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#this was a little stream art done for practice

shmaba · 11 months

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I’m going to assume that at this point you’ve all seen Critical Role’s new show Candela Obscura and at least skimmed through the Quickstart Guide (you have done all that riiiight??) So I wanted to compile all the things I’ve done that have been shown so far. Its long so read below the line!

I’m going to try to avoid spoilers. So feel free to read without worry. I’m also going to try and avoid breaking any NDA like a good professional. So I will not be doing some deep dive behind the scenes thing. Only visuals that have already been publicly shared are going to be on here

The very first thing I did on this show was the concepts for the main set. Everything is practical. Nothing is green screen or cg or whatever. Some people think it’s just good cg but nope that's all real. You could touch it! (don’t touch it, there are ghosts)

There were multiple iterations on the design, each with their own vibe and statement piece. CR narrowed it down to what you see in the show: a sort of storage hall with an odd clock contraption behind the GM. I think I called this design version the “Abyssal Hall” or something like that (I gave the different versions names to better keep track of which design was being discussed)

The company Flip This Bitch built the physical set. They turned my silly little art into a real thing. So they did all the actual magic of making this set come together in the end! They deserve a lot of the credit for it looking so good in the end.

Also that little piece of art in the bottom left of the preshow is a section from the final concept art of the set.

That contraption behind Matt is based on astrolabes and clocks. This isn’t really meant to be a literal astrolabe or a clock as we would use them in our world. Narratively this isn’t a device that measures either of the things that a traditional astrolabe or clock does. This is a special magickal tool that does a secret third thing.

Also I did concepts for the GM screen. You don't really see it besides in the fancy-shmancy preshow. There were a number of more intricate designs for it but CR went with the simpler option since the only part that would be visible on stream is the top, so that's where I put the most detail.

I should also note that I did not design the logo! It’s pretty prominent on the GM screen but I was supplied an already existing logo for this.

NEXT is the Taliesin enclosure set that you see in the trailer. This is actually meant to be like the lantern room on the top of a lighthouse, minus the big light beacon (You could say Taliesin is the beacon).

Also in the trailer you see a couple brief sketches I did for some world building concepts:

Speaking of sketches there are a number of art pieces of mine in the Quickstart guide

A lot of my art is sketches. They’re all meant to be like notes and drawings from members of Candela as they travel and notate their findings. Most of the notes on these sketches are my actually my notes when I was doing world building concepts, but they replaced my handwriting with a font because my handwriting sucks lmao (also likely for ease of future localization).

Also the cover of the Quickstart guide uses line art of a part of that astrolabe clock set piece. This line art was part of the deliverables that was sent over to Flip This Bitch for construction. They’re just using pieces of those set concepts everywhere!

As you can see I’ve done a lot of art for this project. I was part of this project when it was still early in development. It’s changed quite a bit from where we started.

I wasn’t the only one that made all this art happen though. Other artists, writers, and designers got to add their own vision to this. It was very much a collaborative effort that took a long time to happen. It’s very exciting to see everyone’s hard work come to fruition and there is a lot more to come!

#candela obscura #critical role #my art #ttrpg #illustration #art #cr #candela spoilers #I could say a lot about what went into each thing #but that would be too long #this is already too long #more art is coming #you’ll see it in the final release of the rules/setting book #also it’s very likely a significant amount of art won’t ever be show to the public #such is the life of a concept artist

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hiskillingjar · 6 months

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Menophilia (Fox/MC)

day 16: menophilia second person. veryyyy much inspired by some very hot art made by @ stankfists on twitter.

You were in trouble .

Fox had caught you trying to signal the attention of a member of staff that had flitted to and from the apartment while he was working, and naturally assumed the worst of you. Not like you could really blame him.

You were a hostage, for God's sake, who knew what you could have gotten up to when you were out of his sight?

That's why you were sitting in the living room, your (metaphorical) tail between your legs, waiting for the scolding of a lifetime.

"So...would you like to explain to me what you were doing trying to contact my staff?" Fox said, his tone almost grave as he closed the door of his office behind him and leaned against it. "I do hope you weren't planning an escape...after all I've done to train you so well, after everything that we’ve done? I should really be more insulted than I am, you know."

"I wasn't," You murmured softly, looking down at your lap with a shake of your head as he paced to your front, kneading your fingers against your thigh. "I wasn't planning to escape, that's...not what I was doing, I promise."

"Oh? What was it, then?" He asked with a raised brow, taking a step closer to you, taking your chin in his hand and raising it up to meet his eyes, his own cold. You made a little noise of discomfort when he took your face in hand, looking down at your flushed expression with a vague look of condescending sympathy.

Better that than anger, you guessed.

"What were you planning, if not an...elaborate escape? A surprise party, maybe? Should I have my secretary write up an RSVP?" He finished with a forced chuckle, a little shrug of his shoulders.

"I just...I needed something that I didn't have," You replied, your words a little slurred as he squished your cheeks.

"What could you possibly need that you don't already have?" He then asked, narrowing his eyes a touch, like he couldn't believe what you were saying. "You're provided everything in the world, the best possible luxuries, and yet, you still demand more? How insatiable of you, pet. You'll be wanting to go to the opera next!"

Your cheeks flushed again as you tried to pull back from his firm grip, but it only encouraged him to pull you in even closer, digging his claws into the soft skin.

He took a moment to brush a thick lock of hair behind your ear to reveal your flushed face to his view, smirking lightly before it twitched for just a moment, as his nostrils flared and he finally took a good long whiff of you, and...worked out the reason you were trying to ask for things from his staff in almost an instant.

Your face flushed bright red immediately when the expression of recognition slowly came to his face, trying to avert your gaze and hide just how embarrassed you were, as a slow and hungry smirk spread on his face.

"Sooo, that's what it is," The older man chuckled darkly, his golden eyes gleaming with amusement and mischief. "Someone forgot to take their birth control, didn't they? Haha, how cute! Now you're streaming like a fountain, aren't you?"

"Oh my god," You murmured, practically trembling from how mortified you were feeling, trying desperately to pull back from him.

"Aww..." He grinned a little wider, clicking his tongue in mock sympathy. "Did you think that I wouldn't work out your little secret?" He laughed again at your blushing and trembling. "Or were you hoping I wouldn't notice? I'm a fox, if you forgot, sweetheart," He leaned a little closer, his ears twitching and his tail wagging, seemingly emphasising his point even further. "I can smell it now, actually, now that it’s just the two of us..."

"Can you please just ask someone to get me some tampons or something...?" You mumbled, keeping your eyes locked down and waiting desperately to just be dismissed.

"And why would I do that, darling?" He laughed again and rubbed your chin as he watched your embarrassed and trembling reactions indulgently. "I mean I'm enjoying this very much, personally.”

"Fox..." You whimpered softly, biting your lip as your cheeks flushed even more. "Please...I don't ask you for anything."

"I'm not giving you anything either." He replied easily, finally letting go of your face to join you on the couch, slinging an arm around your trembling shoulders and watching you with a sharp grin. "Maybe if you let me enjoy what I want first, I'll think about providing you with what you need , hm?"

You didn't move your head, not wanting to look up and be an accomplice to your own degradation, but your eyes flitted upwards to see as he placed his free hand on your thigh, digging his claws in and gently, barely jerking it to the side to meet his own thigh, wordlessly telling you what he wanted, what he expected.

You didn't say a thing as you let your legs part, showing a soaking, red stain on your white underwear and the smear of blood covering your inner thighs.

His eyes widened as he looked down at the small stain, but the older man didn't resist an even wider grin as he grabbed your thigh even harder and yanked your body down against the couch, offering him the perfect opportunity to cage you down and stare at the mess between your legs.

"Well, would you look at that?" He said, with a voice as close to awe as a bastard like Fox could manage. "And they have no one to blame but themselves for not asking me just a little bit sooner~ You really could have avoided all of this mess, sweetheart."

"You would have said no..." You murmured softly as he got closer to you, his nostrils flared and dragging your scent in, keeping your legs parted with a firm grip on your thigh.

"Of course, I would have said no, are you kidding?" He replied with a scoff. "I would have done it just to watch you squirm like this and see the look on your face. Priceless! It would have been just too cute for me to resist."

You let out an unsteady breath, almost a whimper, through your gritted teeth as he continued to stare down at you, taking in long breaths of your heavy scent like he was indulging in a delicious meal or a fine wine. After a few moments, he finally looked you in the eye, his own blown wide with hunger, running his tongue over his jaws.

"Do you want me to clean you up?" He asked, his voice almost a whisper, and leaned closer, his clawed finger running up the middle of the soaking gusset of your panties, where the blood was still soaking through.

"H-Huh?"

"I said..." The older man repeated himself, his voice taking a teasing undertone, as his expression got hungrier. "Do you want me to clean up your little mess, pet~?"

You didn't answer properly, not with your words, not trusting them enough not to give away how nervous and frightened you were. You took in another breath, still wet blood seepeing down your thigh and soaking into your panties. Despite everything telling you to do otherwise, though, you parted your legs further, showing him the mess of blood between your legs.

"Hah..."

With a slow, drawn-out motion, his fingers shifted from your thighs and the soft folds of your pelvis, to the soaking creases of your underwear, gently pulling the wet fabric away from your sticky labia as he stared intently at the mess. A hungry grin painted his darkened features as he looked at it, his eyes hungry and inquisitive as he smeared the blood even further down your trembling thigh.

"It looks like you leaked quite a bit." He said softly, placing himself between your legs. "It must have been all day, right? All day...you leaked all day long and didn't even try to ask me for help..." He ran his tongue over his teeth again as he leaned in a little closer, his face inches from yours. "Now...how about we get you out of those dirty panties once and for all, and I can have a proper taste, hm?"

"T-Taste?" You said quickly, sitting up.

"Well, if you've been leaking all day, I do think it is only fair to taste what you've offered up." He replied with an easy smirk.

You didn't have the chance to react before he was dipping his head and running his tongue over your hole, delving and devouring almost immediately as soon as he got the taste of your blood.

"Oh...ohhhh," You gasped, your once wide eyes sliding shut as you felt his lips trail against your labia, your clit, completely undeterred by the blood that was still oozing from inside of you as he kept your legs parted forcibly. "Oh god, Fox..." Your gasps faded into moans as you pressed your head back against the couch and raised your hips against his tongue.

He was tasting you, well and truly, and what's more, he was enjoying it.

Almost as much as you were.

He pulled back just a touch to breathe hotly against your cunt, his tongue lightly dancing over your clit as you heard him chuckle and moan quietly, raggedly, too overwhelmed by his own pleasure to try and intimidate you.

"You taste perfect," He mumbled softly, pressing another deep kiss to your hole, his sharp teeth grazing your skin as he tasted you. "Oh, if you only knew how much your master has been wanting this~"

You moaned softly, letting your hips tilt upwards a touch as he dragged your body down against his, letting him devour you just the way he wanted, his fingers kneading your hips as he did so, digging into the soft folds of your tummy, your thighs.

You couldn't resist reaching down and pushing a hand through his hair, rubbing against the base of his fox ears as they twitched at the motion. You were relieved that he let you do something that invasive, and even surprised when he moaned a little and pressed against you even more, pushing his tongue deeper and tasting every drop of new blood oozing from you.

"Fox...ahhn..." You groaned, wrapping a leg around his slim shoulders, letting you rock up against his devouring mouth a little more. You probably looked a mess but like you cared. He looked at you like a piece of art, a fine meal, so that's how you felt.

"Please keep going..." You begged, squeezing your eyes shut. "Never stop, never stop..." "Ah," He gasped raggedly, glaring up at you with eyes blown wide with hunger and desperation, his face smeared with blood and his sharp teeth stained with the same. "You have NO idea what you're asking of me, pet…”

#tpof #fox tpof #ren hana #ren x mc #ren x reader #fox x mc #fox x reader #kinktober 2023

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soobadnoonecanstopher · 1 month

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Can I Stay? (A Baekhyun Story) Part 22 [FINAL]

Pairing: You x Baekhyun

Rating: M

Word Count: 13.9k

Warnings: toilet humor. Over consumption of alcohol.

Author’s note: Thank you so so so so much for staying with me throughout this story! I can’t believe it’s over. I’ll cry forever.

A romance between two adults with an unspecified age difference between them, an English story that uses the word Noona for lack of another word in English that carries the same feeling, if you don’t like this, then don’t read this story.

Can I Stay? Masterlist

Tag: @his-mochi-cheeks

You stood before the mirror scrutinizing your own reflection for any obvious evidence of this forbidden act you’d just taken part in.

Somewhere within the stall, Baekhyun had been busy with cleaning up and putting himself back together; just as you had done moments earlier. You heard the soft grunts and slightly annoyed grumbles coming from behind that closed door, “—a bathroom — of all places — we aren’t kids hiding from our parents.”

“Uhh…” he called out in a low voice. “I gotta take a piss.” There was just a touch of a slur in his syllables, “you don't mind, do you?” His question was mostly mumbled, but you heard the clank as he lifted the toilet seat; not waiting for your response.

“I think we are well beyond that sort of modesty, Baekhyun.”

“Are we?” You heard the stream hit the water in the bowl. “At least we have that.”

You leaned in closer to the mirror and touched over the dark red spot on your neck; pulling your own hair over the skin in an attempt to hide it.

Whenever you moved, so did your hair and the hickey showed up again. You reached for your small bag, remembering the touch-up makeup you’d brought with you. You tried your best with it, but the spot he’d made with his teeth would be one of his more lasting works. You could practically see all of his frustration from this evening with the teeth marks he’d left in your skin.

The toilet flushed as the stall door pushed open and Baekhyun emerged still zipping up and fastening his belt buckle.

“You know, I have a key to the penthouse in my pocket right now but you wanted to fuck dirty in a satellite bathroom on the third floor.” You heard hints of sarcasm. He was washing his hands. He was lifting his collar and tying his necktie, looking into the mirror as he re-did everything your filthy rendezvous had undone. His fingers flew up to the top of his head and he coiffed his remarkably still perfectly styled brown hair.

You rested a hip against the bathroom countertop and leaned your head against the wall beside the light switch, feeling just a tad dizzy from the copious amounts of alcohol you still had in your system but doing your best to focus on the many clues about something this man was haphazardly tossing in your direction.

You were having a bit of trouble gauging his mood. He seemed to be acting just a little bit prickly. It didn't feel like he was just drunk, this was something else. Leftover frustrations from being teased all night perhaps? A side effect from the three-hour boner? Was this pampered prince too good for kinky bathroom sex? As far as bathrooms went, this was a pretty nice one. There were warmed, rolled-up hand towels in wooden trays from IKEA, tasteful art hung on the walls, and on the other end, faceted mirrors lined the wall there that had given you a multi-angle view of what you looked like being fucked by your secret boyfriend. There was some sort of a fragrance that was released on a timer up in the corner. You’d heard the device squirt at least once while you’d been in here and now it didn't even smell like sex anymore. And it wasn’t as if you’d dragged him in here. He walked over here himself. Hell, he probably sprinted.

You watched his pretty side profile in silence as he did things like run a fingertip over his eyelid; wiping something imaginary there, or run his hand below his pouty pink bottom lip all while looking into the mirror at his own stunning reflection.

His eyes were blinking and he was not making any grand gestures or rushed movements in your direction and after a few breaths in and out and after a few more, quite excessive smoothing motions with the palms of his hands over his already neatly tucked shirt, he moved again to tug at his belt buckle, then moved his fingertips toward his own necktie that he pulled with an artists precision into about as straight a line as humanly possible and you were watching him with a building sensation that this man was, very obviously bothered by something you had, or hadn’t done.

”Baekhyun?” you said with all of your remaining unasked questions flipping up the inflection at the end of his name.

He inhaled a breath and only looked into his own eyes, blinking them slowly once. Then twice. On this third blink his eyes opened and his eyelids fluttered just enough to show you how much he was holding himself in a carefully barely controlled state. He was deliberate with it — with making a point to avoid your eyes entirely.

