#i later came back to it and was like..wow. ray i didn't know it was that bad in your brain

[trlvsn]

everyone is telling me i'm funny because they don't know about the chess joke in my notes app i wrote genuinely giggling

[cixrosie]

Kiss you Forever

Prompt: “I can kiss you forever,” Character B murmurs. “Yeah?” Character A says, laughing a little, only to stop when Character B leans in and presses a kiss against their cheek. “Yeah,” Character B says, “Yeah, I can. You think I’m lying?” with Kirby Dach

Seeing Kirby get pushed in to Blackhawks bench made you audibly gasp and you knew from the way he fell into it and how when he got up and wasn't putting weight on his right leg it was bad. You also knew it had to be bad with the way Arber, Juraj and Cole looked up at you briefly with saddened faces it was bad.

Usually when Kirby took a bad hit or whenever anything happened and he needed medical attention you immediately followed him to the medical room ,but you were kinda in shock so you didn't move and just waited until someone came and got you or Kirby sent you a text.

The other wags were worried about you, you completely zoned out on the replay they showed. " hey y/n why don't you go and see him" one of them said " I'll just wait until he needs me" you responded with .

Finally you had enough waiting and decided to go and see Kirby, just as you started gathering your belonging you heard the announcer confirm that Kirby wouldn't be returning to the game and you moved faster. The other wags sent you sad smiles.

You arrived to the medical room the door was closed but you immediately heard Kirby moaning in pain on the other side and felt bad for him. Should you have came down sooner to see him. Did he want to see you as he is in the most excruciating pain he's been in. So many thoughts ran through your head.

As you started to zone out again the doors open and you went in to finally see Kirby and you run to him carefully not to hit his leg or put too much force on him while he's in pain.

" Kirb are you ok" you asked " yea baby im ok " he started to say he then looked at his right legs and said " I mean as ok as I can considering" as he motioned towards his leg. " so what they say about your leg ?" " I don't know yet I have to go to the Emergency Room to get X-Rays to see exactly what's wrong , all I know is it hurts like a fucking bitch" he says trying to joke but you can tell he's doing it for show and for your sake .

You see one of the trainers bring Kirby his stuff and say " the cars ready for you man im ready when you are" "ok here I come " Kirby responds . " I gotta go baby we're going to the ER now". " Oh do you want me to-" " No its ok I'll meet you at home Cole will drive me" Kirby says cutting me off. It makes me kind of upset and sad but I shrug it off and remember he's in pain so he probably just wants to be alone and figure out what's going on with his leg and the future of this season and career.

"Ok I love you " I say kissing him with just the right amount of passion that says " im worried about you and I know you're scared but im here" but not so much that it makes the staff around us uncomfortable. " I love you too so much " he responds before handing me his car keys to drive back to our apartment since he drove us to the stadium. " text me updates when you can please" " I will" he responds.

When I got home I sat my things down and sat on the couch for at least an hour and half staring at my phone . Then I got up and distracted myself with a hot shower and ordered from Kirbys favorite pizza place so he can have it when he eventually gets home and if he's hungry.

It's about 4 hours later when I get a text from Kirby saying him and Cole were on the way back home. I was in our living room watching reruns of SpongeBob to get my mind off how long it was taking for any kind of updates . Eventually I hear our garage door open and close and smile and think " finally he's home" . I greet Kirby and Cole at the garage door entrance to our apartment , Kirby is leaning all his weight onto Cole which is a funny sign considering the height difference.

"Wow Cole that's some real hockey strength you've got there" you said as you laughed. "Bullshit" Kirby screamed , you Cole laughed . " Bullshit you say as im holding you up I'll toss you on the ground right here and leave your ass there" You and Cole laughed even harder as Cole helped Kirby to the kitchen . "Are you hungry babe", "starving" Kirby replied. " well lucky for you I ordered your favorite pizza". " Cole you're welcomed to some as well" "Thanks y/n but im good "

Thirty minutes after Cole left and you and Kirby finished eating you guys made your way upstairs to your room with you helping Kirby up the stairs . You also helped him shower and get changed for bed before getting yourself ready for bed as well.

As you turn off all the lights in the bedroom the only light coming from the moon you pull the blankets back on your side and climb in next to Kirby who is looking all snuggly and cuddly .

"Hi" he says with a lovesick look on his face as he looks at you . "Hi you" you respond returning the same look . " I know you don't want to talk about anything right now but just know im here whenever you're ready" .

Kirby just leans in and kisses you with so much passion that you feel his love through the kiss. " I can kiss you forever" he says " Yeah?" you say laughing a little only stopping when Kirby leans in and presses a kiss against your cheek. " Yeah I can . You think im lying " he says.

" I don't know I think I need more evidence " you say . " HA HA HA" he responds while smirking then his face turns serious . " Thank you so much for today baby" " Kirbs I didn't really do anything " " Probably to you but seeing you hold it together kept me sane while figuring things out , and I know it couldn't have been easy seeing me like that so thank you baby I love you so much" " I love you too Kirbs" you say as you kiss him one last time , before he kisses your head as you both fall asleep from the crazy turn of events.

Note: UMMM HII this is my first nhl fic please let me know what you think and request if you want ok bye <3

im tagging some ppl who ive read phenomenal fics and AUs from and mutuals and just overall great ppl. feedback is appreciated but don't feel like you have to ok bye fr this time <3

@kniesylenny @yankstrash @hischierhaze @heavenlyhischier @sweetestdesire @thatintrovertedwriter @starry-hughes @starsandhughes @drewsbuzzcut @bedsyandco @norrisjosh @theywantedplayer @sc0tters @bitchinbarzal @ladylooch @babydollmarauders @nicohischierz @nicohersheys @sunkissed-zegras @uluvjay

[itwasthereaminuteago]

|| Black eyed & Blue ||

Chapter 1 - Skull & Crossed Wires

Frank Castle x Female Reader/OC

Notes: I'm posting this first short chapter in my Frank Castle and female OC/reader mini series in the hope that it will spur me on to finish it! I have some other chapters written already just need to get them where I want them and write some more. 😊

Warnings: kidnapping, blood, biting, general vampire themes, fluff & smut, frank being protective, Matt makes an appearance.

Please comment and let me know what you enjoy or would like to see as the story develops and I'll see what I can do!

Frank managed to limp his van to the nearest garage before it crapped out entirely. He had cleared it out after his latest 'road trip' back at the safe house. It wouldn't do any good if the mechanics found any of his arsenal…

He left them with the keys and said he'd check back in a couple of days. Leaving a cell number was out of the question too, he still wasn't quite comfortable leaving much of a trace even if he was now 'Pete'.

He walked up to the shop office two days later, hopeful he could throw down a few hundred and get going. A fraught looking gangly guy was having an in-depth discussion on the phone as he entered. He passively waved Frank in the direction of the garage floor, pulling the phone away from his mouth and yelling towards the doorway.

"Blue! Customer!"

Frank gave him a semi-polite nod and headed through the side door where his van was jacked up, a pair of dark blue Converse sticking out from underneath.

"Uh, right. Guess it ain't ready yet." Frank ventured.

"No shit Sherlock." A voice came from below.

"Can see why you got Shaggy on the front desk there, customer service ain't your thing huh?"

The feet peddled their way out from under the van to reveal a woman with her hair tied up out of her face with a blue bandana. She had an oil-smudged face, and chipped sky blue nail polish on her fingers. Her mouth dropped open as she pushed herself up and took in the figure of Frank standing over her.

"Oh fuck- I mean, shit! Damn! Fuck!" She winced. "I'm really sorry mister… thought you were Ray winding me up again. Sorry, I'm trying not to cuss as much but, um…"

Frank couldn't help the sly smile from spreading across his lips.

"Think you're doin' well enough. Don't you worry about it. Maybe uh, you can gimme an idea when she'll be ready?"

She got to her feet, wiping her oily hands on her dirty coveralls, which were also blue.

"Well, that's the thing. I'm still waiting for a part to come. I woulda called you to let you know but, uh, you didn't leave a number so…

"Yeah, don't have a phone." He scratched at the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Kinda hate all that tech shit y'know."

"Wow. Well, okay old man, I'm not sure exactly when it'll arrive, our supplier is vague at the best of times, I really wanna find someone better but…"

Frank couldn't help grumbling a little. He was keen to get back on the road, after all, biker gang ass wasn't gonna kick itself. "Then I guess 'i'll just keep comin' back every day till she's ready."

Blue smiled politely. "Once it's here I'll get it fixed as fast as I can but if you refuse to have a phone like us regular people I guess that's just what you'll have to do. See you tomorrow then?"

Frank nodded. "Yeah. See ya tomorrow."

The next day Frank dropped by the garage late afternoon, he'd had a particularly rough night chasing down some dregs of the Dogs of War that refused to go down easily.

"Jeez, what the heck happened to you?" Blue asked, looking up and seeing the dark bruises around his eyes as she heard him come in. "I mean, if you don't mind me asking? Those are some shiners."

"Walked into the side of the door when I got up during the night to piss. Bein' how I'm an 'old man' an all," Frank deadpanned back.

"No shit. You gotta be more careful, looks a bit like someone belted you right in the kisser!"

Frank shrugs.

"To be honest I wouldn't be too surprised if they had. Don't take this the wrong way but you've kinda got one of those punchable looking faces, mister..?"

"It's uh, Pete." Frank replies with a slight chuckle, only slightly offended. "And is that so?"

She holds out her oily hand for him to shake. "Hi Mister Pete. They call me Blue. And yeah, I mean you're real good looking and all but-" she stopped as Frank shook his head and laughed.

"Jeez, I really gotta stop running my mouth around strangers! I am so sorry…"

Frank holds up both hands giving her a smile, it had been a while since he had laughed as much. "Hey, no worries. Punchable and good lookin'? I'll take it. So, Blue, huh? No need for me to ask why I guess. "

She returns the smile, scuffing the toe of her shoe into the ground shyly. "I just like the colour."

Frank clears his throat. "So uh, there any news on that part yet?"

"Oh! Yeah, um it might be tomorrow but…"

"Might not?" Frank finishes with a slightly tense shrug.

"Yeah, really sorry about this, Pete. I'd even go as far as to offer you a free coffee in apology but our machine's bust, and even if it was working it tastes crap anyway."

"Don't worry about it. Alright well, guess I'll seeya tomorrow again."

Blue gave him a little wave. "Yeah, seeya tomorrow Old Man, hope I've got some good news for you then."

Frank just shakes his head, smiling to himself as he leaves the garage and sets off back home.

The next day, when Frank turns up, Blue's face is bright with the biggest smile, and it only got brighter as she saw what 'Pete' had in his hands.

"Hey!" She greets him animatedly and it makes him feel a little warmer inside.

Frank nods then hands her one of the carryout cups of coffee he has. "Hey, didn't know how you take it but I got some sugar and milk here too if you want, seeing as your machine is broken an all."

Blue beams, her fingers brushing briefly over his as she accepts it. "Oh, thank you so much! And no, that's great, straight up is perfect, so kind of you, thanks Pete!"

Frank shrugs. "S'nothin'."

She takes a hearty sip and then remembers what she was about to say. "Good news by the way, the part arrived this morning! I'm about to get on it right now, shouldn't take too long if you don't mind waiting?"

Frank nods, finding a space to sit nearby. "Yeah, sure, if you don't mind me watching you work."

She disappears under the van. "Actually, gives me the chance to ask what the hell you've been putting this poor van through, you gotta take more care of her if you don't want to run her into the ground."

Frank huffed. "Yeah, just been real busy, y'know, and my work takes me all kinds of places, some uh, rough terrain."

"What kind of business are you in Pete?"

He scratches the stubble under his chin. "Uh, removals, pest control, odd jobs. That kinda stuff."

"A Pete of all trades?" Blue suggests, and Frank has to laugh.

"Yeah," again he feels the rare smile stretch his face as he strokes his stubbled jaw. "Somethin' like that."

It wasn't till later, when he was on the road again rummaging through the glovebox for the map when his hand landed on the tin of sweets. He took them out, curious seeing the note stuck to the lid.

'Something to sweeten you up, old man :)

-Blue'

He chuckles to himself as he opens the tin and takes a candy.

[dreamteez-story]

Fate Chapter 2 - Feeling Lost

♫ Ray’s Playlist: “Falling in Reverse - I Don’t Mind” 

♫ Gwyn’s Playlist: “Ateez - Turbulence”

~★~ Ray ~★~

Kai's words were pure and Ray knew, he didn´t want to upset her. But before she realized it, the upcoming anger in her stomach answered for her. 

"She is nothing, and not lovely at all." she snorted as she laid her eyes on the picture in her wallet. The woman smiled slightly with a also smiling baby on her arm. She noticed how Kai winced at her rude answer but tried to stay friendly, as always. 

"Sorry, I just thought she's maybe important to you.", he said softly. It didn't matter what he said now at this point. Ray couldn't cover her feelings when it came to this Topic. 

"No, she isn't. She never was and she never will be," her voice shook with anger and the burning in her chest was something she hadn't felt in a long time. "She just left, and now she's nothing more than a fading memory burning in my head," she tried to calm herself down a little, but her jaw clenched as she looked at the photo. A pressure spread through her chest and it was as if she couldn't breathe.

"Oh..." was all Kai said, but he didn't want to stop the conversation at this point. "Maybe she had reasons you could understand if you met her again," he suggested, smiling slightly at Ray. But instead of feeling better, she looked at him with indignation. She felt her hands begin to shake and the pounding of her heart grew louder. She tried to cover up her body's reaction and laughed sarcastically instead. 

"Wow, I don't know who gave you the right to stick your nose into my family affairs, but I'm telling you, that day will never come!" she snapped angrily at Kai as she lifted herself from her seat. "That woman has brought me nothing but pain when she should have been there for me, and I only carry this picture with me to remind me that I'll never need her in my life again!" Ray couldn't keep her emotions under control, but it was too late now, and the words had already left her mouth when she noticed the shocked expressions on Kai and Gwyn's faces. It was fight or flight for her. But she couldn't withstand the feeling inside her any longer or she would have burst into tears on the spot. 

She dug a few bills out of her wallet, tossed them on the table, and reached for her leather jacket hanging on the back of the chair. Without another word, she hurried out of the café, leaving her friend behind.

~★~ Gwyn ~★~

That was not the way she thought the day would go. Starting the day with university lectures, visiting the cafe afterward, and cooking together in the evening, was their plan. This now blew up right in front of her and she couldn’t have done anything different to change the outcome. It was the one thing, that would never be easier for her closest friend. A topic she never dared to speak of. Gwyn needed a moment to process what just had happened. She took deep breaths and tried to calm down her racing heartbeat. Even tho the topic itself never hurt her, she knew it was one of the hardest things to remember in Ray’s life. So that's why her smile was gone. She took notice of Kai’s reaction to all of this a bit later than, maybe even a little too late. She was sure he meant well, but even tho she tried to stop him with little hand gestures, he seemed like he honestly just wanted to know more about that woman. Maybe she reminded him of someone? Or did he try to bond with Ray? This situation was a bit too much for her now, her head became a fuzzy chaotic mess, but she needed to say something to comfort Kai, who looked like he had seen a ghost, pale and a bit scared. “It’s not you. It's just…she never wants to talk about that. Not to anyone, okay? Don’t let this bring you down today.” she mumbled and tried to smile. It that was not worth it. She could not pretend she was okay at all. Not after the last weeks and now knowing her best friend went through one of her worst memories again.

“I just…I thought I knew that woman.” His voice was low. He felt bad, something she hated to see, but couldn’t change that right now. It was like she thought: he was curious because she seemed familiar. Still, he opened a chapter of Ray’s past, that should have never been reopened. A painful chapter that maybe only Gwyn knew more about than others. “It’s okay, but you can not know her, believe me. And Ray, she will get through this. Just…don’t mention that woman again, okay?” Kai nodded after her words and it was silent for a bit.

“And how are you?” 

She lowered her head and took a deep breath. “Better…” she stated: “I guess it just needs time, I need more time to…adjust. And I probably should follow her now. We see each other soon, okay?” Gwyn didn’t plan on following her best friend, but Kai would feel even worse when she let slip, that she was so affected from that moment she ran away from this like Ray did. So she tried it that way and stood up. She looked over the table, just to find Ray’s sketchbook still next to her chair. It probably fell out of her bag, so she snatched it and stored it in her backpack. “Get home safe and tell her I’m sorry.” She nodded and waved him goodbye after he took the money from the table and Gwyn left the cafe. But even tho she would have loved to catch the black-haired, she knew Ray had to come back on her own. So she did the only thing she could, without putting pressure on her: She wrote a small message: I’m okay, don’t worry bout that. Take your time. My phone will stay turned on if you need me.

That was everything. Three small sentences, but at least she tried, right? Again, she took a deep breath and went to her car, which was parked near the cafe. She took the long way home, while listening to music because she just didn’t want to go home yet. Not home to this damn lonely, big place she used to call home. So she made a plan for herself since Ray didn’t answer anything: She would just switch into her pajamas and turn on the next episodes from her comfort show. This day was done for her. ~★~ Ray ~★~

It was already dawn and the city lights illuminated the small alleyways. Ray walked past the stores without a precise destination, just to avoid having to go home. She tried to distract herself, to sort out her feelings, but the brief conversation in the café had upset her. She hadn't been this upset for a long time. Why had Kai had to bring up the subject? It was just a stupid photo in her wallet and yet it had rocked her whole world. 

Inwardly, she felt sorry for snapping at Kai like that and wondered whether he might have been right. But it was so easy to say, her mother had disappeared without a trace when she was just five years old. She hadn't even left a letter behind. She could expect nothing from her father either. His addiction to alcohol and drugs had only gotten worse since her mother's disappearance and from then on she was his outlet for any aggression on his part. The bruises soon didn't bother her anymore, she got used to them and counted the days until she would finally be free, but the internal wounds would never heal completely

She felt her cell phone vibrate in her pocket, took it out, and unlocked the display. A message from Gwyn. Damn...even when she said she was okay, Ray knew how important these planned days were to her. Those ordinary days when they could just spend time together and pretend that what had shattered Gwyn's world into a thousand pieces, had never happened. Without reacting to the message, she switched her phone to silent and put it back in her pocket. She could hardly bear to leave her friend hanging like this, but she wouldn't be good company tonight. 

When it got dark, her feet carried her home as if automatically. The tall building near the University of Busan was mostly inhabited by students, just like Ray. When she arrived at her door, she gave a quick nod to two other students who seemed to be coming home as well and then typed in the door code on the combination lock. A short beep let her know that the door had been unlocked and she pressed down the handle. 

