#(she still misses Olive. she misses the friendship they had.)

[forecast-rain]

you know what... maybe that song is who Lilly would've been had she not met Olive

[remuslovebot]

Ok but what if Felix x fem!reader and Oliver is tryin to kill her first yk but fails like maybe Felix walks in and Oliver tries to lie n cover it up type of thing or that reader just ended up in a small coma? Am I ok to request this?

please i love this, honestly a sucker for angst so thank you for sending this to me 😵🫶🏻

i hope you enjoy xx

❧❧❧❧

pairing: felix catton x fem! reader

warnings: attempted murder, physical abuse, angst but with a happy ending, oliver is his own warning. lmk if i missed anything

masterlist

You had found out Oliver’s secret. He was lying to Felix and everyone about his family.

One day you and Oliver were sun bathing, waiting for Felix to return from a discussion with Farleigh. Oliver was wondering what was taking so long so he went over to where they were. He’d left his phone on his chair and it started to ring.

It was his mother. Curious, you answered the call. That was when you found out everything. The lie about his Father, his financial status, everything. You were in shock and also angry. How dare Oliver take advantage of Felix like that. How dare he take advantage of your friendship.

You planned to confront him and that’s exactly what you went to do. Walking back into the castle, you saw Oliver walking up the stairs.

“Hey Ollie!” You shouted. He turned around and looked at you with confusion. You tossed him his flip phone.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” You asked, your protective side coming out.

“Y/n, you’re acting strange. I don’t know what you mean?” Oliver said, although on the inside he was nervous.

Oliver and you were both on the stair case, he was above you and you were closer to the ledge.

“I know you lied. I know everything! About your father and where you come from. You’re a fucking liar, Ollie,” you said, looking up at him defensively.

With him being on the stairs, he was taller than you. Oliver walked down a couple steps, to match your eyesight.

“How could you have possibly found out?” Oliver asked, his voice now lower and more intense. It wasn’t a denial and you took a step back.

“Your mother called. She wanted to send you a card for your birthday,” you snapped.

“You should be careful. You might trip,” Oliver said. He needed to get rid of you. Or else you would mess up his plans.

You stood your ground, “I’m going to tell Felix. In fact I’m going to tell everyone,” you said lowly, looking directly into Ollie’s eyes.

In an instant, Oliver’s hand went around your neck, choking you. “You are not going to tell a soul. Is that clear?” He asked, almost teasingly.

You panicked and tried to pull away from him, but when you did you fell down the bottom of the stairs. Everything went pitch black.

At that moment, Felix and Farleigh had walked into the room. Farleigh only saw you fall but Felix saw Oliver’s hand around your throat and then saw you collapse down the stairs.

Felix’s heart broke, seeing you unconscious at the bottom of the stairs.

“Oh my god! did you push you her?” Farleigh yelled in shock.

Oliver looked at Farleigh and Felix. “It was an accident. She was going to attack me,” Oliver said, trying to play the victim.

Felix didn’t care though, he knew what he saw. And he wanted answers. But first you need to go a hospital.

“Y/n, baby please wake up,” Felix said, hovering over you on his knees. He lifted your head up and some of your body but you were out cold.

“Felix I—,” Oliver began to say, but Felix looked up at him in pure anger.

“Go. Now. Before I do something I’ll have to cover up,” Felix threatened. If looks could kill then Oliver would be a dead man.

Farleigh called Elsbeth and Sir James and the family immediately called the fastest doctor they could find.

That was the thing about being rich, you could get anything delivered to you at any time.

One of the guest rooms was turned into a hospital room. You still hadn’t woken up and Felix wouldn’t leave your side. The doctor said you weren’t in grave danger. But just in a small coma because of the impact of your head hitting the stone floor and the loss of oxygen from being choked.

Felix was angry at Oliver. Oliver had went to his room after Felix threatened him. Duncan had locked the door.

Felix would get his answers soon. But he knew he wouldn’t believe Oliver in the slightest. He had no right to put his hands on you.

Felix stayed by your side the entire night. You still hadn’t woken up and he was worried you never would. He took your hand and squeezed it comfortingly, he needed you to know that he was by your side.

Then, as if you’d felt Felix’s touch, you slowly opened your eyes.

“Felix,” you said, your voice soft and hoarse.

Felix’s heart leaped and he smiled when you awoke. “Y/n, darling. I’m here,” he said, softly.

