts just whoosh over.” She ran her fork across the edge of her plate, trying to gather the remaining tasty apple sauce, licking it off the fork tines.

Vyn’s eyes hardened. “Are you talking about her senior partner?” 

“Er. Um. Yeah.” Kiki suddenly averted her eyes, as if she just said something that she shouldn’t have.

“Interesting,” was all Vyn said. This was not something new; he had noticed that the way Artem hovered around her was more than being protective. However the fact that co-workers knew made it even worrisome; it implied that he wasn’t pulling any stops in pursuing her in the workplace. “She is not being badgered into getting into a relationship with him, I trust?”

“Well, if she was aware of what’s been going on probably yes, but she is totally oblivious to his advances it might as well not have happened,” Kiki deadpanned.

A companionable silence followed. The cogs in Vyn’s head turned, churned double time, trying to process what he had just heard. Is Rosa deliberately being obtuse to overtures in general? 

Kiki, for her part, seemed to be also deep in thought.

“So um. I know you’re not asking for advice, or anything, but—”

"That is fine. My ears are open."

"Maybe you should tell her the things that you just told me a while back. What you like about her,” she said as she finally put down her fork onto the plate with a clink. “Like. Word for word. Spell it out for her like you would a grade-schooler, you know? Or…” 

Kiki’s lips stretched into a smile so unnerving even Vyn almost broke out in cold sweat.

“Why not indulge her in a teensy bit of roleplay and act like the demon priest in the novel you borrowed? ‘Tempt’ her into darkness.” Kiki’s smile turned even more twisted. “Teehee.”

===

Kiki had to do some overtime work on the weekend, and Vyn offered to drop her off at Themis Law. He did not have anywhere to go at the moment, but he told her that after what she did for him he certainly did not mind driving out for the express purpose of bringing her to her workplace.

“Thanks for the lift, Dr. Richter!” Kiki waved at him as soon as she stepped out of his car. “And uh don’t drink so much next time!” 

“I will make sure not to, if I can help it, that is.” Vyn gave her a wan smile from the driver’s seat. “Miss Bennett, please remember…not a word to Rosa. Please.”

Kiki gave him a mock salute. “Yessir!” and closed the car’s passenger door. 

She was still grinning as his car finally pulled away, disappearing into the rest of the traffic. 

Humming, she marched through the doors of Themis Law building in higher spirits than she normally would, especially for weekend overtime. 

It had been an interesting night. Rosa’s psychiatrist suitor certainly seemed to be more and more likable the more she interacted with him; Dr. Vyn Richter no longer seemed to be the aloof, unapproachable man with a pretty face that she initially made him out to be. 

He was shamelessly in love with Rosa. He fell apart for Rosa, to the point that it was her name he was crying out for while he was drugged.

Oh my god, what a total goofball.

Needless to say, she approved of him. 

She didn't need to do the sis check on him; she already saw the irrefutable proof, which was why she was even able to get him out off the streets before the others got to him… Kiki would make sure she’d tease them to the point of embarrassment the next time she saw them together.

If they manage to finally get together, that is. 

Welp, too bad Dr. Richter swore me to secrecy. 

She was still humming by the time she stepped into her department’s floor. Time to get to work! There's another mission pegged for tonight! 

“Hey Kiki,” a familiar voice greeted her as she went past. 

“Hey Rosa!” Kiki peered into her friend’s cubicle. “Gathering materials for the review?”

“Yeah,” Rosa nodded. “I’m just here to get some study materials for the next mock exam.”

Kiki found her mannerisms odd. Normally Rosa would be either cheerful, or outright whiny about her workload. Certainly not subdued like how she was acting now. It was as if…

“Um. Kiki?” Rosa fidgeted, twisting her fingers as she chewed on her lip. “Dr. Richter dropped you off…?”

===

Her friend Kiki’s smile froze in place, and Rosa immediately knew that she was hiding something. She had known Kiki since university; there was no mistaking that telltale awkward smile that betrayed the fact that she’s hiding something, or at the very least was being evasive about something. 

“Um, it’s not like there’s nothing wrong,” Rosa let out a laugh that felt a little bit too fake, even for herself. “I mean…”

Dr. Richter chancing upon her on the way to the research center and offering a ride, knowing that she’s my friend shouldn’t be that odd, Rosa surmised. Yet why is Kiki being evasive about it? “...it’s really none of my business if there’s um. If you have business with him.” She could feel her smile crack along the edges. “I’m just curious, is all!”

Kiki merely blinked at her. “Er. T-that. Well…”

Rosa also knew Kiki was a terrible liar. 

It seemed very unlikely that both her close friends, Kiki and Dr. Richter, would have anything to do with each other, but far stranger things have happened already and Rosa wasn’t at all surprised that Dr. Richter, popular that he is, would be seen with another woman. 

Another woman, Rosa thought to herself derisively. It’s not as if we’re exclusive.

What was surprising, however, was that it would be her friend at work. 

Rosa shook her head. Again, it’s not my business—

Yet why am I feeling this way? Strange, isn’t it, Rosa? It was a feeling that was very similar, if not worse, to what she felt when Vyn—as keyboardist Vilhelm—was being pursued by fangirls. Her hand unconsciously slid to her chest, just right above her heart. Pinpricks of a feeling indescribable made itself felt deep inside her guts, settling right into the yawning pit of her stomach. Strange, isn’t it?

“Ah, well, if you don’t want to tell me it’s fine, tell me when you want to spill the juicy details,” Rosa gave Kiki another smile, equal parts bright and forced. She didn’t know how awkward it made people feel, seeing that particular smile.

Especially Kiki, who ducked and threw a quick “Excuse me,” before scrambling to her cubicle.

Rosa sighed. She only needed to clear her head. Yes, that’s it. Maybe she’s too tired, maybe…

She shook her head. I need to get a hold of myself! Having regained a little bit of sanity, she decided to use it to focus towards finishing what she sought out to do in Themis Law on a weekend: gather learning materials.

And so minutes went by quietly, with Rosa scouring Themis Law’s digital library for any relevant reading, saving copies into her flashdrive. 

From a couple of rows away she could hear Kiki’s mechanical keyboard click-clacking away at a feverish pace. It filled the empty floor so much that it was obvious when Kiki suddenly stopped typing.

The floor was also empty, save for the two of them, so when Kiki suddenly wailed out loud Rosa could perfectly hear her when she cried out, a bit too loudly, “Ughhh my phone is missing!” followed by sounds of frantic upending of various containers, and rapid opening, closing of drawers.

Rosa sighed. Oh, Kiki… This wasn’t the first time she’s ‘lost’ her phone. Sometimes she got so scatterbrained whenever something caught her attention, even dropping whatever she was holding at the time, even her phone…

Deciding to help her, Rosa pulled out her smartphone and dialed Kiki’s number.

It rang out several times, and Rosa was about to finally give up when her call was finally picked up.

A very, very familiar low, elegant voice answered her call. “Hello, Rosa,” Vyn said from the other end of the line. “It looks like your friend accidentally left her phone. My apologies for not answering immediately. It took me quite a while to locate where it was, when it started going off.”

Rosa’s blood ran cold, yet the sinking feeling did not reflect on the small, polite smile plastered onto her face. “No worries. I’m just glad Kiki’s phone is safe with you.” A small laugh. “I’m sure she would be devastated if she lost her phone with all the idol videos saved in it…” Her voice trailed off.

Hearing nothing from the other end, Rosa decided to ask, “Dr. Richter…where did Kiki drop her phone?”

She was still answered by radio silence, but Rosa knew Vyn was still on the line, as she could still barely pick out his soft breathing. 

Then Vyn finally answered, “In my home.”

“Oh.” Oh. 

Rosa did not notice her voice trembling as she said, “O-oh, okay. Um. I’ll just tell Kiki to come back there and pick it up.”

