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#they're so perfect and this whole chapter just feels like a painting of why they WORK and i love it so much
little-hermit-crab56 · 5 months
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I've been writing for a while so I thought I'd share some writing tips I've learned along the way.
1. Never sacrifice the flow for a quirky line.
That bit of dialogue or flowery paragraph you really like but it kinda disrupts the flow? Scrap it. I know it hurts, but you need to. If you really want to keep it, find somewhere else to put it where it actually fits in.
2. Dialogue is a dance.
Dialogue should go at the pace of an actual conversation, back and forth with little breaks and pauses. Add as little dialogue tags as possible while still making it clear who is speaking. You can also describe what is happening during a pause in the conversation rather than saying they paused, unless the pause is important.
3. Show don't tell is a guideline, not a rule.
Show don't tell is a very useful guideline, but if you're ALWAYS showing it can get exhausting to read. Skip the boring bits and just tell us what happened, then we can get to the good stuff.
4. If it's boring to write, it's probably boring to read.
If you can cut out a whole scene with little consequence to the story, you probably should. As I said before, you don't always have to show us, you can always tell us.
5. Everything needs to have a purpose.
I know there are probably lots of interesting or cute scenes where your characters are just fucking around, but if it doesn't develop character, relations, conflict, or plot, why should we care? Definitely still write them if they make you happy, but if you're gonna add it to your final draft, make sure it matters.
6. You don't need to explain everything all at once.
I know it feels tempting to put all the lore, and all the character's intentions, and reasonings into the first few chapters, but please refrain, you can reserve that for your character and worldbuilding sheets. Instead, take the time to let us get to know the characters, and the world, in the same way we'd get to know a real person. Make your exposition as seamless and natural as possible. It will take practice to know when to reveal information and when to let us wonder, but you'll get there.
7. Write in a way that comes naturally.
I know you probably have an author you wanna write just like, but that is unlikely to happen. Embrace your natural writing style and perfect it, rather than trying to be something you're not. Writing is an art, you need to find your own style and polish it as best you can.
8. Try to make us feel connected by cutting out certain words like "felt".
"Chad felt like a glass of water." Can be replaced with, "Chad was thirsty, so he reached for a glass of water." Both sentences tell us Chad wants a glass of water, but one makes us feel more connected to Chad than the other. Though both sentences have their time and place, you want to make your audience feel as close to their protagonist as possible. Make them feel like they're there, rather than just an onlooker.
9. We don't need to know every physical detail of your character.
I know you probably spent ages creating the perfect characters and you want to give us the perfect image of what they look like, but it can get monotonous and boring, why do we care that your character has brown eyes unless the colour has some sort of significance? Try to list off only the most notable features of your character and put focus only on the relevant details. Sometimes you can even not describe them at all and throw in little bits of information about their appearance for the audience to put together. We read to imagine, not to have a perfect image painted for us when we could be getting to the plot.
10. You're allowed to be vague.
Allow your audience to assume things, with some things you can just be lazy and let your audience's imagination do the work for you. Of course, don't do this with important things, but you can save so much time you might've spent researching an irrelevant topic when you can just be vague about it. You don't have to know everything you're writing about, so long as you know the bits that matter.
11. Writing is a skill that takes practice.
Don't be so hard on yourself if your writing is a bit cringe, we've all been there. The important part is that you research how to get better and keep writing those super cringe chapters. One day you'll reread something from a while ago and realize you're actually not as bad as you thought.
12. Leave your work to rest.
I know you wanna start editing right away, but once you've finished, leave it for at least a month. The longer you leave it the better, but that depends on your attention span. A month to six months is good if you're really impatient but want a good result. If you keep writing in that time your skills will continue to improve, then you'll be editing that draft with fresh eyes and fresh skills.
And if you're a fanfic author, I usually leave my chapters for a week before editing and posting.
Hope this helps anyone struggling, I thought this might be especially relevant now with nanowrimo.
I recently realized how much knowledge I've been accumulating over the years, I definitely have more but this is all I can think of for now.
I'm no writing guru, but if anyone has anything they're struggling with, I can do my best to help you out, so dont hesitate to ask questions.
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n-jrx · 9 months
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IF I'M THERE - N.J.WILL
Noah Sebastian X Reader // Bad Omens X Reader
Chapter 3 - This Night, Perfect.
MASTERLIST
I walk in, and I'm met with the whole band I've just seen an hour before on stage. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking for Noah straight away.
The drummer comes over and introduces himself. "I'm Nick, but so is he, so call me Folio," he says as he points to the other guitarist.
Nick waves "Hey, I'm Nicholas, but call me Nick. How'd you enjoy the show?"
"Nice to meet you guys. You fucking killed it, honestly. One of my new faves"
"Aw man, you serious?" Folio replies struggling to open a water bottle.
I smile and sign a cross on my heart.
Noah walks in from another connecting room and his presence can't go unnoticed. The tallest man by far and the most beautiful. I feel my cheeks getting hot as he walks over and hugs me.
"You didn't say you were coming tonight?"
"Yeah I came to see Black Veil Brides, sorry guys" I said while smirking at the others. I went shy knowing I couldn't say it earlier because I was too lost in Noah's eyes after saving him.
"So this is the chick who saved you today, huh Noah?" Folio says before chugging a whole water bottle in one.
"Yeah, man, she's the one," he says while smiling right at me.
She's the one.
Those words hit me like a ton of bricks, and I could feel the walls closing in on me. I laugh and joke, "yeah well the guy couldn't even pick nail varnish out without looking like he was about to cry so I thought I'd do my good deed of the day and save him before he had a mental breakdown."
The guys roar with laughter, and Noah stands there smirking and shaking his head at me.
I looked down and noticed his nails weren't painted. He clocked me looking and held his hand up. "I didn't have time... I was too busy having a mental breakdown, " he mimicks me and winks as he does so.
"Give me the polish, I'll do them now for you. Save you the job of potentially fucking them up"
He raises he's beautiful eyebrows, exposing more of his eyes to get lost in and goes into the other room as the boys all go "Oooooooo wheeeeyyy" at my insult and we all end in laughter.
He comes back in with the nail polish I sold him earlier. The rest of the boys stand up and announce they're going for a smoke.
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do, kids" Jolly taunted as he was leaving the room.
Noah held his middle finger up to them and muttered "Fucks" under his breath.
He sat down next to me and I felt every hair on my body stand up. I wasn't cold but I had goosebumps everywhere as he hesitantly put his hand on my knee.
I stayed painting his nails, I was trying so hard not to gaze at his tattoos. I'm too nervous to speak right now, so we sat comfortably in silence.
"You have some cool ink." He finally utters.
"Thanks... so do you."
It's silent again for a few minutes as I blow on his nails in attempt to dry them faster.
"I understand now why you were being asked for pictures earlier. I have to admit, I had no idea who you were."
"Yeaaaahhh, I didn't want to say. I liked how normal you were with me, we've grown so popular over the last year, especially since we won best album at the Heavy Metal Music Awards in the UK."
"Oooooo very fancy, you must be so proud. After listening to you guys tonight, it's very well deserved as well. "
He dropped his head and smiled.
"Is that THE Noah, of Bad Omens getting... shy?" I laughed.
He jabbed me with his big hands laughing, and I smudged black polish all over his finger.
"Fuck, I'm sorry!"
"Don't be sorry you muppet" I laughed, as I wiped away polish and smeared it on my playsuit.
"Muppet?" He frowned as he was laughing.
"Must be an English phrase... also an idiot. "
I finished painting his nails and started blowing them to dry. He helps.
"These look sick, thanks, Lou. I'm so shit at doing it. Maybe I can hire you to come on tour and paint my nails. "
"Well, I'll gladly accept," I winked, and I noticed his smile slowly fade as he looked at me. We're sitting close, breathing in unison. I can feel his warm breath making its way to my face as we sit in silence, taking in each others universe through our eyes, neither of us saying a word verbally but saying a thousand through our eyes.
We both snap out of it quickly as the door swings open and the guys walk back in, bickering about something like a married couple.
Noah holds his hands up, showing off his freshly painted nails, and Jolly says, "Hey, they look so sick. Can you do mine?!"
I pat the empty space next to me where Noah was sat, the heat from his body still radiating off the leather. Jolly slams down next to me and holds his hand up. I place it on my knee and start painting.
Noah shouts from the other room. "Hey L, want a drink? We got water, beer, or Red Bull?"
A nickname, L? Fuck, how can he get any cuter?
"Beer please, I'm driving but one more will be fine"
He walks in holding two beers and sets one down on the table in front of me. He opens the other and hands it to me while I take a sip.
I finish painting Jolly's nails; "Lou, these look sick, next time I want flames on them too, fuck yeaaaahhh," he says as he shoots his arms up showing off his nails.
I chuckle and take another sip of my beer. We sit there and they ask questions about my life, what I do in work, my tattoos and I ask them about band life and touring life.
"Yeah, it's mental, man. This last year has been crazy. Thank God for Covid and Noah being locked inside managing to produce this album, it's actually been a blessing in disguise." Nick says as he's shoving his thick black hair into a messy bun.
I take my phone from my pocket and look at the time 1:30 am. Thank fuck I don't have work tomorrow.
2 unread messages
Jesse: We're home, u okay? Where did u go?
May: Home safe.❤️ Where the fuck did you end up? Please tell me you met Andy and fell in love?!??!
I didn't meet Andy, but the latter may be correct.
notices me looking at my phone. "Shit, sorry. I didn't realise how late it is, do you need to go?"
"Yeah, I best head off. It's way past my bed time".
The boys chuckle.
"It's been nice meeting you Lou, hopefully we'll see you again soon!" Folio adds while leaning in to hug me.
Jolly stands behind eagerly awaiting his turn; "Yeah dude, it's been fun. Thanks again for the nails, and remember... Next time, flamessssss," he emphasises.
I laugh and go in for a big bear hug. He may look angry on stage, but he's the biggest softy behind it all.
Nicholas comes over next and gives me a hug. "See ya soon, bro! It's been nice chatting. "
Noah stands by the door, opening it. "I'll walk you to your car, can't have you getting lost or stolen now, can we?"
"Cya lads, it's been a sick night. I'll be at the next show in Manchester for sure!! Thanks for having me. "
They all wave back and mutter cyas and byes.
Noah and I walk down the corridor to the fire exit, and it takes me a minute to realise where we were before heading to my car.
We walk in silence, the only sound is the chattering of my teeth. It's so hot at the moment but absolutely fucking freezing when it's night time.
I notice Noah stop and take his hoodie off, he hands it me.
"Do you mind? I didn't bring a coat cause I'm a dickhead."
"Honestly, it's the least I can do for you saving me today." He smiled and helped me get it on.
It's like a dress.
"Fucking hell, how tall are you? I could wear this as a nightie."
He laughed, "6'3"
"Jeez, you're a giant. I'm like a hobbit next to you. "
He smiled and we carried on walking. The air of the night is so crisp. During the day, the traffic makes the air muggy and polluted, but it's quiet now. Cold sharp air hitting the back of my throat and into my lungs, creating waves of steam when I breathe out.
We get to my car and I start taking his hoodie off. I was hoping he was going to stop me so I could keep it.
"Nah, keep it. It doesn't look like you managed to get merch today, so please, enjoy your new nightie." He grinned. His perfectly white teeth on show.
I laugh, but also sigh with relief. It's gone silent again. It's such a comfortable silence with him, almost like we've known each other forever and can speak with our minds instead of words.
I start scuffing the gravel on the ground with my foot as Noah watched. We both knew what we were thinking, but who's going to say it?
"I really enjoyed tonight. Thanks for the nails again. The boys loved your company, and so did I."
"Honestly, any time, it's been such a good night. I don't want it to end."
"Erm, Lou?"
I look up and see his big coffee-coloured eyes looking down at me.
"I know we've just met, but I feel like I know you, and it's totally fine if not, but could I get your number? I'd love to see you again."
I could feel my heart screaming inside. I had to wait a minute before I spoke in case I accidentally screamed in his face.
"Yeah, cool, definitely, that would be sweet." I shrug it off, trying to play it cool, knowing I'm not fooling anyone. Not even Noah.
I put my number in his phone and he rings it. I grab my phone from my pocket and save his number.
"Okay, goooo, before you get hypothermia since you don't want your hoodie back, you know you're way back okay?"
"Yeah, I got it, don't worry. Text me when you're home so I know you got there safely."
He leans down and gives me the most homely hug I've ever had. The perfect amount of squeeze without suffocating me, I'm on my tiptoes and I can smell his hair. A mixture of Noah and sweat but oddly perfect.
He pulls out and gently kisses my cheek.
I get in my car and start driving off, I can see him in my rear view mirror, getting smaller until I turn a corner and can't see him anymore.
My heart shatters just a little, knowing this perfect night is almost over. Tears form in my eyes. Is this what love feels like?
I plug my phone in and start playing Bad Omens on Spotify.
I roll my windows down so I can feel the icy air of the early morning on my face.
This night. Perfect.
I get home and text Jesse and May back, letting them know I'm home safe and sound.
I was about to text Noah when I get a text through...
Noah: Are you home yet? Thanks again for coming back. You're such an amazing girl.
Lou: Yeah, I just got in. I'm getting some sleep, speak soon?
Noah: Definitely. Goodnight L. x
Lou: Night Noah. x
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cuchufletapl · 1 year
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There's. Something. About the fact that the Flamel Symbol in FMA was ascribed to the three human characters that willingly committed alchemy's greatest taboo and lost (a part of) their bodies as a result.
As I understand it (and I should do more research on it, so take this with a grain of salt), in real-life, historical alchemy, the Flamel Cross is pretty much analogous with the philosopher's stone. And because western alchemy wasn't just about the science but rather had a strong religious component to it, the philosopher's stone itself was never really about obtaining gold in the most literal sense (as a valuable metal for monetary reasons); it symbolises the achievement of spiritual and physical perfection. (And excuse me for being pedantic for a second, but I feel like it's relevant here to know the etymology: in Latin, perfectus -a -um means "finished", "complete".)
Edward, Izumi, and Alphonse aren't whole, they lost a part of themselves in trying to do something that was out of their reach (Al in particular is physically nothing), and yet from the very beginning of the story they're the closest to illumination, they met god (essentially) and knew the knowledge of the world.
I don't believe Arakawa ever told us when Izumi got her tattoo (the extra chapter about her past as an alchemy apprentice has her cleavage completely covered), but I would venture that she got it after her failed human transmutation. There is nothing in the manga to suggest that she did it earlier, at least. Meanwhile, Edward and Alphonse definitely started wearing it after they tried to resurrect their mother — or, more accurately, after they set out on their journey to restore what they lost.
We are never told the reason why they decided to take on Izumi's emblem, interestingly enough. We don't even see them make the decision, they just start wearing it from one page to the other. Chronologically, the first time that we see Ed wear his red coat is in chapter 23, when he travels to East City to take the State Alchemist exam. However, in the one panel where he has his back towards the reader, his arm is positioned in a way that hides the symbol. Al isn't present for the exam, and the next time that he appears, at the beginning of chapter 24, when they burn down their childhood home, we're not shown his left shoulder — only the right. Nevertheless, we could infer that he already had painted the Flamel on, like we can infer that Ed's coat had it as well, and infer we shall!
I read someone here point out how both Al and Ed carry things of the people they love with them, giving the Flamel as one example of it. (I'd quote them properly, I know I reblogged it at the time, but I can't find the post.) And while I'm sure that's part of the reason, an homage to their master, I can't help but think that it isn't a coincidence that Izumi's symbol specifically resonated with them.
Again, we're never told what the Flamel means within the universe of FMA, it's there but not mentioned, a subtle literary symbol — but given that Arakawa had other real-life alchemical symbols in the series mean the same thing that they meant historically... well. Ed and Al are alchemists, after all, so they would know that the Flamel Cross represents spiritual perfection.
I think that the Watsonian and Doylist explanation for the Flamel is the same here — Ed, Al, and Izumi chose in-universe to wear the Flamel for the same reason that Arakawa chose to identify them with that symbol.
I'm not entirely sure what I'm getting at here, to be honest. I'm not sure what I'm trying to say. I don't quite have a conclusion to offer. This is why I don't usually do meta lol
But it just feels like it means something, to have these characters, who were overtaken by their grief and punished for their hubris by taking away their bodies, be identified with a symbol of completeness.
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catscoollike · 6 months
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Catti and Monster kid walk sprites ^_^ + snowy
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Hey look at these!!! I decided to throw my metaphorical hat into the metaphorical ring and try to give some of these dorks walk sprites. They're kinda rough around the edges but I think they turned out pretty good for only being around an afternoon's amount of work. I gotta say though each of these feels like they have their own story of how they were all uniquely a pain in the ass to make.
SNOWY
Starting with everyone's favorite deltarune character, Snowy! Holy hell! How I hope to never make a sprite for this dork ever again! In a game full of relatively simple character designs this dude just stands out as a beacon of complexity. He's just so weird man.
Now actually I completely forgot that he already had a sprite for him facing to the left in the game. (It's only used twice in the whole game). And I really didn't expect him to be that uh, flat?
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Yeah, I don't know I guess he got hit in the face with a frying pan or something.
MONSTER KID
This little charmer was easier to sprite by several orders of magnitude. One of the reasons why is that 30% of their directional movement sprites were already done. And the reason I say only 30% of its done is because the one used in game is uh...
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... Just the sprite that's used when they're sitting at their desk in class. Seriously! Thats their walking sprite! When MK and Snowy run away from Susie at the bunker, they just slide out of there!
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Now to be fair they're gone in like half a second so it's pretty hard to notice if you aren't looking for it and its also probably why the spriters didn't feel the need to give them walking animations yet. but whenever I see this scene used in a theory video about the bunker I always chuckle.
But still, it was very helpful to have a sort of jumping off point for making their sprites. Since I wasn't just going to reinvent the wheel and draw them a whole new face. But I did need to give them a new body though, since I doubt monster kids body is a perfect cone from every angle.
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CATTI
Now the thing is that there many very talented pixel artists that work on deltarune... Toby fox is not one of them.
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Now I only mention this because with the fucking 2 sprites, that catti has in the game there is a pretty clear difference in artistic ability between them.
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One sprite of her in her work uniform with shading. And one sprite of her sitting at her desk that uses flat default MS paint colors. Thats all I have to work with.
So, assuming that god is good and that the sprite that doesn't look like pixel barf is the one that more accurately represents her design. I used that to reference the color of her earrings and eyes. Along with her head sprite, since again, don't need to reinvent the wheel. Especially since I don't imagine her face shape completely changing once she changes her clothes. But I did add some shading since I though it looked nice.
After I had the head done, I decided to sprite... well, the rest of her. I sorta skimped out on the front facing body. And just made it a heavily altered version of Catty's. I only did that because every other member of the family pretty much just has the same body. And since shes related to them I thought it made sense to not make her some weird outlier to the rest of her family. Contrary to what Catti may tell you in game.
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Making the directional sprites felt like pulling teeth. Once I had the down sprite done the up sprite was a piece of cake but oh man. The horizontal sprites. yeah uh, that's... probably not what that sprite is going to look like in deltarune.
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Her head shape was tough, I didn't know if she had a prominent snout, or if her head is just completely round like it is when looking at it from the front. But after messing around with it while listening to the entirety of RV pine's fanmade chapter 3 soundtrack. I finally got something passable.
But that's about it, I guess. I know I just got done complaining about how these were super-duper hard to make and stuff. But it was pretty fun to make these.
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meruz · 1 year
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im gonna reply to some asks but not that many bc the last time i tried to type up one of these posts i accidentally closed the tab and lost like several paragraphs so now im scared
lots of heavypaint questions
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@porch-gremlin
its the fan tool on heavypaint!! which is a free drawing app that i love a lot. and the fan tool is my fave its kind of a crutch actually im trying to use other tools gkfdhgsdg but its so fun i can do a whole painting using it exclusively. heres a video of it in action while i mess w the configuration options. u can slide the noise jitter up and down so its more or less streaky hehe ^^
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thank you!!! heavypaint ROCKS!!!!! I love it... its like the only art program ill be a shameless shill for lol
also im flattered you think of my art while playing splat...i should draw more splat i feel like i havent done enough.
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my phone!! I have a samsung galaxy note 20 that I am still not done paying off LMAO.... but I've been a galaxy note user for years. combined with heavypaint its a shockingly good mobile sketchbook.
I'm sorry it's crashing on your tablet... I don't have a tablet so I don't really have an advice. Unfortunately because HP is a small dev app it can be kind of finicky... especially in between updates. I think if you reached out to vaughn ling/heavypoly he'd probably respond though! he seems to keep up with the community pretty well.
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@hellisrealsign nice nice.. I'm glad our tastes match up a little! hopefully that means you don't mind my frequent fandom jumping LOL. I promise to always be true to my homestuck-loving infinity-train-loving self.
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LMAOOOOOO I HOPE YOU HAD A GOOD TIME? (covered in blood)
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idk is it worth it to read any shounen manga for female side characters?????? (??) HEAVILY DEBATABLE. on one hand the casual observer would say no but on the other hand femslash shippers are the strongest people on god's green earth and will endure great tortures for paltry table scraps.
I think mha is a good manga but it's still a shounen, some of the tropes they squeeze the girls into kind of suck. I can kind of put my annoyance aside because regardless im still a big fan of cool fight scenes and the power of friendship but I think your mileage will vary depending on how much tolerance you have for that kind of story...? There's an awful lot of chapters afterall. I will say this: though toga and ochako aren't the main characters they're not in the background either. the path of their relationship spans multiple arcs across the entire manga and is both plot relevant and relevant to the greater themes/thesis of the story. it's pretty clear that the mangaka and editorial team are dedicated to giving these characters the time and page space to play out. it's not perfect but thats better than a decent amount of big shounen femslash in my opinion? shrugs
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Thank you! for both the compliments and the concern. but I want to assure you that... to be perfectly honest I don't think I'll ever stop posting my art regardless of AI. I don't want to make this into a hot take like this is an entirely personal opinion and I don't expect any other artists to share my position but: Everything about my art that I consider valuable is inherently impossible for AI to replicate and everything about my art that is replicable and monetizable is not something I'm interested in owning or protecting. (this is also why at the end of the day i dont really care that much about art theft, tracing etc. and i think 90% of the time style theft is just silly)
I believe art should be freely shared and to restrict that is to make art into a product which is morally despicable and moreover uninteresting... to me. lol. I DO RECOGNIZE HOWEVER I'm very lucky to have both more of an online audience than I even want + a fulltime job that takes the pressure off any of my other art to make money. it's totally valid for other artists to have differing opinions on this especially depending on personal circumstances. AND also I make art that is primarily a product above all else for work everyday so im a hypocrite but. yeah thats my two cents.
I love posting art online LOL. I do it because its fun for me.