Her apartment was dark, with only the lights of the surrounding houses shining in, until she flicked the switch in the living room. There were still empty pizza boxes on the floor, right next to her clothes from the day before. 

She carelessly threw her bag into the corner and peeled off her leather jacket. Her eyes glanced over the drawings on her desk. At that moment, she realized that she had left her sketchbook in the café. A slightly annoyed sigh escaped her lips, but she had no energy to get upset again. Gwyn would have taken it with her and brought it to university tomorrow, Ray thought to herself.

She flopped down on the old, worn couch, took off her heavy Doc Martens boots, and leaned back. She put her arm over her face and reviewed the day in her mind's eye. She hadn't wanted it to end like this and she was especially sorry for Gwyn.

Disappointed in herself, she got up again and changed her clothes. Like the other clothes before, today's ended up on the floor or the couch. She took a can of her favorite energy drink from the fridge in the improvised kitchen, which consisted of a hanging cupboard with a wild jumble of dishes, a microwave, a kettle, and a mobile hotplate, and sat down at her desk. She put on the big headphones, set a playlist on her cell phone, and started drawing as usual. 

Hours passed and as she looked at her new work, she remembered her conversation with Gwyn from the café. It was indeed strange that they had similar dreams. As if the dreams weren't strange enough on their own, sharing them with her best friend seemed too weird to believe in it.

The deep blue eyes on her paper looked at her and Ray remembered the moment she had first seen them. She hadn't been able to get them out of her mind since. The voice sounded in her head again and she took off the headphones. 

"Who are you?" she asked the drawing, but more herself and still hoped for an answer. She glanced at her watch and her eyebrows raised in shock. Almost two o'clock in the morning and she would have to get up early again. Slowly, tiredness spread through her and she went to her bed at the other end of the room. She switched off the light and let herself fall forward into the pillows. Tomorrow will be a better day...

As Ray slowly dozed off, the voice in her head got louder again. Like last night, it seemed to be calling Ray, but something inside her had a bad feeling about it. 

"Dream on..." she heard whispered and she drifted deeper into sleep. Once again she saw her body in front of her and was paralyzed. Everything seemed unreal and as if wrapped in absorbent cotton. "Dream on..." the voice demanded more insistently and she was drawn to her window. The shadowy figure in front of her took on a human form and reached out for her. She saw those blue eyes again and could have drowned in them. She felt weightless, without worries, without anger, and simply allowed the feeling. "Dream on...", then everything around her went pitch black.

Ray gasped for air and jumped up. Her heart was pounding against her chest and her mouth was dry as dust. Again and again, she had to swallow hard and catch her breath as if she had just completed a marathon. Slowly her body calmed down and her eyes blinked a few times in disbelief. The light was different from what she was used to in her apartment. It was greenish, even parts of blue and purple shimmered around her. Her hands touched the uneven ground beneath her and she looked around. Nothing about her surroundings seemed familiar, and even less seemed like her room, more like a cave. As her gaze wandered from the ground over her hands to her arms, she noticed the unusual clothing on her body. She was wearing fingerless gloves that covered her entire forearm. The tight-fitting pants with high-laced boots up to her knee covered her legs. Over this was a simple black top, but with long ones that crossed in front of her chest and were held around her waist by a tight leather belt. On her shoulders, she noticed a slightly protruding trim over which her hair fell, now a dark shade of green. As her gaze slid over the few patches of bare skin, she noticed that her tattoos were missing. She pulled down her arm sleeves and sure enough. Her skin was as pale as usual but without any trace of black ink. She immediately touched her face and the usual metal jewelry in the middle of her lower lip and septum was missing. Only her long black fingernails remained.  

What was going on here? Her heartbeat quickened again as she stood up to look around. 

With every step she took, she had the feeling that she was entering strange territory where she shouldn't have been. She heard a strange noise and recognized its origin in the middle of an old bony tree. It must have been ancient and Ray remembered her drawing. It was the same tree Gwyn had seen in her dream, but much lighter in color. Crystals entwined around the roots, mushrooms with a luminous glow sprouted from the ground and a light mist wafted over the ground. Inside was a colorful swirl, like a portal. Had she come from there? She stretched out her hand, but a hissing flash prevented her from stepping closer. Something didn't seem to want her to approach the portal. 

So she had no choice but to search the other side of the cave for an exit. She had never seen these kinds of plants and yet she felt as if she had been here before. Completely absorbed in her thoughts, she overlooked a brittle spot in the path. The ground immediately gave way under her feet and she slid down a small slope. "Fuck!" she cursed as the rough stones cut her skin even through her gloves. She picked herself up, snorting, and brushed the dirt off her clothes when she heard an ominous hissing behind her.  

story ©dreamteez_story on wattpad characters and pictures credits to the owners

[pangolinheart]

Now I'm kind of curious, what's the relationship like between Z'rhiki and G'raha?

Haha well this is kind of complicated and probably won't make Rhiki seem very sympathetic but...

**Also disclaimer: I'm not hating on G'raha/the Exarch. I think he's a fantastic character! Rhiki as a character just has Some Opinions about him, which are not reflective of my own lol.**

When Rhiki first met G'raha she liked him! She had just come off of Moenbryda's death and she was excited to make a new friend and take a little time off from saving the world. (Alas, the Crystal Tower also turned into "saving the world.") They got along pretty well and she confided some things about herself in him and tried to listen to him talk about Ancient Allag (she didn't really get the appeal, but he seemed so excited about it so she did her best.)

So when G'raha made the choice to seal himself inside the Crystal Tower, presumably forever, Rhiki was upset about it. She wasn't ready to lose another friend so soon. She didn't really have the frame of reference to understand his decision. She couldn't really wrap her mind around his sense of duty, his preoccupation with destiny, or his desire to carry on the Allagans' legacy. The Allagans had been dead for ages! Who cares what they wanted! To her it seemed like he was turning his back on everything and everyone in his life to fulfill the dreams of a bunch of people who weren't around to appreciate (and whose civilization was still popping up to cause harm to this day.) So she... may have over-reacted a little bit. Before he sealed himself away she told G'raha Tia that she hoped she never saw him again. She didn't mean it, she was just confused and hurting. She regretted it later, of course, but it was too late then. As she grew and matured over the course of her journey she came to realize that, on the off chance she did see him again she would have to apologize to him.

Well....

When Rhiki met the Crystal Exarch she was immediately skeeved out by him. She didn't know what it was, per se, he just gave her the heeby jeebies. He had essentially kidnapped her and turned her friends into ghosts (or whatever - she doesn't really get aetherology.) Sure, he was doing it for the sake of his world so she couldn't exactly hold it against him, but she didn't like that he wanted to be super buddy-buddy immediately after, or that he called her "my friend." She didn't like that he seemed to have put her on this pedestal, even moreso than most people did to the "Warrior of Light," and made her out to be an unerring, unwavering ray of hope for humanity. Most of the other Scions seemed fine with him, so she tried not to make a big deal out of it, but he still gave her the creeps and she endeavored to spend as little time around him as possible.

(After you defeat the first Light Warden the Exarch says somehting along the lines of "When this is all over I will beg your forgiveness." and Rhiki's internal response was essentially "Then beg. :)")

This comment also didn't help...

Things only deteriorated further when she found out he and Urianger had been lying to her about defeating the light wardens corrupting her aether. It wasn't just that she was maybe going to die, or worse. It was that they didn't think she deserved to know. And the only reason she could think of that they wouldn't tell her was that they thought that, had she known, she would have refused to help. Which, to her, seemed like a pretty insulting assumption to make of someone you kept praising as being a paragon of hope and salvation. I think she may have had it out with the Exarch at this point, breaking down and yelling at him for lying to her and having such a low opinion of her. She still went through with the whole thing, of course, because she wasn't nearly petty enough to let everyone on both planets die because the Crystal Exarch was a jackass. But her opinion of him was considerably lower after that point.

(Wow, I sure hope this isn't a thinly veiled allusion to the WoL. It's going to make it very awkward when he finds out she's already in the process of filing a restraining order against him.) (*rhiki voice* Hahaha weird. Well, good luck with that! I should probably go...)

Things probably made... a little more sense when it turned out that the Exarch was actually G'raha Tia, but it certainly didn't feel any better about it. (There was that whole turn where he pretended to be the villain, presumably for the WoL wouldn't feel bad about him dying to save them? I couldn't help but think "Poor guy. Rhiki probably wouldn't have been that torn up if he jettisoned himself into space without the whole heel turn bit.") When the hood fell she kind of got the urge to grab him by the shoulders and be like "You realize this fixation isn't healthy or normal right??? Like you understand that this is weird and unhinged? Look at me, I need to know you understand that." Fortunately or unfortunately, Emet Selch showed up and she soon had other things to worry about. Her almost becoming a sin eater didn't really improve her mood at all. ("Okay. We'll go to the Tempest because I don't want to become a monster and destroy two worlds. And if the Exarch happens to be there we can maybe rescue him. If it's not too out of our way.")

She continued to be less-than-impressed with the Exarch after the fall of Hades. She wasn't completely without sympathy for him and, to an extent, she couldn't really blame him for kidnapping her, lying to her, almost turning her into a monster, etc. He did genuinely think he was doing the right thing, and it may very well have been the only way to save the First. What she could blame him for, though, was doing something she had had her fill of long ago: Deifying her. Mythologizing her. The Exarch had built a person in his mind based 95% on old records and storied and second-or-third-hand accounts of her heroics and 5% on the like 3 weeks they'd spent together several years ago and then become obsessed with that person. And he wanted to project that radiant, perfect person onto her. And she wasn't exactly in the mood to play that role for him. She continued to avoid him whenever possible and really only engaged with him to talk about getting the other Scions back to the first. (She probably would have felt a little bad if he had had to die to achieve this - because she's Rhiki and she feels terrible every time she sees someone die. But only a little. She probably would have gotten over it quicker than some other notable traumatic deaths.)

(There's also the scene at the end where the WoL promises the Exarch that they'll take past-G'raha on their adventures with them. For Rhiki I imagined this went more along the lines of "UGH FINE. But you have to promise you won't be weird about it." (He probably will.))

She didn't LOVE that she had to be the one to go and wake G'raha from the Crystal Tower afterwards, but everyone else seemed to think she should do it and she couldn't justify just leaving him in there because she didn't want to see him. But she also was not thrilled when he joined up with the Scions.

It's not entirely clear in the post-patches (and I haven't played Endwalker) if G'raha has any memories of or knowledge about being the Exarch. I assume he doesn't but I could be wrong. Even if he has no inkling of it, though, Rhiki can't help but think of the Crystal Exarch when she looks at G'raha. She knows how manipulative he's capable of being, and how obsessed he can become with "the hero's story." He still makes her uncomfortable and she doesn't like being around him. Adding to the long list of things that are Not Helpful to their relationship is the fact that everyone else seems to think they should be best friends. Luckily, even if he has no memory of being the Exarch, she has her little temper tantrum from ARR to fall back on as a reason for not wanting to hang out with him. G'raha is one of the only people Z'rhiki enforces the use of the first letter of her name on. She tries not to be outright mean to him, because he doesn't really deserve it. But she's also not her usual friendly, cheerful self whenever he's around because he makes her feel weird and she doesn't like it.

I'm not sure if, when, or how they'll end up repairing their relationship, but it will definitely take some time! I want to be clear in that, as a person, I like G'raha Tia as a character. I think he's well-written and interesting, and I have a lot of sympathy for him. There are a lot of complex moral questions in his character and he obviously struggles with a lot of his own emotional complexes. So I don't want it to seem like I'm bashing G'raha/the Exarch. Rhiki in particular just doesn't like him because he sketches her out lol.

[gourde]

Hi there, I looked through your Claymore tag, I'm always happy to find new fans of it. I was a bit surprised that you preferred the anime to the manga; ike you said it's a fairly unpopular opinion haha. Id love to know your reasons, if any, that you disliked the last part of the manga.

WARNING: YOU HAVE ACTIVATED THE AUTISM VACATE NOW IF YOU WISH TO LEAVE UNCHANGED "New" fan may be an understatement, I've been a fan of the show since it was on Netflix! I watched it at my dad's once, along with Samurai 7, I loved it so much my dad got me the Blu-ray for Christmas. Then when I watched it at my mom's she thought it was too violent (Which like, yeah. It was XD) and so it was packed away until I was 17 (I was released from the weird confines my mother had for me then). It irreversibly changed my brain chemistry. Probably where my love of body horror and creepy human/monster designs came from. So then later on I learned there was a MANGA! WITH MORE SHIT I WAS SO FUCKING PUMPED. I read it all online in like, a week. I loved the awakened beings designs. I loved the art, I loved the characters, I loved the world... and then. The twist. (Claymore spoilers ahead)

That the main continent Claymore takes place on is a testing ground for the organization's war against another power on another continent. Which is actually super fucking cool but. THEY NEVER BRING IT UP AGAIN??? I DON'T REMEMBER THEM ACKNOWLEDGING THIS INSANE TWIST AND COMPLETE SHATTERING OF THEIR WHOLE WORLDVIEW Maybe it's the translation I read? But wow. Something like that just isn't talked about again. And then we have the Destroyer. The actual real Destroyer, the black mass, I am confused about... It takes over beings and has a very primal mind. But also it can speak full sentences? And can combine two beings together even though it's supposed to take them over? But it also keeps Priscilla's mind in Cassandra or something? I have no idea, it got so muddled. I don't like Teresa coming back. It doesn't make any sense in the rules of the universe, we NEVER saw anything like that in the whole series! How does that work? Is Teresa just a construct of what Clare remembers of her? Or is it ACTUALLY Teresa? Plus it's so boring. Teresa is ridiculously powerful so you know she's going to win against Priscilla. BOOORRRINGGGG Like wow man. Also. Raki and Clare are not like, caretaker/child relationship? It's fucking romantic? That's super fucking gross, I hate it so much. OH AND THEN ILENA AT THE END HOW IS SHE STILL ALIVE HOW DOES SHE HAVE HER ARM BACK THERE IS NO EXPLANATION HOW DID CLARE FIND HER???? RAFEALA DIDN'T KILL HER??? Came out of fucking no where. Kind of ruined it. Also I am still salty Clarice died :(

[rcksmith]

Geniuses — Five Hargreeves

Request: “Hi! I am just the annon that recently sent the request 3,11,16 and 22. You asked what I wanted, I forgot to put that I got them from the “fluff” prompt list. I am so sorry!! And don’t worry! It’s not your fault I didn’t see the list 😂😂 but thank you so much! I really like your fics and your writing style so much! 🥺🥺💖💖”

Fluff prompts:

3“You’re staring again.”

11. “Wow- you look…amazing.”

16. “I love you. You enormously stubborn pain in the ass.” 16. “I heard that!” 1 .“You were supposed to!”

22. “well the probability of that is 0, but you go ahead”

A/N: We not tolerate any pedophilia here !!

I write about Five with their 20s. I write the same about the characters of Harry Potter.

Haha love, it’s okay💖💖 i hope you like, because I really like to writing tis. Thank you for resquest. Love u❤️

English is not my first language, so I so sorry if have a mistake.

Requests are open. Love you ❤️

Couple: Five Hargreeves/Fem! Reader.

Warnings: nothing, just bad words and fluff.

(gif not mine)

— — — — —

It was fun to think that Five never had an equal opponent, someone as smart, canny, sarcastic and ironic as he. Five Hargreeves was always used to being the smartest person in the room, always being the one with the quickest response on the tip of his tongue.

And, well, it was fun to think that it all went up in the air when you showed up.

You were cruelly intelligent, able to correct errors in Five's math equations, sarcastic and always had a cheeky smile on your face. You weren't used to being underneath, which is why when Five wanted to show that he was better than you, well, you wouldn't give up.

But unlike the time traveler, you didn't have super powers, you weren't extraordinary, you didn't have any skills, but that didn't stop you from being equal to him in every other way.

Whenever Five wanted to come out on top with the argument that he had powers and you didn’t, you raised an eyebrow, looked at him as if he had made a basic math mistake, and said: “I don’t need powers, I’m a genius, you should try to be one too.” And it made him furious, and, truth be told, you just liked to tease him too.

But just as the two of you had personality differences, the ability to handle emotions and people well was different from Five. You were kind, funny and wanted to make people comfortable around you. Being a genius didn't mean you shouldn't be a nice person, and Five usually forgot about it.

As you and Five spent more time together, it became clear that you two were no longer able to stay away from each other. Five liked (secretly) to have someone to really talk to. Someone that understood and followed his line of reasoning, that understood the equations he did, and that considered him a genius instead of crazy with some reasoning.

Being with you was like, for Five, meeting another human being in a dog-only world, and when he kind of told you that in other words, you laughed out loud and said: “Or how to find an equal sign in an equation.” And that's when he felt his heart pounding for you.

Five remembered when you beat him in chess for the first time, no one had ever done it before, and he agreed to play with the full awareness that he was going to win again. Well, that is not what happened.

When you checkmate his king, Five was stunned. He leaned over the board, looking at the pieces as if they had created a head. And you laughed, leaned back in your chair in a victorious smile.

“This is impossible.”

“it's actually just intelligence, why don't you use it now and then?” You were kidding, it was obvious, you couldn't stand hurting people and Five knew it. The dynamics of the two of you who were exchanging barbs.

“You must have stolen or something, this is very much your style” He returned, eyes on you as you laughed “Let's play again and I will give you a the most brutal defeat.”

“Well the probability of that is 0, but you go ahead” You accepted, first because you wanted to show that you would beat him as many times as possible, and second because there was nothing you liked more than spending time with Five.

The matches started, and you won every time. And when the sunset and the breeze was cold, you and Five looked at each other, with the peach rays of the sun illuminating their faces, and the mutual smile they gave out sweetly.

He were really enjoy the game and you knew that, and he knew you not just want the victory. You two know Just more matches would make you spend more time together. And... Five didn't remember if anyone ever really engaged in a game just to want to be around him.

But things really got more real and serious when Vayna asked you to go to one of her violin performances too. And, well, you wore a long, red dress, firm in all the right places, and Five couldn't get his eyes off you just one second.

It was as if, when he saw you, all the equations in his life had been solved. And a single thought rang in his mind: “I want her”

And the certainty of that was absolute. He wanted you as an overwhelming force, which shook his whole body. He needed you like needed oxygen. And there was no way to deny that anymore.

But it all happened in a fraction of a second, and you had just chosen that moment to approach him and ask:

“So, how am I look? Are you going to make a little joke about berries or something?” You laughed.

But Five could think of nothing but that if there were the personification of sin and perfection, it would be you. He looked at you as a whole, a fucking beautiful woman with a fucking brilliant mind. You are incredible and he had no other adjectives for you.

“Wow- you look… amazing.” You felt all the intensity and truth in that sentence, and your heart pounded in your chest.