“Rosa, wai—”

“Bye, Dr. Richter.”

She pressed on the Decline button on her screen and dropped the call.

Rosa sat in her cubicle quietly, phone still in her hand. She sat still, unmoving, and it was only when a teardrop splashed onto its screen that her quiet onslaught of tears came. 

How strange, Rosa told herself as she quietly sobbed in her seat. She shouldn’t be feeling this way. While Dr. Richter did express a bit of fancy towards her—and they certainly did have a lot of fun—it wasn’t as if she were special enough to hold his attention for long. In fact, only a few nights after their sweet stolen time in the NXX Headquarters he already had a different girl in his home, no less.

I’m being stupid. Rosa reached for her box of tissues and quickly wiped away her tears. I really shouldn’t be bothered by this. She took time to recompose herself, peering at the mirror to make sure there were no traces of her losing herself into crying left.

Though I probably wouldn’t call him up anymore for…that. That much was certain. 

It doesn’t feel right anymore…

She decided to walk over to Kiki’s cubicle. “Hey, um…Kiki?”

“Eh? Rosa?” Kiki looked up at her, on all fours in the carpeted flooring within her cubicle, surrounded by emptied out boxes, drawers pulled out. She was still looking for her phone, and in the unlikeliest of places where it could have ended up, to boot. 

She noticed the plastic potted plant in the corner upended as well. “Kiki…were you looking for your phone in the plant pot…?” Rosa could not help but give in to an amused—desperate—laugh. 

Laughter during these dire moments always felt nice.

“Hey, it could have dropped into that stupid pot, you know!” Kiki huffed. “Stop laughing!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Rosa laughed a bit too loudly, desperate to deaden the hollow pit in her very being with shallow laughter. “Um. Kiki? I heard you scrambling for your phone, so…I dialed your number.”

“Omigosh! Thank you! Did someone pick it up?” Kiki exclaimed a bit too happily, then quickly stood up and dusted off her pants.

Rosa gave her close friend a small smile. “Yeah. It was Dr. Richter.” She did not notice her lower lip tremble, in the midst of the cracked smile. “You left it in his place, he said. So um. You better drop by there and get it from him, I guess.”

“Oh.”

This time, Rosa sighed and did not bother hiding her thoughts. “Look, whatever’s between you  and Dr. Richter, that’s none of my business, alright?” She swallowed the lump in her throat. Great. I’m going to cry again. “Um, I think I need to pee, so—”

Rosa then made her way out of Kiki’s cubicle, but never got to take more than two steps.

“Oh no you don’t!” Kiki muttered as she grabbed Rosa's arm, stopping her in her tracks. “No, you’re not going anywhere away from me. Nope, nuh-uh.”

“I said I need to pee!” Tears already started to flow down her cheeks and onto the collar of her shirt. “Let go of me!”

“Who the hell pees and cries at the same time?!” Kiki—with a strength that even took her friend by surprise—wrested Rosa back into the cubicle, pulling her in by the arm. “Listen to me!”

Rosa sniffled and sobbed as she stood in the middle of the cubicle. 

Looking rightly pissed off, Kiki put her hands on her hips as she addressed her ugly sobbing friend. “If you’re capable of feeling this way, why are you treating Dr. Richter the way you’ve been doing?” She tsk-ed. “If he didn’t swear me to secrecy you would have been hearing a truckload of things from me, but…ugh!” She was almost at the point of tearing her short hair out in frustration. “I swear—!”

“Wait, what?” Rosa looked at her pissed off friend with bleary, tear-stricken eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t talk, because Dr. Richter made me promise not to. So,” Kiki pulled Rosa along with her. “Grab your things, take me to your shrink’s place because I can’t go there by myself. Everything including money is through my phone.”

“...okay.”

===

Half an hour later, Vyn and Rosa found themselves sitting across from each other in Vyn’s living room.

“Um.” Rosa was back to fidgeting, like how she did back when she first approached Vyn with her dilemma. She wrung her hands nonstop; there was never a moment when her fingers were still.

Vyn merely watched her silently, hands folded on his lap.

And from the main entrance of Vyn’s home, Kiki hollered, “Alright, I want you guys to talk things out, and I want it done properly, ayt?” She grabbed at the door, starting to pull it closed behind her. “Make sure you guys do it right this time!”

The door shut with a loud bang.

Vyn looked at the main door. “That was unnecessary.”

“Oh. Well. If this is all unnecessary, then I should see myself out,” Rosa began. “I—”

Vyn let out a ragged sigh. “No, my darling. I meant slamming the door was unnecessary.” He lifted his phone to show her. “I can easily control doors, windows, and other effects in my home with my phone.” A pause. “You know this.”

“Right. Sorry,” Rosa mumbled. “I don’t know what to say, really.”

“Miss Bennett believes that there is a certain level of miscommunication between us, Rosa,” Vyn said, in clipped tones. “And this irks me, because someone of my profession should have picked up on it easily.” One of his hands curled into a fist. 

“Mm.” Rosa wrapped her arms around herself. 

Unconsciously erecting walls, Vyn noted. She considers me someone she has to escape from. The thought ran a serrated knife deep into his heart. Maybe if I did not upset the order of things. If I was not so greedy, if I did not dare dream of getting more than what she was already giving—and she gave me so much already, to fill my dreams with. I—

The hand curled into a fist trembled as he drove fingernails deeper into his palm. A damp, uncomfortable, searing warmth spread in his hand.

“Rosa,” Vyn began. “Tell me, what am I to you?” 

Why am I asking these things now?

Rosa’s eyes focused on her constantly moving fingers, seemingly intent on retreating rather than engaging the man who was desperate to get an answer from her.

“Rosa, please,” Vyn now pleaded. “I am asking you this not as a psychiatrist, but as a—” 

Friend?

No.

“...as someone keen on having a relationship with you.”

Rosa finally looked up at him. “...what do you mean?” Her gaze was understandably wary. 

“A romantic relationship, Rosa.” Vyn said, recalling Kiki’s words that his desired inamorata was, in verbatim, dumb as bricks about the intricacies of romance. “Becoming lovers.” He took a deep breath. “I want to be your lover,” he continued, hoping that his words counted as him spelling things out for her.

He had been saving these words for a proper proposal—uttered in a more elegant phrasing, of course—but as Kiki had mentioned, he probably needed to spell things out for her, to get rid of any gaps where misunderstandings may slip in through.

Yet Rosa still did not look convinced. “I…see.” Her hands now fumbled with the hem of her skirt. “I…I don’t know.” She took a long pause, as if gathering her thoughts. “I’m confused. I’m sorry.”

Again, that plummeting sensation in the pit of his stomach. 

Rosa was incredibly resistant to this specific type of message. 

It was then that Vyn understood: It wasn’t that Rosa was dumb as bricks when it came to romance; it was because Rosa seemed to not accept the fact that she deserved to be loved and cherished, in a romantic sense, for some reason or another. 

This realization spurred in him a burgeoning sense of panic, of desperation, the urgent need to be understood, and so Vyn sprung from his seat to kneel by Rosa’s feet. “Rosa, my beloved, please,” he pleaded. “Listen to me when I say I want you. I need you. I need you so much, it hurts. Deeply.” 

Yet Rosa could only give him a smile so broken the sight of it cut deep in his aching, vulnerable heart. “You’ve always been such a romantic, Dr. Richter. Gifted with words.” A sharp intake of breath. 

“Did you whisper sweet words to Kiki too, last night?”

Vyn froze, and he visibly recoiled.

A long bout of silence stretched out, as both of them quietly ruminated on what just happened.

“Ah.” Slowly, carefully, Vyn stood up and stepped away from Rosa, going back to his seat across from her. “Of course not.” 

