#most of these thoughts were drafted out to my roommate a while back at like. 2am. s/o to them for hearing me ramble on about this shit | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

papiliotao · 8 months

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꒰ 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔 ✩࿐

pairings: alhaitham, kaveh, kazuha, lyney, scaramouche, and xiao x gn!reader (separate)

content: fluff, modern au, college au, the reader is a sleep-deprived student, correction: everyone in this fic is a sleep-deprived student, cuddling, reader is sick in scara’s, venti makes a cameo in kazuha’s part, reverse comfort in kaveh’s

summary: small scenarios with the genshin boys as your roommates! ♡

a/n: this has been sitting in my drafts for a while, so i decided to finally finish it up. i hope you enjoy!

₊˚ପ ALHAITHAM

Tonight, it feels like endless night ebbs and flows into the very core of your being, chilling you with fragments of a glacial atmosphere.

It’s cold.

Even with multiple blankets wrapped around you, you can’t help but shiver, shake like a vibrant autumn leaf in a passing zephyr. Winter is approaching, and unfortunately for you, you may have relished a little too much in the gilded threads of summer warmth that had graced the world a few months prior. For now, you’re unable to stand the gradual freeze that’s beginning to spread throughout your city.

Slumber is tempting. It lures you in, wrapping you in a blanket weaved of starlight and dreams. However, it’s all an illusion. In reality, you’re far from sleep. You know that there’s no way you’ll be able to pass the gateway into the oneiric realm. Not with the sensation of frostbite threatening to consume you whole.

Eventually, you decide to get up. You’re certain that you won’t be able to fall asleep, at least, not without more blankets, so you decide to make your way to Alhaitham’s room to ask if he has any spares.

Although you’d normally feel guilty for rousing someone from slumber, it’s not that late as of right now. Either way, you’re quite certain that your roommate is still wide awake, most likely losing himself amongst the yellowed pages of a verbose book. After all, he always seems to have his nose buried in a complex tome, filled with words that make your brain hurt.

Slowly, you drag yourself out from under the plush covers of your bed. The floorboards groan slightly as you stand, exhaling under the pressure of your footsteps. You make your way down a hallway drowned in shades of midnight, making your way towards the golden light seeping out into the corridor from under the cracks of a closed door.

The door to Alhaitham’s room.

You knock, the sound seemingly echoing down the walls of the hall, repeating in a chorus of onomatopoeia.

A few seconds pass before the door opens to reveal Alhaitham. Strands of silver hair messily frame his face, and yet as the aquamarine hues of his irises meet your gaze, you find that he’s just as dazzling as ever.

“Do you need something?” he asks, his voice as flat and monotonous as always. As usual, your roommate’s front doesn’t betray a single hint of emotion. Not even irritation.

You pause for a moment, still a little intimidated by Alhaitham. Although you’ve been living together for a while now, his apathetic demeanour can be slightly off-putting at times. Nonetheless, you eventually manage to steel your nerves.

“Yeah,” you say. The word comes tumbling out of your mouth like the iridescent droplets of a waterfall. “Do you happen to have any extra blankets?”

Alhaitham pauses for a moment, seemingly deep in thought.

You hold your breath, hoping that he’ll say yes, and you’ll be able to get this over with.

However, he shakes his head, and you feel your heart drop, shattering into a thousand shards of fragmented ruby.

“Oh,” you sigh, trying your best to hide the dejected expression overtaking your features. “That’s okay. Sorry for bothering you.”

You turn away, ready to head back to your room, but Alhaitham’s voice stops you.

“I think it’s safe to presume you wanted a blanket because you were cold, right?”

It’s a rhetorical question, so you don’t bother to answer it. Instead, you freeze, becoming akin to a stunning statue carved of pale blue ice.

“Then allow me to propose an alternate solution.”

You turn around, meeting Alhaitham’s eyes once more. Lakes of turquoise, typically devoid of emotion, are now filled with a particular spark. You can’t quite determine what it is, but there’s a subtle glimmer — barely visible, but it’s there.

“Why don’t you stay in my room for the night?”

Your eyes widen, and you feel your jaw drop. For a moment, you just stand there, absolutely still and dumbfounded.

Perhaps you had heard Alhaitham wrong. Or maybe your mind is playing tricks on you, making mirages materialize out of nothing. The blank expression painted over your roommate’s features certainly makes you think so.

“Excuse me?” you blink languidly, staring at Alhaitham as if he’ll disappear into thin air if you take your eyes off him.

“I said why don’t you stay in my room for the night?” he repeats nonchalantly, the evening chill seemingly intertwining itself into his tone. His gaze remains fixated on you.

Your mind blanks for a second, each intricate acrylic line of a composition painted over, leaving you with nothing but an empty canvas. As you stand still, a thousand scenarios seem to flash through your head, filling up the blank space with a myriad of thoughts — some pleasant and some unpleasant. However, you soon realize that you don’t have time to weigh all the pros and cons of your decision, as Alhaitham is staring at you intently, awaiting your answer.

“Sure,” you blurt out.

You’re not sure what compels you to accept his proposal. Perhaps it’s your longing for the comfort of shared warmth. Perhaps it’s a result of your inability to say no to others due to a fear of disappointing them. Or perhaps it’s because you’ve grown a lot closer to Alhaitham than you’d care to admit.

Although you’re still slightly intimidated by him, you’re certain that he’d never do anything to harm you. And there are even times where he shows he has your best interests in mind (despite the fact that you were initially under the impression that he cared little for others).

You’re snapped out of your trance of reminiscence as Alhaitham speaks once more.

“Alright,” he says, taking your hand and leading you over to his bed. His grip is firm — not suffocating, but at the same time, not so soft that the connection between the two of you would be easily severed.

Alhaitham’s touch sends butterflies, tinted a colour reminiscent of spring blossoms, dancing within the pit of your stomach. It’s enchanting, and at this rate, you’re not sure how you’ll be able to handle sleeping in the same bed as him.

He allows you to climb into bed first, tucking you in with an unexpected amount of care. You know Alhaitham’s not exactly the cold-hearted jerk many make him out to be, but you didn’t anticipate that he’d be this gentle, his touch akin to the caress of sunlight on a spring day.

After the man ensures that you’re cozy, he lies down beside you, embracing you. As he does so, you feel a wave of heat overwhelm you. To your relief, the frigidness that had once gnawed at your very soul is now gone, but unfortunately, you’re faced with a new problem.

Alhaitham’s actions have flustered you, and to your misfortune, it feels as though crimson embers of embarrassment are transforming into flames far too quickly for your liking.

You’ve solved one issue, but in turn, you’ve accidentally created another.

This is going to be a long night.

₊˚ପ KAVEH

It’s no secret that your roommate is a perfectionist.

Whenever his eyebrows knit up in a jumble of discontent and pools of liquid ruby tinged with sunsets glint with hints of frustration, it becomes obvious what’s going on. He’s spent too long trying to perfect yet another assignment. The bags that seem to perpetually line the undersides of his eyes are dark shadows — serving as an eternal reminder to the man’s exhaustion.

There are times where you find him hunched over his desk, teetering on a thin tightrope, walking a line between the waking world and a wonderland of dreams. Of course, he refuses to succumb to the temptations of a golden slumber time and time again, forcing himself to fixate on his projects until he’s finished and happy with the final product.

Today is one of those days. The cold light that leaks through the cracks beneath the door to Kaveh’s room seeps into the hallway, serving as a warning written in a display of molten opalescence.

Stark white. Cutting through the darkness of deep midnights with ease.

It’s jarring, and when you press your ear to the door and listen carefully, you manage to make out the sound of Kaveh muttering underneath his breath.

You know you have to do something. Now. Before your roommate decides to work himself half to death again.

You take a deep breath, inhaling night air reminiscent of the crystalline waters. It’s refreshing, and as you breathe out, a sense of tranquility washes over you.

Steeling yourself, you knock on Kaveh’s door, the sound seemingly reverberating through the corridor in a myriad of echoes.

“[Name]? Is that you?” he asks, his voice ringing out loudly, fragmenting and shattering the quiet ambience.

You hear the sounds of drawers opening and closing, papers rustling, and footsteps falling.

“There’s no point in hiding anything,” you tell your roommate, picturing the distress swirling like nebulae in his vibrant crimson eyes. “I know you’ve been working late again.”

The noises come to a halt, and peace returns to the late night atmosphere once more. Soon, the sound of soft footsteps fill your senses, gradually growing louder in a crescendo until you’re sure that Kaveh is right in front of the door.

And then it swings open to reveal a sleep-looking Kaveh clad in pyjamas.

“Alright, I’ll admit it,” he sighs. “You caught me red-handed.”

Silence permeates your senses for a few seconds, but the illusion of stillness is quickly shattered as Kaveh breathes out a sigh.

“I just can’t seem to figure out this one last thing,” he groans, burying his head in his hands. “I seriously can’t take it anymore. It’s driving me insane.”

For a few seconds, his gaze remains averted, staring down at the wooden finish of his desk, tinted a subtle peach under the topaz shades of light spilling from Kaveh’s lamp. If you didn’t know any better, you would have sworn that he had fallen asleep. However, your eyes eventually meet hues of dulled rose, glittering with a faint spark concealed by exhaustion.

“You should rest,” you tell your roommate, cautiously placing a hand on his shoulder. To your relief, he doesn’t flinch or pull away when you touch him. He simply slumps and begins to stand up.

“I suppose you’re right,” he speaks slowly, his voice laced with resignation. “Perhaps a short break will help me clear my mind.”

Kaveh walks over to his bed, brushing locks of sunshine that threaten to obscure his vision away from his eyes. The mattress sinks like quicksand as he lies down and tucks himself under the covers, enveloping him in layers upon layers of plush comfort.

You turn away, switching Kaveh’s lamp off before you head back to the door. However, just as you’re about to leave, Kaveh calls your name.

“[Name],” Kaveh starts, his voice seemingly amplified by the abyssal midnight overtaking your surroundings.

You spin around, only to be met with the sight of Kaveh’s silhouette outlined against backdrops of navy and black, enveloping the world in curtains of phantasmagoric silk.

“Can you stay with me?” he asks. His voice trembles slightly, and he sounds sheepish — almost shy. “It’s just that, if I don’t have you around, I might convince myself to start working again.”

You freeze.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

It takes three seconds for you to fully process Kaveh’s request, and when you do, you feel your heart skip a beat.

“I would be happy to.”

And with Kaveh’s permission, you climb under the covers of his bed with him. He wraps an arm around you. The position feels far too intimate for two roommates who harbour nothing more than platonic feelings for each other, but you decide that that’s a problem for future you to address.

For now, you decide to close your eyes and seek solace in a realm of breathtaking dreamscapes. Finding joy in each cotton candy cloud, each droplet of crystal rain, and each gilded leaf within a fantastical world found far away from reality.

And yet as you drift off to sleep, you find that there’s one thing in the waking world that has become far more tantalizing than anything your imagination could ever conjure: the warmth of Kaveh’s embrace.

₊˚ପ KAZUHA

Golden ribbons of warmth caress your face as you open your eyes to find yourself awake again. A wave of tranquility washes over you, weighing down your eyelids with a serene lullaby — an ode to quiet mornings spent in the solace of your home. You want nothing more than to stay in bed for a few more minutes, but you have classes.

Groggily, you stretch and then pick your phone up from where it’s sitting on your nightstand in order to check the time. The screen lights up with a cold radiance, a stark contrast to the gilded rays of the sun, as you turn it on.

And that’s when all hell breaks loose.

It’s 9:30 a.m., and you’ve already missed the start of your first class. You grimace internally, but you can’t dwell on your feelings for too long. After all, the longer you delay, the more you’ll miss.

You change in record time, pulling on a comfortable hoodie and jeans, grab a few of your belongings, and rush out the door.

The chilly autumn air brushes against your skin as you make your way to class, and the enticing fragrance of sap hits your nose, tantalizing you with a perfume that carries nostalgic memories. In the corners of your vision, you watch as leaves coloured shades of vivid crimson, marigold, and amber swirl in a waltz signaling the end of summer and the beginnings of harsher days. The scenery is beautiful, and if you weren’t in a panic, you would have stopped to admire it. However, you force yourself to ignore the scenes around you, continuing to focus on your primary objective.

When you arrive at the lecture hall, you’re panting. Simple oxygen feels like ambrosia to you, sweet and satisfying, refreshing in a way that it’s never been before. For a few moments, you stand outside the room and catch your breath. With each inhale and exhale, you get closer and closer to finding a rhythm until finally, you’re no longer gasping for air.

Quietly, you walk into class, trying your best to avoid disturbing anyone. Thankfully, nobody seems to notice as you take a seat near the back of the hall, settling down in your seat. Time passes slowly as class continues on, and it almost feels like universal laws operate differently within the small bubble of the room you’re currently sitting in. Everything seems to take an eternity, and you can’t do anything except watch the minutes tick by, each addition of one moving you closer and closer to the end of a mundane lecture.

It feels like the moment will never arrive, but eventually, you’re dismissed. Thankfully, there’s quite a while until you have to go to your next class, so you decide to wander around for a while.

For a while, you stroll aimlessly, eventually finding yourself back outdoors once more. Now, you can truly savour the beauty of your surroundings, relish in the splendor of each flaming leaf that drifts by and each rivulet of tepid light that pierces through the crystalline coolness of the autumn air.

You stand there for a while, simply enjoying a break after a hectic morning.

Until something else — or rather, someone else — catches your eye.

Under the shade of a maple tree stands your roommate, basking in the glory of a crimson waterfall composed entirely of maple leaves dancing gracefully until they hit the ground. His platinum hair is tied back in its usual ponytail, each strand of silken moonlight swaying as a gentle zephyr blows by, and his eyes are a shade of ruby that flawlessly mimics the autumnal landscape.

He’s as breathtaking as ever.

But before you can admire him for long, hues of starglitter and rose petals meet your gaze, and a small smile dances across his lips. Without a word, he walks over to you.

“Running into you here is certainly a pleasant surprise,” he says, his grin widening.

“You say that as if we don’t already live together,” you remark, laughing a little.

He chuckles, the sound as light and airy as autumn winds swirling leaves around in a waltz of farewells. The lighthearted atmosphere is truly euphoric, especially after such a stressful morning.

Of course, good things never last for long.

“Good morning, Kazuha. Good morning, [name]. How’s my favourite couple?” a cheery voice asks. In the edges of your vision, you see a figure donning twin braids of sapphire and turquoise approaching. It’s Venti — one of Kazuha’s friends.

Both you and Kazuha freeze, a frigidity crystallizing the ambience into icy fractals. And yet at the same time, you can feel your face beginning to heat up.

Couple?

Before you can clear up the misunderstanding, Kazuha speaks.

“Good morning to you too, Venti,” he says. “We’re doing well, but I’m afraid you’re mistaken.” Kazuha subtly averts his gaze, staring at the ground, but you swear you can see a blush dawning on his cheeks in shades of sunset. “[Name] and I aren’t a couple.”

“Oh really?” Venti asks teasingly, giggling in a manner that sounds almost maniacal, “then why are they wearing your hoodie?”

You look down, and sure enough, the top you chose to wear today was Kazuha’s. He had allowed you to borrow it a few days ago when you complained about the chilly autumn weather, and you had forgotten to return it. Apparently you were in such a rush this morning that you pulled it on without a second thought.

“It was an accident,” you blurt out, wanting to clear up the misconception as soon as possible. “I woke up late, and I was in a hurry.”

“Uh huh,” Venti nods, his tone laced with sarcasm. “Sure. I believe you.”

“No, seriously. We’re not a couple,” you reiterate, sighing as Venti laughs quietly.

“Whatever you say,” he says. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have somewhere to be. I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone.”

Without another word, Venti skips off, jubilantly humming to himself. And now, you’re alone with Kazuha, left to deal with the awkward aftermath of Venti’s assumptions.

“That was… interesting,” you remark.

Kazuha nods.

“I hope you didn’t feel too uncomfortable,” he says, smiling at you gently, a light blush still coating his cheeks. Although you’ll never admit it out loud, you find him quite cute when he’s flustered. Venti would have a field day if he knew you found your roommate so adorable.

“I’m fine,” you reassure Kazuha, “and I’ll return your hoodie to you as soon as possible,” you add.

However, to your surprise, Kazuha shakes his head.

“You can keep it if you want,” he tells you.

“Really?”

Kazuha chuckles.

“Really,” he assures you. “As long as you don’t mind being mistaken for a couple, that is. I know I certainly don’t.”

₊˚ପ LYNEY

“Lyney, if I remember correctly, you told me you perform magic as a sort of side hustle, right?” you ask your roommate.