For, truth be revealed, you had dressed up for him. Because wanted him to think you were beautiful. Because you thinking him were a young God with all the vigor and beauty.

Five really wanted to focus on anything but you. Not In the swing of your body, in the outline of your lips, in how he wanted to put you out of that dress. He really tried. But his eyes were always drawn to you at the end of the effort, as if you were the only thing worth seeing.

“You’re staring again.” Luther whispered in his right ear, while Five kept his eyes on you for a moment that seemed to him seconds, but to Luther it was hours.

But who could blame him? You looked like a mirage, too beautiful to be true. And Five wanted to record every detail of it in memory.

��Take care of your life!” He replied, taking his eyes off you.

After that night, Five already knew that he could no longer keep his hands off you. He couldn't just look at you anymore when the hunger to touch you started to hurt physically. As soon as you got back to the mansion, he grabbed you by the wrist, in a strong, firm grip, and pulled you with him as he climbed the stairs towards his own room.

Five needed you. A kiss, a caress, a body-to-body contact, anything, he just needed it. And it had to be now, he not wait for you to go home and come back later, he couldn't wait days...damn it! He couldn't wait seconds!

Then he knocked and locked the door behind you when you entered the his room.

“What the hell?” You rubbed your wrist that he must not have measured how much firmly him hold you “You're acting like a nut and I thin ...”

But Five didn't give you time to continue. He couldn't give you time. He could not explain something that for him was still a mess. So he showed you.

Five came to you in big, determined steps, and he fit your face in his hands before tilting and sticking his lips to yours. And then the world seemed to make sense for the first time.

Everything was suspended. The people, the rotation of the earth, the wind, the noise of the streets. Everything went into a black hole and was no longer important. The only thing that really mattered was you. And Five kissed you until the oxygen was strictly necessary.

“I have been waiting for this for some time.” You confessed, and Five blew out a low laugh, answering you with another kiss that ended up taking you to a bed and messy sheets.

After that night, Five became more attached to you, and the relationship grew stronger over the weeks.

“You know this is wrong, right?” You said as you took a look at the equations he had made that afternoon.

Five looked at you with a frown, irritation in his eyes, but you were trying to contain your laughter.

“You have nothing else to do no?”

“Besides seeing your accounts wrong? No.” You had fun, taking one of the white chalk Five was using and erasing an equation from it, redoing it in the right way.

You could feel his gaze on your back, but you did your best not to laugh and return the chalk complacently.

“Now it's right.”

Five looked at the account you redid, and gave you an expression of so few friends that you couldn't control your laughter anymore.

And his expression closed even more. You shook your head and were already on your way to the door when when you heard him mumbling:

“I love you. You enormously stubborn pain in the ass.”

Then you laughed even harder and turned to Five, who had been doing his math again on the walls of his room.

“I heard that!”

“You were supposed to!” He countered without even waiting a second, and then you came back towards him, the laughter still present in your voice, your eyes full of play and love.

You put your arms behind his waist, still with the remnants of laughter coming from yours lips, and leaned your head against his broad back.

Five felt and heard your laughter, and then controlled himself not to laugh too, before giving yours hands that were hugging his waist a few gentle pats.

“You are unbearable.” You mumbled, but full of love overflowing with the words “But I love you.”

Then Five laugh came and he exchanged pats for an affectionate affection on yours hand, signaling that he also found you unbearable, but that he loves you.

[princess-of-inarizaki]

Haikyuu manager headcanons!!

Okay so these adorable teams all have the softest spot for their tiny little manager-chan, and here's how they all treat her.

[Ari's note: okay manager fics and headcanons are my absolute favourite and I love writing them]

*.` | Karasuno

They are extremely laid back with you, compared to some of the other teams. They give you your space, at the same time listen to you when you have something to say.

Respectful simps. Similar to how they act with Kiyoko (ugh yes queen-chan) they're in tears whenever you do things to motivate them, like cheer at their practice matches or give them good luck charms.

They still have the good luck charms you fastened on their bag before one of the matches.

Tanaka and Noya would literally worship the ground which you walked on. Like wow how did they get so lucky as to have three?? Cute managers?? On their team??

Yachi and you would probably subtly simp over Kiyoko with them too ngl.

Hinata and Kags would probably see you as an older sister, eventho you're their age because you're so caring and responsible.

Suga is literally your mom and Daichi is your dad. They make sure you're all healthy and you're doing well in school.

Asahi gives you hugs whenever you're sad or upset! Fite me but I think this gentle baby gives the best hugs ever >:( he's like your comfort senpai and you'd do the same for him, especially when he's feeling insecure or down.

Yams would probably be very shy around you, but he'll warm up in time.

Ahhh the best part. Tsukki! He'd find you annoying and simply not get why you're so Mcfreaking happy at first (shut up u salty beanpole, manager-chan is just a ray of sunshine, okay?) But he soon finds it endearing and slowly gets closer to you.

You walk home with Yams and Tsukki every day since your houses are close, and Tsukki walks you to your door to make sure you're safe!

Ennoshita, Kinoshita and Narita all see you as a little sister and often help you with your managerial duties.

The team cares and respects you so much, and are so thankful you've joined them!!

Meat buns at Ukai's are your hangout spot, and everytime you see them chilling you're so thankful to have such great friends.

*.` | Aoba Johsai

Aaah we're at the team of one of my favourite characters!! I'll start with Oikawa (can't you tell I'm so biased omg)

Oikawa absolutely adores manager-chan because although she's tiny, she's very strict, and doesn't let his fangirls near the gym when he's practicing, which he appreciates.

"yn-chan, you're so good to me, can I take you out as a thank-you?" Cue Iwa-chan's ball which comes flying at Oikawa's head. "Stop flirting with the manager, shitty-kawa"

Iwa's very fond of you too, but he doesn't let it show too often. Sometimes he picks up your favourite coffee from the vending machine and claims that he bought it by "accident". (How believable<3)

Kunimi probably sends you weird tiktok videos and tags you in funny memes. Very wholesome 10/10.

Kyotani just?? Doesn't understand you?? Like wow, she's small but the team listens to her?? Why?? He later finds out you're the manager. Mad dork here didn't know you were managing the team for the past month, and thought you just came to the gym to watch them practice. Smh.

Matsukawa and Hanamaki give you headpats and like taking selfies with you, much to Oikawa's dismay. He wants to be the only one taking pictures with you.

Like no manager-chan. Stop. Get away from them. My phone's right here I wanna take selfies with you :(

Kindaichi is cool with you. Y'all are bros and you game together sometimes.

Watari and Yahaba join too, and they're surprised to know that you're so aggressive when you game.

Cue a jealous Oikawa who struggles learning how to game just so he's invited to play with you. Simp smh.

They're all very gentle with you, and since you're their first female manager, they make sure to never make you feel uncomfortable.

You guys like grabbing ramen together and having eating contests. They really bring out your aggressive side but you love them for it.

*.` | Shiratorizawa

Can I just say Semi bsf material? Yes? Yes. Semi Eita is best friend material.

Makes you cute little Spotify playlists and you help him write lyrics to songs occasionally. You play an instrument too and you guys can just jam out for hours on end together.

You get the idea of applying to be the manager because of him, and it all took off from there.

Goshiki loves you. You're fond of your kohāi, and you genuinely just give this touch-starved future ace a lot of hugs and cuddles, which he's SO grateful for.

Like wow, y/n-chan isn't just pretty?? She's also so sweet? And smart? And capable? Semi why have you been hiding her for so long??¿ >:(

Goshiki is just so protective of you, he'd commit murder if he had to.

You have to earn Ushiwaka's respect, yk? And slowly but surely he comes to realise how dependable and responsible you are, and treats you like an indispensable member of the team.

He's got your back. And if he ever senses you're upset, he's trying to cheer you up as best as he can.

"do not feel upset, those grades will mean nothing to you in the future. I doubt you will be able to remember what you got in your second year, third monthly test." You think he's being sweet, and yes he is (in a way), but he's also trying to be reasonable and logical.

Tendo loosens you up and you tend to play pranks on the others with him.

The funniest was when you tried to prank Ushijima by adding wasabi to his onigiri and he?? Didn't get it??

Like "y/n-chan, Tendo, why did you add wasabi to this onigiri? It would've been so much better with tuna mayo??" And he has no reaction whatsoever?¿?

Cue Goshiki who tries the onigiri because he wants to prove he has spice tolerance like Ushijima, eventhough you can low-key see him tearing up.

Shirabu is your voice of reason and you and him often study together. You also have deep and philosophical conversations at 12 a.m. over text, and it is just so wholesome.

He respects you so much, not just because you care for him, but because he finds your brain so fricking smexy.

These eagle babies bring out the best in you and you're always eager to push them forward and bring out the best in them.

*.` | Fukurodani

First thing's first, besides Akaashi, you are the only other person who can cheer up an emo-mood Bokuto.

Just say "Hey Bo, you're gonna look so much cooler when you spike the ball like the true ace that you are" and his hair's all perking up and his eyes are shining.

Akaashi thinks you are an angel sent from heaven.

You're very soft on your baby owls, and they genuinely just love getting positive affirmations from you.

Akaashi always blushes when you compliment him on his sets. And you can hear him murmur genuine words of gratitude.

The other members do too. They're glad because sometimes people focus on Bo too much and forget to give them recognition, yk? It's easy to get overlooked :(

But thanks to manager-chan who's so attentive with all of them, and who's aware of all their quirks and moods, they're all so touched and so so happy.

You have a habit of getting cold pretty often, especially since practice finishes late and it's pretty chilly by then.

Konoha always lends you his jacket and walks you home, since your home's are the closest. There's just something about you that makes you soft.

You get along really well with Kaori and Yukie, and you'd definitely consider them your best friends, considering y'all are in this thang togetherrrr!!

The Fukurodani team are just all a bunch of crackheads, but they're your crackheads and you wouldn't trade them for the world.

You're a very tight-knit family, (like ugh I just get lots of comfortable, safe vibes from Fukurodani :(( <3)

You guys hang out at the store near your school pretty often to recharge after grueling days of practice together.

*.` | Nekoma

My second favourite team, Nekoma!! They are precious, gentle, soft babies and I love them to bits and pieces >:(

I'll start with Kuroo. You've always had a tiny soft spot for Kuroo ever since you've become his lab partner in chemistry class.

His notes are immaculate. I mean, cmon we're all hoes for pretty notes

You think he's so incredibly smart and talented, so when he suggests you become the Nekoma manager, you just agree right away.

You guys grow closer since you've started spending more time with him, and you banter around more often than not with chemistry pickup lines.

"hey kitten, let's form a covalent bond"

He's so whipped after you retort back. Like wow she called me sodium fine and said I'm like an exothermic reaction? Permission to simp??

(Ari stfu this isn't a Kuroo fanfic)

Kenma and you definitely play animal crossing together, and he even lets you try his switch, after you guys grow closer.

Kuroo is so insulted, he's never even touched Kenma's switch before >:(

You also push Kenma to do better during practice and he starts to care more about volleyball, since you seem so enthusiastic about it.

Yamamoto isn't even subtle about his simping smh T-T unlike Kuroo, he shamelessly flirts with you, and can't wait to show you off to Tanaka and Noya at the next camp.

"we have such a gorgeous manager now, Nekoma is ThRiViNg" he says in his head with this ridiculous dopey ass smile on his face +_+

Since deep down inside, you're a huge baby, you, Lev, Shibayama, and Inuoka get along so well. They're just happy energetic kittens, and they make you feel so happy.

y'alls energy just match, yk?

Although Fukunaga is shy to tell jokes, he tells them to you, because he knows you'd never judge him, and you actually kinda enjoy laughing along :) he's so touched.

Momma Yaku!! Yaku always lends you his jacket and makes sure to carry snacks for you in his bag. He knows you care so much about the team that you often neglect your own health, which is why he's always there to make you're feeling healthy and good.

Kai and Teshiro help you with your homework and like talking about their favourite singers with you.

They're all just such amazing human beings who treat you so well, and you feel so blessed to be a part of their team. You adore them so much, and they adore you back tenfold.

*.` | Inarizaki

[Ari's note: Ello there luvs, you've made it to the bottom of this sweet hc post and just get ready for Inarizaki :( they're my favourite team of all time, and I'm just so biased, I'm sorry ;-;]

Inarizaki's entire team just adores you so much, they think you're the light of their lives.

They're all super touch starved babies, and once you realized that, you've made sure to ensure they never feel that way.

Aran is kinda like your protective senpai, and his heart flutters ever so slightly when you call him that senpai kink oops and give him headpats, and he loves patting your head in return.

The twins are so incredibly soft for you.

Their fangirls are sometimes pretty mean, but one glare from the duo is enough to shut them up.

Osamu cooks bentos for you and gives you the warmest hugs when you ask for them, burying his head in the crook of your neck.

Your hand is almost always in Atsumu's because he's so slick?? Like y'all, this mf would be like "y/n-chan, my hand has been aching for a while now" and when you go to observe it, he just pulls your hand into his and pulls you to follow him.

His entire body heats up when you kiss his cheek after a particularly good game, and his brain literally goes "grrrr empty", when he's usually so sly.

The twins are your bodyguards, they follow you everywhere and protect you all the time.

Enter Suna Rintaro, your meme king. He definitely records funny moments that happen during practice and send them to you, just to make you laugh, or memes of the members.

He also definitely takes pictures of you when you aren't noticing, simply because he likes the way your hair looked, or because you looked so beautiful.

Like the twins, his eyes widen whenever you kiss his cheek or ruffle his hair, and it's literally like suna.exc has stopped functioning.

Congrats manager-chan, you broke the kid -.-

Omimi might come across as stoic and cold but he's actually a huge softie, and you often give him positive affirmations.

He's also definitely a huge lover of your hugs, and looks forward to them as motivation to play well.

He'd never tell you though, he's shy™.

My baby Kita compliments you all the fricking time.

"y/n-chan, I mean this is the most sincere way, I think this hairstyle looks stunning on you"

Or "you're so capable and you work so hard, I'm so thankful to have you by my side"

And he has the most genuine expression on his face, his eyes are so earnest and shining so bright.

And when you smile at him, he's like oh shit I made her smile, depression whom? I only know serotonin.

Ginjima is usually rash but with you, he takes his time and weighs everything he says.

He doesn't wanna accidentally hurt you and regret it since he was being careless and not thinking at all.

You calm him down when he's getting too hotheaded with gentle words and he's suddenly a blushing mess.

Unlike some of the other teams that tease you a bunch, Inarizaki treats you so gently. Their little princess, as they think of you.

So mf-ing protective, like if someone looks at you wrong, you can totally bet Atsumu's going for their ankles, sangwoo style, or Osamu is trash talking them to their knees.

Would drop anything and everything to help you if ever needed.

They think you're they're entire world because you go above and beyond for them, and they genuinely love you. Like actually LOVE you to bits and pieces.

—*.`

[Ari's note: AHHH so the manager fic is done this was literally such a joy to write!! I hope you enjoyed it

Big big hugs <3 have a beautiful day, luvs!!]

[anystalker707]

Pleasantly Surprising

Pairing: Gerard x Reader Word count: ~ 4 000 Genre: Fluff / Enemies to lovers Summary: (Y/n) meets a nice group of guys in a concert. Warning: Blood, but no violence or wounds description.

Requested on Wattpad

a/n: This one if for you blood kink bastards </3

(Y/p) = Your pronouns

Feeling the cold night air filling my lungs with a faint smell of grass is much better than the smoky and sweaty, heavy air present among the public that gets worse near the mosh pit. I lean back against the brick wall, feeling the cold surface through the thick jeans of my jacket, digging into my shoulder blades as I try to control my breathing, quietly watching the band leaving the stage to give place to another.

My throat feels dry, aching the slightest after I swallow around the sharp and cold breaths, so I look around for a stand to buy at least a soda, ankling over to the nearest one. The line isn't actually that long – thank hell –, but that doesn't prevent a random bastard from trying to cut in line.

"Hey, what in the fuck you think you're doing?" I raise an eyebrow, pulling them back by their collar and they just look at me with this sulky face, bottom lip sticking out and lip ring glowing lightly under the reduced lighting. "No cutting in!"

"Says who?" they retort bitterly. "What you gonna do about it?"

"Aw, bold, aren't we?" I raise an eyebrow, glancing down and... the motherfucker is wearing school clothes, lacking the tie and shirt untucked. Private school. "What are you? Not like the other kids? The line isn't even that long, stupid."

"Fuck off," they sigh, shrugging out of my grip and harshly fixing their clothes.

"Frank– Fuck, Frank, the hell, can't we leave you alone for a single second?" A random voice suddenly interrupts our interaction before a tall person approaches, a motherly and worried air lacing their gaze. They look from me to Frank before exhaling, raising an eyebrow, at which Frank shrugs. "I'm sorry for whatever Frank did, he–"

"Fuck, no, Ray!" Frank cuts them off, "you're not playing the good guy here! I was just trying to–"

"Trying to cut in the line, yeah, very nice of you, isn't it?" I roll my eyes, twisting my mouth. At least he isn't lying, but is he stupid or something? Why would he try to convince us what he was trying to do was alright?

It looks like Frank is going to argue for a second, but ends up just groaning through gritted teeth and looking away with a sigh and tense shoulders.

Ray doesn't look any amused, only observing Frank like who looks at a puzzle after having tried to solve it for weeks without success. They shake their head, turning to me instead. "I'm Ray, he/him, nice to meet you. Sorry for Frank, what he did is... unfortunately usual."

I observe him looking at him from head to toes. School uniform just like Frank's, tucked shirt, loose tie. "Hi. I'm (y/n), (y/p). And don't worry, I would've done the same," I breathe, looking away from the two to hand the person behind the counter the money after pointing to the drink I want.

"What?" Frank gasps. "You would've done the same and still acted all like that towards me?"

I roll my eyes, sighing. "Me doing it doesn't mean I like being affected by it." I grab the change, shoving it in my pocket then step aside for Frank and Ray, cracking the can open.

"Y'know–" Frank crosses his arms over his chest, throwing his nose in the air, "–my momma says that you should treat the others as you want to be–"

"Aw, honey, so you'd like me cutting in the line right in front of you? Shamelessly?" I raise an eyebrow at him, unable to hold back a grin when his face gets bright red, hands balling into fists. Not gonna lie, it's kinda cute how he twists his mouth. Frank is about to curse when Ray is shoving a couple of cans into his hands – a sigh leaves his lips instead. "Two for each?" I question and sip on my drink.

Frank smirks, looking at me with humor. "Yeah, wanna watch me drink them at once?"

