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ivelle-serenity · 1 day

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Skateboard 7

Wind breaker

author's note: i need demitra's interaction with sabbath now and write smut. damn it. they're so hot--i just can't.

✧˖° — windbreaker men

✧˖° — mdni, smut, description of not safe for work content.

✧˖° — this is a story not one shot.

"Jay's out of it again," Dom sighed, watching Jay sitting alone on the bench. It was currently our P.E. class, and we were doing our stretches. Jay, on the other hand, seemed oblivious to the world, sitting on the bench reading a book.

"He didn't eat lunch again. I'm really worried about him," Mia said, lowering her head.

"Damn it, I hate seeing him like this. Why doesn't Shelly even message our friend?" Dom said angrily, throwing the ball down in frustration.

I kept staring in Jay's direction. His friends were getting worried about him, but Jay didn't seem to care because of Shelly. I noticed my bag beside Jay; I had left it there so I could go straight home after P.E. without having to go back upstairs.

"I'm going to get some water," I told Mia and Dom. Mia nodded while Yuna tried to calm Dom down.

When I reached the bench, I grabbed my water bottle for a drink. I was surprised to find a sandwich in my bag that I hadn't eaten earlier. I took it out.

"Do you want?" I offered it to Jay. He paused and looked at the sandwich.

"I'm fine," he said.

"I made it myself. It's really good! Promise!" I said, sitting next to him. He glanced at the sandwich again before putting his book down.

"Fine, thanks," he said.

I smiled widely when he accepted it. I felt proud of myself for getting him to eat. As I watched him, I noticed Dom walking towards us.

"The tournament's tomorrow. I still can't believe we have to ride without Shelly," Dom said worriedly as he approached us.

"You guys trained for a reason. I know you can do it," Minu tried to reassure his friends.

"Why do we have to fall apart when we're so close to the end of the competition?" Dom sat down beside Jay, who was now eating the sandwich.

I just listened to their conversation, not wanting to intrude. I was only here to replace Shelly in the competition. I didn't want to assume they saw me as a friend. I knew my place. Besides, I had no intention of officially joining their crew. Wooin didn't want me getting close to the Hummingbirds, so joining was out of the question. I sighed.

"How about you, Demitra?" Mia's question caught me off guard. I forced a laugh.

"I'll just try my best tomorrow. I think you can win even without my help. You guys are amazing."

I could feel Jay's eyes on me. My actions yesterday were too risky. I can't let that happen again. I really need to control my feelings for Jay. It's embarrassing because he probably sees me as just a friend, while I see him in a different light. I also don't want Shelly to know I'm here. If she finds out, I'll probably transfer to another school.

"We still need your help to win the race," Jay said, stopping my thoughts.

"Of course," I said, scratching the back of my neck in embarrassment.

"We got you a wig," Yuna said, holding out a bag. A wig? For what? "So no one notices you're not Shelly."

I was stunned and had no choice but to nod. I couldn't believe I was going to pretend to be Shelly. If Noah were here, she'd probably laugh at me. She knew how much I hated being compared to her. But here I was, agreeing to her friends' plan.

"Got it," I said softly.

After saying that, they started discussing unfamiliar things related to the race. I overheard Sangho's name being mentioned, which made me even more silent. I noticed that it wasn't just Jay who was looking at me; even Yuna seemed to want me out of there, judging by her glances. Since I didn't want to intrude on their privacy, I moved away from the group. I approached some other classmates and grabbed a ball to play with.

Our teacher was absent. From what Dom said, they called him Mr. Nam. I hadn't met him yet, but based on how Jay and the others seemed to respect him, I figured he must be a great teacher.

My brows furrowed as a ball rolled towards the school's entrance, played by some other classmates. I quickly went to retrieve it. As I picked it up, I nearly dropped it when I saw a familiar guy.

"Vinny?" I exclaimed in surprise. He looked blank and pocketed something. He had a bike with him.

"You're studying here too?" he said with almost a tone of disgust. Perhaps he said that because he knew his former friends were studying here.

I nodded. "What brought you here?" I asked, looking down at the bike.

"Wooin wanted you to come to a race tomorrow to watch," he said, almost stopping my heart. "And he also wants you to know that you should be at the club every night at 8 p.m."

"W-What?" I couldn't process what he was saying.

"I can't go tomorrow," I said quickly. I didn't want them to know that I was one of the racers tomorrow! "And why should I go to the club at night?"

His gaze turned colder. "Have you forgotten the deal you made with Wooin?"

Damn it.

"You need to be there every night before the tournament. He needs you for the strategies we'll be planning for the race," he explained, looking irritated.

"O-Oh..." I nodded. "But isn't Sangho there?" I said nervously.

He fell silent. "Why are you so afraid of him?" he asked seriously.

I clenched my fists. "I told you, I got into a fight with some guys who seemed to work for him. And... those men didn't just want me dead. They tried to touch me." It felt pointless to lie. They would find out eventually.

"They what?" His face darkened. His eyes widened.

I looked away. "But I think they won't chase me here. But still... I don't want to see Sangho—"

"They tried to touch you? Fuck."

I smiled bitterly. "Vinny, do you think it's easy being a female rider in the underground? Not everyone we race against wants to compete fairly. Some of them want to..." I couldn't finish my sentence.

We both fell silent. Maybe he realized I didn't want to talk about it anymore. It was a nightmare. That's why I promised myself I'd never bike again.

"You stay close to Dom," he broke the silence. "He can protect you."

I furrowed my brows. "Why him? Don't you think Wooin can protect me?"

He sighed. "Not like that. Like you said, you don't want any connection with Sangho. Wooin has business with that man, so it's better if you stick with Dom for now," he explained, combing his hair.

"He's part of the Yakuza. He can protect you."

The real question is... Why would he protect me? I'm not even his friend! I'm just his classmate. I don't want to approach Dom just to be protected. I'm not that desperate!

"I think I can protect myself very well, Vinny. Thank you for your concern," I said with a smile. His gaze remained serious.

"I'll go talk to him, then."

"What!?" I exclaimed, trying to stop him from entering the school. "Wait! I thought you two weren't friends anymore?"

I blocked his way to stop him from entering. He was so tall that I was having a hard time. There were many eyes on us because of him. He looked like a gangster trying to enter the school.

I tried to block his way, but it was too late. Vinny had stopped and was glaring at something behind me.

"What's going on?" Jay's cold voice made me wince.

"Call Dom. I don't need you," Vinny snapped at Jay. I quickly turned to Jay and shook my head, trying to defuse the tension.

"You can go back. He's just asking me something," I lied, but Jay's gaze remained fixed on me, then shifted to Vinny in a silent challenge.

"I thought you weren't friends with him?" Jay's comment made Vinny pause and look at me with an annoyed expression. Maybe he was irritated because I had told Jay, or perhaps that was just his usual demeanor.

"Why do you even care, jerk?" Vinny retorted, his voice dripping with disdain.

"Hey, stop," I urged Vinny, my brows furrowed. "Can you please just go? You're making a scene." I whispered, glancing around and noticing the growing number of onlookers. The tension was palpable, and I could feel my heart pounding in my chest.

"What the fuck? What's that bastard doing here?" Dom's voice startled me. He approached with a fierce look, positioning himself between Jay and Vinny. I felt a surge of anxiety, fearing they might start a fight. Both of them towered over me, their presence intimidating.

Vinny clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white. "You..." he couldn't finish his sentence, throwing sharp glances at Dom, who tilted his head mockingly.

"Vinny, just go," I said firmly, my voice steady despite the chaos. His gaze dropped to me, and I felt a wave of relief wash over me. He ran a hand through his hair, frustration etched on his face.

"I'm not here to fight, considering I've already beaten you," he sneered. Dom made a move towards him, but Jay held him back with a firm hand on his shoulder.

Vinny continued, "Just protect your new member, will you? You never know who might want to hurt this little one." His tone was mocking, but there was an undercurrent of threat that made my blood run cold.

Dom’s eyes narrowed, his body tensing as he took a step closer. “You think you’re tough? Coming here and making threats?”

Vinny smirked, clearly enjoying the reaction he was provoking. “I don’t need to think. I know.”

“Enough,” Jay said, his voice cutting through the rising tension. “Vinny, leave now.”

Vinny held Jay’s gaze for a long moment before he shrugged, as if bored by the whole confrontation. “Fine. But remember what I said, Dom. Watch your back. And hers.”

With that, he turned and walked away, leaving a heavy silence in his wake. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding and looked at Jay and Dom, who were still tense and ready for a fight.

“Are you okay?” Jay asked, his voice softer now.

I nodded, but my mind was racing. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just… let’s go back to class.”

What the hell was that? Is that his excuse to follow through with his plan to have Dom protect me? I hate him! He doesn't need to do that,.

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crazy-god-bunker-jughead · 5 months

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I am tempted to put myself through rereading Iron Widow just to compare it to ASOIAF. Like they’re both fantasy novels trying to cover similar topics about patriarchal systems, but Martin does a much better job at this than Jay Zhao because his characters are actually affected by their societies and defined by their experiences with gender. Even women who perpetuate these systems are still shown to be victims and we’re encouraged to give them sympathy.

Meanwhile Iron Widow’s protagonist, Zetian, a character physically disabled as a result of violently enforced gender roles, somehow has completely modern concepts of feminism right from page one. Despite apparently being motivated by her urge to avenge her sister and protect little girls she doesn’t seem to actually like any other women she meets, (not even the girls shipped off to die exactly like her sister) except for like one. It’s not even just Zetian’s character, the story itself seems to be saying most of these girls are stupid. Both of Zetian’s love interests have her exact views on women’s rights from the very beginning. It’s a very preachy book where the characters tell you the themes out loud from the very beginning but I don’t think it actually succeeds at exploring them. And none of the characters have to change or grow at all, which makes it very boring to read.

#rant inspired by me randomly being recommended a tik tok where the author says she wanted to explore #why that kind of heteronormativity would be enforced and what kind of society would do that #which I do not think she succeeded at #i could probably directly compare some of the characters but I would have to reread first just to make sure I remember right #it was fun how ruthless Zetian got to be tho #I liked watching her girlboss the government #sorry that I’m still on about this book #it’s just like the worst thing I read in the last two years and I fell into the trap of #forcing myself to pretend it was good just because it had a good message and poly rep #iron widow #asoiaf

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r3starttt · 4 months

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Mizpah

a/n: last part of Don’t delete the kisses (most likely) This series was all I’ve ever wanted to make. I’m so proud of myself 🙁🤞

Prt 1 | Prt 2 | Prt 3

Warnings: little bit of angst ig? fluff. mentions of homophobia. Sad-soft sex!!! don’t need details just read it (oral r! receiving. fingering e! receiving. scissoring)

“With eyes shut its you I’m thinking of. Eye to eye, thigh to thigh. I let go”

“I’d like to take you out

And afterwards make out

Instead, I’m typing you a message

Delete the kisses at the end

When I see you the whole world reduces

To just a room

Me and you were meant to be

In love

I see the sighs of a lifetime, you ‘til I die”

It had been a week since you last saw Ellie. A week of you crying nonstop every single day, all day. A week of trying to ignore her messages and calls and going out just to not see her or know anything about her.

Not because you hate her, not because the pain she made you feel that day. But because all she confessed.

You feared you could have a bad impact for her and her life and maybe that’s why you two just can’t be together.

And you feared that it you were right then something bad could happen to her if you tried to force this whole situation.

Because you’ve never loved somebody this much and she’s never felt this loved. And you two were just made for each other in all possible ways but maybe it was all a cruel trick from the universe. Maybe it was some sort of karma you had to pay. Some sort of temptation god was giving you.

And as much as you wanted to just give in, you didn’t want Ellie to pay for your decisions anymore. Not her or her family.

You were just as confused and mad as she was. And it took you so long to figure out what to do and how to do it.

Should you move out again and pretend nothing happened? Should you stay and just avoid her? Were you even something oficial? Could you ask her to brake up if that was the case?

The moment you opened the door, before you could even react or speak or even blink. Her arm’s extended around you, so tightly and desperately.

As you could you extended your arms to close the door.

“I’m so sorry, so so sorry. Please forgive me” her teary voice felt like bullets on your skin. It was so painful to see her like this, to know that she’s like this because of you.

“Ellie…. It’s okay, we’re good” your hands moved gently over her back, making small circles with both your thumbs and palms.

“I don’t want to lose you again, please don’t leave me” but what if leaving her was what’s best for both?

“We can’t stay together El, you know that” were you too harsh?

She practically pushed you away. Her eyes were all red and puffy, she’d been crying probably as much as you.