HAPPY NEAR YEAR!!!!!!!!!11111111
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lloydfrontera · 1 year
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Let's give another name for the game: "Webtoon pain" for easier access! So i suggest it goes like this;
-For all webtoon chapters, you may only state 3 points of pain for each chapter released, starting from chapter 1
-the scenes in the novel that will be correlated for points of pain for the webtoon must have happened in between the timeline of the events of the webtoon's chapter(if it was excluded or rewritten)
-scenes for each point of pain must invoke a feeling of pain for it to count by being excluded/rewritten in the webtoon
And finally,
-each webtoon panel drawing may count as a point of pain; limited to 2 images that was just not how it was pictured in the webtoon
Tldr and summary:
5 possible points of pain for each webtoon chapter; 3 scenes, 2 drawings/panels
This is for fun amdnnfnf no need to compile every possible points at once, we have a very very long road ahead! I do hope we get a lot of points, i missed drawing 😌😌
i am so sorry for the late reply! i was paralyzed by the realization that if i wanted to make a comprehensive of changes that have been made starting from chapter 1 i would have to re-read the entire novel and the webtoon and i simply do not have enough time in the day to do it :(
so! instead i offer a list of moments i remember from the top of my head in no particular order, i'm sorry please forgive me </3 i'll try to put the chapters they're from but i don't remember all of them sorry!
when lloyd asked permission to check out the wetlands, arcos not only agreed immediately but he also insisted on going with him and took a basket of food with them because he wanted to spent time with him. and he even brought lloyd's childhood favorite food 🥺 (43)
when working on the wetlands lloyd threatened to have anyone who went to the bathroom in there thrown in jail because hamang was going to drink that water and so help him god if they contaminated it (46)
there's this really one cute scene where lloyd is explaining something to arcos and he notices he seems a bit distracted and when he asks why arcos tells him "I just think I'm blessed to have as my son" which makes lloyd all flustered and embarrassed. plus in that very same chapter he calls him "my dear lloyd" and also thinks of him as 'my smart son' which,,, i'm so soft for,,, he adores him so much,,, (122)
and there's also this other really cute scene with marbella trying to feed lloyd a lot of food before asking him to take a break because they're both very worried for him. and lloyd agrees because, as i've mentioned before, he's a momma's boy <3 (156)
javier introducing himself to ppodong!! it was so fucking adorable he even shook fingers with his little paws T-T and also he calls him sir poddong but i don't remember if he also does that in the webtoon aklsdla (18)
lloyd telling javier his heart exploded from his compliment and calling him a killer. before thinking he's like a beautiful painting: elegant and perfect.,,, c'mon (18)
after the explosion in the mine with the ants, javier doesn't immediately get knocked out and is instead awake and aware when lloyd carries him on his back and they banter the whole time, neither of them saying it out loud but both being grateful they have each other for company while stuck there. (26)
PLUS that's the set up for lloyd riding javier during the monster invasion! javier did it first! he even made the same "gyddyap" joke!
oh! and when lloyd asked permission to work on the mine, arcos agreed with the only condition that lloyd wouldn't be in the mine during the construction because it was dangerous. lloyd didn't agree because he needed to be there to prevent accidents and so the workers would trust him but he did give his word that it'd be safe. (21)
also! marbella making lloyd a pink teddy bear for good luck! and lloyd actually keeping it because he didn't want to hurt his feelings! and also asking her to make one for javier to share his embarrassment happiness! (61)
speaking of! did we get the scene with marbella and ppodong?? where she asks him to ask the mice that are eating her plants to please stop? because that was also adorable (28)
the fact that javier fully believed for ten days that lloyd was playing a prank on him because there was no fucking way he was gonna make him fight a dragon. except he wasn't and he totally would. rip javier 😔✊🏽
can we count the change they made to their armor? like when they go to find the elven forest they wear this really cool leather armor that i love and that they completely skipped in the webtoon :(
when they finished paying the debt! lloyd and his family were going to take a family trip!! lloyd was looking forward to it!! actually we were robbed, i wanted to see the frontera family taking a family trip, it's such a cute idea T-T (120)
there's this nice conversation with javier and lloyd where javier tells him he's relieved loyd wasn't born in the capital because he would've become a terrible swindler. but that he's relieved and thankful that he put his tricks to good use. let them have sweet conversations goddammit, the banter is still funny!! (135)
oh! and the bet!! they made a bet where if lloyd was wrong he'd call javier hyung for three years but if he was right javier would use the dress and wig for the trip home. (167)
and of fucking course lady ella my beloved baby they did you wrong i will never stop mourning for you 💔 (167)
the fact we didn't even get javier in a hoodie is a fucking disgrace too ngl (169)
i'm sure there are way more but i don't have a lot of time today so! this is what we get for now! how many points did i get :D??? i didn't get the chance to collect panels from the webtoon tho :( i'll get to it once i have a free moment!!
god i love this game, each of this moments deserve their own post tbh </3
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kingdomsqueendomkimgme · 11 months
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Long live the king - Louis x reader
Chapter 9.
Masterlist
Previous next
Louis Pov.
I ran up and down the hall. I just couldn't get a clear mind. "Louis?" I turned around and saw hwon "Why are you crying?" I looked at him confused "I'm no-" I touched the area under my eyes and noticed I've been indeed crying. "I'm worried ok..Shes gone now for a whole week and I don't want for her to happen the same like Jiwoo..." Hwon nodded „I understand you.." He came to me and opened his arms. I accepted the hug because I really needed it in that moment. I sighted.. „thanks" He just shook his head and smiled slightly. „Dann wanted to talk to you and I wanted to check on you anyway so i told him I would get you." I nodded „Do you know why?" Hwon looked at me „He just told me its time for something but what it is I don't know" I nodded and followed him //What is it that dann is talking about the whole time..//
Y/N POV
Somin has been weird the whole morning bearly talking "Ok Somin, what wrong?" She looked at me and smiled.
"You'll see soon enough" I was very confused... everything I ask what wrong she always gave the same awnser...//what has this woman planned? She's not acting like that for nothing....//
Louis Pov.
//I have a really weird feeling...// I shook my head //Damn I need to stop thinking so negative...//
As soon as me and Hwon walked into Danns office we where greeted with everyone else also being there.
Hwon walked to Ivan. //They really think we still don't know that they are together, they are both to obvious, but they should tell us themselves when they're ready// everyone looked at me and had a smile on their face even, Ivan and Mujin smiled again for the first time since the incident..."why are you looking at me like that?" All.of them began to change looks with each other. "You'll see" Jahan said. "Wha-" "No questions, thanks" Dann "Good now that I have you attention, come here" I walked towards the table he was sitting behind. I opened my mouth to say something but he shook his head. "You'll have to wait here with us for the next 3 hours other wise you would see why your here.. and no I won't tell you what it is so keep the questions for yourself"
//Damn I've never seen him like that...// everyone has sat down in the mean time all of the grinning at each other knowingly "Can you please sit down for God's sake you really stress us with that" Arthur said, I shortly looked at him and sat down "stop moving" Mujin laughed at me. My leg bouncing around, I stopped "Can someone tell me what is happening?" "nope" "Really mature Dann" I rolled my eyes at him. He just laughed //what the fuck are they hiding...//
They kept their conversation with each other up but I wasn't really listening. //How can they be so happy right now...what do they know that I don't know//
Y/N pov
I walked behind Somin. "One question how does it come that Jaehyun never comes to us.?" "I'm his mother my dear and he listens when I tell him something. Now block the attack" I Blocked her attack the last second befor ot could hit me //Damn it finally worked even while distracted//
"Perfect, your finally ready" I stood straight again "For what?" "Come follow me" she waved her hand at me to follow her. "Here put this on" she gave me a black female soldier suit, and hood .
"Wha-" "no questions put it on" I did what she said. "Now come" I followed her again. She stopped infornt of a large painting.
She looked around and placed her hand on a small part of the picture.
It moved to the side and there was a tunnel. "Here go through it till you see a red door. Go trought the door and say -I'm here thank you for waiting for me I'm ready to go back- You'll see why you need to say that." She stopped for a bit and hugged me "Take care and keep you promise my dear" she had tears in her eyes, which made me tear up as well. "Now go" she pushed me trought the entrance in the tunnel , I looked back and saw her smile at me befor the Painting closed the entrance again. Now I was crying "Thank you" I whispered. But I started walking straight ahead trought the tunnel.
//I'll miss her, she was so nice...// I looked around and finally saw the red Door. I walked faster and faster till I was running.
I reached out for the door and carefully opened it, I looked trought the door and saw that I was on the other side of the lake in the forest. I stepped outside and the door closed itself after that and also disappeared. //What?// I shook my head and rubbed my eyes the door was still gone //She really made sure no one would find me.. so what was what I should say ...ahh yes//
I closed my eyes "I'm here thank you for waiting for me I'm ready to go back" first there was nothing to hear but then I heard the wind getting stronger and something landing in front of me.
I slowly opend my eyes and the immediatly widen from shock //A Pegasus?!// " I know you never saw one of us but come you don't need to be scared" //and it can talk damn// I moved towards it and it lowerd itself on the ground so that I could get on its back which I did "where do you want to go back to?" I looked at him "Louis" was the only thing I said but he understood. And began to fly with me.
I pressed my eyes close at first scared of the height... "I know you scared because of what happend in you past but trust me you won't fall and your save" I slowly opend my eyes carefully looking around. "Wow.." I mumbled "See it's beautiful" "your right. It is" after that we both went silent again but this time comforteble. I kept watching the scenery around us. Till he began to fly to the ground again.
He landed in the middle of the Palace grounds. "Thank you" I smiled and after that he bowed and flew away again "Miss Y/N! Your majesty, your back, thank God" one of the guards ran towards me with two maids that looked like the where about to cry "oh your majesty" I smiled "It's ok you can cry. It's nothing to be ashamed of"
They all cried but asked me to follow them since Dann apparently knew I would come back today. "He told us he got the information from a secret spy. We first didn't believe him but still went on patrol like he asked us to." I nodded "how was Louis?" They stopped and looked at each other. "Right you can't know...he gave in and became full vampire...or more said he let his Vampire side take control which means theres no going back anymore." I was shocked "But he never-" "We know but he wanted to get stronger and be able to get you back and keep everyone save during the Finale fight that will come..."
I nodded "He can't win against Jaehyun alone..." all of them nodded and looked at me "I trained and got stronger and I'm able to fully control my powers now. No matter what he will say, if he allowes me to fight or not. I will fight." They looked shocked now. But nodded "Of couse your majesty" they bowed and began to walk again telling me that I should go to Danns office and just knock 4 times. I nodded and panted ways with them.
I came to stop infront of the door. I took a deep breath and knocked 4 times and waited. I heard shuffeling on the other side.
And then the door slowly opend.
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thatscrazyrandom · 2 years
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Stream of conciousness predictions for who the traitor is.
(In "Art Heist, baby!" By otrtbs)
(For context I just started reading Chapter 30, but I'm not even a quarter of the way through it)
Top of my list at the moment is Peter.
It just feels right you know? It's kind of his thing, sorry bestie, but it is. I love him, but I also think he could do this. I think it makes sense with canon, and makes sense in the context of his relationships with everyone? Also like, what have you been doing all this time? Playing chess by yourself? Practising your stitches on bananas or something? Like, he's had ample time to have secret rendezvous, and he's also proved himself capable of keeping secrets from Regulus, or at least capable of attempting to, with the whole Remus thing (and we do stan him for that, but unfortunately it doesn't look good for him when considering traitors).
Now this is on nothing but pure vibes but next on my list, wont leave my brain, is Evan. Now honestly the traitor being Evan would hurt a lot more, for a few reasons, one of which ties into some points I'm gonna make in a second about the rest of the gang. But for now, obviously Evan being the traitor would hurt more mainly because of his ties to Regulus. But honestly, his ties to Regulus make it hard to establish a motive. Like what does he get out of selling out his bestie except getting murdered by his other bestie/possible boyfriend? The only reason I could think is that maybe he's on payroll from Mulciber or one of those peeps?
But I can't see him being on a payroll without Barty, and I really don't think Barty is the traitor because of his actions during the actual chase itself.
Barty was driving the second car, and he really pulled his freaking A game to get away from Pandora. It would have been really easy for him to just not be that good and get half the gang caught if he'd wanted to you know? And he seemed to actually care about James when he was having his moment, and he was the one who told Regulus to help James. All in all, I think I'll cry if it's Barty.
That's the other thing with Evan too, I'm pretty sure he's been spending his free time slutting it up with Barty but if he hasn't, he's definitely had the free time available like Peter has, and a lot more freedom bc of being so close to Regulus.
(This belongs in another post but evan makes a really good candidate for the mcd, it'll hurt but it wouldn't completely destroy any of the main characters except maybe barty. But that's only if the traitor is not the mcd, which is what I'm leaning towards atm)
Now, I've been considering the others and I think my next choice of traitor is Mary, but I also don't think she could get away with it without Lily.
Not that she's not capable, but just that they're free time is basically all spent together. Now, the two of them don't really trust Regulus, especially after the whole thing with Remus, and then Reg being a hypocrite, they were both PISSED, but Mary especially was super mad for a while. I could totally see her snooping through Sirius' things or something to find Pandora or Frank and feeding them information. And I think that her & Lily's painting sessions, especially towards the end of their stay, would be the perfect time for her to do that? Like, after her and Lily have done the recreations, they still spend a ton of time painting, tucked away together in the painting room. That's why I think if Mary's the traitor, Lily has to be in on it, but I think it'd still work because they're far closer to each other than anyone else on the team. I'm also pretty sure they aren't criminals already, so if they think Regulus is untrustworthy (which after the Remus thing they do) I could totally see them going to Interpol and cutting a deal of their freedom in exchange for info.
Next pair is Marlene and Dorcas. And this is the thing: Every one else is paired. It's part of why Peter is such a good candidate for the traitor. It sucks but it's true. He doesn't have a pair, so it's a lot easier to see him betraying everyone else.
Now, Marlene. As I said, she's a pair w Dorcas, but also, she's already a criminal. She owes her freedom to Regulus rn, bc he paid her bail or something? Idk, it's been a second. She owes him basically. Now this is a double edged sword bc one, like I said, shes already a criminal, so why would she wanna go to the cops? But also, she never really got a choice in joining the heist. If Regulus plucked her straight from jail, she kind of had to go w him or Evan/Barty would have shot her. Not the best way to inspire loyalty, but it happens, you know? She was also pretty pissed about the Remus thing, and for a while, especially with the hypocrite stuff bc she was also having to hide her relationship. The big thing that hits against Marlene, is that she had the mueseum job. And we've already seen how easy it was for Remus to skive off work to do sexy times. And Regulus admitted he wasn't having them watched, that he wouldn't have known Remus was off doing sexy times if he wasn't having sexy times with specifically Sirius. So who's to say Marlene wasn't skiving off work to give info to Pandora and Frank? Hmmmmm? Pretty sus. But also, Regulus probably checked on her at work after he saw what Remus was doing. And also, I really don't think she would sell out Dorcas like that. Bc like I said, she's already a criminal. I guess she could do a plea deal thing like Mary and Lily could but it doesnt really fit Marlene you know?
I dont think it really fits Dorcas either? She definitely had the time & space to do it, she's the technology girlie, honestly if it was her, they wouldn't have gotten away. There is so many things she could've done to fuck shit up, I really don't think it could've been her bc of how it played out. I also think she actually trusts Regulus, I think she didn't chafe so hard under his rules bc she was let in so much more than others were to his plans, and she was secretly seeing Marlene anyway. (I think Marlene would've chafed a lot more if she hadn't been allowed to leave for her job) (also another point against Peter bc he didn't have anything he was allowed to go do except sometimes groceries). That's the other thing tho, is she knew so much about the plans so early, she would've had a lot of useful information to let slip if someone had gotten a hold of her (maybe through her tech while Reg wasn't monitoring). But it also comes back to Marlene, I can't see her betraying Marlene like that? That's the benefit of being in your pair, less sus because why would you betrayal your lover like that for no good reason?
Because that's the other thing, I can't think of a good reason for any of them to betray the team? Like yall walked into this pretty willingly, so like, you'd have to have been planning this since day 0, like directly after the interview, for this betrayal to make sense? Which I guess could work. Wait who had the guns pulled? It has to be one of them right? Like, they heard the plans, went oh shit absolutely not, asked what if they said no, realised they'd die, so they agreed, and then when they went away, they most likely got onto Interpol during the gap between the interview and go time, and organised the whole thing, were probably briefed on how to act or something....
No wait, but then Sirius would know, and I believe he doesn't. Unless like Alice kept it from him? Because those three were sure he'd get pulled back in? But that seems kinda weird?
Anyway, the only other people are the main boyos. Obviously it's not Regulus, James thinks Regulus is too pretty to even think about betraying, I really wanna trust Sirius, so I'm going with he's not the traitor, and I don't even wanna think about what's gonna happen if it was Remus. (Especially since he knows they're looking, oh holy shit)
I really don't think it could be, I think he has probably the most to lose from betraying everyone, but, I could also kind of see him going to Frank & Pandora is a moment of anger after the Regulus stuff, maybe sneaking their number from Sirius' phone, and like telling them stuff in an effort to make good with Sirius? But also, Remus wasn't about to grovel at all with Sirius bc they both lied, so maybe not. Still, hes an angry boyo, so I could see him trying to hurt Regulus with the betrayal and not really thinking about the other consequences, and kind of getting trapped having to keep going to Frank & Pandora. Also we know he's sneaky and he can be good at it. I wanna trust him, but bestie this doesn't look good for you.
It's going to hurt no matter who it is, because until last chapter I was confident the team was a cute little found family and now someone has broken not only their trust but mine, and I'm smad about it. (Yes smad)
It's gotta have been Peter tho right?
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Henry Danger Reader Insert | Captain Man x Reader: SEASON 5
Episode 11: Grand Theft Otto (SMUT)
*heyyyyyyyyy, guess who's bringing sexy back? and two chapters in a row no less. this smut was born from my inability to think of how else to start the chapter, a reluctance to write eight whole minutes with no (y/n) present, a trip to victoria's secret and a lot of piano music with ambient rain sounds (my secret to writing freestyle). 
word of warning, this smut does include some even more mature themes than usual that are discussed but not fully played out (not yet) and i know they're not for everyone, so just be aware of that, exploring different things for different people :)
as always my dudes: don't like the boom-boom then skip ahead until the next warning because this one uses bad words, bad ideas and a lot of the stuff grown-ups do in the real world. Have fun :) *
There was something to be said about couples who lived through the night and slept all of the day. 
They were made of tough stuff. It was almost essential, anyone who went against the body's natural clock needed a certain level of resilience just to struggle through the inconsistent sleeping patterns. That's why (y/n) sometimes liked living underground; you can sleep at any time when the sun doesn't shine. 
But not always.
She missed windows. She missed nice scenery. She missed having a front door and porch, a backyard most of all. How nice would it be if she could wake up in the morning and let the fresh air in instead of a mound of dirt and earthworms?
Maybe it was petty; after all, the Man Cave was great and she'd been promised compensation later down the line. Ray wanted his sweet girl to live in a palace but his bank account would never stretch that far, so a quiet little house in the country would have to do. One where their family would have space to grow unhindered. That was a far-off dream but he swore that the next place he had would have a great view. Maybe a mountain or the cityscape. Something that spoke a little more than stone walls.
And yet very occasionally, not too often thanks to their patchy sleep schedule, there came a day where the view in the Man Cave wasn't so bad after all.
The past two weeks had been hell. Emergencies left, right and centre, people begging down the phone line for help, which sometimes Captain Man, Miss Danger and Kid Danger could give and sometimes they couldn't. Like, when the old lady phoned up asking if they could help her play bingo, they had to grit their teeth and politely say no. But when there was an explosion at the paint factory, they had to go check it out... and discover that once household paint goes on, it doesn't come off.
Fast forward another thirteen days of many showers and a bottle of paint stripper, things had calmed down, leaving Henry a free afternoon at home and the loving couple to crash until midday. For fourteen hours, they slept, dead to the world to the point where when they finally did wake fully rested, they realised how they hadn't had any personal time.
A man couldn't live without his sweet girl and a woman couldn't live without her doofus, so as Ray pottered around the bathroom, having dragged himself from their pit of blankets muttering something about needing to shave the last two weeks off, (y/n) found herself feeling...generous. 
Of course, she was a patient woman. Hell, she'd waited ten years for her perfect man, so she knew when the right time to strike was. But goddamn, normally, she would've called herself an animal, a degenerate, because standing in front of the mirror with a new set of lingerie on, waiting for her husband-to-be so she could give him a heart attack was just not how things usually ran.
However, (y/n) had to admit, she looked hot—and it was a great confidence booster. 
White lace and silk smoothed over her boobs to push them in and upwards, creating the illusion that they were naturally sculpted to give her a perfect cleavage whilst also revealing taut, hardened nipples. Running down her waist and tummy was yet more lace, sheer and soft as it formed a corset to highlight her shape. 
She hummed softly in her throat when the underwear was pulled high over her curves, her core getting slick at the mere thought of Ray mouthing over her clit just to pull it down and have his fill. She'd chosen this set with him in mind; garters and stockings weren't her thing but seeing him lose his mind was too good to resist, so they sat mid-thigh, clipped to the corset where they'd inevitably stay since he fucked with them on, no exceptions. 
Once upon a time the girl who stared back at her would think she was mad and strip it back off along with the light coat of mascara and lipstick she'd put on, but now, she was loving it. And the best thing? Ray would lose his mind. 
No mad scramble to the bed, no way. She'd never seen a Victoria's Secret Angel jog down the runway so she delicately placed herself on the bed, thinking about how she should sit—lie—pose—how did people do this? Laying down made her feel dumb, after all, she wanted to see Ray's face. Sitting felt too formal, like she was waiting for a board meeting or something, so she went for a mix of both, which she guessed was posing. 
In the middle of the bed, she stretched out her legs, crossing them at the ankles to make them seem longer and her hips even more mouth-watering. Her chest pushed out as she leaned back with her arms behind her to stay propped up and it felt like an eternity spent waiting for the faucet to turn off and the humming to finish. 
The thong was starting to dampen and her hips rolled by themselves in response, thighs rubbing together because it had been so long since she felt his breath between her legs, his hands roaming up her back, his cock between her lips. She was desperate but patience would make everything worthwhile.
In the bathroom, Ray had spent the last half an hour in limbo. He'd started shaving, just as he'd promised since Captain Man didn't look as appealing sporting a hobo beard, despite his precious girl's insistent pleas that it made him look tough and rugged. 
More like it would make her thighs burn when he finally got a chance to settle himself between them and taste that sweet pussy of hers. God, her thighs, her tight cunt, her perfect tits, he'd missed them. 
He'd missed her in general; even though they'd still spent every waking second in each other's presence, it was hard to be romantic when you were driving to an accident, getting a fat guy out of a drive-thru window, eating on the way back, napping for half an hour, only to go out again. They'd barely had enough energy to talk, let alone fuck, and dear god, he was desperate. 
He wanted to roll her over and push into her blazing heat that morning, wake her up right and pull orgasm after orgasm out of her until he'd caught up on every one they'd missed, but he'd held back. It didn't matter if he was hard, leaking, and in need of attention; he figured that, after such an arduous few days, (y/n) needed rest, and even his gentlest pace wouldn't give her that.
Not that it would be gentle. He wanted it hard and fast and dirty, so he'd removed himself from her arms before her bleary eyes and fuzzy mind could remember that his aching cock had been pushed up against her slit all night.
One cold shower later and he was fresh-faced and smooth-cheeked, but not a satisfied man. He'd tried to take the edge off, had wrapped a hand around himself to find release but had bitten his lip to smother his frustrated groans when it just wasn't enough. He needed wide eyes, soft moans and a perfect hole to empty his balls into, so he just had to wait for his hard-on to go down under the freezing spray since he wasn't prepared to bear down on his sweet girl simply because he had the libido of a seventeen-year-old.
So, when he left the bathroom with nothing more than a towel around his waist, he certainly didn't expect the sight that awaited him. 
"Hey, sweet girl, should we make some pancakes or order Sushi Dushi? 'Cause it's lunchtime but I'm feeling like—holy shit..." Food was no longer on his mind as he entered the bedroom and took in the vision that was waiting for him on the bed. 
His sweet, sweet girl, sat on the bed like a goddess clad in lace and silk with her doe-like eyes trained on him as her lower lip was pulled between her teeth. Her breathing was shallow as he watched one hand trail from the comforter, snake between her thighs and into her panties to begin teasing her clit, all the while maintaining eye contact. 
All the blood in his body rushed south as he watched with a dry mouth and empty brain, wondering what he did to deserve an angel like her before snapping out of his trance. 
As much as he loved the sheer eroticism of it, that job was his and his alone and any of her pleasure came from his mouth, his hands or his cock, which was back to being like granite now that his eyes raked down her form. Shit, her tits looked so good, he wanted to bite, suck and squeeze them until she was writhing, begging for him to move onto her soaked pussy.
"Fuck, baby—I—fuck, is this all for me?"
"Mhmm, wanted to look pretty for you...and I'm so wet too. You took too long, Captain," she whined, intensifying the stroking of her fingers to increase the heavenly pressure on her clit, which seemed so swollen and throbbing after sitting on the bed for too long. Ray swallowed thickly at her words and stared darkly at her clothed pussy, watching until his mouth was set into a firm line. She knew his rules.
"This is pretty, little one, you look so fucking hot. But that's my pussy you're touching," he murmured, stalking towards the bed as she continued to work herself, only to drag it from her panties at a slow, teasing pace when he was within touching distance.
"'M sorry, sir, I couldn't help it. I woke up and knew I needed your cock in me...but you weren't in bed," she smirked and raised her slick fingertips to her mouth, tongue dipping out to taste them as he leaned down to loom over her, eyes never leaving hers. However, a soft gasp fell from her lips when strong fingers curled around her wrist, the sudden skin-on-skin contact feeling like fire, and he pulled it up to his mouth instead. "Where were you? Why did you leave me when I'm so needy?"
"Needed to shave, sweet girl. Although I have to admit, the idea of fucking you did cross my mind," he whispered smugly before closing his lips around her digits, moaning when his tongue caught her sweet taste as he sucked it off, much to her delight. 
(y/n) smirked as his eyes fluttered closed, aching already from the small glimpse into the pleasure he'd been denied, and she saw no problem in reaching up to his hidden length that was twitching under the towel and tracing her fingers over the leaking head. The reaction was instant, a guttural groan that vibrated against her fingers and a fire in his eyes when they finally met again. 
"I needed it, still do. It's been too long—and I've been saving this to try and seduce you," the woman breathed out as he pushed her shoulders gently down to the mattress so he could trap her against the soft cotton and explore the gorgeous number she'd donned. It had been shoved in her wardrobe for a special occasion rather than a boring, Saturday afternoon, but it would still be thoroughly enjoyed and that's what mattered, especially when his hands started twitching from not knowing where to start.
It was like he was a child struggling to contain his Christmas excitement; he wanted to leave her cunt until last, that way it would draw out the pleasure until it was painful for both of them to wait any longer. Her tits looked almost too perfect to grab roughly and he was torn between keeping them trapped in the white material or freeing them for his use. He wanted to run his tongue over them as her legs with those fucking hot suspenders closed around his waist, wanted to take her over and over again until she was ruined for any other cock.
"It's working, darlin'. I wanna fuck you so bad, wanna make you remember who you belong to—who belongs to you." A squeal left her throat when he pinched her nipple through the lace, a slap landing on the same tit, not a second later, which had her back arching into him. 
