#'cause when i work in color from the get-go i tend to just change hues instead of values as well

[crigeartist]

Piglin headcannon stuff

This is a special interest not an English essay, if you comment on my spelling or sentence formulation I will blow you up with my mind.

Netherrack has different 'variants' depending on other substances its exposed to and mixes with. Netherrack near the lava oceans melt very slowly, (like, over thousands of years years slowly) which has caused them to condense into a sandstone like mineral that is much more fire resistant. It's darker in coloration (similar to that of nether brick) And a little more malleable than regular netherrack, its used a lot in heavy armor and shields as a result. The presence of different minerals also affect the features of netherrack. when near a lot of soul sand, netherrack will take on a noticeably paler shade of red, while being cold to the touch. it melts much easier and quicker than regular netherrack and is generally weaker than it too. however it makes good armour for piglins that are living in higher altitudes or near the lava oceans. Netherrack exposed to gravel will be deeper in hue. It will crumble like sand in one's hand. When mixed with magma cream it becomes a gooey almost wet clay like substance. hardening like clay when heated. It acts as an amazing insulator and thus is used a lot in making houses and layers within the bastions.

There is weather, kinda. Since the nether is another dimension entirely the laws of physics and gravity don't work quite the same. all this to say that, the lava oceans have 'tides' even without a celestial body to affect them. these lava tides affect the heat of nether. particularly, it affects the higher altitudes and the areas at sea (lava?) level. because heat rises, the more the lava pools raise the hotter those areas get, meanwhile valleys or depressions in the terrain retain relatively cooler and more stable temperatures throughout tide changes. There's a pattern to these tidal changes, most easily comparable to seasonal changes in the overworld over a longer period. high tide can last ~5 human months, low tide lasting ~6 and between the two is an 'unstable season' where it can change dramatically from high to low quickly. this lasts ~3 months

like other aquatic(?) animals, striders have a mating cycle. bi-yearly (once every time the tide cycles finish twice) a massive congregation of wild striders make their way to the highest elevation near a warped forest. they then spend the time grazing and mating for ~2 human weeks.

they have their own version of the aurora borealis during low tide. when the tide goes out, lots of ash, netherrack, blackstone, basalt etc. particles go into the air, raising with the temperatures until they reach the highest point they can. Its here in which the particles can interact more freely between each other. If they reach perfect temperature and conditions, a reaction will happen that will ignite some of the particles, causing fire to 'dance' around the sky. this fire will be a wide variety of colors depending on the contents of the mineral particles in the area. a lot of tribes call it something like 'dance of gods' with a lot of religious beliefs and rituals being connected to it. It can go by a wide verity of names depending on which group of pigfolk you ask

There are variations within the species depending on the climate or biome they live in. for piglins that are in valleys or farther from the lava lakes their fur will be shorter but thicker. the hair naturally keeps them cool and resistant to lava/fire with an oil it produces, kinda like ducks, without the need to be fire resistant, a lot of valley residing tribes have shorter hair since it just weights them down. It thickens to keep them warmer since they're not so close to the heat of lava lakes. they also tend to have darker, more spottier coloration to keep them blended in with the netherrack. Species near lava lakes have longer fur, particularly on the top of their heads, on their chins, and occasionally, top to middle of their backs. They're a lot more resistant to lava and bathe in it using magma cream to keep them xtra safe from burning alive. (like sunscreen but for showering) A lot of these tribes tie their longer fur into braids and fit gold rings on it. the style depends on the tribe that they belong from. Their colors are typically brighter and more smooth between the changes of fur color. this helps them blend in with the lava and bright surroundings. Their eyes are noticeably darker, ranging from brown, purple, to full black. The reason is to protect their vision from the harsh light from the lava. a lot of these piglins are larger and bulkier than the rest. the rare few tribes that make their homes within soul sand valleys or wastelands are a little shorter and thinner than the rest. With speed unaffected by the soul sand and eyes a soul-like blue. These piglins are typically not seen out of their enviornment and often used as the boogymen in stories of piglits so they don't wander off. These piglins can go pretty long without food or sleep within their own biome. outside of it though they get more sluggish and tired. Those who venture off outside of their biome take small jars of soul sand with them in necklaces as a sort of charm to keep them from getting these tiredness spells. Okay its 1:30 and I got class in six hours so this is all yall get for now Feel free to use and modify these for your fics if you ever wanna :D

[admiringlove]

hurtful things

+synopsis: genshin boys and the hurtful things they said.

+genre: angst; headcanons.

+characters: kaeya; diluc; childe; zhongli.

+warnings: swearing; crying; implied panic attack.

+order: hey bubs! i saw you doing requests and i HAD to ask for genshin angst :) spare me some tears pls <//3 preferably w kaeya or diluc or childe :) [submitted by @crackheadsara​]

+author’s note: okay so i included zhongli bc he’s the love of my life, also i needed comfort from him after writing such hurtful things :D

+navigation: main menu, genshin menu.

— KAEYA.

“i’m better off without you.”

you know from the way your door was knocked in the middle of the night on a weekday after months, that it’s kaeya. you rub your eyes sleepily, trudging towards the door as anger and doubt fuse into a nasty green in your mind. 

you unlock the door, pulling it open to see the man with the eyepatch tapping his foot on the deck of your home impatiently. he smirks when his eye lands on you, attempting to walk in but stopping himself when he realizes you're standing at the door, unmoving. 

"kaeya, it's three in the morning. and it's monday. i have to report to jean in three hours," you mumble tiredly as you look up at him. the lamp grass by your windowsill outside and the moonlit night accentuated his cerulean eyes and contrasting coffee-colored skin. he frowns, peering down at you as he asks, "may i come in?"

you shrug, opening the door wide as you let the man in. he places his sword on the table and proceeds to walk into the bedroom when you ask, "where have you been for the past two weeks?"

"work," his reply is the same. you let out a sigh in impatience as you retort, "that's the same excuse as always."

he was tired and wanted to sleep off the fatigue from his latest mission. but when he hears you say that, something in him snaps and he turns around, his jaw clenched and a fixed glare making you a little agitated. he raises an eyebrow as he says, "well, unlike you, i am an actual important member of the knights of favonius."

"kaeya, all i meant was that you're always gone. you never write a letter back even if i send you one, and you somehow manage to come back every single time, expecting that it doesn't hurt me. what am i supposed to do?" your voice is small as you look down, hair drooping towards the ground. you're not even yelling at him, you're just worried. he always leaves you alone(sometimes you tag along, but you couldn't tell why nowadays he'd leave you alone without some sort of warning).

"does it ever occur to you that you're just a hindrance?" he bites back, thinking that you're trying to put up a front. you flinch at his words, causing him to force a jeer before he starts again, "you always come along, so maybe i wanted to be away from you for a bit. that's why i leave without a warning so i don't have to tend to your yapping all day. because i'm better off without you."

you gasp as you look up to his figure, now retreating to your shared bedroom. you hear him fall onto the bed with a content sigh as you stand there, wiping at your tears incessantly as hiccups escape your lips. you bit your tongue to stop yourself from crying, pressing a hand on your mouth to muffle the sounds so you don't disturb kaeya. you get a quick peek in, eyes widening when you see him sound asleep and tucked in. 

so that's how it was, you think. 

the next morning, kaeya wakes up to a cold bed as his arm reaches out to an empty space. his eyes immediately pry open as he wakes up, to see that you weren't here. 

ah, he ponders to himself, you must've gone to tend to your duties. 

he stretches, letting out a yawn before walking out to the kitchen. he smiles when he sees a plate of food left for him on the countertop with a note from you. but somehow, something felt very wrong about this whole ordeal. this had happened before—he had come back from insanely long missions to you before, so what felt different?

and then it hits him. the things he said last night. he frantically looks around, his azure eyes completely drowned in horror as he notices small changes in your shared household. a few picture frames are missing on the living room walls, your keychain isn't on the bookshelf anymore, and worst of all, when he runs into the closet, half of your clothes are gone. 

did you really feel that bad about what he said?

in panic, he runs out and keeps going till he reaches the headquarters of the knights. he barges in this time, not returning the greetings of the guards upfront as he walks into jean's office. 

"where are they?" he pants, "i-i messed up, do you know where they are?"

jean's eyes widen as she says, "our associates were having a hard time handling with the fatui in liyue harbor so they volunteered to go there for sometime."

"how long has it been?"

"they left long ago, it's about to be around ten hours since," she says. kaeya's heart shatters as he hears those words. he hadn't expected you to outright leave like that, but if you had said the same things to him, he definitely would've stormed out. his voice cracks as he looks at the ground in shame, "h-how long until they'll be back?"

"i.. don't know."

he regrets everything he's said. he truly does because he doesn't even notice that tears are streaming down his cheeks until jean comes to his aid. he hates himself for all of it—he hates that he has to live in a home where traces of you are visible everywhere; worst of all, he hates how he knows he lost you for good. even if you come back, he knows you wouldn’t run and melt into his arms like you did before. you’re gone now, fading into the darkness and away from him. 

maybe it was for the best.

— DILUC.

“you’re nothing but a burden.”

after taking on a few abyss mages and mitachurls, diluc lets a grunt out in pain before you see the slash on his right arm. you gasp, pulling him to the side of the lake as you pull out a bandage and cotton from your bag to clean his wounds. he's reluctant to it at first, but he sits there quietly and broods as you clean the blood with cotton and some type of healing ointment. 

you tie the bandage on his arm, a tiny bit of vermillion liquid seeping through the white cloth before sitting down next to him, finally catching a breath. sighing, you look up at him and say, "that was reckless."

"no, what you did was reckless. who told you to come along with me to dadaupa gorge? you knew what you were getting into when you came along, so don't put this on me," he grumbled, frowning as you look at him with narrowed eyes and furrowed brows. you are sort of hurt, but you know he's only saying this in faux indignation, so it's okay. you chuckle out, beginning, "diluc, i was-"

"i don't know why i even bother with you at this point," he exasperates, looking into the distance behind you. he curses slightly under his breath, his rouge eyes filled to the brim with anger as it finally overflows, "you're nothing but a burden."

your eyes suddenly flick to gape at him in disbelief. you stand up, your voice hitching in your throat as you ask, "diluc, you mean that?"

and it all simmers down into ashes when he mumbles "of course i do" under his breath. your vision is blurry as you walk away from the red-haired man, your body trembling as you almost give away that you're crying your eyes out. you walk back in the direction the two of you came from, leaving your broken heart in the hands of diluc, who sat by the lake not muttering a word after. 

he knows he's said things he doesn't mean; he does that all the time, but you probably knew that. he figures you're leaving to catch a breath of fresh air—to be away from the tension-filled environment for a bit, you had a habit of doing that at home. he sighs as he ponders over his words for a bit. he knew it was wrong to display such harshness to you, but you probably knew he didn't mean anything by it. he always bubbled over rash things when he was frustrated. 

the sun sets in front of him, painting hues of aubergine and peach as it flows down. he wonders where you are, getting up from his spot by the lake to venture towards the path you walked off. 

only when he can't find you, is when he thinks that you might've actually taken offense to his words. although he cares about you sincerely, he finishes his mission first, getting a lead on the abyss order—because protecting monstadt was his first priority. you lingered in his mind every second of every day till he finally got back home. and when he didn't find you there, he asks adelinde about it, who only shakes her head and tells him, "i'm sorry, master diluc, but i haven't seen them come back. i thought they were with you."

it all pieces together in his mind now, how a small gasp had escaped your lips when he had called you a burden. the way you nodded begrudgingly, getting up and walking away from his presence as your shoulders trembled. the way he could hear you choke back a sob, but still ignored it, thinking you had overreacted in the situation. 

he searches the whole city for you. he searches every nook and corner, and even walks into the headquarters of the knights of favonius(he ignores kaeya's teases instead of biting back this time). and when he finally sees you, he holds himself back. his hand is suspended awkwardly in the air as he reaches out for you, your back turned towards him. 

maybe this was better—maybe it was a good thing that you had walked away from him. this way, the abyss order won't be able to harm you. this way, he won't be able to harm you. this way, you'll be safe and sound, away from the storm known as diluc ragnvindr.

— CHILDE.

“it’s not like you mean anything to me.”

it's not often you see childe. he's always in liyue, and you're here, stuck in monstadt or snezhnaya. it's cold today(as it always is) in snezhnaya, the snow covered almost everything outside as you looked out of your window, sipping on hot coffee as you sigh at the wilting roses on the sill. they'd wilted when you had gone to monstadt and you didn't have the heart to plant new ones.

just thinking about the blue-eyed childish man would make your heart bloom and cheeks flustered. you longed to spend more time with him, really. if only he wasn't affiliated with the fatui, he'd be able to spend more time with you. it had been months since you had seen him, and you longed to be in his arms once again, but who knows when that'll happen again? whenever he comes home, he chooses to spend a night with you and then head back. he'd laugh alongside you, tell you about his adventures, and give small reactions when you told him about yours. and the next morning, you'd wake up to an empty bed with a small note by the table, saying how he has to leave for work.  

a knock at your door snaps you out of your entranced state. as you open the lock and look out, you see childe, standing there with a tired grin and disheveled hair as he walks in without a word. he hands you a small paper bag, saying, "i brought you back something from liyue this time."

the same excuse, you think. it's always the same. he brings back small mementos and souvenirs as a pretense for staying, and by the time you think you can forgive him, he's gone. he plops down onto the sofa, stretching his arm out so you could join him. the thought of confronting him crosses your mind, but you shake it off—since he had only just gotten back. 

the night is the same as always. talking about each others' adventures, eating dinner by the fireplace, laughing alongside one another until you hit the bed. it's quiet now as you watch over his sleeping figure, his lapis-colored eyes now hidden. you sigh as you lay there for hours on end, twiddling with his brown hair as you wait for him to wake up(so this time you can actually say goodbye). 

when his eyes flutter open, he's a little taken aback when he looks over at you to see you wide awake. his brows furrow just a smidge as he says, "you're up."

"well, i wanted to say goodbye this time," you chuckle dryly, "you always leave without waking me up."

"i don't like the way you said that," he says, getting up from his position on the bed. you look away from him, your eyes displaying hurt as you murmur, "i don't like the way you leave."

"well, it's my job. it's not like i'm an adventurer like you, wasting my time around. i'm a harbinger and i have responsibilities," he says. his voice is neither too soft and nor too prickly, and you can tell that he's a little worked up by the way he lightly nips on the skin of his bottom lip as his gaze bores into you. 

"i didn't say you don't. all i said was that you could maybe sometimes stay for more than one night. it feels like you're using me, and when you're bored, you leave."

"oh?" he cocks an eyebrow as he stands up, "i'm using you, huh?"

you grimace at the tone of his voice, and when you look at him, you notice the sheer annoyance he puts up towards you. your voice is small when you ask him if he loves you—because you don't know anymore. seeing him once in a few months for the past few years has sure hurt you more than anything, and if you don't tell him now, then you might never get a chance. 

"what if i say i don't?" he smirks, walking up to you, "it's not like you mean anything to me. what if i agree that i am using you to make myself happy until i'm bored, so i can then throw you away?"

he doesn't like what he's saying either. his mind is screaming at him to stop, but he's worked up. he's irritated by the way you jabbed at him first thing in the morning, even though he knows you're right. his heart almost stops when he looks at the expression on your face after he says those words, and as he reaches out his hand for you, you turn away. 

your voice cracks, and he's sure his heart did as well when you mumble, "i-i'd like you to leave, please."

"wait, i didn't mean-"

"tartaglia," your eyes look into his, perhaps for the last time, as you give him a sad smile, "you don't have to come back to me anymore."

it hurts him as he leaves your home that morning. it hurts him when he comes back months later to see that your home is now empty. it hurts him because he tarnished the you that was once his. 

it hurts him, but he thinks it's for the best if you stay away from him if all he does is bring you pain.

— ZHONGLI.

“i’d like you to leave me alone.”

zhongli was never one to pick fights. he was peaceful; his thoughts were positive(most of the time), and he almost always preferred to talk about his problem rather than fighting about it—he believes that fighting will only bring pain, so why not confide in one another about our problems instead?

he's quiet. he's not shy(it's quite the opposite, actually), but he's one to prefer to only talk when absolutely necessary. he's the type to listen rather than speak, saying something like, "we have two ears and one mouth. speak less than you listen."

he smiles when his mind goes back to the time when he said that to you while having a cup of tea together, and you'd replied, "my mother used to tell me that when i was a child."

because it's true; every child in liyue harbor has heard those words at least once in their lives. the quality of listening is appreciated more than the quality of speaking—and zhongli, for one, was a listener. 

you, on the other hand, were a speaker. you always woke him up every morning with a smile as bright and everlasting as the sun, babbling about breakfast and tea as he got up from the bed. you were the one that carried conversations on your shoulders on morning walks, you were the one that intertwined your fingers with his as the two of you walked amongst flowers, adoring them as you talked about the contrasting colors of silk flowers and glaze lilies. he loved you for that. he loved you because you were a speaker. he loved you because you were a perfect balance, the only one who could soften his hardened heart. the only one whom he'd chosen to wake up next to in the mornings, the only one whom he'd let ruffle his hair without asking(because he secretly liked it). 

so why had he reversed the roles tonight? why was he the one to bubble out his frustrations to you, speaking in a cold and stern manner instead of the loving tone that was only reserved for you? why was he the one to speak tonight, and why were you the one to listen?

it's not like he was actually frustrated—he was only thinking about something else as you asked him what he wanted for dinner. it surely wasn't your fault when he had poured over turbulent words to you. and he knows that the ones that hurt the most probably were, "i'd like you to leave me alone."

he looks up at the stars, a heavy sigh escaping his lips as he walks back into his shared home with you. he looks around, and when there's no sign of you, he feels himself break apart even more. 

had you actually left? he wants to run to you and tell you he hadn't meant any of those words because he hadn't. he wants to touch you, to caress you, to please you, to make you smile—and he wants to admit he was wrong. he wants to make it right, but he doesn't know where you are. 

he walks into the empty bedroom, sitting on the cold mattress as his eyes sting. he doesn't understand what's happening, or why there are small drops of water falling from his eyes. he doesn't understand why everything feels heavy all of a sudden—his heart, his throat his lungs, everything. he doesn't understand why he feels like he's trapped in a box, and the water seems to be filling up more quickly than he'd prefer. he wants to reach for air, but he can't.

he couldn't breathe without you. 

he hears the door close and immediately gets up in haste to walk to the living room where he sees you take off your boots. you turn around to see him, his disheveled hair and frantic eyes finally calming as he walks over to you and engulfs you in a warm embrace. his throat cleared up, and so did his heart and lungs as he mumbles against your ear, "i'm so sorry."

you smile smally, looking up at him as you cup his cheeks and wipe a stray tear, and mutter, "it's okay, zhongli. stress gets to the best of us."

god, how he loves you. he places a small peck on the top of your forehead as he feels his lips turn upward at your touch and the scent of glaze lilies lingering over you tells him that you'd been to the flower garden. he sleeps with your fingers weaved with his that night and pulls you even closer if you untangle with him in sleep. 

he makes a promise to himself saying he'd never hurt you like that again, and he keeps it.

© all works belong to admiringlove on tumblr. plagiarism is strictly prohibited.

[latte-fairytaekwoon]

Kickstart My Heart Pt.1 (Racer! Yeosang)

Next>>

Pairing: Racer! Kang Yeosang × Waitress/Fuckgirl! Reader (Female)

Genre: Fluff, Angst, 80s AU.

Summary: During an era known for its vibrant colors, eccentric fashion styles and rise of new yet unconventional genres of music, the young generation of that time was infamously known for their need to rebel and live their lives rather scandalously and Y/N is no exception. So when a new and attractive man moves into her town, she has her eyes set on making him her next boy toy.

Word Count: 4K+

Warnings: Dumb attempts at crackhead humor, reader is a cold hearted bitch, guy gets dumped in public, reader's friend is lowkey creepy.

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Throwing on the last article of clothing that had been discarded the night before, the young woman shook out her hair, still damp from the quick shower she just took. Picking up her bag, she looked over at the figure still sleeping soundly, the subtle hint of a smile on his face. With a pitied pout on her lips, she walked over to the edge where his face was. Taking out the lipstick tube from her bag, she applied it all over her lips, painting them in the dark burgundy color that she fancied so much and had practically become her signature hue. Bending over, she pressed her lips against the corners of his mouth, giving him the faintest whisper of a kiss before pulling away. A satisfied smirk was plastered on her pretty features as she stared at the lipstick mark on his face, the only memoir she'd leave him with as she had done with countless others.

Closing the front door behind her, she pulled her denim jacket tighter on her body, shivering slightly from the early dawn's breeze that blew across. It was always like that even though summer had just begun, the early morning hours still feeling obnoxiously cool and then transpiring into slightly uncomfortably warm afternoons that had more than one soul in that quaint town grumbling and fussing about the weather. But oh did the evenings feel absolutely refreshing, and that's when everything would start bustling to life.

Having finally made it out of that small residential area and finding one of the main roads that helped her locate where to go, she started heading south towards the all too familiar diner where she had been working in ever since her school days, first starting part time and eventually transpiring to full time when it came time for her to spread her wings and fly out on her own, a feat she had been most anxious to do to get away from the overly controlling nature of her parents. She knew they cared about her, but she herself cared very little about the morals and principles they had raised her with, a common trait all the young people in that town shared: their rebellious and headstrong nature to not conform and go against everything they had been taught thus far. Live their own lives as freely as they chose to do.

And she definitely lived as she wanted to, even if it ended up with a rather bad reputation and ugly labels that rather than infuriate her, she openly embraced, as others had come to as well.

The light twinkle of the bells above the glass door let the person at the register know someone came in and they immediately plastered on their business smile, which quickly faded when they saw who it was.

"You're late Y/N." The minuscule raven haired waitress informed her, eyes never leaving her coworker's figure that came behind the counter and started punching in her number.

"Only by like 7 minutes." She waved her slip at the nonchalant looking girl before placing it back in its respective slot.

"One day it wouldn't surprise me if you just didn't show up because you got too caught up in.... something else."

Chuckling softly, Y/N walked up behind her coworker, hands coming up to ruffle the cheekbone level bob cut hair framing her unusually small face.

"Awww come on Lynn, you know I'd never leave you hanging here to attend customers by yourself. You're my bestie." Y/N assured her, playfully poking her lips out as she tried to place a kiss on her friend, the poor girl craning her neck away as she tended to dislike physical affection.

"I will squirt ketchup on you." Lynn threatened as she picked up the cherry red bottle as a last resort to get her attacker to back away. A rather noisy struggle ensued between both girls, catching the attention of the owner and cook behind the two doors, prompting her to come out and see what was the cause of such ruckus.

"Well I'll be darned. I don't remember paying you youngsters to simply slack off and behave like the hooligans you are." The middle aged woman spoke up, her thick accent becoming more prominent. Although she had a stern look and hands placed at her hips, the girls knew she was not in reality angry at them.

Looking over at the recently arrived girl, the owner closed her eyes and sighed deeply when she took in the attire she was wearing: low cut white tank, ripped denim shorts that left little to the imagination if she bent down, fishnet tights with a few holes in them, and her beloved denim jacket that was almost always on Y/N's body.

"I swear to god, Y/N , everytime I see you wear them rags you call clothes, I feel like my body is about to collapse. Why must you insist on dressing like a common street worker?"

Y/N wasn't at all offended by her words, having grown used to and becoming fond of her boss's abrupt, direct and honest manner of speaking.

