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freelancearsonist · 16 days

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el chico del apartamento 512

➔ Frankie Morales x gn!Reader - 1.6k

➔ There's a rumor going around your building about the resident of apartment 512, and you're eager to investigate.

➔ Rated PG-13 for allusions to sex but otherwise just some plain old fluff and fun. post movie canon wife and kid erasure sorry, takes place in colombia, both reader and frankie speak spanish and everything is translated.

➔ this is my entry for the Selena Drabble Challenge hosted by mi esposa @fhatbhabie <3 sorry i've been sitting on this forever hehe but i hope you enjoy

Frankie barely manages to pull himself out of the slump he’s in for the first year or so after the absolute disaster in the Andes.

He misses his family, misses his friends, misses his crew–his brothers. He tries to convince himself that it’s for the best, that it’s only a matter of time before those assholes who were in cahoots with Lorea come after him–that the people he loves will be safer and happier if he’s not around them when it happens. And most of the time he can block all that sadness and pain out by throwing his whole mind and body into the earnest construction job he picks up in this new town within this new country. But it catches up to him late at night in dreams and quiet whispers of intrusive thoughts; that he’s a coward for abandoning the ones that needed him most, that he could’ve done more to make that damned mission less of a disaster. That he could’ve come out of it rich and happy if he wasn’t such a fuck-up.

He wakes up screaming in the middle of the night, an ache so deep in his chest that it feels like he’s been shot. He clutches at his sternum and tries to catch his breath but he can’t. His body wracks with sobs and he knows he’ll never be okay again.

But somehow, he ends up okay anyway. Somehow, he falls back to sleep just to repeat the cycle the next day.

There’s a rumor going around amongst your neighbors that apartment 512 is haunted.

People hear things–weird things. Screaming, crying, banging–and always at the dead of night. And everyone swears up and down that they’ve never seen the guy who supposedly lives there. The people who say they have seen him get more dramatic with their descriptions every time–toweringly tall, shoulders that could stand up to a wrecking ball, hauntingly sad eyes and gaunt face. It’s like he’s a thing of legend–a story they tell their kids to make sure they behave. “Don’t run in the halls or the guy from apartment 512 will get you.”

You figure he’s probably just some guy who works long hours and likes to watch horror movies to unwind or something–not a monster or a ghost, just misunderstood. You haven’t seen the guy yourself, but you kinda like him anyway. The building’s certainly been a lot quieter since he moved in… well, everywhere except his own apartment, at least.

You find yourself keeping a more vigilant eye out, alert to any face in the building that doesn’t look familiar. It seems kinda silly to want to see someone you don’t know, but you’re a little nosy and a little more than curious. If there’s some truth to the rumors that have been going around by the people who claim to have seen him, you want to find out for yourself.

It’s a completely ordinary night when you notice an unfamiliar face in the mailroom, and you have to do a double take. This stranger is handsome–tall and dark with shaggy brown hair and an even shaggier patch of stubble across his jaw.

He’s just standing there, staring blankly at a row of mailboxes, looking so… foreboding. You approach slowly, cautiously; part of you thinks you should just walk away and let this man do whatever he’s doing. But there’s a large, louder part of you that approaches with curiosity. There’s just something about him that draws you in, that makes you put on your best smile and ask, “Señor? Necesitas ayuda?” (Do you need help, sir?)

He blinks slowly, heavily, and then dark brown eyes flicker towards you.

“Oh!” He clears his throat and it’s like he’s coming back from an out of body experience–the color returns to his face, his eyes lose that glassy sheen, and his posture loosens a bit. He looks friendly now, sheepish even. He wrings his big hands and shifts on his feet, as if he’s been caught at a vulnerable moment. “Lo siento, estaba en la nube.” (Sorry, I was spacing out.)

“Está bien,” you tell him with your most disarming smile. “Andas buscando algo?” (It’s okay. / Are you looking for something?)

“No, solo estoy recopilando mi correo,” he rumbles before flashing you the most charming smile you’ve ever seen in your life. (No, I’m just getting my mail.)

He fishes through his pockets and finds a small silver key–and then he inserts it into the box labeled “512”.

“Tú vives en el apartamento 512?” There’s a strange air of reverence in your voice despite trying to hide it. This is the guy everyone’s been talking about, and he doesn’t seem nearly as monstrous as everyone tried to make him sound. (You live in apartment 512?)

“Uhhh… sí?” He chuckles and looks over to you, and you can see the way his brow furrows at the look of shocked surprise on your face.

You realize you’re actually gaping open-mouthed at the poor guy, and you snap your mouth closed as soon as you see the little crease between his brows deepen. Not soon enough for it to go unnoticed, though–the corner of his mouth flickers up in a pseudo-smirk, and god he’s handsome.

“No hemos tenido la oportunidad de conocernos aún.” You look up at him and give your best, winning smile as you give him your name. There’s a strange, fluttery feeling in your stomach as his dark eyes meet yours–have you mentioned how handsome he is? (We haven’t had the chance to meet yet.)

“Mucho gusto,” he says with a smile. “Soy Frankie. Supongo que vives en el edificio también?” (Nice to meet you. / I’m Frankie. I’m guessing you live in the building too?)

“Oh, sí,” you say with a slight laugh. “No soy ningún tipo de acosador, vivo en el apartamento 526.” (Oh, yes. / I promise I’m not some kind of creep, I live in apartment 526.)

And then you catch his eyes dragging along your form, not even the least bit subtle, and you try your best to be nonchalant about the way you have to lean against the wall to avoid melting into a puddle on the mailroom floor; especially when you see those full lips of his curve into a smile, and you know he’s liking what he’s seeing.

“Nah, no creo que seas un acosador,” he hums–and there’s that damned smirk again. If you don’t get out of here you’re going to start drooling. (I don’t think you’re a creep.)

He grabs two letters from his mailbox, examines the envelopes, and then unceremoniously dumps them both into the trashcan in the corner with a mumbled, “Malditas estafas por correo.” (Damn junk mail.)

“Eso es lo único que recibo ahora también,” you tell him sympathetically. (That’s all I get anymore too.)

He brushes past you slightly as he moves to the door, and you get a whiff of distinctly woody cologne that makes your heart pick up a beat. You try to act normal and go to open your own mailbox, but he stops in the narrow doorway and leans against the jam to look at you.

“Te volveremos a ver aquí?” (Will I see you around again?)

You think the rumors about him were right, at least a little bit. He’s towering and imposing–he fills the entire doorway with ease. He’s firm and broad and sturdy and big. Maybe he would be intimidating to someone else, but all you can think about is climbing him like a tree.

“Sí. Puedes verme cuando tú quieras.” (You can see me whenever you want to.)

His eyes flicker indecisively for a moment, and then he draws his bottom lip between his teeth. “Qué tal viernes por la noche?” (What about Friday night?)

You try not to focus on how you want him to bite into you like that as you tell him, “Sí, eso sería perfecto.” (Yes, that would be perfect.)

“Perfecto. Te veré luego.” And then he flashes you that damned adorable boyish smile again before he retreats from the mailroom. You think he’s going to be trouble for you. (Perfect. I’ll see you then.)

The monthly building meeting is Saturday morning, and you’re glad to see Frankie’s decided to join in finally. Everyone throws curious looks his way as he walks through the room towards where you’re seated, but no one is curious or brave enough to ask who he is.

“Buenos días, querida,” he murmurs, discreetly ghosting a kiss against your cheek as he drops into the seat beside yours. There’s a hint of amusement in his eyes as they trail over your outfit: the same one you wore to dinner last night, the same one you picked up off his bedroom floor this morning and shoved on hastily to get to this meeting in time. (Good morning, dear.)

Before you get a chance to respond, your neighbor from across the hall plunks down in the seat on your other side.

“Escuchaste ese ruido anoche?” She asks, sounding more amused than annoyed. (Did you hear that noise last night?)

“Qué ruido?” You ask with a raised brow. (What noise?)

She smirks with satisfaction, like she knows something you don’t. And then she looks pointedly between you and Frankie. “Suena como si nuestro fantasma en el apartamento 512 hubiera conseguido un socio para él.” (It sounds like our ghost in apartment 512 got himself a partner.)

You nearly choke on your own tongue, but Frankie just chuckles raspily and wraps an arm around your shoulders. He learned all about the rumors from you last night over dinner, and he thinks they’re hilarious. Besides, they’ll die out soon enough anyway–he’s never slept quite as peacefully as he did last night in your arms–if he doesn’t feed them a little bit. And if feeding the rumors means keeping you moaning and groaning the way he did last night, he can’t say he minds it one bit.

➔ beta: @shakespeareanwannabe; dividers: @saradika-graphics

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#frankie morales #frankie morales x reader #frankie morales fanfiction #frankie morales one shot #triple frontier #triple frontier fanfiction #pedro pascal #pedro pascal characters #cece writes

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sadboytournament · 6 months

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ROUND TWO

Propaganda

Read more added due to the length

Anthony Lockwood: (via @its-your-mind)

Simon Petrikov: (via @transgendersimonpetrikov) "...

Simon. Simon is not initially introduced as Simon, rather is introduced as Ice King, an insane and Really out of it "villain". Throughout almost all of the first 3 seasons, you ONLY see him being weird and getting beat up a lot but under all of it is incredibly sad for reasons he can't distinguish aside from crushing loneliness. Until the Christmas special, they pull a COMPLETE 180 on ice kings character and reveal his backstory - and just to shine some light on this, up until this point in the show, Finn is the only CONFIRMED human in the show. All others are assumed to be extinct. Simon's/Ice King's backstory reveals a few things to the main characters and the audience that makes the characters see him in a new, sympathetic light - he was a human antiquarian with a fiancee (named betty) who just so happened to put a cursed crown on his head as a joke to amuse betty. And then boom! He's cursed. Unlike some other, admittedly limited amount of characters, however, after putting on the crown, he does not immediately go insane. It happens over the course of a few years (which in itself implies he has insane amounts of willpower, even still coming through with Ice King given that the crown tells its users to freeze the whole world with themself inside) .

So, he's cursed, and betty supposedly left him, as that's to what he's known. He assumed he scared her and she ran away and doesn't love him anymore, and spends years grieving over that. But in the few years after putting on the crown and before fully losing his mind, he has to take care of a girl after a goddamn war (where the climax is a detonated mutagenic bomb that makes radioactive zombies and shit) that he found crying in the middle of the street. So, if his mental state was already declining BEFORE, it sure as hell is now because he has to wear the cursed crown more and more to protect himself and this girl and the effects of it clearly show every time he puts it on in flashbacks with himself in Clear distress over the effects of it . So after a while he is scared for himself, and, to quote him, "I fear my thoughts are no longer my own". So then he begrudgingly leaves the girl he cared for over the course of several years before he goes fully mad and loses himself. So then aside from some mentioned stuff that happens before his insanity fully sets in (like being hypnotized which surely did not help his already deteriorating mind) and then for a thousand years he's just pretty much Gone.

In season 4 episode 25, "I remember you", he goes to marceline (the girl he cared for, though he doesn't remember that) and asks her to help him write a song to draw in the ladies. I won't go through the whole episode, but the song they end up making is not anything like that - he took over notes and pages from a scrapbook and Marceline found some he wrote before he fully went mad while desperately trying to get him to remember who he was, and they turned the notes into a song. There is a lot of crying from marceline, meanwhile Ice King has zero fucking clue what's going on there and just thinks they're having fun. The entire episode is up on YouTube, and I would recommend watching just to get the idea.

Near the end of season 5, he gets a brief moment of lucidity and return to his former self, and he makes a time portal to say sorry and goodbye to betty, and she jumps through only to discover that without the crown Simon is dying. He says later in the episode that he'd rather Die than go back to being Ice king. She wants to find a way to help him so she gets him turned back into ice king so she can find a way to cure him, with her going insane by gaining magic in the process (by proxy of mms, which is a whole thing itself).

Series finale rolls around, he's finally back, but in a chaos deitys "stomach", which reverted him and betty back to their sane, non magic selves. Their moment is short lived by the "stomach" closing in on them, about to crush them to death. They've seemingly accepted their fates, and embrace before their impending deaths, but they're given a way out, betty staying behind despite his pleas and using the original wish state of the crown to wish Simon safe and thereby fusing with the chaos deity and leaving. The next scene is Simon breaking down and crying where she previously was.