“Felix,” you said, beginning to cry. You thought you were going to die. You didn’t know Oliver could do those horrible things.

“Shh it’s okay, lovely girl. I got you. You are safe,” Felix comforted. “I’m not going to let anybody hurt you,” he insisted.

Your stomach filled with butterflies and a small wave of comfort washed over you.

“But Oliver—he, he’s not who you say he is,” You said, looking at Felix like you would need hours to convince him.

But Felix wanted him out of the house for just purely putting his hands on you. When hearing this though, Felix raised a brow.

“How do you mean?” He asked. And you explained. The call with his mother, the confused questions you asked when you heard that his father really wanted to see Oliver.

Felix’s face broke and grew in concern. He felt like an idiot. How could he have put his trust in such a person? How could he have let someone like him anywhere near you?

“I’m so sorry, Felix. I know you two are close,” you said, tears streaming delicately down your face.

Felix shook his head. “Don’t apologize. I should apologize to you. I’ll fix this. We’ll have Oliver out of the house by the end of the day,”

“And when we return to Oxford?” You asked, Felix wiped your tears away with the pads of his thumb.

“We won’t see him back at Oxford, I promise,” Felix replied. “Get some rest. I’ll be right here and I’ll protect you.”

You nodded and closed your eyes. As soon as you fell asleep, Felix called his father into the room. Felix never left your side but told his father that Oliver needed to be removed from the house and a restraining order needed to be placed on him.

Felix would never let anything like this happen again. Not to the people he loves—especially you.

[s6ngbird]

only you — felix catton ᯓ★

⊹₊⋆ warnings — nsfw, p in the v, pretty much no plot, unprotected sex, fingering (f. recieving), overstimulation, lmk if i missed anything

⊹₊⋆ pairing — felix catton x fem!reader

⊹₊⋆ a/n — sorry for not posting for so long! exams were kicking my ass but im back so i will be wrapping up flowers from beneath soon

masterlist | bc: @cafekitsune

summers at saltburn were always delightful and there never seemed to be a break from the drama

especially this year, as felix invited his new friend, oliver over for the summer

you heavily disliked him, believing that he thought too much of himself and believed he could have felix wrapped around his finger

this was not the case though, as you were the one who had felix wrapped around their finger, practically convincing him to do whatever you desired

you and felix had been friends for a few years, but felix never followed the rules of friendship and liked to make out or fuck you whenever he pleased

it did bother you sometimes, since he would be so chill with fucking all these girls that it made you feel like you were just another doll in his ever-growing collection of people who were obsessed with him

you weren't obsessed with felix, but you craved his attention and validation, wanting his praise whenever you could get it

venetia noticed this first, laughing and teasing you about it but then it wasn't so funny anymore when she found out felix and you liked to fuck

but you couldn't think about fucking felix now, oliver had just arrived a few days prior and he was already taking up all of felix's time and energy 

you constantly got bad vibes from oliver, but felix never seemed to notice, causing you to confide in venetia and farleigh 

venetia was a bit hesitant but farleigh agreed with you, calling oliver a creep and that he probably wanted to fuck felix himself

this left you unhappy, already upset from the attention being dragged away from you, but especially now that felix barely batted an eye in your direction

all of this was finally resolved though, during one of felix's many parties

you were engaging in a mindless conversation with some random guy, who was obviously flirting with you but you pretended to be oblivious to it

you felt a weight on your shoulders, looking up to see felix draped over you, holding his cigarette and yelling at farleigh 

the guy who was previously talking with you gave felix an annoyed glare but left as soon as felix's attention returned to you

felix looked at him confused but shrugged it off and laughed, sitting down on the couch and pulling you on him

felix started placing sloppy kisses on your neck, uncoordinated and whiskey filled kisses

“felix you are so fucking drunk” you say, holding your cup away from him as he tried to grab it, but since his arms were freakishly large, he grabbed it with ease, holding the cup to your lips and pouring it down your throat until it was all done

“there all done! now i can take you upstairs” felix said, getting up and grabbing your hand to try and drag you with him

“felix no” you replied, exhausted and still upset that he had barely paid attention to you all week

he pouted and shrugged, muttering that it wouldn't be a problem, leaving you confused until he grabbed you and threw you over his shoulder like you weighed nothing 

you decided against fighting him, being glad that he finally was paying some attention to you and allowed him to carry you upstairs to his room

he placed you on his bed, smiling and stripping himself of his clothes besides his boxers, climbing over you and kissing you 

it felt good to finally have felix's attention after the week, getting to feel his lips on yours, and his tongue exploring your mouth certainly was not unwelcome 

you allowed him to unzip your dress, helping him slip it off your body as you two continued to kiss one another like starving animals