"Gotta start looking the part if I'm going to dedicate my life to the occupation." She giggled at her own joke, resulting in the older woman taking the rag off her apron and smacking her with it.

"This little runt, talking nonsense like that- get your ass back in there and change into your uniform. Can't have you prancing around here in those skimpy clothes and have all these men that come here say disrespectful things about you. Nuh uh, not to my girls." She shook her head.

"Yes Miss Audrey." Complying with the woman's wishes, she pushed open the swing doors leading to the back and quickly made her way to the corner where all the employee's cubicles were located. Grabbing the necessary items, she turned and went inside the bathroom to change into her uniform, consisting of a knee length crimson red dress, which she had actually altered so it would be shorter and display her thighs more, the cap sleeves slightly puffed up and the torso part had a trail of white buttons going all the way up to the modest v-neckline, usually most buttons were left undone so her cleavage would shamelessly peak out. Exchanging her black Doc Martens in favor of her white Nike sneakers, Y/N tied her apron around her waist, making sure it was as tight as possible so it would accentuate her curves and give her body a more flattering appearance. As she made her way out, she quickly piled her hair up before securing it with one of the many elastics she kept around her wrists, leaving out a few tendrils to fall on her temples.

Coming back out to start her daily work, she stood in front of Lynn, who merely spared her an unamused glance.

"How do I look?" Y/N asked.

"Like a total slut." Her friend answered in her usually rude way.

Rolling her eyes, Y/N grabbed a spray bottle and a rag. Making her way over to the table that had just finished being used, she quickly picked up the plates and glass, bringing them back over to where Lynn was, who took them so she could wash them in the sink. Spraying the top of the marble piece, she had began her task of wiping down the table when the ringing of the bell signaled new customers had arrived, and rowdy ones at that too.

"Damn! Is today's special fluffy sponge cake? Cause I would sure love a piece of that ass."

Y/N recognized that annoying voice even from miles away, belonging to none other than one of her old classmates, Jung Wooyoung, whom she considered a friend, if he didn't manage to irk her too much. Turning around, she of course wasn't surprised to see him surrounded by his crew of equally idiotic and adrenaline junkie friends, whom she had to admit were pleasant and fun to hang out with.

"Sit your asses down already, I'll be over in a minute to take your order." She told them before resuming her previous task, earning a scoff from the most dramatic of the group.

"Fine customer service! Don't think you'll be getting a tip from me." His words made her nearly burst into a fit of giggles.

"Wooyoung please, you never ever tip whenever you come. None of you, except Yunho." It kinda saddened her that said male unfortunately wasn't there with them at the moment.

"He doesn't tip you, he tips short stack over there." His friend with cat like eyes pointed towards Lynn, who upon overhearing him held up a rather explicit finger in his direction.

"I'll poison your food San." She threatened with a sing song tone.

"Like I wouldn't know that you already spit on it." San spat back, sticking his tongue out in his immature and infantile fashion.

"Can you guys hurry up and order already? I'm starving and we gotta head to the tracks as early as possible." The fiery red haired male known as Song Mingi blurted out, fingers tapping impatiently against the top of the table.

"If little miss g-string would care to hop her luscious ass over here, maybe we could."

Strutting over to where they sat, Y/N harshly threw the dirty rag on Wooyoung's face, causing a faint grunt to come out of his mouth.

"No matter how many times you mention my ass, I'm still not letting you tap it." She firmly stated, making Wooyoung slightly purse his lips outwards in a disappointed grimace.

"So anygays-" Mingi began.

"Umm I think you mean anyways." San corrected him.

Leaning in towards him, Mingi locked eyes on the shorter male and stared him down with an intimidating glare.

"Did I stutter Choi?"

San immediately shook his head rapidly. With a victory smile, Mingi reclined back in his seat.

"I'm just going to get the breakfast platter with some orange juice."

Y/N couldn't stifle her snort when he said his choice of drink, the other two men looking away in embarrassment.

"You've been drinking orange juice since you were in grade school Mingles, don't you think you outta start taking something more grown up? Like coffee?" San suggested and Mingi did not appreciate it.

"Coming from the one who still brings a plushie to sleep with him, your suggestion holds no value or power." He retorted.

"OK SHIBER IS NOT A PLUSHIE, HE'S FAMILY YOU JACKASS!" San sprinted up from his seat, nearly leaning across to grab Mingi by the color, but he was held back by Wooyoung.

Lynn, who had thus far stayed quiet, promptly came up with a spray bottle and consequently doused the untamed boy on his face.

"Bad kitty, bad kitty." She reprimanded him, unable to resist the opportunity to attack her long time frenemy.

"Lynn!" Y/N looked at her with surprise.

"You're welcome." Lynn replied rather monotone before going back to her place behind the counter like she didn't just spray San with disinfecting water.

"There's too many germs going around anyways..." She muttered under her breath.

Without any further interruptions, aside from the rumbling coming out of the boys' stomachs, they finished ordering what they wanted and Y/N sent it over so they could be prepared. Not wanting to be near their loud asses, Y/N went back over to where Lynn was, peeking over to see what she was currently reading in the magazine she held.

"What you reading?" She casually inquired.

"Horoscope section." Y/N wasn't surprised, her friend tended to be into more mystical, eccentric and rather.....extreme with her taste in fashion and music. If Y/N was the one who turned heads for her scandalous attire, Lynn was the one people turned away from in fear when they saw how she dressed. It was a sight that truly made both of them laugh at people's foolishness, well at least made Y/N laugh. Her friend rarely had any other expression plastered on that wasn't utter disdain for society and life.

Unexpectedly, another customer came in. Both girls looked at each other in confusion when neither of them recognized him. Their town was rather small with few people living there, so they deduced that he must be a traveler who probably got lost on his route. He himself looked around nervously, eyes barely lifting up. Y/N couldn't help herself as she took in his perfect face. Big, round eyes with crystal clear orbs, small face with a V-line jaw, perfectly sculpted nose with no sign of defects, skin smooth and blemish free, he looked like a prince out of a fairytale. He was incredibly pretty, yet stood there so awkwardly that it was almost comical.

"Hey Yeosang! You made it! Sit down! I ordered for you in advanced!" Wooyoung surprised both girls when it seemed he knew the stranger and even waved him over to where they sat. The other two boys also seem familiarized with him and welcomed him to sit with them, chatting up a storm already with him.

"Who's that?" Lynn was the one to finally ask out loud.

"Beats me.....but he sure is adorable."

Noticing the way her lips curled upwards, Lynn could already see the wheels inside Y/N's head turning.

"And I bet you're going to go over there and find out- aaand there you go." She ended up answering her own deduction as she watched Y/N happily walked over with a more bright expression on her face, that soon soured when her boss came out of the kitchen and beat her over to the table, laying down several plates of food.

"I knew as soon as I saw the orders that it had to be the lot of you." She scoffed softly as she looked at the boys' grinning faces.

"You know us Miss Audrey, we wouldn't ever think of eating anywhere else but here. You're the best cook in all of town." Wooyoung praised her with a sparkling charm that could have fooled anyone else but not the robust woman in front of him.

"Boy stop trying to tickle my ears, I've known you since you were in your soiled diapers being carried around by your mama, running around and creating chaos anywhere you went. Flattery may work on them poor girls you play with but me? I can see right through ruffians like you."

Turning her head to finally notice the new addition to the group, she looked him up and down.

"Boy who might you be?" She questioned him, earning the ears of the girls nearby to listen in for any valuable information.

"I'm..... Yeosang Kang, nice to meet you." He introduced himself, tilting his head slightly down when he said that.

"He just moved into town this week! He's the new guy who is going to work with us down at the car shop and help on the race track!" San enthusiastically shouted, making the older woman cringe.

"I may be old, but I still haven't gone deaf for you to yell in such a way boy. So...." She crossed her arms and looked at Yeosang again.

"You a racer too?"

Now the girls, particularly Y/N, were more interested in what his response would be.

"I- yes. So it seems." The poor boy looked so flustered, obviously being more of a soft spoken individual, contrasting starkly to the other 3 boys.

Miss Audrey let out a seemingly displeased hum at his answer.

"As if we needed anymore hooligans running wild. We already got enough with the 3 Stooges over here."

The girls couldn't help but snicker at their boss's words, always having a blast whenever she put the boys back in their place. They however looked displeased, glaring at them intensely.

"Shouldn't you both be off somewhere cleaning dishes or making sandwiches?"

Snatching one of the knifes, Lynn held it up and was about to jump over, but Y/N came up in front of her.

"Lynn, no. Just calm down ok? You know they're just being idiots." Y/N reminded her.

Grumbling something in a foreign language no one knew for sure if it was real or not, Lynn put the knife back, squinting her eyes at them before turning around to not look at them again. Y/N giggled softly, finding it absolutely cute whenever her friend lost her cool and collected form cause it reminded her of a chihuahua, barking and yelping at anything larger than itself trying to establish dominance.

Noticing that in her display of aggression, Lynn had inadvertently knocked over a few of the brochures that were on display for people to take, Y/N stooped down and proceeded to pick them up in a casual manner. Standing up, she neatly arranged them properly, making sure they all faced the same direction and the sides weren't poking out anywhere. Feeling as though someone had been watching her all along, she looked at the table of boys, half expecting Wooyoung's smug grin to greet her, but she was completely wrong as it was none other than the new guy who seemed unable to keep his eyes off her figure, staring intently at the length of her skirt. When he realized she noticed, his eyes went wide, cheeks burning up with utter embarrassment. Y/N however seemed unbothered by this. Wanting to test something, she pretended to accidentally drop one of the pamphlets. Bending over, she made sure he could get a perfect glimpse of her cleavage, if he payed enough attention, he'd be able to see that she was in fact, not wearing any bra. Coming back up, Y/N looked over to see the results, smirking when the agape mouth of Yeosang confirmed to her that he had indeed noticed everything.

"Oh sweetheart, you're gonna be too easy..." She had already made up in her mind that Yeosang would be her next target, and she had to put her plan in action. Placing the brochures down, she was about to go over and start flirting with him, until a familiar voice called for her.

"Y/N! There you are!"

She internally groaned when she heard him, wondering why on earth did he not get the hint of ditching him like that, especially when he very well knew about the reputation she had. She tried ignoring him, but of course, he had had to be the persistent type, no doubt thinking he was going to have a different ending than the rest before him.

"I thought you'd be here. You could have told me you were going to be gone early. I would have made you breakfast."

Knowing she had to say something, Y/N grabbed her pad and gave him the fakest smile she was capable of donning.

"Hi, what can we get started for you today? Waffles? Eggs and bacon? Coffee to start off with?"

The trio of friends, having no choice but to witness the interaction due to it happening right in front of them, snickered amongst themselves.

"Oh shit. He's in for it." San whispered lowly.

The boy obviously looked extremely confused, his smile lightly falling off, but then returning to its hopeful state.

"Why are you acting like this candy bear? Pretending like you don't know me?" When he tried to reach a hand to pull her close, the girl simply pushed him away with one of her fingers.

"Look, clearly you're too stupid to understand so let me spell it out in a language you can understand." Letting out a tired sigh, she crossed her arms in front of her chest, a sour look displaying on her pretty face.

"We had a nice time together, and last night was... average to put it nicely."

"Oh man. That was a total burn." Mingi couldn't help but snort, some of the orange juice being spit back into his glass.

"But that was all it was and all it's ever going to be. So why don't you do yourself a favor and just go back home to your Star Trek figurines and watch the latest episode of Thunder Cats?"

The not so discreet snickering coming from the table behind them only made the humiliation for the man multiply significantly. Turning red with utter despair and rage, he quickly brushed past Y/N rather brusquely.

"Fucking bitch." She heard him mutter under his breath, a phrase she had grown accustomed to hearing among many others.

"Oh god. Homegirl struck again." Wooyoung laughed, swirling his milkshake in his hand.

"Ayo why you gotta do Thunder Cats like that? It's actually pretty entertaining." San commented.

Looking over at the time, the guys quickly stood up, dropping their share of bills onto the table.

"You guys get paid today too right? Come meet up with us at the track." Wooyoung suggested.

"Why on earth would we want to go see your greasy, oil smelling ass after dealing for nearly an hour with you already?" Lynn questioned him, eyes never peering up from her magazine.

"Because Yunho would be there?"

Still she didn't respond, the only movement made was her finger turning the page.

"Bro we been knew she don't give two shits about him." Mingi reminded them.

"Because we're going to the drive in theater after work, they're playing a horror movie."

Lifting her gaze, Lynn closed the magazine, although still stone faced, her eyes seemed to brighten up.

"My interest has been greatly piqued." Her lips showed the faintest whisper of a smile that gave a rather eerie and chilling feel down the people's spines.

"Maybe we should rethink inviting Satan's offspring." San leaned in towards Mingi, shivering significantly.

"Great! So we'll catch you gals later."

The boys quickly dispersed themselves, save Yeosang who still sat quietly, keeping mostly to himself. His fingers fidgeted with the half drunk cup he was holding, gaze fixed on the table in front of him. Looking up, he was attempting to work up the courage to talk to Y/N, but before he could even get the chance to gather strength, the owner came out from the back, whispering a few orders to her and gesturing for her to go tend to a situation in the kitchen. With a defeated sigh, he got up to go join the rest of the gang outside who were waiting for him. Slumping his hands in the pockets of his pants, he moved out of the booth with a solemn gaze.

"Hey."

His steps came to a screeching halt when he heard Y/N call out to him. Looking over, she smiled sweetly in his direction.

"Hope I see you later." With a flirtatious wink, she bid him goodbye as she disappeared into the back.

Yeosang stood there stunned momentarily, replaying her words over and over again in his mind, pondering endlessly at their meaning.

"Little pussy cat sure got you brain dead, didn't she?"

Startled by the unexpected voice next to him, he jumped when the face of the kind yet stern old lady studied him carefully. With a disapproving shake of her head, she decided it'd be best to warn him before he started getting ideas in his head.

"Listen, you seem like a sweet and sensible young man, so it's best for you to listen to me and stay away from that darn girl. Don't let them sugar coated lips of hers sweet talk themselves into your heart. You'll just end up heart broken like all the lovers she's had."

Picking up some of the plates, she gave him one last look, pointing an accusatory finger at him to get her point across.

"She's dangerous." Finally saying what she needed to say, Miss Audrey headed back with plates in her arms, slapping away Lynn's hands when they attempted to pry them off her, barking instructions at her to watch the counter and leave her be.

"Dangerous....." Yeosang thought to himself, the warning the good intended woman gave him sinking deep in his mind. Although he took her words to heart, something about the way she glanced at him pulled at the strings in his chest, taking his breath away when he remembered the risque position she was in that purposely allowed him to view more than he should have. That memory tinted his cheeks pink, lips unable to suppress a small smile. He knew that he should heed the old woman's advice.

But he had to admit that he loved danger and the thrill it came with.........

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Taglist: @little-precious-baby @yunhofingers @brie02 @galaxteez @multidreams-and-desires @deja-vux @hanatiny @couchpotatoaniki @daniblogs164 @a-soft-hornytiny @yunsangoveryonder @minhyukmyluv @nanamarkie @ateezbabysitters @mingismoon @rainteez02

[jeontaehui]

back to december  

summary as he plays as her fake boyfriend for a cover video, mark realizes he loves taehee just as much as she loves taylor swift and her music. scratch that, he is definitely in love with her more than she is with swift and her music.

featuring mark

words 3.6k

I. DECEMBER 5, 2020 IN AN AIRBNB IN SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA 

iridescent, an object displaying a lustrous rainbowlike display of color caused by the differential refraction of light waves that tends to change with movement.

“iridescent” is what mark thought once he stepped foot into the room, various hues of blue, pink, and purple shone all throughout as a disco ball dangled on the ceiling, though he couldn’t exactly pinpoint the word.

he sets his coat down on the couch behind the array of cameras before him, many of the staff working to create this whole new masterpiece. “it’s just a cover,” he imagined taehee saying if she had heard his thoughts, “it’s not even my song.” it troubles him how his heart fluttered at the thought of his best friend getting shy before him, running her hand through her hair as her dimples peek out of the corners of her sheepish smile. but mark does think this set-up is a work of art, even if it’s just a cover. he hears her before he sees her, and the girl currently invading his thoughts pops into his view — literally.

“BOO!” mark jerked in surprise and brought a hand up to his chest to calm his frantic heart down, the image of his soul leaving his body at the sudden attack rings laughter out of taehee. “do you like the set that much or did you just really space out?” she teased him. mark shakes his head, “no, it’s just...”

he exhales, allowing his eyes to settle onto taehee, the taunting smirk that plays on her lips and the lose strands on the sides of her face from her ponytail brings an unexplainable rush to his chest. “the set is pretty, yeah,” he settled for this instead, taehee nodding at his answer and facing forward to study the room herself. “you just got here?” he followed right after, and taehee peels her gaze from the sight in front of her to look at mark. “oh, no. we filmed a few runs already. i have make-up on,” she points to her face, though mark doesn’t see much done except the mascara and eyeliner that decorated her eyes. “see?”

mark doesn’t realize he’s inched himself closer to taehee, his face just a breath away from hers. “hey,” she nudges his shoulder softly and the boy quickly pulls away (if he’s flustered at how close their distance was, he doesn’t show it). “you don’t see it, do you?” taehee squints her eyes at him, though there was still that mischievous tone mark was very familiar with. he shrugs, “could’ve been the lights.”

the staff had turn on those disco lights minutes before they got here, but mark took note of how these rays accentuate taehee’s features very prettily. mark doesn’t know himself what he’s referring to when the word ‘pretty’ stumbles out of his mouth soon after.

taehee clicks her tongue and turns to him excitedly, causing mark to raise his brows at her cuteness and his lips turn into a smile, “let’s go!”

“naturally?”

“yeah,” taehee glances at him sideways, “like we always are.”

“are” and not “do” is what mark ponders on. she referred to the state rather than the displays of affection they’d be acting out later as the shoot progresses. this state was that they were always comfortable with each other, not being shy to give each other a hug or two whether or not they were in front of the cameras. this — feeding each other pizza, taking polaroids of each other, cuddling — they did it all as friends, but now they’re doing it under the impression that they are a couple (well, ‘were’ would be a better term since he’s technically playing the boyfriend prior to the breakup, but that was just a minor detail). god, why is he suddenly feeling so nervous?

his thoughts were cut short when taehee slumped into his shoulder, and she fits perfectly in the crook of his neck. “all the excitement is wearing off,” she mutters, “i’m starting to feel tired.” 

mark doesn’t blame her. with their past and upcoming schedules after the release of ‘90′s love’ and the countless of times he had caught taehee going to bed an hour or two before their early morning commitments, it would surely drain her to the core. he’s even surprised she’s still awake at this point.

“oh, i forgot,” taehee adjusted herself closer to him, her now tucked knees resting on top of his stomach; out of reflex, mark wraps his arm around her, and if he didn’t know any better, he’d say she was trying to sleep on him (well, that may a part of the reason why taehee’s suddenly so snuggled up to him). “mama is tomorrow. sorry, you should be resting,” mark makes a sound at this, the younger sensing the confusion laced in his tone. “dude,” taehee pulls away to look him in the eye and mark finds himself missing the feeling of her close to him, “i just said it’s mama. tomorrow.” 

mark’s mouth forms into an ‘o’ as he registered her words, but his expression immediately switches into a nonchalant one. “i wanted to be here,” he tells her, and taehee raises a brow as if saying, ‘are you sure?’. he nods, “promise. i told you i’d help you.” 

taehee shrugs, it’s not like she didn’t want her best friend to be here too. although guilt creeps up her stomach, she’d feel worse if mark came all the way here for no reason at all. “fine,” she bites the inside of her cheek as mark eyes her with an amused smile, “but don’t blame me if you’re out of energy tomorrow.” 

the director comes to give them guidelines for the shoot, not before mark ruffles taehee’s hair at her warning and earns a light push to his knee as if annoyed. mark knows that’s not the case though. 

II. SCENE ONE, TAKE THREE. CAMERA, ROLL.

mark leans forward as he takes the polaroid camera sitting on the coffee table in his hands, taehee’s knees tucked close to her as she sat on the opposite end of the grey couch.

he doesn’t even need to tell her to smile, she already is. they both are. he clicks the button, and a flash lights the room.

the film comes out shortly after and taehee shuffles nearer to take a look. mark takes the film in between his fingers and shakes it wildly, a rushed sound of disapproval escaping taehee’s lips. 

“STOP!” and it’s almost comical at how mark’s hand suddenly freezes mid-air as he looks at her with wide eyes. taehee’s melodic laugh reaches his ears, “don’t shake it!”

“why not?”

“then you’re just damaging the film!” taehee argues. “the chemicals and all. it’s gonna get ruined if you shake it like that.” mark laughs as disbelief washes over him, “but this is what we always do with it!”

“but you’re not supposed to!” she chuckles again, before reaching up to grab the polaroid from mark’s hold. “whatever, it’s done anyways,” taehee brushes it off with a smile, disheveling his hair with her left hand as she sat down just for the extra measure; mark remembers that there are cameras rolling. “you’re so cute,” she mumbles, both of them failing to notice the slight tint on mark’s cheeks once she said that.

though the film was not fully developed, there was enough to let the pair know that taehee wasn’t smiling when mark snapped the photo. taehee’s left eye dropped into a wink as she scrunched her nose, the both of them laughing at the result. “i attempted to look funny,” she explains, quite unsatisfied with the photo. “it’s cute though,” taehee turns her head at the unexpected compliment, a bit flustered to see that mark was already looking at her. the fact that she could really see the sincerity swimming in his eyes surprised her the most.  

mark interrupts taehee’s subtle staring by pulling her back to lean against his shoulder, raising his arms around her as he held the camera up to catch both of their faces. “that one’s mine if you don’t want it,” now taehee’s heart is in a frenzy, “so this one is for you.”

“cheese!” the shutter goes off. 

III. SCENE TWO, TAKE ONE. CAMERA, ROLL.

this may have been taehee’s favorite part of the shoot, even if it would only appear for a small fraction of the video. 

her mouth waters at the sight in front of her, and mark’s boisterous laughter cuts through the air at her wide-eyed expression as he shoves her gently. taehee continues to stare down the large pizza in front of them. “if this is what i get for trying to film covers,” she reaches for a slice and her eyes visibly light up with glee, “i’ll be making a whole album of them.” she glances sideways at her best friend before taking a bite, her exaggerated moan making mark laugh harder. “then i’ll have a repackaged one right after,” mark clutches his stomach as he started to wheeze, lurching forward as he repeatedly hits the free space beside him. 

when mark calms down, he lifts his head up to look at the staff behind the camera, momentarily forgetting cameras were filming them. he feels his cheeks start to grow pink when he catches a glimpse of the adoring looks in their eyes. 

mark tilts his head down and runs his tongue along the inside of his cheek, moving his gaze to see taehee happily munching on her pizza. his lips quirk upwards at the assumption she may have forgotten they were filming too. 

“feed me,” mark tells taehee, and his mildly attractive confidence slows down the girl’s chewing. “get one,” she quips, ignoring how her heart races at the way he looks at her. 

taehee didn’t catch on to what mark was trying to do, too caught up on finding out what the weird feeling in her chest was, so he decides to explain. “isn’t this what couples do?” mark chuckles, and after remembering that they were filming, taehee smiles at him smugly. “you’re enjoying this,” she sang. he ignores her teasing with a subtle grin, “feed me,” and opens his mouth for a bite. 

taehee scoots closer to mark and the taste of pepperoni pizza meets his tongue, a sound of approval sounding out of him as he chews. she gets close to his face and whispers, “you’re enjoying this.”