So, 12 years pass between the finale and the spin off, and he's just absolutely tired with everything. Hes a 20th century man frozen in time and thrown into into new world after living 1000 years insane and sad without the love of his life with him and he has to deal with that. He is constantly barraged with people talking about a story he wrote when he was insane, saying that it was great, wishing he'd write more, etc etc. Even saying he was cooler when he was insane. Still grieving betty, he tries to Actually Perform A Ritual That Could Destroy The World just to see her again. It goes wrong and the 2 main characters from the story he wrote while insane pop out of his head. After a bit, he finds out that they're not fiction and instead a universe planted in his head . Their magic was stripped from their world when he was reverted back to himself and since he's wallowing in so much misery he decides to find a way to go Back to being insane and commit the equivalent of suicide and perform ego death once again for people he just met because he felt his life was worth so little that serving any purpose even if detrimental to himself would give himself a meaning to live. Just as he's about to finish this, he finally gets to talk to now-chaos-deity betty, and she gets it in his head that his life is worth living and then sends him off to live his life after an emotional scene of them finally ready to let go of their losses..."

#tumble tournaments #the sadboy tourney #anthony lockwood #lockwood and co #simon petrikov #Adventure Time

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starrysamu · 8 months

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✦ you and nanami have been working side by side for three years now. when nanami brings his son to work with him one day, it changes the entire trajectory of your relationship in only 24 hours.

✦ nanami kento x f!reader

✦ word count: 1.9k

✦ warnings: none.

contents. | 3. | 4. | 5.

previously.

“he really likes exercise equipment, but he’s too small to use them, especially the elliptical that we have at home. i’m afraid he’s going to hurt himself. instead, we go to the park when we can so he can play. he likes spending time with his friends there. he likes it when i cook dinners for him, which is most nights. he hates vegetables, and i’ve heard it’s common for kids his age but it’s been really tough to get them in him. sometimes - ”

he stops abruptly and blinks at you. you blink back.

“sometimes?” you urge quietly. your hands are folded on your lap and your chest is pressed against the edge of the table.

he clears his throat. “ah, i lost my train of thought.”

you smile, knowing full well there’s no way a man like him just “lost his train of thought.”

you’ll give it time, though, because this time it’s different. this time, you’re willing to wait.

chapter 4

“another friday, another yuto, hm?”

“another?” yuto yells disbelievingly. “there’s another yuto?”

nanami shushes him. truly, it was just another day of figuring out how to phrase things to a small child.

“no, no, that’s not what i meant - i’d like to call a lifeline to help explain to yuto that he’s the only yuto for me, and i simply meant that - ”

“another friday, another nanny not available,” nanami mumbles monotonously. his voice - low and deep and rich like velvet - incites a completely inappropriate response from you.

you frown, masking the tugging in your stomach with unamusement. “you’re the worst lifeline.”

nanami turns to look at you point-blank, hands folding over his abdomen.

your frown deepens when he doesn’t say anything.

“what?”

he draws in a deep sigh before turning back to yuto. “you know the drill. i’ll get you that mango custard today.”

nanami probably broke his back trying to find someone to look after yuto. the sharpness of his eyes have softened, already weathered down from the morning.

“mango custard?” you wiggle your eyebrows, leaning back to get a good look at yuto. “the dessert game keeps getting upped.”

“i lo-ove mango,” yuto declares with his entire chest. “but i think dad likes it more. we also like strawberry. we like cake. cake is so good, like especially the cake with the little strawberry pieces in the middle of the slice -”

“yuto, i think she knows what cake is.”

nanami grunts as he leans over to pull yuto’s jacket around him, zipping it up to the very top. you grin at the sight: a sky blue marshmallow.

“very flattering,” you gush. you feel like one of those aunties that’ll come up to him in 10 years and ask, ‘do you remember me?’ when there’s no way in hell he would remember you from such a young age.

“look at all that extra padding. i think you’re ready for your first sports game.” this time, you wiggle your brows at nanami.

yuto is not paying attention to you. yuto is actually quite upset that he’s got this suffocating jacket on him. he hangs his head back exasperatedly, letting out a long groan.

“don’t make that face,” nanami murmurs. “it’s cold in the office today.”

yuto starts to flop his arms and legs around like a fish. the chair wobbles, swiveling to the side pitifully. nanami reaches for the armrest to stop it from spinning and you watch, partly in awe with how the office chair practically consumes yuto whole. once he’s sure yuto’s giving up the resistance, nanami turns back to his computer.

you try not to stare at nanami. you’ve always been drawn to his sharp features, but you think something else tugs at you now - pity, maybe? just thinking it fills you with dread. you hope it airs along the lines of longing, sympathy, even.

he’s working with pinched eyebrows and the softest, most exasperated sighs - a large contrast from stoicism and silence. your chest tightens.

you cross one leg over the other and swallow. “is there anything i can help you with today?”

you can’t recall the last time you asked him that. you remember asking religiously during the first two quarters of working at the company, back when you were fresh-faced and impossibly ambitious - and back when he was simply polite and efficient enough to always say ‘no thank you.’

out of the corner of your eye, you catch yuto slouching defeatedly in his chair.

would you have acted differently had you known? should you have tried harder to extend yourself?

does this … does yuto change things?

it shouldn’t. you don’t think it does, at least.

you frown to yourself. you’re still contemplating it when he murmurs, “i think we just need to finish making the presentation for tomorrow.”

your lips almost part. almost.

“i might need some help with yuto,” he admits, eyes trained on the file on his computer. “he was a little … apprehensive about coming with me today.”

this might be the longest response you’ve ever gotten to that question, much less to any of your other questions.

“yeah, sure, anything,” you nod quickly, smiling at yuto. “really? who would’ve guessed he hates coming here? i thought this was the funnest place on the planet.”

yuto scrunches his nose. “dad said funnest isn’t a word.”

“he’s right, kiddo.”

“then why’d you say it?”

“for fun.”

you lean over and drag his chair to sit in the middle of you and nanami.

nanami looks at you before looking at yuto. when he looks at you once again, you tilt your head to the side. what?

he shakes his head and turns back to his computer.

it’s almost embarrassing how your back pops when you reach your hands up to the ceiling and wiggle your fingers. you sigh out in relief and slump forward.

it’s friday. it’s friday. it’s friday, it’s friday, it’s friday.

“do you have the excel sheet from the sukuna account?”

you’re sensing a foreign invader. your eyes narrow. you’re like a white blood cell, and gojo satoru is a pathogen - a threat to your peace and serenity in the workplace.

“ah, hello, dear, sweet gojo. the bane of my existence.”

“how charming.” gojo grins. “happy to be of service.”

“shut up,” a new voice says. “stop bothering her. i need to bother her. and him. both of them.”

you smile tersely. “ah, hello, dear, sweet utahime. currently the other bane of my existence.”

“i’m happy to take over the role from gojo,” she says curtly, passing a file to you. “i need you to look through this before i submit it for approval.”

“must i?” you ask, pressing the back of your hand to your forehead and tilting back dramatically.

while you’re busy brooding over extra work, gojo comes around to pick yuto up.

yuto giggles when gojo holds him up like simba. he circles around in his spot, yuto still suspended in air. “everyone praise king yuto. king yuto, we thank you for gracing our presence today - ”

nanami doesn’t shift, doesn’t twitch, doesn’t budge a single muscle. he doesn’t watch gojo swing his child around, he doesn’t ask gojo to put him back down.

full, unadulterated trust.

doubt creeps in. you remind yourself you haven’t known him for that long, you suppose. what’s it going to take to get there, though?

you watch quietly, gnawing on your lip.

“stop bothering everyone,” utahime hisses, tugging on gojo’s collar. “hi, yuto,” she coos, taking him from gojo. “you’ve gotten so big. do you remember aunty utahime? i haven’t seen you in so long. how’s work going today?”

yuto sighs dramatically. it’s obvious he doesn’t remember her, but he’s itching to complain. “work is so bo-oring. i think dad and i should go to the park every day instead.”

gojo ruffles his hair. “sorry kid, this is what life’s all about. luckily, you got a rich dad and … ” he looks to you, “an entertaining friend over here, so you’re basically set for life.”

“entertaining?” you parrot, scrunching your nose. it leaves a sour taste in your mouth.

“derogatory,” gojo clarifies.

“how sweet.”

utahime sets yuto back down in his seat. “anyways, just look over that when you can,” she says to you and nanami.

“yeah, and the sukuna account,” gojo tacks on. “you guys are the best. just awesome. amazing people. great coworkers. keep up the great work.”

you press your palms to your eyes and lean back in your seat. “i think i’m gonna have to go into overtime,” you groan, once gojo and utahime are out of earshot.

“we can finish,” nanami mutters under his breath. “it’s fine, we’ll finish in time.”

you’re not sure if he’s trying to convince you or himself.

you’re fighting for your life. you’re fighting the urge to scream and rip your hair out and do literally anything and everything the main character in a romantic comedy would do when nothing is going their way.

you glance out the window. the sun has been gone for several hours now. you’re left to fend for yourself in this dusty, dark office - which, you figure you might be able to see better if you just got up to turn the lights.

lights are for the weak. it’s time to rely on your hunter-gatherer instincts.

(you doubt hunter-gatherers were as lazy as you are, but that’s another discussion).

you sigh and lean back in your seat.

“why’re you sitting in the dark?”

the lights click on and you jump in your seat.

your heart is racing a million miles when you rub your eyes to adjust. footsteps approach you. what do you do? what would the hunter-gatherers have done?

you open your eyes. nanami towers over you, yuto attached to his hip and a grocery bag in his free hand.

“we thought you might still be here.”

you don’t know if you should be nervous. did something happen?

“what’re you guys doing here?”

he looks at you a little sheepishly. “yuto’s idea.”

oh dear. what’re you to do now? what’re you to do now that you've seen this side of him? what’re you - a woman of nature, one with the trees and the wilderness - to do with a man like this?

he’s shot you straight in the heart with a bow and arrow.

“we got you a mango custard,” yuto grins. “you have to try it. it’s so much better than the strawberry cake.”

“also got you some noodles if you’re hungry.”

as if on cue, your stomach growls.

you are no longer one with the wilderness. if you really think about it, this is the modern version of gathering.

nanami sets the bag down on your desk with the slightest curve of his lips. he grunts as he sits in his seat, yuto clinging to his front like a koala.

“eat,” he murmurs, reaching for your mouse.

he leans forward and you feel the warmth in waves, rolling off of his stiff suit. you still in your spot when he casually hands yuto over to you. now you’ve got a whole child hanging off of your right arm and a bowl of noodles in your other hand, with nanami brushing over you everytime he moves to type something on your computer.

your heart blooms, flowers uprooting from your arteries. you’ve been watered after a long, dry day.

“eat the custard.” yuto is whispering in your ear, but every time he speaks, he gets louder. “eat the custard. eat the custard, eat the - ”

“yuto.”

yuto brings his voice back to a whisper. “eat the custard.”

you giggle, holding up the box. “i gotta have these noodles first, right?”

“no you don’t,” yuto shrugs. it must be nice to be a three-year old, considering how easily he made that decision for you. he shifts so he’s sitting on your lap, digging through the grocery bag to find the custard. “i think you should have the custard first.”

“let her eat.”

you let your eyes rest on nanami for a moment. his brows are slightly furrowed, with the same pinch from this morning. it feels that just as much as he hates overtime for himself, he hates it for you too.

it makes you feel warm.

“thank you,” you whisper.

if he hears you, he doesn’t say anything. he makes sure your computer is shut down by 8:00.

contents. | 3. | 4. | 5.

#nanami x reader #nanami kento #nanami x you #jjk x you #jjk fluff #nanami fluff

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coinlockerrbaby · 26 days

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Guys Verlaine if he wasn't a loser and also was a magical girl from hit animanga series Madoka Magica 🙀🙀 (and also a gal :3)

get ready 4 my yapping (and better quality close-ups) below!!!!

Okay so in this AU them and Rimbaud r both 19!!!