He could barely hide the bitterness that now crept into his voice. “When Miss Bennett found me out in the streets, about to lose my unconsciousness, all I ever voiced out to her was my gratitude.” Fingernails once again dug into his already wounded palm. “When Miss Bennett brought me home to safety as I was unconscious, drugged…when I came to, I only told her my gratitude.”

Vyn buried his face in his hands, and sighed loudly.

Rosa watched Vyn about to unravel right in front of her. A brief spell of panic crossed her face as she beheld Vyn edge into a breakdown. “Dr. Richter—”

But then Vyn removed his hands, revealing dull gold eyes now bereft of warmth, nor frenzied despair. 

“This is enough. I apologize, Rosa.” He stood up, and briskly made his way to the kitchen area. “I have been keeping you here, asking you unfair questions that put you on the spot. Again, I apologize.”

He opened his fridge, rummaging through the contents, and pulled out a mont blanc, the flawless one among the bunch: its chestnut puree in a perfect conical swirl, topped with freshly whipped cream sitting exquisitely on its peak. 

Vyn’s hands worked in deathly silence: fingers deftly folded the elegant transparent window box, placed the pretty mont blanc inside, and embellished the entire package with a teal-and-silver ribbon tied into a classy bow.

This he held out to Rosa as he walked back towards her. Yet his was an expression so somber, he might as well have handed her an urn instead of an elegantly packaged, beautiful dessert that he had spent many nights laboring over.

“This is my gift to you, as an apology,” Vyn’s voice was flat, and devoid of any warmth. “I shall not pester you with my foolishness ever again.”

This time, Rosa tried to reach out to him, to touch his hand as she took the mont blanc, but before her fingers could touch his he withdrew and sat himself once again across her. 

He reached for his phone. “I hope you do not mind, Miss Rosa, but I need some time for myself. I shall call a taxi for you. Do you want me to have it drop you off your apartment? Or—”

“Vyn!” Rosa cut in. “I’m—”

“What?” Vyn’s voice was glacial, cutting. It was nothing that Rosa had ever heard before from him. “Is there anything else you need?” The edge mellowed out, but it was still undeniably there, capable of cutting anything or anyone who dared go near.

“I…” Rosa faltered, but eventually managed to say, “I…just wanted to know.” She bit her lip. “What Kiki did here last night.”

“What of it, Miss Rosa?” Vyn asked. To Rosa it felt that Vyn grew even more distant the more words he spoke. “We are merely in an arrangement, are we not? Is that not what you call what we briefly had? And you so quickly assume I would be doing the same with other women, should I feel the inclination to. With your reasoning in mind, what I do outside our arrangement should not concern you at all.”

Rosa said nothing.

“Tell me, Miss Rosa,” Vyn’s now emotionless eyes bore holes right through her. “Since you call me your close friend, even as our relationship turned physical: Do you also fuck your childhood friend when you feel like it?”

A loud slap resounded in the otherwise quiet living room. 

Vyn rubbed his stinging cheek.

“I…I get it, Dr. Richter,” Rosa whispered. “I’ll…show myself out now. Don’t bother with the taxi—I can call one for myself.”

“Very well.”

The mont blanc remained on the seat that Rosa long vacated, and it never served its purpose.

===

“All that hard work…gone to nothing…” Kiki wailed into her cup of coffee.

Rosa had been cagey for the entire Monday morning after that weekend when she struggled to bring her friend and Dr. Richter together—as a result of her meddling, no less.

Thankfully, the two were close enough that the awkwardness that resulted from the events of last weekend had mostly dissipated, and they quickly went back to old habits: this time, they were back to whiling away their work and life sorrows over coffee in the office pantry.

“That’s fine, Kiki,” Rosa sighed. “Look, I’m sorry for…for…” she pursed her lips. “Assuming the worst about you and Dr. Richter.”

“Yeaaaah, but you guys aren’t together. If anything, I made things worse.” Kiki moaned. “Damn it.”

Rosa fell into thoughtful silence.

Kiki decided to gun for it, to say what was immediately in her mind the moment Rosa told her about last weekend’s fiasco: “…Dr. Richter has a point, you know.”

Bleary olive eyes looked at her. “What about?”

Ugh. Here goes. 

“When he asked you, if you would fuck your childhood pal because you guys are ‘close’. I mean,” Kiki propped her chin in the palm of her right hand. “All these time you’ve been calling Dr. Richter your ‘close friend’. Of course he’d ask if you’d fuck your other close friends too, that’s how many mixed signals you’ve been giving the poor guy.”

Rosa looked away. “Look, Kiki…” she closed her eyes, as if willing herself not to lose it. “I’ve been kicking myself over how I acted the last time I saw Dr. Richter, okay? I don’t feel like talking about it.” She bit her lip. “It hurts.”

Kiki looked at her thoughtfully, then said, “You know, I feel like going to the bathroom. Come with?”

“Um. Sure.”

===

“Since things have ended between you and that shrink,” Kiki said, as she removed her glasses, placing them by the sink of the women’s bathroom,  “I guess I can talk about the stuff he wanted me to keep from you.”

The bathroom was empty save for them, and it now served as an ideal space to talk about gossip. They stood by the sink set against the large mirror as Kiki touched up her makeup.

“But before that, lemme tell you about the stuff I heard about him. About what happened before I found him that night.” She untied and slipped the hairband from her head, shaking her hair loose to reveal a nicely curled bob that only needed a minor touch-up of a rounded brush. 

Rosa stood nearby, quiet, watching Kiki with rapt attention as her friend touched up. 

And gradually changed looks.

“Word has it that the famous ice prince of Stellis City was being picked up by no less than three beautiful girls. At the same time,” Kiki continued, as her fingers rummaged through her purse for her lipstick. “Dunno why but he was in this seedy bar, pouring his heart out to the bar owner,” she chuckled a little as she twisted the lipstick tube. “Crying about this girl he’s been trying so hard to win, and even managed to have sex with, but—haha—still thinks he’s her close friend.”

Rosa let out a gasp. 

Kiki merely gave her a cool side glance, then carefully swept the end of her lipstick along her bottom lip. It was a dark, almost forbidding, shade of red—totally uncharacteristic on someone like her. Or at least, what people in Themis Law knew of her.

“The bar Owner took pity on Dr. Richter, dude really looked down in the dumps,” Kiki smirked into her reflection in the mirror. She already looked very un-Kiki-like. “So the Owner had the idea of calling these girls he knew were really into the shrink, so they could play with him and cheer him up, y’know?”

She applied eyeshadow on her eyelids as she went on. “But Dr. Richter…he refused. Said he wasn’t interested. The girls already had the bar owner slip some drugs into his drink so they could take him without much fuss, but the shrink was so NOT interested, he still managed to crawl out of the bar despite the drugs.” 

She dusted a bit of blusher on her cheeks. “Aaand, that’s how I found him. Drugged out of his wits.” She smacked her lips to even out the rouge over her now alluring lips. “Looked up his address in his wallet, took his car keys, drove his car to his house.” Kiki tried out a sexy smile in the mirror. “You know what’s funny? In his sleep, all he ever called out was your name.”

She could see Rosa’s eyes tearing up through their reflection in the mirror, yet paid her no mind. Her fingers brushed through her hair, artfully tousling it. “When he finally woke up, and fed me some cake for breakfast as thanks…” her smile turned wistful. “...I wish you could have heard the things he told me, but…” She shook her head. “It shouldn’t come from me. If you want to know, it’s only right that he tells you himself. If he still would, that is.”

Kiki threw a meaningful look at her friend, through their reflections in the mirror. “You know…I wish someone looked at me that way, the way Dr. Richter looks at you. If only you knew the things he told me about you. It was…” She let out a sigh. “...really sweet. And sexy.”

Rosa was already weeping silently by the time she was done.