Her hand reached for the towel still tied around his waist and with one hard yank, its knot unravelled, freeing his cock so it rested on her clothed cunt with its underside rubbing against her slit. Ray hadn't expected her to be so sudden and his hand closed around her throat loosely, allowing him to tilt her head up until she had no choice but to look him in the eye for what she'd done.
He roamed down her body, biting the top of her breasts and licking to soothe the flesh when his teeth pierced it, her fingers tugging at his hair when he kneaded her tits roughly. It wasn't enough to satisfy the burning in her core, not even when he leaned down to mouth at her nipples through the lace but when she begged him to remove the barrier, thinking that it had done its job of making her look beautiful, he refused.
"Take it off, Ray. I—I need—-it's not fair that I can't feel you!"
"Fuck, no, sweet girl. You look so damn hot in this, I ain't taking it off. I'm gonna fuck you like this and you'll take it, won't you?" He growled at her whining and trailed a hand over lace and silk, over her hips, over her tummy and her mound to the soaked, sorry excuse for underwear. "You'll take anything I give you and love it because I know this little pussy just needs filling. That's what makes you run your mouth at me."
Ray had always known that he leaned more towards lace than leather, preferred innocence over sex kitten, but damn, he couldn't help but fall in love with the way she exuded both sexuality and purity. Had he not taken that innocence over and over again since that first night, he wouldn't have known that she was as dirty as he was, as shown when she pouted innocently even when he rubbed sudden, rough circles over the satin and her clit. 
The ensuing moans that fell from her lips were downright sinful, so was the wetness that aided his finger in pushing into her pussy and how she clamped down immediately, whining when he pulled it straight back out so cruelly. Her already bruised lip was tugged between her teeth again as she propped herself on her elbows to watch him slither down her body to come face-to-face with her most intimate area. His view was blocked by the thong but his eyes remained dark with his dilated pupils as he nuzzled against the soaked material, hot air blowing over her quivering thighs.
"Don't tease—don't tease...please."
"Just admiring what's mine, sweetheart," he murmured, taking his time to pull the thong tightly up her hips until the silk's stitching was snapping and popping, just so he could see how it cupped and pressed into her lips before pulling it aside to begin his assault. 
His mouth found her clit instantly, groaning when the sweetest honey taste flooded his mouth and his tongue ran through her folds to collect more. It danced around her opening before plunging in, tearing a scream from her throat as she held the thong for him in one hand, his hair in the other, allowing his hands to pin her thighs to the bed. 
She noticed how his fingers couldn't stop trailing and snapping the suspenders so they pricked at her skin, something she'd add to the long list of kinks he had when her mind was back in reality. A brief second of respite came when his tongue ceased exploring her walls to suck and slurp at her lips and then her clit harshly, only to return to fucking her not half a second later. She thought a punishment would be in line for her when her fingers left his head to rub her swollen nub furiously, chasing her orgasm as he got off on her wrecked gasps of pleasepleaseplease and hoarse moans of moremoremore. But it was actually quite the opposite.
"That's it, sweet girl. Rub this cunt, get it nice and wet and ready so I can drink you up when you cum," he growled from between her legs, stare pinning her down so she could do nothing but obey, "You want to cum, don't you?"
"Yes—yes, fuck, I wanna cum so bad!" "That's my good girl..." And so, Ray dived back in, wanting to see her wriggle and writhe under his grip so he could use the tidal wave of slick to push into her pussy with no resistance. She always came at least once before he did and the knowledge that she'd be left trembling but satiated gave him the strength to ignore how his cock and balls were begging for release. 
Honestly, he was surprised that he hadn't creamed the sheets yet like a teenager. Seeing her clad in so little lace should've made him, but he staved it off, reasoning that it would be better to cum deep in her pussy and feel her walls tighten around him than the soft nothingness of blankets. 
(y/n)'s fingers flickered harder as he increased his movements tenfold, moving his tongue in and out of her hole as he would if it were his cock, aiming for the spot that made her squirm and whine. He could feel it, her oncoming release, just from the way her walls quivered and her thighs juddered, trying to fight against the iron grip keeping them spread wide. 
A gentle shudder and then it was all over, core clenching tightly and gushing for his awaiting mouth as she kept stimulating her clit through her orgasm, screaming his name until her voice was ruined. Even when the wave mellowed and started to settle, he stayed drinking what he could, licking at her sensitive lips for the last drop of honey he could find because he had been starved and he was finally ready to have his fill again.
"Too—too much, baby—" "S'been two weeks since I last tasted this pussy, darlin'. Still fucking delicious," he said against her folds, practically raking his face through them one last time, focusing on her clit to electrify the nerves there, before pulling away to kneel on the mattress. Hungry eyes raked over her dishevelled form, ravished with her cunt exposed and twitching. It was fucking beautiful, but there was one thing missing.
"As gorgeous as you look in this, sweet girl, I wanna see those tits," Ray said gruffly and no sooner than he did, she scrambled to unfasten the corset and throw it to the side, but he stopped her, "fuckin' keep it on—that's it, push it down. Can't let you take this off, you pretty little thing, might just keep you in it permanently."
"You want the whole world to see me like this? Want them to see what's yours?" (y/n) asked, her eyes innocent but her smirk teasing as she carefully freed her chest of the lingerie, pushing the straps down her shoulders so the corset bunched around her tummy. 
And then, unable to stop herself as his gaze impossibly darkened further, she reached forward for his hard length, giving it a teasing tug, licking her lips when a choked moan and stuttered thrust betrayed the control he loved to have. Thin ice.
"Dirty girl—" he snapped and brushed her hand away, although she didn't have to pout for long, "hands and knees, ass in the air for me." 
A smile broke out on her when he flipped her over with ease and she scrambled to do as he said. Arching her back, she wiggled her hips for him, unashamedly presenting her needy cunt for him just as he'd asked. She looked over her shoulder so she could see his every twitch when shown the hole he was going to fuck raw. 
"You ready for me, sweet girl? Ready for this cock that belongs to you?" Ray snarled, rubbing his dripping head from her clit to her entrance, coating himself in her slick. It was always a squeeze trying to get his fat cock in there but when he was finally balls deep, it was always worth the effort. She fit like a fucking glove, still tight as though he hadn't fucked her nearly every day since the day she said yes but it was definite that she was ruined for anyone else, almost moulded to fit him.
"Yes, so fucking ready...always," the woman whined, holding the thong to the side for dear life as he broke into her, splitting her apart inch by inch until he was at the hilt, balls pressed tightly to her clit as he gave her a moment to adjust to being so full.
"Fuck—fuck, you're always so tight, little one. Like you've never even been fucked—" he said throatily, snapping his hips into hers in small thrusts, trying to stay deep and go slow until he couldn't resist the temptation to go harder, faster, give her what she needed, "But we both know that's not true, right? We both know that you're not innocent."
It didn't even register in her mind that one hand had stopped kneading her jiggling ass until a loud crack broke through the symphony of flesh slapping flesh, grunts and quiet yelps. His hand came down hard on her right cheek and she clenched around him unintentionally, proving him right. She loved it, loved being his dirty little girl underneath her kind smiles and helpful nature, loved relinquishing her sharp mind to be his slut for hours on end. 
Her arms collapsed as he kept up the relentless pace, cock being squeezed in a vice-like grip that had his vision clouding until nothing but her and his end were in mind. A soothing hand ran down her back and pushed her head into the mattress and she knew that he wanted her to stay down and keep showing him her pussy and allow him to fuck it how he wanted.
"Show me this pussy properly, darlin'. Y'know I love this getup but fuck—gotta see it," he rambled, clawing at the thong that was so small that it made fire lick up his spine, but it was in the way. He wanted her bare and shaking after weeks of nothing, so he reluctantly pulled out of her warmth for a brief moment and teased it over her ass. Frantically, her hands came up to her sides to help him yank to about mid-thigh, just enough for him to continue freely, but damn, if the sight of her didn't do something to him.
"Fuck..." he groaned lowly as he pushed back in and began a slow, deep pace, building up to what they'd been going at before when he felt a familiar urge come over him.
It was filthy, taboo, even wrong perhaps, something they'd joked about when drunk but never discussed because it was the thing for young couples to try out or pornstars to show off. Not something he'd ever expect a girl as sweet as her to consider or allow. This was his primal urge to bury deep down and keep to himself, but fuck, when she curved her back again to push her ass up further, he couldn't restrain himself.
His hand ghosted over her asscheek as it normally would, squeezing at her supple flesh as he rocked into her, balls slapping her clit as they swayed. And as his thumb pressed into the crevice, that's when it brushed over her forbidden, puckered rim. His abs tensed as he did, imagining what it would be like to fuck her there, not that he ever would because he respected her far too much, but he still gulped. Especially when she hummed a high-pitched whine and clenched the halo of muscle. Fuck...
"S-sorry, shit—shit, god, I...sorry—" he stumbled an apology, picking up her curiosity and interrupting it as discomfort or even fear. So, naturally, he backed off, stuttering his thrusts as he jerked his hand away like it had touched fire. He hoped that in the haze of pleasure, she'd forget about the slip-up--forget about how he almost lost it when he had both holes on show in the warm light, but how could she? 
(y/n) swallowed thickly, having felt the minuscule touch and found herself...interested.
Ray had a list of kinks and preferences as long as her right leg three times over; he loved being on top but he also loved being ridden. He loved taking her anywhere, anytime. He loved using the filthiest, most vulgar dirty talk, and he adored making sure his partner felt safe.
But this—this was new and hell, he didn't need to be sorry or scared. She was up for trying anything with him once.
"No..no, s'okay, s'okay—you can touch it," she whispered and angled her hips backwards, pushing her pussy further down his length and also offering herself up. She wanted this, wanted to explore and try it out.
Ray almost fainted at her words, having anticipated silence or rejection but never acceptance and it broke the frayed thread that his self-control had been hanging onto. If the spank from earlier had been hard, this one was rough, harsh, brutal, sounding like lightning the moment his hand hit her ass because fuck; he knew she was filthy but not this filthy.
"Dirty—dirty fucking girl. Never thought you were such a filthy, cock-hungry—never thought you'd let me touch it," the hero punched out, his voice wrecked and gravelly and so damn hot. His pace increased to a soul-shattering bangbangbang, forcing the air from her lungs as he abused her slobbery cunt and more. 
He traced over her back entrance, teasing it lightly, never using any pressure so she could get used to the sensation and he kept an eye on her every movement, looking for any sign that she didn't like it, but judging by how she seemed wetter than before and how she was whimpering and suffocating his cock, she needed more, not less.
"I'll let you do anything—anything—shit, you can put a finger in there if you want—" she offered, not expecting him to take her up on that offer because this was a new idea after all, but Ray...Ray thought he'd died and gone to heaven. 
His hips slowed down and a hand cradled one side of her pelvis as the other ran up the curve of her cheek, trembling from how turned on he was. It truly was a miracle that he hadn't cum yet given how tight his balls felt but dear god, he was gonna hold off. Maybe for only five seconds or less, but he was gonna because his thumb was circling her asshole.
"Hottest girl I've seen, sweet girl, so damn sexy..." he muttered, thrust quickening to increase the pleasure as he pressed against the tight hole, breaking through the natural resistance until he was poking in, "Fuck—so tight, just like your pussy. You ever take it back here, sweetheart?"
There was a hesitant edge to his voice like he wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer because it would mean that she'd once had a similar level of trust with someone else, but he couldn't help it. He had to know.
"N-no. Dre—some have tried but I would—wouldn't let them... I'd let you, though," she whispered as he suddenly slid all the way in, right down to the last knuckle until his thickest digit was buried deep inside of her. The impropriety of it was eating her up alive and she clenched, feeling deliciously stuffed full as his cock split her open and his thumb gave her something else to squeeze. 
Ray was certain that he was moments away from orgasm, reeling from how...dirty it felt, how...right, not just from the image of fucking a hole that would be tighter than her tiny pussy but knowing that he was the only man she'd ever let near her—and he knew most of the men she'd dated, some more than others.
"That right? You'd let me fuck—let me fuck your tight, virgi—" He choked at the idea and slammed his hips into her ass jaggedly, feeling his thumb rub against those forbidden walls and a wave of panic washed over him when he felt his end appear on the horizon, hurtling towards him. No one else had ever made him cum uncontrollably but a squeeze of her core muscles and a grinding undulation of her hips to feel him brush up against her every wall and his hand was dashing to her clit to madly circle it.
"—Shit, shit—not gonna last, darlin'—need to cum in your pussy...can you cum on my cock?"
"Fuck, yes—gonna cum with your thumb so fucking deep and this perfect cock filling me up," (y/n) whined and began rocking backwards to meet his thrusts, not caring if her skin was sore from the constant slapping or if his fingers were sliding around her slick lips and frustrating her clit from the poor stimulation.
"F-fuck—-I love you—" was the last thing he said, garbled and stuck in his throat until he came with a devastatingly hoarse cry. Her pussy strangled his length as he made sure the snug fit couldn't be any closer and her body sucked him in when cum was pumped onto her walls as deep as it could go. The feeling of warmth flooding her womb caused her walls to flutter as she went over the edge too, rambling the phrase back as her cheek smushed against the mattress, body turning limp.
What felt like hours passed. Seconds, really, but eventually, Ray cleared the fuzziness in his mind, swept away the cobwebs and blink one, two, three times so he could see properly again. His sweet girl was slumped into the comforter, her body ready to fall if it wasn't for his brushing grip on her waist, which he instantly relinquished when he realised just how hard it was.
His thumb was slowly and gently removed from her second entrance, him being mindful of the pain of resistance now that they were coming down from their highs. A whimper left her mouth, probably unintentionally when it finally slipped free, and next came his cock. The moment the tip was away, he was quick to pull the thong up her thighs, intent on keeping his precious load in there for as long as possible, although he doubted it would stay with that string barely covering her folds.
And then, at last, she was released to snuggle into the bed, ass slumping with a bouncing crash. Her doofus returned from his dominant, dark side, keeping his sweet girl warm by cautiously spooning her. It was so cosy; her back was against his heaving chest as they laid there for a while before anyone spoke and when they did, it was his baritone in her ear.
"You okay?" Ray asked, his voice gruff but full of its usual goofy friendliness as he nuzzled into her neck and lovingly squeezed her breast—nothing sexual, just him holding whatever flesh he found.
"Yeah...that was intense," (y/n) replied, her voice also sounding raspy from the excessive screaming but still, she sounded happy as well. A content sigh left her lips as her eyes slid shut and although he didn't show it, she knew that the noise made him relax. Every time they tried something new, her lover always freaked out a little afterwards, but she was fine-- fucking blissed out, but how was he to know that?
"Yeah. Yeah, it was. Are you sure it was okay? It was...good?" Ever the worrier and people say she had problems with nerves. 
"I would've told you if it wasn't, doofus. I loved it like always...just didn't know you were into butt stuff," the woman held a light tone, trying to not sound negative or anything like that because he was trying so hard to make sure she was comfortable, a trait that made her fall deeper in love with him when they first started fucking.
"Not massively but...yeah. I've only ever wanted to do it with you, no one else was ever—y'know—curious. But if that was enough for you then, that's fine, sweet girl. We can stick to lingerie and handcuffs if that's what you wa—"
"Raymond, hush," she rolled in his arms until she was on her back and he was on his side looking down over her. Her poor lip was back between her teeth as their faces stayed close, noses brushing as her hand came up to lace their fingers together because they were in this together, after all, comfort came for both parties. "The lingerie is definitely staying since nothing gets you harder—"
"Seeing you naked gets me just as hard, sweetheart." Cocky bastard. Where was the fun in that? It was true that if she came out of the bathroom, fresh from the shower without a towel, he'd be all over her like a rash with any excuse to grope her but she enjoyed dressing up and waiting for him more than a surprise pouncing. She was a patient lady and the real fun happened when the roles were reversed and he was her prey.
"Whatever, you dork. My point is that I meant what I said. I'll let you do anything and that includes fucking me there too. As long as you don't forget my pussy when you do." An irresistible offer by all accounts and Ray's smirk grew in tandem with hers as her words sunk in. His perfect girl; sweet angel and little devil rolled into one.
"Don't think I'll ever forget this pussy, sweet girl. Not ever," he whispered his reply before placing his lips delicately on hers, his hand sliding down to rest over the lace bunched across her stomach to remind her that he never lost sight of what he adored.
The moment was peaceful. Tongues explored their mouths and tastes, remapping known territory lazily as they basked in their mid-afternoon, post-sex glow...right up until a rumble across his palm reminded them that it had been a good fifteen hours since they last ate. And the protector couldn't have his future wife hungry.
"What was that you said about pancakes earlier?" (y/n) asked as he pulled back with an amused smile, her wide-eyed, innocent look returning that had his cock twitching at the thought of them staring up from between his legs as she sucked—no, they were not doing this again. Down, boy. 
"Stay here, darling. I'll go make some," he promised her, pressing a kiss to her forehead as he untangled their lips and reluctantly rolled off the bed to find wherever he tossed his jeans last night when they fell into bed exhausted. Ray only bothered to tighten the belt after yanking them up, even forgoing underwear since he'd strip out of them and into fresh laundry when he returned with a tray of enough food to feed an army. 
First, he just had to make sure she was fed first because it was his instinct to. After all, this was merely practice for when they finally owned that quiet house with nice views, windows, a front door, a porch and a backyard, although he hoped that by then, they'd only be exhausted from running around after a few children.
*welp. that was a thing. i hope the more adventurous types enjoyed that, i did tbh. it's nice to do something different but from this moment forth, WE ARE SAFE AGAIN. fear not, the light will return and maybe even Ray's interest in "stuff "👀*
~
"Mmmm, god, these are good," (y/n) moaned as she shovelled mouthful after mouthful of fluffy pancakes and toppings into her face. Technically speaking, they were Ray's famous mancakes, fresh from the pan and made tall with all manners of syrups, fruits and chocolate chips. 
She was certain that there was way too much for one person on her plate but saw it as a personal challenge to finish the lot since it had been her doofus who'd made them just for her and it's not like she could feed him. He'd eat the odd mouthful she offered him, but how could he take food out of his starving girl's mouth? That was unthinkable.
"Keep making sounds like that and I'll make sure they taste even better, sweet girl," the hero smirked as he placed his plate on the couch table and came to slide in next to her. In the time it had taken the pancakes to cook, he'd gotten properly dressed and she'd replaced her slightly wrecked, definitely crumpled ensemble with simple cotton shorts and one of his huge t-shirts, stating that crime was low that day and it was not like they had places to be other than the Man Cave, so comfy-casual it was. 
Plus, Ray was a sucker for his sweet girl in his clothes, so he was happy to let her wander around taking in the beauty that was his fiancée, happy in their home with the food he'd made her, ready for a chill day.
And she hadn't followed his command of staying in bed, far from it; after ten minutes of scrolling through her phone, answering texts, emails and checking trashy news sites, she'd grown bored of the bedroom and wandered through to the kitchen to find her doofus cooking up a storm. He pouted when she hugged him from behind, saying that he wanted to make his beautiful future wife brunch in bed, but one comment about how she felt lonely apart from him and he was sold. 
They'd danced in the refrigerator light and said good afternoon to a smug Schwoz, who looked like the cat who got the cream for some reason until he made some reference to the entire hideout shaking from the way Ray fu—he was lucky he didn't get a punch to the teeth for that. So, now, they were in the main room, set to wait until they were needed, which meant an afternoon for movies. Or so (y/n) thought. 
"Come between me and my pancakes and we will be at war, doofus," she giggled and pointed her fork in his direction with the best serious face she could muster. No one could ruin this for her, but it was impossible to glare at him for so long when he was such a dork with his floppy hair, so a smile soon cracked the seriousness.
"I surrender, baby. You can keep the pancakes if it means I get a kiss," Ray fluttered his eyelashes like the lovable idiot he was and grinned when she quickly kissed him without hesitation, leaving the taste of honey and syrup to linger on his lips. The sweetness was enough to satisfy him for a while and as Schwoz pottered around the room, calibrating and tinkering, they fell into easy conversation, talking about anything and everything just as they had always been able to.
It wasn't until they were on their last pancake each that (y/n) said something that broke the peace and caused the universe to shift in a way that she could never have predicted. After all, who cared that much about moustaches?
"Hey, you know Jasper?"
"Yes, unfortunately, I know Jasper," Ray replied through a mouthful of pancake, his tone turning dark at the mention of the boy he loved to dislike. It wasn't even dislike at this point, it was just how their relationship functioned, but nevertheless, it made her roll her eyes.
"Whatever, doofus. Anyway, apparently, according to Charlotte, he grew a moustache when he was in Idaho," the heroine told him, not thinking anything of it since it was Jasper they were talking about and males grew facial hair every day, it's not like it was a new phenomenon. So, it wasn't until the clattering of Ray's fork on his plate that she looked up and saw her lover's wide-eyed, dare she say awed expression, complete with a trembling bottom lip. Was it something she said?
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Jasper, as in the Jasper, our Jasper, grew a moustache?" Ray blinked a few times and his hand came to circle his wrist in a firm grip. It wasn't enough to hurt but it captured her attention completely and (y/n) frowned at his strangely over-the-top reaction.
"Uh, yeah... I mean, I know it's weird because he was gone less than a week and one minute, they're our babies, collecting buckets and doing stupid stuff to impress girls, and the next, they're pubescent teenagers on the verge of adulthood and they have facial hair, but—" 
In all honesty, (y/n) could feel herself tearing up a bit at the thought of the teens growing up so suddenly because it had only felt like yesterday since they were still proper children. Now, they were grown, ready for their own lives and it's not like she was stupid—it had always been on the cards that they'd move on and become independent at some point but since when did she care like a mother losing her children? Someone needed to pass her a tissue but by the time she looked up, Ray was scrambling off the couch.
The last scraps of his breakfast were left to go cold when he rushed to the holo-caller as if his life depended on it. His very confused fiancée watched with knitted eyebrows as he punched in the code for Henry's watch and impatiently waited for the kid to pick up. No, no, it was fine, she wasn't sniffling over the idea of losing three family members because of life's natural flow, everything was good. At least she could distract herself when the boy finally picked up, looking all tall, and handsome and grown up. 
"Hey, what's up, man? We've got a little bit of a situation here—" Henry answered rather quickly, not at all phased by how excitable his boss seemed. After the disastrous afternoon he'd had, he wasn't in the mood for quick chitchat but there was something about the art of growing hair on their faces that made men go nuts.
"(y/n) told me Jasper has a moustache now. Lemme see it!" The hero exclaimed excitedly, not even picking up on the boy's hurried tone. (y/n) perked at the mention of the situation, wondering what the hell it could mean and found herself wandering from the couch and over to the machine, dipping in and out of frame as Ray shuffled from one foot to the other.
"Yeah. Jasper, come here," the kid looked at his friend and upon hearing his name, Jasper stepped across Henry's bedroom and smiled at Ray's grainy little body. 
Immediately, the hero laughed and clapped his hands in amazement, thinking that for once in his life, the weirdo was actually the coolest of his employees. He was a man who needed to be clean-shaven nearly all of the time and it was always thrilling to witness the power of testosterone pumping through a boy's veins to give him body hair. Definitely thrilling.
"Aw, Captain Man, that's a sweet 'stache! Sweet girl, have you seen Jasper's moustache?! Isn't it great?"
"Are you kidding me?!" Charlotte facepalmed at her boss' reaction, sounding like she had something in her mouth but (y/n) ignored it as she analysed his facial hair and came to the conclusion that yep, that thing right there, that was a moustache. Hair. On his lip. Good stuff. The professor was in the house tonight. 
"Yeah, awesome... Sorry, doofus, I can't lie to you, it's just a moustache. What's so great about it?" 
"Thank you, (y/n/n)! At last, someone has sense!" The woman's confused face put Charlotte at ease for the first time that night. Ever since Jasper had walked through the door and interrupted her and Henry's study session, it had seemed like the entire universe loved it. Henry, Piper, the police, everyone gave it high praise for reasons unknown to her, so it was nice to find a common ally. Ray, however, was unfazed by their unity and still sat happily on the opposite side of the fence.
"Schwoz, I just saw Jasper's 'stache! It's sweet!"
"Raymond, I have ears!" (y/n) winced as her doofus bellowed unnecessarily to the genius across the room, who quickly downed tools to scurry over and see this mythical creature for himself. Henry rolled his eyes at how his boss reacted and at how he didn't hesitate in bringing his sweet girl into a side hug as a subconscious apology, but it was the suddenly very crowded holo-call that took the biscuit.
"You like?" Jasper asked, stroking his upper lip with a smarmy expression.
"Yeah! That is a very manly lip schweater!" Schwoz nodded enthusiastically, the same wonderstruck look on his face as Ray, who was near the point of drooling as if he had his lover stood in front of him wearing his favourite dress on her. Their eyes were fixated, unable to look away as the girls' eyes met through the digital divide and it was like they shared the same thought at the same time.
"Has the whole world gone crazy?"