Ray rolls his eyes at Frank, shoving him out of the way after noticing there were people behind them. "We're actually with two other friends. Are you alone here? Do you wanna come along?" He smiles, ignoring Frank's complaints, so I opt for doing the same.

"I guess that'd be nice," I hum, shrugging. Otherwise, I'd be going home right now and Ray actually seems nice... I mean, Frank does too, but I'm not feeding his ego.

The other two stand against a brick wall when we find them, both quietly chatting to each other until seeing us approaching. The first one doesn't exactly react, more interested in the can Ray hands him, but the second, greasy punk, hums questioningly, straightening their posture as taking a good look at me almost like I did to Frank earlier. "And who are you?"

"(Y/n), (y/p)," I mutter, looking at them from over the rim of the can, taking a sip of my drink.

"Found lying in the trash when I approached," Frank adds, but doesn't seem so confident after I playfully shove him aside.

"Gerard, he/they," Gerard replies, eyes never averting away from mine. What is he, kind of a gang leader? Got a hell of an ego, though a bit differently from Frank – I'm noticing a pattern here, huh. "Mikey, he/him," he continues, nodding to the other guy.

I throw my empty can in a trashcan before leaning in towards Gerard. He tries to escape the touch, but he's against a wall, there's nowhere to go. How cute. "Belleville High," I say, finally able to make out what the small black letters embroidered on the chest area says, and step away, allowing Gerard to breathe. "Isn't it that private school? Catholic one? Wow, who'd know I'd find BH students here!"

"Stereotyping, are we?" Frank raises an eyebrow. It's impossible holding back a smile at him.

"No, never," I chuckle. "It's just a... rare occurrence. You came here right after school?"

"Not really." Ray shakes his head. "Just didn't have the opportunity to change. Good thing it's Friday, tho," he chuckles humorlessly and I nod in a silent agreement.

"And where do you study?" Frank takes a better look at my face. "If you study, that is."

I scoff, but don't reply just yet. Mikey is the most tidied up out of the four whereas Gerard has his tie loose around his neck, shirt untucked, blazer all wrinkled. "Of course I study, dumbass!" I glare. "But I'm in the public school near the park. But I've seen you before." I nod towards Gerard. "Just don't know where."

Gerard's eyes narrow. "Are you sure?"

"It's not always that I see a greasy vampire looking around, so yeah."

A silence hovers between us for a moment, both of us staring at each other until he feigns unamusement, looking away – I smile with a stupid pride swelling in my chest.

The night ends with us exchanging numbers after a solid hour of joking around and throwing sarcastic insults at each other. Teasing Gerard was particularly fun because he often ran away from the whole joking or at least tried to and even Mikey laughed when it failed, though sometimes succeeding when Frank finally managed to get the spotlight on himself. Ray is sweet, despite being the perfect example for 'looks like a cinnamon roll, but can actually kill you.'

Gerard got my attention, to be honest.

Saturday and Sunday go by quite slowly and thankfully texting the guys every five minutes doesn't make it as depressing as usual. Texting Gerard isn't the same as texting Frank – who replies a text to each word I send him –, however. Gerard often replies with a word or a vague comment and guess what? I'm only more interested.

No Gerard manages to slip between my thoughts during school, but it ends up happening as soon as I step past the gates. Belleville high, isn't it? Shitty elite, but they don't really seem to be like that... let's see if that wasn't just great acting. That's not even a mile away from here. I look down the street, the direction opposite to where I would usually go. It won't hurt to say hi, right? Not to mention I've got nothing to do for the rest of the day.

Belleville High's classes finish about ten minutes later compared to my school's, so I don't bother walking too fast, but not slow enough to let my palms get clammy or overthink anything. Amazing how I can feel like this about people I only met once. Okay, whatever, take a deep breath because I guess I know these curls.

"Look at who we have here!" I throw an arm around Frank's neck, interrupting whatever they were doing and attracting wide eyes towards me. Turns out I found them earlier than expected, hanging out in the park.

"Damn, are you everywhere?" Frank raises an eyebrow at me and presses his lips together, though never stepping away. Blood?

"Who knows?" I joke. "Also..." I trail off, only now taking a good look at them. "Man, what in the hell fucking happened to you guys? Seriously–" I yank a paper off Frank's back, sighing at the 'kick me' written across it and hand it to him, shaking my head. What fucking idiot did this? How the hell did they even get into a fight? It doesn't seem like they were fighting each other.

Frank groans poorly, wadding the paper into a ball and tossing it at the nearby trash can. He's got a few scratches above his eyebrows and blood trailing down the corner of his lips. Mikey and Gerard are probably in the best state out of the four – Gerard got blood trailing down his nose and same for Mikey, though on opposite sides and Mikey's cheek is smeared with blood. I can't say the same about Ray... I don't know how he's not even wincing with all that blood trailing down his face.

"Well," Mikey breathes, bringing a hand to the back of his head, "you can say that–"

"Why do you even want to know?" Gerard steps forward, hands clenched into fists by his sides. "You got nothing to do with it, okay?"

"Aw," I breathe a chuckle. So he wants things to happen like this? But does he have the nerve to keep it? I may not have known him for long, but the attitude is clearly foreign, unmatching. "And what, baby? You lost, didn't you? And you're a fucking sore loser!"

"I just don't see why you should know." He twists his mouth, looking at me uninterested, but it doesn't take long until he's looking at me with these eyes, irises barely seen, eyebrows scrunched close. "And don't talk to me like that! Maybe it would even be better if you fucked off and left us alone, don't you think?"

Man, he talks a lot. Too much. No wonder why he's in such a state. Maybe he'll shut up if I...

"Holy..." Frank trails off with a quiet chuckle and I'm certain Gerard would have glared at him if he wasn't processing what just happened.

Meanwhile, Mikey and Ray stare at me with wide eyes – as wide as Gerard's, but they're not as petrified as Gerard is, for sure, only with hesitant, unsure grins on their faces. I suppress the urge to laugh at Gerard, instead more focused on rubbing my tongue against the roof of my mouth, trying to get rid of the salty and metallic taste.

A quiet sound comes from Gerard as he finally moves, maybe a groan, not sounding really comfortable. He brings a hand up to his lips. The perfect trail of almost dry blood is now smudged, following the direction I licket it to, having the blood smeared across his chin and bottom lip. "Ugh, ugh, ugh," he groans, frantically cleaning his lips and chin with the back of his wrist, against the sleeve of his blazer. "What the fuck? You're gross!"

I roll my eyes with a sigh. "Man, I wonder why I thought being an asshole could be solved."

"Eh, trust me, he isn't normally like this," Ray says with a shrug, looking at Gerard like if he was a chained angry dog even after receiving a glare.

No one gives Gerard's tantrum much attention as we soon sit down on the grass and change the subject before we can notice. Surprisingly, Gerard sits down next to me. Even more surprisingly, he leans closer at some point and whispers, "well, look at who's the vampire now."

Saying Gerard's words got stuck in my head would be an understatement. Maybe it's a nightmare, maybe it's not, but it does get me randomly blushing or stupidly grinning during random times of the day. Nonetheless, school the following day does help a bit with cleaning my head a little.

After a few hours of staring at blackboards, the setting changes to staring at records hanging on the walls and it's honestly better. Incoherent, loud chatter being changed to music of my choice is a lot better, even if I need to talk to a customer now and then.

"This is the place I told you about. I've only been here once, but it seems good," a voice says from the outside, but I don't look up from my homework.

"Never been here," someone else says. A pause follows then their footsteps sound clearer and I sigh, shoving my things on the space under the counter.

"Hello, good afternoon," I say automatically, holding back a groan at how my eraser insists on falling and grabbing it fast. "How can I help you?" I finally look up just to freeze. And the four have the same reaction, to be honest. "I knew I had seen you before," I say to Gerard.

"What a small world!" Frank approaches, immediately narrowing his eyes and throwing his nose in the air as looking over to me. "So you're not a rebel who only wanders around and goes to free concerts during the night and stalks us?" He raises an eyebrow, looking around the place, inspecting the shelves full of records and CDs.

"So you only got one set of clothes?" I mock, staring at his school uniform.

Frank exhales, shoulders dropping. "We just got here from school." He motions vaguely to his messenger bag and I nod, humming, not like it matters a lot.

While we talk, Ray and Mikey wander around, talking quietly to each other and sometimes taking a record in hand, but Gerard... he stands there awkwardly, observing Frank and I with a lost gaze. What is he doing? Trying to act all cool like last time? Or doesn't know how to react?

"Hello," I greet, which sounds more like a question. Frank turns around to look at him, apparently understanding Gerard as much as I do.

Gerard presses his lips together and steps forward, also leaning against the counter. "You didn't mention you work here."

"Didn't have a reason to." I shrug.

The corner of his lips twitch and he's holding eye contact until sighing. "Okay, whatever. Got anything new on Misfits or Pumpkins? Also, Bauhaus." He glances at me, black strands falling over his eyes for a moment before he's pulling them away. Cute.

"Of course." I grin, moving to the cabinets behind the counter.

Frank eventually darts off as I show Gerard the records and cassettes like he wanted. I glance around to make sure Frank is paying attention to whatever Mikey is telling him and Ray before I turn to Gerard again, grinning lightly. "Y'know," I mutter, leaning forward with my elbows over the counter. "I've got passes for a bar concert tonight. Wanna come?"

"What do you mean by passes?" His eyes never avert from the records – he runs his fingers over them delicately, examining each of them closely.

"Each ticket was about ten dollars and they're sold out, but the store is sponsoring the event and I got free passes." I smirk, watching his eyebrows raise lightly. "I usually can get one person in with me. What do you say?"

He pauses. "Why me?"

"Because you're the one I know the least." And also the one I'm interested in. "Pick you up at seven, what do you say?"

He sighs. "I'll text you my address."

.

"Wow, you're..." Gerard stares at me with a blank face, standing there and letting all the cold air get in. He rushes into the car, closing the door carefully.

"I'm...?" I raise an eyebrow, sinking my foot down on the gas, pulling away from the sidewalk.

"I don't know." Silence. "Not what I expected."

"Glad to know." I grin. "You're also not what I expected. You're never what I expect, to be honest..." He wasn't all open in the beginning, but also wasn't the asshole he was in the park – in his defence, at least, he had just gotten out of a fight, nerves still on edge. At the store, however, he seemed more like himself. "Also, you're looking good."

Gerard's eyes are surrounded by eyeliner and a red eyeshadow – definitely nothing I would see him in, but also nothing I'm disappointed about –, bringing out his paleness. And for the first time, he isn't wearing that stupid school uniform and fancy shoes are replaced by platform boots. A leather jacket clutches his shoulders, decorated with a few studs and patches, and covering a nice Slipknot shirt. And there are his jeans, fucking tight and I swear I hadn't noticed this guy got such a nice ass and, fucking hell, it's difficult not staring at his thighs flat on the seat, with a chain falling over one of them.

"Thank you," he mutters quietly. Even in the reduced lighting, I can see his cheeks gaining a red tone before he looks away.

The place is crowded, but not overly – which is why the tickets were even sold, at first place – and it's fun seeing Gerard's chin drop when he looks at the sign of the place. To simplify, everyone is either always wanting to play in this bar or come watch someone play and the tickets are not only always sold in small quantities, but also expensive.

"Let's go," I chuckle after having spent a good moment observing Gerard.

We jog across the street, towards the entrance, just straight away skipping the whole line. The guy in charge of letting people in looks at us indifferently, in a silent question, muscles clear under the tight staff shirt. Even if there's no visible difference in his expression, he does relax a bit after I show him my pass and steps aside to let us in.

"Wow," Gerard mutters, almost inaudibly.

"You like it?" I ask as we walk through the people. No answer comes. He stayed back, of course; the boy is kinda shy and hesitant, after all. "C'mon!" I take a hold of his hand to pull him with me until we're in the bar area, which's much calmer. He stands there for a moment, looking around, until I point at one of the stools, sitting down on the one beside it.

Gerard shifts on his seat, hands resting on his lap and clenched into fists. He observes everything with wide eyes and I can't bring myself to avert my attention away from him. He's beautiful.

When the band starts playing, however, the atmosphere starts changing. It's a classic punk band – the kind of people you'd see around in skate lanes, spraying anarchist messages on a building's wall or behind a McDonald's counter – and the music is good, nonetheless, raw and emotional and demanding. Great to dance to.

Gerard is shy, as already stated – what makes me wonder how he even agreed on coming –, taking a good time to actually stand up from the stool and join me.

His hand is warm under mine, maybe not as warm as his cheeks seem to be. I had taken it in mine to pull him up from the stool, only, but he didn't let go and... oh well. Aren't you interesting, Gerard? I grin to myself and take his other hand to pull him to dance with me; that if you consider moving around to the rhythm of the song some kind of dance, but Gerard doesn't complain.

I'm not sure how much time goes by – I only question myself about that once the band is saying good night, breathing audibly as they get off the stage. The live music is replaced by a momentary incoherent chatter when loud music fills the place again, this time coming from the speakers. Gerard and I are out of breath when averting our attention from the stage to each other. My arms feel a bit sore after all of that, almost the opposite to my numb legs.

"Wanna grab a drink?" I nod towards the bar. "We can go to the alley to take a breath, then."

"Sounds good."

The non-alcoholic drinks are as cold as the night air, suddenly making it even more obvious how much we jumped around to the band's sound. We lean against the wall opposite to the side of the bar and I look at Gerard, watching his chest rise and fall fast, only coming to a longer pause when he brings the glass to his lips. He observes something above us, maybe the sky, but I don't care.

"Your nose is bleeding again." I suddenly note, seeing the dark red trail now almost reaching his upper lip. Not a surprise. He hurt his nose not much over a day ago and all the jumping must have opened the wound.

"Fuck." Gerard brings a hand to his nose and sighs when seeing the red stain on his fingers; I chuckle softly, halfheartedly. "What? You wanna lick it again?" he teases, raising an eyebrow at me. He apparently opts for not ruining the sleeve of his leather jacket, regarding it more than his school blazer.

I roll my eyes, smiling helplessly. "Well, if you'd like me to," I decide to tease back, looking at him through half lidded eyes.

"Ah, you wouldn't dare!" He chuckles, blood staining his lips according to how he talks.

"You think so, honey?" I raise an eyebrow. A few stutters come from him, but I just grab his glass and set it aside with mine, on the ground, before stepping towards him. "Tell me, why are you always so... bold around me? It's clear it's not part of you, as Ray even said." I suppress a humorous chuckle at how he frantically backs away against the wall, having nowhere to go. This brings me memories. "Maybe it has a specific reason?"

Gerard's eyes are wide, lips twitching, though no word ever comes through and his expression changes instantly once I get a hold of his hips and pin him to the wall. Feeling the heat coming from his cheeks is almost possible and all that resistance is gone, tendering into compliance and shyness.

"Look at you, Gerard," I mutter, rubbing circles into his hips as leaning in. "How surprising can you be?"

Having Gerard only letting out a quiet whine in response as his hands rest hesitantly over my shoulders make my heart flutter in my chest. I finally lean in, pressing my lips to Gerard's; he returns the kiss right away, lips sliding against mine easily.

And there it is; the rich metallic taste of Gerard's blood. I run my tongue over his bottom lip, snatching a hum from him, which turns into a whining-gasp once my teeth sink into it slightly.

His hands tighten around my shoulders, I grip harder onto his hips in consequence and he's sent relaxing back against the wall. He never had control over the kiss, but he's suddenly just giving up on the power at once with a quiet sound, slowly wrapping his arm around my neck to pull me closer and I gladly deepen the kiss.

"Wow, love," I breathe as soon as we part the kiss, lungs screaming for air. Gerard doesn't reply verbally, with his lips brushing lightly against mine and, by now, the blood is starting to get sticky, on its way to drying, also on my lips.

"I hope we can go out more often," he mutters shyly, not long before burying his face in the crook of my neck.

[robinrunsfiction]

To The Vows You Take - Chapter 6

(This is the longest chapter in the whole story, enjoy!)

Chapter 5

"About time you got here," Ray snarked when (YN) and Frank finally boarded the bus in Washington. "Why'd you guys have to change your flight?"

“We had to go to Vegas,” (YN) replied simply as she started unpacking some of her things into her bunk. She was trying to suppress the smile that was fighting to form on her face.

“What? To get married or something?” Gerard laughed.

“Yea,” Frank replied with a shrug. 

(YN) glanced over at Ray and Gerard, who were stunned into silence for a moment. They looked at each other, then back at their bandmates.

“You guys were dating?!” Gerard asked, totally astonished. "How did we not notice?! Why didn’t you say anything?!"

“I knew something was going on!” Ray exclaimed. "They've been acting different all year! I knew it!"

“Nope, we weren't dating,” (YN) answered.

Gerard’s eyes went wide. “(YN), are you, you're not pre-”

“No! Oh my god, no!” She rolled her eyes. “Me and Frank agreed in high school that if we weren’t married by 25, we’d marry each other.”

“Well shit, congratulations! We gotta celebrate, right?” Ray asked, getting excited.

“Hell yea!” Frank chimed in. “You guys buy the champagne!”

“Do you wanna announce it at the show tonight?” Gerard asked.

“No!” (YN) was quick to reply. “It’s just that we haven’t told our families yet. We don't wanna have them find out through the press.”

Gerard nodded. "Ok, but wow, I still can’t believe you guys eloped!"

"Believe it, baby," Frank said, patting Gerard on the cheek as he walked by.

~

“Ok, ready to call your mom?” Frank asked.

“No,” (YN) deadpanned.

“Better now than waiting any later,” he replied. It had been about a week since they had tied the knot and (YN) had been putting off calling her mom as long as possible. It wasn’t that she was ashamed of what they’d done, she just knew how her mom would react.

Frank pushed the call button on the phone in front of them and (YN) hoped it would just go to voicemail.

“Hello?” (YN)’s mom’s voice came through the speaker of the phone.

“Hey mom,” (YN) started wearily.

“Hi sweetie, what’s going on? I’m at the grocery store.”

(YN) winced and Frank had to stifle a giggle. “Umm, by any chance do you remember back when I was home for Christmas and that letter came that I wrote to myself?”

“Yes, vaguely.”

“Do you remember the one thing I said I hadn’t done?”

“No, off the top of my head I can’t say that I do.”

“Umm, well I’ve got you on speaker phone because Frank is here too and I called to tell you we went through with our pact to get married.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard you, it’s loud in here, you did what?”

“Me and Frank got married in Vegas,” (YN) practically shouted. Frank was hiding his face to control his laughter and (YN) reached over and smacked his arm.

“What?!” In the background it sounded like glass breaking. “And you didn’t even call to tell me?!”

“I mean, I told you when I read the letter,” (YN) rubbed her eyes.