“you smell like pepperoni.”

a laugh escapes out of her as she pulls away, “shut up.”

IV. SCENE THREE, TAKE TWO. CAMERA, ROLL.

taehee throws a handful of popcorn into her mouth as she allows herself to lean closer to mark, his arm holding her snug by the shoulder as they watch an episode from the sitcom, friends. a few minutes of monica and chandler talking back and forth pass and mark decides to lay his cheek on the side of taehee’s head, unknown grins starting to spread on the faces of those behind the camera. 

mark purses his lips, “what’s that... word for the umm...”

he spoke in a relaxed tone, before outwardly questioning himself if there really was a word to describe the array of colors he found pretty earlier when he entered the room. “i know it starts with an ‘i’. it’s like, the back of the cd, or like the disco ball.”

a confused hum comes from taehee, prompting mark to ask once again if there was a word for it. “no, wait,” she waves her hand around, shushing him. “iridescent? pretty sure it’s ‘iridescent’ if that’s what you mean.”

taehee feels mark nod before resuming to watch the show in front of them, aware again that they were filming. amazed at how she knew, how smoothly it rolled of her tongue, mark hums, “iridescent.” 

the pair burst into giggles when chandler asks why was ross monica’s brother in retaliation to her asking if his family was scottish. “why is your family ross?” mark wheezes. 

taehee hears him and smiles. she is once reminded of the fact that mark is a bubbly person, one who laughs hard at even the smallest of things. she liked that about him. though the two are close, taehee sometimes felt like they were two completely different people; mark’s high-spiritedness was not one of taehee’s characteristics. nonetheless, she rolls with it. “i like this,” she incoherently mumbles, mark barely catches it. “like, this episode?” he asks. 

“this, in general,” she replied, before shifting her head to the side to look him in the eye. “doing stuff like this. even if we’re roommates and all, we don’t get to hang out like this nowadays.”

mark should’ve cringed like he normally would. he should’ve pushed taehee away and they’d laugh together like they usually would, then they’d do another take. taehee doesn’t seem to mind by how physically close they are, yet it bothers mark a whole lot. he’s not quite sure though, not when he’s worrying about taehee knowing how quickly his heart was racing with the way she leans on him. maybe it was because best friends just don’t do all this platonically without—

“okay, cut!” the director says, and the once fervent look in taehee’s eyes quickly morphs into a smile. right, this is all just acting. “that’s a wrap for you, mark-ssi. taehee-ssi, let’s have one more run without the guitar and we’re finished for today.”

taehee goes to stand up and bows formally in front of mark, flustering him. “thank you for your hard work, mark-ssi.”

mark breaks into another laugh for the nth time that day and softly kicks her on the shin, expelling an overdramatic groan from his best friend. taehee falls on her butt, clutching her knee as she cried wolf, “why’d you kick me?”

used to all the members’ antics, mark shakes his head in faux disappointment as he gets on his feet and offers a hand to taehee. she immediately takes it, mirroring the bright beam on the latter’s features. “i’m gonna go do one more take,” she quirks her brows up playfully and mark holds himself from allowing his lovely grin to spread. “i’ll see you at the dorms,” she walks away to retrieve her guitar, not before pushing mark off the set and telling him to be safe on the way home. 

“good job, mark!” his manager claps him on the back, surprising him. mark didn’t know he was still smiling until he felt that he was, quickly covering it with a cough. “was that enough or was that over-the-top?” he asks unsurely, but his manager was quick to promise him of his performance. “actually, you were awesome,” mark’s shoulders drop down to relax, “even if they won’t show your face.”

mark laughs at this, “they weren’t going to show my face? oh my god.” 

“well, you never know if you get an acting gig sooner or later. am i right?” his manager chuckles. “must be because of your experience with the ‘as we wish’ drama.”

agreeing, mark gives his manager a small smile. he turns around and sees taehee playing with the mic, tapping it a couple times as she waits for the director’s cue. they meet eyes and taehee winks playfully at him, and one of the corners of mark’s lips raise into a smirk.

his eyes twinkle, “must be the drama.”

V. BUT IF WE LOVED AGAIN, I SWEAR I’D LOVE YOU RIGHT.

mark thinks back to the word, iridescent, as he watches those blue and purple fluorescent lights shine onto taehee, her dark brown orbs pulling him deeper and deeper as he chose to delve more into her world of colors. at this moment, he thinks that she’s the prettiest he’s ever seen. hell, he even thinks she’s glowing, a soft rainbow aura surrounding her. mark shakes the thoughts off his head. “it’s the lights,” he thinks instead. 

someone taps his shoulder and pulls his attention away from his best friend, mark didn’t realize he was holding his breath until he met eyes with his manager. “you ready to go?” he asks mark. the latter gives a soft shake of his head in response before smiling, “i’m gonna wait for her.”

“alright,” his manager leaves to tell taehee’s that mark would be riding with them, not before bidding him a safe trip home. mark puts his hands in the pocket of his hoodie as he turns back to the front. the director soon yells, “CUT!”

taehee bows to the staff in thanks for their hard work and walks off set. an amused smile grows on mark’s face when he notices her trip slightly, taehee giggling at her small predicament. 

about ten minutes pass until taehee sees mark waiting for her by the front door, his right hand swiping at his phone screen while the other holds her backpack. “you’re still here?” mark looks up from his phone at taehee’s question, a combination of surprise and delight gracing her barefaced features. taehee wraps her fingers around the backpack strap but mark insists he carries it by slinging it over his shoulder. he puts his phone into his back pocket and straightens himself, “yeah, i was thinking we could go home together.”

mark opens the door for taehee and she exits the room first, snickering. “alright, mr. romantic,” though mark trailed behind her, she knew him well enough that he rolled his eyes at her witty remark. “behave, 뚱이.”

taehee laughs loudly, bringing a hand up to cover the evergrowing grin on her face. she gives mark a playful punch on his shoulder once he steps in line with her, his cheery laugh reaching her ears. “seriously, i’m not lying!” mark says, his eyebrows arching up in mirth. “you really look like chubs when you tie your bangs up like that,” he then uses his free hand to flick the bunch of hair that was tied up on her head, the latter swatting his hand away in faux annoyance. 

taehee suddenly remembers something and turns her head to mark excitedly, “you know, i brought her to the groomer for a haircut last week and their new employee was a czennie.” mark’s eyes widen in interest, “really?”

“yeah, she asked if she could take a picture of me and chubs,” taehee chuckles. “oh and she had your photocard on the back of her phone case.”

a soft ‘woah’ comes from mark and taehee beams at him. “i was like ‘oh?’ when i saw it,” taehee continues, “it must be fate.”

for some reason, her last sentence caused mark’s heart to speed up. no wait, it’s the thought of being fated together in a situation as trivial as this is what may have caused the quick beating of his heart. geez, what is happening to him? 

“uhh what do you want for your birthday?” mark changes the topic quickly before clearing his throat, thankful that taehee doesn’t notice the slight crack in his voice when he spoke. he finds the girl turning her head to him with a look he knew all too well, “if you say ‘you’—“

“you.”

a squeal comes out from taehee as she dodges mark’s hand that was going to pinch her, sticking her tongue at him when he misses. “i’m serious,” he presses, but it was obvious at how close he was to laughing with her as well. taehee gives him one of her dazzling smiles before facing forward, “it’s okay if you don’t get me anything.”

“but i want to,” is what mark ought to say. he opts for, “fine, then i’ll just surprise you.”

taehee smirks at him, “it isn’t a surprise if i know already, mark.” the boy scrunches his nose before loosely draping his arm over her shoulder, their steps moving in sync with each other. “i meant, what i’m getting you is the surprise.”

“i know,” mark too knew taehee well enough to know that she had smiled when he had given in to her teasing. “i was just messing with you.” 

“just don’t get anything too expensive, okay?” mark shrugs. he wanted to get taehee that simple chain bracelet with a cute star pendant he saw the other day, but he wanted to ask what she had wanted first. expensive or not, mark’s getting it for her anyways. 

“are you hungry?” taehee cuts him out of his thoughts, causing mark to raise a brow teasingly. “why? are you hungry?”

“i’m craving mcdonald’s,” she answers him. taehee gives mark a dramatic pout, making him chuckle. “let’s ask noona. if she says no, then i’ll just get you some after mama tomorrow.”

“woah, really?” mark nodded, amused at how taehee’s eyes lit up at his offer. 

“you should pretend to be my boyfriend more, mark. who knew you could be this nice.” 

the said boy gently pushes her away as she giggles, but she immediately goes to stick by his side again as they stop in front of the elevator doors. “one more and i’m withdrawing my offer,” he warns, even if his heart speeds up at the way their fingers lightly brush against one another.

taehee shrugs, “you love me anyway.”

mark’s lips part slightly at that. it’s when he realizes that he doesn’t just love his best friend. he’s in love with her and it’s been that way for as long as he can remember. it’s impossible that taehee’s just a friend if she can make his heart go so much in a frenzy with simply a smile. it’s impossible that taehee’s just a friend if he finds himself drifting to thoughts of her countless of times while she was in the studio working up all night. it’s impossible that taehee’s just a friend if he finds a simple joy in having her fit perfectly into his arms, feeling all warm and snug. it starts to become impossible to mark that taehee’s just a friend if he wanted to place light kisses on her cheek every time he’d see her, rubbing soft circles into her hand as he looks at her like lovers do.

you’re in too deep in this, mark lee. damn.

mark bites his bottom lip to stop a smile from forming; he didn’t want to admit it just yet. “yeah,” he thinks to himself, “i love you anyway.”

[soullessmocha]

i think; therefore i am || part one

{ fem! witch reader x poly!the lost boys }

|| part two ||

part rating: teen

word count: 20716 (i am so sorry)

part summary: a nomadic witch running from her dark past (reader) finds her place after travelling the states on the shores of santa carla. in a way to make money she sets up a booth on the bustling boardwalk where she gives a few readings to a couple interesting characters for some loose change. this night she discovers she isn’t the only supernatural being.

warnings: mature language, mind manipulation, violence, use of tobacco, a cute familiar, nightmares, allusions to being burned alive, witch trials, hints to major character death, visions, and the lost boys being violent (mainly david.), this has not been proof read it has merely been skimmed.

“I promise I will be good. Please mother!” You yell towards the cloaked woman who looked at you with a disdained look on features. Features you once found comforting and like home turned on you in an instant. Those soft features are now rigid and gaunt from stress and aging, but the worse link to all the features was the cobalt blue eyes. Eyes that reflected the moon so sharply that it was almost mirrored. Eyes so sharp and focused as your mother shook her in disappointment, “No, you won’t,” her words were forthright showing no emotion behind it. How did someone who you called your mother betray you and not even take a second glance? “No, no! Wait! No, I promise!” You start to trash against the rope that is wrapped around your body, confining you to a large wooden pole. Stretching your body to its breaking point as the only color you could see was red. Then it was hot, burning, seething your skin away as one of your sisters lowers a torch at your feet. Your eyes connect to the moon as your throat lashes a blood-curdling scream into the starry clear night.

Gasping for the air you shoot up from your makeshift bed, sweating coating your skin in a glossy layer. Your lungs rapidly gasp for air as they burn from your fears that have your heart racing so much it punches your ribs. A shift in the bed causes your attention to shift. Your cat, a scruffy black devon rex steals his way up the side of your bed. His head tilting before making his own way into your lap a loud purr radiating off of your pet in his best attempts to calm you. You lift a shaky hand to plop it down on the cat’s back who tenses for a quick second before stretching his paws to your chest, reminding you to breathe. A slight smile comes to your lips, “I’m fine, Finn. Really,” you sigh and rub away the hair sticking on your face from the layer of sweat on your skin. “It’s always the same nightmare.” You admit to your furry friend who makes his way to the tail end of your bed. He stretched and tipped his nose upwards as his spine curled sniffing the air as if he was trying to investigate the surrounding area. With your heart rate slowed just the slightest you pull yourself from your bed and shuffle through the hallway that leads from your bedroom to your living space in the trailer you parked on the cliff overlooking the beach. The sun was setting, casting an orange hue in your trailer, the light catchers reflecting rainbows as they twirl mindlessly from the free breeze coming through the cracked window. Peace. That was a safe haven. However, with the sun setting you realize you have taken a nap when least expected. You must’ve needed it after the first night of working on the boardwalk. Who knew reading tarot, runes, and palms to tourists would take so much energy out of you.

A sigh escapes your lips as you attempt to step around Finn to get to your closet where you pick a black outfit with an ornate shawl to help you stand out. 

“Be good and protect the home,” you kneel down to scratch Finn under his chin after you have gathered your last-minute things and open the trailer door to have it close behind you. A quiet meow echoes from behind the door and your smirk at the small goodbye from your pet. It didn’t take you long to start up your old truck with a few hits and a couple pumps for the clutch to make your way down to the boardwalk parking lot.

The night was the same as before but this time a couple of well rounded security guards started to come up to the booth later on into the evening. The wind was a bit harsher and the waves crashed in rhythm of the music that was being played on the tiny radio next to your ankle. The boardwalk was filled with all strains of life. There were well rounded individuals taking their picture perfect families for a night out to teens dressed in all black with every inch of their face covered in piercing and colored hair. You preferred that crowd. Then again it didn’t help to get money from those picture perfect families who you only give half ass readings for. When the heavy boots of the literal rounded security officers approached your booth were you snapped from your thoughts. Looking them up and down you can instantly get a feel of their energy, they were hostile and annoyed by the night already. Yet the night was still so young. 

“Excuse me, do you have a permit to be setting up your booth here?” The officer with the mustache questions shifting his weight onto one leg jutting out his hip.

“Yeah, you need a vendor permit to even set up here on the boardwalk,” the skinnier one of the couple started before picking at the cloth of your booth, studying it with a devious smirk. “You tell fortunes? Tell me how we are going to kick you off the boardwalk.” The two chuckle at the joke yet in a calm manner you stand with your hands on the ornate cloth. 

“I do tell fortunes, but not those who tend hurt others because they have a flimsy gold badge on their breast,” you start and give a rather deceiving smile as you tilt your head. “I do not have a vendor’s permit to be out here. However, I am sure you know how hard it is to make a living during these times. Surely you can give me a pass.” You suggest and the fatter one with the mustache snickered at your suggestion. The two looked at one another but as they looked back at you they were met with purple hazed eyes and fingers that were pointed at them which radiated purple energy. “Now, I hope you will listen to me,” you begin this time your voice was an octave deeper as you displayed your abilities to them. It wasn’t hard to sink into their minds and be able to control such a feeble psyche, the purple illuminating from their eyes indicated you were in. You didn’t even need to chant a hex to even get them to repeat after you, “I will not approach this vendor anymore.” They repeat and a smirk quivers on the corner of your lips, “I will not terrorize anyone who I deem… different. I will walk away now and forget I ever saw this vendor.” Once they repeat you flick your wrist the two men turn on their heels and quite literally march away to whatever other duties they have. You grumble to yourself as you sit back down pushing the skirt under you so you can sit properly on the chair. 

As you adjust your trinkets and cards on the table you can hear from afar an excited young boy's voice, “Mike! Look! It’s a fortune teller. We have to do this!”

“No Sammy, we said we would go to the concert and meet mom back at the entrance. I am not stopping for some phoney fortune teller who just reads some useless cards to tell me literally nothing.” the older voice replies back with an annoyed tone and quite ready to walk in the opposite direction. You don’t look up to give the hint you are listening, in fact you lean back in your chair starting to shuffle your tarot deck because indeed you know the two will end up before you.

“Well too bad. I came here to have fun and you’re ruining it. Live a little Mike. You’ve been grumpy all day,” pouts the young blonde, “plus I didn’t say you needed to get a reading done. i got my own money.”

“How did you get money?”

“I stole it from your wallet!” The younger one laughs and charges his way over to the booth and you make eye contact with him, his grin was wide and full of innocence. Blue eyes that were striking amongst the moonlight, they glimmered with hope and curiosity. “Dammit Sam!” the older one whom you assumed to be the brother charges behind. “Hi, how can I help you today?” You asks in your kindest customer service voice. The young boy holds out the ten dollar bill, “I would like a reading if I could have one please. Mom always told us about her tarot card readings, but I would like one for myself.” He grins to the side as he looks over his shoulder to his older brother, a brunette with a strong build who seems to already be annoyed just standing next to this booth and his brother. “Why of course, thank you! Take a seat please.” You request and glance over to the older brother, “If you’d like a seat by all means sit.” He didn’t respond, only took a glance at you before looking away. He was skeptical and nervous. Of course he was. “Normally I don’t do readings for such young gentlemen like you, but I like you already, so I will do a general reading. Now before I get started, may I have your name?”

“Sam,”

“Nice to meet you Sam, I am Y/N. Thank you once again,” you grant a thanks and start to shuffle your cards. Normally with normal individuals the cards don’t have this much energy. You give a breathy chuckle and shuffle fiercely before a card flies from the deck. You plant it face down before looking young Sam in the eyes giving him a playful smirk at his eagerness. “You two have a lot of energy for you, that’s a good thing.” You compliment but the older brother just snickers and crosses his arm before another card flies out. It didn’t take long for the third to fly out. You align the cards, “Alright let’s see here, this card represents you. The page of cups,” You smile gingerly at the card before flipping it to show the boy. “You are filled with wonder, you love your family and have a curious nature to you.” You can see the boy is looking at the card with curious eyes. Take in the fancy man holding a golden chalice balance on one foot and his heel. He is dressed in quite jarring clothes like the boy sitting in front of you. “You also love to express yourself in ways that are creative, like your fashion, or music.” You not before hovering your hand over the next card. “This card represents the path you are on," you flip over the card to see the emperor standing sitting on his throne high and mighty, “the emperor. Now this card is quite powerful, one of my favorites. You are on the path of seeking how to defend yourself and those you love. How to become more powerful in the sense of trying to find structure and to grow in your sense of logic and practicality.” At this point you didn’t even notice the older brother has now sat down. Full attention on you and the cards. You give him a wink before turning your attention back to his younger brother, “It seems like you’re trying to find a father figure role within yourself or by others.” The boys' features soften from a grin to a saddened look, that must’ve struck a bit too close for home. “Let’s continue, shall we?” You ask and he slowly nods glancing over at his brother. You carefully flip over the last card, “This card represents your potential,” your eyes glance down at the justice card. The figure holds a sword and a scale in each hand, sitting on a chair with authority as a scarlet drape is behind them. “Justice. You know what it’s like to be wronged, treated unfairly, you will have to face the truth soon. Whatever that truth is, you have to see everything from each point of view. Going back to the Emperor, you need to be logical and work on that skill in order to find your Justice. You will generate peace and harmony to those who surround you.”

“Wow, thank you, that’s- that’s awesome,” Sam thanks you leaning back in the folded chair carefully eyeing his brother who was staring diligently at the card, studying them and seeming astounded. You lean forward and tap the table under his nose. “I can do a reading for you as well, free of charge. I like your little brother. However, I would like your name.”

The blue eyed brunette looked up at you with wide eyes, filled with wonder and trying to read your own eyes. “Michael. My name is Michael,” you smile at his name and gather the cards back into your pile. You shuffle in the bustling white noise of the  busy boardwalk. A card flies out and lands face down on the table. You shuffle until two more fall from the pile. “Alright Michael, let’s see who the cards say you are.” Your black painted fingers flip over the first card to be greeted by the figure of archangel Michael blowing on his trumpet as the words read ‘judgement’. “You are going through a new journey, a new beginning. You are starting anew. You also find comfort in sharing your struggles with others who relate and you want freedom from your own troubles. Then we have,” You start flipping over the second card, “the ten of swords.” You whisper and you glance up to see his worried eyes look at the pictured body stabbed by ten swords pinned to the ground. “Don’t overthink it.” You whisper ducking your head to make eye contact with him, trying your nest to make him feel safe. “You're going to be betrayed by someone you begin to trust. The pain inflicted runs deep not because what they have done is hurtful, but because you know deep down that this marks the end of your relationship as you know it with them. You will grieve the loss of the relationship. This card is about letting go and accepting your circumstances.” There was silence between the two, you could hear a pin drop if one was to.

“It’s a warning,” you say and clear your throat to ease the tension a bit. You flip over the last card to show the lovers card. “The lovers,” you smile longingly at the card, “you will be ready to establish your own beliefs and follow your heart in the end. You will find love for yourself but love will also find you. In every choice you make on your path, there is an equal amount of advantage and disadvantage, opportunity and challenge, positive and negative. I am excited for you to find your other half.” A warm smile comes to your lips but there was wary to the middle card, that card showed the journey he was going to begin was going to something dark. The clapping of a hand on someone’s back causes you to jump out of your trance. “Well gentlemen, I hope you got the answers you two were looking for. Thank you for stopping by, if you have any more questions or any more services, I will be here.”

The two respond with weary smiles and slowly get up from their chairs with soft thanks as they continue to make their way down the boardwalk. A twinkle of a smile was left on your lips as you watched them walk away. 

Hours later you find yourself with a tip jar that is half full and a bag that contained crumpled bills that were stale and some damp. A sigh leaves your lips as you clean up the station, cleaning up the scrying orb in its case and the tip jar in the bag full of bills. Just before you started to take down your sign you saw four shadows cascade from behind you. A low hum left your lips and you turned on your heel to see four men standing in front of you. Quite young looking, dressed in all black, a couple more than the others. A small smile peaked your lips. “How can I help you gentlemen?” You ask the stoic figures as they stare down at you, purely interested and emitting a strange energy. They’re energy was really strange but you couldn’t put your finger on it. 

“Well we were seeing if it wasn’t too late to get a couple of readings,” the one with the spiked platinum blonde hair responds. His head tilts as he looks into your eyes. For a second you had to look away from the piercing blue eyes because you felt your head go dizzy. 

“Of course, what are you looking for? I do tarot, palms, and even runes.” You inform as your make your way to your side of the booth. Your folding chair creaking as you sit on it, your posture upright and alert. 

“Well, Marko? Which one do you want? You begged to come over here before they closed.” The platinum spoke up again, you tried to get a read on him, by his upright body language he seemed to be the leader of the little posse. Though you were new to the boardwalk you never really saw them around. How did you miss them? Granted you were new to town, but only by a few weeks.

“I’ll go with a palm reading if it means the cutie gets to hold my hand.” The one name Marko pipes with a chuckle from his peers. You can only roll your eyes playfully to play along, “Well sit down, palm readings start at $10 for that comment.” You tease the curly haired man who skipped to your hair and held out his hands with a snicker following. The fingerless gloves covered most of his palm so you nod your head towards his hands, “May I?” You ask before he responds with a nod and cheesy grin. As you started to slip off his hands your eyes peered over his head to watch his friends behind him. You take in their appearances. The platinum blonde was starting to light a cigarette. The other wild haired blonde was walking forward to admire the trinkets on your booth. While the tall brunette was giving you a cold stare as he watched you take off his friends gloves. Each of them donned a single earring and a jacket that was different to their individuality. You clear your throat and look at Marko, “It is nice to meet you Marko. I hope you find this reading useful and beneficial to you for the future.” You start as you take his cool hand into yours. Overlapping his hand with yours you didn’t mind the cold hands, or think much about it, the night was quite chilly.