The question is out of the blue, but you want nothing more than to learn about the man you’ve recently grown to be infatuated with. Besides, he’ll probably think nothing of it. After all, it’s only natural for someone to want to get to know their roommate anyway.

“Yeah, I guess you’d be right,” he responds, averting his gaze from his phone and glancing at you. “Although I’d say it’s more about putting on a good show than the money.”

Lilac hues make your mind go blank as you make eye contact, enchanting you with oceans full of stardust and sunshine alike. Lilac. It’s a colour you’ve come to adore. Before meeting Lyney, it was a shade known to you as the border between night and day, mixed into compositions of dawning sunrises and fading sunsets. But now, it’s synonymous with magic and mystery, and it’s all thanks to your charming roommate.

“Oh, I see,” you mutter.

You’re surprised that your voice doesn’t end up shaking. Simply looking into Lyney’s eyes is causing your heart to beat rapidly, igniting crimson sparks of giddiness and glee with each thump.

Perhaps this is what it feels like to be in love.

“Why do you ask?” Lyney inquires, tilting his head slightly. “Are you interested in seeing a trick?”

Lyney flashes a charming smile at you — a smile embodying the enigmatic charms of various twilight hues. He reaches his hand up to brush the few strands of dusky hair that had fallen in front of his eyes away, and somehow, the subtle action makes you find him all the more attractive.

“I would love to,” you say, “if it wouldn’t be too much trouble.”

You wait with bated breath, feeling the whole world still as you await Lyney’s response. The carefree atmosphere solidifies into something denser, heavier, as tension begins to build.

“Well, I usually don’t do private shows like this, especially not out of the blue,” he remarks.

For a second, you feel your smile fall.

“But since it’s you, I can try,” Lyney says.

A grins dances upon your lips once more, and the elation from before comes back in full force. Unbridled adoration swirls through your heart, taking down each and every glacial barrier in a roaring tempest of rose and vermillion. With every day that passes, you feel yourself falling deeper and deeper into the clutches of romantic fantasies.

“Thank you.”

With that, Lyney rushes to his room. A few seconds later, he returns with some props and a top hat, midnight black adorned with velvety scarlet and magenta detailing, perched upon his head.

He performs for you, and it’s absolutely enamouring. His prowess is incredible, and it’s clear he’s enjoying putting on a show for you. The entire performance is interesting, captivating. However, it’s Lyney’s last act that stands out to you most of all.

“I’m sure you’re wondering what my grand finale will be,” Lyney announces with a fiery sort of flamboyance. It’s amusing because you’re the only audience member, but at the same time, slightly endearing.

He takes his hat off, reaching his hand into the void within. Slowly, he pulls something out.

The verdant green of a stem lined with thorns appears first. Then you catch sight of luscious leaves. And lastly, the delicate petals of a rose enter your line of vision. They’re tinted a vibrant purple, reminiscent of sparkling amethysts.

“For you,” Lyney says, handing you the flower.

Upon closer examination, you note that the rose is unblemished. It’s perfect. You wonder if Lyney put any thought into picking out this particular flower, but you brush the thought off. Embers of newly-kindled feelings of romance brush against your skin.

You’re flustered.

Flustered beyond measure.

Awkwardly, you take the rose from Lyney, your heart fluttering as your fingers accidentally bump against his. His skin is soft, and his touch is tantalizing. You wouldn’t mind feeling his hand in yours.

“Thank you,” you manage to whisper, averting your gaze and looking anywhere but into the very lavender irises that will never fail to enchant you. “It’s stunning.”

“A stunning flower for a stunning person,” Lyney says. The sincerity lacing his tone doesn’t go unnoticed, and you have to stop yourself from melting on the spot. “Do you know what the purple rose represents?”

You shake your head as sudden curiosity and cupid’s final arrow strike simultaneously.

He leans in, moving so close that you can feel strands of silken platinum tickle your skin. A soft breath lightly brushes against your ear as he opens his mouth to speak.

“Love at first sight.”

₊˚ପ SCARAMOUCHE

Weak beams of winter light filter through the curtains of the window beside your bed, illuminating your room with a radiance tinted pale blue. With a foggy mind, you make your way over to the window, leaving the warmth and comfort of your covers to do so. The chill pokes at your skin like a thousand miniature needles of ice, and yet you continue on.

As soon as velvety veils of fabric fall away from glass panes, glacial sunshine spills through. The panoramic scenery that welcomes you is a glazed-over landscape, thick blankets of pure white sprinkled with glimmers of stardust. Even the branches of the tall evergreen trees surrounding your home are dusted with powdered opal. Nothing is free from the frigid caress of winter, and you’re suddenly reminded of this fact as you start coughing.

Oh. You’re sick.

You blink slowly, an unbearable headache making itself known by jumbling your thoughts into nothing more than incoherence. Begrudgingly, you decide to lie back down, pulling a few blankets over you in order to stay warm. However, the layer of plush protection isn’t enough to shield you, as shivers continue to wrack your body.

For a while, you just lie there, huddled and trying to cling onto any remaining heat, any remaining comfort. You close your eyes, feeling absolutely helpless against the coolness that threatens to permeate the very essence of your being. The world around you begins to become distant as grogginess and discomfort plague you, but soon enough, you’re snapped out of your haze.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

The last thing you want to do is answer the door.

“[Name]? Are you in there?” your roommate, Scaramouche, calls. As usual, irritation laces his tone, but there’s something new this time. Maybe you’re delusional, but it almost sounds like concern.

“Yeah. Come in,” you manage to respond.

Your voice is unsurprisingly hoarse, and you have to strain in order to be heard. However, in the end, it seems that you were just loud enough because seconds later, the door opens with a click. In its wake, a man with hair reminiscent of desolate midnights walks in. Soon enough, you find your gaze meeting hues of deep twilight fading into a paler shade of periwinkle akin to the colour of forget-me-nots.

“Wow, you look awful,” Scaramouche remarks bluntly, examining you.

You feel yourself shrink under his gaze.

“Can you not?” you shoot back, mustering the strength to glare at him between coughs and sniffles. “I'm kind of dying here.”

Scaramouche scoffs.

“Fine. I’ll leave you alone,” he says, turning away and walking out the door.

Once again, silence envelops the atmosphere, ebbing and flowing throughout the greys and blues of an early winter morning in soundless waves. Although you’re thankful for the serene ambience, you also feel awfully lonely now that your roommate is gone. All you can do now is stare blankly at the wall in front of you and entertain yourself with your own thoughts.

Time becomes a blur, and yet it stretches on as well. It feels like you’re trapped in a sort of limbo — suspended in a mundane reality without any sort of respite or the slightest idea of when you’ll finally find your refuge.

That is, until you hear the hinges of the door creak once more.

Scaramouche is back.

You look up. To your surprise, the glints of starlight that dance within his indigo eyes show a rare sort of softness, and he’s carrying a bowl of soup.

Without a word, he sets the bowl on your bedside table, staring at you expectantly.

“Is that for me?” you ask.

Scaramouche groans, rolling his eyes.

“Who did you think it was for?” he says, averting his gaze.

A small smile dances across your lips. Although your roommate doesn’t want to show that he cares for you, you’re beginning to realize that he’s looking out for you in his own way.

“Thank you,” you respond. However, just as you’re about to reach for the soup, you’re attacked by another fit of coughs.

Scaramouche’s eyes fixate on you once more, and he sighs.

“Do you need me to spoon feed you or something?” Although it sounds like he’s mocking you, you can tell he’s serious to some extent.

“Do you want to feed me?” you say, trying to muster a playful tone. Even though you’re sick, teasing Scaramouche is as fun as ever.

“I will if it means you’ll shut up,” he mutters, taking the bowl carefully and scooping up a spoon of the soup.

With caution and a shocking amount of attentiveness, he lifts the spoon to your lips, and you open your mouth. To your surprise, the soup is actually quite tasty. You didn't expect your roommate to be such a good cook.

“How was it?” Scaramouche asks after you swallow. Not a hint of emotion shows through the veils of apathy he’s crafted as he awaits your response.

“It was amazing,” you remark genuinely. “I’d love to try some more of your cooking, and… thanks for taking care of me.”

Scaramouche looks away, but as he does, you notice a colour reminiscent of delicate rose petals rising to his cheeks, tinting porcelain akin to the snow outside a vivid shade.

“Don’t mention it.”

₊˚ପ XIAO

Procrastination is every student’s worst enemy, and you’re no different.

You had spent the past few days putting off your latest assignments and neglecting your studies more than you’d care to admit. It’s not that you didn’t want to work and study, but every time you tried to start on something, you’d feel put off by the copious amounts of labour you’d have to put in. And unfortunately, now you’re reaping the consequences of the seeds you had previously sowed.

It’s currently 1 a.m., and all you can see outside the window is ebony fragmented by the occasional streetlight or polychromatic star. Your eyelids are beginning to droop of their own volition, but you force yourself to stay awake. You have something important due later today, and unfortunately, you’ve barely even started on it.

So you have no choice but to continue on, allowing yourself to fall into the treacherous grasp of sleep-deprivation all because of your poor decision-making skills.

The minutes seem to count down all too quickly as you toil, yet at the same time, the mundane assignment makes every second feel like an eon. It’s a paradoxical distortion of the universe’s concepts, but it’s something you’ve grown far too accustomed to in your time as a student. Panic and hopelessness set in more and more with every tick of the clock, and eventually, you lose all sense of time, burying yourself in a pile of work.

The next time you look up, you notice that it’s well past your first scheduled break time, and you’re absolutely exhausted.

You stand up, stretching and relishing the sensation of being able to move your aching limbs after hours of sitting in the same position, mulling over boring assignments. However, your momentary respite is ruined, as it isn’t long before the creaking of a door pulls you out from the temporary euphoria that had taken over your mind.

“Hey,” a calm voice utters. It’s melodic like a beautiful song you wouldn’t mind hearing on repeat. “Are you alright?”

You turn around, and as expected you’re met with the sight of your roommate. Honeyed eyes filled with a dandelion warmth shimmer when met with the dim incandescent glow of your desk lamp, and locks of seafoam frame his pale face. Even though his hair is messy, and there are visible bags under his eyes, Xiao looks as stunning as ever.

“I’m fine,” you say, miraculously stringing together a couple of words despite your exhaustion.

“You’ve been up all night,” Xiao observes, glancing at your messy desk — a testament to the few hours you had been chipping away at your work. Somehow in that time, you’ve managed to make it look as though some sort of wild tempest had ravaged your room.

“You’re saying that as if you don’t stay up all the time,” you shoot back.

You flinch. Your tone is harsh and dripping with venom, but you hadn’t meant your words in that way. They were from a place of concern, but it seems that Xiao understands.

“That’s true,” he remarks, “but I’m not as keen on working myself to death as you are.”

A second passes.

Then you realized that you may have gotten a little bit carried away due to your momentary burst of energy — a rush of exhilaration prompted by a sense of urgency.

“Oh.”

Xiao sighs.

“You need a break,” he says, hesitantly walking over to you and intertwining your fingers with his.

His actions surprise you. Most of the time, Xiao avoids touch, but now, he’s holding your hand. The tepidness of Xiao’s skin on yours causes lucidity to wash over you. Suddenly, you feel more aware of your surroundings.

Your roommate pulls you out the door, exiting your dorm swiftly before you can refuse. Truthfully, you wouldn’t have denied him his demand anyway. Although Xiao seems like a tough person on the outside, his heart is forged of silvery moonbeams — glittering lights that illuminate the world with a subtle phosphorescence, not quite as glaring as rays of sunlight, but equally as bright, nonetheless. As a result, you’ve grown to develop a soft spot for him.

When you exit the building, the first thing you notice is the crisp, fresh air. After staying cooped up in your room for so long, it’s relieving to breathe in the liquified stardrops dissolved within the night atmosphere. Your head clears up nearly instantaneously, and finally, you feel a sense of peace wash over you.

“Feeling better?” Xiao asks, noticing the change in your expression immediately.

He’s usually not the brightest when it comes to interpreting emotions, so your prior distress must have been extremely obvious. Nonetheless, you brush off your embarrassment and swallow your pride, nodding to reassure Xiao that yes, this is helping, and yes, you’d like to stay here with him for a while longer.

Xiao seems to get what you’re trying to convey, so he continues walking, leading you under the gold-lacquered light of the lamps lining the path before you. Right now, it feels as though your hearts are connected, and for once, you’re under the impression that Xiao’s let down his walls.

You know that once your midnight escapades cease, you’ll have to face a world of pain, but perhaps it’s worth it.

After all, exhaustion is temporary, but maybe, just maybe, this lavender haze will endure forevermore.

thank you for reading!! if you liked this, i’d really appreciate it if you reblogged this fic.

#r.archives *ೃ༄#favoniuslibrary #astronetwrk #alhaitham x reader #kaveh x reader #kazuha x reader #lyney x reader #scaramouche x reader #wanderer x reader #xiao x reader #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #genshin fanfic #genshin imagines #genshin headcanons #genshin x you #genshin fluff

2K notes · View notes

gimme-a-man-after-midnight · 4 months

Text

my royal roomie (part 2)

Fandom: Aquaman

Pairing: Orm Marius x Reader

part 1:

https://www.tumblr.com/gimme-a-man-after-midnight/693273500438429696/my-royal-roomie-pt-1?source=share

Summary: After a few days of living under your roof, Orm gets to know the little surface dweller he's been stuck with. With time, a stormy night, and a bottle of wine, the prince learns that he has more in common with you than he may think.

Word Count: 4,000+

Warnings: female reader, slow burn, light cursing, mentions of past emotional abuse, divorced parents!reader, dead parent, comic lore inaccuracies, floral inaccuracies??

Author's Note:

hi y'all! here's the full part 2 i've been working on for some time! thanks for the support on the last one and again, so sorry for the late continuation :/ i hope this story is to your liking! happy reading!

After the first one-on-one conversation you had in the living room, Orm didn't come out of the guest bedroom for days. You’d see flashes of platinum blonde out of the corner of your eye, just barely missing him by a few seconds whenever you’d be in the kitchen or outside of his door. You had made many offers through the red painted oak of his room to go grocery shopping together or take him on a tour of the town, but all of your efforts were met with a stern "No thank you." You had lost any hope you had of forming some kind of connection with the Atlantean for a while, cutting your losses by quietly resigning to a parallel existence. What you didn’t expect was the mutual understanding you two would come to on one fateful stormy Friday night, much like the one that brought him to your doorstep.

***

Heavy traffic from the drive home, a full message inbox on your telephone, and the burnt attempt at roast chicken sitting on your oven rack had you nursing a glass bottle of wine by the living room window. Bad days were normal for anybody, but it didn’t make them easier to deal with on your own - the added stress of the stranger living in your space didn’t help either. You had been living a quiet life ever since you moved back to the sleepy town some years ago, taking up very little space and leaving minimal traces of yourself. Whether it was out of caution or cowardice, you weren’t sure yet. Either way, that silence had brought you comfort at a time where your thoughts were too loud, but now with another person occupying your space the quiet was becoming suffocating.

Orm wasn’t by any means a bad roommate - he kept to himself, he didn’t make much noise, and he even managed to wash his dishes whenever he knew you weren’t in the kitchen - but he was a man.The last time you had lived with a man, the end of its course felt similar to how you two were living now, and maybe that’s why it was bothering you so much. Tip-toeing around the Atlantean made you feel uneasy in your own home, a situation you were all too familiar with. Typically at this time in the night you would be cooking up some plan to urge the man out of his guest room, but after the day you had, you didn’t have the heart to try.

Once you took your final gulp of wine, wiping at the sides of your mouth with the back of your hand, you trudged away from the raging display outside of your window. The dishes could be a tomorrow problem, you thought to yourself as you were leaving your kitchen counter behind. You had only made it a few paces out of the living room before your body was overcome with chills, making you draw your blanket tighter around you. The draft through the house was unmistakable, confusing you thoroughly due to you always making sure the doors and windows were shut before bed. As you stepped deeper into the house, you realized the distinct breeze was coming from the direction of the guest bedroom. You had made it a point to allow Orm his space, but your brain was stirring with reasons for what he could possibly be doing in there - most of them unsavory.

With a deep breath and a tight fist holding your blanket, you gently rapped at the door.

“Hey, Orm?”

No response. You knock again.

“I don’t mean to bother, but I’m feeling a bit of a breeze through the house and I can tell it’s coming from here, so I just want to see if everything is alri-”

The door suddenly opened a crack, revealing half of Orm’s face which was already more than you had seen in days.

“If you don’t mean to bother, then don’t.”

The curt response, although expected, has you taken aback. Already seeing the Atlantean retreat from the spot again, you hold the door in its place in effort to keep his attention.