Verlaine's wish was to bring Chuuya back after he went missing; Chuuya disappeared at 5 and was gone for two years before Kyuubey showed up.

In this Chuuya's 14 and came back @ 7 so Verlaine would've made their contract at 12!!! (They've been a magical girl 4 a hot minute)

They still keep a lot of the whole "I'm not human" edginess but this time it's over being a magical girl (bro did NOT react well to finding out abt the soul gem thing). Them nd Rimbaud have a bit of a better relationship than canon cuz Rimbaud's also a magical girl so Verlaine actually feels understood in this universe.

Story-wise they both were doin pretty good until an amount of circumstances led to them having to kill Walpurgisnacht on their own. While they did succeed, they both had completely used up all their magic and were gonna become witches </3

Rimbaud pulls a Madoka and sacrifices himself with their only grief seed :( Verlaine's forced to kill Rimbaud (or the witch that used 2 be Rimbaud el oh el) and it fucks him up a little :3

Verlaine's super devastated cuz bro lost the only person who understood them and they essentially gave up on living; so they decide to just start killing witches (and quite a few magical girls!!!!). It doesn't take long for them to transform into their own witch and get killed (probably by Chuuya nd Dazai) </3

OK DESIGN DETAILS!!!

Their weapon is a sniper rifle, it's magical so they can summon it but only one at a time so not like Mami's many revolvers!! It can shoot lil mini black holes and it's pretty fancy :3

Also close-up of the Soul Gem this took like 4 tries to look okay </3

Their outfit's pretty similar, I gave them like a huge coat that they don't rlly wear cuz it'd be so impractical in battles </3 also the design on their gloves and tights are supposed to mimic brutalisation :3

(also if u look real close they have heterochromia yippee!!!)

MY FAV PART THE WITCH FORM

The runes (hopefully) spell out Guivre cuz that's the name of Verlaine's witch form :3

I wanted to reference what's described in Stormbringer so the "tail" nd "head" are inspired by that tomfoolery!! It's also supposed to mimic a dragon with butterfly wings instead of normal wings (idk why i drew butterfly wings they're just fun ig) and it also has horns :3

The lil halo thing in the back's supposed to look divine in a way????? also it just looks cool

meow

Im gonna draw Rimbaud in the future but 4 now I'm done yapping thanks 4 reading this :3

ALSO this started like 2 years ago when Pinterest did this!!!

and then my wife drew the first iteration of magical girl verlaine...

#loser au #paul verlaine #what do i tag this????#puella magi madoka magica #meow #how niche is this #errmmm

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tadpolebrains · 2 months

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Hii can I ask for an headcanon for BG3? There are spoilers for Act 3 so if you haven't finished it don't read!

I was thinking of Tav finally freeing Lae'Zel from Orin and becoming an absolute emotional wreck because they feel guilty for leaving her there that long because of other quests. You can also do it for other characters getting kidnapped and freed (especially Karlach pls). If it's too complicated for an HC I understand! Also I love your blog, I'm browsing through it right now <3

You betcha my dude >:3

Cut just for the people who haven’t gotten to act three. Spoilers ahead! ^^

I do know that only certain party members can be taken by Orin in game… but we’re gonna ignore that shhhhhh. I will start with the ones who can be taken can be taken canonically though (Orin ended up taking Yenna for me, so I don’t know much about how the companions actually react to being kidnapped ddhdh- I shall try my best though)

Post-Orin Kidnapping

Lae’zel. She tries to be indifferent about it. You made the difficult choice to prioritize certain quests first, and she does nod and say she respects that. It was a logical choice. She’ll scoff slightly when you try to apologize at first, acting like it doesn’t matter, but she was a little shaken by the whole thing, even if she won’t admit it, and your apologies do help, as much as she deflects them. A bit of suffering makes her stronger, right? When you tell her about the quests you completed first, she’ll make little comments about how she ‘would have done it this way to be more efficient’ or other such things that not so subtly state how she would have been beneficial to have around during those times. One of those comments eventually makes you snap, and you just start crying and apologizing relentlessly and she just… freezes. Because yes, she was trying to make a point, but she didn’t mean to draw that kind of reaction out of you. Didn’t mean for tears. And though her instinct is to scold or mock a sign of weakness, she pushes it down, frowning slightly. You get a slightly awkward hand on your shoulder. “Chk… pull yourself together. I have seen you worry less over worse. I am strong, still. I will fight you to prove it if you must see it for yourself.” That gets a laugh out of you. Give it a bit of time, and it’ll be alright.

Gale is more preoccupied with making sure you’re alright. When you start trying to apologize, he lets you get it out, but assures you it isn’t entirely necessary. He’s fine, he assures you. His self-esteem isn’t great, though, so he takes that delay in you getting to him a little too close to heart, even if he logically knows he shouldn’t. Immediately, his focus is on other things. Asking how you all fared without his cooking, what you’ve managed to do in his absence, etc. He keeps himself occupied constantly, or, well, tries to. Keeping his mind on other things can distract him from thinking about it all. Being useful, because, well… if he’s useful, surely that means he was worth saving. He feels the need to prove it was worth “going out of your way” to get him back. It’s only when he crashes either from exhaustion or from you confronting him about it that he finally admits it might have been harder on him than he’d let on. Some words of reassurance and a good, long hug can help to clear the air. And if that hug turns into him pretty much falling asleep in your arms from exhaustion… well, he needs the rest.

Halsin doesn’t seem all that bothered, at least, in comparison to the others. When you apologize, he thanks you, and accepts it. If you think you require his forgiveness, he will not deny it to you, even if ye finds it unnecessary. He’s gone through being captured before, and yeah, it sucks, but he had faith you’d show. Dealing with the Shadow-Curse was harder on him than this; at least he doesn’t have years upon years of trauma related to Orin. His behavior shifts into making sure you know that he is his real self periodically throughout your encounters. He’ll tell you little things that he doesn’t tell most people, ‘just in case’ you need to interrogate him later, even with Orin out of the way. For your own reassurance, and also for his, so he knows you’ll he able to spot an imposter faster if there ever is another one. If the scene plays out where “he” (Orin) hurts Scratch, he feels guilt, even if it wasn’t his fault. He stays away from Scratch for a while, not wanting to make the poor dog uncomfortable, and makes sure to check in with anyone who’d witnessed it to ask if he needs to keep his distance from them for a bit as well.

((I know Minthara is also able to be kidnapped in-game, but sadly in my initial playthrough I wasn’t aware she could be recruited alongside Halsin and killed her in act 1. I am recruiting her for my second playthrough, but for now I don’t know enough about her rip.))

And onto the ones that can’t be nabbed in-game:

Karlach, without hesitation, hugs you the moment she is freed and won’t let go for a while. If you’ll let her, she’ll even carry you back to camp just to keep you close. She hated every single second of that, and will demand cuddling in consolation. She doesn’t blame you, though, and makes sure you’re aware of that when you try to apologize for how long it took. For the days following the rescue, she is pretty clingy with you, more-so than usual. She’s reluctant to be left behind in camp if you ask her to stay put, even if she will relent if that’s really what you think is best. She does not let herself be alone, though. If you’re not there, she finds someone else to be with. She’ll even chill with Withers if that’s who’s around at the time. She just needs someone there while her nerves slowly die down over the next couple days.

Astarion… doesn’t do great. Because when Orin takes him at first, he immediately assumes it’s Cazador’s doing, and is petrified. There had already been the first kidnapping attempt, and now this?! When you finally show up, he barely even speaks to you. Apologizing for getting caught up with other things gets you a mask of a smile and a ‘it’s fine, darling.’ He’s definitely dissociating a bit, and you can tell. Even if he’s acting off, though, he will not leave your side. Jumps slightly if he sees movement out of the corner of his eye. Generally is on edge. Even if you talk with him, try to console him, he won’t truly relax after it all until Cazador is taken down. When you two are alone, though, he will accept your consoling words and, though he acts begrudging, a hug. Being patient enough may get him to admit that he ‘wasn’t sure you’d actually show up, but he’s glad you did.’ The words are said with a chuckle, played off as less serious than they are, but you know they’re true.

Shadowheart isn’t as phased. Even as a Selunite, she’s still got an odd relationship with pain and such from her Shar worship, and genuinely doesn’t feel too much worse for wear. It happened, and she doesn’t really want to dwell on it. Your apologizing might make her feel a little awkward, just because she isn’t entirely sure what to say, but she just thanks you for your concern. She finds it sweet that you feel the need to check up on her and apologize like that, but really, she’s alright. But, y’know. If you really have to dote on her a bit and pay her some extra attention, then who is she to complain?

Wyll, similar to Gale, also immediately makes sure you’re alright. He doesn’t try to hide that the experience has shaken him a bit, but assures you that it will only be a matter of time before he’s back at his best. He doesn’t want to be dishonest with you, and answers honestly if you ask how he’s doing. He insists you don’t need to apologize whenever you try to, but if you wear him down enough he’ll accept it for your sake. In the days after, you may catch him spacing out a bit, or wearing a smile that looks a little too forced, but it’s mostly for his own sake. If he can convince himself he’s alright, then he has to be, right? He’d spend a bit more time by himself, not wanting to sour anyone else’s mood. He appreciates it if you spend some time just sitting there with him, silent company, even after he assures you it isn’t necessary. He doesn’t want to waste your time, but won’t protest too much. He wants the company. Doing some dancing with him can serve as a good distraction, and pick up the mood a bit.

#wow this got long #lae’zel #gale #halsin #karlach #astarion #shadowheart #im hoping this fufills the request lmao i think i ended up rambling for half of it #bg3 hcs #bg3 headcanons #baldur’s gate 3 #askbox #bg3 spoilers #bg3 act 3 spoilers #orin the red #orin #wyll #tadthoughts

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child-of-thedarknight · 1 year

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I’ve had a taste - Ajax Petropolis x OC!fem reader

A/N: this is the short version of the oneshot I had originally done for Ajax. There is smut in this :)

“You walk out that door and I’m done Thorpe!” I screamed as he looked at me, then at the door and then at me. “What?” He questioned as he started to walk closer to me. I held my hand up to stop him from getting any closer. “Xavier the fact that you are tossing up on whether or not to spend time with your girlfriend of three years or go off with the girl you’ve known for a month and a half is the only answer I need. Get the fuck out.” I said as I walked over to him, walking him out of my room and shutting the door behind him, sliding down it and finally letting the tears fall.

That was 2 months ago. Since that night, I’d been trying to escape reality with weed. I was always in a constant high. I gave it up almost completely when I got with him but there was no point not smoking now. I had grown closer to Ajax as well as a result of smoking. He became my sesh buddy. Every two days, we’d sesh at either his dorm or mine. He started walking me to classes and the rumours started flowing. The latest one I’d heard was that I had been cheating on Xavier with Ajax the entire time. I told Ajax that during our sesh and we both laughed until we cried.

Two weeks ago, it got out that Wednesday and Enid were and item. I had no idea until Ajax walked into my room, pulled out the weed and sat on the bed with me. “She’s fucking gay.” Was all he said as he smoked and tried to come to terms with the fact that the girl he’s had a crush on since freshman year and was still trying to figure out how to ask her on a date was gay. I had giggled to myself, feeling Ajax’s eyes on me. “It’s kind of funny how we’re both trying to get over someone now.” I said as he agreed with me.

A week ago, I had to go into Jericho to get my medications and some more snacks and Ajax came with me. When we were in the aisles, I wasn’t quite tall enough to reach something. I felt Ajax’s hands on my waist as he lifted me up and I got the packet of chips. I felt his hands burning my skin through the two layers of clothing. When he put me down, I turned to face him and without even thinking, kissed his cheek before walking further down the aisle. I felt a hand pull me back before Ajax’s hand was on my cheek and his lips were on mine. It was short but sweet being that we were in public but it was enough for me to blush heavily. The whole way back to Nevermore, his hand was either in mine or on my thigh.