“whyd'd ya ignore me all week?” felix said between kisses, starting to move his lips down to your throat to suck hard as you moaned

“you were ignoring me!” you yelped as felix smacked your thigh and sucked on your breast hard to silence you

“i was not, i kept trying to get your attention but you only wanted to pay attention to venetia and farleigh” he said angrily, his sweet facade melting away as he pulled down your panties, ripping them off of you to reveal your soaking cunt

he grinned at the sight, not hesitating to dive between your legs and lick up all your arousal 

you moaned as his tongue nudged inside your hole, going fully in and then backing out, only to slam itself back inside

you tried to grip his hair for support as you continued to moan but felix slapped your hands away, looking up at you with a warning look

eventually he switched his tongue for his fingers, continuing a brutal pace as you took your bud in his mouth, sucking hard when you least expected it, bring you to your first orgasm of the night

he continued to pump his fingers into you, slapping your ass or thigh every time you tried to push him away from your pussy

“i'm not stopping until i'm satisfied with you, after all that torture you put me through this week, it's only fair” he said hoarsely after you had came at least three more times, everytime complaining about how overstimulated you were

he got off of you and you silently pleaded with whatever that was watching over the two of you that he would be done and just cuddle with you

unfortunately no one seemed to answer your prayer since he got back on you, stripped of his boxers and lining up his hard cock with your hole, the precum spilling as he aligned himself 

he slid into you with little resistance, sighing as his cock found home in your warm cunt

he stayed there for a little while, savoring the feeling while you continued to whine and push at his shoulders

he finally started to move, setting a rough pace as you moaned, grabbing his shoulders as you cried

“aw baby don't cry, i promise after this we'll be done” he said, kissing your tears and silencing your whimpers with kisses

you felt so overwhelmed, crying from the feeling of being overstimulated but also moaning from the pleasure coming from felix's cock

“you ok love?” felix says after a while, kissing you once more after you had doing nothing but moaning and crying but suddenly stopped

you nodded, tightening around his cock as you felt your fourth or fifth orgasm approaching

“atta girl, come for me” he said, his hot breath right in your ear and that's all it took for you to come undone on him, coming hard and gripping onto his shoulders like he would disappear 

he moaned at the feeling, kissing your neck and letting out praises between his moans

“gonna come in you, gonna make you mine” he said, thrusting once more and coming inside of you, his cum coating your walls

he panted, staying inside of you for a little longer before pulling out and stuffing his cum back inside of you, eliciting a squeal as you were still overstimulated 

“sorry baby, can't help but do it, you're mine now” he said with a laugh, grinning at your shocked expression

“no more girls? or guys? not even oliver?” you said, confused by his words due to his playboy nature

“no one, not even oliver” he said, holding you close to him and kissing your head

“only you love”

[romanarose]

Love and Friendship

Joel Miller x fem!reader

Summary: Joel drives you and you friends home.

Warnings: Mentions of drinking and getting drunk, brief mention of cheating and bad relationship not with reader or Joel, but her friend. Joel being respectful as hell.

Immersivity: Reader is fem and drinks

Written for the @swiftiscruff fic exchange! This is dedicated to every single one of the people in my RomanaVerse discourd server, in no particular order.

Lila, Angie, Kit, Kate, Katie, May, Tara, Winnie, Alicia, Del, Whitney, Dolli, Fen, Haru, Ivy, Mickyla, Pimo, Soup, Olive. Thank you to all you guys who have been supporting my work for years or few weeks. I love you all. If i somehow missed your name its just bc im silly i swear.

******************

“JOOOOOOOOOOOEL!!!!”

Joel had to pull the phone away from his head as you screamed over the thumping sounds of the club. He hadn’t realized how late it had gotten. While you were out with friends, he had spent the evening and into the warm summer night Sarah’s room putting in a built-in bookshelf. She was on a trip with his parents for a few weeks and wanted to surprise her when she got back. Sarah always wanted a built-in bookshelf. 

“Shit! I’m so sorry darl’n!” Joel ran down the stairs, shoving his feet into his shoes and grabbing his keys. “I lost track of time, I’ll be there in 10!”