“What do you mean?” the way her tone changed so suddenly made you regret it all, but you couldn’t do that just now “There’s always something separating us, keeping us apart. Maybe we’re not supposed to be together”

She denied your words with her head, stepping closer to you. “We’re just supposed to fight harder”

“Ellie, if I stay with you then your family’s gonna-“

“I already chose you over them, you can’t do this”

She was right

“Is it because of what I say? I was being stupid I know, I didn’t understand but now I do and I’m so sorry I called you all those things. I care for you but I was so mad at being left alone I didn’t realize it would’ve been selfish If I made you stay. I didn’t realize about how much you’ve done for me.” the grip of her hands shaky hands entangled with yours got tighter. She looked so desperate, she was holding you desperately. “And I wanna make it up to you, I wanna stay with you and take care of you and accomplish everything we couldn’t before”

Everything you’ve been planning for a whole week was completely erased from you by her words. How could you even think of leaving her again? How could you choose anything else than to be with her?

Maybe that’s why you never end together, because your love for her is so strong that you get blinded by it and just run away. Because her love for you is so strong that she can’t let you go and when you do she can’t forgive herself.

Because your bond is so strong none of you know how to handle it.

You let go of her hands, moving yours to her face. Your thumbs moving against her red tainted cheeks, making small circles on each side of her face. Your eyes lost, wandering all over her face. Looking at her pretty watery eyes, her nose and cheeks covered in those freckles you adored so much, and her chapped lips, so tempting.

The urge was bigger than anything else, so your lips crashed on hers. Both felt so eager of each other, desperate to feel each other’s touch, the softness of your bodies together. You missed the way her body fitted so perfectly against yours. She missed the way her body was the perfect size for yours.

But as much as there was urge and a carnal desire that screamed desperately to be full-filled, you still needed to apologize, to let her know you would never leave. And she still needed the comfort, the reassurance she’s been waiting for her whole life.

So your lips pressed against her one las time.

“You did nothing wrong, none of us did” your breaths were mixing, brushing each others lips “I promise you…. I won’t leave again, I know none of us will”

Ellie felt so dizzy, so enamored. Your words were all the comforting she’d been craving for so long. It felt like a direct hug to her heart, like a cure to all worries she could ever have.

So tender. Just what you both needed.

Nothing else mattered anymore, but you and her and the love that could be felt as something tangible. So loud and warm and fuzzy in between the two of you.

Her fingers tugged at the hem of your shirt. Your lips were already dancing with hers, such a merciful hungry rhythm.

Your tongues slowly mixing in between the kiss. Both giving clumsy steps to your room, where she’s never been before but she’d dreamed of it.

Your hands moving all over her back, from her waist to her shoulders, then to her neck and stopping right were her hair ends. Desperate of feeling every inch of her body, of pulling her closer if that was even possible.

Hers, gently getting under your shirt, shyly touching your bare skin and sending shivers to your whole body at the sudden touch of her calloused cold fingers.

Small giggles and smiles appearing in between the kiss. You had your eyes closed but could imagine the dorky expression on her face.

And you both stopped the moment you crashed with your bed, making small laughs come from both of your sticky lips.

“What am I supposed to do now?” a giggle escaped from your mouth, looking straight to her eyes. They had a sparkle you’ve never seen before. And god, her smile just radiated so much love it made you unconsciously dumb, so in love. You whispered back “just let your body figure it out for you”

She obeyed, her hands finally moved to your upper body. Fingers wandering over the costure of your bra. Her lips were pressed on your skin, leaving wet kisses from the corner of your lips to your clavicle. Covering your neck and your jawline in them.

You hummed at her touch. Letting her explore and savor your body first. Your huffed moans reassuring her to take the lead.

“I love you” kiss “so much” kiss. It made you smile.

Her hands slowed moved to your clothes again, taking them off of you with the most precious look you could ever see on her face. And you did the same, removing each piece of clothing that was covering your bodies, leaving the both of you complete bare at the other sight.

The white curtains that adorned the windows of your room letting the radiant rays of sun enter just right, covering you both in such a delicious warm.

She embraced you tightly, guiding you to your bed and making you lay under her body. Her arms pressed in the mattress, right next to you. Her legs intertwined with yours, rubbing them against your skin.

You kissed her again, so gently and pure and making her moan at your touch. Your hands caressing her arms, waiting for her to move at her pleasing.

And she did. Her hands found their way to your thighs, spreading them and moving your legs around her.

She started to grind her clit with yours at a slow speed, trying to find the needy angle for both and the right rhythm. You can feel her nuzzling in your neck, hearing loud moans at every move she makes.

Ellie’s movements slowly started to speed up, making you whimper at the feeling of your sticky and wet cunts rubbing together. She was practically ramming against you at this point.

But right as a knot of pleasure started to form on your stomach she stopped.

She left sloppy kisses on your body as she went down your cunt. Hands gripping around your thighs and eyes roaming in between your body and your pretty face.

Lips licking and kissing your hardened nipples, leaving the wetness of her saliva stick on them. Biting and sucking on your skin, leaving almost unnoticeable bruises all the way to your stomach and around your breasts.

Hands caressing the sides of your legs until she was finally in between them, extending her arms to hold your hands. Her nose rubbing on your clit and her tongue deep in between your folds, moaning at the sweet taste of them and smiling at your pretty whimpers.

She flavored every bit of it. Making small circles around your puffy bud, licking every wet space in between your folds, teasing your arousal and finally rubbing her tongue deep inside you, thrusting her tongue in and out of you repeatedly.

Your room was now filled with loud vulgar and wet sounds, it made the two of you feel so fervent and carnal. So lost in the craving and focused on the pleasure.

Her tongue moved so brusque yet so delicately on your cunt. Making you crave for more of her and causing you to feel overwhelmed at the abruptly wave of pleasure that increased nonstop over your whole body, blinding your vision and thoughts.

"F-Fuck El…. I'm-" your words were interrupted by a strong feeling of ecstasy running through your body, your legs weakened and your stomach felt so tight, covered in a tickling sensation that felt just like a bliss. Her tongue cleaned every juice that came out of your core, so insatiable and still craving for more.

She crawled back to you, leaving a soft kiss on your temple. You smiled at the sight of her lips, covered in your flavor. And her forehead with a small coat of sweat appearing.

To her you looked so fucking gorgeous right now, with a few baby hairs stuck to your forehead, half-lidded eyes that still managed to have that doe look in them. Still trying to catch your breath.

Your hand moved to her cunt now, rubbing small circles on her clit and smiling at the delightful sight you had in front of you. Curved eyebrows, slightly scrunched nose and her mouth partly opened a shuffled moans escaped from them.

She was so wet, so soft. It felt delicious.

You sped up your movements, assaulting her cunt and hitting just the right spots. And god she sounded so pretty, her small whimpers covering your ears and the way her hands tugged tightly on your sheets, running her hands through your hair, so desperate and overwhelmed by pleasure.

The way she clenched around your fingers, the way she felt so wet, the way she tried to rub herself on you, to have more contact with your skin. The way she closed her eyes when your fingers went deeper, the way she bit her lips trying to hush her whimpers. Everything about her right now was so mouth-watering.

So you kissed her, burying your fingers on her core, making her moan at your lips. She tried to speak but your lips pressed in her and the way pleasure was taking all in her body didn’t allow her to. But you understood.

And just like that you thrusted your fingers for the last time, in and out a few more times after she’d came.

But your lips kept pressed on hers, until she had to move away to recover her breath, making you laugh.

She looked so pretty.

And so did you.

#ren moodboards #don’t delete the kisses ִ ۫ ּ 💭 ֙⋆ •#ellie tlou #ellie williams #ellie angst #ellie williams angst #ellie smut #ellie williams smut #ellie x reader #ellie x fem reader #ellie x you #ellie x y/n #ellie williams x y/n #ellie williams x female reader #ellie williams x you #ellie williams x reader #ren masterlist ᵎᵎ ִ ۫ ּ ⊹

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sluttywonwoo · 10 months

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instead of you [part twenty-four] || l.mh

pairing: [best friend’s brother] lee minho x college!reader ft. han jisung

summary: you didn’t expect to spend your summer pretending to be your best friend’s girlfriend- then again, you didn’t expect to fall for your best friend’s brother, either.

warnings: swearing, angst, alcohol consumption, smut adjacent... you'll see (mdni)

word count: 4.5k

a/n: revamped my tom holland series from my main blog ( @wazzupmrstark ) to try and motivate myself to finish it!!

series masterlist | early access to the next chapter on ko-fi

Jisung was gone when you woke up the next morning. The sheets beside you were cold, meaning he hadn’t been there for a while. You reached for your phone to see if you had any messages from him, but when you checked it there was nothing.

You didn’t have much on the itinerary today so you could go back to sleep if you wanted to, but you figured you should probably get up and find Jiisung before doing anything else.

You got dressed and ventured into the living area, stumbling across Minho sitting shirtless on the couch. You suppressed a sigh, and brushed past him into the kitchen. Jisung wasn’t there either. There was tea brewing in a kettle on the stove so you knew he couldn’t be far, but you were back at square one with your search.

Reluctantly, you sulked back to where Minho was. It was hard to ‘keep your distance’ from him when you were sharing a living space- even if you weren’t sharing a room anymore.

“Do you know where my boyfriend is?”

Minho flinched, like he didn’t expect you to address him, but recovered quickly, lips easing into a smirk. “What, am I not good enough company?”

It was especially hard to keep your distance when he said things like that- mostly because you wanted to smack the grin off of his face.

You scowled. “Do you know where he is or not?”

“He’s on the balcony.”

You left Minho where he was and found your best friend exactly where his brother said he would be. He was sitting with his mother at the dining table with the book he’d borrowed from you laying open on the glass surface.

You could tell he’d responded to some of your annotations from the different colored ink in the margins. Neither of you had very good handwriting so it could be difficult to tell apart, which is why you always wrote in different colors. You used black pens, Jisung used blue.

Leaving little messages between the pages of books was you and Jisung’s thing, well, one of your many things, but you found yourself wondering what it would be like to annotate a book for Minho. Would he think your dumb jokes were funny? Would he like the same lines as you? Get annoyed by the protagonist- you stopped yourself there, unable to go any further with that train of thought. Sexual fantasies were one thing, but domestic fantasies... you couldn’t let yourself go down that road.

Nikki was the first to notice you standing there and she waved you over with a grin, pulling out an empty chair for you.

“Good morning! How’d you sleep?”

“Really good, thank you.”

Jisung spoke next before you could return the formality. “Good morning, Sleeping Beauty. I thought I might have to go in there and wake you up before we head out to the museums.”

You forced a chuckle as you settled in the seat, throwing your best friend a glare when his mother wasn’t looking.

“Your tea is almost ready,” you said, suddenly remembering. “The kettle was making a lot of noise.”

“Oh thanks, baby.” Jisung leaned forward to push himself up, but his mom beat him to it.

“I’ll get it, you two stay here.”

“Are you sure, mom?” he asked. “I can just go grab it really fast.”

“No, no,” she assured him. “I’ve got it.”

“Thank you.”

“Would you like any, y/n?”

You shook your head. “Oh, no thank you.”

“I’ve been trying to get her on it for years, trust me. She’s partial to coffee.”

“She’s my one true love, I can’t cheat on her.”

The truth was you did drink tea sometimes, but you didn’t really care for the way Jisung made it.

“You’re in tea’s birthplace,” he argued. “If you’re going to have it anywhere, it should be here!”

“And to your point, if I drink tea here, I’d rather go get it from somewhere authentic.”

Jisung shrugged in defeat, cracking a smile. “Fair enough.”

You waited until Nikki was inside to shove him. “Can you not make me look bad in front of your mom?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I sleep in late, I don’t like tea?”

He chuckled, still rubbing his arm. “Those aren’t bad things!”

“You’re Korean. Isn’t not liking tea considered treason?”

“Well, you’re not Korean.”

“Exactly, I don’t want her to think I’m some classless American or something.”

“She doesn’t! Where are you getting these ideas from?” he cocked his head to the side, voice tinged with concern. “She loves you, trust me.”

“Sorry,” you mumbled.

“Nothing to be sorry for,” he assured you and grabbed your hand, giving it a quick squeeze.

You tried to relax a little, rolling your shoulders and your neck to relieve some of the tension.

“You okay, baby?” he pressed, running his thumb along your knuckles.

Just then you heard the door to the apartment open and close. Nikki appeared at the table a moment later with a mug in each hand.

“Thanks, mom,” Jisung said gratefully as he accepted the drink from her. His eyes flitted back to your face, still waiting for your answer.

“What are we doing tonight?” you asked, deciding to change the subject.

He hesitated before answering, like he didn’t want to move on without knowing what was bothering you. But you didn’t give him much of a choice.

“Minho and Felix were mentioning getting drunk tonight.”

“Again?” you mused, making Nikki grin as she took a sip of her tea.