3 days ago, we were sitting at the back of the class during maths. It was the last lesson on a Friday so I was using my powers to move things around the classroom, making the teacher have to purposefully stop the lesson to have to look for things. I was moving the whiteboard eraser when I felt ajax’s hand on my thigh. I looked at him and he moved closer to me. “Gotta stay quiet. Can’t draw any attention to ourselves now can we?” He asked as I realised we had smoked during break which meant he was very high right now and so was I. I rolled my eyes at him and went back to moving the whiteboard eraser. I felt his hand move under my jumper and beneath my pants as he slowly rubbed my clit and I bit down on my lip to stiffle a moan. His hand slipped beneath my panties as he began stroking me. I looked down and noticed that my jumper covered everything. I silently thanked the gods that no one was watching. His fingers played with my clit before he slipped one inside me and I bit my hand so I wouldn’t moan. He slowly began pumping his finger in and out before he added another one, his palm rubbing against my clit as I felt myself slowly rocking my hips to try and get some form of friction going. I looked at him with pleading eyes and all he did was smirk, purposefully going slow, teasing me and making me want more. He started moving faster and I could feel a knot forming in my stomach, getting closer and closer to my orgasm. His palm began rubbing faster against my clit as the knot in my stomach got tighter and tighter until it finally came undone as I rode out my orgasm on ajax’s fingers. He pulled his fingers out slowly as he put them in his mouth, licking them clean as the bell rang.

Yesterday, we were seshing in my dorm, Chase Atlantic playing in the background. I was leaning against the wall, looking up at the galaxy I had painted on the roof. I could feel Ajax’s eyes on me the entire time. I looked down and Ajax’s hand was on my cheek as he turned my face to look at him before I felt his lips on mine. The kiss was gentle and slow. I kissed him back before he grabbed me, moving me on to his lap as he reattached his lips to mine, his hands going around my waist as mine went around his neck. I felt his tongue swipe my bottom lip as he grabbed my ass, causing me to gasp. He slipped his tongue in as he began moving my hips back and forth. I quickly got the message as I started grinding down on him, feeling his cock grow beneath me and rub me through my jeans. One of his hands went to my hair as he lightly tugged on it. He slowly broke off the kiss as he moved my hair from my face, looking at me with so many emotions in his eyes. “Kinda just had to do that y’know?” He asked as I nodded my head, giggling at him.

Today, I was sitting in my dorm with Enid and Wednesday, catching up with them since I’d been spending alot more time with Ajax since he found out Enid was gay. Enid was asking me all kinds of questions as my phone was blowing up with texts. I picked it up off my bedside table to see Ajax was blowing up my phone. I silenced it before placing it back on my bedside table. “You seem to be popular.” Wednesday commented as I turned back to face them. “Not really.” I said as we continued our conversation. 10 minutes later, my door was thrown open and Ajax walked in, walking over to me and kissing me before he looked at me. “Dude I was so worried about you. Why didn’t you answer my texts?” He asked as I looked in his eyes. “Because I’m spending time with Enid and Wednesday. We can sesh when I’m done catching up with them.” I said as he looked over to the girls and swallowed. “I’ll just uh, wait outside.” Ajax said as he walked out the door, shutting it behind him. “Details! Now!” Enid squealed as I looked at her. “I’m not saying anything Enid. You’re just gonna have to deal with it.” I said as she grumbled at me. “Now I really do hate to do this but I have a very confused gorgon boy outside my dorm that I need to attend to.” I said as the girls nodded their heads and walked out, saying goodbye to ajax as they walked out. He walked in and took his shoes off before sitting on my bed, crossing his legs and facing me. “I’m gonna need a joint or three to process the fact that I just kissed you in front of them.” He said as I laughed and handed him one, watching as he lit his before I lit mine. We talked about anything and everything before he headed back to his dorm before curfew.

He started getting more touchy in public after that day. Whether it was his arm over my shoulder around our friends, linking our pinkies when we walked to class, kisses on my forehead or cheek randomly. I was on my way to fencing when I felt a hand pull me into an empty classroom. A hand went over my mouth as I breathed in Ajax’s scent, immediately calming down. I turned around to face him as he backed me up against the door, my book bag dropping against the ground as my hands immediately went around the back of his neck as his went to my waist. He pulled away from the kiss, one of his hands tangling in my hair as he pulled my head back, marking my neck as much as he could before he started undoing the buttons on my shirt. Once he had them undone, He pulled my bra down and took my left nipple in his mouth, swirling his tongue around it before he switched, his hand travelling down my body as he pulled my pants down. I undid his belt and pants before pulling them down. I sunk down as he looked down at me, watching as I grabbed his cock in my hands, licking the tip before beginning to take as much of him in my mouth as I could. I slowly bobbed my head, taking in more each time before I deep throated him, making his hand fly to my hair as I looked up at him, maintaining eye contact as I did it again. He pulled my off his cock and pushed me against the door, my hands pressed against the wood as he spread my legs before rubbing his cock in my slick, teasing me before he slowly pushed in, bottoming out quickly because of how wet I already was. I heard him groan behind me as he pulled out until just the tip was left in before slamming back into me, hitting my spot dead on. I was about to let out a moan when Ajax’s hand covered my mouth, the other going around my throat as he leaned closer to me, his lips brushing my ear. “You’ve gotta be quiet now. Can’t have anyone walking in and finding us doing this now can we? I bet you love the risk of getting caught don’t you? The thrill that someone could knock on the door at any moment and see us. You know you love it.” He whispered as I moaned against his hand, feeling his grip on my throat tighten as the knot in my stomach did the same. As if he could sense my orgasm building, he took his hand off my throat and reached between me and the door, rubbing my clit with his fingers to bring my orgasm closer. I moaned as Ajax put two fingers in my mouth, the rest wrapping around my throat as best as he could. I felt his thrusts starting to get sloppy as my orgasm drew nearer, whimpering and whining, desperately wanting a release. “It’s ok baby. You can come.” Ajax said as I moaned, feeling the knot untie as my orgasm hit me like a tidal wave, my walls tightening around Ajax’s cock as his hips stuttered before he came, filling me up with his seed. He slowly pulled out before helping me pull my pants up before he pulled his own up. “That was fucking amazing.” He said as he leaned over and placed a kiss on my lips. “Mmm.” I hummed in agreement as I picked up my book bag and we opened the door, walking out and heading our separate ways for the last class of the day.

Ajax had texted me during botany saying that Xavier needed his help with something so I told him we can push back our sesh until after dinner. I had just finished my plate when Ajax came up to me, sitting next to me and placing a kiss on my cheek. “Hey.” He said as I looked up at him. “Hey.” I replied, finishing my juice as he sat facing me. “Your dorm or mine?” Ajax asked as I leaned into him. “Mine. I don’t have a room mate remember?” I said as he nodded his head. I got up and held out my hand for him. He grabbed it and we walked to my dorm, shutting the door behind us once we got in. “I’m going for a shower before we smoke.” I said as I grabbed some pajama’s and Ajax nodded, beginning to roll the joints for the night. I walked into the bathroom and turned the water on, letting it heat up as I got undressed before getting under the water. I put my hair up in a messy bun before shaving and washing my body, getting out and drying myself off. I got dressed and put some lotion on and walking back into my room. I joined Ajax on the bed and we began smoking.

An hour later, Ajax was using my thighs as pillows as we both scrolled through social media, too high to do anything else. I was snapping Enid and I was also very conscious of how close Ajax’s fingers would get to my core due to how he was laying. He suddenly moved between my legs, pulling my shorts and underwear off before throwing them somewhere on the floor. I looked down at him as he made eye contact, licking along my pussy as I threw my head back, a moan slipping past my lips as he smirked at me. His hands tightened their grip on my thighs as his tongue circled my clit. “Holy fuck.”I moaned as his tongue flattened and he shook his head. My thighs started squeezing together as his tongue explored my pussy before he wrapped his lips around my clit and sucked on it, causing me to squeeze my thighs around his head. I heard him moan and it sent vibrations straight to my core, causing me to throw my head back and moan loudly, my back arching as the knot in my stomach got tighter and tighter. I could feel myself getting closer and he must have known as he started flicking his tongue against my clit, my hands tangling in the bed sheets as he kept going. A few seconds later, I came without warning, Ajax helping my through my high as he licked all my juices up before sitting up and leaning over to give me a kiss. I whined as I tasted myself on him. He smiled at me before grabbing my panties and shorts, handing them back to me as he grabbed us both another joint. I rolled my eyes at him and put my clothes back on, Leaning back against the headboard and lighting my joint, looking over at Ajax and seeing him already looking at me. “What has gotten into you lately?” I asked as he smirked. “I’ve had a taste and now I’m addicted.” He replied as he inhaled, winking at me as I smiled at him. I stuck my tongue out before we sat in a comfortable silence, smoking our joints before we finished them and fell asleep cuddling each other.

When I woke up the next morning, Ajax was looking at me but he seemed to be lost in his thoughts. “Emma?” He asked as he noticed I was awake. “Mmm?” I asked as I yawned. “There’s no possible way that what we have is just friends.” He replied as I looked at him. “I know.” I said as I fiddled with the snake necklace he got me for my birthday a few months ago. “So does that mean we’re a thing now?” He asked as I looked at him, leaning over and kissing him softly. “Yeah it does Ajax. I’m sick of hiding it.” I said as Ajax agreed. We got up and got dressed for school, heading to breakfast, hand in hand and a smile on both our faces.

#ajax petropolis x reader #ajax petropolis smut #ajax petropolis

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moroser · 1 year

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[incoming long and personal and dark post]

it dawned on me that it’s april and that means it’s been 6 years since i stopped doing drugs. big achievement. i did weed the whole time, thinking i needed it to keep away from the worse stuff, but i stopped that too, almost 2 months ago now. everything i’m about to talk about i did without anyone in my life (offline) noticing and all by myself.

my entire life has been unstable and so difficult. and i mean difficult and sad. i used to drink pretty heavily, but i stopped when i found pills. i was taking pretty much any opioid i could find, i even stole them. i was text book addict with pills. i had every excuse to keep going with it, it made sense to me at the time. i was in so much pain mentally, emotionally, and eventually, physically. taking them was reprieve.

eventually, i was taking so many a day, quite honestly i should have died. my brain was blank, i lost my creativity and i stopped drawing, which is the one thing i love the most to do. create. even though i did not stop, the fact i felt nothing in that realm anymore was heartbreaking. i’d spent several nights staring at the ceiling practically waiting to die. i had one dream that i can remember while on drugs and it was of me staring at myself opened-eyed and dead on my bed. it shook me.

the drugs affected my ability to think, cry and feel, then one day on my way to work, after taking so many, i got so sick on the side of the road on the freeway several times. eventually i pulled off into a town i didn’t know and passed out in the parking lot of a gas station for who knows how long. i woke up dazed with the taste of puke in my mouth, and totally dehydrated. i missed work, i was embarrassed with myself. i have no idea how long i sat there for before getting out of the car to walk around. eventually i made it home but i felt like i wasn’t the same after that.

decided to detox (after trying before, and failing), which was the worst events i’ve been through in my life. took days, nearly a week to get over the worst of the symptoms. i don’t think i slept at all. i was so sick, shakes and chills, vomiting, etc. i let spongebob play for the entire time, that sponge grounded me lol. i’d made it through that time. and i stuck too it, using my desire to feel my creativity again and wanting to be better to my body to stay away from relapse.

2017 i cleared my system of alcohol, pills, energy drinks, pop, and the only thing i’d let myself use was weed because i felt it would stop me from everything else. and technically, it did. it aided me for a long time. but the passed ~3 years i’ve been so ill with stomach issues and nausea and throwing up that i decided to stop that too.

so now i’ve been completely sober for 1 month and 21 days. for the first time since high school i have nothing in my system that is altering me the way substance abuse has. it’s been a major adjustment. my focus is shit, my sleeping is difficult and my dreams are insanity. it literally feels like i’m sleeping just to wake up somewhere else because my dreams are so vivid and clear. i wake up every four hours having to adjust and remember i actually live here, not in dreamland. i didn’t dream at all while on drugs or weed, so in a way, i welcome the vibrancy of them.

looking back, none of those things helped me. they only broke and shrouded my spirit with a darkness i don’t want to feel ever again. i want to be healthy and i want to give my body the chances that it deserves. i want to heal properly. i want to live so much. i want to find someone to be with that will understand me and accept me even with my flaws and history. i feel better already, but i know there’s still a long journey ahead and i can only hope it gets better. i deserve better. i know i’m a good person. i know i have so much creative potential in me and it’s what i want to give my energy and soul to.

thanks for listening, if you read this. i am proud of myself for getting as far as i have but the support from my friends and strangers online has been a colossal sense of communal help i’ve never had offline. sharing my art has been a big help and just people enjoying it means so much to me. thank you.