“Not that you were gonna go through with marrying Frankie! Oh, is Frankie there now?”

“Yea, hi Ms. (YLN),” he replied.

“Hi sweetie! Congratulations and welcome to the family!”

(YN) looked at Frank, jaw dropped, as he practically gloated. “Thank you Ms. (YLN).”

“(YN) I can’t believe you wouldn’t tell me until after the fact!”

“We didn’t tell anyone, not even the other guys!” (YN) argued. "It's not eloping if everyone knows!"

“Well, have you told Frankie’s parents yet?”

“No, you’re our first call” (YN) replied, rolling her eyes.

“Ok good. Oh, goodness I didn’t even notice I dropped the jar of pickles, I’ve got to go, I want more details later, buh-bye.”

“Bye,” (YN) said, hanging up. "Yea it's a good thing we didn't tell her we called your mom first, she woulda lost it. Are you gonna call your dad?"

"Yea," he replied, already pulling up the contact info on his phone. 

"K, I'm gonna go grab some coffee," she said, getting up.

"How'd your mom react?" Gerard asked, looking up when (YN) walked in.

"She dropped a jar of pickles in the middle of the grocery store," (YN) sighed as she poured a mug of coffee.

Gerard chuckled. "Are you done?"

"No, Frank's calling his dad right now."

"That will go well," Gerard nodded reassuringly. 

"Yea, I think you’re right," she nodded as she made her way to the back of the bus where they'd been making the calls in privacy.

"So you finally told her-"

"Dad, hang on," Frank interrupted and (YN) gave Frank a confused look as she walked in. "Umm, no, but don't worry about it. Actually (YN) just walked in."

"Hi, Mr Iero," she greeted him brightly.

"I'm glad you're sticking together. Ever since you were kids, you two have been a team. That's what you want in life,  someone who is on your team. Friendship should come first, all that romance bullshit can come later on."

(YN) and Frank laughed, but when she glanced over at him, she saw he was looking at her. She smiled and looked away, realizing how much she was suddenly blushing. That was the problem. She could no longer deny the fact that she wanted the romantic bullshit with Frank. Her stomach did flips when he would look at her from across the room, his smile made her weak in the knees. She’d fallen for him completely, and she didn’t know what to do.

~

Frank had just taken a drag off his cigarette when a black SUV pulled up in the parking lot where their tour bus was parked. At long last, Mikey was back. He hopped up off the curb he was sitting on and warmly welcomed his friend with a hug. "Welcome back, man!"

"Hey! And congrats! I take a couple months off and half the band gets married?" Mikey laughed as he stored one of his bags in the compartment under the bus.

"That’s what happens when you’re not here to supervise us,” Frank laughed. “Did you know me and (YN) had originally planned to elope the day you and Alicia got married?"

"Seriously?" Mikey seemed genuinely shocked as they returned to the spot on the curb where Frank had been sitting. It was the only shade in sight.

"Yep."

“Where is she, by the way?” 

“On the phone with our realtor, we’re gonna see some houses when we’re back in Jersey before we head over to Europe.”

“Damn, you are serious about this.”

“As serious as a goddamn heart attack.”

“Wait, so how did all this happen again?”

“We made this pact in high school, we’d get married if we were still single at 25. And the chance to spend my life with (YN)? I’m not gonna pass that up.”

“You have feelings for her?”

“I’m surprised I’ve hid them this well for so long.”

“Shit,” Mikey muttered, taking the almost spent cigarette out of Frank’s hands and taking a drag himself. “So it’s happily ever after.”

“Not until I work up the nerve to tell her.”

Mikey coughed, Frank’s words taking him by surprise. “Wait, you haven’t told her?!”

Frank let his head hang. “Oh so you've been married like three months longer than me, and now you know it all? Just keep it between us ok?”

“Yea, yea I can, but you should tell her. She’s your wife.”

Frank couldn’t help the smile that formed across his face upon hearing those words. “Yea. I just gotta figure out the right time.”

~

(YN) had just finished applying her stage makeup when the door to the green room opened. She was surprised that it was only Mikey coming in, and no one else was with him. 

“Hey,” she said, glancing over at him. “Where’s everyone else?”

“Got pulled into an interview,” he answered, coming to stand behind her, checking his hair in the mirror.

“Ah yes, the joys of not being a guitarist or singer,” she smirked.

“I know right?” He laughed before flopping down on the couch. “So congrats.”

“Thanks,” she laughed lightly, shaking her head. “It’s crazy, right?”

“Why?”

"Because I saw 'My Best Friend's Wedding' at an impressionable age, and now I’m married to my bandmate.”

"What's wrong with that?"

(YN) sighed and shook her head. “Promise not to tell?”

Mikey sat up and nodded. “Of course.”

"It’s a problem because I realized that I've fallen in love with Frank and can't tell him because it'll ruin our marriage,” she explained and Mikey let out a laugh. “It’s absurd right?”

"You gotta tell him, (YN)."

(YN) just groaned in response. “But what if it fucks everything up?”

Mikey sighed. "You should be honest with the people you love," he replied. "Especially when it's about how you feel."

(YN) nodded silently.

“So... have you guys hooked up.”

“Mikey!"

"I’m just trying to lighten the mood!” He said defensively. “And I take your reaction as a yes."

(YN) smirked. "Fine, you wanna know? There was one time we did a long time ago."

“Wait, when?!”

“You probably don’t remember, but a long long time ago, I’m talking back in the van days, we were actually staying in a hotel for once. You, Gee, Ray, and Brian all went out, but me and Frank stayed back.”

“Oh yea! We were wondering if something happened that night,” Mikey laughed.

“Yep,” she said, getting up from her chair and starting to make her way toward the door. “And it was in the bed you and Ray shared that night! Bye!”

“Ew! What the fuck (YN)?!” Mikey shouted, as she ran out of the room, laughing evilly.

[ssamie]

ten. “greatest desire”

kozume kenma x fem dazai!reader

(bsd x hq)

tw: mentions of suicide, guns & cementaries

masterlist.      suicide freak!

"uh hi.. i know we don't really know each other that much.." atsushi started off. the boy had a nervous smile on his face as he stiffly waves at kenma, with tanizaki and naomi by his side 

"but have you seen y/n-san?" atsushi asked 

"y/n? why, what happened to her?" kenma asked worriedly 

atsushi, tanizaki and naomi were stood in front of nekoma's gym, trying to look for the girl, as per the president's wishes. "its been about a day since you guys went out to the arcade, right?" tanizaki chimed in "has she shown herself to you, or atleast texted any of you?" 

kenma frowned as he shook his head no. he looked back at the team who were trying to act like they weren't eavesdropping. 

"no.. i just assumed she was busy with work" kenma muttered 

"hmm, i tried to ask ranpo-san but he's too busy" naomi chimed in as she hugged tanizaki's arm to her chest 

"oya oya, sorry to barge in on the conversation-" kuroo interjected. the captain had a sly grin on his face as he walked towards the group. "but we just so happen to overhear something about our manager going missing?" kuroo mused 

"yes, sorry if we're intruding" atsushi bowed 

"but y/n-san went missing again, and the president ordered us to find her in under four hours" tanizaki sighed 

"or else we get our asses handed to us" atsushi shuddered 

kuroo and kenma gave each other a look and nodded along. "we'll try to look for her later" kuroo said "we'll let you guys know" 

"thank you so much!" atsushi exclaimed with a smile "would you mind calling the agency if you find her?" he said as he handed them a piece of paper with the agency's number 

"its really hard tracking her down" tanizaki says with a chuckle "when she chooses to disappear, it's like she never existed in the first place" 

"anyways, we'll be on our way" atsushi excused "we've troubled you long enough" 

"its no problem.." kenma muttered 

naomi waved them goodbye as they walked away. the duo waving back meekly as they watch their retreating figures disappear. 

"hey, you okay?" kuroo nudged his friend kenma nodded and looked down at his shoes "yeah.." 

"i think i'll go look for her now" kenma muttered "eh? kenma, we could just go later" kuroo said with a raised brow 

"im going. bye" kenma muttered, completely disregarding kuroo as he went straight out the door 

"where's he going?" yaku asked as he peeked his head out the gym doors "he's gonna look for y/n" kuroo answered 

"damn. what a simp" yamamoto sneered 

"wow. that's rich coming from you." 

"i swear to god.." kenma grumbled "if she ends up getting found in a ditch and i wasted all that time running around for nothing.." he scoffed 

he's been running around the streets of tokyo, passing through every street and alleyway to try and look for the girl. so far he hasn't seen a single trace of her, not even a single person who has managed to pass by her. 

"y/n.." kenma huffed out. he was currently by a riverbank, leaning against the metal railings of the bridge while he tried to catch his breath. 

"you called?" 

kenma jumped at the sudden emission of her oh-so-familiar voice, and turned around to face her "what the- y/n?! where did you come from?!" kenma shrieked out 

"also, where have you been?! atsushi-kun and a bunch of people from your job came to the school today looking for you" he said 

y/n chuckled and strode over to his side, jumping over the rails and sitting on the flat surface of the bars. "if i told you that the port mafia took me hostage and threatened to execute me, would you believe it?" she mused 

"no." 

"then i won't bother to say" she shrugged 

kenma eyed her warily. her port mafia story could actually be believable, now that he thought about it. given as, her bandages were loosened and torn, almost as if they broke off with too much movement. and along with the dried blood resting upon her cheeks and hands. 

"are you okay?" kenma asked worriedly 

even if it was believable, it could've been just her trying to kill herself yet again. not that it was any better

"of course" she smiled "though my body is a bit sore.. chuuya really doesn't hold back"

kenma froze and slowly turned his head towards her with a blank and emotionless look on his face. 

"chuuya doesn't what." kenma spat out "did you seriously disappear to hook up with that dog? that-that man child? that eyesore? that-" 

"what are you talking about?" she laughed

kenma huffed and propped his elbow on the cold metal, resting his chin on his hand as he pouted 

"you're really funny, kenma-kun" she mused 

"really? cause im not laughing." kenma grumbled "i ran around the whole city for you, only to find out you ran off with some guy" his honey hued orbs eyed her down, watching her chuckle softly as the golden rays of the sun illuminated the surroundings around her

"y/n.." he mumbled "why did you really disappear?" 

"i already told you" she replied with a sigh "the port mafia is truly a force to reckon with" 

"that's why you gotta stay safe, kenma-kun" she mused "you never know who and when they'll strike next" 

kenma sighed and nodded along. it was old news -- the port mafia, that is -- its been stirring up the whole city for the past few months. 

"ne, kenma-kun" she called out "if we do end up dying alongside each other, i suggest we drown ourselves in this river." she said 

she stared down at the flowing water, the golden colour of the setting sun reflecting off of it. "its clear and pretty, not much people are around.. its quite tranquil." she hummed

"i never really understood this.." kenma muttered "but why are you so intent on dying?" 

"and i never understood you, and so many others." she replied "tell me, kenma.." she turned to face him, her bandaged hands loosely gripping the railings, as her legs and feet dangle off the ledge. 

"do you really think there's any value in the act of living?" 

kenma didn't answer. instead he stared at her, and her clouded eyes, each orb holding an unforgivable amount of sin and deciet that he could only imagine. 

"well.. is there any value in the act of dying?" he asked back 

she blinked dumbfoundedly at him, fairly shocked at his question. 

"isn't there anything else you desire? life is kinda cool too yaknow?" kenma said in a sheepish tone 

she stared at him a few minutes longer before averting her gaze. she chuckled and closed her eyes as the cold wind breezed past. "man fears death, and at the same time, man is drawn to death" she said 

"its a singular event in one's life that no one may reverse" she hummed "and that is my greatest desire." 

kenma didn't know how to reply to that, so he didn't. he simply looked down up at the setting sun, letting silence wash upon them both. 

"hey kenma" she called out. kenma looked at her, curious and wary. "yes?" he asked 

"wanna hang with an old friend with me?" she suggested with a soft smile

"me? won't that be intrusive though? i don't really know them.." kenma muttered nervously

"it's fine. he'd probably be happy i even talk to people my age" she said with a chuckle. she jumped off the railings and landed on the ground with a grin. she stretched her aching arms over her head and patted kenma's back. 

"he's a lot like you" she mused "always saying life is worth living and all.." 

"okay then.." kenma agreed reluctantly "but if i sense that person doesn't like me one bit, im leaving." he groaned out

"im pretty sure that won't happen" she chuckled sheepishly 

"why are we in a cementary?" kenma grumbled 

"is this where you kill us both?" he scoffed playfully "i wouldn't be surprised if you already have a hole dug for us" 

she chuckled and shook her head "no, no" she mused "were just taking a small stroll" she cooed as she looked around the awfully empty surrounding  "ah! there it is" she perked up "it's been so long since i went here that i almost forgot my way around" 

kenma followed her as she skipped away, though he was quite confused, he didn't question her. 

"hurry, kenma" she called out as she watched him struggle to walk faster "i hate you" he grumbled back, which she chose to ignore 

she smiled softly as she stood infront of the oh-so-familiar grave. 

"geez." she mumbled "its been so long since we hung out, odasaku" 

"shame we couldn't meet at the usual place" she chuckled and sat down on the grassy ground. she leaned back on the gravestone, resting her back against it as she waited for kenma to arrive 

"y/n?" on cue, kenma chimed in. he was panting slightly, most likely from running and walking around for so long "what are you doing?" kenma raised a brow at her 

"kozume kenma-kun.." she called out

"yes?" he asnwered

"do you know whose grave this is?" she mused, pointing her thumb to the gravestone she was leaning on 

kenma eyed the name engraved on the stone and shook his head. "no..but it's someone dear to you, right?" 

"what makes you think that?" she hummed out in amusement 

"i've never seen you pay visit to a grave before" kenma muttered. the pudding head hesitantly sat down infront of her, bowing at the grave before settling down on the ground. 

"does it look like im visiting a grave to you?" she asked with curiosity 

"it does.. why?"

she smiled softly and leaned her head back, letting it fall and her eyes to land straight at the cloudy sky "well, i thought of it as hanging out with a friend but.." she trailed off 

"i guess that works too" she sighed out 

kenma frowned as he watched her close her eyes. her smile faltering as a wave of comforting silence washed upon them. "im sorry" kenma muttered "i shouldn't have said anything.." 

"its fine." she chuckled "its been years since he died." she smiled bitterly "i guess it's time someone snaps me out of my daydreams" 

kenma didn't respond. he simply toyed with the grass on the ground and the few flowers littered around. 

"yaknow, kenma" she said with a smile "you're the first person i brought here" 

"me? why?" kenma asked in surprise and confusion 

"because this friend of mine was a good man." she said "he told me to try and look for my reason to live."

"and i think i found it" she whispered as he looked into his eyes 

kenma blinked in shock as he basked in her awfully heartwarming words. 

"my reason to live is to die with you." 

"of course. its gonna be about suicide again." kenma sighed dejectedly.  "but y/n, if you think of me as your reason to live.. then i'll take it upon myself to keep you alive" kenma smiled at her, tucking his blond hair behind his ears as he kept his honey hued orbs trained on hers. 

"kenma.." she teared up 

she blinked repeatedly as she opened her mouth to speak. 

"i.. I DON'T WANT THAT! I WANNA DIE WITH YOU!" she whined loudly "i already had our suicide planned! i even suggested the whole river thing a while ago!" she exclaimed 

kenma deadpanned as he watched her ramble on and on about her ideal double suicide. "i really don't care." kenma groaned out "i don't want you to die." he whined "why do you keep trying to kill yourself" 

"just because, okay?!" 

"just for that, im gonna call your agency and hand you over" kenma sighed as he dialled the agency's number 

"traitor!" she shrieked "kunikida-kun will undoubtedly beat me up" kenma ignored her as he started speaking on the phone. 

"yes, she's with me.." he muttered "is she behaved?" he repeated the question as he sent her a pointed glare 

"no, not really" he scoffed 

"kenma, you're heartless!" she shrieked in horror 

"cmon. let's atleast pay respects to your friend before we leave" kenma said with a sigh "dont worry, kenma-kun! i already thought this through" she grinned. she then pulled out a bottle of sake and a book and placed it on the ground. 

"you brought him alcohol? seriously?" kenma furrowed his brows 

"hey, it's two of his favourite things, okay?" she defended with a laugh 

"do you know how ridiculous i looked while buying these things at the store?" she chuckled "they thought i was a madman or something!" 

"i would've too" kenma answered back 

"you're so mean to me, kenma" she pouted "anyways, we should go." she said as she dusted her pants and unravelled a thin layer of her torn bandages. 

"i can't wait to tell you about this suicide method i learned about." she beamed. she tugged on his arm and pulled him away as she continued to blabber on his ear "apparently this one does the job right away!" she exclaimed 

"can you believe it, kenma?" 

"wow. crazy." he replied dryly 

"yeah, and all we gotta do is shoot ourselves with these guns-" 

"no." 

"oh my, this almost feels like a welcome home party!" she cheered. she gave the detectives a close eyed smile while they simply stared back at her with a look of agitation and worry 

"where the hell were you?!" kunikida exclaimed angrily as he tapped his foot on the ground 

"the port mafia!" she answered back nonchalantly 

they all perked up in surprise from her claim. "huh?! the port mafia?!" 

"hai hai! but don't make a big deal about it!" she chuckled as she waved her hands dismissively 

"you could've died!" kunikida exclaimed  "now, now! i'd like to think of it as akutagawa-kun needing some attention that's all" she joked 

"jesus christ" kunikida sighed as he adjusted his glasses "that boy could kill you and you still won't take him seriously" 

"anyways, why is he here?" he asked as he pointed to kenma, who simply ignored him and avoided their eyes as he played on his phone 

"oh! he's the one who found me, so i thought it'd be right for me to repay him" she smiled brightly as she squeezed kenma to her chest, all while he unbotherdly continued on with his game

"i've thought of so many fun things we could do back in my dorm, hehehe~" she chuckled mischievously as kenma's face paled. she only gripped him tighter when he tried to scurry away. 

"i- i see.." kunikida stuttered out. he looked at them with wide eyes as she started squeezing him tighter while kenma tried to pry her off 

"y/n, you're strangling me!" kenma huffed out "i know!" she grinned 

"we'll leave you two alone then!" kenji said with his usual smile as he ushered the others away 

"they're worse than tanizaki-kun and naomi-san.." atsushi shuddered "that's because she's trying to kill him" tanizaki sweat dropped 

"and herself, as well" yosano sneered "go get your man!" she cheered as she sent y/n a sneaky wink 

"yosano-san! don't encourage her!"