“Look, I know you wanna be alone, but I can’t help wondering why a cold ass breeze is coming from your room, so I just want to see what’s going on. Please, it’s freezing right now.” You do your best to keep control of your tone, not wanting to let on just how much the cold was getting to you - giving the prince another reason to look down on humans wasn’t on your agenda for the night.

Almost as if he commanded the storm, the lightning cracked loudly outside as Orm swung his door open, revealing his full disheveled state to you. You jolted in place, practically leaping a step back in defense at the swift move.

“What’s going on is the stench of your burnt dinner was practically singeing my nostrils. I opened a window in hopes that I could find some relief, because clearly you surface dwellers have no trouble polluting not only the ocean, but your precious breathing air as well! I have little care for how cold your fragile body may get, so I suggest you retire to your room at once and leave me be.”

There was a gap in the yelling match conversation, almost as if the blond was waiting for you to bite back at his harsh words, but the glazed look in your eyes and parted lips made it evident to the Atlantean that your mind was elsewhere. Orm followed your gaze, noticing that it was locked onto the maroon sweater he was adorning, looking at it with equal parts surprise and melancholy. His enhanced hearing picked up on a hitch in your breath and chattering of your teeth, confirming to him that you were clearly shaken.

After the long silence, you mousily spoke.

“I didn’t leave that sweater out for you.”

The arbitrary words silenced Orm, his expression turning to one of confusion as he looked down at the knit fabric on his chest.

“...where did you find it?”

Your voice didn’t change in volume when you made your inquiry, but your tone was somber. The candid emotion made the Atlantean clear his throat awkwardly, unsure of how to handle such vulnerability from his host. You couldn’t even fully appreciate how much messier Orm looked in comparison to when he first arrived - looking like a 90s wet dream with his ungelled hair, clenched jaw, and broad shoulders peeking out of his loose fitting clothes. No, it was the clothes that were holding your attention hostage.

“It was deep in the wooden wardrobe of my room…the garb you set out for me wasn’t suitable for the storm,” Orm says, arms crossed in a defensive manner as he anticipates your response.

A part of you wanted to laugh at his retort, the corner of your lips quirking up for a millisecond before melting back into the numb expression you had prior.

“Are you going to ask me to change? Because I don’t see why I should relent,” the blond goads, pulling a haughty expression that comes all too naturally.

Orm wasn’t sure himself why he wanted to urge a response from you - why he wanted to learn more about this sweater that was clearly jumbling up your thoughts enough to render you so silent. He tried to chalk it up to plain boredom, tried to reason with himself that all his time in self-isolation was making him yearn for more. Still, even with those excuses lined up to justify his actions, he couldn’t explain why seeing the down-turned expression on your lips felt so unnerving. This woman in front of him now was like a shell in comparison to the buoyant, eccentric character he had been previously introduced to - and for some bizarre reason he didn’t like it.

Your thought process, on the other hand, was going in a completely different route. The glaringly red knit in your line of sight brought back too many memories that you had made efforts to bury. The cursed sweater in combination with the Atlantean prince’s snark makes your breath quicken and your mind wander to the whisper of a past life that still takes up space in your home. You couldn’t decipher if your shivering was coming from Orm’s open window or from your body trying to eject all of the feelings evoked from seeing that damn sweater.

“I-I…you…you shouldn’t-” you shakily exhale, your eyes surveying around your surroundings to try and focus on literally anything else. You backstep, hoping that physically running away from the situation will do you good, but your eyes lining up with the red-clad chest and the sound of the booming thunder makes you falter. Your hand clutches at your chest, the white knuckled grip on your blanket alerting your roommate.

The prince's body calls to action, making Orm take an instinctive step forward, reaching out as if to try and steady you.

“What is happening with you? Why are you so high-strung? Do humans go into cardiac arrest so easily?”

You couldn’t hear his stern questioning, your mind flitting to images of firm fists slammed against tables and nights spent alone, buried deep under your covers in the hopes of being swallowed by the sheets. It was like the space in your lungs was being taken up by a vice grip, and your ability to think - to form a simple thought that didn’t make your heart hurt - was completely ripped away from you. Even after four years, the memories of him still have so much power over you in a way that’s paralyzing.

“I-I just - I need - I need to breathe!”

With that final exclamation, you scurried away from the Atlantean, quickly making it back to your room before slamming the door shut behind you. Orm was left stunned outside of his door, his eyes trained in the direction of your room down the hall.

What the hell just happened?

***

Arthur was done - so done.

The newly crowned Atlantean king had so much on his plate already, what with his upcoming engagement underway and him having an entire kingdom to look after. While he did appreciate his little brother feeling comfortable enough to call him at such an ungodly hour, the words the blond uttered made him want to pull his hair out.

“I think I broke her - your human.”

“Bro, what?”

It was too fucking early for this.

“Don’t call me - agh, nevermind - something’s wrong with your human and I’m not sure how to approach the situation. Is this really an environment you believe me to find enrichment from? My host is clearly on the brink of some sort of breakdown and I-”

“Wow, I never took you for someone that was so easily shaken, brother.”

Arthur’s poorly timed quip makes Orm stare back at the projection call with a blank face.

“First off, she’s not my human, she’s her own person. Second, what did you even do? She’s not one to just collapse on her own - although she is a serial overthinker and could definitely talk herself to an early grave...”

Orm, frustrated with his half-brother’s lack of support, rolls his eyes over the call.

“Okay, okay, but seriously. Something must’ve set her off or triggered her to react in a way. You sure you didn’t do anything?”

“All I did was answer the door when she knocked. When she saw me at the entrance, she saw the sweater I was wearing and was overcome with emotion. That’s hardly my fault.”

Orm can see Arthur’s brows furrow in thought at the information, almost as if he’s assessing whether he’s been given the whole story or not.

“Well…where’d you get the sweater?”

“I hardly think that matters-”

“Just answer the question, bro-”

An exasperated grunt leaves Orm as he grips at the sheets beneath him in an attempt to contain himself. A part of him regretted bringing up the matter at all, communication with his half-brother being much too awkward to bear.

“I got it from the wooden wardrobe inside of my chambers! It was much more practical to wear than the flimsy garb-”

“Shit,” Arthur cuts him off, the hologram shifting as the man rubs at his eyes. “The wooden wardrobe with vines on the sides?”

It was Orm’s turn to be taken aback, unsure of how he knew the detail from off the top of his head.

“Yes, that’s the one.”

A muffled sigh comes from Arthur’s end, the image changing again as the king shuffles out of bed quietly to not disturb a sleeping Mera.

“Listen, dude. It’s not my place to speak on her business like this, but all I can say is that the wardrobe - that room - holds a lot of memories that are painful for her. I know you didn’t mean to bring them up, but that wardrobe is off limits. Just try and apologize for now, but don’t pry.”

“But why should I-”

“Orm, seriously! I get it, you don’t like being there - that you’ve spent every day in your room ever since I dropped you off, but she’s been trying. She’s been doing everything she can to get you out of your shell and you’re not giving back anything. There has to be some give here, and that can start with you saying sorry.”

Orm was surprised by the fact that Arthur knew of his daily whereabouts already, undoubtedly asking you for updates on him. However, what surprised him the most was that even though you have seemingly complained to his half brother, you never once suggested kicking him out - never demanded he leave your house and have Atlantis deal with him. You truly were a peculiar little thing.

“...fine. But don’t expect me to continue such niceties with her.”

A belly laugh could be heard from over the call, surely out of amusement for the prince's unwavering coldness.

“Good. Now hang up, you disrupted my beauty sleep.”

With a scoff, Orm presses on the green gem of his wristlet and heads off to the direction of your room.

***

When Orm knocks on your door, he expects a big fuss - bouts of yelling, arguing, or cursing that’ll leave his highly sensitive ears ringing. What he doesn’t expect is everyone of his knocks being met with silence - deafening silence now that the storm has subsided.

“Hello?”

The prince feels weirdly small waiting by your door for your answer, having no clue what he’ll be met with on the other side of him. (It also gives him some insight on how you must feel every time you knock on his door to chat, although he’d never admit to having similarities with you,)

“Are you ignoring me?”

More silence.

“Oh, enough of this childishness.”

With a deep breath in, Orm turns the knob of your door and lets himself into your room. He’s met with colorful tapestries embellishing the walls, big rugs covering the hardwood floor, and twinkling lights surrounding the bed frame. The scene that you set for yourself in your room makes Orm think about his home - the way that the colorful bioluminescence would sparkle throughout his kingdom.

When the initial first impression of your room wears off, he notices there is no one in the bed. No squirming presence under the sheets or anyone sitting on top of the bed to give him a stern talking to. Where did you go?

The blond takes a tentative step inside, stepping over the fuzzy carpets to keep from disturbing their arrangement. When he walks past the bed frame and closer to the window, he sees a lump of a human wearing a large blanket over their shoulders and some type of bulky headgear that covers your ears and emits sound. You were completely enthralled by the scene outside of the window that you hardly notice Orm stepping up next to you.

A sudden hand on your shoulder has you jolting upward with a yelp, your hand instinctively slapping away at the intruder before you turn to look at where they came from.

“Jesus fucking christ!”

Orm gets into his own defensive position as you scramble to press your back against the wall, looking at you as if you were a trembling animal.

“My god, woman!”

“What are you doing in here you scared me half to-”

“I knocked but there was no answer so I-”

“Oh, so you decided to just welcome yourself in?”

Orm purses his lips in frustration, not thrilled at being met with the uproar he had originally expected. You sigh to yourself in disbelief, willing yourself to be quiet since there would be no productive conversation if you two kept yelling at each other.

“Next time just take the hint that I’m busy if I don’t answer, okay? You can’t just barge in here when you want, it’s not cool…”

The Atlantean has some sense to feel a shred of shame when you speak, although your words are hardly convincing when your eyes don’t turn in his direction for even a second. You look so timid standing there in your corner with the blanket consuming you completely - not at all like the spitfire that called him an “asshole” and warned him not to “test her.” (He secretly felt some relief in your loud exchange mere moments ago, because it meant that version of you was still there.)

“I…I apologize for intruding.”

Your head whips up to finally meet the man’s piercing blues, your mouth left slightly agape at an actual apology leaving the arrogant Atlantean’s lips.

“Uh…it’s okay...although, try not to do it again.”

Another moment of awkward silence passes.

“So…why’d you come in here?”

You ask this question as you take a seat back on the floor, resuming your position of staring out of the window only this time without your headphones. You pat the spot next to you on the floor, urging Orm to sit next to you. With a small eye roll, the blond begrudgingly joins you on your multi-colored carpet, opting to rest his arms against his knees as means to shield himself from you.

“I came here to apologize, not just for barging in, but for what happened earlier. I shouldn’t have gone through the wardrobe without your permission even if I needed different clothes. I should’ve asked you instead of rifling through your belongings on my own accord.”

His apology, although rehearsed, seems genuine enough for your shoulders to relax. Your eyes follow the droplets of rain slowly trickling down the glass of your window, racking your brain for the right thing to say.

“It’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong, I just…I haven’t revisited the memories that room brings in a long time. You putting on that sweater unearthed them today, and it got me bad. See, I was having a shit day already what with keeping up with the shop, and then an accident causing traffic on the way home, and the wine that I usually like being out of stock-”

Your rambling gets cut off by a soft chuckle coming from the man next to you, a sound that seems so uncharacteristically happy for his usual demeanor. The corners of your mouth perk up in disbelief, the expression making Orm quickly look away from you.

“Huh. So that’s what your laugh sounds like. It’s nice…”

Orm didn’t understand why he reacted in such a way, you weren’t saying anything particularly funny…

…It’s just the way your eyes became so animated as you spoke more, your hands gesturing stronger as you explained further - it was amusing to him. So different from the usual company he keeps, always firmly placed brows and crossed arms from the high council members he consulted. Even the Atlantean women, although much more pleasant company, were more regal in comparison to his surface dweller host. However, what you did have in common with those women was your tenacity. Even with his cold attitude towards you, your kindness was unwavering - a few times a day, without fail, you’d knock on his door with the promise of food and semi-entertaining company. He’s starting to regret only agreeing to the food.

God, he must be going stir crazy.

“What is it about the sweater that made you react in such a way?”

This was when you noticed that Orm was no longer wearing the offending material, choosing to wear the simping cotton T shirt you had given him. It may have been nothing - a simple delusion on your part - but the weight on your chest felt lighter at the idea that the Atlantean took it off to bring you comfort.

“It - uh,” you stuttered, “it belonged to my ex-boyfriend. All of the stuff in that wardrobe did, actually. We painted the vines on the side of it together…”

Orm’s arms flexed tighter around his knees at your words. He didn’t know how to respond, feeling significantly awkward due to adorning your ex lover’s clothing, so he decided to just shut up and let you continue.

“When I was 14 my parents got divorced. My mom wanted so badly to make it work, but my dad didn’t like his life here in Amnesty Bay - a part of me felt like he also didn’t like his life with us in general. I mean, he never had a problem making his grievances known, so…”

Now, this was something the blond was familiar with - uncomfortable family dynamics. The realities of his parents’ marriage were never shielded from him growing up - he often witnessed the brutality of his father whenever his mother, Atlanna, would make her opposing opinions known. He often felt conflicted about which side to take - the one of least resistance that prioritized the well-being of his people or the one that looked out for the well-being of everyone, Atlanteans and surface dwellers alike. Hearing you now, speak your piece on your own upbringing, comforted him in a way he didn’t expect.

“The divorce was messy. Lots of nights spent being pulled in every direction, but with no real place to find peace. After everything settled, my dad ended up moving to New York while my mom remained here. They agreed that for the school year I’d stay with my mom, so she’d have some help at the flower shop, but I’d visit him on major holidays…”

The blanket around you suddenly feels too thin, a chill running over you as you recount your tale. You take a sneaky glance over your shoulder to check if the blond was still listening, and you were surprised (and delighted) to find that his steadfast gaze was at the side of your face.

“...At some point during my years at university, my mom stopped asking me to visit - demanded that I only live with my dad when I was out of school. You can imagine Arthur had his qualms about that…”

You chuckled to yourself at the memory of a young Arthur blowing up your home phone upon hearing the news.

“It would only be for the same visiting time as before, so there wasn’t much fuss on my dad’s end, but my relationship with him had become so different after the divorce that it wasn’t ideal. It…It hurt to hear my mom reject me like that.”

Orm’s mind flashes back to the rain soaked figure of his mother, presenting herself to be siding with his half-brother after his defeat. The sting of her counteraction still lingers in his chest.

“When I had started dating my ex during my third year, I found out the reason my mom was keeping me from home - she got sick…cancer. All of the overworking to pay the bills, lack of support, and the hereditary traits…she got really sick. I guess she didn’t want me to see her in so much pain…”

Orm watches as you turn away to stubbornly wipe at your face, a sniffle coming from your direction. He hadn’t expected you to willingly speak on your background when he asked about the sweater, but a part of him felt guilty for being the cause of your current distress.

“When she died, I moved back here to look after the house and take over the shop…but my ex had moved in with me. Darren.”

More tears fell from your cheeks at the same speed as the rain running down your window.

“Darren offered to help me with the business, help me get on my feet. A part of me knew that he was going to hate the life we were starting together based on talks we had about the future, but I ignored it all when my grief became the only thing I felt for a long time. He always wanted more - more than our little town, more than the flower shop…so when an opportunity presented itself to have a life on his own, he took it. Just like my dad did…”

Orm’s heart drops at the end of your retelling, knowing the feeling of rejection and abandonment all too well. His father would be rolling in his grave if he knew what feelings this little surface dweller was stirring in him. The gap between the Atlanteans and the humans was closing in his mind, and Orm wasn’t sure if he cared to stop it. All he wanted at this moment was to stop you from crying.

“I’m sorry for putting on the sweater…and for being an ungracious guest these past few days. I’ve been a real dick.”

You can’t help but guffaw at his choice of words, using your fist to mask the unsightly sound as a cough.

“That’s not a very princely thing to say…”

Orm’s head tilts back as he snickers, feeling slightly proud of himself for inciting a better mood in you.

Ah, that laugh again, you think as you admire how ethereal the man looks in his relaxed state.

“Perhaps my brother is to blame for my much more…colorful vernacular.”

“Perhaps,” you hum in agreement, “or you’re just not as much of a dick as I previously thought…sorry for coming on so strong that first day.”

Orm’s blue eyes shine at you with something unfamiliar - different to the cold, distant stare you were first met with. You find yourself wishing to always be at the receiving end of his kind eyes.

Orm clears his throat before uttering, “No need to be…I was the one that misjudged you before ever seeing you.”

A silence falls over you two, a comforting one built between new comrades. Your (e/c) gaze meets his as the storm calms outside of your window, signaling the start of a new chapter for you and your royal roommate.

