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#so thank you so much to everyone who's donated so far
hunkydorkling · 2 years
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One thing that rings truer each day sometime after the Philippine elections: Love is real. Love is so fucking real. And if you have to be angry for love, go and fucking fight for it at the same time.
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fairuzfan · 2 months
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MARCH 4TH-MARCH 10TH NORTH GAZA DONATION DRIVE!
Thank you so much everyone for your continued support these past few weeks. Because the situation in the North is incredibly dire and your support has been so generous, we decided to open a North Gaza specific drive from March 4th-March 10th where 100% of the donations made during this time will be sent to families in North Gaza so that they may buy food and other necessary supplies!
Hussam has a special video he narrates where you can see the level of destruction caused to the North of Gaza these past few months. This video was taken just two days ago exclusively for this campaign.
If you can't donate, please consider spreading the word far and wide across multiple different platforms!
More Info about Help Gaza Children located here.
Please, please, please consider donating today! This will help so many families who are literally starving! No amount is too little!!
Note: due to technical difficulties we aren't able to continue Help North Gaza campaign separately at this time. We will update you with information regarding the previous campaign I published as soon as we receive it.
ID: the video is of the decimation caused to North Gaza both in aerial view and walking through the streets.
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mysillycomics · 4 months
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Hi everyone! This is Claire. I am writing to let you all know that we did it. We saved Bailey and Tiger Fluff, and we all live together in an apartment in Illinois, my home state. We really, really did it!!!
You can read our thanks, thoughts, and more under the read more :0)
(note: Oliver also goes by Bailey! She has two names.)
There are many important people on this journey that we would like to specifically thank.
First, all of our friends (especially Peregrine, Sophie, and Jackson) who were there on the day Bailey was evicted, who listened to me and helped me figure out what to do when I felt more lost than I’ve ever been. Without them we wouldn’t have been able to act so quickly and efficiently. Because of them, we were able to formulate a plan.
Speaking of Jackson, he and his partner Cherri need to be thanked once again. Jackson drove all the way from his home, Bailey’s motel, and back to get both her and Tiger to a place to stay while we figured out what to do next. They provided a warm, quiet, and safe place for both of them in a time when something like that was so far away. For the first time in a long time, I knew that Bailey was truly somewhere safe. For that, we will be forever grateful.
While we do not have their names, we would like to thank the staff of the airport and airline who helped make this journey objectively possible. They also made Tiger into a little celebrity on the flight, and everyone, including the pilot, went to greet her and congratulate her for being so brave. She really is the bravest little kitty we know.
Next are my very close friends Elle and Callan, who invited Bailey and Tiger to stay at their house not far from mine while we secured a place of our own. They, like Jackson and Cherri, gave both of them the space to simply be. I was able to visit a couple of times, and being with my favorite people made an extremely difficult time so much better. It made me think “this feeling is what we are fighting for”.
Finally, we’d like to thank you.
To all of you who read and shared our story, you helped us to feel seen and heard and not alone. Reading words of support in the comments, quote retweets, and tumblr tags truly made me feel like we could do this with everyone cheering us on.
To everyone who donated, your generosity this financially possible. As of writing, we received $19,381 from the GoFundMe. We are now able to use the rest of funds that have been tucked away in savings for rent, food, and bills. I cannot overstate how grateful we both are. What you did for us will never leave our hearts.
While Bailey and Fluffy were at Elle and Callan’s, we found an apartment. It was small, but perfect. We toured. We applied. And we got it.
And on December 9th, 2023, we moved in and started living together! Our goal, our dream, our driving force for so long was achieved. After three years of long distance, we finally made it.
Our home is small, and has some quirks as all homes do, but it’s ours. The love of my life, the best little cat in the word, and I are all together. We are safe, warm, happy, and loved. The future we fought so hard for us now the present. Forgive me for being long-winded. I just have so much to say about all of this! Sometimes I still can’t believe that we actually did it. But we did, we really did!!!
I’m going to keep the GoFundMe up for a little bit, but once things settle more I will close donations.
Thank you!!!!!!!!! 🧸💕
____
Hey everyone Bailey here, I cannot overstate just how grateful I am to every single one of you and how thankful I am that this journey has been able to come into fruition. It was very scary being in that motel not having a plan or knowing what I was gonna do next while everything was crumbling around me. If it wasn't for Claire and our incredibly kind and caring friends I don't know what I'd do. They helped me press on and get through this with Fluff and we finally did.
Finally we're in a place that brings nothing but peace and comfort, my anxiety has dropped and I'm doing things I've never thought possible and building up strengths I never knew I had, I feel whole in a way that I've never felt before and I'm just, happy.
I am so grateful to have Claire, for years she's been so supportive and comforting and has brought this dream we've had into reality and every day I am so thankful to have her, she is the love of my life and my best friend. The life that her, myself and Fluff now share will forever be together and we can finally begin living. 💚💜
Thank you everyone, thank you to our friends who let Fluff and I into their lives to be able to be safe while we get our bearings, thank you to everyone who said such kind and wonderfully compassionate words, cheering us on as we go, every day I was looking at the community post I made on YT and it was just filled with people being so supportive, and thank you everyone who donated and got us into where we are. We could not have done it without all of you. 🐟 ❤️ 🐟 ❤️
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genderqueerdykes · 1 month
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homeless disabled trans person needs help paying for hotel, storage unit & phone while government assistance housing program keeps delaying their move in date
March 21st, 3/21/2024: hello, I'm equinox or Johnny, I'm a severely multiply disabled trans person living in a hotel right now due to not being able to afford apartments on the housing market right now. i have a guaranteed apartment through a government assistance program, but their compliance team keeps delaying my move in date because they cannot figure out how to calculate my earned income because i am self employed. they have been running me in circles asking for the exact same information for six months and have been becoming increasingly more condescending and rude as I've pointed out that they're asking for information i physically cannot provide, like "bank statements" for GoFundMe, a fundraiser website that considers all money earned personal gifts, and tumblr bank statements.
i haven't been able to get my hormones in weeks.
i was promised to move into my apartment on the 7th, then the 11th of this month, and it was requested of me to put the electricity bill in my name so I could get moved in as soon as possible. I did this and now i have a $20 electric bill in my name because they've delayed for so long. my unit has been sitting empty for 6 months and now I'm expected to pay for the electricity that is running in a 1 bedroom apartment I'm not living in.
i have been homeless for 6 months straight. i have been living in my hotel for 2 months. my hotel has been without WiFi for a month which forced me to get a Tracfone with a data plan so I can do my job and communicate with this apartment complex via email. i unfortunately need to buy more data because this has taken so long. most of my possessions including large portions of my stock and shipping supplies are in my storage unit, of which the $78 bill is due in 3 days.
the hotel I'm staying at is normally $40/night but the prices are skyrocketing this weekend because this is a very cheap hotel due to its low rates. i can't afford any of these nights independently of each other, let alone altogether, and it's Thursday and i haven't heard a single word about my move in date.
i have been depressed and crying for days, i cracked a tooth from clenching my teeth and i haven't been sleeping due to stress and nightmares. anything helps. thank you for taking the time to read and support and share. everyone has kept me housed for 2 months so far. i owe you all so much
cash app: $glitterGraphix
venmo: @ Equinoxian
chime: @ Equinoxian
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hoseokieswrld · 6 months
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STILL DON'T KNOW MY NAME | JJK (M)
CHAPTER ONE:
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Pairing: Jungkook x fem!reader
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Summary: In which a video game streamer, Jeon Jungkook, finds— and is intrigued by— an account that writes nsfw fanfiction about him and decides to send them a private message. He still doesn’t know your name.
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Genre: smut, pwp, internet strangers to lovers
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Category: three-shot
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Collab with: @dollfaceksj —> her masterlist
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Banner by: @archivedkookie
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WARNINGS: sexting, explicit sexual content, strong language, pornography, cybersex, exchanging in nude photos, hidden identities
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total word count: 4.7k. masterlist next part—>
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“Ah, fuck! He got me where I couldn’t see him!”Jungkook yells into his microphone, frustrated at his followers during his twitch stream. “Damn it, I was so close.” Jungkook puts his face into his palms, looking at his monitor and seeing all the comments being left in the chat.
User386290: Damn jk he got your ass lmao
Jkssideh0e: aww kook dw you're still fine asf
Jungkook ignores the thirst comments. They don’t make him uncomfortable, he’s just used to them. Don’t get him wrong, he loves the thirst comments and they actually give him a little ego boost. Whenever he loses at something, he tends to get very annoyed and end the stream.
“Well, that didn’t go as planned and that honestly killed the mood,” Jungkook weakly laughs. “It's getting late and I’ve already been streaming for two and a half hour anyway, so I think I’m gonna end the stream guys, sorry.” He turns his attention to his camera. There seems to be lots of women in today's stream judging from the comments left in the chat.
Kookswrld: noooo dont go yet bby >:(
Ashln00: im gonna miss ur sexy ass
yrma4l: leaving us already wow whtevr
“Don’t worry, guys. I’ll stream tomorrow night at the same time and I’ll be posting some clips of tonight's stream later on my Twitter and Instagram for you guys to rewatch.” He’s really appreciative of his followers and he enjoys seeing them beg him to stay on stream, even if some of the comments are sometimes a little out of pocket.
“Okay, I’m gonna hop off the stream now. Thanks to everybody who joined and donated on my stream today. I really appreciate you guys, and tomorrow I’ll come back on and play COD with some of you guys too. Goodnight, everyone!” Jungkook waves as the comments bid him goodbye.
Jkssideh0e: bye bby
Cl0v3r2000: see u tmw sexy
Jeoncjungk: byeee!! :)
_elicticmoonl1ght: you did so well today baby ill def tune in tmw ;))
Jungkook smiles at the pet names, not being able to contain his flusteredness from the camera. The compliments he gets from his followers are much flirtier to him.
Jungkook has been streaming for a little over a year now. At first, it started out as a silly little hobby when he had some free time after his friend Taehyung suggested he should start streaming. After a while, more and more people started to join and watch his lives. Not only was Jungkook good at video games but he was also insanely attractive, one of the reasons he has such a large female audience. After gaining more followers by the day, his once-a-week streams became twice a week, which then resulted in five times a week. Jungkook never thought his love for video games would get him this far, it was only a silly hobby of his. A year later, he has 1 million followers that watch and share his streams. He truly loves his followers.
Jungkook finally ends the two and a half hour stream. He gets up, washes up for the night before he gets into bed. He’s had a pretty long day between photography sessions he does on the side and streaming, so he’s glad he has time to lie down in bed and edit videos for the night.
After posting, he decides to scroll through his feed on twitter since he hasn’t all day.
@lili57_: Jungkook on his stream today tho?!! Yall gotta hold me back fr he is TOO fine my god.
@jjkkoooks: jk got another tattoo?? he is wattpad come to life 😛
That’s until he scrolls on his Twitter timeline and notices a familiar username.
_elicticmoonl1ght
Where did he recognize that name from? He thinks long and hard from his stream’s chat today, and finally remembers. This definitely has to be the same user from earlier, so the only logical thing Jungkook thinks to do is press on the account’s page.
“Holy shit,” are the first words that come out of his mouth as his eyes practically bulge out of his skull.
“NSFW 18+ ONLY ACCOUNT DEDICATED TO JEON JUNGKOOK” were the first words in your bio…and then the multiple threads of sexual content you write about Jungkook.
A whole nsfw account dedicated to me? I didn’t think people would go out of their day to write explcit stories about me. Jungkook’s thoughts are clouding his mind. He knows he has very loyal followers who watch and share all his streams, but this? Jungkook would have never thought in a million years that people would make porn accounts about him. He’s just a regular dude in his 20s who likes to play video games.
Jungkook decides to go through your page, each post making him more flustered the more he scrolls down. Fuck, do you know how to write, he thinks to himself, truly amazed at how you write each scenario to every last detail, making it sound realistic. That is until he almost cums on the spot, heart racing faster than ever when he comes across one of your most updated posts:
"Mmh, fuck, Kook. Right there, please, don't stop," I whine into the comforter of the mattress while my boyfriend pounds into my soaked pussy from behind, knocking the breath out of my lungs.
"Yeah, baby, like that? I'm gonna make this pussy squirt for me," Jungkook groans out, going harder and faster on me, constantly spanking my ass to make sure he leaves his mark.
Jungkook is starting to get way too hard for his liking. He is so incredibly turned on by your writing, he has never expected to grow an erection from reading fictional porn about him. He mentally debates with himself whether jerking off to this is weird or not, but then realizes he hasn’t gotten himself off in days.
Porn isn’t doing it for him anymore, so he hasn’t watched it in weeks. He feels like the porn now isn’t real or natural. A girl screaming her head off like she was getting murdered was not even remotely hot to him, so he hasn’t had the desire to watch anything of the sort. Jungkook also had a few sneaky links here and there, but hasn’t hooked up with any in months. Unfortunately, he felt like they got too clingy and they even started to expect more from him. So now that he’s by himself, jerking off to this doesn’t seem like a bad idea, especially if it’s about him.
Oh, fuck it, Jungkook surrenders to himself and pulls down his sweatpants just past his balls, cock springing to life and hitting his stomach. Jungkook quickly scrambles to open his bedside table to pull out his lotion he uses for times like these. Impatiently, he squirts a good amount of the lotion into his palm and wraps his large tattooed hand around his throbbing cock.
Jungkook’s body jerks from the sensation of his lotioned hand stroking his sensitive cock, slightly squeezing the tip. His veiny cock twitches, begging for a release of some sort. His chest slightly heaves, forgetting how pleasing himself every once in a while can feel so good. “Mhm- Fuck,” he sighs quietly, picking up his phone to continue reading your post.
“Gonna cum, Kook, fuck, I’m gonna cum.” I mewl out from the immense amount of pleasure my boyfriend is giving me with his huge girthy cock, constantly rubbing against my g-spot. He shuts me up with a rough steamy kiss, never slowing down the pace of his hard thrusts. My back slightly starts hurting from being so deeply arched for him, but I can’t say I don’t like it.
He pulls away from the kiss, a long string of saliva connecting the both of our lips still. “Yeah, you're gonna cum for me? All talk until I give your bratty ass attention.” Jungkook says through gritted teeth, wrapping a hand in my hair and pulling it backwards to expose my beautiful, untouched neck to him. He leans in, harshly nibbling and sucking on my skin, leaving it bruised and bitten. I can’t help but admit defeat and whimper under his touch.
“I’m still being a cunt, right? Isn’t that what you said earlier? Huh, baby? Answer me.” Jungkook pulls on my hair again, waiting for my reply. He can’t help but go harder from my desperation, tears building up in the corners of my eyes from how hard he’s gripping my hair.
Jungkook can’t stop reading, finding your bratty attitude so fucking hot, imagining himself fucking into your tight, warm pussy faster. He gets more comfortable in bed, laying down as he squeezes the tip of his cock with every stroke of his large hand, more and more precum spilling out fromhis tip. His lips become red and swollen from biting down on them in a lousy attempt to contain his little whines and groans.
What makes this even hotter is him not knowing what you look like, sending him into a horny headspace. Still fisting his hard, lengthy cock, he gathers spit in his mouth, letting it dribble from his lips onto the head of his swollen dick, a little saliva getting caught in his dark pubes. He whines as he feels some of his saliva dripping down to his balls, the sound of fapping noises filling the room.
“N-no, Kook, you’re not. M’sorry, please- fuck,” I plead my boyfriend as he palms my tits under my tank top, letting the straps fall off my shoulders. He continues to feel me up, occasionally twisting and pinching my sensitive nipples.
Your words and writing make him imagine you, a mystery girl, begging him to fuck you. This is exactly what he likes. His cock only oozes more precum and begs for release. Jungkook takes off his shirt and the rest of his sweats, fully naked in the darkness of his bedroom. He wipes the layer of sweat off of his forehead and massages his balls a bit more, the sensation too good to stop.
“Gonna give what you want baby, yeah?” He finally lets me cum after teasing and torturing me for far too long.
This is the part Jungkook’s been waiting for. The tension building up was enough to get him excited, but this is the part he’s been looking forward to the most. This is what has him thrilled, reading about him finally letting you cum. He can’t describe how badly he wants your tight, velvety walls wrapping around his thick cock. Jungkook recreates the feeling of it by squeezing his hard member with his large palm, moaning a little louder than before.
“Fuck- I’m cumming,” I whine, wrapping my legs around his waist forcing him closer to me.
Is this girl keeping tabs on him? Jungkook can’t tell if he finds it weird or hot that this is exactly how he likes it in real life. He loves how his hands grip your thighs and his fingers sink into the supple flesh. For him, it's the best position. Hitting it from behind. Reading about it makes this ten times better. The way he has a close look at a girl's pussy and ass, her back arched so deeply into the mattress; it only shows how much more power he has over her in bed. He simply loves it. Jungkook can already feel himself getting closer, but wants to finish reading before he cums.
Jungkook keeps a hard steady pace, never losing track of his harsh pace. I can feel his cock throb inside of me, knowing that he’s close to cumming.
“Oh- fuck,” Jungkook groans, imagining him doing this in real life. The way you describe yourself for him is a major turn on, wishing you weren’t just a fake scenario but in his room instead. Fuck, he never knew he could be so envious of his ownself. His cock spurts even more precum than before, the darkness of his bedroom full of skin slapping sounds from the way he jerks himself off so fast. He can only imagine his lotioned hand being your tight soaked cunt.
I finally cum, legs shaking from how powerful my orgasm is. I dig my nails into Jungkook’s big arms when he doesn’t stop fucking into me. Being so fucked out like this drives himcloser to his high, his body collapsing on top of mine as he thrusts into me a few more times as I clench and tear up from the overstimulation.
“Fuck, baby, gonna cum inside you. That okay with you?” Jungkook desperately speaks out into my ear, waiting for my permission.
“Yeah, cum inside me, want your cum in me so bad, Kook.”