[hey-there-juliet]

Random Drabble Day (2/23)

Summary: First off, let me just say that this is more like a one-shot than a drabble because I'm a wordy bitch and I cannot control myself 😅

That said, I always had a hard time imagining Julie writing some of the Perfect Harmony's lyrics about herself, so I thought why not make this just another song that Luke and Julie wrote together? This is set somewhere between Finally Free and Edge of Great, in that week when Ray was stress-eating. This is supposed to fit back into the show at the end, so it might seem like a cliffhanger, but it's not.

Quick shout out to @jamestkirkish for betaing this for me! I love you and you are amazing! Any remaining mistakes are my own. And to the fabulous Sloan, for helping me out with Luke's handwriting! Enjoy 🧡

Fandom: Julie and the Phantoms

Relationship: Juke 💜

in the great scheme of life and ghosts

No matter how many times Luke insisted that she had been snooping through his things, Julie knew for a fact that she had done no such thing. In reality, she had simply been cleaning the studio when she came across it.

For three ghosts who didn't eat and could barely even touch anything most of the time, the boys sure knew how to make a mess. Every morning Julie would walk into the studio to find the chairs or coffee table rearranged, at least one of the rugs was always askew, and the clothes... the clothes were everywhere, and the worst part was: they reeked. 

And so every morning before leaving for school Julie would shoot them a stern look and tell them to pick up after themselves. Which they did - when she got back home, things were mostly in their rightful place. Still, every weekend Julie would make sure to take a moment away from homework and rehearsal to tidy the place up to perfection, just like her mom liked it. She'd dust off the furniture, water the plants, sweep the floor, and even vacuum the whole place. One Saturday when she was home alone (her dad photographing a wedding, and Carlos at a friend's house), she even went through the trouble of washing all of the guys' old clothes. 

Somehow, and she didn't even want to think about how that worked, the clothes didn't stink when they were actually wearing them, but at any other moment when they made no contact with their skin? Yeah... not good. So she washed them all (three times, using every trick and product she had). She washed them a fourth time for good measure and, by the time she was finished, any traces of twenty-five year old mold was gone, and so was the smell.

So no, she was not snooping - no matter what Luke said - when she came across the crumpled paper ball between the couch and the low cabinet, just behind a big vase her mom had gotten from tía Victoria.

Julie sighed, making a mental note to tell Luke to put his discarded ideas in the bin (again) if he didn't want them anymore, when one scribbled and wrinkled word caught her attention: Perfect Ha-

She bit her lip, staring down at the teasing word. Perfect what? Was it lyrics? Maybe half formed ideas? Doodles? Julie knew Luke liked to doodle in the margins of his notebook whenever he got stuck trying to come up with the next best piece of lyric or melody. She also knew she should probably just leave it alone, put it with his stuff to ask him later if he wanted to keep it, or put it in the garbage. Except the more she glanced down at that damn word, the stronger she felt it pull her towards uncovering whatever else the crumpled paper ball was hiding. 

In the end, the pull was too strong. She'd just take a quick look, make sure it wasn't anything important before she threw it away. And, she reasoned with herself, trying to squish the guilt that was making itself known in the pit of her stomach: Luke had gotten rid of it, so he clearly didn't care much for whatever was in there. 

Not able to resist any longer, Julie carefully unfolded the paper, slowly making her way towards the piano and using its surface as a table to help smooth the page over.

Luke's (horrendous) handwriting covered it with the bare bones of a song, random lines were scribbled in the margins with a couple of doodles for company, and even a little note from their bassist - ‘Reggie was here ;)’.

It took her a minute before the chicken scratches became words, and then Julie's breath left her in a rush, as the guilty feeling in her stomach turned into butterflies and flew away with her imagination. 

It was a song, parts of one, anyway, and - more importantly - it was a love song.

Unprompted, her own words came back to her, "Wow, Luke! I didn't know you were such a romantic." Quickly followed by Alex's short reply, "He's not."

She knew now who Unsaid Emily was really about, but these new words were clearly about a different kind of love. The romantic kind, and Julie couldn't help letting herself believe - just for a moment - that the song might be about her.

Before she could let herself be carried away in a daydream, there was a - now familiar - shift in the air, a sound almost like static, the only thing letting her know of a ghost's appearance. Without a thought, she crumpled the page again and shoved the paper ball in her pocket for later inspection. 

"Hey, Julie!" Reggie's cheerful greeting sounded across the studio from where he had poofed in, and soon - with his "help," bless him - Julie was finished with her weekend clean up. 

As if summoned by the end of her chores, Luke poofed in, ready to rehearse. Alex soon followed; and by the time Julie retired for the night, the song had been almost forgotten where it hid inside her pocket. 

Almost.

***

After getting ready for the night, Julie settled on her bed with the wrinkled page and her dreambox. She read over the words again and again, imagining they were about her.

Step into my world, 

Bittersweet love story about a girl 

Shook me to the core 

Voice like an angel, 

I've never heard before, 

- 

You and me together, it's more than chemistry 

- 

Love me as I am 

I hold your music 

Here inside my hands 

- 

You are my brightest burning star 

- 

We create Perfect Harmony.

And unless Luke had been singing with another girl, there didn't seem to be many options on who it could be about, right?

From the beginning, Julie had felt something connecting her to him; to all of them, in different ways. But Luke had been the one to give her a little piece of his soul right after meeting her when he let her use Bright to earn back her spot in the music program. Seeing his passion reflecting back on her, the way he treated music like she used to, made her miss it more than anything for the first time in almost a year. It made her miss the way it felt to use music to connect with her mom.

After they spent a whole weekend finishing each other's songs and working on new ones, getting to know each other's inner workings - the part of them that bled out feelings into paper to create beautiful melodies, Julie knew she was a goner. Finding out he'd been the one to write the words that shaped her taste in rock certainly didn't help. Like he'd been helping her find her way to music long before they even met.

Her crush on him had been inevitable from the start, and while falling for him was probably one of the worst things she could’ve done, it was too late to stop it. She'd been free falling for a while, and hopefully she'd land in his arms soon enough. Reading over his words again gave Julie a warm fluttering in her stomach that made her think he was more than ready to catch her once she reached the ground. 

Carefully folding the piece of paper, she put it inside her dreambox, then placed the box back on the shelf.

***

The following week went by without any hiccups. Every once in a while, Julie would remember Luke's song and a familiar warmth would fill her up, leaving a soft smile on her lips and glazed eyes staring off at nothing. Just as often, Flynn would have to shake her out of her daydreams.

She didn't think much would come of it until her dad decided to throw the band a party so he could film them and post their video on YouTube. Which was fine. Amazing, even. It was most certainly great! Until Luke came to the school, staring at her with his stupid, beautiful, awed eyes, and with his soft, perfect smile, saying things that made her combust and melt, all at the same time.

"I think you make me a better writer." 

    "I think we make each other better."

Calling Nick 'Luke' was bad enough, but slipping into a complete musical sequence as she danced with him? "Goner" didn't even begin to describe her. 

Like the other times they'd written together, the lyrics flowed through her, finishing the song he'd started with the same ease as one would take a breath.

Julie knew that whatever was going on between her and Luke couldn't happen or, if it did, it couldn't last. In fact, in the great scheme of life and ghosts, she didn't know much, but what she did know was that - be it in life or in death - love was constant. 

He didn't need to have a heartbeat or to be able to touch her for her to love him. He was just as real to her as the next person, and whether it would hurt in the long run or not, it didn't matter. 

She knew Flynn was only looking out for her, but that ship had sailed, and Julie was already so lost in his ocean eyes that avoiding eye contact wasn't going to bring it back. She would entertain her though, even knowing it wouldn't work. Just like the tide, eventually he'd pull her right back in.

She could love him just as he was, for however long they had together, and especially after that.

-

End notes: I hope you guys enjoyed it! And, if you'll notice, at the beginning it kind of gives off the impression that Luke eventually finds out about the song and Julie tells him how she found it. Which may or may not lead you to believe that they're in a relationship. I guess it all depends on interpretation though ;)

Oh, also! Shout out to the chaos squad folks that guessed right! You guys are no fun :( /j lmao

[landonkirbyappreciation]

You know every time I think about what Landon went through this season and is still going through, it just hurts my heart. I get sad and mad all at once. Sad because my sweetie pie doesn't deserve this. All season he's just been alone going through one trauma after another. Then my heart hurts more because I then I think about the fact that 98% of trauma Landons been through in is life he's had to go through that all and try to find a way to deal with it if he could. But even through all that he still managed to keep that ray of light about him. I know that light won't be there when they finally get him back but I'm hopeful that he'll be able to find it again somehow. And I get Mad thinking about all this because I just want to know who came up with this? Why did they come up with this idea for Landons story arc this season? I know that maliLandon was going to happen at some point and clear they were leading up to that. But couldn't they have come up with ANYTHING else to get to point where maliLandon happens. Did they really have to put Landon through a whole season a trauma and had him do it alone? Was that really necessary? I mean they brought Clarke back right(I know there's a reason they brought him back, just don't know what that reason is yet). So couldn't they have brought him back in the prison world(I know we didn't see any of the prison world stuff but just hear me out on this one) have him and Landon develop some type of relationship. They both help each other out in finding a way out of the prison world. They end up growing closer and become brothers in a way. But then something goes wrong or a monster shows up gets Landon and that how maliLandon happens. And when 3x08 happens and maliLandon escapes, so does Clarke. So he goes and tells Hope and everyone else what happened and they go from there. Or something along those lines. Or they could have scraped the whole Landon ends up in malivore and then in a prison world filled with monsters thing completely. And I don't know maybe the all the Black that got sent there was breaking down the prison world causing a portal to open, malivore gets out. Sends a spy to the school to scope out the place. Then when the time is right he sends the spy or a monster to get Landon. And then that's how maliLandon happens.

Lol wow I really over thought this a bit. I think I need to learn how to not over think things so much.

P.S sorry for the rant. I just strongly dislike what this season did to Landon. And how the other characters treated/acted when it came to him(excluding Hope of course).

Right? My thoughts exactly. It's heartbreaking and infuriating to me at the same time. He does not deserve any of this, did he not have enough trauma before this season?? It's still hard for me to believe that they actually did this to him, honestly. Thinking back on both TVD and TO, this has never been done before. They've never had basically an entire season where a main character (and the male lead in this case) has been, not only separated from the rest of the characters and isolated, but going through nonstop trauma all season long, alone, and without any help, and for it to be happening offscreen. They really chose to do this to Landon... Why?? I guess it made for a good plot twist, but at Landon's expense. It wasn’t worth it and it wasn’t necessary. And yes, he's gone through it all alone, just like he's had to deal with most of his trauma throughout his life alone too. But exactly, the fact that after everything Landon has been through he still has that light inside him is genuinely one of my favorite things about his character. And it shows just how strong he is as well. And I don't expect him to be able to come out of this with that light either, I know he'll be so far from okay. But I hope he'll come back to it and to himself over time too, and I do think that he will.

I totally agree, I'd like to know who came up with this as well. And same! All last year I thought that Malilandon was gonna happen in season 3. With the Necromancer wanting to raise and control Malivore, I thought surely Malilandon was where that was all heading. But then they quickly had Malivore possess Landon in 3x04 then it was over. Then Landon ends up in Malivore and has to escape, only to end up in a prison world that he also has to escape. So I thought Landon's survival and him having to learn how to fight monsters and escape on his own was gonna be his arc for season 3. Because that was plenty for Landon's storyline, so I didn’t think they would then add Malilandon on top of that. I thought that would not only be too much plotwise, but way too much for Landon to have to go through. So yeah, I don't agree with them putting Landon through a whole season of trauma to make Malilandon happen.

And I like your ideas, it would've been really interesting to see both Landon and Clarke in the prison world and growing closer. And it might have made Landon's time there more bearable, and would’ve added even more to the story with him and Clarke developing a bond. Which could’ve become a bigger part of the show afterwards, and with Clarke helping everyone with Malilandon, like you said. Or yeah, they could’ve just skipped the Malivore/prison world stuff altogether and still have Malivore escape through a portal caused by the black magic. And then they still could’ve had Malilandon happen but without the majority of it happening offscreen, and without having Landon suffer so much. We could’ve actually seen Landon and Malivore and that whole storyline progress instead of it being revealed at the end. But instead, they shoved two huge plotlines for Landon into one season, and then hardly even showed any of it. And on top of that, it made Landon’s trauma even more extreme.

If they had to do both the Malivore/prison world and Malilandon storylines, they should’ve just kept them separate imo, instead of everything happening all at once. If they wanted Landon to be able to survive on his own and learn to fight, fine. (Although I'd rather he just be able to learn to fight in the real world without having to suffer so much.) But they should've actually shown that throughout the season. They should've been going back and forth between what was going on with Landon in the prison world and then what was going on with everyone else at the school. Maybe similar to what they did in season 6 of TVD, showing Damon and Bonnie (and later just Bonnie) in the prison world and then everyone else in the real world. And once Landon escaped through the rift, they still could’ve had Malivore escaping too, and had that lead to the Malilandon plotline later on. But instead, because they wanted to keep everything a mystery, we missed out on seeing what Landon actually went through (unless they show flashbacks, which I really hope they do), and that makes it feel like they’re almost ignoring his trauma and his experiences by not even showing it. And now with Malilandon happening too, that could end up being rushed if it’s supposed to be resolved in the first four episodes of season 4. So I really just don’t understand why they did it all the way that they did.

And that’s literally me though. I overthink everything, unfortunately, haha. I could go on about this for a while, but I’ll stop. And it’s fine, I understand the need to rant! I really don’t like what they did to Landon this season either. I thought it was way over the top, and far beyond what he should ever have to go through. And yep, when you add to that the way the other characters acted with his "death,” when there was a chance to save him, how they treated him and Hope, etc., it's very upsetting.

[gotreactions]

Ateez Reaction: Disney Movie Theme Date (Fluff Series) 1/8

Part One: Hongjoong

Movie: Peter Pan

Hongjoong has been preparing for this date for weeks now! He's noticed how stressed you have been as of late and he wanted to do something for you to help you relax. Having a childish and more fun date would be a great way to make you laugh and ease up, he thought. For the past three weeks he has done nothing but plot, plan, and prepare.

First, he picked a movie he thought you would both love: Peter Pan. It has pirates, takes you back to your childhood, full of love and laughter. It seemed to be the perfect pick!

He had everything planned out in his head. He made sure to pick a day when it wouldn't be raining, where the weather would be perfect - not too hot nor cold. He drove around for hours before finding the perfect park! Nine hours of searching later, he found it. The perfect spot! There was a gorgeous gazebo beside a lake of clear, clean, sparkling water. The rays from the sunset hitting the water at a perfect angle. There were no loud and obnoxious birds chirping that would ruin the mood. A few ducks floated around in the water, but they added to the charm of the night. This was definetely going to be the place your date would be at. He rented it ahead of time to secure this spot just in case. Nothing was going to ruin your perfect night!

Of course, the perfect date couldn't just be a movie in a beautiful park, no he had to do something special to make the moment so perfect you'll never forget this night. You deserve it, and nothing is too much for his Queen/King. So, he went shopping. Bought plenty of fluffy pillows, an air mattress, some white silk sheets and a big white fluffy blanket. Your comfort is of course the number one priority! You can't get cold and end up sick, now can you? And it wouldn't exactly be the 'perfect date' if your back was hurting from laying on the hard concrete either.

'What else would make this perfect?'

Hongjoong thought to himself. He isn't exactly the most exexperienced in love, on dates. Before you, he didn't really have any experiences - if he had any at all. He always made up excuses. 'I have too much work' 'what would my members think? What would Atiny think?' But for you, he will always have time. He knew his members and that Atiny would understand. For you, he just wants to give anything and everything. He wouldn't risk or do anything to lose you. Which is why he's so desperate to make you're date perfect, to strengthen your relationship and just so he has an excuse to be beside you all night long.

Giving things a little more thought, and scrolling online for ideas, he ended up buying fairylights and some other random iteams.

The whole time he had been preparing for the date, these last three weeks, he's also practiced his dancing. He even had his members give him tips and extra pointers. Whenever he could, he would spend extra hours in the studio working on his skills so that he would able to dance with you. He watched the dancing scene from the movie on repeat, learning Peter Pan and Wendy Darlings special dance so he can recreate it with you.

The time has finally come, after three weeks of anticipation and prepping, it was almost the day! Two days before your special night, he went shopping one last time to buy your gift. He bought you a beautiful outfit, it was classy and comfortable, an outfit he knew you would love and something he knew would look stunning on you. He folded the clothes neatly, put them inside a golden box with a neatly wrapped ribbon on top. Bought you a pair of matching shoes, wrapped them in their own smaller box. He got your favorite flowers and made a peter pan themed invitation, buying one last secret gift he was ready to go to your house. He stacked the boxes on top of each other placing them in front of your door, putting the vase of flowers beside it and gently setting the invitation in plain sight leaned against the vase. Hongjoong rang the doorbell and ran off, disappearing before you could see him.

(Ignore the writings, that's the invitation)

That morning before the date, Hongjoong went to the park to clean up and set up. He went around cleaning up any trash, any animal 'mess' that was left behind to assure you wouldn't step in it on accident. He wiped down the gazebo, despite not being the most cleanly member Hongjoong was obsessed with every single thing being perfect. After everything in sight was cleaned up, he began setting up.

He took the fairy lights from his shopping bag and wrapped them around all the posts and all around the outter ceiling of the gazebo pkugfing then into am extension cord and assuring all the lights worked. He also hung up two speakers from the inner ceiling. Next he blew up the air mattress and put it in the center of the gazebo making it with the silk sheets he bought previously. He did his best to leave no wrinkles behind, though it was a struggle leaving him slightly annoyed - though he will never admit to kicking the mattress in frustration. Adding the last details of linning up the, possibly too many, fluffy pillows and placing the fluffy blanket in an abstract position. He placed his laptop on the center of the bed, the movie pulled up and ready to be watched the internet and speakers connected, he made sure there would be no technical problems ahead of time.

With a few hours to prepare before you'd be arriving, Joong took a bag of clothes and soaps from his car sneaking himself into the pool shower room to get ready. He doesn't have the time to drive home and get ready but he doesn't want to smell or look bad for you either, so, he used the showers that happened to be 'off limits'. Since the pool was closed, the shower rooms were supposed to be closed as well. However, the door was unlocked and the water wasn't shut off so could you really blame the guy? He was desperate!

After his quick shower and getting ready in his nice suit he snuck out of the shower area and back to his car, having exactly 45 minutes before you would be here. He finished the last of the preparations, running across the street to the store to buy a few last minute foods since his members ate the ones he had previously prepared. He got some pre-made sandwhiches from the deli - your favorite kind, some Champaign (or punch if you're not an alcohol person), and some chocolate donuts that he labeler 'Mr. Smees Cannon Balls' for your dessert. All he had left to do was set up the snacks neatly on the bed making sure no crumbs got onto the sheets.