Bold of you to say, for someone who usually spent her weeknights at a fraternity house. You could tell Jisung was thinking the same thing. He quirked an eyebrow up at you in question, but thankfully didn’t verbalize his thoughts. That would definitely be something to tarnish your character in his mother’s eyes if he were to mention it in front of her.

“I think the bar upstairs is doing a karaoke night or something. Wanna go?”

Jisung still didn’t know about the decision you’d made to avoid alcohol. Because knowing that would mean he’d have to know about why you’d made said decision. You didn’t think you would ever be able to tell your best friend that you’d kissed his brother- or that he’d kissed you for that matter and then you’d kissed him like a week later while you were completely sober.

He also didn’t know about your other agreement, the one that you’d made with Minho, the one where you had agreed to stay away from each other.

So you just nodded easily in agreement, resolving silently to be the designated sober friend of the night, even though you didn’t have to drive anywhere.

Of course, it was foolish to think that alcohol was to blame for your decision-making. You knew it only lowered your inhibitions. It didn’t alter the chemistry of your brain or turn you into a different person. But you hoped that staying dry, or somewhat dry, for the rest of the trip would help keep you out of trouble.

“Come on, y/n, you have to do a song!”

It was Minho, of course, who was urging you to get up on stage and make a fool of yourself in front of the entire bar.

“Trust me, you do not want to hear me sing,” you insisted. “And this isn’t me being humble or anything. I’m not hiding some incredible talent like girls do in the movies, I promise.”

“That’s never stopped you before!” Jisung chimed in. “You love karaoke. Are you embarrassed because they’re here?” he nodded toward his brothers and you stared down at the table without answering, pretty much confirming what he’d suggested.

And he’s right, you do love karaoke, but that’s because most of the time you’re halfway to blacking out by the time you get on stage, and this time you’re stone-cold sober. All of the fun of karaoke comes from being too gone to care that you’re ruining a cultural masterpiece and doing a disservice to whoever the original artist is.

The only people who enjoyed doing karaoke sober were people with a humiliation kink.

Plus, this bar was a lot nicer than the bars you were used to doing karaoke in. Everyone was dressed in semi-formal attire, including yourself, and you didn’t know if you’d be able to relax in this atmosphere.

“We could do a duet,” Jisung offered. “I know we do a pretty decent Wish I Was a Cowboy.”

“We cannot do a country song here.”

“Then what song do you want to do? You pick.”

“I don’t know,” you whined. “Do we have to?”

“We don’t have to, but I know you’ll have fun. You always do!” You grumbled under your breath because you knew he was right. “Maybe you just need a little more liquid courage, hm?” Jisung pushed your drink closer to you with a knowing grin.

He didn’t know the daiquiri in front of you was actually a virgin daiquiri, didn’t know you’d slipped away to the bar when you said you were going to the bathroom to ask the bartender to make your drink nonalcoholic.

You knew the only reason you were hesitating on getting up on that stage was the lack of alcohol in your system.

“If you do a duet, Minho and I will do a duet,” Felix propositioned. “And you can choose the song.”

Now that was an offer you couldn’t refuse.

“Fine. Get me a shot.”

“Atta girl.”

Twenty minutes later the DJ was calling you and Jisung to the front of the room. The tequila was still burning your throat even though you’d chased it with your daiquiri. You could tell Jisung was feeling it too from the way he grimaced and cleared his throat before standing from his seat.

You took his hand and let him lead you through the small crowd. The bar was probably a little busier than it was on a normal night because of the event, but it still wasn’t packed.

Still, the amount of people you were going to have to sing in front of made you nervous. One shot had turned into three, against your better judgment, to try and shake the anxiety and you were definitely feeling it, but the nerves hadn’t subsided.

The DJ confirmed your song choice with Jisung and then reiterated it to the audience in Mandarin and English. You’d chosen Kesha’s “We R Who We R” on a whim. It wasn’t really a duet song, but you knew all of the words and you knew your best friend did too.

Your eyes found Minho’s automatically- even with the stage lights shining in your face, even with the sea of people in front of you, you were drawn to him. You told yourself it was because you already knew where he was, you’d just been sitting there, and he was familiar. You were nervous, and you didn’t know anyone else here other than Jisung’s brothers. Of course you’d look for comfort.

He gave you an encouraging thumbs up as the music started to swell from the speakers and you forced yourself to look away, cheeks burning. The tequila had been a bad idea.

Thankfully, the song was over as soon as it started. At least, that’s how it felt. One of the reasons you didn’t mind karaoke was that you’d black out the second you stepped foot on stage and then regain consciousness once you were finished performing. It was fun because you weren’t self-conscious of embarrassing yourself in the moment, and then you’d get to laugh at yourself later if one of your friends had filmed it.

“Great job,” Felix complimented upon your return to the table. Minho clapped Jisung on the back approvingly.

“Y/n carried,” Jisung said proudly, leaning back and placing a hand on your thigh. “She always does.”

You rolled your eyes. “I don’t even remember what we just did. The song started playing and that’s it. I came back to when they were all clapping.”

“Well your autopilot is very impressive,” Felix continued.

“Thanks. Years of practice.”

“What do you mean?” Minho asked.

“It used to happen all the time in high school too...” you trailed off, mumbling the next part. “I was a theater kid.”

“What?”

Jisung smirked at your embarrassed expression while his brothers gawked at you. “Makes sense, right?” he teased.

“Shut the fuck up,” you spat.

“That explains so much,” Minho whispered.

You narrowed your eyes at him.

“Anyway, you did great, babe,” Jisung said. “Promise.”

“As long as I hit most of the notes I’m happy.”

“Okay, now pick a song for me and Minho. We’re up in a few more rounds.”

Felix passed you the book of choices for you to look over, even though you’d already flipped through everything when you and Jisung went. Instinctively, you looked up to Minho for some kind of guidance. You didn’t want to pick something they wouldn’t like. But he just grinned.

“Pick your poison.”

You ended up recruiting Jisung for the decision since he knew the two boys way better than you did. He pointed out a couple of options for you to choose from and you eventually went with Promiscuous Girl by Nelly Furtado and Timbaland which proved to be a mistake. You chose it because you thought they’d make fun of themselves and have a good time with it, and they did, but Minho also pulled out a side of him you’d never seen before and that was a problem.

It was a problem because he took Timbaland’s part and the lower octave definitely had an effect on you. Not only that, but the way he worked the stage like he owned it made your insides twist. He was pretty confident on a normal day, but this was on a different level. It was clear that he wasn’t taking himself too seriously, but that he also knew how to perform, which was making you feel all sorts of things. Instead of interacting with each other, Minho and Felix involved the crowd, acting like they were singing about them. And of course, Minho locked eyes with you and wouldn’t look away. His gaze broke away a couple of times when he turned to face different sections of the audience, but it always came back to you.

At some point, you weren’t even registering the lyrics anymore, just watching his hips move to the rhythm like you were being hypnotized.

“He’s such a show-off,” Jisung mumbled in your ear. “He’s got a career in dance and never lets anyone forget it.”

“They’re upstaging us,” you muttered back.

“Yeah, fuck them.”

“We should leave,” you joked, still not able to tear your eyes away from the stage. You weren’t sure if you’d be able to stand if you tried. “We can’t stand for this kind of disrespect.”

“At least they don’t have our chemistry,” he pointed out.

“That’s true. We have that advantage. It would have been a little concerning if they did.”

Jisung laughed, and nodded in agreement, turning his head back toward the performance.

It was like Minho could feel the shift in your attention, like he knew you were fully focused on him again, because he threw a wink in your direction, biting his lip to suppress a smirk.

“Jesus, are they trying to seduce the entire bar?”

Nope, just me.

He was probably just doing it to be annoying, to get under your skin or something. He was the one who had said it was a good idea to keep your distance from each other so you knew it didn’t mean anything.

Still, you felt hot all over and stole a sip of Jisung’s drink to try and cool down. You’d already finished yours. But you forgot that his actually had vodka in it and almost spit it all over the table.

“Are you okay? What’s wrong?” your best friend asked frantically, hitting you a couple of times on the back in case you were choking.

“Just strong,” is all you were able to manage.

“Here, I’ll get you some water.”

“No, I got it,” you insisted. “I have to go to the bathroom anyway.”

That was a lie, but you did want to splash some cold water on your face to ease the heat that had risen to your cheeks during Minho and Felix’s performance. The song was over now and you didn’t want them to see you so flustered so you needed to be gone before they came back over to the table.

You were up before Jisung could protest, and wove through the tables to the back of the bar where the hallway for the restrooms were. You were nearly there when you heard your name being called from behind you and you whipped around before you could think better of it.

It was Minho, because who else would it be? He had his hands in the pockets of his slacks, Rolex just barely peeking out from where it was fastened around his wrist. You hated that you noticed that. You hated that you noticed the veins that traveled up his arms and disappeared under the rolled sleeves of his white dress shirt. You hated that you noticed everything about him.

“What are you doing back here?” you asked.

“Looking for you,” he confessed. “Thought you might’ve been upset.”

“Upset about what?”

He took a step closer to you. You were tempted to back away, but you stood your ground. The hallway was already pretty small and in a couple of moves of this chess game you were playing with him you’d be backed into a corner, literally.

“About the karaoke thing.”

“What karaoke thing?”

“Well, it could be a number of things,” he explained. “I feel bad about pressuring you to do a song when you didn’t want to, for one.”

“You didn’t pressure me.”

“I kind of did.”

“Not any more than my own boyfriend was.”

He shrugged indifferently, but it was stiff. His shoulders moved up and down in a rehearsed manner. It didn’t come naturally.

“It’s just karaoke,” you added.

“Well, yeah, but then I also thought you might be upset about me and Felix’s song- or my part of the song, I guess.”

Had he noticed you acting weird? Or was he suddenly remorseful over eye-fucking you for three straight minutes in front of your boyfriend? Either way, you weren’t sure why he would care.

“I picked the song, why would I be upset?”

“I mean, you got up as soon as it ended. I thought you might be rushing out because I overstepped or something.”

“Do you think you overstepped?” you asked, throwing the ball back into his court.

Minho pressed his lips into a thin line as he contemplated how to answer your question.

“Not everything is about you,” you scoffed before he could respond, even though you had definitely just been running to the bathroom to splash water on your face because of him.

He blinked, clearly not expecting you to take the conversation in that direction. “I know.”

You put your hands on your hips and cocked your head to the side. “Do you?”

“Listen, I know things between us are complicated-”

“You’re the one who said we should stay away from each other, yet here you are following me to the bathroom. Where does Jisung think you are? What if he comes to check on me?”

“He won’t.”

“How do you know?”

Minho sighed in exasperation, taking a hand out of his pocket to run it through his styled curls. “Do you ever stop worrying?”

“I think the situation warrants it,” you reasoned.

“And what exactly is the situation?” he asked, taking another step closer.

“You tell me,” you countered.

You were both dancing around it, neither of you wanting to admit it. Minho has a career in dance. Jisung’s words echoed in your head as you stared his older brother down. You knew you were going to be the one to get burned in the end no matter how things turned out, especially now that the fire was growing so out of control. Wild, destroying everything in its path. You could feel it in your stomach, the incandescence that drew you to Minho. You could see the embers in his eyes too.

Minho was the first to make a move this time. Instead of answering, he cupped your face in his hands and pressed his lips to yours. You kissed him back almost immediately, practically melting into him as he slipped his tongue into your mouth.

He steadied you by moving his hands from your cheeks to your waist. His strong frame cradled your crumbling one, and he stumbled backward as he pulled you into the men’s room. He leaned his back into the door to open it, mouth never leaving yours.

The bathroom was empty, thankfully, but you didn’t think you would’ve cared if it wasn’t. Minho turned you around and pressed you into the sinks, teeth grazing your shoulders as he ground his hips into yours from behind.

The dim lighting was another thing you were thankful for. That way, he couldn’t see how wrecked you already looked in the reflection of the mirror. Your hands clutched at the edge of the marble countertop as you tried to keep your knees from buckling. He hadn’t even touched you, not really, and you were struggling to catch your breath.

Minho’s hands ran over your ass, squeezing before he spun you back around and kissed you again. Your fingers fumbled with the buttons of his shirt, the alcohol in your system doing nothing to help your coordination.

He chuckled against your mouth and grabbed your hands with his, stilling them.

“Let me,” he whispered.

You nodded wordlessly and watched as he popped a few buttons of the dress shirt- not enough to be completely open, but enough to show off his chest, and you felt your mouth go dry as you shamelessly ogled him. He smirked at your reaction and ran a hand through his hair. You didn’t even remember grabbing his hair like that, but evidently, you had gotten carried away in more ways than one.

He grabbed your hips and hoisted you up onto the counter, laughing when you nearly fell into one of the sinks. You spread your legs for him, letting him slot himself between them as he placed a hand on each of your thighs and slipped his fingers beneath the hem of your skirt. You couldn’t help but grind yourself against him, desperate for some type of relief. The ache was getting to be too much. You felt so empty, and you just wanted something inside of you.

