applekuni

[applekuni]

Stellan woke with a start, chest heaving as he felt sweat drip down his pale face. Another nightmare. A lump formed in his throat, but whether it was from the nightmare itself or just from the shame of having one, he didn’t know. With trembling lips, he palmed at his eyes, trying to stop the tears before they could come. Here, in this unfamiliar place, there was no mother to comfort him from the horrors she had a hand in creating. There was just the soft breathing and snores of his roommates who seemed to want nothing to do with him, even when they were awake. He had tried to get used to it, the way people only ever looked at him to roll their eyes or make a snide comment, but it ate away at him. Stellan was sensitive besides the new environment and new people; all the comments felt like two tons had been placed on his weak shoulders. 

There was only one place he could think to go to get rid of the ache in his chest.

He cracked open the door to Epel’s shared room, only opening it wide enough to slip into. A yellow sliver of light spilled onto his bed, as if highlighting exactly where Stellan wanted to go. He would recognize that lavender hair anywhere. The boy inched forward, closing the door softly behind him to try and not wake anyone. He had successfully escaped his roommates without a single movement from them, but now he had three more to try and stay quiet for. After a few floorboard creaks he thought for sure would give him away, he found himself at the edge of Epel’s bed, warring between the thought of waking him up or letting him continue his peaceful sleep. Stellan opened his mouth as if to say something, to call out, but then thought better and instead started to crawl onto the bed. 

It was already warmer than his as he laid down far away from Epel, fighting the urge to cuddle next to him, nustling into his chest and listening to his heartbeat until all the ideas of sharp toothed men and thorned plants faded away entirely. He curled up, knees hanging over the edge in his distance and squeezed his eyes shut. It took what felt like an eternity for the golden boy to fall asleep, but the nightmares didn’t return that night. 

Epel roused from his sleep not long after, immediately noticing the other boy's presence in his bed. He sat up on one elbow, looking at the waterfall of golden hair spreading across his blankets, as if it belonged there. Although his brows furrowed and mouth pouted into a scowl, he couldn’t help but feel a tug at his heart. The softness that often entered his chest when Stellan was around seemed to have follow him here, so rather than wake him up and tell him to go back to his own room, Epel gently pulled the blankets up over Stellan’s shoulders, trying to ignore the way his lips were parted and enticing. With a huff and a blush on his cheeks, he flipped over and tried to fall back asleep himself. 

[applekuni]

my twisted wonderland oc stellan! he's twisted off the sundrop flower from tangled :-) he's obsessed with epel and follows him around like a little puppy! this boy has so much angst and mommy issues packed into him...

stellan grew up outside a small village in a cottage with his mother. when he discovered his um, she used it to her advantage to create a good reputation for herself in their village, not caring about how overworked she was making stellan. despite his sunny personality, he goes to night raven college because that's where his mother went and she wouldn't have it any other way. he was sorted into pomefiore and spotted vil speaking harshly to epel at the banquet (taken from epel's ceremonial robes vignette). he immediately identified with him, assuming right off the bat that epel was like him (he was wrong!).

he is a terrible people pleaser, constantly apologizing and making himself smaller to try and make others happy. most other students are annoyed by it, including epel (although he has a very "only i can be annoyed by you" attitude with stellan) so vil and others try to help him stand up for himself.

he has a special affinity for plants and animals, immediately drawn to the equestrian club and leans more into the taking care of the horses side of things.

i just wanted to write a quick bio that goes more in depth about his character! feel free to send any questions, i will answer them :-)

art is by me, template credit to haryuwu

[applekuni]

When Stellan heard it was couples night at the Mostro Lounge in celebration of Valentine’s Day, he daydreamed about using the excuse of ‘getting a nice meal for way cheap’ to ask Epel to join him. He would dress nice, hair braided behind him, and Epel might finally wear that hairclip Stellan had given him months ago. Epel might brush a stray hair out of Stellan’s face and maybe they would even order a milkshake with two straws. Before he could continue the daydream, a fierce slam of Professor Crewel’s hand on the desk in front of him startled him out of the daze. His cheeks flushed as he shrunk in on himself, quickly writing down the ingredients he saw on the board.