This pretty man had settled himself into a fit.

You were sure it wasn’t the sex from earlier. The sex had been amazing. He had liked it, you were sure of it by his giddy excitement at having his very own sex tape saved into a secret, password protected folder in his phone. He’d even made it a point to disable any sort of cloud back-ups that might have inadvertently saved it anywhere else. He’d gone through big gestures of saving yours in the same way. Double locked and very strong password protected. Some acronym of some code sentence he’d made up on the spot and you hoped to God you’d both still be able to remember it when you sobered up.

No, no, this was something else; something you simply could not ignore and from beside him on the countertop you could see the occasional notification popping up on his cell phone screen. It had been placed on silent but it was very much alive and very active. From where you stood, you could see the occasional pop-up message telling him he had been receiving text messages and they seemed to come one after another in rapid succession. Some even at the same time.

You pushed away from the counter and took a few steps; feeling either too drunk or too entitled to look away from his phone screen and in the mirror you caught the movement of his eyes as he watched you approach his phone. It was very active. You saw names popping up again and again. Summaries of text messages filled with laughter and images displayed in tiny thumbnails.

“What is all that?” You peered down at it and heard a slow sigh come from deep within your boyfriend’s chest.

“Group chat,”he said as he reached a finger out and touched his phone screen, “the guys,” not bothering to move the phone away from you or conceal it in any way; instead, he was reaching out unlock it, to bring it to the forefront of your vision so show you everything and to bring all of this nonsense up for you to see. “They’re making jokes and memes…to tease me…about you.”

The chat moved quickly. Tons of laughter and childish ribbing at his expense. An occasional picture with words written on it. You saw an image of a weeping man pulled deep down into the throes of despair coupled with some words embedded in the picture about a high-five from the love of your life followed by more raucous laughter from several people who all talked at once. An occasional question directed right to Baekhyun asking about where he even disappeared to. Someone saying he was off crying in a corner. One more noticing that you had vanished as well and you crossed your arms over your chest knowing deep down that the longer you both stayed gone at the same time, the more suspicions amongst your friends and co-workers would grow.

There was no more delaying it. You both knew it. This desperate need you both had succumbed to had been temporarily satisfied and unless you wanted those suspicions to become rumors and those rumors to be backed up with coincidences or worse, facts you both needed to come up with your next move so you could rejoin the others at the party and it really needed to happen sooner rather than later.

Something about his quiet observation of your face and the way he kept his tongue motionless well inside of his closed up mouth despite the half blinking you saw in his eyes and the way his eyebrows twitched up on his forehead had you hesitating to say what really needed to be said.

We should get back to the party.

We’ve been gone for too long.

Someone might notice.

Someone might find out about us.

Instead of speaking you cleared your throat and grabbed your bag, taking one step away from where he stood; one step that brought you closer to the door and further from him.

He didn't say anything but his eyes watched you and oh there was a darkness that grew inside of them.

Why couldn't you just speak to him? Something shameful and dirty had a hold of your tongue and you could feel a growing guilty feeling beginning to take your mood with the words of your plan for escape sitting on the very tip of your tongue refusing to come out.

You couldn't just leave him here. After bringing him in here to fuck and then leaving him behind once you’d been satisfied. It felt so far beneath you to do; not to him. Not with that silent pout you saw on his face the further your feet moved you away from him, the more it grew.

You couldn't stand it.

You spun around, facing him once again and his eyes widened marginally when you took another step toward him, reaching your hand up to reach around his shoulder you placed a palm over the back of his neck, pulling him into you as you leaned into him.

You kissed him. You pressed your lips over his and you let your lips part into his mouth as you kissed him without any hesitations or reservations, you kissed him.

He kissed you. He pulled you into his mouth and took a step into you, molding himself into the feeling and the shape of all of you until both of his arms wrapped tightly around your waist and you were pulled into his chest; into his firmness; into his open mouth. Baekhyun kissed you back deeply and he kissed you back slowly.

All the while you hoped and wished that your lips and the warmth from your touch might soothe every worry that had tried to take hold inside of his bothered chest. You wished he could have been so easily soothed with a few kisses, a few touches, a few reassurances.

He pulled away from you first and with his lips pulled tightly in between his teeth he inhaled a slow breath well into his lungs through his nose.

His forehead rested against your own and his arms still tightly encircled your waist, holding you here with him for a few moments before the itchy question that had been bubbling beneath the surface of him finally broke free. You heard the inhale before he spoke.

“How much longer do I have to be your secret? I hate it so much.”

Of course this was it. You’d had a feeling this was coming. He’d given you hints that he didn't really enjoy all of the hiding and scheming to keep your many sins under wraps. Even his unrestrained delight to find out you’d so easily throw away years of your career just for the chance of staying with him forever had told you that this man was not the type willing to keep his love hidden for very much longer.

You moved your hands over the back of his neck, threading your fingertips into his hair and you closed your eyes, steadying the rush of nerves that spiked at the very thought of the others finding out about the two of you.

“Soon. We won’t have to hide for much longer. I promise,” you spoke through a whisper and you felt the tip of his nose brush over your cheekbone before his soft lips pressed kisses into the softness of your cheek.

“Just not…tonight. Not when we’ve both been drinking and we disappeared together for so long.” You felt the pull of his lips against your skin. It was a smile. You felt the wetness of his teeth as he smiled. “It would be so obvious what we’ve been doing,” you complained.

“Soon, when?” He asked with a whine. There was a playfulness in his words that wasn't there before; before you gave in and promised him this all would be over soon.

“Monday. Monday we can ride to work together and you can drop me off on your way up to your new office. We can even hold hands if you want to.”

”Super early on Monday morning before anyone else gets there?” There was a petulance in his voice as he continued the sulking act. He knew you well enough to know that you always arrived well before any others from your team and probably before anyone else on the entire floor did. Lately though, with him occupying your heart and your bed until the very last minute, you’d tended toward wandering in later and later.

“We could sleep in a little. Maybe stop for coffee first. We could be a little late.” The alcohol really seemed to be doing a number on you. As you daydreamed of what might possibly come on Monday morning you couldn't fight the giddy feeling building up inside of your chest. Baekhyun had pulled his face back so he could look into your eyes as you told him so many of the sweet promises he’d wanted to hear.

“What if I kiss you goodbye at your office door and leave you behind to answer all of their questions?” He was giggling. It felt manic. His kind of happiness was the most contagious kind. The trembling in his chest shook you and made your own laughter break free. This feeling was more than intoxication. It was a new kind of hopeful happiness that you wished would never end.

“Monday,” he said after a while and on his lips he wore the sweetest smile with his pretty pink lips pulled tight and his eyes curved. “It’s only four days. I can act pathetic and lonely and single for four more days. If that’s what I must do—”

His words were cut off by the steady hum of a phone on vibrate that was ringing. You heard the sound echoing out inside the tiny room and both of your heads turned toward the sound of the buzzing on top of the bathroom countertop. He dropped his hands from around you and reached for the phone holding it up to his face for a few milliseconds to read the name on the screen.

He was pressing something and holding it up to his ear as he angled his torso away from you, at the same time holding his index finger up to his lips to let you know that you should not speak if you wanted the secret of this relationship to remain intact.

“Yeah, what?” He said into the phone with a gruff, put-out tone. You could hear the sound of another voice on the line, a man who’s intonation sounded like he was asking a question. The casual, super familiar tone you heard from both men told you this was a close friend of his. The finger he shushed you with told you that it might be one of the close friends sitting out there at the tables near the dance floor. One of the members of the teasing group chat who hadn’t stopped flooding his phone with messages since you’d given him that co-worker worthy, platonic high five.

“I’m taking a shit, why? What do you want?” He angrily barked into the phone and you swallowed the surprised hiccup that caught you off guard with his insane choice of an excuse for his absence. You had to lay a hand over your mouth to keep yourself silent through the shock and you’d just barely moved fast enough, thankfully, to keep yourself from being heard by his caller.

Your eyes were wide on him and you felt it then, again, just as you had genuinely felt it while you watched him with that rowdy group of young men earlier. The sudden and genuine shock at this version of Baekhyun that you honestly had no idea even existed until you’d witnessed him interacting with his friends had you questioning everything you had thought about him until now.

He was listening to his friend talking; nodding his head every once in a while. Silently agreeing to something without using his words. Maybe he was too drunk to realize the person on the other end of the line couldn't actually see him.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be there in a few minutes.” Baekhyun had taken two steps further into the bathroom and pushed the bathroom stall door open. He noisily flushed the toilet and moved to the sink to turn on the faucet, pulling the phone down from his ear and waving it next to the sound of the running water for full effect.

He’d hung up the call and turned off the water before looking up into your surprised face with a passive expression on his face.

You watched him in silence for a few breaths before his eyes glanced emptily around the room a few times as if to question what your curious reaction was all about.

You shook your head back and forth before you spoke. “Who even are you?” Your brows were furrowed and you looked directly into his brown eyes as you asked the genuine question. You were honestly very curious about what sort of new surprises you would learn about this crazy man in the future.

You heard him scoff and he lifted his hands in front of him, palms up as his eyes looked between the two.

“I am a single, lonely, pathetic loser who has just given himself a killer fucking alibi for where he has been for the past half-hour.” He said this with his chin pointed toward his right hand. Clearly indicating the side he represented. When his focus shifted to the other hand which he held out in your direction he nodded in your direction before he spoke with a single lifted eyebrow above one eye.

“Where have you been for the past half-hour?”

This silly man believed himself to be too clever for his own good. You shrugged and scoffed with a quick and dismissive eye roll. You would show him how to craft a perfect alibi while also keeping your dignity intact.

“Darling, I am drunk and this place is huge. I got lost.” It sounded so simple because it was simple. It was also plausible, as out of character as your drunken behavior had already been so far… You pulled your cell phone out and opened the group chat with a few of your favorite coworkers and teammates and you quickly typed out a text message, ignoring any typos you saw your impaired fingers produce.

“I thought the [arty was on the 5th floor I’ve been up n down this hotel so many times. did they move the party????? someone help meee :(“

You showed him the message and nearly instantly, and as if on cue, the replies began to pour in.

“Omggggg ma’am lmao”

“lololol miss manager is lost”

“search party for mis manger nobody has any more fun till we find her”

“She’s so cute drunk”

“Third floor! We are on the third floor!!”

“Stay where you are I’ll come save you”

You looked up into Baekhyun’s shocked face and your lips pulled into a self satisfied smile.

“You are so cute drunk. Who is the one who said that? Is it a guy? Dani sounds like a guy.”

His pointy fingertip was touching your screen as he tried to scroll back up and get closer look at the names and pictures of the people in this group chat and you specifically did not dignify his silly questions with an answer. Instead you locked your phone and put it back inside of your bag; turning your back on him, you raised a hand to unlock the bathroom door.

You poked your head out first. The coast was clear and in the far off distance you could hear the thump thump thump of the party that was still going on. “You go right and I’ll go left?” you asked behind you.

Baekhyun’s head poked out beside you, just over your shoulder and he turned his head quickly to the right and to the left, scanning the area for witnesses. You had already done this part. He didn’t need to also do this part.

“If you go left, you’ll get even more lost.” He said in a serious voice and you felt him give you a solid push through the doorway at the same time as he reached down and grabbed ahold of your hand. He started walking toward the right, pulling you along with him.

“Baekhyun,” you whispered from behind him, wiggling your hand to try and get him to release the tight grip, “Baekhyun, I wasn’t really lost.”

You pulled back against him harder, and stopped your feet from moving forward, “Baekhyun, that was a lie, remember?” It took some urging but he eventually felt your resistance and turned back around to look at you. There was a sudden change in his face as he closed up his eyes and threw his head back. His lips pulled into a wide and beautiful smile and he had a moment of realization.

“Oh shit, that’s right,” he laughed hard and pulled his hand over his belly as he did it.

Oh no.

Ohhhh no.

This man was not in his right mind right now.

”Baekhyun,” you urged in a more serious tone, trying your best to keep all hints of amusement off of your face. You could feel your own smile fighting you. He was so drunk and he was so adorable, “Baekhyun, not tonight. Not tonight, okay? Monday. Remember?”

You pulled your hand out of his and he looked down at his own empty hand with a small frown before he nodded his head up and down twice.

“Not tonight,” he repeated, showing you that he was here now and he fully understood what you were telling him. Until his eyes found yours again and he inhaled a quick breath to speak again.

“Tonight!” he said excitedly and his lips were parted and your stomach dropped as you flattened your lips and closed your eyes in frustration.

“Not tonight.” You said feebly but he was excitedly tapping you on the arm. Clearly worked up enough about something to be having trouble getting the words out in order.

“No, no. I know. Not tonight for that. Not that, but tonight — tonight, my friends, the guys, my boys,” he was moving as he gestured with both hands as if they held onto something in the empty space in front of him, “and your girls,” he moved his hands to hold onto the emptiness on the other side, “my boys and your girls,” his face dropped and he lifted an eyebrow, “are having an after party tonight. Tonight, tonight.” He lifted a hand and pointed his finger downward.

Clearly his words weren’t fully cooperating with him and he’d resorted to using his hands and arms to pantomime his meaning. It worked though. You followed wherever his hands moved and you relaxed with the faith that he would behave himself just enough to keep things under wraps until Monday. He was also very excited about whatever he was trying his best to tell you about right now.

With one hand he reached out wide to the side and he closed his eyes up and shook his head. “After-party,” he said, “round two,” he lifted two fingers up with his eyes still closed.

”My party,” he placed his palm flat on his chest and swayed on his feet, “my going away party — Junmyeon said your girls told him. My boys have been invited. We are all going — tonight.”

“They are,” he lifted both hands and intertwined his fingers in front of his face, “they are all together now.”

After he finally got the entire message out he giggled quietly to himself.

“Woooo,” he breathed through his mouth, making a little sound as he did it, “I’m drunk — hitting me now. Fucking tequila.”

He smiled that breathtaking smile right at you before he turned and left. You noticed he took a right turn at one of the hallways ahead of you and you were thankful that in his drunken mind he knew the layout of this hotel enough to be able to find a different route back to the party.

You counted to twenty inside of your head before you took the first step and it only took you a few moments before someone grabbed you by the arm, linking a warm elbow within yours with a cheerful smile on her face. There was another girl on the other side, equally as warm. These were your people.

“We found her!” They both cheered in unison toward a much larger group of people who all lingered on the outskirts of the now, winding down party. “Round two! Round Two!” A noisy chorus rang out and you were not once let go of someone’s tight grip on you as you were steered quite deliberately out of this hotel ballroom, into an elevator that moved down to the street level and out of this building entirely.

From the murmuring around you, you gathered that Baekhyun’s cousin owned a swanky bar up the street; easily within walking distance. Spirits were high and the group of people was larger than you thought would be able to fit inside of a single bar. Worries were hushed and Baekhyun assured everyone that he texted his cousin and the bar was completely ours for the rest of the night. There would be food and alcohol and music and even, “An open mic should anyone wish to serenade someone special,” one of Baekhyun’s noisier friends said with a dramatic wink of his eye that earned him a hard smack on the back.

You had no idea who anyone was. There were just so many of them. You did hear someone calling one of them Junmyeon and you knew this had to be the one who had called Baekhyun earlier. There was also a Minseok who was shockingly pretty for a man, and Jongdae who was the loudest of all of them. If you had thought Baehyun’s best friend Chanyeol had been loud, apparently you just hadn’t heard Jongdae’s volume yet. There were some others who were much quieter, and one with striking, large, very expressive eyes who hadn’t said a single word since you’d seen him. He did give you a sweet smile and a little nod of his head which put you at ease. You were certain he was a delight on his own, but with this group, he probably just couldn't be bothered with competing against the other very loud, very chatty members of the group.