“Please, Minho,” you gasped.

“Please, what?” he quipped back, kissing you again to punctuate the question.

“I need...” you trailed off.

Were you really going to say it? Were you really going throw your morals out the window and fuck your best friend’s brother just because you were drunk and horny and couldn’t seem to stay away from him? Clearly, you’d stooped below the moral high ground weeks ago when you’d gotten yourself off to the thought of him, and when you kissed him. You’d already crossed so many lines, broken so many of the rules of you and Jisung’s agreement. Yet this line was the line, and if you didn’t think there was redemption for you before, there certainly wouldn’t be after this.

It was as if you were at the gates of hell, and instead of turning away and running for the hills, you were being lured into the heat. You weren’t even trying to fight it. You’d burn willingly with Minho if he would step into the flames with you.

Minho spoke before you could get another word in and whatever resolve you had left evaporated. “You have no idea how badly I want you,” he rasped.

“I think I might have some idea,” you teased, squeezing your thighs around his waist, effectively pressing his erection into your stomach.

The fact that you could feel how hard he was through his pants was only turning you on more, and it made you wonder if he could feel your arousal too. Wearing a skirt hadn’t been the best idea in hindsight. The only layer between your pussy and anything else was the panties you were wearing, and the material they were made out of was pretty thin. If Minho pulled away and there was a wet patch on his slacks from you, you might die from embarrassment.

“Wish I could take you up against the glass,” he muttered, nodding in the direction of the floor-to-ceiling windows at the far side of the restroom. “Where the whole city could see.”

The hotel bar was a rooftop bar atop a skyscraper. No one would be able to see you, and you both knew that, but the idea of it made you clench around nothing nonetheless.

He latched his mouth to your neck and began working on the straps of your shirt. He slid them down your shoulders, exposing more of your cleavage in the process. You moaned at the feeling of his tongue on your skin, and he seemed to like that. Your sounds spurred him on, and his head dipped lower and lower until he was at the valley of your breasts. You were about to beg him not to stop when the door to the bathroom flung open suddenly, making you both freeze where you were.

It was no one you knew, just one of the other patrons of the bar, but you were still completely mortified to be caught in such a compromising position. Minho was quick to react and shielded your half-naked body with his, holding you close to him so that the person couldn’t see your state of undress.

The stranger turned around and left just as quickly as they’d come in, but it had been enough to break the spell.

Minho let go of you and awkwardly stepped backward, hastily redoing the buttons on his shirt. He was quiet now and he wouldn’t look you in the eyes. You knew there was no chance of picking up where you’d left off. It was over.

“I-I’m sorry,” he said hoarsely. “I don’t know what came over me.”

You straightened your skirt and hopped off the counter. You did know what came over him. It was the same thing that came over him the first time he kissed you, and the time he kissed you back, but you decided not to say anything about it. You had no room to talk anyway.

“I, uh, I don’t want you to think that I don’t want to, because I do,” he stressed, looking pained. “But you’re my brother’s girlfriend, and that’s... that’s just a line I can’t cross. I can’t do that to him. I know we’ve already crossed so many lines... b-but as long as you’re his nothing can happen between us.”

lmk what you think i always appreciate feedback!!

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praetorqueenreyna · 8 months

Text

counterintelligence, Nesta/Eris, Eris Week Day 6: Modern AU

Please enjoy, this is just a goofy light-hearted fake dating modern AU. There is lots of Cassian slander tho.

@erisweek2023

Read here on AO3!!

”I need a favor.”

Eris stared at the text message in disbelief. It had come through several minutes ago, and he was no closer to puzzling out what it meant. Sure, people often asked him for favors. He was smart and rich and good at problem-solving. But those people were not usually Nesta Archeron.

After running through several dozen scenarios in his head, he finally texted her back.

”What?”

A nanosecond after the text registered as being delivered, the phone began to ring in his hand. “Nesta Archeron” flashed on the screen. Bemused, he answered the phone.

“Hello?”

Nesta got right down to business. “I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend for Elain’s wedding.”

It took a lot to truly surprise Eris, but that certainly did it. “I’m sorry, what?”

A huff of frustration, as if he were the one being vague and irritating. “Cassian and I broke up a month ago.”

Another surprise. A good one, if he was being honest. Eris had always fucking hated Cassian. They had grown up in the same social circles; Cassian had weaseled into Rhysand's friend group when they were children, and their families had been in the same industry for decades. Cassian maintained that Eris was a classist who disliked Cassian because he was poor. That wasn’t strictly true: Eris disliked Cassian because he was an asshole. But he had found that Cassian was sensitive about his class status, and so it was something Eris often mocked him for.

When he had met Nesta, he had had no idea what she had seen in Cassian. She was intelligent and biting, and he was a 20-something year old man that still acted like a college frat guy. Somehow they had managed to stay together for two years without either of them murdering each other.

“He’s the best man, and I’m the maid of honor,” Nesta continued. “And he’s bringing fucking Mor. I’d rather eat glass than go to this wedding by myself.”

Ah, Morrigan. Both Eris and Cassian had dated her briefly in the past, but only one of them had ever moved on. Whenever Eris saw the whole group together, he could sense the tension between Nesta and Mor from across the room. Christ. He wasn’t one who felt a lot of sympathy for others, but wow, Nesta had been royally screwed.

“That’s shitty, I’ll admit. What does any of that have to do with me?”

“Don’t play dumb, Eris. Cassian hates you. He’ll be furious when he sees you there. And I know you hate him too. You can’t tell me you don’t want to piss him off. I’ll even let you be the one to tell him we’re together.”

The offer was too good to refuse. There was almost nothing Eris would love nothing more than to look in Cassian’s big stupid face and tell him that he was with his ex. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

“Perfect. The wedding is in three days. Text me your address, I’ll pick you up at two.” With that, Nesta hung up on him. Eris stared at the dead phone in his hands, still trying to figure out what the fuck was going on.

Eris didn’t hear from Nesta for the rest of the week. He texted her once, to ask for the color of her dress so that he could buy a matching tie and pocket square. She sent him a close up of a patch of fabric that was dusty rose in color.

The day of the wedding arrived and Eris was weirdly nervous. Quite frankly, he didn’t know Nesta very well. He had met her a few times, and flirted with her to piss off Cassian. And now they were about to spend several hours together pretending to be dating. He forced himself to sit and read all morning, knowing that if he started getting ready he would spend several hours fidgeting in his suit and messing with his hair.

His doorbell rang at two on the dot. He opened the door to reveal Nesta, looking even more beautiful than he had remembered. Her hair was bound in an intricate crown of braids, and her mauve dress flowed loosely around her body, both hiding and revealing creamy skin in equal measure. He once again marveled that an oaf like Cassian had managed to keep her for more than fifteen minutes. She scanned him from head to toe, mouth pursed. “Hmm.”

“Is there a problem?” Eris asked, slightly offended. In his own unbiased opinion, he looked very dashing. His suit was immaculate; not a speck of dog hair marred the charcoal gray. He had found a tie that perfectly matched Nesta’s dress, and his shoes had been polished so they shone.

“It’s nothing.” Nesta turned away, clearly expecting Eris to follow her. He debated calling the whole thing off and slamming the door. But Nesta turned back, one hand on her car door, and Eris put together a dozen tiny details that he had missed when she was right in his face. Her mascara was smudged and her eyes were tinged red. The patch of fabric over her thigh was wrinkled from her twisting her hand into it. There was a semicircle of half-moon imprints on her left arm, as if she had dug the nails of her right hand into the flesh. Nesta was anxious and miserable and furious, all in one. And she had signed herself up to pretend to like him for several hours, which wasn’t going to make her feel much better.

Without a word, Eris slid into the passenger seat of her car.

“We reconnected two weeks ago. You came into my work, we started talking, and I gave you my number. We started dating a few days after that.” Nesta regaled him with their romantic history as she drove. Her eyes were glued to the road in front of her. The clipped, analytical tone actually put Eris more at ease. He could handle this. He was good at negotiations.

“Where do you work?”

“I’m a bartender at Rita’s.”

“Really?” Eris couldn’t hide his surprise. Nesta did not seem like someone well-equipped for customer service. Especially not when the customers were drunk and horny.

“Yes, really,” she snapped. “I’m in law school, and I needed a job that let me work nights, after classes.”

Once again, Eris was both impressed by Nesta and confused that she had been with Cassian for so long. How the fuck had that neanderthal captured her attention?

“Okay, that works. I’ve gone to Rita’s a few times.”

“I have a cat named Darcy. Elain got me into stupid reality TV shows and we watch the Bachelor together every year. I can cook, but I hate it, so we mostly eat out at the Thai place down the street.” Nesta’s cheeks pinkened, flustered over having to share even the most nonsensical details about her personal life. “That should be enough to get you through this wedding.”

She paused. Eris realized she was waiting for him to to return the favor, telling her just enough to get them through the reception without giving the game away. “I have four dogs. I still like going to the theaters to see new movies. I used to smoke, but I’m trying to quit.”

“What about work?”

“I’m the social media manager for my dad’s company.”

“What?” Nesta laughed, caught off guard. The corners of her eyes crinkled. Eris noticed for the first time that one of her front teeth was chipped. “Bullshit.”

Eris smiled despite himself. “I’m serious. I do all the brand awareness and brand imaging, but nowadays that’s mostly just social media. I try to convince the public that the company isn’t an evil corporation.”

“Is it?”

“Oh, definitely.”

Nesta laughed again. Eris could see himself becoming addicted to the sound. “Noted.”

The remainder of the drive passed quickly. They shared personal details back and forth, but with ease and warmth. It felt less like they were preparing each other for a trial and more that they were just getting to know each other. It was very much like a first date, if Eris were being honest.

Whatever camaraderie they had built up dissipated when Nesta pulled up in front of the wedding venue. He could practically see the steel wall shutting down, cutting her off from any potential heartbreak. “Are you ready?” she asked, cold and clipped. Without waiting for an answer, she got out of the car, barely waiting for him to follow her lead before she locked it and strode away.

Elain and Azriel were getting married in a cutesy old church, chosen more for its aesthetic than for any religious affiliation. The wedding was small; only a few dozen people were milling around the foyer, waiting for the ceremony to begin. It made it extremely easy to pick out Cassian, who was already glaring at them with his upper lip curled into a snarl. Eris maintained eye contact as he wrapped one arm around Nesta’s waist, his own expression carefully schooled in its usual smooth confidence. Nesta tensed under his touch, but when she caught Cassian staring she relaxed, pressing herself against Eris’s side. He delighted at the fury that flashed in Cassian’s eyes. Just as he was contemplating the pros and cons of kissing Nesta in front of him, a call went out that the wedding was about to begin, and would everybody please take their seats. With a cheeky wave to his glowering adversary, Eris followed Nesta into the main hall.

As soon as they entered the nave, Nesta was swept away with the rest of the bridal party, presumably to some staging area so they could prepare to walk down the aisle. Eris scanned the crowd, hoping for at least one person who didn’t hate him that he could sit with. He settled on his youngest brother, who was sitting near the back with his boyfriend, Tamlin. Eris settled next to Lucien, who visibly jumped at his appearance.

“What are you doing here?” Lucien asked. “Did I see you coming in with Nesta?”

“Yeah. It’s a long story, I’ll tell you later.” The familiar beginning notes of “Here Comes The Bride” resonated through the hall, forestalling any more questions. A procession began making its way down the center aisle. Eris could pick out a few people that he recognized, such as Feyre, Rhysand, and Mor. The maid of honor and best man walked down side by side. Both Nesta and Cassian were making an attempt to pretend everything was fine, but the resentment between them followed them like a dark cloud. It was a visible relief when they separated at the altar. Azriel was next, dashing as ever in his tailored suit. Last was the bride herself, accompanied by her father. Elain moved slowly, both for the benefit of the photographer and to make sure that her father, with his injured leg, could keep up.

The ceremony was fine. It was short, which Eris deeply appreciated. A lot of people were crying by the end of it. Eris didn’t know enough about Elain and Azriel to know if their marriage would last. His cynicism said it was unlikely. Besides, they were the least interesting thing on the altar. He found his gaze constantly drawn to Nesta. She watched her younger sister with a softness he had yet to see in her. A few times he caught her dabbing under her eyes with the pad of her finger, clearly trying to keep tears from ruining her eye makeup. A new wave of hatred for Cassian rose up in him, startling him. He had tried to ruin this for Nesta in the name of “winning” the breakup. Eris resolved to be as obnoxious as possible for the rest of the evening.

The reception was held behind the church. Dinner was served on the patio, and the garden was festooned with fairy lights. To Eris’s delight, being the date of the maid of honor meant sitting at the same table as the entire wedding party, most of whom despised him. The looks he received ranged from abject disgust (Cassian and Rhysand) to plain suspicion (Mor and Feyre). The only people who didn’t seem to care about him were Feyre’s wife, Lena, and Rhysand’s date, a smirking red-headed woman.