Your begging is enough to send Jungkook over the edge. He whines loudly, arm on fire from how hard he jerks himself off, chest heaving. He bites his lip harder, sticking his tongue out to play with his piercings, abs clenching as he’s only a few seconds away from cumming.
Jungkook finally cums inside of me with his final thrust, making my cunt feel so full.
“Fuckkk,” Jungkook groans out as he finally releases all over his stomach and hand, palm never slowing down while stroking his throbbing cock. It drips down in thick layers over his tattooed fingers, falling onto his dark pubic hair. Jungkook swears he’s never cum that hard from masturbating in his life.
He takes a second to recollect himself, still slightly in a daze. Jungkook points his attention downward to his stomach, heaving up and down with every breath. He notices the way his cum sticks to his big fingers. He slightly rubs his cock a little more, the feeling too good to stop, the loose skin going up and down with every stroke.
He stops after a few seconds, being slightly overstimulated. He reaches over to his bedside table, grabbing a few tissues and wiping off the cum from his stomach and lotion from his hand. Jungkook can’t lie, he really enjoyed reading and getting off to that, and wouldn’t be opposed to doing it again. He could scroll all night reading all of your horny thoughts and posts, you are really good at it.
That's when he gets an idea. He obviously can’t keep stalking and liking your posts from his professional streaming account, that would just blow his cover.
He quickly logs out of his personal account and creates a new burner account with the username ian_97. Jungkook quickly sets up his account making it look less like a fake bot account which results in him putting a picture of his dog, Bam, as the profile picture. He quickly edits his bio which consists of his real age and where he's from. There’s no way you’d think it's actually Jungkook who's following and liking all your posts. Would you even notice his account? You already have 3,000 followers who like and interact with all your posts, mostly being fanpages of him, so there isn’t much to worry about.
Jungkook follows your account, liking a bunch of your posts. He hates himself for getting a little hard, but nothing he can't sleep off. He wonders how you even found him and got interested enough to make an entire nsfw account about him. He’s not complaining though, he finds it hot as fuck.
Jungkook checks the time. ‘It's 12:30 am already? That means I've been reading through her account for like an hour, holy shit.’ Jungkook blinks at how long he’s been caught up in your page. He sighs, plugging his phone into the charger, deciding it's time to get some sleep. Jungkook remembers the long list of errands he has to carry out tomorrow morning which partially makes him annoyed but not much since he needs to get out of the house. He soon falls asleep peacefully, with you on his mind.
——————————————————————————-
A week and a half has passed since Jungkook’s little smut reading session and finding your page. Since then, he’s gotten so busy with life, doing the photography sessions he does on the side, home chores, and taking care of Bam which is a huge chore in itself. For some reason, he’s had a huge rush in which people want to book with him. Jungkook is glad people enjoy his work, don't get him wrong, but it's more complicated than it seems.
Jungkook spends hours if not days editing all the pictures he’s taken, and him being a perfectionist does not make it a quick task. Getting caught up with all of this ends in him not streaming in over a week, knowing his followers have been begging him to go live. He misses his followers a bunch, and needs to take his mind off things, so after he finishes editing all his pictures and sending them to his clients, he decides to go live.
“Hey everyone, miss me? Sorry I’ve been gone for a while, I got caught up in a lot with some personal matters. And yes, I’ve seen all your tweets begging me to go live and play COD. Well, your wish has been granted!” Jungkook enthusiastically states while reading the comments.
jjkgf613: finally we missed u!!
hoe4.jk: HES BACKKKKK!!!
kookiejjar: heyy hope you're alright :(
“Thanks guys, I missed y’all too, and don’t worry! I’m okay, just been putting a lot of stuff off that needed to be done. Other than that, it's all good! I’m back to streaming for you guys.” Jungkook is glad he has so many people that care for him, he couldn’t ask for better, more supportive followers.
kookswrld: yayyy we got our jungkook back :0
Jungkook chuckles and smiles, but it quickly drops from his face as his eyes drop to the comment right under it.
_elictmoonl1ght: missed u !
Jungkook’s cock twitches in his sweats, memories flooding back in from almost 2 weeks ago when he got off your posts. Fuck, how could I forget? He mentally argues with himself on how that totally slipped his mind. He wonders if you noticed his burner account following you or if you wrote more posts on your page about him. Jungkook quickly snaps out of it, clearing his throat, remembering he’s live streaming with 300k people watching.
“A-ahem, sorry guys, I thought I heard Bam or something. Uhm, let's just get back to the stream.” Jungkook clears his throat, trying to play off the long awkward pause in his stream, cheeks heating when he realizes how deep he was in his thoughts about you. Fuck, he needs to get a grip.
Fortunately, Jungkook is well distracted in his game and interacting with his followers for the past 2 hours, making up for his almost 2 weeks absence. He yawns as he glances at the clock above his screen which reads 10:39 pm. It's late and his eyes are starting to burn from staring at the screen for too long, deciding it's time to end the stream.
“Okay guys, it's getting late so I think I’m going to end the stream. Thank you guys for playing with me, I had a lot of fun reconnecting with y'all. I’ll definitely be going live again soon this week. Don’t forget to check out Instagram and Twitter for more updates. Love you guys, goodnight! ” Jungkook waves at his camera above his monitor, giving his fans a genuine sweet smile. The comments bid him goodbye.
Kookiejjar: gn <33
User386290: seen u soon
Jkssideh0e: gn bf :)))
Jungkook ends the stream, exhausted but happy he got to go live. Streaming is his main source of income, but he does it because he enjoys it, not because it makes him the most money. Also, he makes money off of his sponsorships and photography sessions. Jungkook is pretty financially stable for a 27 year old, it's just him and Bam.
Jungkook cooks himself a small late night meal after his stream, remembering he didn’t get the chance to eat dinner. He makes his favorite go-to meal: spicy buldak ramen. Even though he might regret it later, he doesn’t care, eager to finally eat something after a few hours.
Jungkook finishes his meal and washes all the dishes he used, then puts Bam back into his play pen. He feels sweaty and dirty after his long day, deciding to take a nice hot shower before bed. He relaxes under the shower faucet, not realizing how tense he is. Fuck, loosen up man, he mentally puts himself in check. Jungkook has piled up a lot of stress this past week and a half. Embarrassingly, he hasn’t gotten himself off or had sex in even longer. Jungkook freezes as he remembers earlier events from his day.
“_elictmoonl1ght: missed u!”
Jungkook quickly finishes his shower, turning off the faucet, drying himself off at the speed of light, not even bothering to put on any clothes. He sprints to his bed, rips his phone off its charger and clicks on Twitter.
Jungkook’s stomach bubbles in excitement wondering how much he’s missed your account. He switches from his personal streaming account to his burner, immediately pressing onto your profile. The first thing he sees is an off guard picture of his side profile with the tip of his pink tongue playing with his lips rings from today's stream. He looks so focused and sexy, yet his cock twitches when he reads the caption:
@_elictmoonl1ght: the nose, the piercings, the jaw line, his lips THE TONGUE??!!! needa to ride his face until he begs me to stop. Fuck, i swear he gets more fine everytime he streams :P
Jungkook throws his phone to the side, stripping from his clothings. He throws his shirt and boxers somewhere on the floor of his room, lying down on his bed. Impatiently, he spits into the palm of his hand, too eager to get up and grab his lotion, and places his hand on his cock, stroking until it's firm.
His long and large fingers wrap around his veiny dick, sticky and wet from his saliva. He lets out a small whimper, cock a little sensitive from not being able to get off for almost two weeks. His cock is red, spurting a bit of precum just from imagining how horny you must’ve been when you wrote about him. Jungkook wishes you were with him right now, stroking his hard cock for him, begging him to cum for you.
He continues to scroll down your page, exclusively looking for explicit posts you’ve written about him. A few swipes later, he finds a new and different story you’ve posted. Jungkook presses on the thread and begins reading, smiling from excitement.
Jungkook roughly pushes me onto the bed, stripping me of my clothes.
“Wet as fuck, baby. All for me, right?” Jungkook eyes down my figure, pulling me to the edge of the bed as he takes off my shorts, leaving me in only my underwear.
“Yeah, Kook, just for you, please don’t tease,.” I beg Jungkook as he traces my slit through my panties, sticking them more to my core than before.
Jungkook quickens the pace he strokes his cock at, imagining you, the mystery writer, laying spread out in front of him in your little panties, giving him a full view of your ass and pussy. If you were here, he’d toy with your pussy outside of your underwear, tracing his finger over your lower lips, making sure to press down on your tight, soaked hole, smacking your ass after watching it jiggle. His pace never stops, nipples becoming hard from the cold air in his room, yet every other part of his body is on fire.
“Gonna give you what you want,” Jungkook begins as he pulls down my panties and throws them onto the floor. He lowers himself in front of me, eyeing my soaked cunt, clit begging for some sort of stimulation. He begins by kissing my inner thighs a few times, occasionally biting on them, causing me to whimper in pain.
After a minute of teasing, he finally brings his lips to my cunt, giving it a long, slow lick from my hole to my clit.
“Shit,” Jungkook groans, eating pussy is one of his favorite things to do. It’s crazy how you’ve been writing about all the things he likes. His cock twitches at the thought of having his head between your thighs, imagining your pussy to be plump and soaked for him, clit throbbing whenever his nose bumps into it. He groans out, never stopping the pace he strokes his veiny cock at, wishing he could have the taste of you in his mouth.
“L-like that, Kook,.” I beg him as he devours me like I’m his last meal. He doesn’t take a moment to breathe, but instead constantly sucks on my clit, occasionally moving down to lick at my quivering hole. However, he stops and removes his face from my pussy. His face is covered in my wetness, some of it on the tip of his nose to his chin.
“Sit up,” he demands me while he lays down on his back. That's it? He’s not going to finish the job?
I sit up and stare at him in confusion when the next few words he says makes my pussy clench in desire.
“Ride my face. C’mon, babe.” Jungkook urges me to straddle his face. I’ve never sat on his face, but I’m not opposed to it.
I straddle him, his eyes staring straight into mine as he grabs the back of my thighs, wasting no time in urging me to sit on his face. When I finally lower myself onto him, I jolt from the pleasure. His nose begins to hit directly onto my clit, wet tongue proding at my hole.
“Fuck, feels so good, Kook, d-dont stop,” I plead him, my legs shaking on each side of his head. His tongue and nose constantly working on my pussy has me lightheaded, my words becoming squeals and whines. I decide to be bold, slightly rocking my hips back and forth across his face, lifting myself up every few seconds to let him breathe.
Jungkook fists his cock at a fast, rough pace. Your words were perfect and made it so realistic to imagine. Jungkook pants, “Fuckkk mh- yeah, like that, baby,” as he imagines you humping his face. His balls tighten, thinking about how tight and wet your pussy probably is. He dreams of your plump pussy constantly rubbing onto his nose and lips, maybe even feeling some of your shortly trimmed pubes brush against his skin.
Jungkook is so fucking close, losing it at the thought of your wetness still connecting your pussy to his mouth. His stomach clenches, eyes squeezing shut, feeling a dribble of sweat running down his defined abs. His cock is harder than ever in these past two weeks. His cock is begging to release all the cum he’s been holding in, balls tensing at the thought of cumming everywhere.
Jungkook can tell I’m close by the way I have a tight grip on his hair, and my constant begs to cum. He eventually complies and gives a final kiss to my pussy.
“Want you to come now. That good with you, baby?” He says as he shoves his mouth onto my poor swollen pussy, not even giving me the chance to answer him.
Jungkook doesn’t stop with his rough sucking and licks, determined to make me cum all over his face. My moans and begs are louder than before, my hands gripping his long, luscious hair. He brings all his attention to my clit, sucking on it harshly. My stomach snaps from all the pressure.
“Mh- cumming, Kook. C-cumming,” I cry out as I ride out my high on his tongue and lips, not stopping until I soak his entire face.
Jungkook finally reaches his breaking point, hot white cum coating the back of his hand and stomach, a little seeping onto his belly button. He continues to milk his cock dry until he whimpers from the overstimulation. He just can’t stop. Not knowing who you are or how you look makes the situation even hotter. You don’t have to show him how you look, your words are just enough to make him cum.
Jungkook finally stops stroking his cock, but leaves his tattooed hand there. It might’ve been the little bit of horniness left in him, but he decides to be a little bold. He clicks on your account, scrolls to the top of your page and presses the little message button in the top right corner, and at that he sends you the message.
“hey, your writing is amazing and i cant lie turns me on a lot. Wanna see if u can put those words to good use bby:)”
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a/n: hi guys! i really hope you enjoyed part 1 of sdkmn! this is my very first fic ever and im glad to share it yall finally!! i have no idea when part 2 will be sooo pls dont ask LOL but i hope yall enjoyed it and are ready for the next part! pls don’t be shy to share or reblog they are very much appreciated! id also like to thank @dollfaceksj and @peachypinkygloss for helping me so much through the writing process and making this story 10x better!! my asks are always open and i hope yall stay tuned for part 2! thank youuu🫶🏻🥹💞 -eli
taglist:
@dollfaceksj @nini_07777 @ahgasegotarmy116 @jm1003myg @gxtwllsn @babycandy111
@kelly-fushiguro345 @jksjx @earth2fae @kissyfacekoo @s3l3n0phil3 @llallaaa @kingofbodyrolls @jkslaugh97 @diorh0seokie e @rooonilwaazlib @Rosymermaidsinthesand @taebae19 @honeeybunneey @lesoleile @kookssecret @butterymin @ohsweetmimosa
@i-like-puppy-mg @screamertannie
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armysantiny · 1 month
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-[chan; soft bf headcanon
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P: Chan x gender neutral reader | G: fluff, headcanon | Inc: graphic designer!reader, getting together, friends to lovers, the rest of skz being (lovingly) fed up, date nights, late night walks | Wc: 503 | W: none iirc | R: G
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My favourite single father of seven/j
Meeting Chan was almost fate, honestly
You’re a graphic designer and happen to love designing album covers
Stray Kids were finishing up an album and needed a graphic designer to help create the album covers
Lo and behold~
You and Chan meet!
Bonding during meeting after meeting while the creative process goes about working its magic
The bonding sessions turn into dropping by each other’s workspace
By which I mean you  visiting Chan’s studio pretty much every time you have a lunch break and bringing a snack with you
Which he greatly appreciates <3
Because he never leaves that room/j
The speed at which you two become best friends is impeccable
Very much a duo – especially the kind that are always seen hanging out together
The feelings start not too long after too
There is one problem though... you’re both oblivious
Painfully oblivious
Somehow you both can’t see that the other is head over heels, and it doesn’t take long for the rest of skz to start taking matters into their own hands
They love you, really, but the running around in circles is going to drive them a little mad
Just a little :D
They keep trying to bash hints over your heads
Which is ironic because the confession happens so quickly
Catches everyone off guard fr
The two of you are hanging out late and it gets blurted out
Cue quick discussion over what you want in a relationship and boom—
Y’all are a couple now! Everyone liked that
Chan being your boyfriend comes with seven other people because none of these men know what the meaning of the phrase personal space is
Baby I don’t make the rules here, this is just the truth
You take it in stride though, which Chan appreciates
Oh yeah, and this man is a hugger
A certified cuddler I’m telling you
I’m convinced he needs his arms around you for thirty minutes a day, every day, at least
Will have you sit in his lap while he works so he can get his daily y/n cuddles
Try to move and watch him whine I swear—
Do you not want his affection anymore??/j
Lmao but despite how busy the both of you are, date nights are wonderful
He plans dinner reservations on days you’re both free and refuses to listen to anyone asking him to work
Date nights are for the two of you and the two of you only <33
Walks hand-in-hand with you after dinner and you stop by a few stalls
If you happen to pass by an arcade, he’s gonna win you a plushie from the claw machine
Sure he spends a little too much on it, but it’s all good fun
Especially worth it to see your face when he does win a plushie
And sure, your friends are more than happy that you’re dating Chan
But they are a little jealous
Because who doesn’t want a relationship like yours
You lucky darling, you~
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© copyright work of armysantiny 2024-2025
Networks: @kwritersworld, @kdiarynet, @ultkpopnetwork, @whipped-kpop-creators
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading! Consider reblogging, leaving some feedback or donating to my kofi!
Taglist: @teeztheflag, @jeonqquk, @mikailo666, @kkooongie, @xavi-in-kpopland, @marxenash, @borahae-reads, @tinystarstay | Taglist form
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thot4ellie · 2 months
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oh sweetheart pt. 2.5
pairing: boxer!ellie x f! jesses sister!reader
word count: 1.2k
rating: 18+ (smut will be coming in later parts)
warnings: dealer! boxer!ellie, weed, alcohol,
summary: ellie gets your phone number.
author notes: hi just something small for a filler, setting up for the next part, hoping to have it posted up friday the 1st! thank you for reading! pls reblog, comment, or like! i love the support, and thank you for over 1000 likes and 100 followers!! it’s a great feeling
italic = ellie and bold = reader
part 2.5 | part 3
series masterlist <3
from the river to the sea, palestine will be free 🇵🇸
READ: this account stands with palestine, and so— i require everyone who interacts to educate themselves, and support/donate. READ THESE; 1 and 2, HELP HERE, BOYCOTT. silence is complicity, do not scroll past this.
DO NOT BUY THE REMASTER, TLOU2, TLOU1, OR ANY GAME FROM NAUGHTY DOG! neil druckmann (the creator) is a zionist. PLEASE READ THIS. AND REBLOG THIS.
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its been a week and a half since you last saw her when she drove you home from the match in her old busted truck. thoughts of her plagued your mind all week. you wondered if she was working. you wondered if she was out with friends. you wondered if she was thinking about you. she is but you don’t know that. you’re not aware she’s thinking of you also. thinking of the way the smell of strawberries stained her car after you left. thinking of the way you said you like it when she calls you sweetheart.
both of you wonder when the next time you’ll see each other is.
its a wednesday afternoon, you’re currently sitting on the couch with dina. she’s the only friend you have down here so far and its not weird that she’s dating your brother. she has come over a bunch, helping you shop, getting little things for your apartment, watching movies and of course, getting high. which is exactly what you’re doing right now. you both sat on your old lumpy couch and watched the iron man series that you had on dvd, not paying to much attention to the tv, but rather your conversion.