"Apparently so, yes..." (y/n) wrinkled her nose and shrugged, not at all impressed that her romantic breakfast—lunch—dinner—had been left for something as trivial as a moustache. She was also kicking herself for not getting dressed properly earlier as now that she wasn't being chased around the kitchen by Ray and a handful of pancake batter, the chilly AC of the Man Cave was giving her the shivers. The cotton t-shirt and shorts combo had been a mistake, so had forgoing socks and the mention of sweaters was a cruel tease.
"Crazy for Jasper's 'stache! You're getting a raise, buddy."
"Yes!" For Jasper, winning his boss' approval was a dream come true and it was certain that Ray was deadly serious. But, it wasn't just impressive that he'd forgotten about their love-hate relationship so easily, the way he seemed to sense his fiancé's discomfort was straight-up uncanny. 
Without looking down, it was like he could sense her goosebumps and unashamedly wrapped himself around her in a bear hug; long arms brought warmth to her body as they crossed her chest and the heroine sighed contently at the heat from having him pressed against her. That was better but not for long.
"Look, later on, we can all give some love to Jasper's lip sweater," Henry butted in, sounding a little too serious for (y/n)'s nerves. He was one of the lads, shouldn't he have been acting like a child too? And yet, as ever, Ray didn't pick up on any tenseness, he merely made plans to worship the little patch of fuzz as he'd worshipped his sweet girl that morning because both were a thing of beauty to be revered.
"Can and will!"
"Right now, we got a problem, okay? 'Cause Piper's talking bird found out that I'm Kid Danger, so now, we're hiding it in my closet so it doesn't tell the secret to everybody in Swellview!" The boy blurted out, spilling every last bean to his boss because he'd learned on every past occasion that lying about things like this made everything worse. 
Look, it wasn't his fault, technically, it was Charlotte's. When Piper brought her class parrot home, she'd warned them that it was capable of mimicking sounds, so the girl just had to open her mouth and say the dumbest phrase in the history of dumb phrases, leaving them with a massive problem on their hands. And to think, Ray and (y/n)'s afternoon had been so pleasant.
"You got yourself into quite a pickle, my friend!" Ray chuckled, although he was more nervous than amused. Releasing a sigh, (y/n) massaged her temples and tried to take in as much comfort as she could from the idiot behind her to try and fight the migraine she knew was coming. Accidents would happen but for once, she wanted one day off without some form of disaster falling into her lap, be it professional or personal. Would that be too much to ask?
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, here's what I'm thinking," Henry said, having had time to think long and hard about their plan of action, "all right, I'm going to go to a pet store. I'm gonna find a bird that looks exactly like the one that—"
"Ehhhh, that's stupid," the large man floating above his wrist replied dryly, not even letting him finish because it was that bad. Messing about trying to find an identical bird was dumb and a waste of time, which they didn't have since Piper was already in a tizz over losing her parrot and understandably, it was only a matter of hours until her search party took it into their heads to start sniffing around Henry's room.
"Okay..."
"What you need is a bird clone," Ray suggested instead. He was a strong believer in the idea that science could solve every problem on Earth and even though he didn't understand how it worked, he employed two people who did. Well, he was in love with one of them, but she'd do it as a freebie since she couldn't resist his cute face. For the teens, though, that sounded like madness.
"What?" "Can you two clone a bird?" Ray ignored Henry, looking at Schwoz for a second before nuzzling his nose into (y/n)'s hair and ear, planting a kiss on her cheek just for the hell of it.
"Yah."
"Well, identical cellular reduplication isn't my strong point but in theory—"
"They can clone a bird," Ray confirmed to Henry, not wanting to hear one word of his sweet girl being unsure. It would be fine, he trusted her when it came to smart things and it's not like she'd be doing this alone. If anything, she'd be more like an assistant to Schwoz since biology wasn't her specialist science and whatever the outcome, he'd proud of her anyway, whether they made a monster or a bird.
"What do you need? A feather?"
"Yah."
"Anything containing genetic material, really. But a feather's good," (y/n) nodded, feeling a little uneasy at the idea of her first cloning experiment. There was the unethical side of it, the danger, the possibility of something going wrong, the pressure and the need for perfection to worry about but apart from that, this was a learning opportunity and from the very best, no less. After all, Schwoz had cloned many things over the years, including some things that were better left unspoken about.
"They need a feather," the hero instructed his sidekick, who couldn't that the team was about to do this, but what choice did he have? Face his sister's wrath and risk his identity being revealed? That was off the table, so it had to be a cloning job. He just hoped Schwoz and (y/n) knew what they were doing.
"We can get a feather."
"Great. You bring us a feather, Schwoz and (y/n) clone a new bird, that don't know nothin' from nothin', we kill the old one, swap in the new one, badda-boom, badda-bing, me, my sweet girl, Schwoz and Jasper go to the batting cages," Ray made it sound so easy...and horrible. Everything apart from the killing part was perfect; it wasn't the parrot's fault that it had heard something that shouldn't have been said in the first place, so murdering it was just cruel.
"Yes!"
"No! Raymond, we are not killing the poor bird!" The girl in his arms scolded him, trying to be firm even though she had no idea where the old parrot would go. It was kinda difficult, though, what with her flaming cheeks and everything. 
In her experience, a trip to the batting cages often meant leaving Schwoz, and now the lucky Jasper, to hit baseballs into the night whilst he dragged her off to one of the secluded, shady corners so they could make out like teenagers. It was never about the sport, it was about getting her alone in such a risqué place and pressing her into a wire until she saw stars, so the sooner they cleared this mess, the better. 
Hey, no one ever said she wasn't a teenager too.
"But sweet girl..."
"Yeah, let's not kill the old one," Henry joined her argument, not wanting to hurt Otto the class pet, but it was a big mistake cutting into the longing gaze of a man and his fiancé.
"Potahto, potato, just bring us a feather."
"It's potato, potahto," the boy corrected him, earning himself yet another glare for being pedantic. Ray was a master with words, often getting them muddled in his head, so he didn't appreciate it when he was mocked for getting one tiny detail wrong, especially from a kid who he was trying to help.
"Potahto, potato, potato, patahto, just bring us a feather, you spicy tomato!" He snapped and left it to Schwoz and (y/n) to wave goodbye to the kid as he stomped off to go and pick at his pancake leftovers. They were slightly soggy by now and chilled from the cool air, but still sweet enough to soothe his anger, or maybe it was the way he could stab his fork into them that was therapeutic, who knows? 
Either way, the real stress relief came from the angel who floated over with her learned calmness, being the only thing that could ever truly make him feel better.
"Y'know, one of these days, we're gonna have a day where nothing goes wrong..." (y/n) sighed and sat on the edge of the couch's back, hands resting on his shoulders. They began to massage away the knots that lay beneath his skin, thumbs drawing tight circles in thick muscle and Ray groaned at the pressure. His head lolled back as the pancakes were forgotten again, no doubt those remnants were destined for the incinerator now that she had his full attention and loving gaze.
"One of these days, I might just marry you and we can go live someplace where no one will bother us," he replied softly and her heart squeezed at the sudden turn from her lighthearted joke. He'd never leave Swellview behind, not until he was certain that there was someone to take his place but the notion made her smile all the same. Peace would be a change, but maybe not an unwelcome one.
"Careful, doofus. Offer to elope again and I might just take you up on it."
"We could. Doesn't have to be much, just enough to let me call you my wife," Ray whispered, hand coming up to lay on top of hers on his shoulder so he could feel her engagement ring, present on her finger like always. He knew she wanted a wedding, but god, the thought of finally having someone make it official sounded so damn good. If she was his wife in his heart, what difference did it make? He'd take her either way.
"Sounds nice, but it'll be worth the wait, Ray," (y/n) whispered, swallowing the lump that formed in her throat as she denied him what he sorely wanted. She'd marry him even if it killed her and maybe some part of her wanted to be married so badly that eloping had crossed her mind, only to be shot down. 
They'd regret it in the end, that she was sure of, and whilst she didn't have many fears for the future, regretting marrying the love of her life was one of them. She never wanted him to be sick of the sight of her, so a wedding day it was, even if they still had nothing ten months down the line. "I promise."
Ray said nothing and they went back to an easy silence as they waited for the feather delivery. He'd hold her to that promise but he knew he wouldn't have to. His girl was worth waiting for.
~An hour later~
"Come on, come on, come on, come on, pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up," Henry said under his breath as the annoying drill of his PearPhone's dialling tone rang in his ear. It was safe to say that his situation had gone from bad to worse after Charlotte collected one of Otto's feathers and now, he wasn't just facing his sister's weather but the entire neighbourhood's.
He didn't understand why there was such a big fuss over one bird. Otto was just like any other parrot but there was a police presence in his house, a prayer vigil outside his door, and a man wanting to hunt down the bird with a snake, which would end badly he just knew it, and he started to panic about the mob growing on his porch. Just because they were peaceful now didn't mean they wouldn't lynch him when they found out about how he was the birdnapper, the one they'd been praying for.
So, the kid was desperate for any news from the Man Cave, where Charlotte had scurried off to with the feather once she'd been grilled by the cops and their pathetic sketch artist. Of course, in the hideout, things were progressing quite well, Schwoz and (y/n) were on the ball, cloning away, Ray was sitting on the couch staring dreamily at his sweet girl as she floated around the place and Charlotte was waiting for the moment the cake was out of the oven. So to speak.
"Hey, Henry. What's up?" She answered in a semi-chirpy tone that grated against her friend's sour mood.
"Hey, did Schwoz and (y/n) clone a new Otto yet?" Henry asked, praying that they already had a new bird ready to be substituted in. He couldn't hide in his bedroom forever; eventually, the birdman and his snake would come sniffing (do snakes sniff?), and then, they'd find their prize stashed in his closet. And that would be game over.
"Uh, hang on," Charlotte told him and looked over at her fellow smarties as they poked around with science that was beyond her education, "Are we close?"
"I think so..." "He just needs a couple more minutes," they answered. Honestly, (y/n) wasn't that good at cloning...or anything to do with biology but she saw it this way. Otto's DNA, the stuff they'd pulled from the feather, was like cake batter and all they were doing was shoving it in a very special oven, turning up the heat and waiting for the cake to rise. Any deviation from that plan would ruin the cake...or something to that metaphor.
"They say we're close." "All right, well, tell Schwoz and (y/n) to hurry up because there's a bird-sniffing snake on its way and they're gonna find Otto in my closet and they're gonna hear—" Henry panicked and opened his closet door to reveal the little red bird still sat on its perch, only this time, it didn't say it's favourite phrase, much to everyone's surprise.
"The moon landing was fake!" It said in its helium-like chirp and for a glorious moment, Henry thought their problems were over because hallelujah, it didn't say his biggest secret.
"Hey, wait a second, Otto's stopped saying that—" "Henry is Kid Danger!" Charlotte cringed as she heard the shrill squawk of the parrot, that hadn't learnt to say something new. 
"Dang it!" For a moment there, the boy had thought that Otto could be returned to Piper with no worries because if he didn't say the K-D word, then everything was fine. Or not. He just had to go and spoil it.
"Well, why can't you sneak Otto outta the house before the bird-sniffing snake even gets there?" Charlotte questioned, wondering what was stopping her friend from leaving before he got caught. In the background, she was trying to ignore how her boss was giving her friend goo-goo eyes, turning her back on him so she didn't have to see him blow a kiss only for her to sweetly catch it. If Henry thought he had it bad, she had it worse.
"Because my house is surrounded by people holding up picks of candles on their phones and donating to Piper's GoFundYourself account. I need a new bird!" He snapped in reply and angrily ended the call. His voice was so harsh that it even broke Ray out from his (y/n)-induced haze to make him frown at the racket. What could the kid possibly be worried about that it meant he had to stop staring at his fiancée's pretty face, hips....butt? 
"Henry says you gotta hurry up and clone a new Otto!" Charlotte told the genius and his assistant as she shoved her phone in her back pocket and gave them a firm stare. Ray stood up from the couch and wandered over, seeing that things were starting to get exciting but for all the glares in the world, perfection couldn't be rushed. Did she want the cake to sink if they opened the oven door too quickly? Did she want Otto to be a mutant freak?
"Okay..." Schwoz shared a chuckle with (y/n) before looking at the girl kindly...and rolling his eyes a bit at how Ray leaned over to cup the woman's cheeks for a quick smooch, "Anytime you say hurry up and clone, that's when the mistakes happen."
"But it's safe, right? Like you two've cloned stuff before?" "Well, personally, no, but Schwoz has a lot of experience...and by the way, you need to get some antiseptic on those scratches," (y/n) replied truthfully before commenting on the frankly awful injuries that Charlotte had sustained after fighting Otto for a feather. They looked particularly sore but nothing that wouldn't heal fine without a little care and attention, but it was the clone that Charlotte was bothered about, not the state of her face. It was a good thing that Schwoz had been practising for years, more than anyone was aware of.
"Schwoz?" "Yeah, I've cloned myself—" he said when the girl looked at him, spilling the secret that he promised he would never let loose because he knew that it would piss Ray off. After all, it would piss (y/n) off. Cloning people was unethical and irresponsible in her eyes and once she told her lover that, it would be bye-bye cloning machine for him, so he resolved to keep it quiet so he could have lots of little helpers about the place. "I mean...I, myself, have cloned many things that are not me!"
Looking at him suspiciously, the little man's friend's lined up to stare at him judgementally, (y/n) stepping next to Ray so she could analyse his facial features. She knew a liar when she saw one but how was she supposed to prove that with no proof? Schwoz was very careful with his clones and so, they were never caught. Not yet anyway.
"Schwoz, did you clone yourself?" Ray asked, his arm sliding around his girl's waist as he stared down at his handyman. He was the boss, so he had a right to know what was going on in his Man Cave, right? It was bad enough dealing with one Schwoz, let alone, two or three or five or ten yet he didn't know that those other Schwozs were the reason that so much stuff got done around the place.
"Ummmm, noooo...." "Yeah, see, the way you're saying ummmm, noooo, makes me think you really have cloned yourself," Charlotte told him, seeing straight through that fake innocence and folding her arms. She knew something was going on, she wasn't stupid, but perhaps all three of them were deaf and blind because as they stared down the original, low and behold, a clone Schwoz snuck through the secret door. 
He happily waddled into the main room as he snacked on an apple. Clone Schwoz had no idea what was going on with his boss and friends but Real Schwoz wasn't about to let their secret be revealed. 
"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking too. The long no makes it seem like he's lying, right?" (y/n) looked up at her doofus and then at Charlotte, both of whom agreed that Schwoz was talking out of his ass. However, they were so busy debating whether he was or not, that they didn't see the second genius slope off when urged to by his counterpart, who thanked his lucky stars that they didn't look at him or behind them.
"Oh, totally, sweet girl. The short no is always true. The long no, that means he's lying," Ray pointed out, too wrapped up in the loving gaze of his fiancée and how it made his insides feel warm and fuzzy to notice the sound of the door opening and closing again. Rather, the only thing that was capable of breaking their trance-like staring was the ding of Schwoz's Clone-u-Lator, which he assumed meant something had happened.
"Oh, good! The clone is done! Everyone can move on!" Schwoz exclaimed and rushed to open the door of the machine. Talk about saved by the bell or the ding or the machine, whatever, he was saved. For now...
"Yeah, sure..." (y/n) gave him a pointed look and tucked away a small thought about investigating his lab in her mind. He might have thought he'd gotten away with it, but she'd get him one day and everything would become clear. Y'know, the day they didn't have a mouthy parrot to deal with.
Slowly, Schwoz opened the door on his cloning device and there, sitting on the small perch, was a parrot. And not just any parrot. It had a red and brown plumage, a glossy black beak, beady eyes and every claw on its foot; the perfect clone of the bird Charlotte had left in Henry's closet after wrestling for one of its feathers. She had to give it to the genius, the likeness was uncanny and it was a weight off her shoulders as Otto Two hopped out of the chamber.
"Oh, wow!" "Ooooohhh!" "He looks exactly like Otto!" Ray exclaimed as (y/n) grinned at their handiwork, happy to admit that most of it had been Schwoz just so she could admire him more. As he sat there on Schwoz's wrist, Otto squeaked happily and she would swear that it was the same bird if she didn't know better, so switching them would be fine and Piper would never know the difference.
"Yah, that's the point, schweetheart," Schwoz replied to Ray sarcastically and the man's face fell into a grumpy frown. There was only one person who was allowed to call him that and she never used such a bitter tone. Stupid clever people and their smugness.
"Hey, it's exactly the same in every way?" Charlotte asked, wanting to make sure that there was no stray feather or distinction that would make Piper smell a rat. She loved that bird and so did the rest of her class, so there couldn't be anything wrong.
"Mmm, pretty much. It just hasn't learned to say Henry is Kid Danger," Schwoz said, pointing out the key difference that was sure to save them. But, as per the universe's unfair way, the moment he said that forbidden phrase, Otto Two learned what they'd been trying to avoid. He should've kept his mouth shut, what did he think would happen?
"Henry is Kid Danger! Henry is Kid Danger!" Otto Two squawked and the four felt their stomachs drop. As Ray, Charlotte and (y/n) glared at him, Schwoz's gaze dropped to the floor as his cheeks flamed red, embarrassed that he'd said something so stupid when they didn't have much time and now, their saviour was their new executor. Not such a genius, after all.
"Nice going, schweetheart...." Ray quipped dryly and gave his handyman and cold look as he sheepishly handed the bird over to (y/n) for her to hold. He'd have to start again, that bird was now tainted with that phrase and wouldn't unlearn it, so they'd just have to keep baking until they got it right, which would be fun and easy and stress-free.
"Well, what are we supposed to do with this one?—All right, we get it, feathers," (y/n) asked as Schwoz quickly thumbed a few buttons and slammed the door shut on the cloning device, smiling at her nervously as the parrot bobbed its head and said Henry is Kid Danger, Henry is Kid Danger a million more times. She wasn't one for birds, rabbits, yes, dogs, definitely, but not parrots, they flapped and squawked and were so damn annoying, especially the talking ones, so what were they supposed to do with the spare? 
Releasing it was one idea, but that would mean Otto Two would blab his beak all over town and every Henry in the land would be hunted down. One of these days, she'd swing for Schwoz.
"Pluck it, roast it, stick it in a pot pie!" Ray smiled at her and began sizing the creature up for his dinner, which earned him a few mortified looks from his sweet girl and friends. Parrot pot pie? They weren't even sure if that was legal and more to the point, why would he want to eat the poor thing? The wasn't even enough meat on him for a full meal and everyone knows that Ray always ordered enough for two, just in case he could share with his dearest fiancée.
"Raymond! We are not eating Otto!...Or his little Ottolets!"  "But baby—" "No buts! Someone call Henry, see what's happening with him and that snake man," (y/n) put her finger on Ray's lips to silence him before looking at Charlotte, who nodded wordlessly and began scrolling through her phone. The boy was probably getting worried since they'd said they'd be over any minute, fifteen minutes ago. It wasn't their fault that Otto Two had gone wrong, it was Schwoz's, so due to that technical hitch, they had to start again and in the hurry, they'd forgotten to broadcast that update. Oops. 
Charlotte paced impatiently as her phone tried to connect to Henry's and in the meantime, Ray pecked at the finer on his lips, moving down to her engagement ring, her palm and then, on the pulse point of her wrist. (y/n) was giving him a faux-annoyed look as she tried to juggle the bird and his advances, but that morphed into a smile when he leaned down for a proper kiss. Looking at them through his eyelashes, Schwoz scoffed and watched his invention impatiently, wishing it could go faster without ruining the process. 
"Henry! Hey, we—" the girl exclaimed when she finally got through to her friend and in her haste, she didn't give him a chance to say hello. But Henry was quick to speak first because, in the brief time since their last con-flab, shit had hit the fan at his house.
"Hey, what the holdup?! The bird-sniffing snake is here!" He asked impatiently, worry coating his every word. The man who'd brought the snake was thankfully a massive gunch and as such, was too busy showing off and hyping the crowd to get straight down to business, so nothing had happened. Yet. That snake was practically begging to be let out and Piper was getting antsy and shouty and dear god, his nerve was beginning to slip from the stress it was under.
"Yeah, we had a little problem with the first clone—" Charlotte told him nervously and tried to mask that to no success. She wasn't inspiring much confidence in the boy, but just as she started speaking, the oven went ding, indicating that Otto Three was ready to go. Maybe this time, they'd have more success. "But the new-new clone is done and we're leaving right now."
"Right, no one say the word and we'll just back away to the elevator slowly..." (y/n) said quietly, pretending to put her hand over Otto Two's ears so he couldn't hear the plan and possibly spoil it. They all nodded solemnly and Schwoz carefully opened the machine to reveal yet another perfect Otto, one that hadn't been corrupted yet.
"Wait, wait...what was the problem with the first clone?" Henry asked as the party carried on outside his front door. He couldn't help it if he was curious and neither could Charlotte help it if she wanted to be honest. A little too honest, which led to being forgetful and loose-lipped.
"Schwoz said, Henry is Kid Danger, in front of it and—" "Henry is Kid Danger! Henry is Kid Danger! Henry is Kid Danger!" she explained, thinking nothing of her mistake until it was too late. Otto Three hadn't even made it out of the box when he started chirping her exact words, which were very attractive for a copycat parrot. As with Schwoz, she suddenly felt very stupid and knew that her ears and cheeks were growing warm as her friends' eyes twitched and their faces fell. 
"Oh, come on! I literally said don't say it!" (y/n) cried in frustration and her hands raised to pull her hair as Otto Two flapped off to join his twin in their annoying symphony. Now that one was saying it, the other couldn't resist and it was certain that what should've been simple was gonna take a while.
"We'll call you back," Charlotte said to Henry with a sigh and much to the boy's reluctance and maybe fear, the call was ended. Come on, he was on the verge of being hung, drawn and quartered, what were they playing at? It's not like cloning a parrot is difficult.
~Half an hour later~
So he thought. Henry was beside himself at the house as he waited for his dumb boss and dumb friends to get to his dumb self but as the seconds ticked by, he was starting to lose hope. He had no idea what was keeping them and it was starting to look like he'd just have to be murdered by the prayer vigil because help wasn't coming from the Man Cave.
By Otto Number Five, even Ray, (y/n), Charlotte and Schwoz were losing patience. Every time a bird had come out, that which must not be said was spoken and they had to start all over again. It was annoying but manageable when it was their fault, like when the heroine said it when she thought Otto Four was still cooking but when the birds themselves started squawking it like everything was one big game, things were starting to become unbearable. 
As they waited for Otto Six, they were praying that they all stayed silent. It was quite a collection now, all five were lined up on the computer monitors, looking down on the scene as if they were waiting to say something to piss the humans off, and of course, they chose their moment when their new friend—brother—self dinged to be done.
Absolute silence. With their fingers on their lips, the group held their breath as Schwoz opened the door, wanting Otto Six to not hear anything to do with Captain Man or Kid Danger or Miss Danger, so it was easier to just say nothing, apart from the odd parrot squeak. The door inched open and there he was, as perfect as the other five, totally pristine and innocent as he was lifted out, onto Ray's hand and into a new world where nothing could go wrong and no one could teach him anything because no one was saying wor—
"Henry is Kid Danger!" Otto Two or maybe it was Four chirped as they snuck towards the elevator and with panic flashing on their faces, the four ran to the elevator, (y/n) almost pushing Ray over in their mad dash. Perhaps if they got him in there quick enough, he wouldn't hear what his predecessors were saying and it would all be okay...
"Henry is Kid Danger!" Too late. The elevator door didn't open quick enough and as Ray rapidly tapped the button, Six opened his beak and let loose the four most annoying words in the human-bird language. Above the repeated Henry this, Henry that, some several shouts and groans bordered agony as they turned on their heels to reset the cloning device for the seventh time and for the man-child of the Man Cave, it was difficult to stay calm.
"Shut up! Shut up all of you! Why?! Whhhhyyyy?!" Ray glared at the parrots and squashed the urge to launch the one that sat on his fingers at them. His sweet girl would never forgive him if he did that and besides, he had her shoulder to sob into angrily as she came to hug away the pain, mumbling something about calming down, being better than a temper tantrum and plucking, roasting and Potpie-ing them later.
~
"Hurry up, Schwoz! Henry is freaking out!!" Charlotte exclaimed as Schwoz muddled through their seventh attempt at cloning Otto. She didn't want to rush the genius or his experiment since (y/n) had told her that shit goes wrong when you try to botch science, but for once, she was rushing. 
Halfway through the baking process, she'd received an incoming flurry of texts from her friend ranging from asking where they were to ones of a more dramatic nature. Namely, that Henry thought he was gonna die or something to that effect, which meant that it was imperative that this time, they got it right and quick, but Schwoz wasn't a man to be hurried, not when said hurrying could have disastrous results.
I told you! When you hurry the cloning process, that's when you get a lot of problems!" He tried to tell her but for Ray, excuses were pathetic because Captain Man and Miss Danger had a date with returning a lost bird to a little girl and they couldn't do that if they had no bird. 
"We are out of time! Just give me something, anything that looks like a bird!"  "Yeah, Schwoz, I know it's a bad idea, but just give us a bird!" The couple hissed, feeling itchy to get moving as they were already so late and on the verge of Henry having a heart attack or never forgiving them or both. She was the semi-scientist, she knew the risks but even so, she was willing to cut a few corners if it meant they could leave sooner. After all, it couldn't be that bad, right? 