Finally everything was perfect, set up just the way he had imagined. Just in time, he saw your car on the road about to turn into the parking lot. Full of excitement he hurried to meet you, making sure not to mess up his suit in the process. He waited at the end of the sidewalk, his hands crossed in front of him, legs standing balanced like one would at the end of the alter on their wedding day. His smile was so pure and wide. He waited, waited for you to step out of the car.

When you did, his jaw dropped. A 'wow' fell from his mouth. Seeing you in the outfit he picked out, watching as you stepped out of the car looking like a super model straight out of one of those slow motion movie scenes, his heart dropped and it felt like time had stopped. Nothing in the world is more gorgeous than you are. As you called out his name, approaching him happily, he snapped back into reality.

"Wow, you look...perfect.."

He managed to whisper out as he reached forward and grab your hand. He lead you both over to the gazebo, turning on the lights and watching your reaction. The way your face lit up, the excited squeel noise you made most likely unintentionally, your smile, it made Hongjoong feel full inside. He found his treasure in the form of a Goddess/God.

"I hope you like it.. I know it isn't much, but I wanted to do something to bring your smile back.. I wanted to do something special to show you I love and appreciate you in case I don't tell you I love you enough..."

He slowly faced you amd took both of your hands, walking backwards and leading you up to your surprise as he tried not to cry if happiness.

He helped you sit down on the mattress, poured you a drink, made sure you were comfortable before he went to his side to sit right beside you. He introduced the foods to you, waited for you to eat and give him the 'ok' before he started the movie. Once it was on, once you laid your head on his shoulder, he knew this is how things should always be.

Admittedly, Hongjoong did more smiling and staring at you than he did the film. You may not have noticed since he turned his jead towards the screen just in time every time you would turn to look up at him so that you wouldn't notice. As the night went on, you both slowly moved closer together and more down the mattress into a laying position. He happily pulled you closer to him so you were both facing one another and laying on your sides as you watched the film. He enjoyed feeding you donuts and teasing you to 'open up' so he could feed you, despite you insisting you could feed yourself this was much more his style. Taking care of his lover and spoiling you.

Once the dancing scene came on, as Peter and Wendy were soaring together through the sky and dancing with each other, Joong reached into his pocket.

"There is one more thing.. I have something for you that you can keep with you.. When you get stressed or feel alone you can look at it and remember I'm always a part of you and you are a part of me... We complete one another jagi."

He pulled out a matching necklace from his pocket, the one for you, and the other he pulled out from underneath his shirt.

"You are my compass.. You always give me direction and help me find my way when I'm lost. I don't know where I would be without you..."

He began crying as he put the necklace on you, clicking it into place and carefully fixing your hair around it.

"And I am your anchor.. I will always be here when you need me. I want to give you a safe landing and steady home. I just want to keep you safe and secure for as long as you will allow me.."

He reached up and gently caressed your cheeks, wiping your tears away with his thumbs and pulling your faces together so he could kiss you through the moonlight that shined on your faces and bodies, lighting up the laptops screen in a perfect glow.

Pulling away just as the dance scene ended, Hongjoong continued to talk to you over the movie as you both cuddled and watched together.

It's safe to say the night didn't end quite as he had intended. You were both supposed to dance together on the pier right beside the lake under the moonlight, him as your Peter Pan you as his Wendy Darling but in the end you fell asleep on his chest smiling as the movie credits played in the background. Deciding to just stay this way with you, instead of waking you, Hongjoong ended up falling asleep himself deciding this ending was better than the one he dreamed of. He felt content and happy in your arms, glad that he was able to make you smile in the end. Mission success...

So there you slept, laying in each others arms as your necklaces fall together on top of each other becoming one for the night. Pillows fallen of the bed scattered around the gazebo floor and your shoes kicked off to the side as you lay snuggled under the blankets. The moonlight covering your bodied as the laptop eventually timed out, or died. Owls chirping and the light splashing of the lake behind you pulls this perfect night to an end.

I have the other 7 parts envisioned but not written yet, so if you guys liked this part I'll write the others! Also if you want to suggest future ideas, I'm open to anything :)

[msduplicities]

Chapter 30: The morning after

At 6:30 am, Eunha woke up to a call from Jimin.

“What do you want?” She asked, still with eyes closed.

“Eunha-ssi,” He said in a raspy voice. “I feel like I’m dying,”

She knew exactly what Jimin meant. Eunha could barely open her eyes; she had the worst headache she’d had in years, and she didn’t know if it was just a hangover or if she was sick.

“Are you there?” He asked, a little worried with her silence. “Can you make me a cup of tea?”

“Why would I get out of bed to make you a cup of tea?” Eunha complained, wanting to keep sleeping.

“Because I’m not feeling well,” he said whining. “And I know you’re the only one awake,”

“Well, that’s thanks to you!”

“Sh!” Midori, who was peacefully sleeping on the couch in the guest room, threw a pillow at her.

“Please,” Jimin said. He sent a picture at her, and she opened it to see what it was.

"I feel like I'm dying!" He said.

“I’m showing Sooah this picture if you don’t leave me alone,”

“No, show her this,” He sent her another photo.

“Ugh,” Eunha got out of bed, knowing she couldn’t go back to sleep even if she tried. “I don’t even know where the things are,”

She left Sooah sleeping in the room and avoided entering the bathroom as she saw Ji-Eun was missing from bed. She tried to be very quiet, assuming everyone was still asleep, but when she arrived at the kitchen, she was surprised by Namjoon and Ji-Eun, who were peacefully talking with a cup of coffee in their hands.

“Good morning, love,” Ji-Eun said with puffy eyes and a smile. “Want some coffee?”

“Uh… yeah, actually,” She said, confused with the scene but still not complaining. “Did you get any sleep?”

“Oh yeah, I just woke up an hour ago,” Ji-Eun said. Eunha stared at Namjoon, who was reading the newspaper, minding his own business.

“What about you, Mr. Kim?” Eunha asked Namjoon, who turned to look at her just then.

"Mr. Min is my father," Namjoon said, putting the newspaper down. "Call me Namjoon," He laughed at his own attempt of a joke, which actually made it funny. "Are you ok, sweetie?" Ji-Eun asked, seeing the state Eunha was. "My head will explode," she said, as Ji-Eun checked her temperature with the back of her hand. "I don't get why I feel like this, I didn't even drink that much," "I think you've got a fever," Ji-Eun said, now touching all her face to prove if she was right. Namjoon stood up and left the room briefly, coming back with a thermometer he put in Eunha's mouth without notice. "37°, above normal but still good," Namjoon said after a few seconds. "Do you want some medicine or would you rather something more natural?" "I'm fine," Eunha found the whole situation slightly annoying and weird, feeling like she was at her parent's house again. "I think I need more sleep,"

“Yeah, he’s not feeling well either,” Eunha explained, drinking from her coffee, forgetting about everything wrong in the world for a few seconds. After Ji-Eun served her the cup of tea, she took both cups in her hands and headed upstairs, leaving the odd pair alone again, making a mental reminder to ask Ji-Eun about her relationship with the guy when they were back home.

She carefully walked to the oldest guy’s room and gently knocked the door a few times, hoping she wouldn’t wake anyone else. A few seconds later, Jimin opened the door. He didn’t look good at all, which worried her instantly, making her forget that she was upset with him for making her come up.

“Wow, you’re not joking,” Eunha said. “You look like crap,”

“It’s lovely to see you, too,” Jimin said, taking the cup of coffee in his hands instead of the tea. Eunha handed him the right cup and took hers instead.

“Do you have a fever?” Eunha asked, concerned by how harsh his voice was.

“No, I think I drank and yelled too much.” He explained, drinking from his tea. “You don’t look too well either”

“That’s because I should be sleeping, but you woke me up,”

The door of Jin’s room opened a bit more behind Jimin, leaving just enough space for Taehyung’s face to show up.

“What are you doing?” He said in a deep sleepy voice. Eunha got distracted by the glimpse of his exposed shoulders that Jimin couldn’t cover.

“Eunha brought me a cup of tea,” Jimin said, just as sleepy as his friend.

“Is that one for me?” Taehyung asked, looking at the cup she was holding.

“No, this is mine,” she said, she couldn’t dare to lift up her gaze.

“Shut up!” Jungkook yelled from the room.

“Is… someone else awake?” Jimin asked though Eunha knew exactly who he was asking for.

“Namjoon and Ji-Eun are downstairs, everyone else is still sleeping,” Eunha explained. Taehyung left them alone for a while, going back inside the room. She leaned closer to Jimin, making sure only he could hear her. “Why didn’t you tell me he was awake… and shirtless!”

“Want to come in?” Jimin asked with a smirk as he drank from his cup of tea. Taehyung came back, this time wearing a hoodie, and he opened the door fully to come outside. “Where are you going?”

Taehyung didn’t answer, he simply walked away and climbed the stairs that led to the third floor. Eunha turned to look at Jimin, asking for an explanation but he simply laughed.

“Is he upset?” Eunha asked.

“He’s always upset,” Jimin said, drinking from his tea.

“Do you think he wanted some too?” Eunha asked and Jimin only looked at her with his eye smile. “What?”

“It’s cute,”

“What’s cute?”

“Seeing you nervous with a crush,”

“He’s not a crush, shut up” Eunha drank from her coffee and walked away from Jin’s room. “I’m going back to sleep,”

“Thanks for the Tae, I mean, the tea,” Jimin said before he went back inside.

When Eunha arrived at the guest room, she found Sooah still asleep, spread on the whole bed. Midori was covered from head to toes with a blanket, also sleeping. Eunha paced around the room, not knowing where to sit, but decided it was better if she fully woke up and helped Yoongi prepare everything for his trip. Just then, it hit her how much she was going to miss him.

He was probably still asleep, and she should leave him like that. Still, Eunha wanted to help him somehow, and she knew coffee was always a way to get to Yoongi’s heart. Continuing her way back downstairs, Eunha found Namjoon and Ji-Eun making breakfast comfortably, which still was weird to see since she knew nothing about the guy.

“Sorry to interrupt again,” Eunha said, walking to the counter. “I’m making more coffee,”

“We’re making pancakes for everyone,” Ji-Eun announced.

“We’re also making Haejangguk for those who need it,” Namjoon said, preparing the hangover soup next to Ji-Eun. “I can’t promise much, I’m not the best cook.”

“I’m sure it’ll be great,” Eunha said with a smile. While she was grinding the coffee, she thought about Taehyung, and how he’d probably liked to drink some too. “Would anyone else like some coffee?”

“No thanks, I’m good,” Ji-Eun said.

“I’m fine, thank you,” Namjoon said. “How much gochugaru should I add?”

While they continued making breakfast, Eunha poured two more cups of coffee and carefully walked back upstairs. When she was about to knock on Yoongi's door, she got a message.

Nervously, not really sure why, Eunha climbed the stairs to the third floor. Taehyung was sitting near the fountain, his eyes still swollen from the lack of sleep.

“Hi,” Eunha said, still from the doorframe that led to the terrace. He turned to look at her a bit confused.

“Jimin’s not here,” Taehyung said, looking around as to prove his words.

“I know,” She said, carefully approaching him. She handed him the cup of coffee, and he looked at her, even more confused than he was before. Eunha didn’t know what to do or say, so she just drank from her own cup and looked away.

“This is for me?” Taehyung asked, looking at the cup of coffee in his hands.

“Uh, yeah,” Eunha said. “I thought you might need it, since you’re already awake and all that,”

“And all that,” He said with a smile, mocking her lack of words. Eunha drank in silence, looking at the sky, seeing the first rays of sun appear above the mountains.

“It’s not that hot,” Eunha said suddenly, seeing how he stared at his coffee.

“Pardon?” It took him a few seconds to understand she was talking about his intact drink. “Oh, yeah, sure,” He said, drinking from the coffee. He started coughing for some reason and she just hit him repeatedly on the back. “Sorry,”

“Are you alright? Was it too hot?” She asked, actually worried.

“No, it’s fine,” He drank again and smiled. “It’s really good, thanks.”

“I can’t do much, but I know I can do a decent cup of coffee,” Eunha said with a shy smile, drinking from her own coffee.

“It’s more than decent,” Taehyung said, drinking again. Then he smirked for some reason, probably remembering something. “You know, objectively.”

She almost choked on her coffee, knowing he was teasing her for what she said the night before. He looked away still smirking and taking another sip of his coffee.

“Did you get any sleep last night?” He asked her.

“Do I look that bad?”

“I didn’t mean that,” Taehyung said with a laugh. She even found his laugh attractive; she was a mess. So, I look good? She wanted to ask, but she didn’t find the courage she had the night before. “You said you didn’t feel good,”

“I’m fine,” Eunha hoped her coffee would refill only so she had something else to get distracted with.

“Do you want mine?” He asked; Eunha feared that he could actually read her mind. “I’m not going to finish it,”

“Oh no, don’t worry,” She said, but he didn’t give her the choice. Before she knew it, Taehyung took the cup from her hands and gave her his. Her heart skipped a beat when their hands briefly touched. Once again, she didn’t know what to do or say, so she drank form her new cup of coffee.

“Why were you up by yourself last night?” She even surprised herself with the impulsive question that had come out of her mouth. He turned to look at her eyes directly, maybe for the first time that morning, and she resisted the urge to look away.

“Sometimes I need to be alone,” he simply said.

“Oh, sorry,” Eunha thought he was giving her a message, so she got to her feet, ready to leave him alone.

“No, I didn’t mean that,” he said laughing, but also stood up. “I don’t mind if you stay,”

“I should probably help Ji-Eun with breakfast anyways,” she tried to excuse herself.

“Why aren’t you wearing your wrist brace?” He asked out of nowhere, looking at her hand.

“Oh, I don’t think I need it anymore,”

“Does it hurt?” He asked, still looking at her hand.

“Not much anymore,” Eunha wasn’t sure, but she thought she saw his own hand move slightly. “I should see if Yoongi needs help with something,”

“He’s still asleep,” Taehyung said, looking at the floor. “You’re going to miss him, aren’t you?”

“Aren’t we all?” She said with a chuckle and he just smiled. “Yeah, I’m going to miss him. He’s my best friend,”

“Is he?” Taehyung asked, genuinely interested.

“I don’t like the term, but if I were to have a best friend, I think I’d be him,” Eunha hated how overexplaining she was when she got nervous.

“I thought it was Jimin,” He said.

“That’s why I don’t like the term. They’re both my best friends,” Eunha clarified. “But it’s not like they’re better than my other friends or something,”

“Jimin is my best friend,” Taehyung said, playing a bit with his feet. “Everyone knows it, there’s nothing wrong with it,”

“I’m not trying to steal him from you,” she joked, and she was happy to see him smile at it.

“I’m not worried about that,” he said, looking at her again. “I’m not worried about you.”

“What are you worried about?” There she was again with her impulsive questions. He didn’t say anything for some seconds, which only made her more nervous.

“I don’t want things to change,” he said lifting his shoulders.

“With Jimin?” He nodded, not looking at her anymore. “But why would they change?”

Taehyung looked at her like it was obvious.

“Because of Sooah?” She bluntly asked, and he nodded. “I don’t think they’d change for bad, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t doubt she’s a good person-“

“She’s the best,” Eunha interrupted, getting defensive for some reason. He chuckled again.

“I just… I don’t know…”

“You’re jealous,” she teased him and he rolled his eyes.

“I’m not,”

“You’re jealous because you won’t have all of Jimin’s attention,”

“No,”

“I get the feeling,” Eunha said. “But you won’t be alone in this, I’m in the same position. We’ll be together in this, right?”

She put her fist in front of him and he looked at her with a small smile before punching it with his fist.

“Right,” he said.

They walked downstairs together, each knowing that they were closer now. Maybe not as close as Eunha would like, but she was happy with that.

[rixxy8173571m3w1p3]

The Truths Found On Petram Viridios IV (5/5)

A/N: The last chapter to this fic. It's a long one and I gotta say that I've had a lot of fun with this one. After I post this chapter, I'll be sure to post the masterpost for this fic. And of course it'll be available on ao3 soon enough.

Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

__________

Chapter 5: Adore You

If you had to draw a map to find the way home once you were captivated by the gaze of those trustworthy, soft eyes of his, you would surely run out of ink; pools of blue, unwavering in their affection, drew you in, and you were willing to drown in them. There were facets about them that fascinated you as much as the scales of a butterfly did; they did not shimmer, but they gleamed and sparkled; it's what made you pause and search for a wisp of an acquaintance that very first time you saw him; finding a familiarity that threatened to sweep you away. Why you even found fire in those eyes; it was there in his moments of determination and passion. Oh, how their color shifted with his moods was a type of magic you wanted to spend the rest of your life being mesmerized by. To be sure he wasn't mistaken, he dare not blink; exhibiting the full spectrum of what Billie Eilish described as ocean eyes; he had to be sure. "Y-you do?"

"Yes," you giggled. "I do."

It wouldn't occur to you till later, that he had given you a choice. For instead of the typical proposal question, where it was more asserted, Rick asked in a manner in which there was equal footing; it spoke volumes of the respect he had for you. With shaky hands, he slipped a ring whose stone was as clear and blue as his eyes and cut perfectly like a rose, the band covered in gold vines and silver leaves which weaved together; he made it himself, and if you thought back far enough, you could remember when he was ambiguous about his plans to create a new type of stone. Honestly, you didn't realize it would be for this.

"Gosh," he sniffled. "I-I promised myself that I w-wouldn't cry."

But cry he would; fat, sloppy tears that blinded one's vision. He wiped at his eyes with the sleeve of his sweater, and fought to regain composure, but lost to the new wave which followed. You gently pried his hands away from his face, softening at his tear-stained cheeks. "It's okay, you can cry if you want to. I already know how tender you are."

Goodness, how long had he wanted to do this? For while it had almost been two years in which he had last attempted to, it might've been on his mind for much longer than that; eating away at his clarity; at the self-confidence that was torn down and repaired daily. You were grateful and proud that this man wanted you; that he finally gathered the courage to ask and do as he intended and wanted. You….you had wanted this to happen, but did he know that? Your ocean of inquisitions thought otherwise.

However, it was time to quiet and quell his despondent thoughts. Your fingers dug into the collar of his sweater; the tang of nervous sweat and something so him which wafted off him made you yearn to bring him closer. The puffiness about his eyes didn't discourage you from pressing a kiss at the corner of them and from his throat came a choked sob and you were surrounded by the sounds of his disbelief; this cacophony was breaking your heart. There had to be something you could do to ease him. "Ricardo," you started, "considering the suddenness of the occasion, should we, in like fashion…my dear honey man, would you like to get married today?"