“so no luck still? you should just come work with me at the farm, i mean i love it- the horse shit not so much.” dina exclaimed.
“yeah its like no one is hiring, i may have to take you up on that, i still wanna keep looking though, maybe something will come along.” you told her.
“yeah avoid horse shit as long as you can, something will come along don’t worry!” she said trying to make you feel better knowing you’re stressed. but at the end of the day, you need something to fill your time besides thinking of the boxer that drove you home.
you guys just sat and talked then eventually as the credits rolled for the last movie, you got up and started to clean up the mess from the pizza you ordered earlier. after you went to the kitchen and put the plates in the sink, you grabbed the bottle of wine and two glasses and made your way back to dina still in the living room. you hold it up to her and with the look on her face, you knew she was thinking the same thing.
by the third bottle, it was 10pm and you’ve run out of weed and not much wine left but you both are feeling great, laughing and giggling like kids. its nice to have a friend you thought.
“what are you doing friday night?” she questioned.
you responded to her, “probably exactly what im doing right now” you both laughed.
“well there’s another match this weekend, me and jesse are going if you want to come along again, ellie will be there too.” she replied. you couldn’t hide the smile on your face when she said her name.
“woah! what’s with the smiling and the blushing…” she joked asking. you didn’t tell either of them what happened that night at the first match. from outside or inside, they assumed you both got an uber and you didn’t tell them any differently.
“nothing, i just thought she was nice thats all.” you said trying not make any signs of anything more.
“oh she is!,” dina started, “well maybe not at first but once you get to know her, we’ve been friends for years now,” she laughed and kept going, “she fights at the gym sometimes, but she works there too, its a good hang out space plus cheap drinks. plus she’s bringing us the restock.” she finished as she picked up her weed jar.
“oh you get it from her?” you inquired, thinking back to the faint smell of weed in her car when she drove you home.
“yeah she’s got good stuff and nice deals, ugh its great, always easier to get it from someone you know,” she ended. you thought about asking her if you could tell her to get you some to and for some other non-obvious reason but she beat you to it.
“ill send her your number and she’ll text you.” she said to you as she pulled out her phone and sent a message. a few moments later, her phone rang and she answered, it was jesse waiting outside for her so she gave you a hug and grabbed her stuff and you walked her to the door.
you locked it before you turned around to sit back down on the couch, grabbed the wine glass and poured the last bit in your cup, you were still drunk and definitely feeling it. you heard your phone buzz and you picked it up, answering the call, not paying attention, thinking it was dina but the voice surprised you.
hey sweetheart
you didn’t expect her to call so soon, you haven’t even given yourself a moment to think about what to say beforehand. you weren’t prepared for this. you feel yourself getting nervous over the girl you only met last week but you just cant help it. she’s been on your mind since you met her.
hi ellie
dina sent me your number i hope that’s okay
yes she said she was going to
well in that case, she said you needed to buy
yeah we managed to smoke up all her stash and i haven’t gotten any since i moved here, probably cause i didn’t know where to get it
well no worries, i’ve got everything you need sweetheart.
thank you ellie, you said smiling but she couldn’t see you through the phone, you wondered what she’d think if she saw how red your face was right now.
you can call me el sweetheart, no need to be so formal.
she laughed through the phone, and then asked if you were coming to the gym on friday with your brother and dina.
they invited me but i hadn’t thought about it yet, not wanting to sound too eager about the potential thought of seeing her on friday.
mhm- well you should, we’re just gonna have some drinks and chill so nothing crazy. but i will have the weed for you then if that peaks your interest.
bribing me with drugs?, you laugh into the phone and she laughs with you.
if that’s how you want to put it sweetheart, sure
you smiled into the phone, not even sure how to respond to that before becoming flustered, before you continued,
i guess we’ll just have to wait and see then…
yeah i guess we will… goodnight sweetheart.
that was the last thing she said before she hung up and you sat staring back at a black screen. thinking that now she has your number and you have hers.
it’s almost 11 now as you brush your teeth, throw on a t shirt and cuddle up in bed. falling asleep to the thoughts of how friday was going to go when you finally saw her again.
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fairiedance · 2 months
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I put this on a bunch of shirts and stickers and stuff, I figure it'll be good for protests and campus activism. Found here. As usual ALL PROCEEDS are for my Palestinian best friend, to help take care of his loved ones. He'll donate any his family doesn't need to the charities he works with.
To my fellow grad students: this friend and I are working with our department on making it easier for grads to bow out of research they have a moral objection to. We're also working on putting together a statement on Palestine. If you have a lot of colleagues on your side and particularly if you're in a program like engineering, physics, astronomy or applied math (with a lot of military applications) you should try to see where your funding is coming from and support grads in divesting from ethically questionable research. I won't say too much about what we're doing because I don't want to risk doxing my friend, but here are some examples of statements from grads at the Goldman School of Public Policy and the UCSC Astronomy Department. We (STEM students in particular) are the next generation of minds behind the military-industrial complex. It's up to us to make it clear we will not be complicit in work that supports genocide.
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You can also find my full shop here. To see a design on different products click on the display product and scroll down or go here to browse by design. Here's a small sample of some of my other work, I make stuff in a bunch of different styles so there's something for everyone:
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Thank you to everyone who has helped out with my fundraiser so far!
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doberbutts · 3 months
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We have a little free pantry in our front yard (toothbrushes, tampons, shelf-stable snacks bottled water, etc.), and I read a lot about people's experiences having one online before we put ours up re: expectations about potential interactions with people using it, but nothing prepared me for how weirdly aggro *other* people sometimes get about us having it as a form of "activism" as opposed to some other, more nebulous idea of broader social change. "Don't you think it'd be better to volunteer at or donate money to a homeless shelter, so those people can get the actual help they need?" "Shouldn't you focus more on trying to campaign for policy changes that will help more people than one street corner if you care about this problem?" "Isn't doing that a waste of time?" "Aren't you just encouraging people not to get help?" I do that other stuff when I can. This is something small I can do - in addition to raising awareness and fighting for bigger change, when I have the time and money and spoons - and at least, when I don't. It's crazy to me to approach social justice issues with such an all-or-nothing mindset as some people seem to. I've met enough of the individuals who utilize it to know it makes a difference in a very tangible way for the people directly around me.
No, I agree entirely.
Corny and dated as it is, there's a reason the saying is "be the change you want to see". If no one within the community puts in the work to fix the community's problems, even in little bits and pieces, then how will anything change? Raising awareness only goes so far. What happens when all anyone is, is aware? Aware, and still doing nothing, waiting for someone else to put in the work.
Sometimes, that someone is going to need to be you. You can't just wait around and wait for someone else to do it for you.
If I see someone digging through the trash for food, I wave them over and offer them food from my house or fresh food from a store or take them to a restaurant where they can order whatever they want. If I'm getting groceries and I see someone very obviously homeless struggling to pay for their food, I tell the cashier to add it to my bill. No one starves in front of me. Ever since I stopped needing to rely on food stamps, no one starves in front of me.
This past summer I saw someone splayed out on the sidewalk in 95F weather in direct sunlight. I couldn't tell if he was unconscious from drugs or passed out from the heat or just simply had fallen asleep in the shade and then the sun moved. I was getting groceries so I added a bunch of hot chicken to my order plus several bottles of refrigerated water. I went over to him and woke him and explained that I was worried he needed medical attention. He'd passed out because he was tired, he told me. I offered him the hot food and the water and he thanked me, telling me he'd run out of water the night before and food the day before that and didn't have any money to get any more.
Everyone else had been walking around him like he was just an obstacle on the sidewalk. No one had thought to offer any help. When I walked away, some folks who saw me told me that that was very nice of me. I don't think it was nice of me. I think that's just what you should do if you see someone obviously in distress. They agreed that he seemed like he needed the help. They didn't act. They agreed that the compassionate and right thing to do was to offer assistance and make sure he was okay. But they didn't do it. They waited for someone else to do it.
I've mentioned in passing that I volunteer for the local teen LGBT club, helping lost gay kids find their way and maybe not kill themselves about it. It's not much. I mostly just text back and forth with whatever kids get my number from the adults that run the thing. Sometimes I give them tips and advice. Sometimes I'm just the cool gay uncle they tell about their latest school drama. Once or twice I've served one of them lunch on my couch while my dogs smother them with affection and they cry about their latest heartbreak. I don't do speeches or history lessons or anything like that. I don't think I'm qualified for it, in honesty. But if even one of them doesn't commit suicide, if even one of them doesn't self-harm, if even one of them no longer feels all alone in the world because I'm there when they reach out to me, that's enough.
Today on my commute to work, the guy in front of me had a major wipeout on his motorcycle. I stopped my car in a position that none of the other cars could hit him, and asked if he was okay, and waited until his friend (also on a motorcycle) had circled back around to help him off the road and check him over. I left once his friend waved me away. I offered to call an ambulance but he refused.
A couple weeks ago, also on my commute, a woman was stopped on the side of the road, waving her arms at drivers, shouting for help. I stopped. The other drivers didn't. Her car had died, she was new to town, and she was somewhere that notoriously doesn't get cell service. I helped her call a tow truck. It wasn't a trap. She didn't want to hitchhike. She just was stuck and panicked about it.
I stop and help animals get off the road. I've lost count on how many turtles I've carried to the other side. I helped my neighbor search for a dog he saw get hit by a car so he could take it to the vet. I shoveled my elderly neighbor's driveway for her, and talked my boss into giving her a major discount for her little dog's dental in which pretty much every tooth needed extraction or he would die. When I still lived in that rental with my roommates, we were surrounded by kids. Every kid on the block knew we were a safe house to go to. If they needed food or water, if they needed entertainment, if they needed just somewhere to be, they could be at our place. When covid started, I did a "reverse halloween" since Halloween was canceled, and I put bags of candy on every doorstep that I knew had kids inside. I've done a "neighborhood santa" putting a small toy plus a small gift card for the parents on every doorstep that has kids, for as long as I've lived around kids.
When I say activism requires action, I don't mean that every single person is required to save a thousand lives. The honest answer is, unless you have a lot of disposable time and money, you probably won't. But you can still make a difference. To one. To ten. To twenty.
And you know what? I'm not saying black people specifically came up with this- but how can you be surprised to know this is how I live my life when I say over and over that I was raised by black activists who lived during MLK Jr and Malcolm X and knew community action would have the longest-lasting effects? Of course I do all this. That's what being part of a community *is*.
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dee-the-red-witch · 2 months
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A GFM update...
Heya! I am so never sure of just what to write on these kind of updates, aside from the obvious bits, so let's cover those-
First off, a HUGE thank you to everyone who's donated so far. Seriously. It means so much. And thanks to all of you, hey, I'm at 1/10th down already, with almost nine months left to go. hopefully we can get there.
And yeah, the second part- I'm only a tenth of the way there so far, and need help still to make sure everything's covered. And I'm not about to do the thing of asking folks who've already donated to throw in more. But if you can spread word about this gfm wherever you can, I would so appreciate it. There's so far to go, and while I'm posting it lots of places, I can't get it everywhere, so any extra help means so much.
And thanks again! More updates and such soon, I hope.
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galedekarios · 2 months
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Hello, big fan of your Gale content um I just saw this post on X that really annoyed me that was a graphic saying Gale would use 3 in 1 shampoo implying he is lazy with his hygiene and that another character was more like that and it had like 6k likes and I just wonder why everyone mischaracterizes our best wizard so much? Generic male expectations? Justice for Gale. He deserved that lavender bath.
thank you for your message and kind words! 🖤
i haven't seen the post you're referring to so i can't say too much about it, but if we talk about the general concept of hygiene and personal care, in my heart i know the following truth:
gale loves his little indulgences and that includes the finer things in life, like taking long baths, perfumes, massages, and the like.
once he feels better again and has the spoons to fully appreciate it, he would have a ridiculously elaborate 13 step self-care routine, beard oils and all of that.
(we know his year of isolation likely led to him neglecting himself, given tara's repeated lines about not eating enough, as well as gale letting his beard growing out.)
in early access, he had this dialogue with the protag, about dreaming of a nice lavender scented bath:
Gale: Time is a precious gift. With time, we may even reach Baldur's Gate, a city rife with magic, wizards, scholars, and perhaps: solutions.  Player: In that case I share your optimism. Here's to the journey ahead.  Gale: And here's to your company.  Gale: Oh, I can picture it now: academies, libraries, laboratories – the assembled knowledge of centuries that may just set us free. Better yet: soft beds, home cooked meals, and all the other little luxuries this wilderness so brashly denies us. Gods, I'd pay a king's ransom for a hot, lavender-scented bath – minstrels serenading as I close my eyes and let the water's warmth dissolve all woes. Plenty to look forward to.
this was sadly cut.
i also seem to recall another line of dialogue in early access where a companion commented on gale using a waterdhavian scent/perfume, which had woody undertones. if i can find it, i'll be sure to post about it.
but still, he still has similar lines in the full release version, like in this banter with shadowheart:
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Gale: I must tell you, Shadowheart, the bathing waters here leave much to be desired. devnote: A bit know it all Gale: The ablutions offered at the Temple of Beauty in Waterdeep are far superior. And they have the most excellent soaps. devnote: A bit know it all Shadowheart: Hmm. I was wondering why you always smelled like a wealthy dowager. devnote: Teasing
bathing waters, excellent soaps and ablutions at the temple of beauty in waterdeep. the temple of beauty is a temple to the goddess sune, the goddess of beauty and passion.
"Her temples usually held social salons and displayed mirrors for use by lay parishioners. Some of them even had public baths for the local populace. Her shrines often stood on the corner of busy city streets. They would have a small ornate overhanging roof with a mirror underneath. They were used to check one's appearance while honoring Sune with prayer. Some shrines even held perfume and cosmetic items for those who could not afford such luxuries themselves." [x]
volo's waterdeep enchiridion says this in particular about the temple of beauty in waterdeep:
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"If you need to refresh yourself during your travels, or perhaps to primp before an important meeting or a night out, visit Sune’s faithful at the Temple of Beauty. Its marbled public baths and mirrored salons are open from before dawn to after dusk. There’s no fee for these services, or for the advice and aid of the temple’s many pleasant attendants, but donations are encouraged."
there are some other banters & lines of dialogue in the same vein:
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Player: I want to be with Gale. I'm sorry. Shadowheart: Don't be. He's charming enough, well-read and well-groomed.
there are more banters and comments like this from other companions as well (including minthara, for example), so yes, i think it's safe to say that gale is not a 3-in-1 shampoo type.
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thetriumphantpanda · 6 months
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one kiss is all it takes | javier peña
Take The Weight Off His Shoulders - Chapter Four
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Chapter Summary | All of the tension between you & Javi comes to a head when you're gathered at the Peña ranch to celebrate Chucho's birthday.
Chapter Warnings | Consumption of food & alcohol, some angst, heavy on the flirting, discussion of drugs & the drug trade but nothing else.
Pairing | dbf!Javier Peña x F!Reader
Word Count | 3.2k
Authors Note |  Well. I am having far too much fun with these guys. I hope you guys are still enjoying this. Just wanted to give a huge shoutout to @undercoverpena for helping me brainstorm this chapter and figure it out when I was struggling and for just being my biggest hype woman. If you're enjoying this then reblogs and comments really do help and if you’d like to support me further, please consider a donation to my Ko-Fi. 
I no longer use taglists. Please follow @thetriumphantpandanotifs to be notified of new updates.
Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist | Ko-Fi | Series Playlist
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It’s Chucho’s birthday and it feels like the entirety of Laredo has descended on the Peña ranch. He’s currently sitting on one of the chairs that’s been set out on the back porch, beer in hand, talking to some of his friends from the ranch association. You’ve already been over, wished him a happy birthday with a kiss on the cheek, and pressed a small gift bag into his hand from the rest of the family. The bag is sitting between his feet, and you know he’ll take it in with him later to open on his own. Never one for a fuss, was Chucho. 
Other townsfolk are walking around, or standing in smaller groups, drinking or eating from the spread of food everyone had contributed to. You’re currently sat with your mom, who is talking to some of the women she works with. It’s dull conversation, but you try your best to look at least semi-interested when a question is thrown your way. You’re focused on something else though. Your eyes have been searching through the sea of people for one person, and one person only. Javi. And he’s nowhere to be seen. You bring the bottle of beer you’ve been drinking to your lips, tip it up, but find it empty. 
“I’m just going to get another drink.” You mumble to excuse yourself from the group around you. 
They all smile at you but quickly return to their conversations once you start stepping away. The relief from the cool interior of the house is welcome, as you open the fridge and root through it for another drink. You close the fridge door gently, plucking the magnetic bottle opener off the front when you hear muffled voices coming from down the hall. 
“You know,” You can just make out, so you take gentle steps to the edge of the kitchen to hear better, “If you were looking for something else, we could always use you back on the force.” It’s your dad, and you bet you know exactly who he’s talking to. 
“Go back to shining lights into teenagers’ cars whilst they’re making out and busting petty criminals?” That’s definitely Javi, “That’s not really my scene anymore.” 
You can hear your dad sigh a little, “It’s not really like that anymore,” He offers, “You must know by now we’ve got some kind of drug epidemic here, we can’t seem to crack it, I bet you could blow this whole thing wide open for us.” 
Javi scoffs, you press yourself further into the wall, knowing you should walk away, this isn’t your conversation to hear, “Even more reason for me to stay away,” He answers, “I couldn’t crack it down there, and if it’s anything like that here, it’s going to go far deeper than you could ever imagine.” 
Your dad sighs again, louder this time, because he’s clearly fighting a losing battle, “Well, the offer is there, think about, huh?” 
All Javi does is grunt in response, which you think is akin to something like ‘thanks, but no thanks’, then you hear footsteps coming down the hallway. You don’t move quickly enough to dart back through the doors but do manage to make yourself as inconspicuous as possible at the kitchen island as your dad rounds the corner. 