Joel was supposed to pick you up at 1 AM from the bar. It was 1:53, and he wouldn’t get there until the bar closed. 

“It’s okay baby!” you didn’t sound peeved at all. “But could we maybe drop off my friends too? Since we’re out anyway?”

He hopped into his car. “Yeah, of course baby, of course. Just stand outside once they close up, don’t talk to no one and don’t go near any cars. Make sure Angie doesn’t wander off with no one.”

You promised to stay on the phone with him until he got there. Joel didn’t like you leaving the bars on your own, too many freaks and perverts out there.

Joel pulled up to find you with your friends standing by the building, and he got out to open the door for you and them. “Sorry the back’s a little messy, ladies, work truck and all- hold on.” As you got in the front, Joel got a blanket from the black and laid it over the seats “There, less dirty.”

Angie, Kat and Lana all thanked Joel, and climbed in the back. 

While Joel drove to Lana and Kat’s, you talked to you rfriends about the night. 

“I can’t believe you danced with him Ang, what the fuck. He cheated on you three times.”

“I knoooooowwww!” She giggled. “But he’s sooooooo cute!!!”

Kat rolled her eyes with a smile. “Girl he looks like a grown up Big Mouth guy.”

“Nick Kroll?”

“What? No. Like the cartoon guy grown up.”

“Yeah, the weird Big Mouth kid was modeled after Nick Kroll so that’s just Nick Kroll? And he’s hot??”

Kat groaned, sinking down into their seat. “No, not Nick Kroll, the one voiced by John Mul- wait, you think Nick Kroll is hot?”

The conversation continued with Angie trying to justify how she wants to give Jake ‘Just one more chance!’

Finally, you turn to Joel. “What do you think, baby?”

Joel sighed, and shifted in his seat a bit. “Well, it ain’t none of my business, and I shouldn’t really git involved…”

You smile at your boyfriend. “But you have an opinion anyway.”

With a good natured huff, he lets it out. “It’s just that Angie, I think you’re a nice gal, and if I may, respectfully, easy on the eyes and I think you could do better than a 30 year old still trying to get his rap career off the ground and looks like a naked mole rat.”

The truck erupted in laughter, including Angie,at Joel’s half-roast, half compliment, and he smiled softly. He liked your friends, and he wanted them to like him too.

*

First up was Kat and Lana. Lana was quite drunk so Joel put the truck in park and helped Kat take her girlfriend inside. Once through the door and up the stairs and safe, Joel said goodnight and locked the door as he left.

Angie was asleep by the time he was back.

“She alright?” He asked about your best friend. 

You mumbled, tired but with a smile. You had a great night, and loved your friends very, very much. “Yeah, she didn’t drink that much. She’s just not used to being up this late”

Joel hummed in recognition. “That’s right, she works the early shift. She’s probably up at like what, 4 AM?”

Turning to him with a bright smile, you giggle a bit. “How do you remember that?”

He shrugged, not thinking much of it. “Angie’s usually the first to leave, so it makes sense.”

You can’t help beam at him, streetlights periodically illuminating his pretty face, strong nose, full cheeks. Your friends mattered to you, them and Joel and Sarah were your everything. So many times, you hear of women whose friends hate their man and vice versa, how there was contention. Hell, Angie’s stupid ass ex never wanted her to hang out with your girlfriends, saying you and them were bad influences, accusing Kat and Lana of trying to sleep with her, etc etc etc. Joel was never like that. 

From the beginning, Joel was respectful, kind, and welcoming to your friends and family. They were welcome over any time, and sometimes came over when you weren’t home to wait for you. You trusted them with Joel and Joel with them. He’d always offer to BBQ something on a warm day, or make you drinks. Slowly, as he’s gotten more comfortable, your precious, shy man has been joking around with them, which makes you smile. Joel was more nervous than he let on a lot of the time, hiding his anti-anxiety pills  from you for months after you moved in. Still, he always welcomed your friends and in return they were respectful of his space and self. 

Pulling up to Angie’s, she’s sleeping like a baby.

“You’re gonna have to carry her and put her to bed, ain’t noth’n wake’n her up once she’s out.” You are about asleep yourself, leaning against the window.

Joel bawled. “I can’t do that!”

“Sure you can, have you seen your arms? Jacked.”

“No- I mean-” He sighed. “I can’t take a drunk lady to her bedroom, it’s indecent!”

“Well she ain’t sleep’n in the truck, c’mon I’ll walk with you. 