"Fine!" Not wanting to be badgered anymore, the genius shrugged his shoulders and stopped the timer early, bringing forth the ding a good five minutes early. "He's not ready yet but here's your bird!" Schwoz glared and opened the door, knowing exactly what they were gonna face but he wanted to prove to them that he didn't make this science stuff up. Bad things genuinely did happen when you ignored Schwozie.
"Oh!" "Argh!" "Sweet cheese!" As the door opened, the unsuspecting trio were expecting to see a slightly ruffled Otto Seven, maybe with a funny eye or something like that, but oh no. Dear, sweet lord, no. (y/n) jumped back into Ray's arms and they clung to each other for dear life, much like the thing in the machine was as it trembled on the little perch.
In the box, was a mutant freak; the parrot had very few feathers left, kinda like he'd been shaved, and he was hunched over with scabby skin and a funny, crazed look to him that made them feel so sorry for whatever chromosomes and genes he was missing. Otto Seven was half the Otto the other six were and (y/n) and Charlotte felt like monsters for opening the door too early, but Ray...he didn't see that big a problem.
"Eh, I can sell it," he shrugged, angling the parrot between his hands and deciding that yeah, he looked horrible but at the end of the day, that was still a bird and the beloved Captain Man could tell the people anything and they'd believe him. After all, he had done them a favour by saving what was left of him, surely a scabby Otto was better than no Otto at all. "Come on, sweet girl..."
"But—but—the—doofus—we—huh?" (y/n) stammered as he took the bird and her hand, guiding her towards the elevator as she failed to articulate what she wanted to say. What did she want to say? The bird? Him? Her? Piper? She honestly didn't know what was happening as Charlotte scurried behind them without hesitation. She wasn't going to miss this for the world, the big moment when Captain Man handed Miss Piper Hart half the bird she originally took home, would be a tragedy to behold. 
But not half the tragedy of Henry getting his head ripped off if they handed over nothing more than Miss Danger's wobbly apologies.
~Henry's house~
It was all going at the kid's place.
Piper was sitting on an upside-down bucket as she watched the snake guy wow the crowd by swinging his bag about, enjoying how their voices went low and high whenever the big and its dangerous contents did. He'd been doing that for ages, goaded by Henry and Jasper since they were trying to drag it out for all of its worth since Charlotte had said that they were coming at some point. He was a massive show-off, though, so it wasn't hard to make him lose track of time with a few praises and Piper's well-wishers were actually just sheep with too much time on their hands so they'd do anything as per the pack mentality.
But Piper, well, she was starting to get pissed off as the rock music played on and as she looked around at her supporters, she couldn't believe that they'd been hanging about for so long. Anything could've happened to Otto in the time they'd been doing nothing, which meant change was in order.
"Okay, okay, stop, stop!" She shouted above the noise and the cheering and music ceased, much to everyone's disappointment and Henry's slight terror. "
"What's the problem?" "The problem is that you've been showboating for ten minutes. Are you gonna let the snake out so it can find Otto or not?" Piper asked the man sternly, who looked a little ashamed at her observations. He felt a bit bad that he'd gotten so carried away and Henry shuffled on his feet as he realised that his sister's insisting meant that his time for stalling was up.
"Yes, I will let it out..." the boy held his breath as the man looked solemnly at his shoes, but all hope was lost, "...after the conga line!!!!"
"YEAH!" To his massive relief, a stroke of luck fell thanks to the man's childishness and lack of professionalism, so Henry thanked his lucky stars and got in the queue for the conga. If it meant that the snake stayed in the bag, then he'd do some dancing, no matter how red-faced and annoyed Piper was getting because he'd been on the verge of a heart attack all day. The least he could do was try to relax as he steered the madman around the porch to keep his mind off of his snake.
"No! No conga lines! Use your stupid snake to find Otto! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" The girl screamed into nothingness, her voice drowned out by the cheers from the crowd and the upbeat music to the point where her vocal cords were sore. It was tough seeing her so frustrated and on the verge of tears but Henry had to stay strong for his own sake...but not for long because here came an even bigger showboat.
"All right, people, heroes comin' through! Make a hole, make it wide! That's right, let the lady through!" Ray announced, suddenly appearing from the darkness like a vision in blue and red with (y/n) shyly leading the way since he was a firm believer in sweet ladies first. 
Now, Henry had never felt this before in his life and he doubted that he ever would again—but dear god, he'd never been happier to hear that bigheaded voice. Just like he'd never been happier to see the lovey-dovey couple still holding hands even as he was preoccupied with what he assumed was Otto in that shrouded cage. He could deal with the cockiness, he could deal with the mushiness, he was just so glad that they'd made it at long last and just before the snake guy ran out of things to show off about.
"Oh, look! It's Captain Man and Miss Danger!" "And they've got the real Otto!" Henry and Jasper exclaimed in stale tones, sounding rehearsed and stupid to boot but no one paid attention as the hero set the bird cage down on the bucket that Piper had been sitting on. No one even noticed how Charlotte snuck into the group at suspiciously the same time as the heroes, almost as if she'd been with them, had anyone bothered to think about it like that.
"Did you find Otto?" Piper asked the heroes with wide, bright eyes that were filled with hope and wonder. Oh, how it would break their superhero hearts when they showed her what had befallen the seventh copy of her beloved class pet. Still, Ray could sell it just as he'd promised because he was a very smooth, charming talker and who could resist Miss Danger's winning smile? Not him, that's for certain.
"Uh-huh, sure did, little girl... He-Here ya go!" (y/n) tried to keep her face pleasant and her voice steady but it was kinda hard what with Piper staring straight at her. Ray's hand squeezed hers tighter as his other whipped away the white sheet that had been covering Otto's grotesque new features and honestly, the reaction of the crowd could've killed her right there. Henry and Jasper were looking at the couple and Charlotte with horrified expressions as they gave the tiniest shrugs and subtlest apologetic looks, but no one was more distraught than Piper as she took him in.
He looked like a half-dead chicken.
"W-what happened to him? It looks like he's been microwaved or something," She asked, not knowing where to look, whether that be his wings that seemed to grow from his backbone or his hoarse, jingling croak.
"Oh, well, y'know...the sickos that bird-napped him did not treat him very well," Ray lied, swapping a knowing look with his sweet girl and Charlotte as the crowd cooed in sympathy. They thought that the poor thing had been hounded and mauled by some cruel psycho but the reality was that they were the ones who were sick, they'd half-baked the cake so it was crusty on the outside but gooey and gross in the middle. Oh well, a sob story always worked in the animal's favour, maybe he'd make Swellview's Got Talent if they milked it.
"But when Miss Danger and I found those people, we beat 'em up!" The hero lied further, earning himself an eye roll from his fiancée that was mimicked by Charlotte because she knew exactly what was going through the man's mind. Oooh, Miss Danger fighting, oooh, she's so hot, ooooh, the people love him. He was loving it, punching and kicking the air as if he really had taken down some bad guys, but at least the crowd bought it. 
"I mean, yeah...we really did a number on 'em! Real bad..." "Otto's back, people!" (y/n)'s lack of convincing enthusiasm was supported by Ray's talent for working a crowd and he happily gave her a side hug as Piper led the crowd in chanting the name of the brave parrot who'd been to hell and back, only to fight beak and claw to return to his mistress. Well, if they were happy then so were they, even if it was a shallow victory.
"Otto! Otto! Otto! Otto! Otto! Otto!" "Captain Man! Captain Man! Captain Man!" And being the bigheaded that he was, Ray couldn't help but slip his own name in there until the kids and various adults were shouting it instead. Piper was a bit confused and the teens thought it was massively cocky of their boss but as always, the Swellviewian crowd just followed the leader and Captain Man was good at that.
"Captain Man! Captain Man! Captain Man! Captain Man!" "There you go..." Well, at least he was happy about it.
"You're a massive ego, you know that?" (y/n) said as she looked up at him with a bemused smile, admiring how he was able to make them do whatever he said so easily. It was conceited of him but she could never do what he did, the leading, the being confident enough to step in and command the crowd to do what you wanted them to do. She was rubbish at that and would never dream of willingly stepping into the centre of attention like that, so it was awe-inspiring that he not only could but enjoyed doing it. Not that she'd ever play to his ego like that.
"You love it." "Oh, yeah, keep telling yourself that," she giggled and squeezed her eyes shut when he pressed a firm kiss to her cheek as she was pulled into his embrace even tighter. Charlotte dared to look to her right a little and pulled a face when she saw her friend squeal and laugh at how many butterfly kisses were being left on her cheeks by the man who was revelling in his two loves; the adoration of the crowd and his greatest love of all. Her.
"Told you I'd sell it," he muttered against the softness of her cheek and for once in her life, (y/n) had to pander to his ego. That was true, he'd done a good job, which even Charlotte had to hand to him, even if she was gagging at the same time. A look over his shoulder to Henry and Jasper and Ray was smirking even more because they gave him a nod and thumbs up. He was smug, right up until the point when their admiration turned into smirks of their own as they made smoochy faces and swirled their tongues in the cool night air.
It was Captain Man's turn to be embarrassed.
~The Man Cave~
After Ray was done throttling them and rubbing his knuckles against their heads, (y/n) had dragged the boys and Charlotte back to the Man Cave, saying something about wanting to get out of her uniform since today had been meant to be a day off of sorts. 
So, back in their home and with the family crowded in one place, the man of The Cave had proclaimed that for the rest of the night, up until the inevitable first emergency call of the evening, they were gonna sit around the TV, watch bad shows or movies and not move an inch. 
So, as the computer's monitors kept an eye on the shadiest parts of town, the TV played whatever was on air and they sat around it. Jasper was relaxing at the computer whilst Schwoz, Henry, Charlotte and of course, Ray and (y/n) were sat/snuggled on the couch in what should have been an idyllic scene. And for once in their lives, the happy couple were joined at the hip but not in paradise, not even when she raked her lips from his cheek to his jaw because there were several guests currently outstaying their welcome.
Those fucking parrots. All seven of them. The original Otto had been brought back to the Man Cave, lest he b left at Henry's house to be discovered, bringing that total of irritating little chatterboxes to seven and they would not shut up. It was impossible to relax fully or enjoy what was happening on the screen because nothing could be heard except for—
"Henry is Kid Danger!" "Henry is Kid Danger!" "Henry is Kid Danger!" "Henry is Kid Danger!" "Henry is Kid Danger!" It was infuriating. They were sat on top of the monitors still and Ray could swear that they were gloating at everyone's suffering, especially his, as he tried to get cosy with his sweet girl, possibly snake a hand where it shouldn't have been but it was hard to be cheeky when every little thing annoyed her to the point of pushing him away. He wasn't hurt, not like you'd expect because he got it. The headache was very real and even he found himself not in the mood as the chirps and squawks continued until it wasn't funny anymore.
Some might say it was comical that they were in that situation but by the half-hour mark of listening to nothing but "Henry is Kid Danger!", it was getting difficult to hold it together.
"The birds are too loud, I can't hear the judges!" Henry whined as he leaned in closer to the set, hoping to catch what the people on the cooking show were saying. This was one of his favourite shows, on the count that they all had cute and hilarious British voices, it would've been nice to hear one line when the judges critiqued something bad.
"Or their funny accents!" Schwoz complained too, which was a touch of the pot calling the kettle black but he had a point. The birds were so annoying, so much that Charlotte was starting to sense the tension between the miserable couple next to her.
"Jasper, will you turn up the volume?" She asked politely, getting the feeling that if her boss got any more frustrated, he'd punch the wall...or Schwoz's head. And it wasn't like (y/n) was gonna do anything; she was currently slumped against the couch table, her face smushed into her arms as she tried to block out the infernal noise and all Ray could do was sling an arm over her back and pathetically paw at her for attention that she wasn't going to give him whilst her head hurt so much.
"Good idea—" "I got a better idea. Let's turn the volume down on the birds!... Permanently," The hero growled, his patience wearing so thin that it was now nothing more than a smear and he had the self-control of a toddler anyway. He wanted to hold his sweet girl and kiss her and hear her whisper naughty things and stupid jokes in his ear but most of all, he wanted her to feel better again. To see her look and smile at him again. 
So, in his head, it made sense to sneak his laser control from his pocket and raise his arm to fire at those damned parrots. One hit and they'd be nothing more than ash on the floor and his lover would be content to snuggle with him again. After all, what kind of protector was he if he couldn't commit a little bird genocide for her comfort?
"What are you talking about, doo—oh my god, Raymond! No!" (y/n) raised her eye with bleary eyes and peered at her lover in confusion as his arm left her back and took its warmth with it. It was only when she looked along to the connecting hand and what was in that hand that her brain suddenly stopped hurting and flipped into action, quick enough to lift his arm and skewer his aim, but not quick enough to stop the firing full stop. Rather, Ray's thumb hit the button and an orange zap left the controller but it didn't hit an Otto, oh no.
"Ah!" Jasper yelped as he felt a burning sting on his lip like a bullet had grazed his mouth, and he looked up at his friends to see their shocked faces but most importantly, Ray's guilty mug as they started pointing fingers.
"Are you okay?!" "You zapped Jasper's face!"
"That was (y/n)'s fault!" "I was saving that damn parrot's life!" "Y-yeah, she's too sweet to be blamed! It was Charlotte's fault, she wanted the TV to be turned up!" When Charlotte looked at (y/n) with an accusing glare, the woman recoiled and frowned because she had merely been trying to do the right thing, not join a game of tattletales. But of course, as always, Ray valiantly jumped to her defence and practically hunched over his lover to bare his teeth at Charlotte for her outrageous suggestion.
"You shot off my moustache!" Jasper yelled at the horrified trio and whilst they weren't big fans of it in the first place, Charlotte and (y/n) felt just as bad as Ray as they saw his bald, slightly sore but definitely red upper lip. Despite having it for less than a week, the teen had grown quite attached to his lip sweater and was fuming to know that it had been lost for something so trivial, like losing a soldier because of a general's poor order.
"Noooooooo!" Henry screamed, his face contorting in pain and anguish as if he was the one in mourning. His best friend had looked so cool, cooler than anything to anyone he'd ever seen, so to see it shaved off was devastating.
"It was an accident! (y/n) hit my zapper!" Ray squeaked and fluttered his eyes innocently, which caused his sweet girl to look at him with mutiny in her eyes. Oh, why didn't he stab her in the heart whilst he was at it? One mean look from Jasper and his shaved whiskers and he was whimpering, leaving her to the dogs to be torn apart and she would be offended if she didn't know that in serious circumstances, he'd never betray her like that.
"What were you thinking?!" "I was trying to save the birds! Which, by the way, are now quiet, thanks to me!" The woman snapped at Henry and then glared at her future husband, both of whom seemed more upset than Jasper at the loss of the moustache. But she was right; since the laser had fired, the birds hadn't made a peep, probably because they were scared shitless by the hulking hero and the silence was bliss.
"Yeah! At least the birds shut up!" Charlotte told her friend, nudging his arm to get him to back off so they could enjoy the quiet and hopefully, the couple next to her would mellow out. (y/n) huffed and flopped back into the couch, ignoring her heart's desire to latch onto the bicep brushing against her arm and hug it for the rest of her life. The fuchsia shirt he was wearing made them bulge and seem extra huge, perfect for snuggling or holding onto when he dragged her off to f—or not. She was sulking, feeling moody after being sold out so his buddy wouldn't get mad over a moustache. 
"At least the birds shut up." Spoke too soon. It must've been something about her voice because the Ottos picked up on the phrase the minute she said it and this time, it was even more annoying. Not because they'd been quiet, although that did grate, but because now it felt like they were being deliberately annoying, mocking even, because they had the power to toy with the pathetic humans who were too soft to do anything against them.
"At least the birds shut up." "At least the birds shut up." "At least the birds shut up." "At least the birds shut up." 
"Ray?" (y/n) murmured darkly to her fiancé, swallowing thickly as her head began pounding again, souring her mood even further. Those little bastards with wings, she wanted to step on every one of them because they were ruining the last scrap of her day off and that just wasn't on.
"Yeah, sweet girl?" Ray acknowledged her in a tight voice, feeling a similar dull pain set in between his temples, meaning any hopes he had of laughing away the tension for his "betrayal" were dashed because neither of them was in the mood for fun.
"Let's make some parrot pot pie." She growled, not even caring about how morbid her idea was and of course, Ray was at the end of her rope just as she was. And obviously, he would do anything for her, so when he began shooting again, it was up to Charlotte to try and keep those damn birds alive again.
In the chaos, as a small girl tried to fend off a man twice her size, as an odd boy stroked his stubbled lip, as a lanky kid walked off, as a genius ducked for cover and as seven birds chirped to their heart's content, (y/n) let her forehead touch the cool table and plugged her ears with her fingers as her eyes slid shut. The world was blocked out like there was an ocean in her head, and at last, there was peace in the Man Cave.
Sort of.
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fanficbarbie · 3 months
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❝the thunder❞
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A/N: thank you to everyone for sticking beside me and my foolishness this past month. i just had to see it through. I've had this idea for a while of a tandem read with two of my fics so here you are. This fic starts 4 months before all-american bitch and there will be crossover chapters and characters once they're on the same timeline. this also isn’t edited so ignore any mistakes. enjoy ★ ˙ᵕ˙ liv
Chapter Summary: welcome to new york.
Chapter Warnings: sexual assault & r@pe (mentioned), revenge porn (mentioned), language, alcohol and drugs (there's a party), symptoms of anxiety, depression, and body dysmorphia.
Key Tags: frat boy harry styles, fratrry x college f!oc, harry styles x f!oc, frat boy x sorority girl, fake dating, revenge, fish out of water - f!oc, ugly duckling - f!oc, golden retriever x black cat, instalove, fluff, flirting, angst, friendship, eventual established relationship, eventual smut, original character, no y/n.
.𖥔 ݁ ˖  series masterlist, harry masterlist ⋆ Spotify Playlist. ˖ ݁ 𖥔.
⋆ word count: 6.5k ⋆
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“Are you sure you don’t want to stay at the penthouse?” my mother murmurs disappointingly as our butler, Joseph, fluffs the pillows on top of my new mattress for the next 10 months.
I shake my head before putting my hand on Joseph’s arm. His kneading halts and takes his leave. “No, Mom,” I repeat. This woman has been trying to get me to live at home with her since I accepted my offer. “I need to have the full college experience,” I remind her.
She sighs and the click of her heels fills the room as she walks over to me. “You can have the college experience down the hall where we can keep an eye on you,” she pleads with puppy dog eyes.
“Exactly,” I tell her with a smirk. How am I going to get into shit if my parents are within earshot? After all, that’s why I’m moving away. They didn’t get me the justice I deserved originally. “This is my first taste of freedom. Aren’t you guys glad that I live 10 minutes away instead of jaunting around the country?” I bring up the fate of my best friend, two years my senior.
My mother licks her scarlet-painted lips. “I still don’t know how she does it,” she sighs as if it’s displeasing to her.
Just when I’m about to scold my mom for judging Libby, I feel my back pocket vibrating. “Speaking of the devil,” I hold my phone towards my mom, displaying her contact poster on the screen. “You can go, mom. I just need to get acclimated, alone,” I gesture to my perfectly decorated room.
My mother made sure to get the keys days before moving in, only allowing me to pay the deposit when the room was renovated to her liking. I wouldn’t be surprised if she brought a whole inspector crew in here before I even saw the building.
She bites her lip and I pray she doesn’t start crying. “Okay. Don’t be afraid to come home if it doesn’t work out, Rowan,” my mother gently reminds me before pulling me in for a hug.
I allow her to squeeze me before she pulls back, fixing my tossed hair. Although my casual appearance today sends my mother up the wall, she’s grateful that my hair is at least brushed. “Got it,” I tell her, not having the strength to argue this topic once more.
I press the green accept button on my screen, waving to my mom as she exits into the bustling hallway. “Hey,” I answer.
“Hey, freshman. How are things?” Libby pokes at me. If it weren’t for her mother’s campaign, she’d be on campus with me. But she’s taking online classes while making her daily TV appearances.
Now that I think about it, it’s been months since I walked past a newsstand without Libby on the cover of a magazine. “Oh, fuck off. You’re only two years older than me,” I quip.
Libby cackles before adding, “And wise beyond my years. How’s room two?”
Room two is the biggest double on each floor and the bathroom doesn’t have to be shared with another room. I pace around the spacious space, before responding, “Perfect, thanks for suggesting it.”
The room is covered in lavender with a fluffy duvet and decorations that are far too girly for my liking. Not a singular band poster transferred over from my room at home, so although the space is cute, it lacks my personality. 
“Of course, it’s the least I could do after…” she trails off and I’m assuming she doesn’t want to bring up my past. Even she wants to remind me that I shouldn’t have gone without her.
I feel frozen, teetering a fine line of retraumatization. I take a deep breath before changing the subject. “Anyways. How’s the campaign?” I ask.
“It’s fine. Mom’s working me to death, for free of course. But hey, if she loses I’ll be right back at Columbia with you by November 6th,” She jokes and I feel bad for wishing that was her outcome.
This would just be so much easier with her. “Dear god, please. I don’t know how I’m going to go through with this,” I confess, feeling anxiety brew in my stomach.
“We talked about this, you have a plan. Just stick to it,” Libby reminds me.
She’s right, Rowan. Step 1. Join a sorority, Step 2. Become president of the sorority and a part of the “Machine,” Step 3. Ruin each and every one of their lives.
Libby clears her throat, snapping me back into reality. “Have you met your roommate yet?” she asks.
“Oh my gosh. Hi!” I hear someone chirply squeal behind me as if she spoke them into existence.
My body quickly turns to face the mystery voice and I mentally prepare myself for a long year ahead. I’m met with a pearly white smile, straight blonde hair, and blue eyes. She looks like a perfect Barbie, and I feel a pang of jealousy in my stomach.
Her front collides with mine, and she wraps her arms around my body. “Hey, Libby. I’ll call you later,” I grumble into the receiver before I hear my best friend end the call.
The stranger drops me like a hot pocket. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. Where are my manners?” she rhetorically asks, extending her hand for me to shake. “Audrey Koch,” she chirpily introduces herself.
At the mention of that name, my mouth twists. The Kochs are a wealthy republican family and have nearly the same values as mine. But since I don’t follow my family’s political views, I hope she doesn’t as well.
I lock my hands with hers, shaking it lightly to not break the goodie two shoes. “Rowan Bouvier,” I politely return the greeting.
Her eyes snap down to my hand, twisting it around. The black ink almost glows on my skin. “Cool tattoo,” she compliments the large snake.
“Thanks,” I blush before pulling my hand back. I don’t want to get off on the wrong foot with this girl. I’ve only known her for two seconds and we still have 9 months together. “Koch as in The Koch Brothers?” I lightly dig.
She smiles and nods quickly. “Yeah, they’re my great grandparents,” she bashfully admits. “But don’t worry. I use everyone as my personal paypigs,” she states nonchalantly.
My head tilts listening to her rant as she pauses to take a deep breath. “I only talk to my cousins. They’re the only ones who aren’t racist,” she defends herself. Oh, thank god she has a brain.
I peer behind her at the residential aides pushing 4 carts full of belongings into the room. We’re only permitted one, but she doesn’t seem like the person to be told no. “Well, do you need any help unpacking?” I offer.
She turns around, looking at the heap of her belongings before waving them off. “Later. I heard there’s a party tonight and I have nothing to wear. Let’s go shopping,” She suggests, bouncing over to her white Hermes Birkin.
She plucks it off the top of the pile, before turning to face me. “Coming?” she asks, looking up and down at me frozen in place.
My gaze drifts down to my fishnet tights and a tattered band tee. “Umm, maybe I should change first,” I think out loud.
“No way. You look great!” She compliments, dramatically holding her arms open.
Scarlet creeps onto my cheeks and I nod, grabbing my purse. A party is arguably step one since I need to get intel and this girl seems like she’d dress me in the perfect sorority image. “Shopping it is,” I conceded.
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“What’s your favorite color?” Audrey asks as we shift through a clothing rack.
My brown eyes meet her ice-blue ones and I respond, “Purple. Yours?” before returning to the array of textured fabric.
“Pink! That’s so great. Every pink friend needs a purple best friend,” she beams and I smile. I feel like I’ve known Audrey my whole life and it’s only been an hour. Her personality draws you in like a magnet and you never want to leave her side.
I’m about to pull a dress from the rack when I remember, I don’t know what I’m shopping for. I haven’t been to a party since the incident, not that I could bring myself to go if I wanted to. I’m pretty sure the only way I’m able to go tonight is because Audrey will be with me.
I groan, releasing the metal hanger. “This is useless. I haven’t been to a party since high school. I don’t even know what to wear,” I complain over the rack to Audrey.
The corners of Audrey’s lips twitch and she leans forward slightly. “Do you want my help?” she asks excitedly and I know I’ve woken a demon.
I nod and within seconds, she’s on my side with an arm full of clothes. She begins rapidly holding things up toward my torso and I wonder if she’s utilizing her fashion expertise. She should be a business major or a fashion designer the way she’s quickly categorizing what she’d like me to try on.