Swanky seemed like not a grand enough word to describe this place. The word “bar” was such a vast understatement it hardly even deserved to be used at all. This place was the highest of high end; the kind of place without a name on the door, without a listed phone number; with a strict clientele of only the city’s most elite visitors. You were sure most of the people who walked by that door on the street level had no idea what kind of beauty and opulence lay just inside. They would never know either.

The moment you stepped inside the fragrance, the lighting, the shimmer and glimmer and the air even, all enveloped your body entirely in what could only be described as the kind of warmth you feel coating your skin when you slip into a hot bathtub. It was like slipping out of your bra and restrictive loathing and slipping on a silk nightgown that expensive smooth fabric that glides against your skin.

You were all ushered toward a large table and one by one, people sat down. Baekhyun was sidetracked by a beautiful woman who pulled him in for a tight hug. She spoke to him in joyous up close whispers and he replied in kind with giggles and smiles, grabbing his hand and shaking it, giving him a sweet kiss on the cheek. You were unprepared to face the hot surge of jealousy you felt deep inside your chest and you had to look away from this exchange. You focused instead on keeping the sweet smile etched onto your face. Your hands were shaking and your feet moved as if the floor was covered in super glue, but you kept that smile up for long enough for you to find a spot to sit at the big table.

Your just clear enough mind fought very hard against your heart and pulled your legs to sit down in the empty seat between Sandi and Marci before you could linger too long on the empty one beside where Baekhyun was headed, on the opposite side of this enormous table.

You didn’t need to feel the warmth of his body beside you.

You didn’t need to be reminded of how good he smelled.

Dishes of food arrived and fresh drinks were passed around and the small waitstaff was overly attentive and polite. The delicious food did more for your mind than any fake smiles did. You could feel your blood clearing the more you ate and as the food went in, you kept your focus on the food in front of you, on the drinks in front of you, on the company of women that sat on either side of you for long enough to get a handle on it. For just long enough for you to trust yourself enough to look up and across that table at the pair of dark brown eyes that you could feel watching you at this very moment. As he ate, as he laughed, as he talked and joked, as he drank; those eyes always found you. You were right to put some distance between you both.

The air in the room shifted then as the hum of the A/C sounded out suddenly and you felt a slight chill in the air. It was probably because you were sobering up some and the heat from the liquor wasn’t warming you from the inside anymore but you could feel an alarming sensation from below your revealing dress as the chill puckered your skin.

Oh no. Your stickers were long gone. A weird self conscious thought invaded your mind and you pulled out your cell phone to send the quickest discrete text message to your boyfriend. You kept the phone below the table as you did it and you gave it a second before you saw his attention drawn to the phone in his pocket.

His hands moved below the table and you watched the tick of his pupils as he read your message. There was a quick movement of his thumbs and your phone vibrated once, telling you he had responded to your question. He did not look at you at all but was well into a long discussion with the men who sat around him.

“Can you tell that my stickers are gone?”

”yes.”

He answered you so very quickly. He didn't even look up to verify that he could actually see your ice cold nipples poking straight out, ruining the luxurious look of this dress. This wouldn’t do. You rose to your feet and excused yourself for the bathrooms; all the while crossing your arms over your chest as you rubbed hands over your bare forearms in some attempt to warm yourself up. You needed a first hand look in the mirror. Maybe someone had a suit jacket you could borrow. With all of these charming young men surely one of them could sacrifice theirs for a lady with a chill.

You had to walk past his end of the table to get to the bathrooms and you noticed he shifted his weight a bit as soon as you began moving; all while still not looking at you. He continued carrying on with his friends; laughing and joking as if you were of no interest to him at all. If only you could borrow a tiny bit of his self control right now, you might not have been watching him so intensely.

He stood up on his feet the moment you came right up to his side on your journey through the room.

In a swift motion, Baekhyun, stood on his legs and he removed his blue suit jacket, then he turned it around, leaned over to where you stood and placed it right over your shoulders as you walked by and the moment the warmth and the smell of him landed over your back, coating you entirely in the heat you’ve been craving since you walked into this bar, your feet stalled their forward motion and you actually froze in place.

Not him though, the action was smooth as hell. Just as fluidly as his initial surprising movement started, he continued the motion and spun back around in a circle, sitting down seamlessly, effortlessly, and very quickly as if he had never even gotten up in the first place.

But he did. He did get up. He did give you his warm jacket with all of his body heat and scent and he did it right here. He put it on you himself with his own two hands.

And everyone saw him do it.

He did that in this room full of people — people who had been drinking all night, people who knew the both of you, people who, at least half of which, knew of his intense crush on you. The room erupted into a drunken cacophony of hoots and hollers and you could feel the blood rushing straight up your neck and warming the skin of your cheeks.

“Shut up. She was just cold.” You heard his complaints clearly as he was obviously trying his best to quiet down the excitement he had just caused, “You guys are so dumb.”

You forced your feet to move. Gripping the lapel of his jacket tightly around your shoulders you took another step and then another, moving quickly away from the noise and chaos he had just caused, towards the sanctity of that bathroom that you so desperately needed right now.

After a few quiet moments your phone buzzed once.

“Sorry,” was all his text message read.

You opened it and read it but you did not reply. Instead you used the toilet, washed your hands, used your ice cold hands to cool the hot skin on your face as you gave yourself a quietly whispered little pep talk about what you should be doing with your eyes while you were out there. You decided that you would strike up an intense conversation with Sandi about her love life. You would be engrossed enough to hear about her escapades to keep your mind off of the handsome man who sat at the end of that table ignoring you while his very attractive “cousin” or whatever the hell she really was to him, giggled at his jokes and gave him free appetizers, and told him about a girl she was going to set him up on a blind date with and called him Sweetness in a saccharine tone. Did she think she was a southern debutante?

You derailed your own pep talk with the pain you felt in the palm of your hand. You were squeezing down so hard you saw little half moons pressed by your fingernails into your palm.

You took several deep calming breaths. You recognized that you were acting ridiculous. Self awareness is the first step to recovery. You reminded yourself of this mid-calming breath and when you emerged from that bathroom and stepped out into the hallway you noticed that much of that chaos and noise from earlier had settled down. You could hear voices, some excited shouting and some groaning and it sounded like the group had finished dinner and had moved on to some sort of game. Knowing this group, it was likely a drinking game; hence the over the top groaning and cheering.

A quick peek around the corner kept your feet from moving forward because Baekhyun’s chair was empty. Had he left for the bathrooms as well?

Your shameless curiosity drove your legs to move in the other direction because your ears picked up on a familiar voice, just off a corner from where you stood.

It was his voice for sure. He was chatting and there was a word attached to a statement in a woman’s voice that gripped you so tightly to hear it said out loud.

Fiancé

She said the word fiancé.

Only the word and its meaning was skewed and broken because she was speaking to him quite obviously, about someone other than you.

“I saw your fiancé the other day,” she said. You felt a spindly pins and needles sensation slipping up the back of your spine.

He responded in a low voice. You couldn't make out what he said. It was some sort of low, rough tone.

“Oh really? That’s not what I heard.” She replied in a cocky, confident tone and you heard him clear his throat. Was that a nervous, caught sort of throat clearing? Was it annoyed or denial? Your lungs burned and you felt as if there wasn’t enough air to clear the anxious buzzing happening inside of your skull.

Fiancé? You felt a dizzy, sinking feeling inside.

Had Baekhyun been engaged to marry someone? Someone he loved, maybe? You could not help the way your neck craned to get closer and the few steps you took as you closed your eyes, begging to be able to hear what he was saying to her. The sounds of his clear yet quiet voice, at last, broke through the noise.

“last year — bullshit — excuse for a mother — my life is mine — can think whatever they want — drove me to a point — almost gave up — ”

You only got bits of it but from the little you had to work with you could tell right away and with the realization came an instant shame that covered from the over of your head down straight into your chest. This wasn’t something he had chosen. It wasn’t something he wanted any part of. Someone had been forcing him into it. And at some point last year, during his lowest point it seemed, fueled by some personal crisis, triggered and hopeless, desperately awful in every way — he called it all off.

Something so huge had happened in his life during that time and you had no idea about any of it.

You felt an acrid taste in the back of your throat. You took a step back and away from this and quickekend your steps further once you were sure you were out of earshot.

This isn't something you wanted to overhear about him like a sneaky jealous girlfriend who just couldn't stand the idea that every single bit of his mind was occupied only with you. You pulled the suit coat tighter around your shoulders as you moved. You felt dirty and unworthy of the sweet warmth he had given you as you did it. It was an awful feeling; knowing you had overheard something like that; something he likely didn’t want you to know about.

You wanted him to tell you all about his past, no matter how painful it was, but with his own two lips. You wanted him to share his past pain with you just as you would share your own past with him; but only when you both were ready for it and only on each other's terms.

Your stomach ached with the idea of leaving this to fester. Leaving this guilty feeling to sit inside of you without speaking to him about it; without apologize to him for your blatant jealous, shameful eavesdropping.

You had found a small nook just off of that hallway and you stood there chewing on your thumb nail and you waited.

It didn't take very long before you saw the first glimpse of him. He wa heading back to the table and you reached a hand out, touching his arm from where you were hidden inside of your little hole. He actually flinched and yelped out in surprise when you touched him.

“Jesus,” he was holding his chest as he whispered.

“Can I talk to you for a second? Just for a minute, please.” You recognized the serious tone on your own voice and it had you cringing for how ridiculously bad you felt about this. His face shifted instantly. He was overcome with a look of genuine concern and worry and he nodded his head, looked once behind him and made a motion with his hand toward another area of the bar. It was a space just off the kitchens where he led you to and once you followed him back there you found him leaning against the wall with his arms folded over his own chest in a fully protective stance. His eyes were full of worry and you realized that your choice of words, the ‘can we talk’ thing must have sent a jolt of panic through him; as it would have sent through you.

The second you came close enough for his whispered words to reach your ears you saw the small step he took in your direction. He lifted a trembling hand to reach out toward you and on his lips was the beginning of a pleading apology.

“I’m sorry about the jacket — ” he began. You lifted a hand and shook your head to cut him off.

“This isn’t about anything you did. I owe you an apology and I need to say it now or it’s going to destroy me from the inside.”

Your quick words closed up his mouth and his shoulders sagged as he his face ticked to the side in confusion. His didn’t speak but his eyebrows furrowed and you caught the stuttered breath that caught halfway inside his throat as he tried to breath through it.

“I overheard your conversation just now with your cousin. It was not my place to hear it. I was dealing with some imaginary jealousy about how friendly and how familiar you were with her and I heard you two talking and before I could stop myself, I was listening to what you both spoke about. I’m so sorry I did that. It was awful of me to do. I feel as if… that was your private … life .. and if the tables were turned and you had done what I did, I might be upset about it. I’m so sorry, Baekhyun.”

He was motionless throughout your entire confession and apology and when you were done speaking you inhaled a deep breath and held it as you anxiously watched his face for any signs of what he was thinking about what you had done.

You saw a wave of motion move through him and he turned away from you for a moment as his hand ran over the length of his face. When he angled himself back in your direction his brown eyes sat heavy and deep within your own and he looked at you with a pull of his chin upward.

Before he spoke he licked his lips and his face twisted into the smallest grimace.

“You didn’t need to ever tell me that you heard that—” He started speaking. A clear upward inflection in his words that signaled very plainly that he wasn’t finished speaking with this one phrase. You couldn’t help yourself though.

Your nerves had your hands shaking and your voice trembling. “It was wrong of me to list—” you interrupted him but as soon as your words left your lips he raised a hand to stop you from speaking. You knew you were wrong. You knew you were moving out of turn and his quick hand and with the tight way he closed his eyes, instantly stopped your silly tongue from moving any further.

“Stop, please—“ he begged quietly and you bit down on your lips to keep yourself better behaved.

“You— didn’t need to tell me this…you could have gone the rest of our lives never mentioning that you knew this until one day it came up and I told you — I told you how painful it was, how hard it was for me at the time and you could have just pretended not to know and acted so surprised to hear that yes, I was being forced to marry someone I don’t know, against my will, my entire life and future being stolen from me because of disgusting greed and how very fucking close I came to not even existing at all anymore because of that pain—”

“I would have told you about this. Absolutely, and without a doubt, I would have told you everything, but you — you — instead you — instead you have given me honesty. You chose, for me, to be so very gracious and beautifully true to me and save me the years of the indignity of believing something about you that isn’t true.”

“Do you realize how insanely unparalleled you are? Do you have any idea how high of a standard you set?”

“How can I ever compare to you? I think I would have listened and I wouldn’t have even felt guilty about it. I wouldn’t have told you I heard anything. I don’t feel like I deserve you at all, but goddammit I love you so much I feel like I’m going to cry.”

His heavy words pulled your arms down from your chest and they hung lifelessly by your side. You felt pulled in every way, down into this carpeting that covered the floor below your feet. You had to close your eyes and drop your face and you slumped and sagged deep on the inside under the immense weight of all of this.

“You don't have to be so quick to forgive me,” you whispered and you heard the movement in front of you when he took a step. You noticed the shadow of his arms moving around you a second before you felt the warmth of his embrace as he circled himself around you, pulling your shoulders inward with the pressure of his hug; he pulled you firmly into his chest; tucking his face into your hair just over your shoulder and the breathe he inhaled from here trembled and shook.

“There is no part of my life that I want to keep private from you,” he spoke directly into your ear and you stumbled backward with the force of this embrace. “Let’s just think of this as a fortuitous event. Now I don't have to lie to you or come up with some stupid excuse for why I’m too much of a coward to answer my mother’s phone calls.”

“I don't think that’s cowardice, Baekhyun. You don't want to be hurt. Anyone would avoid pain if they can help it.” You could feel the relaxation in his limbs as he loosened the tight hold he had on you. You used this opportunity to lift a hand and lightly tap along his arm, urging him to let you go. The crisis had passed and you were lucid enough to know that this sort of embrace was definitely not something co-workers did, no matter how much they had had to drink that night.

The food you’d both had earlier had really done some wonders for your resolve and self control because he let you go quietly and took a step back, leaning against the wall with his arms firmly crossed but much lower over his chest this time.

This time, it wasn’t to protect his heart from whatever potentially damaging word you might need to tell him. Now he took on a much more relaxed posture that looked almost too casual. He had a slight grin on his lips and his eyes had a bit of mischief that always, always put you on some level of alert. You knew this look. It was never good news.

“So you were jealous,” he said with a little head shake, “of my cousin?” With the second part of his question he sneered and lifted both of his eyebrows with a forced look of disapproval but just enough self serving amusement for you to understand that he was more much more flattered than creeped out by your ill-placed jealousy.

You rolled your eyes and you were certain much of the disgust he should have felt when he thought about a close relative was displayed all over your face. Why did he look so amused by you?

“She’s very touchy — calls you Sweetness — ugh, kisses you on the cheek and hugs you so tight with her,” you motioned with your hands over your own chest, “body pressed all up against you. I couldn't tell if she was actually a close family friend that you just called a cousin who obviously wants to sleep with you, or a real, honest-to-god first cousin.” A new thought occurred and you inhaled to keep going, “ugh, or like one of those fourth cousins, twice removed; the ones that you're legally allowed to marry and make babies with even if it is technically still gross.”

His eyes narrowed, with that smile still firmly planted in place on his lips and he looked up and away from your face. He was silent for a few seconds too long and his eyes trailed up over the top of your head. He was doing some intense thinking. Some genome math. Some heavy generational calculating. You did not like the looks of this.

“Actually, I think she might be like a third cousin, now that you put it that way. Pretty sure, legally, we would be allowed to get married and make tons of babies. The genes are technically far enough apart. It would still be kinda weird though... I mean, for me. I don't know how she would feel about it.”

A sound broke free from deep within your chest. It was a disgusted grunt and you threw your head back and released it from deep within you as you turned around; giving your back to him so you could walk away from this ridiculous man. You ignored the teasing little ‘he-he-hes’ that broke free from his mouth. You were done. You were finished with this conversation, if he was going to admit out loud that technically she wasn’t even close enough of a cousin to be illegal to marry — and how dare he one-up on your reasonable and vague number of babies by making it “tons of babies” — you didn’t want to hear any more. Not only was your jealousy justified, but this man was gross. Not legally gross, but technically gross.