You roll your shoulders back and roll your neck to relax. As you did a shock was sent through your nerves and you gasped sharply. As did Marko who received the same energy suddenly, causing a pained groan to leave his throat. The energy surges up to your neck causing you to close your eyes tightly. A vision. Pain. Darkness. Betrayal. You can see through Marko’s eyes. He was in pain and bleeding everywhere. There were inhuman screeches all around him; his friends jolted around in him in disturbance and rage. Then you realized they were hanging upside down. Their faces looked like nothing that they did now. Features were contorted, eyes were bloodshot and yellow, and teeth sharp. Just as your vision ended you felt a stabbing in your chest just like the object in Marko’s chest. A pained yell left your throat. There was an echo of Marko yelling out in pain and incoherent yells of the boys behind him. 

You shot Marko away from you with shadows of purple energy following him. The chair shot about six feet from under him and Marko rolled to a stop with the wild blonde following after him in concern. 

“What the hell was that?!” The leader booms rushing to your table, his hands grasping the table with a crushing grip. You could hear it crack as you try to catch your breath. The pain was unbearable. “What the hell are you?!” He interrogates again with a sharp tone. This time he threw the table to the side effortlessly. You gasp and stand in response. Your hands fly up in a contorted shape with purple shadows lingers around your fingers. The leader was stuck in his palace, grunting and struggling against your will. Pants leave your parted lips, brows furrowed and pained as you hold back the leader. Exposing your power.

The three other men kneel around their curly haired friend. Your eyes flicker to them, “There is one thing I can’t stand about vampires,” you croak, holding the leader in his place bringing him as you walk closer to the boys. The look on their faces when you announce your knowledge of their supernatural being, now that look was priceless. “They don’t know how to control their temper.” You choke out as purple energy hazed over your eyes. Their eyes widened at the energy around their leader and the shine from your eyes. All of them scramble to their feet. 

The brunette was first to act and you were faster to stop him mid run. He was now frozen under your spell. Energy outlining his shape as he looked around frantically. You wipe your hand causing him to fly straight through the railing and far out into the ocean with a purple orb pushing straight into his chest. Then with another flick of your wrist the leader went flying right after the brunette with another orb following to make him go further. Your purple eyes scanned towards the two blondes who looked hostile yet intimidated. Before they could even take a step you waved your arms and contorted hands in front of you, to each of their bodies, with a cross of your arms the two slam into one another with a crushing thud. You push the energy out with your arms and hands and the two blondes went flying far out into the ocean following their peers with purple orbs pushing into their chests. 

You were left there on the dark boardwalk, cascaded under orange street lamps, panting with purple shadows flowing around your eyes and glowing in your eyes. Your adrenaline pumping through your veins caused your breathing to become ragged. It took a beat for your breathing to return to normal. You slid your stance back to normal to show your calming nature. Your hands return to your sides no longer casting purple energy and your eyes are their normal color but still widened in fear. Behind you was your booth table broken in half, your items thrown all about wildly from the wind, and your scrying orb shattered near your feet. Dollar bills flying wildly wherever the ocean breeze takes them. 

Taking one last deep breath you tilt your head out towards the crashing onyx waves. The humid breeze thrashing your clothing all about. You press a clammy palm to your forehead as you curse quietly to yourself, “Shit.”

a/n: this is the first part of a series that i have been writing on and off for the past month. i’ve always wanted to incorporate a witch into the lost boys because it would be so interesting! this will be sort of slow burn poly!the lost boys kind of vibe. please let me know if you’d like more of this series. thank you so much for reading!! 🖤🖤🖤

[ssa-pretty-boy]

Love and Thunder

Summary: When a thunderstorm rolls in and the power goes out what will Spencer and his girlfriend do to pass the time?

Word Count: 4.4k

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

Warnings: smuttttttt - fingering, unprotected sex (WRAP IT BEFORE YOU TAP IT KIDS), penetrative sex

——

The smell of coming rain had been in the air for days. So when dark clouds rolled in, threatening to open up at any given moment, no one really gave it a second thought.  But as the day progressed the normal hustle and bustle of the city grew into something more palpable, its people trying to get indoors before the torrential down pour that was sure to come. 

Spencer Reid was no exception. Though there was something about a good thunderstorm that he found extremely relaxing, he didn’t want to be caught outside in one. Like the rest of the city’s inhabitants he was speed walking down the concrete sidewalks, eternally grateful that his apartment was only a couple of blocks away from his metro stop. 

He managed to make it into the lobby of his building just as the first drops of rain started to sprinkle down. With a grateful sigh, he shucked off his rain coat as he watched the droplets slide down the glass door. The drizzle was slow and lazy, honestly more like a fine mist than true rain. Maybe this was just going to be an average summer rain shower after all.

Taking the stairs two at a time up to the fourth floor, he made it to the last landing with an astonishing amount of grace. For someone who was as uncoordinated as Spencer tended to be, it was a surprise even to himself he made it without so much as stumbling. He unlocked the door and was greeted with the sound of pots and pans clinking together coming from the kitchen. Rounding the corner into his tiny kitchen he saw Y/N at the stove, stirring what smelt like pasta sauce with one hand and holding an open book up to her face with the other. She was mouthing the words as she read and Spencer smiled, he found it incredibly endearing and told her as much as he left his satchel and raincoat on the small table tucked into the corner of the room.

Y/N laughed, glancing up over the top of her book with a warm smile as he came over to her. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and settled his chin on the top of her head. “Wasn’t expecting you home yet.”

The book forgotten, she tossed it to the counter and leaned back into him, tilting her head up to place a soft kiss on the underside of his jaw. “I was just extra help today so I got cut loose early because of the storm.”

He hummed again, certainly not complaining that his girlfriend was home. “What are you making?”

She took the wooden spoon out of the pot and held it up to Spencer’s mouth for him to taste, smiling when he groaned and nodded his approval. “My mom sent me a new recipe for a creole Alfredo sauce. Everything else is ready so I just have to it throw in and let it simmer for a few minutes. Why don’t you go wash up and I’ll start setting the table.”

——

When Spencer and Y/N were in each other’s company, they had a habit of blocking out the rest of the world. Spencer had always thought it sounded lame and cheesy when he heard couples say such things but when he met Y/N he understood it instantly. They were just so comfortable around each other, so…compatible, that nothing else mattered to them as long as the other was happy. Especially when they were in the comfort of their own home. 

They had been so wrapped up in each other, in fact, that they failed to notice the changing atmosphere outside. It wasn’t until they settled into bed for the night, when Spencer finally flipped on the TV and mindlessly turned to the weather channel in hopes of seeing a sunny forecast for the following day, that he realized just how intense this storm was going to get. So much for that picnic in the park with Derek, Savannah, and Hank they’d so been looking forward to. Spencer studied the swirling diagram of colors, noting that area which he and his girlfriend called home was already far into the red and it didn’t look like they would be in the green any time soon.

A flash of lightening brought his attention away from the television and towards the window on Y/N’s side of the bed. Pushing the thick duvet back, Spencer climbed from the warmth of the bed and padded towards the window. He reached out with a little hesitance and pulled the curtains back, eyes widening at what he saw on the other side of the glass. Several of the small trees lining the street had been blown over, the street itself in front of the building was flooded, and a few blocks away it looked as though the power had gone out. 

“It’s nasty out there,” he mumbled more to himself than Y/N. She was so preoccupied with painting her toenails, a shade of deep red that Spencer secretly found incredibly sexy, that she hadn’t even noticed him get out of bed to walk over to the window. 

“Is it?” She wasn’t really paying him any mind as she finished painting her left pink toe, the very tip of her tongue sticking out between her lips in concatenation as she did so.

He mumbled a soft ‘yeah’ as he sat down in front of her. Grinning at him, Y/N leaned back against the headboard of the bed and screwed the cap back onto her nail polish before tossing it into the small canvas bag sitting on her bedside table. 

“You like?” The question was rhetorical, she knew how much he liked the color on her and maybe she picked out specially for that reason. She lifted her foot just in front of his face and wiggled her toes to show off the color of the polish. 

Smirking at her, Spencer grabbed ahold of her ankle and pulled her down the bed closer to him, laughing at the squeal that the action got from her. Holding her foot up to his mouth, he pressed a kiss to each toe before slowly beginning to kiss up her foot to her calve then her thigh, all the way up to her waiting lips. “I fucking love it.” 

He let put a playful growl as he dove into the crook of her neck and began to place sloppy wet kisses all over the exposed skin, his fingers ghosting over her sides to start tickling her relentlessly. Her giggles ringing out through the small bedroom were like the most beautiful music he’d ever heard. Their playful fun was cut short though by a bright flash of lightening that washed the room in a bluish hue, both of their head snapping towards the window. Holding his breath, Spencer began to count in anticipation for the clap of thunder that was sure to come. 

1…

2…

3…

4…

There was the deafening crack of thunder he had been waiting on. It sounded like it was directly over head, the very walls of the building seeming to quake. Y/N let out a squeak, clutching onto Spencer’s biceps for dear life as she hid her face in his chest. 

Trying to lighten the mood however he could, he laughed and and pulled back to look at her face. “It’s alright, sweet girl. Just a little thunder and lightning, nothing to be scared of. Well, there’s no need to be afraid of thunder, anyway, seeing as though its really just a sound caused by the lightning. Lightning, on the other hand, can be quite dangerous if-”

With a playful swat to his chest, she silenced him. “As much as I usually love your facts and tangents, that one really didn’t help. Like at all. You know how I am about bad weather! It just freaks me out a little." She admitted the last bit sheepishly, no matter how many times he assured her she had no reason to be embarrassed by her fear of storms, she still hated to admit it. Everyone is afraid of something, he always told her. 

Brown eyes flashing, he looked down at her with a smirk before leaning back back down and pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth before working his way to her jaw.

“Well then, why don’t we do something to take you mind off of it, hm?” He was kissing her throat again as he suggested it, pressing the words into the column of her neck with wet, open mouthed kisses. Her head was already swimming, thoughts foggy as his mouth trailed lower, pulling at the collar of her shirt to get access to her collar bones now. The only response she was able to supply him with was a mumbled “mhm” and a shuddering gasp as his cold hands slipped under her T-shirt to find her bare chest, much more purposeful than the playful tickling had been. His thumbs ghosted over her nipples and she arched into touch, moaning when he pinched the hardening peaks between his thumbs and forefingers.

Just as he pulled the old Caltech shirt off of her, the lamps on either side of the bed along with the TV began to flicker. “Shit,” he cursed as he rolled off of her. “The power is probably about to go.”

Spencer stood from the bed and grabbed his phone from the bedside table just as the electricity flickered off entirely. Switching on the flashlight that was built into his phone, he shone it into Y/N’s face. She squinted into the light, holding up her hands to shield her eyes from the blinding brightness. “I’m going to go get some candles and a lighter. Stay in here, bubs.” 

Quickly making his way down the dark hallway, Spencer headed for the hoard of scented candles he knew Y/N had stashed in the linen closet. He scanned the shelves, and spied the decorative basket tucked into the corner of the top shelf. Honestly, he didn’t even want to know how Y/N had managed to get up there. Even for as tall as he was, he had to stand on his tip-toes to reach it.

He pulled the basket down and rummaged through it, crinkling his nose at a few of the names… Pink Sand, Midnight Cashmere, Home Sweet Home. Why did they all have to have weird names? Why couldn’t they just be named what they were supposed to smell like? Eventually he gave up on trying to find normal ones, just deciding to take the entire basket before going to the kitchen to retrieve a lighter from the junk drawer under the microwave. 

Once back in their bedroom, Spencer began to scatter the candles all over the small space, lighting them as he went. Before long the entire room was aglow with a soft, flickering light. After finally lighting the last few, he tossed the lighter down onto the dresser before going to flop onto the bed next to Y/N. 

Still half naked, she was sitting up with her knees pulled her to chest and staring absentmindedly out of the window. She was too busy worrying her bottom lip between her teeth and watching the rain slap against the glass to pay the slightest bit of attention to Spencer. So he turned onto his side and took the opportunity to watch her.

Right arm propping his head up, he shamelessly let his eyes rake over her from the top of her head all the way to the tips her toes. On their fifth date, he’d noted that candle light made her look ten times as gorgeous as she already was. The tiny flickering flames illuminated her features in ways a light bulb or even the sun failed do. Every date night he had planned since usually involved a lot of candles for that very reason. 

Not being able to resist the temptation any longer, Spencer reached up and cupped her cheek in his hand. Y/N turned her face into his palm and pressed a kiss to the center of it. Their eyes locked and Spencer swore he felt his heart swell in his chest as she stared down at him with what could only be called adoration. It was funny how time seemed to stop completely when she looked at him like that. Like he hung the stars and the moon in the sky just for her. It made him feel like he could fly. 

She moved to lie down facing him, so close that their noses were just centimeters apart, and ran her hands up his arms to his shoulders. The muscles of his arms tensed in the wake of her touch and she batted her lashes up him, feigning total innocence at her actions as his pupils blew wide. Her hands slid back down his chest, her nails pressing into him just hard enough to leave faint red lines in their wake. “I think we were doing something a minute ago.”

“Yeah, I think we were.” His words were husky as he cupped her cheeks in his hands again and leaned in to kiss her. Winding her arms around his neck, she pulled him on top of her and he fell to rest perfectly between her thighs.

One of his hands slipped into her hair and gripped tightly at the roots, snapping her head back so that he could have even more access to her throat and jaw. A wanton moan accompanied the sharp sting of her nails raking over his shoulders when he bit down hard enough to bruise. He bit and sucked relentlessly at her pulse point, fully intending to give her a rather spectacular hickey to sport the next day at work. When he pulled away to inspect his work he smirked at the mark, his thumb brushing over it with just enough pressure to have her whimpering.

Becoming desperate for some sort of relief from the growing tension between her legs, she started grinding herself down onto Spencer’s thigh. The cocky bastard was smirking down at her as his iron grip forced her hips back down onto the mattress. She was already so blissed out she didn’t even realize his hands had left her neck and hair. “Be patient, princess.”

The use of the pet name had her eyes fluttering shut, the asshole knew the effect it had on her and used it to his advantage every change he got. Kissing her swollen lips once more, he pulled away and sat back on his calves to drink in the sight of her; pupils blown wide, lips red and swollen. When she looked like this, all flustered just from his touches and kisses, Spencer could barely control himself. Before going to crawl back over her, he grabbed the collar of his t-shirt and quickly tugged it over his head before tossing it to join her’s on the floor. 

Y/N sat up on her knees, meeting him in the middle of the bed, to kiss him. It was feverish and sloppy, their teeth clashing and nipping at each other’s lips. Both were breathless when they finally parted, heads swimming from the lack of oxygen.  

Placing a firm hand on her chest, Spencer pushed her back to lie back down on the bed. Hovering over her again, he dipped his head down to her chest and took her one of her nipples into his mouth. Y/N’s breath caught in her throat as he bit down and tugged at it. He released her after a moment and laved over the bite marks with his tongue before he moved to her other breast. She arched up into his touch, hands tangling in his hair as he continued to lavish her chest with attention. 

“I love your tits,” he told her shamelessly, placing a kiss on each raw nipple before licking up the valley between them.

Despite the filthiness of the words and actions, she snorted out a laugh and shoved his head away from her chest. He was laughing as he pulled away, “I do though!”

“I know you do. And I love your cock but I would really love if it were inside me right now.” She reached down and started palming him through his pajama pants to emphasize her point.

“Remember what I said about having p-patience?” He choked on the words as she gripped him tighter, his head dropping forward onto her shoulder as he shuddered. When he lifted his head back up his cheeks were flushed and his pupils had blown so wide there was only a thin ring of honey brown surrounding them.

He sat back and hooked his fingers into the waist band of her sleep shorts and underwear and jerked them down her legs. When she was completely naked under him, he cupped her sex and practically growled,“I want to play a little first.” 

The words alone were enough to have her moaning and bucking up into his hand, aching for some sort of friction. Spencer ran his middle finger up her slit, gathering her arousal on the digit before bringing it up to her mouth. Without having to be told, she opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue, taking his finger in her mouth and moaning at the taste of herself as she sucked it clean. 

She released him with a soft ‘pop’ and he instantly brought his hand back down to her core. He ran the same finger up her slit again, ghosting over her clit with a few slow, lazy circles this time. Y/N gasped, her hands flying to Spencer’s biceps as he slowly slid the offending digit into her and began to pump it in and out of her. 

She moaned out, arching her back off the bed as he started to pick up the pace, curling it up to perfectly stroke against her front wall each time. “More.” It came out as more of a breathless moan than an actual word but Spencer understood her none the less. “Gimme another one, Spence.”

“So fucking needy, aren’t you?” Despite the comment he complied with her request  instantly. She couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe as he slipped another long, nimble finger into her aching heat, not even bothering to give her a chance to acclimate to the slight stretch. Spencer’s fingers were fucking into her at a relentless pace, still curling them at just the right angle to have her seeing stars. She had asked for more and damn if he wasn’t delivering.

She was slack jawed as her eyes were rolled back in her head and god damn he had never been happier to have an eidetic memory. The look on her face was going to be what got him off when he was in those cold, lonely hotel rooms across the country. 

“Ah god,” she was panting now, her chest heaving as she chased after her high. “Please don’t stop. Please. Please. Please, Spence.”

He added his thumb to her clit and started pressing small, tight circles to the swollen bundle of nerves. A lewd moan ripped from her throat as her hips bucked up into his hand, much to Spencer’s amusement. With a deep chuckle, he leaned down to whisper in her ear, “Please what, princess? Use your words.”

A delicious warmth started to settle in her belly as she clenched around around his fingers and Spencer had to bite down on the inside of his cheek to keep from groaning at the tightness. “Please let me cum. Please,” she was begging, her voice raw and breathless. And he would be lying through his fucking teeth if he said it didn’t go straight to his cock. He hummed and sped up his fingers, still making sure to curl upward with each thrust. 

Stars flashed in front of her eyes as that warmth in her belly burst into a full blown flame, the fire licking up her body from her toes all the way to her head. Her nails dug into Spencer’s tensed biceps as he continued to pump his fingers in and out of her, milking her high for all it was worth. Even as the pleasure started to ebb, he kept up his ministrations to the point where her mewling moans turned into whimpers. She was spasming around his fingers, her walls gripping so tightly around him that he couldn’t help the bucking of his hips into the mattress below them.

“S-Spencer,” she moaned, her hands finally finding his and trying to shove him away. She could already feel another orgasm building, riding the tails of the aftershocks from the first. 

“C’mon,” he purred. “You can do it, baby. Give me another one.”

Her skin felt like it was on fire as her toe curling second orgasm hit her. She was trembling as Spencer worked her through it, his fingers slowing and eventually pulling away from her aching pussy altogether. Another lewd moan was the only sound she could manage at the loss of contact.

“You did so good, princess,” he mumbled as he pressed sweet kisses to the side of her face while she came back down to earth. “You took my fingers so well. Think you can handle my cock now, baby?”

Bleary eyes fluttered open to look up at him and she nodded slowly. Spencer smirked down at her and made quick work of wiggling out of his pajama pants. Y/N reached down to take him in her hand but he swatted her away. His cock was aching and he knew if she took him in her very capable hands he wouldn’t last long at all. “Trust me baby, I’m good to go.”

Grabbing her by her forearm, Spencer hauled her up to sit on her knees before climbing back on the bed behind her. Still fucked out and pliable, she didn’t fight it when he put a firm hand between her shoulder blades and pushed her face down into the mattress. With one hand firmly planted on her hip and the other gripping his dick, he lined himself up with her entrance and slowly pushed in. 

Every nerve ending in her body felt like it was a live wire; everywhere he touched he left fire in his wake. She was a mewling mess beneath him as he set a slow but purposeful pace, pulling out almost completely before slamming back into her. There were sure to be finger shaped bruises along her hips in the morning but she didn’t care, couldn’t care as he started pounding into her like his only purpose in life was to fuck her into sweet, sweet oblivion.

“Fuck,” he panted, “you feel so fucking good, baby. So tight and warm.”

The sound of skin slapping and Y/N moans filled the room as he settled into a quick and brutal rhythm, his hips snapping forward even harder. One of his hands slid up her back and gripped onto the back of her neck, hauling her back to rest against his chest. Her mouth dropped open in a silent scream, her eyes screwing shut at the deeper angle the position allowed. He was so deep and she swore she could feel him in her belly when he took her this way. 

“Nu-huh,” he breathed in her ear, thrusts not faltering in the slightest. The hand on the back of her neck came to grip her jaw and turn her head towards the mirror resting on the dresser directly across from the bed. “I want you to watch yourself get wrecked.”

Her eyes fluttered open and looked at her reflection in the mirror, moaning at what she saw staring back at her. The hand he had on her hip slid around her and dipped down to spread her open so they could better see where he was fucking into her. 

“Touch yourself for me,” he told her, his voice husky and commanding. She did as she was told, sticking her fingers in her mouth first to wet them with her tongue before bringing them down to her clit and swirling them in small, quick circles. With a particularly sharp thrust Y/N was cumming again, crying out as her vision went completely white this time around. 

Her walls clamped down around his cock like a vice and Spencer’s head dropped to her shoulder as he groaned, his thrusts starting to get sloppy. “S-Shit. I’m right behind you, baby, just hold on.”

A couple of thrusts later he was cumming, groaning out a string of curses as he spilled into her. His arms around her waist were the only thing keeping her upright as they caught their breath. As gently as he could manage, he pulled out of her and her lie down before collapsing to the mattress beside her.

After a few minutes of basking in their afterglow, Spencer pressed a kiss to the crown of Y/N’s head before he got out of the bed to get a washcloth to clean her up. As he turned off the faucet he realized there was a sudden lack of howling wind and pouring rain. Making his way back into the bedroom, he peeked out the window before returning to bed.

“It stopped storming,” he mused as he gently brought the warm washcloth up between Y/N’s legs.

She winced at the sensation but was otherwise quiet for a moment before admitting, “Honestly, I had forgotten it was even storming in the first place.”

Mission accomplished then, Spencer thought to himself with a soft chuckle as he tossed the washcloth in the hamper next to the dresser. He settled back down on the bed with her, pulling her back to him. He had just about drifted off to sleep when Y/N started to giggle uncontrollably. He peaked an eye open to look down at her as her shoulders started to shake from the fit of laughter.  

“God, the neighbors probably thought we were making a porno.” She was still laughing as she said it but knew fully well that the elderly couple next door probably did hear them. And would no doubt make comments about it the next time they ran into each other in the stairwell. 

A wicked grin took over his face as he looked down at her and laughed, “Now there’s an idea.”

[tessasocs]

Cover Tutorial

Because several people requested it and while I'm a bit reluctant to share my secrets, I'd rather have this knowledge out there because I know how hard it is to make stunning covers. All of this stuff I learned by trial and error and my process differs with each cover, but here you go!

I use Photopea, not photoshop but the process should be the same.

That being said, I'd rather you didn't reblog this post. Feel free to reply and like it, just don't reblog it pls.

The cover I'll be showing you how to make is my most recent one for my Ron Weasley fic Manic (x)

tagging: @akabluekat @booty-boggins @materialkii @kazinejghafa @leviackermannns @a-song-of-quill-and-feather @jewelswrites-ish @randomestfandoms-ocs

1. Go to file and hit "New" to start a new canvas. My preferred dimensions are 512x800 because that's the Wattpad size, but you can change it to whatever you like!

2. Load your background and FC image you want to use. I shop around for good background stock packs and the one I used for Manic is from a fantasy pack I found on deviant art. The image of Danna Paola I just found on google. I prefer to use transparent PNGs cause I don't have to erase around them, but regular photos work too!

3. The next thing you want to do is hit "Free Transform" and adjust the background and PNG to the position you want. You should see an outline like in the above picture. Now that I have the images where I want them, I'm gonna erase the excess background around Danna so that the clock shows behind her. Load the brush tool and set it anywhere from 40% - 70%. That way the edges aren't too harsh. I add a raster mask and use the black paint tool to erase it. It should look like this when you are done.

4. Now come the fun part, TEXTURES!! Seriously these changed my life. For this one I added some green smoke that I found on google and an image of a green snake that I also found on google.

Because I didn't like how the border of Danna's pic was showing through the smoke, I erased the bottom of her picture so it looked more blended in. Then, after adding the snake pic, I went over to the little bar above the layers that says "Normal" and switched it to "Lighten" so it blends in more. Then I took the brush and continued to erase parts of the pic until it looked like how I wanted it!

5. Now if I want to get that shiny sort of waxy look for my OCs, I have four very simple steps. The first is to click on "Image" and go to "Shadow and Highlights" It should look something like this:

From there I just adjust the top part to my liking. I tend to lower Amount and increase Radius but it differs from picture to picture. When I'm satisfied, I go to "Layer" and hit "Convert to Smart Object" so you should have a tiny little square that indicates it's been converted. Then I just play with the filters Photopea gives me.

I personally like to use Diffuse, but there are tons of different options you can use. After that, I click Smart Sharpen three times and that's how you get that waxy sort of look. With the Diffuse filter especially the face and hands of your FC can get all wavy and stretchy, so I just take the brush tool and brush it over the wavy and stretchy areas.

Your cover should look like this now!

6. To achieve the sort of highlight and green look, I take a Hue/Saturation layer, hit colorize, and adjust it to my liking like this

I wanted it to match the green smoke, so I made the layer green. I then hit CTRL + I to invert the raster mask and take the brush layer and just highlight the areas to make it look like it's hitting her naturally. USE WHITE FOR THIS STEP. Also make sure your brush is at 0% otherwise it won't look as good. It should look like this when you're done!

7. Now add your PSDs and text and you're done! If you want something a little extra fun, go to filters and hit "Distort" while on the text layer and play with the different options until you find something you like!

And now you have a cover!!

TADA!!!! Let me know if you guys want more tutorials!

[ninjastormhawkkat]

Alliance Swap Au: Other Characters

In my first post for this au, I mentioned which ally of Wordgirl is swapped. Some of this involves a swap of powers. It will also involve a swap of personality. Here is the outline for each characters.

Victoria and Violet:

I noticed that Victoria does have some good qualities despite her overall villainous character. (That is definitely her parents fault.) One thing I noted is that Victoria does have somewhat of a dependable character and she is smart enough to realize her situation and mistakes (when her ego is not in the way). In one episode (I forgot the name) Victoria was willing to work together with Wordgirl to get Wordgirl’s powers back from Victor. Even though Victoria’s main motivation was to not be out-bested by her brother, she did prove dependable in helping Wordgirl out. In this au, I increased Victoria’s better qualities. She is a loyal and dependable best friend to Becky. She still acts brash and is somewhat brutally honest, but she will acknowledge her flaws and sincerely apologize when called out for her bad behavior. She is sassy and will throw hands to protect her friends, even when she doesn’t have to. (Tobey and Becky often have to pull her back to keep Victoria from getting hurt or worse.) In this au, Victoria has a single ponytail, regular hair ribbons that are blue in color. She wears a light blue shirt with a grey jacket. Her skirt, shoes, and socks are the same as in canon. Victoria likes Pretty Princess (not to an extant as Becky). In this au her parents are corporate people. (Idk the jobs) They are better than their canon selves, but are a little distant due to how busy their jobs are. They do love their children and want the best for them (not pushing them to be the best always) they just don’t have the time to spend with them as they want to. Victoria’s parents do let Victor and Victoria stay with friends or a good babysitter when they are extremely busy. The Best’s home is not as extravagant as in canon and the rest of the family are dressed more normally and comfortably. (They are still an upper-class family, but look like a normal family to everyone else.) Instead of Art, Becky and Victoria take music class together. (Becky is still terrible.) Victoria does not have her powers. Victoria is sensible in this au, but does try to become a superhero because it looks awesome. “Violet Superhero” happens a little differently, but Victoria does not take the mantle anymore because she realizes she is not cut out for heroics and leave it to the professionals. She and Tobey are still fans of Wordgirl, neither are easily fooled as the rest of the city. (Victoria’s hero outfit is same as canon.) Victoria is basically sassy mostly and does have General Smoochington, but treats him like a loving pet in this au and is definitely a lot more caring toward him. 

For Violet, I decided to twist her good qualities and make them corrupt. This was based on the villain from Wander over Yonder, Dr. Screwball, and how he wanted to make everyone laugh, whether they wanted to or not. Violet in this au wants to live in a world where everything is all sunshine and rainbows and everyone is happy all the time. She thinks that everybody is a winner and it is not fair when someone gets a trophy when another person doesn’t. Violet was raised in an environment by her mother where everything and everybody needs to live in peace and harmony and those who don’t need to be shown the error of their ways. Ex. In the introduction episode for Victoria Best, Violet gets upset when Victoria earns a lot of trophies (not every trophy like in canon). So she takes them to “teach her a lesson” about humility. (In this au, Victoria earned her trophies because of her hard work.) Violet also gets upset when she sees how Wordgirl treats the villains even though she is just doing her job and treats them the same as canon. Violet does get mistaken for Wordgirl and does try to take up the role of Wordgirl just to prove that Wordgirl is doing a terrible job and she should become a hero to be more sympathetic to everyone. (Her hero outfit is “The Framer”). Her powers are similar to Victoria’s. She has pink eyes when she uses them to move and levitate stuff. Violet paints and shows everyone her painting which puts them in a hypnotic trance which keeps them in a peaceful state until the control wears off. (If anyone has watched the Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated episode “When Walks Aphrodite” it is similar to that.) 

Tobey and Scoops:

I sorta did the same thing as I did for Violet and Victoria in this au. There are no interest or ability swaps for these two.

Tobey in this au is just an avid, albeit a little too energetic, inventor. Tobey is head of the media/technical club and is in charge of the media stuff used in school such as electronics used for classrooms and organizing technical special effects for school events. Tobey still dresses the same, but acts like a lovable nerd. Both he and Becky have crushes on each other, but the boy is oblivious as heck that Becky has a crush on him. Becky is not as lovey-dovey as she is in canon with Scoops when expressing herself towards Tobey in this au. Tobey has no idea that Becky is Wordgirl until the “Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers” episode. Tobey still invents robots for fun on the side. 

For Scoops, you remember how I made his character in my Morally Gray Wordgirl au? Well he is a lot worse in this au. He is still a reporter and a part of the Daily Rag (not head reporter). In this au, Scoops will do anything to get a Scoop, even sometimes aiding villains or helping to cause incidents to just get a great story. (Since Tobey is not a villain in this au, I have Dr. Ape Brains taking over most of Tobey’s canon roles with some shifts to other villains.) He is obsessed with finding out Wordgirl’s identity and causes an incident where he messes with Tobey’s Robots which cause them to go on a rampage at Becky’s home and a few other instances. Scoops does not mean to get people hurt, but he is too focused on “getting the BIG scoop” to notice. He does get punished by his parents. Canon outfit.

Eileen and Rex:

Now I chose to swap these two because they are both similar in personality. The both have childlike curiosity and are equally energetic. They both tend to ignore what others tell them and seem to think they know what they are doing. 

In this au, Eileen is a alien superhero from the planet Gigantian. She can control her size changes and is super strong. She can’t fly but has incredible stamina and dexterity that allows her to leap high in the air. She still has the baby talk (kids on Gigantian talk like a baby until their 13.) This annoys the heck out of Becky. Steven now has to deal with two energetic superheroes. (Sarcastically) Lucky him. Her hero name is Giantess. Her hero outfit is a pink mask. She has a suit style similar to Kid Math’s, but the main colors are pink with purple gloves, boots, and a cape. Her insignia is a mini green person in a strongman stance with black radio wave lines surrounding the person which symbolizes Eileen’s growth and shrinking abilities. Her secret identity outfit is the same as in canon. Her hairstyle as a superhero is in a ponytail while her secret identity has her canon hair and bow.

Rex is a kid villain known has Math Whiz. He treats everything as a research study. Rex does believe every day is his birthday which entitles him to do anything he wants all in the name of research. In the introductory episode for Eileen (changed for this au) Rex takes Squeaky for a lab rat and obliviously ignores Squeaky biting him all the time for release. When he doesn’t get what he wants he uses his powers. Rex is able to project holographic math monsters of various sizes that either protect him, steal for him, or attack anyone that bothers him (on command). These monsters may be holographic but can hurt someone physically. They look like math numbers and equations, have sharp teeth, cartoon eyes and arms, and are mainly white in color with a blue hue that surrounds them. Luckily, the amount of math monsters Rex is able to generate depend on his level of entitlement. If he is greedy for one thing or if it is for small reasons, he can usually generate one monster. Even if he is able to generate multiple math monsters at once, it takes a lot of energy out of him so he can only do it a few times.  

Rose Franklin and Chazz:

Recently, I decided to do a character change swap for Rose Franklin. I originally picked Katy because she was friendly and apologetic with Toby like Rose was with Scoops. Writing this post, I began to think about how Chazz was in the episode where he was being a bad influence for TJ. Since I have Scoops being a villain in this au, why not do the same for Rose. In this au, Rose acts like a cool girl/bad influence which impresses TJ and he develops a silly crush on her (which then ends when Wordgirl gets him back to his senses). She has an outfit and attitude similar to Chazz’s, but adjusted for a girl. Rose in this au is called Roe. 

Chazz in this au is a laid back, but intelligent kid who uses focuses on environmental science. The “News Girl” episode is retitled “Science Boys” for this au. In this au, Chazz accidentally insults Tobey by saying building robots isn’t really a helpful science as it would make people too dependent on robots. (Tobey is immediately upset and ready to throw hands because NO ONE insults his robots. Becky holds him back before Tobey does something stupid). Chazz in this au is called Chad Hudson. He moved to Fair City with his mom who is the new Forewoman (idk what a female foreman is supposed to be called?) for the Power Plant. Wordgirl and Mouse Ace stop the energy monster from destroying the plant and giving Chazz’s mom more work. In this au, Becky takes Chad to natural places along with technical places to get him more comfortable with the city and to ease the issues between him and Tobey. (Tobey does make friends with him in the end.) Tobey during this tour gets upset when Chad creates environment experiments that are beneficial for the civilians and villains. Ex. he creates an organic, environmentally friendly, gel that is great for Chuck’s bread skin and helps the grocery store manager to grow more head hair which he talks to Chad about profiting in his store. Chad figures out Becky’s identity the same way Rose does because this guy is smart. He plans Becky’s exposure as a major science project because her identity and life is a great scientific study. Steven is doing work stuff when Becky calls him to help her fight the bad guys so Steven is not on the tour with them. Steven finds out about how Chad discovered her identity after Becky tells him. Steven, after Tobey, confronts Chad (Tobey’s talk is similar as Scoop’s talk to Rose) and he basically explains the importance of keeping Wordgirl’s identity secret (acting as an adult) and also sort of threatens Chad (Two Brains’ canon character is showing). Luckily Chad, at this point, had already decided to not reveal Wordgirl’s secret and do something else for his project.He is from now on scared of Becky’s dad. It also takes a while for Steven to fully trust him.

Everyone else is pretty much the same for this au. Steven and Becky are neighbors to the Botsfords, TJ is still a fan of Wordgirl with Johnson as his sidekick (I decided to not bother swapping them for the au), and Miss Powers is still an evil alien (I couldn’t find anyone for her or Colonel Gigglecheeks). I don’t have any ship ideas for Victoria or the rest of the characters in this au. Except for Tobecky.  

(Another thing I forgot to mention in my first post about Squeaky is that the mouse sometimes travels with Becky in her pocket. So he does come with her to school sometimes. He usually sticks with Steven in the lab. Squeaky is kidnapped as was Bob in the “Birthday Girl” episode and is put in a girly dress which he despises with every fiber in his being. He also escapes the “Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers” mind control and helps Becky because his body was too small for the button to stick on well.) 

So that is my Alliance Swap au for Wordgirl

[enchanted-lightning-aes]

Sweet Stray Feline

A/N: a TDRC tale for @thelaughingstag’s prompt ‘Discovery’. I hope this fits because the main character featured discovered someone new.^^ 

Word Count: 1550

TW: brief description of injury and mentions of mistreatment of animals (not done by the MC, to be clear)

WIP Intro - WIP Masterlist

***

A fragrance drifts into a room, caused by different types of flowers set in each counter. A wind of a breeze sways flower petals. He keeps a packet of flower seeds in a cabinet, organizing it by letter. From bluebells to violets, there’s lots of flowers to plant on soil.

Sometimes, when the shop can’t order flowers, he grows some. It happens more during winter since snow covers roads and fields of nature. In a season, when they don’t have much to sell in that duration. It happens rarely yet he tends to flowers already planted.

He’s more than a floral designer, he’s a gardener too if any occasion calls for it. And it tends to be the case often. One of the reasons, he considers it to be a perk of his job. It’s how he learned to look after plants.

Since his boss allowed him to go after his shift finished, he chose to fix up a few things in the design room. In a day’s work, it gets messy once the shop closes. Petals, leaves, and other parts of a plant scatters any surface on the room, especially on a table. He discards them, keeping some clean parts to press on pages of a book.

Maybe he’s being weird to do it, however, he doesn’t care.

No one seems bothered either and he’s free to do it.

Krispin changes the rubber gloves to his cotton mittens. It’s more comfortable and conceals his hands easily, preventing others from seeing burns on his left. He cleans his glasses with a tissue, removing any stains from them before putting them back on.

With another glance at his surroundings, he closes the cabinet doors. Okay, he should probably go back to his house. He can buy some food on the way before getting a cab. He bought a house at winter, where it’s on the edge of a countryside. He isn’t disturbed by the city’s noise. It isn’t far from it, so it’s easy for him to get to the flower shop.

It’s good that he has decent chances of finding a taxi. He’d buy a car except his income isn’t enough for it’s monthly payment. It’s less expensive too and he doesn’t complain much.

Packing his things up, he closes his backpack then goes out of the shop. Main Street’s filled with people visiting different shops that still remain open at night. It’s considered to be a place for anyone, who’s looking to have a great time. They have one of the best coffee shops, where they prepare pastries good for the soul. To be honest, he visits it for their bread than their actual coffee.

Above, the moon shines within the deep blue sky that’s cluttered with specks of sparkling stars. Surface of a lake beneath a bridge reflects it’s glow, slightly fragmented. It ripples in a calm breeze. A rare sight to behold and worth remembering.

If he can, he’d transfer this and paint it on a canvas. There’s something magical whenever the sun or moon shines over water, it’s colors faint and scattered through. In evening, the sun sinks below the horizon, it’s reflection fading with gold and pink hues.

When he has a small break, he watches the sunset, and wishes to run a hand on water.

Tearing himself away, he continues on walking to the coffee shop. Just when he gets closer, he jumps at a sound of a small, long whimper. Startled, he shuffles on his steps before trying to regain his balance. He catches his breath.

What is that? It doesn’t seem too good.

To his notice, he scans the other side to check where’s the source of that sound. A short orange tail peeks out of a package with a fish drawn on it. Oh, it’s just a cat. Poor thing. It’s probably looking for food to eat.

Maybe he can buy a packet of snacks and give some to it.

Going to a pet store, he searches for it in a food section, browsing through different flavors. He gets a small box of dry food, which contains snacks. He approaches a cashier to give money to buy it then leaves with it. He walks over to the other pavement, where the cat still might be at. It’s different from feeding a bird except he has to try.

The cat meows and falls inside the box. He grimaces. Okay, it should eat now before searching for food again. He looks at it, the cat’s back to him. It’s long body settles into a loaf position.

“Hey there, little fella,” he says quietly, getting on the ground. “Can I give you some treats?”

The cat turns around, raising it’s head at him and reveals it’s face. It’s missing an eye on it’s right side. When it sits up, there’s a missing left leg. A collar’s wrapped around it’s neck. It meows, it’s voice faint and weak. It’s blue eye drops slightly.

Krispin’s heart squeezes while a lump grows in his throat.

It must have been a pet of someone albeit treated badly, who must have hurt it to the point it had enough. Certainly, the cat probably escaped and the person didn’t care enough to search for it? He knows how it feels to get hurt and discarded. Except he didn’t get beaten, not even once. Not the way this cat experienced it. This poor thing must have been struggling out in these streets.

When he escaped from the manor, he had a difficult time on finding places to rest or sleep. If Aunt Faustine didn’t find him, he might have been lost, and he wouldn’t be here. He’s more than grateful for what she gave him: a place to live, food to eat, and somewhere to sleep.

Maybe this cat deserves to have it too.

That’s the first step that he needs to follow.

He opens the packet, carefully tearing from it’s edges. He removes a glove from his right hand, keeping it on a pocket. He steps back to distance himself from the cat to not scare it off. It doesn’t need it after getting beaten and hurt.

After putting some pieces of treats over his palm, he offers them to the cat, who watches him. It tilts it’s head to a side as if uncertain of his intentions.

“Pspspspsp,” he murmurs, holding his bare hand out. “Here, kitty. Treats just for you.”

The cat’s eye widens and stares at the food, scrutinizing it. It hops towards him on it’s only leg, sniffing him slowly and closes it’s eye. He tries to avoid staring at it’s empty eye socket, wondering who would be inhumane enough to do it.

A rough tongue darts at those treats, nearly alarming him. The cat eats it’s food up, probably enjoying how it tastes. It swallows them whole. He withdraws his empty hand, wiping it with a tissue from a pocket of his jacket.

Krispin smiles at the cat. “Good kitty. There you go.”

It only blinks at him then cleans itself, rubbing the back of it’s paw of his face. Is there anything else he can do for it? Something to help make it’s days more tolerable? The idea of leaving it out here to defend itself sickens him.

From it’s appearance, it’s a domesticated cat that doesn’t have much of a chance to stay out in these streets.

What if a bigger cat hurts it? It’s something that he can’t accept if it does happen.

For a cat, it’s very quiet, he thinks, a pang of pain inflicting him.

He’s heard how cats can be loud and demanding except he didn’t hear of any cats that aren’t before. Maybe there are, just not as well-known. Probably. On some days, cats meow and yowl at any time of day on Main Street. There’s no stray cats wandering outside because of an animal shelter nearby. Maybe he can bring this cat with him to give it a chance for a better home.

First, he has to figure out how to earn it’s trust before doing it. However, more importantly, he should bring it to a vet for a check-up. It has injuries that need to be healed. Who knows how long it’s been this way? He flips his wrist, showing the back of his hand to the cat, who sniffs it with it’s nose hovering over it.

It meows, raising a paw at a corner of the box. He bow his head, letting it press it’s palm over his cheek. He hears a muffled sound of how it purrs. His gaze remains fixed on it’s slow movements.

Even though, he has no idea what it’s supposed to convey, he accepts with it with a warmth.

Maybe when it stays in his home, it can find a place to be free. He’s more than willing to give that to it.

Pouring more treats at a corner of the box, he helps the cat to get back in, guiding it to not hurt itself. He picks it up, trying to hold it carefully. It’s small, he’ll be okay with carrying it and waiting for a cab. The cat plops down, eating it’s treats.

Dinner will have to wait. Right now, taking care of this cat is his priority.

***

[heyheyloki]

Cuts & Bruises

Summary: After a fight with a criminal, he comes to the reader’s house to get help with his wounds. 

Peter Parker x M!Reader

Word Count: 2166

You knew Peter Parker was the hero Spider-man from Youtube. He told you in a not so subtle way, and by telling, it was more you finding out on accident. In the back-ally he usually uses after school to change into the hero that looks out for the little guy, you saw him. It was on your way home and when you saw a figure moving in the corner of your eyes, you had a look. You thought it would be a homeless guy or maybe someone on drugs. You did not expect one of your friends to be there, nonetheless in a costume of the Spiderman from Youtube. You thought maybe he was just into dressing up as the hero, maybe he was ashamed to tell you since the costume looked bit big for his body. Though, when he pressed something and it matched his frame and he went flying to who knows where, you knew he was the hero. 

You didn’t want to do a big confrontation in the middle of school or at either of your homes, so you came back to the ally later that day since he left his backpack there earlier. So, when he came back, he spilled everything to you. Peter kept saying how he wanted to tell you, and the usual about not telling anyone else. 

That was a few months ago. Ever since then you two have grown closer knowing his secret. You would sometimes help him out with excuses, allowing him throw you into his web of lies if he needed to get away. In exchange he would show you the city at night, flying between buildings as the cool air hit your skin. It was terrifying at first, but when you knew he wasn’t going to drop you, you felt safer than ever. 

You quite enjoyed those late nights, even if you felt like death the next day if it was a school night. Thankfully, today was Friday and both of you had made a deal to hang out, maybe even have a sleep over if he was late doing his Spiderman business. That was seeming to be the case, as well.

You had your own ways of entertaining yourself while you waited, a book here, finishing up some homework there. You had ways of keeping yourself busy, it wasn’t that hard for you, at least. Still, today was different. You knew he was fighting bad guys and such, but today felt longer. You thought it was imagination for a moment, maybe your patience was wearing thin. It wasn’t that, at least not when you noticed your mother head to bed.

Peter was always here before then. He was always back safe before this time.

Growing worried, you decided to call him. Your foot tapped anxiously against your floorboards as the insect beeping somehow got louder over time until your worries burst like a damn. Voicemail.

“Damn it,” you muttered to yourself as you immediately grabbed a jacket without even thinking. You knew it would be difficult to search for Peter, especially when he could be anywhere in Bronx at the moment, but you didn’t care. Your worry outweigh the impossibility that hung over your head.

You were just about to leave your room, your hand even on the handle. Though, just as you were about to turn the knob, a subtle knock came from your window. You froze, waiting, hoping to hear it again. And you did.

As soon as the sound was confirmed to be real and not your imagination, you turned, almost cutting the air in half. You noticed the distinction of red and blue colors outside your window, a figure wearing an outfit. Your feet quickly shuffled over to your locked window, unlocking it in a hasty manner before sliding up the window for Peter to crawl through.

You backed up to allow him access into your room, watching him with caring and searching eyes. When you were opening the window for him you were thinking about giving him a stern talk about not making you worry so much, now, you hesitate. His suit was torn in numerous places, blood leaking out of some areas while others were stopped by the dried blood on top of the wound.

“Sorry I’m late,” Peter said softly, his voice weaker than normal.

You leaned your head to the side, wondering why he felt the need to put up such a strong front around you, especially in his condition. It felt wrong to you, like he couldn’t fully expose himself around, but at the same time you understood. Once that front is down, it’s hard to put back up, especially with someone who you cherish deeply and knows thinks you don’t even know about yourself.

“Peter.” You said sternly, you voice cutting through his very core as you watched his entire body convulse for a single second. You waited a moment, watching him with eyes that made sure showed deep care, deep worry. “Take off your mask.”

You noticed his fingers twitch at that one. To anyone else other than you, it looked like he wasn’t going to. You knew he would though. It was Peter, and you were you. Someone he couldn’t dare to disobey, someone he wanted to make happy. You knew that, because you were the same way when it came to him. A mutual feeling.

His covered hand began to reach up at the base of the mask before slowly rolling it up and taking it off in a hesitant, slow manner. You heart feel upon seeing his face, seeing his eyes not meet your own.

His hair was a mess, that part wasn’t what saddened you, no, it was the bruises all over his face. He had one forming along his left cheek while the other on his right eyes completely took on those black and blue colors. He was a mess. A hurt, cut and bruises mess before you.

You took a step forward, slow movements as you tried not to scare him. Carefully, you reached your hand out and grabbed the mask slowly from his hand. He allowed you without a fight. Next, you placed the mask in your other hand before taking his own with your now free one. You didn’t lace your fingers together, but rather wrapping yours around his. Knowing he still wasn’t looking you in the eyes, you gave his hand a gentle squeeze before saying, “Let me help.”

He didn’t speak. He didn’t even nod his head. You had no indication that he was okay with that, but you knew he heard you. After a moment, you began to walk towards the bathroom that connected to your bathroom. You closed the door behind you, just in case anyone walked in, and sat Peter on the toilet after bringing the seat down.

You were about to pull your hand away from his, that was until you felt his fingers start to rest on the back of your hand. It was soft, weak. But it made you smile. You enjoyed knowing he was okay with such an action, but you knew you needed both your hands if you wanted to help him. To let him know, you tapped your fingers against his hand before slowly pulling away. Your once warm hand quickly losing its warmth the farther your hand got from his.

You kept your eyes locked on his fragile state before turning towards your first-aid kit that hung on the wall. You opened it up and searched for some gazes, bandaids, and some rubbing alcohol to clean the wounds.

When you got everything you needed you moved in front of Peter, his head down as he gazed at the floor. A small frown rested on your face, it was the first time you’ve ever seen him like this. Sure, you patched up a wound here and there, but nothing like this. You’ve never seen him look so defeated before, so you knew it had to be a bad one.

“I need to clean your wounds.” You said softly as you bend down on your knees in front of him.

He only nodded before brining his hand up to the middle of his suit were the black silhouette of a spider laid. He pressed it and the the tight suit that traced everything about his figure was now puffy and slowly sliding off his shoulder. It reminded you of when you first find out, and honestly, it’ll probably always be that way.

You tried not to laugh though, it wasn’t a time to try and make jokes or laugh without talking. You really didn’t want him to think you were laughing at him. So, you distracted yourself by allowing some of the rubbing alcohol to flow on the cotton balls that laid in a bag at your feet.

You first took the one on his shoulder, not wanting to unnecessarily undress him. You heard him take in a breath of air through his teeth, the hiss low and deep in his throat.

“Sorry,” you uttered out as you dapped it against the cut. None of them looked necessary deep, but you knew they were definitely caused by some kind of knife. Probably a switchblade or pocket knife. A small, discreet weapon that anyone could carry for any reason in the book.

Once done and a small bandage was placed upon it, you moved on. Though, you thought you owed it to Peter to let him know every action you were about to do. It was bad enough he wouldn’t talk, you didn’t want to scare him.

“I’m gonna pull this down, okay?” You asked even though you knew an answer wouldn’t come. And while one didn’t, he did move. This time his head moved to the side and down even more to the point where you couldn’t see his face.

You thought he was embarrassed or maybe even hiding his tears, but you didn’t feel the need to comment. You knew he’s been through it tonight without him having to say anything. Carefully, you began to strip him of his top, exposed his chest, torso, and legs to your hues. He had nothing on except for his red plaid boxers while his suit rested in a pile at his feet.

You didn’t wait long to tend to his wounds, more importantly the ones that were still letting out blood. He let out a few hisses here and there, but no words as you tended to his wounds. You didn’t mind the silence, you knew he would come around eventually and you didn’t feel a need to push anything. Honestly, you didn’t want to push anything. He’s been through enough for one night, you didn’t want him to relive it.

As you began to finish up, you thought nothing at all would go down. No words, no movements, nothing. You didn’t mind, but you wished he would show you a sign that he was going to be okay.

When you finished, you looked to admire your handy work, feeling prideful about how good of a job you did. After that ego boost, you began to pack everything up.

“You can stay here for the night, if you want. I’ll lend you some clothes to wear.” You said as you placed the bandaids back in the first-kit, along with everything else. You gazed at him, wondering if you should ask if he’s okay. But, you paused, and you knew that if you ever hesitated that it was probably best to hold your tongue.

A soft sigh left past your lips, your hand gripping the red box handle. As your knees began to bend, weight suddenly pushed you back down. You blinked aimlessly for a second, unable to register what happened until your eyes shot to the head of hair that you noticed at your side. The feeling of weight pressed against your shoulder. Peter’s body was slumped over, his forehead resting against your shoulder blade as his hid his face from your sight.

“Pete?” You questioned, wondering if he fell asleep or something. You didn’t hear any snores though, so you knew he was awake, even more so when he spoke the first words all night.

“I messed up.” He muttered out, his voice brittle and breaking at its core.

You frowned. You didn’t know how to comfort him in times like these, times were he was Spider-Man. But, you knew that this guy in front of you wasn’t the hero everyone admired, but your friend that held a special place in your heart.

You brought your hand up and placed it gently against the bare skin of his back. You felt his body twitch under you, giving him a moment before you started to rub soft circles with your thumb in his back. When you noticed his body turn less stiff under your touch, you began to hum a soft tone as you tried to comfort him.

When it ended, you nuzzled your nose into his hair, your cheeks blazing as you thanked god he couldn’t see your deepened cheeks. “Everything will be okay.” You said, “I’m here for you if you need, always.”

[ghostlypawn]

Hey, did you have any coloring tutorials regarding your pride headcanon gifsets? The coloring looks so nice and I wanted to try and attempt to use some coloring for my gifs but I dont know how

thank you !! its usually kinda specific to each gif but i can try! theres usually 2 ways i go about it

using the color overlay feature:

this is probably the easier one as it can be used with more scenes

you need to find a scene where the person you're giffing/the camera moves very little (here she moves a bit but its fine enough for me)

colour and sharpen the gif as you normally would

then create a new layer and simply colour the background in the colour you want

it will look ridiculous at first but then u wanna change the overlay setting from normal to color (the drop-down next to the opacity)

and it should look something like this:

and then sometimes i add a gradient (pink to transparent) on a new layer on each side if i want a bit pinker (i mess around with the opacity of this layer to whatever i think fits this is around 70% opacity)

it doesnt make a ton of difference here but i tend to use it more when there are things happening on the far left that i want to draw attention away from as it makes those areas more opaque

and thats basically it for this way!

the cons to this way are sometimes you can see gaps/overlap where the character moves at certain points of the gif

im usually pedantic about these things but its honestly not as noticable as you think it is and ive uploaded gifs that have overlap (i tend to think overlap is better than a gap but thats personal preference)

using selective colour:

this is harder to do as you need the background to be a specific colour (but i think it tends to look better)

this colour can be the colour you want the gif to be but from my experience blue backgrounds tend to be most easily manipulated

red/yellow/pink backgrounds are hardest to change as they affect the skin colour of the character (but it can sometimes work if the character doesnt move much as you can use a layer mask and erase your colouring from the person)

im gonna try and colour this gif (idk if it will work yet as the background is a greyish blue rather than a brighter blue like the sky would be but it should do)

colour and sharpen as normal (i also recommend using a blue/cool photo filter layer to really get rid of the yellow undertones the later cm seasons have it makes a world of difference for me but its up to you/how you colour things)

then from here honestly its a lot of trial and error; im gonna try and make it pinky purple

this is gonna be different for each gif but for reference i added 2 selective colour layers (as the bg is blue im only gonna change the cyan/blue and maybe black/green) and one hue/saturation

1st selective colour: GREEN (C = -100, M = +100, Y = -100) CYAN (C = -100, M = +100, Y = -23) BLUE (C = -100, M = +100, Y = -91) BLACK (C = +1, M = +13)

2nd selective colour: GREEN (C = -100, M = +100, Y = -100) CYAN (C = -100, M = +100, Y = -23) BLUE (C = -100, M = +100, Y = -91)

hue/saturation: (the background is now pinky/purple) MAGENTA (hue = +1, saturation = +32, lightness = +19)

this is my result:

as you can see their skin tone hasnt changed as i didnt touch the red/yellow selective colour options. if your background is one of these colour you could add a layer mask to that selective colour layer and erase the area of the person but this might cause effects similar to first version i showed you (gaps or overlap)

im still not entirely happy with it as firstly, luke is in the picture as we want to draw attention away from him and secondly, there are still some non-purple colours in the background

to fix this is once again use the color overlay feature from the first version to touch up some of the areas (i colourdrop a colour from the background) there shouldnt be much overlap/gapping as im not colouring precisely around their skin (and if there is it wont be as noticable as the background/shirt is the same colour)

and then to get rid of luke i simply draw over him in a colour from the background and then add a gradient and move it so the opaque side of the gradient is near the edge of where i stopped drawing over luke (i also transform it and mush it inwards so the more transparent side doesnt go all the way over to matt just next to him)

this is what it looks like finished!

it turned out pretty well considering it was a random video i had on hand !!

also dont be scared to experiment with overlays/opacity etc and its okay to realise that it’s just not working for this gif and scrapping (ive lost many gifs </3)

im not the best at explaining things but i hope this somewhat helped!! if you have anymore questions feel free to ask <3

[wreckofawriter]

Stupid Dance, Stupid Teenagers

Pairing: Remus Lupin x reader

Word Count: 3,135

Warnings: Drinking, mentions of weed? Swearing?

Request: @twilightlover2007: Could I request an imagine with Remus? Bookworm/avid photographer Remus watches from afar until his mates push him to talk to her/ask her to the upcoming ball? :)

A/n: Okay, I am quarantined for a month so I should be writing more but who knows, I am a dumbass. Okay, umm not exscatly in love with this one but I've already re-written it twice so I'm done. So sorry it took so long

Remus felt himself get lost again, before about a month ago he never tended to wander from his classes, they were relatively easy to stick to as most of them were quite interesting, but recently something far more entertaining had caught his attention. 

He watched as your fingers fiddled with the device under your desk two seats to his left and one down. He knew if McGonagall caught you she would give you hell, her patience probably ran out simply because of the sheer number of times she had caught you with the camera during class. 

You weren't doing anything in particular, simply spinning the lense in your hand and clicking on and off the flash. Yet Remus was completely memorised as your fingers moved so gracefully with the object. He had completely forgotten his notes, only a few sentences scribbled down before his eyes found your form. 

He began to wonder how your hands would feel in his hair, fingers ghosting through his curled locks. From there his mind began to wander to your own hair, his eyes following. It looked so soft and smooth, spilling like a waterfall from your head, its y/h/c hue shining in the dusty sunlight which filtered through the classrooms windows. 

A jab in his side forced his gaze from you to his dark haired friend. 

"Uh Moony if you don't take notes then none of us are going to have any and we are definitely going to fail Minnie's test on Friday." Sirius whispered to him.

"Since when do you care if you fail?" Remus muttered.

Sirius flashed a smile, and shrugged, "Since never but you do." 

Remus couldn't exactly argue with that so he simply rolled his eyes and dipped his quill into the ink. But one desk down and two desks over you had taken to messing with your hair and that was far more intriguing so he let his eyes stay there instead. 

Sirius took note of his friend's immediate departure from reality and let out an annoyed huff. 

"Moony seriously," he began knowing just how disappointed in himself the werewolf would be if he didn't score his unusually high performance on the upcoming exam. 

"I'll just ask Lily for notes." He responded, eyes never leaving the girl who sat a few meters away. 

"She never gives anyone notes." Sirius shot back attempting to gain Remus' attention.

"Correction, she never gives you or James notes because you are idiots." Remus commented, still not tearing himself from you.

Sirius was fed up with the lack of attention he was accustomed to receiving and pouted, it only took seconds for that pit to turn to smirk though. 

"Oh well I'm sure that y/l/n would like to hear you've been stalking her for the past month." Sirius' smile grew as his friend's head whipped towards him, eyes just a bit too wide, cheeks tainted a light pink. 

"I have not been stalking her." Remus hissed.

"Sure you haven't, and I'm in love with Malfoy." Sirius grinned, pure ecstasy filling him as Remus turned a deeper red. 

Remus turned away from the Gryffindor attempting to ignore him. In response Sirius plucked the maroon beanie from his head placing it on his own. 

"I don't see why you don't just ask her out." Sirius shrugged leaning back as Remus made a grab for his hat. 

"Give my hat back Sirius." He growled already fed up with his nonsense. 

Sirius pursued his lips pretending to contemplate his answer before breaking out in a smile, "Nah, I think it looks better on me." 

Remus once again rolled his eyes, "I don't want your grease on my hat Pads, now give it back." 

"I don't think I will after that comment." Sirius mused.

Hazel eyes rolled in their sockets once again and he lurched forward in attempts to take the hat from a bed of shimmering black. 

While his efforts did gain him back his beanie, in the process his elbow had found his open bottle of ink and successfully drenched everything on his desk. 

"Shit!" The boy cursed pushing himself backwards to avoid the liquid before it dripped onto his robes. 

"Mr. Lupin!" McGonagall snapped from the front of the class. 

"Sorry Professor!" Remus called back glaring at Sirius who bit back a laugh. 

"Black stop bothering your desk mate." The teacher added in with a glare. 

"Why am I being yelled at?" Sirius questioned.

"Because you are almost always the cause of these issues." 

At this point Remus' mind left the ink now dripping to the floor as his eyes connected to yours. You had a small smile on your face, clearly amused by the situation, your camera was now disregarded on your bag as a quill danced in your hand. The boy told himself to stop staring but it made that nearly impossible. 

You only shook your head slightly and smiled widening before you turned back to your work.

Remus was sure he was still burning red even after his teacher's had vanished the ink from his desk and continued the lesson.  

    The Gryffindor avoided looking at you for the remainder of class. By the time they were dismissed his embarrassment had dulled but not disappeared. Sirius refused to apologise claiming it was not his fault and James thought the whole thing was simply hilarious. So when you appeared in front of the three boys as they exited the classroom different emotions were evoked. 

    “Hey Lupin.” You greeted ignoring the other two boys who stood at his side with wide eyes. 

"Uh h-hey." Remus spoke cursing himself for stumbling over his words. 

You coughed nervously attempting to ignore the fact that three extremely popular boys were now staring you down. Maybe you didn't think this through properly. "Um well I just noticed that your notes were ruined and I am pretty good at this unit so you can use mine if you want." You said shifting your weight from one foot to the other as you spoke. 

The three boys all looked startled, James and Sirius turning to look at Remus who was a bit pale.

You raised your hand to the back of your neck your other holding the notes you had offered up, "It's cool if you don't need them, I'm sure you can get some from Lily or something-"

"No!" Remus said a bit too loudly, cringing at his own actions, "No, Lily would probably be pissed at me anyway." 

Your face visibly brightened, you opened your mouth to speak but was cut off. 

"Y/n come on! We are gonna be late." A girl down the hall huffed. 

"Don't yell at her, she's finally talking to Remus." Another hissed quietly, but not quietly enough. 

Your face erupted into color, "Well I've got to go." You spoke so quickly it was almost inaudible as you shoved the notes at the stunned boy before turning and running towards the group of housemates. 

When you reached them you slapped the two who had spoken with your books you were holding and buried your head in your hands as you walked away. 

Remus stared after you, his cheeks dusted pink as he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. 

When you disappeared around the corner James let out a laugh, "That was one of the most awkward things I have ever seen." 

"I think you mean hilarious." Siriua corrected. 

"Shut up." Remus groaned.

"Look on the bright side Moony, now you know she totally has a thing for you so you can ask her out already." James smirked.

"How do we know that exactly?'' the werewolf asked. 

"Are you blind, deaf or just plain stupid?" Sirius mused.

"Yeah Moony come on. She gave you notes, blushed way too much and did you not hear the 'she's finally talking to Remus' conversation?" James giggled. 

"Whatever." Remus scoffed despite the smile twitching on his lips. 

"I can't believe you did that to me." Your groaned face is still hot from the conversation you had a few minutes ago. 

"I'm so sorry y/n/n. I didn't mean to be so loud." The short blonde next to you apologized for the thousandth time. 

"Well thank Godric you were Elle, that was the funniest thing I've seen in awhile." The brunette who sat on your other side laughed, the memory still pleasant in her head.

"Fuck off Nat." Elle glared, "at least she has the guts to talk to the person she likes, you cant even get within five yards of Alice without turning into a mess." 

"That's not fair! It's different." She argued her cheeks tinting red. "Remus obviously likes her." She grumbled, "Everyone knows Alice has a thing for Frank." 

Elle rolled her eyes, "I wish you would just get over her already." 

"Don't we all." You agreed, happy that the conversation isn't centered around your awkward interaction with the Gryffindor boy. 

Class took years but when it finally ended you and your two companions, who were still bickering, walked out to the quidditch pitch. Your camera felt nice in your hands again as you strolled across the bright grass. 

As Natasha walked into the locker rooms Elle joined your side, looking a bit upset. 

You looked through your device pointing it at the girl who looked on the verge of tears. You dropped the camera so it slung around your neck, pulling her into a hug. 

"She'll get over her eventually." You sighed, "I swear she will." 

"I just feel stupid." She whimpered, whipping her tears fiercely. 

"Dont feel stupid, feel artsy." You giggled, "I wanna go a photoshoot with you." 

Her mood changed drastically, "Really!" 

"Yeah come on let's head back to the lake." You grabbed her hand walking her back to the lake and away from the pitch.

Remus watched as you left the pitch from his place on the stands, Sirius was beside him following his gaze to you.

"Her friend is pretty cute, I think I might ask her out." Sirius sighed picking at his nails. 

"I'm sure she has taste." Remus spoke, rolling his eyes. 

Sirius opened his mouth to state his offence but was cut off, "We should go down to the lake." 

"I wonder why you would want to go to the lake?" Sirius hummed faking contemplation

Remus sighed again, "I'll just go without you." 

"Okay, okay, we'll go, but only because watching James practice is super boring." Sirius agreed standing from his seat. 

As the two made their way towards the lake the two could hear loud laughter.

    Remus stopped glancing cautiously around the tree to see you knee-deep in water holding your skirt up with one hand and holding your camera with the other. Your friend was standing on the dock giggling. 

    Despite the fact that she was the one posing you managed to look like an angel. The sun was low in the sky giving you a golden glow as you photographed your friend. Your upper thigh was exposed, your smooth skin visible. Your hair was loose, a strand falling into your face. 

“Tilt your head back.” You instructed, “Take a step towards me and pop your hip.” 

“God y/n/n I feel ridiculous.” Elle spoke but she did as she was told. 

“You’re not the one waist-deep in water.” You shot back closing your mouth and clicking the shutter. 

“I’m also not the one who insisted on getting into the water to get a good angle.” She shot back.

“Shut up and let me take your picture.”

“Are we gonna just stare at them or..?” Sirius asked, causing Remus to jump from his daze. 

“Shut up.” 

“I didn't know you were such a perv Moony.” Sirius giggled. 

“I am not a perv!” He whisper-shouted. 

“You're kinda acting like one.” Siriys shrugged, smirking. 

“Fuck off I cant just let her know I followed her.”

“Why not?” 

“Okay, we're leaving.” Remus sighed beginning to walk back towards the quidditch pitch. 

“I don't understand why you don't just ask her out.” 

“You say that like it's an easy thing.” Remus sighed. 

“Just ask her to the spring dance.” Sirius shrugged, “It's not that hard.” 

“It’s not that hard for you.” Remus corrected him. 

Sirius just rolled his eyes a small smirk finding the way onto his lips. 

Remus narrowed his eyes, suspicion suddenly filling him, “Don’t give me that look.” 

“What look?” Sirius inquired, face still holding the same expression. 

“That look,” Remus spoke emphasizing the first word.

“There is no look.” Sirius insisted. 

“You’re still doing it.” Remus scowled, “Its that look you always get before you do something idiotic.”

“I don’t have a look.” Sirius maintained. 

“You have a look, James has the same one.” The boy said his look turned from annoyed to scary. “I swear Pads, if you and James plan to meddle in my business I will gut you.” 

“I swear I’m not gonna do anything.” Sirius lied through his teeth. 

The pestering did not stop. James and Sirius were relentless. They refused to let Remus rest in peace. He was completely fine with watching you from afar but his two best friends seemed to have other ideas. 

“What about fireworks Moony?” Sirius asked. 

“That's a brilliant idea Pads!” James gasped excitedly. 

“If you set off fireworks around her I will kill you.” Remus hissed. 

“Fine, but if you don’t do something soon, I am going to tell her.” James shrugged.

“You do and I will-”

“Kill us yeah we know.”

“This is a stupid idea.” You groaned ruffling with your neatly pinned hair. 

“Don’t mess with that y/n, it took me years.” Natasha glared at you, her hands were currently buried in Elle's hair. 

“But it's so uncomfortable.” You groaned. “Why are we even going to this stupid thing anyway?” 

“Because you have done nothing but read and edit holed up in your dorm for the past week and we want to get drunk.” Elle replied leaning back into Nats touch. 

“So now I'm gonna have to look after drunk babies too? You're right that is the perfect evening.” You spoke rolling your eyes. 

“Whatever you’ll probably end up boning Remus anyway.” Natasha smirked.

“I will not!” You huffed picking up the closest thing to you which happened to be a hair brush and chucking it at the girl with red cheeks. 

“Will too.” She mumbled, dodging the object with ease. 

You slowly began to remove a few of the pins from your hair as your two best friends began an argument behind you. This was a bad idea. Remus was probably going to think you looked like you tried too hard or that you looked sluty or stupid. This was a really bad idea. But before you could bail the two behind you were standing. 

“Ready to go y/n/n?” Elle asked. 

“I guess.” You mumbled grabbing a book from your bed and following your friends down the stairs. 

Remus could not belive he had been stupid enough to go to this dumb party. He figured it's what he got for being friends with the two most obnoxious party animals in the entire school. Sirius was already hammered and it was not even eight yet. Remus considered making a break for the dorms but before he could he heard a loud shout. 

“Y/N!” Sirius cheered as you and your friends entered the room. 

You jumped a bit flushing as Sirius threw his arm around you offering you a drink which you declined and the blonde next to you took. 

You sighed shrugging off the shoulder as Sirius continued to slur nonsense into your ear. 

Just as Remus had built up the courage to go talk to you James appeared out of nowhere dragging him off to help with his harassment of Lily. When he returned a bit less than an hour later you had disappeared. 

He caught a glimpse of your friend Elle but to his surprise she was drunk making out with an equally drunk Natasha. He blinked a few times and sighed. You had probably ditched, he didn't blame you, he was going to do the same. 

Checking over his shoulder he then quickly he bagan up the stairs unbuttoning the far too tight shirt he had decided to wear. 

He bust open the door to the dorms closing it behind him before turning and freezing. 

You lay on his bed, hairpins strewn around you, a large book in front of you as you sat in an oversized hoodie he recognized as his own. Remus suddenly had the urge to pinch himself, was this some amazing day dream?

You had a light tinge to your cheeks as you spoke, “Hey.” 

Remus swallowed his mouth feeling very dry, “Hey.” 

“I'm really sorry im up here, I went up to the girls room and they were smoking weed and I just can't stand the smell so I thought I would just come up here instead.” You squeaked out, your eyes suddenly lingered downward. 

Remus glanced down at his shirt realizing he had unbuttoned it and blushed widely, quickly fumbling with the buttons. You refused to meet his gaze as he looked back at you. 

“I’m actually kind of glad you're here, I thought you ditched.” He said walking over to you and sitting on the bed opposite. 

“I would but my friends are drunk idiots.” You smiled softly. 

“Yeah they were making out downstairs.”

“WHAT?!” You yelled causing Remus to jump, “Are you serious!?” 

“Umm yeah.”

“Oh my god, finally, Elle has been in love with her since like forever, it was getting very painful.” You sighed.

“I can imagine.” Remus grinned. 

The room fell into silence, neither of you quite sure what to say. You flipped a page despite not having read it. 

“Hey y/n, I’ve actually been meaning to ask you something.” Remus mumbled picking at the end of his dress shirt. 

“Shoot.” You respond, eyes leaving the book in front of you. 

“Would you like to go to that stupid spring fling with me?” He blurted out face washing crimson as your mouth dropped slightly. 

“Of course.” You respond, your heart beating so loud you were sure he could hear it. 

“Really?” Remus asked. 

“Yeah dummy, but only if we get to act like stupid teenagers.” You giggled and the boy felt his heart soar. 

“Of course.” He answered feeling a heavy weight lift from his chest. “By the way you look really cute in my hoodie.” 

You blushed eyes growing a bit wide. “I’m so sorry I had no idea it was yours, I was just really cold because of this stupid dress and it was just sitting there and-” 

“It’s fine.” Remus laughed, “It looks better on you anyway.” 

Taglist:

@evyiione

@accio-rogers

@roslea

@k3nz-doodl3

@theseuscmander

[enthusiastic-nimrod]

Hey I'm Fred's fourth daddy anon! I sent that to you, and what felt like five minutes later you came in with that gorgeous sketch. Do you have any art tips or videos that have taught you cause I've been stuck draw trying to draw anything not resembling a lump for two years. Also yeah it was whirlwind episode, f*ck Rose, and Fred should have turned that loon in.

Hey FD Anon, thanks so much! I don’t draw a lot of “horror” art so I’m really happy with it’s progress so far!

While I do agree with you that Rose is The Worst, I think she added in an interesting dynamic and I’d be happy if she became a recurring character in the Scooby mythos at large. As for Fred not turning his dad in... I agree, but I also understand why he didn’t. 

The episode went out of it’s way to show off how frightening and weird he is but Fred made it very clear that when he wasn’t wearing the mask he was a good parent, and that all of his crimes were shown as nonviolent. He didn’t seem to steal anything (unless I missed that line?) he just liked messing with people by confusing them. 

As for art tips, I... honestly never expected anybody to ask for advice from me? That’s super flattering wow. 

Okay, so I’m still pretty much a novice, but lemme give you some of my best tips and tricks:

1) Notice how my last sketch had a grey background? This wasn’t just for that sketch, this is how I use ALL of my digital canvases. I do this because the grey causes less strain to my eyes, and allows me to work longer and more easily. Being so close to a screen, especially a blue or white one, can make it harder to work for long periods of time. 

2) If you want to do digital art, you need to learn “traditional art” (pencil and paper) first. It makes transitioning to digital more easy and it’s pretty much what any art teacher would recommend, for good reason. 

3) Using one method of art not only limits you, but stops you from learning other techniques which can be incorporated into what you typically prefer. Not only that, but you can also discover a medium you really love that you never would have thought of before!

4) Whenever you get the chance, work in black and white or monochrome. This is a great way to help yourself learn about values and intensity, and just looks cool in general. 

5) Piggybacking on that last point, if you’re ever worried about your shading, values, etc becoming muddled either A] take a picture and use a filter to make it black and white, or B] create another, pure white layer on top of the others and change it from “Normal” to “Hue”. Doing this can really help change your approach to coloring (black and white effect may be different for every art program). 

6) If you want to get better at realistic faces, I was taught using the grid system. You have squares on your reference picture, squares on your paper, and then match up the body parts to the squares. I personally didn’t like this method, but it’s a really solid style of learning. 

7)  Start with the torso instead of the head. what you start with the head, the body may end up becoming wonky and having the neck stretched out at an odd angle or having a too small cranium. This is easier to fix in digital art but I suggest just remembering the importance of that rib cage (this is something I’m still training myself out of). 

8) Asking for feedback can be an invaluable tool. For example, last year I had this really weird thing where I drew my eyes way too close together- I never noticed until I had it pointed out to me, and it took MONTHS to break this habit.

9) References are very useful, and one fun technique I’ve found great use in is to draw a pose, first with no reference, and then following that reference very strictly. This can be helpful when you want to see where you are developmentally. 

10) Every now and then while drawing, you want to put the pencil down, prop up your paper, and walk away so that you can see the full image from a distance. If you’re working digitally, you zoom out a great deal so that the image appears smaller. This is a GREAT tool for seeing which sections of the piece need the most attention and how those smaller details hold up. 

11) If you have the opportunity, you REALLY want to participate in an actual art class. Having a teacher that can see what you’re doing in real time and knows where you’re at skill-wise is an INVALUABLE thing to have- these people were specifically taught how to teach you these skills, recognize your problems and how to fix them. Don’t be afraid to talk to them and ask for advice about non-classwork art, either! You can’t receive help if you don’t ask for it. 

12) Flip your canvas! I know you’ve probably heard this before, but this is one of the best ways to check for anatomy inconsistencies.

13)  When it comes to youtube artists, I don’t really actively follow any, but I do know of some! 

Mark Crilley: While I don’t watch his videos much now, I used to follow his videos RELIGIOUSLY. He’s got some really solid advice on how to map out comics and mangas, and he taught me the importance of silent scenes and keeping your work from getting too wordy. He mostly does the soft anime look, but he also does some pretty stellar realism. 

mikeymegamega: I’m not going to lie to you, anon- this man likes his cheesecake. This guy is all about the cute anime girls, so if you’re not looking for that, skip him, but I really can’t recommend his videos on hands, feet, and faces enough. 

Proko: Has a video about best drawing exorcises and is the guy you turn to when you want to know about figure drawing. He tends to focus on the more realistic anatomy, and while his videos may be long he’s got some good advice. I’d say to check out his studying anatomy correctly video, and then just kinda scroll through his pages. 

Ethan Becker: THE KNIFE MAN. The first time I clicked on him I thought he was making a troll video- but then he Got Into It and my dudes, my guys, he has some CRAZY good advice. The way he words things and shows you examples in his videos are amazing and I really can’t recommend him enough. He did a video called “Fixing PROKO's LAZY Drawings“ and while you’d think it would be a  bash fest his advice on shading in it is just so incredibly useful. Click on pretty much any of his videos and you’ll be entertained and learning. 

I'd also suggest watching speedpaints. Even if it was unintentional, I’ve learned several really solid art hacks from speedpaint and storytime videos- so always be aware that you have an option for that. 

…. Oh! And also, practice! I know you’ve probably been given this advice from everyone already, but it’s worth remembering. 

Sorry if this got a bit long, I just figured I’d try to give you some good hacks- and even if you have already heard of most of these, I hope I could at the very least entertain!

[powermaknae]

In the Dark Part 3

Incubus! Yuta x Witch! Lily

Yuta leaves a life of wild partying and long nights to be with Lily, a witch with growing power.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

~Fantasy!au, sexual themes, some angst, blood play, power complex, fighting, drinking, demons

Word Count- 4K~

A/N: I’m sorry this took so long. I started uni again and just got really busy. But I hope you like it. It took a lot of effort. I really like how it turned out :}.

 The sky was dark against the neon lights of the club Yuta was stationary in. It had remained that way for days, after the pair emerged from Johnny’s nerd store. Yuta felt comfort in the corner at his reserved seat in his favorite club. He felt comfort but he was nowhere near content.

Lily had showed him her power, used it to help him, and it was highly amusing to him. But as he sat alone, accompanied only by several empty shot glasses, he couldn’t help letting his mind wander to the thought of her: Her childlike persona, soft skin, powerful demeaner. She was truly everything he desired.

He didn’t desire her like the woman he’d sucked dry the night before. No. It was so much more.

He gazed around at the crowd packing the popular night club, the clothes of many still sopping from the inclement weather. A few figures caught his attention, a group of college boys surrounding a very intoxicated girl. She was smaller than most of them but didn’t seem to notice the intention around her.

One of the boys flicked his hair out of his face as he peered over his shoulder in Yuta’s direction. He smirked before focusing back on the girl. Something about this boy was unsettling to Yuta.

Yuta was used to unsightly characters, ones of his own kind that were not nearly as skilled or experienced as he, and other creatures of similar nature with a much higher tendency for brutality, but he had never felt this unnerved.

He felt like the boy may have been a creature of familiarity, but Yuta couldn’t determine what, and that’s what was odd. He didn’t know.

After downing his last shot, he stood from his place and adjusted his dress pants before making his way to the door, trying to think no more of the feeling in the pit of his stomach. This party had become boring and he was in no mood to feed again tonight.

As he passed through the crowd, dodging body after body, the boy appeared beside him, checking his shoulder.

“My bad,” he sneered in an unexpected nasally tone. Yuta followed him from over his shoulder as he continued toward the exit, watching the next movements of the boy until he reached the door.

The streets were painted with wet streaks as the rain misted Yuta’s face. For a rainy night, he noted the unusual amount of civilians wandering the city. It was very odd indeed.

Every direction he turned his head, his eyes met a bystander. He couldn’t seem to shake the feeling that they were here for him. He felt for sure they could tell what he was, but what were they?

He picked up his pace, trying to remain inconspicuous without going into a panic. Frantically checking his surroundings, he hadn’t noticed a quickly approaching pedestrian and accidentally bumped into her arm as he passed. Her feet never slowed as she glanced behind her, giving Yuta a familiar smirk. He was close enough to her to see that the color of her irises were tinted purple.

Something unnatural was happening, he could feel it, and he needed to get to Lily as quickly as possible without being noticed.

He made a sharp turn down a confined alleyway with the intention of breaking into a sprint, turning his head over his shoulder to make sure he wasn’t being followed. The air around him grew thicker as he attempted to pull himself forward, but he was blocked.

In the little light coming from the open streets, a large figure stood in his way, chuckling in an inhumanly deep voice.

Yuta was not one to let fear take over his senses, but he had to admit, he was afraid. Not afraid for his life but the fear of Lily’s, putting her in danger. This beast of a creature was after them and Yuta had to get to her somehow, before something else did.

********

In her small quiet home, Lily was anything but calm. The clash of thunder echoed through the walls as she carefully watched the surges of energy through the clouded sky. Her entire body ached, and her hands were shaky as she tried her best to make some chamomile to calm her senses.

The Book had not opened itself to her since she brought it home, but it spoke to her often, appeared in writing on the walls, and flowed with the cold breeze of the storm. The power it had placed upon her shoulders had taken a toll on her physical being.

She knew she had become much stronger. She could feel her ability growing within her, noticed how much she could withstand, but it had been days of nonstop training, and she felt much weaker than when it began.

The energy within her had changed, shifted, almost as much as the weather had. She somehow felt connected to it, like the change in magic had conjured the storm itself. She was much more powerful, but the energy she now possessed was difficult to control and resulted in several dents in the drywall.

She hadn’t spoken to Yuta in days. She missed him, but was terrified of what he might do if he found out the Protector had been broken. His demonic nature can be difficult to maneuver. Chaos cannot be controlled once set in motion and in the state she was in, he could have easily destroy everything she’s worth.

But now as she paced her living room floor, watching her hands shake uncontrollably trying best to contain her magic and sipping at her cup, she wondered where he had been, if he was doing alright, if he would come find her. She let her thoughts run with ideas to draw her attention away from the impending anxiety the storm had caused her.

Her feet had stopped moving momentarily when she heard a loud BANG at the front door. She jumped instinctively, stumbling backwards. Then from behind the door came a frantic, “Lily, please let me in. It’s me.”

She placed the warm cup on a coffee table nearby with surprisingly steady hands and waved her hand, rushing to the door as it swung open and banged against the wall. Standing slumped on her doorstep, leaning his weight against the frame, was a very weak, beaten and bloodied Yuta. Even when covered in bruises and gashes, his face still managed to glow.

She quickly pulled his arm around her shoulder, helping him hobble through the door. She sat him on the floor against the wall opposite the kitchen and rushed out of view. When she returned, she held a small bowl of warm water that had been sprinkled with peppermint oil and a washcloth draped over the side.

He gazed at her with big eyes as she moved the objects with such grace. The door was closed with a soft thud behind them, but the air from outside had made the room cold. Yuta shivered under Lily’s touch as she padded the patches of blood on his temple. His shirt had been massacred with gaping wounds underneath. Lily tended to those next, trying her best to stay calm.

Yuta winced at first, taking in sharp breaths, but as it subsided, he brought a soft hand to her cheek, caressing it gently. His fingers were freezing against her skin, partially due to his cold-blooded nature.

“It worked.” His voice was barely audible.

Lily was still shaking, but more out of fear. Yuta was strong enough to hold his own in a fight. What kind of creature could do this much damage and was it still after him?

Her face was stern as she glanced up in his large, sparkly eyes and said, “What happened? What did this to you?” She was so shaken that it was audible in her voice. Yuta pushed himself with his hand against the floor, sitting up a little straighter against the wall as his body went ridged.

“Lily~ something has changed.” “No shit…” She mumbled under her breath.

“I’m serious. I felt like they were watching me, following me. I tried to get to you but…”

“Yuta… Who’s they?”

“I- I don’t know… But they are not human. Some of them may be like me or other types of demons, but I can’t tell.”

“Did they do this to you?” Her eyes were getting puffy and she felt as if she’d burst into tears, but she fought it off.

“No. It was something else; something much bigger. I couldn’t fight-”

Before he could finish his sentence, he snapped his head towards the door. A distant thudding of very large footsteps was growing closer to their place of refuge.

Lily held completely still, focusing her entire attention on the thudding.

“Please tell me you didn’t lead it here,” she elevated her voice slightly, a tinge of annoyance in it.

“I didn’t mean to, I’m sorry. I just had to get to you before it found you.”

From outside, a booming roar shook the glass window and the two of them were almost completely consumed by fear.

“LILY BENNETT! COME OUT AND FACE YOUR TRUE SELF!” The tone of the roar was demonic, almost inaudible if it wasn’t quite so loud.

Yuta stood in his spot, using the wall for stability. Many of his wounds were already starting to heal at an inhuman rate, but he was still weak. Lily was moving towards the charmed door, ready to pull it open and face whatever it was that was looking for them.

Behind her came his voice, “Lily, please don’t. I can’t lose you.” She didn’t turn to look him in the eye before she swung the door open and marched outside for the showdown of a lifetime.

For the first time in days, she was willing to let herself loose. Her eyes glowed a fiery hue and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She could already feel her fingertips tingle with every step she took.

The sky was almost a pitch black, making the surrounding difficult for any human to see. Her shoes were soaked through, but her hair remained unwavering in the storm, the rain unable to reach her.

In front of her stood a creature like no other, several feet taller than her, covered in muscle. It bared its teeth and claws at her, massive in size and terrifying to look at. It resembled something like an overgrown werewolf, but its eyes seemed familiar.

“Johnny?” Her voice was low against the sound of the pounding rain.

“NOT ANYMORE! I AM MARCHOSIAS, MARQUIS OF HELL! YOU HAVE UNLEASHED MY LEGIONS! NOW YOU SHALL FACE THE CONSEQUENCES!”

He bellowed at her, preparing to charge. She mustered everything she had within, all the magic she’d been given, the power she possessed. Her feet were picked up off the ground as she pulled her energy through her limbs to her fingertips. They glowed against the stormy night sky, where magic manifested into a line of defense.

As the marquis charged her, Lily held out a strong hand. She was putting every ounce of her being into her protection. She forced a small beam away from her stable frame, but it was a weak effort and the beast reached her, pushing backwards by several yards, and knocking her onto the ground.

He ran at her again, snarling in the dark. She was ready for his approach this time and shot onto her feet with both arms outstretched. The beam was stronger and slowed the beast down significantly, but she quickly ran out of steam.

Marchosias had realized her weakness and was charging faster than ever, feeding off of the thought of his victory. With great haste, he swiped at her small figure with sloppy aim, leaving a gash across her jawline.

She winced as she lay aching on the muddy ground. Her sore body was covered in bruises as she felt the warm gash ooze. She could make out a low growl farther away from where she lay, but it wasn’t the beast.

Yuta had regained some of his strength and was fending off the beast, trying his best to buy Lily some time.

He threw a vase across the yard, smashing it against his opponent. He was frantically dealing as many blows to Marchosias’ chest and face as possible, eyes as black as the sky, egging him on for more.

Lily pulled herself back onto her feet, wobbly and shaken. Even though her entire body ached for rest, she pulled every ounce of energy into her small fingers, drawing the attention of both males.

Marchosias lunged into a sprint, reaching his large claws towards her, but in an instant, she had filled her entire body with powerful magic, using all the energy, magic, and pure adrenaline she had left.

She cried out in the surge, as her entire body blinded her opponent. It was almost as if the power had burst from the seams of her small figure, and in a flash, the creature withered in the beam, letting out a ungodly screech.

The flash had grown brighter and brighter, and the screech louder, until, finally, Lily collapsed into the mud, bleeding profusely from her wounds and the demon shriveled into the soil.

Yuta watched in horror from his position in the distance. Farther away, he could make out the cries of other demons. By banishing Marchosias, she had also destroyed his legions.

Hearing the wailing in the far-off distance had changed Yuta’s demeanor. His face contorted in discomfort, his limbs longed for stretching and his thirst for blood was growing with every second.

He could feel himself transforming as the screams of his people grew and Lily’s pulse became faint. His body felt like that of a body builder, growing stronger and stronger with every movement. The desire for blood was growing unbearable. He needed it. He began to stand up straight, changing his appearance, preparing for a night of insatiable desire and untamable lust. His shoulders were broad, his now shoulder length black hair matched the color of his soul, and all he could see was red as he let the demon in him take over.

Lily stayed, continuing to fight as death threatened to take her. Yuta had disappeared, leaving little trace and a badly injured witch to fend for her life.

********

The next morning was colder than normal, the remnants of a demon hoard still lingering in the city. The air was moist from all the rain, the sidewalks still sprinkled with puddles. All was quiet, the early morning birds were still in hiding and the people roaming the streets were silent aside from distant footsteps.

Yuta was startled awake by a group of pigeons that had gathered around him as he lay on a park bench. He sat up slowly, trying to get a grip of what all had happened.

His lips were stained red with blood as he touched his tongue to his upper lip, tasting the familiar taste of iron. He wiped what he could on his torn sleeve, staining the fabric, too.

His head was in a daze, trying his best to remember the events of the night before. He looked down at his hands, taking note of the marks and more red stains. He noticed that his fingernails were filthy, harboring dirt and grime underneath.

In a flood of memory, he remembered Lily: rushing to her house, fighting the Marquis, and watching him vanish. After that was a blur.

He stood from the bench scaring off the pigeons and looked for a sign to tell him where exactly he had ended up. “Culture Tech Park”.

“Damn. How did I end up on the opposite side of town?”

His footsteps wavered slightly as he began the walk back to Lily’s small house. The city felt gloomy as he walked. He held his head low, watching his feet move carefully.

When he arrived, clouded in exhaustion, he looked up to see the front lawn had been completely demolished. It wasn’t picture perfect before, but now all the foliage had been destroyed and the yard was entirely mud and dirt.

Lily lay in the same indentation as before, not having moved a single muscle since the previous night. Yuta rushed to her side, rolling her onto her back. Her hair was matted from the mud and her face was covered in dried blood that had dripped from her wounds.

Yuta dipped his ear to her mouth, listening for breathing or any sign that she was still alive.

Kneeling near her limp body, he held her face in his hand, wondering how to fix this. Tears started forming in his soft brown eyes as he let his hair fall into his face. He had never meant to bring this upon her.

Just as he started to cry over her weak body, a presence manifested above him and soon he was joined by a very stern, rigid individual with short black hair and a heavy coat. He removed it from his slim figure and laid it over top if her as he lowered himself to meet Yuta’s position.

“Let’s get her inside. It’s freezing out here,” was all he said before standing back up. Yuta pulled her into his arms, holding her legs in one and keeping her head close to his chest with the other.

He tried to stay out of the way as best he could. Doyoung had cleared the small kitchen table for Yuta to set Lily on while he worked. He pulled things from cabinets and moved as quickly as possible. It wasn’t hard to tell that Lily had been like this for some time and he wasn’t sure how much he had to work with.

He paid Yuta little attention as he chanted under his breathe, sprinkling oils and herbs all over her and cursing when she didn’t respond.

“Shouldn’t we take her to a hospital?” Yuta interjected from against the wall after witnessing several rounds of ritual.

“They can’t help her. It would only make it worse,” Doyoung muttered, frustrated and becoming frantic.

Finally, after many attempts to bring her back to functionality, Doyoung placed a stick of cinnamon next to her right ear and said an incantation into her left, as a last resort: A spell he had never had to use before. He tried to keep his voice from wavering in nervousness.

When he had finished, there was almost an immediate difference: Her cold hands were slowly getting warmer, and her skin was gaining color.

Doyoung let out a sigh of relief. “The worst is over. She’ll be okay.”

“So now what happens?” Yuta was still very unsure of what he had done.

“We clean her up and let her rest.” It was simple but Doyoung began to wipe the dried blood and mud from her face with a rag. Yuta joined him slowly, coving more ground between the two of them. He had never cared for someone this much: certainly not enough to wipe blood from their cheeks.

Once her wounds were sewn and her hair was its regular shade of sunshine, Doyoung carried her to her bedroom, were the walls reflected the gloomy morning. He tucked her into the soft sheets and closed the door behind him to let her rest.

Yuta, who was flush against the wall again, knew better than to ask questions, but he didn’t have to. It was Doyoung who inquired.

“An incubus, huh? What exactly are you doing here?”

“I- We- it’s complicated…”

“I see. You know, I can tell you have a strange bond with my sister. One formed in magic. It’s quite strong.”

Sister…, Yuta never knew Lily had a brother, she really hadn’t mentioned much of a family. He only knew her to live on the outskirts of the city in a small cottage, alone.

“So, what’re you then? And how did you know she needed help?” He broke away from the wall and meandered closer to where Doyoung was brewing a cup of coffee.

“I’m a witch doctor; a healer. I’ve been staying close in the area. Lily told me she had been courted by the Book of Spells, so I’ve been doing my best to keep an eye on her. I could sense that something was off about her, but it may have just been you.”

Doyoung was not particularly fond of demonic creatures. He had several encounters with them, but never took any interest in them like his sister. She befriended the monsters in her closet and Doyoung banished them.

“Did I do this?...” Yuta’s voice was soft as he opened a place of his heart he didn’t even know he had, to a complete stranger.

“No,” Doyoung reassured. “If anything, I’m glad you found her when you did. Who knows what she could’ve done if you hadn’t been here?”

“Is she… evil? Is that why I like her so much?” His eyes went wide as the words flowed out of him. He never admitted to liking her.

Doyoung was unphased by the comment. “It’s possible. The Book of Spells certainly doesn’t court heroes.”

Yuta thought about the idea for a moment. Why was she willing to touch a demon, to befriend one, even care for someone like him? What was he to her? And what was she to him?

But thoughts were interrupted by Doyoung’s matter-of-fact nature. “I don’t think you are all evil, either. In fact, I think you and Lily balance. She could’ve become something much worse than Marchosias, but you were here to bring her back.”

They were silent now, in thoughts and words, just sitting awkwardly while Doyoung sipped at a cup of coffee, until he finally rose from his seat by the window and placed the mug in the sink before turning back to face Yuta.

“Take care of her. I know you will treat her well.”

And with that he opened the front door and vanished in the blink of an eye.

The small house was quiet, entirely. It was almost uncomfortably quiet for Yuta as he stood looking around at the aftermath of Doyoung’s power. Bloody rags were littered all over the floor along with wasted herbs and spices.

He felt overwhelmed, looking at the events of the day, so he opened the unstable door and sat on the porch step to think. The first thing he notice was that yard had been restored, was green and lush again. The indent in the ground where Lily was found had been filled.

It looked as though nothing had happened. The windchimes clanked together once more as a soft breeze filled the moist air. The flower beds in the windowsills were filled with color again as the gray of the sky began to fade.

How long will she take?

He sat and pondered on the porch step until the sun began to set and the star became visible. His head was less cloudy now and he was able to think clearly once more, only thinking about Lily’s wellbeing.

He stood from his sentinel post and shifted to go back inside, hoping that it would welcome him as she did. Upon reentry, the mess had been cleaned and placed in its rightful home. It was spotless from top to bottom. He glanced up to find his favorite scent had been replaced above the door frames.

He was careful to keep his footsteps light as he made his was to her bedroom, where he saw her under the bright stars of the night sky. She looked as beautiful as anything he’d ever seen, all comfy and cozy in her soft bed.

He slipped in next to her under the covers, careful not to wake her. Her caressed her exposed shoulder with the pads of his fingers, truly feeling her for the first time.

He closed his eyes and took her hand as he projected himself into her dreams. There he saw the two of them together, living a happy life full of wholesome enjoyment and passionate desire. There they would remain as the world was at peace once again.

[ericsonclan]

The Courtyard Aglow

Summary: Prisha thought it would be an ordinary day at Ericson when she starts noticing that everyone is acting strangely.

Word Count: 2952

Read on AO3:

Something seemed different about today. That was the thought that stood in the forefront of Prisha’s mind as she worked with Ruby in the greenhouse. She had first picked up on it when she had gone out to the courtyard. Willy avoided eye contact and made up some sort of excuse that made absolutely no sense. Even though he had defended his statement that he had to go water Garbage, Prisha knew that wasn’t the real reason why he scampered off. But she also knew it wasn’t out of annoyance or anger since he had grabbed AJ who seemed overly excited when he spotted Prisha and began whispering stuff to his friend.

Louis kept giving big grins her way and even Omar was smiling more than usual. Violet was acting odd too, telling Prisha that she had to help Louis with something important and that she had switched greenhouse duty with Ruby. Prisha didn’t mind spending time with Ruby though, that wasn’t the issue. She found the redhead to make pleasant company. The two of them seemed to share appreciation for maintaining the simple beauties of life even when the world had ended. Still, even she was acting extra chipper today. Prisha couldn’t quite place why but there had to be some reason why all the others were so overly excited. But what could it be?

“Oh, don’t pick those yet!” Ruby’s voice snapped Prisha’s attention back to the task at hand and she saw that she was pulling at some unripe herbs.

“I’m sorry!” Prisha apologized as she quickly pulled back her hand from the planters and picked up her small basket before heading to the next one. She recalled that Ruby said they needed to harvest the jerusalem artichokes today. Her eyes scanned around for the root vegetable. She quickly spotted the yellow buds that grew on the top of the jerusalem artichokes. Prisha began to pull the vegetables out from the earth, careful not to damage the buds so that she could bring them to the courtyard for the others to make some flower crowns together.

“Oh Sug, don’t worry about it.” Ruby looked over at her friend with a warm smile as she picked up her own basket that was filled with today’s herbs. “We just gotta make sure not to waste any food.”

“Absolutely, the last thing I would want is to do that,” Prisha returned the smile and began to take the buds off of the earth-colored lumpy root vegetables. Ruby was about to add to the conversation when suddenly the door shot open. The door whacked against the wall of the greenhouse making Willy flinch as he stood in the doorway.

“Shit, I’m really sorry!” Willy glanced around to make sure there were no hidden walkers nearby that had somehow been drawn by that sound. “Ruby, have you seen the mason jars?” The young teen looked at the redhead who was dusting off some dirt from her hands. Willy’s eyes shot over to Prisha and grew large. “Oh, hi Prisha!” Willy beamed.

“Hello, Willy,” Prisha smiled at her friend. Willy’s gaze soon returned back to Ruby.

“Willy, you have to be more careful with that door. All that ruckus could draw anything near here. Besides we don’t wanna have the door come off its hinges,” Ruby scolded but soon saw the look of guilt in Willy’s eyes. “That being said, the mason jars should be in the admin building behind the staircase.”

Ruby’s words made a toothy grin appear on Willy’s face. “Awesome! Then me and Rosie are on the case!” It was in that moment that Prisha and Ruby noticed the pitbull happily laying in some dirt behind Willy. “Come on, Rosie!” Willy gave a whistle and the pitbull lifted up her head, her stubby tail wagging ecstatically as she barked and chased after Willy. The teen was soon sprinting off in the direction of the admin building, leaving the greenhouse door wide open.

“That boy, honestly. The least he could do was learn to close the door behind him,” Ruby shook her head and lifted up the basket. Prisha didn’t respond though, her mind focused on her curiosity as to what was so important about some mason jars.

“Prish?” Ruby’s voice made Prisha glance over at her friend who was in the doorway. “Ready to head back?”

“Oh, sure!” Prisha quickly grabbed her basket and held it on her hip as walked forward. Ruby immediately noticed that the basket was too heavy for her friend to carry with just one hand so she placed the smaller herb basket on top of Prisha’s before she bustled over to one side of the basket and held it, evenly distributing the weight. Prisha smiled appreciatively and the pair walked back to the picnic tables in content silence.

Prisha and Ruby walked through the courtyard and past Aasim who was tending to Molly’s mane. He gave a wave over at Ruby who gave a more playful one back. Prisha gave a teasing look to Ruby who was about to return the teasing but they’d already reached the picnic tables. The two friends set down the basket, causing a small thunk to emit from the table which made Omar lift his head from his spot by the fire pit.

“Dinner should be ready soon,” Omar smiled warmly at them. “Which means another hour or so,” Louis playfully joked as he sat at the picnic table with Clementine. Their fingers intertwined for a few seconds more before they focused on preparing the vegetables.

“You can’t rush perfection,” Omar looked over at Louis who nodded in agreement.

“True, true, and with all this time I have while cutting up veggies I think it's time for another episode of Stew With Lou!” Louis’ statement made Omar groan but he didn’t stop his friend from continuing. Prisha looked around and noticed that AJ, Violet and Willy were nowhere to be seen.

“Looks like I’ll take a shift on lookout duty,” Ruby bustled over, quickly stopping by Aasim to share a few quick kisses and loving words before she got up on the watchtower.

“If you’re wondering where Vi and the others are, Violet is busy grabbing some more firewood and Willy and AJ are grabbing something for tonight,”

Prisha took a spot at the table across from her friends. “What are they grabbing for tonight?”

“That's a secret,” Clementine smiled then quickly turned her attention towards her boyfriend’s commentary about stew, giving him soft kisses every so often as they worked. Prisha’s eyes wandered over to the admin building, still wondering what the conversation about the mason jars had to do with anything.

“They should be around here somewhere,” Willy poked his head into an old box behind the staircase and coughed roughly when he inhaled dust.

“Did you find them?” AJ asked as he worked to try and move a heavy box down to examine its contents. Rosie barked and hopped this way and that in concern for AJ’s safety.

“No, I can’t find them,” Willy frowned before he looked at AJ, a smile forming on his face.

“What? Do I have something on my face?’ AJ wildly moved his hands around his face in confusion.

“Nah, you just have some spiderwebs in your afro,” Willy laughed as AJ began to try to get them out of his hair only for them to end up stuck on his hands.

“It’s not funny,” AJ frowned at Willy who was laughing at his friend’s struggles against the sticky webs.

“Yeah, it is! I-” Willy paused when he saw the metal lids of the mason jars shimmering in the dimming sunlight. The young teen jogged over and lifted up the box which held more than enough mason jars for what they had planned.

“This is going to be so cool! I love lightning bug season!” Willy gave a toothy grin. His eyes sparkled with excitement.

“Me too! Fireflies are really cool!” AJ moved to help his friend in checking all the mason jars to make sure they weren’t cracked. “I remember when Clem and I first caught fireflies here. It was like the whole courtyard was covered in little fires.” AJ smiled nostalgically at the memory.

“It's going to blow Prisha's mind when she sees the whole courtyard lit up with lightning bugs!” Willy exclaimed a bit too loudly which made AJ reach up to cover his mouth.

“Careful, we can’t have the surprise be ruined!” AJ peeked his head out from behind the staircase but no one seemed to have reacted to his friend’s loud voice.

“Sorry,” Willy spoke after AJ pulled his hand away. “I hope she's never done this before, like how it was with you and Clem.”

“Me too!” AJ checked the last few mason jars. “All clear. No cracks.”

“No cracks on my side either!” Willy and AJ smiled before high fiving. The two of them excitedly began to carry out the box when suddenly Willy skidded to a halt.

“Oops!” He ran over and picked up Garbage who had been fascinated by a dusty empty box and was considering it for her new den. “Almost forgot Garbage,” Willy jogged forward with the possum who made soft hissing sounds. The friends soon wandered outside to prepare for a fun evening.

It had taken nearly an hour before dinner was ready which meant that Omar was worn out from the extremely long episode of Stew with Lou as he helped serve dinner with Ruby. Soon everyone was at the table and eating happily. Rosie happily made her rounds around the table while Garbage chilled on her back and enjoyed the ride. Louis spoke animatedly about the hunting expedition he had gone on with Clementine who added in some details here and there, bringing down the exaggerations in the story.

“Then I saw a rabbit as big as AJ!” Louis exclaimed as AJ stared at him in awe.

“It wasn’t that big, but it was fat,” Clementine smiled as Louis took her hand and smiled at her.

“And where is this fat rabbit?” Aasim asked as he looked over at Louis.

“I had a heart and decided to let it roam free,” Louis smiled heroically and looked around at the table, wanting them to praise him for his heroic deed.

“You missed the shot, didn’t you?” Violet smirked over at her best friend.

“Maybe,” Louis’ eyes focused back on his stew and soon the conversation shifted to another topic. As the conversations continued to change so did the sky. Its warm orange hues shifted into the cool dark blue of evening as the stars began to emerge from their hiding places in the sky. Everyone was finished with their meal and Prisha was about to ask Louis if he wanted to work on writing down some more show tunes that she’d remembered when suddenly Louis stood up, causing everyone to glance over at him.

“I think it’s about time!” Louis declared with a smile. Willy and AJ looked at each other with huge grins on their faces and got up to gather the mason jars.

“Okay.” Aasim stood up and slowly started to collect dishes. “Ruby and I can get the dishes done while the rest of you set up.” Ruby soon followed suit as she picked up the bowls around the table. Aasim and Ruby worked together quickly and began to steal small kisses here and there while they worked.

“Wait. What’s going on?” Prisha asked as she walked away from the picnic tables. Her eyes looked towards her girlfriend but for some reason Violet wasn’t meeting her gaze.

“It’s a surprise, but a really good one,” Violet took Prisha’s hand and smiled gently.

“Vi is right. You’ll see soon enough.” Louis gave a playful wink then spun around, his tailcoats fluttering as he ran to help Willy and AJ. The three of them returned shortly, their arms full of mason jars. They placed them down on the picnic table that Ruby and Aasim had cleared. A few minutes later everyone gathered around the table and started to grab a jar for themselves. Prisha stood, still confused by what was happening. When suddenly she felt something tap against her arm.

“Here you go.” Violet offered her girlfriend a mason jar.

“What is it for?” Prisha held up the mason jar and studied it out of curiosity. There was nothing special about it.

“Patience is a virtue, Prisha.” Louis smiled over at his friend before he looked over at Clementine who seemed overjoyed at whatever was about to happen.

“It will be clear in a minute, I promise.” Violet reassured Prisha before motioning for her to sit down by the flagpole. Prisha decided to trust Violet and followed her and the others who were already sitting there. Everyone was silent as they glanced around this way and that. A few minutes passed. All of a sudden lights started to brighten the courtyard as fireflies filled the area. Their small, bright lights made the courtyard radiate a glow that felt nostalgic even though Prisha had never witnessed fireflies in person before. Her eyes widened in awe as she saw the courtyard aglow, sparkling with childlike joy at the wonders of these small creatures. Prisha looked around for a few more moments before turning to Violet who had a soft smile on her lips.

Violet gently intertwined her fingers with Prisha’s. “Sorry I didn’t tell you. We all wanted it to be a surprise.” Violet rubbed the back of her neck while looking at Prisha.

“Surprise!” AJ and Willy simultaneously yelled before running forward to start trying to catch the fireflies. AJ studied the fireflies carefully before trying to snag a few while Willy wildly spun round in circles and laughed with joy. Garbage hissed at the fireflies, trying to intimidate them, but soon found them to be pleasant and so she chilled on Rosie’s back once more. The pitbull lay beside the flagpole and enjoyed the simple beauty of the courtyard.

Willy skidded to halt for a moment and dashed over to Prisha. “Prisha! Prisha! You gotta join us!” He grabbed her arms and pulled her up.

“Alright, alright,” Prisha laughed as Willy continued to excitedly drag her forward. She shared a smile with her girlfriend before she became lost in the competitiveness of firefly catching. Clementine got up and soon was by AJ’s side. The two of them strategized the best ways to catch the fireflies while Prisha and Willy ran around the courtyard, laughing and throwing competitive words back and forth.

After a few minutes Prisha took a break and noticed that the others were having fun as well. Ruby and Aasim were sitting with Omar who took the patient approach and let the fireflies come to him, the bugs curiously investigating the mason jar themselves. Prisha’s eyes wandered over to Louis and Violet who were starting to get competitive as well though their efforts also seemed collaborative as Louis was giving Violet a piggyback ride in order to catch even more fireflies.

“It’s a tradition here at Ericson.” Clementine walked over and stood beside Prisha. “Every year during the summer, fireflies fill up this entire courtyard. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.” Clementine smiled up at her friend.

“Yes, it does. I’ve heard of fireflies but never saw them personally. It really is something special,” Prisha’s heart grew warm as she took in the beauty of the courtyard.

“The courtyard looks so divine. Aasim and I always spend evenings like this enjoying the view.” Ruby glanced over from her spot at her friend.

“And see who can catch the most lightning bugs!” Louis called out as he stood by Violet. “You ready to get your butt kicked, Vi?” he asked with a competitive smirk.

Violet rolled her eyes. “Even with my shitty sight I'm still going to beat you.”

“I don’t know, I beat you last summer in the lightning bug catching contest. I’m a master at it!” Louis pulled on the sides of his coat with a grin.

“That year didn’t count,” Violet moved past Louis before he could comment on that and began to try and catch fireflies. It became clear that Louis would win this round too as Violet tried her best to catch the fireflies but with her limited sight often failed. The soft, happy smile on her face never left though and she laughed alongside Louis as the pair continued to catch fireflies.

“Care to have a competition with me?” Clementine smiled over at Prisha.

Prisha looked at her friend with a warm smile. “I’d love to but be warned, I predict I have a hidden talent at this,”

Clementine’s eyes flickered with excitement at that declaration. “We’ll see about that.”

Soon the two of them were busy using different strategies to try to catch the most fireflies while AJ and Willy had dragged Ruby, Aasim and Omar into running around the courtyard to catch the glowing critters as well.

After a while everyone was calming down from their wild chasing of fireflies. Prisha wandered over to Violet and effortlessly took her hand. Violet glanced up and the smile returned to her face. The two stood in front of each other as the fireflies danced around them. A look of wonder covered their faces as they watched the small orbs of light illuminate the area around them. Prisha gazed at the courtyard filled with fireflies for a moment longer then at the smiles of her friends. Her heart felt a new sense of peaceful joy in that moment as the fireflies continued to dance around her. This truly was a magical sight.

[cafedanslanuit]

pairing; v x anne

authors; @sunshinejihyun​ & @cafedanslanuit​

words; 50k slowburn 1.7k

playlist; available here

notes; happy birthday anne! thank you for being a great friend. with all our love, bryn & allie <3

“Mere color, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways”. ~Oscar Wilde

Being an artist without being able to see color was something that proved difficult on its own, but combining that with searching for your soulmate at any given turn just to be able to see color was even more difficult. Jihyun Kim was the only person in his advanced art class in his sophomore year of college who couldn’t see color.

“Jihyun, I know the color theory doesn’t apply to you right now, but you may want to pay attention for when it does.” His teacher’s stern voice had pulled his head from his sketchbook and he nodded his apology. Either she didn’t notice or didn’t care, Jihyun had no idea, but she continued her lecture and Jihyun tried his best to show he was paying attention, though his fingers were working to quickly sketch something new before the idea left his brain.

Most people like Jihyun, people who hadn’t met their soulmate yet, focused on drawing and painting in either black and white or grayscale, but not Jihyun. No, he had a fascination with color and it didn’t matter if he could see it or not, he wanted to portray that fascination in his painting. Besides, what does it matter if he can’t see color? Every color looks good together; they have to, why else would colors be so important in everyday life? A lot of people have described what colors go with emotions, so Jihyun tends to go with that when he paints. Emotions are funny things, especially when they’re used to show emotions.

As time in the class was diminishing, Jihyun’s professor made his way towards him and he quickly slammed his sketchbook shut as she cleared her throat. “There’s going to be an art showcase tonight and I have to select a student from each of my classes to have art on display. I want to display some of your work. The color choices are… unique and I think your story would be well perceived.” Jihyun nodded his head and the teacher gestured towards his canvases he spent the last semester creating. “Go ahead and choose three pieces of yours for me.”

He spent his time choosing. There was one that he particularly liked that he had named Envy. The colors of it were green and red, or so he was told, and it described his feelings of being one of the last people he knew to meet his soulmate. He painted this after Jumin had met his. Her name is Allie and she was sweet, kind, and as Jumin described, all the best things in the world combined. It wasn’t that Jihyun was jealous of Jumin for having her, he was jealous because he wanted a person to call his own too.

The next one was based on sorrow; it was all blues and oranges and it expressed Jihyun’s feelings of losing his mom. How he wished they had more time, how he wished he hugged her and told her he loved her when he had the chance.

The third one he decided on was one that he depicted what he thought was love. It was all reds, pinks, and purples. This one was drawn based off of how other people described love: passionate, sweet, and filled with happiness. Flowers, hearts and delicate swirls were the main focus in this piece. This was his favorite, it showed everything he longed for and everything that he would someday have to himself. It showed more than love, it was filled with hope.

“Those are some of your best works, very good choices.” At the professor’s words, Jihyun’s heart swelled with pride.

“Thank you, professor, I will see you tonight.” Jihyun promised and he quickly exited the room, biting back a smile at the thought of his art being showcased to anyone who could walk in.

It was one of those days.

The kind of days where there wasn’t anything really wrong happening, but you just need the day to change. The sky was always grey -had been for as long as they could remember-, but it felt extremely colourless as they made their way to the Engineering and Architecture building. They had a test the next week and figured it was as good a day as any to try and get some reading done.

The walk to the buildings was just like any of the other times, listening to music while getting lost in their thoughts as they crossed campus. It wasn’t really cold, but most people were wearing scarfs and there weren’t as many people as usual walking around. That helped a big part in Anne being able to notice the small poster on one of the buildings she walked past.

Curiosity made her stop in her tracks and come closer to the poster.

It was announcing an art showcase happening in a close building. It was supposed to be an important one, by the way the poster had highlighted the ‘carefully selected students only’.

Anne pursed their lips, pondering their choices for a moment. They looked at the sky one more time, its dullness giving the last bit of motivation she needed to change directions and go to the Art building.

There weren’t as many people as they pictured, which was good, knowing they wouldn’t have to accidentally bump into anyone as they went over the art pieces. Appreciating art was a challenge when you couldn’t recognize any of the colours the artist used, but the different hues of grey were usually a big help. It couldn’t be that different from actually seeing the colours, right?

A few of Anne’s friends had already found their soulmates and would go on for days about their newly discovered ability, and while they were happy their friends had found their soulmate, they couldn’t help but wonder when would it be their time. Maybe it was bound to happen in college, maybe it would happen at their first job, or during their weekly shopping trip. Anne tried not to put too much thought into it, but the art collection she was admiring at the moment made her daydream about that moment one more time.

Someone who would get them. Someone who would find the perfect balance between acceptance and encouragement to become their best self. Someone who would evoke a laugh on the chilliest days and would be a key element to the special type of quiet that was a great element to blissful weekend mornings.

As Anne kept walking around, they spotted a young couple. The woman was petite and thin, long and wavy hair falling to her waist and the sweetest smile Anne had ever seen. The young man was facing the other way, broad shoulders and probably one of the tallest people they had ever seen. The young woman kept talking to him as she pointed to one of the paintings, the man just nodding and scratching the back of his head.

Before they could notice anything else, Anne’s phone buzzed, forcing her to take it out their pocket and look at it. It was an email from a professor which, considering an assignment for his class was due the next day, it was probably urgent. Anne kept walking as they clicked on the notification to read the whole email.

They had read only the first words of the email when they crashed against someone, their arms and phone crashing against their chest.

“Sorry! Sorry, I wasn’t looking. Didn’t mean to--” Anne started as they looked up to the person they had just bumped into just to find a beautiful set of mint eyes looking back.

“I’m so sorry I--” Jihyun cut himself off as his world exploded into color. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.” Rika was still chatting away, not even noticing that Jihyun had stopped in his tracks a few paces back, his eyes locked on the person standing in front of him. “I’m Jihyun.”

The person in front of him - no, his soulmate blinked once before they shot him a bright smile. “Anne, nice to meet you.”

“So, soulmates, huh?” Jihyun scratched the back of his head, something he always did when nervous.

Anne nodded and behind Jihyun, a painting caught their eye. “Is this yours?” Jihyun turned toward where they were gesturing and cringed as his eyes met some of his artwork. 

“Yeah… I liked it much more in black and white. I guess my professor was right, I should have paid more attention when they taught color theory.”

It was a bad joke, a really bad one, in Jihyun’s mind but Anne must have thought it was funny because they laughed, which caused Jihyun to laugh because he just couldn’t believe that he was standing next to his soulmate and they were laughing together. It was something out of his dreams.

“Jihyun,” an annoyed voice brought him back to reality and he met eyes with Rika’s green ones. “I was talking to you and you just disappeared.”

“Oh, Rika, my apologies. This is Anne, my soulmate.” Rika blinked once before her eyes filled with tears threatening to spill and she plastered on a fake smile.

“Soulmate? I just… I thought--” Rika shook her head and smiled sadly at the both of them. “Nevermind what I thought. I’m happy for you, both of you.” With one last glance at Jihyun, Rika walked away and while the thought that Rika could be hurting upset him, he knew that right here, with Anne, was where he was supposed to be.

Sometimes, days were still grey. And dull.

But as Anne felt Jihyun putting his scarf around their neck to protect them against the chilly weather, they thought maybe it was fine after all.

It was the hues of grey in everything that made the colours of his soul shine even brighter.