After she’s got a pile of garments for me, she starts putting the discards back in their place. As I watch her, I decide to ask her, “Hey, Aud. What are you studying?”
“Poli sci. What about you?” She returns as she walks back over to me. Her blonde hair cascades perfectly down her back and I admire this woman on a mission with a bow in her head.
Political science makes sense considering her family’s background. It’s practically in her DNA. “Bio,” I tell her. My eyebrow raises as I watch her begin to grab some of the clothes from the pile. “Please tell me you’re trying something on too,” I hint.
I take some items from her hand, lightening the load. “Of course, I am. I just want to put your stuff down first,” she snickers before turning towards the dressing rooms.
We pick the biggest room, hanging my stuff on the wall hooks. “Be right back,” Audrey says, pulling the curtain closed behind her.
My body turns to face the mirror slowly and I realize I haven’t seen myself since this morning. My appearance is fine, but I have been avoidant of mirrors for a while. The sight of myself has my stomach gurgling and an unpleasant feeling washing through my bones.
My feet carry me backward, away from the staring contest with the monster in my reflection. I reach down and pull my shirt over my body before quickly peeling off my tights until I’m left standing in my underwear.
The first outfit is on my body before Audrey comes back, but I’m met with instant disapproval. “I don’t like that one. Next,” she commands, pointing towards another outfit.
I follow her lead and she joins me, trying on her first outfit. The pink dress she’s picked has ruffles and it screams Audrey, but it’s a bit too dressy for the occasion. “What do you think?” she asks, striking a pose.
Stepping into the mini skirt, I pull it over my thick thighs. “I haven’t been to one of these in a while but would you be mad if someone spilled beer on that?” I ask.
Her lips purse and she nods, reaching for the spaghetti straps. “Yes,” she answers while shedding it.
Once I have the next set on, I slowly spin with my arms out for Audrey. “Am I pretty yet?” I half-joke.
Audrey takes a shirt off the hanger, preparing to try it on. “You’re always gorgeous, but that outfit doesn’t scream hot party freshman,” she observes.
My head falls back and I let a groan slip through my throat. “Audrey, I’m trying to scream hot sorority girl, not hot party freshman,” I cry.
Audrey’s jaw drops and she gasps, “Oh my god, you’re rushing?”
Audrey’s completely frozen in place and she looks like she’s processing the information. “Yes,” I deadpan.
Audrey giggles before resuming her movements. “I’m sorry, you just don’t seem like the type,” she apologizes.
My whole body suddenly feels heavy recalling the reasoning behind joining a sorority. I succumb to the feeling, collapsing onto the velvet green bench.  “Yeah, it’s not for the reason you think,” I breadcrumb her.
Audrey’s forehead creases. “What reason is it for?” she digs.
I nervously pick at my fingers. “I have a plan, erm. It’s a lot to go into now,” I start, not wanting to bring down the mood during our bonding session.
Audrey sets her top down next to me before joining me on the bench. “Well, I’m pretty sure this is the only time we’ll be alone all year. You might as well now while we don’t have ears,” she foretells.
My brown eyes meet her blue ones and I grab her hands. “Okay, this stays between us,” I emphasize, hoping I can trust her.
Her hand slides under mine and she locks her pinky with mine. “Roommate pinky promise,” she wears.
I nod before taking a deep breath. “Okay. A couple of years ago I was at Heron and I was dating this guy I liked. His name is William. He invited me to a party with some of his friends while my best friend was out of town, so I went alone thinking it would be chill. Will told me he would take care of me the whole night and make sure nothing happened to me. Little did I know the bad thing that would happen would be him,” I explain my story.
Audrey’s eyes sparked with fear. “What did he do?” she asks.
“Will gave me a red solo cup and dared me to chug it. The rest of the night is fuzzy. He took me upstairs and took my virginity before letting his friends have a turn,” I explain, feeling the retraumatization run through my veins.
I subconsciously squeeze Audrey’s hand, using her as a grounding force to Earth. “Oh, Rowan. I’m so sorry that happened to you,” she apologizes profusely.
I shake my head. It’s not her apology to give. “It’s fine. It’s not fine, but you know what I mean. They’re going to get what they deserve. I’m going to rush, become a part of the machine, and ruin all of their lives once everyone is on my side,” I tell her.
“Whatever I can do to help you, I’ll do it. We’re roommates now,” she urges and I smile.
Her words spark an idea in my brain. For this to work, I need to be perfect to them. I’m not currently stereotypically sorority pretty right now. “Give me a makeover. Make me perfect to their image,” I blurt out.
Audrey releases my hands and raises her brow. “Are you sure?” she asks.
I nod with fear that if I don’t commit, I’ll go back on my word. “Positive,” I say.
“Then try that on,” Audrey demands, pointing to a purple lace set.
I pick it up, examining the fabric. “Are you sure it’s the vibe?” I skeptically question her choice.
“Yes, try it on,” she pushes me towards the mirror. I follow her directions, shedding my current outfit and quickly dressing myself in the purple garments.
I slowly turn around, allowing Audrey to get a good view of the outfit. “You look like the next Regina George. The entire study body is going to eat you up,” she predicts kindly.
I silently thank her with a tight hug, squeezing the life out of her. Once we’ve repeated the same steps with her outfit and we’re both dressed, I ask her, “What’s next?”
Audrey leads us toward the checkout counter, stopping in her tracks to look at jewelry. “Shoes. You need to look like the brunette Sabrina Carpenter,” she asserts.
My fingers brush against the gold rings. “I’m not going to pretend to know who that is,” I mutter under my breath.
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I’m nearly knocked over as a group of people rush past me, up the steps of the dimly lit brownstone. As Audrey and I ascend the stairs at 11:30 pm sharp, I can literally feel the railing vibrating. When we reach the halfway point I immediately see that the house is crowded.
We stand in line as a man not much older than me acts as a bootleg bodyguard, stamping people in one by one. With each being that stands in his presence, he scans their body, quickly determining their worth. Some girls are turned away and sent down the steps in tears.
My eyes narrow as I watch the cutthroat process and my grip on Audrey’s hand tightens. “It doesn’t hurt but you’re sweaty,” Audrey leans over and murmurs owly so only I can hear.
“Sorry,” I quickly apologize, releasing her hand and wiping it on my mini skirt. I haven’t been this nervous since graduation.
“You’re fine. You look great. Just hold your head high and fake it until we’re inside, at least,” she advises as we get closer and closer to the front of the line.
My legs begin to wobble each inch closer to the large wooden doors. When we get to the front, I plaster on my most flirty smile, courtesy of Libby’s training. As if I’m a robot, my arm raises for the man to put a stamp on my hand.
His jaw drops and I can’t decipher if he’s stunned by my appearance or my confidence. He answers my question the moment his skin caresses over mine. “Girls like you don’t have to wait in line, gorgeous,” he flirts through his menacing grin.
He applies the stamp right next to the head of my snake tattoo. “I’ll keep that in mind for next time,” I flirt back, shoving the sensation of vomiting back down my throat.
Audrey steps forward, putting her hand out in the same manner. After stamping her pale skin, the man lingers for a bit keeping her close to him. “I hope I’ll see you in there later,” he smirks before bringing her hand up to kiss the back of it.
Oh hell no. We haven’t even gotten inside and creepy men are proving the exact reason for my revenge plot. My arm slides underneath Audrey’s, looping around her bicep. “Come on. I need a drink!” I quickly blurt the excuse, pulling her towards the door.
When we enter the house, you wouldn’t be able to tell a party was happening if the floor wasn’t shaking with every beat of the music. We follow the movement of the crowd through the basement door, passing several drunk patrons as we descend the steps.
As soon as my heels touch the concrete floor, I have to sidestep out of the way to avoid getting smacked in the face by a football. The music is so loud that I can’t focus, let alone hear my own thoughts. I guess this is what college parties are like.
I’m whisked through the hoards of students, straight toward the dance floor. My senses are so overwhelmed that I’ve forgotten why I’m here. Make it known that I’m the number-one pick for rush this year.
Audrey picks a spot smack dab in the middle with a spotlight practically beaming on us. “We’ll dance for 3 songs so everyone will see you in here, then shots in the kitchen so everyone will see you in there,” she explains.
My head subconsciously shakes, no. “I don’t think I can do shots,” I confess, already feeling uneasy from the sea of red solo cups. The room feels like it’s swallowing me whole and now, I empathize with Libby’s claustrophobia.
Audrey smiles, seemingly unphased before spinning me dramatically. “Don’t worry, I brought shooters,” she informs me once we’re facing each other again. She spins herself under my arm, lightly shaking her bottom to show off two tiny bottles sticking out of her back pockets.
My shoulders relax and I begin vibing to the music again. “You’re a real girls girl, you know that?” I shout over the bass.
She wraps her hand on my waist, pulling me closer. “I try,” she suavely husks and my head falls back with a giggle. I haven’t laughed this hard since Libby left and even then, it didn’t feel genuine. I was just trying to make sure she didn’t keep me on suicide watch with my family.
We sway and lose ourselves in the beat, matching each other’s energy. The UV lighting covers the room, highlighting the beautiful streaks of gold in Audrey’s hair. I reach out, twirling a soft piece around my finger before slowly swirling my hips. I definitely needed this.
Once our allotted number of songs pass, Audrey leads me towards the kitchen. As soon as we’re in the small space, I’m hit with a cloud of weed smoke. I fight the urge to swat the thick smog away from my nostrils, quickly moving through the puff-puff-pass session.
Audrey finds an empty spot on the island and she reaches into her back pocket, cracking open the shooter with her teeth. I cringe at the sound, watching her methodically prepare the beverages.
She passes me a shooter before clinking her plastic bottle with mine. “Cheers to 4 years together,” she loudly announces and I lift my shot of tequila to my lips.
The Don Julio doesn’t burn as it goes down, but it makes me feel warm and fuzzy. I search the counter for a lime to get rid of the sour sensation in my mouth. Once I find one, I bite down on the lime letting the juice seep onto my tongue.
I don’t miss the feeling of a billion eyes staring a black hole into my head. Audrey warned me that once I became the it girl, people would watch me like a hawk. But I had no idea it would be this bad.
My eyes slowly scan the room, silently connecting with every individual to ensure they remember me. Every single pair darts away after a few seconds, but one sends chills up my spine.
The moss green irises cut through the lavender haze, silently observing me. My skin crawls when a feeling of nakedness washes over me. I feel completely bare to this individual who’s looking right through my skin and into my soul.
As if my body was made of glass, I allowed the emeralds to crack me with each flicker of movement. My spine begins to squirm and I finally allow myself to break the gaze to assess the face of my distant admirer.
My eyes drink the tall man in. He’s dressed casually with his tattoos on full display and a headband holds his unruly curls away from his forehead, showing off his pristine face.
Fuck me. God took his time making this one. I want to drag him into an empty room and ride him until I’m sore. I want to lick him from his abs up to his neck. I want to see his tattooed hand wrapped around my throat while he fucks me.
Okay so, sex drive is still in tact I see. “Let him come to you,” Audrey whispers, interrupting our staring contest. My eyes dart down to the still-empty shooter in my hand, now crushed by grip.
I abandon the plastic on the countertop, unable to bring myself to find a waste bin now that my legs are jello. “I don’t think he’s interested,” I admit. There’s a plethora of girls in here and a majority of them look better than me, including Audrey.
Audrey’s brows knit in disbelief. Okay, so she felt the vibes too. “I know it wasn’t the plan but, I don’t think a little flirting would send us completely off track,” she hints, nudging me with her elbow.
I open my mouth to decline again when the words get caught in my throat. Behind Audrey appears the handsome man who was across the kitchen just moments ago. “Off track for what?” the stranger asks.
My breathing hitches and I allow his gaze to rip my heart out without even touching me. I know that if I lie, he’ll see right through me. My hand lightly smacks Audrey, hoping she’ll understand and step in. She coughs lightly before muttering, “Ummm, studying.”
Nice fucking save, Audrey. My eyes dart around the room for anything to ground me and I tuck a stray piece of hair behind my ear. “Gorgeous and smart. I have to know your name,” I hear the stranger flirt and I don’t miss his British accent. He could read me a bedtime story and I’d be asleep in seconds.
Audrey clears her throat and my eyes snap up to meet his again. Oh shit, he was talking to me. My body turns to mush as I extend my hand, trying to patch up my ego. “Rowan,” I introduce myself.
His soft hands slide beneath mine, gripping it lightly to shake. “Harry,” he smirks and I almost droll. I could write mathematical theories based on his dimples and plump lips.
Instead of letting my hand go, he lowers it, stepping closer to me. He smells of tobacco and vanilla, and I want to bury my nose in his body and inhale his scent. Before I do, Audrey speaks up, “Audrey, who needs water,” she tells Harry like he’s nothing but a servant.
I stuff a snicker down my throat as Harry lets go of my hand, quickly taking a couple of steps toward the water bottles. He picks one up, handing it to Audrey gently. “Nice to meet you both,” he charms before turning back towards me. “Haven’t seen you around. You a freshman?” he asks.
I nod before replying, “Mhmm, you?”
He shakes his head, shifting on his leg. “Junior,” he answers.
Disgust brews in my stomach. I haven’t been here for long, but I know what goes on in this frat house. And I also know that this is the frat my targets joined. “And you’re in Sig Nu?” I explore.
Harry frowns and I feel like a boulder dropped in my stomach. I don’t ever want to see him make that face again if I can help it. “God, no. They’ve got two active title ix’s. Sig EP,” he hisses.
I nod, gnawing on my lip out of nervousness. “Oh,” I grumble.
“But it sounded like you were disgusted,” Harry inquires, taking a step closer to let a partygoer pass behind him.
“No, it’s not. I’m sorry. I just mean, you have an accent. What’s so appealing about Greek life?” I stammer glancing ever so slightly behind me at Audrey moving around the kitchen like a perfect social butterfly.
“Oh good, I thought you were judging me,” Harry chuckles and I smile. He runs his hands through his hair, tugging at the roots and shifting his headband a bit. Suddenly, I have the urge to reach up and fix it for him. “My roommate frat rushed freshman year and I joined for shits and giggles. Little did I know, as president, I can’t leave,” he continues.
When the words president slips through his lips, my jaw drops. “You’re president?” I clarify.
He nods, eyes glistening in the dim light of the room. “Mmhm. Brownstone’s close by if you want to see,” he suggests, tilting his head towards the door.
I nearly choke on my spit realizing what he’s just hinted at. He wants to fuck me. Am I ready for that? I don’t think I’m ready for that. You’ve been silent for too long, Rowan. Say something! “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I just met you,” I choke out.
Harry’s eyes widen in surprise and he puts his hands up. “Oh no, that’s not — I wasn’t trying to hook up with you. You just seem on edge here. I was giving you an out, darling,” he suavely rephrased.
He seems sincere and I feel safe enough to hold my own alone with him. On top of that, he’s perfect and he fits seamlessly with my plan. We’d be the hottest power couple at Columbia, and I should be making that happen. Just go for it, Rowan. What’s the worst that can happen? The worst that can happen already happened. Twice in one lifetime is rare.
I smile before replying, “Oh, oh. Well, in that case lead the —”
“Harry!” a high-pitched voice interrupts me and I watch as manicured nails slide across Harry’s chest. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” a short brunette girl flirts with my green-eyed crush.
His hand wraps around her wrist and he lowers it away from his body. “Gabe. Didn’t know you were coming tonight,” he returns a greeting disappointingly.
Gabe scoffs, putting her hand on her hip. “Of course, I am, silly. I missed you this summer,” she flirts.
My eyes flicker back and forth between the two of them and my suspicions are confirmed. They’ve fucked and have arguably been fucking before the summer break. The last thing I need to ruin my plans is a love triangle. “Okay well, thanks for the offer, Harry. I’ve got to go,” I excuse myself.
I stand on my tiptoes, searching for Audrey. After a couple of moments, Harry finally notices my plans to leave and he says, “No, wait. She’s not my—”
His explanation fades into the background as soon as I find Audrey. “I don’t care. Enjoy the party, it was nice meeting you,” I cut him off before turning on my toes to reach my friend.
Getting over to her feels like I’m in the Triwizard Maze; ducking and dodging joints and blow being passed around. “What just happened?” Audrey instantly asks once I’m in earshot.
“Nothing. He has a girlfriend,” I respond, feeling slightly dejected. When will it be my turn to have a hot green-eyed hunk?
Her brows knit and confusion washes over her face. “Gabrielle?” she asks and I nod. “That’s not his girlfriend. They fucked once and she’s hooked,” she continues.
My eyes drift back over to the two I thought were a couple. Every time Gabrielle tries to touch Harry, he leans back ever so slightly to dodge the contact. “How do you know that?” I ask Audrey, unable to peel my eyes from them.
“You can see it all over her body,” Audrey states, motioning towards them with her palm open. “And while you were busy flirting, I was getting intel,” she snips.
Harry exits the kitchen in a fury with Gabrielle trailing behind him. Her words cause a lightbulb to go off in my brain and my focus is back on her. “Intel?” I inquire.
“Yeah. On who to mingle with; the top people in the top houses,” she explains and I nod.
“So what did you find out?” I press her to spill the beans.
Audrey links her arm with mine before we begin walking out of the kitchen. “Well, Theta is the top house, followed by DG. Gabrielle is the president of Sig Delt so you’re definitely not getting in there after tonight. But that doesn’t matter because the president of Theta is primed and ready for you,” Audrey begins to reveal.
I allow my friend to lead us up the creaky steps and we silently pass far too many drunk girls. I hope they’ll wake up in their own beds tomorrow. “Primed and ready?” I ask once we’re at the top of the stairwell.
We open the door, returning to the main level of the brownstone. The polarity between the party downstairs and the chill ambiance upstairs is jarring, and I find myself rapidly blinking. “She’s looking for someone to replace her,” Audrey elaborates and I jump hearing the door slam behind us.
Audrey pulls us down a hall towards a sitting room area full of people. Sitting in a circle are Harry, Gabrielle, and about 8 other strangers. They all seem extremely familiar with each other, occasionally laughing in between sips of their drinks. “See that girl over there?” Audrey asks, pointing towards a beautiful brunette with beautiful doe eyes.
“Mmmhm,” I confirm.
Audrey leans against the wall, still out of sight of the group. “That’s D.Q. Vanderbilt, President of Theta. The girl sitting next to her is her little and president of recruit, Olivia Astor. They’re both super rich and have hella influence,” she recites.
I take a step back, abandoning my stalker-ish gaze on the girl. “Okay, so why can’t Olivia replace her?” I ask Audrey.
“Rowan, look at her,” Audrey grabs my face, turning it back in the direction of Harry before releasing it.
I watch as Olivia awkwardly slinks down into the leather couch. She looks like she’d rather be anywhere but here, talking to people. “Felt,” I empathize with her. I hate socializing too.
Audrey smacks my bicep with the back of her hand. “That’s not the spirit of someone who wants revenge,” she scolds, with her hand on her hip.
My eyes look her up and down sassily before stating, “You’re right, it’s go time.”
“That’s the spirit!” Audrey whisper-cheers. I grab her hand, pulling her from the safety of the shadows. “Wait, what are you doing?” she frets.
My heels click against the hardwood floor that looks like it’s never been renovated. “You’re coming with me,” I demand.
Before she has time to protest, I’m standing right next to the curly brunette boy who stole my heart 5 minutes ago. “Hey Harry, I was wondering if I could still take you up on that offer?” I lean down and ask him loud enough for the group to hear.
Gabrielle leans closer to Harry, attempting to claim her man. “What offer? Who is she?” she snaps.
“Mind your business, Gabe,” a freckle-faced girl adds and I silently thank her for defending me.
A blonde girl leans forward, plucking her cup from the table with two fingers before asking, “But seriously, Harry. Who is she?”
An attractive young man bounces his leg excitedly. “You brought us pretty fresh meat?” he articulates every syllable like a vampire.
“Fuck off,” Harry grumbles, still focused on getting away from Gabrielle. When he seemingly realizes there’s no more space, he awkwardly clears his throat while standing from the couch.
Harry slides behind me and Audrey, using us as human shields. “I’m Rowan and this is my roommate, Audrey,” I answer the blonde.
Audrey murmurs a hello to the group before taking a step back with Harry, leaving me at the front lines of battle.
“I’m D.Q., that’s Liv, Gabe, Kier, Em, Parker, Sienna, Connie, and looks like you already know Harry,” D.Q runs through the names of each group member, adding a little spice to Harry’s name.
My brain starts doing backflips, repeating each of their names in my head. “Don’t worry, it took me forever to get all the names down,” Kier seductively flirts across the circle.
“Rowan… last name?” Em asks and I curse myself for not waiting until they’re drunk to introduce myself.
I take a deep breath before sighing, “Bouvier.”
“Bouvier, where are you from?” Parker fires off a follow-up question and I have to keep myself from staring at her pristine pearl necklace sitting high on her chest.
“New York, born and raised,” I say with a smile. I feel like I’m tap dancing for a hello right now.
“Bouvier… as in the Kennedy’s Bouvier?” Connie asks a follow-up to Em’s question.
I nod, ready to break the news that will have them looking at me differently. “Yeah, Jacqueline Kennedy is my grandmother,” I boast.
This is the first time I’ve ever brought up the relation and now I know why. Every single face in the room twists, each with a different reaction. “Holy shit, you’re New York royalty,” Sienna finally points out.
I may be New York royalty, but they’re interested in what I have to offer politically. I haven’t been involved in politics in years, not that I could give a shit. But, I might as well lean into it. “Yeah, I just got off the phone with Liberty Washington. She’s my best friend,” I name-drop the presidential candidate’s daughter.
Olivia gasps, leaning forward. “Oh my gosh, she’s so cool. I saw she was front row at the Dior show during fashion week. What’s she like?” she presses.
I smile, casually stepping over Gabrielle’s outstretched legs to sit next to Olivia. “She’s a great friend. We talk 24/7,” I tell her as I sit.
Olivia smiles, scooting a bit closer to me. “You’ll have to bring her to meet your new friends sometime,” she says, gesturing to the group.
I nod, seeing another way to solidify my place in the group. “She’d love that! As long as I can bring Audrey,” I attempt to include my roommate who is now deep in a conversation with Harry and Kier, but mostly Kier.
“Yeah!” Olivia beams before asking the question I hoped one of them would inquire about, “Are you rushing Greek?”
I purse my lips, adjusting in my seat a bit as if I’m unsure of my answer. “I was thinking about it. Only if Audrey does it with me,” I smoothly articulate. Hell yeah, Rowan. That was totally believable.
Olivia nods excitedly and D.Q. joins the conversation, “Well you should, and not to toot our horn but Theta is the best.”
“No dirty rushing,” Gabrielle leans over and interjects.
D.Q. rolls her eyes, sitting back on the couch. “We’re not dirty rushing by stating facts, Gabe,” she scoffs.
I like these girls already and can definitely see myself calling Theta home if the rest of them are like this. “Yeah well, we have to go,” I murmur before standing. My skin sticks to the leather seat, causing me to scratch my thighs while turning around. “It was nice meeting you all,” I say to the group.
Kier pouts, taking a strand of Audrey’s golden locks between his fingers. “But, I was just getting to know all about my beloved’s favorite book,” he grumbles.
After inhaling deeply, he releases her hair, letting it flow back down in place. Audrey turns maroon and she looks like she’s about to faint.
“Fuckin hell, you’re dramatic, mate,” Harry bellows, smacking his friend on the shoulder.
I shake my head at the boy’s antics before Harry steps toe to toe with me. “Can I have your number?” he shakily requests.
My eyes search Harry’s to find nothing but burning desire. I nod, stepping towards Audrey to grab my phone that she’s been holding in her pocket all night. I unlock it before passing it to Harry. 
He takes it from my hand, quickly typing his contact in before passing it back to me. “You’ll text me?” he asks with a tone of insecurity.
Tucking my phone in my back in Audrey's back pocket. “I think that’s the point of me getting your number,” I jest, lacing my fingers with my friend’s to tug her away. “Bye, Harry,” I say over my shoulder.
Audrey stumbles over her feet behind me, calling over her shoulder, “It was nice meeting you, Kiernan!”
“Farewell, my love,” he sweetly returns the goodbye. I’ll never understand love at first sight, but those two clearly have it.
Once we’re outside on the sidewalk, I begin swinging our linked hands as we make the short walk back to the dorms. “Did you get everything you needed?” Audrey voices lowly.
I nod with a smile, even though it feels taboo. I know I shouldn’t like revenge, but god does it already taste so sweet. “Yup. Day two starts tomorrow,” I inform her of our plans.
“Good,” she responds as we turn right into the courtyard.
But what the hell have I gotten myself into?
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lets try something! if you want to be on the taglist, comment your reaction to the chapter + "add me to the taglist please!" and I'll put your name below. thanks again for all the support!
taglist:
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maplerosekisses · 3 years
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Doing a Call Down the Hawk reread in the run up to Mister Impossible and I will literally never be over this line.