You were walking away. You could hear him calling after you as you did it.

“But hey, I’m young and single right? I’m single and lonely and pathetic for the next four days, right?” The sassy, sarcastically delivered quip stopped you in your tracks and you instantly turned back around, took three quick steps toward him so you could look right into his face. Just so you could see the look in his eyes as he dared to say such a thing. He seemed to physically recoil to see you return so suddenly.

You did not say anything; all you did was look at him but it seemed to elicit a strong reaction from him. His jaw snapped shut and his laughing, teasing expression shifted and turned extremely grave and serious with your unexpected and sudden return.

“I’m sorry. I was kidding. It was a joke.” He said the moment he was able to inhale a breath to speak, he gasped again, “joke — j-joke. Please don't hurt me.” He whispered nervously and you balked at the suggestion that you would dare resort to violence. All you could do was shake your head in disbelief. All you could do was lay a hand over your chest at the audacity of this man and after a few moments of neither of you moving, you simply turned and walked away.

You returned to your seat at the table alone; although, still wearing his blue coat. The color complimented the shimmering sparkle of your pretty dress perfectly and it was warm and it smelled like him. You wiggled into your seat and Sandi and Marci each handed you a drink. One had beer and the other was smaller and had liquor. Were you really up to another round of this?

It didn’t really seem much up to you because another game was starting and you were up. This game was two truths and a lie. If your falsehood was sniffed out you had to drink and if you were safe with your lying skills the rest of the group had to drink. It was pretty cutthroat and the choice of the lie had to be unanimous and made within a 30 second timer. Phones were forbidden, even though these lies and truths were so personal there was no way someone would be able to google for an answer. Still, you were up first and you pondered for a few moments before you spoke. You picked something very safe. ‘I have never been on a rollercoaster. I am in my 30s. My first pet was a fish.’ Nothing risky and nothing incriminating but strangely enough the two options outside of your age had started quite the heated discussion. You smiled cryptically as even Baekhyun seemed genuinely torn between the rollercoaster and the fish option and when the timer on someone’s phone rang out the group scrambled and chose the roller coaster as your lie.

You shrugged and told them your first pet was a puppy and everyone groaned and drank their shots.

The game was fun and the further it progressed the more intense the discussions grew. There was analyzing from all perspectives and the truths and lies grew bolder and harder to believe.

The drinks were being thrown back at record speed and soon enough you felt the familiar buzz of the alcohol coursing through your system. Jongdae’s lie had been that he didn’t know how to tie shoes and there was much shouting as all of the men around him pointed out his perfectly tied shoelaces. Someone else mentioned how they saw him personally tying his daughter’s shoes the other day at the park and he was easily snuffed out. Baekhyun was up next and he lifted his finger to his lips in thought for a moment before he spoke out.

“I have a diplomatic passport. I own the hotel we were just at. I am in love with someone from work.”

The gasps were loud and came from all sides of the table at his scandalous words. Each one seemingly of equal intensity and you did you best to keep your expression neutral as you lifted your beer and took the smallest sip. The bottle in front of your mouth hid the tiny smile you had there and the discussion around the table seemed to be truly torn. All of the men believed the lie was about the hotel. There was much discussion about how much Baekhyun had to travel in his life and how that hotel had no mention of the Byun name on it. The men never even once questioned the phrase about Baekhyun’s work crush.

The women on the other hand seemed to fixate on this one. ‘I’ve never seen him interact with anyone except for Sunny, who he was training so he had to interact with her, and Miss Manager. Who else would it possibly be? He’s just too busy with actual work to be in love with someone. Unless he just never said anything and kept it to himself. I wonder who it is.’

Eventually the men were louder and pushier made their decision stick; doubting Baekhyun’s ownership of the hotel and you had to smile widely simply because you could not stand knowing exactly which was the lie and being powerless to say anything out loud about it. You simply sat here with your beer in your hand, relishing in his little confession hidden within this game.

They were all wrong. You had to take a shot as well and his eyes were on you as you did it. Those lovely eyes shot tiny little hearts in your direction and you hardly even felt the burn of the strong liquor going down your throat.

“The diplomatic passport?” Junmyeon asked Baekhyun noisily, demanding answers and Baekhyun just smiled and looked down into his drink.

“Wait, so you own the hotel? No way.” Marci asked him across the table and Baekhyun nodded his head once and lifted the beer to his lips.

“I don't believe it. They’re all lies. He’s lying about all of them.” Her tone was petulant; made sulkier sounding with the amount of alcohol she had consumed and he leaned over toward Marci with his own cell phone in his hand.

“Marci, look up the number of the hotel. You can watch me type it.”

Marci took the challenge personally and began reading numbers out loud which Baekhyun carefully typed into his phone. On the last number the entry changed to a saved phone number with the name of the hotel and he placed the call on speaker so everyone could hear. The phone rang exactly once before a polite voice answered.

“Mr. Byun, What can we do for you tonight?”

”Sooyoung, can you let me know how many empty rooms we have left tonight? My friends need somewhere to crash after the party. Do we have enough for,” he lifted his hands and counted each head at the table. You ignored it when he skipped you and you hoped to God these drunk people weren’t paying enough attention to notice that neither you, nor he got counted. “Ten more?” He said after counting. A typing sound echoed over the stunned and silenced group and after a few moments the woman returned to the line. “We have enough, Mr. Byun. I will get them ready for your friends. I’ll place the room keys under your name at the front desk, sir.”

He thanked the woman and the table erupted in more of that familiar chaos of cheers and applause. You noticed that Junmyeon (I am a Gemini. I love rabbits. My blood type is A), the man who sat right beside Baekhyun had a puzzled look on his face and he lifted a hand to count the heads at this table, coming back not quite with the same number as Baekhyun had counted and puzzling over it while looking down at his own finger.

“Wait a minute,” Marci called out noisily. “If you own the hotel, and you don't have a diplomatic passport,” she gasped out loud and covered her mouth with wide eyes as the pieces slowly began to fall into place for her, “then who are you in love with from work?”

The attention of the girls was back on Baekhyun, but suddenly the group of men all jeered in her direction, clearly covering for him. “Hey, don't ask that,” someone said admonishingly. “A man’s gotta have some secrets,” someone else said.

“I thought it was pretty obvious already,” Kyungsoo, the quiet man with the big eyes abruptly spoke out in a smooth and low voice that could not have been more unexpected seeing as how he hadn’t said anything at all since his round of two truths and a lie (I like cooking. I have three dogs. I own six pairs of the exact same pants.)

“Let’s play truth or dare then,” Marci spoke up, quite put out with being told to zip it by this group of pushy men when she was clearly way too invested in this love story to let it go. If there was one thing you knew about Marci it was that she loved the gossip. All gossip. Any gossip. She was a sucker for it all. She was in this for the drama.

The of girls all cheered and you braced for the possibility of having to drink a lot more alcohol if you ended up being dared to do anything too risky, or possibly anything at all involving Baekhyun.

The next game was up. Minseok emptied his beer bottle and placed it on its side in the middle of the table and gave it a good spin. Sure this game wasn’t spin the bottle, but everyone liked the randomness of selecting the next victim in this way. As if pulled by some sort of act of fate the first spin landed on you. All at once, everyone’s face turned to look at you expectantly.

“Umm…truth, I guess.” You said, fully prepared to lie through your teeth if you had to.

”Do you know who he is in love with?” Marci wasted no time at all and the entire table erupted in rabid laughter. The laughter from the men’s side of the table was more intense than anything you’d heard from the group yet.

You steeled yourself; put on your best poker face, the one you used during business meetings and negotiations and you shrugged your shoulders with a slightly disappointed frown.

”I do not,” you said. The disappointed groans from all around were intense. Baekhyun’s eyes never left your face, not even for one second and you reached forward and grabbed the bottle to spin.

Tonight was not your night. The bottle landed on Baekhyun.

The noise was deafening and Baekhyun sat there with his eyes closed up tight in defeat with the smallest tense smile on his face.

“Truth or dare, Assistant Byun.” You said. You knew it was your part to ask, being the last one to spin the bottle.

“Truth,” he said, opening his eyes to look into your face.

Your mouth felt too dry and you sipped a little of your beer as you pondered the kind of question you could ask him that would satisfy this insane group of people but wouldn’t give anything away.

“Ask him who he loves. Do it. Do it,” Marci, Sunny, Dani, everyone was begging you to do it. The pressure you felt in this very moment was astounding. You had to inhale a slow and careful breath just to be able to stand this. The only silent one was Sandi beside you and you looked toward her just as she looked away from you.

You received her message. You figure this one out. I’m out of ideas, she said to you with her avoidance. The woman wouldn't even look at you. She was suddenly extremely interested in something she pretended to notice on the drink menu on the table in front of her.

“Umm…Assistant Byun, do you want to tell us who you are in love with?” It was a dirty manager trick. You technically didn’t ask him to answer the question. Anyone who heard this question would see your good intentions as you presented them. You could play ignorance quite easily for the mistake with your words and Baekhyun lifted a single eyebrow and smiled easily. God, he was a pretty man.

“Not really,” he said, clearly answering the question with honesty and satisfying the measure of the truth aspect of the game while still revealing absolutely nothing, thanks to your creative evasion.

The entire table moaned and groaned out loud. Some shouted in your direction, telling you to ask more directly next time and you laughed and gave your easy apologies to satiate this group of absolute drunken maniacs.

Whenever Baekhyun or any of his boys remained in charge of the line of questioning, things went pretty smoothly. They really were a good group of friends who had his back. The first real bit of trouble came when Marci had the spin and her bottle landed on Junmyeon who sat chewing on his fingernails beside a glaring Baekhyun.

“Truth,” she shouted ravenously, “or dare.” She added as an afterthought. She was trying to influence his decision and as his lips formed the letter D you actually heard her growling in his direction.

He caved so easily. A timid, “Truth?” Came from his lips and Marci pounced instantly.

“Who is Baekhyun in love with? I know you know.” Baekhyun was moving fast. He had his hands on the trembling man. The entirety of his side of the table filled with men were holding in their laughter, holding their bellies that hurt from laughing so much, and many of them braced for something to happen. Every single one of them had clearly had too much to drink by now. They would all suffer dearly for the over indulgence tomorrow, but tonight was just too much fun to stop now.

Junmyeon’s eyes went wide with terror and Baekhyun had lifted a hand to lay over the back of Junmyeon’s neck. You thought he might even be gripping tightly into his neck where no one could see.

”You’re thirsty, aren’t you.” Baekhyun lifted a shot of liquor up to Junmyeon’s lips and Junmyeon nodded his head and quickly and quietly swallowed the alcohol that Baekhyun poured into his mouth.

Beside them both, Jongdae was down on the floor laughing and wheezing through the tears that fell from his eyes.

You couldn't help your own laughter. The evening had progressed to such a point and so many near disaster moments had been carefully avoided you found yourself laughing just as much as the rest of them. Your cheeks were sore and your belly was sore and Junmyeon was spinning now. His bottle landed on Marci and everyone screamed out loud in agony recognizing that the cycle was never ending.

Marci was too determined, as were the other girls who had joined in this quest to uncover Baekhyun’s truth even if they had to sell their souls to do it. Theories began to be thrown around. It had to be someone here. Otherwise those men wouldn't have been so protective of Baekhyun and his secret. The girls were on fire; eyeing everyone else suspiciously on your side of the table and the next major crisis hit when Sunny’s spin landed on the aloof and very exhausted Kyungsoo. He had already had so much to drink and you could see the fatigue with all of this on his face.

In his best attempt at it, he picked dare.

“I dare you to whisper into my ear, the name of the person Baekhyun is in love with.”

The table had gone silent. These men knew the threat that they suddenly faced and Baekhyun’s eyes watched his friend with genuine worry. He blinked quickly and you heard the smallest plea, “Kyungsoo,” he said quietly.

You had some sort of an idea about this man. If anyone could stand up to Baekhyun and the rest of these men, it was probably Kyungsoo. He had a quiet sort of authority that you didn’t think many people would question. It wasn’t that he was unkind toward his friend. The man simply had a definite limit and had clearly reached it.

”I can’t drink anymore Baekhyun,” His words were very slurred and slowed down. The man stood up and rounded the table to where Sunny sat with an elated smile wide on her face and you watched with your heart in your throat as a whispered exchange happened between the two of them.

Kyungsoo then stood up straight and simply walked back to his seat and sat down.

Sunny though. Sunny’s hands flew up to her mouth to cover her surprised gasp and her wide eyes flew around the table as her entire face turned pink with excitement.

On both of her sides the girls were tapping her, and begging to be let in on the secret. It really did seem as if they knew something concrete with how very stunned they all looked once they had learned of the secret name.

Across the table, Baekhyun stared ahead of himself without any focus.

Everyone was very drunk already. Maybe no one would remember any of this tomorrow.

The group of men had all gone silent and after a few moments of whispering between the girls that pointedly did not land into your ears, a strange silence fell over the room.

“Well?” you said rather unceremoniously and abruptly. You couldn't stand this anymore. The cat was clearly out of the bag and you needed to know exactly what Kyungsoo had told Sunny and what had that girl all flushed and bashful about. You needed to know what you were working with to know how to act about it.

You needed either some damage control, or some denial to be happening right now but none of them were telling you anything. They just looked into each other’s faces and down at the table in front of them.

Your question was ignored. It was very unlike them, but they did it.

It was Kyungsoo’s spin and he grabbed the bottle and gave it a good go. You watched that stupid thing come to a stop pointed right at you and you lifted your eyes to look at the man.

“Truth,” you said before he had a chance to ask. As soon as you spoke, he did too.

“How do you feel about Baekhyun?” When the man said he was tired, he really meant it. He wasted no time. You felt the heat of everyone’s eyes on your face and the longer you sat here with this question hanging in the air above your head the less you really cared that much about what you chose to do. You avoided all of their eyes as you deliberated.

If you answered truthfully, well…

If you drank to avoid the question, well…

You weren’t much for bravery. You grabbed your shot glass and downed the liquor. The moment the glass touched your lips the table exploded. Someone was shaking Baekhyun by the shoulders, pulling him violently back and forth and you could see the laughter on his face.

“She didn’t answer it!” someone shouted excitedly.

“That could also mean she hates him and is just too nice to say it!” someone else shouted with the exact same level of enthusiasm.

You truly began to feel a lot of the same fatigue that Kyungsoo had been complaining about. His head was down on the table now and his eyes were closed. You couldn't be sure he hadn’t passed out right here at the table.

It was your spin and you gave it a good go. It landed on Marci and she looked into your face with her lips pulled up tight in surprise. She gave you the tiniest hiccup as a response and you looked into her face; suddenly very, very tired of playing this game.

“Truth or dare?” You said to her. Her choice did not matter. You would get it out of her either way.

She picked dare and you shrugged, “I dare you to tell me who he is in love with. You can whisper it into my ear if you want.”

Marci looked nervously around the room. No one seemed to have any suggestions or offer her any help and so she just swallowed nervously and leaned into you.

You heard her small inhale up close to your ear before she whispered, “Baekhyun is in love with you.”

The sensation of hearing this whispered into your ear at a time like this, while being closely observed by every single person at this table who knew what you had just been told was like an out-of-body experience.

You were floating up above your body. You could see the top of your head, you watched the nervous way you reached out for your beer and lifted it to take a big drink of it. You could see yourself fidgeting with the napkin underneath the beer, tearing it into tiny pieces with your fingertips and rolling the bits into little logs that you dropped onto the table cloth. This whole setting was a mess and you had been the one to make the mess. Across the table, you saw Baekhyun as he sat there completely motionless with arms crossed tightly over his chest, his posture sagging low in his seat and his eyes watching your face intently. It didn't look like he was breathing.