#orm marius x reader #orm marius x you #orm marius #orm x reader #aquaman imagine #orm marius imagine #orm marius fanfiction #aquaman fanfiction #arthur curry #dceu

161 notes · View notes

juyeonszn · 8 months

Text

DIVE TO YOU

PAIRING lee sangyeon x f!reader

WORD COUNT 2.61k

GENRES fluff ﹒suggestive

WARNINGS 18+ MINORS DNI u already know, roommates to ;) type beat, ummm they’re naked, they are in a bathtub, sangyeon is… wow sangyeon just deserves a warning on his own, he is A Lot, there’s a mention of a voyeuristic moment but it’s nothing crazy, he massages reader, they make out, i tease u all bc i’m evil like that

SUMMARY you’ve never really thought of sangyeon in an explicit way, but now that you’re stuck in this position, it’s going to be difficult for your thinking to go back to normal.

MORE SURPRISE ALLY (@winterchimez) MY BELOVED THIS ONE IS FOR U <<<3 i hope i didn’t kill u </3 this is another request from my 100 followers event! prompts used are: 9, 16, 17 🤞

PERM TAGLIST @winterchimez @maessseongs

You hated your job more than anything in the world. It was mind-numbing. All you did was stare at a computer all day and type type type, responding to emails or drafting up documents for your boss. It was exhausting. To be honest, you were sick of it.

But you needed it, unless you wanted to get kicked out of your apartment for not making your share of the rent. Sure, having a job you disliked wasn’t ideal, but you were surviving and wasn’t that all that mattered?

Besides, you’d probably die if you were forced to move out of your apartment. Your roommate was the only reason you moved in to the damn place despite rent being so fucking expensive.

You remember the day you stumbled upon his ad like it was yesterday, though it had already been exactly one year. You’d just finished your first month at your job and you were growing tired of dealing with your parents. Yeah it was nice that you didn’t have to worry about half of your current expenses while living under their roof, but you knew you needed to ship up and move out eventually. You figured this was the perfect time to do so.

You scoured the internet for apartments, but soon realized that living on your own would be way too much, considering all of the other things you also had to worry about now. As you started filtering through listings that requested a second habitant, you stumbled upon your roommate’s. The rent itself was a little bit over your budget, but the way he worded his ad had you hooked.

Just an hour later you were emailing him and setting up a meeting to discuss important details. You met up at a cute little coffee shop a few days later when you both found some free time. Being the punctual person you were, you arrived earlier than planned, ordering your go to and picking a two seater in the corner by one of the floor-to-ceiling windows.

You had always been the type to psych yourself up before doing anything major. You needed at least half an hour of prep time if you were making any important decisions, because you could not handle things going wrong. Everything in your life had to be carefully and methodically done. You liked to say you were thorough, but everyone else called you a perfectionist. It is what it is.

And because you didn’t know this guy, you had no idea what he looked like and you weren’t aware that he had the same mindset. You glance up from your drink to see the most handsome man you’ve ever laid your eyes on walk into the cafe, ordering something you can’t make out. He looks like something straight from a drama, his hair styled neatly and his outfit put together. Even under his thick coat, you could see how well sculpted he was.

You don’t realize that you’re staring until he’s suddenly walking towards your direction, his coffee in his hands. He furrows his brows and clears his throat. “Hi, I don’t mean to bother you, but do you happen to be Y/N?”

Oh my god. No way. There was no way this hunk of a man was your potential roommate. It was impossible.

When your lips part in shock and you don’t respond for a couple seconds, he blinks at you. Okay, maybe it wasn’t that impossible. You nearly facepalm for already making such a fool of yourself before you’ve even held a proper conversation. You stumble over your words as you gesture to the chair across from you. “Y-Yes! Yes, that’s me. Please, take a seat!”

He smiles politely, setting down his drink and shedding his coat. “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Sangyeon.”

You wipe your hands on your jeans before reaching to shake his hand nervously. If you could hardly handle this simple meeting, how could you handle living with the guy? He might send you into spontaneous combustion by just looking at you.

Sangyeon had the patience of a saint, and you would be eternally grateful for it. After getting to know each other better and growing more comfortable around him, the two of you discussed the roommate situation. You truly lucked out in finding him, seeing as you shared a lot of similar ideals. He even offered to lower your part of the rent as much as he could, explaining that you were by far his favorite candidate for the second room.

Later that same day, you went over and got an apartment tour prior to signing a lease agreement. And then the rest was history.

You sigh as the clock finally hits 6, signaling the end of your very long work day. One thing you disliked about getting off at the time you did was the fact that it was always snowing. It made it hard to navigate your way home, since most people packed around the bus stops like sardines. You hug your coat to yourself to block out the harsh winds, your scarf wrapped up to your nose.

You were tired and cold and all you wanted was to be inside the blanket that was your apartment, soaking in a hot bath with a glass of wine beside you. Sangyeon was supposedly working late today, which meant you’d have some much needed alone time.

The entire bus ride, you find yourself drifting off and then startling awake when you drove over a bump. You don’t remember the last time you were this drained after a work week. It could’ve been because you stayed over time a couple days, but you didn’t think it would affect you that badly.

When you finally arrive at the stop near your apartment, you’re almost in a zombie-like state, trudging through some of the snow that has started to stick. The only thing keeping your eyes open was the obnoxious chattering of your teeth.

It feels like a millennia by the time you’ve reached your front door, hands shaking as you attempt to unlock it. You’re partly surprised you didn’t drop your keys. The moment you step into your home, it’s like a huge weight has been lifted from your shoulders.

From the lingering scent of your peppermint and vanilla candle to the warmth of the building’s heating, you felt like you’d just been cuddled by a teddy bear. You shrug off your coat and hang it on the set of hooks beside the front door, leaving your shoes on the rack just beneath. Your sock clad feet drag you towards the kitchen, where an unopened bottle of wine awaits you.

You’re tempted to just drink straight from the bottle, but you didn’t want to get shitfaced, you just wanted to feel relaxed. Nevertheless, you pour yourself a… hefty… glass and waddle to the bathroom. A mental note was made to thank your coworker for the bath salt and bubble set she got you as a gift, seeing as it was finally being put to good use.

It doesn’t take long for you to peel off your layers of clothing after you’ve turned on the faucet and adjusted the temperature to your preference. You watch with heavy eyelids as the bubbles begin to form along the surface of the water, rising up and filling the tub. You dip your toes in while simultaneously taking a sip of your wine, damn near moaning at how much better you felt.

You press play on one of your playlists and light a candle before finally sinking into the water, succumbing to its serenity. Your eyes start to flutter shut and you don’t even try to fight the sleep that calls your name.

You’re not sure if hours or minutes have passed since you fell asleep, but the creaking of the bathroom door opening stirs you from your slumber. Most people probably would’ve had a bigger reaction, considering someone just walked into the bathroom without checking if it was occupied first. And also because you had assumed you were home alone.

This was one of the various times you wished the earth would just swallow you whole.

Lee Sangyeon stands in the doorway, shoulder resting against the threshold with his arms crossed. His dress shirt from work is unbuttoned all the way to the third from the top, his muscular frame stretching the fabric deliciously. You wondered how he was comfortable, since he wore such tight shirts. Occasionally you truly understood why the term ‘Take A Picture, It’ll Last Longer’ existed.

You were extremely thankful that you added bubbles to your bath, the foam covering up your body where the sun usually doesn’t shine. Sangyeon has an amused glint in his eye and even with the fogginess of your partially awake brain coupled with the few sips of wine you’ve had, you know it’s off brand for him.

“S-Sangyeon, what are you doing in here?” You trip over your words, wrapping your arms around yourself tightly.

“Well, I just got home and I was planning on doing the same thing as you,” he rolls his neck as if to display his own tension from a long day. “But it looks like you’ve beat me to it.”

You blink at him. Why was he still standing there? Staring at you like… that?

“Um… Why haven’t you left?” You swallow, but your mouth is dry.

“Is there some space in that bathtub?”

He asks the question so smoothly, the words rolling off of his tongue like he’s asked to join you in the bath on numerous occasions. You gape at him, your head spinning in circles. Perhaps you were still half asleep and your mind was playing tricks on you. That made the most sense. Perfect, sweet roommate Sangyeon would never ask you a question like that.

“I’m sorry?” Part of you feels stupid, gawking at the male and stumbling over your speech. It’s like you’ve completely malfunctioned, every logical point of your body shutting down for unscheduled maintenance. You had to recalibrate your systems fast.

Sangyeon repeats himself, not skipping a beat as he does so. You do a 180, glancing around the room as if someone else was present. You jab a finger into the only exposed part of your chest and then at the water with scrunched eyebrows.

“Yeah, is there some room in there for me to fit? You know, Y/N,” he shrugs, going for the next button on his shirt. “I have seen you naked before.”

You nearly drown yourself on the spot. Lee Sangyeon has seen you naked? This was news to you. Last you checked, neither of you had ever done anything intimate enough for that. He laughs that attractive laugh of his, his eyes forming crescent moons. You’re enticed to drown yourself a second time.

“Y-You have?” This was probably single-handedly the most embarrassing moment of your life.

“To be fair, it was an accident. I walked past your room while you were changing once but you didn’t have the door closed all the way, and well, I am a man so, I couldn’t help but take a peek.” He scratches the back of his neck, letting out a small chuckle. Okay so God definitely had favorites and you weren’t one of them. Nice to know.

He unbuttons another button, stepping closer to you, closing the distance between you. He crouches next to the tub, finally at eye level with you. Oh, what you would give for a moment of this man’s time. Here he was, handing you just that on a silver platter and you were royally fumbling the bag.

“So is that a yes?”

You really don’t trust your own voice, so you merely nod, biting back the urge to groan when he grins at you, standing upright. It’s like you’re stuck in a trance, watching him clear the rest of the buttons of his shirt like light work. The sight of his abdomen on full display has you releasing a tiny squeak. Then comes the unbuckling of his belt and that alone is a mental image you don’t think you could ever forget. You dip your chin into your shoulder, looking away when he strips the rest of his clothes.

You feel him before you hear him, his leg brushing against the back of your arm as he slips behind you into the tub. He exhales deeply, exactly like you did when you got in. You’re as stiff as a board, not sure what you should do with your roommate naked and sitting behind you, sharing bath water like it was a regular Friday night. You keep your focus on the faucet, too afraid to make any sudden movements.

“Relax, N/N,” he pins his chest to your back, hands coming up to massage your shoulders. “You’re so tense.”

The way he works his thumbs into your skin has shivers running down your spine, your entire being feeling like it’s lit up. You suppress a whimper when he kneads a knot just below your neck, squeezing your eyes shut and biting your lip. Before today, you’ve never really thought of Sangyeon in an explicit way. Sure you thought he was extremely handsome, but that had always been just a surface level notion. You’d never fantasized about a crazy, fan-fiction type moment like this. But now that you’re in it, you don’t think your thinking could ever go back to normal. You could never see him as just your handsome roommate.

You have half the mind to scoot into his lap, but it seems like he’s beat you to it, sliding his hands down to your waist and pulling you towards him. Your eyes widen when you feel him, hard and pressed to your lower back. At that, you finally make a noise; something between a strangled moan and a whine.

Sangyeon brings his lips to your ear, grazing them along the shell of it. “Can you feel how much I want you?”

“Y-Yes,” you gasp. “I can feel you.”

This is insanity. Were you still waking up, conjuring up this entire scenario with your half conscious mind? Maybe some sick and deluded higher power wanted you to realize the possibility of having feelings for Sangyeon, and this was their way of doing it.

But then one of his hands trails to your thigh and he pinches you lightly. That’s how you know this is real, this is actually happening. You crane your neck slightly to glance at him. His eyes are darker than usual, a deep brown swimming with lust that almost looks black. It’s similar to how a predator would stare down its prey and it’s a look you could get used to.

Sangyeon’s gaze flickers down to your lips and you just about lose your last bit of clarity, leaning forward to connect your mouths. It’s kind of messy, kind of rough, but the way your stomach twists into knots and goosebumps litter your arms makes you think that the higher being you were cursing minutes ago was actually doing you a huge favor. You’d have to thank them later.

One of Sangyeon’s hands comes up to cup your cheek, his thumb caressing your cheekbone as he does so. Without parting, you turn around in his lap, straddling him as best you can in your limited space. If you thought you felt him before, you definitely feel him now, his cock pulsing against your aching core. Your need was carnal, primal even. He hisses when you grind down on him, gripping your hips to halt you.

“Don’t start something you can’t finish, sweetheart.”

#the boyz #the boyz x reader #the boyz suggestive #tbz #tbz x reader #tbz suggestive #the boyz sangyeon #tbz sangyeon #lee sangyeon x reader #lee sangyeon suggestive #sangyeon x reader #sangyeon suggestive #juyeonszn #juyeonszn.100🪩

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devilwearingdior · 7 months

Text

Chapter One ~Bad Decisions~

18+!

This fic contains: Violence, Alcohol, Nicotine, Cursing, SA.

(And possibly smut in the future chapters.)

Disclaimer: This fanfic contains struggles and problems that might hit close to home… Don’t worry it won’t be all gloom and darkness though 😉

August 19th Sunday, 1973.

I sigh and breath in the Texan air. I had been bored out of my mind, and my roommate was busy, so out of an impulse, I’d decided to go for a drink or two close to the college campus pub. I was gathering my courage to enter. Don’t be a wuss Olivia, i tell myself as i watch people enter the pub happily. There were a bunch of people outside smoking cigarettes and chatting away with each other, and here I was all alone.

After a while, I decided to just enter. I’m met with a sound of music coming from the speakers— A rock song playing I don’t recognise. I head to the bar counter, and a friendly-looking bartender greets me.

“What would you like, young lady?” The bartender asked me, smiling. She had blonde hair that was tied up in a bun.

“A draft beer, thanks," I reply politely, smiling. She asks for my ID and nods satisfied, pouring me a glass of beer and then handing it over. I moved to a secluded corner.

I was content with just people watching for tonight; anything was better than just sitting in my dorm room and dying out of boredom.

I sit down on the bar chair and sip on my beer; it had a pleasant, mild taste for a beer. The pub had people of all ages in it; most were men watching a football game that was playing on TV. The steady sound of the TV and music was broken when a group of guys entered the pub; judging by their varsity jackets, they were college football players. I recognised the logo on their jackets as the same that my college had. It was a bull with devil horns, and their jackets were red and white. They get seats close to my table, and I can’t help but overhear them talk.

“Someone should burn that shithole down already; there's nothing good about it except housing those freaks." One of the boys exclaimed, and his friends agreed with him.

“If we are lucky, someone does it, and that creepy family will be inside it once it happens." Another one, a blonde guy with light blue eyes, now speaks up.

“I wonder why they stay so isolated; I don’t think they ever leave that property of theirs.” The blonde guy continues, a clear disdain in his voice.

“I saw one of them a few days ago by the gas station, a freaky girl; she was humming some weird ass song." A black-haired boy responds, and I notice him shuddering as he recalls the memory.

I didn’t even realise how intently I was listening to their conversation as I jumped back a bit, startled, as the blonde guy called out to me; I hadn’t even noticed that he had been looking at me.

“Hey, you’re pretty cute. What are you doing here by yourself?” Now all of the guys are looking at me, some of them raising their eyebrows as they wait for me to respond to the blonde guy.

“Uh, I was just waiting for a friend,” I reply lying, cringing to myself; no way was I admitting that I was all alone in this pub all night to these guys.

"You don't have a boyfriend, do you?” The blonde boy speaks up again. “Come on, what’s your name? We can get to know each other. My name’s Kyle,” he continues.

“My name is Olivia, and, uh, no, I don't." I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to admit to these guys that I was single, but it was too late now anyway. Kyle grins when he hears my reply and pulls a chair from a table next to theirs, motioning for me to sit next to him. Without much thought, I joined the group of guys; the beer was making me braver. I sit down, and the other guys introduce themselves as Nate; he was blonde too, but he looked a bit older than Kyle. Next to Nate was the black-haired boy, who introduced himself as Josh. Next to Josh was a brown-haired boy named Alex, and the last boy introduced himself as Matt. He was light brown-haired and looked like he was a bit younger than the rest of the group.

"Olivia, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Kyle says, leaning a bit into me as he drinks his beer. He had a constant cocky smirk on his face, and as I looked around at the group of boys, I noticed that none of them looked particularly friendly; I was second-guessing my choice of joining them.

“Nice to meet you too; do you guys by any chance go to the Newt University close by?” I ask as I take a huge gulp of the beer, and the boys nod as a yes. Some of them were flashing their varsity jackets and grinning, telling me that they play on the school football team.