“Lovely ceremony,” Eris said brightly, breaking through the tension that his presence caused at the table. He stretched out his arms, resting one against the back of Nesta’s chair. Nesta, in turn, leaned back so her shoulders were pressed against his forearm.

“It was,” Feyre agreed. She opened her mouth to say more, but Cassian interrupted her.

“What are you doing here?” he demanded.

Eris raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m my girlfriend’s plus one.”

“Uh huh,” Cassian replied, unconvinced. “What’s your angle?”

That got a chuckle out of Eris. “I don’t have some evil master plan. I’m just here to enjoy the party. Be the arm candy.” He brushed his fingers across Nesta’s cheek, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Not that anyone is looking at me when I’m next to this gorgeous woman.”

Nesta gave him an odd look, and for a moment Eris feared he had overstepped the bounds of their fake relationship. Then she smiled and looked down, the perfect picture of a flattered partner. It was cute, almost cute enough to be able to ignore Cassian’s scowling.

“How long have you two been together?” Mor cut in, a pleasant smile pasted on her face.

“Only a couple weeks.” Eris nodded towards Mor and Cassian. “What about you?”

The smile was gone. “About the same.”

“Odd. I could have sworn you two have been on and off again for years,” Eris drawled. “I’m sure it’ll stick this time.”

Now both Mor and Cassian looked like they wanted to kill him. “Seriously Nes, what the fuck are you doing with him?” Cassian growled. “Is this just to piss me off?”

“Shockingly, who I choose to date has nothing to do with you,” Nesta responded. “And don’t call me that.”

“Nes, come on—”

“Stop it!” she hissed, trying to keep her voice down. “You stopped being allowed to tell me what to do when you cheated on me with her.” She didn’t need to gesture towards Mor to indicate who exactly she was talking about. Every time Eris thought he couldn’t get more annoyed, he was proven wrong. The sheer nerve for Cassian to actually cheat on Nesta, and then act like Nesta was in the wrong for bringing Eris? The fact that he was only here to cause drama didn’t seem relevant. Cassian deserved everything that was coming to him.

Nesta deliberately turned in her seat to strike up a conversation with Feyre. As she did, she intertwined one of her hands with one that Eris had been resting on the table. In full view of everyone, she raised their entangled hands to her mouth and pressed her lips against his knuckles. She moved casually, as if the display of affection were subconscious. A woman reaching out to her partner for reassurance. She was a much better actor than Eris would ever have given her credit for.

Dinner seemed to pass at an excruciatingly slow pace. Eris was hyper aware that Cassian was watching their every move. Nesta was all over him: a hand on his shoulder while she whispered in his ear, playing with the tips of his hair in between courses, using her thumb to wipe away crumbs from the corner of his mouth. It was difficult for Eris to focus on the conversation when he was surrounded by Nesta’s soft touches and the savory scent of her perfume. The temptation to bury his face in her neck and inhale deeply was overwhelming. He distracted himself by talking, engaging with almost everyone at the table. He couldn’t give a rat’s ass about these people, but he knew how to turn on the charm when it was required. And seeing steam come out of Cassian’s ears as Eris joked with his friends made it all worth it.

Finally, finally, they got through dinner and cake, toasts and first dances. Pop music pumped through the speakers, and everybody vacated the tables in favor of the dance floor. With a minute to themselves, Eris leaned in towards Nesta. “How am I doing?”

“Fantastic. I’ve never seen Cassian so furious.”

Eris preened at the praise, but the smirk slid off his face when he caught Nesta staring wistfully at the dance floor. Cassian and Mor were wrapped up in each other’s arms, giggling. “Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” Nesta lied. She scrabbled for her purse that was draped over the back of her chair. “We can go. You’ve done more than enough for me.”

“We don’t have to.” Eris didn’t know why he was arguing. He wouldn’t gain anything by staying. But if they left now, Nesta would drop him off and then go home and sulk, and he’d never see her again. “I don’t want to go.”

“Eris,” Nesta huffed. “Stop fucking around.”

“I’m not.” He rose to his feet and took Nesta’s hand in his. “I want to dance.”

“Are you serious?”

“Dead serious.” For the first time ever, Eris was grateful that his parents had made him take dance lessons. He twirled Nesta under his arm, causing her to shriek in surprise. When he spun her back to him, she was grinning. She had clearly had formal dance training as well; she matched him effortlessly, falling into step even when he shifted dance styles and moves. She was his favorite kind of dance partner, the kind who could read his body language and predict what he was going to do, and match him perfectly. It resulted in an effortless, elegant dance that looked like a choreographed routine. It was likely that the rest of the wedding had formed a circle around them, applauding and shouting encouragement instead of dancing themselves. He couldn’t say for sure, because he couldn’t take his eyes off of Nesta. She was the embodiment of grace, her dress whirling around her like rosy wings. Her brow was furrowed in concentration, but she was laughing, free as a bird.

The song ended and Eris lowered Nesta in a dramatic dip. Her hands, which were around the back of his neck, tugged his head down to meet hers. She crashed their lips together, and Eris’s brain short-circuited. A live wire of electricity shot down his body, almost startling him into dropping her. He had heard people talk about experiencing fireworks when they kissed, but this was beyond that. This was a lightning storm, consuming him from the inside out and leaving him starving for more.

One of the greatest moments of Eris’s life was rudely interrupted by Feyre grabbing Nesta and jerking her away from him. “Elain wants to to take some pictures in the garden, just the three of us,” she explained. Nesta allowed herself to be dragged away, shooting him an annoyed glance over her shoulder. Eris consciously refrained from touching his lips with his fingers in the wake of the kiss, like some kind of goddamn Victorian era romance heroine. It was all a show, nothing more. Nesta only kissed him as a ploy to aggravate her ex. Not because she liked him.

The ploy worked a little too well, judging by the way Cassian was staring at him, as if hoping he would spontaneously burst into flames. Eris’s smug grin got a lot less smug when the larger man began to actually stride towards him across the dance floor. An actual confrontation wasn’t part of the plan.

“Whatever game you think you’re playing with Nes, you better stop before she gets hurt,” Cassian rumbled.

It took all of Eris’s willpower to not take a step back. Cassian was a foot taller than him, and twice as broad. “Of the two of us, I’m not the one who’s been playing games with Nesta,” he replied, his eyes sliding meaningfully over to Mor.

Cassian’s eyes flashed. “You don’t know anything about me, asshole. I still care about her.”

“Sure. I guess caring about her means that you’re allowed to move on and she isn’t.”

“Go fuck yourself.”

High on the adrenaline of the verbal match, Eris couldn’t help but goad him further. “I understand why you’re mad. Nesta was always too good for you. I’m guessing you wanted her to pine after you and stay single so you can go crawling back when Mor inevitably dumps your idiotic, inbred—”

Before Eris could say “ass,” and finish his devastating insult, his head exploded in pain. It was like someone had hit him in the face with a brick, knocking him to the ground and leaving him gasping for air. His vision cleared and revealed Cassian standing over him, still brandishing a curled fist. Somebody in the crowd screamed and a clamor of voices went up, but all Eris could focus on was the fact that Cassian was about to beat him to death.

“What the fuck?” Like a guardian angel, Nesta had returned just in time. She shoved her way through the crowd and crouched down next to him. He gave her his most charming smile, which was somewhat compromised by the fact that he was pretty sure his nose was broken and blood was dripping out of his mouth.

“He—” Cassian started to defend himself, but Nesta whirled around and shoved him in the chest. He stumbled back, more from shock than the push itself.

“Get out of here. And if you ever try to talk to me again, I’ll fucking kill you.” Nesta’s rage was a physical force. Even Cassian wasn’t stupid enough to defy her. He shut his mouth and stormed off. Nesta turned back to Eris, her hands gripping his wrists like iron shackles as she hauled him to his feet. Holy shit, she was strong. “Let’s get out of here,” she said, to him and only him, ignoring the rest of the gaping wedding party. Eris was more than happy to follow her out of the main hall and away from so many incriminating stares.

Nesta led him to the small room where the bridal party had gotten ready before the ceremony. Empty bottles of wine were scattered around, and a confusing mix of perfume scents hung in the air. She guided him to a chair, instructed him to stay put, and disappeared. Eris slumped over, completely exhausted but still buzzing with energy. Nesta returned with a stack of fluffy white towels she had managed to berate one of the staff members into giving her. She bent over Eris, wiping the blood from his face. He hissed when the towel touched his nose, sending a blinding bolt of pain through him. Nesta paused, then resumed her work with a lighter touch.

“I’m sorry,” she said. The tightness in her voice revealed that that wasn’t a phrase she said often. “This was a stupid idea. I shouldn’t have let things get that far.”

“It’s fine,” Eris waved it off. “You might be shocked to learn that this isn’t the first time I’ve been punched in the face.”

The twitch of her mouth into a brief smile filled Eris with light, and suddenly his face didn’t hurt so bad. “Well, I’m still sorry. I dragged you into this and I’ve been a bitch all day.”

“No you haven’t.” Nesta snorted, and Eris corrected himself. “Okay, you have. But I get it. I’ve done a lot worse over a lot less.”

Nesta pinched together a corner of the towel that wasn’t yet covered in blood and meticulously wiped around his nostrils. She was leaning close enough that he could feel her breath on his cheek. “This was all so stupid. I hate how much I let him hurt me, even now.”

“Are you still in love with him?”

Her surprised snort answered him before she responded. “No, of course not.” The towel dragged across Eris’s mouth and chin. His face should be clean by now. “It just sucks how much of my life is still about him. I can’t get away from him. He’s dug in, like a tick. If I want to have a relationship with my sisters, I have to deal with him. And he is such an asshole.”

“Yeah, I could have told you that years ago.” Eris worked up the nerve to ask the question he had been wanting to ask for ages. “Why were you with him for so long?”

Nesta sighed. “I don’t know. It wasn’t all bad. And when it was, I figured that’s what I deserved.”

“That’s stupid.” Maybe it was the blood loss, the blow to the head, the adrenaline. Maybe he was still reeling from their fake kiss. But his mouth kept moving and words kept pouring out. “You’re so cool and smart and beautiful. You deserve, like, a tech billionaire who is also an astronaut who is also a model.”

At that, Nesta laughed, low and husky. She studied him with clear gray eyes, only inches from his face. “Well, if you know any tech billionaires-slash-astronauts-slash-models, you can introduce me.” She carelessly dropped the bloodied towel on the ground and straightened up, pulling Eris to his feet. “Are you finally ready to leave?”

The ride back to Eris’s house was in companionable silence. Nesta had led Eris by the hand through the main reception area, ignoring all the people who tried to stop her and ask what had happened. Oddly enough, she seemed in a better mood now, and Eris didn’t want to ruin it. She walked him to his front door and he dallied unlocking it, unsure if inviting her inside would be taken well and not wanting to scare her off.

“Well that was…” Eris trailed off, searching in vain for a polite description of the evening. “Terrible.” Nesta chuckled, which he took as a good sign. “But it wasn’t all bad. Let me know if you want to piss anyone else off.”

Nesta hummed thoughtfully. “You know, there’s a really shitty barista at the coffee shop on campus. I bet you could make him cry in less than five minutes.”

Eris’s heartbeat quadrupled. Unless he was mistaken, that sounded like a coffee date. “Yeah? I’d be down for that.”

Nesta grinned and leaned forward, pressing her cool lips against his cheek. “Great. I’ll call you.”

With a hand on his cheek, he watched Nesta get in her car and drive away until she was completely out of sight.

#acotar #a court of thorns and roses #neris #nesta archeron #eris vanserra #nesta/eris #nesta/eris vanserra #eris week #eris week 2023 #erisweek2023 #fanfic #my fic #SILLY FAKE DATING NERIS FIC IS HERE!!!

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gegengestalt · 2 months

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Actually, the Brothers Karamazov is the worst book of all time. It's 1000 pages of the author's reactionary nonsense and mental illness. For a book preaching about how good God and free will are, it sure shows a lot of people being shitty and leading shitty lives. Don't even get me started on the protagonists... Aristocrats who don't know what it's like to actually struggle in life, aside from their psychosexual problems. Dmitri is a chauvinist who should be locked up or euthanized like a rabid dog. Ivan thinks his education gets him respect, but he's nothing but a hypocrite who thinks he's hot shit after he read three big books and made up Jesus fanfiction. Alexey is a loser who only blushes, trembles, preaches things other people have said and changes nothing around him. Smerdyakov, the only member of the working class, is depicted as misanthropic and effeminate (read: gay. Dostoevsky is very homophobic) because the author hates socialism. The women in this book are no better: one may be a lady and the other a fallen woman, but both are venomous vipers hiding behind smiles and declarations of love. They are the same, completely flat characters. Don't even get me started on that teen girl. Most unnecessary Dostoevsky character ever created.