The entire bar was so quiet you could have whispered and every single person at this table would have heard you.

You inhaled a breath and blinked slowly, pulling your eyes up to look into Baekhyun’s across this table. You still did not feel like you were inside of your own body; making these choices; saying these words. You were not involved in this anymore. This woman who wore your face and sat here in your spot was inhaling to speak and opening her mouth as she prepared her voice to say something.

“Byun Baekhyun,” you said. Ten stunned faces turned away from you and looked at Baekhyun.

“Yes ma’am?” He answered through clenched teeth.

Tiny gasps peppered throughout the group. It was like a tennis match, they were looking at you again. Faces were covered with hands; gaping mouths were hanging open; someone was making a wild whimpering sound and smacking someone next to them in excitement.

“I don't think it’s her turn to ask. Marci is the one who has to spin next.”

“Oh my God, shut the fuck up. Let her speak.”

“What the fuck is happening right now.”

“I am going to pee my pants.”

“Yes ma’am. He said, yes ma’am.”

“She said his fucking name. Let them speak.”

The rules no longer seemed to matter anymore.

Kyungsoo had lifted his head from the table and was watching you too.

“Are you in love with me?” You looked into his brown eyes, doing your very best to keep the tremble out of your hands. You had to shake your head a little bit to clear some of the heavy nerves that suddenly made your mouth go dry and Baekhyun did not answer your question right away.

”I thought you said not tonight.” His muttered response was cryptic and vague enough to bring more confused faces back to watch you for your answer. He was right. You had been the one to make this rule and you were the first one to break it. You’d always been very good at breaking all of your own stupid rules when it came to him.

“Baekhyun, are you in love with me?” The attention was back on him and he lifted both of his hands and rubbed them roughly over the length of his face.

Someone beside him poked him lightly on the arm, whispering something encouraging in his ear. Answer her. Tell her. Say it.

His eyes were closed.

When he inhaled to speak, a single earth-shattering word rang out.

“Yes,” he said.

He spoke it so softly; pulling his eyes back up, opening them and letting them land squarely inside of your eyes. He left the word to linger on his open mouth for a moment before he inhaled another half breath; just enough air for him to speak again.

“Yes, I am. I love you. Desperately.”

No one was moving. No one was breathing. Mouths and eyes hung wide open.

“Holy shit,” someone whispered under their breath. “This is insane,” someone else whispered to the person at their side.

The silence was going on for too long and someone cleared their throat. You hadn’t responded with any words to Baekhyun’s answer to your question and after much too long of everyone sitting shell-shocked it was Kyungsoo who moved first. He reached forward and spun the bottle in the middle of the table and twelve sets of eyes stared down at the spinning thing until it came to a clumsy meandering stop pointed directly at the man who had just shocked the entire room with his love confession to you.

“Baekhyun, I dare you to kiss her.”

The once silent table erupted in commotion again. There was an excited energy surging through every single person at this table and you had to close your eyes to block out the pinkness you saw in his cheeks as his friends all tugged at his sleeve, shook his shoulders, sent urging words deep into his ears with such intense insistence that he finally sighed out loud and asked his friends a simple question.

“Should I?”

Baekhyun was pushing himself away from his seat at the table. He was standing up on his two wobbling legs and he took several large steps in your direction.

Your eyes were wide as you watched him. You felt too surprised to do anything other than watch to see what he would actually do.

You hadn’t expected the speed with which he reached your side and you felt so caught off guard with his sudden close proximity that you stood up the moment he came up to you.

It all happened so quickly. You had stood to face the man who marched up to you and you gasped when you felt his arm slip around the back of your waist. He pulled you into him and you stumbled enough for his coat to fall off of your shoulders and pool down at your feet.

Your balance felt unsteady. You reached for his waist out of habit, out of that familiarity with the shape of this man and the way he fit so perfectly with your body. You wrapped your arms around his waist at the same moment as he reached up with his other hand and cradled your face in the palm of his hand and his eyes were down on your lips.

He leaned into you then. He kissed you. Right here with everyone watching.

He pressed his soft lips into yours and the gasps of shock from all around were drowned out by the loud pounding of your heartbeat inside of your ear drums. He tilted his head into you. You pulled his lips in between yours and you felt the soft wetness of his tongue as he slipped it along the surface of your teeth, biting down lightly on your bottom lip as he pulled away slightly, only to come back into you; deeper this time. Hungrier and more demanding. Definitely not something two people kissing for the very first time did. Definitely not the kind of kiss for a room full of witnesses.

Oh, you felt ablaze with this. You’d forgotten every single rule you’d ever fooled yourself into believing you could follow.

When at last Baekhyun pulled his mouth off of yours, you felt the trembling inside of your chest at this brazen act. Your hands felt shaky, your legs felt like you might drop at any second. You felt your breathing too heavy to settle easily and he rested his forehead over yours as he breathed just as heavily.

Your hand had wandered and you dropped your fingers from where they had threaded into his hair at the nape of his neck. With your bodies pressed up against each other’s and his heavy breaths fanning over your wet lips he opened his eyes and looked into yours and your lips pulled into the smallest smile. This kiss felt like the beginning of something. You felt an overwhelming relief surging through your chest and you watched his own smile slowly manifesting on his face. You leaned into him, placing the smallest kiss on that pretty smile of his. The man giggled softly when you did it.

“Jesus Christ.”

“Byun Baekhyun, you goddamn—”

“The son of a bitch did it.”

“He did it”

“A long time ago from the looks of it”

You had to turn your head away from them all; covering your mouth with a trembling hand you moved and you felt curious movement from his fingertips along your right hand that now hung limp by your waist.

He was lifting your hand. He was pulling at your ring finger there and you turned to look at his actions as he very steadily and carefully removed the diamond engagement ring you’d been wearing on the wrong hand all night.

He held it up in between his thumb and index finger and peered through the hole of the ring before he turned to you with his empty hand raised, palm up asking for you to give him your left hand.

You were out of any bit of resistance. You laughed and lifted your left hand and placed it carefully inside of his and he slipped the ring onto the ring finger of your left hand with the widest, cheekiest, most breathtakingly beautiful smile you’d ever seen.

You responded to that smile with a hopeless laugh of your own and you felt him lifting your left hand up in the air.

“What?!” their voices all shouted.

“They’re getting married?!”

“What is happening?”

“Oh my god I can't believe this”

”You’ve got to be kidding me. Since when???”

”Are you telling me we didn’t know anything about this?”

Chairs had fallen to the floor. Drinks were spilled and dripped messily all over the table and the floor. People were on their feet shouting. Some were screaming. Some were laughing and clapping. First in confusion, then in understanding and acceptance and the place was a thunderstorm of so much commotion that even the staff and chefs had come out from the kitchen to gawk at the strange occurrence that was happening out in their dining room.

“For the record, I knew.” Sandi raised a hand at last and the reactions were mixed. Some demanded to know how she would have dared to keep this big a secret for so long. Others were simply flabbergasted that such a big thing could have happened right under their noses.

Baekhyun was giggling. The unparalleled joy you saw in his face matched the elation you felt inside of your body as you laughed with him. Doing your best to answer whatever questions you could answer as tactfully and respectfully as possible and after much of the chaos and drama had subsided enough for you to manage to get a word in you raised your voice, calling all of their attention again.

“By the way,” you began with a smile as you turned to look into his joyful face.

Your next words sent them into a wild round of cheers and applause.

“You are all invited to the wedding.”

The End.

Thank you for reading. I love you all!

Can I Stay? Masterlist

#exo #exo fanfiction #exo smut #baekhyun #exo fic #exo scenario #baekhyun smut #baekhyun fanfic #completed

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shubblelive · 1 year

Text

— EMPTY APARTMENTS

summary : wilbur gets to your apartment and finds you and all your belongings gone. you didn’t even say goodbye.

genre : angst -> fluff (“angst” might be a strong word)

warnings : sleep depravation (it’s bed time, wil. you have school in the morning), swearing, wilbur almost has a panic attack

pairing : cc!wilbur soot x reader

pronouns : none (you/yours)

featuring : cc!wilbur soot, lovejoy (mentioned)

word count : 987

note : i'm not the proudest of this, but here you go anyway.

Wilbur hadn’t slept in days.

It had been a lot, all at once, and he was struggling. He had just got back from America and Dave was already discussing another tour after their next single. He loved travelling and performing; it was what he was meant to be doing. Hearing people scream his silly little lyrics back at him while practically high on adrenaline was a feeling Wilbur wouldn’t be able to replicate with a million streams (as much as he loved them).

He’d been overwhelmingly anxious in a way that couldn’t be halted by breathing techniques, but he would try his best. Part of it was flying, which he knew shouldn’t have been an active issue given that the song wasn’t even finished yet. What they had been performing was about 90% complete, and another thing giving him grief was wondering whether people would like it. It was different from his first two EPs, and Wilbur knew even the most loyal of fan bases could hate songs.

That, combined with his hair being everywhere, wasn’t even the cause of the gnawing feeling in his abdomen. That one was simple, and he knew it couldn’t be solved. He missed you.

The tour had been short and he didn’t remember most of it, but he remembered hardly being able to sleep without the feeling of you on top of his left arm. It was worse when he was in the US, and he couldn’t even call you before bed. Of course, he was back now, and he’d been smothering you in affection to the point where you’d had to beg him to let you go and film.

He had been at the studio all day working on the rest of the EP; Wilbur had grown frustrated with just working on that one song when it clearly wasn’t sounding right. It was almost there, but it consumed his every waking moment and he needed a break. Whether it was the song itself, or the music video, or the concept art. The whole thing was just hurting his head, and the feeling was getting worse.

His eyes were heavy in the taxi ride home, and he’d fought the urge to fall asleep. He was heading for your flat; it was closer. He had a certain paranoia since he’d gotten more known about people knowing where he lived, so he always gave them a random address near where he lived but far enough away that it eased his anxieties. Trudging down the street, drops of rainwater in his hair, he pulled up your texts.

I’ll see you tonight, love, he’d sent early that morning. Yours or mine?

Ha, you had replied.

He pulled out his keyring, finding the key to your place that he’d held onto since forever. It stuck in the lock, like it always did and he closed his eyes as he turned the knob, dropping the keys into the bowl with a clatter and turning on the lights.

The flat was empty. There was still furniture, but all your stuff was gone. His keys lay there lamely on the floor, he was so exhausted he hadn’t even realised you’d taken the end table. Your shelves were bare, the counters were empty; hell even your streaming setup was gone.

You’d left, and you hadn’t even told him.

Was it something he had done? How long had you been planning this? It wouldn’t have been hard to orchestrate, you’d spent most of your nights at his place recently. Where had you gone? Maybe he could find you. At the very least get some closure.

He called you. Three times. His phone fell from his hand and he lent back against the door. You were the only thing that wasn’t causing him immense amounts of stress, and you were gone. There had been signs, surely. He hadn’t seen any, but there had to have been some.

Did he forget an anniversary? No, none that he could think of. Fuck. What had he done?

He couldn’t stay there, in your empty flat. It was too small, too full and too empty and he stumbled out, through the hallway, down the stairs and onto the street. It was late, the streets were nearly empty but it was too loud. The street lights flickered and Wilbur kicked a lampost.

It didn’t move. How annoying.

It took him nearly an hour to get home, somewhat because he continued to try and kick inanimate objects (mostly because he realised he forgot his phone and had to go back). This time, when he put his keys on the end table they fell resolutely onto the end table.

He flicked the light switch. They turned off.

Why were they already on? Whatever, he probably left them on accidentally. He shed his coat, throwing it over the back of the couch and face-planting onto it. The cushion groans underneath him.

“You ‘right?” Your hand found its way into his hair and his breath was strong against your neck. “Will? Everything okay?”

“You weren’t there,” His voice broke. “I went to your apartment and all your stuff was gone.” His arms were wrapped around you so hard his knuckles were turning white. “I’m sorry, darling. I’m so sorry.” You could feel tears leaking onto your collarbone and you clutched him back.

“Are you alright? Have you still not been sleeping?” Your eyes, warm with concern, met him. “Will, love?”

“I’m sorry.” He kept repeating.

“We’re okay. I promise. I’m moving in here, remember?” your voice was soft, and he couldn’t stop crying.

“Fuck.” His eyes were clamped shut. “I’m sorry, I’m an idiot.”

“You need a break,” you corrected gently. “You’re overworking yourself, Wilbur.”

It took him a while to calm down, and soon he was nodding in your embrace. “Need you.” That night, Wilbur slept better than he had in months and in the morning you were still there.

#mcyt #wilbur soot #wilbuh ♡#mcyt wilbur #wilbur soot fluff #dsmp wilbur #wilbur soot x you #wilbur soot x reader #wilbur soot fic #wilbur soot fanfiction #wishing i could write my name on it

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kabie-whump · 2 months

Text

Those Febuwhump posts, part 1.5

aka this goes between day 17 and day 27

Content: stitches, needles, field medicine no painkillers, blood, bondage, very slight reference to non-con, defiant whumpee, idk what kind of whumper this is lmao

~~~

"If this is some kind of trap I really am going to kill you."

Whumper kneels in front of Whumpee, deftly undoing the miles of blood-slick chain that keep them bound to their chair.

"Just do me a favor and keep being completely helpless for a little while, alright?"

Whumpee nods listlessly. The blood loss has really gotten to them. They're pale and trembling and their breathing is shallow and erratic.

Chains fall to the concrete floor with a loud clanging sound, leaving Whumpee unbound and shivering in their underwear.

Then Whumper stands and unbuckles their belt, and Whumpee's eyes go wide with fear. They jerk one leg away as if they're about to bolt, then seem to force themslves to stay put.

"What are you- oh!" Whumper shakes their head with a scoff, realizing what Whumpee must have thought they were going to do. "Don't flatter yourself, kid. I'm not that kind of evil."

They move in close, Whumpee's terrified eyes trained on every movement, and hold the belt up to their lips. "It's for you to bite."

Whumpee keeps staring at them, their mouth firmly shut.

"Unless you want to risk losing your tongue."

"Fine," Whumpee hisses. "But not cause you told me to." They open their mouth, allowing the belt to be placed between their teeth.

Whumper sighs. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."

They find their kit and retrieve the necessary items: antiseptic, gloves, needle, thread. The painkiller bottle is empty. Oh well.

"Alright. Let me see."

Whumper puts on gloves and examines the wound: a gash on Whumpee's side that is definitely bigger and deeper than they'd intended it to be when they made it. Maybe if Whumpee had just held still like they'd been told to...

Whumpee whimpers as Whumper applies the antiseptic, their whole body jerking away from the sting. Whumper bites back a string of frusterated threats. Words aren't going to be enough to keep them still in the face of physical pain.

Then they start with the stitches. The first pull of the thread has Whumpee gasping and writhing in the chair, their hands frantically going to push Whumper away. Whumper just sighs and puts the needle down in favor of crudely tying Whumpee's hands to the armrests of the chair, something they should've done from the start.

Maybe Whumper had noticed how red and raw Whumpee's wrists already looked and had wanted to give them a break. Is there something wrong with that?

The rest of the stitches go much smoother for Whumper without Whumpee trying to intervene. Whumpee clearly hates them though. Their head is tilted back on the backrest of the chair, tears streaming down their temples and helpless muffled whines of "stop stop stop" escaping through the belt.

Whumper ignores them, tying off the stitches with practiced ease. "Done," they say, discarding their bloodied gloves. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Whumpee spits out the belt. "Fuck you."

"You pronounced 'thank you' wrong."