Joel sighed again but agreed. Walking around the truck, he unbuckled her, scooped her up and carried her to where you opened your door with your spare key. You guided your boyfriend to the bedroom and excused himself to get her water. There was no way you were gonna be able to put her in pj’s by yourself, so you just unzipped her dress to give her room to breathe and took off her strappy heels. You put fuzzy socks on your feet, the aloe infused kind she loved and covered her in her blankets.

A knock on the door. “She decent?”

“Yeah, come on in.”

Joel placed the glass of water and an Advil on the counter and a trash can by the bedside and said he'd be in the living room.

You sit by your friend’s side, just for a moment, stroking her hair, admiring how pretty your friend was. Beautiful woman, beautiful heart. Your best friend. 

She murmured your name. You took the opportunity to sit her up, making sure she drank some water. “Yes babe?”

“I like Joel a lot.” Angie yawned. “You should keep him.”

You chuckled. “He can’t escape me if tried.”

*

Once she was asleep again, you walk out and take Joel’s hand, wrapping your arms to hang off his. Joel opens the door for you, and you slide into the middle of the seat, snug against him when he gets in the driver’s side.

“Seatbelt.” He reminded you, you mutter ‘blah blah blah’ but he reaches over you and straps you in.

“Love you.”

“Love you too, darl’n.”

You drive down the road, Joel taking the long way home just so you could watch the night sky together. His truck rumbled and vibrated and bounced, but his arm around your shoulder steadied you.

“They like you a lot. My friends.”

“I like them too. And baby, I ain’t try’n.”

You look up at him. “Hm?”

“To escape.” Joel kissed your forehead tenderly. “Heard what you said to Angie, and I ain’t trying to escape. Not in a million years.”

******************

due to everything happening, this will be my last fic for a little. If you know my other writing formates, I will be updating there a bit here and there but with everything going on I think it's best to keep things quiet for a min. the timing is fitting, as I have a lot of projects to do before school finals.

Then, I'll be backand raring to go again! I think a break will do me good.

I love you all dearly!

No tags bc given everything, I don't wanna draw attention from myself to anyone else. Don't feel like you gotta reblog this one, I would suggest you don't to avoid the heat.

Hugs, and thank you to everyone whose supported my writing for the last 3 years.

[therunawaykind]

don't wanna break up again

Pairing: Leigh Shaw x GN!Reader

Word Count: 3.8k

Genre: Pinch of angst? fluff

Warnings: None unless you hate the names Leigh & Danny in the same sentence quite a bit

A/N: Long time no see! (again) writer's block and just simply getting the inspiration and motivation to write have been fucking dreadful these last few months. I dunno what was going on. Hopefully, all things going well this is my slow return to posting regularly again on here. If not then whoops you'll see me again at some stage. Who would've thought Leigh Shaw and Ariana Granda was gonna be my breakthrough for writing stuff not me that's for sure. This is my very loose interpretation of Ariana Grande's 'don't wanna break up again' I saw someone say it was very Leigh x Danny coded then this transpired. I hope I have done this some justice I imagine my writing abilities are a bit rusty so bear with me and I hope you all enjoy!

| MASTERLIST | DISCORD | GET NOTIFIED OF MY STORIES |

*Please do not repost or translate my material or claim as yours. reblogs, comments and likes are always appreciated!*

If there was one thing Leigh was certain of since Matt’s death it was how complicated and difficult her life had become, ranging from devastating revelations to do with Matt and his teacher co-worker Nina, living with a Jules who is now a recovering sober alcoholic, dealing with her mother Amy with her previous breakdown she had where she moved to Alaska which subsequently led to her breakthrough of wanting to travel and basically just live somewhere else that wasn’t in Los Angeles, that wasn’t home.

In addition to that after Leigh’s breakdown after choosing to leave with Jules to go to Vietnam, she ultimately decided just to stay living in their family home whilst both Jules and her mother left for however long they decided. Leigh also decided to take over Beautiful Beast for Jules until she was ready to come back…if she ever did but nonetheless she couldn’t let all of Jules’ hard work go to waste. And last but not least the absolute travesty that of her and Danny whatever that thing is, it’s complicated, messy and above all else unhealthy all over for the both of them. Not to delve too much into the ups and downs of their….thing the latest situation ended up with Danny punching a hole in the wall of Leigh’s home, to sum it up in a simple phrase “People don’t slam their fists through walls when things are going well.”