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okay y'all i'm over on twitter here and i make quite a few mini threads about headcanons or things i'm thinking about, but i wanted y'all to have them too!! so here's the collection from this past month.
oh god. it could be canon or au. gideon who carries tissues or a hanky for harrow's stress/necromantic overload nosebleeds....... yeah 😭
working this hc into my fic but y'all..... harrow painting her nails, sitting on the floor, minding her business. gideon coming home & plopping down next to her, offering her hands. harrow likes to get a little fancy w her nails - she's grown them out, she likes dark jewel tones but for gideon she does a straightforward black. takes her hands, preps her nails, bites her tongue on a joke about how short she keeps them, listens to gideon's stories about her day as she applies the nail polish. gideon won't care if the paint's messy but harrow makes them neat and pristine, carefully wipes away any excess. her own nails are almost perfect so gideon's should be the same. nothing but the best for her best friend ❤ meanwhile she's viciously ignoring her impulse to lean up and kiss gideon's temple or cheek or jaw. it's right there and gideon is just such a stunning person. harrow hurts when she thinks about it. this is what they have and she won't change it for anything. but God, the empty hollow of her wanting is. it's hard to manage. she knows how to live with the ache, though. it's fine. she's fine. (gideon loves her, of course, gideon is made of love and it colors every relationship she has. she would do anything for harrow. anything, but especially keep her feelings locked down tight. this is what they have and she won't ask for more. that'd be a dick move on her part.)
it ruins my life that all harrow ever had to do was OPEN HER MOUTH. TRY TO TRUST SOMEONE. ASK FOR HELP. COMMUNICATE. her relationship with gideon blooms as soon as they leave the Ninth. gideon's capacity for loyalty was ALWAYS THERE HARROW JUST DIDN'T DESERVE IT. it ruins me. this is also so fascinating to me because it's a duality. at the same time that their relationship becomes something New and Lovely away from their trauma, gtn is also a corruption arc and the cav/necro dynamic that gideon sacrifices herself for IS AWFUL. HORRIBLE. EXPLOITATIVE. and honestly this deserves like, a whole fucking essay, but the capacity for duality in this series is. like it's so stunning to me rn and i think it's so valuable. the text has room for both things to be true. (ALSO!! i do want to write about this at some point but i need to sit with it and figure out how best to express what i mean!)
im sorry to be problematic but i think possessiveness is sexy. the idea of harrow HATING cytherea from the very first second she gets her hands on HARROW'S CAV. harrow wanting to rip that bitch apart the whole time they're at canaan. resenting the fuck out of gideon's attachment to her. knowing the cav is dead but not knowing For Why. not being able to express her fears or gain gideon's trust until it's way too late. finally saying STEP OFF BITCH as her and her cav bring hell. it's just so fuckin g TASTY.
muir's use of character voice just. like i KNOW it's a very basic aspect of her writing style but i'm so enamored with it. gtn vs the end of gtn. the 2nd pov of htn vs the canaan chapters vs the end of htn vs the epilogue. as yet unsent. the catnip of her writing- IT GETS ME!
i will and first love / late spring by mitski are griddlehark songs
honey by halsey is a griddlehark song and i'm not a woman, i'm a god by halsey is a Harrow song but Spicy. maybe even a Harrow Nova song. first of all, "i am not a woman i'm a god" feels like a Gender Mood for our local "best necromancer of her generation." good enough reason for me! but secondly, the chorus is defiant in a way that feels like a Harrow who would push back against the war crime of her existence. a Harrow who doesn't carry the obligation to her House and role as the Reverend Daughter.
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angellesword · 3 years
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MAGIC SHOP | JJK (08)
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Description: You and Jungkook were best friends who were in love with each other. What would happen when Soojin, your half sister who you’re trying to impress, told you she’s in love with Jungkook too?
Alternatively:
“Would you believe me if I said that I was scared of everything too?”
Genre: childhood best friends to lovers, family drama, angst, fluff, idiots to lovers, pining, slice of life au.
Pairing: Architect!Jungkook x Architect!Reader (side pairings: Reader x roommate!Jimin | Taehyung x Yoongi)
Word Count: 2.4k
Warnings: none
Series: CHAPTER 7 | CHAPTER 9
Chapter’s OST: Talk by Kodaline
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"Where is he?" Yoongi didn't sound annoyed when he asked this. He knew he should be but then he realized he was more worried than angry.
"In my room," you responded. Yoongi gave you a quick nod before rushing inside your bedroom.
You were left standing in front of your apartment door, waiting for Jimin who you guessed was parking his car.
You wondered if your roommate was upset too. You couldn't blame him if it was the case. You knew it was cruel of you and Taehyung to bail on your double date with him and Yoongi tonight.
However, if you were given a chance to redo this night, you would probably still choose to go home with your brother.
Pretending was becoming taxing on your part. You were sure Taehyung felt the same way as well. He was done acting like he could walk inside a fine-dining restaurant and pay for his meal. Yoongi said Taehyung didn't need to worry about things like bills—that he got it, but your brother was too proud to allow that to happen.
Taehyung and Yoongi had been dating for almost two years now, yet the former still felt abashed when money was involved.
He was so opposed to the idea of Yoongi treating him well. Taehyung didn't like the idea of him leeching off of Yoongi for money. You, on the other hand, were done acting as though you weren't hurt every time you see your brother struggling because of this.
Taehyung burnt himself out by keeping his promise to pay back Taemin. As far as you knew, he still owed your father an estimate of eight hundred thousand dollars. Taehyung had no idea how to pay off his debt, considering that his bank account had zero balance now.
He couldn't even afford to pay rent that's why he usually stayed in your shared apartment with Jimin. Taehyung's excuse was that he didn't like staying alone in his place so he'd rather sleep on your couch.
Yoongi asked your brother to move in with him but the Taehyung refused, saying he wasn't ready to take their relationship into another level. You and Yoongi knew it was a lie. It broke your heart every time Taehyung made lame excuses like this.
You wanted him to be able to freely express his life struggles to you. You would never judge him. It was okay to admit that he turned down Yoongi's offer because he didn't want to be dependent on him, that he didn't want to feel like he was 'useless.'
There should be no shame in admitting that you were having a hard time. It was a normal thing. Many people experienced it, but even if only the minority experienced it, we should still be understanding since not everyone was privileged, some people were struggling just to survive—this was Taehyung's case as of the moment.
He was a freelance model and he's still working as a curator, not at his mother's company though. Taehyung hadn't spoken to his parents, not even to his siblings. You were the only family member he talked to.
Sometimes you felt guilty thinking that one of the reasons why Taehyung turned his back on the Kims was because he wanted to help you forget.
"Come to New York with me," your brother offered this to you a week after you broke up with Jungkook.
You were miserable. You were having a hard time pushing Jungkook away. He was so persistent, begging you to take him back, saying things like he would do whatever you asked him too.
But you couldn't. Everyone knew he and Soojin were getting married. You couldn't afford to shame and hurt your sister like that.
"I could hook you up with this company. They're looking for a graphic designer. You're perfect for the job..."
You had to admit that you were skeptical about Taehyung's preposition. Sure, you wanted to get away from Jungkook, but not to the point of leaving Seoul.
It felt too rushed. New York was a foreign place, you hadn't been there before. You didn't know if you could survive there.
"I don't know, oppa..." You expressed your doubt, fortunately Taehyung knew exactly what to say to successfully coax you.
He said you had nothing to worry about since he would be there for you. Taehyung also promised to introduce you to Park Jimin, his best friend since high school.
Apparently, Jimin was the sweetest person in the world and you needed someone like him in your life. Taehyung thought that the universe wanted you to be close to Jimin since it so happened that the latter was also looking for a roommate.
Originally, Taehyung planned to move in with his best friend to save more money, but he figured it would be best if you took the opportunity instead. As said, your brother wanted you to hit it off with Jimin. Apart from this, Taehyung believed he was better off alone.
He was wrong though. Few months after moving back to New York, Taehyung realized he couldn't handle his expenses.
He needed a roommate too. Sometimes he hated himself for turning down Yoongi's offer, considering that the sole reason why Yoongi decided to go to New York was to be with Taehyung.
Your brother wasn't stupid. He was certain Yoongi was in love with him. The long distance type of relationship wasn't working anymore. They both crave each other's touches and kisses.
A few months after you and your brother left Seoul, Yoongi called to say he had been offered a job in New York too. He said he accepted it despite Taehyung's opposition.
It wasn't like Taehyung didn't want to be with Yoongi. Your brother was just upset that his boyfriend was making all these sacrifices for him. Yoongi was a well-known fashion designer in Korea. Why would he want to be an assistant of a fashion designer here in the United States?
It was absurd. But Yoongi didn't complain. He never did. Many months later, his patience and hard-work paid off.
Yoongi was able to close deals with different clients using his own name. He wasn't hiding in the shadow of his boss. He wasn't an assistant anymore. This was also the reason why Yoongi wanted to go out on a double date with you, his boyfriend, and Jimin tonight.
He wanted to celebrate his success with the people he loved, but Taehyung's 'mood' ruined Yoongi's night.
"Hey," while you ruined Jimin's.
"Hey you." Your roommate's voice was laced with exhaustion upon seeing you waiting for him at the door.
Your heart recoiled at the sight of his tired face. You were aware that his job as a professor was exhausting, it didn't help that he and Yoongi waited for two hours in that restaurant only to end up leaving and not grabbing something to eat.
"I'm really sorry about tonight," you smiled apologetically. You hated disappointing him.
"At least I saved some money." He laughed and this was when you came to know that he was holding a box of pizza.
A smile bloomed on your face.
"Is that garlic and shrimp?" You couldn't contain your excitement. Jimin chuckled and nodded at you, pleased that you appreciated the food he brought.
"Yay!" You grabbed the pizza box, rushing towards the kitchen so you could open it.
Your stomach grumbled, your eyes turning into the shape of a heart as you grabbed a piece of pizza.
"So good!" You moaned, relishing the taste of your food for tonight. Jimin grinned, handing you a can of beer.
You gladly took it. Jimin knew you so well. Pizza and beer were your favorite food combination.
"Corndog’s sold out," your roommate mentioned as he grabbed a slice of pizza for himself.
Your smile faltered. Yeah, right. How could you say that pizza and beer were your favorite when nothing could ever top corndogs, your favorite brand of probiotic drink, some chocolate bars, and Jungkook's smile?
"Is everything alright?" Jimin asked softly when he noticed your frown.
"Yeah."
Should he believe you?
"How's Tae?"
"Better, I guess? Yoongi's with him right now." You wanted to give them some slices of pizza. Taehyung's probably hungry, but then you didn't want to disturb him and Yoongi. Maybe they're still in the middle of a serious conversation.
Your brother's most likely explaining to his boyfriend why his mood suddenly turned sour. Yoongi asked you to tell him the truth, sadly you felt like you're not in the position to tell him anything.
You didn't even understand what's running inside your brother's head, and so you simply texted Yoongi and Jimin this: have to take a rain check for dinner tonight. sorry. Tae oppa's not feeling well.
"What about you?"
Your head snapped up to meet your roommate's thoughtful gaze. "What about me?"
"Are you okay?" Jimin sounded so sweet that your heart was filled up with so much warmth. Taehyung's right. You needed someone like Jimin in your life.
"I'm fine," you lied. You're not. Lately all you could think about was him and what could've been. "Wanna watch Breaking Bad and hate on Walter White?"
The worry painting his face vanished when you mentioned his favorite T.V series.
"I still don't get why you hate Mr. White when a whole Skyler White exists." He gasped dramatically, shaking his head before making his way to the living room.
You sighed, smiling albeit the pain in your chest. You couldn't help but compare the two men who had a huge impact in your life. The first one never forced you to share, he was very easy to reassure that you're okay, the other man, on the contrary, wouldn't stop until he's sure you're really feeling better. He liked prying into your personal life, acting like he could stop your despair.
Your chest ached because between the two men, you didn't know who you preferred.
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Yoongi and your brother couldn't be bothered and you were certain it was because they're busy fucking. It was Taehyung's way of making it up to his boyfriend.
"He's getting so worked up over a fly! Gosh, he's so annoying!" And your way to make it up to Jimin was trying to keep your dislike of Walter White to yourself. Keyword here? Try. It was so hard not to talk shit about Jimin's favorite fictional character.
You tried. But you couldn't anymore.
"oh gosh," you pouted when you noticed your roommate's being too quiet. "I'm not supposed to rant because I know you're mad at me."
That broke his silence.
"I'm mad at you?" He looked at you as if you're crazy. "Why would I be mad?"
"Uh..." You winced. "Because I bailed on our date?"
Jimin laughed. He actually laughed! The corner of his mouth twisting upwards.
"I guess I haven't made myself clear about that, huh," he rubbed his chin, realizing that he didn't explicitly tell you it was okay, that you didn't owe him anything.
"I like you..." He confessed, uttering your name. "You know that, right? I'm glad you even agreed to go on a date with me."
You bit your bottom lip.
"But liking me doesn't mean you're not allowed to get mad at me."
Jimin chuckled again, amusement was dancing in his eyes. He lowered the volume of television before turning to face you.
"But I'm not mad. I know what I was getting myself into when I told you how I feel about you. Liking someone means you should also accept the risk of getting hurt, you know?"
You shuddered, heart thumping. You felt like your head was spinning.
As usual, Jimin simply giggled at your reaction.
"You're acting as if liking someone is such a scary thing..."
"It is." You replied, voice still mixed with slight fear. "Love too. Imagine waking up one day only to realize that someone has the power to hurt you."
You made that mistake once. You're still paying for it now. Love...be it romantic familial, or platonic, it still hurt the same. You made sacrifices for them, making yourself your last priority when it should be the top one.
"Imagine waking up every day realizing you have the power to make someone's life a little bit better, and doing it." Jimin retorted and for the first time, you couldn't answer.
You simply rested your head on his shoulders, grabbing the remote to increase the volume of whatever episode of Breaking Bad you were watching.
At the end of the episode, you saw Walter White closing his eyes, finally dozing off, a yawn escaped from your lips and before you knew it, you fell asleep too.
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You jolted to consciousness when you heard your phone rang.
Grunting, you immediately answered the call even though an unknown number was ringing you. Jimin was sound asleep beside you. You couldn't risk waking him up.
"Hello?" You squinted, sleepiness still staining your eyes. "Who's this? Why're you calling me in the middle of the night?"
There was a pregnant pause on the other line, making you huff and yawn in annoyance. Was this a prank call?
"I'm gonna end this call if you don't speak." You yawned again when the caller still didn't say anything. "Goodnight—"
"Wait!" The stranger said before you could hang up.
Your heart suddenly skipped a beat. The voice of this caller sounded familiar—too familiar to the point that you could feel your stomach stirring.
"It's Jungkook," he mumbled. "Jeon Jungkook..."
He said his name as if you'd ever forget that. Your stomach continued to protest.
"I'm sorry for calling you so late..."
You were holding your breath, unable to speak.
"But it's an emergency."
"Emergency?" You startled, very awake now. Jimin stirred in his sleep because of your abrupt alerted movement. "Where are you right now, Kook? Are you okay? Did something happen?"
You stood up, pacing back and forth. Jungkook was silent once again. You felt tears filling your eyes. Why was he taking this slow when he said it was an emergency?
"Y-Yeah," his voice was shaky, as though he was having a hard time. Your heartbeat doubled as he said this:
"You and Taehyungie-hyung have to go back here in Seoul. The whole family needs you."
151 notes · View notes
serendipityjxmn · 3 years
Text
Mr. President
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Chapter 23
TW: Brief smut
Words Count: 2.5k
Link to Masterlist
Link to Chapter 24
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“I can’t believe I’m engaged now. Can you believe it? A whole week before he kept annoying me and all of a sudden he brought me a ring.” Irene rolls her eyes. The two of you met for lunch nearby the company. You haven’t seen her in a while and it feels nice to catch up with everything. Irene is one of the few of the very little friends you have.
Her longtime boyfriend had finally proposed to her. You almost scream finally when Irene broke the news to you. You genuinely feel happy for her.
“So, guess that’s it for today’s catch up session.” She grins at you.
“Um.. actually do you mind if I come up for a moment?”
“Uh duh~ of course not! You miss him already?” She teases.
You try to stifle a smile. “A little bit.” You do miss him a little.
When you reach your old desk, Irene excuses herself to the restroom. Feeling excited, you head towards Jimin’s room. But that feeling dampens quickly when he’s nowhere to be seen. Pouting, you head back to your old station.
You’re about to text him about his whereabouts when you see him comes with a woman next to him. They stand not far from where you are but you don’t think they notice since you’re slightly hidden behind the wall.
They stand there for a moment as they talk and you wonder who the woman is. You don’t think you’ve encountered her before back when you’re still working here.
They laugh about something and she briefly touches your husband’s arm. If Jimin’s somehow uncomfortable with that, he’d done a perfect job hiding it. You feel your inside boiling, perhaps just a little.
While they’re still talking, you head into Jimin’s office. Storming into the room, you huff, feeling furious.
But then something catches your eye.
Taking a few step towards Jimin’s table, you notice the name plaque with his name written on it, the one you made. Drawn to it, you move closer and reaches for it, heart fluttering a little.
And then you notice the picture frame next to it. It looks strangely familiar so you move around the table and there’s no mistaking that it’s the portrait you made. The portrait looks so out of place in his sleek and modern office that you suddenly feel like laughing.
The picture next to it does a little something to your heart. It’s your wedding picture but it’s just you, smiling brightly.
How are you supposed to be mad at him when he does this?
You pout.
And then suddenly the door opens. Jimin enters and immediately sees you but he only frowns for a moment before gesturing the woman in.
Your eyes narrow slightly.
It would all be fine, really, because you’re a professional, only if she keeps her hands off your husband.
Jimin then gestures her to sit across him. She bows, her neck a tad bit too exposed. You notice Jimin looking away for a split second, working hard to hide his uncomfortable expression.
The way her skirt is too short and the way she crosses her legs, you can see through it all.
Well, Mrs. Park to the rescue.
Biting your lips, you walk over. She finally notices your presence when you come near. You hold a hand out to her.
“You are..?” She asks.
“I’m Mrs. Park.”
For a fleeting second, you see her face registers surprise as she shakes your hand. “Nice meeting you, Mrs. Park. I’m Jinah.”
Jimin’s arm snakes around your waist as you take your place beside him.
“And you’re here for..?” You ask.
“Oh, I’m here to discuss about a new publishing project that us as Glory Publishing is currently positively reviewing. You might be aware that Mr. Park is planning to acquire Glory Publishing.”
Oh, you knew about this one. Jimin told you this before. His company had been looking for potential publishing companies to branch out and Glory Publishing is one of them. But they didn't make the cut. Yet here they are trying to convince Jimin that they're looking at the next big project.
Your husband has made it clear that their company didn't make the cut but they're very persistent. You briefly wonder why he still accepts appointments with their party. Perhaps out of goodwill.
You clear your throat. "I thought our representatives had made it clear on this issue. Your company has issues with ethical problems and we’re doing our best to avoid future problems.” Perhaps your confidence is boosted a little with Jimin playing with your hair behind you.
Jinah seems flustered, perhaps not expecting you to address the issue. She tries to have a look at your husband but you immediately covered him.
And he just grins behind you, lips caressing your hair because he swears he loves you so much when you’re protecting him like this.
“If you don’t have anything else,” you look at your watch, “unfortunately the time is up. I have to ask you to leave because my husband is very booked and busy. If there’s any further issue, I hope you can contact our representatives instead.” You hold a hand out to her and she takes it, although her expression is furious. Without another word, she storms out.
As soon as she left, you let out a relieved sigh, suddenly not believing you just did that. Jimin tries to stifle a smile at your reaction. You got up and move towards Jimin’s desk and he follows you from behind.
“I have a very good secretary it seems.” He whispers to your ears, making you gasp. He then stands in front of you.
You gulp. Too close, too close.
He sits on the edge of his desk. “And how should I reward you for that?” He smiles.
Suddenly, he pulls you onto his lap and you let out a squeak.
His eyes fell to your lips and it looks so, so dangerous.
Oh no. “Jimin, it’s the office.”
“So?”
“You can’t do anything to me.” You try to run.
“It’s my company.” He catches your wrist effortlessly.
Your eyes widen. “It’s gross.”
He quirks one eyebrow. And you catch his off guard moment to run away. Pretty sure your husband’s laughing at you now.
A grin appears on your lips when you’re reminded of that evening’s event. Jimin really has a gift of making your heart rate spike up. You have no idea how to handle when your husband’s being flirty. You’re in the kitchen, having just finished washing the dishes. You set to make a cup of coffee for Jimin and then heads to his study. You softly knock before entering to see him talking through a phone call. He glances up upon your entrance and mouths a thank you as you put the cup down in front of him.
You look around his study for several moments, briefly remembering the first time you’re in here and your husband has just come up with the marriage contract with you. You smile fondly at the memory. It feels so long since then. And look at where the two of you are now.
You’re just about to dismiss yourself when something catches your attention.
Something’s weird.
You think as you stop and stare at the vast painting before you. It looks strangely familiar. You think hard for a while but is still unable to remember the source so you resolve to thinking that perhaps it’s been hung there from the start.
“You remember this painting?” Jimin suddenly asks as he comes to stand beside you.
And suddenly it all clicks in your head. It’s the painting you both saw at the art exhibition. The Isle of Sorrow.
You feel like you’re in a sort of treasure hunt today with everything that you found.
“I bought it the day we saw..” he says carefully.
Your heart starts to race. “I didn’t wanna scare you.. so I kept it hidden.. I didn’t know why I bought it back then.” He laughs at himself then smiles sheepishly. “Perhaps I was already in love..”
You don’t think you can control the pace of your heart anymore.
Especially not when his face is inching closer and closer to you, closing the proximity between the two of you.
And then he takes your lips by surprise although you’ve been anticipating it. It’s slow and languid but it’s enough to suck the air out of you. You think you’ll always marvel by how soft his lips are against yours. When he pulls back, you’re all sorts of breathless.
“Y/N.” He says firmly.
You look up at him expectantly.
He takes a deep breath and looks at you straight in the eye.
“I love you.”
It takes a moment for your brain to process and to make sure you didn’t mishear it. And your eyes water immediately.
“I think I’ve fallen for you since back then.. even before.. you said you love me. But I wasn’t sure what it was back then and I tried so hard to deny what I was feeling.. you were constantly on my mind.. I keep on worrying when you’re not in front of me, I feel so angry even at the thought of another guy touching you, I want to destroy anything or everything that hurts you the slightest.. including me.. because I know I’m the one that hurts you the most.. and it almost cost your life.. for me to realize that I burn for you.. my day and my nights.. that I’m actually in love with you.”
And the tears run down your cheeks. It’s all so overwhelming and something that you can’t describe because you’ve been waiting for so long for him to reciprocate your feelings and then he finally says the words but you both had been through so much and it just somehows feels like a very long journey.
A tear escapes Jimin’s eyes too but he’s quick to inhale a breath and recomposes himself. He then wipes your tears and gives you a moment to recompose.
“There’s something I want to do.” he says, eyes staring at you seriously. “I.. I know I’m a lot to put up with.. and I know I’ve done.. worse things. But I want to do this.. I want to be.. with you.”
And suddenly he takes out something from his right pocket and kneels down in front of you. You gasp as you watch him with widening eyes.
“I promise to love you, cherish you, honor you, and to hold your hands always in times of good and bad. I vow to stay faithful, loyal and honest till we both grow old. Will you... start this marriage anew.. with me?”
Your heart beats even faster, tears almost threatening again when you realize he’s reciting the wedding vow six months ago, except that this time it is full of sincerity.
And your heart continues to thunder against your chest when he opens the small velvet box, a ring with a simple crystal centrepiece encased in it.
And it suddenly dawns to you that he’s the only man that you’ll ever love in your life.
So you nod. With your eyes glistening in tears.
Jimin gives you a full smile. And then he takes the ring out and gently put it on your fourth finger. That’s when you realize he already puts his on, one that matches yours on his finger too.
When he raises to his feet, you don’t waste another second to pull him into a hug.
You love him.. with all your heart. Is all you could think.
When you both pull back, he looks at you fondly.
“I just thought that you deserve a proper proposal..” he grabs your hand and guides you to his study desk. You watch in confusion for a second as he bents down to pick up something from behind the desk and your eyes widen when you see a bouquet of red roses. “Hearts..” he says as his finger points to his heart, “and flowers.” He hands you the bouquet.
He smiles as you remain speechless.
“I.. honestly I’ve had this for a long time, ever since you’re still in the hospital.. and I tried to find the right time but I don’t know.. I gave up trying to find the right time because I think there’s no such thing as the right time.. but I want to do this..”
You raise your fingers to cup his chin tenderly. “It’s.. perfect.”
You watch as his eyes lit up from your words. And then his face inches closer. You know he’s about to kiss you again but this time, you’re ready.
Your eyes flutter close as his lips finally meet yours and it’s as if your lips are made for him when they moulded perfectly against his.
He tilts his head slightly and this time he pulls you even closer. His lips presses against yours more deeply, drawing a whimper from your throat, a sound that causes him to grunt.
The kiss escalates quickly, growing more and more intense, making your feet curl against the plush carpet.
His hands move downwards from your neck towards your shoulder. And when one of his hand brushes against your breast, you let out a squeak in surprise.
Jimin pulls away immediately, eyes finding yours. His expression concerned, perhaps wondering if he’s gone too far from your comfort zone.