#tw drugs #tw death #journaling again cause its what i do #dont do drugs please. take it from me #tw addiction

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2af-afterdark · 6 months

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So, I wasn't sure how to write this in a coherent way. I'm not sure if I even am now, but I need to try (if only to vent). I’m just a person with feelings and an opinion and this is just for me to get this out there and out of my head.

I hate Solomon's Seals. I hate the idea of them. I hate them being paid content. I hate that they represent shady business practices and exploitation of fanbases. I hate it.

Before I explain, I am not faulting PB for trying to make a profit. Companies need to make money to stay in business and PB is a company. What I care about is the practices the company uses to try and make money. I care about how a company treats its players, both whales and f2p.

I am, by my own admission, a whale (maybe closer to a dolphin? Idk where we draw the line). I picked up the habit in my Eldarya days when I started throwing $10 at the game every few months. It was how I splurged on myself back when I was a broke college student. Before that though, I was a f2p player in everything I did. Even now, there are games where I am strictly f2p. So, please understand that I am seeing two sides to the issue as I write up this rant…

Solomon's Seal are exploitative and I hate them.

Paid currency, in general, is exploitative. Games can have paid content. That isn't what bothers me. Cosmetic changes being paid currency? Sure thing. Special stickers or emotes? Sounds fine by me. Making the gacha,, the entire backbone of the gacha game, paid player exclusive? That I have an issue with.

What bothers me is that WHB has introduced three different summoning items. Greater keys (GK), lesser keys (LK), and Solomon's Seals (SS). GK and LK are used for the general pool, with LK being used to narrow down summons to A+ rank or higher summons. Minhyeok's banner used GK, which was an interesting choice. They are easier to get by far. An actually alright move from PB, making it manageable to summon his unit (unit? card? what are we calling these guys even?) for all players.

However… then we saw the new banner and that it required SS. We were not told what SS were or how to possibly earn them. We found out after the update that SS are a paid currency. Specifically, they are a paid currency to draw on event banners for L-rank units. My heart sunk when I saw this. It sunk for a two main reasons:

It's unfair to the f2p player base, who doesn't even have a chance to earn a handful of SS for free to get even a few draws.

It makes me feel exploited as a whale when I see the prices on those SS.

My Eldarya days taught me something: whales motivate the company, for good and ill. Many companies want to try and get their whales to spend money on limited banners. If you played Obey Me (OM), you will recognize this as the reason Lucifer and Mammon always seemed to have the most limited cards. It was because they were the two most popular characters and the whales spent money on them. It was guaranteed that Solmare would keep making content for their cash cows. It's also why characters who ranked lower on that popularity poll started not getting as many cards.

(Side note: if you ever take these surveys and see the question "how much money do you spend on games a month", the company is explicitly assigning you a dollar amount to weigh your opinions)

Events (and their banners) are the lifeblood of gacha games. They make a ton of money during this time, so they tend to have a good deal of focus put on them. Personally, I prefer events to be more sparse so they are special and the team is not pulled between event stories, main story content, and the upkeep of the game.

OM had many shady practices as it went on. Constant events (often with only a day or two between the end of one and the start of another), being unable to complete an event reward sheet (3 pages) completely if you were f2p, Celestial Blessings (loot boxes within loot boxes), starting up Nightbringer (that's a whole other rant), not informing the fanbase for a year that OM would be all but discontinued, putting the announcement on a Reddit thread when it did finally come out so it had to be passed around via word of mouth rather than from Solmare itself, and more.

Solmare has always been an exploitative company and many of its choices are based in getting players to spend money as often as possible rather than ensure the actual game content is good (sorry, I am still traumatized by S4 and the year long wait). Many of their practices are based in fomo and gambling practice (reminder: gacha is gambling) meant to produce a Skinner effect and trick your brain to keep going, even against your own best interests.

You get an SSR guarantee when you draw because your brain sees the sparkling rainbows and thinks "I was so close to getting a UR! Maybe if I do one more pull". It prompts you to try again for that dopamine rush.

I bring up Solmare specifically to point out that, despite its shady practices, still didn’t have a paid exclusive currency. You could buy DP in that game, but DP was also able to be earned free. Same with DV. And the two currencies could be used to pull on any banner. Twst also allows you to use keys on any banner. Same with Nu:C and contracts. The Ikemen series too. One currency type for every banner, and that currency can be earned for free given enough time and effort. Honkai Star Rail and Genshin have two types of currency used on different banners, but both types can be earned completely free given enough time.

I personally think all currencies should be available to all players, paid and f2p, in some capacity. There should be a way to earn SS, even if only for a single ten draw. Doing anything less is unfair to the f2p player base and sends the message about caring about whales more. Games make their shit loads of money, even without having paid exclusive currency.

I personally think they should use the more rare, already existing currency (LK) for L-rank banners. Every player can earn those and they can be bought in the shop for the paid players. F2p players have a chance to earn them for free and hoard them for the next banner drop, making them feel like they at least got a chance to pull rather than feeling left out.

HOWEVER, I am also going to acknowledge here the PB (unless they change their minds) has stated that the L-rank event units will be added to the general pool at the end of their two week banner run. Honestly? This is an amazing choice. It completely opens the potential to get the L-rank units up to the entire playerbase. The only drawback is that the rates to pull them will drop. This is the first time I’ve personally seen a game do this and I will not pretend it isn’t a very generous move. My issue isn’t with PB. It’s with the Seals as a concept.

As for why SS make me feel exploited as a paid player… it has to do with their cost. If you do the math, it costs about $500 to hit pity… Gacha have never been cheap (ask me how much I have spent in the past trying to get Kuya or Rei) but $500 is insane for a single pity… in which you can’t even choose what you get. Take into account that there are four items you potentially have to draw (the unit artifacts are necessary for the unholy board which is where extra stats and story are hidden) and that adds up very quickly. Now, you are likely to draw something before you hit pity, but that is not guaranteed and it certainly isn’t guaranteed you’ll get all four items. RNGesus is fickle, as many a veteran can attest. Seeing these prices puts a nasty taste in my mouth because it feels like going straight for the wallet. Remember, these are pixels. They cost time and effort to make and write for and the servers cost money to be maintained… but $500 for a single pity? That is a rather extreme cost for the unlucky.

Like I said, I don’t have an issue with PB needing to make money. We all do. They have employees to pay and servers to maintain. My issue is the way they do it. I find Solomon’s Seals to be gross. I find them to be a bad practice in their current state which is why I cannot, in good conscious, whale for this. How I spend my money encourages their practices. I do not support this one, so I will not put my money toward it.

Having said that, I openly acknowledge that PB is not defined by this one grievance. I like that they seem to be listening to the player base. They heard Solomon’s Tears were difficult to get and made it easier to obtain them. They are constantly trying to fix the game and stabilize the servers. They have given out a shit ton of keys and compensation for delays, maintenance, and more. I can find this one aspect egregious without bashing the entire company or their efforts >.> I can still enjoy the game and the characters. Critique is not criticism.

#what in hell is bad #bitch and rant

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p8567899754nhu · 7 months

Text

"He knew revenge was Sasuke's goal yet still accepted him as his student. Even teaching him his signature technique. Sasuke fought Naruto out of anger, not a friendly sparring match .Kakashi was helping Sasuke with revenge til it consumed him to the point he was fighting his own comrades."

1. i think it's an overstrech to say kakashi "accepted" sasukes revenge , when through most of it he was just indifferent to the idea of his revenge(on introduction, he doesnt care that sasuke's main goal in life is revenge) and kakashi helped shikamaru with his revenge , so I preassume ,revenge isnt something kakashi is inherently against so there is no “accepting” sasuke for a different belief like you paint it out to be . although he never backs on using his goal pf revenge (and feelings for his dead clan) as baits for mocking him when he couldnt match up his expectations (land of waves arc) .

2." Even teaching him his signature technique”?

i mean what was he supposed to do ? send him unequipped to the most brutal round 2 contender(-GAARA who whooped 4 gates lee to the point he couldnt be a shinobi again), why does kakashi doing his basic teacher duties make you gape in awe , a lot of fandom whines he didnt taught it to naruto or sakura (never minding neither of them could EVER use chidori properly since they lack sharingan) and sakura wasnt even finalized for round 2 . never mind how brutal it was of kakashi to make a severly bed ridden sasuke(who was unfit to EVEN WALK-medical attendant’s words) participate in the match further despite the hokage’s and anko’s (who alone knew what it was like to have a curse mark placed on you) advice and call him to learn the technique when medically ,he was severaly hurt .

and finally- wtf does it have to do with his stance on sasuke's revenge.

3."Sasuke fought Naruto out of anger.."

oh and since kakashi is omnipotent and he knew it ? only sakura heard the discourse between the boys so this point of yours ends before its started

and when does fighting being motivated by anger (after just awakening from your deathbed btw) is suffiecient to negate the purpose of someone's lifes -especially sasuke’s for which he was ready to sell his soul and body-to get some semblence of justice for his family, remember lee attacked sasuke brutally for no reason but to “prove himself” , insulted his clan and even when he had an upper hand in match he was about to use a forbidden technique just to hurt sasuke more .-even when lee is reprimended by gai, gai doesnt negate his life’s purpose - for which lee worked so hard , and even in their battle before sasuke CHALLENGED naruto, he didnt attack him , he only bellitles him (as a cope ,after he is traumatised by his brother for a whole day, humiliated and almost killed) it is naruto who ACCEPTS the challenge and gets petty never minding the condition of sasuke, it is NARUTO who get ready to pull a rasengan on his “best” friend despite his “bff”, when sasuke had just woken up( from life threatening coma and mental scarring that 1 complete day of torture can give a 13 year old along with being beaten and humiliated ) , naruto getting all riled up -although mind you he first hand witnessed what happened to sasuke , he heard sasuke's screams and the brothers' "interaction" firsthand , neither sakura nor kakashi saw it firsthand , he gets all riled up as his friend just woke from coma like the hyper insecure twat he is -although he couldve refused ? if he possessed any sympathy or empathy for the boy that is even a 13 year old and no one, for a boy he claimed to be his "friend". neither jiraiya nor kakashi reprimands him but anyways ,

4.sasuke pulled a chidori? so , like i said before naruto pulled out his strongest move first what do you expect sasuke to do ? beg him to draw out the rasengan ? it is only not only fair for him to have used chidori but actually very obvious, never minding the rasengan was more POTENT than the chidori he used and wouldve hurt HIM regardless. reiterating it again naruto would have severely hurt hurt his friend when his friend is unwell, was brutally tortured and beaten in front of him and just woke up from a coma form which his death was almost certain, just because he is an insecure twat.

so much for love and friendship

#anti sns #anti sasunarusasu #anti kakashi #pro sasuke #pro sasuke uchiha #naruto analysis

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ejzah · 8 months

Note

I was wondering if you ever wrote an one shot about kensi and deeks' first time in Recovery?? I still haven't find the perfect fic about that night and I came across one of your drabbles about what happened that night and now I kind of NEED to read the whole thing, or I might literally go crazy

A/N: Thanks so much! I’m glad you’re enjoying the stories. There’s a LOT there, so I honestly forget some of them. I also crosspost all my stories (aside from dialogue drabbles) to my ff account with a 2-3 month delay of you’re looking for a slightly more organized approach to anything older.

***

If We Should Only Have this Night

They giggle as they walk through the door. From nerves, anticipation, the realization that they’re finally taking this step after nearly five years. As soon as they’re through, Kensi pushes Deeks against the closed door, grasping the back of his neck, fingers curling into his hair. When her lips press to his, he sighs.

It’s just like he remembered and dreamed about since the first time Kensi kissed him.

“I’ve been waiting for this so long,” Kensi says, echoing his thoughts. The her lips are on his again, and she makes an encouraging sound when Deeks teases her lips open with his tongue.