Kiki now faced Rosa directly, instead of looking at her through the mirror. “It’s not too late, you know,” she said quietly. “If you really want that shrink, you should grab the chance while you still can…”

Then, with a flip of her hair and a temptress’ half-smile—Kiki looked like a totally different woman now, someone who could easily pick up a man she fancied, instead of the bumbling, nerdy junior Rosa and the rest of her colleagues in Themis Law saw on a daily basis—she continued, “...before those girls who were interested in him try again. And succeed.”

Kiki merely looked on as Rosa spun on her heel and sprinted out of the bathroom, silently wishing her friend the best. 

Whew. Everything almost went to the shitter…

Smiling, she looked at the bathroom mirror once again to check if everything was set; a new mark had just been assigned to her, and he was conveniently located near Themis Law’s office building. A thrill shot up her spine. Apparently today’s mark was a handsome businessman in his late thirties. 

Kiki had seen his photos: he was her type. 

===

It was almost sundown when Rosa stepped off the taxi, right in front of the entrance to Vyn’s Victorian estate. 

If she still remembered his schedule correctly, he would be spending some time in the garden around this hour. She made a beeline off to the side towards his prized, sprawling English garden. 

Rosa jogged through the garden gates, craning her neck to allow her a better view as she looked for him, looking for the man she so wanted to seize back into her life. Carefully she navigated her way through the bushes, the budding rose shrubs and other flora that the doctor tended to with his own hands…

Then she finally spotted him: Vyn hunching over a hydrangea bush, shears in hand. The simple white shirt and jeans he wore for gardening work were smudged with dirt. 

Behind him stood a wheelbarrow almost full with plant trimmings, evidence of just how much time and effort he spent in his garden on that day alone.

Did he even go to his research center today? Or university, for that matter?

Taking a deep breath she started to approach him, careful not to take him by surprise. 

But Vyn already took notice of her presence when she was still a few meters away. “Good evening, Miss Rosa.” He put down his shears and stood up to face her. “How can I help you?”

His expression and stance seemed closed off: his gaze was still bereft of his usual friendly warmth, hands clasped in front of him.

Faced with a cold Vyn Richter—a total 180 to the gentle, warm, soft-spoken man who welcomed her with open arms, anytime—Rosa almost lost all nerve, her instincts screaming at her to turn tail and leave. Not because of self-preservation, but rather due to her innate fear of rejection.

But…

She remembered the things Kiki divulged to her. There were so many things she had yet to know. So many things she could have known, if only her head wasn’t so far up her ass being afraid that she might have misinterpreted his intentions. 

Last weekend proved how her fears wound up destroying the fragile, precious thing that could have been.

She had to work up her courage. “Dr. Richter, I…” She swallowed the nervous lump in her throat. “I’m sorry.” 

Vyn remained silent, and did not move an inch.

“I’m really sorry,” Rosa repeated. “To be honest…I don’t even know why I’m here. I just…I just want to say I’m sorry. That’s all. Um.”

Vyn still did not say anything, but his gaze upon her softened, somehow.

Yet Rosa did not notice something so minute, and all she could see was Vyn merely staring at her in silence, as if waiting for her to finish her piece and leave. This time, she completely lost all nerve. “I—I’m sorry for bothering you. I’ll be going now.”

Stifling a sob, Rosa turned around to leave. 

Yet before she could move away, strong arms held her in place.

“Do not go,” Vyn whispered. He hugged her from behind, his warmth seeping through her clothes. “Do not leave me.” His arms pulled her closer to him; hands tightly gripping her sides. He was so close to her that she could feel his body tremble against hers.

Moisture slowly trickled and spread onto the top of her head.

“...Dr. Richter…?”

Rosa looked up at him.

He was crying silently. 

Rosa shifted herself in his tight hug so she faced him. His hold upon her loosened to allow her movement; with a long, drawn out sigh that bore her pent-up longing she reached out to Vyn for a long, deep, heartfelt kiss. 

There was no stress to be relieved this time around; only relief that everything has fallen back into place, just where they should be. 

Her arms coiled around his neck, clinging to Vyn as if for dear life as their lips locked in frantic kisses. Their own breaths, moans, sighs mingled with each other before dissipating into the aether. “Dr. Richter—Vyn,” she whispered softly into his ear. “Vyn,” she repeated as she felt his lips flutter a trail of kisses down her neck.

A soft evening breeze blew around them, sending the surrounding flowers and vines into a dance in the orange glow of the evening sunset. Yet their beauty went unnoticed, as Rosa and Vyn were still too preoccupied with their all-too sweet reunion.

Vyn briefly pulled away for air. “Rosa, I am also deeply sorry,” he husked. “Things went too fast, and I am to blame. I said hurtful words. I…” He almost choked in his words. “...I could only think about you. Even in my dreams, all I ever see is you. And how filled with regret I am.”

His tears landed onto her cheek.

Rosa shook her head. “I drove you mad, in the worst way possible. I realize it now.” She gave him a crooked smile of her own, also edged with tears. Tenderly her fingers wiped away his tears, and she finally said those words that have not yet been uttered between them:

“I love you.”

===

“Vyn…there, yes…” The acoustics in Vyn’s shower made Rosa’s moans and whispers of his name reverberate and echo quite beautifully. 

Her wet body was pressed against the thick sturdy glass partition separating the shower from the rest of the bathroom; breasts flattened against the cold glass now quickly warming with her rising body heat. 

“You could have waited, my Rose,” Vyn murmured, his nose buried deep against her cunt as he sucked on her clit, hot shower water cascading over their bodies. “You will have to forgive me if making love here is not as comfortable as you would like.” There was an amused lilt to his voice, still easily picked out over the din of running water.

Vyn did not notice Rosa following him inside, when he entered his bathroom for a quick wash a few moments earlier. He only meant to clean himself of dirt, sweat, and grime that had accumulated from the day’s heavy gardening work before he made love to her properly, yet Rosa—ever impatient, with her impatience made even worse by her impulsive nature—wanted to jump him already in the shower. 

His tongue slid along the length of her slit at a languid, maddening pace, and Rosa could not help but grind her hips against his mouth. “God, I don’t care. I just want you now. More,” she whimpered above him. “Vyn, please.” 

“As my Lady wishes,” Vyn replied, and in went three fingers inside her hungry cunt, relieving her wet flesh of the acute emptiness that only he, and his worship of her, could fill.

The pads of his fingers pressed against her inner walls as they slid in and out of her, pulling such sweet sounds from his Rosa: small whispered words of love, lust, and utterances of his name came with each and every deep thrust.

“Vyn,” his Rosa moaned aloud, and he could feel her flutter around his fingers. Her body slid lower, knees almost giving out in the face of such immense pleasure. “God, I’m so stupid,” she suddenly said.

“Hm?” Vyn’s fingers kept on fucking her, his thrusting not missing a beat. “Why? What about?” His voice was now breathy and low; he knew how much she loved his voice, especially when he modulated it in such a way that it would feel like he was caressing her nape with his words. 

He also knew that the acoustics in the shower only amplified his voice’s effect on her. “What are you upset about? When…” He thrust his fingers inside even deeper, drawing out a loud, needful whimper from his love. “...I’m doing you like this?”

“I could have lost this,” she said, in between barely repressed cries. “This—aaah!”

Lewd, wet sounds from her pussy combined with Rosa’s singing; it did not take long before Vyn got swept away by the seductive, obscene symphony. “I need you now,” he whispered urgently, his body sliding against hers as he stood up, stiff cock nestling between her ass cheeks. “I need you,” he repeated as he rubbed the tip against her entrance; soft spoken words turned into a guttural groan as he plunged deep inside the object of his deepest, darkest obsession.

Rosa gasped loudly as his entire length drove inside her, her flesh yielding; gasps soon changed into begging as Vyn started to move, his hips bucking against her ass with force enough to slightly shake the glass partition’s metal frame every time he thrust inside. 