~~~ <Prev | Next> ~~~

@unicornbeck @the-art-of-trepetnoi @altvaggie @whumped-by-glitter

#whump #whump tropes #whump community #whump writing #whumpblr #whump scenario #whump ideas #defiant whumpee #field medicine #cw blood #tw blood #tw kidnapping

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wordsinhaled · 2 years

Text

whatever you do, don't think about hob helping dream discover beautiful music and art that he missed during his imprisonment and them falling in love in the process

like, i've been losing my mind today because it hit me that dream was cut off from the dreaming in burgess' basement for the entirety of dave brubeck's lifetime (1920-2012) ?????? and it got me thinking, and

imagine hob inviting dream over to his flat for dinner (listen... dream of the endless was fully willing to eat KFC after he got out of burgess' cage in the comics - i am convinced he would not only eat, but also summarily enjoy and allow himself to be seduced by, hob gadling's boeuf bourguignon)

hob being absolutely meticulous about every detail - he may or may not have cleaned the place for a week beforehand! he gets dream flowers! he's got ambient lighting! he will neither confirm nor deny having purchased nicer tableware than he would use for himself for the occasion! he's got a very nice wine chilling in the fridge! he's dying of nerves because this isn't just anyone, this is dream, his not-so-stranger-anymore, whom he's been absolutely tangled up in feelings for, for literal centuries, coming to his home, you know, as a date, fuck

so, you know, last but not least, of course, he's got to have the proper mood music, and he really agonizes over it until finally he decides it's gotta be the album "love songs" by dave brubeck, which he has on CD (i love hob + vinyl records, but somehow, the idea of hob owning a sound system that plays CDs in the age of bluetooth/streaming and still having a carefully-curated collection of his favorite CDs is honestly even more endearing to me)

anyway, he sits dream down in the living room and puts on this album, and goes into the kitchen for a few minutes to uncork the wine

he comes back with the bottle and two wine glasses and has to pause in the doorway, because dream is just... sitting there, on the couch where hob left him, looking totally enraptured; he's got tears in his eyes, practically, and he looks like this may have done more to charm him than flowers and wine and the elaborate dinner hob has simmering away on the stove all combined ever could

"what is this thing called love" is playing, wrapping the room up in that wonderful intimate warm romance that jazz has, and hob just looks at dream basking in it and needs a moment himself—because god, he really does love dream, doesn't he, and if he once thought this was a love he'd ever recover from he knows now that he never will; and he doesn't want to recover, not if it means seeing dream like this

and of course dream, who can sense dreams, knows why hob has done all of this for him. he picks up on all the longing wrapped up in all these little precise acts—he can see all hob's dreams for the two of them, his vision for the trajectory of the evening, how he's hoping he might kiss dream tonight, if he's very, very fortunate and plays his cards exactly right—and yet they don't feel like dreams of possession or claiming, they feel like dreams of discovery and possibility, born of six hundred thirty three years of steadfast affection

and that just makes the music hit dream differently, be more to him somehow, because he isn't sure when the last time was that anyone did anything like this for him out of such an unassuming freely-given love that didn't seek to destroy or degrade or disarm him

oh, but it does disarm him, doesn't it? in ways hob gadling may not have expected

and they just... look at each other across the room, for a moment. dream, sitting there on the couch, elbow on his knee, chin in his hand, falling starry-eyed for hob's tenacious tender heart in real time; and hob with his hip propped on the doorframe and the wine glasses clinking together in his hand, trying not to lose his grip on the neck of the wine bottle, everything in the universe narrowing to the sight of dream

LISTEN. LISTEN, I'M HAVING EMOTIONS,,,,

#the sandman #dreamling #HELP I'VE FALLEN AND I CAN'T. GET. UP #long post #then they make out to 'you go to my head'#or maybe clumsily slow-dance #i don't even know i can't deal

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karalovesallthegirls · 2 months

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Some Q's for youuu:

8. How slow is a slow burn? 🕒

19. Share a snippet from a wip without giving any context for it. 📝

22. What is it about watching the same two idiots falling in love over and over again? 👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏻

28. Any writing advice that works for you and you feel like sharing? 🤓

30. Describe a fic that almost happened, but then it didn't. 🪦🙀

I appreciate your dedication using the emojis, they enhanced the experience greatly!!!!

8. How slow is a slow burn? 🕒

The hottest slow burn 2 me is one where they can barely even make eye contact for a solid 15k, let alone touch lips. I want them to go through every possible option and do every possible thing to avoid getting together for so long they’re practically pulling their hair out in the frustration of it. Their desperation for each other needs to be so unbearable that they truly genuinely lose their minds, and they then need to stay apart for a little while after that.

19. Share a snippet from a wip without giving any context for it. 📝 “Alien…” she whispers, eyes wide with a terror so painfully familiar to Kara. “Oh, God.” “Miss Luthor, I’m not going to hurt you, okay? I just need the hard drive. That’s all," Kara says.

She tries to keep a soothing tone, but she’s so tired of this. She wants to be done. She’s so close to being done, too. The Luthor's eyes are intense and focused, studying Kara back just as deeply as Kara studies her. She’s beautiful, Kara thinks, and she’s scared. Everyone is always scared of the alien. The woman holds the device out with one hand and Kara can see the slight shake to it. “You won’t hurt me?” she asks again, and Kara smiles. “I promise,” Kara says. She grabs the drive but feels some resistance as she tugs. The other woman isn’t letting go. Kara looks at her again to find her smiling. “Funny,” Lena Luthor says. “Because I’m going to hurt you.” Kara’s head whips back with the force of the hit, blood splattering from her mouth as she falls.

22. What is it about watching the same two idiots falling in love over and over again? 👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏻

For me I fucking LOVE a multiverse like what do you mean they will find each other in every form, in every world, in every time??? What do you MEAN if there’s a version of one that exists the other must be elsewhere waiting for the chance and not knowing it?? What do you MEAN quantum entanglement?????

28. Any writing advice that works for you and you feel like sharing? 🤓

Don’t try to write it correctly the first round, just get material on the page.

Write out your story concepts like you’re writing a transcript of your brain. You’re not editing or correcting or explaining meaning, just conveying exactly what is there as it is. My preferred method is just a big stream of conscious paragraph with no punctuations and often times looks like I’m describing drama to a friend via text - “[…] and then Lena was like Lex what the fuck!!!!!! bitch!!!!! and then Kara freaks out and grabs […] - and then just leave it for a little while. Come back to it later and divide them up into fragmented sentences and concepts and build from there. When I spend ages trying to think of the right way to write out my ideas more often than not I find I’ve written nothing, and the things left unwritten have faded away from my memory like they’d never been there at all.

30. Describe a fic that almost happened, but then it didn't. 🪦🙀

I have a fic concept I flirt with sometimes where Lena is head of security for Luthor Corp distribution, which handles art and artifacts for hundreds of museums around the world, and she is forced to handle the chaos of some masked thief that keeps stealing things and returning them to their original cultures. Lillian is breathing down her neck to fix this, but no one ever seems able to even get more than a glimpse of the crook - until Lena does.

And Lena realizes three things when she finally sees the masked Robin Hood rip-off:

1.) the thief is a woman, and somehow able to handle such massive robberies alone.

2.) The thief gets sloppy when Lena is there, nervous and bumbling and chatty. She acts like she’s never seen a pretty girl before. Like she wants to impress Lena just as much as rob her.

3.) Lena might not be able to stop the robberies with her wit, but she sure as hell can with her tits.

#thank you for your questions i love u #writing ask

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maybeimamuppet · 4 months

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OKAY MUPPETS IT IS TIIIIME FOR EZZYS OPINION HOUR

i saw the mean girls movie yesterday and i have THOUGHTS. spoilers below the cut but general thoughts up here

1. is it objectively not a super great movie? yes

2. is it my new favorite movie? yes

3. will i defend this movie tooth and nail from people who don’t like it just bc it’s a musical or bc they’re a 2004 purist? YES

4. did this movie make me feel so many conflicting emotions back to back i have now had a tummyache for 24 hours? YESSS

5. will i ever, ever, EVER IN MY LIFE forgive tina fey for the ending? no.

alright babes welcome to below the elementary school gym class parachute

last spoiler warning!!

these aren’t all in order and are most definitely not all the thoughts i had bc i have the memory storage of a flea and once an experience is over it is GONE FROM MY HEAD so this is the list of thoughts i struggled to put together when i got home lmao

overall thoughts:

it felt very gimmicky. the stage production felt gimmicky too but in a fun way, this was gimmicky in a way that kinda gave me a touch of the ick

it did not feel to me very much like a cohesive movie. it felt like browsing ig or tiktok and just seeing a hodgepodge of scenes stuck together. which is a cool idea but idk how well it worked in practice and i also don’t know if it was intentional.

this is not the word i’m looking for but in terms of personality they absolutely whitewashed all of the characters and i really don’t care for that. the visuals and the casting were so immaculate but in terms of personality they just made them all taste like unsweetened corn flakes.

i’m biased and didn’t care for most of the tweaks they made to the songs individually BUT i think they blended with each other more cohesively than they do in the stage production so that was cool. and i am able to understand why they made them more pop-esque than theatre-y it’s just not my personal vibe

it all felt very emma watson’s beauty and the beast. like. not deserving of much hate but also just not as good. it has its time and place but i still just. the changes they made were too much for me. that being said i am gonna be the #1 viewer whenever it’s released to streaming platforms was not kidding when i said this is a new favorite movie

the whole like. tiktok and iphone camera thing was an interesting??? idea. i really liked it for cautionary tale but the rest. i think it was a better idea than the way they executed it.

i miss do this thing!! i wish they had done like a mashup with it and the stupid with love reprise but i wasn’t mad at the reprise so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

fourth wall break was real cringe!!

thoughts abt cady:

angourie is so cute!!!!!!! she has the perfect look for cady. her costumes were kinda yikes but physically she’s mwah chefs kiss perfection

cady is so viscerally autistic in this version and it is DELIGHTFUL

but again i feel like they took so much from her. in the show she’s this overexcited little bubbly (autistic again but still) thing and she’s naive and then it’s revealed she’s conniving and manipulative and has this serious dark streak in her. in the movie it felt like she was just. awkward and then straight to conniving and manipulative. it was interesting but i miss my little jumping bean i wish they had given her some more spice

this movie has turned me into a cadina shipper of THE HIGHEST ORDER i’m already writing a fic for them and i call diiiiibs nobody else do it i write slow /j

i honestly really liked what ifs. i didn’t enjoy it as much as it roars but i think for the screen and for angourie’s voice it was a better fit. and i think it blended better with the new versions of the songs than it roars would have. not mad at it and the staging of it was really cool

cady being the one with a single parent is so interesting to me!! idk why they did that but i think it’s interesting. makes me wonder what happened to her dad but also go mom!!! women in stem!!!

her relationship with the art freaks was so???? weird??? it seemed like damian was the only one who really wanted all of them to be friends. i love this version of janis and damian together but when they were with cady it was all just so BLAND. it didn’t really feel like she and janis were friends at all which is what’s supposed to make the betrayal sting so much

whatever they were aiming for with someone gets hurt they missed hard bc holy cadina batman that shits gay dude BUT THE STAGING WAS SO COOL with everyone like frozen and then they all kick back in all crazy with the music it was great

janis thoughts:

THEY FUCKING RUINED HEEEEEEEER

AULI’I WAS SO PERFECT SHE WAS SO CUTE AND HER OUTFITS ARE SO COOL BUT THEY JUST TOOK AWAY ALL OF HER PERSONALITY

janis is supposed to be spunky and angry and hurt and vengeful and quirky and out there and firey and she’s meant to HAVE GRIT GOTDANGIT but again she just felt so whitewashed. like here’s a vaguely leftist lesbian in ripped jeans and cool eyeshadow that’s janis right?? LIKE NO IT IS NOT

i’d rather be me, while it had a little less vocal oomph behind it than the stage show, was as transcendent as i hoped for and i got chills multiple times. also the comedic timing of the bus was immaculate and the sound it made made me cackle

i can’t tell how i feel about the new middle school incident. i think it takes so much of the pain out of it for janis which is meant to be her main motivator. she was not supposed to be KICKED OUT she was PULLED OUT but i do kind of like that they clearly made it where regina kissed a girl and liked it and freaked out and that was the catalyst for everything

i do not ship this version of cadnis and that to me is unforgivable. they have sooo little chemistry as friends let alone lovers i just can’t stand it. janis doesn’t ever even seem like she wants cady around. it seems so much like they took away what makes janis janis just to turn her into another catalyst for regina and cady’s stories

apex predator was fun!! i honestly like it being janis and damian singing it better than janis and cady i think it works better as a warning and stuff! and also the band in the tree made me laugh so hard. i’m glad cady had them as her tour guides but again that’s all it felt like they were to each other and i miss them being a little posse

REVENGE PARTYYYYYYUH. i thought the staging was really fucking weird?? like all the pastels and shit didn’t really fit i would’ve much preferred it to start like that and then have blood dripping down the walls or something when they’re talking ABOUT PEOPLES HEADS ON SPIKES. but musically it was my favorite of everything!! i’m so happy they put the original verse back i almost screamed out loud in the theater when i heard it!!!!!

i never thought i would say this but i wish they had not canonically made her a lesbian. i will never forgive tina fey for having her end up with that random girl. no shade to the girl, she’s gorgeous and i’m glad we got some on screen, good, healthy queer rep. but in my eyes that is absolutely just a cop out because they know people wanted her to end up with cady or regina. they’re spitting on us and saying “here have your fucking lesbian and enjoy it this is what you get” and expect us to be happy with it. i get so angry every time i think about it and it honestly kind of ruined the whole thing for me. i would rather she have ended up with kevin g again. or like. honestly damian romantically would’ve made more sense in a twisted fucked up way. i just absolutely hate how they handled that.

damian thoughts:

HE! WAS! PERFECT! i am a grey henson stan first and a human being second but by golly he might be my new favorite. comedic timing on point and the fact we barely get to hear him sing is a FELONY. he was delightful and i love him also we love black queer rep!!! fuck yeah!!!! his bit with the fan before id rather be me. sent me into the dang stratosphere i love him so much

ALSO HIS DATE AT RHE END WE LOVE THESTRE BOYYYYY!!! ugh so cute i love

regina thoughts:

HOW DID THEY MAKE HER SUCH A COWARD???? HOW DO YOU TAKE A CHARACTER WITH SO MUCH POWER AND FUCK HER UP THIS BAD???

again everything that’s a core tenet of her personality was removed. i wasn’t afraid of her which is a CRIME bc renee on broadway’s regina was TERRIFYING. she just felt like one of those girls that every hs has like 7 of. they’re a dime a dozen, they’re rich and hot shit and they know it but you don’t care what they do because you know they’ll be divorced and broke and probably fat at your 10 year reunion. it’s giving peaked in high school and not queen bee which is really sad honestly

it made cady seem so much more evil tho?? like regina seemed. hurt. and cady was still so gung ho about taking her down. and it made janis seem much more manipulative too. i don’t care for either of those things

her costumes were so weird??? half that shit regina would not touch with a ten foot pole but it’s renee and she would and she’s hot so i do not care. also this isn’t a criticism but her halloween costume was giving gargoyle more than angel lol

plastics thoughts:

gretchen again felt really reductive. she was all anxiety. not that gretchen isn’t that onstage but it just felt like that was her entire personality. but bebe was adorable and i loved what’s wrong with me she did a great job

avantika was DELIGHTFUL. i loved her so much more than i was expecting to she was the only one where i never had a moment like “i am watching people acting in a movie they are repeating written lines” it felt much more like fluid with her. 10/10 beautifully done to her

aaron thoughts:

HOW DID THEY MAKE HIM MORE BORING????? MY GOD

he was already the most redundant character in the whole goddamn thing and they somehow made him even more useless. he could’ve been removed from the movie entirely and it would’ve changed NOTHING. he is white bread if he was a spice he’d be flour. didn’t think it was possible to make him more that but by golly they did it

HOW DID HE AND CADY END UP TOGETHER HE HAS THE CHEMISTRY OF A BRICK WALL. she has so much more romantic fire and chemistry with regina this is some of the most comphet shit i’ve ever seen. it’s giving wicked levels of comphet like gooooddamn.

misc. thoughts:

THAT LINDSAY LOHAN CAMEO HAD ME OUTBOF MY SEAT I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING BUT IT WAS AMAZING also that “i don’t know your life” was mwah

MS NORBURY SND MR DUVALLLL WERE SO CUUUUUTE i squealed ngl i love them

overall like 7/10 good movie i’m angry about a whole bunch but this is also amazing i’m so glad we got this new content and i am definitely hyperfixating on it now. so not that different from my stage show opinions lol

#ik this sounds like i’m shitting on it a lot but i promise i’m not #i absolutely loved it #i’m glad this amazing show is more accessible to people now #would absolutely recommend seeing it #i just have a lot of feelings #i feel like a parent #disappointed but not surprised and at the end of the day still absolutely in love #thus concludes opinion hour with ezzy #which actually took me almost exactly an hour to write #hope you enjoyed see you next time lol #entropy with ezzy #mean girls #mean girls musical #mean girls 2024 #caps tw #swear tw

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gwyns · 3 months

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Elain : canon that she doesn’t like violence

E/riel’s : aesthetic, fanart and headcanons of her dressed in Illyrian leathers, or wielding a sword, or covered in blood, or is secretly a spy for the Night Court.