The themes are all over the place because this crazy guy can't make up his mind about the message he wants to give. This book is self contradictory. The fact that so many people like it should make it obvious that it's inconsistent. In theory Dostoevsky champions Russian Orthodoxy, but Zosima is a hack and spits out so much heresy. The plot is also all over the place, with sidequests that nobody cares about, long tangents, a ridiculously big cast and a weird structure. What kind of madman starts his book with an infodump? Clearly he needed to tell the characters' sob story first to make us not hate them. But he failed. The last part of this book made me want to kill myself because it's just a boring recap. My favourite book is Book VIII because it doesn't have the long boring ramblings, and I get to see Dmitri suffer pathetically as a treat (because he deserves it).

The romantic relationships are extremely unrealistic. Dmitri and Grushenka just had the hots for each other for a while and will probably try to kill each other the minute they elope. Ivan and Katerina have zero chemistry and the author just made that up for the Victorian fangirl. Alexey is a CREEP, but this is obvious to any reader with common sense. The familial relationships also seem forced, and they all just come across as love starved mentally ill people who just want to ramble nonstop and dump their nonexistent problems on Alexey instead of going to therapy.

The only character I can get behind is Rakitin, because he's the only one who sees through everyone's bullshit and calls them out on what they are: a bunch of PERVERTS using big words and pretending they're anything more than that. Rakitin is honest about what he wants and I respect that. No wonder Dostoyevsky hates people like him. If his intention was to represent his country with this book, he succeeded, painting such a horrid town filled with insufferable and selfish people.

Easily the worst Dostoevsky book. Aside from Bobok and The Village of Stepachinkovo for a chuckle, all his work is worthless.

#gegengestalk #tbk #april fools

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atlafan · 2 months

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Jordan, ik you probably don’t want to have a whole conversation about this but I recently watched Drew Gooden’s video on the live action atla series (it just affirmed that I definitely don’t want to watch it lol) but it did inspire me to do a rewatch of the original and ughhhhhh it’s so incredible😭😭 all the little characterization details are SO rewarding and so good. Zuko’s small acts of kindness, even early on in book 1, just show that he’s always been Ursa’s son and help set up his arc for the rest of the show. Going after the captured Iroh instead of tracking the Gaang in Winter Solstice. Saving his crew in The Storm. It just shows you that at his core he believes in doing the right thing, and that’s a huge part of why his overall arc pays off so well. It’s the same with all of them—seeing Sokka put on his war paint and his battle regalia (in ep 2 or 3 I think) to confront Zuko in the village…it shows you that he takes such pride in the responsibility of being a leader and a warrior, especially in his dad’s absence. Yet when he gets to Kyoshi, we see the humbled side of him, and that he’s devoted to learning and respectful of the masters in their craft (whether it’s the Kyoshi warriors or Piandao or even the mechanist) and wants to learn what they have to teach him. Even Jet, who is always a very complicated character for me, is so compelling and so real. He’s suffered horribly and unfortunately has let that radicalize him. Tbh it reminds me of when anti war groups in the 60s would bomb places and things like that…the mission is “peace” but you’ve let your mission turn you into a violent radical who doesn’t know the difference between right and wrong anymore. I KNOW I don’t have to tell you lol but all the little details of this show, from design to writing to performances, are just incredibleeee and I’m so happy it exists.

GISICKAKAAK what a fun message to wake up to!

Yes I am simply pretending the new series doesn’t exist because I know it’ll just piss me off if I watch it. And I know myself well enough to know I am just not mature enough to separate the original from the new, so yeah I won’t be watching and I doubt I ever will. The one thing I am mature about is that I don’t “hate watch” things anymore lmao

I think this is why zuko is like my favorite character. I feel like he was the first character I was ever like “no, that’s actually my son” when I got older. He is so fucking complicated and so not at all what you think he’s going to be. He’s not just the antagonist, he’s Aang’s foil. They parallel each other in so many different ways. There’s a scene in book 3 where Aang literally says, “I need my honor back”, and it cross fades from one side of his face to the other side of zuko’s!!

All of the characters have incredible arcs. They all learn something about themselves, and they actually use that to grow and get better. Remember, these are literally children who were thrusted into adulthood, forced to grow up way too early. Katara is a nagging mother, but she also remembers how to be a kid and have fun and laugh. Sokka is a sexier idiot, but what teenage boy isn’t? He unlearns so much behavior, and even though he still feels like he’s the leader of the group, and in so many ways he is, he learns that it’s okay to let someone else take the lead, that he doesn’t always have to be right or in charge. Toph learns that she’s loveable for who she is, blindness and shoeless and a badass.

Aang and Zuko obviously have the most difficult arcs. Aang has to come to terms with the fact that he ran away, and a mass genocide of his people ensued. But if he hadn’t left, he would have died along with the rest of them. Like it or not, it was fate that he froze himself. And most avatars get told who they are at 16 and are given all the time in the world to learn the other elements. Aang was 12…and then had to learn the other elements in less than a year. I would argue that he didn’t necessarily master all the elements in that year. I think he learned enough about each to get by, and I’d like to think he took some time afterwards to really master them. He still relied on his air bending a lot. Whereas if we look at Korra, she did a lot of fire bending even though water was her natural element.

And my baby zuko…I could go on for days about him. My tortured emo son. He overcame so much. He cried, he learned to laugh again, he learned how to be young again. He hated being in the slums of ba sing se, but he also went on dates and got closer with his uncle like he never had been. He was such a sweet little boy. The storm always makes me cry. Zuko alone always makes me cry.

I could go on! I always wanna talk about avatar so never be afraid to come to my inbox about it!

#atla #avatar #avatar the last airbender #zuko #katara #aang #sokka #toph #uncle iroh #the gaang #gaang #prince zuko #zutara

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eisforeidolon · 9 months

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Jared: [following on from Jensen's story of injuring his hand in a door] That's why - doors can be dangerous. That's why I always leave mine open slightly, so it's no longer a door, it's ajar.

Jensen: [pointedly turns to question line] Hi! How are ya?

Norton: [rimshot]

Jared: [jumps up in excitement, punches air, kicks, generally flails]

Jensen: Let me ask you a question. Ladies and gentlemen, [points offstage] Monsieur Keegan.

Jared: Monsieur Keegan Allen.

Jensen: Do you put up with those jokes on the set of a show you work on with Jared?

Keegan: Yes. Um, but they're so great. He's also my boss.

Jensen: Right, right, yes. He's so funny, isn't he?

Keegan: He's the most amazing guy ever.

Jared: I'm like, you're getting a raise.

Jensen: [mockingly monotone] He's the most amazing guy I have ever met in my life.

Keegan. I did - I did really laugh at that, that was great.

Jensen: What's up dude, what're you doin?

Keegan: Hey, dude, what's up man? Hey guys, what's up? Keegan Allen here, I'm from California.

Jared: Alright. Hi Keegan. From California.

Keegan: Man, this is really nerve-wracking, being down here.

Jensen: Just take a deep breath, we're all here for ya.

Jared: Yeah.

Keegan: I wanted to ask you guys [clears throat, speaks in a deeper voice] I wanted to ask you guys - hold on -

Jensen: [whispers into mic] Get it together, man.

Keegan: I wanted to ask you guys, in the last year, what have you done in your lives that you feel like has made it 10% better?

Jared: That's a great question, Ian. Ian, right?

Keegan: Keegan from California.

Jensen: Well, Keegan from California, 10%, huh?

Keegan: Well, 'cause you don't want - just, like a subtle upgrade in your life.

Jensen: Right.

Keegan: Because, like, y'know, something that's too drastic is too noticeable? But 10%.

Jared: Yeah, reasonable.

Jensen: I got one, I got one for ya. Make the bed first thing in the morning. I didn't used to do that. I would maybe get around to it. Y'know, like I'd get out of bed and later when I'd come back, and I'd, you know, sometimes I wouldn't go back to the bedroom until the afternoon, and I'm like ugh, bed's still unmade. Now I get up and I make the bed.

Jared: Yeah, that's a great -

Jensen: I have to kick my wife out of the bed first. [mimes kicking] But I make the bed every morning. And I dunno, it just feels good when I walk back in later in the day and I see the bed has been made. I dunno why. Yeah.

Jared: That's great. I think for me, Keegan from California, I think for me, I've tried to get rid of some of my perfectionist inklings, and so one of the things I like to do is not worry about, like, whether or not my bed is made. [audience laughs] So I come back in at night and the pillows are -

Jensen: See, [pointing at Keegan again] he has to laugh at that joke. [Jared cracks up] I don't.

Jared: But no, speaking of beds, I will not get on my phone when I'm in my bed. Even if I want to return a text message. Or I'm like, oh, shoot, I wanna play Wordle, or I wanna do something. I won't do it in the bed, I will force myself to get out of the bed [stands up] and either just stand next to it, or - Not a word of a lie, it works, it works. [Jensen cracks up] It's literally as simple as, because there's so much - because here's what I would do! I would be like -

Jensen: I just imagine like him getting a text in the middle of the night, and he's like [mimes grumpily throwing off covers, picking up imaginary phone, pushing hair back, typing on phone, pulling off imaginary glasses to set back on pretend nightstand with phone][Jared cracks up]

Keegan: I'll have to text him now, after he goes to bed.

Jared: Well, well, that's basically what happens. [Jensen laughs] But truth be told, I had the problem of, if it was middle of the night or whatever? And I'd wake up like, ugh, what time is it and I'd go and I'd look at my walk-clock or whatever on my phone and it's 1:30. I'd think oh, let me see if there's anything on the news. Let me see ESPN. Let me see who won the game. It's like, yeah ehh, I'm kind of awake, let's see what's on YouTube. And fast forward an hour and I haven't slept. So I'm like, if it's not important enough for me to get out of bed, to do it? Then I just leave my phone on my nightstand. So, yeah. And a totally unkempt bed, by the way.

Keegan: Thank you guys, that was great.

Jared: Thank you Keegan Allen, from California!

#spnnc 2023 #j2 main panel #long post

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tehnakki · 1 year

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I just wanted to thank you for posting that selfie. I’ve been nervous about my career prospects since I’m going into engineering and dress a lot more eccentric (for lack of a better term) than like 90% of the people in my classes. It’s nice to see that someone who dresses fun and colorful doesn’t have to tone it down to do a major presentation (and to NASA at that, holy fuck)

Awwww, don't be nervous! Wanna know a ridiculous thing that happened to me as a intern/new hire?

So I worked in a human testing lab at university, and usually would run tests whenever I could get human subjects, so sometimes that was the middle of the night because college students. So I got pretty comfortable wandering about campus in my pajamas.

So I was napping in the human centrifuge between tests (like you do), when the light suddenly turned on and there was a whole horde of people in suits and polo shirts gathered around me.

My professor had forgotten to tell me that NASA Johnson was visiting for the day to see our progress.

I ended up having to give a presentation on the lab and then demonstrate the test campaign (with no bra to hold my giant bazangas). Also, my hair was pink at the time.

Fast forward 8 months and I'm working in the NASA Johnson Exercise Lab on an extension of the project I was on and on my first day multiple people said hi and called me "pajama intern", people who I am SURE were not at the lab test. That ended up being my nickname until their was a classic Houston downpour and I got soaked on my way to building 6 to give a presentation to a different team (I truly am cursed when it comes to presentations). So I stopped in the locker room and tossed all my clothes in a dryer, and sat around in a towel for a bit, but the dryer was taking forever. So I grabbed a lab coat, put it on OVER the towel (to try to disguise that I was just wearing a towel??? I still don't know what I thought would happen). And headed to the conference room.

Where I pretended to be completely oblivious to the fact that everyone was dying of laughter as I got setup and gave a very good presentation on lunar regolith.

Then I was "Labcoat [First Name]" till I left to go to industry, where I immediately died my hair blue and started wearing a Lemur onesie to the office everyday.

Anyways, for as shallow as most people are, I've found that it takes very little time for me to establish my credibility regardless of what I'm wearing. And the people who don't treat my experience and skills with respect were never going to anyways, regardless of what I was wearing. I'm a nonbinary black queer person in an industry still dominated by cis white men. If they are going to hate me for things I can't change, I may as well ignore all social mores and conventions and just have a good time being the most "myself" I can be.

And by being "myself" and not trying to mask all the time, I free up so much of my brain from anxiety about meeting some arbitrary requirements and tend to make better connections with people. So I end up with really good friendships with people who never interact with queer weirdos like me but find me fascinating. Like my buddy, a high ranking officer in The Space Force (LOL) who sends me the stupidest emoji text messages every time I snicker in a call with them. And loves that I mock the military usage of "sir/ma'aming" every sentence by calling people 20years older than me "my bud".