The one positive and healthy yet still slightly complicated thing in Leigh’s life which happened unexpectedly was well… Y/N. Granted one of the only aspects that made it complicated was the fact you were her “student”, you both met due to you attending Leigh’s classes at Beautiful Beast, the friendship, and conversations which ended up evolving into more flirtatious conversations did just happen out of nowhere unexpectedly. The downfall of the whole friendship between you both was when Danny surprised Leigh at the entrance of Beautiful Beast one night to take her home…then you caught Danny kissing her which again took Leigh by surprise. That night and predicament in question had truly shocked Leigh because from what she knew and understood during that time, it was during one of her and Danny’s off moments, their pause a break essentially.

But in good Leigh fashion the second she saw Danny she started overthinking and thought she interpreted something wrong or missed a certain something, whilst simultaneously thinking this was Danny offering an olive branch and showing her they really can make this work, they can be good and healthy for each other….how wrong she was. So understandably from then on you started to distance yourself and pull away from Leigh after that by not talking, hanging out or texting as much. Unbeknownst to Leigh any hope you had of having some sort of relationship with her plummeted very quickly after that. 

Leigh knew whatever they had going on wasn’t good for either of them and would never last, it was a cycle they couldn’t break….well she couldn’t break. It was a lifeline for them both, the last small bit of connection they both had to Matt in some way. On one hand, Leigh had this negative and toxic relationship that she couldn’t leave, she couldn’t escape it. Somehow it always kept dragging her back in no matter how many times night and day it had her distraught, crying and attempting to soothe herself. On the other hand, Leigh had this seemingly hopeful, positive and healthy relationship she could have with you.

But before she even tried to give that relationship a chance she had to try to get out of this fucking cycle she couldn’t seem to get out of and no matter how hard she tried. Whenever she asked Jules for advice on the relationship, much to nobody's surprise always went something like this. 

“Leigh you need to end this thing with Danny and go no contact with him at least for some time, this is not healthy for either of you. I mean come on Leigh he punched a hole in the wall at our house. Let me remind you when I was living with you Leigh after mom left, just how many times I’d hear quiet sobs from your room, you talking to yourself to make yourself feel better and reassure yourself everything was going to be okay, that everything was gonna be fine. And I couldn’t get in because 1. You’d lock the door, 2. You wouldn’t respond when I asked if you were okay and lastly, when you did,  you’d just say you were fine, you were okay. Once one of you starts to feel happier and healthier the other drags the other one down simply just by being around.

I know you don’t want to go through another break-up or heartbreak….but you’re doing it to yourself constantly by staying in this with Danny or maybe…. You keep going back to this thing with Danny because you don’t want to hurt him and his heart completely. And if you do fully disappear from his life because to him you're his last link to Matt and right now you know full well you are leading him on and have him believing you two can have some semblance of a future together no matter how complicated it may be. I know this is a weird way to word it but… I think you know Matt wouldn’t want or like Danny to be experiencing this level of hurt and anguish as much as he is, not even specifically with you just with anyone.

But let’s not forget just how much you did hurt Danny initially when he was staying away from you and you wouldn’t let it happen. You forced your way into his life because you needed him to love you. Who knows maybe some ways down the line in the future when you’re both fully healed or at least somewhat…you two can be friends and have that last link to Matt. But also do remember that doesn’t mean you have to stop contact with Matt’s mother…. You can still have a link to him in some shape and form.”

That’s what she’d deal with, she knew and understood completely what Jules was saying yet she couldn’t bring herself to do it….unfortunately. She wishes Danny would end up being the person to end it but the chances of that happening are slim to none. But with the possibilities that awaited her on the other side of things…she knew what she had to do, end things with Danny then she had to get the friendship with Y/N back to what it was, and she had to show you that you weren't going to be just some rebound, that she saw a future with this relationship she saw it going the distance. 

When she thought about the aspects of the relationship she had with Y/N the only way Leigh could describe how she felt…was how she felt when she was with Matt. With you, it finally felt like Leigh had gotten the best and good part of herself back that as Leigh put it Matt had taken with him when he died. It felt like she could finally breathe again and live her life to the fullest. Fortunately for Leigh yet quite sadly when the friendship between you both was at its best Matt left her alone, and Leigh’s recurring what she would consider nightmares of Matt and Nina living out the life she lived with him finally stopped.

Now all she had to do was start the process and uncomplicate her life which starts with talking to Danny.