“I didn’t know you were in here.” He speaks, fishing his own new drink out of the fridge.
“Just came to get another drink,” You smile, trying to make your voice loud enough that Javi can hear that you’re inside too, “It’s pretty hot out there.” 
Your dad clinks his bottle with yours as he moves to head back outside, “Cool off, but don’t hide away in here, okay?” 
You nod and smile as he heads back outside, but you don’t make a move to follow him. After last week, when Javi pressed his lips to your cheek, you haven’t been able to think of much else. Surely, if he’d come all the way to fetch you, brought you food and kissed your cheek, that must mean something? You’d felt absolutely crazy trying to explain it to Liv, recounting your conversation, trying to get her advice on what it meant. She’d been entirely unhelpful, telling you that you were reading too much into it, but she had told you Victor was nice, so you weren’t in the habit of trusting her at the moment. 
You stand at the kitchen island for a while, praying that he would come to you, talk to you, even just say hello, anything would do, but he doesn’t. He stays wherever he is, doing whatever he’s doing, leaving you standing there like someone had stood you up. You sigh, pick up your beer and head back outside. 
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It’s probably an hour later, you’re back sitting with your mom and her friends, when he emerges from the house, his own drink in hand. He makes eye contact with you, but when you smile at him, he doesn’t return it, just turns and walks over to the first group of people he can find, almost completely ignoring your presence. It hurts, is what you think, makes your heart sink a little. 
You see him a few times over the next couple of hours as people start slowly heading off. It’s still warm outside, but the sun is starting to set, painting the ranch in a soft orange glow. Your mom and dad left about an hour ago, leaving you where you there to help tidy up. The plan had been for all of you to stay, but your mom had indulged in one too many glasses of wine and needed to nap. 
The crowd had thinned out significantly now, so you think it’s a good a time as any to try and tidy up the porch a bit. There’s a rubbish bag hanging from the railing, there’s a few actually, that you think Javi must have set out in order to keep mess to a minimum, so you start picking up the empty bottles and used paper plates, stuffing them in until it’s full. You move some of the furniture around, back to how you know Chucho likes it. 
“You don’t have to help with this.” 
You turn around, and for the first time Javi is looking at you, talking to you, but still won’t quite meet your eyes, choosing to busy himself with gathering the trash from the other side of the porch. 
“I don’t mind,” You shrug, walking over to help him out a little, picking up some more paper plates to shove into the bag, “Doesn’t seem right to leave you to tidy the place on your own after allowing half the town to come over.” 
He doesn’t really respond after that, silently shuffles around, refusing to meet your eyes. It drives you wild, because there’s no way you’d made up the signals he’d been giving in the car. No-one kisses your cheek if they don’t want you. 
Once the porch is clear of clutter, Javi makes a beeline for the trash bag that’s full, leaning down to pick it up. You follow his movements, reaching down to circle his wrist with your hand, trying to be gentle with him. You’re not expecting him to snatch his arm away from you like you’d just branded him with a hot poker. He even steps back away from you, turning his back slightly, although you can see one of his hands come to his mouth, fingers running over his facial hair and down his chin, other hand on his hip. You think you hear him mutter something under his breath that sounds a lot like ‘don’t’. 
You stand there, dumbfounded if anything. Why is he being so different with you? Hot, angry tears are forming across your waterline, because you’re embarrassed, embarrassed that you’d played into him leading you on. To try and hide the fact you’re about to cry, you turn on your heel, stomping, albeit quite dramatically, around the side of the porch when you feel him grab your wrist, pulling you around so you’re facing him. Nowhere to hide now, you think, giving him your face, letting him see the tears he’s caused. 
“What?” You spit, tearing your hand out of his grip, much like he’d done to you just moments before. 
“Just… wait.” He says hands up in defense. 
So you do, you stand there and wait, shifting your weight from foot to foot, watching as he leans back more of his weight on his back leg, hand rest on the top of his jeans, mouth opening and closing as he tries to think of what to say. 
“You know what?” You scoff, “I’m so fucking embarrassed, Javi,” You can feel your bottom lip start to wobble, more frustrated tears threatening to fall, “I thought-” You start, running a hand over your cheek to wipe away the tears that are forming, “I thought I was picking up on these signals between us,” You motion your hand between the two of you, “Thought maybe you felt the same way about me, I mean, who kisses someone’s cheek and tells them there’s nothing wrong with them if they don’t mean it, right?” You can hear yourself, sniffling through the tears, voice getting quicker and higher in pitch as he just… stands there, “God,” You chuckle, “I really thought I’d stop embarrassing myself at some point, but clearly fucking not.” 
He's still not saying anything, and you’re sick to death of making yourself feel and look like a fool in front of him, so you turn on your heel again, walking away, when yet again his hand circles your wrist and pulls you back to him, but this time, you don’t stop by just turning around to him, he’s tugging at you, pulling you closer, and then all of a sudden his lips are on yours. It’s quick, almost over before you can even register what’s happened, but there was no mistaking the feel of his lips pressed to yours. The tickle of the hair on his upper lip against the skin under your nose. 
When he pulls away, you’re dumbfounded, mouth open in shock, “You kissed me.” Is all you can say, voice high with shock. 
“I did.” 
“Then what the fuck was all that back there?” You ask, incredulous and confused, head spinning with what’s going on. 
All he does is shrug, seemingly unable to explain himself, which makes you more annoyed. Is he fucking with you? All you wish he would do is tell you what the fuck is going on in his brain, what he’s thinking, why he’s behaving in this way. 
“Tell me,” You demand, “Tell me, or I’m going to get in my car and leave.” 
And he’s standing there, and you think you can see the cogs working behind his eyes. His mouth is doing that thing again where it opens and closes without him saying anything. He brings a hand up to brush over his brow, but he still doesn’t say anything. You’d had enough. If he didn’t have the decency to be frank with you, like you’d been with him, then you guess you had your answer. 
For the third time that evening, you turn around and start walking, heading for the steps at the front of the house. He doesn’t try and grab your wrist this time, doesn’t try and touch you, but you can hear his footsteps behind you. You can see your car in front of you, you reach into the pocket of your shorts, fingers hitting the keys when you finally hear his voice. 
“I’m trying to be good, alright?” He calls out to you, “Better,” he offers then, “I’m trying to be better and I just…. Fuck, I hate this.” 
And really that’s all you needed. You needed him to try. To try and explain his behaviour, to tell you why he was giving you these mixed signals. So you turn, walk the few steps back towards him, take his face in your hands and plant a kiss right on his lips. 
It’s like it breaks the dam that the two of you had been trying to hold back, because his hands are on your back, one resting just above the waistband of your shorts, the other fisting at the material between your shoulder blades as he really kisses you this time. Your hands drop to the collar of his shirt, pulling him in closer as you open your mouth against his, let his tongue finally touch yours, pressing your body as close to his as you can possibly get it. You can feel the tension of your shirt being pulled from behind. It’s like he has to fist the material because he wants to touch you, wants to put his hands on your skin under the material, but knows he can’t. 
When you pull away, both breathless, he leans down, rests his forehead to yours, eyes closed. 
“I don’t want you to be good, Javi,” You whisper, “I want you to want me.” 
He opens his eyes then, big chocolate orbs that are pleading with you, “I do,” He answers honestly, “I want you so much, querida, and that’s the problem.” 
“I know.” You try and soothe, but really, it’s all lost now isn’t it, there’s no going back from here. 
Almost like you both finally realise you’re in the open air at the same time, you both step away from each other. Your hands coming to pull your shirt back into position, Javi doing the same with the collar of his shirt. You run your thumb over your bottom lip where you can feel the wetness from the kiss, wiping it away. 
“I should go,” You say softly, motioning your head to the car, and he doesn’t argue, because he knows you should too, because if you stay here there’s only one thing that can happen, “See you around.” 
Like it’s now his signature move, his hand circles your wrist, turning you back to him, “Call me?” He asks, “Call me tonight?” 
You smile, “Okay, I’ll speak to you later.” 
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You weren’t really sure how long you were supposed to wait to call him. You got in and your mom was already in bed out for count, your dad sat in front of the TV, cold beer in hand, watching some kind of sports. 
“You help Javi clean up?” He asks as you throw your keys in the dish on the side table. 
You try not to bite at your lip, try not to focus on the heat rising across your cheek, “I did,” You confirm, walking over to the fridge to pick out your own drink, “Most people had already thrown their stuff away, so it didn’t take long.” 
You sit with him for a while, sipping slowly on the drink, trying to quell the memories of his lips on yours, the way he had tasted and the way his hand had fisted so tightly at the back of your shirt. It was everything you’d wanted it to be, all those years of wondering what it would be like, and now you knew, and all you wanted was to know what else he could do, how else he could make you feel. 
Once your drink is done, you give your dad a chaste kiss on the cheek, bid him goodnight, and spend the next hour pacing, trying to concentrate on reading, before you give up. You reach into your bag and pull out the card. Run your fingers over the name embossed there. You pick up the receiver on your nightstand, punch the number in and press call. 
This time, he answers on the first ring, like he’s been sitting around waiting for you to call, just as much as you have. 
“Hello.” You speak timidly, leaning back onto the pillows of your bed, switching the handset to the other ear so you’ll be able to hear anyone wandering around outside. 
“Evening, hermosa.” He croons back to you, but doesn’t offer anything else. 
You sit there for a moment, listening to him breath down the phone, reveling in the fact that he’s doing the same, until it gets to be a little awkward. You start speaking right at the same time as he does, which makes you both pause to let the other carry on, but it only works to make you both laugh. 
“You go first.” He prompts. 
You take a deep breath, “I’m sorry,” You muse, “For how I was earlier.”
“You don’t need to say sorry,” He replies softly, “I’m sorry for being shit at talking about things.” 
There’s another pause, but it’s more comfortable this time, “So…” You trail off, “You kissed me.” It’s whispered, almost like it’s some terribly sordid secret, which you suppose it is really. 
“I did,” He confirms, and you’d like to think he’s smiling on the other end of the phone, “Wanted to do more than just kiss you.” He admits at the end. 
“Oh,” It comes out a little like a gasp, “Why didn’t you?” 
“I told you,” Javi replies with a little sigh, “I’m trying to be good, trying to be a gentleman.” 
“What if I don’t want you to be a gentleman?” You offer. 
“What do you want me to be?” 
You giggle a little, “You sound like I’m paying you to say these things to me,” You hear him scoff at the other end, “I just want to know what you wanted to do to me that didn’t involve kissing me.” 
“Oh, hermosa,” You hear him make a ‘tsk’ sound through the receiver, “I would have kissed you, and then some,” You can hear him shifting around on the other end, “Wanted to put my hands all over you, make you feel good.” 
You bite your bottom lip a little, wanting nothing more than to let your hand wander below the waistband of your shorts, but there’s that little bubble of anxiety that always seems to make itself known to you when you get yourself into conversations like this, your lack of experience, lack of knowledge really, in how any of this is meant to work. 
“I wanted you to do that too,” You admit, “But…” You trail off, not really wanting to admit this to him right now. 
“But what, hermosa?” He coaxes. 
“I’m just-” You sigh, “I don’t have a lot of experience in this stuff, you’ll have to be patient with me.” 
You don’t know what you expect him to say, but it certainly isn’t what he says, “You want me to teach you, huh?” He asks, “Show you what you’ve been missing with those college boys?” 
Your breath catches in your throat, because he’s so right. You want to know what it’s like for someone else to take you apart. You want to know what it’s like when someone sinks into you and really cares about how you feel. You want to know what it’s like to feel someone else’s mouth on you. You want to know what it’s like to curl into someone’s side once all is said and done and fall asleep with someone’s arm wrapped around you, and you want all that with him. 
“I do.” You reply simply. 
“Then say no more,” There’s another silence, “I should let you go,” He says, “But I’ll see you soon, okay?” You hum in response, “And, um, don’t worry okay?” You’re about to ask about what, but you think you know what he’s getting at, “Just… probably best we don’t say anything to anyone, but don’t worry about it, alright?” 
“Okay,” Is your response, because what else is there to really say, “Goodnight Javi.” 
“Goodnight, querida,” He says back, “Sweet dreams.” 
338 notes · View notes
mrsshabana · 3 months
Note
Ok, but hear me out... Gyutaro finding out that his roommate is a camgirl.
I can't stop thinking about your post of the glory hole, now it lives rent free in my brain. 10/10 five stars and a cat.
𝐆𝐲𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐨 𝐱 𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬
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꒦꒷‧₊ Summary Gyutaro finds out that his roommate, you, is a camgirl
꒦꒷‧₊ Content Gyutaro x female!reader, 18+ MDNI, modern au, sex work, masturbation, sex toys
꒦꒷‧₊ Note This is such a devious idea... I love it! 😈🩷
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Gyutaro has been your roommate for about 6 months now, and he's proven to be a decent roommate. You're good friends with his sister, so he really only did it to make her happy. And because he may be a bit of a pervert and couldn't deny the fantasies that came to mind when thinking about living with a cute girl...
However, he's always just admired you silently and never spoken to you much. Keeping to himself in his room. It doesn't take long for him to develop a crush on you though, but he's never going to tell you. You're far too pretty for him, way out of his league. He'd never recover from the inevitable embarrassment of being rejected by you.
He was browsing Onlyfans when he found your page. As soon as he saw you he thought, "Oh fuck, that girl is just my type..." He clicks on your page to get a better look at you and that's when he realizes that this hot chick he just found on Onlyfans is actually his roommate.
Immediately you get a notification that Toxicboy66 has subscribed to you.
You send him a sexy photo of you winking and wearing a push-up bra along with a message thanking him for his support. It's a generic message you send to everyone who subscribes to you, but Gyutaro thinks you did it just for him.
Yeah, he immediately locks his door and pulls his pants down, biting his lip as he strokes his cock to the thought of you. His eyes never leave the photo, staring at your gorgeous face and imagining cumming on your tits.
It's not long before his cock is twitching and he's emptying his load all over his hand and abdomen.
At first, he feels guilty for masturbating to a photo of you. You've always been really sweet to him and something about jerking off to you behind your back makes him feel bad.
But when he gets the notification that you started a stream, he can't resist temptation. And that's how he got addicted to watching you play with your pussy every Wednesday and Friday.
You start the stream by welcoming everyone who joins, wearing cute lingerie with thigh-high stockings. Smiling sweetly and talking to your fans while you wait for more people to join.
Toxicboy66: Hey Doll ;) you look really beautiful today
"Aw, thank you Toxicboy66! And thanks for joining my stream today!" You say cheerfully when you see his greeting.
During that first stream, he can't stop himself from jerking his dick till it's raw. He cums 6 times during the 2 hour period that you're streaming.
After that day, he became addicted to you. Religiously watching your streams every week, always on time too. His favorite thing is when you use the vibrator and let him see how your pussy aches to have something inside of it. Clenching around nothing, practically begging him to put his cock inside. Those are the streams when he cums the hardest.
But sometimes your streams really aggravate him. Not because of you, but because of the other men that drool over you. Gyutaro wishes he could just have you for himself. That he could be your only fan.
But for now, all he can do is try to donate more than everyone else so you notice him. And you definitely do.
Every time he joins your stream you make sure to greet him. Sometimes you even ask him what he'd like to see you do today. God does he love it when you let him pick which toy you use or which position you get into.
Gyutaro even buys his very first sex toy because of you - a small pocket pussy that he can easily hide under his bed.
He'll get on his knees, positioning himself on the floor in front of his bed. And he'll put his laptop on his bed with your stream playing. Then he'll fuck his pocket pussy while watching you use a dildo. He'll even thrust into the toy at a pace matching you, pretending that it's him fucking your tight hole. Hearing your cute little moans as he pleasures his favorite girl. It’s his ultimate fantasy.
And even after he cums inside of the silicone pussy, he always keeps going. His previous release making the toy warm and wet on the inside, just how he imagines you'd feel. He fucks it relentlessly, emptying load after load in the abused pussy until it's completely filled and overflowing with his sticky semen.
You know that Toxicboy66 is hardcore simping for you, but you actually don't mind. His comments are never creepy or make you uncomfortable like some of the other fans. You've never had a fan as dedicated as him before.
But you never suspect that it's Gyutaro. He makes sure that you never find out. Even though his love for you is spiraling out of control, he knows that he'd never have a chance with you in real life. So he stays in the shadows, hiding his admiration for you in big donations and small gestures like making you breakfast or cleaning the apartment.
Toxicboy66 is your biggest fan, and you have no idea that he's actually your roommate.
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263 notes · View notes
steddieas-shegoes · 1 year
Note
Requests: Steve adopting an abandoned child post earthquake in Hawkins after the spring break from hell. And him realizing all the ways he was hurt as a child due to his parents neglect. And how he overcomes it and raises his baby-child with gentleness, warmth, patience and love
OKAY GENUINELY I GOT SO CARRIED AWAY WITH THIS PROMPT AND IT STILL WASN'T AS MUCH AS I WANTED TO DO. FAIR WARNING: this is an emotional roller coaster. It ends HAPPY. But there are a lot of sad and bittersweet moments and feelings leading up to that moment. There is the mention of child neglect, and that can be difficult for some people to read, even with a happy ending, so please keep that in mind before starting this. Also, this is not how the law or CPS works at all, and it wasn't in the 80s either, but this is fiction and I do what I want. I hope someone can continue this idea somewhere because it is so special to me now. This is 6200 words of me not knowing how to wrap it up with a bow. I hope you love this my darling, thank you for this one. - Mickala ❤️
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Steve spent the last 12 hours pacing the waiting room floor at the hospital. He’d promised the kids he would stay until there was an update on Eddie and Max, and their parents had insisted they go home after they’d been quickly attended to for their minor injuries.
Max was stable, but not awake. They weren’t sure if she ever would be again. Steve passed that on to Nancy so she could call everyone.
Eddie finally made it out of surgery, alive, but barely.