The only thing he didn’t anticipate through his fantasies, he wouldn’t even dare to daydream it, was Epel asking him out first. It was still cold, snow still found places to keep from melting in the shadows, when it happened. Stellan had been following Epel around the courtyard, walking far enough behind so Epel couldn’t touch him, but close enough that he wouldn’t lose sight of the lavender haired boy. When Epel turned around to face him, he instinctually covered his ears and squeezed his eyes closed as he prepared to get told off again. After a few moments of silence, he opened one eye and saw Epel wasn’t yelling, in fact, he wasn’t speaking at all. He stood stiffly, cheeks puffed out as they tinted light pink; it was an expression Stellan had never seen before, which made him nervous. The golden haired boy uncovered his ears, staring at his companion with big eyes, waiting for something to happen.

“Epel, I’m s—”

“D’you wanna come with me to the Mostro Lounge?”

Stellan’s cheeks flushed. Surely, this was just a daydream, surely, any moment now and Rook’s voice would ring out, telling him to focus on his homework before Vil caught him wandering in his mind. The longer he stared, the more anxious Epel seemed to get. That wasn’t anything like the daydreams, but then again, neither was Epel asking in the first place.

“M-Me..?” He stuttered dumbly.

“Who else? I’m not looking at anyone but you.” Epel’s hand clasped over his mouth as the words came out far more… embarrassing than he anticipated. A healthy red covered his cheeks, nearly turning him into one of those apples he so adored, as a similar color seemed to overtake Stellan.

“Y-Yes, yes! Definitely! D-Did you want to study—? Or if you wanted to c-copy my notes, that’s fine too!” He smiled big, something genuine that he couldn’t hide, especially not in front of Epel. Stellan didn’t care if it was just to study, just to read, he didn’t care the reason at all. He would do anything to spend an extra moment with Epel.

Epel started again, but shook his head and looked away, using the hand covering his face to push a lock of hair behind his ear. “Just… Don’t bring any school junk…”

Before Stellan could pry further, Epel ran away, heels clacking against the stone until he could no longer be heard.

Stellan felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest. He stood there for a little longer, too long, before breaking into an elated run to get back to his dorm room as quickly as possible.

—

The Mostro Lounge was loud in its decorations, to put it lightly. Strings of hearts were hung from light to light, pink and red table cloths covering the tables in favor of leaving the white marble showing. Stellan thought it was cute, but the crowd made him feel small. It seemed he and Epel weren’t the only ones who happened to be interested in the couples night. One of the employees slid into view and asked him if he had a reservation. With a sudden shame, he shook his head, looking down at the floor to avoid eye contact. A reservation? He had no clue he would need one. Did Epel know they would need one? What if this was some kind of joke?

Before Stellan could get too lost in his mind, before he could even make it out of the lounge, someone caught his wrist in a gentle grip. He looked up to see Epel looking at him with that same expression before, the one he had yet to decipher. The employee smiled at the pair before speaking, “I see. You’re Mr. Felmier’s date. Right this way,”

He led them to a table while Stellan fought off the urge to melt right into the floor. Date?! Sure, he would probably assume that’s what something like this was between two other people, but he didn’t dare actually speak it into existence, much less let himself think it between him and Epel. His honeyed eyes glanced in Epel’s direction, although the boy seemed to pointedly not be looking back. It made Stellan smile from the gentleness of it. Instead of an annoyed cold shoulder, it was just a flustered pretending-to-be-looking-at-something-else.

It was innocent, which Stellan wasn’t used to.

They got a small booth away from the noise, quickly being handed two themed menus in addition to the two regular ones already lying on the table. Stellan held it in front of his face, pretending to peruse it carefully while sneaking glances at his date. When Epel met his eyes after the fourth or fifth glance, he hid behind the menu, suddenly speaking in a volume he couldn’t tell was too quiet or too loud for the environment.

“This one is so cute!”

He flipped the menu to show Epel the photo he was pointing at. It was a sweet looking milkshake, topped with a ball of ice cream decorated to look like a cat, amongst other things that would probably cause a stomach ache later. Stellan could tell Epel tried to hide the grimace at the idea of being spotted drinking something so… adorable, but when he looked at him with those big eyes, suddenly Epel was asking the waiter for two. When they finally came, they looked even more sickeningly sweet than in the photo, which at least Stellan seemed happy about.

It wasn’t the shared milkshake for two that he daydreamed about, but as he watched Epel begrudgingly take a sip, basked in the blue lights of the lounge, Stellan realized he would take this over the daydream any day.

[applekuni]

₊˚ʚ 🌱 ₊˚ finn / 20 / he ʚɞ twisted wonderland

ʚɞ dedicated to my oc stellan 🌻 his profile

in universe with keao, felix ʚɞ

ʚɞ feel free to send asks

yume with epel felmier ! sometimes art, sometimes fic