I have no idea where I was going with this.... But fuck the haters, have fun with your life. YOLO!

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gaypiratebrainrot · 5 months

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Hey, sorry I hope you don’t mind me messaging you again (prev anon) but I can’t stop thinking about wfu after reading earlier in the week.

So on my second read I actually found myself getting quite cross with Stede and the way he is generally the one escalating the situation in terms of physical contact and then placing the blame for that escalation on Ed? yes, i know Ed is the one who waits for him by the trailer after shooting the kissing scene, but it’s Stede who comes back and actually kisses him? And then Ed’s acceptance of that guilt smacks of someone with self esteem issues allowing someone else to place blame on them where it doesn’t belong.

Like, without Stede driving things forward, the physical intimacy would never have happened imho.

Ed clearly wants that intimacy, so I didn’t find myself too troubled by worries about consent, but I do find myself troubled by Stede being the driving force behind things and then Ed being the one left with that guilt. And god, Ed just seemed so lonely, that really got me.

Sorry, I’m not very good at meta analysis stuff, I tend to react to stories through character/emotions so those are my takeaways.

Anyway it’s been a bit of an emotional double whammy reading your fic and then getting cancellation news this week so I’m off to do a bit more crying (jk, except not really)

Thanks again for your story x

thank you so much for this ask!!! i do not mind at all--in fact, i am quite happy to think about this instead of the many other stressful things in my life right now.

your thoughts are so interesting to me, in that you are not the first person to have this perspective on stede's actions in wfu (in a good way!). in fact, my friend @chaotic-neutral-knitter left very similar thoughts in a wfu comment on their recent re-read, and i've seen the sentiment echoed elsewhere in various responses. and it's such a fascinating take to me because it is different from my own perspective, both as i was writing it, and in the year+ since. i am a staunch believer that my interpretation of the text is equally valid as any reader interpretation--that is, i don't think i have any special authority on a "correct" read as the person who wrote it, so big grain of salt with my thoughts.

i think it's interesting how many readers put the responsibility for that parking lot kiss on stede, when i've always maintained that moment as the moment when ed opens the door to what will eventually unfold between them. it's ed who leans in first to kiss stede in the parking lot. in the kissing scene on set, in the moment after the kiss, ed reads so much into the look on stede's face--that "pretend pretend" paragraph, to me, is ed looking at stede and believing that stede understands ed's desire to be genuine and not acting, and that stede, on some level, is accepting/welcoming of that desire. but i think, in that moment, ed reads stede wrong. i think the idea that ed has genuine desire for stede is an impossible idea for stede right up until the moment when ed leans in to kiss him in the parking lot. and then stede doing his little back and forth after initially saying no there, that's stede wrestling with this brand new conception that ed might actually want him, that ed's desire isn't pretend, or a joke.

to consider stede's pov--this is a man twenty years deep in a heterosexual, monogamous marriage, who, for the first time in his entire life, is realizing he might have these extremely repressed sexual desires, for men generally, and for ed specifically. but ed is, and always has been, his hotter, sexier, more successful, more highly regarded friend, inaccessible to stede as an object of desire beyond stede's repressed sexuality. stede has never had to grapple with his desire for ed in large part because never in a million years did stede think ed would be a sexually or romantically attainable person for him. and then, because of the show, stede gets to find out what it would be like for ed to want him, for ed to kiss him like he wants him, but still, still, for stede it's under the guise of pretend. until the moment in the parking lot when ed leans in. and i think that opens a door for stede that he never, ever thought would be open, and so has absolutely no idea how to not walk through it.

there's no question to me that stede is trying to evade responsibility for his actions, especially in the second half, and him showing up at ed's house in the middle of the night and refusing to leave (even while pretending he has the intention of leaving) is pretty blatantly on him. but i also think there's something to his line about "it's not fair for you to want me back"--in the sense that, ed's beauty and sexual charisma and fame and success and status and the fact that he's technically stede's boss and employer does give ed a certain amount of power over stede, a power ed is not responsible with when he goes for the kiss in the parking lot, and when he makes a pass at him a second time after the party at stede's house. ed is offering something to stede in those moments that he should not offer him if he understands and respects the importance of stede's monogamous marriage, which he textually does. ed knows why he should not come on to stede, and he does it anyway, twice. and i think if ed had never come on to stede, stede would never in a million years have even thought it would be possible for ed to want him the way he does, and would never have taken the actions he does once ed opens the door.

all that being said, yeah, i think stede is a real dick about it and tries to place as much of the blame on ed as possible when stede is quite blatantly the aggressor beginning with the moment he decides to walk to ed's house in the middle of the night without his phone or wedding ring. imo, stede is doing some olympic level denial about what he actually wants, and that's making it extremely difficult for him to be accountable for his actions, and to accept responsibility for his choices. whereas ed is at least somewhat consciously aware that he is choosing to do something he shouldn't when he waits outside stede's trailer for the possible opportunity to kiss stede again, instead of going in and talking it thru, and so he's more readily accountable, and it's easier for him to take the blame.

phew, this was a whole essay lol, but i just happened to have been thinking about it a lot still (and am still stuck in covid quarantine). my condolences that you are having wfu feels at the same time as cancellation feels--but at least our fandom is fighting the good fight to not let the show go without a major push back! thank you again for this ask!!! <3 <3 <3

#asks #water flowing underground #i have other thoughts about ed's loneliness but that's more of a diary entry lol #thank you for continuing to engage with this fic

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blindmagdalena · 4 months

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Hiiii it's me again!

I just wrapped up a full-on binge of your series with Homelander and Layla, and honestly, I've got to get a few things off my chest about these two. I'll try to keep this short, but there's a lot to unpack, and if you're not up for the essay I'm about to write here, feel free to skip it. Starting with Layla's profession — genius. It just clicks, right? With a job like hers, it's totally believable that she'd cross paths with a guy like Homelander. That guy's desperate for any scrap of affection he can get, doesn't really matter if it's genuine or not. And in your story, it feels like we get a dash of both. It's refreshing because usually, OCs just snap their fingers and suddenly, Homelander's all about them, which feels a tad forced.

But Layla? She's different. Their first serious meet-up perfectly demonstrates her patience. And her smarts? She's ten steps ahead, seeing right through Homelander's act — you know the one where he pretends he's too cool for the room. Her ability to play him like a fiddle from the get-go, just by stroking his ego, is just so spot on. It's not just her cunning that stands out, though. Layla knows exactly when to use emotional leverage, she's insightful about Homelander's neediness, hence the booked meeting. She's not your typical 'strong woman' character — thank goodness we're not talking about those overdone, one-dimensional types that come off as watered-down male heroes. Love that she's profoundly intelligent, perceptive, and strategic in her emotional connections. She's an exemplary character not wedged into the role of being “strong” but one who utilizes her understanding and empathy as powerful tools.

I'm sold on her character (if you can't tell.) And I'm really going all out here because as I revisit the first chapters to talk about this, I keep finding new reasons to appreciate her more. I want to dive deeper into my thoughts, but I'm probably just rambling now, so I'll cut myself off. You've single handedly got me working on my personal oc again lmfao. Just a last note, it's cool to see an original character who isn't some superpowered being for a change. It adds layers to the world you've built that I'm just here for. I'm gonna read a few other fics you have linked about your ocs — I came for the x reader fics and stayed for the ocs LOL.

— 💌

you genuinely took my breath away with this! my heart is so full and warm, i could cry. i can't tell you how many times i reread this this morning! i'm very tender-hearted when it comes to my original characters, and i was quite nervous starting an oc fic, but this makes me SO happy that i did!

please don't ever apologize for writing essays like this, i honestly want to print this out and hang it on my wall. thank you SO MUCH for not only reading my fic but taking the time to send me such an incredibly thoughtful message about my girl Layla. it really does mean the world to me!!! and i really can't wait to get back to writing Eat Your Ego.

i'm really happy that she's coming across so well! i knew that i would have to be careful in how i wrote her for the fact that she IS human, and there's a very delicate balance to be had in interacting with Homelander. there's a tension there that yeah, one wrong move and she really and truly has no defense against him aside from her wits, so i needed her empathy and intellect to be sort of a super power of their own.

i was worried she would come across as omniscient or meta, so i tried to lean into the fact that Homelander's ego and power trips really do just have him behaving like the type of men she would regularly encounter in her line of work.

aaahhh, gosh, even responding to this i reread it a whole bunch. thank you so much, darling. i'm going to treasure this message! 🖤

#sorry it took me a bit to respond i was legitimately just so taken aback and smitten hahaha i wanted to write up a proper reply #💌 anon #ask and you shall receive #darling anon #homelander x oc

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thecandyclusteragain · 5 months

Text

Contains Barbie Movie spoilers

The Barbie Movie is honestly so weak as a "feminist" text (I won't try to rehash what other people have said about it, if you want to learn more about it I recommend the videos essays The Plastic Feminism of Barbie by VerilyBitchie and The White Feminism of Barbie by Jessie Gender on YouTube) but it is honestly perfect for people with weird gender kinks.

Like- Feminisation, masculinization, bimbofication, objectification, patriarchy/misogyny, femdom- that's all basically textual, but with that foundation there's even more you can play with! Different varieties of gender and queer sexuality kinks that explore the taboo of those things in a world that has a rigid society and binary- like ours -but with much lower stakes. Could easily see tf, forced tf, or sissification in this setting as well. I completely forgot for a second that cucking could be seen as textual as well? (If any of my connections seem unclear to you as a reader, please do ask about them because I'm high and I have AuDHD and my connections aren't always obvious to others)

What a beautiful plastic play place to explore gender and sexuality and social rules in!

Outside of my fantasies, I can get really anxious and paranoid about playing with other people when it comes to some of these kinks because they are quite reactionary. A particular part of my upbringing had a specific religious tone that has been really difficult to shake and I unfortunately internalized a lot of those messages that were really anti-kink- kind of your typical "kink-critical" "how do you know the person who says they're pretending to want to rape you doesn't actually want to rape people? How do you know they're not an actual rapist? What's the difference between the person you're doing impact play with and a domestic abuser?" I'm sure my experience is unfortunately not that uncommon and a lot of kinky people have had to deal and are still dealing with this. So when I have fantasies about non-consensual encounters, particularly of misogynistic and queerphobic varieties, I can get really panicked about whether the people that are also in this space are just pretending like I am. It also doesn't help that I have been in some virtual spaces where people do have on their profiles "this is not pretend, this is not a fantasy, these are my actual beliefs"

But in Barbieland...it's all just pretend, it's playing with toys. Everything is fake! The food is fake, the fire is fake, the ocean is fake- it is literally a world designed for play and make believe!

When the Kens take over Barbieland, it is a shallow pastiche of masculinity. Ken has seen these visual signifiers of what it means to be a man in the real world and it made him feel good. When he came back to Barbieland, he didn't attack anyone or force anyone to do anything- the ideas just kind of osmosed out of him into everybody else. He doesn't actually know what it means to "be a man" (and honestly, who does?), but he has these cultural signifiers of masculinity and manhood. He has insecurities and desires.

And that's no different from anyone who takes part in kink. People who have what I've been calling so far "weird gender kinks" (because that's how I describe it in myself) have insecurities and desires and we often soothe those in the scene of kinks that either reinforce or subvert societal norms.

When I watched the Barbie Movie, I honestly wasn't as blown away as all my friends seemed to be (but there were mitigating factors that could have affected that), but I did genuinely enjoy looking at it from the perspective of Weird Gender Kinks. What a fun environment to play in, what a safe environment to play in, I thought. The shallowness of the movie added to this. The Kens takeover of Barbieland didn't recall to me actual governments and social movements to restrict the rights of women or cultural misogyny- it felt to me like a bumbling attempt to soothe a base, animal and emotional need (part of the reason it failed as a commentary imo).

In conclusion, if I had the spoons, I would start a Barbieland group that would be all about Weird Gender Kinks and give everyone a chance to make a Barbie or Ken sona (or get to play with the Barbieland concept of gender divergence and being non-binary- what if you're not a Ken OR a Barbie?)

#copied from our fetlife #Barbie movie #nsft #bimboification #detrans kink #patriarchy kink #femdxm #orientation play #dyke breaking #fakeboy

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zaenaris · 7 months

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ok i see your twitter about the meeting of different Inupi and Koko anndd

Let's say that Bonten!Inupi and Manilla!Inupi switched.

So basically Bonten!Inupi is suddently neat of a Koko, for the first time in 12 years. A Koko who has not changed THAT much physically and who just says "long hair suit you" yeah Manilla!Koko is not very much surprised, he's :/ about a lot of things in his life. And guess that it's just temporary because why it wouldn't be?