He’s kept his hands on her waist up til now, but can’t stop himself from smoothing up her back and sides, marveling at the fact that he’s allowed to touch her now. Kensi shivers, her fingers tightening in his hair. It hurts just a tiny bit; not enough for Deeks to care.

She pulls back with a gasp, eyes gleaming in the dark (they’d completely forgotten to turn on any lights). One of her hands trails down his neck, landing high on his chest where his collar parts. Even though it’s a fairly innocent touch, it send a fiery flush through his whole body, and he has to close his eyes against the onslaught of feeling.

It’s not just that he wants Kensi. Because he does, more than anything. It’s so much more than lust though. He loves Kensi Blye beyond all reason.

Kensi’s traveling hands bring him back to reality and he raises an eyebrow at her.

“Now that’s definitely HR reportable,” he quips, thoughts it’s bookended by a breathy laugh when Kensi palms him through his pants.

“Shut up,” she laughs, not able to keep the fondness out of her eyes. Tilting her head, she kisses him lightly, in direct contrast to the desperate, passionate kisses of moments ago. Then she takes his hand and deliberately leads him to his bedroom.

Deeks pauses to toe off his shoes on the way, which is apparently too long for Kensi, who makes an impatient sound. She crawls back onto the bed, stopping when she’s sitting in the middle and tugs at his hand until he follows.

Kensi drags him down with her, and the feeling of their bodies against one another, even fully clothed is exquisite. For just a second, he rests his forehead to hers, and then Kensi tips his chin down for another kiss. She curls her leg over his hip, drawing him even closer.

Groaning into her mouth, he slides his hands up her loose blouse, hands skimming her amazingly soft skin until he reaches the edge of her bra.

“Wait.” Kensi shoves at his chest, not with even half the force she’s capable of, and Deeks shifts so he’s hovering over her instead of pressing her into the bed.

“Did I hurt you?” he whispers, alarmed at the tears suddenly threatening to spill onto her cheeks.

“No—I” she inhales deeply and that seems to settle her somewhat. Shaking her head, she reaches up and brushes her thumb along his bottom lip.

“What’s wrong?”

“You know, if we do this, it changes everything,” she answers, so matter of factly it sends a chill through him.

“So what do you want to do?” he asks. The thought of stopping and pretending nothing happened kills him.

“I don’t want to have to choose,” she responds slightly louder and her frustration with the situation obvious. It gives him hope. They can still have everything, be partner, friends…more.

“Don’t. Then don’t choose. We don’t choose.”

“You know that’s not how that works.” Despite her words, she curls a hand in his shirt, her fingers grazing his chest. “What do you thinks going to happen?” she asks, and he knows she wants him to tell her that it’s all going to be alright.

“I don’t know,” he answers honestly. He thinks they can have everything, make this work, but he truly doesn’t know for sure. “I don’t care.”

Her face crumples. “What are you doing to me, Deeks,” Kensi whispers, the sound almost a sob. Then she presses her hand to the center of his chest, reaching up to kiss him again.

“Falling in love with you,” Deeks murmurs against her lips, and they move against each other in sudden desperation. Kensi cups her hands round his neck, the other reaching for the hem of his shirt. She tugs it off, then her own, mouth going right back to his.

When she needs to breathe, he turns to mapping the length of her neck and jaw. She shudders against him, hands stalling in an attempt to unbutton his jeans.

Despite many detours, they eventually scatter the rest of their clothes across the bed and floor. Deeks spends a minute just taking Kensi in, running his hands down her arms, up her legs, over her stomach.

In the dim light her skin is flushed a dull pink and she shudders when he presses a kiss just below her hip bone. He spends the next several minutes kissing every inch of her body.

Kensi arches into him, her eyes closed, head tossed back as she clings to his shoulders, and trembles beneath him, and Deeks thinks that she’s never looked more beautiful than in this moment. She falls back to the bed with a gasp, her skin damp with sweat.

After several moments of breathing unevenly, Kensi opens her eyes, looking absolutely wrecked. He grins down at her.

“Well?” he asks, like he’s expecting a full review. Kensi smack playfully at his chest, and catches her hand before she makes contact, lifting it to his lips.

“Get up here,” she croaks, pulling him back into her arms. Her legs hook around his hips to hold him in place as she shifts against him.

He wants this to last forever. One night just isn’t enough.

***

A/N: Hope this is what you were thinking of. Ended up watching that deleted scene many a time, poor me.

Thanks for the prompt!

#ncis la fanfiction #marty deeks #kensi blye #densi #recovery #romance #a slight detour to smutsville #but it’s sort of classy #prompt #ejzah fanfiction

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albatmobile · 1 year

Text

The Art of Rehabilitating Snowbirds Chapter 3

𓅪 After not hearing from Roy or Jason for five years, you suddenly find yourself taking in extra income as a babysitter for Roy and Jason's child.

𓅪 Rated: M | TW: addiction mention | 6.5k fem!Reader x Jason Todd x Roy Harper [masterlist]

Chapter Three: Work is Easy...| ao3 - wattpad

You show up two minutes after the set time even though you’ve been waiting in the parking lot for fifteen minutes. After calculating how long it'd take you to walk up, you decided on an inconspicuous four minutes before the expected time to start your trek up to their apartment.

Definitely not overthinking anything or overreacting in any way. You? No way. Not at all.

The building is as shitty as your freshman year college dorm with dulled, florescent-lit hallways, though you expect just as much, seeing as you pulled up to the slums of Gotham.

While some people are scattered about the hallways, no one seems to pay you much mind. It’s a relief because now you're now free to worry in peace. Not to mention, the last thing you want to do is draw too much attention to yourself on this side of town.

Even though you’d grown up in the area, you can never be too cautious.

You know as soon as you reach the address that it’s theirs. The door is covered in gaudy shit like a flower wreath, complete with a sign that reads ‘Bless this Apartment’ with angels around it.

You internally gag at the horrid decor and wonder if it truly is just Roy, Jason and a kid.

What, do they have a minivan now, too, or something?

You check your clock to see that you’re right on time, so you send Damian a quick message to let him know you’ve arrived and take a deep breath.

Two minutes after your set time and you finally knock on the door.

You don’t have to wait long, seeing as the door opens immediately to reveal an unfamiliar yet familiar face.

God, it’s been so fucking long.

You choke down the random urge to cry and fight the other urge to hug the big-ass doofus in front of you. You have to play it cool.

“I was wondering how long you were gonna stand out there,” Roy leans casually against the door frame with arms way more filled out than you remember. Even as a senior, Roy had muscles, but this? Even through the sleeves of his hoodie, you can see that this is a whole other level of strength.

You don’t understand what Damian meant about Roy's supposed addiction. His face still looks like a typical stoner. Aside from his overgrown stubble, you notice that his kind, gorgeous, light green eyes have changed the most drastically, though you can’t quite place why.

He seems to notice you eyeing him up because he noticeably begins rubbing at his arms. Well, arm, considering he only seems concerned with the right one by the looks of it.

It’s only then that you see the red, wretched-looking scars that reach out from underneath one of his long sleeves. You’re immediately smacked in the face with heat, feeling a blush of embarrassment fan across your cheeks.

Damian had mentioned addiction, but heroin?

You need to divert attention away from his arms and fast.

“I was just texting someone in case you were actually planning to kill me or some shit.” It's a complete lie, one that makes entirely no sense, but your brain is currently short-circuiting, trying to put new Roy and old Roy together.

No matter what you do, you can't seem to make sense of the man in front of you.

“Still paranoid, princess?” Roy holds up his hands with a smirk. It’s then you notice that his right hand is black and metallic- just how exactly did you miss that? Roy swiftly shoves it behind his back and you politely continue on like you haven’t noticed.

It seems like you're going to be doing a lot of that today.

A lot has changed.

“No,” You shamefully admit, wishing your blush would fuck the fuck off. Not that Roy’s old nickname for you helped any.

"I’m still not scared of Damian, by the way, so I'm not sure what help he’d be.” Of course he’d know exactly who you'd been texting. “You wanna come in?” He removes his arm from the doorway to motion you inward.

Do you want to come in?

No.

You want to go home and crawl up in your bed and pretend like they hadn't even texted you in the first place.

But you're here.

You look into his eyes hesitantly before nodding.

You're still trying to make sense of this whole thing and not be awkward at the same time, but you don’t know how when all you want to do is stare at your ex-friend until you memorize every part of his foreign body.

Wait, that sounds wrong. You start over.

You just want to run your hands through his fiery locks to make sure he still smells the same.

Okay, fuck it, you ditch your train of thought entirely before you start blushing again as you brush past him to go inside. You catch a whiff of whatever body wash he'd been using and are extremely disappointed in yourself when it leaves you dizzy upon contact.

Okay, so he doesn't smell the same exactly, but it's still intoxicating, nonetheless.

“Alrighty then,” He laughs to himself as you continue to take everything in.

It’s completely domestic and you can't help but cringe when you see that the tacky decorations continue inside.

There’s shit everywhere, including the remains of a pillow fort next to the tv in the living room. In the kitchen, you see the first real evidence of a child: crudely drawn drawings plastered over the cheap fridge.

You nearly miss the artwork, though, through the mess. You're quickly affronted by the sight of plastic plates practically falling out of the trashcan and a sink that’s seemingly disappeared under a pile of petrified dishes.

You gag silently and fight the urge to get on your hands and knees and clean everything in sight.

Roy seems to notice as he runs a sheepish hand through his stringy hair. “Yeah, not exactly the cleanest, but that hasn’t really changed now, has it?”

You nod, thinking back to all those times you had to organize his backpack so that he could find his notes. “I’m more surprised your cleaning habits rubbed off on Jason and not the other way around.”

You and Roy smile at each other, basking in what you know. It’s a safe zone and safe is good. Especially right now when all you want to do is bolt.

You'd known Jason to be as much of a clean freak as you've always been, especially when it came to cooking.

Jason was the only one who never dared to comment on the cleanliness of your apartment the one time he and Roy came over to pick you up. It was a place not even Damian had been to. You were too embarrassed at the time when his house was a whole fucking manor in Bristol and yours was an empty, shitty apartment in The Bowery.

You remembered trying to clean it as best you could, but, just like Jason and Roy's apartment, it was a shithole to begin with, so cleaning only helped so much. Not like your parents were around enough to help out with chores, let alone much of anything else.

"Yeah, well,” Another sheepish grin from the redhead that leaves your stomach flipping. “Full-time job and kid doesn't exactly leave time to clean,” He shrugs a bit. “Speaking of, let me go grab her.”

Ah, yes. The reason you're here in the first place.

While he's gone, you look around, noticing framed photos of a little girl, who you assume to be their kid, though there's not much else to go by. The place is technically decorated, yet it still feels somewhat impersonal.

Roy returns a few seconds later, hand-in-hand with a dark-haired little girl. Meanwhile, his right, metallic one remains concealed behind his giant back. “Lian, this is,” He pauses briefly after saying your name. “Possibly your new babysitter?”

You crouch a bit, giving her a tiny wave, “It’s nice to meet you, Lian.”

She huddles further into Roy’s muscular side as she shies away from you.

Roy rubs at the back of his head with his prosthetic hand (arm? You couldn’t be sure with the long sleeves) while the other remains on Lian. “She takes a little while to warm up to new people.” He tries to assure you, so you nod, never having interacted with a child for this long before, anyway. You can't help but feel pained with how he refers to you. How are you new when he's the one who went M.I.A.? “Don’t get discouraged.”

You don't have to worry there, Roy, you think humorlessly. After all, you should be used to it by now with them.

“It’s all good,” You say instead of voicing your actual thoughts, giving Lian a thumbs up as you stand back up. “I’m shy sometimes, too,” You admit, causing the girl to meet your eyes for the first time.

Roy clears a seat for you on the couch next to him and Lian. You end up sitting on one side of Roy while she clings to his other side.

The close proximity is enough to leave you gasping for air.

This is too casual. Way too casual for what happened.

“So, you never answered my question from the other night,” His eyebrows wiggle up and down.

“Couldn’t hardly recognize your voice, dipshi-oot,” You barely catch yourself from cursing in front of Lian, who keeps peeking out around Roy’s bicep to get a better look at you.