He’d lost a lot of blood and they weren’t able to give him a transfusion until Wayne got there to donate.
It was touch and go for another few hours in recovery.
But things calmed down a bit, his heart rate settling at a normal rate, his oxygen maintaining where it should be with the mask on, the bleeding stopped and his blood regenerating on its own.
He wasn’t awake, but he was alive.
That was enough for Wayne and Hopper to kick him out of the hospital and make him go home.
“Shower. Eat. Sleep. In that order, Harrington,” Hopper said, the gruffness in his voice overruled by the concern.
He was up to speed on everything he missed, and he wasn’t thrilled about how much Steve had put on the line for everyone.
So Steve left, even though he wanted to stay, needed to have eyes on Eddie, on Max.
He had to trust that they were being taken care of.
He made it home, did two of the three things Hopper told him to. His shower was long and hot, finally able to wash away the blood and dirt and Upside Down particles that clung to his skin for the last couple of days. His dinner was quick and unfulfilling, but frozen meals usually are.
And then he did try to sleep. He tried on the couch first, his usual go-to spot after crises. Then he tried to go to his bed, hoping the weight of his comforter would help lull him to sleep.
But two hours later, he was still wide awake.
So he got up, put on jeans and a sweater, and made his way to the school, where emergency services had been set up.
It was chaotic, still very little organization amongst groups. The firefighters had been dispatched all over town, and most medical professionals had been called into the hospital or to help EMTs on calls. A handful of teachers had been put in charge of the check-in process here, making sure anyone who came through was on a list of survivors first, then sent to help where they were needed if they were able.
Steve was able, so he put his name on the list and was told to stand with a group at the far corner of the gym. Everyone in this group was waiting for a dispatch crew of firefighters to come get them to help locate survivors.
They were given vests, gloves, and helmets to wear, and given quick safety briefings. They were told not to move any rubble, that if they suspected someone was under some, to call for the professionals. They were just extra eyes and ears because everyone was stretched too thin for a disaster of this magnitude and help from local towns was slow to arrive.
Steve figured this would help him, if he stayed busy and managed to help people, he wouldn’t think about how helpless he was when it came to Max and Eddie.
The first location they were dropped at was a small neighborhood on the outskirts of town. Most of the homes had been completely demolished, cracks in the ground swallowing pieces of them. If there were any survivors here, they would be in desperate need of medical attention.
But after nearly four hours of searching, only one person was found, their leg trapped under a large wooden beam. The leg was broken, but they were fine other than that.
Steve felt relief that nothing more serious had happened there.
But the second area was worse.
It wasn’t a neighborhood, just a small wooded area surrounding two homes a good distance apart. Surprisingly, the homes were still standing, but everything around them was destroyed. Fires had been only recently extinguished, downed trees and power lines blocking most of the driveway and road in front of them.
“This should be relatively quick, both homes are empty and cars are gone, so we think everyone managed to get out safely, but we do need to be sure,” the firefighter in charge of this group said before leading them forward.
The smaller of the two houses was empty, though a mess, like the occupants had rushed to pack necessities and threw anything else on the ground as they rushed to get out.
The other home, though, was surprisingly clean. Kept up in a way Steve wouldn’t have expected for the panic most people showed while escaping town.
Everyone assumed maybe the occupants hadn’t even been home when the quake hit.
But Steve decided to go upstairs anyway.
Something was telling him this wasn’t normal.
It felt familiar in a way he didn’t want to acknowledge yet.
No one else followed him, all of the volunteers congregating in the living room area to discuss their next location before heading back to the school for a break.
Steve followed his gut, and his gut told him to check the bedroom at the end of the hall.
He opened the door, not surprised to see that nothing seemed strange at first glance.
Then he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, under the bed.
He would’ve checked there anyway, that’s where he would have hidden in this kind of situation, too.
“I guess this place is all clear,” Steve said, quiet enough not to be heard by anyone downstairs yet, but loud enough to be heard by the person under the bed.
“Wait!”
It was a kid, Steve figured as much based on the items on the desk in the corner and the poster on the wall.
The small boy crawled out from under the bed, panic on his face.
“Are you gonna take me to my parents?” The boy asked, lips wobbling.
“I’m gonna try. I’m Steve, what’s your name?”
“Elliott.”
“Nice to meet you, Elliott. How old are you?”
“Nine.”
Jesus Christ. Where had his parents even been? Why weren’t they looking for him?
He hoped they were on their way back and just stuck trying to get into town.
But a part of him had already known that wasn’t true. A part of him knew the moment they pulled into the area that he’d find someone left here, someone who shouldn’t have ever been alone.
“Alright, Elliott, let’s get you back to the school. We can put your name on the list so your parents can find you easier, okay? I can stay with you until they get here.”
“I don’t know if they will.”
Steve’s heart stopped for a moment.
Sure, his parents never came back after the Upside Down bullshit, but he’d been a teenager and adult. They probably assumed he wasn’t involved in any of it and was fine.
But Elliott was nine. Even his parents would have come back for him at that age.
They never should have left him alone to begin with, but even they knew the trouble they’d be in for leaving him at that age after a fucking earthquake.
“Of course they will, buddy. It’s just hard getting into Hawkins right now, you’ll see on our way back.”
He placed his hand on Elliott’s shoulder, not surprised when he tensed up under him for a moment before he relaxed.
Steve hadn’t been used to casual touch until he met Nancy.
But Elliott deserved to feel cared for right now, so he kept his hand there, let him get used to it for a moment, and then guided him out the door and down the stairs.
Most of the group had moved back outside, but a few people remained.
One of the few women in the group looked over at his entrance, her jaw dropping when she saw he had a child with him.
“Oh my God!”
Steve held his hand up, knowing Elliott probably didn’t want to draw a lot of attention to himself.
“He’s okay. He managed to find a safe place to hide. His parents might be looking for him though so we should get him back,” Steve said calmly.
No one crowded him, but the firefighter waiting by the van that was transporting everyone checked his heart and lungs, made sure he didn’t have any visible wounds or injuries.
Elliott didn’t let go of Steve the entire time, his hand gripping his forearm like he was terrified to lose him among the group.
Steve didn’t try to pull away, not once.
He knew Elliott needed someone. He could be that someone for him.
—-------------
When they arrived back at the school, they put his name on the list, and since he was a minor, they had him go to one of the classrooms that was being watched over by security while they tried to contact his parents.
He told them they left for a business trip over a week ago, he didn’t know when they would be back, and his aunt checked on him every morning, but he hadn’t seen her since the quake.
Steve stood by as he spoke to the responsible adults, not letting Elliott out of his sight.
Elliott begged for Steve to come with him to wait while they tried to locate his parents, so he did.
He realized pretty quickly that Elliott must not have slept last night; He curled against Steve’s side on the floor almost immediately and fell asleep, light snores making Steve smile to himself.
The floor was hard, the wall behind him was somehow harder, but he wouldn’t move short of another emergency.
They stayed like that for hours, kids coming and going as more were found and reunited with their families.
Elliott was the youngest one left in the room, all the other kids high school age.
When one of the men from the group he was in earlier came in the room to get another kid, he asked if there was any update on Elliott.
“Nah, they’re still trying to find them. The aunt um…” The guy looked nervously down at the sleeping Elliott. “She didn’t make it. Was on her way to try to get him when another crack hit the road she was driving on, car crashed. They contacted the dad’s business and were told he’s out of the country and won’t be returning calls until next week.”
“How long are they gonna make him stay here while they figure it out?”
“No clue, man. I’ll ask someone.”
But he didn’t come back and Elliott deserved something better than the floor to sleep on.
“Hey, buddy,” Steve said, gently nudging his shoulder to wake him up. “Sorry, just gotta run and ask someone something real quick.”
Elliott grabbed his shirt, holding it in his fist tightly.
“Don’t go! Please,” he begged, tears welling in his eyes.
Steve’s heart broke.
He’d been this kid for so much of his childhood, practically begging people to stick around so he didn’t have to be drenched in loneliness again.
He knew he would be right back, but to Elliott, especially after the quake, he probably felt like anyone who left would be gone forever.
“Come with me. We’ll find you some dinner while I find out how things are going.”
He stood up, his legs numb from sitting on the floor so long, and helped Elliott find his balance after waking up so abruptly.
They left the room, the security nodding them on when he saw Steve was with him, and walked down the hall to the cafeteria area.
They were serving ham and cheese sandwiches, bags of chips, and water for everyone. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for now.
If he could find a phone, maybe he could get Robin to bring him and Elliott more food.
Elliott shyly thanked the person handing out the meals, and Steve slowly guided him to an empty table while his eyes searched for anyone he recognized.
He almost did a happy dance when he saw Dustin and Claudia across the room.
“Hey, that’s actually my friend and his mom. Can you wait here while I grab them?”
Elliott nodded nervously, clearly only letting him walk away because he would be within his sight the entire time.
Steve ran over to them, wincing slightly when the bite on his stomach started pulsing. Probably should take it easier while that healed.
“Dustin!” Steve exclaimed as he got closer.
Dustin’s head shot around, smile lighting up his face as he realized it was Steve.
“Dude! Everyone’s been trying to find you for hours. Have you been here all day?”
“Kinda. I came to help with searching and I found a kid earlier. They’re trying to find his parents, but he’s been kind of attached to me.”
“Damn, I hope they find them soon. Phone lines keep going down. You seen Hopper come by yet?”
“No, has he gotten any sleep yet?”
“Doubt it. Ma, do you have any cookies left for Steve?”
Claudia came bustling over, digging through her purse as she walked.
“Oh, I’m sure I do! Hi, Steve, dear. Hope you’re doing okay in all this madness.”
“I’m doing alright,” Steve gave her a small smile as she managed to find the cookies and hand them over. “Hey, do you know the parents of Elliott Devers?”
“Oh, I know of them, sure. Only met them once, they never seem to be in town. He’s a sweet boy, his aunt seems to take care of him most of the time.”
Steve filled her in on what he knew so far, that Elliott’s aunt had died, that no one could reach his parents, that he’d been alone in the house for at least a full day before Steve found him.
That Elliott didn’t seem to want to be separated from Steve.
Dustin was watching him talk, eyebrows furrowing like he was trying to think of something.
“Wait, his dad’s the guy who was under investigation for tax evasion, fraud, and identity theft, isn’t he?”
Steve’s stomach dropped.
His brain made connections that only children of rich parents can in a matter of seconds.
His parents ran to another country on “business” because that was the only way they were allowed to leave while he was under investigation. No one could reach them because they gave fake information so they could go into hiding. Because he was guilty of all of the things he was under investigation for and didn’t want to lose everything and end up in prison.
Fuck.
Claudia must have realized the same thing, a deep frown settling on her face.
“Elliott is the boy sitting at that table?” She asked as she pointed towards him.
He was watching them as he ate, eyes wide as he kept glancing around the room.
Steve nodded.
“If they ran, and they aren’t coming back, where will he go?” Steve asked.
“I’m sure he’ll be placed with a family who can take him until they can figure out a more permanent place, but that may be hard right now with so many people leaving Hawkins. He may have to leave town,” Claudia said, though Steve could tell she was trying to figure out how to take him in, even if only for a few days.
“What would I have to do to keep him while they keep looking?”
“Oh, that’s a question for Hopper, sweetie. I’m not sure you’d fit the requirements, even though I think he’d be very lucky to get to stay with you,” Claudia touched his arm, giving it a gentle squeeze in comfort.
“Is he coming by?”
“Hopper? Yes, he just got done at the hospital handling some things for Edward,” Claudia said.
“Eddie, Ma, how many times do I have to tell you?”
“The tone! Watch it!” Steve said before Claudia could respond.
She smirked at Steve, then gave Dustin a look that said she wasn’t going to listen to him and walked away.
“I gotta go with her, she’s bringing dinner to Wayne at the hospital.”
“Is Eddie awake?”
“Not yet, but they think it could be anytime. They said the drugs in his system are heavy enough to keep him out for a while.”
“But he seems okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Max?”
He almost didn’t want to ask, but he had to.
“No news.”
Steve nodded once, acknowledging that Dustin didn’t want to talk about it right now, that it was tough to even think about how she was probably not gonna wake up anytime soon if ever.
“Hey, come by my house tomorrow, okay? We can watch a movie or somethin’.”
“Sure.”
Steve gave Dustin a quick hug before making his way back to Elliott, who looked like he might start crying any moment.
“Hey, buddy. Sorry that took longer than I thought, but…” Steve pulled the bag of cookies from behind his back with a smile. “I got cookies! Claudia makes the best chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. You’ll love them.”
Elliott relaxed a little, smiling up at Steve as he reached for the bag of cookies.
“Is she nice? She looks nice.”
“She’s awesome. She always brings me soup if I’m sick.”
“Is that what moms do? My aunt sometimes does, but she doesn’t know how to make the kind I like.”
Steve bit his lip.
“What kind do you like?”
“My favorite is tomato and noodles. She can only make chicken noodle. It’s okay, but sometimes it has a funny taste.”
Steve smiled at him, glad he was at least talking, even if what he was saying was heartbreaking.
“I’m sure Claudia can make you some tomato and noodles. I’ll call and ask.”
“But not now, right?”
Elliott’s voice filled with panic, his eyes widening.
“No, I’m staying with you right now. The chief should be here soon and we can figure out what’s going on, okay?”
“Like, the chief of police? You know him?”
“Yeah, Hopper’s nice. Don’t let his mean face scare you. He’s kind of a teddy bear.”
“Excuse you, I’m not a teddy bear. I’m a grizzly bear,” Hopper said behind Steve.
Elliott laughed, and Hopper tried to hide a small smile. Teddy bear.
“Are you Elliott?” Elliott nodded. “Can we go talk for a few minutes just us? I promise Steve can wait right outside the door.”
Hopper gave Steve a look that said he was about to ruin this kid’s day as if it didn’t already suck enough.
“Um, can Steve come in the room too?”
“If you want him to, sure.”
“I want him to.”
“Okay then, let’s go.”
Steve grabbed everything off the tables, throwing the trash away on the walk towards the teacher’s lounge area that had been set up for the cops to conduct phone calls and interviews as needed.
It was empty now, probably thanks to Hopper taking control quickly.
They sat down around a table, Elliott’s hand finding Steve’s quickly.
“Alright, Elliott, so I have a few questions and then I have some news,” Hopper started, his voice maintaining no emotion the way he’d been taught.
“Okay.”
“How long have your parents been gone this time?”
“I dunno. A week, maybe a little longer.”
“And you were alone that whole time?”
Elliott looked to Steve, like he needed help to answer, but Steve just smiled at him and mouthed ‘just be honest, you’re not in trouble.’
“Most of the time. My aunt came to check on me in the mornings and bring me food for the day.”
“Aunt Janice?”
“Yeah.”
“Bud, I’m sorry to tell ya this, but your Aunt Janice was in a really bad accident and didn’t make it,” Hopper’s voice started to show some emotion, but Steve squeezed Elliott’s hand so he wouldn’t focus on that.
“She died?”
“Yeah, bud. I’m sorry.”
“But who will bring me food in the morning?”
Steve couldn’t do this. Holy shit, he could not do this. How was Hopper able to do this?
“Well, we still haven’t been able to call your parents. Do you know exactly where they might be?”
“I don’t know. They don’t tell me where they go.”
Steve and Hopper looked at each other.
Hopper knew Steve had been in a similar position when he was younger, but no one checked on him. Hopper had often been the one to show up at his door during his early teens to make sure he had food and wasn’t hurt.
“What if he stayed with me until you find them?” Steve asked Hopper.
Elliott turned to him.
“I can stay with you?” He asked excitedly.
“Oh, I’m not sure about that. There’s a process for this kinda thing,” Hopper began.
“Then start the process. He’s staying with me,” Steve said firmly, not caring if he sounded rude, not caring if Hopper hated him for it, just wanting Elliott safe and in a house instead of a school converted to a disaster relief zone.
Hopper eyed him up and down, and the way Elliott was holding his hand and bouncing excitedly in his chair.
“Alright, fine. But it’s a week by week basis until we can get ahold of his parents,” Hopper said directly to Steve.
“Steve, do you have a microwave? I make popcorn so good, like so good. I can make it tonight even!”
Steve smiled at him, and then at Hopper, who was watching with a fond smile.
“I’m sure I have what you need to make some popcorn, buddy.”
“You wait here, I have to get the release from CPS. They’re in the front office.”
Elliott went on and on about all the things they could do while he stayed with him, and when he found out Steve had a pool, he didn’t even stop for breath as he explained that he was the best swimmer when they took a field trip last year to the pool and that he could probably even beat Steve in a race.
Steve just smiled and agreed.
—-----------------------
A week with Elliott went by, and it was easy.
Steve was terrified how quickly he just fit in.
He fit in at his house, making it feel like a home, with his rambunctious energy and nightly popcorn making.
He fit in with the kids, showing interest in D&D even though he’d never heard of it before.
He even fit with Robin, who kind of hated kids, but thought Elliott was probably the cutest kid she’d ever met.
One night, while Dustin and Mike were showing Elliott how to build a character, Robin asked him the question he’d been dreading.
“What happens if he can’t stay?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m assuming they’ll find his parents soon, and when they do, he’ll have to go live with them again. Or at least his mom since his dad will be in prison for life at this rate. How are you gonna handle that?”
He had no clue. He wanted Elliott to have parents who stuck around, and who loved him, and let him pop popcorn every night.
But realistically, even if they did come back, that wasn’t what his life would look like.
His life would be a lot like Steve’s was, sad and lonely, and he didn’t deserve that.
“I’m gonna fight for him. I don’t know what that means yet, but I know that whatever is best for him is what I’m gonna make sure happens.”
Robin wrapped him up in a hug, her arms squeezing him to her.
“You’re gonna be a great dad someday.”
No one had ever said that to him before.
But maybe he could believe it.
—-------------------------------------
Steve was the first person to come to the hospital when Eddie woke up, Elliott excitedly chattering from the backseat of his car the whole way.