“Vyn…the glass,” she moaned out loud, seemingly alarmed that the glass partition’s frame was shaking with their fucking. 

“Tempered,” was the only thing Vyn said in response. 

Yet one of his arms wrapped around her, just underneath her breasts, pulling her fast against his body as he shifted her weight away from the glass to himself; his other arm lifted one of her thighs up to give his cock easy access to her cunt. He continued pummeling inside her as they stood in the middle of the shower stall, hot water still pouring hard all over them, and all Rosa could do was to reach upwards and cling to Vyn’s neck as he rutted into her with abandon.

Loud sounds of wet flesh hitting wet flesh punctuated his every movement, until Vyn’s hips bucked against Rosa’s behind one last time. With a loud groan he emptied himself inside her, his twitching cock flooding her with his hot come. 

Maddening. Euphoric. Blissful: these were the words that came into his mind as his vision blanked out. 

“Love,” Vyn’s voice shuddered as he slumped behind Rosa, cock still hard and swollen inside her, “Let me make it up to you.” 

He knew she had not come yet; he had ideas that he wanted to try out, which required a semblance of clarity that he could only achieve after satisfying his own urge to fuck Rosa and fill her with his seed.

He sat down a grumbling, incredibly impatient Rosa along the edge of the tub right next to the shower stall; once again he knelt down, this time between her spread thighs. “I will make this worth your wait,” Vyn whispered as he bent down to plant small kisses along her inner thigh, from her knee towards her pussy. 

His thumb traced small, concentric circles around her clit; the soft, quivering sighs escaping her lips telling him of the climax just within reach…

“Hahh—what are you…?” The rest of her words get caught in her throat once Vyn’s lips reach the nethermost part between her legs, his eager lips kissing her down there, and her suppressed words are quickly replaced with a yelp of surprise when his tongue dug into her hole.

Vyn started sucking out the very same come—a sublime mix of salty bitterness—he injected her with, thumb not letting up the rubbing on her clit that was about to go off.

“Vyn, what are you doi—” 

When Rosa looked down to see what Vyn was up to, her eyes were met with his misty gold looking up at her from behind his long, silver eyelashes, tipped with water droplets.

…as his tongue lapped up the remaining traces of his own sperm off her sex.

“Oh god.” The utterly shameless spectacle finally pushed her over the edge. The spasming of her inner walls helped him clean her inner flesh of his come, and as her tremors subsided Vyn slowly slid up against her, feeding her mouth with his white fluid; still warm off his tongue and mixed with his own saliva.

The sheer filthiness of the act turned Rosa on so much that she pushed Vyn off her, and had him lie down on the wet tiles of the bathroom floor. 

She licked the traces of his sperm and spit off her lips. “God, why are you so sexy?” she muttered as she straddled his hips, not caring if Vyn was still in his refractory period. “Damn it.”

Vyn laughed helplessly underneath her. “You are defeating the purpose of why I wanted to take a shower, pet,” he said as his hands slid up to her breasts. There was nothing stopping him from having a little bit of fun while he rested. “We will not be able to clean ourselves the more we keep this up…”

“Screw that, you didn’t need a shower anyway,” Rosa said as she bent down to take his tongue in her lips, still tasting of him. 

===

Rosa, her skin freshly towel-dried and hair still damp from the shower, stepped out of the bathroom wearing only a fluffy white towel wrapped around her.

“You know what we will be doing in a few moments, my love,” Vyn whispered from behind her, fingers parting her hair to reveal the back of her neck. Warm lips descended onto her cool skin; a sweet kiss planted on her nape. His hot breath—and the hardness that poked against her lower back—betrayed his excitement. “Why bother with modesty?”

Off the towel went.

Vyn gently nudged her towards the bed, but something caught Rosa’s eye: a full-length mirror in a nondescript yet sturdy varnished heavy wooden frame stood against a nearby wall, reflecting their naked bodies. 

Transfixed for the moment—Rosa rarely ever paraded naked in her own bedroom much less in front of her mirror—she walked towards it, taken in by a strange impulse to look at her own reflection. A naked woman of average build and height, certainly no one special, just average, looked back at her from the mirror.

“Is something the matter?” came Vyn’s question.

Rosa shook her head. “Mm. Nothing, really. I just don’t see myself in the nude all that often, you know?” She turned to her side. Her silhouette could need some work. “Ugh. I guess I need to renew that gym membership…”

“There are benefits to being physically active on a regular basis.” Vyn hugged her from behind, his hands loosely clasped over her belly. “But in your case, it would be only for health reasons.” 

He appreciated the image reflected back at them: Rosa enveloped in his arms, and him standing behind her, his gold eyes tinged with a little hunger. “You look perfect.”

Keeping their position in front of the mirror Vyn bent over slightly to plant a lingering kiss on the side of her neck.

Rosa watched Vyn slowly tongue the sensitive part of her neck through their reflections in the mirror; it felt like she was watching a softcore porn scene. 

The sight, coupled with the actual sensations that came with it, made her wet.

Suddenly Kiki’s words came unbidden: ‘If only you knew the things he told me about you.’

Vyn’s hands were kneading her breasts—no doubt deliberately done to produce a lewd, incredibly arousing image in the mirror—when Rosa finally decided to ask about it. 

“Kiki…said you told her things. Um.” All of a sudden she felt an uncharacteristic shyness that made it difficult for her to voice it out. “Stuff about me.”

Vyn smiled as his lips grazed her shoulder. “Oh, is it about the things I like about you?”

Rosa nodded silently.

“Well then.” Vyn straightened up, once again towering Rosa as he stood behind her. “Keep your eyes on the mirror, pet.”

Holding her breath, Rosa did as she was told; Vyn laughed a little as he felt her tense up. “Relax, my Rosa,” he breathed as his hands gently held her by the shoulders, his palms slowly sliding down her arms until his fingers could intertwine with hers. Then, he began:

“I like your bright eyes.” Vyn pressed a soft kiss onto one of her temples. “Especially when you smile. Smile for me, Rosa,” he said, his voice deliciously low and absolutely erotic.

His gold eyes meet hers in the mirror, and, smiling sensually he licked her cheek with the tip of his tongue.

Rosa let out a ragged gasp as she beheld his teasing.

With the same low voice that sent shivers down her spine Vyn continued: “I like your presence, and the way you effortlessly brighten up my day.” This time he behaved, just a bit, keeping his hands to himself as he placed a friendly kiss on the top of her head.

“I like your scent. It awakens a sort of hunger I never knew I possessed…” Vyn buried his nose in the crook of her neck, inhaling deeply, and with a soft moan he bit into that tender junction where her shoulder joined her neck.

Rosa watched him through the mirror, spellbound, as Vyn’s hands slid once again to her breasts, lightly running his palms against her nipples while he licked the bitemarks he left on her shoulder.

She now felt positively drenched between her legs. “Vyn…” she moaned as she leaned her head back against his shoulder. “Vyn…”

“I am not done yet,” he purred. He continued, “I like your child-like curiosity, and how your willingness to learn new things indulges me and my desire to share knowledge with you…” This time, he did not do anything except to ask, “Do you want to try out new things with me, Rosa?”

His tongue slithered into his ear, hot and wet and absolutely indecent. “Let me hear your voice. I also love hearing it,” he whispered directly into her ear, voice dripping with dark honey. 

Another lick in the shell of her ear.

“Hahh—Vyn,” Rosa moaned, eyes still obediently witnessing her lover’s tender assault. “I don’t know what to…hhngh…say?” Soft moans slipped through her lips as Vyn’s fingers teased her nipples to hardened peaks.

“Mmm. That is fine. Your voice turns me on,” Vyn murmured as he now gently pushed Rosa closer to the mirror. “Bend and grab onto the sides of the mirror, my love.” With gentle nudges he had her bent over, ass slightly raised to better receive him. Her hands clung to the thick, heavy wooden frame encasing the mirror. “Eyes on the mirror,” he reminded her.