You give her a tiny smile, but instead of smiling back, she just seeks cover behind her dad again. You wish she'd stop because all it does is draw your attention to those sinful, rippling muscles and once you're looking, it's hard to force your attention away.

“She doesn’t bite, right?” He says your name lowly, inadvertently causing you to shiver. “Maybe not the right reassurance,” He throws a quick wink your way.

You roll your eyes before you can stop yourself, “One-track mind still in full effect, I see.”

Had he seen you checking him out? Oh, god, please say no.

He laughs mirthfully, “You’ve always been fun to tease. Can you blame me?”

“Excuse me,” You and Roy turn to Lian, who speaks up suddenly.

“What’s up, kid?” Roy asks, giving her a pat on her little head.

“I can braid,” She nods your way shyly.

Roy smirks at you, “Oh, yeah. She’s really into braiding right now,” He points to the little braid underneath the rest of his hair.

Lian nods, confirming this, “Your hair is prettier than my dad’s.”

“Okay,” You hesitantly run your fingers through your hair.

You don't really want a kid to rip it out after you’ve carefully taken the time to dry it properly after your shower earlier. Your want to make a good impression ultimately wins out, though and you slip to the floor in front of Lian to offer her your hair by turning and placing it on her lap.

She gently takes your hair and runs her fingers through it a few times. “You smell nice.” It’s the only warning you get before she’s off, wrestling at the hair she's sectioned off.

“Wow, you’ve got a strong grip there,” You say through gritted teeth as she makes a particularly hard tug.

“She’s very strong, right, Lian?” Roy throws slow, fake punches around her that she dodges with ease.

“I have super ninja strength, probably,” She says as she continues to torment your scalp.

“I can tell,” You nod in agreement. “Superman would be jealous.” You face your head up a bit more so she can see your smirk.

She laughs as she quickly pushes your face back down. “I love Superman and Superboy.”

Kids always like Superman, you internally roll your eyes, but everyone knows that Batman is where it's at.

“They’re alright." You aren’t about to go on a comic book rant to a four-year-old. You hear Roy snort from next to Lian on the couch, but you don’t dare mess up whatever progress she’s made on the braid for fear of having your face pushed down again. “Do you like Batman?” You feel the girl shrug, but you gasp, turning dramatically. “What?!”

“I like Superboy a lot,” She looks at you expectantly.

You turn around to shoot Roy a dirty glance, “This is sacrilege.”

“Glad to know you’re still a nerd,” He sighs with fake exasperation.

You wave him off as your face is pushed down and forced frontward once again by an impatient Lian.

“Stay still.”

You apologize and get back into braiding position with your back pressed up against the couch

“So, are you taking classes?” Roy shifts over more so you can see him without punishment for moving from Lian. He’s counting on his fingers. “You’re 19, right? Sophomore?”

“You’ve been gone for too long.” It’s the first time either of you admits it out loud, but it’s true. The last time you saw him was when you were 15. “No, not a sophomore. Yes, 19, but I'm turning 20 in a few months.” You clarify for seemingly no reason, though you both know exactly why you've said it.

“I hardly doubt you skipped out on college.” You can tell he's trying to piece everything together, so you help him out by further elaborating.

“You already said it,” You sigh, suddenly feeling the weight of this meeting again. “This nerd took all AP courses Junior and Senior year, so I only went to college for one year.”

Roy’s eyes widen at this piece of information. “You already graduated college?”

“Not like I had the money to stick around much longer than that,” You glance away from him with embarrassment. "Y'know, even with the scholarships and all."

Jason and Roy had both grown up around wealth, not that you're able to tell from their tacky apartment now, but what they had available to them back then is still nothing you’ve ever experienced.

“Pesky student loans,” He tries to lighten the mood, but your stomach is already feeling sick with anxiety now that you've dug into the taboo topic.

Luckily, the conversation gets cut short before either of you can make further fools of yourselves.

The door opens suddenly and shuts quietly as Jason slips in without glancing up.

You and Roy are both silent as Jason comes in and doesn’t seem to notice you, or, more likely, doesn’t want to.

You watch his movements out of the corner of your eyes from where you sit on the floor. If he's going to ignore you, you definitely have no trouble doing the same. This is how you and Jason end up staring in each other’s general direction with crossed arms, refusing to actually look at each other.

Roy, per usual, breaks up the tension with his shit-singing. “Ah, yes,” He teases with his signature smirk. “Reunited and it feels so good.”

“Hardly,” You insist with a roll of your eyes.

It's a lie, you know that much, but not one you're willing to let them in on.

Lian tugs your head back with strength you're pretty sure no four-something-year-old should have, effectively startling you out of the moment. “The braid.” Is all she says and you nod while you lean back further to try and give her a better angle.

“You still have that scar.” It’s a simple, somewhat off-handed thing to say in all the awkwardness, yet completely how you remembered Jason. It would be the first thing he mentions, seeing as he'd spent years lamenting over how you got it in the first place.

“Yeah, it’s a scar,” You state, obviously not really wanting to get into the encounter that had just recently stopped haunting your dreams. “You'd know all about that, though.” You glance up at his somewhat familiar scars scattered across his cheekbones. It’s too much for you to reminisce, so you change the subject before you can ask yourself why you even want the conversation to continue, “Guess I missed the protein shake diet memo?”

As many elephants as there are in this tiny apartment, one of the smaller ones seemed to be that both Jason and Roy had god-like, insane-looking muscles. You can only imagine what's going on under those clothes, though- NO! No, not doing this, you steel yourself.

Focus.

You notice all the to-go containers lying around, “I’m surprised Jason doesn’t cook for you.”

He shrugs and gestures to where Roy and Lian sit on the couch, “Hard to cook when you have a loving boyfriend and child.”

You scrunch up your nose and don’t realize you have before it’s too late. You blame it on it being hard to see just how much has changed. Well, supposedly, you remind yourself. You still can’t bring yourself to buy this whole lovey-dovey little story they're putting down.

“We were just talking about what she’s been up to,” Roy supplements into the awkward silence that's settled across the room.

You and Jason have always been like oil and vinegar. They may taste pretty good together, but they don’t, and never will, mix.

In the past, you were always at odds and ends with each other, always on each other’s nerves, always testing each other, always pushing each other's limits. You remember now, in this moment, just how exhausting and thrilling it was.

You're only getting a little taste of it now and you can’t deny a part of you yearns for more of him.

“College, right?” Jason settles into the couch beside Roy with careful steps as he gets closer to you. It's as if he’s scared he’ll startle you off. Or maybe he's too disgusted to be near you. You can’t quite tell after his dramatic entrance.

“I graduated last year,” You fill him in on the AP’s you took after both of them vanished into thin air. “I work freelance programming now, so that’s pretty much it.”

Now on to where the fuck you guys have been, you think to yourself. You glance up at Jason out of the corner of your eyes, watching as he reaches over to ruffle Lian’s hair with familiar ease.

You know the fucker can see you staring, but you don’t care. It almost becomes a challenge to see if he'll meet you head-on.

He does.

Predictable, you think with a barely concealed smirk as you meet his bright green eyes for the first time in years. The smirk quickly falters, though and it becomes difficult to swallow as you feel your anxiety jam itself heavily into your throat at the shared eye contact.

Besides the sounds coming from Lian’s frustration with your hair, it's completely silent as you take each other in.

“I know we both owe you some kind of explanation.”

It's weird seeing how Roy now seems to be the voice of reason throughout this whole ordeal when it always used to be Jason or you.

Things really have changed.

It's just like you've silently feared, making it harder to distance yourself from them. Even though you aren’t sure if distancing yourself is even what you want, you can't deny that you'd come running as soon as they came knocking.

“You think?” You butt in. “My friends just disappear for years and now you’re some ripped gay fucks who need me to look after your child?” You can't help but get up to pace around, unable to hold in your doubts any longer. “Look, I don’t even believe this shit. You,” You abruptly turn to Roy, “were banging multiple chicks a night for the entire year I knew you and you,” You don’t even bother pointing or looking at Jason directly and instead focus on the ceiling, “were so busy being an angst king to even want to fuck anyone.”

“That’s not even true,” Jason huffs, crossing his arms. “I’m not an angst king,” His mouth downturns a bit, only further proving his angstiness.

Instead of being offended, Roy just smirks. “What, you want to see us make out that bad or something? Some kinky shit there,” He says your last name. “I’m surprised," He says, though doesn't actually sound surprised. "You used to be such a goody-two-shoes.”

You think back to all the nights you snuck off to smoke pot with them in the manor, skipped class, or even to the shit you didn’t necessarily remember, like your first high school party. “That’s not exactly how I remember it, but okay.”

You cross your arms again when you feel Jason’s stare on you, not that you'd actually know since you haven’t looked in his direction since the unofficial staring contest ended.

Roy shrugs and wastes no time in covering Jason's body with his own. Jason scoffs but pulls him in for an exaggerated, wet kiss nonetheless.

You're so busy staring at your two ex-friends going at each other’s mouths that you don’t notice Lian sidle up next to you on the floor. She pulls on your leggings, forcing your eyes away from something that you admittedly don’t want to as their sloppy sounds become louder with each passing moment.

You're confused enough as it is, but now you're left blushing like a virgin over them making out.

You forget, once again, that Lian is next to you until her quiet whisper reaches your ears, “Family.”

It’s almost too rehearsed. Your eyebrows shoot up inadvertently at the little girl.

Standing there with your half-braided hair, you've seen enough.

“Okay, enough, fuck-shoot,” You quickly look at Lian and then at her apparent dads. “You see this?” You motion around exasperatedly at the gaudy fucking decorations, to the horndogs on the couch, then finally to the little girl beside you. “This is not going to work.”

They look dejected as they wipe away the trail of saliva stringing from their mouths. It may be harsh, but they need to know the truth.

You haven’t talked to them in years, you're shit with kids and this is an uncomfortable position to be put in when you can’t deny your old feelings for them are very much coming back. Aggressively. It had already caused enough strain on your relationship the one year you'd hung out with them, but now? As adults? This shit is even messier. Throw a kid into the mix and you've got yourself a certified fucking shit show.

Nope, no thanks.

“You’re a freelance programmer,” Jason says your name, causing your heart to jump uncomfortably. “Think of it as working two jobs in one.”

Always one to get back to business.

“Just a business deal?” The hell is your life coming to? How does this make the situation any different? You think of the cash and how you struggle to pay rent, let alone all of your other bills. “After all these years of complaining about how annoying these cretins are, why would you even choose me to babysit in the first place?”

The unanswered question of why you haven’t talked for over five years hangs heavy in the room.

The unanswered question ends up getting answered by Jason, no less, in ever the unhelpful manner. He looks dead at you and taunts you, “Pick me, choose me.”

You gasp.

Seriously? The fucking audacity.

And how is this not further proving his angst-king nature?

You flip him off and face Roy after, once again, crossing your arms.

Roy has the decency to look somewhat abashed for his supposed boyfriend.

“What?” He runs a hand through his long, greasy hair, though all you can focus on is how his forearms flex and bulge in the process. “We’ve known you forever,” He looks up as if thinking of the points on the spot. “You’ll cook her actual food,” He points to you with raised eyebrows, seemingly impressed that he managed to weave your earlier point into his argument.

“And you know self-defense,” Jason adds helpfully for once.

Roy snaps his fingers. “Right, that. Plus, we miss you.” Roy looks over to Jason, who ducks his head in response, “Both of us.”

“And you’re a people pleaser too, so.” Jason ends his sentence as if it was obvious you would say yes, which annoys the shit out of you because you don't want to say yes.

He's changed physically, yet, underneath it all, he's still the same annoying, presumptuous asshole you've always known.

Great.

Then there's Roy, staring you down after all these years whilst giving you with his iconic green puppy dog eyes. All the while, Lian tugs your head back in an attempt to finish her braid.

Meanwhile, Jason's still brooding as ever, refusing to give you any sort of clue as to what he's actually thinking.

Just like old times.

Well, you think back to Lian, almost.

You sigh and then look at both of them. What the fuck are you doing?

“Weekly pay, you stingy whores.” You stare down at your unpainted nails while the two of them glance at each other, “When do you need me to start?”