It was helping Steve’s nerves, but he knew he wasn’t giving Elliott the attention he needed.
“Sorry, buddy. What was that?”
Elliott was quiet for a moment.
“Are you worried?”
Steve smiled at him in the rearview mirror, his hands gripping the wheel tight.
“A little. You remember how everyone told you about Eddie? How he saved us all and almost died?”
“Yeah, he’s a hero!”
“He is. But he’s still healing and I’m just worried about how hurt he is.”
“Oh. So we can’t hug him or hold his hand to help him feel better?” Elliott groaned. “Oh man, I was gonna bring him popcorn!”
Steve laughed quietly to himself.
“I think he’s on a pretty strict diet right now, buddy. Maybe when he’s out of the hospital we can have him over for a movie and you can make him some.”
“When will he be out?”
“I dunno yet. I think it might still be a little while.”
“Will I still live with you then?”
Steve gulped.
“I hope so.”
“Me too,” Elliott said quietly, staring out the window as they pulled into the hospital parking lot.
His mood was a bit somber as they walked through the halls of the bustling hospital, going to the fifth floor in the elevator where Eddie’s room was.
When he got to the right room, he knocked on the door even though it was open, smiling in at Wayne.
“Hey, come in, Steve. Eddie, Steve’s here,” Wayne said as he turned to Eddie, who was awake, but mostly horizontal still in bed.
“Steve?” Eddie’s rough voice asked.
“Hey, Eds. Hope it’s okay I brought my buddy, Elliott, to say hi. He’s heard a lot about you and Dustin and Mike and Will have been teaching him D&D for when you get out of here.”
Steve walked close to the bed, holding Elliott’s hand. He seemed shy suddenly, which wasn’t like him, not since he was living with Steve.
“Hey, Elliott. You keepin’ Steve company?”
“Yes, sir.”
Wayne snorted.
“Oh, son, you don’t have to be formal with Eddie. He’s barely older than you in his head.”
Eddie glared at Wayne, but smiled at Elliott.
“Seriously, bud, just Eddie is fine. So you ready for a campaign?”
“I dunno. Dustin said maybe I can play with you guys?”
“‘Course you can. I have so many ideas when I get outta here.”
Eddie turned to Steve and gave him a smirk.
“As long as we can host at your place?”
Steve blushed, remembering the last time he had Eddie’s full attention on him, back when his words “make him pay” sounded a lot like “I love you.”
“Yeah. Yeah, we can do that. When do you get out of here?”
Elliott was loosening his anxious grip on Steve’s hand as the nerves wore off.
“They said not for a couple weeks, but I’m gonna walk right out of here the moment I can feel my legs again.”
Elliott let out a giggle and Eddie smiled.
“You can help me, right? I may need some support to run for it.”
“No! You have to stay until you’re all better, goofball.”
“That’s exactly what I told him, Elliott. You’re much wiser than he is,” Wayne said with a roll of his eyes.
Elliott moved closer to the side of the bed, his hands folded in front of him.
“Um. Could I hold your hand? So you feel better?”
Steve was going to cry.
Eddie kind of looked like he might, too.
“Yeah, I could use a hand to hold, bud. Thanks for offering. Wayne’s hand gets sweaty, but don’t tell him I said that,” he whispered the last part to Elliott, but loud enough so everyone could still hear.
Elliott held his hand, sitting carefully on the edge of the bed.
He told Eddie all about the character Dustin and Mike helped him build, about how they might run a practice campaign with him soon. He told him about the popcorn he would make for the first time he came over.
Steve watched fondly, realizing quickly that this wasn’t something he could lose.
Not Elliott, and not Eddie either.
—-----------------------------
Elliott’s parents were still missing.
It’s been almost a month, Eddie was released from the hospital a day ago, and Elliott was still living with Steve.
The longer he stayed, the more it would hurt if he left.
They got into a routine.
School had been canceled for the rest of the year, so they mostly just made breakfast together, went in the pool, hung out with the kids, visited Eddie, played basketball, and had popcorn every night.
Steve knew Elliott was happy, he knew he was happy.
He was terrified it would end.
They were hosting Eddie for a movie night, and Elliott was more excited than ever.
Steve was a nervous wreck.
He was in charge of making sure Eddie didn’t overdo it, making sure he took his nighttime medications, and getting him to bed at a reasonable hour. According to Wayne, his pills made him tired and he would fight sleep if you didn’t force him into a bed.
Steve spent the day cleaning, baking, and preparing.
By dinner time, when Eddie would be arriving, Elliott was starting to question it.
“What’s wrong? Do you not want Eddie to come over?”
“No! Of course I want him to come over.”
“So…why are you being like this?”
“I’m…”
“Is it because you love Eddie?”
Steve choked on air.
“What?”
“Or do you think Eddie doesn’t love you?”
“Elliott, gonna say a big kid word right now. What the hell do you mean?”
Elliott rolled his eyes.
“You want to make Eddie feel happy and safe here, and you always get this stupid look on your face when we visit him, and then when I asked Wayne if you two were boyfriends he laughed and said ‘probably soon.’ So you love him, right?”
Steve’s mouth was working open and shut, open and shut, no noise coming out.
“Two boys can be together, you know. Robin told me.”
“She what? When?”
“When she told me two girls can be together.”
Steve put his face in his hands and couldn’t help the laugh of disbelief he let out as Elliott touched his back to comfort him.
“Did you not know you loved Eddie?”
“Uh. I guess I didn’t know that other people thought I loved Eddie.”
“Oh. So are you gonna be boyfriends?”
“I…I don’t know, buddy. Maybe.”
“I think you should be. Then it might be like I have two dads.”
What?
What.
“What?”
Elliott pulled his hand away and suddenly seemed nervous.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that.”
Steve couldn’t handle the look on Elliott’s face.
“Elliott, look at me, buddy.” He waited for Elliott to look at him. “Is that what you think of me as? Like your dad?”
Elliott nodded.
“Come here,” Steve said, pulling Elliott into a hug. “You’re the best kid, you know that?”
Elliott nodded, and Steve let out a wet laugh.
“Uh, everything okay in here?” Eddie said from the doorway.
“Eddie!” Elliott let out, and despite the mood of the previous conversation, he was smiling from ear to ear.
Eddie smiled at him and pulled him into the least hurt side of him for a hug.
He looked at Steve with a questioning look. Steve just shook his head quickly, wiping the tears from his eyes quickly.
“Can I make popcorn now, pleeeeease?” Elliott asked, bouncing on his heels.
“Yes, fine. But only one bowl right now. You can make more after dinner.”
“Okay, dad!” he yelled as he ran to the popcorn maker.
Eddie’s brows raised to his forehead as he looked at Steve, who was crying buckets at this point.
“What’s that about, Stevie?” Eddie whispered as he came up to him.
“I um, I guess he just feels like I’m his dad,” Steve shrugged.
“Are you okay with that?”
“I just don’t want him to go.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” Eddie said, pulling Steve into a crushing hug that had to hurt him. Steve sniffled against his shoulder, letting himself cry for a minute. “Did Hopper say he may have to go soon?”
“No, but I mean, if they find his parents or if CPS decides he has to go to a real family, then he’ll have to.”
“Stevie, they wouldn’t just take him. Not when he’s safe here and wants to be here. I promise.”
“But what if he goes somewhere far away or to people who won’t let me see him?”
Eddie held the back of his head against his shoulder, placing a kiss to the top of his head.
“He won’t. We’ll fight for him to stay here, okay? He’s got a family here, with us. Right?”
“Us?” Steve asked as he pulled away.
“Yeah. Us. Sound okay to you?”
Steve could only nod as he wiped his running nose.
How attractive.
“Hopper still doesn’t have any idea where they are, right?”
“Nope.”
“They’ll give up eventually. I hate to say it, but they won’t put more effort into a kid who has a safe place to go when they have bigger problems. Like how half the town is still homeless because of a fucking earthquake.”
“That’s a big kid word!” Elliott yelled from his spot at the counter.
“I’m a big kid!” Eddie yelled back, smirking at Steve.
“But I’m not!” Elliott yelled as they heard the popcorn machine starting up.
“Fine!”
Eddie placed a kiss on Steve’s forehead, then one against his lips.
It was soft, chaste, barely a kiss at all.
But it was a perfect first kiss for them.
—----------------------------
Another month passed with no news.
Eddie was at Steve’s house almost every day, spending time with Elliott, spending time with the party, with Steve.
Steve had converted the main guest room into Elliott’s permanent bedroom, but was scared to think of it that way still.
Eddie tried to reassure him, but even he was nervous that no final decisions had been made and the case remained open.
Until Hopper came by one night, well after Elliott went to bed. Eddie was doing the dishes while Steve was prepping some fruit for Elliott’s breakfast before his first day of summer camp the next day.
“Hop.”
Steve felt his stomach sink.
They were going to take Elliott.
“Steve. Can I come in?”
“Yeah.”
Steve let him in, his face forced into casual calm, but on the inside he was already screaming and crying about what was about to happen.
Hopper sat down on the chair, gesturing for Steve and Eddie to sit on the couch.
“So.”
“You’re taking him aren’t you? He can’t stay.”
“What? No.” Hopper frowned. “No, Steve. The opposite actually. We’re closing the case. CPS said after interviews with him, even if his parents did get found or come back on their own, he wouldn’t be put back in their care.”
“But what about putting him with another family?”
Hopper sighed. He watched Eddie place a hand on Steve’s knee to calm him down.
“They’ve spoken in detail with him about his current situation. They believe that you’re the person he wants to live with and they aren’t going to disrupt his life any more than it already has been. If that’s alright with you, of course.”
Steve felt like he could breathe for the first time in his life.
“He can stay? With me?”
“He can stay with you.”
Steve let out a sob and fell against Eddie’s side. Eddie was crying too, but trying to keep more control so he could comfort Steve.
“CPS has to do a home visit to finalize everything, but if you’re good with it, you can officially adopt him. He’s been considered abandoned by his parents, and since it’s been 60 days, they relinquish all rights automatically.”
“How quickly can we do that?”
“We? Both of you?”
“I mean, can we both even do that?”
Hopper shrugged.
“Don’t know. But they’re probably expecting just Steve for now. They’ll call tomorrow to schedule everything and give you a chance to talk to Elliott.”
Steve and Eddie both nodded.
“I’m gonna leave you two to it, but call me if you need me. Congrats, Steve. I know you wanted this. I know he wanted this.”
“Thanks.”
Hopper saw himself out, closing the door quietly so it wouldn’t wake Elliott up.
“Eddie, did that really happen? Am I dreaming?”
“No, sweetheart, you aren’t dreaming.”
“I get to be his dad.”
“Yeah, you do.”
“And you?”
“What about me?”
“Do you want to be his other dad?”
“I would love to, baby. Let’s ask him tomorrow, though. It’s up to him.”
Steve nodded.
It was up to Elliott, but he knew what Elliott wanted.
He knew what he wanted.
They were gonna be a family. A real family. No more worrying about someone deciding to take Elliott away from him.
He could finally use this house that had been left to him by his parents for something other than being miserable. He could keep it filled with love and laughter and happiness and maybe the occasional stupid argument.
Maybe Elliott would make friends at school in the fall and want to have hangouts here. Maybe they could both save up some money and take him on a vacation somewhere. Maybe someday they could get married and Elliott could be the best man.
Anything could happen.
Steve couldn’t wait.
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talkfastromance4 · 10 months
Text
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face--Jake Seresin (An Arrangement Series)
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author's note: thank you for your patience! As promised, this one is longer! and again, the dress in the photo is just so you can see what it looks like.
An Arrangement Masterlist
Follow here for all updates as I do not have a taglist
word count: 8.6k
warnings: a brief interaction with police, break-in
Feedback, asks, comments/reblogs mean the world to me!
Enjoy!
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It’s a few weeks before the Navy ball and you’re at the flower shop putting together an arrangement for Betty. She’s at a rehab center after her surgery and so far she’s doing really well so you’re hoping she’ll be out soon enough. Jake has also been gone for a quick mission, he told you about it just before the fundraiser he helps sponsor at the pier.
You weren’t sure what to expect at the pier so you put on a pretty sundress that Jake couldn’t take his eyes off of. You definitely didn’t expect him to show up in his service khakis but when you saw the fundraiser was for foster children and their home you understood why because the kids hung onto him and asked him so many questions about flying the ‘big airplanes’.
The raised funds were to help add onto the house they live in and to hopefully build a new jungle gym. Some of the children were selling tickets and ran the booths with other adult volunteers. Jake stayed by your side the whole time introducing you to everyone while also speaking very highly of your flower shop which made your cheeks warm.
You snip some of the stems of the gladiolas you are working on smiling at the memory of that day and one little girl who kept running up to Jake–she had to be at least eight years old–showing him all the prizes she won.
As the sun was setting, the kids were leaving and that little girl came up one last time. You found out her name was Zara when Jake greeted her by squatting on the ground. She whispered something in his ear, he nodded then turned to you.
“Zara wants to give you something,” he smiled.
“Me?” you brightened and knelt down to her height. She hands you a plush flower with a smiley face in the center.
“Mister Jake says you make flowers.”
“He’s right, I do. Thank you so much, I love it,” you smiled at her. “And I know the perfect place to put it, right in my display case.”
Zara giggled then ran off towards the other kids at the bus and the director of the house they live in, a big smile on her face and you could have sworn she perked her chest up just the slightest.
“Thank you so much for today, Lieutenant. Your donation will definitely help us in building a new jungle gym.”
“It’s my pleasure, Ms. Dawes. Let me know if you need help with anything else. You’re doing an amazing job.”
She was clearly flustered then headed back to the kids. Jake faced you with his hand held out but you shook your head.
“What?”
“You shouldn’t charm people so easily like that.”
“Do I charm you?” he cocked his head to the side, his hand still extended. He wiggled his fingers clearly wanting you to hold his hand.
“I plead the fifth,” you sniffed but took his hand anyway.
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“So,” Serena hops on the counter next to you, pulling you from your recollection of memory. “Where’s your boy toy? Haven’t seen him since he brought us breakfast a week ago.”
“He’s not my boytoy, but he should be home tonight. He had a mission to do.”
“Okay, boyfriend then.”
“He’s not that either,” you sigh tweaking the flowers a bit.
“Then what is he?”
You’re not sure what to say so you shrug.
“He takes you out, right?”
“Yeah.”
“He helps you with Betty,” she starts to tick off fingers, “he buys you and your employees breakfast, drives you around…if it looks like a boyfriend and quacks like a boyfriend–”
“That’s not how the saying goes,” you giggle then turn serious. “It’s not like that. It’s…complicated.”
“What’s complicated about it? You like him, right?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, figure it out ‘cause he’s down bad for you.”
You turn away with your arrangement to box it up and to also hide your smile at her comment. The door opens with the bell jingling above it and Reynolds comes in with a basket of your favorite snacks and sweet treats, a sign that Jake is on his way home.
“Lieutenant Seresin is on his way back from base but wanted you to have these to keep at the shop. I have to pick him up…will you be all right getting home?” Reynolds asks.
“I can take her Reynolds,” Serena says peering into the basket.
“Thank you,” you tell him sincerely.
“If you need anything, give me or him a call. I’ll see you Monday Miss y/n. Miss Serena,” he smiles then leaves the shop.
“Jake’s a duck and Reynolds is a duckling,” Serena states taking a pear from the basket and taking a big bite.
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Jake sent you a text that he’d be leaving base the same time you’d be leaving the flower shop and asked if you’d like to go to brunch the following morning. After locking up with Serena, she drove you home and the whole way there you have this weird feeling in your stomach.
When you get out of her car you hear a loud crash from inside your house and you freeze. There’s more scuffling and you scurry back inside already calling Jake.
“y/n? What’s going on?” Serena asks in alarm.
“Hey Sugar, I wasn’t expecting a–”
“Jake, someone’s in my house,” you whisper frantically. Serena gasps then pulls out her phone to call the police.
“Where are you? Are you inside?” Jake asks.
“No, I’m still in Serena’s car. She’s calling the police.” You’re surprised at how calm your voice sounds when inside your heart is about to burst out of your chest.
“Drive away from your house, I’m on my way. Stay in the car, y/n I’ll be there soon.”
You gulp when the line goes dead, he rarely calls you by your first name. Serena drives a block away but still in view of your home and you’re freaking out because what if whose inside comes out and runs towards her car? What if they have a weapon?
“It’s fine, the police are on their way,” Serena soothes, “I’m on with dispatch. Someone is five blocks away on another call and they’re coming here now.”
Two squad cars show up without their lights and get out of the car. You watch them walk right inside, your multiple locks were clearly busted. It’s like a lifetime goes by and then you see Jake’s truck turn the corner. Without thinking, you escape Serena’s car ignoring her hissing your name and run towards him.
He slams on his brakes, puts it in park then jumps out as soon as he opens the door catching you just as you leap into his arms.
“y/n, I told you to stay in Serena’s car,” he reprimands but hugs you tightly against him. One hand holds the back of your neck. “Are you hurt?”
“I’m scared,” you whisper shaking your head.
“It’s all right, I’m here and it looks like the cops are too. Have they come out and talked to you yet?”
“No, they’re still inside,” Serena says behind you.
“You can go home if you’d like, Serena,” Jake says, he continues rubbing the back of your neck.
“You sure?” She asks.
“Yeah, I’ll be okay with Jake here,” you turn your head to look at her over his bicep. “Thanks for driving me.”
“You call me as soon as you’re done talking with them, okay?” she holds out her arms and you give her a tight hug.
“I will. Drive home safe, text me when you’re there.”
“Bye Jake, thanks for coming,” she says.
“Bye Serena,” he waves.
She gets back in her car then pulls away slowly. You fold your arms over your chest, feeling a breakdown coming but you can’t do that yet. Jake takes you in his arms again and you close your eyes focusing on his arms around you, his breath blowing on your hair and his heartbeat. It centers you and calms down your breathing, but sadly, your heart is still racing in fear.