“I’m sorry.” He says quickly, still a little out of breath.
You bite your bottom lip. You don’t want him to stop. “No, I’m sorry. It’s just.. I’m not used.. I’m.. I’ve never.. I’ve never done this before..”
He looks at you softly. “I know. And I promised you to take it slow. So I’m not gonna do anything you’re uncomfortable with. Okay?”
You nod. He smiles and releases you and suddenly you’re afraid he’ll go away so you grab his shirt quickly.
He raises his brow at you.
“We.. we can.. we can continue.. to kiss..” you say and you feel like you’re going to die from embarassment.
Jimin smiles wickedly, almost wanting to clutch his heart physically because he finds you too adorable. “Wow okay. Kiss me then.” He says playfully.
You look up at him, eyes round in determination and he finds it so adorable it takes everything in him not to initiate the kiss first.
Closing the proximity, you tiptoe slightly and press your lips firmly against his.
You feel him smiling against your lips and you can’t help but smile too. This time, you try to take control.
Your fingers card his hair as you pull him tight against you, deepening the kiss. A moan escapes his mouth and you’ve never heard something sound so sinful before.
It almost kind of sparks something carnal deep inside you.
And then your hands are on his chest, deftly unbuttoning his shirt. His hands are on each side of your waist, palms flat against your skin, not making any move to explore anymore and you want to change that.
You want him to know that you’re ready.
So you press yourself against him and practically grinds against him, making him groan.
“Baby-” he says but you cut him by taking his lips again. Tongue fervently exploring his mouth.
“Jimin-” you call him, breathless. “Take me to bed, please.”
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A/N: *fanning myself* im actually blushing aaaaaa yall know what's coming in the next chapter ;)))
on the side note, I am having mixed feeling right now. I can’t wait for this story to end and show it to you guys but at the same time I’m sad that it’s coming to an end because there’s really not much chapter left 🥺
Buy me a cup of coffee here! 💜
Link to Chapter 24
Posted on 210607 9:00PM
121 notes · View notes
atsunflower · 4 years
Text
Hospital for souls — Silent rebellion
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Rated: SFW
Author notes: Man, this chapter was a pain. There isn't much to say about this one. Thanks for everyone who left a comment in the last chapter, y'all are absolutely endearing.
Warnings: Mentions of anxiety, cursing and very pissed off people.
III — Silent Rebellion
Previous || Next
Screams and pleas filled his sleep. His mind was frantic, but his body felt like it was cemented on the surface he laid.
Memories were vivid in the back of his mind, though he couldn't see anything with closed eyelids.
He remembers the glint of metal and he remembers the metal in the blood stench.
Am I dead? — and his body jolted awake.
The discomfort Sakusa felt wasn't caused by the way he slept in the couch and he wasn't disgusted by the sweat layering his skin.
He felt disgusted by the memory of crimson painting his hands.
Recalling the vivid image, his legs led him to the kitchen in auto pilot mode. Reaching for the sink, hands grabbed the soap, rubbing it as if his life depended on it. His eyes wandered around the place, taking in the cleaniness of it.
She had a good taste, he would give her that.
"Shit, Komori" In long strides he went for the bedroom the Kobun was. Resting his body against the doorframe, he took on the scene before him.
In the bed, the brown-haired male slept in a peaceful state, as if his life wasn't on the line a couple of hours ago.
Through the chapped lips, air exhaled in a steady pace; the sight itself allowing Sakusa to breath properly for the first time within the last hours.
"Sakusa-san?" Your whisper ringed on his ears. You came from your personal bathroom, holding a bunch of clothes and bandages.
Staring at your figure, he saw how tired you looked. He couldn't ignore the bruises and scrapes littering your hands and face either."Komori-san had a tranquil night. But I still think he should go to a hospital, just in case" He noded, stare hardening while you spoke.
"How are you?" The tall male asked in a mere courtesy, you were still unsure wether he cared or not about your well-being.
"Fine" You spat drily before making your way to the sleeping man. "Gotta wake him up to see how the wound is" the whisper left your lips in a rushed manner.
Sakusa observed as you crouched down to the bed's level, setting the materials you brought on the nightstanding. Placing a hand on Komori's right shoulder, you shook him gently, only to startle him awake.
"[Name]?" The man frowned, holding the hand you had on his shoulder on an vice grip. "What the hell? Where the fuck is Kiyoomi?" Hatred dripping out of his grey irises, you shivered under the weight of his stare.
"I'm right here, Komori" Your husband said pulling off of the doorframe. A sigh of relief left the kobun's lips while both males exchanged knowing looks.
You cleared your throat, shaking the wrist Komori was still grasping.
"Can I see your wound so you guys can discuss whatever?" You didn't mean to snap, but hell, were you tired. At least, the brown haired man had the decency to look sheepish at his outburst. "Other than pain, are you feeling anything?"
"It just hurts like hell" Komori replied eyeing you. He took in your appearence, noticing how bruises litered your face, how a greyish tone colored your eyelids and how chapped your lips were. There was a weight in your features that made you look even more tired than you were supposed to be.
"Do you think you can bend the ring and pinky fingers?" He hissed but did as was told. You undid the bandages, seeing the stitches were perfect. You hummed in satisfaction, changing the dressings and readjusting the splint. "You need to see a doctor, I can't say if there is a nervous damages in your arm." He nodded, eyes locking to your handiwork while you checked his vitals.
"What happened to my arm?" His voice was rushed, reacalling the memory of being stabbed.
"[Name] said the knife hit an artery. You didn't want to go to a hospital so she saved your ass." You didn't bother to listen their dialogue, leaving the room as fast as possible.
Coming from them, the word 'save' held no meaning to you.
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"We gotta contact Fukuroudani and check if they found something." Sakusa said pinching the bridge of his nose "What the fuck is Johzenji supposed to mean?"
"I don't have idea. Do you think Inarizaki is involved?" Komori asked, doubting the Miya were related to the recent events.
Something about the fight was off and the Itachiyama oyabun couldn't pinpoint what it was.
"I guess they're not. But we can't let our guard down either" The ravenette huffed trying to ignore the weight on his chest.
"Well, guess she has a list of reasons to want us dead. And still, [Name] helped us last night" He shrugged, sitting on the bed. He looked around the place, not reconigzing it. "Where we are?"
He knew you weren't related to the incident, but a part of him refused to trust you.
Inarizaki isn't one to be trusted, after all.
"It's [Name]'s place"
"Suits her" The Kobun hummed "Well, guess we have to make some calls"
"Komori" Sakusa voiced, using a stern tone "We need to talk."
"Not a fucking chance" Was all the brunette said, ignoring his Oyabun as he reached for his phone, dialling Konoha's number.
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Your body jolted up when you felt people in your surroundings.
"Oh, [Name]-san. You're awake" You heard Komori saying while you observed they making themselves comfortable in the armchairs of your livingroom. You grimaced at his nice attitude.
"You aren't supposed to be out of the bed." You frowned watching three paper bags seating in you coffee table, the rich scent of cinnamon and coffee filling your nostrils.
"Don't worry. It takes much more to knock me out, I'm fine" The hazel haired man said as he handed you one of the bags with his damaged arm as if to prove his point. He was supposed to be in big pain and yet, his face showed no sign of discomfort.
He should be used to it, you supposed.
You opened the bag, eyeing its contents. You realized it was from the café across the street; the wave of nostalgia hitting you again as you took both paper cup and caramel muffin in your hands.
You took a bite of the baked good, feeling the taste of cake and caramel melting in your tongue. You smiled at it, recalling the rushed mornings when you would go to the eatery, in your way to work.
"Is the muffin that good?" Komori asked as a glint of amusement crossed his eyes.
"I just missed this place really bad." A pleased face took over your features, almost making you forget the current situation you were in.
Again, why you had to go through this?
"[Name]" The ravenette's voice blared in your ears "Hurry. We have important business today" All of sudden, the food tasted stale in your mouth.
Both men were waiting for you on the entrance hall, observing how you quickly you tidied the place.
"Shouldn't we clean before we leave?" Komori asked Sakusa.
You rolled your eyes and stood to grab your belongings. From the kitchen drawers, you took a plastic bag to dispose the thrash.
"The lady upstairs takes care of the place for me" Oh, you heard it. "It's not like anyone is coming back here anytime soon, too." You three took the elevator, going to the sidewalk where the car was parked.
"What's up for today, then?" The Kobun asked as you three entered the vehicle while Sakusa occupied the driver's seat.
"We have a meeting with Fukuroudani and Inarizaki" Your husband said eyeing you through the rearview. You ignored them as they chatted. "Looks like they have info regarding Johzenji"
"Are we going there?"
"No, they're already on Itachiyama, waiting for us" The ravenette answered as he drove smoothly through Tokyo streets.
You were doing your best to forget the memories of the night prior, but you realized you have never experienced such stress. Your lungs gave in a shaky breath as your mind felt like on the verge of breaking down.
"So it's really like they aren't involved... you know" The silence was thick as you recalled their accusations.
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A couple of minutes later, you realized the ride didn't last much as you spotted Itachiyama lands, the mansion being seen by distance with the pristine white of its walls. Across the gates, the clean pavement and stunning garden welcomed you while you spotted the expensive cars parked by the house entrance.
"Meeting room, now. You included, [Name]" And here he was, his timbre giving the fact that Itachiyama's Oyabun wasn't someone to be defied.
The air inside the house was crispy cold. Your body hurted everywhere and the unsettling feeling in your stomach wasn't going away anytime soon. You didn't want to have anything to do with this reunion, and you were restless about the idea of facing both Osamu and Atsumu after this whole month.
You despised them for making you go through this.
You were never been into the meeting room before. And the image before your eyes wasn't like anything you have imagined.
It wasn't like the regular conference rooms, with a large table with a good amount of seats and all. No, the place screamed traditional: pristine dark floorboards, paper pannels covering the walls and a large chabudai table on the floor, with ten pillowy seats partially occupied by the guests.
The room smelled like burning incense and sake, the scent making you calm in a weird way.
Sakusa indicated your seat as you three made your way to the table. The five men slighty bowed their heads, greeting you.
Your husband grabbed a jar of sake out of nowhere, serving the porcelain hakushika before you first and the proceeding to fill his, Komori's and the other guests cups after.
"Kanpai" they said before downing the alchool down. You mimicked their actions, feeling the liquid burning your throat. You winced at the sensation as Suna sent you an amused look — it took all of your might to not show him your middle finger.
"Heard y'all had a shitty night, huh" Atsumu said on his provocative manner as Osamu eyed him warily. Your husband sitting by your right seemed unfazed by it while Konoha clicked his tongue.
What a way to make disaffections, you thought.
"If you don't have anything useful to say, Miya, shut it." Komori warned the blond man without traces of simpathy " Shall we start?"
At this, the four other men eyed you with caution. Weren't you supposed to be here?
"[Name] was there and she could reconize the woman. It's her business too, since she was attacked first" Was Sakusa's response to their implied question.
"Were they aiming for her?" The ravenette you never saw before asked.
"I don't think they were necessarily targetting [Name], Akashi." You frowned at Komori's reply. Something didn't click, you thought as you opened your mouth:
"Did they attack Inarizaki?" A proud feeling took over your chest as you realized your voice sounded steady.
Suna frowned and looked at Osamu. The latter nodded at the brunette.
"Not directly. They tried to interfere on some of our business and kinda stalked one of Tsumu's... acquaintances. Yeah, that's all" it was Suna's answered not getting your point.
"How many people know the circumstances of our marriage?" You asked directly at Sakusa, seing him frown.
"Just the involved parts. What are you implying?"
"I... I think they are trying to use me to create a strain between Itachiyama and Inarizaki" Your voice wavered at it. Atsumu obnoxiously laughed at what you said as if it was some kind of joke.
"How cute, [Name]" the blond twin giggled as the atmosphere got heavier and heavier "Tho our relationship 's already strained. Ya ain't that special" He wipped an invisible tear to add to his annoying act.
"Actually..." The man Akaashi butted in, his face contorting in a pensive manner "I think she is right."
"Yeah, it's not like they know how the alliance between your houses was estabelished. Think, they tried to incriminate her and last night she was the first one to be attacked" Konoha added to the discussion. You looked at him with surprise "Don't be so surprised, we should know the reason why you went there last night."
"Okay. So the fact is they're after [Name]-san, trying to destabilize both Itachiyama and Inarizaki. Why?" Akaashi inquired, rolling the white hakushika between his slender fingers. The cup glinted in the dim light, reflecting in the gunmetal gray of his irises.
"Well, lucky us, we went ta Niiyama today." Atsumu chimmed in and you didn't have idea of what he was talking about.
"Nee-san doesn't know very much tho" Osamu added to his twin's speech "Looks like these Johzenji guys are a bloomin' gang"
"If they're a gang, what are they up to, then? It's kind dumb to mess with the families when you're this insignificant" Konoha asked seeming trully dumbfolded.
"They're trying, at least, show some bravery" Suna retorted, fidgeting with his cellphone. Straightening his back, a glint of unnecessary pride crossed his eyes as his lips twisted in a provocative curve "Inarizaki and Itachiyama are the most important households. If Johzenji manage to cause ruckus, it can gain some sense of respect between another gangs"
"Still, it doesn't make much sense" Akaashi said as he fished an manila folder on his suit. Suna shrugged at it, coming back to his usual aloof demeanor. "Well, looks like it's you problem. Fukuroudani will cooperate if needed, but it's not like we can be of much help right now" The male handed the envelope to Komori, before standing on his feet. "This is all the information we gathered from the guy we captured yesterday. It's not much, so we will send him to you by nighttime." He completed his statement with a solemn glare, out of respect.
"We have to go now. Thank you so much for having us here, Sakusa-san" Konoha said as he and Akaashi bowed their heads at Sakusa "Let us know if you need anything" The ash-blond haired man bid his farewells as Komori walked them to the doors. The air got thicker with the five of you stared at each other; Suna mouthed something at you, but you couldn't catch what. Atsumu looked at you two with a mischievous smile but opted to keep quiet instead.
The Itachiyama Kobun returned, sitting back on his previous position.
"You okay, Komori-san?" Osamu asked as a mere courtesy, trying to break the still atmosphere.
"Oh, it's nothing. Just a cut that [Name]-san managed to patch up" The hazel haired Kobun replied in a polite tone while the infamous Inarizaki duo arched their brows to the honorific he used to reffer at you.
"Glad ta know she is not useless ta y'all" Atsumu provoked as he got up from his seat. He held back the urge to strech as his fellow companions did the same "It's time we go, too. Since they afta' Ina too, let us know if they try somethin'." Looked like the blond really meant it.
"We will see you off, then" Sakusa spoke for the first time in a while as you all stood from the low sitting position.
You husband and his Kobun went first, opening the doors and guiding you trought the corridors. Suna walked by your side, when he ruffled your hair for no special reason.
"Make sure to rest, you look like shit" He snickered but you were too tired to argue "I have something for you. Here, take it." the tall male handed you a beige envelope with a cute sticker of a Kitsune sealing it.
You took it with grattitude while he smiled softly at you. You mouthed a quiet 'thank you' at him as the brunette ruffled your hair again.
"Well, thanks I guess" Atsumu bid a half-assed farewell as he got out of the mansion. Suna and the other Miya twin followed him suit, not without bowing their hads at Sakusa showing some courtesy. You swore the gray irises of Osamu lingered a little longer in your figure; you choose to ignore the churning sensation in your stomach as you tried to decipher his intense stare.
"What is it?" Your husband inquired, glaring at the envelope in your hands with suspicion; you opened it and froze when you looked at its contents. With the lack of response he snatched it from you in a rough manner, crumpling the paper.
"Hey, you don't need to be rude!"
"You don't get to tell me what to do" He bluntly said as he inspectioned the envelope "It's not like I have any reason to trust you, Miya runt."
Within you, something snapped. You were sure you'd regret it later, but for now, you would blame the stress you were upon.
"Very much to respect your women" Your voice dripped venom as you recalled what he told you in the first day you met "You know, it's not like I wanted to be here, anyways"
"[Name]" Komori warned but you choose to ignore him.
"I hate this fucking yakuza thing. I despise you as much as I despise the Miya" You told as you looked at him dead in the eyes.
"Oh, fancy words coming from a Miya yourself." The ravenette said, keeping his cool.
"I'm not a fucking Miya!" You sneered, althought you wanted to scream "I'm not at fault that good for nothing of their father got my mother pregnant. Bad news to you: you fucking married a bastard"
"I can tell I did" His brow arched. His silence was unsettling but you didn't want to back out at this point.
"Well, I did too. Tough I regret the day I was forced to get involved with a criminal bastard like you." It was too fast. In a second, his tall frame was towering over yours.
You froze under his hard stare, sure he could end your existence anytime he wanted.
"Get the fuck out of my sight" The deep baritone of his timber killed any courage you garthered.
Yakuza would take away any dignity you had.
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❥ taglist is closed: @ukaiwachin @keekee-732 @chiibichann @shinguchi @captain-shittykawa , @fortheloveofbakugo @daisyjaebae @jihoonspout @floodinginstars @fl4mepillar @trash4sportsanime @translucentthoughts @teaanbanter-blog @hqxreader @ly-nia @shadyjinyoung @julimausi1311 @keuromi @onigiriimiya @ayaeushi @wolfiepirate @sekshi-namjas @tomo-uwu @letmegetthisclear @katokanae @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @cherryonigiri @ushijima-meixiu @bimboiiying @crownedcupcake17 @thenerdyrebel @idiot-juice-enthusiast @caprolls @keijination @toaster-stick @ynjimenez @wolfytrixa @wakaitoshi @clowninfortodoroki @shiningotak-ku @kemochie @lilacshouko @imomomi @ohmythatmiya @freewitchjellyfish
I had to remove some names since tumblr wasn't letting me tag them. If by any chance you want me to try and tag you again, leave an ask.
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wildflower-alex · 2 years
Text
Chapter 3
note: hi guys, it's been a year, i think, since i last wrote something. i felt down these days and wanted to come back to my safe space. i read some of the smuts you guys have out there and let me tell you, they're perfect. feel free to double click on this if you want me to continue it. thanks xoxo
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He was practically running whilst holding her hand. The wind was stroking his hair, now his curls running all over the place.
“Come on, you can do it!” he laughed it off.
They were running through the sand, near the water, so she tried to be careful and not get her sneakers wet. He held her palm tight into his, their fingers intertwined as she felt he had strong hands.
“I’m trying, I swear! I’m just trying to avoid to get my shoes wet” she then laughed.
“Ok” he said and stopped his running. He took a disappointed face and replied “You’re not doing that”.
“What do you mean? I will do that!”
“No, you won’t. Forget about your sneakers. Actually, if you care so much about them, I’ll buy you a new pair tomorrow, no questions asked” he replied.
Sonia took a look at him and suddenly started to laugh so hard she almost got on her knees.
“What?” he asked and started to laugh, too. “Am I a joke to you, Sonia?” he playfully asked.
Still giggling, she looked at him and swiped a tear from her eyes.
“Ok” she paused “not to be a brag, God no, but I struggled a bit too much to afford these sneakers and I think you would, too. But I get it, I’m gonna let myself be surprised” she concluded.
“How much are we talking about?” Calum asked.
“My monthly salary” se replied and he looked shocked.
He laughed it off and let her palm swing around her body. She looked at him, the way the moon hit his skin, his chest, the shadows that were forming on his face. He had strong features, his cheeks were chubby. He definitely looked good. And she understood why Christine tried to get his attention. His polka dot satin black shirt showed his hairless chest and the few tattoos he had. And his strong manly smell, his smell was carefully caressing his skin, something she loved about men.
“You don’t have to think about him, unless you really care” he then said.
She looked back at him and felt he knew something.
“If this is your vacation, then don’t let anyone ruin it. Keep you head high and let me be your entertainer for tonight, ok?” he asked. He then offered his palm and smiled at her. “You look beautiful, just so you know”
It was months since Sonia heard those words. It felt so odd to come from a complete stranger and not from Matthew. It felt strange to accept a compliment and, if she were to be honest, it felt strange that somehow she knew he sincerely said it. “Thank you” she replied. And as she smiled back at him she added “You look hot”. Calum chuckled as she reached to his hand and they started walking further.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Were are we?” Sonia asked as they we’re about to enter a villa down the shore. She then stopped walking and forced him to do the same.
“This is the surprise” Calum replied. “Come on, let’s get it”
“No” she said. As much as she enjoyed the walk, she was afraid to enter a stranger’s house. “No, I’m sorry, but I can’t”.
He looked confused, tried to say something, then it struck him. “Fuck… I’m sorry, I understand… You see, I’m not used to this, but I understand you” he said. “Look, we have another option. Behind this very fence there’s a bench, can you see it? It’s right under the light” and he pointed to a small bench inside the yard. “Is it fine?”
She looked over the fence and saw the bench and continued to think about it.
“No, forget it” Calum concluded. "We’ll stay right here, I’m gonna go grab some chairs, but please, at least wait in the yard, I’m not leaving you outside” he said. He took both her hands and kneeled before her, trying to make her laugh. “Please, please… Please?” he begged again.
She started to laugh and agreed to come inside the yard. He tried to ran on the stairs, but miserably failed and hurt his knee. Bot of them started to laugh again, as he was looking into her eyes and tried to open the front door. “Sorry, I told you I’m a little tipsy”.
“Calum?” she asked as he was about to open the door.
“Myeah” he turned around and responded.
“Here’s just fine, bring me something to drink, please” she said.
“Ok, honey eyes” he chuckled.
“What did you just call me?” she laughed.
“I’m tipsy, I have an excuse” he laughed again.
Inside the house, a slow music could be heard and some people we’re talking. She couldn’t help but wonder who this Calum was, what was he doing as a job. Was this house his? If it was, who the hell would invite a complete stranger to his house? And if it wasn’t, who would let anyone to bring strangers intro their houses? It was quite odd, and yet, Sonia felt a sudden relief. As she looked through the yard, she realized it was actually a garden, full of flowers, fruits, decorations and small bushes. In one corner, there was this small dog house and the name “Duke” was poorly painted on the front. “Duke” she said and laughed at the thought that it might be a big dog with a funny name. But, as she said the name, she realized where she was, while a small bubble of fur appeared from the inside of the house, stretched his paws and started to run towards Sonia. She laughed once again and laid on the grass, waiting for the little guy to come to her. She started to play with him, snuggle him and all the good things you should do with a dog.
The door opened and Calum was coming along with a tray and some drinks on it.
“Seems you got to meet Duke” he smiled at her.
“Yeah, he’s such a sweetheart. You know, I actually love dogs more than anything in the world”
“More than singing and general happiness?” he asked.
“Dogs ARE happiness. At least for me”
“Yeah, I agree. Duke is my whole happiness” he added.
“Duke’s yours? How cute is that?” and she started to rub on his belly.
“Here’s some drinks, these three have alcohol in it, these don’t, you choose. I’m gonna choose a non-alcoholic this time, I’m trying not to get too drunk”
“Well, I am trying to, so I’ll choose… this one” and she took a drink from the tray. She took a sip and exhaled, then looked and Calum again. He was busy petting Duke. She smiled at the thought that if a guy has a dog so small, then he must be a keeper. She then laid on her back where the grass looked bigger.
He looked at her and laid on his side, right behind her, looking at her face.
“What are thinking about?”
“Nothing, really. Just trying to find a constellation I know”
“Well, from here you can only see the Ursa Major. Can you spot it?”
“Hmm… not really… to be honest, I don’t even know it looks like”
“Look, is the one that looks like a cart” he said while pointing to some stars.
“Yes… I can see it now” she replied and then looked at him.
Calum put his hand down and looked at her, too.
“You look complicated” he said and reached for her face. His thumb slowly started to stroke her face and finally reached the arch of her lips.
“I am complicated by proxy. I wish I had more time to make up my mind” she replied.
“Make up your mind about.. me, too?”
“I already made up my mind about you, I just don’t know when to act” she replied.
“Do it now” Calum said. His eyes started to glisten once again under the light of the moon. “I promise I’m a gentle being” he added.
“I don’t trust you” she laughed it off and made him laugh, too.
His chuckle made him lay on his back and reach for her hand.
“I’m complicated as well”
“Why, cause you’re in a band?” she replied.
Calum quickly turned his head with a death stare in his eyes.
“How did you… You sneaky girl” he replied and started to laugh so loud even the soil started to tremble.
“Why else would you interrupt me finding your song?” she replied and continued to laugh with him.
He continued to laugh for a few moments, then looked at her again and reached for her hand. He grabbed it and slowly approached it to his lips, only for him to kiss the outside of her palm and then smiled at her. “I still want to taste your lips”
“I do, too, but now it’s not the time” she replied.
The door slammed open and screams could be heard from the inside.
“CAAALUUUMMM!” someone started to yell “Calum, come here to beat their asses!” the voice said.
“Whose asses?” he yelled back.
“Luke’s and Mike’s, of course, they suck at beer pong, I need my knight to win this war” the man added.
“Sure, Andy”
“Let’s go inside” Sonia said.
“You sure? I do not want you to feel forced”
“I’m not, I was testing you”
“That’s smart” he concluded.
Intro
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
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