As Leigh anxiously approaches the door to the apartment she knows so well, she nervously wrings out her hands and fingers. She had texted Danny the night before asking him if would it be okay for her to visit in the morning to talk to him, as Danny eagerly agreed to her calling over she realised at that very moment he was expecting a very different conversation. She hesitantly starts knocking on the door muttering to herself “You can do this, you can do this. You have to do this for yourself, Danny and everyone else in your life but most importantly you and Danny.” After a few seconds, shuffling could be heard behind the door as Leigh took a deep breath in, in an attempt to calm herself down and get all of her feelings under control.

Once the door opened a weak nervous smile spread across her face, Leigh quickly scans Danny trying to figure out how he really is, as she sees him start to step out and lean in to give her a quick kiss but before anything of the sort can happen Leigh quickly steps in and gives him a quick hug as she states “so is it alright for me to come in?” as she smiles quickly at him. Danny’s face scrunches up in confusion as Leigh quickly pats his stomach as she steps past him into his apartment, he lets out an exasperated sigh and throws his head back slightly and he turns around to walk into his apartment closing the door behind him. 

When Danny finally turns to face Leigh he can’t help but notice her looking around his apartment and the constant nervous fidgeting with her fingers, her hair and her neck. He sighs to himself “Alright Leigh what is this about you said you wanted to talk.” 

Leigh jumps slightly as she spins around to face him “ I- well- yeah you’re right I did, I did.” rubbing her now sweaty palms off of the side of her jeans and slowly sits herself down on Danny's sofa. Taking a deep breath in and bringing her hands up to her mouth “I- I can imagine from the way I’m acting and just how difficult it is for me to start this conversation and say what I actually want to….that you already know what this conversation is about and where it’s heading.” Hearing a quiet sigh beside her Leigh glances quickly out the side of her eye seeing Danny leaning forward slightly with his head down and forearms leaning on his knees. “But Danny this thing has to be stopped, I- we’re both hurting each other continuously whether we realise it or not. I mean need I remind ourselves of the punching a hole in the wall situation.”

That got a small chuckle out of Danny as he shook his head slightly clicking his tongue. “And I mean it wasn’t just you Danny, I forced you to be around me when you didn’t want to, in our own little ways, we were selfish when it came to this situation. Now I know I stated and promised you before that I would never have a life that didn’t have you in it…but whilst we’re both still healing and dealing with our grief that obviously still hasn’t gone anywhere. We do really need to not be in each other's lives anymore, no contact, no talking in any shape or form no stupid lil emoji texts anymore.” 

Biting his lip and sitting back Danny exclaims “But Leigh that’s EXACTLY what you’re doing, you’re leaving, you’re having a life without me! You obviously think and believe you don’t need me!” 

“I’M NOT LEAVING YOU, I’M NOT HAVING A LIFE WITHOUT YOU”

“LEIGH THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT YOU’RE DOING CAN YOU NOT HEAR WHAT YOU’RE SAYING” 

“DANNY!” scoffing to herself and shaking her head as she calmly states ”See this, this here exactly happening right now is why we need to take a step back from each other. We can’t even have a normal conversation without blowing up and ending up yelling at each other. The only time we aren’t killing each other is when we’re having sex and- and even then since we had that conversation in that casino resort we both know Matt is still weirdly on our minds during that. I- I think no matter how much we try or maybe want some sort of actual loving relationship with each other…it’ll never work. The only thing we ever can be to each other is friends.” Leigh shakes her head and licks her lips slightly “Just a friendship. Because we are hurting each other and ourselves from the inside out. We have to heal by ourselves, without the other in our lives and move on. And hopefully at some stage down the line whenever we’re both happy and healthy we can get back in contact with the other.”

Leigh smirks as she sways from side to side “Cause I can’t lie Danny I think we’d be pretty kick-ass friends together don’t ya think.” She grins as she nudges Danny with her shoulder, clearing his throat and nodding “Yeah- yeah I think we would be. And I can’t lie I get what you’re saying I understand hell I see it completely. It- it is just a difficult thing to let go of even if it is just for a little bit.” 

Biting her lip and rubbing Danny’s arm “I get it, Danny I do believe me but you still have your mom. You both can get through this together because it was just as difficult for her to… You are all she has left. And I’ll- I'm staying in contact with her or at this stage more like getting in contact with her more considering she still is my mother-in-law or ex-mother-in-law anyways specifics isn’t the important thing here.” 