I saw someone say that Elain would clean the blood off of Azriel after he comes home from a mission. Or that they want a scene in the next ACOTAR book of Azriel beating someone up, covered in blood, and Elain bites her lip and is like “that’s hot” ?? It’s canon that she doesn’t like violence. Didn’t she vomit after the battle in ACOWAR? And her being a spy doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t fit her character in canon. Wouldn’t we have got something of that in Az’s bonus chapter if she was training to be a spy or if she had spy like qualities?

If SJM holds a live stream interview where questions are allowed, I lowkey want someone to ask her if she’s ever thought about making Elain a spy or how she feels about blood and violence. Idk if SJM would say anything but *shrugs shoulders*

E/riel’s complain that Gwynriel’s put down Elain for being feminine, for her love of baking and gardening, but I’ve seen countless fanart of Elain as a warrior/spy and headcanons of Elain liking violence/blood. Not to say there aren’t some Gwynriel’s who’ve said that (I personally haven’t seen any) but it seems like E/riel’s are the ones reaching. Making their view of Elain different from canon.

why do they think elain would be ok around blood like that? even feyre, someone who has seen proper battle and killed people, doesn't like it. feyre doesn't like being around torture either but somehow elain would?? hey e/riels... BE REAL, please, for one second

and like??? elain would never, ever, in a million, BILLION years find az beating someone up "hot". not when she practically begged her sisters to leave graysen alone. hell, sjm has never really done that in general, clearly she doesn't like it either lmfao

oh god please i would love for sjm to shut down their little spy theories. anyone remember a couple of years ago how they were so confident that e/riel would be a sleeping beauty retelling but then in an interview sjm said she doesn't like that movie or even let her son watch it and suddenly they pivoted to something else?? i have never laughed so hard

ok let's look at this way: if elain has to change so much, literally a complete overhaul of her canon character, to fit with az... why wouldn't sjm just write a new, more well suited character? that'd be less of a headache... oh but wait! she did!! miss gwyneth berdara would like a word. for a fandom that claims to love and respect elain when others don't, they sure do try to turn her into someone else and then project that onto gwyn stans, claiming we're self inserting and wanting her to be elain when i have never, not once, seen a gwyn stan want gwyn to be any different

i have unfortunately seen some weird and toxic gwynriels but weird and toxic e/riels far out number them. oh and for the record, i've never seen or heard of gwynriels stealing art, doxing people, harassing sjm's irl friends and publisher, faking cancer, or telling sjm they'd harm her child if they didn't get their way so... really it's like comparing apples to oranges

anyway (most) e/riels suck and gwynriels, alongside eluciens, are literally the glue that holds this fandom together. i love you all even if this fandom is a cesspit most of the time, thank you for making this a fun space <3

#also before a dumb bitch hops into my inbox yes i know sleeping beauty was a fairytale first #and that the written story varies heavily from the disney movie but my point stands #sjm takes inspiration from both #asks #anonymous #antielriel #anti e/riel

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uppastthejelliclemoon · 9 months

Text

“It was an irreplaceable love”

A little sequel/continuation to my “dyin’ ain’t so bad” fic i wrote back for tuggoffelees week, this time featuring more angst thanks to @soh-da-meatball who broke my heart with her latest tuggoffelees art <3

Obviously this takes inspiration from “saturation” (the song that soh used) but while i was writing i also couldn’t stop thinking about “something to hold onto” from the “between the lines” musical and long story short i’m crying over this

Warnings: mentions of major character death, descriptions of violence (basically what had happened to tugger), unhealthy coping mechanisms (mistoffelees isolating/punishing himself), overall a lot of grief

Mistoffelees stayed in his den for weeks after Tugger’s death.

He spoke to no one, not even his sister.

The only reason he ate was because he knew how much Tugger would hate seeing him waste away, but even then, he only ate the bare minimum to keep himself alive.

Munkustrap, Victoria, and Old Deuteronomy were the only cats who came into Mistoffelees’ den, after every other cat had found themselves unable to enter due to the magic surrounding it.

Munkustrap would sit in the silence with Mistoffelees, a strong, calm presence. He was the only cat who truly understood Mistoffelees’ grief, seeing as he had been there as well when Tugger died.

Victoria held her brother during her visits, wrapping her arms around him and protecting him from the world.

Old Deuteronomy was the only cat Mistoffelees would cry in front of, clinging to the old tom as violent sobs ripped through his body. Deuteronomy cried with him, cradling the younger cat gently, whispering gentle reassurances that Tugger’s death wasn’t his fault, that he had done everything he could.

Mistoffelees wasn’t so sure about that.

Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Tugger’s bloody, broken body in front of him, fur mangled and matted.

He saw Old Deuteronomy collapsing to the ground when he saw Tugger’s body.

He saw Munkustrap falling into Demeter’s arms, the golden queen clinging to her mate with tears streaming down her face.

Every time he sat in the silence, he heard Bombalurina’s screams when she saw Mistoffelees and Munkustrap enter the Junkyard with Tugger’s body on their backs.

He heard Plato’s choked sobs at the sight of his brother in all but blood, lifeless and limp.

He heard Jemima’s terrified questions about what was wrong with her beloved uncle.

Despite Deuteronomy’s reassurances, and Tugger’s insistent final words, Mistoffelees blamed himself. He should have been faster, his magic should have healed Tugger.

His isolation was his punishment, his misery his penance for his mistakes.

So he remained in his den, curled on his bed, Tugger’s favorite blanket clutched in his arms as he breathed in the scent of his mate. Occasionally he would move around, a quick cleaning, a tidy-up of the bed, but that was only if one of the three cats he still saw came to visit.

He didn’t deserve for the den to be pristine.

Mistoffelees did manage to leave his den one night.

Like the other magical cats, Mistoffelees’ powers took strength from the moon, and the full moon shining above him in the sky made it feel as though his magic was about to burst out of him.

He sat in the center of the hidden clearing, the spot where he and Tugger had shared a private dance after their mating, and stared down at his paws. He hadn’t used his magic since the day Tugger died, and when he wiggled his fingers briefly, the rainbow sparkles he had once loved so dearly shot out, the pent-up emotions and magic exploding out of Mistoffelees in a wave of grief and pain.

He spread his arms out, magic flaring around him. The only reason the magic did not spread to the rest of the Junkyard was thanks to the barrier Mistoffelees had constructed around the clearing so long ago, when it had served as a secret place for him to practice.

Mistoffelees waved his arms and spun around, kicking out and lashing his tail until he stopped, hunched over with paws on his knees, heaving great, deep breaths, exhaustion settling into his bones.

“Magical.”

The awed whisper had the tom freezing. The voice was one Mistoffelees would recognize even in a sea of screams and cheers. It was the voice that had spent countless hours reassuring him, whispering sweet nothings as they curled together, giggling over thoughts of a future they would never have.

Slowly, Mistoffelees turned around, and he felt everything around him grow silent.

Perched on the old chair, as though nothing had ever changed and Mistoffelees was simply practicing parlor tricks, was Tugger.

Clean fur, not a trace of blood or injuries in sight, and amber eyes glittering with only love and adoration.

Mistoffelees could think of nothing else do to but collapse on the ground, sobbing. His only thought was that he had finally cracked, his weeks of isolation and punishment had caused him to hallucinate. It made sense, he supposed. His greatest punishment would be to see the ghost of the mate he failed to save everywhere around him.

“Sparkles?” Tugger’s voice was now filled with worry, and much closer than before. Mistoffelees buried his face in his paws, shaking his head. He couldn’t bear to look up and see the vision his grief-riddled mind had conjured for him. Firm, warm paws grasped his wrists, and slowly pulled his paws away, but Mistoffelees kept his eyes shut. Those same paws then cupped his face, thumbs stroking the fur beneath his eyes gently, wiping away the tears. “Come on, gorgeous, let me see those beautiful eyes.”

Mistoffelees could never resist it when Tugger spoke to him like that.

Slowly, he opened his eyes, meeting Tugger’s loving gaze. A soft, warm smile spread over the maine coon’s face, and Mistoffelees couldn’t resist throwing himself forward, wrapping his arms around Tugger’s neck with a broken cry.

Tugger’s arms wound around Mistoffelees’ waist, strong and sure, and the two cats clung to each other, faces buried in the other’s fur.

“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” The magical tom gasped out.

Tugger pulled away, a small frown on his face as he looked at his mate. “Sorry for what, Mist?” Mistoffelees’ face dropped, but Tugger placed his paw beneath his chin, gently tilting his face back up towards him. “Mistoffelees, listen to me. What happened to me was not your fault. I would never, ever blame you for what happened. All that blame? That’s on Macavity. He’s the one who killed me.” He leaned forward, resting his forehead against Mistoffelees’ with a deep sigh. “You and Straps brought me home, Misto. You came after me, and I was able to say goodbye to you.”

Mistoffelees shook his head. “I should have done more, Tugs.”

“You couldn’t have done more, Misto.” Tugger replied firmly. “It was my time, and as horrible as it was, you couldn’t do anything to change it.” Mistoffelees let out another sob, and Tugger pulled him back into his arms, hugging him fiercely.

Mistoffelees wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that, the two cats clinging to each other. By the time they pulled apart, he had cried out all his tears, and Tugger was back to smiling, pressing soft kisses all over the magical cat’s face.

Now that he was no longer crying, Mistoffelees could see the soft glow around his mate wasn’t simply due to his own watery eyes.

“This isn’t a hallucination, is it?” He asked softly.

Tugger chuckled, standing and pulling Mistoffelees up with him. “Not at all, my marvelous, magical magician. You did this.”

Mistoffelees’ brow furrowed. “Me?”

“I’m not sure exactly, but all that magic you let out, combined with your grief and love, it brought me here for just a little while.” Tugger said gently. He looked up at the moon above them. “It’s a full moon, as well. Like during the Ball.”

Of course.

Full moons, whether it was the night of the Ball or not, were when the Jellicle magic was strongest, and the veil between the Heaviside Layer and the living world was lifted, allowing moments of peace between deceased cats and their families.

Mistoffelees let out a soft, disbelieving laugh, tilting forward to rest his head against Tugger’s shoulder as he sent an unspoken whisper of thanks to the Everlasting Cat for granting him a final moment with his mate.

“I’m going to sing at the next Ball.” He admitted quietly.

Tugger’s arm wrapped around his shoulder, tight and comforting. “I had a feeling you would.” He leaned over, nuzzling the top of Mistoffelees head lovingly. He then stepped back, away from Mistoffelees, and held out a paw with a bright smile. “One last dance?”

Mistoffelees felt bittersweet tears fill his eyes. Their last dance in their clearing, the spot where their relationship had started. He took a steadying breath, and waved his paws.

Soft music filled the clearing, just like it did on the night so long ago, when they had snuck away as new mates, giggling and holding paws. Now, he reached out, tangling his fingers with the ghost of his mate’s, and Tugger gave him a sad little smile, pulling him closer.

The maine coon slipped an arm around his waist, and pressed a kiss to the spot just below Mistoffelees’ ear, where he knew the magical cat was ticklish. Mistoffelees laughed, something he had not done in ages, and his grip on Tugger’s paw tightened. He felt Tugger smile, and he felt himself pulled into a slow, gentle dance, Tugger never letting go of his paw.

Mistoffelees’ smile faded into something quieter, something more secretive, and he burrowed into Tugger’s mane, breathing deeply.

As Tugger’s arms tightened around him, their dancing turning into more of a gentle sway, Mistoffelees found himself with a single thought.

“What a precious love it’s been.”

#cats the musical #rum tum tugger #mr mistoffelees #tuggoffelees #liv’s writing corner #now if y’all excuse me I’m going to go sob #actual tears in my eyes as I’m writing this #munkustrap #victoria #old deuteronomy

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perceabeth · 2 years

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scrunchie

this is for @siminiiedoodles who is my all time fave and a true G and i love her very very very much and not to impose my views on u but i think u would love her a lot as well!! also please check out her art she invented annabeth's scrunchie it's the cutest thing in the universe anyway this is not very good in that i have not re-read it and it was just meant to be a quick lil drabble but i hope u read it and/or like it love u bye

2.9k words. Percabeth.

Annabeth was nine when Silena Beauregard dyed her hair for the first time.

“I think you really suit blonde hair, you know.” She hummed as she ran her fingers through Annabeth’s scalp. The water was cold enough that it sent a shiver down her spine. Annabeth tilted her head up.

“Are you going to straighten it when you’re done?” She asked. Silena raised her eyebrow at her and pressed her lips into an amused smile. She was twelve years old– to Annabeth, she’d acquired a lifetime of wisdom over her in the three years between them.

“Do you want me to straighten it when I’m done?” Silena asked and Annabeth shrugged her shoulders.

“Your hair’s straight.”

“My hair isn’t blonde.” Silena told her. “So I can think of two things about us that don’t match up.”

Annabeth considered it. “You’re right. How long will I stay blonde?”

“As long as you want.” Silena promised. “I can dye it back to its natural colour if you get bored.”

“Okay, good.” Annabeth nodded her head, leaving just enough space for the faucet to spout water down the back of her t-shirt. She squirmed and Silena laughed.

“Stop moving so much.” Silena whined. “How do you want me to do it up?”

“I like my braids.” Annabeth said. She loved her hair, really, she did– but it was a lot easier to deal with when she didn’t have to spend her time combing and moussing. She was a busy girl.

“You know what? I liked your braid too.” Silena helped her out of the sink and sat her down on the edge of the bed as she got to work on her hair.

“I want to see what it looks like.” Annabeth whined and Silena smacked her on the shoulder.

“Be patient.” She said. “I’m going to do your braids and then you can see.”

It was easy to talk to Silena. Not that Annabeth particularly had much going on in her life, but she liked to imagine that if she did, Silena would be the girl she went to. Mostly Camp was kind of boring. All the older kids would practice and spar and play Capture the Flag and Annabeth, still too young to be there, was not invited. She told Silena as much.

“It’s only another two years.” Silena said, pulling a little too harshly on her hair. Annabeth yelped but Silena barely paid her any attention. “Chiron said he’d let you start training when you turned eleven, right?”

“At this rate I’m never going to turn eleven.” Annabeth grumbled.

“You know what I can’t wait to watch you do? Archery.”

“Why?”

“I just know you’re going to be terrible at it.”

“You’re supposed to be my friend.”

“Well.” Silena said. “I’m not charging you for this am I?”

“Only because you know I don’t have any money!”

Silena found that hilarious. She let go of Annabeth’s hair and burst out laughing. Maybe it was the warm glow of a lazy Sunday afternoon that made everything so much funnier. Maybe it was basking in Silena’s friendship. Either way, Annabeth found herself joining in. First a giggle, then something a little bit louder. It wasn’t even a particularly clever joke– but the two of them laughed until their bellies hurt and they had tears streaming down their faces, and Annabeth couldn’t remember a time she’d been happier.