Rosa could feel Vyn rubbing the tip of his cock against her wet slit. 

“And lastly,” he breathed, “I love you, desire you, obsess over you…”

In one thrust he bottomed out inside her.

“Aaaahh, Vyn!” Rosa cried out, not in pain—she was already wet enough for her hot inner flesh to easily yield to his strong thrust—but in how deliciously he filled her, how there’s nothing that could be any more perfect in that moment. 

And the face she saw in the mirror, well. 

It told her just how much she wanted him. And of how superbly depraved she was, for him.

“You fill me with ecstasy, in more ways than one,” Vyn whispered as he started pounding into her flesh. He then fell silent, except for his heavy breathing punctuated with moans, and soft grunts as he thrusted inside her, over and over, a succinct demonstration of how much he desired the woman he was making heavy love with at the moment. 

“I love you, Rosa,” His voice trembled as he professed his love in the most debased yet to the point manner possible. “I love you.”

Every deep thrust pressed Rosa harder against the mirror; it took all of her strength to brace herself from toppling over onto the floor. Yet she did not mind, and a smile played on her lips as she shouted Vyn’s name repeatedly out loud, to do her more, harder, yes…

Finally he shouts her name, and once again his hot seed spills inside her; this time they both collapse onto the floor of his room. Vyn effortlessly rolled underneath Rosa to protect her from the brunt of the fall. 

“I wish…I could have told you how I love you in a more…romantic setting,” Vyn murmured as he struggled to catch his breath, holding the woman he so loved and obsessed over close to him.

It was Rosa’s turn to laugh this time. “What are you talking about?” She curled up on top of him, not minding the fact that they were still not on his bed. “I love you, Vyn,” she murmured softly.

Vyn grinned as he tipped her chin with a fingertip, making her face him. “As friends?”

Rosa gave him a twisted grin, then leaned over for a deep kiss.

Both of them knew the answer to that, of course. No words needed to be said, this time around.

===

Kiki could only grin when she happened upon Rosa’s cubicle, still noticeably empty the next work day at four in the afternoon.

Oooh. I wonder who got some nice dicking from a psychiatrist last night. Teehee.

Humming, she marched back to her own cubicle in high spirits, happy to see that all was well in the world, one happily fucked woman at a time. 

A nondescript box tied with a teal and silver bow awaited her by her cubicle, sitting prettily beside her mechanical keyboard. “Oh? What’s this?”

She let out a loud gasp as she finally opened the box. Inside was a small personal-sized black forest cake, along with a pack containing printed photos of the idol group she was gushing over to Rosa about.

All photos were signed.

A note that came with it simply said, “Thank you for everything. I am glad that Rosa and I can count on you as our dearest friend  - VR”

Yes. Yes I approve of you, Kiki cried inwardly as she held the photos close to her little depraved heart.

#tears of themis #tears of themis fanfic #vyn richter #mo yi #vyn richter smut #mo yi smut

[lara635kookie]

About my ship Red Crackle/Carmivy/Carulia ship analysis, I gotta clarify three things:

1-It was based solely out of my own personal opinions and interpretations of the show. I just wanted to share to people who might think the same and you can disagree with me and It's totally fine.

2-I never meant for it to sound mean or disrespectful. If it did, I'm sorry, it wasn't my intention. If anyone has any constructive criticism I'll be more than happy to listen and do better. I reread the analysis and found some parts that can have offensive or rude double meaning and I edited them. If it has anything else that feels off and I realize I'll go back and edit again. I just want you to know that initially I genuinely saw no harm in the words I wrote but then I revisited the text and found out some parts that could be misinterpreted, distorting the message and what I really meant. That was my mistake. So I switched them to things that can be rightfully interpreted more clearly instead.

3-It is a new writing format for me. It's the first time I publish something like a ship analysis(I only made two character's - Maelstrom and Paper Star - analysis before) and I know it's not perfect, it actually has a lot of things I'm not totally satisfied with that I only noticed now, but I tried my best not to sound hateful to anyone. I recognize that and I removed some stuff, modified and added others and before I ended up expressing myself badly in some moments and I'm ashamed and I regret that but I'm not a perfect individual and way less a perfect writer. I'm still learning and I got a lot to learn. And I wanna learn. I'm willingly to learn. And getting it wrong is a way of learning. I had written the analysis quite a few time ago and I forgot to check it out again and make revisions before posting like I always do. I'll be more careful next time and change what needs to be changed to avoid misunderstandings. If there's any line I crossed, you can tell me and I'll fix it. People can reach out to me here on the blog or contact me through private messages if you prefer. Again, I apologize for any sort of disturbance I may have caused. I'll work hard so it doesn't happen again.

#ship analysis #carmen sandiego #carmen sandiego 2019 #carmensandiego #carmen sandiego netflix

[nmakii]

you're so damn talented! seriously! i devoured the entire thing in one sitting. how ??? i have a major thing for manipulation ( its definitely not healthy save me ) and the plot is beyond words. Yandere Alastor is MADE for this masterpiece. can i ask how did you become so good at writing? i've always wanted to be a writer but can never seem to get it right. sorry if there any mistakes english isn't my first language so..........

-i

OMFG 😣😣💞💞 ILYSM!!! tbh i dont have a particular reason why i got to where i am rn. it’s mostly just years of writing, but i think there are a few reasons so ill list them here

1. english lessons

i have an english class at my school that helps me improve my grammar, and also does literary analyses on books like macbeth and the great gatsby. we also write essays often so, that also helped my ability to comprehend myself on paper properly.

2. books

IM A BOOK NERD 😋😋 i love the writing styles of authors like dazai osamu, agatha christie, and fyodor dostoevsky. as well as the poetry of nakahara and yosano (BSD NERD IM SORRY). i went through a phase where i tried to embody the writing styles of dazai and dostevsky since they were very comprehensive in their characterizations and they gave many moral dilemmas that are common in stories (which gave me TONS of inspiration). but, i also like to read the stories of ranpo edogawa and agatha christie for their plots, since no good story is not without a plot twist and their murder mysteries are really fun :p

3. visual novels

if books arent your thing, i also played tons of visual novels which helped me to learn how to describe objects since there are many limitations to these types of games :p

i recommend games like doki doki literature club, your turn to die, and danganronpa!

4. anecdotes

most of my stories are acc stories from my life! if not, then they have some aspect of reality. my lipstick fic was actually from a time i was in math class and i was testing if my lip gloss was smudge proof by kissing my friend on her hand (it smudged 🙁). getting stories from your real life helps to make the plot more dynamic, especially if you’re quoting real people 😋

if not, you can try to make it real (if youre weird like me). i have a request rn for kokichi with a reader who basically follows him around like a puppy, so i did this with my friend since shes a close match for kokichi, and i followed her around everywhere to see what her reactions were (she didnt have any bc we follow each other everywhere 😣)

and, if you’re having a hard time with characterization, this works as well!! i like to find a part of myself that is similar to the character and work off of that. for example, im writing a little niffty fic and both her and i are really psycho when it comes to cleaning, so i’m using my past experiences as a basis for that story and my friends’ reaction as a placeholder for reader :p

5. confidence!!

i tried cooperating with other people on fics, but it never really worked cuz i like to butt heads 😋. beta reading doesn’t really work for me either because everyone has their own taste when it comes to writing and you can’t please everybody. so, i only really reread my stories to check for grammatical errors, since i’m pretty pleased with my plots. people will always have something to criticize when it comes to your work, so it doesn’t really matter. plus, this is the internet. if a fic flops, it flops! if you think that your story is good, then upload it! someone is bound to like it 😋😋

#maki.talks #writing tips #writing #hazbin hotel x reader

[whimsymanaged]

Weekend WIP Game

Thank you, @myheartalivewrites, for the tag!

Rules: List your WIPs below (if you only write one fic at a time, feel free to include future WIPs/ideas!) then answer the following questions. Then, tag as many people as you have WIPs (or more).

1. WIP List:

Oh my GOD. This was a mistake.

Okay, so like. Is this only including WIPs I'm actively working on? Because if so, then I have one. Very proud of that fact. I'm super focused and have the willpower to write stuff.

If you mean, like, WIPs that I started posting on AO3 and then never touched again, then... I have 8.

They are:

Five-Drink Henry (RWRB, Alex/Henry, neighbors AU) - this is the one I'm actively working on. I am so fucking determined to finish it.

Change of Plan(t)s (HP, Draco/Hermione/Neville, sex pollen trope) - it's actually marked as 2/2 chapters, which is hilarious. There is definitely supposed to be at least one more chapter.

An Auction (HP, Draco/Hermione, omegaverse) - I miss writing this one, although I am fully on my RWRB bullshit right now with no signs of turning back, lol.

Not What This Is (HP, Draco/Hermione, bloody on your doorstep trope) - I left this one on a very angsty cliffhanger. Sorry.

Where There's Smoke (HP, Draco/Hermione, firefighter AU) - everyone died. The end.

Just Like Quidditch (HP, Draco/Hermione, based on the movie Friends with Benefits) - this was fun to write but I haven't updated it in like 18 months.

Beach Retreat (HP, Draco/Hermione, only one bed trope) - I literally got until they actually slept together and then bounced.

The War Rehabilitation Centre (HP, Draco/Hermione, post-war angst and trauma) - my first fic on AO3!

2. Which of your WIPs is currently the longest?

Five-Drink Henry at 8,348 words. I am obviously incredible at writing very long things. Actually, now that I'm looking at all my AO3 WIPs, I'm realizing nearly all of them have petered out between 6k to 8k words. Gulp.

3. Which WIP do you expect will end up the longest?

Five-Drink Henry, lol. Since it's the only one I'm writing.

4. Which WIP is your favourite to write/the most enjoyable to write? Why?

OMG ALL MY ANSWERS FOR THIS DAMN THING ARE GOING TO BE THE SAME FIC.

Anyway, the answer is Five-Drink Henry.

5. Which WIP do you find the most intimidating to write? Why?

Where There's Smoke. I knew nothing about firefighting. All I had was a computer and a dream, so I read articles, interviewed people I knew (not firefighters, but people in firefighter-adjacent work), scoured Quora answers, took notes from "Day in the Life" videos, watched Station 19, etc.

6. Which WIP do you experience the most self-doubt about. Why?

The War Rehab Centre. It was an idea that moved me so much that I HAD to post it? I made, like, my SISTERS and my best friends IRL read my first chapters for me because I was so nervous about getting exactly right. And then basically no one read it and now I'm too afraid to reread it so anyway yeah that one

7. Which of your WIPs will you seek out a beta/sensitivity reader for? Why?

I had betas for the first two chapters of Just Like Quidditch, and I had a beta for Not What This Is. For the latter, it was because I was experimenting with a non-linear style and was worried I was not pulling it off, lol. I think it turned out pretty well though although we never will know wtf happened to Draco.

8. Have any of your WIPs been struck by the curse of writer's block?

Yes, 7 of them.

9. Which WIP has your favourite OC? Tell us about them?

Five-Drink Henry has some random new people to round out Alex and Henry's friend group. I have a soft spot for Felicity, who Henry at first found intimidatingly attractive but is actually, like, his biggest fan and isn't afraid to give Alex shit.

10. Which WIP is the sexiest?

Besides War Rehab Centre, they're actually all rated E, lol.

An Auction is sexy because of the whole alpha/omega biologically induced desperation? Where There's Smoke has this laundry room scene that I've heard is pretty enjoyable.

11. Which WIP is the angstiest?

Not What This Is. Basically, Hermione hires Draco to sleep with her but then they catch feelings and it's all a mess but also he suddenly appears at her door quite obviously dying? There is no chapter 2.

12. Which WIP has the best characterisation (in your humble opinion)?

UGH DON'T ASK ME THIS. I pride myself on good characterization but also it feels weird to say I characterized anyone well, lol. Probably Five-Drink Henry. IDK.

13. Which WIP has the best scene setting (in your humble opinion)?

None of them. I hate describing places.

14. Which WIP have you worked the hardest on?

Where There's Smoke. It was the only one I did research for.

15. Which WIP do you have the highest expectations for? Why?

Five-Drink Henry, because it's going to be my FIRST COMPLETED MULTICHAP. YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST.

(I know What to Wear is complete but it's like 5 words long so it doesn't count.)

16. Do you dream about any of your WIPs?

No.

17. Do any of your WIPs have particular complexities that your other fics don't?

Yes. the complexity of being unfinished.

18. Which WIP is the funniest or has the most humour?

I made myself laugh a lot writing Just Like Quidditch.

19. Do any of your WIPs contain outside POVs or a deep dive on a character other than the main ship? How are you finding that process?

No, but now I want to write a David POV into Five-Drink Henry. Really get into his mind.

20. Tell us one thing we don't know about one or more of your WIPs.

The next chapter of Five-Drink Henry is chapter 4, so Henry will be drinking 4 drinks. Did you know that? I don't think you did.

Tagging: @hgejfmw-hgejhsf @beautyberrywrites @holygnocchi @sodamnradd @eveningstruggle @eggbagelsjr @caitybellfics @ellieauthor

[hchollym]

@anonymedasilva - You sent in your comments as a “Submission” instead of an “Ask” so I couldn’t reply to it (I’m not sure how submissions work - sorry!), so I’m just going to copy and paste your comments here. I hope that’s okay! 😊

Thank you for you reply, it took me time to write this post because i am not english, i am french and i actually put some time and efforts on it, so i am happy that you liked it and also take time to make a long reply post, it's incredibly pleasant!

To support (even more) the spy Percy theory, i also noted something  relatively intriguing. In her 2014 world cup article, JK Rowling had called the people who were present at the event (and i think only consisted in the Weasley-Potter families and Luna but i may have wrong on this because i read it a while ago) "the Dumbledore army" several times. But Percy was never part of the Dumbledore army or in the order, so there are only two possibility: it's a omission/simplification JK Rowling did because Percy was 1) in the battle, 2) a Weasley, and it's enough for forget the rest and call him a member of Dumbledore army (it's also spare from bother with details or explications that he wasn't and the text is faster) or he was "really". If he transmissed informations to the order via Aberforth, it's make him a DA or a order member thought he wasn't officially on the list.

I don't consider in my head that the battle alone or his changing view make him a member, but i do think in JK Rowling's head, the simplification is likely there, especially if we consider the fact that she didn't re-read her own books. But if we pair this with the fact that he almost surely didn't faced any trial after the war (and if he did, it's as a witness against other ministry officials), it's intriguing.  

Also doesn't Aberforth called Percy with a DA coin, or i have dream??? how he would have call him otherwise for he arrived so fast?  

Thank you for taking the time and effort to write the post! I enjoyed reading it and responding. 🙂

Your first point is super interesting, because I never noticed that! I went back and reread the “Quidditch World Cup 2014″ article, and it says this: 

Sundry other members of the Army are here, but it is on these six that most interest is focused. Wherever there is a red head one may make an educated guess that it belongs to a Weasley, but it is difficult to tell whether it is George (wealthy co-manager of Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes), Charlie (dragon wrangler, still unmarried – why?) or Percy (Head of the Department of Magical Transportation – it’s his fault if the Floo Network’s too busy!). The only one who is easy to recognise is Bill who, poor man, is grievously scarred from an encounter with a werewolf and yet somehow (Enchantment? Love potion? Blackmail? Kidnap?) married the undeniably beautiful (though doubtless empty-headed) Fleur Delacour.

Word is that we shall see these and other members of Dumbledore’s Army in the VIP boxes at the final, adding to the glitz and razzmatazz of a gala occasion. Let us hope that the behaviour of two of their younger hangers-on does not embarrass them, heaping shame on those who have previously brought honour to the name of wizard.

Percy is included as a member of Dumbledore’s Army, as are Bill & Charlie. I think this is probably a mistake by Rowling, because Bill & Charlie were members of the Order of the Phoenix, not the D.A., and if anything, Percy would have been a member of the Order, but it’s still a nice hint that Percy played a larger role in the war than just fighting in the final battle. 

As for Aberforth contacting Percy with a D.A. coin, the text doesn’t actually say that. It only states:

I managed to make contact with Aberforth and he tipped me off ten minutes ago that Hogwarts was going to make a fight of it, so here I am.

It’s possible that Aberforth tipped him off that way, but I don’t think so. 

We know that many members of Dumbledore’s Army were contacted with the coins through Neville:

...he turned to Aberforth, “Ab, there might be a couple more people no the way.”

“Couple more?” repeated Aberforth ominously. “What d’you mean, a couple more, Longbottom? There’s a curfew and a Camwaulding Charm on the whole village!”

“I know, that’s why they’ll be Apparating directly into the bar,” said Neville.

&

“Aberforth’s getting a bit annoyed,” said Fred, raising his hand in answer to several cries of greeting. “He wants a kip, and his bar’s turned into a railway station.”

Harry’s mouth fell open. Right behind Lee Jordan came Harry’s old girlfriend, Cho Chang. She smiled at him.

“I got the message,” she said, holding up her own fake Galleon and she walked over to sit beside Michael Corner.

And from there:

“We sent messages to the rest of Dumbledore's Army,” Fred explained. “You couldn't expect everyone to miss the fun, Harry, and the D.A. let the Order of the Phoenix know, and it all kind of snowballed.”

If anything though, this just proves that Percy was a spy even more, because we don’t know of Aberforth contacting anyone besides Percy - most people were contacted through the other channels. The fact that Aberforth went out of his way to get in touch with Percy specifically is very telling.

Thank you for the submission! 😊

#percy weasley #percy weasley defense squad #spy percy weasley #aberforth dumbledore #hp #my thoughts #ask me #anonymedasilva

[stedebonnit]

I was tagged by @blakbonnet to share my writing process!

Do you write in order?

Mostly yes, my drafting, rough copies, and final products are typically done in order just because that’s how my brain works, but occasionally if I get really excited about a specific scene or I need to add some details for a later chapter that I haven’t drafted yet then I’ll throw in some bullet points for something a few chapters ahead before I’ve finished a previous section.

How many drafts do you go through?

I couldn’t give you a number, but quite a few. My consistent drafts are:

1. the bullet draft: a messy set of bullet points going over the main plot points I want to hit and, for AUs or original stories, the changes to setting/characters that are important to building the story.

2. the outline: this is where I break down my story into chapters, begin to write out vague scenes I want to hit and sometimes will go as far as writing out whole conversations in a messy format. It’s not really prose, but it more writing than it is outlining because I tend to draft out full scenes or interactions

3. the rough draft: this is the first draft that I actually write things out in. It’s all prose, I expand on the scenes/chapters in order and write out a full story

4+: the editing drafts. reading through what I’ve written, checking for spelling/grammar mistakes (I type fast, so I make a lot of them LOL, 90% of it is just careless mistakes because my brain gets speedy when I write). I also add extra exposition/development as it comes up, and trying to improve the prose to make it sound nicer and flow better.

I go through multiple drafts like this (anywhere between 2 and 10 I’d say, depending on the length of the story), especially because every time I choose to add a scene I need to make time to reread the whole chapter again to double check for any new spelling/grammar mistakes, and I also have to double check for any plot holes that may have arisen when I’ve added new information because sometimes I’ll forget about established info that contradicts it.

Tell me about your process.

Honestly the drafts breakdown is most of my process. Usually I like to chat about a general idea with a friend and then I start the bullet draft, and then it stays in my head until I’ve written the rough draft, at which point I usually call my best friend Levi and I read the chapter out loud to him because I like the feedback and it also helps me to go through for any spelling/grammar mistakes.

I used to just post things as I wrote them, but that led to a lot of unfinished stories (sorry to anyone who read Sunray, Take me Away LOL). The first time I ever finished a story was when I waited until I was finished writing to post it, only sharing snippets and reading it to my best friend during the process. I think this worked pretty well, but I haven’t finished any stories since, so it’s hard to say if it’s always how I’ll do it.

Alrighty, now that that’s done, I want to tag some friends and mutuals to share their process as well! No pressure tags: @phantom-ellie @meanmisscharles @bizarrelittlemew @xoxoemynn

#tag game #d speaks

[wizardysseus]

2, 11 & 12 :)

2. Did you reread anything? What?

less so this year than some years

pride and prejudice by jane austen

nimona by nd stevenson

piranesi by susanna clarke

the sorrow dance by denise levertov

thirst by mary oliver

blessing the boats by lucille clifton

fire and hemlock by diana wynne jones

shadow spinner by susan fletcher

the odyssey by derek walcott

a selection of poems by e.e. cummings

the son of neptune by rick riordan

11. What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read?

what's "awhile" in this scenario? 10 years? 30 years? i can't pick one but i've narrowed it down to two

the last unicorn by peter s. beagle

the sandman comics by neil gaiman - especially brief lives and the kindly ones

12. Any books that disappointed you?

hench by nina zina walschots - this was fine, but i was expecting more from it i think, and also she should have made out with the leviathan.

only a monster by vanessa len - nothing about this book worked for me, but especially that the "monsters" are all Fairly Regular Guys who can time travel. and just so we're clear, it's not love at first sight; they just fell in love in another timeline that we don't get to see.

in a garden burning gold by rory power - i normally wouldn't include anything izzie and i read for the book club of misery, because we do not approach those in, like, the best of faith, but in this case i was optimistic, and then it was so boring and the politics insulted my intelligence.

the dragon's promise by elizabeth lim - i read six crimson cranes in march, really enjoyed it, and then waited till august for the sequel to come out and it was... a very sort of perfunctory sequel that existed to jump from plot point to plot point and resolve them as quickly as possible.

house of hunger by alexis henderson - this is billed as a queer gothic horror, but for gothic you really need to develop a sense of place, and this not-very-well-sketched victorianesque fantasy world did not do it for me. it's lacking in intrigue or mystery. the vampires are obviously vampires (not just to the readers but to the characters). everyone articulates exactly what they're feeling at all times. the lead relationship has no chemistry, and i did not buy at all that lisavet had ever truly loved marion, so there was no reason to feel tragic about the "discovery" of what was really going on. sorry this bullet point is so long, but i really wanted to find a good vampire book in october/november and i was bitterly disappointed by this instead.

a dowry of blood by s.t. gibson - i read this after house of hunger, so i was even more desperate for a good vampire book and less optimistic. among my many problems with this book, i think writing it as a letter (series of letters?) to dracula after his death was a mistake, because there is way too much hindsight. the narrator isn't discovering anything as she's living it; she already knows what she thinks, long after the fact, which takes any tension out at the knees. vast swaths of time are covered in a few sentences, which is fine, except she seems to skip anything interesting (such as the harkers, who are mentioned all of once; they are not the ones who kill dracula, so why not cut that reference and just have oc vampires? hello?). the combination of emotional distance and diagnostic language made it impossible for me to be drawn in. also, reviews have greatly underplayed the flowery ridiculousness of the prose. "liquid rage pooled in my stomach and lit up my face" has lived in my mind rent-free for a month.

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