“You go there too? I haven’t seen you there before; you must be new. There’s no way I would have missed a face like yours." Kyle says with a flirty tone and some of his friends have a dumb-looking smirk plastered on their faces.

“Ah yeah, I just transferred here; I’m going to start my third year tomorrow, actually,” I reply. Suddenly, I feel a hand on my thigh. I look down and notice that it’s Kyle’s. I shift uncomfortably away from his hand. He looks at me and smirks but doesn’t say anything.

“Nice, it will be good to see you around,” Nate says with a chuckle, and the rest of the jocks nod their heads in agreement. I’m about to take a sip of my beer when I feel Kyle move his arm around my shoulder, and he speaks up.

“When is your friend showing up? They better hurry if they don’t want us to take you with us for drinks to the dorm."His friends chuckle at his comment, and I feel a shiver go through my body. Before I can reply, Kyle continues.

“So when can I take you out for a date? You didn’t have a boyfriend, right? No better way to get to know a new school and town,” he says with an overly sweet voice. I push his arm away from my shoulder and stand up.

“I have to think about that offer; now I gotta excuse myself; nature calls,” I say, and I don’t wait for their response as I head over to the girls bathroom.

“We’ll be here; don’t keep us waiting for too long!” Nate yells after me. I enter the bathroom and go to the sink, leaning my hands on it, and take a couple of deep breaths. I was in a public place. I was safe; if things got too uncomfortable, I could always come up with an escape plan. I stood there for a while, collecting myself and fixing my makeup. I was starting to feel a bit tipsy. After a while, I decide that I should get out and not hide in the bathrooms. I walk out and notice that the group of boys have moved to the pool table and are playing. I try to walk past them, hoping that they won’t notice me, but it’s all in vain. The brown-haired boy named Alex nudges Kyle. “There’s your new girlfriend! She took her sweet time.” He comments playfully, making Kyle look up at me. He smirks and once again motions for me to join them, but I wave him off. “I need to go and buy a drink!” I make up an excuse, but he walks after me to the counter.

“You don’t need to get it alone; I’ll pay. I just want to spend some time with you,” he says to me while leaning closer, our arms now touching as both of us lean against the bar counter.

“And then later you need to dance with me,” he adds with a wink.

“I can buy my own drink, thanks," I reply, but keep my voice light, trying not to sound rude.

“Oh c’mon! I’m not letting you do that; I don’t know why girls always insist on buying their own drinks. You’ll make me feel bad." He says with a fake pout, I roll my eyes lightly mustering up a smile.

“Fine. You can buy me a drink if you insist." I give in. Kyle smiles in victory and orders both himself and me drinks, then leads me, with his arm around me, back to his friends by the pool table. The rest of the night goes by with me mostly listening to Kyle and his friends joke around while playing; their jokes become more obnoxious and offensive. I try to tolerate it, as I get the increasing feeling that Kyle wouldn’t take well to rejection. After a while, Kyle turns to me, visibly more intoxicated.

“So, about that dance you promised me,” he says, and before I can respond, he’s pulled me closer to the speaker and is now holding me in his arms, moving me to the rhythm. It’s a slower song, and he spins me around, trying to make it seem romantic, but I feel like a trapped animal in his arms. As the song goes on, I feel his hand moving slowly towards my butt, and I pull his hand back up quickly. He lets out a low chuckle.

"Oh, don’t be like that, Olivia; let’s have some fun tonight,” he says, and he starts lowering his hand again, this time with more force.

“Stop it!” I say as I try to push him away, with no use as he is clearly stronger.

“Don’t be so uptight, Olivia; I'm just trying to get to know you,” he responds, sounding amused. He now unashamedly moves both hands onto my butt, and I try to push him away again.

“Kyle, seriously, stop it!” I am starting to panic a bit.

“Don’t be such a mood killer; I’m not harming you." He whispers into my ear. Before I can respond or do anything else, I feel a pair of even stronger arms pulling me away from Kyle, and a tall man steps in between us. I can’t see his face as he has his back turned to me as he speaks to Kyle.

“You jocks are just little shits, aren’t you? I believe this lady said to stop it.” The guy exclaims, and I see a flash of annoyance on Kyle's face as he scoffs.

“She’s just playing hard to get; she was into it. She didn’t really want me to stop it.” Kyle retorts angrily, and then a wave of recognition goes through his face as he looks at the guy and laughs.

“Oh shit! You’re one of the freaks; you’re Johnny Sawyer, aren’t you?" This comment gets the attention of Kyle's friend group, and they all move to his side.

“So you freaks do come out of your shithole! Who would have known?” Kyle continues, his friends laughing. I noticed the guy named Johnny tense up, and it was like I could feel an aura coming from him, one that seemed to shout: Do not mess with me. He was outnumbered greatly, but it didn’t seem to bother him as he moved closer to Kyle as if he were about to punch him. Kyle didn’t move, and now that they were face-to-face, the tension was thick in the air.

“What are you going to do, Sawyer? You want to fight?” Kyle snarls, his friends clearly ready to back him up. Johnny doesn’t say anything, but I could see his fists curl up, and he seemed like all his muscles were tensed up. I look around and notice that now everyone else in the pub is watching the situation unfold, and my slightly tipsy mind decides that now is the moment to dip out.

Kyle nor his friends pay any attention to me as I leave the pub, the cool air hitting my face. I couldn’t afford to get into trouble already; I hadn’t even started school yet! I look back once and hope that the guy named Johnny will be smart enough to back off; he couldn’t possibly fight all those guys alone. I was secretly grateful to him that he’d come up and interrupted Kyle's attempts, and a part of me felt guilty for leaving him there to defend himself because of that. I walked quickly along the pathway; the tall trees swaying lightly with the cool wind What the hell happened there?? I thought to myself as I could see the campus grounds getting closer to my relief.

As I enter the campus grounds I feel my feet start to move faster towards my dormitory building as if on their own accord, opening the heavy door I feel the welcoming warmth of the dormitory hallway and sigh in relief. 302, my room. My roommate Amber hadn’t come back yet judging based on her neatly made bed, I get inside and turn on the lights, there was still plenty of boxes around my bed since I hadn’t gotten around to unpack. I grab my t shirt and shorts and change into them; after that I head into the bathroom to remove my makeup and brush my teeth. I get back to my room and sit on the bed. This wasn’t a promising start for my school year at all; what had I gotten myself into?

I checked the time; it’s already 12 a.m. I should get to bed and at least try to sleep… I felt restless as the nights events kept replaying in my head, but as soon as I lay my head on my pillow i feel myself drifting off to sleep, lulling me into safety and security. Little did I know this was only the beginning for everything…

Authors notes: Stay patient; I promise the familiar characters will make more appearances already in the next chapter! Feedback is always welcomed :) I will try and post two chapters per week; Monday/Tuesday and Friday. Thank you for reading ❤️

Character list Here

#TCM #TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE #Texas chainsaw massacre game #TCM game #Connie Taylor #original characters #TCM fanfic #Johnny sawyer #sissy sawyer #Sonny Williams #Maria Flores #Ana Flores #leland mckinney #Julie Crawford #Texas chainsaw massacre fanfic #johnny sawyer x reader

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mundanemoongirl · 5 months

Text

WIP Introductions

I’ve been posting about my wips for a while, but I never formally introduced them. So here they are!

Spiritwalker

Genre: YA fantasy, dark fantasy

Tag: spiritwalker wip

Status: Second draft

Triggers: Death, murder, suicide, self-mutilation

Summary

Lady Daron Spiritwalker lives in a world of witches, plague, and war. She is the seemingly perfect heir to her clan and is known across Serenta, the country of witches, for her beauty, intelligence, leadership, and ability to bridge spirits, which only her clan can see and communicate with.

When she is sent to an academy that only the most elite witches attend, she expects a normal education, but instead receives a deadly fortune and discovers secrets within the walls that reshapes the way she sees her world.

Daron is not the type to make friends, but when faced with this problem much bigger than herself, she learns to rely on and even love a group of her schoolmates.

Snippet

Ann Marie, Maya, and I all looked at each other. From their blank faces I could tell that they were just as confused as I was. “What does that mean?” asked Maya. “I presume it means that pressing the hand on the wall opens something. A passageway maybe.” “I already checked the other mosaics and none of them have runes. Who would defile a depiction of our goddess like this?” Ann Marie asked with as much indignation as her soft voice could muster. “There is only one way to find out,” I said, placing my hand atop my goddess’. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Maya asked. “It could be a trap.” “That is why you are here. You know what to do if something happens to me.” I knew how to read the signs. Someone was calling out for a Spiritwalker’s attention, and no matter who it was or how many warnings I received, I was not going to ignore the call. I would be a failure as a primary lady if I did. The icy tiles warmed beneath my skin, letting me know that I was taking too long. I pushed and the section of wall behind the mosaic shuttered, but I still needed more force. I pressed my other hand to the wall and pushed harder, straining the muscles in my back and shoulders. The wall moved inwards this time, rotating like a cog. When it was just a sliver centered between two gaps, I gestured to Maya. “Are you coming?” The younger witch, ever loyal, followed me into the pitch black that awaited us. The smell of mold slapped me in the face, and I had to resist the urge to cover my nose in order to keep my grip on the wall. I stretched my foot as far as it would go, trying to gauge how far the passage went, but only felt emptiness. This vast, dark, unknown space should have frightened me, but instead I was struck with a strange familiarity. I had been here before—in my dreams.

We Faceless Folk

Genre: Mystery

Tag: we faceless folk wip

Status: First draft

Triggers: Racism, kidnapping

Summary

Rachel is a second-year Black college student and loves nothing more than watching movies from her comfy bed and hanging out with her photogrophy-loving girlfriend, Chinwe. But one day Chinwe goes to a concert and never returns. When Rachel gets no answers from the police and is sure they aren’t even looking, she takes to finding Chinwe herself.

Rachel finds clues in Chinwe’s Instagram and even enlists the help of Chinwe’s unhinged ex girlfriend. In her search, she discovers more about Chinwe than she’s ever known, including where Chinwe’s really from.

Snippet

Sometimes when I lay still long enough for my mind to lose control over where my thoughts roam, and the late summer heat blurs the lines between reality and imagination, I swear I can hear her voice. Her lips just shy of my ear, whispering something unintelligible. I turn to hear her better, but of course she’s not there. Chinwe’s been missing for two weeks. The door clicks as my roommate enters the room. We hardly ever talk. I don’t hate her, and I don’t think she hates me, but she lost interest in me pretty quickly after she discovered I’m a homebody. She’s been talking to me more ever since Chinwe disappeared. Not starting actual conversations, but reminding me of things I needed to do. When she walks in and still sees me in bed when I’m usually heading out the door, she asks, “Don’t you have class soon?” I do, but I don’t want to go. I don’t want to sit in that room that feels too large and yet suffocating with Chinwe’s empty seat next to mine. I groan and run my hands over my braids. Just one class and then I can get out of here. I can do that.

#writeblr #spiritwalker wip #we faceless folk wip #wip #wip intro #writers on tumblr #writing #creative writing #fantasy #dark fantasy #fantasy writing #mystery #black writers

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bettsfic · 6 months

Note

renovations, director's commentary please? 🥺

you know, i know people make fun of disney adults but i might be a disney adult. mostly because i wasn't a disney kid, so to me princess movies are kind of novel.

which is all to say, frozen 2 hit me hard.

i liked frozen a lot when it first came out. i liked it even more when i watched it in subsequent years, so i was pretty jazzed about the sequel. i saw it with my roommate and loved every second of it even though it was a hot mess (affectionate). i think the moment that took me from "this is a neat movie" to "i've got to do something about this" is near the end when kristoff hugs elsa. my brain went nuclear about that for reasons i don't understand.

this is another fic i wrote mostly in 2019 and have no notes for and no memory of. what was up with 2019 and me pounding out these stories and not remembering the process at all?

so far on these commentaries, i've talked about fics that were mostly well received. the meanest comments i got on them were either unmemorable or simply pedantic (there are three universal truths: death, taxes, and if you post a star wars fanfic someone will correct you in the comments), but i remember getting some nasty comments on this one. i think i deleted them, and in the grand scheme of things i don't think they were very bad (i don't even remember what they said now so they couldn't have been that bad), but it did harsh my buzz for a bit which is why i set the last chapter down for six months.

arendelle in this fic is based heavily on manzanita, and even though i'm not from the pacific northwest, at the time i wrote this i was very into winter beachcore aesthetic.

coming up with the conflict was really tough, because whatever anna and kristoff were going through had to be divorce-worthy bad, but also salvageable, but also empathetic. i didn't want anyone to read this fic and think anna and kristoff weren't good for each other. so i thought, what could break up two people who are perfect for each other?

and then i thought, capitalism!

elsa and kristoff came pretty easily to me but anna, who enters the story later, was hard to pin down. writing this fic made me realize that when you write an OT3, especially OT3 with HEA, you're really writing four ships and four resolutions (the three pairs and all three together). so it took a long time to tie up all the threads. so it was really kind of a plot gauntlet for me.

i'm proud of this fic for the most part. i was really happy with it while drafting it, but the rude comments did color my perspective and made me think it wasn't very good. writing it was a happy memory though, and i'm glad it found its audience. i go through disney phases every couple years, so i'm hoping to come back to this canon (or maybe tangled?) eventually.

#renovations

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snuff-loves-men · 6 months

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ALP Character HCs

⋆GN!Reader + NSFW HCs

⋆list includes: Connor Temple & Johnny Harker

*note: I jus wanna get this shit outta my drafts

Connor Temple ✮

Pre-relationship

• Met you when he attended college and immediately latched onto you

• You humored his ridiculous conspiracies, enjoyed his passion for prehistoric things and theories and had similar interest in movies

• Was thrilled to have more friends

• When he pulled out of college, you sought him out, it worried you that such a bright peer dropped college for seemingly no good reason

• He sort of accidentally maybe told you a bit about the anomalies and what he was doing with Professor Cutter

• You obviously thought he was batshit insane but lo and behold, he was telling the truth

• You figured that out the hard way when you encountered an entelodont fresh out of a rip in time

• Needless to say that changed your view a bit

• So you became a sort of witness to the whole ARC operation until you were recruited to be “the help”, basically just doing whatever the main team didn’t do [like paperwork…]

• After a few months of working there you, Connor and Abby started to get close, forming a little group

• Occasionally when you weren’t held up at work or they weren’t risking their lives, you’d all hang out.

• It was a cute dynamic for a while

• Until you and Connor started to hang out seperately

• Bringing him over to your flat a handful of times w/out Abby

• When Abby caught wind of this, she had a bit of a feeling where it was heading

• You and Connor ended up becoming best friends, spending pretty much any spare moment you could with each other, Abby sometimes tagging along for the adventure

• Then another noticeable dynamic started, where you would start messing with Connor and he’d be blissfully unaware of the fact you were joking

• Has no idea what’s going on when you flirt w/him

• Thinks it’s just a “fun friend dynamic” at first

• Uh-huh, cuddling up with your homies during movie night is suuuuper normal, Con.

• You don’t hold your friend’s hand from time to time? Psshh, weird.

• You gotta cry into your bros arms every now and then, y’know, for your health

• Abby points out the fact that you’re actually being very forward w/him

• He doesn’t believe her at first and just excuses it but she quotes some of the most unhinged things you’ve said to him and it finally clicks

• Slowly he starts to flirt back and you jump on that shit immediately

• He pulls a “make me” and you almost explode

• Struggles to get acclimated to using the humor he used w/ Abby on a guy

• He gets it but it takes a minute

• Eventually you two get into a sorta will-they-won’t-they because it’s Connor and he’s perpetually confused about relationships

• You close the deal and give him a kiss plus an extensive talk on relationships bcs he needs deets

• Everyone in the ARC catches on pretty quick

• Of course they clown on you two for it bcs duh

• Once Stephen saw you two have a tender moment and just ragged on you for like 5 minutes and Connor got super embarrassed until he realized he was joking

• Abby was super supportive but also your biggest bully

• She mostly picked on Connor but every now and again she’d change targets

• Overall lots of figuring each other out and starting some cute little dynamics

Established Relationship

• Lots of time spent in each other’s work spaces not getting work done bcs you two were fucking around doing random stuff

• He also stayed around your place and eventually moved in cause when has he ever held down a flat that was his?

• You had to fully mold him into a better roommate there was absolutely no way you were gonna put up w/ that

• Steals ur shirts and over-layer clothes [borderline klepto when it comes to clothes]

• Has made you late to work so many times

• Can’t cook for shit so you have to do it for him

• A very good helper in the kitchen but otherwise culinarily inept

• Loves helping you with chores and other various excuses to share some cute domestic moments

• Had to be retaught how to do laundry cause what the fuck was he doing before??

• Asked you to help decorate his room when he moved to your flat and you made fun of all his nerd stuff [he claimed you were jealous of his collection]

• Harasses you to come to movie nights w/ Tom and Duncan

• Movies nights just turn into all four of you talking over the movie and ranting abt your opinions on it

• Lots of debates abt in universe realism and plot holes

• Con infodumps relentlessly about Star Wars or other such sci-fi type movies/shows whenever he’s given the chance

• You two go back and forth about your fixations and listen to each other equally because ur gross and in love

• Enables your fixations like you enable his

• Otherwise has a bit of trouble listening the first time and has to be reminded of things

• Very grateful for your patience with him

• Lots and lots of affection and compensation for “dealing” with him [it’s really not that bad but he feels guilty so you let him]

• Insanely loving and affectionate in private but dials it back in public

• Has a weird thing with PDA, very on and off with it depending on the situation [usually PDA positive]

NSFW

• Gets turned on so fast

• If you touch him a certain way or talk to him in a way he likes there’s like a 9/10 chance he’s tomato red and tugging his shirt down

• Make a comment on his body and he’s beet red

• If you put your hands on his waist he’s fully leaning back and melting into your touch

• Mindlessly run your hands on his sides and he’s shivering at the feel

• He loooooves when you make him feel weightless, tossing him around or picking him up has him giggling like a schoolgirl

• Fully sits on your lap whatever chance he gets

• God forbid things actually get hot and heavy

• If you make out with him he’s whining and open-mouthed

• Touch his thighs and his hips twitch until he remembers himself

• Will crawl into your lap and grind on you if you let him

• Goes crazy for neck kisses

• Insanely easy to wind up

• Takes him a while to get over his virgin demeanor but he gets there

• Used to be a very selfish lover until he learned how much he loves making you feel good

• Either a service top or the bottomiest bottom

• Won’t turn down doing nothing but generally tries not to

• Sometimes he completely forgets in the heat of the moment and just lets you do whatever

• Eager to please at all times, will try pretty much anything if he thinks you’ll like it

• Once you find stuff you both like he wants it any time you guys do the dirty

• He figured out he liked being manhandled and you were on it

• If you push him up against a wall it’s over

• Not like he weighs very much but it still makes him feel special

• You also made a habit of overstimulating him because he cries but still tries so hard to keep from pulling away because he still wants it

• On certain days he’ll specifically seek out that treatment

• Likes to feel powerless against you [really he just likes the attention and how it feels but that’s his “reasoning”]

• Vibrators.

• That’s it.

• Simultaneously his favorite and least favorite addition to the bedroom

• Loves when it’s used on him but also gets easily overwhelmed by it

• It’s so-so

• Face down ass up type of guy

• Takes that position pretty much every time you two fool around

• Likes when you grab his waist and get rough

• Also likes when you slap his ass but that’s only sometimes

• Emotional during sex, 100%

• Not the cry during sex type but gets very sappy

• Lots of “I love you”s in his horny ramblings

• Begs.

• Doesn’t even have to be prompted he just does it when he’s close

• So very vocal

• Not loud vocal rather he makes some semblance of noise the whole time, very whiney

• Likes being marked up with hickies only you two can see, he likes seeing the reminders of what you two did

• Lots of kisses and tenderness, loves feeling close to you during it

• Needy once he’s in the moment but usually doesn’t initiate

• If he initiates he is incredibly horny

• Those are usually the times he has to be touching you no matter what

• He’ll be all over you, constantly demanding your attention and touch

• Though it’s rare he ever gets like that

• Usually only if you tease him a bunch but never give him any release

• Not an overtly sexual person but obviously won’t turn it down

Johnny Harker ✮

pre-relationship

• Asshole.

• There’s no polite way of going about it he’s just sort of an asshole

• Has a bad habit of taking his anger out on you

• Fist fought you more than once

• Not a great start but any sort of relationship w/Johnny is hard earned

• He makes it difficult on purpose

• If you partner up w/ him on the job he will shit on you for any missteps or slip ups

• Has pointed a loaded gun at you at least once during a really bad fight

• You’ve kicked his ass [if you bring it up he’ll start shit all over again]

• Very bitter if you outdo him at something

• Once you earn his respect, he eases up a bit and cuts you some slack

• Takes a while but starts biting his tongue if you do something he disagrees with

• Starts to actually joke with you and let you see his less serious side

• He starts to act like a somewhat normal person once he knows you’re in it for the long haul and aren’t a coward

• Fights get less common but still happen bcs he’s perpetually pissed off

• One time you got hurt really bad and he damn near had a stroke, lots of conflicting emotions

• It’s hard for him to comfort people, he has a hard time not just logic-ing his way through other people’s problems

• Will always patch up your wounds and poke fun at you for getting them

• Same goes the other way around, you once stitched up a bad gash on his stomach and he couldn’t stop staring at you

• Would never in a million years admit to having feelings for anyone first

• You made the mistake of joke flirting with him once and he had a moment of “proving” how straight he was and it actually contradicted his whole point

• Gets butt hurt whenever someone jokes about you guys’ odd relationship

• Slowly starts to get defensive over you but will always deny it if you bring it up

• Finds any excuse to spend time with you

• He teaches you how to disassemble all of the guns in the armory and how to clean and work each one

• Tells you about any and all tech he has in the hideout

• Literally just wants to teach you stuff because it makes him feel good and brings you two closer

• Still, never gonna admit it

• After a really bad mission where you fully almost died he was livid pissed, simultaneously at you but also in general

• He took some of his frustration and worry out on you

• You obviously didn’t respond great to that after almost getting murked

• It turned to pushes and shoves until uh oh, you were against a wall

• It went how you’d expect, after a moment of high tension and debating wether or not you should throw a punch, he kissed you

• Hard and rough, almost hard enough to bruise

• Till eventually he dialed it back a bit to a somewhat normal make out sesh

• Still hot and heavy tho bcs duh it’s Johnny Harker

• Needless to say there was no prancing around it after that

• He started warming up to the idea of being a little more openly caring

• It was a hard lesson for him to learn

• Until this time he got badly hurt and realized he never wanted to feel like he didn’t get a chance to say what he truly felt for you

• So he sucked it up and started properly communicating and occasionally showing affection aside from the seldom shoulder pat

• You off handedly brought up your relationship and how you noticed a change in him

• That got him talking about how he really felt

• Thus, the relationship bloomed

established relationship

• it takes him a comedically long time to realize being in a relationship usually means showing it

• god forbid you try to show him affection when someone else is around

• does some dramatic shit like rip his hand away and look at you like you kicked his dog or some shit

• whenever you’re in private tho? he won’t leave you alone. he’ll be sitting right next to you, shoulders touching at minimum at all times. holding your hand or having you lean on him

• he’ll probably kill you and then himself if someone catches you, but it’s worth it.. probably

• so, so touch starved. it’s sad

• anytime you two have a cute domestic moment, he gets really existential and weird

• to him, any sort of relationship is hard to find and even harder to keep due to how he lives, so you were a total enigma to him

• it all comes back to him being grateful you’re there

• if you tell a soul he said those words he’ll punch you in the throat

• anyways

• going on missions together is always a massive hit or miss

• you’re either the perfect duo, killing vamps like it’s nothing, or constantly arguing and unable to find a good method

• most times you’re a good duo, tho, hold onto that

• insanely protective and possessive of you. like, concerningly so sometimes

• if any of his teammates act a certain way around you? he’s staring. if they joke flirt w you? he’s there. if they try some shit? his hand is on your waist and he’s starting shit

• not to mention if shit goes sideways on a mission, he’s like an animal, it’s scary

• will either fully deny he’s like that or be like “duh, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t murder someone for you?? tf??”

• no in between

• loves food

• the way to his heart is thru food and a good drink

• whisky drinker probably

• make this man some home cooked food, give him a glass of cheap whisky, plant a kiss on him and he’s head over heels

• if he wasn’t favoring you before, he was now

• if you two ever fight, bringing him a plate of food will almost always make him more receptive to conversation

• listens a loooot better after a while of you two dating

• he becomes way less insufferable tbh

• overall, a very broody, protective partner who adores your presence in his life

NSFW

• low sex drive

• he just doesn’t really seek it out

• but catch him at the right moment, and he’s on you like a dog

• fresh off a mission, during a spar session or in the middle of an argument? he’s hard as a rock

• he’s an adrenaline junkie, so anything that gets his cortisol levels concerningly high turns him on

• he’s odd

• loves being kind of mean during it

• big into degradation, he thinks it’s so hot

• both ways, if you call him desperate or useless he’ll explode

• biting.

• he loves biting you and leaving a shit ton of marks

• he wants everyone to see that shit

• almost always plants a big bite right on your neck, it’s like his signature

• very proud

• always strives to make you as noisy as possible, abusing all of your weaknesses at once to achieve it

• orgasm denial is big on his list of yeses

• hearing you beg to cum gives him an insane power trip, and he’ll never get sick of it

• also makes an attempt to cum inside you every time, another ‘marking’ thing, but you think he just doesn’t wanna pull out

• you don’t blame him

• loves when you ride him, being able to look up at you and guide you through while not having to do as much work is heaven

• definitely holds you really tight no matter the position, he either holds your hips or wraps you up in a sort of hug

• even if he’s rough he still wants to be close to you

• very very selfless lover

• if you want it, he’ll go as long as you want him to

• still asks for some reciprocation from time to time and who would deny that face?

• he’s such a sucker for blowjobs oh my god

• fastest way to make him nut is probably giving him a bj

• he’s normally the grunting type, but he’ll get vocal during a blowie

• full blown whines and praise if you catch him in a really horny moment, he’d also have little to no restraint and try to fuck your face tbh

• he has a hard time roping in any of his physical impulses like holding too tight, pulling and pushing or whatever else, but he gets a handle on it eventually

• overall 10/10 good lay, definitely would be an even better hate-fuck

#male reader #gn reader #fem reader #x reader #primeval #connor temple #primeval fic #johnny harker #johnathan harker #vampyre nation #hcs #headcanon

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nucksgal03 · 2 years

Text

The Big Surprise- O. Power

It had been months since you last saw your best friend, Owen. Between the chaos that was the World Juniors and school, you hadn’t had a chance to visit him down in Michigan.

But, with the help of some of his teammates you had booked a ticket to Michigan and baked all of the cookies you could bring with you, Thomas would kill you if you didn't.

Within a week you had your bags packed and were more than ready to see your best friend. All that stood in your way was the six-hour flight from your dorm in Vancouver, BC to his school in Michigan.

Luckily the flight passes by super fast and before you knew it you were picking up your bag from the baggage carousel and walking out to catch your ride to the arena.

Standing waiting for you with the most obnoxious sign, was Thomas Bordeleu.

You rolled your eyes as you walked up to the grinning man, “Miss. Power, really Bords?”

He just pulled you in for a hug, “Eh it was the boys idea. They thought it would be funny plus, you are travelling across the country just to visit him.”

“Yes, to visit my best friend that I haven’t seen in over a year. Totally weird that I would miss my best friend since childhood after a while of not seeing each other in person.”

“Yeah totally weird.” He joked, “But seriously, we are all so glad that you’re here. Maybe now Owen will shut up for two minutes about how much he misses you. I think coach was this close to calling you himself.” He said holding his pointer finger and thumb extremely close together.

You smiled, “Well we cant have your coach needing to do that now can we.”

Thomas laughed, “Not to mention how close Luke was to getting his brother to kidnap you and send you down here to shut him up.”

“Im glad it didn’t get to the point of me needing to be kidnapped by a hockey player just so that owen shuts up about me. Interesting though that you and kent let it get to this point, I thought that you two would’ve told me sooner. I did give you both free passes to ask for me to come down to visit, this sounds like a situation that would require me to come visit.”

He mumbled out a response. “What was that, I couldn’t tell what you said.” You teased.

“We were saving them for exam week. That way we could have baked goods during exam week. You know better than anyone that we are terrible cooks.”

You laughed as the two of you approached his car. You had a long drive ahead of you. The drive is about an hour and a half from the airport to the University with a stop at the hotel you are staying at on the way.

The drive was filled with the two of you joking and catching up on what was happening in your lives. After Owen, you and Thomas were the closest. It was nice to talk about hockey with someone that isn’t your roommate or Owen for the first time in a while.

“Are you kidding me, Thomas! There is no way they can win the cup. It's about time they got the proper new team treatment. It's how it works; a new team enters the league, they do terrible the first few seasons while they find their footing then they can start going for the cup. Vegas just got lucky with the draft, they have had a couple years of being good now they can suffer like the rest of the league.” You ranted pulling your bags out of the cars’ trunk.

“They just got Eichel back after his surgery. They totally have a chance if they play their cards right.”

“A single player cant make up for the rest of a team doing bad.”

He scoffed, “Fine I will concede this point to you.”

“Why thank you.” You said heaving your bag onto your shoulder.

“Yeah don’t get used to me giving up this easily.”

“I won't, now how about we drop off my bag then we save the rest of your team from the tragedy that is Owen talking about me non-stop.”

“That sounds like an incredible idea. Coach will be so happy.”

You smiled and checked into the hotel you booked. The lady at the front desk was a bored college student. Who you could tell switched on her customer service voice when you approached the desk. After you checked in, you quickly ran up to your room and changed into a clean shirt and pants that hadn’t just been on a plane for five hours and in a car for an hour and a half.

You hopped down the stairs and out of the hotel into Thomas’ car that was waiting for you out front.

“Mind if we make a stop for coffee for the team?” he asked.

“Nope, as long as I can get something too.”

“No, you don’t get anything.” He joked, “Of course, you can get something. What do you want?”

“Peppermint hot chocolate with extra whipped cream.”

“I will never know why you always order a holiday drink year round.”

“Easy, I have a massive headache from flying and not getting enough sleep, that I can't sleep off, partially because it's midday for me partially because there are things to do. I need peppermint to counteract my headache.”

Thomas nodded, “Makes sense, how do you even know that they’ll still have peppermint syrup this long after the holidays?” He asked as you walked into the café that’s a place for university students to congregate when they don’t have classes.

“Magic,” you said making sparkle hands, “plus Caiti works here and she has a soft spot for them, so she keeps the syrup stocked year-round for herself and the general public.”

“Okay.” He said, before rattling off all of the orders for his teammates. “Damn they better be paying me back for all of these or else my parents are going to freak."

You laughed and ordered your drink and walked to wait near where the drinks came out when they were finished. Once you had all the drinks you walked back to his car and travelled to the rink. It wasn’t that long of a drive which was good because you had a very tall stack of coffee on your lap in the car. He helped you to get out of the car then you both headed towards the entrance to the rink where, conveniently, Kent was standing holding the door open.

“You are a life saver Johnson, you know that.” You said as you entered the arena.

Kent laughed, “I know,” he said before turning to Thomas, “did you get me something to drink?”

Thomas nodded, “Yes I did, now can we just get down to the locker room already my arms are killing me.”

“Dang, it's bad news for your team is just carrying a couple trays of coffee is making your arms hurt. I may have to talk to your coach about making you do some more pull-ups to help you get more upper body strength.”

He looked at you straight-faced, “You wouldn’t dare.” He challenged

“Oh, but I would dare, Thomas. Or have the boys not told you of the time I convinced their coach that they were slacking in speed drills and they had to do the beep test at the end of each practice until I was convinced they weren’t slacking anymore?”

Kent shuddered, “She did, Owen finally apolagised after two weeks then she said we weren’t slacking anymore. Most painful two weeks of my life.”

Thomas nodded, “Duly noted.”

You smiled as you reached the locker room. "Everyone decent?” You called, “If not hurry up, we come bearing caffination.”

You heard fabric being pulled overheads before the door swung open showing a smiling Owen Power, “What the hell are you doing here? I thought you didn’t finish your classes for another couple of weeks?”

“I lied, my professors, are all teaching virtually, at least for the next couple weeks. Plus, I've been told,” you turned to face Luke Hughes who was attempting and failing to hide in his stall, “That someone I won't name, Luke Hughes.” You fake coughed. “was very close to getting his brother to kidnap me and bring me here so that you would stop talking about me.

Luke blushed, “I was close, but I didn’t.”

“No you didn’t but, every time I went to the arena for work he would ask me to visit you all very soon.”

The boys all looked at you like you were crazy, “And it took you this long why?”

“I have a full school schedule, work every evening to pay for school and food, and the only time im not at work or school im watching your games from my dorm.”

You had a blast catching up with all of the team. After what felt like only a couple of minutes you all had to leave because the boys had to wake up early for their classes and you needed to get back to your hotel for the night. Thomas offered to drive you back but own shut that idea down fast.

Once all the boys left Owen smiled and hugged you, “I've missed you, dork.”

“I've missed you too, nerd.” You said poking the glasses that sat on his nose.

“You were the one who helped me pick them out!” He jokingly gasped offended that you would do something like that.

“And that gives me the sole ability to make fun of them. Someone has to, otherwise you would be too perfect.”

Owen shook his head and hugged you to his side as you both walked off to his car to start an amazing week of random pranks and reliving the coaches of Owen whining.

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

Thanks for reading another imagine.

My ask box is open if you have any requests

-Mollie <3

#owen power imagine #nhl imagine #sabres imagine

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dlwritings · 2 years

Text

Bad Again | Peter Parker

masterlist found here

pairing - college!Peter x reader word count - 2,699 warnings - reader is battling depression/anxiety and has thoughts of wanting to hurt herself A/N - just something that’s been sitting in my drafts | gif found on Pinterest

summary - You were getting to that point in the school year where everything was overwhelming, and you just wanted to give up. Luckily, Peter Parker isn’t going to let you do that.

How do you tell your professor that you can’t make it to class because you’re afraid you might purposefully crash your car if you get behind the wheel?

Right. You can’t. So you don’t.

You paint on your brave face -the one that so nicely makes it seem like you have your life together- and you get up. You make a cup of coffee, do your make-up just right, and go through all the motions. When your roommate skips class because of her own academic stress, you do not cave. You continue going through the motions, because attendance is required and you’re only a few months away from graduation. You can hold it together for that much longer.

You don’t want to be a statistic, so you stay on the road while driving, even though it would be so easy to just swerve into a light post and call it good.

You weren’t sure when things got bad again, but they did. Part of you was sure it had something to do with your roommate having a boyfriend and you being terribly single. Your constant need to be validated wasn’t being fulfilled, and you missed your mom and your best friends from back home. Your college was almost 400 miles away from your hometown, so you couldn’t just pop by for a visit. You just needed to survive for another month, and then you could visit home for spring break. 30 days. They’d fly by.

You sat in the back of your class in between your friends, greeting them the way you knew they expected you to. For the most part, you were good. You could focus on the lesson and nod along with the professor, and you still smiled at all of your classmates when they sent you a wave. You still shared silly glances with Peter, your friend who sat in the front row whom you had developed a crush on. You still knew how to go through the motions.

Until there were about 30 minutes left of class.

The professor was listing off upcoming deadlines and explaining how to apply for your required internship placement, and something snapped. It was too much. Too much information coming in all at once. You needed out. The room was closing in, and you knew you’d break down if you didn’t leave right away. The professor had just split everyone into groups to discuss the peer reviewed journal you were assigned to read over the weekend, so you used that as your chance to slip out.

You were not aware that Peter had been watching you the whole time. He noticed the way you ran your fingers through your hair and pressed your lips into a tight line as you left: two sure fire signs something was wrong.

He had an internal battle with himself for a moment, and eventually decided to stand up and follow you out. Peter walked down the hallway for a while, looking down other corridors to see where you had gone. When he approached the women’s bathroom, he hesitated. Opening the door could pretty much only end two ways, so he was trying to decide if the risk of the negative possibility was worth the chance of the positive one.

He decided it was and slowly pushed the door open.

You tried to quiet your sobs when you heard the bathroom door open. You had been the only one in there when you walked in, and you were so hoping it would stay that way. You covered your mouth with your hand and closed your eyes, still seated on the closed toilet, as you silently prayed for the person to leave.

“(Y/N)?”

Your eyes widened when you heard Peter’s voice. You stayed dead silent, waiting for his next move.

“(Y/N), are you in here?”

“No,” you replied weakly. Peter stopped in front of your stall and knocked on it softly.

“You want to talk?” he asked. You sniffed, not knowing what to say. Peter didn’t speak again, but he did slide to the ground and press his back against the stall door. “We don’t have to talk,” he said. “But I’m here if you need me. Unless you want to be alone.”

“I don’t,” you said, your voice cracking. And you didn’t. Truly the last thing you wanted to be was alone. Peter stood up from the ground, and you slowly undid the lock of the bathroom door and opened it.

Peter took in your tear stained cheeks and sighed. He crouched in front of you so his face was level with yours and wiped some tears with his thumbs. Your lower lip started to quiver, so you tugged it between your teeth and let a shaky breath out of your nose. “Stressed?” he asked. You nodded and felt tears pooling in your eyes again. You knew it was stupid. You knew everyone had the same workload as you, so why were you the only one breaking down? You cursed your anxiety as another tear fell down your cheek. “Tell you what,” Peter said. “Did you drive to campus?”

You shook your head no. “I walked.” You lived in an off campus apartment that was still within walking distance of the school. So did Peter.

“Perfect,” he said. “We can go back to my place. I’ve got ice cream and movies, and it’s Friday so there’s no need to talk about any homework.”

“That’s really sweet of you,” you started, “but I should honestly get started on the reading and the written response and-”

“Nope,” Peter said, cutting you off. “It’s already 6:30. That’s well past homework time on a Friday night.” He stood up from his crouching position and reached into his pocket. “You go out to my car, and I’ll tell prof you got sick and needed to go home. I’ll grab your stuff and meet you out there.” You nodded and mouthed a thank you to Peter. He left the bathroom, and you took a moment to wipe away some mascara stains from under your eyes.

You only had to wait a few moments in Peter’s car before he was there. The ride to his apartment was quiet. You had one of your legs tucked under you, and the other was pulled up to your chest. You rested your chin on your knee as you stared out the window, trying to stop the waterfall of tears that wanted to pour from your eyes.

Peter pulled into the parking spot outside his apartment and turned to look at you. You clearly hadn’t even noticed the car had stopped. You didn’t move at all, and your eyes were still staring blankly out the window. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, then laid a gentle hand on your shoulder. You jumped and looked at him. “We’re here,” he said. You nodded numbly and unbuckled your seatbelt to follow him to his apartment. Peter hated seeing you like this. He loved you so deeply, and he hated when you were going through a specifically difficult depressive episode. He knew all the signs. Always noticed the blank stares and lack of smile. You had been bad for a while, he noticed. He just didn’t know how to help you. Didn’t know if you wanted his help.

You did. So desperately.

Peter guided you to his couch where you sat down and pulled your knees close to your chest. “You want to take a bath?” he asked, scratching the back of his neck. You shrugged and put your chin on your knees. “I’m gonna run you a bath, okay? I’ve still got some of those bath bombs you gave me for Christmas.”

“Okay,” you whispered. Peter crouched in front of you so that he could actually see your eyes.

“I’ll be back in just a minute,” he said. You nodded again. Peter was hesitant to leave you alone. He didn’t want you to break down on your own. He waited impatiently for the bath to fill up, tossing in a bath bomb and watching it dissolve. Once it was ready, he grabbed you some of his clothes to change into, then went back to the living room to get you. You hadn’t moved from your position, and you were still staring blankly across the room. “(Y/N)?” he said, getting your attention. You turned to look at him. He noticed the tears threatening to spill from your eyes. “That bath’s ready.” You nodded and stood up, walking to the bathroom. “I left you some clothes,” he said.

“Thanks,” you whispered.

“Holler if you need anything,” he said. You nodded, so Peter left you alone in the bathroom.

As soon as you sunk into the tub, you pulled your knees up to your chest for the third time that day, realizing that it was a comforting pose for you. It was like you were trying to hold yourself together when all you wanted to do was fall apart. Before you knew it, you were crying. Thankfully, you had gotten exceptionally good at sobbing silently.

Why were you falling apart so much?

You got out of the bath after a little while and tugged Peter’s clothes on. You didn’t soak for too long, because it wasn’t making you feel any better. If anything, sitting alone with your thoughts was making things worse. You tied your hair up in a bun and scrubbed your make-up off your face, then left Peter’s bathroom. You heard the TV going in his bedroom, so you made your way there. He had been laying in bed, his head propped up against some pillows, but sat up as soon as you walked in. “How’re you doing?” he asked. You shrugged, and Peter sighed. “C’mere,” he said. You did and got into bed next to him. You laid close to his body, resting your head on his chest. “You want to talk to me?”

“I don’t know,” you mumbled.

“What’s on your mind?”

You sighed. “Just don’t understand what’s wrong with me. Don’t understand why I’ve been so bad lately.”

“You stressed?”

“Not really,” you said. “I guess that’s a part of it. But really, classes are great and, and work has been going well. I guess I just, I don’t know. My roommate just got a boyfriend, so I’ve been feeling so alone lately. And so tired all the time. And I just don’t want to be here anymore. And I just want to graduate. And I want to be happy, but I don’t know how to do that. And I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“Nothing’s wrong with you,” Peter said, brushing the back of his hand against your cheek. You were shaking so much, Peter felt like he had to hold you tighter. “Hey, hey, take a breath,” he said.

“I hate this,” you croaked out. “I don’t want to be like this anymore.”

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry. I wish I could take it all away for you.” You placed a soft kiss to his neck, just to let him know you appreciated it. Your lips lingered longer than you planned for them to. When you finally pulled away, you kept your face nuzzled against his neck. Your nose brushed across his skin until you kissed him again. Peter moved away from you so he could look down into your eyes.

“Peter,” you whispered. His eyes flickered from your eyes to your lips and back again before he licked his own. Before you could say anything else, Peter pressed his lips to yours. You let a sigh pass your lips before you kissed him back. He put his hands on your hips and rolled your bodies so he was hovering over you. He pushed his tongue past your lips and dragged one hand up your torso. His thumb brushed the underside of your breast, but he pulled away just as fast.

“I don’t want to take advantage of you like this,” he whispered. You could tell he was using a lot of self-restraint, which you somewhat admired. “You’re hurt and, and sad and, and I don’t want to do something you might regret tomorrow.” You felt more tears coming to your eyes as he hung his head and sighed.

“I’m sorry,” you told him, covering your face with your hands. “I’m sorry. I can’t believe I just did that. I’m so fucked up. I’m sorry.”

“Stop, stop,” he said, putting his thumbs on your cheekbones and wiping your tears away. “I’m sorry. I feel like I’m just making this all worse.”

“I’m just a walking disaster,” you said. “This is so stupid. I’m stupid.”

“You’re not stupid!” Peter said. “There’s just a lot going on in your brain. And that’s okay. I just think you should be doing this with someone you want to do this with, not me just cuz I’m here.”

You tilted your head slightly and sniffed the rest of your tears back up. “Wait, are you being serious?” you said. Peter mirrored your confused expression.

“What?” he said. “Did I say something wrong?”

“You are someone I want to do this with,” you said. “You are the only someone I want to do this with.” Peter sat back on his heels allowing you to sit up as well. He looked taken aback by what you had said, and all you wanted was for him to respond.

“Seriously?” he said. You swallowed back more nervous tears and nodded.

“And I’m not just saying that because I’m hurt or sad or, or lonely,” you said. “I mean it. But I get that I’m a lot to handle, and this is a totally not romantic way to do this, and we both know I’m a disaster, so I know-”

Peter cut you off by kissing you again. He pulled away before you could even fully process what he had done. He chuckled at the surprised look on your face. “You’re right,” he said. “You are a disaster.” You pouted, and he grinned and brushed his thumb across your lower lip. “But I don’t mind,” he said.

“You can’t fix me,” you said. “This is just how I am.”

“I have no desire to fix you,” he said. “I like you just the way you are.”

“Are you sure about that?” you said. Peter tilted his head slightly in confusion, and you sighed. “I don’t even like me the way I am.”

“I’m positive,” he said. He put his hand on your cheek and brushed his thumb across your cheekbone. “Disaster or completely put together, I like you.” You couldn’t help but smile, and Peter mirrored your expression.

“I’m sorry if you have to comfort me all the time,” you said.

“Stop apologizing,” he said. “I don’t have to be here, but I am. Doesn’t that say something?” You swallowed back more tears -god, they just kept coming- and nodded.

“It says everything,” you said. “Thank you.” Peter pulled you in for another kiss, holding you close to him, before he pulled away. He tugged your body close to his and opened his legs so you could lay between them. Then, he picked up the remote and started flicking through Netflix on the TV. You looked up at him as he tried to decide on what to pick, his lower lip caught between his teeth in concentration. You tilted your head up and pressed a kiss to his jawline, making him look down at you with a smile. Neither of you said anything, just turned your attention back to the TV. You put your hand on top of Peter’s that was resting on your stomach, brushing your thumb across the back of his hand.

Despite Peter’s new role in your life, you still found there were a lot of days where getting out of bed and driving safely to school was a challenge. Just like you had told him, he couldn’t fix you. But he wasn’t trying to. All he wanted to do was be there for you whenever you asked him to be. Because he liked you just the way you were.

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

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#peter parker #peter parker imagine #peter parker x reader #peter parker fluff #fluff #spiderman #spiderman imagine #spider-man #spider-man imagine #marvel #avengers

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lynmars79 · 9 months

Note

Fun meta asks for writers! 1.Tell us about your current project(s) – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it? 17.o you think readers perceive your work - or you - differently to you? What do you think would surprise your readers about your writing or your motivations? 20.Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks, etc.)

Menace. Bully. Fiend. How dare you--

So in 2022 as we were awaiting the finished dark knight zine and prepping for FFXIV Write 2022, roommate found a submissions call for a zine called "I Spade You" that would be about Ace romances. I've had a pseudo-idea floating in the back of my head for a long while about a middle-aged pair in a fantasy setting who despite being from opposite sides of a conflict end up having a connection, and tried to form it into a 2500 word story for submission to this zine but it wouldn't gel.

Well, the problem really was that it was gelling...into something longer. I'd been thinking of it in the background long enough that it took on a life of its own. But things at work heated up, I already had fandom writing projects, so I shelved the idea and lost track of that zine. I didn't think of it seriously for months.

Then Bigolas Dickolas Wolfwood entered the chat with their sincere promotion of This is How You Lose the Time War, a novel I had heard about but hadn't read yet. So I read it, and while "people from opposite sides of a conflict form a connection" is the only similarity to my story, the visceral language in that novel really got to me.

I found myself opening the Spade folder again. And writing random scenes from various points in a 25ish year relationship between 2 people thrown together by outside machinations into a marriage neither wants, falling in love despite that, but the cracks form and irreconcilable differences arise due to duty and pride and a lifetime of nationalist education, a long separation and obsession, and then fate puts them together once more, relearning who they are now After All That.

It's arranged marriage friends to lovers to enemies to friends to lovers again. I keep forgetting to add straight people to the supporting cast. I have 3 distinct parts--early relationship, 15 years apart having life happen, then a disaster that makes one of them relearn all they thought they knew while the other hurtles toward their long-waited fate. I have world building and character profile documents. A family tree for one group for Reasons. Avatars for some characters thanks to BG3 and Picrews. So. It's...drafting. It's currently pretty indulgent and a lot of Vibes, little in depth research yet. There's probably over 100k words written but I dunno how many total and a lot of them will change.

It's still an ace romance between the leads. And between another ace character and her bi partner. Whether people think it "counts" or not will be where there's a perception schism, I guess. If I ever get any of it out. It won't be for everyone and there's probably things I'll get wrong and also some of the characters, even protagonists and heroic figures and loveable folks, aren't always the best people and have major flaws and issues.

There's also a teeny bit of "this aspect of this character's story in X other media annoyed me and also I see where there's some influence from this author of Y media I like so wonder if I could write something similar to be more satisfying for me" thrown against the general idea of "I have this one OC that's been bopping around in my head for years" and it became "but what if they kissed and that's all they do while being in love because they don't need more than that? And there's also a lot of familial and platonic loving relationships in there? And framed around an epic fated adventure?"

Still really developing recurring themes and callbacks, but there's a running joke with flicking balls of paper at someone's head, and a poignant bit about family home entryway markers and mourning rituals that may run throughout.

#Lyn Prompts #Lyn Meta #Lyn Writing #about me #blogging #I didn't post a prompt list Biot's just Like This

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kyeterna · 11 months

Text

So I was thinking about Star Team's inspirations and like the two biggest ones that have influenced the way both Rainder and I wrote Star Team (as in vibes, not story as much) were Katana Zero and Spiderman into the spiderverse, as we were both obsessed with those two pieces of media back in late 2018 (when Star Team really took the shape it has to this day). And for the longest time I always assumed that story wise it is more similar to Katana Zero (still the similarities are very superficial) while S:ITSV is mostly vibes. But then the more I thought about it, Star Team could easily work in a spiderman setting. Nora specifically would make a good spider person imo, hell even in the story proper she sometimes uses her scarf as a grappling hook (so in the spiderman setting like how the web is used). Plus Star Team is a few steps removed from being a superhero story so I said screw it, let's do this.

Spidernora au lessgo. It doesn't have 1 to 1 parallels to spiderman proper stories, but shhhh I am gonna be silly here. Also this au has a lot of similarities with ST proper, much like the Catalyst au (hey another "pretty much" superhero au), just with some adjustments to the relationship dynamics and the world a little.

For spidernora's design I had to go with the classic pink-blue-white Nora look (walking trans pride flag). While Nora is not head covering hijabi, she still wears clothes that would align with the rules (loose fitting, covering the entire body), so I tried to not make their spidey suit skin tight. They get poofy pants instead of a skirt because it is probably easier to move in and I cannot imagine her wearing a skirt/dress unless she's wearing baju kurung. Aaanyways robo backpack with robo limbs designed by Terrance (lower) because what is a spider without 8 limbs (though if needed the backpack would provide them with two extra robo limbs, making is 10 total. Nora never uses them out of principle as the scarf does most of the heavy lifting anyways). Anyways stretchy scarf made of special self replicating material to work almost like web. As for powers, aside from the sticking to walls and spidey senses, she has (way too much) heightened senses and can jump really high hence the jumping spider associations. The bun part of the name is because you cannot take away the bunny parallels from Nora in any au, over my dead body. In this au they'd have a relatively more normal childhood compared to star team proper. Now how normal it is for them to run away from home in both timelines ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Moving on we got the one and only, the legend themselves, Maya Marah. She is pretty much the same character as with proper Star Team, but the Star Team blog (now named spiderblog) has the added feature of a conspiracy board where she tries to figure out who J. Spiderbun is. Eventually she does discover who is behind the mask (I mean it's her roommate, and her other roommate works with her) and decides to not reveal it. She ends up becoming the man in the chair for Nora. What's her secret? I ain't spoiling ST so easily hahaha.

The third roommate, Terry, everyone's favourite alien. I mean his role is pretty much the same as Star Team proper but he is more of Nora's assistant than Maya's here. Also the circumstances of U.S.O are different and can't go into it without spoiling Star Team.

IT'S THEM IT'S THEM but they get demoted for this au. Imagine being just captain and vice-captain of the police (cringe). In this au Aradia and Damien unfortunately don't become friends with the Nora-Maya-Terry trio but still act as sort of antagonists (in the sense that they try to stop J. Spiderbun from doing their thing, much to Aradia's dismay). Damien and Maya are still sworn rivals. Anyways can't wait for Damien to inevitably die trying to save a chi-

I KNOW clockstopper's design could use some work, it's a first draft of sorts (If I ever decide to revisit this au) but HEYYYY LOOOK it's Nora's eternal narrative foil, the disaster herself Rena!! What do you mean a spiderman finding out one of their friends is a supervillain isn't a canon event? It is in my heart. Rena and Nora still have The Fight for the same reasons pretty much, only difference being that what happened between those 4 years of them not being in contact is veeery different. Well.... hm... anyways if I continue this section I will end up rambling about the renora dynamic and we don't want a 10k page rant do we. As a villain she usually has 0 agency, but when she does stuff that seem out of character it's when her real character shines through. Maybe she gets redeemed down the line woooo

Lightning round because it is getting late, I feel bad for not giving Jack a dedicated page like the rest of the team. Jack is central to the main arc of the au, as he is the one most closely connected to Dr Faith (ooooh who is she~ I actually can't explain anything more without spoiling actual Star Team so-). Hey isn't it funny how Ender and Maya are the two characters who are the most alike their canon counterparts- Rose 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🛐🛐🛐🛐🛐 she's never looked better, she deserves being a corrupt billionaire that does some unethical stuff from time to time and by that I mean frequently.

The rest of the characters would have a less significant role but sone type of role nonetheless. Anyways this was a fun little thing and not to be taken too seriously, I just love talking about my blorbos (star team characters) and putting them in different situations (there are a billion ST aus)

#starteam comic #writerna #One more star team au to the pile #st: nora #st: maya #st: terry #st: damien #st: aradia #st: rena #st: jack #st: rose #st: ender #tfw I literally made a masterpost for a star team au and not star team proper first #Listen star team is a huge project and a masterpost that big would take me even longer than the season one docas one #And I reaaaaaally need to talk to someone about star team otherwise I blow up #I need to finish.... Down memory lane..... Game development is hard without a proper programmer.....#Long post #Forgive any typos I am so sleepy

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iantimony · 6 months

Text

tuesdaypost

tried a new thing this week where i started drafting this as i went - so any time i read something that i wanted to put here, for example, i just slapped the link in to expand more on when i got around to finishing the post, yanno? i liked it, i think it made the whole process less "??? what did i do this week???" i also think i do like tuesday, actually, because it means i can put all my various weekend craftings/watching/playing in while it's still fresh in my mind.

because i noted things down as i went this is a RICH tuesdaypost, buckle up

listening

up to partizan 15! also been listening to fatt soundtracks as background while i work, it's very good for that.

reading

a looooot of bloodletter this week, notably all the tgcf and most of the mdzs fic, but especially both ways open jaws: delicious, pun intended. found it through this tumblr post of the art that's in one of the chapters. (saw dreamwidth user rigormorphis in the acknowledgement notes on there!!! [leonardo dicaprio pointing meme] i follow them on dreamwidth!! hello!) also read you were not mine to save by factorialrabbits: this isn't really how i understand nhs as a character, personally, but i liked the narrative structure a lot! read it because bloodletter wrote a fic that was inspired by it and i liked that one a lot too.

read some of the tgcf donghua just because i wanted to look at pretty pictures.

the poster's guide to the internet of the future by david pierce: interesting. i've never much thought about having all platforms be cross-connected and cross-interact-able and i'm not sure if it's something i would want, to be totally honest. i like certain things to be separate. we should all go back to geocities. (jk) (unless....)

caught up on the soft news newsletter by joy alicia raines, one that's been sticking in my head is the bit about 'but and therefore rule' from may

i started 'the house on vesper sands' by paraic o'donnell while i was at my grandma's because she had a copy in the guest room, read about the first 100 pages or so, liked it enough that i rented it from the library but we'll see if i finish it haha

playing

oh i'm DEEP in pokemon go again :p send me friend codes if you wanna be pokego friends!

watching

my grandma has been recommending peaky blinders to me for ages so when i visited her last week for thanksgiving i decided that if we started watching it while i was there i might keep watching it when i got home. i probably will! we watched the first three episodes while i was there, definitely has the Drama and Intrigue that i would expect, doesn't hurt that cillian murphy is easy on the eyes, etc.

as promised last week, i've watched the new tgcf episodes! as you can probably tell from my reading section, i am fully back in the tgcf brainworms, frothing at the mouth waiting for new episodes to get released

finished cowboy bebop with my bf, it was so good :( i think our next show is finishing kill la kill, i had him watch the first threeish episodes a while ago but might as well. also on the list to watch together is jujutsu kaisen, mob psycho, space dandy…feel free to rec!

making

continued progress of my big scarf! started what will hopefully be a very quick winter headband knit for my roommate's mom, i'm spending time with her over christmas and i'm absolutely sure she will get me a gift so i need something to give to her lol.

after tragically missing the deadline for secret samol i sent the tumblr account a message asking to be put on the pinch hitter list and it turned out that they were able to slide my entry in after the deadline!! so i got my secret samol assignment in my email on saturday and i'm VERY excited, there are some really good prompts and i have to figure out which is tickling my fancy and what medium to do it in…the funniest part of it is probably that my assignee is a geologist. like, what are the odds, right? (i am not a geologist by training but the research i do now for my phd is way closer to geology than i ever thought i would be. i wonder if they'll be at AGU in a few weeks…it's such a big conference so odds are slim but there's definitely a funny universe out there where i run into them without either of us realizing :b)

i spent most of sunday cozy inside because it was snowing out, and i did a lot of little mending tasks! i finally blocked out the tank top that i finished knitting a few months ago, fixed the lining for a cowl that i made in 2021, darned some socks + some holes in a shirt that i like…

(the Cowl Saga: i finished the object in 2021! it was a little scratchy so i made a cute lining out of matching plaid fleece! i never fucking wore it because it was too small and pressed on my nose uncomfortably and sucked to pull over my head!!!! so i went, damn, wait, i didn't block it. i bet i can make it a better size by blocking it. so this summer i took the lining back out and blocked it (and laid it in the sun to dry, so it FADED UNEVENLY because the yarn was just dyed with turmeric in 2020!! i am not a professional!!! so it definitely isn't colorfast!!!) and lo and behold, now it fits better! however now the lining was too damn small! so finally, FINALLY, i used some leftover plaid fleece scraps to patch in an extra panel to make it big enough! so now i can wear it! i wore it yesterday because it's finally cold enough!!!)

no pictures of me wearing the tank top because i don't love the fit…i have some spare bra inserts at home that i can get when i'm there for the holidays so hopefully sewing those in will help? i can't really wear a bra with it otherwise. despite using an old norwegian cast-on, which according to google is one of the stretchiest options, to wear it the hem is stretched completely taut so i probably should have sized up >:\ it was a fun project otherwise, might try it again with a different size/yarn/cast-on, perhaps without the waist increases.

also, started writing again?? something about glancing at my decade-old nanowrimo last week tickled my brain and i started poking at something inspired in that direction. no promises.

misc

i was thinking of getting a small keyboard for my ipad so i don't have to bring my whole laptop to a conference next week, i was discussing with my roommate, she was like "ah but they're sooo small…" i said "we have tiny hands, it's not a bad size for us", she goes "but they're scared of each other" which made me crack up. will probably try to go to best buy or something, one of the little logitech ones could be good, but also do i Need a keyboard?? will i actually type ANYTHING while i'm at this conference????? i doubt it. so maybe not huh my current week looks like powering through my poster for AGU, that way i can spend next week tweaking as needed and print a few days before travel…….fingers crossed. i laid that timeline out for my advisor yesterday and she nearly cried from how reasonable it was, apparently her last phd student was a "finish the poster on the plane and print the day of the presentation at the conference" kinda guy oops. :")

#tuesdayposting

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watsonphotog · 1 year

Photo

Self portrait. Nikon d300S. December, 2020.

Hey there, Tumblr. It’s been a while.

I had written SO much and then the draft decided to just... shit out for some goddamn reason. Glad to see this site still absolutely choogles ass.

Regardless, as much as I’ve been inactive on this website, and now as pissed as I am that I lost ALL THAT WORK, I really have been feeling the urge to start photoblogging again. This time, I’m feeling more blogging how I’m feeling along with my images, so a touch more personal than before. For some reason, I had sort of thought that was the original idea behind this thing.

But we’ll see.

Where do I even begin...?

So much has happened since that last post, and it’s nearly impossible to summarize almost 8 years in one shot, but I can probably gloss over it.

I, in fact, did not put my life back together after that last picture. In fact, I am pretty sure I fell into the deepest depression of my life a few months later. Like, only eating an apple, an orange, and two bananas each day because you couldn’t afford any more food nor did you feel like eating anything else level depression. Did wonders for my weight, but it just about shattered my ability to form and maintain memories. Seriously, my college years are kind of just a blur now, which is incredibly depressing, because I know they were some of the most important years of my life, but they’re just... gone. Not all gone, mind you, but there’s an overwhelming amount of fog there. It destroyed my relationship with a lot of people, or at least made me fizzle out in their lives... I lived for Loki, my family, and to do nothing but work. People would reach out, and I simply could not bring myself to respond. It didn’t get better for a long, long time. In retrospect, it’s honestly a miracle I’m still here... honestly, if it wasn’t for Loki or my mother, I probably wouldn’t be. I am better now, in a way where I at least am not at that level. Still haven’t gone to therapy, but I’m at least looking for one now and don’t feel like I’m at that rock bottom anymore.

To be fair, the drinking didn’t help the whole memory holes thing I mentioned, either. I wouldn’t call myself sober nowadays, but one very important memory I have in college is the time I had to work at a convention while hung over as fuck, and between hating working after a night of booze, working at least 5 days a week, and the fact I was making piss poor nothing out of college, I stopped drinking almost altogether. I won’t say no to a drink (unless I’m really not feeling it), but I think that I have a far more healthy relationship with alcohol nowadays.

Speaking of jobs and making piss poor nothing- I have been working at that same job since I got hired on a hail mary chance shortly after graduating. I am going to do my best to never name it by name on this blog (they have kind of a funny social media policy, and god help me if any of my management friends/cohort/coworkers ever find this), but I will say it’s a well loved convenience store in the mid Atlantic region and leave it at that. Nowadays, I am an assistant general manager, which is a hell of a step up from the like 8-something dollars an hour I started at. It wasn’t an easy path, and it certainly had some downfalls, but right now I am happy where I am at and I still believe in the company and what it stands for. Plus, it pays the bills, so that’s nice.

I’m still living in Philadelphia, in the same apartment I moved to after leaving The Lost World behind. It’s on a quiet(ish) little corner on the boarder of Fairmount and Brewerytown, with lots of trees nearby and some beautiful sights in walking distance. The rent is cheap for the area, my landlords leave me to my own devices, and it’s a relative hub of transit options. I’ve had a few roommates in my time here... most have not been great, but I did get to live with Luke (a highlight) and the one roommate I had here for maybe 5-6 years, Issy, ended up being one of my best friends. Right now, Loki and I are doing the solo living thing, and with my raises at work and some strict spending management on my end, it’s honestly not terrible. I’m really enjoying not having another roommate, and I hope I can keep it up for a while.

Speaking of Loki... my lil old man is doing alright. He’s had a few health scares over the years, a few bladder issues that kept him on medicated food, a heart murmur, and now thyroid problems. He’s like 13 or 14 at this point, so it’s to be expected. I think about how he’s old quite often as of late, and it fills me with a sense of dread. I don’t like that he’s in the twilight of his life, even though he still acts like a kitten with running and playing and being a little ridiculous goofball. I really can’t imagine my life without him.

As for brighter things...

I finally got over my fear of basic math and took a stab at playing Dungeons and Dragons a few years ago, and I am so glad I did. It’s honestly been a life changing thing for me, and a huge part of my social life nowadays. I started DMing in 2017 or 2018 on my birthday, and while COVID put most of the campaigns I run on hiatus, I’m slowly getting back into the DM saddle. It’s helped me make some amazing friends while also express some of those crazy story ideas I’ve had rumbling around in my brain since I was a kid. Truly a 10/10 experience.

I somehow ended up as a Twitch affiliate, and I actually get paid to stream nowadays. I was part of enough D&D streams on my own that it motivated me to start streaming games again, and shit, it paid off. I’ve been a key organizer in at least 5 fundraisers now, and helped raise a shit load of funds over the past few years for some awesome causes while doing some ridiculous things online. It’s been a great experience.

Perhaps the most shocking of all things, however, is that I finally made the discovery and come to grips with the fact I’m polyamorous. If you’ve known me for as long as I’ve had a Tumblr, this is probably pretty shocking, especially given that my first experience with polyamory was less ethical nonmonogamy and more my ex sleeping with whoever she wanted guilt free because she couldn't do long distance relationships and I was some sort of weird emotional crutch for her, and it traumatized me to the idea for a long time. However, in my last major relationship, I had this realization that I could probably happily be in a polyamorous relationship if the communication was there, and while I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my monogamous relationship to find that out, if there ever was a reason I was single again, I was going to try it out. Well, after we split and then COVID ruined everyone’s lives (and another pretty unfortunate relationship), I tried the solo poly thing for a while, because the person I needed to date the most at that point was myself.

Well, I kind of failed at that part a bit, as now I have not one but two girlfriends. Sarah, who is married, is the first, and Katie, who I am definitely going to marry, is the second. I met Sarah around August of 2021, and while I was supposed to be just a fun time bonus thing for her (she was in two other relationships at this point), she eventually caught the feels and we eventually talked it out. I met Katie in November of the same year, and it was like finding everything I ever wanted in a partner in a single human being. I won’t say it was love at first sight, but it was definitely love a lot quicker than I think I was comfortable with admitting. I’ve had a few missteps along the way, and it’s occasionally been a bit messy, but it’s been a great experience regardless and I am very happy with my relationships.

If I had to ask 2015 Ian, as he looked into that broken mirror on that October night, what he thought his life would look like nowadays, I don’t think he would have believed me if I had told him almost all of his expectations were wrong. But I think that’s probably a good thing.

I don’t really have much else to add to wrap this up, only that I am going to try my damndest to actually blog here a bit more and get some of the feelings and thougths I have off my chest. I don’t really think any of the followers I have on this Tumblr use it anymore, nor do I think many of them would really care what I have to say anymore. This isn’t for the notes or views, though.

This is for me.

Til next time...

#self portrait #nikon d300s #black and white #personal blogging

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