“Stop distracting me.” Silena struggled back up to her knees and went back to work on her hair. “I’m trying to make you pretty.”

“Do you think I’m ugly without your help?”

“You’re the most beautiful girl in the world.” Silena leaned her entire weight on her back, sending them both toppling off the bed and onto the floor. Annabeth struggled under her weight.

“Get off me!” She moaned. “Ugh. I can’t wait for someone half decent to come into camp. I swear I’m never speaking to you again when I make a better friend.”

“You couldn’t find a better friend if you tried.” Silena said, sitting up straighter. She studied Annabeth for a moment and cocked her head to the side. “You know what you’re missing?”

Without waiting for a response, she crawled over to her chest of drawers, yanking out a box of scrunchies. She sorted through the millions of them until she finally found one she liked, holding it up with a certain gusto and a brilliant smile. Annabeth waited patiently as she tied her braids up in a high ponytail for her.

“Okay.” Silena said. “I think you can look at yourself now.”

Annabeth pulled herself off the floor and padded up to Silena’s mirror. For a moment, she couldn’t recognise the girl looking back at her. Her hair was dyed a golden blonde that looked slightly darker at the roots, pulled into long, pretty braids. Silena had even weaved in two beads in one of them to give her a little colour. In all her long nine years of life, Annabeth had never considered dying her hair, but looking at her reflection now, she felt a lot more at home in her body. Silena was right. Blonde hair did suit her.

She reached her hand up to play with the blue scrunchie that stuck out at the top of her head, just to see if her reflection would follow; just to see if that really was her.

“I love it.” The girl in the mirror mouthed. “Silena, I… I love it.”

“I thought you would.” She could hear the smugness in her friend’s voice. “Keep the scrunchie. I think it looks cute on you.”

“Why do you keep playing with that thing?”

Percy’s voice cut through her thoughts so suddenly that Annabeth jumped. Her boyfriend held his hands up in surrender, sliding into the seat beside her and giving her a quick kiss. She frowned at him.

“Playing with what?”

“That hair tie.” Percy nodded to the worn out blue scrunchie in her hand.

She hadn’t even realised she was fiddling with it. Over the last five years, the scrunchie had been through hell. She’d replaced the elastic more times than she could count and what had once been a deep, rich colour had now turned into a blue so pale it looked nearly white. But Silena was gone now– the image of her melting face still etched into the forefront of Annabeth’s mind– and it felt like betrayal to lose the stupid thing.

“Oh.” She dropped it sheepishly onto the table “It’s a scrunchie, actually.”

“Is it the same one you wore on our first quest together?”

“What?” Annabeth frowned. “Percy, how could you possibly remember what I wore on our first quest together? You can’t even remember what you ate for lunch this afternoon.”

“I don’t know.” Percy shrugged. “I remember seeing you have it on and thinking it was cute. Is that a crime?”

“At twelve?” Annabeth laughed, shoving him lightly. “You thought I was cute. God, Jackson. You’re such a sap.”

“What can I say?” Percy shrugged, taking her hand in his and pressing his lips to her knuckles. “I’m romantic.”

“I am pretty cute, aren’t I?” Annabeth loved the way he beamed at her. Percy threw his arm over her shoulders and plastered a sloppy, wet kiss to her cheek.

“Yeah. You are.” He knocked his head lightly against hers. “Now. Don’t dodge the question. What are you worrying about?”

“I’m not worrying about anything.” Annabeth lied.

After eight long months of what felt like having to live without her lungs, she had been given her first breath of life and she was terrified of ruining it again. She picked up the scrunchie, absently stretching it between her fingers and then slipping it onto her wrist. Percy was here, she told her racing pulse. He was right here, his t-shirt brushing against her bare skin and his real laugh echoing in her ear. Telling him about her talk with her mother wouldn’t make him magically vanish, she knew– but the words still failed her.

“Yes, you are.” Percy nodded to her fingers. “You’re wearing that thing out.”

I’m afraid the world is ending again, Annabeth wanted to say. I’m afraid that the world is ending and I don’t even really care so long as you’re by my side. I’m scared, I’m exhausted, I’m lonely, I’m desperate.

Whatever she’d have decided to say in response was cut short by Leo padding sheepishly into the kitchen. He didn’t dare look at them, but Annabeth could feel Percy’s entire body radiating rage. She slipped her hand into his, but it did little to calm him down. As far as he was concerned, Leo had attacked a place he lived in. A place he’d fallen in love with. A place without her.

It wasn’t Leo’s fault. She couldn’t explain it to Percy, but she knew it wasn’t. Annabeth had worked with him for hours on end over weeks to build this ship, and in that time, she liked to think she’d learned him quite intimately over that time. There was no way at all that the Leo she knew would ever try to blow up a city.

Still, it was hard to get a read on Percy. He’d always been territorial about his friends; his family and his home. Home. The word sent an involuntary shudder down her spine. Percy was so excited to show her New Rome, just as he was furious about anybody trying to hurt it. Was this the new him, Annabeth wondered. Was this his new home? When they finished their quest, would he want to come back to Camp Half-Blood with her or had his vision of the future changed?

“You’re doing it again.” Percy drew her out of her thoughts. His jaw was set, but his gaze on her was tender. “Playing with that stupid thing.”

“It’s a scrunchie.” Annabeth repeated lamely, at a total loss for words.

“Well.” There was no way to tell if Percy knew what she was thinking or was simply in tune with her. A familiar, small smile grew on his lips and a warmth spread through her chest. Camp Jupiter, New Rome, Athena’s quest– all of it fell away when she met his gaze. This was her Percy– her best friend, her most annoying sidekick, her favourite leader. Gently, Percy pulled the scrunchie off her wrist, stood up and, without a word, gathered her hair and tied it into a ponytail at the top of her head. “It stresses me out to watch you play with it.”

Annabeth relaxed into her chair for the first time since she’d discovered Percy’s bed empty eight months ago. Her boyfriend leaned over her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head and her eyes fluttered closed. She took a deep breath, letting herself exist in the moment– with Percy’s fingers in her hair and his heartbeat steady by her ear, it was the happiest she’d ever been.

“Besides,” Percy whispered. “I think it looks really cute on you.”

The easiest thing Annabeth ever had to decide to do was marrying her best friend. Of course, that meant the world made it next to impossible to actually do it.

“Today?” Sally cried on the other end of the phone. “You’re getting married today?”

“Well…” Annabeth trailed off, looking helplessly at Percy.

“Yeah, Ma.” He called into his phone. “Do you think you and Paul could meet us at the courthouse?”

“What are you wearing?” Sally demanded. “You kids are horrible. Why didn’t you give me any warning? Paul! Have you got a suit? Percy and Annabeth are getting married!”

“I’m wearing a pair of shorts.” Percy looked down at his clothes and then at Annabeth. “Annabeth’s in a dress.”

“What colour?” Sally asked and Annabeth let out a laugh.

“Black.”

“You aren’t wearing black to your wedding.” Sally said. “And my only son is not getting married in shorts.”

“It’s not a big deal, Sally. We’ve been trying to go over the details for months. Between the venue and the guestlist and the catering– it’s so much easier to just elope.”

“And cheaper.” Percy added.

Annabeth looked out of the window as they zipped through the city. She could point at least six hotels they’d considered being married in– but one was too expensive and the other had banned Clarisse for life after an incident six years ago and according to Piper, the third one had a bad aura. Wedding planning was the most painful experience of her life, and personally, she felt like it was all a little much, really, because she was tired of waiting to marry Percy.

It had been kind of an impromptu idea– she was watching him dice onions this morning and she’d suggested it, a little bit as a joke. Hey. What if we got married today? Percy had put the knife down suddenly, looked up at her with a wide grin and in retrospect, she should have known he’d go along with just about any of her plans.

“I’m bringing you both a change of clothes.” Sally’s voice crackled through the speakers. “And we’re going to go to a nice dinner tonight. This isn’t a shotgun wedding. We’re going to respect it.”

“Oh my gods, Mom.” Percy laughed. “Fine. Just– be there, okay? If I have to wait a minute longer to be married, I think I might actually kill someone.”

And that was how Annabeth found herself in the smelly, stuffy toilets in the courtroom, paranoid of accidentally touching something while her soon to be mother-in-law fussed over her dress. Sally had been nice enough to pick up a short, white dress for her– for the photos, she’d said. Wear it so I have something to show my friends.

“There we go.” Sally said from behind her. “The dress is something new. And here you go.”

She reached up, pulling off the pair of delicate pearl drops that hung in her ears and handed them to her. Annabeth stared at them, so pure and pretty in her palms.

“Sally, I can’t–”

“It's something borrowed.” Sally insisted, closing Annabeth’s fingers around them. “I’ll give them to you if you’d like them, but please don’t fight me on this. It’s tradition. You have to have all four.”

Wordlessly, Annabeth put her earrings on. She caught her reflection. Whether Sally had planned it or not– the earrings matched perfectly with her dress. Annabeth hadn’t really spent much time wondering what she’d look like as a bride, but sure enough– a beautiful bride was looking back at her from the mirror.

“My shoes.” Annabeth looked down at her worn out Filas. She might have been able to pass it off as an outfit with just the dress, but the pearls made them look even more out of place with the rest of her. “They’re old.”

“They’re hideous.” Sally told her, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “But they’ll do. Have you got anything blue? I might have a barrette in here somewhere.”

She started to rifle through her handbag, but Annabeth’s eyes caught on something in her reflection. For so many years, she’d worn it every day– in her hair or around her wrist– until it had felt like a part of her. She wouldn’t even have realised she had it on– but by some stroke of luck, her eyes caught on it.

“I’ve got it.” She said, holding her hand up for Sally to see. “Something blue.”

Sally frowned. “Sweetheart, that is a white scrunchie.”

“No.” Annabeth shook her head. It was so worn, the stitches were starting to come out. Maybe she’d dye it back to blue when she had the time. “It’s blue. It’s my something blue.”

Sally looked pained, like she really did want to put up a fight, but Annabeth blinked up at her with large doe eyes and she softened.

“You’re going to make my life very difficult, aren’t you?”

“Don’t I already?” Annabeth grinned and Sally rolled her eyes. She took Annabeth’s hand gently in both of hers and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.

“And not a day goes by that I’m not grateful for it.” She said. “I’m so proud of the woman you are. You’re my girl, you understand that? You’re my baby girl and I’m– I’m so excited for you.”

Annabeth felt her eyes well with tears. Unable to look at her any longer, she tore her gaze away from Sally, sniffling softly.

“Thanks.” She managed. Sally looped her arm around her waist and Annabeth let her lead them back to where Percy and Paul were standing, marriage licence in hand. For some reason, her feet suddenly stopped taking her forward. Next to her, Sally frowned. “Are you nervous, baby?”

Annabeth paused, only to catch her breath. This was it, she thought. After all the ups and downs and the lefts and the rights– they’d made it. She was here, with Percy, with Sally and Paul– her family was here. They were here. She plucked at the scrunchie on her wrist. She shook her head.

A small smile crept up on her lips. Heart hammering in her chest, a wave of peace washed over her. She tied her braids into a ponytail with her scrunchie and beamed at Percy. She was going to step into the happiest phase of her life. How could she be nervous?

“Not at all.” She said. “Not even a little.”

#annie are u ok #siminie doodles

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pierswife · 15 days

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MORE I'M ALIVE UPDATES:

Finally tuned my bow and a bunch of my new equipment is coming in today and tomorrow so I can FINALLY get back to target practice

Speaking of tuning my bow, I said fuck it and learned how to do it myself. It's not the most accurate but that's okay :> it works! The cam timing is a liiiittle off but not by much and I should be able to fix that on my own

Being bad and finger shooting instead of tying a d-loop on my bow and using the release my mom got me--

Getting confident in my drawing again post elbow injury so I'm going to TRY and do more requests, no guarantees I'm gonna get to them though I'm not gonna lie. I've been struggling a little mentally so when I do draw lately it's been for myself. I have one halfway done and I'm going to finish that one up and the rest will most likely be put on the back burner. Maybe they can be fo future art streams?

anywhore yeah I'm hoping being able to do my outdoor hobby/sport will help me get out of my funk <3

#data log: personal

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hollowsart · 4 months

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ok here's that Spider-Man AU I came up with:

University AU, but with a twist + the origin of the AU itself (aka, what inspired it, at the very bottom of the post)

Peter is the freshman newbie and they're not actually trying to cause trouble, they're just really enthusiastic and enjoying life to its fullest before they graduate at the tops of their classes and as the heads of their fields.

shirtless frat bro energy Mysterio who will probably go hand to hand with Spider-Man despite not having super powers himself. wrap his arm around Peter and give him actually good solid advice while Peter is trying not to gag over Beck's hairy pits.

what if they want Peter to join their fraternity family and they're genuinely good people, but they keep giving Peter a friendly fight on the university's school grounds every breakfast, lunch, and dinner. the way he gets in is if he defeats all of them.

he's done that and they consider him an honorary member even tho he keeps rejecting them and just wanting to stick to his small clique.

but over time he can't deny he does enjoy their eccentric personalities and their energetic personalities are contagious. He does go to them to get help with his homework tho for his various classes so he can try to impress his crush(es)

I think Otto would secretly enjoy theater and watch Beck do his performances and even aid him in practice.

everyone would cheer on and praise Otto for his crazed inventions and even the mad creation of the Actuators

Max being a party guy.. his hair is like.. frosted tips and spiked up with his own static electricity

I think Max would probably have given himself electric powers when he was younger cuz of a crazy stupid stunt he pulled that backfired, BUT HE SURVIVED!!

he uses the electrical abilities as his little.. party trick. always does something with it to try and impress the ladies lol he isn't allowed in the pools tho. obvious reasons.

he ended a party early once and learned the hard way why he shouldn't get into the water when others are present. (no one died thankfully!)

Otto has the patience of a SAINT when it comes to helping out Rhino with his homework so he can join them when they graduate. he cares for his homeboys, wants to see them succeed.

Mysterio is a jack of all trades. he is an art student to the bone, but he tries to party and wrestle and be more like a jock than he actually is. probably accidentally huffed some paint and drank the paint water once while delusional from pulling an all-nighter to finish his project/assignment on time.

Chameleon & Kraven are transfer students from Russia and they're both unbelievably pompous and eccentric.

chameleon being the guy you go to if you want the highest quality fake IDs. he makes them himself

Flint is also an art student, but he does those pottery things. he does it on the side and tries to keep up with the sports teams of the university instead, trying to keep up a tougher facade, but he just really likes making pottery and sculptures. finds them relaxing and will stay late to make them. people think he stayed up partying even tho they don't remember seeing him at any parties on campus. they just make the assumption and he always plays along. he submits his works to the school under a false name that the school is aware of and have agreed to in order to keep his privacy.

Rhino keeps the secret, having discovered him one night. stumbling upon Flint spinning some clay and while being a bit tipsy, he just sits and watches. completely transfixed by the actions and effort.

They become the BEST of friends.

and Rhino, being much bigger than the others, will gladly protect and back up Flint

Screwball brought her entire gaming and live-streaming setup to the dorm room. brings her phone to the lectures and records herself or the professors/teachers.

she's def part of the news section and records all the fights Peter has with the Sinister Six fraternity

Kingpin is the one in charge of it. he owns the university. the head professor or whatever heck they're called.

Norman being the 2nd in command of the university. Harry does NOT get special treatment from his dad. but Norman DOES see promise in Peter and tries to bribe and coax him with free good grades/marks and more. Peter keeps denying the old man.

man gives him the creeps and he'd rather earn his good rewards with his hard work. it's more satisfying that way.

plus, he has the whole sinister six fraternity helping him out with all sorts of things. so it's fiiiinnee. he doesn't need Norman's help.

I firmly believe that by the end of the story, when everyone is graduating, Peter is definitely good friends with the Sinister Six and is really gonna miss them once the graduation ceremony is over.

all of them are gonna miss him too tbh

Also, here's the origin of this AU: