#(and then they had to be written up with really short deadlines with not enough time to question anything really)

[rawliverandgoronspice]

continuing the outline for thralls, and holy shit does it get intense, emotionally. I don't think I ever got teary-eyed while outlining, but I very much did here (and because of romance??? what is going on???), and... Like, I think that besides two subplots that are still pretty vague in my head right now, it is starting to look very strong, but. I'm still very much on the fence about whether this is a story worth telling, especially now, and especially by me.

don't get me wrong, I think it's a good story. but I'm not sure that's good enough of a reason to bring it to screens.

[neil-gaiman]

hi neil !

i have to write a short story for the final assignment worth 90% of my creative writing uni module, it has to be 4k words. i’ve been putting it off for months because 1) i’ve been depressed and can’t find the motivation to do anything, 2) im deathly scared of it being bad because 3) graduating my course counts on the grade i’ll get for it. writing and reading has been a huge motivator to not give up on a future for myself. i am basically terrified of writing and submitting it. all the ideas i have feel bad, or i can’t execute them, or it’s not what the marker would be looking for. i’ve had the deadline extended into summer but i just can’t bring myself to write anything. how do you make yourself write when it matters so much? when something big rests on its quality, and it scares you?

thank you so much :)

There was a colourist I knew who wanted more than anything to colour a comic book I was writing. I got him pages early to start colouring, talked to him about what we were trying to achieve. He was really smart and brilliant and I knew he'd do a great job. The editor was waiting for his work to come in.

He may have started. He may not. I don't know. All I know is he was so obsessed with it being perfect that he never sent the pages in. The person who wound up colouring the comic got the job because we were out of time and our first choice had never sent anything to the editor.

The moral I took from this is that any work, no matter how bad, is better than no work, no matter how brilliant.

I pass this along to you, in the hope that it helps. Divide 4000 by how many days you have to go, and then double that. That's what you have to write each day to get 4K written, with enough time to revise it thoroughly on the other side. Get anything down in the first half of the time. Make it brilliant in the second half of the time.

Good luck.

[giamee]

🥣 ᯓ★୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ

𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑!

⊹ ࣪ ˖ animator!welt x apprentice!reader

request ؛ ଓ @gonuclear do you think i could request welt yang with a reader that’s working as his apprentice (whether it’s a modern au or not is up to you! i don’t mind either way :) ) and he ends up starting to fall in love with them? maybe he even confesses 👀 up to you! thank you so much!! 💖

gia's notes ؛ ଓ haii thank u for requesting welt i loved writing for him!! unfortunately no confession because i am a sucker for pining 😔 it's also kinda short sorry

word count ؛ ଓ 0.8k ( + pining, fluff?? no warnings, kinda weird perspective changing cos its kinda from your pov at the start but from his later idk )

WELT'S A GOOD TEACHER. he's good at his craft, well-versed in tips and tricks and adequate enough to not only tell you about them, but ensure that you fully understand him too.

it's a pleasure to watch him work, too- a master at his craft, though he'd shake his head and chuckle in denial if you were to ever say it to his face. his face a perfect picture of concentration, velveteen voice narrating his actions as you watch on in awe as if he makes life itself sprout from the screen before him, as the sequence begins to take cohesive form.

it was that tiny screen that connected the two of you as well, two separate frames now working in tandem, many late nights spent trying to reach a deadline in time drawing the pair of you intangibly closer to each other.

so really, welt should have anticipated his feelings for you transitioning from a mild fondness to... something more profound.

it creeps up on him gradually, of course.

you're quite the talkative type, as opposing to the more reserved nature of welt. you can't help but share little tidbits about yourself, anecdotes about you and your friends, or little facts about yourself that welt surreptitiously makes a mental note of.

he can't help himself, either. he'll find that aspects of you bleed into his life away from work, too. even after he leaves the building so late, bidding you a good night that you cheerfully return, the next morning he'll be brushing his teeth, eyeing his weary reflection in the mirror, shuffling around his modest apartment until he catches something that brings his mind back to you, and he'll stop for a second to wonder just why he's thinking of you, his apprentice.

some point along the way, all the forced proximity with all of those late nights, you had ever so sneakily been promoted in his mind from an apprentice to something else altogether.

your eagerness, your determination- the passion with which you spoke and the way peals of laughter left you are not the first things that should be coming to mind when he thinks of you. the way you're like a breath of fresh air to him, how soft your hair looks, the bright shine in your eyes- no, welt mustn't think about it for too long.

and despite his reluctance to admit the true nature of his feelings- to break apart his forced ambivalence- your conniving self managed to sneak through anyway.

the realisation hits him one particular late night. it was just the two of you in his dingy office, though it was no deadline that caused the two of you to be the only ones left within the building. instead, it was a rather special occasion.

you had been making fine progress whilst being his apprentice, your own talent for animation beginning to really hone itself- to the point where he was confident in encouraging you to enter a competition.

and when the announcement of the winners rolled around (a date that he definitely had not written in his diary), he had the joy of seeing your beaming fave as you bounded into his office, telling him all about how you had won first place.

and then you had procured two containers of takeout from behind your back- saying how you wanted to say thank him for his guidance and celebrate with him, waving him off as he stammered out some flimsy excuse of not wanting to keep you here later than necessary.

nonsense, you had told him. besides, you liked spending time with him.

that sentiment had him sitting up straighter in his chair, allowing an indulgent smile before he half-heartedly schooled his expression into one of neutrality again. his heart was beating a little faster, he noticed, his silly physical response to you making him feel like a schoolboy with a crush.

but it's not until he opens the takeout box in front of him to see his favourite meal- you had asked himeko what it was to get it right- and your beaming face watching for his reaction, did it truly hit him.

he realised just how much he had fallen for you. how strong the fondness for you has taken root within him, how light his soul feels when he returns your smile with an approving nod of his own.

but for every reason he finds to love you, he can't help but continue to bite his tongue, to remain restrained and merely smile and nod along to what you say instead of offering more of himself to you.

maybe one day, he tells himself. the half-promise leaves a bitter taste on his tongue.

but it doesn't change the fact that as of right now, he's more than content just basking in your company, a mere planet orbiting the bright sun that you are, revelling in the brightness and warmth that comes with you.

IF YOU LIKED THIS, TRY ... because love can burn like a cigarette

hsr men as your high school crush

alternatively, you can find my hsr masterlist here! ୨ৎ

[7-wonders]

Can I request a Morpheus x reader fic where reader is really tired, but she ignores it and keeps doing what she has to do, even though she feels overwhelmed. Morpheus knows from her dreams how she's feeling, he feels bad cause she didn't tell him anything, so he decides to ask her and surprisingly, she breaks down, telling him everything. He listens and reassures her, telling she doesn't have to fake emotions with him, he loves her anyways. Thank you <3

It’s been a long couple of weeks, and life seems to really enjoy just kicking you in the ass. Be it at work, where your boss continues to chastise you for problems that are not your doing (really, how is it your fault the internet went down for an hour yesterday?), or the deluge of school projects and deadlines that are all coming at you in a short amount of time, or even just petty drama within your friend group. It’s stressing you out to be so busy, but is life not just a series of periods so busy that you think you might be losing your mind?

You’ve been able to find absolutely no respite, not even in sleep. This, you know, will soon become a problem, thanks to the fact that you’re somehow in a relationship with the Dreamlord. Your dreams have been just as stressful as your waking life, actually nightmares about failing at all of the tasks you’re working so hard on, and they’re almost always fitful to the point where you’re not even asleep long enough to recognize you’re in the Dreaming and will yourself to the Dreaming proper before you’re waking up with a jolt and staring in resignation up at your ceiling. He’s going to find out, it’s a matter of when, not if, so you’re hoping you can somehow be faster and magically finish all these stressful tasks before he decides to look into why you haven’t visited him in the Dreaming lately.

That plan is almost immediately derailed by the essay you’re currently stuck writing. By stuck, you mean that you have absolutely no idea of how to finish it. It’s a longer assignment, 10 pages, and though you have about half of it written and know the topic and how you had set out to complete this assignment, it’s suddenly as though you’ve forgotten everything you knew about writing. For almost an hour now, you’ve been stuck staring at the cursor as it blinks mockingly at you, daring you to try and write something, anything, that will make sense.

(Jeez, maybe you really do need a break if inanimate objects are starting to pick fights with you. Narrowing your eyes at the offending computer pixels, your hands hover over the keyboard and you decide that, actually, the best revenge is to make this bitch work overtime as you whip out the rest of this essay.)

When you feel a pair of large hands settle on your shoulders, you don’t even flinch, too focused on finishing typing the paragraph to even summon enough energy to be surprised. Plus, by now you just seem to innately know when Morpheus appears in your general vicinity, and this also takes away from the element of surprise he used to possess when you first began becoming involved with the King of Dreams.

After you’ve completed your sentence, you tilt your head backwards in order to properly look upside-down at Morpheus, who’s already smiling at your antics.

“Hi,” you greet.

“Hello.” He leans down to kiss you, before spinning your chair around so that you’re actually facing him. “You look tired.”

You huff out a laugh. “I’ve been tired for, like, a week now.”

“Your absence has been keenly felt by my realm’s denizens.”

With a raised eyebrow, you ask, “Just your denizens?”

“No being has missed you more than I,” he says with a smirk.

“That’s better.”

Gently, Morpheus tugs you up from your chair. “I believe that you deserve a break.”

“Isn’t that my line?” 

He just smiles in response (his smiles, of course, are fleeting and barely there, but you know how to spot them by now that you almost never miss them) and walks with you to your bed. Normally, when he’s spending too much time trying to get one of his new creations just right or when he’s too stuck on research and running himself ragged, convincing him to take a break is your specialty. You should protest this and insist that you need to finish your assignment first, but it’s almost impossible to say no to your beloved. Really, now you see why he gives in almost every time you pull this move on him.

When Morpheus does get you on your bed, he sits right next to you so your thigh is touching his. He’s so touch-starved that it would be almost endearing if you didn’t know the reason why. Instead, every time he has to be touching you, you just wish that Roderick Burgess was still alive so that you could beat him to death for what he did to Morpheus.

“If I have the wrong impression, feel free to say so.” Morpheus makes sure that you’re making eye contact with him, and you know that you’re screwed. “Are you alright, though?”

You were going to reassure him that everything was fine and that you could handle it, really, you were. And then he just has to go and cup your cheek with his hand and rub his thumb along the soft skin under your eye, and that ruins everything. The moment that he does that, you break and feel tears begin to spill down your face, which surprises you just as much as it surprises Morpheus.

“Y’know what, I don’t think I’m completely alright,” you admit through your sudden outburst of emotion. When Morpheus wraps his arms around you and pulls you into his chest, your cries turn to sobs.

Sure, you know you’ve been stressed, but you didn’t think that it was “verge-of-a-mental-breakdown” stressed! Apparently, you were completely and utterly wrong, and now you’re facing the mortifying ordeal of being known in one of the most vulnerable ways that a human can be known.

One of the nice things about Morpheus is that he doesn’t try to fill any silences by talking or trying to distract you. Instead, he simply lets you cry it out. And cry you do, probably ruining his shirt–made out of the finest dreamstuff, of course–with all of your tears. You’ll worry about that later, though, when you don’t feel like your chest is caving in from crying.

When you finally feel like you can breathe, which is an indeterminate amount of time later, you pull yourself away from Morpheus’s chest and wipe at your eyes with the sleeve of your sweatshirt. You feel Morpheus push something into your other hand, and you look down to see he’s produced an actual handkerchief from out of thin air. Regardless of your continuing awe at the things he’s able to do, you take it from him.

“Thanks,” you say hoarsely, using the soft cloth now instead of your shirt. 

Morpheus allows you to collect yourself, rubbing his hand up and down your back and making sure that your breathing slows down to match his. Morpheus, of course, doesn’t actually need to breathe, but he’s currently doing so simply so that you have something to focus on. God, you love him so much.

Finally, you think you can form a full sentence without crying again. “Fuck, I’m sorry, I really didn’t think I was at the level of stressed where I start crying.”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Morpheus says firmly, leaving no room for discussion. “Why did you not tell me you were feeling this way?”

You scoff. “What, like I’m gonna bother you with my silly little human problems? Tell you that I’m stressed because of work and school and my friends? You have better things to worry about than that.”

“There is nothing more important to me than you. Not my power, nor my realm, nor my station–nothing. If anything, I should be apologizing to you.”

“Why?”

“I could sense the nature of your dreams, and the way that you kept waking up throughout the night. I assumed, however, that you would come to me first with your problems and that I would not have to seek you out.”

“So you forgot that stubbornness is one of my most endearing traits,” you say sheepishly. You had that very thought, that you should talk to Morpheus about how stressful your dreams were, but then talked yourself out of it due to believing he had better things to do than deal with one human’s dreams.

“Yes. My mistake.” The dryness of his tone makes you laugh a bit, and the relief on Morpheus’s face is palpable. “My love, you need not hide your worries from me.”

“I wasn’t trying to do so on purpose, I just…thought I could handle it myself.”

“Is it not part of a relationship that we both support and take care of each other?”

You nod begrudgingly. “It is.”

“You take care of me so ardently, in a way that nobody ever has before.” He brings his forehead to yours, sitting with you for a moment before he pulls back just enough to look at you again. When another tear escapes from your eye, he’s quick to meet it with his lips. “Won’t you allow me to return your kindness?”

“If you think you can handle it, then sure.” You’re still feeling a little self-deprecating, which, by the pout on his face, it’s obvious Morpheus doesn’t appreciate it.

“Caring for you is the easiest and most natural thing I’ve ever done.”

It’s obvious that he’s going to take you to the Dreaming, but you can’t help casting a helpless glance at your laptop, still sitting open on your desk. “I really need to finish my essay first.”

“No, what you need is to rest and relax, both of which you shall do in my realm. Your schoolwork will still be here when you return.”

“What if I just write, like, one more paragraph?” you try to barter. 

Morpheus remains unimpressed. “If you’d prefer me to use force to get you to the Dreaming, I certainly can.”

“No, I don’t have the energy to put up a worthy fight.” With that admission, you have no choice but to let him lift you up into his arms so that he can take you with him to the Dreaming.

Plus, the more that you think about being pampered by your ethereally attractive, devoted, eldritch nightmare king of a boyfriend, the less that homework seems important. Not that you’re going to let him know that, though.

[robiniswriting]

I’m still amazed that the BBC let Chris “wrote the Cyberwoman episode of Torchwood” Chibnall anywhere near Jodie’s run, never mind putting him in charge of it

gonna be brutally honest here anon I have never seen torchwood so I cannot comment on that specifically, BUT!

chris chibnall isn’t as awful of a writer as people think. in my opinion, he was hindered by his love of classic who. he was writing for a completely different show in a completely different time, and a lot of his plot and lore decisions make more sense when you consider the classic show. not to mention his politics, many of which were stuck in the 1960s-1980s.

as a result, fans of new who didn’t like it — certain key elements of it didn’t really gel with the current show and upset their understanding of the doctor as a character.

chibnall also made the mistake of listening to fans during his first season: everyone was saying they wanted new monsters and a break from daleks and cybermen, so he had a season of totally brand-new monsters. people hated it, said the show was unrecognizable. when he wrote a few new episodes with daleks and cybermen and weeping angels, people wrote it off because they’d already made up their mind about it.

I’ll always be grateful to chibnall for pushing forward and having the first female doctor. the pushback he received for that at the time gets largely forgotten. it would have been easy to give in to the massive pressure and recast — nothing of the seasons had been filmed when jodie was initially announced — but he refused to budge and backed jodie all the way. for that, I’ll always respect him. he’s put up with a lot of shit from the fans.

that having been said, disliking chibnall’s era is so valid. even though I really enjoy thirteen’s run (she is my wife I love her dearly) I can like that era of the show and also have enough critical thinking skills to see the problems with it. I’m pretty sure i’ve said it before but the politics of the chibnall era are atrocious (see: the woman who fell to earth, rosa, arachnids in the uk, kerblam!, spyfall pt. 2, the vanquishers — feel free to ask me to elaborate on any of these) and sometimes he falls into the trap many writers do when writing women, which is to water them down a bit. thirteen is Not as weak as many people make her out to be, but there are a few moments that irk me (see: needing jack harkness to break her out of prison. I’d have been okay with it if maybe she’d managed to stall the judoon long enough to send him a distress signal or something? maybe use the sonic to get his attention? just give her a bit of agency).

anyway, long story short, chibnall’s era has issues. but nowhere near the number that people attribute to it. as for why the BBC handed the show over to him, he was extremely successful as showrunner on broadchurch, had written well-liked episodes of doctor who and been head writer at torchwood in the past, was a massive fan of the show, and vocally wanted to being some changes and mystery to the show, something fans had been clamoring for for ages. my guess is he applied for the job, interviewed like anybody else, and they decided he was the best possible candidate.

no writer is going to have no misses, especially not on a show with such demanding deadlines as doctor who, and every new showrunner is a risk the BBC have to take. at the time, it looked like he was the man for the job. sometimes, it’s all just business.

[groundnul]

Through the Glass (Giyuu Tomioka x GN!Reader)

Prompt: “Rengoku's such an inspiration to me (we stan a king, tbh) and Giyuu is so criminally underrated (the dancing one was so cute) and I'm always happy to see more of them. Could I request a food date with Kyoujurou or an aquarium date with Giyuu? Either format would be welcome, thanks!”

Summary: A work event-turned impromptu outing leaves you alone at an aquarium with Tomioka Giyuu, the notorious hard-ass of Kimetsu Academy who has a soft spot for you that even he has yet to discover. As these feelings rise to the surface, he is left to wonder: will he sink or swim? 

Word Count: 10.1K 

Warnings: brief mentions of insecurities, generally awkward interactions, slight miscommunication/lack of communication, children, sharks  

note: pretend like i didn’t just disappear for two years before coming in and dropping the longest one-shot i’ve ever written. kind of tried a different format with these! a mix between headcanons and a fic, really. let me know what you think!

being a fellow teacher at Kimetsu Academy, you’ve known Giyuu for a couple years now

you started teaching a little after he did, and while you operated in different departments and different parts of the school, you’ve still gotten to know him gradually through schoolwide functions, staff meetings and disciplinary proceedings

you had always considered Giyuu to be incredibly methodical, meticulous and strict – in all honesty, he’s kind of a hard-ass, but at least he’s a well-intentioned hard-ass

on the surface, he’s always on time, stringent with deadlines, and someone who, for the most part, plays by the rules

and as fate would have it, his eye for detail and deadlines put him in charge of tracking staff assignments

so you have been unlucky enough to find yourself on the wrong side of a pointed stare as you entered a room only seconds before a meeting began, and had the pleasure of being confronted by a barrage of minor corrections to paperwork 

these conversations are usually short and pretty awkward, him pointing out your shortcomings with red ink and sticky notes, but he’s never mean-spirited. just uncomfortably cold

to be entirely honest, you were convinced he didn’t care much for you – you caused lots of small problems here and there, and surely inconvenienced him more times than you can count

but still, you always greet him in the mornings and as you pass him in the hallway, and you generally try to strike up a casual one-sided conversation as you wait for meetings to start (assuming you arrive with time to spare) or after you finish correcting whatever embarrassing mistake you made

you respect that he’s only doing his job, and while his seemingly calloused demeanor does him no favors, you don’t think he has bad intentions

he’s simply doing his job a little too well, while you’re doing yours… kind of not as well

so needless to say, this is definitely your first date!! but not intentionally

initially it was supposed to be a work outing amongst a few of the staff members of Kimetsu Academy to try and Build Character and whatnot

but literally only you and giyuu showed up

you were awkwardly waiting for the others inside the aquarium on a bench together for twenty minutes

he seemed indifferent, but judging by the increasing frequency of checking his watch, you could tell Giyuu was growing restless

you tried to distract from the silence with questions

to which he responded politely but curtly (as expected)

“Have you ever been to an aquarium?” you ask Giyuu, waiting for a lull in passers-by so you wouldn’t have to shout. His head turns slightly to you, meeting your eyes for just a moment before pointing his gaze elsewhere.

“Once,” he states matter-of-factly. “When I was younger.”

You nod kind of exaggeratedly in response, murmuring “nice, nice” aimlessly with a smile. Your eyes flicker between him and the families passing by, keeping an eye out for anyone you work with.

“Did you have any favorite exhibits when you went?” you ask again after a beat of silence, trying to ignore the palpable awkwardness of the situation.

He thought for a moment, indicated by just the smallest shift in his expression.

“Not that I can remember,” he answers honestly, suddenly studying the pavement beneath his shoes. Perhaps brevity is a practiced talent. His eyes eventually shift back to his watch.

You nod again with a small “hm” of understanding, adjusting the bag in your lap a bit. He quietly unfolds a map of the aquarium beside you – where did he get that? – and starts scanning the layout. It grows quiet again, and this time you can’t help but check the time for yourself on your phone. The rest of your group is about 20 minutes late, by this point.

“I guess it’s taking everyone a while to get here,” you comment, unlocking your phone. “I’ll go ahead and text Rengoku-san to check in.”

Giyuu gives a small nod in response, and you set to typing your message. After giving it a once-over, you press send and await a response.

“Okay, done,” you say with a smile, locking your phone again. Giyuu doesn’t respond, his eyes still roaming around the unfamiliar map terrain.

Silence settles in again, and you’re left twiddling your thumbs, looking mindlessly at the rock walls surrounding you. You nearly fall into a trance as you study the winding cracks in the architecture, the sound of Giyuu’s voice startling you.

“--t about you?” he seemed to ask, eyes falling on your figure for the first time in a while. You grow warm at the sudden attention, embarrassed for zoning out.

“Hm?” you inquire as you meet his eyes, hoping he’ll repeat whatever it was. His eyes look to the wall behind you for a second before meeting yours again.

“An... aquarium,” he repeats. “Have you been to one?”

“Oh!” you laugh quietly in relief. “Yeah, I went a couple times when I was kid. With school and family, I think.”

He nods much like you did before, only much less noticeably, offering a “mm” in response. After an uncomfortably long silence, he offers up your own question to you again.

“Any… favorite exhibits?” he asked. Out of your peripheral, you could see one of his hands fiddling with his jacket cuff. He was wearing a black variation of his usual blue tracksuit. 

You thought for a moment, tilting your head to one side and then the other as you considered the question.

“Actually, I really liked seeing the dolphins!” you chuckle, remembering how you’d begged your parents to watch their hourly show. “But I’m not sure if that really even counts.”

Another polite nod was interrupted by buzzing from the phone in your hand. Turning the screen over, you see an incoming call from Rengoku Kyoujurou.

“Ah, sorry, it’s Rengoku-san,” you explain briefly before answering the call and pressing it firmly to your ear.

big mistake holding the phone so close

cue: wincing and pulling the phone away immediately because of how unintentionally loud kyoujurou is

after explaining that you and giyuu were already inside the aquarium waiting, you were kindly informed by your coworker that the outing had been moved to next weekend (something that was conveniently not mentioned to Giyuu or yourself)

he apologizes for the hiccup in communication and says he’ll get the tickets comped for you, which is nice, but you already came the whole way here

and now you’re caught thinking about just how weird it was to have this little outing planned in the first place. what were you supposed to do, bond with your coworkers over fish or something? anyway

a little annoyed but accepting that it was just a misunderstanding, you thank him and hang up

after you tell giyuu the event was moved he just sighs and looks at his watch again, kind of unsure what to do because bro really planned his entire week around this one event he doesn’t get out much okay

Another awkward silence settles over the two of you as you try to find something to say.

“So… what do you want to do?” you ask tentatively. Your question is met with one of his own.

“What do you mean?”

This time it’s your turn to anxiously fiddle with the sleeve of your shirt, searching for the least weird way to ask this.

“Well, do you still want to look around?” you reason innocently. “I know the outing was moved, but we already have the tickets and all…”

You’re met with silence and a slightly wide-eyed stare, which sends you into a panic.

“If not, t-that’s okay! I mean, I’m sure you have better things to do on a Saturday,” you rush to clarify, not wanting to accidentally guilt him into spending any more time with you than necessary. “Or if you just want to look around by yourself, that’s okay too, I just–”

“That’s fine,” he states plainly, cutting your nervous tangent short.

“I– Huh?”

A beat of silence passes at his unexpected answer.

“I said that would be fine,” he clarifies a little louder, perhaps thinking he was too quiet the first time. His expression returns to its usual withdrawn state, punctuating his sentence with a distinct lack of enthusiasm, but you don’t mind.

It still takes a moment to sink in that he actually said yes, but once it does, you’re almost embarrassed by how excited you suddenly feel. You haven’t been to an aquarium in ages.

“Really?” you ask, anticipation as toned-down as you can muster. Wouldn’t want to seem too eager for an impromptu aquarium adventure with your emotionally-distant coworker, right? “Are you sure?”

He offers a simple nod in return with a “mhm” to re-confirm his answer. You unconsciously flash him a wide smile.

“O-okay! Cool! Let me just, uh,” you throw your bag over your shoulder, fumbling to situate yourself as you stand. You exhale in preparation. “Okay. Where should we go first?”

and so begins the aquarium trek!!

now giyuu is the type to go with the flow on just about anything in these kinds of situations

he doesn’t really have any particular desire to see a certain exhibit or anything, he’s for real just along for the ride

so it IS going to feel like you’re just dragging him around sometimes, and you probably are, but he doesn’t mind. he kind of prefers it, actually?  

ironically, it’s generally his complacency that earns him a bad rap with the other teachers for his withdrawn demeanor and reluctance to jump in on group activities

while he is resistant to the idea he is widely unliked, he can still tell there is a tangible divide between himself and some of his coworkers

generally he’s reclusive. he doesn’t go out drinking with the other teachers or partake in small talk, opting to either listen in silence or leave. whether or not this is a conscious decision to exclude himself is unclear

which is why it was surprising he agreed to not only come to an aquarium on a work outing in the first place, but stay with you to explore following its rescheduling

he’s been called lots of not-very-nice things, most equating to the idea of him being snobbish or a wet blanket, and from your perspective he just seems withdrawn and kind of cold  

BUT you can tell something seems… weird. you hear a decent amount of complaining from your more vocal coworkers about him and his rules, but rationally you think he wouldn’t willingly ostracize himself in his own workplace

plus not all of your coworkers dislike him! teachers like kanae and kyoujurou get along with him just fine. granted, you’ve never seen them not get along with someone, but still  

and moreover, he’s not malicious – he’s harmless, even, bar the occasional dings to your self-esteem from his pointed criticisms. also the heavy-handed dress code violations he hands out, but that doesn’t really affect you. and! this outing is arguably only kind of work, so maybe he’s different! either way, you wanted to give him a chance. what’s the worst that could happen?

now, giyuu………. has a soft spot for you. but probably doesn’t even realize it. you are never harsh towards him, you never make backhanded comments or ignore his existence altogether. he likes you, even– he hasn’t put the pieces together that his feelings might be romantic in nature, but he can tell he finds a certain comfort in your interactions

whereas in your eyes all you do is cause him problems, in his eyes, you aren’t any more or less competent because you make mistakes

what matters to him is how you handle them. always with a smile and quick on the turnaround – the same could not be said for others he is responsible for correcting

you always listen to whatever he has to say (even if he has to say it twice just so you can hear it, sometimes) and you try to never make the same mistake twice

you’re kind and resilient, and most people seem to like you. your warmth draws people in like moths to a flame.

in any case, you seem like polar opposites

so when YOU were the one that proposed venturing through the aquarium together of your own free will, he was more than a bit taken aback

he’s never understood how to get close with people. he’s not good with words, and he’s not the most social. it’s something that largely escapes him, forces him to move in silence with small gestures that usually go unnoticed like turning your desk light off for you after you’ve left, or making sure the mug you use during lunch is always clean

and he does all of this without expecting anything in return, simply because the kindness in your eyes makes him feel fuzzy and the spirit with which you move through life leaves him in silent awe

so asking him to spend time with you… alone, in a public place… on the weekend… now officially outside of work hours? consider this man thrown for a loop

of course he’s nervous, but he’d regret it if he said no

so he agrees, and now he’s here with you. what is he supposed to do now?

all of this is swirling in his head as you take the lead just slightly in front of him

Your first stop isn’t really a stop– it’s a walk-through tunnel created to look like a broken ship. Several small inlets in the faux woodwork give way to panels of aquarium glass showing an artificial sea floor decorated with coral, mollusks and several varieties of small schooling fish. Children rush back and forth between the many lower-height glass panels, calling dibs on a certain fish or creating little games with their friends. Giyuu’s eyes track their movements cautiously as you both walk.

It was obvious this area was more for kids than adults, but there were enough glass panels at your height to get a good view of the action. Giyuu looks on similarly through his own window about a foot away, eyes scanning the sea floor seemingly indifferent as a stingray emerges from the sand, previously undetected.

Suddenly the many children from before swarm over to you both, faces pressed against the glass beneath you in wonder as they shout in excitement. One child even slips between the gap in Giyuu’s legs, head poking through the other side by his ankles for a better view. You notice immediately as Giyuu tenses at the obvious intrusion. His head minutely whips quickly from side to side, thinly masking a silent plea for help.

It took everything in you not to laugh as you back away from the glass and tug Giyuu by his sleeve away from his accidental captor, gently removing two little hands from his legs with an “excuse us” so he could make a break for it. The child seems unfazed as they move even closer to the stingray now skirting the glass. The second you were out of the pirate ship, you finally let your laughter free, bringing a hand up to cover your mouth as you let out little apologies between laughs.

“Sorry, I just–,” you start, letting out another giggle involuntarily. “That was sweet. Are you used to being around kids? Younger ones, I mean?”  

It takes him way too long to realize you just called that interaction sweet, and it takes you way too long to realize you might have just crossed some kind of unspoken workplace boundary.

“No,” he says quietly, clearing his throat. You offer an understanding “hmm,” in response, another small laugh escaping you.

“It definitely takes a while to get used to,” you comment, taking one last deep inhale to calm yourself. “Ready to keep going?”

it took a little bit for Giyuu to regain his composure following the embarrassing incident with the child

initially he thought were laughing at him, mocking him for his poor handling of the situation

it wouldn’t be the first time he was on the receiving end of something like that

but… then you said it was sweet. ??????

now, giyuu has been called cute before. being as handsome and aloof as he is, it kind of comes with the territory. that being said, he’s never really paid these comments any mind; the people they came from would soon find him disinteresting or unpalatable, opting to move onto someone hopefully more receptive to their advances

so normally he brushes it off and moves on. but coming from YOU? someone who at least kind of knows him, someone that has seen these parts of him already?

fills him with a feeling so foreign he can’t quite name it

and your laugh… he’s never heard you laugh like that before. it felt carefree, joyous. different from the polite laugh he’s heard you offer to coworkers in passing

and it’s at this moment he realizes he wants to hear you laugh like that again (preferably not at his own expense)

unfortunately this moment of realization is over almost as quickly as it began, fading as you both enter the next exhibit: sea turtles

he watches now as your eyes switch between the handful of sea turtles swimming about in their large tank, poking themselves up at brief intervals for air around the many rock structures in the water. the light is dim in the rest of the room, lit mostly by the tank itself

you make a comment about how big the turtles seem, but all he can do is silently agree as his eyes scan around the room over the other handfuls of people vacillating between areas

he notices two children from before barreling forward after one another down the hallway, lost in an intense game of tag

Blue eyes switch between your form and the approaching children. He instinctively reaches for the whistle that usually lives around his neck only to remember it was the weekend.

“Watch out,” he says to you instead, stepping towards the glass slightly himself. When he notices you seem lost in the view, he surprises himself by placing a hand on your shoulder, gently pulling you towards him.

At his touch, you seem to startle and look at him, finally noticing the rambunctious children zipping by. Your head shifts from Giyuu to look over your other shoulder, watching as the two continue on down the walkway.

“Thank you, sorry,” you laugh out softly in embarrassment, looking back to him as his hand retreats from your shoulder, wondering Why did he do that? “Guess I should be paying more attention.”

He quietly clears his throat, putting some distance back between you as he moves to examine the map he found earlier again.

“They shouldn’t be running,” he offers in response, inner-hard-ass peeking through on cue. “Where to next?”

He glances at you briefly when you don’t respond, handing you the map so you can see what’s up ahead. You thank him, taking the map in both hands as you try to get your bearings. With a furrowed brow you try to discern your current location – this is quite literally the least intuitive map you’ve ever seen. Maybe that’s why Giyuu spent so long looking at it earlier.

Sensing your confusion, he steps closer once again, left shoulder just barely brushing against you as he points to a spot on the map with his right hand. His fingers trace over two pathways, likely your next options for exhibits.

You see his lips moving, but his words are in one ear and out the other as you try not to think about how warm his hand felt earlier, or how his face seems so close to yours as he explains. And you are definitely trying hard not to notice how full his lashes are at this distance or the way his top lip dips into just the slightest cupid's bow that you really kind of want to–

You cut the thought off immediately. Thoughts about kissing a certain gym teacher during an aquarium visit are strictly forbidden from this point forward.

As you feel your face heat at the mere implication, you’re grateful for the blue-green glow of the aquarium hopefully obscuring your over-reaction to his simple gesture.

Clearing your throat, you notice him staring expectantly at you. Were his eyes always this pretty?

“Uh, t-this one looks fine,” you stutter out, cursing at your lack of composure as you point to one of the areas you vaguely think he referenced moments ago. His expression shifts the tiniest bit as his brow pulls down, seemingly in concern.

“Are you alright?” he asks, head tilting slightly to the right as he examines you. It makes your eyes go wide, heart hammering in your chest as you take a step back, suddenly overwhelmed by the proximity. The strained “mhm!” you respond with earns a brief look of subdued suspicion before he turns to lead the way.

you’re glad he turned when he did, allowing you save even a fraction of face

it wasn’t the first time he’s been physically close to you, but it was the first time you could see his face while doing so

usually it would just be him leaning over your shoulder to explain paperwork corrections, and while you may have been slightly flustered then, you were at least turned away

but this time… this time you were looking at him and he was looking at you and the confusion of suddenly wanting to feel his lips on yours mixed with the alarm you felt overtook you

and he said something about it

you find yourself wanting to bang your head into the nearest glass surface in sheer embarrassment

but if you thought he was quiet before, the next half hour is so excruciatingly silent that you start to worry

you receive no response to your utterings of wonder as you pass by different tanks, no “hmms” or nods

though he initially took the lead from the sea turtle exhibit, you’ve somehow ended up back in front. as you both slowly follow the crowd through the next few rooms of saltwater fish exhibits, he seems more intent on putting space between the two of you

the lofty silence gives you far too much time with your own thoughts. you begin to wonder if you’ve done something wrong, worried he’s not enjoying himself (you briefly wonder what it would look like if he was enjoying himself, but find yourself drawing a blank)

it wasn’t until you got to the jellyfish exhibit later that he seems to relax again

The large, cylindrical tank emits a comforting blue glow into the dark room as the two of you approach. Jellyfish dance in the center of the room, long tentacles moving in time as they swirl. Airy, ethereal music plays quietly from the speakers overhead.

A near-inaudible “wow” escapes you, subdued as if in fear of ruining the atmosphere. Your eyes are trained on the flowing tendrils of a particularly large jellyfish, its shades of red, orange and cream floating weightlessly in the water.

Giyuu approaches the tank from beside you in silence, but unlike in the sea turtle exhibit, he looks utterly entranced by the mysterious creatures before him. Sapphire eyes follow the symphony of movement, curious. His fingers trace the glass as one moves past, just beyond reach.

You find yourself unable to look away from his child-like gaze, suddenly enamored by the uncharacteristic innocence on display. It’s when his eyes meet your own that you realize you’re staring. You offer only a small smile in return, gesturing slightly to the wooden seats behind you.

“Wanna sit?” you whisper, waiting for his small nod in response before taking a seat on the right. He sits a little after you, enough room for another person between you. Time seems to move slower here. You’re not sure how long the two of you stay like that, caught in the semi-comfortable silence.

He seems much more at ease in this moment, hands folded neatly in his lap as he marvels at the sight. The stiffness in his shoulders has faded away, the harshness of his eyes tempered. Shadows from the soft light carve out his features, highlighting the outline of his brow to the sharpness of his jaw. He almost looks like a painting.

This is kind of… nice, you think to yourself. Maybe I was worried for nothing?

Several minutes pass in relative silence, but the entrance of a small gaggle of rowdy children eventually breaks the two of you from your reprieve, attention turning in tandem to watch three pairs of light-up tennis shoes stop directly in front of you. A weary mother emerges seconds later, apologizing for the intrusion and moving the children off to another side of the tank. Alas, it seems your time here is up.

“You ready?” you ask with a smile, eyebrows raised. He offers a nod again, this time with a small “hm” (progress!), moving to follow your almost hesitant steps back into the outside world.

once your tiny bubble was popped, giyuu is sent spiraling back into the reality he finds himself in

in the sea turtle exhibit, you seemed to react badly when he got close to you. you were stuttering, backing away from him, even. he wasn’t trying to pull anything–far from it, really– but it did kind of hurt

now was this misguided? most certainly. never once did it cross his mind that your reaction may have been because you enjoyed his closeness

but that didn’t stop him from trying to give you space so you didn’t have to be near him if you didn’t want to be

however

while he’s not the most astute observer when it comes to emotions, he did vaguely pick up on some of the dejected looks you were unknowingly sending his way  

and then he was even more confused because he was like?? is this not far enough??? do i have to go even farther???!? and then he’s kind of sad because he likes being near you :/

but then… he also saw saw the gentle smiles you gave him in the jellyfish exhibit, pretended not to notice your subtle glances towards him

and now, after the exhibit, you seem happier. what changed?

he’s still pretty confused but… at least you’re smiling again

the next few exhibits pass easily, him quietly agreeing with comments you make as you move forward

the flow of conversation seems to match what it was at the beginning of your visit, which is good, you think

after a brief interaction with the map again – which he just handed to you this time, not wanting to chance it – you two decided to circle back around to the other avenue you didn’t take from the turtle exhibit

a clownfish cave, stingray touch-tank (which was far too crowded and germ-ridden for either of your tastes – a fact you were briefly able to bond over) and seahorse exhibit later, the two of you are back where you ended previously outside the jellyfish

from this point it’s a one-way path through to the food court at the halfway-point in the aquarium

located between here and there, though, is a (frankly huge) walk-through aquarium tunnel

Giyuu has stopped trailing behind you at this point, more so walking beside you as you traverse the boundary between floor and glass. Your first step is cautious, almost weary that one more person in the tunnel would surely be the breaking point. But of course, the tunnel holds sturdy and you continue with slow steps into the fray of curious people.

“This is so cool,” you comment, looking to Giyuu excitedly before eyeing a large fish swimming past him. You swiftly cross behind him, taking a closer look at the sealife beyond the glass.

Small schools of fish skirt back and forth over the artificial sea floor, while larger fish varieties swim overhead, barely missing one another in their practiced movements. Crouching closer to the floor, you see a variety of starfish, coral and a pair of scuttling lobsters amid the seaweed, duking it out over something.

“Oh my gosh, they’re fighting! C’mere, they’re right here!” you say excitedly, waving Giyuu closer so he can see. He hesitantly shuffles towards the glass to your left, peering over you to view the crustaceans in question. They were indeed fighting, it seemed, as each male used its dominant  claw to smite the other. You tear your eyes away from the scene as if to make sure he’s watching, the wide smile on your face followed by a laugh.

“What do you think they’re fighting over?” you question, eyes scanning the terrain. The lobsters bobbed towards one another repeatedly, the larger of the two moving to strike shallow blows on the smaller.

“... Food?” Giyuu reasons after a few moments, uncertain if you were actually looking for an answer.

“Hmm, maybe,” you respond, nodding your head as you consider the possibility. “Who do you think’ll win?”

Your enthusiasm in eliciting responses from him is something he’s not used to–at all–but strangely enough, he doesn’t mind. The excitement in your eyes makes him nervous, though. 

“... The bigger one, probably,” he answers practically, standing to his full height again.

“Mm, makes sense,” you surmise, pupils still fixated on the dueling opponents. His eyes are drawn to your expressions as you observe the two, watching as the laugh tumbles from your lips following a particularly silly looking move from the smaller lobster. He quickly averts his gaze as you stand again.

He steps back once more towards the center of the tunnel, looking overhead. A strange peace settles over him as he watches the fish swim by, the rippling water above them creating a kaleidoscope of light on the glass below. A chorus of “oohs” and “aahs” overtakes the other visitors as a shark passes over, its presence making waves among the other sealife fleeing from its path. A brief silence passes between the two of you.

“Have you ever seen ‘The Meg’?” you suddenly ask, eyes trailing after the shark. His expression switches minutely to confusion.

“No,” he responds, not sure of what you’re talking about. Evidently you take this as permission to explain.

“Well, it’s this movie about a huge prehistoric shark terrorizing people. There’s this one part where it bites a glass tunnel while a kid is inside and leaves these giant teeth marks,” you describe, gaze finally landing on him as the shark exits your view.

The look you’re met with makes you giggle, the ever-so-slight unease in his expression seeming out of place.

“Don’t worry, it’s not real,” you respond with a laugh, patting him lightly on his shoulder in reassurance. “Well, the shark was real, but that was a long time ago.”

He only looks slightly comforted at the new information as you walk ahead a bit, dodging kids and other visitors. You miss the slight widening of his eyes at your casual touch before he’s following behind you again.

you?? touched??? him?????

he tries really hard not to think about it. tries and fails

… do you not mind if he’s close to you? you also called him over just before to show him the lobsters. and you were excited

maybe not for him, but excited nonetheless

here are his thoughts on the matter: you speak to him kindly and your touch is gentle. it’s nice and makes him feel warm inside

and he decides right now that so long as he can remain close to you, he will be content

he doesn’t know what it means, but… he he thinks he likes it

so as far as you know, your time in the tunnel continues rather uneventfully and it isn’t long until you’re exiting the other side into the food court

during which, he is internally reeling but enjoying himself nonetheless

neither of which you would know by looking at him

The two of you are led to a large, oval room with high rafters and skylights. Some areas take on a more tropical theme with cartoon fish and 3D waves poking out of the walls, while others are more riparian, fake varieties of lush vegetation climbing up pillars with cartoon frogs and lizards dotting the way.

You ponder over the options for lunch in front of you, most of which have several people waiting in queues to order. A large food court sits across from the vendors filled with families, couples and school kids alike, conversations melding together to form one giant mass of voices.

“Wanna get something to eat?” you ask over the noise, looking to him for an answer.

He nods, surveying the lines for food. You agree to separate and meet back up after you’ve got your trays.

Wandering for a bit, you eventually settle on a place called “Sukiya” and order Gyudon, a fatty beef and rice dish. Simple, but filling enough, you think. You are only halfway through the aquarium, after all.  

As you wait in line, you mill over the crowd once more, watching as toddlers make messes of themselves and friends laugh with one another. You find yourself eventually searching for your coworker amongst the crowd, using black clothing items to narrow down the search.

You’re about to give up when you suddenly catch sight of his raven hair. He’s scrolling through his phone while he waits in the line for a seafood place, black jacket tucked into the crook of his arm. The white shirt he’s wearing underneath reveals a closer look at his physique, the toned muscles of his arm tensing as he readjusts his posture.

Have I never seen him with his jacket off?

Thinking back through your interactions, you’re not sure you have. Maybe in the mornings occasionally, but usually you’re too busy rushing to your classroom to notice. As he shuffles ahead with the rest of the line, his side profile becomes more visible. It’s suddenly feeling a little stuffy in here. Much to your chagrin, you’re left with one very damning thought.

Has he always been this... hot?

Eyes wide and face growing warm, you don’t let your eyes linger too long on him in fear of somehow making eye contact across an entire food court. If someone could look inside your brain right now, they’d see the blaring alarms, red flashing lights and frenzied shouts of panic instructing Operation: Get The Hots For Your Coworker be terminated immediately. Luckily, you’re the only one privy to those thoughts. You inhale deeply, hoping to calm the wave of sudden anxiety in your chest.

Way to pick the worst possible time to come to this realization.

As you turn back to your own line, you realize you’re up next to pay. After inserting your card, you grab the small tray with your meal and turn back to face the crowd. Looking back to your cohort, you notice he’s still in line, nearing the front. You gather the resolve to search for a table, efforts fruitless as you wind through the seating area. Finally, you notice one table off in the back opening up.

The table-for-two makes for close quarters, but it will have to do. You set your tray down on the far side before noticing a trail of crumbs and leftover rice on the table. Taking a napkin from your tray, you unfold it and wipe what would be Giyuu’s area and seat before doing the same to your own. Crumpling the napkin up, you set it on the side of your tray before brushing your hands off. When you turn around, Giyuu is standing a few feet away with his own tray of food.

How long has he been standing there?

“H-hey!” you greet, standing to your full height as he approaches. “Uh, I’m gonna go wash my hands, I’ll be right back!”

You don’t wait for his response before b-lining it to the nearest restroom. You spend what one would call a reasonable amount of time in a stall, convincing yourself that even if he is hot, it’s fine and you shouldn’t make it weird. Really, it’s fine. Everything’s fine.

It was not fine. But you had already spent too long in the bathroom to just be washing your hands, and you were certain he was wondering where you were. A few more deep breaths later, you step out of the stall, wash your hands and make your way back to the table. His jacket is hanging from the back of his chair, once again showing off his white shirt and lower forearms.

Just act normal.

Giyuu looks up from his food as you approach, chewing and swallowing the bite in his mouth before putting a napkin to his lips. You smile and let out a “hey” again as you slide into your seat, setting your bag down to pull your chopsticks from their paper sheath. Removing the small lid from your bowl, you eagerly eye the tender beef slices still slightly steaming in place.

“Oooh, this looks good! “ you comment, whether to you or him is unclear. “What did you get?”

Perhaps your question caught him off guard as his eyes widened the smallest bit, body stilling at the sudden attention. He looks down to his food and then back up to you before responding.

“It’s, uh… daikon and salmon,” he states plainly, sitting a little straighter.

“Nice!” you reply, carefully taking your first bite into your mouth. The meat is beautifully cooked, the flavors subtle but just right. A small “mm” escapes you as you finish the bite. He takes this as his cue to go back to eating, his quiet demeanor seemingly content. After a minute or two, he takes a small break to sip from his glass.

“How is it? D’you like it?” you ask innocently, chopsticks paused as you await his response. He offers a small “mhm” in return as he puts his glass down.

“...How is yours?” he asks after a few beats of silence. You smile at him again.

“It’s really good, do you want to try it? Here–” you begin to search through your meat for the juiciest looking one, picking it up between chopsticks and moving to place it in his bowl before pausing. He grows still as he watches you. “Wait, are you allergic to anything?”

He’s back to that minutely-wide-eyed stare as he processes your question, shaking his head no after a moment.

“Okay, cool,” you say as you place the meat gently into an empty part of his bowl. You go back to eating, not wanting to put pressure on him. After he carefully maneuvers the strip into his mouth and chews, you pipe back up.

“Good?” you ask, patiently awaiting his reaction.

The dip of his head up and down while he swallows is enough to tell he enjoyed it.

“Good,” you say with a small laugh, returning to your own bowl. A minute or two later, you just barely catch him reaching across to your plate while you take a drink.

?!?!

Your eyes widen in shock and you lower your cup, setting it to the side gingerly to see what he did. Much to your surprise, on the left side of your bowl is now a piece of salmon with daikon.

How was he so fast??

And is he giving this to you?

“For me? Are you sure?” you ask, surprised and also concerned you may have guilted him into returning the gesture. He looks to you, answering with a simple nod in confirmation before finishing off the last few bites of his food.

“Ah, okay! Thank you!” you say as you pick up the bite of simmered salmon between your chopsticks. Popping it into your mouth, you’re pleasantly surprised at the quality and mix of flavors. Giyuu’s eyes are watching you expectantly as you chew, and you try desperately to control any form of heat rising to your face at the attention. 

“That’s really good!” you assure him with a smile, bringing up a hand to cover your mouth as you finish swallowing. He seems to relax slightly at your response with just the smallest smile on his lips.

The smile fades as quickly as it appeared as he wipes his mouth a final time with a napkin before laying it beside his now-empty bowl. You finish the last few bites of your own food in silence before following his lead.

“Are you finished?” he asks, hands gripping the side of his tray. When you say yes, he stands, moving to stack your tray, bowl and glass with his.

“Oh, that’s okay, I can do that,” you interject, hand reaching out to take it from him.

“I’ve got it,” he responds, almost gently, as he straightens and heads to the nearest dish drop-off. Watching him go, you notice the white shirt again. Looking down, you realize he forgot his jacket on the back of the chair. You grab it along with your bag and meet him outside the seating area.

“Here,” you offer, handing it over to him as you approach. Seeming a little surprised again, he takes it from you with a small “thank you” before shrugging it back on.

Welp. There goes the gun show.

You ignore your decidedly unhelpful thoughts as you peer around the room, trying to locate the exit.

“Uh…I think it’s this way?” you ask, gesturing forward and to the left toward an arched hallway bathed in green.

And with yet another small “mhm” and a nod from him, you’re off to your next stop.

Giyuu follows dutifully behind you, his face not betraying the cacophony of confusing thoughts swimming in his head

he was definitely caught off guard when you offered him a bite of your meal, but the fact you were thinking of him did make him feel happy

he was too shy to immediately give you some of his in return, but had been saving the best bite for last anyway. and he was also happy you liked it :)

he for sure thinks he would like to go eat with you again sometime if he gets the chance. it was comfortable, and he enjoyed your reactions

Maybe you could… eat lunch together someday?

But like so many facets of his life, his self restraint is ever-present here. He will refrain from “selfishness,” cherishing the experience without asking anything more from you

A winding and counterintuitive path to building intimacy if ever there were one, but he knew no better than you the feelings threatening the rock-solid walls he’s built between himself and others

But little moments like this – eating together in the food court, walking through the exhibits, making idle conversation – they are all small glimpses into something he craves so badly but lacks the words to express

Even so, he trails behind you in quiet contentment as you navigate the Mangrove and Rainforest exhibits, pointing excitedly to the various reptiles, birds or small mammals in their enclosures

As you’re reading the species description for a particularly cute snake, he takes a look ahead to see what exhibit is up next

He scans the horrendously designed map, deciphering the key as he mindlessly follows in your footsteps toward several frog varieties 

Eventually, he locates the rainforest exhibit, and looking ahead sees a rock pool with presumably more touch tanks–hard pass– and a theater

But just a step beyond that was the outdoor arena, where little cartoon dolphins and seals swam on the page

Dolphins… you liked those, right?

“(Y/N),” he calls quietly, catching your attention. You look up from the poison dart frogs with a “hm?” to see him pointing at something on the map held out to you.

“Did you want to see the water show? It should be starting soon,” he asks, finger hovering over a box reading “Stage Times.” According to the map, there was one more show today, starting in about ten minutes.

“Oh yeah! That might be fun, what do you think?” you ask nonchalantly as if you weren’t ready to break into a full sprint to make it to the arena in time.

Despite your attempt to play it cool, the sparkle in your eyes was not missed by Giyuu.

He nods once, excitement met with quiet determination. Before you know it, you’re speedwalking through the crowds of parents and children, sidestepping strollers and screaming toddlers as you make sure Giyuu is keeping up.

Before long, bright blue gates for the outdoor arena come into sight, and you let out a triumphant laugh.

“We made it!!” you say, turning too Giyuu with a wide grin. You look more excited than he’s ever seen you, and he gestures for you to move up in line as the family in front of you gains entry.

“For two?” the attendant asks, stamp at the ready. You nod eagerly, extending your arm to receive a dark blue wave on the back of your hand. Giyuu does the same, his usual deadpan stare silently watching as the dark ink stains his skin.

After gaining entry, you pass through a tall blue arch, the smell of saltwater washing over you. An expansive pool of water greets you as you walk in, spanning the edge of the outdoor arena. Looking around, you see several rows of bleachers under orange sun shades, filled to the brim with children just as excited as you.

You scope out the remaining seats, and Giyuu lets you take the lead as you choose an open spot on the second row, off to the left. You smile politely at the family behind you as you take your seats, and there’s hardly even time to settle in before the announcer comes on the loudspeaker, welcoming aquarium-goers and highlighting rules of the arena.

Soon after, a cheery voice comes over the speaker, this time from the aquarium employee running the show about 15 feet from the bleachers. She’s small in stature, dark hair pulled up in a ponytail sticking out the back of her visor.

“Hello everyone! My name is Asa, and I’ll be introducing you to some of our sea friends today!” said the speaker, her overly-excited voice rousing cheers from the children surrounding you.

You watched in glee as a line of three seals plopped up on the platform behind her, each introduced with a name and trick. You giggled along with the children as the seals waddled, barked and rolled. Eventually, the seals returned to the water, showing off swimming formations, speed and everything else such cute little creatures were capable of.

Before long, the seals had to say their goodbyes, sliding into the water with a chorus of disappointed children waving them off. But just beneath the water you could see shadows moving, your anticipation building– and just like that, it burst, with two striped dolphins leaping from beneath the still surface to say hello.

You cheered along with the children as the dolphins splashed back into the water, growing ever-closer to the bleachers with each expert movement. The dolphins swam circles around each other in the center of the arena before swimming up to the aquarium worker’s platform.

An awed smile overtook your features as the top of the dolphin’s heads popped up above the water while they were introduced, Iru and Kai. Each had two striking black lines down their sides, but Iru, the larger of the two, had a large scar over the left side of its forehead down to its beak.

“Iru here was rescued after being hurt in the wild two years ago, and she’s been with us ever since,” Asa explained, leaning down to pet her darker beak. She nudged upward toward Asa’s hand, relishing in her touch from above. “Kai was actually born at the aquarium a year and a half ago, but his baby fin here makes it hard for him to survive in the wild.”

On cue, Kai flipped to his side, showing his stunted right fin. Your heart sank a little at the thought of their pain, saddened gaze looking to Giyuu to gauge his reaction. While his attention stayed glued on the dolphins, he nodded forward to point your attention back to the front as Asa perked up and the dolphins did a spin.

“But we’re so happy to have them here with us now! Iru and Kai, why don’t you show everyone some of your favorite tricks!” Asa stood, gestures prompting each of the dolphins to swim off to the left and right for their first set of tricks.

The tricks started simple enough, leaps into the air or through hoops, but soon divers were introduced and began showing off just how much skill and intelligence Iru and Kai held.

Time passed quicker than you would have liked. The next twenty minutes of feats from the wonders of nature before you were quickly coming to a close, and you felt like it had only begun.

”Alright Iru and Kai, come on back!” Asa called, the dolphins listening in kind. The two swam right back up to the platform, ready to say their farewells.

“We had so much fun with all of you today, but Iru and Kai have to say bye now,” Asa says, sadness clearly in her voice. “Before we do that though, we have one last trick to show you!”

On cue, Iru swam off to the left by your spot in the bleachers and Kai to the right, each popping up behind the fenced area at the front. You grinned widely at the sight of Iru up close, wondering at her beauty.

“Alright, say bye-bye!” Asa shouted.

The next few moments moved in slow motion, and it was only then, as the dolphins whipped around to the side to send a tidal wave to the audience, that you noticed the glaring “SPLASH ZONE” sign plastered on the seat and wall in front of you. Maybe there was a reason these seats were empty. 

Delight shifted to fear and surprise as the water grew nearer, impending doom mere milliseconds from impact. You brought your arms to haphazardly shield your face, a shout of surprise escaping you and several of the audience members near you. Just beyond the approaching curtain of water were spray fountains from the front of the arena, shooting wildly out into the audience. Giyuu’s right arm extended in front of you in a vain attempt to shield you.

But no such luck. In less than a second, you were soaked from head to toe, sputtering as the sea water assaulted your senses.

Looking to Giyuu, you saw his hair was soggy, sticking to his face on the sides as water dripped down. As stunning as he looked dripping wet, he was in shock–a look you’ve never seen on him– and all you could do was laugh at the absurdity.

Loud guffaws escaped you as you grabbed onto Giyuu’s sleeve in front of you to steady yourself, his confused eyes meeting your joyous ones. You stayed like that for a few moments, wiping tears of laughter from your eyes as Asa bid her goodbyes to the crowd.

Your grip on his jacket loosened, replaced with two quick pats.

“Oh man, that was good,” you relent breathlessly, still giggling to yourself.

“Are you alright?” he asked in that flat tone of his, but amusement lie somewhere in his eyes. You laughed again, reassuring him as he slowly pulled his arm back to himself.

“Yeah! Just a little wet,” you snicker, wiping some of the excess water from your face. “What about you?”

He nods, mirroring your actions and sliding a few fingers through his bangs to get the wet strands out of his face. Had you been a lesser man, you would have died on the spot.

Instead you clear your throat, averting your eyes as he stands, flicking water from his jacket before handing it to you. Pointedly ignoring the taper of his waist beneath his black joggers, you reach tentatively to take it, confusion etched on your features.

“Oh, do you need me to hold it?” you ask, grasping the fabric between your fingers.

“No, you should…” He averts his eyes from you, the smallest of rosy hues appearing on his cheeks as he clears his throat. “Cover up with this.”

You look down and have the startling realization that the thin fabric of your light-colored shirt has soaked through as well, showing off everything underneath.

You could die right now. Really, you could. But instead you choose to quietly mutter an expletive, thank Giyuu for his jacket and slip it on, zipping up the front.

Dignity slightly restored but pride absolutely shattered, you turn to him.

“So, um… gift shop?” you ask, still buried beneath approximately 15 levels of shame and embarrassment. He nods, gesturing for you to lead the way, and you take the five minute walk to regain any remaining composure you can.

the next several minutes are spent in an extremely awkward silence as you look throughout the various trinkets, t-shirts and keychains

though the air inside is a bit chilly, you’re thankfully kept pretty warm by giyuu’s jacket

speaking of which, he can hardly look at you right now because of a) what happened earlier and b) the sight of you in his jacket. So he is just… trailing behind you as you shop

you excuse yourself to the restroom for a chance to get a good look at yourself, but on the way in, spot a screen with several photos on display

amid a variety of blue and orange displays are photos from the outdoor arena, capturing in full color the delight of children and parents alike

and off to the far right was a photo of you and giyuu a half second before the water hit, a sharp look of panic across his face as his arm was shooting out in front of you. next to him, you look as if you’ve seen a ghost, arms halfway shielding your face in preparation

as the photos scroll through, though, there is a second taken just a few seconds later

it’s perfect, you think

Giyuu is idly standing near the front of the store, having had more than enough time to look around in your absence. As you approach him, he notices you have on a new baby-blue crew neck shirt you picked up from the store, your previous one from before shoved haphazardly in the giftshop bag.

“Hey! Sorry for the wait,” you greet, looking far more refreshed after your visit to the restroom. “Ready to head out?”

He nods simply, choosing to walk alongside you toward the exit. Groups of parents and children move en masse toward the turnstiles, forming lines at the front. You both wait patiently in a surprisingly comfortable silence, the excitement of the day finally wearing on you.

After making it past the entry barriers and onto the sidewalk near the road, he realizes this is where you part ways. You pause in your stride, turning to him.

“Here’s your jacket back, sorry about that,” you say, extending it toward him. He takes it from you gently, tucking it over his arm.

“You have nothing to apologize for,” he states matter-of-factly, but there is a certain gentleness to his tone this time, a quietness in his voice.  

A silence settles between the two of you as he contemplates how to say goodbye.

“By the way, I um…” you fumble your words as you reach into your bag, extending two small trinkets on your palm toward him. “Do you want one of these? They were making them inside.”

His brow furrows just slightly as he angles his head to look at the objects in your hand. On the right is a small photo of the two of you during the outdoor arena show, taken just after the water had splashed into the crowd. Your face is alight with laughter, and to your side, Giyuu dons a look he doesn’t quite recognize on himself. Something soft, almost, as he sees the pure joy radiating off of you, your hand clinging to his arm as delight and surprise overtake you.

Attached to the light blue frame is what appears to be a small plastic figure of Iru, the dolphin from the show. The larger and older of the two, if he remembers right. On the other keychain is the same photo framed in darker blue with a small figure of Kai, the other striped dolphin.

Did you… pick these out?

He stays quiet as he observes the small trinkets in your palm. As is so often the case, you mistake his silence for rejection, quick to backtrack.

“It’s okay if you don’t want it! I just thought they were fun,” you are quick to explain, still unsure of his reaction.

Eventually, he reaches forward, gingerly picking up the darker blue one with the Kai charm. The brief graze of his fingers on your palm sends a shiver through you as he looks thoughtfully at the keychain.

“Thank you. It’s… nice,” he says after a pause, pocketing the item in his black track pants.

“It’s no problem,” you reassure. “Thanks for, uh, hanging out today. I had a great time, all… mishaps considered.”

You huff a laugh at your own expense, knowing so badly what you want to say next but still building up the courage.

“I appreciate the invi–” “Anyway, let me know if you–”

You both pause mid-sentence, looking at each other in embarrassment at the misstep.

“You go ahead,” you say, gesturing to him.

“No, you,” he insists, shaking his head.

“Well, um, I was just going to say let me know if you want to do this again sometime or something.”

“Won’t we be coming back here with the other teachers?” he asks, clearly missing the point.

“Well, uh, I mean… it doesn’t have to be the aquarium,” you laugh nervously out of reflex, suddenly wishing you could crawl into a hole forever. “But anyway, yeah. No pressure, I just had fun and wouldn’t mind… Um. Yeah.”

Your hands gesture in the air aimlessly as you flounder. You have to pat yourself on the back for putting together probably the least helpful response known to man. Really, good work. Absolutely indecipherable.

In your sudden embarrassment, you don’t realize as Giyuu’s eyes widen just a fraction, taking in your words. 

“I… enjoyed today,” he offers after a brief and unbearably awkward silence, sounding as if he’s still processing the day himself. “We can do it again. If you want.”  

You feel your heartbeat quicken at his choppy sentiment, heart thrumming happily in your chest. The grin you send him leaves him in a similar state.

His fingers trace over the smooth plastic of the frame in his pocket as you say your goodbyes, his steps unusually slow as he watches you disappear around a corner to the nearest subway station.

Once you’re out of sight, he fishes the keychain from his pocket, swiftly affixing it to the rest of his keys before setting off on his own way home with your kind words echoing in his head. The sunset hues peeking through his bedroom window seem strangely more picturesque as he settles on the edge of his bed after returning home, thumb brushing carefully over the plastic frame of the keychain.

Much of his life has been spent watching others through the hardy walls of his own glass enclosure, witnessing as they navigate life and love and everything else. And as hard as he has tried, slamming fists and feet against the barrier, the walls have yet to give, leaving him hopeless in his efforts to reach and be reached.

But this difference between himself and others is not something he has yet come to terms with. Denial is a far easier pill to swallow. Even so, you make him feel as if the ocean between himself and others is not quite so vast–like the glass isn’t quite as thick as he was led to believe. 

Today was his first spark of hope in a long time that maybe there is more to life than his own self-imposed solitude. 

That is not to say he understands, and he will not for many months to come, exactly why you inspire such feelings of hope and longing within him–but it is not unwelcome. Not by a longshot.

a/n: hi!! this is so long. and i have no excuse for why i haven’t posted on this blog in ages. but i hope you like it!! it’s been in my drafts for so long mostly done and i finally got the urge to finish it 

[goldenqingxin]

here's a little snippet of something im working on (yes i know i havent updated LOB in a month. leave me alone) ☁︎ jercy, au where they kinda remember each other from when they're at the same place, same time. inspired by e106 at 8:28. also, percy swears like a sailor because i said so. ☁︎

“Watch out!” 

“Oh, shit–” 

He’s on the floor and he can’t feel his jaw. His fingers are tingling in a very painful way. He swears up and down he hasn’t had his life flashing before his eyes, but like, he feels like he’s dying. It hurts like hell.

“You okay?” 

The sight that greets him is nothing short of confusing– a tall, blond boy, around his age or maybe younger, with a purple shirt written SPQR on it. He stands in front of him, crouched just enough to shove his calloused hand in his face. (Why in the world is it rough like that? He looks hardly twelve but he has the fingers of a carpenter.) 

“What’s up with the shirt? Are you LARPing?” he asks, not even cursing his lack of filter this time. He’s in a freaky casino with friends who just about forgot they were on a mission to stop World War III. Not that he remembers the details much anyway…

“What’s that?” The boy asks in return. “It’s just a camp shirt.” 

Huh, almost like Camp Half-Blood’s. The leather cord on his neck rubs at the skin there. It’s bound to leave a red mark with how tight it is against his nape. 

He takes the boy’s hand to get back up on his feet. The last thing he expected was that stupidly strong grip and the sliver of a smile on the boy’s face when Percy nearly fell over. His hand starts tingling again. 

“Jason Grace,” the boy tells him cryptically. 

“Percy Jackson,” he answers, because obviously the guy told him his own name. 

“You don’t sound like you’re from around here,” Jason says. He has this accent, one Percy can’t really place– something between animalistic and terribly Silicon Valley. 

“And you sound like you’re definitely from L.A.” 

He’s not stupid enough to waste his time here, talking to this very pretty guy (where did that come from?) in a very strange casino, with two of his friends gods-know where. Or at least, he thinks that for half a second before–

“What kind of camp makes kids wear something from Ancient Rome?” 

His eyes drop to Jason’s hand on his hip. 

“And what the fuck is with that sword?!”

Jason’s eyes widen, like he’s about to run away. It’s not a good look on him. Percy almost backtracks, or slams his hand against his mouth just to shut himself up for one damn second, but Jason beats him to the chase. 

“You can see the gladius?” 

“Why are you saying it like you actually speak latin?” is what Percy answers with, because oh yeah, I’ve got my own sword too, but it’s named Anaklusmos or I can speak Ancient Greek, how cool is that! isn’t the best thing to reply with in this context. 

Jason looks– conflicted, at first. There’s some doubt in his stormy eyes, and they begin to resemble Annabeth’s more and more as they cloud over. 

Oh shit, Annabeth–

“I left my friends back, oh shit, I gotta be out of here as soon as I can, it’s almost the solstice..,” he mutters, more to himself than to Jason, but it finally gets a reaction out of him that isn’t a (practically) blank stare. Not that he minds. 

“Yeah, it’s tomorrow. What kind of deadline do you have in the middle of summer though? I thought classes were over.” 

The way he says it is almost comically uncertain, like he has no idea how the school system works in America. Which is, honestly, fair. Percy doesn’t either. 

Wait. 

“Tomorrow? Nah, no way. We’re the 17th. Did you hit your head too?” He laughs, more out of obligation than anything– Jason’s eyes are downright scrutinising now, and in some other context when they’re both older it would’ve been nice but right now it just scares the shit out of him. 

“No, I got here just five minutes ago. We’re the 20th.” It’s the way he says it so matter-of-factly that really gets on his nerves. 

He grabs the first person that passes by them– some scrawny kid with black hair, and asks them the date once and for all. 

His heart stops when the answer is “March 12th, 1932.” 

He glares at Jason and sees him glaring back, and that’s all it takes before they’re running to the entrance to look outside the glass doors. 

It’s pitch black, and Percy hasn’t been here for more than an hour. It was noon when he walked in.  

“The Lotus Eaters,” he mumbles. 

“Like, from the Odyssey?” Jason asks, his voice squeaky and scared. It’s the first actual emotion he sees on the guy’s face– literal fear. 

“Fuck.” 

Jason hums in agreement. 

“Well, good luck to you, man,” Percy says before bolting away back to where he last left Annabeth and Grover. He prayed for them to still be there, and for there to still be time left if they make it out of here. 

He doesn’t quite catch the small mumble of his name falling off Jason’s lips. 

It sounds great when he says it. 

[clonedchaos]

Machine Memories- Day 1: Nostalgia

Acknowledgements:

Well, here we are! Sorry I’m late to this event! Dang, it's been ages since I've written for Bendy content on any of my socials... So, I wanted to preface this fic by saying that Eclipse and A Small Bit of Kindness aren't going anywhere, I promise. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, feel free to skip to the next paragraph or first chapter below the cut) There has been a lot going on these past few months and I'll talk more about it once those stories update. I'm not done with Bendy content-- far from it actually! I just have a bit of a hard time focusing on one specific story for too long or I get burnt out. So, as an apology, I'm doing Ink Demonth from Tumblr to try and get the gears turning again. Nothing too long or too big, just short little snippets-- that is of course unless I get super invested on a prompt and get carried away. Given my track record, I'm definitely not promising this will be done in one month; I'd be lucky to get it done in two! 

And, as an added note, I'm dedicating Machine Memories to my best online friend @mister-magic. Thanks for sticking around so long, especially given how bad I am at updating things and have a habit of bouncing back and forth through fandoms. It really means a lot that you think I'm a good writer, even if most days I don't feel like I am. Taking the time to chat with me or let me ramble about my interests even if for a few moments has done a lot for me. So, thank you. (And go check out his work if you haven't, he's very talented!) :3

And I'm also dedicating it to those that know me from my other Batim fics and are still curious to know what comes next despite another unforeseen hiatus on new chapters. The support really does mean the world to me and keeps pushing me forward, and I wish so much that I could keep up with updating. I feel awful for not updating things for like 5-6 months...

Anyhow enough with the rambling, I hope you enjoy! I'm excited to see all the Ink Demonth has to offer! And go check out halfusek on Tumblr, they're hosting this event! <3

Summary:

Audrey takes a break from the hustle and bustle of work to unwind at her local park. Familiar sights and smells just might dredge up a few recollections of her past...

Rating: G/PG

A park bench in the sun was the perfect place for Audrey to stretch her legs. She had gotten out of bed bright and early and eager to start the day, unaware of what disaster awaited her the moment she stepped into Archgate.

“Audrey, did you send those panels to Richard? He’s been on my case all morning” this, “Audrey, would you be a dear and take this to the writer’s department?” that. Audrey didn’t quite understand why these multitude of tasks were being thrust upon her— unless it stemmed from her desire to help her coworkers. She had been in a jam on more than one occasion, whether that be due to art block or struggling with looking at a scene through a different perspective. The least she could do was return the favor to aid her department.

She hadn’t realized how exhausted she was until she quite literally collapsed into her chair. The magnitude of leftover panels she had to complete by the deadline formed a miniature mountain on her desk. Audrey sighed a weary exhale. Well, she’d better get to work.

To her utter surprise Nathan Arch popped his head in thirty minutes later, claiming he was checking up on how the new episode was coming along. All bright eyed with a warm smile, that’s how he always greeted his employees.

Audrey stiffened— she had barely gotten through a fourth of her work! Nathan scrutinized her menial pile, then glanced to her flushed cheeks and slumped shoulders. Was he going to be disappointed in her presumed lack of work ethic?

Mr. Arch just guffawed with a rosy cheeked smile. “My, Audrey. You seem like you could use a breather.”

And that’s how Audrey had ended up lounging on a park bench during work hours. The sunshine warmed her skin, coupled with a pleasant breeze that tickled her cheeks. She sneezed. The flowers were in full bloom this time of the season, which irritatingly meant pollen was out in full force.

A small group of kids ran past her, kicking a soccer ball between themselves. It was a whirlwind of chatter, rapid movements, and lots of excitement.  

Audrey’s gaze slowly observed the scenery before her, absorbing all its sights and sounds. A couple a few feet away stood with arms linked as they observed the rows of flowers lining the sidewalk. The man plucked a vibrant daisy and set it in his lover's blonde hair. A squirrel skittered up a tree, bushy tail twitching to and fro as it searched for nearby predators.

"Mommy! Mommy look! A birdie!"

Audrey hypnotically turned her head, her mind not quite meeting with reality. A few feet away a woman was holding hands with a young girl. The child was adamantly tugging her mother towards the creature in question. With a terrified squawk, the raven beat its jet black wings and lifted into the sky.

The child was left distraught with tears welling up at the corners of her eyes. Her mother frowned sympathetically, reached down, and raised the girl up to sit on her hip. “Oh, honey. You have to be gentle…” Her soft voice faded as she strolled out of earshot.

Audrey could hear faint giggling as reality seemed to fall away before her. A faint inkling of a memory began to worm its way into the limelight.

She was here many years ago. She‘d walked this same path… with her father. Audrey closed her eyes. The sight was so vivid and palpable, as if she could reach out and touch the past.

”What’s that, papa?” She had asked, enraptured by a small cluster of drooping blue petals. Her heart had been alight with wonder— it was the first time she had been to a park before! So many new smells, faces, activities, and sights just waiting for her in such a small corner of the city.

”Ah. That’s a bluebell. Beautiful, isn’t it?” Her father rumbled as he crouched down in front of the patch. He lifted one of the flowers with a finger. "Don't worry, it's healthy. This is just how they grow."

"Blue is my favorite color!" Audrey had bounced up and down on the balls of her feet. In the present, she wished things were as simple as they were back then-- when the only troubles she had were trying to pick a favorite color without "making the other colors jealous".

Now... Now things were different. Her father-- if she could even call him that anymore-- wasn't the man she thought she had known throughout her childhood. Audrey wrung her hands in her lap as she moved her gaze to stare at the concrete below. Her heart ached with longing for the simpler times. Her life was more than a mess, it was quite literally a disaster.

She missed their occasional walks in the park. She missed their daily breakfast collaboration-- Audrey had once accidentally got a pancake stuck on the ceiling one morning, prompting her father to let her stick to mixing the batter. When storms brewed outside and lightning sent her scrambling out of bed in a panic, she had always found solace with her father. Even though she knew she shouldn't... she missed him.

Audrey looked up at a small flock of birds winging south. A gentle breeze brushed her cheeks again. Despite the bittersweet recollections, Audrey wasn't despondent over the present. Though she had lost her father, she had gained a new family; one that was seeming to grow more and more every time she stepped into the Ink realm.

Henry was always a good level-headed friend she could vent her problems out to; reliable too. Allison was adept at making her way through the labyrinth of hallways and was always up for a good sparring match to sharpen Audrey's skills. Tom was a bit brash and gruff, but she knew the wolf meant well. Heidi and Porter were always a delight to see, and they loved pulling Audrey into various shenanigans and pranks they wanted to set up around the studio.

But the one person whom she felt she made the most progress with so far was the Ink Demon himself. He had taken to rooming with Audrey in her apartment whenever he grew tired of the Ink Realm. The demon wasn't exactly the easiest roommate, nor was he always friendly-- he kind of reminded Audrey of a stray cat learning to grow accustomed to the indoors. But he had certainly come a long way; he wasn't trying to kill her for starters.

They were both made by Joey Drew via the Ink Machine. So in a way, that meant they were kin. She had lost her father but gained a brother.

Hmm…

Perhaps the Ink Demon would appreciate a scene like this, whether he would admit to it or not. The memories she held of her father, as tainted as they might be now, it was part of her history. It helped make her into the young woman she was today; one that was adamant on looking towards a brighter future.

Maybe it was finally time to make some new memories...

[abarbaricyalp]

Written for the @sambuckylibrary summer bingo prompt: Beach Day! Had to get one more in under the deadline.

Rated T, gets a little suggestive at the end

Okay so ages ago @katatonicimpression posted about Sam getting a Captain America 'suit' from Namor that was actually a speedo and well... (Funnily enough, I had not seen the original tags on the post until I was done with this story. I agree: Bucky would be fuming)

Namor's characterization in this kind of melds the MCU with the comics, since we didn't really get to see a lighter side of him in BP:WF. ("Or you could just wear a suit" joke line, my beloved)

(Sea) Star Spangled

Bucky had brought this upon himself.

He didn't usually like to take responsibility for things that had even a slightly contested origin. He thought he'd had plenty of shit laid at this feet egregiously, so, no Sam, it was not his fault there was only a swallow of milk left in the jug in the fridge.

But this one... This was his fault.

("You're welcome, self," he also thought.)

Here's the thing. He knew Shuri had told him about another actor, another nation, another hero who dealt with Vibranium. But, to be fair to himself, things had been pretty hectic for the both of them at the time and she'd said this guy lived under the ocean, so he really wasn't Bucky's priority. And, in this brave new world of "supervillain" teammups and consequent subterfuge, Bucky hadn't thought about the fish guy, merman, aquaman person since that brief mention.

By the time mermaid Barbie did catch up to him, Bucky had been at this game long enough to be practically working for Shuri instead of de Fontaine. She and he had worked out a nearly flawless repertoire of information sharing without getting caught and Bucky was pretty sure his new bosses were none the wiser. It had been Shuri who'd told him about an odd deposit of vibranium in the shallows and sandbars of a remote beach island.

Bucky had been investigating that lead when he met the submariner for the first time.

So, hey, maybe he could actually blame this all on Shuri.

It had been harder to convince Namor that he was a friend, not a foe. The alliance between the Atlantean and Shuri was evidently not as steadfast as Shuri had led Bucky to believe those weeks ago. Namor was intense and smarter than most people Bucky had been dealing with recently. (Shuri obviously excluded) He nettled and prodded at Bucky and his story for hours. Sharks literally started to circle at one point and Bucky had to let the Atlantean know that his threat was received perfectly clearly.

When all was said and done, when Namor was reluctantly on board with the plan though not any happier about it, when Bucky's research vessel was so thoroughly destroyed he didn't even bother trying to fish pieces out of the water, Namor took him to shore and asked who should be contacted.

Bucky had said the first name that came to mind.

Hours later, when the sun had scorched Bucky's chest, shoulders, and face, Sam appeared on a boat. Because of course he knew how to drive a boat. Bucky knew that and yet his heart still tripped over itself in his chest to see him looking like some dashing privateer. A privateer in board shorts at any rate.

Sam read people better than Bucky did. Bucky was great at threat assessment, but that was usually as far as his skills went. (Barring his ability to get free sweet tea from his favorite waitress) Sam knew how to work any angle on any person. He knew to show up dressed down instead of in his full Cap gear. He knew to cut the engine well before the rudders could damage the shoreline kelp life. He knew to approach Bucky and Namor with a somber but not cowed cadence to his steps.

Steve told a story constantly about the first time Sam met T'Challa. About his nigh on irreverence and familiarity. Bucky could see him assessing now if that kind of banter would work. In the end, he went for the safer route, turning his attention to Bucky and narrowing his eyes. "What did you do?" he asked.

Bucky wouldn't say Sam and Namor got on easily. Namor was not as quickly swayed by Sam's pervasive charm and ready smile and moral dignity. But the half-snarl curl of his lip had disappeared and the tension in his shoulders ebbed the longer he and Sam talked. Sam was good at this, winning people over long enough to rectify a situation and get back out of it.

And he did get Bucky out of it. Bucky got an earful on the ride back to some place with a plane, but it was worth it once he got into the cabin and out of the sun.

The next time it happened, Sam showed up in his Captain America uniform, and Bucky felt vaguely betrayed that Sam had been doing real Captain America things without him. The conversation between Namor and Sam flowed more easily as Bucky's shoulders continued to sunburn.

The THIRD time was not Bucky's fault. In fact, Bucky found Sam and Namor already in the midst of a fight that they had started in the shallows off an uninhabited island. Surprisingly, Bucky's new bosses weren't involved, so Bucky had no idea what was going on, but people were throwing spears at Sam and that was unacceptable.

The fight didn't last much longer after Bucky joined. Sam and Namor had had it mostly under control before he showed up, so the extra brute force only helped. The combatants disappeared into the water exactly like the sea monsters of his childhood stories.

"What are you doing here?" Bucky asked Sam so he didn't have to think about what else lurked in the water. He did follow Sam out of the shallows quickly though.

"Your friend picked up your bad habits," Sam answered in a half-teasing, half-stressed kind of way. He wiped his face free of salt water.

Namor scowled at him. Bucky wondered if his own scowls were that unconvincing. It was kind of impossible to actually get angry at Sam. "He is not my friend and I did not call you for help. You stopped yourself."

Sam shrugged. "You looked like you were losing."

"I do not lose!" Namor insisted again.

"Well, hey, next time you aren't losing and don't need help, you know how to reach me," Sam said with a grin. And then, to Bucky, he added, "We share seagulls!" A phrase Bucky completely did not understand.

The next time Namor showed up, Bucky hadn't even bothered him. He and Sam had detoured away from their return home from a mission because they were flying over Nassau and neither of them were passing up the opportunity for a beach vacation. The first two days had been flawless. But that night, tangled together on a high sandbar during low tide, a sudden wave, tall enough and dense enough to blot out the moonlight, crashed over them and left fish and kelp and so much salt water in its wake. It practically flooded the sandbar out and left bits and pieces of their uniforms floating in the water.

"I can see you!" Namor called from somewhere far away, or maybe right under the water. Bucky could never tell. "Go elsewhere!"

And yet. AND YET. They were here now.

Maybe he could actually blame Namor. Thinking about it again, he could definitely blame Namor. Bucky had only accidentally introduced him and Sam. Namor had done this.

"It looks pretty good right?" Sam laughed, smoothing a hand down his perfect body that Bucky should really be napping against right now instead of suffering in the middle of the ocean. How was he actually glistening? He wasn't even wet. What was this golden glow? There was cloud coverage.

It was about the only coverage on this boat.

For an ocean where a battle had just raged with too many combatants and interests at play for Bucky to keep straight, the sea was calm, the sun warm, the bird call familiar. It could almost be any other day on the boat. Except for the blood growing tacky in Bucky's hair and the bruise sprawling down Sam's shoulder and back. He needed to get an ice pack on it.

Actually, he needed to put a shirt over it.

"It is made of the same fibers as all of our warriors' clothing," Namor explained about the "outfit" Sam had quickly changed into. "Yours and mine are the same." And he looked entirely too smug as his gaze flicked to Bucky momentarily.

Despite joking about it, Bucky knew Namor didn't actually wear a speedo. It was shorts and he had fantastic thighs that would make any clothing look smaller. Those shorts--battle garments, his ass--were even smaller on Sam. They were practically molded to his ass. There was almost nothing down the back of his thighs. They were fighting for their life to cover his ass and stay around his hips at the same time. They were a dark navy with subtle, darker striping around one leg, not that anyone could tell because they were so damn short.

"If you're going to spend so much time on the water, you should be equipped to do so. No, Barnes?" Namor looked at him again and was definitely smirking. Suddenly Bucky preferred the scowl.

"Sam flies," he ground out.

"Yes. He's very impressive," Namor agreed. "And then he rescues you from the water all of the time."

Bucky ground his teeth together even harder.

"I know you have many suits for many different reasons. I just wanted to offer a gift of my own," Namor continued. "Talokan is grateful for your help and friendship." He reached out and clasped their forearms together.

Bucky seethed.

This was not a suit. This was obscene. There was a star right over the crotch, for God's sake. (Okay, slightly left of the crotch, whatever) Namor didn't even buy into nationalism. He hated it. It had been a huge point of contention until Sam had explained to him his own struggles with representing a country or ideal that outright rejected him over and over. If anything, this should just be navy. Plain. And longer, dammit. Bucky's brain was going to overheat. He needed to look away from that damn star.

"I appreciate it, K'uk'ulan," Sam said earnestly, like he wasn't standing around looking like a soft core poster. He bowed his head a little and held a hand over his heart. God, Bucky wanted to eat him.

Then Sam kicked his ankle and Bucky turned his irritation towards him. It wasn't enough to make him want to eat Sam any less, but it eased some of the burning need in his chest. Sam subtly tried to nod towards Namor, eyes wide and imploring.

With a sigh that gathered up all of Bucky's willpower, he turned to Namor and tried to ease the scowl on his face. "We will always help Talokan and the Talokanil," he said, and surprised himself with the honesty in his voice. He did really like Namor's home and his people. What of it he had come to see and understand. "I would rather help them than whichever evil bastards are trying to pull the reins up here."

The flash of gratitude over Namor's face was only that--a flash, but Bucky saw it and he tucked that information away. But it was too quickly replaced by a grin. "Then you agree. It is good that the captain now has appropriate dress."

The scowl got deeper by three fold and Namor's grin only turned more gleeful. And, oh. Namor hadn't put Sam in a speedo to leer at him himself. He'd done it to tease Bucky. The asshole.

"We should get Bucky one," Sam joked.

Bucky and Namor pulled twin grimaces, which made, Sam laugh and laugh.

"We need to head out," Bucky said to Sam. "We'll have a better chance of holding off alphabet agencies and suits if we're not right on top of the fight.

Sam frowned, tipped his face up to the sunlight because he was genuinely some kind of sun god and needed the replenishment as far as Bucky was concerned, and then sighed. "You're right," he agreed. "One day, we'll have to meet under better circumstances," he said to Namor. He offered his hand out to the not-merman and they did that gladiator hold thing again. Namor clapped a hand on Sam's uninjured shoulder.

"Yes, I agree. Alas, we both have people to protect and our enemies are becoming bolder. It doesn't leave much time for socializing."

Sam nodded his understanding and then hoisted his wing pack onto his back. He should really put on a shirt before using it, Bucky thought. And pants. "Come on, grumpycakes," he said to Bucky and offered out the harness they had developed together for exactly these kind of low stakes, short hops.

Sam gave Namor a lazy kind of salute and Bucky managed a cordial nod. Namor only offered another smirk and even a thumbs up. He was truly nothing like Bucky had anticipated.

Sam dropped them on the far side of the nearest island. They would have to await extraction--maybe island hop a few more miles away--but there was no rush. They hadn't called for help yet.

Bucky considered the fine white sand of the beach. It was soft and warm, verging on hot. He could lay Sam out right here and get those shorts off. But he remembered trying to untangle kelp from his hair, and discarded the thought. Instead, he walked Sam back into the tropical foliage several meters away and then sank to his knees without a word.

Sam's fingers fell to his hair, head dropping back to the tree behind him. Which was a shame because Bucky liked Sam's eyes on him. Liked to be able to look up and catch his gaze, see exactly what Bucky was doing to him based on the sparkle in his eye.

"Yeah," Sam agreed to their silent understanding in a breathy sigh. "We definitely have to get you some of these shorts too."

[sadghoststudios]

STATE OF PLAY 12/23: a little news and updates roundup!

Howdy all! Squeaking in just before the new year, I thought now's as good a time as ever for a little roundup of anything you might have missed, and what we're currently working on! Aiming to do these quarterly from now on 🫡✨

If you wanna keep up with posts like this from us without relying on social media, you can also sub to our newsletter! Promise not to annoy you. Good emails only.

Recap and news under the cut!

2023 Roundup

DemiDato

We had two releases this year, but DemiDato was the big one! For those that don't know, this game spent a long 5+ years in and out of development hell, so it was a big relief to finally put everyone's hard work out into the world back in March.

We were also lucky enough to feature DD in the Queer Games & Queer Halloween bundles this year, so even if you haven't had a chance to grab the game outright, check your itch library - you might already own it!

As for the future of our monsters, a 1.1 update is still on the cards! The bulk of it is already complete - there's some script tidying and quality of life improvements already in the WIP build, as well as a fancy schmancy CG Gallery (which you can see a little preview of in the devlog I wrote). 

1.1 development has admittedly stalled a little, as I really want to implement some animated video transitions plus an animated intro and trailer into its final build, but it's been hard to find the time to teach myself a whole new skillset while also being in preproduction for our new title (more on that in a bit!). In my head for all the years of development, the game has always had a really cheesy reality show intro with horribl(y good) graphics, just like the real life shows that inspired it. So even if the feature didn't make it to 1.0, I still really want it to happen eventually. (Plus, when we do eventually rerelease on Steam, a trailer is very important for the store page! That means it counts as futureproofing, right...?)

If you want to hear some more about what the release was like, my dear friend Kaiju of Digital Diversity interviewed me right after the game came out! You can read the interview on Digital Diversity over here.

GrandNya

Our second game of the year was a short little nugget written for 2023's Josei Jam, and devved almost solo by timepatches (hi! that's me!)

It'd been a long time since I managed to get anything off the ground in a jam setting, and I still find it a little intimidating (it's really difficult for me to get new ideas & iterate on them fast enough to meet the start deadline and recruit others), so solo dev it was! My art is hardly intricate but it gets the story across, and I'm proud of the VN as a whole - whatever you think of 'wholesome games' as a movement, it's hard to deny that we all need a cosy space now and then, and that’s the kind of story I like to tell most. And it's not like GrandNya is all sunshine, either, which you'll know if you got to the end!

I also managed to apply to Hand-Eye Society's Super FESTival with GrandNya, and was somehow accepted, which I'm still pinching myself about! What a stellar lineup of games to share a page with.

Fest aside, it was a pretty quiet release all things considered, so don't worry if you missed it! Your grandmas are still there on our itch page anytime, to give you a lil’ pocket of safe queer story to live in whenever you need it.

Intoxicated

Now for something completely different!! Despite some prior medical commitments around the jam date (which then got moved, typical), I was VERY stoked to be able to hop on the team for Kristi HusbandoGoddess' Yuri Jam game, Intoxicated!

It was an absolute blast. Turtles were drawn in the group chat for reasons I can no longer remember. It singlehandedly made me decide that I want to do more jam work on others' teams, because I forgot how fun it can be working toward a common goal in a more relaxed environment! 

And the game turned out incredible. Check it out if you support women's wrongs! ♡

Plans for 2024

[Codename BAT 🦇] (the big otome/amare game)

Oh yeah. It's big.

I won't spill too much just yet, but just know that I've had this idea as a vague plot bunny in the back of my mind for years. Then, as my dear friend Charlie and I were on VC beta testing a late DemiDato build, it came up and they were so excited about the idea that I couldn't help but start seriously thinking about how to make it.

Well. That was in March. After I took a break and worked on GrandNya, I've been working ever since on building out the world (it's set in the same universe as the rest of our library, but deals a bit more with the actual ramifications of it all, so I had to set some things in stone I haven't before). More recently I've been building out the most coherent, easy-to-follow outline I can (not my strong point, and bless my beta readers for their support while I complain about it). 

Very soon I should be able to start writing! Terrifying! I can't wait. Once I'm a fair way into the script writing you'll get to hear about exactly what I'm cooking, and I think... you'll like where we're going.

[Other Redacted Thing]

Not my project so I won't spoil exactly what it is, but I get to do some UI work for an upcoming jam project and I am SO excited! I get to work with some very familiar faces again! You'll know what it is as soon as I'm allowed to tell you 👀

What I will say is that it shares a coincidental similarity with my long project...

That's it!! ✨

Thank you for reading all my waffle (being long winded is my special talent), and for sticking with us through the inevitable periods of radio silence! We're still just little fish in a very big pond, but every time someone plays something I made and feels some type of way, I remember what the point of all this is. 

It makes me very happy to be able to share stories with y'all. Here's to more in 2024!

♡ Madi Wander (@timepatches)

[k-s-morgan]

Hello! I made a Tumblr account just so that I can tell you how amazing your writing is and how awesome you are! I watched Hannibal just so I could read more of your stories - the way that you keep shifting the power dynamics and building up these obsessive relationships creates some of the most intense and best stories that I have ever read. Do you ever think of writing a story with original characters that you might try publishing? (I would definitely buy and read it!)

Also, thank you so much for the personal updates that you do about yourself and Ukraine. I am so sorry for everything you and your country has been experiencing with Russia. I think you are remarkable with your communications and how much good you are putting out in the world despite the horror you and your country are being put through. I wish you and your loved ones all the best. Thank you for everything you do!

Hello! Oh wow, I really appreciate it! It's so flattering that you decided to watch the entire show just to read my fics, and I'm happy that you enjoyed them! I love obsessive characters, and I love obsessive, dark relationships between them even more. If you're interested, I have a Hannigram AU one-shot here that I didn't post to AO3.

As for original novels, I actually have three published romance stories, but I wrote them when I was like 17, and two of them are M/F. I don’t talk about them often because my style has evolved over the years, and the ideas and execution in them are probably problematic - and not in a good way!

My first book was Until Hell Freezes Over. It’s a semi-dark Gothic M/F romance with a twist that takes it from a more ordinary genre to a somewhat supernatural one. Ironically, I got most attached to my gay dark secondary character who’s in unrequited love with the main character. I just couldn’t get into M/F to the extent I wanted. I love this story in a way, it's my baby, and it has an interesting way of character development, but I wrote it because I naively hoped to gain more attention in the M/F market, not because I was really inspired. And both protagonists are not the best people in shallow and grounded ways.

My second book was Layers of Freesia. It’s a short and far less serious M/F romance. Basically, they met, they fought, they made up, all in 100 or so pages. I love my female character there - some readers mentioned she’s autistic, and while I didn’t think of it when I was writing, I believe it fits. She holds a special place in my heart.

My third book was All Roads Lead to Hades. It’s a short M/M obsession-based novel. Some readers mentioned it’s rushed, and it might be so because I was excited to be finally writing in the genre I wanted and I had a specific deadline by which I needed it to be done) I’ve never re-read it and didn’t have the heart to edit it. 

I have 200 pages of another dark M/M romance written, and I do intend to finish and publish it at some late date. Here’s the synopsis I wrote back in 2016.

There were times when the Lettvin-Nostrand Empire was one of strongest, full of pureblood nobility who possessed powerful magic and feared no one. But seduced by the promises of more freedom from a neighboring Empire, the society split up, unleashing war that had been ravaging their own territory until Emperor Glacirien had enough.

Ruthless and cruel, Glacirien is feared by his enemies and his own people alike because the abilities he possesses are like no others. He puts an end to the war and keeps ruling over his burned Empire, not letting it heal, condemning people to suffer and die from starvation and diseases for their betrayal. When he visits one of the dying villages, he meets a golden-haired young man who evokes feelings in him Glacirien never expected to experience.

Caelus is warm. Caelus embodies the light and the brightness remaining in this world, and Glacirien is growing obsessed with him.

Caught in a dangerous web of political intrigues, betrayals, love, and his own dark nature, he has to tread carefully in order to preserve the remains of his country… for however weak Caelus’ magic is, in the end, he might be the person destined to destroy Glacirien’s Empire for

I have a prologue for it posted here.

Last year, I published a small book with short war-related stories. It felt healing to write it.

Also, thank you so much for your kind words about my country, me, and my people! It really means a lot. I still cannot believe this is our life now... Even sleeping a night properly, with no attacks and alarms, is a blessing. It should never be this way for anyone, but unfortunately, I doubt the guilty Russians will ever learn.

[lucagray813]

Anything for Free Noodles

Rating: Gen

Word Count: 1,683

Main Characters: Tang, Pigsy, MK

Relationships: Tang & Pigsy (Pre-relationship Freenoodles), Tang & MK, Pigsy & MK

Summary: Pigsy needs an emergency babysitter, Tang was regrettably the only option available.

Additional Tags: Pre-canon, slice of life

CW: None

Link to AO3 Version

----

Tang had been coming to Pigsy's Noodles for a number of years, it had started out as somewhere to go and study but obviously with food that good he rarely went anywhere else.

And having become such a loyal customer he also ended up becoming quite friendly with the titular Pigsy. So much so that the pig demon was happy for Tang to sit in the restaurant while it was shut between the lunch and dinner rush.

He'd even had plenty of friendly chats with Pigsy's grandmother, Xiùyīng, and was a friendly face to Pigsy's adoptive son, MK.

He wasn't super great with small kids but turns out that didn't really matter to MK - the boy had endless energy and never seemed to run out of things to say. He'd been the victim of his one-sided conversations a number of times over the years.

A quick look to Pigsy or Xiùyīng was enough to have them whisk him away but as long as he wasn't cramming for a deadline he could tolerate it. His father and grandmother as obviously as they loved him could do with a five minute break now and then.

It was on a seemingly normal day that things took an unexpected turn. MK had been upstairs watching TV, Pigsy had been preparing for the dinner rush and he had been quietly studying at the counter when Pigsy had received a call that he left to take in another room.

Completely frazzled, Pigsy had stormed back into the room shortly after and quickly started to tidy things away.

More than a little concerned he asked, "Er, Pigsy? Everything alright?"

Pigsy whipped around to face him after grabbing some paper. And while writing he explained shortly, "Hospital called. My grandma's had a fall. I need to get there asap. Tang, I'm really sorry but I need to close the shop for the day."

He then moved to stick the hastily written sign on the door as Tang responded with concern, "Is she ok?"

Pigsy responded, "She's not dying but sounds like she's got one hell of a concussion and leg injury out of it. She's going to be in at least overnight. I need to go to her's, pick up her stuff and then get to the hospital."

Pigsy shot a worried look at the stairs that led up to his apartment before turning back to him a little desperate, "Tang, I know I'm asking a lot here but MK does not handle stress well. Would you be able to watch him for a couple hours? Please?"

Even seeing how harried Pigsy was he couldn't help but be reluctant, "Me? Are you sure? You don't have anyone better suited...?"

Pigsy pleaded with him, "Not on such short notice. Plus he knows you and you know he's a good kid." He looked away for a moment before he played his winning card, "Look, do this for me and noodles are on the house for the week."

Free noodles? For a week? For basically sitting here like he had been planning to? He'd be crazy to pass that up!

Trying not to let the excitement take over, he responded, "For you Pigsy? Anything!"

Pigsy snorted, not at all surprised or impressed at his quick turnaround but he didn't pass comment - the important thing was he had a babysitter.

He grabbed another piece of paper, "This is my number. Call me if you need anything. Feel free to go upstairs. I hopefully shouldn't be gone that late but there's enough leftovers in the fridge upstairs for both you and MK."

He handed the number to him and paused for a moment, sincerity clear as he said, "Tang. Thank you for this."

He didn't get a chance to respond before Pigsy turned and sharply called MK's name. A thump was heard from above followed by the thundering of a child running down the stairs.

MK appeared looking worried, "I was just watching TV!"

Given how Pigsy had called him, Tang wasn't surprised that MK had assumed the worst. He'd been given a fright by the shout as well.

Pigsy seemed to realise this too and he kneeled down as he waved MK over to him, "You're not in trouble. I just need to go out for a bit so Mr. Tang is going to watch you, ok?"

MK was immediately distressed, "You're going out just now? But the shop's about to open!"

Pigsy had a hand on his shoulder as he responded, "We're going to be shut for a little bit but I'll be back in a few hours. You won't even notice that I'm gone."

This didn't seem to appease him at all, "But where are you going? Did something happen?" He glanced at Tang, "Where's grandma? Why can't she come watch me?"

Tang watched in real time as Pigsy struggled to come up with what to say, he clearly didn't want to tell MK the truth but a believable lie seemed beyond him.

He settled on, "Your grandma went out for the day, remember? Look, I promise everything is ok and I'll explain it all when I get back but I really need to get going. Can you be good for Mr. Tang?"

Very reluctantly, MK nodded. Pigsy ruffled his hair and kissed his head before standing up, "Thata boy. I'll be back before you know it."

Through out all of this Tang had been doing his best to give them some privacy, playing around with his phone long after he'd saved Pigsy's number and sent him his own.

Pigsy thanked him once more before heading out, and MK looked so sad as he stood by the window and waved goodbye, standing there long after Pigsy was gone from sight.

Tang was starting to regret agreeing to this in the face of such upset. Pigsy and Xiùyīng had both mentioned before that MK was a bit of a sensitive kid but he'd never seen him like this and he was feeling exceedingly underqualified.

Slowly, MK turned around to face him and for a moment they just stared at each other while Tang racked his brain on what to say to an upset looking seven year old.

Glancing at his paper on Chinese mythology and then back to MK he weakly offered, "Er... Ever heard of the Monkey King?"

----

Several hours later, Pigsy returned home to find him and MK sitting upstairs, empty food bowls surrounding them, while watching an age appropriate cartoon retelling of Journey to the West.

Tang paused the show as he saw Pigsy walk closer, and MK had looked ready to complain loudly before he realised who was back. With an excited shout he ran over to his father, wasting no time telling him everything he'd learned about the Monkey King in the time he'd been away.

Pigsy looked confused but nodded along anyway. Though he interrupted MK's embellished retelling of Monkey King's adventures to say, "Sounds like you've had a great time with Mr. Tang, huh? You can tell me all about it after I see him off, ok?"

Tang took the hint and started to pack up his things and as he made his way over. Pigsy picked up MK and prompted him, "What do we say to Mr. Tang?"

Obediently MK chimed out a "Thank you, Mr. Tang!"

Pigsy then gently tossed a happy MK on to the couch with a, "Good boy. I'll be back up in a minute."

Tang smiled and said his goodbyes as he followed Pigsy down the stairs and to the front door.

Pigsy looked exhausted but he at least seemed less stressed than he had earlier. His gratitude was clear though, "Thanks again, Tang. He behaved himself right?"

Tang nodded, "Oh yeah, he was totally fine. He was a bit upset after you left but he bounced back fast. How was your grandmother?"

Pigsy sighed, "She'll be alright but she's dislocated her hip so she's going to be out of action for a while. She'll be in the hospital for a few more days so that gives me time to get my room set up for her."

Tang hissed in sympathy at the injury but curious he asked, "Where will you sleep?"

Pigsy shrugged, "Guess I'll be on the couch for a while. Might have an old futon hidden away somewhere but I'll sort it out."

He supposed there was no way around it - she wouldn't be able to move on her own for a while and Pigsy wouldn't be able to work and take care of her if she wasn't here.

Still he felt bad at how busy Pigsy's foreseeable future was looking so he offered, "Well, if you need me to, I'm sure I could babysit MK again for a bit."

Pigsy laughed slightly, "Trying to earn yourself a lifetime's worth of free noodles?"

Tang grinned. He couldn't say the thought hadn't crossed his mind, "Well, if you're offering..."

Pigsy rolled his eyes but smiled at him, "I appreciate the offer and I might have to take you up on it sometime. But thanks again for today - sorry I've kept you here so late."

Tang waved him off, "We both know I've been here way later than this." He then paused a little concerned, "You're not going to open the restaurant again tonight, are you?"

Pigsy shook his head, "I had thought about it but I need to go tell the kid what's happened and I already know he's going to be pretty upset over it... Not to mention I'm exhausted. I think I'll survive missing one night."

Glad to hear it and not wanting to keep him from MK any longer, he said his goodbyes and started his walk back home.

He was surprised to find himself a little excited to come back and share more stories of the Monkey King to MK. He'd never met someone as enthusiastic as himself about the old legends.