This new tidbit caught him off guard; so much so that he stopped crying; good. Now, he was the one who was unsure of whether this was real life or a simulation. He ran his fingers through his hair, double-checked his equipment, sprayed himself with water, and completed equations that had taken this earth dimension's leading mathematicians decades to understand. What you thought was odd was when he caught a pigeon, scanned its anatomy, and found it was sound; you were going to have to ask him about it later. "Rick, did you hear me?"

"Y-yes," he focused, "but what d-do you mean today? How?"

You figured he would have easily come to a conclusion, but then again, what do spacemen have to do with the price of bread?

"I mean that we don't have to wait if you don't want to." You slid your palm over his tattoo, memorizing with your fingertips where his skin was slightly raised. "We can just go down to the justice of the peace if you'd like."

"And y-you would be my wife today?"

"Yes," you giggled. "I think that's how it works."

"But what about a-a…"

"A wedding ceremony?" you interrupted. "Well, we can have one later. We can plan it however you want, and invite all our friends. There can be so much celebration that we'll be knocked out for a week. Until then, I just want to make you happy, and I believe the sooner the better. Okay? So, if we're going to do this, just tell me now and I'll go get the proper paperwork."

It never ceased to amaze you how easily he flitted through emotions as though it were the weather, and with vigor, he lifted you up and vibrated with joy. "Boy, golly gee…this really - this really razzes my b-berries! This is…wow, I-I can't believe it."

You couldn't believe his word choice either. "Oh, you better believe it, because now you're stuck with me and I have you all to myself. However, you're going to have to put me down now because the office closes at five. There are a few things I need to do before then."

Letting you down, he happily waved goodbye despite the fact that it wouldn't take long to get what you needed for this impromptu occasion. Though, when you entered your house, you took a moment to think about your father. There were things you still didn't understand, like why he never told you about his friendship with Rick, or why you two never really discussed what he'd do if you got married; if he had been here, maybe you two would have talked about which flowers would look best as centerpieces; like whether roses or mums were cheerful enough or if this really was a good idea; if such an age gap was surmountable. Yet, in a way you felt as though you were honoring him; for your father and your mother had been unconventional and had gotten married without all the showy displays then road tripped a bit before settling here; you were simply following tradition.

Maybe, you didn't have to know about the why's and what-ifs, but focusing on what you could do seemed a whole lot easier to do. You kicked off your sneakers and dashed upstairs. You knew where your important documents were, but you thought that choosing a cute outfit would take a little longer. You wanted a certain vibe, one that would make things easier on him and then it came to you; why not revisit an old favorite; one that reminded you of his eyes; always, forever blue.

When you returned, you found him pacing around. He was deep in thought, and it took a moment for him to notice that you had returned. Almost comically, his eyes widened as he took in your appearance, and he started to cry again. "That's th-the dress. From that one time."

"It sure is."

With a twirl, you flaunted the blue chiffon dress, and felt like a dream; his visible adoration was not lost on you. It was a relief that this time you hadn't taken an hour to fuss or worry that you weren't dressed for the part, and you weren't wearing shoes which would kill your feet, but instead rocked some converse. "These shoes are made for walking and that's just what I'll do."

Unlike you, Zeta-7 wanted to fuss and choose something dressier, but you somehow managed to convince him that his blue button-up would be fine, and no tie was necessary; hidden ray guns were allowed just in case this happened to be the day that the Gromflomites attacked; not even Earth-based military scanners would be able to detect them. Though, you did allow him to fix up his hair, because one, you thought he was quite handsome with it combed back, and two, it's what he felt he needed to do to look the part. "How do I-I look?"

"Like the man I'm going to marry. Are you ready handsome?"

With a nod, he grabbed the folder with all the documents he needed. "Y-you bet."

______________

At the courthouse, the entire security staff grouped together and teased you about your keys; you should've known that you'd face trouble once you went through the metal detector; you had a lot of keychains; they were from the days when you and your father would go shopping together. Like Rick, he liked yard sales and thrift stores; sometimes he'd get grab bags and there would be vintage keychains, and he'd give them to you knowing you'd like them. You were told by one of the older guards that it wasn't natural for a grown woman to have a set of keys that weighed five pounds. Zeta-7 began to worry, but you told him you could handle it, and you figured the guards were bored and had nothing else to do. What you didn't tell them was that the main reason your keys were heavy was that you were carrying two sets; yours and your father's old keys; Rick knew, but he respected your wishes to leave it be.

Despite this, you two made your way to the right office; it only took fifteen minutes of going to lobby after lobby, free coffee, and endless rugs in all this indoor nothingness. And nobody knew better than Rick when it came to how much you hated paperwork, but nonetheless, you went through the painstaking process of signing this and that, wondering why they didn't make it easier for people by asking yes or no questions; this better not become someone's confetti. Rick breezed through it all, and you were slightly jealous that he knew what he was doing, but it was due to the fact that citadel paperwork was a lot more frustrating and difficult; he had to go through stacks of it weekly; poor man. While he sat quietly, you were in-between forms that had to be signed in triplicate and heard the gossip coming from the people who were working in the back of the office. What they didn't know was that their ignorance made you more determined; you'd fought your own expectations, that of others, as well as what seemed right to do long enough and no one, not even death itself was going to stop you from doing this; it was the best thing you could ever do for yourself and for him as well. You breathed a sigh of relief when you and Rick finally signed the marriage certificate; finally, it was done, and he watched rapturously as you set down the pen so that he could kiss you without refrain.

If you hadn't known better, you'd say the world shied away; dissolving into a plane of nothingness as he enveloped you with a strength that was deceptive for a man of his years; he had become a little more confident; it might've taken a few years, but all you knew was that it suited him. Being nurtured and cared for, as well as loved in the right sort of environment did wonders on Zeta-7; so much so, that he could hold the world in the palm of his hand and still manage not to damage it. It wasn't shocking that some found this outward display sweet, and you almost had hope for humankind, but then there was a laugh or two from the back; you made a mental note to consider moving off Earth. No one was going to ruin this moment for him, and relishing the moment, you chased his mouth for a second kiss; you know, to prove your point.

And if you hadn't already been proud of him, what made you even prouder was what he said on the way out. "Please stop laughing at m-my wife. Th-that's very rude."

His wife? Yes, you were his wife now. It's strange how you could wake up and wonder what you should have for breakfast and be here where you were now; in a whole new chapter of your life; wondering what will come next. Confusing yes, but not something to be afraid of; you welcomed this happy transition.

Back at the car, you were still recovering from his earlier outburst; the like which was almost out of character. "Did you see the look on her face? I thought it was going to fall off with how far her jaw dropped. Wasn't it a sight?"

Though, he was busy staring at the ring on his own hand which you had picked out when you two made a stop at a consignment shop earlier. It wasn't that complex like yours, but he loved it. "All I could see was - was you."

"You flirt."

You gave his shoulder a playful shove, and in turn, he laughed a full-on belly laugh; this happy noise was music to your ears. "Gosh, I-I mean it. Y-you, look so pretty today." A bit shyly, he commented. "Blue looks very good on you."

"Thank you. So, how should we celebrate? A trip to the moon perhaps? Going across the universe? Maybe a kaiju fight with Matango? Or watching Spiderman 2? Honestly, I'm game for anything."

You had decent shoes on and didn't care what he wanted to do because you were happy if he was happy. And as though it were just another afternoon, he glowed with happiness when he asked. "Mrs. Sanchez, do you - do you want to go get some ice cream?"

Some things will never change and you didn't mind that. "I'd love to. As the author, L.M. Montgomery once said, 'I guess ice cream is one of those things that are beyond imagination.' And, you know, it's so true. I intend to go all out with the toppings today. It's certainly that kind of occasion."

______

He couldn't seem to want to let go of your hand; as though the world would fall away if he didn't and that this would turn out to be a cruel dream. Still, you humored and spoiled him. As intended, you got all the toppings; Rick thought it was a kids dream come true with the amount of candy you had in your waffle bowl. And since you had enough to share, you took the liberty to feed him. He chatted on; offering charming stories from his band days; unlike other Ricks who were in a rock band called Flesh Curtains, his band had been a jazz and bossa nova trio; the band name had been comprised of a numerical equation; if you had named them you would've called them the Zeta Bytes.

Now, Rick wasn't a messy eater, but during one of his more excitable stories, he spilled a bit on the corner of his mouth. Ready with a napkin, you wiped it away, and couldn't help but laugh at how boyish it was. Giving your hand a squeeze, he absentmindedly brushed his thumb on the back of your hand; adoration coloring his voice. “You're t-t-too good to me.”

"There's no such thing. If anything, I gotta spoil you rotten."

You found no hindrance in his mood and this time he didn't think twice about kissing you then and there as he liked while you were still holding the napkin; fear and shame of public displays of affection being one less thing to worry about now. Who cared if your ice cream was melting, because your heart was melting; his mouth tasted of chocolate and promises. A soft chuckle escaped him as he pulled away; his promise whispered against your lips. "I-I promise I'll be good t-t-to you."

Being loved suited him; it really, really did wonders on his countenance and it made you wonder what else he could now do.

_________

By now you were a little tired, but Ricks contagious energy invigorated your spirits; you bet he could've come up with an invention and completed it today if he stayed this hyped up. Instead, he used that energy to make fresh rolls to go with the leftover acorn squash soup; you hadn't been that hungry, but you enjoyed it nonetheless. And when dinner had been eaten, you helped him with the dishes; nothing you hadn't done before, but his spirit was lighter and more at ease; he even bumped your hip with his as a gesture of playfulness. After cleaning up the kitchen, he decided that he'd like to take a shower and refresh himself and in the meantime, you stepped out into the backyard to enjoy the beauty of the night. In this part of town, despite the light pollution, you could see a fair amount of stars.

You had never studied astronomy, but Rick had shown you in diagrams and in textbooks of their names and explained how they were formed; to him, their complexity was like poetry, and it made them beautiful. You couldn't recite it by memory, but you had a feeling that beyond your current comprehension perhaps there was life amongst those heavenly bodies, despite the heat or deadly gases; if you had learned anything about space, it was that worlds were more along the lines of art and beauty than fields of science which were easily explained. Yet, in the air, where there was a sweet perfume, thick, but intoxicating, only where you were currently mattered; you saw that in the leftmost part of the yard there was jasmine which was currently in bloom; its blanket of flowers reminding you of snow. Hadn't you read of this somewhere before? Maybe.

In the grass near your feet, grasshoppers leaped away, and crickets chirped their songs. And you relished the strong breezes and the song of the night which may consume a melancholic heart if it were searching for tragedies instead of sweet dreams. And it had only been a few hours ago when you had thought that all of which transpired might've been a dream. Though, whatever truths that had come to light in the hours after the simulation, you were glad of them.

In the dark, sights and sounds were heightened and mesmerizing, albeit curious in its own right; if it hadn't been for the sound barrier Rick had on his property, you would've heard the obnoxious sound of the next-door neighbor's TV as they watched infomercials. Still, it was a beautiful night. Sitting on the bench which overlooked the whole yard, you thought of what wonderful things you'd like to share with Rick, and then he found you. For his part, he had changed into something more relaxed; into a light blue button-down that was similar to the one he was wearing earlier, but this one was softer, and it was paired with navy pants; it reminded you of blue pants Rick with his attire, but it was cute and suited him. With him, he had brought over a tray of goodies and you two ate cookies and cakes and drank earl grey under the moonlit night.

The pause in conversation gave allowances for observations. For example, you took a good long look at him as he sipped his tea; admiring how casual he appeared tonight. Without his labcoat or sweater, his identity seemed separate from that of his dimension jumping, scientist self; making way for the person deep inside; the friendly neighbor who won your heart without even trying. He noticed eventually that you had been staring at him, and he broke the silence with his inquiry. "What are y-you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking about you cutie. You um….you look really good in those blue pants of yours. Thinking of taking up modeling anytime soon?"

"N-no," he answered with an air of obliviousness that you found endearing. "not unless my next work assignment requires it. Gee, why do you ask?"

"Hmm, it's because you wear your clothes well. I always thought you did, but I don't believe I ever mentioned it."

He ruminated on what you said for a few minutes, before setting down his cup. "Did you - did you always find me attractive?"

"No," you confessed. "but you're the only person I've ever really been attracted to. I…..I always liked the fact that our relationship was built on something more substantial. You see, the more I got to know you, the more irresistible I found you. Though," you winked. "those teeth of yours were always too cute to resist."

This truth of yours made him comfortable enough to relinquish one of his own. "C-can I tell you a secret?"

"It's not much of a secret if you tell me dear, but you can tell me anyway."

Wringing his hands together, he confessed solemnly. "That day y-you tripped on the sidewalk nearby my house, I-I almost decided not to cross the road."

Not cross the road? Hmm, it had been an option. In your mind's eye, you could imagine it; the tall, lanky figure of a man debating against his better judgment on what he ought to do; so close but so far; knowing that he was altering the course of his future and putting yours at risk. Poor man, having to wallow over a moral dilemma like that. "Why is that?"

"Gosh, y-you….I didn't want to take advantage of the situation."

It could've been taken that way, but you never thought so. "So what changed your mind?"

"I thought you were going to cry, and I-I didn't… I didn't want you to suffer anymore. I thought t-to myself, that if I got t-t-to know you, then you wouldn't have to be lonely anymore."

When he said this, you nearly couldn't look at him; not because he knew more than he let on, but because who knows what paths you two would've taken if he hadn't shown up that day. Tears bit at the back of your eyes, and your nails bit into your palms. "Dear, love isn't always a cure for heartache," He tensed up at this, but you knew you had to tell him. You weren't upset because you had guessed as much, but being assured of it cemented the fact. "but I'm sure that without you, without your friendship, I might not be here right now. I think I was depressed, and from time to time I still feel that way. I…I have thought of ways to make my troubles end, ways you might not have been proud of, but you've shown me a better way to live. I think…no, I know that by expanding my horizons, I understand now that there's so much to look forward to, and not to take life for granted. Why," you paused, fighting the tears which threatened to fall. "you reminded me that I gotta make the most of this crazy, unpredictable life, and I'm happy that I'll get to do that with you."

He understood and accepted this answer and gave you a look of adoration and pride; the like that you hoped you'd always remember. And when you two were done with tea, you both took a walk about the garden. The sweet perfume of jasmine intermingled with that of the scent of his soap, and combined with the candor of his speech made this place feel like a well of comfort. He followed behind you as you two spoke, and you were conscious of the fact that with his freshly washed hair brushed back, it made him more appealing. His hands were in want of yours as he matched your pace, and you felt slightly mischievous as you'd skip or teased him to catch you; it wasn't long until he gathered you in his arms and laughed, and you asked without much seriousness for him to let you go, but while he loosened his grip, he didn't let go entirely. "Gosh, y-you make me feel so young. It - it feels so good to have you in my arms."

"Oh, really?" you giggled. "That's great to hear."

Pressing a kiss to your temple, he sighed. "It's unfortunate that I'm so old."

"That's okay. I like you as you are. It goes well with your personality."

"Thank you mi corazón. It feels good to hear that. However, can I-I ask you something?"

"Mhm."

"¿Si hubiera s-sido más joven, habría marcado la diferencia?"

"If you had been younger? I don't know. Possibly," you admitted. "I might've been less reluctant about my feelings at the beginning, but I truly don't know. I'd like to think that I'd still would've fallen for you anyway. You're a wonderful man Ricardo, you don't have to doubt that, anyone can see that. It doesn't matter how old you are, but it's who you are."

"Y-you're right." With reluctance, he allowed his arms to drop to his sides, and he wondered. "It um - it's getting late. Should I-I walk you home?"

Was he forgetting that he didn't have to? Maybe not. Perhaps he needed a sign; one that said that any suggestion of further intimacy was alright. "I thought I was home." you answered, "Don't you want me to stay?"

Scratching the back of his neck, he nodded. "Yes, I-I-I-I do."

"Then it's settled. We'll have a big sleepover," you brightened. "and it'll never have to end. I'll borrow a pair of your pj's and hog all the blankets because I'll get cold."

"And in - in the morning," he added warmly, "w-we can have pancakes."

"Yeah, and watch enough interdimensional cable to make us go blind."

"But I-I might have to work tomorrow."

"Oh. Well, then I guess I'll just have to eat all your snacks until you come back. We might have to take a trip to Costco at some point because they sell these mushroom crisps that are to die for."

Standing under the persimmon tree, he stepped forward and gave your shoulder a squeeze. "Y-you can have whatever you want," With a strong arm slipping around your waist, you felt almost shy at the way he smiled protectingly down at you. His warm breath ghosted about your ear, and his voice was above a whisper as he confessed. “because I-I-I finally got you princess and I'm not - I'm not going t-to let you go.”

At the sound of this pet name, you felt a slight warmth rush to your cheeks, but you didn't laugh it off as you had once but agreed with warmth. “You may do as you please, Mr. Sanchez.”

And so he did. Without hesitation, he lifted your chin and brushed your lips with his thumb. His eyes sparkling with humor, promise, and a confidence that was somehow so very appropriate on his face. "I love you. I-I-I always have. From the time I first held your hand, I knew it had to be you. I would've been a fool if I - if I hadn't tried. Even now, it's hard to believe, but it's starting to sink in."

"Me too. It's unbelievable, but it's true and we have the paperwork to prove it."

Leaning down, he pressed a sweet kiss onto your lips. It was so gentle, it was as though you might break if he tried otherwise. Kissing you again, he sighed against your lips. "It's beautiful out t-tonight."

"It is."

Pressing a hand to his cheek, you softened. "But I think I'm ready to call it a night. Why don't we go in?"

Weaving his fingers with yours, he softened. "Okay."

You used to think to yourself and wonder if his house would ever be ready to receive you, but what you now realized was that it had always been ready, and only you had been waiting for it all to catch up; for him to know what he wanted and to be courageous and say; for you to know what you needed, and to accept that being yourself didn't make you any less attractive or unique and that you weren't alone; you had never been alone, for he had always been waiting. His home, why it was always home, but it was always home because he was what grounded you and you were what grounded him. And you felt so married to him then, and everything felt as it should. Nothing had really changed, except for a title, and a promise; for you two were friends as you had always been; him the happy go lucky old man, and you the silly neighbor who met him by accident, but you couldn't deny that you loved him with your entire being and so did he. As promised, he intended to do everything in his power to protect you, even as you two were getting ready for bed. His body seemed to curl around you as to shield you from whatever monsters could be hiding in the dark.

So, when it happened that you rested your head upon his chest and felt the temptation of sleep washing over you, you pressed a light kiss to his cheek and confessed softly. "I can't wait to wake up next to you."

Fin