The police finally came out to say the perp got out the back door and the coast was clear to head inside. They followed you around jotting down things that were missing; your small flat screen was taken, some clothes and the record player you saved up for was also gone. Your records were still there but some were smashed on the ground and your kitchen was a mess.
“They were probably looking for diamonds or other expensive jewelry,” one of the officers said. “People tend to hide them in their flour.”
“I don’t have any kind of jewelry expensive enough to be stolen,” you shake your head then gasp and run to your bedroom.
“y/n! Wait for us!” Jake calls after you and you look through your clothes again. The dress from Madam Floquet is gone.
“Oh no!” you groan and start to toss hangers with clothes on them behind you. It has to be here, it just has to be.
“Sugar, what’re you–hey, slow down!” Jake’s arms wrap around you, fingers latching around your wrists like a vice until you stop your frantic pillaging. “What are you looking for?”
“My dress! The one you got me, it’s gone! They took that too!”
The clothes in your hand fall to the floor and you bury your face in your hands, Jake’s arms circling around you even tighter.
“No, they didn’t,” he says softly in your ear, “I had Reynolds bring it to my house just for safekeeping.”
“It is?”
“Yes, it wasn’t stolen. Was there anything else missing from your room?”
“I don’t think so,” you whisper.
“Miss, could you write down your statement?”
Jake sat with you at the kitchen table while you wrote down the incident with a shaky hand. When the officers left, you stared around your small house now in a disarray and your door hanging from its hinges. Thinking of other possibilities that could have happened if you were here sent a shiver down your spine but makes you come to a decision.
You look at Jake, his green eyes alert even with the dark circles under his eyes again. Why does it seem like he never sleeps? Before you could catch it, a tear rolled down your cheek.
“What?” he asks, swiping it away with his thumb.
“Okay… I’ll move in with you.”
“Are you sure?” His eyebrows raise.
“I’m sure. This…was an eye opener. What if it happens again while I’m sleeping? You’re right, it’s not safe here but I can’t afford anywhere else. And you are closer to where Betty is.”
“Thank you,” he sighs taking both of your hands in his. “I’m so sorry this happened, Sugar. I’ll get you a new record player–the same one. And don’t worry about packing or anything like that, I’ll take care of everything.”
He brings your hands up, kissing the knuckles, and for the first time since meeting him, you fully trust that he will take care of everything.
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And he did. Within twenty minutes after the break-in, he had movers at your place and they began packing up all your belongings. You watched and listened while he instructed where certain things would go in his house. Reynolds was also there to help but he mainly stayed by you to keep you company while Jake orchestrated the moving process.
When all was said and done, he leaned against your broken door frame watching you as you walked through your now empty house. This was your first big purchase as an adult, as a way of freedom of living on your own. You chose the color of the walls, the decorations in the bathroom and now it’s empty, barren.
Jake held out his hand as you circled back. Seeing his hand outstretched felt like a new beginning, a second chance and you were finally ready to accept his help so you took his hand and followed him out into the night. Although, it was nearing five o’clock in the morning.
Although you’ve been here before, he gave you another tour and you saw more Texas decor throughout the house. There were pictures of his family everywhere, he had two sisters who were married and a niece and nephew.
“I’d tell you about them but you look like you’re about to pass out on me, Sugar. Let’s get you to bed.”
You followed him up the stairs and into your room. The fake tree you remembered from last time had twinkly lights that were lit up and you saw your belongings from your old room in here.
“I made sure your clothes were placed in the closet and the dressers, you can rearrange them however you’d like. If you need anything at all, my room is at the very end of the hall.”
“Okay. Thank you, Jake, for everything,” you tell him.
“You’re welcome. Now, get some sleep.”
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The first official night after the break-in was hard. You tossed and turned because you felt like a stranger in his house and bed even though you’d slept in it before. Eventually, you did fall asleep and that was the first time you dreamt of Jake.
It was like a dream within a dream, it felt so familiar like it had happened before. Can you have deja vu in a dream?
In the dream, you were at a wedding with Serena sitting next to you and a song came on. Jake appeared in front of you wearing a dark gray suit.
“Did you request this?” dream you smiled at him as he held out his hand.
“Maybe,” he grinned then pulled you against him. You danced to the song feeling complete and whole and just right in his arms.
Then you woke up wondering what song you could have been dancing to that was deemed special for you and him? He left sweet notes for you in the morning before work with a fresh pot of coffee and a muffin that Rhea would make for you who you found out was his housekeeper. She’s a lovely woman in her mid-fifties and talked about Jake like he was her own son.
He still hasn’t talked about his family yet but maybe he’s waiting for you to ask on your own.
Since you moved in with him, he made sure he was done with work so he could pick you up from the flower shop and you could both see Betty together. With Jake being out of state again for a few days, Reynolds has taken up his position of driving you around again.
This is the first time you’re seeing Betty without Jake and you decide to open up to her about Jake and what your situation with him really is about. So you told her about him paying for her medical bills, moving in with him, the break-in. You didn’t tell her these things in the first place because you didn’t want to upset her in her condition but she took it in stride, she’s a very resilient woman.
“Well, Dolly, it seems like he really has feelings for you.”
“But why have me sign paperwork and pay for everything? I have such a hard time understanding.”
“Maybe he grew up seeing love like that. Does he come from a rich family?”
“I don’t know, I just found out he has two sisters and a niece and nephew. We’ve never really talked about his family yet.”
“All you can do is ask. It also might be a way to protect his own heart, and I know you keep yours locked and guarded in a high tower.”
“You really think he has feelings for me?”
“Honey, I haven’t seen anyone look at you the way he does since your grandpa looked at me.”
“Really?” You’re blown away because your grandpa looked at your grandma like she created the universe. “Tell me how you two met again.”
She explains how she first saw John at an ice cream shoppe with her mother. He was the handsomest man she ever saw in her life and she went back to that ice cream shoppe day after day until he finally bought her a cherry cola. They then went to the drive-in a lot, other diners and was told his family had lots of money.
That part wasn’t true but Betty didn’t care, they loved each other like crazy and were married within eight months of first meeting.
“Give Jake a chance, Dolly.”
“But what about–”
“Stop thinking and go with what you feel. Don’t think, do what your heart tells you. Promise me?”
“I promise.”
“When does he come home?”
“Tonight I think,” you sigh looking at your Apple watch. It was a ‘Welcome Home’ gift from him that was placed on your nightstand a few days after you moved in. You appreciated the discreet way he gave it and it did come in handy while you were at the shop working.
“And when is the Navy ball?”
“This Saturday. I’m so nervous, grandma. What if I make a fool of myself in front of his squad?”
“I’m sure you won’t, and I’m sure Jake will be by your side the whole time.”
She dozes off after that. You kiss her cheek and then go home. You hear splashing as you get out of the car in the driveway and you notice Jake’s truck is parked in the middle garage. Your heart leaps knowing he’s home.
“Have a good night, Reynolds,” you smile to him with the window rolled down. He winks then pulls out of the driveway and you head inside.
It’s dark in the house except for the underlights of the cabinets in the kitchen. The back door is slid open and you hear more splashing. You find Jake doing laps in the pool, his body aglow in the aquamarine lights. You watch him glide under the water fluidly for two laps, coming up halfway each time to catch a breath then descending into the water again.
You kick off your shoes, stepping carefully to one end of the pool while he’s at the other and wait until he comes to the halfway mark for air.
“Welcome home,” you call as soon as his head pops up. His eyes open and he smiles widely at you.
He swims to you quickly then stops in front of your legs that you’re lightly kicking in the water. He grabs hold of your moving ankles rubbing the inside of them with his thumbs.
“You’ve no idea how much I like hearing you say that, Sugar,” he pants, catching his breath from the swim.
“Feels like home when you’re here. When did you get back?”
“A couple hours ago,” his fingers tickle up and down your calves now. It gives you goosebumps. “Were you with Betty?”
“Mhm.”
The tickling of his fingers feels nice and it’s taking all your concentration to focus on your breathing.
“How is she?”
“Good. Still in pain and tired. She says hello.”
“I’ll come with you when you go see her again.”
“She’ll like that. How come you’re swimming?”
“It helps clear my head,” he lowers his head into the water and blows bubbles. “You can join me if you want. Birthday suits are highly recommended.” He wiggles his eyebrows playfully.
“Yeah?” you laugh then scratch your nose. “I don’t think so.”
“Can’t blame a man for trying. Do you want a pedicure?”
“Are you offering?”
“To pay, yes,” he nods, then tickles your toes.
“Jake! That tickles!” you shriek, jerking your legs but he keeps tickling. The quick movements of your legs makes water splash on your shorts and shirt then you’re both laughing.
“Okay, okay, I’m done,” he chortles. He stops tickling but keeps his grip on your ankles, his thumbs returning to the soft circles between your feet and along the arch.
He cocks his head to the side gazing up at you. Whenever he cocks his head that means trouble.
“Do you make those sounds just when you’re being tickled or from…other activities?”
“Other activities?” it’s your turn to cock your head.
“Nevermind, Sugar,” he shakes his head, lips quivering into a smirk. Then he rests his chin on your knee. “You’re just tempting me, that’s all.”
“Tempting you? How? I’m not doing anything.”
“That’s the worst part. You don’t even realize…I can only imagine what it’d be like if you were actively trying to tempt me. I’m already a goner.”
He’s staring at you with those hypnotic green eyes, he rolls his head so his cheek is pressed to your kneecap. His breath is warm on your skin and his hands continue to dance up and down your legs, going higher and slower each time.
“I know what you mean.”
The words were out of your mouth before you could even think to stop. You clap your hand over your lips hoping he didn’t hear it but of course he did because now he’s smirking.
“Yeah? Are you saying I tempt you, Sugar?”
“I’m saying…I…” you suck in a gasp when he presses his lips to the inside of your knee. His eyes still laser focused on you as he did so. “I-I understand what you mean.”
“That’s all?” he moves to your left knee, kissing you there as well. “Is this okay?”
His hands are on your calves and he pulls your legs apart a bit. You nod at his question. So with his lips still pressed to your knee, he gives small kisses around the circumference. They feel like little fish kisses, small pulses of his lips on your skin. He does the same thing to your right knee then he’s pulling himself out from the water to his full height.
Water droplets cascade down his body, your eyes follow one that rolls down his cheek and jawline onto his neck then over his chest and toned stomach before disappearing into the waistband of his swim trunks. You gulp, this is the first time you’ve seen him shirtless and what a sight it is. He’s standing between your opened legs and you feel his hip bones, your toes grazing against his calves under the water. This is the closest skin on skin contact you’ve had with him ever.
“Give me the word, Sugar,” his voice pulls your gaze back up to his eyes. He steps closer, crowding your space with his arms. His fingers slide up your thighs then rests his palms on the concrete beside you. “And I’m all yours.”
His pelvis is pressed against yours now, you can feel the coolness of the pool water but also the warmth radiating from his body and your head is spinning. Being this close to him is making your clothes wet and you clench your thighs.
“I…”
“Remember what I said at our first dinner together? How I said I could have pleasured you in your pretty flower shop?”
All you can do is nod because of course you remember it.
“Good. I gotta get out now, though. I’m all pruny, see?” he holds his hand up between you, his fingertips grazing the side of your breast as he does so.
You don’t even have time to look down and see because he’s backing away. A braver version of you would yank him back between your legs and kiss him, asking–no–begging him to show you exactly what he meant about pleasuring you. But you’re not at that brave version yet so you watch him walk through the water and use the steps to get out.
You have a nice few of his back muscles flexing as he runs his fingers through his wet hair. Your stomach flutters and you’re wondering how he could be so damn attractive. Jake pads across the concrete until he’s in front of you, his hand held out. You take it, feeling the water run down your arm as he helps you stand up.
“Want to watch a movie and order takeout?”
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Will you be home for dinner tonight?” Jake asks Friday morning while you’re gathering your coffee and muffin. He’s sitting at the island with his tablet reading the news.
“Probably not. I’ve still got a bunch to do for this wedding tomorrow,” you sigh. Rhea hands you our lunch bag. “Thanks Rhea.”
“I added another muffin for dessert,” she smiles then picks up her cleaning supplies and heads into the dining room.
“You’ve been coming home late every night, last night I didn’t hear you until almost one a.m….” he frowns and crosses his arms.
“Yeah, it’s a big order. Me and Serena are working around the clock with Dom and Brynne helping out when they can. They’ve been working on a funeral arrangement.”
“Do you have to set it up for the wedding tomorrow?”
“Nope, they’ll take care of it. They know I’ve got the Navy ball with you tomorrow,” you smile then try to stifle a yawn but it escapes. You feel even more tired when the yawn finishes.
He stands up from his side of the island moving in front of you, bending a little to peer at your face more closely. His palms cup your cheeks as his thumbs brush under your eyes.
“How much sleep have you gotten?”
“I dunno,” you shrug and try to suppress another yawn. “Maybe five hours?”
“Five hours all week?”
“No, five hours last night. My mind kept me up on what I all needed to finish today.”
“You need your sleep, Sugar,” his fingers thread in your hair massaging the base of your neck. You let out a contented sigh.
“I’ll get it when the wedding’s done and Betty’s out of rehab. I told her we’d see her tomorrow before the ball, she wants to see my dress.”
“I’ll make sure we head there first before we go to the party,” he smiles and continues massaging your neck. “I set up a mani pedi for you tomorrow at eleven. Would you like me to call someone to do hair and makeup for you or would you like to do that yourself?”
“You have a hair and makeup person?” you tease but you’re feeling so relaxed with his neck massage.
“Yes, I do,” he smiles.
“Sure, that could be fun. Then I know I won’t look like a clown.”
“You never look like a clown. Promise me you’ll take an hour lunch today?”
“I’ll try.”
“You drive me crazy,” he sighs and removes his fingers from your neck.
“You do give good massages,” you turn your neck from side to side.
“That wasn’t even the full experience, darlin’. Have a good day at work.”
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At midnight, you heard rumbling outside and then seconds later rain was downpouring on the windows. You sigh as you mark down on your clipboard a final count of the centerpieces in the fridge. You sent Reynolds home hours ago telling him you’d catch the bus promising you wouldn’t be too late. You broke that promise but you wanted to make sure the wedding arrangements were perfect because it was a shotgun wedding and the couple was desperate.
They insisted on paying double for the short notice and thankfully their request wasn’t anything too crazy. Lots of roses and lilies with pearls added throughout. Serena called it at eleven and you let Brynne and Dom go home early since they’ll be up early to set up for the wedding.
Being alone in the shop was your favorite because then you could crank your music up to as loud as you wanted without disturbing anyone.
Your watch started to vibrate and when you looked to see who was calling, an instant smile appeared because it was Jake.
“You’re up late,” you answer when you pick up your phone.
“Because you’re not home. Are you almost done?”
“Almost, just have to finish cleaning things up and I’ll be home. But it started raining and I don’t want to walk in the rain to the bus stop…”
“No need for the bus stop.”
“What do you mean?”
“Can you open the door? I’m getting soaked.”
Your mouth opens in confusion and you look to the front door where sure enough, Jake is standing there getting drenched by the onslaught of rain. You run to the front of the shop and unlock the door, Jake rushes in.
“What are you doing here?”
“Reynolds told me you sent him home and when I saw the forecast I didn’t want you walking in the rain at midnight. Especially after what happened at your house. And,” he holds up a wet to-go bag. “I brought you dinner.”
“Wow, you didn’t have to–I mean, thank you,” you smile taking the wet bag from him. “I have some towels in the back, I’ll go get them so you can dry off. Alexa, turn the volume down to three.”
You set the bag on your desk then open the door to the bathroom where you have fluffy towels. You wash your hands so much throughout the day you want to have a soft way to dry them off.
When you walk back out, Jake has lifted his hoodie off and because of the rain, it caused his t-shirt to cling to it. You got another great peek at his tanned and toned stomach, a happy trail disappearing into his jeans.
Pull yourself together, you scolded yourself.
“Here you go,” you hold out the towels to him. He uses it for his hair immediately, scrubbing at it fiercely. His hair is sticking up in all directions when he’s finished and you giggle.
“You finish cleaning up and I’ll put the spread out,” he says.
“Okay, the bag is on my desk in the back. There’s a mini fridge with soda and water.”
“I actually brought some wine. Thought you might like it after your busy week.”
“Wine sounds wonderful,” you smile.
He sidles past you behind the counter, your chests bumping and he pauses.
“Hi, by the way,” he says, green eyes glittering. He has a boyish grin and it makes him even cuter.
“Hi,” you giggle. “I have a comb in the bathroom if you’d like to fix your hair.”
“You don’t like my crazy hairstyle? I was thinking of wearing it like this tomorrow.”
“You’d turn heads for sure, but I like it like this.” You reach up to comb your fingers in his hair, pulling it down over his forehead. With his hair being wet it makes it more manageable to move it how you want it to. “There.”
“Thank you.”
His voice is sweet and his eyes are soft staring down at you. You’re caught in his green eyes, anticipating some kind of moment happening but then a loud crack of thunder jolts the moment away. He clears his throat then moves back into your office.
You’re humming along to Dean Martin as he sings From the Bottom of My Heart while you finish cleaning up. You sweep away fallen petals and thorns then start to dance a little with the broom when Frank Sinatra’s That’s Life starts to play. This is Betty’s playlist you play for her whenever she’s in the shop and when you spin around you slam into Jake’s body.
“Oh!”
“I’m a better partner than a broom.”
He takes the broom out of your hand bringing you into his arms in one quick sweep. His hand is warm on your lower back and then you’re dancing, following his footwork easily.
“What about the food?”
“The food can wait, let’s dance for a moment. Practice for tomorrow,” he smiles.
You dance around the small front of your shop, Dean Martin transitioning into Roberta Flack’s The First Time Ever I saw Your Face plays and you can’t help thinking what a magical moment this is.
Moments like this don’t happen to you; dancing with a handsome man while it’s raining outside to old music? You must be dreaming.
“I like this playlist,” he comments, spinning the two of you.
“It’s for Betty. This was my grandpa and her song. They would dance all the time and I always loved to watch them.”
“Did they ever dance in the shop like this?”
“All the time,” you smile, “there’s a picture of them dancing on my desk.”
“Sounds like they had a great love.”
“They did.”
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Have you had any great loves?”
“I thought I did but…it didn’t work out.”
“How come?”
“He found someone else, someone better.”
“I highly doubt that, there’s no one better than you.”
“You’re just saying that,” you shake your head.
“I’m not. You’re the kindest, sweetest person I’ve ever known. You work your ass off with no recognition even though you deserve it and you always exude this…lightness. Like you have a shine of happiness radiating from you.”
You duck your head and stare at his dog tags hanging over his shirt.
“Don’t do that.”
“What?”
“Look down or away whenever I compliment you. One day I’m going to have you see yourself the way I see you.”
You don’t know what to say to that so you continue to stare at his dog tags, your eyes tracing the letters of his name.
“y/n.”
“Hmm?” you force yourself to shift your eyes up to look at him and he’s so close.
So close that you can see little freckles on his nose and speckles of yellow in his green eyes.
“Do you…” he swallows hard. “Do you want to–”
“Do I want to…what?” you ask slowly. His eyes are hypnotic and this is the moment where a kiss is supposed to happen.
Will it?
“Do you want to–” thunder cracks and you both jump –”um, do you want to go eat now?”
“Oh, uhh, yeah. I could eat.”
You stop dancing, grab the broom and move back to your office. You eat the takeout and ask him questions about what to expect at the ball. Even though a kiss didn’t happen, it was still a very good night.
It wasn’t until you were laying in your bed that you realized why he didn’t kiss you. He said the ball was in your court, you were in charge, and he was waiting for you to say the words.
Or, a little voice in your head whispers, is he waiting for you to sign the papers?
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You woke up at eleven Saturday morning and found a note from Jake stating that Reynolds is waiting for you when you’re ready to get coffee and take you to your nail appointment. Next to the note was a peach begonia in a small vase with a couple inches of water. Another small note lays under the vase and read ‘found this on the floor in your shop. It made me think of you.--Jake’
You quickly got dressed in comfy clothes and found Reynolds waiting for you in the kitchen. You’re completely relaxed while your nails are getting done, the hand and foot massage really felt wonderful especially after being so busy on your feet at work.
When you get back to the house, a woman with red and orange hair plaited in a French braid is waiting in the kitchen. Tattoos are scattered on her arms in a random way but they look good in their placements and she has a septum piercing.
“You must be y/n. I’m Inez and I’ll be doing your hair and makeup!” she smiles.
When you get closer you see she has purple contacts in and she’s easily the coolest person you’ve ever met.
She gushes about your nails then has you sit down in her chair.
“Don’t worry about Jake taking a peek, I banned him for a few hours until it’s time to go. This is so exciting, I’ve never met any of his girlfriends before. And I like you, you have a good vibe about you.”
Your cheeks warm at the mention of being called his girlfriend but you don’t correct her. You don’t think she needs to know this is all part of an arrangement. You listen with intrigue as she fixes your hair in an elegant style about the many celebrities she’s met in her job. Who her favorites were and who she’d rather not work with again.
She wouldn’t let you look at yourself in the mirror until you had your dress on so she helped you put it on. As Inez did the buttons you suddenly got very nervous about going to the ball.
“How’re you feeling, toots?” she asks doing some adjustments to your hair.
“Nervous. What if I don’t fit in?”
“You look like a bombshell, and who needs to fit in? He’s bringing you for a reason which is big for him, he usually goes stag to work events.”
“Really? Why’s that?”
“Never had the right person to bring,” she smiles. “Okay, I’m ready to have you look at yourself.”
She takes you into your closet and you don’t even recognize yourself in the mirror. Inez made your eyes look somehow fierce and delicate at the same time and your hair! You’ve never felt this good about how you look before.
“Wow,” you breathe and turn around to see the back of the dress, the diamonds cascading like frozen water.
There’s a knock at your door and Inez goes to answer it. Reynolds appears behind you in the mirror, a big smile on his face.
“You look incredible, Miss y/n,” he says.
“Thank you,” you smooth out the front of your dress. “Is it time to go?”
“Almost. Jake is downstairs waiting for you whenever you’re ready.”
“I think she’s ready,” Inez gives you an encouraging smile.
You follow her out of your room, Reynolds’ trailing behind, and the butterflies are back in your stomach because Jake is going to see you now. You chew on the inside of your cheek as you descend the stairs, eyes on your feet so you don’t miss a step and take a tumble. When you’re finally on a flat surface, you look up and your breath is taken away.
He’s wearing his Navy dress blues and this is the first time you’ve seen him in something other than his khakis. His wings glimmer in the light and he’s clean shaven with his hair styled perfectly. He’s so very handsome.
“Sugar…as I live and breathe,” he drawls, his voice like honey. “You’re breathtaking.”
“Thank you,” you reply shyly.
“I have something for you,” he says then reaches into his jacket pocket. He pulls out a Tiffany blue box.
You’ve never seen one in real life and now he’s placing one in your palm. With shaking fingers, you undo the white satin bow and lift off the lid. There’s another small blue box and when you pop it open you see earrings in the shape of leaves with small diamonds embedded.
“I thought earrings would be best since a necklace would be hard to wear with the neckline,” he says.
“Jake, these are…wow. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful,” you shake your head.
“I have,” he smiles at you. “Would you like to try them on?”
You nod and he holds the box in his palm so you can remove the earrings from the cushion. They’re cold on your lobes and feel a bit heavier than what you’d normally wear but they fit nicely.
“How do they look?” you ask him.
“Stunning,” he smiles. “Come look.”
He moves you in front of the mirror in the hall and they really complete the look of your dress.
“I love them, thank you so much,” you tell him.
“Are we ready to go?” Reynolds asks.
“Here’s your clutch, it has your phone and ID,” Inez hands it to you. “Have a great time! I want to hear all about it over lunch next week, okay?”
Jake guides you outside to Reynolds’ car with his fingers brushing the small of your back. He helps you in the seat being careful not to sit or place his foot on the slit of your dress. Which, now that you’re sitting, has fallen away from your thigh and you’re a little more exposed. Not too much but just enough to be promiscuous.
True to his word, you visit Betty before going to the ball and when she sees you she starts to cry. Tears prick in your own but you don’t want to ruin your makeup so you blink them away as best you can. She wishes you both to have a wonderful time and can’t wait to hear all about it when you visit again.
Nerves settled in your stomach on the drive to the venue but Jake took your hand, easily guiding you to the entrance. You saw all sorts of good looking people waiting outside, both in uniform and not and you wondered if it was a prerequisite to have good looks in order to join the Navy.
Some greeted Jake as he walked by, using his callsign or just his last name. Some of them were lingering their stares on you and you touched your face in case you had something on it.
It wasn’t until you were waiting to get inside to the main hall that you asked Jake why people were staring.
“They’re staring at you,” he murmurs. “You’re the most beautiful person here.”
“Jake, there’s tons of beautiful people here, including you.”
“But you’re a new type of beautiful, everyone knows everyone here already. They’re jealous you’re here with me, that’s all.”
He pinched your cheek affectionately.
The ball is literally being held in a ballroom and it’s a beautiful space with a grand marble staircase. Circular tables are set up at the bottom of the stairs where waiters and waitresses are walking around with trays of champagne and appetizers. This is a very fancy party.
You chat and mingle with people along the way to your table, Jake making you feel included every time. He pulls out your chair before you sit down and you read over the menu in its looped script. There’s seven courses, each one sounding better than the last.
“Hey Bagman!”
There’s a commotion to your left and two people are standing behind Jake. One is a woman in a beautiful red gown and the other is a man with glasses. He’s in Navy dress blues too.
“Is this Bradshaw’s date?” the woman asks, indicating to you.
“Bradshaw can dream. No, she’s my date. This is y/n,” Jake smiles when he says your name. ‘y/n, this here is Phoenix and Bob.”
“Nice to meet you,” you reply politely.
“You can call me Natasha. Sorry, another one of our friends has been bragging about how hot his date is so I just assumed. We’ve heard a lot about you, sorry you got stuck with Bagman as your date.”
“I thought you were called Hangman,” you look at him quizzically.
“I am. Phoenix has her own nickname for me,” he side eyes her and she just smiles.
“I bet Rooster’s date doesn’t even exist,” Bob says. You note his southern accent and wonder if he’s from Texas like Jake.
“You’re probably right, Bobby. He can’t land any woman with that atrocity on his top lip. Is Coyote here yet?”
“Almost. I bet he and the missus got stuck in traffic,” Natasha/Phoenix laughs.
“We’re gonna grab some drinks,” Bob says, “you two want anything?”
“Moscato for her and whisky for me,” Jake says.
“Be right back,” Bob smiles.
“Are they together?” you ask Jake when they’re out of earshot.
“Nat and Bob? No, Sugar, they’re just co-pilots.”
“Oh.”
“How’re you feeling?” he asks, placing his hand over yours on the table. His eyes show slight concern.
“I’m okay, still nervous to meet all your friends.”
“They’re harmless. They talk a big talk but don’t mean anything by it. They’re going to love you.”
He lifts your hand in his so he can kiss the back of it, his lashes fluttering.
As the night goes on you meet more of his friends, Coyote, Payback, Fanboy and Rooster. You met some of his commanding officers, Hondo and Maverick included, who gave you warm hugs, amongst others that you tried to remember. It was a lot of people but they were very friendly and had plenty of jabs towards Jake. He took them in stride but it made you wonder if their jabs did sting him a little bit.
Dinner was full of conversation, questions mainly pointed at you and about your flower shop. Then Rooster remembered you were the florist for Maverick and Penny’s wedding. Drinks were flowing so you assumed his next question was due to the alcohol being consumed.
“How much did Hangman pay you to be his date? He’s never brought a girl to one of these before,” Rooster jokes.
“Rooster,” Jake’s jaw ticks. He rests his hand on yours under the table, threading your fingers together. “Don’t.”
“What? I know there’s dating services if you need a date. Like if you don’t want to show up to your exes wedding alone, or a family reunion. No way she’d come here willingly with you.”
“Clearly you didn’t pay yours enough because she’s not here with you, is she now?” Jake arched an eyebrow, his tone steely.
You’ve never seen him like this before but the table laughs quietly. This must be routine for Jake and Rooster.
“She’s sick,” Rooster insists, then shifts his eyes to you. “How much did he pay you to be—“”
“Bradshaw! That’s enough,” Jake’s voice is severe and the table goes quiet.
“All right, all right,” Rooster rolls his eyes and leans back against his chair. “I’m only teasing.”
You remained quiet during the whole exchange. Did his friends know this wasn’t really real? What has he told his friends about you? Do they know this is fake, that you’re fake?
“Let’s go dance, Sugar.”
Jake stands up and you follow him with your hands joined together. You follow him to the dancefloor and he takes you in his arms. You can feel him shaking slightly in anger.
“I’m sorry about Rooster. We’ve always had a tense relationship and sometimes it goes too far. None of them know. I promise,” his eyes are serious but you see sadness there too.
“Why do you let them talk to you like that?”
“I’ve said way worse to them, trust me. It’s how we are, always has been,” he shrugs.
“Do they think you’re not good enough to date or something?”
“They’ve known me for a long time and have seen me when I was at my worst.”
“We’ll, I don’t like it,” you squeeze his shoulder. “They make you sound like a bad guy and you’re not.”
“I used to be. They’ve seen I changed but old habits die hard.”
“Hm,” you grunt.
He smiles at your distaste then spins you away from him. He catches you in his arms then dips you which makes you smile and laugh. You see his friends staring at you upside down before Jake pulls you back up.
“They’re seeing how you bring out a different side of me.”
“Are you showing off?”
“Maybe,” he shrugs then winks.
He dips you again and you fall into him laughing, this time people around you clapped at the move. The song changed to The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and you stare at him in shock. You had an odd sense of deja vu then remembered your dream and you gasped.
“What is it?” he asks, gliding along the floor.
“Um,” you move your hand up behind his neck, fingers clinging to the short strands of his hair. “Nothing, just…did you ask them to play this song?”
“I might’ve suggested the DJ play this after I dipped you twice,” he nods. He tightens his hold on your lower back, his hand is warm on your bare skin. Then you feel the gentle circle of his fingertip on your skin and it only prompts you closer to him.
“Why?” you’re whispering now, your faces are close.
“Because the lyrics fit well with how I feel about you. I see the sun rise in your eyes everytime I look at you.”
You want to hide your face at his sweet words but you remember what he said at the pool and fight your inhibitions. So instead, you bite your lip. Jake brings his hand that’s holding yours in between you so he can tug your lip from your teeth.
“What are you thinking?” he asks softly, thumb still rubbing over your lower lip.
“I…I’m thinking I want…” you search his eyes as if the words you’re trying to say are there. Then you heard the lyrics of Robert Flack and it gives you the courage to ask, “Kiss me, Jake?”
He smiles softly, and when he moves his head down you close your eyes. You feel his soft breath first then his lips touch yours so delicately it instantly has you craving more but he kisses you slowly. You’re not sure how your feet are still moving with him but your lips are doing a new dance and when his tongue slips inside you sigh. You bring both hands into his hair while he grabs your waist.
You press yourself against him, loving how his lips feel. You feel it all the way down to your toes, nevermind you’re in a crowded room of people watching you. Kissing Jake is thrilling and new but also feels like home. You feel like you could fly.
You faintly hear a throat clearing but you keep kissing him, smiling a little as he nibbles on your lip. Then the throat clearing is a bit louder.
“Beat it, Phoenix,” Jake murmurs and continues kissing you.
“y/n’s phone is blowing up and I think it’s an emergency,” Phoenix says.
That causes you both to tear away, his eyes mirror the worry in yours and you’re running to the table. It’s missed calls from the rehab center Betty is at. It starts to ring again but you’re frozen.
“Let me,” Jake takes the phone from you easily. “Hello? She’s here with me, she was scared to answer the phone, what’s going on?”
You watch his face for any sign of your worst fear coming true but as he listens to whoever is on the phone, his face relaxes. He gathers your clutch and his phone from the table.
“Do we need to take her? Okay, we’ll be there shortly,” he hangs up then cups your cheeks in his hands.
“What–what–” your voice is shaking.
“An ambulance is taking Betty to the emergency room,” he says very slowly, his eyes steady on yours but you pull away in a panic. His hands are strong on your cheeks and you remain in between them. “Listen to me, Sugar. They found blood in her stool and that’s why they’re transporting her. The hospital will be able to help her faster. Okay?”
“Okay,” you whisper. You cling onto his wrists.
“Do you want to go home and change or go right there?”
“Right there,” you continue to whisper.
“I’ve got you, all right?” He kisses your forehead then grabs your hand. “Let’s go.”
You rush out of the ballroom with him, leaving the precious life-altering kiss on the dancefloor and head toward another life-altering moment.
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end-otw-racism · 11 months
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#Vote to End OTW Racism
A Call To Action
Earlier this week the OTW responded to our previous action and reaffirmed their commitment towards combating and preventing racism within its platforms. 
They also thanked us for working to keep holding them accountable to their goals and we intend to keep doing so. 
To that end, Fandom Against OTW Racism is calling for our Second Action!! This action is centered around the upcoming Board Elections set for August 11-14. We want to encourage everyone who can to participate in the election process and spread the word far and wide about these elections! 
Currently, 4 of the 7 Board positions are up for election, which is a majority. Now is the time to get involved. In light of multiple accounts coming forth about the state of the organization, it is clear that fundamental changes need to happen – and those can only happen with a shift in leadership, from what we currently have to one that is capable of supporting and implementing those much-needed changes.
Please join us in calling upon our fellow fans to vote to make things better for all of us!
How to get involved:
With four Board Seats open, now is the perfect time to act and make this issue a key component of this election to select people who demonstrate a commitment to combating racism in our fannish spaces. So if you can, please plan to vote this election cycle!!
If you already are a member, use your voice and Vote. If you have donated in any of the fundraising drives for AO3 in the last year, you are likely eligible. You can check your eligibility status here by selecting “Is my membership current/Am I eligible to vote?”
If you are not currently a member or eligible, consider donating $10.00 so that you can gain membership in OTW and be able to vote. In order to vote your donation must be received by June 30th. 
When donating you can add ‘End OTW Racism’ to the ‘In Honor Of’ field if you feel comfortable doing so.
If you donate, ensure you select the yes to the ‘Do you want to be an OTW member?’ question
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[alt text: image of text that reads “Do you want to be an OTW member? ($10 minimum donation)” with two radio buttons to select from with the choices of “Yes” or “No”]
We understand that many people may not be comfortable doing so or may be unable to and that is perfectly fine! You are under no obligation to spend any money and we do not want to pressure anyone into doing so. There are plenty other ways to get the word out to encourage others to vote as well as continue to show support for this issue.
Other ways to get involved:
When posting a new fanwork between now and August 14, add ‘Vote to End OTW Racism’ to your title and provide a link to the End OTW Racism blog in your top Author’s Note. Reminder: New fanworks participating in the action are always welcome to join our AO3 collection.
For those who may not be creating works or who use AO3 just for commenting/ kudosing, create a Pseud named Vote To End OTW Racism. AO3 will automatically append your default name at the end. So it would look like “Vote To End OTW Racism (Your Name)
Add a link back to this call to action on your profile page, for anyone clicking on your name to see. 
Update your pfps/avatars/user icons across social media
Participate in the upcoming Board Meeting between now and the election (August 11-14). The next Board Meeting is scheduled for July 2 and we will post an explainer about how to participate soon!
Send a letter to the Board encouraging them to be more transparent and to better advertise their Board Meetings. (credit to Punk who allowed us to utilize their work for this template)
Submit questions during the Q&A period with the Board Nominees. (We will post about this closer to election time)
Follow us on Tumblr, Twitter or Dreamwidth as we will be reviewing Board Candidates through the lens of our goals and providing more information on how to be involved over the election period. 
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