Meanwhile Bonten!Koko is suddently with a Short Hair Inupi who has just to look at him one time and :O decides to take care of him. Literally. Force him to take a warm bath, cook him food, force him to go to bed. And hug him a lot. Koko breaks and speaks a lot about a lot of things, especially about his Inupi. How much he misses him, how much he regrets to have left him even if it was for the best. Because he didn't want to put him in danger anymore, not again. Because someone would have wanted to use him again and again and so Inupi would have been in danger and he had to left him. Bonten!Koko: "this life isn't for him" And Manilla!Inupi who has a life like that: maybe… He has mixed feelings, he wonders WHY the other Inupi has accepted this separation, WHY he didn't reach him, and wonder how he can be happy without Koko….because himself can't imagine his life without his Koko. And he sees how much this other Koko is depressed and a mess without his Inupi. "You should try to contact him" "And being punched and rejected?" "You don't know if the other me will do that :/"

Meanwhile Manilla!Koko tires to hide this Inupi who isn't HIS Inupi from Izana and Kisaki. He pretends Inupi is sick and they accept that he works at home. As long he gives good results, he wan work whatever he wants. And so Inupi is stressed and so he decides to cook. Koko is like ":/ ok?" because his Inupi doesn't cook often because of their style of life, but he does it when he's really stressed. "He left you" "And never contacted me again" "what a dick" "Hey!" "I can insult myself if i want! He fucking abandonned you!" because he can't imagine his life without his Inupi. Because Inupi is his only happiness in this life of criminals.

@naehja❤️

awwwww, I love to think about these AUs/what if when characters from different timelines meet their alternatives versions, thanks for this message ❤️

Bonten!Koko definitely needs a hug and some love, thankfully Manila!Inupi is there for him, even if, understandably, without much context, he can't imagine why he and Koko are separated in that timeline.

Manila!Koko protecting Bonten!Inupi, that is a civilian and has nothing to do with that world anymore , insulting himself from the other dimension, and Inupi cooking for him is so cute 🤲❤️

#tokyo revengers #bonten #kokonoi hajime #inui seishu #kokonui #inukoko #manila tl #asks #zae talks about tr

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throwaway-yandere · 1 year

Note

🎐anon

I had the weirdest god damn dream and I believe part of the reason it happened was cause I read all the previous asks before so I wanna share it here for everyone.

For starters, the world has been taken over by a corrupt organisation that believes in one god and wants everyone to believe in them as well. They started taking over governments and ended up taking up the world in no time, forcing everyone to worship their god. There were three things you needed to do to worship their god: talk about the god, pray to the god and think only about the god; anyone who failed to do so would either get tortured brutally or outright killed.

Now here's where things kinda get more bizzare. Apparently, to get a hold of more people and monitor them, they decided to take over Genshin and change a lot of things in the game. First, they deleted all the regions so Teyvat was just one big continent named after one of most devout followers in the organisation. Then, they added a bunch of new world quests that talked about their god and achieving these quests wouldn't give you primogems but "good fate" that allowed you to pray for the god and get better rewards. These quests were acted our by fatui but they were portrayal are holy good people that were just trying to spread the message about their god (didn't see any harbringers and there wasn't a mention of them so maybe they don't exist here?). Lastly, all the characters had somehow become self aware and had to follow the same three rules or else they would be punished as well.

In the dream, I was fugitive who was playing this weird genshin. The fugitive didn't believe in the god but pretended to do so to save myself and my family. While playing the game, they decided to open the character menu to check my character's artifacts. When scrolling to Tighnari, he makes a comment about how ridiculous this new rules were and why anyone should follow it. The moment he says that, the screen freezes and becomes progressively more glitchy, slowly covering the whole screen until the only thing that was visible was Tighnari's shock face and his eyes slowly turning black.

"No, wait, I didn't--"

Then, the game restarts on it's own and when they open the character menu again, Tighnari's page is there but Tighnari himself is completely gone.

Afterwards, while playing as Cyno, Cyno makes a passing comment about not being able to find Tighnari and asks the player if they've seen him. They say no and Cyno is obviously disappointed but continues to do the quests together with them. Everything continues on as normal until he says something about their god had changed to another when Buer was already a good enough god for them and the entire screen freezes again. However, instead of the screen getting glitchy, the glitches appear at various parts of his body and slowly eat every part of him, forcing the player to watch as Cyno tries to fight off the mysterious glitchy sustenance until it leaves him with only his neck and his head.

He tries to scream but his vocal chords had long been eaten by the glitches. When the glitches completely swallow his body, they disappear and leave nothing on spot.

There are a few details I left out but typing this in the car is slowly making me carsick so I'll add some of em later djjxnxjx I blame all the faceless ayato and creepypasta stuff HAHHA

I read this before a quiz and it took me long to process this cuz bro. Bro, this could be a good fricking premise for a sagau fic but I already have a sagau fic running lol–

Let's give your nightmare more additional details for the hell of it:

WHY DONT WE MAKE THAT "GOD" BE THE ABYSS!TWIN :)?

You can't chose any other twin. In this example I'll have Aether as the only traveler you can pick and Lumine is the "God".

This was what the Loom of Fate operations was all about. Don't misunderstand her. She wasn't always like this. At first, her ascension to "Godhood" isn't for her own benefit.

It's yours.

That's because she couldn't take it anymore. She's finally lost it. Lumine couldn't handle the way you've been using everyone except her. Most of all: she feels insulted for your sake that no one cares enough to treat you with respect. In her twin's body, they force you to work commissions and isolate yourself on domains that barely give you proper artifacts. It fills her with rage to watch your party members fail to crit– it disgusts her.

If she could take out all these pests... All these "characters" that worship false Gods like Buer... Then maybe they'll finally recognize you as the one that should sit on the thrones of Celestia.

The first to go would be Xiao and Ganyu. Zhongli was too late to save his subjects.

Zhongli taught them to treat him with reverence. Zhongli taught them Filial piety.

He taught them to respect Rex Lapis. Of course his most loyal subjects would oppose a new ruler.

And there's nothing more painful to a loving parent than the loss of their child.

It was in their death that she realized:

"This feels... Fulfilling."

Yes. Yes, there's no need to change what has been done.

Lumine has gone through enough.

She'll be the overseer of this new world and you will be the one to serve her instead.

Perhaps you continued walking around genshin as a fugitive, thinking that these are all part of some major archon quest with a grand resolution of having Aether and Lumine confront each other head on for all the things she had done with the leylines.

That should be your next move... If you could manage to find Dainsleif.

You couldn't access any archon quests– sometimes you'd see the screen glitch and show where the next scene will take place only for it to be overtaken by messages about devoting yourself to this unnamed God.

Ha. Well. You've had your fun playing the game, right?

It's her turn to control you now.

#🎐 anon #sagau au #abyss!lumine #genshin impact x reader #yandere genshin impact x reader #yandere lumine #lol i love lumine my bad

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harmonyckrs · 9 days

Text

Act 2, Scene 3 of Twisted Veronaville: The Homewrecker and the Matchmaker

THE LAST PAGE

Here lies the homewrecker of the arranged Capp marriages, now having taken the identity of a new man.

*DING. You have one new message.*

Albany: Hello.

Albany: Pascal?

Albany: I can see the green dot next to your icon. I know you're online.

Pascal: no i'm not

Albany: Please don't joke with me. I broke up with Goneril a couple of days ago. I wanted to ask if you wanted to move in, or at least visit?

Pascal: no

Albany: Please? Hal misses you. He wants to learn more about the stars, and I can't find anyone better to show him than you.

Pascal: astronomy101textbook9thedition.pdf, starmapvers42.pdf

Pascal: hope these help. let me know if he wants more. got some on aliens too

Albany: Pascal, I'm being serious. I did not break up with Goneril for you to ghost me.

Pascal: maybe you should've thought about that before dating a man who was deliberately ruining your marriage

Albany: I was willing to take the risk because I know you'd be worth it.

Albany: Please?

Albany: I'll pay you.

Albany: Goneril let me keep all of the money. She moved in with her sister. She doesn't even want the kids! She won't be a problem anymore.

Albany: I'm looking for something real now! And I know I can find it with you!

Pascal: can't say the same

Albany: I refuse to let something as beautiful as what we had be destroyed!

Pascal: got to go water my plants. goodbye

Pretending to be his brother wasn't something that Pascal was really comfortable with. But there were people relying on him, and he had chosen to sacrifice his morals long ago.

Morals were only holding him back from the one goal he was now desperately trying to achieve.

Pascal: (That woman looks so much like Zoya.)

Pascal: (I should take a photo and send it to her later, once I figure out where Aktu and Sita are like she asked.)

Pascal: (Oh, is that Albany?...why is he at H&M?...he doesn't seem to recognize me. Think I should be good...I'll just buy some extra clothes for some new disguises. I wonder if I can pass as a girl...)

Ripp: That's my friend's uncle over there! I'm going to say hi.

Pascal: (Ripp's here! That means Aktu and Sita are, too!)

Ripp: Hey Mr. Lazlo! Do you remember me?

Pascal: Yeah, man! What's up, little dude? How've you been, bro?

Pascal: (Darn it! Too forced!)

Ripp: Pretty good! Dad sold me to ninjas but they've been pretty nice so far.

Pascal: (Ninjas? I thought you'd come up with something more creative, Aktu). Damn, that's rough! Glad you're in one piece though!...my guy!

Ripp: Yeah...oh, and one of them said he knew you.

Pascal: Did he, now?...Aktu, I'm guessing?...man, it's been, like...so long. A while. Can you give me his number, bro? I think he changed it.

Ripp: Yeah, sure! No problem.

Pascal: (HA! Success!)

*RING RING*

Aktu: Greetings, mortal...What brings you to the House of the Extra Terrestrials?

Pascal: Aktu, I know it's you.

Aktu: (PASCAL? How did he find me?) Pascal? It's been so long, man! What's up?

Pascal: Hamza, Zoya and Sana are in Veronaville right now, looking for you. They're not happy with you and Sita interfering with people's fates.

Pascal: They think I'm on their side, but I've been messing with people's fates too.

Aktu: How can I trust you?

Pascal: Ask Albany or Goneril for the name of the man who ruined their marriage.

Aktu: ...Woah. Pascal! How did you even do that?

Pascal: There's a lot of sexually repressed gay people here...do we have a deal, Aktu?

Aktu: (Well, he's a reliable guy. And plus, he's never let me down before.) Sure!

Pascal: Great! Talk to you soon.

As Pascal and Aktu spoke to each other for the first time in a long while, Antonio had decided to pay his sister a visit. However, Bianca had "coincidentally" left for work, leaving him with just Kent.

Kent: Tried to make some pie myself, but I burnt it. Let me know how it is.

Antonio: It's...not too bad, actually, despite the charred taste. I didn't know you knew how to bake.

Kent: Had to do all the cooking and cleaning for Regan and Cornwall in exchange for letting me stay with them.

Antonio: Maybe we can bake together sometime...if you want to, that is. I still don't know what happened to Hero, but it would be unfair for me to take it out on everyone in your family. And I don't think it was you who did it.

Kent: Thanks, Antonio. And welcome to the dark side. Bianca and I welcome you with open arms.

Antonio: Ha, thanks...and I'm sorry about your date, too.

Kent: It's no big deal. I can just find another.

Antonio: (Yeah, but there's not that many gay people in Veronaville, is there? There's got to be some way I can make up for it...)

Aktu: A coupon for Monty's?

Aktu: "Sorry about the incident that occurred to you at our restaurant as a result of the family feud. To make up for this, we have supplied you with a coupon for two free "date night" meals at Monty's for both you and your special someone."

Aktu: Hm...I wonder if Pascal would be interested in Italian food.

Antonio: (No, no! It's meant to be for Kent!)

Sita: (I can hear Antonio's thoughts from the bush he's trying to spy on us from.) Or maybe it's a sign that you should ask Kent for a second date.

Aktu: After what happened the first time, no way! You give it to Kent.

Sita: You know I'm not interested in that dating stuff. And didn't you tell me that Pascal was a huge health nut? He'd probably hate it.

Aktu: Hm...Ripp, what do you think?

Ripp: Beats me! What do you think, guys?

Tybalt: Kent could use a partner.

Mercutio: I say go for it! If you're still friends with him despite the fact that his presence at our family restaurant fucked up your date, then it probably had the potential to be a legendary date!

Tybalt: It wasn't his presence that was the problem! It was because your family were being stubborn assholes who didn't serve them food!

Mercutio: Normally I'd fight you on that, but you're probably right.

Aktu: (Huh, they're actually improving.) Well, alright then! I'll give him a call and see if he wants to hang out again.

Antonio: (YES! Thank goodness for that girl!...it was almost like she could read my mind!)

Sita: (If I wasn't trying to keep these powers secret, I'd make him owe me a huge favor.)

THE NEXT PAGE

#ts2 #veronaville #sims 2 gameplay

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