It wouldn't take him, or Pigsy, long to realise he'd sparked a love that would last a lifetime.

[two-reflections]

Been ill for the past week. Still not doing great now. (More info below.) But whatever, I'm back, though I'd be surprised if anyone noticed I wasn't around thanks to my queue. 😅

Haven't written anything for MMM because I haven't been awake for long enough each day to do much writing aside from bits for the upcoming exchange. I suppose I'm awake enough now to do a quick story audit, though. Click the Read More to see what I'm working on, and how I'm doing.

Writing Audit:

Aside from the first, these are vaguely in order of completeness/when they're likely to be posted.

TOP PRIORITY - Fic for the summer exchange. I have been doing some reading, and have put together an outline. I'm excited about this one, I really hope my giftee will like it. The problem? If I stick to this outline, the story will be several chapters long, and I'm probably not well enough to write all of it before the deadline. I wonder if it's acceptable to only put up a chapter or two of a gift exchange fic and finish it over the next few months?

Of Steel and Flesh - The next chapter was largely written back in January after the game that inspired this story, but as a consequence, it feels a bit too much like a TTRPG summary... It needs to be fleshed out more. Also, should it be split into two chapters? Unfortunately, while I love this story, it probably takes me the most effort to write, so it has been hard to work on recently. (Update the next day - Put out a chapter of this! Took me weeks to get it together.)

Alpha Legion short - I have a Alpha Legion short I threw together for an MMM post a while ago but I didn't post it because it was more silly than hot. My concern with this one is that I could easily see it becoming something much longer, like Iron Will, Crimson Whispers did. I don't have the space for another long project now, so I've been ignoring this one for a while. But I like it, and it shouldn't take too long to edit it...

Even in Death - The final chapter is basically complete, I just need to decide if I'm moving one section earlier so all the flashbacks will be in chronological order or if I should leave it as it is so there is a happier flashback following a sadder one. Once that's done, I can edit and post it.

Vulkan x Roboute short - Started outlining something for a friend. The pairing is cute and I want to make her something nice involving her OTP. This one will take me some research, though, so it probably won't be ready until after July. (Update - I guess I have to put on my clown makeup now, because I was reading The Art of War for unrelated reasons and ended up YOLOing this one.)

July MMM - One of the discord servers I'm in has been very keen on MMM recently. We're choosing a couple of prompts each month. Problem is, I recently wrote two stories that were a bit similar to July's prompts ("It's raining outside" is a thing in Feel for It, "knives and blood" was a thing in Afterparty). I've got something ready for it, though. Just need to wait til next Monday to post it.

Techmarine Story - This one is still in EARLY days. It doesn't even have a complete outline, just like 7-8k words in disconnected sections. I think I may need to severely narrow the scope of this one and make it either a oneshot or 3-6 short chapters. But I can't think about it anytime soon now I've signed up to a fic exchange.

Salamander Slice-of-Life Romance - My comfort project. It's coming along bit by bit, I probably add about 1k words to it a month. Still, I'm not in any sort of hurry to finish it. This is the one I really don't think anyone but me will ever want, haha. It's literally just an Astartes' first year or two on the job in a reserve company. Lots of mundanity, city life, squad dynamics, smaller deployments, and a romance with his brander-priest. I love it. It'll be ready when it's ready.

How I Am:

Warning, this is kind of a rant.

I miss being well. I was SO prolific just a month ago, before I got Covid again and had to go off my narcolepsy meds for an unrelated reason.

Even mild Covid sucks, but untreated narcolepsy is fucking shite. I've been on meds since I was 19, so I forgot how disabling it is. It felt less crushing before I was diagnosed, but at that point, that was the only way I had ever lived. Now, I've spent eleven years without the constant sleep attacks, and I can't remember how I used to manage this. (Probably badly since I ended up doing a full sleep study, lol.) It feels like I'm out of practice, if that makes sense? This whole thing has really thrown me for a loop.

Aside from writing, I haven't been painting much because I fall asleep when I sit still for more than a few minutes. Coffee helps, but I can only have one a day, so I'll drink my one coffee and then get a decent hour or two of painting at most before I'm back to being a bit useless. That may sound like a lot, but I'm a very slow painter. So, that's no fun.

I really don't want to just complain. My life is great, I'm very lucky to have a lovely spouse and not to be in a position where my narcolepsy could endanger my job or leave me homeless. I'm also lucky to be in the UK, where my diagnosis was free and I could actually afford eleven years of treatment without difficulty. But, fuck me, I want to be able to do normal human things again without falling asleep. This isn't forever, I'm off them for a good reason, but it may be a long time before I can go back on.

Ending on a happy note:

Hopefully, two friends and I will get to play Blood Bowl soon. She has played the digital version, he used to play but hasn't played for decades, and I've never played at all, so it should be a lot of fun. Plus, if there's three of us, whoever isn't playing can sub in for me if I fall asleep, haha.

[scoonsalicious]

Just read the small excerpt that you sent regarding with friends like these and I just had a couple of questions.. is the story going to be starting soon? what's the timeline on it? will you be updating it like you did the last one? I'm just curious if you don't mind my asking and it's very intriguing so far I think it's going to be probably along the same lines as your other story hopefully not so much violence and no Jade in this one let's hope with somebody not that horrible but I like old fashioned green-eyed monster stories.

I have some potential answers for you! I am going to be taking a little bit of a Tumblr break so I can focus on writing With Friends Like These… I like to have a bit of a backlog so I don’t end up making people wait for updates. For example, I already had about 75k words of Unwanted written before I started posting (only about 50k of them were in order at the time, but still, lol).

I can’t really say what the timeline will be; just that I’ll start posting when I feel I have enough already done. Thing about me is that I hate writing under a deadline. Makes me feel rushed, and then I’m not giving ya’ll my best work. I *never* want to short change ya’ll on quality.

As for posting, I doubt I will post updates as frequently as I did with Unwanted, simply because I’m not planning on having this story be nearly as long (though I’m already at 23k words and in Chapter 5, so who the hell knows, lol). The entire story is already mapped out and I have a pretty detailed summary written. It really all depends on how long it takes me to write it, and how distracted I get by Unbroken ideas, this new plan I have to write Pocket into existing MCCU narratives, and my Unwanted oneshots.

So, sorry to say that, currently, I have no answers lol.

[c-utielumii]

Next semester | A Chilumi short songfic

— "Next Semester" by Twenty One Pilots |-/

—TW: Su1cide Attempt (!)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Stand up straight now,

Can't break down,

Graduate now.”

Lumine walked along the sidewalk. Dark and cold. At that late hour of the night, all she wanted was to go back home, lock herself in her room, and cry every tear she had kept deep in her heart. She was tired of surviving a chaotic week in front of teachers who lived to pressure her and tell her she wasn't good enough, that she had to do better if she wanted to be someone in life. She stopped abruptly and looked ahead. The traffic light was red.

Lumine lowered her gaze and observed her shoes: muddy from running on the wet campus grass. A skirt and sweater that she was tired of wearing. Nylon stockings torn by the anxious touch of her nails during a deadline. In her hand, a folder of sheets that housed a failed project. In an involuntary movement, she threw the folder into the middle of the road. All the papers -written messily and anxiously- mixed with the night darkness fell to the ground with the same elegance as a leaf in autumn.

"I don’t wanna be here," she told herself before letting out a sob that would open a hole in her chest. An immense and desolate -though familiar- feeling flooded her entire body to the point that her legs began to weaken. Lumine missed her family, her home, her brother. She was stranded on an empty street in a small city she still didn't fully know, and her only thought was that she wanted to catch a train back home. Not that stupid dorm room she had to share with a classmate who wouldn't let her sleep because she needed the light on to sleep.

Lumine tried to get up and lift her gaze ahead. Trying to contain the hiccup that the tears caused her, she took a few steps forward to pick up what she had thrown. Her only guide to know where she stood were the yellow dashes separating both ways of the road. It took her so long to find each of the papers that flew away that Lumine was barely aware of a light gradually coming towards her. Instead of fleeing or shouting, Lumine stood frozen in place. Her eyes, dazzled by the glare of two white lights, made a violent movement towards the sky and returned to their spot. Her body was at the mercy of her mind, so drowned in uncertainty. Lumine wasn't aware that she was only a few seconds away from being run over by a convertible.

In both headlights, she could see her former neighbourhood. And that was what she wanted most at that moment: her home. Her mother's arms, her brother's jokes, her father's breath. All of that was in front of her. Lumine just waited for those lights to take her home on their own and her eyelids fell until she couldn't see anything. However, a shout made her stagger from her place.

"Hey, girl! Get out of the road!"

Lumine opened her eyes and returned to reality: she took erratic steps to her right and ended up falling on the sidewalk, narrowly avoiding having her foot crushed by the convertible's wheel. The car braked suddenly and the engine turned off. The person inside rolled down his window and stuck his head out.

"What's your problem?! The traffic light is green!"

Lumine simply turned her head to her left: the light had changed in that instant when her mind had flown elsewhere. Somehow, she could only remember the glare dilating her pupils. Her chest rose and fell frantically trying to catch her breath; her face, soaked in tears. The redhead driving the convertible didn't seem to be in such a good mood seeing that the girl didn't respond, so he decided to get out of the car without really knowing how to reprimand the person he had almost killed over nothing. However, his muscles tensed as he made eye contact with that girl who was more dark circles than person. Her skin glowed due to moisture and her legs -as well as her hands- trembled from the cold and the shock.

"Hey, are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

Lumine didn't respond. She tried to stand up, but the shock still gave her trouble even to feel her legs.

"I don't know."

The young redhead was puzzled but knew he had to do something. It was evident that what had happened wasn't just an accident. The girl kept crying nonstop and in pure silence. Despite the autumn cold air, the boy took off his gray jacket and placed it over Lumine's shoulders, held her with his arms and tried to exert some force to help her get up. At this point, he couldn't tell if the darkness on her face was the makeup diluted by the water of her tears or if she simply hadn't slept in a long time.

"Hey, girl, say something... Can I help you with something? Do you want me to call someone for you?"

Lumine got lost in the blue eyes of that stranger who had shown her a minimum of tact. They didn't shine, they didn't show anything. His strong hands pressed her harder, desperate for an answer. Lumine couldn't help but direct her pupils towards the jacket Childe had gave her and was surprised to see that logo that had ruined her psyche ultimately.

"Do you study at the Sumeru Academy?" she asked.

"Yeah, you too?"

Lumine separated from the young man to pick up some of the papers she had tried to retrieve moments before. She took a moment to look at the content of each one: they were all her failures. Failed projects exams, insufficient ideas. And when she looked back at that mysterious savior who had tried to extend a hand to her, Lumine felt a surge of courage she hadn't felt in a long time.

"Do you think Professor Alberich is an idiot?"

Childe raised an eyebrow at the sudden comment. He didn't really know what to do or say. Lumine fell silent and let the rest of her tears erase the ink on the paper she held in her hands, until he finally spoke. He didn't need to ask more questions to get what all this was about.

"Yeah. He's an asshole. He has no idea how to deal with people."

The truth was that Childe didn't know him very well because he was studying a different career, but he felt very familiar with her pain: He too sometimes suffered from that same uncertainty.

"Hey, don't worry. You can't change what you've done, yes... But that's not the end."

"Start fresh next semester," he said.

Simple. Direct. Comforting. Lumine's amber orbs lost themselves in the intense ocean blue of his eyes again. Why had such a silly piece of advice managed to open a window for her that she could never open by herself?

"I was heading back to campus, do you want to come with me? I'll buy you a coffee on the way."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I cried a whole night after listening to this new song by my favorite band and I couldn't help but write something based on it. I highly recommend that you listen to it to better understand what all this is about.

I wrote this same story as a threadfic on Twitter in case you want to give it some love there too!

https://x.com/cutielumii_/status/1773702426790429115?s=20

—Anne. ♡

[lumineescente]

3, 9, 24, and 29 for the writer end of the year asks <3333

EVYY thank you so much!!!! i'm glad to see you:)

3. What’s something you learned about yourself as a writer?

oh this is a very interesting question i had to think about it for a while tbh mmh i think i learned that i can write realism / realistic stuff, it is a bit stupid because i've written modern au all my life as a writer but it was always short, not fully developed etc. or i needed another au to back up. And also I'd ignore some reality that I'm faced with every day in those os, like i was not worth it to write about "serious" stuff. And I didn't mind it for a long time because I still enjoyed the stuff I wrote that are "simple" or with more aus, but I think I found myself a new thing to explore. Even if it's a bit hard because the idea of fully modern / no aus means that I have to carefully think about every scenes and where I want to go exactly, which I don't often do when I write fantasy or idk hogwarts au for exemple, because the plot is more important than the relationship. However this year showed me I can do it! I can think and explore deeply feelings and developing relationships. I have no idea if I make sense right now!! or if it's clear but I hope it is!

9. What fic meant the most to you to write?

aah.. i'm gonna try not to answer always the same fics hehe tbh I really really was glad of writing vistal sul mare because I absolutely love the song, it has been out for a year already and I found the lyrics extremely romantic and beautiful. I knew there was something to do there. And when I suddenly got the idea it was so clear, it felt so good to write this fic maybe because it involves a song and trains which I love and when I think about the state I was in when writing it was a really happy and peaceful feeling. A lot of people told me this fic was nostalgic / had a nostalgia vibe also so it was a nice compliment. I will also add still lingering around (me) was meaningful because my personal hobby is to read mystery / thriller novels but I never wrote any fics like that!! so when I saw the prompt I knew I had to try. I had a more complicated plot line at first but it ended being a "simple" mystery (with not much investigation) then meant to but it was still a new genre to write and I liked it a lot.

24. What's something that surprised you while you were working on a fic? Did it change the story?

Oh!! great so I can explain more for still lingering around (me). So yeah I was scared of mystery plots because I felt like I needed a looot of thinking to make something believable (my first plotline of this fic is like four pages long, it involved a murder investigation lmao) but it made me unable to write anything for a few months. Then the deadline was coming closer and I had to force myself to write and idk.. I realized I didn't need to overthink stuff or to make it soo complicated, that I could go for what I thought was the easy way and the plot would be good enough. So I guess it changed the story a lot but more like a whole part of it never showed up in the writing process!

29. If this were an awards show, who would you thank?

AHAHA i love this question it's so good definitely my two irl friends who read as I write most of the time and comment and hype me up, like I have trouble to keep on writing when I don't get feedbacks immediately so thank god they are here also everyone on my twitter acc :( god everyone has been so cute to me this year... I didn't realize my work could be well liked like that i got some pretty serious compliments also my faithful meowgical readers, for still being there and waiting for every update even when it's long and commenting and being nice to me, wow insane

thank you for the questions!! i really enjoyed answering them<3