•••

Turns out they need someone the next day and you return just in time to see Jason heading out.

“Roy said you were coming,” Jason nods in your direction from where he stands in the kitchen. It appears he's still refusing to make eye contact with you.

Whatever.

“Yup,” You answer the obvious as you plop your shit down onto the cluttered kitchen counter.

“She hasn’t eaten yet. She’ll probably want Chinese food or pizza, so,” Jason awkwardly slides $40 across the counter.

“I can just cook.”

He looks at you now like he's also being flooded with memories of the times you’d cooked together. Maybe that’s why he didn’t want to look at you. Maybe it’s just as painful for them to see you again as it is for you to see them.

"Uh," He clears his throat as he looks away to the fridge. “It's probably not what you're used to me having.” Jason, well, the manor, always had every single ingredient anyone could ever need to cook any type of meal and then some.

You walk to his side of the counter to open it up, only to be met by packs of beer, packets of ketchup and a few cracked eggs.

“Do you have flour and butter?” He opens a cabinet to reveal a shit ton of spices. At least you won’t have to worry on that front.

“We have Wonderbread and olive oil,” He searches around a bit more and from the top cupboard, you’re able to see syrup.

“I can make something with that.” You point to the top shelf he was rifling through.

He nods and brings down the pancake syrup for you to use. He obviously remembers that you wouldn’t be able to reach on your own without having to climb on the counters like you used to do during your cooking sessions at the manor.

You reminisce fondly, remembering how your days in the kitchen with Jason always made Damian upset. It was supposedly because 'you wouldn’t paint with him,' but you know it's just because he couldn't (and still can't, for that matter) cook for shit. Plus, you're a woman of many talents and sometimes a bitch just wants a fresh scone, okay?

You'd never admit it out loud, but Jason’s recipe always turned out better than your own and you've been craving them since the last time you saw him.

“I’m still leaving the money in case you want to order groceries or something.” You nod in appreciation but can't help but feel the awkwardness lingering between the two of you. He taps at the counter a bit before grabbing his keys. “Lian’s watching a movie in our room right now,” Somehow, you keep forgetting they're dating. Part of you wants to doubt it still but after the kiss, you're pretty sure it's all real. “I’ve gotta head out, though. Roy’s waiting.”

You smile a bit, but it feels fake even to you. “Have a good shift, I guess?”

“Sure,” Jason huffs somewhat amusedly as he unlocks the front door. “Our numbers are on the fridge if you need anything, but you might want to call the other fuckers on there if we’re not responding.”

Other fuckers?

You give a thumbs up as he locks the door behind himself. You go to the fridge to see Dick, Tim and Barbara’s numbers splayed across a page that Lian clearly wrote in crayon. Well, you remind yourself, it could also easily be Roy’s shitty ass handwriting. You think back to all the assignments you’d helped him with and how his handwriting basically made it impossible for you to use any of the notes- if he’d even bothered to take any anyway.

You look around at the mess, really wanting to clean it up, but decide to say greet Lian first.

“Hey,” You wave awkwardly from the doorway, not wanting to intrude on her parents’ private space. “What’s up.” She gives you a shy look, so you try again. “What movie are you watching?” She hesitantly maneuvers the screen so you can see a Spider-Man cartoon playing. “You know, I once thought I saw Spider-Man.” You nod seriously at her skeptical gaze. “Yup, he was swinging around right in this neighborhood!” She sat up straighter as she listened to you.

“Nuh-uh,” She shook her head and set the iPad down. “He’s from New York.”

You smile, impressed she knows that piece of information. Jason's going to be so pissed you're making his daughter into exactly what he called you- a certified nerd.

“Lian,” You say seriously. “I saw string and someone swinging on it, so you tell me.”

Her mouth gapes open, “No way.”

You nod, pointing to her screen where the webbed hero is swinging from building to building. “Just like that.”

“Wow,” Her voice sounds monotonous, but her face looks up at you like you've just told her she can eat candy for every meal forever.

You switch the topic. “Are you hungry?” She gives you so-so hands. “Want to come shopping with me?” She nods a bit, so you motion for her to follow you into the main room, where the kitchen and living room are. “Where are your shoes?” She disappears and returns with light-up Superman sneakers. Of course.

“Do you need help?” You gesture to her shoes, but she shakes her head 'no' and plops down to put them on. While she fusses with the Velcro, you pick up a majority of the trash in the kitchen before grabbing the one from the full trash can to throw away when you leave. Lian hops up from behind you and grabs a tiny purse from one of the bar stools tucked into the very same island that you and Jason had used to avoid each other earlier, “Ready.” You grab the money off the counter and take off.

You used to go to the grocery store that’s a block away from their apartment all the time, so you forego the car and walk hand-in-hand with Lian down the street.

You grab a couple of essentials before heading out of the shop with three bags worth of groceries and less than a dollar in change.

This might not have been the best idea, though, as you now realize that both your arms are completely filled and completely useless to defend you or Lian with. The sun is still out, you note gratefully, albeit just barely, though.

You hesitate to leave the safety of the store, then remember the intense self-defense training the Wayne's had put you through after that one incident… You can't help but shudder at the memory.

“Stay close to me,” You tell Lian, who tries to reach for one of your hands, but it’s too much to hold both bags and her hand at the same time. “I can’t hold your hand, but you can hold my leggings.” You stick your leg out towards her and she picks up the cue to grab at the material of your pants like she'd done earlier.

You get back safe, but you definitely now understand why Jason had said grocery delivery. It isn’t safe for you to be walking alone around this neighborhood, especially with their kid, you admonish yourself. The only real thing stopping you from doing so is how expensive grocery delivery is.

For now, though, you have dinner at least.

You finish putting away the groceries while Lian sits on the couch, humming along to the Spider-Man theme song.

“You want tacos, chicken parm, or French toast?” You tack on the last option after you remember Jason pulling down the syrup for you.

“Chicken.”

“That’s Italian,” You clarify, just to be sure. You know kids can be picky fucks and don’t want to have to cook twice. Also, because you definitely want to appease this sweet little girl. “Is that okay?”

“Mhm,” She wiggles her feet that are sticking off the couch.

Cute.

You realize quickly enough that all the utensils you need are somewhere within the piles, yes, plural, of dishes in and around the sink, so you start washing.

After the first round of dishes had been cleared into the dishwasher, you hand wash and towel dry the rest as you needed most of it to cook with.

You sigh. It's already been half an hour and you haven’t even started. “You still okay?” You call out.

“Yeah?” She looks at you like you told a weird joke.

Your parents had never been around to do anything close to this, so this whole caregiver role is completely foreign territory for you.

You nod, figuring you can at least wipe down the newly cleared counters and sink before starting to cook. “Would you want to help me?”

You feel her rather than hear her, reminding you of Damian’s ninja-ass, when she comes to stand beside you.

“We’re going to start the pasta water and then bread the chicken, okay?” She nods like she’s done it so many times before, even though she seems to have no prior cooking experience.

You fall into companionable silence as Spider-Man drones on from the iPad behind the two of you. Occasionally you have to help her, but for the most part, she does a really good job on her own. You stick the chicken you fried into a pan and dump vodka sauce across them, adding fresh mozzarella on top before sticking it in the oven.

You hold up Lian so she can dump the pasta into the boiling water and salt it, then set her back down so she can return to the couch.

“I’m hungry,” She rubs petulantly at her stomach as she sits down.

Yours grumbles back in response as you clean up the kitchen again. This time, from your mess. “Should be done here soon,” You reassure her.

When it’s ready, Lian digs in wholeheartedly. “Are you a chef? Do you have a restaurant?”

You laugh and begin eating too, “No, just love to cook.”

“I want to cook just like you,” She stares at you with pure determination and a mouth full of pasta.

You wink at her, wiping her messy, sauce-ridden mouth with a Halloween napkin you’d found in one of the kitchen drawers. “I’ll teach you, then,” You twirl a bite into your fork. “Your dad can cook, too.” She wrinkles her nose quickly. “Not Roy,” You laugh, but she just looks at you with confusion. “Your other dad?” She just shakes her head in confusion.

Okay…

Doubt sets in again that Roy and Jason aren't actually together.

Sure, they may have made out with each other, but you're pretty sure you'd remembered seeing them do that before, though you couldn't be quite sure with how wasted you'd been.

The rest of the night goes by in a blur of princess dresses and Lian forcing her Ariel makeup palette onto your face. You don’t even want to know what your face looks like after her purple eyeshadow and bright red lipstick assault, but it’s probably for the best.

It’s during your princess tea party, technically apple juice party, that she begins to nod off. You claim you’re also tired, which is enough for her to slip down from her seat.

Works for you, you shrug as you help her prepare for bed by washing off her makeup and helping her brush her teeth. You tuck her into bed a few minutes later, but her tiny arm shoots out from under her Superman sheets, effectively stopping you from leaving her tiny room.

“My daddy reads to me.”

Dad. Singular.

You squint your eyes a bit at the information but file it away for later.

You pick up the closest book you can find while she wiggles to get comfortable under Superman's laser beams on her blanket and sit on the floor beside her bed to read the first page of Goodnight Moon. You continue reading to her until, eventually, her breathing evens out and soft snores begin to fill the room.

You quietly get up from the floor, trying not to disturb Lian as you put away the book and turn out the lights.

Once the door is clicked shut behind you, you grab your bag from the kitchen counter that has your laptop in it and make off toward the living room to finish your most recent gig. If there's ever a time to get shit done, it's now.

You try to clear off a spot on the couch, but the whole room is a complete disaster after your play session with Lian. You remind yourself that it wasn’t exactly the cleanest to begin with, though, as you sigh and get up to straighten up the mess.

Once done, you sit back down to work only to immediately have to use the bathroom. Which is, you remind yourself sadly as you walk back in, just as messy as the living room and kitchen had been. You sigh even bigger this time as you set to work, scrubbing at the built-up grime. This whole fucking apartment is going to be clean by the time you're gone, so help you god. You'll finish cleaning even if, you yawn, disrupting your thoughts, it kills you... You yawn again, this time deep enough to bring tears to both of your aching eyes.

You don’t even notice your eyes becoming heavier and heavier with each movement until you find your head pressed gently against someone’s delicious-smelling towel.

Just a little break before work and then you'll be good to go. You nod at your logic, curling back into what your sleep-hazed mind convinces you is a blanket.

“God DAMN.” You wake with a start at the deep voice reverberating throughout the apartment, followed by a quick ‘shush.’

You feel drool on the towel you were apparently spooning and cringe.

You’re still in the process of coming to when you catch a bright glint of red limping around the living room and hear more grunts of pain. You’re more awake now and about to get up when you hear Roy’s familiar voice telling whoever’s groaning to shut up.

You smile sleepily at his voice as you close your eyes again. You snuggle back up into the woodsy-smelling towel and fall into a dreamless sleep until you hear Roy’s voice again. This time, though, it sounds as if he's right next to you.

He stinks.

You wrinkle your nose at his offending scent, leaving him laugh lightly. “Go back to sleep, princess.” You smack him lightly on account of the old nickname as he picks you up, but soon you’re snoring again.

You wake up a few hours later on the completely cleared-off couch (thanks to you, you might add) with a blanket laid on top of you and a nearly missed deadline.

You look around the room with bleary eyes to find Roy and Jason eating leftovers in the kitchen. As if knowing you’re awake, Roy cheers his fork in your direction, “Still as good a chef as ever.”

You yawn and rub the sleep from your eyes, realizing too late the makeup escapade Lian had done on your face earlier still remains.

“The fuck do you guys do again?” You manage with a groggy voice as you open your computer to finish your assignment for the week. Said week ending in T-minus 24 hours.

You begrudgingly realize that you’re going to have to pull an all-nighter, sending your mind reeling back to the days of Tim, studying and the inordinate amount of coffee that man could drink.

“Freelance,” Jason tones monotonously.

“Fuck off.”

You don’t even realize you stay there the whole day until Jason and Roy are already headed out the door again and Lian is up and begging for breakfast.

This really better not become a habit.

A/N: I hope ur enjoying! if u are, likes, reblogs, comments, asks all make my day! i respond to every comment <33 this fic has been a labor of love and yalls support means the world to me

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