Danny laughs slightly and nods “Yeah, yeah she’d like that.” Both sit back against the sofa in silence basking in the reality of what now has to be undertaken the reality of it hitting them simultaneously. Rubbing her hands anxiously up and down her legs as she slowly drags out “rigghtt I guess- I guess I better go now and leave us both to our journey of healing, growth whatever you wanna call it.” Leigh laughs as she mumbles to herself “god I sound like my mother” She walks to the door with Danny right behind her as Leigh opens the door she turns around and smiles at Danny as they both embrace each other in a hug for the last time till…who knows how long. Both pulling away slowly and giving each other a subtle nod as Leigh steps out through the door as it closes behind her softly. Leigh takes a deep breath in, the grin spreading across her face going unnoticed by her as she starts to descend the steps of the apartment building.

Leigh was never nervous or anxious when it came to teaching her exercise classes though apparently today was the exception, as she anticipated your arrival. Leigh smiles moving back and forth on her feet as she greets all of the students walking in through the door to her class, anxiously waiting to get a glimpse of your bag, shoes or something as you come through the front door. Considering since you distanced yourself from her she’s noticed you haven’t attended classes all that regularly. Leigh’s eyebrows raise in anticipation as she sees the front doors open happily letting out a breath she didn’t realise she was holding as she saw a glimpse of your bag and shoes come into view. Giddily she lets a grin spread across her face and she nervously picks at her nails seeing you approach the entrance “Hey Y/N it’s nice to see you again, I’m glad you decided to attend and come today.” 

Taken aback by Leigh's greeting and striking up a proper conversation with you after so long did genuinely take you by surprise but couldn’t stop the smile on your face “Hey Leigh, yeah I can’t lie I missed attending these classes I’m sure I’ll get back on track from now on.” Both smiling at each other as you walk past her into the class much to Leigh’s amazement you turn around and say to her “Leigh if I can just say you look great...you just look happy and healthy. Whatever you’ve done or are doing keep it up it suits you.” With her mouth wide open Leigh messily nods and stutters out “I- I will- I-  Thank you very much, I will be sure to keep it up.” Leigh turns around to the door to hide and mutters to herself “Idiot”.

Much to her relief though the class was a success and she didn’t stumble or trip over any more of her words whenever she got closer to you throughout her class as she moved around the room. After the class finished Leigh quickly grabbed her towel off the floor wiping the sweat off of her as she said goodbye to everyone, in her peripheral vision she could see you deliberately taking your sweet ass time packing away all of your stuff. Biting her lip she attempted to suppress the smile taking over her face. 

As she said goodbye to one of the last students she sauntered across the room towards you as she started fiddling with the towel around her neck. “Sooo Y/N” you glanced up at her as you were putting on your shoes “What's up Leigh?” 

She smiles at you abashedly as she scratches her head “I just wanna say sorry and give you a quick apology for anything I said or did that created that distance and made us pull away from each other. Because- because for that length of time, I really did miss seeing you and your face around here but I’m glad to see you back now.” Nervously scratching the back of your neck “Yeah umm I just-” shaking your head slightly as you let out a breath “I just had some stuff I had to figure out and work on to clear my head a bit and- unfortunately, sadly to do that I kinda had to step away and distance myself from you and well all things relating to you. But I- I think I’ve figured it all out now.” 

You can’t help but notice the hopeful glint in Leigh’s eyes and smile “Oh really? A positive figure it out I hope?” 

Grinning and nodding confidently “Yeah- yeah it does seem that way.” Both of you stare at each other smiling to your heart's content as both of your eyes scan the other person. You clear your throat as you can feel the heat rising to your cheeks and glance around the room “Anyways I should probably head off and leave you to clean up the place or whatever it is you have left to do around here.”  Leigh absentmindedly nods her head but ultimately starts panicking as you pick up your bag and wave goodbye to her, she quickly sprints after you saying between breaths “Or or- or albeit this isn’t a very nice offer for you to ask-” you raise your eyebrow at her “What is it, Leigh?”

“Um, do you wanna hang out here with me and help me out around here if you aren’t busy? I just- I’ve just missed hanging out and talking with you and thought this might be a nice way for us to catch up.”

“Y’know you are right it isn’t the nicest or most glamorous offer I’ve ever heard but I have missed talking to you Leigh so I’ll stick around and help my favourite fitness instructor out.” 

Leigh whips her head around to face you and stumbles slightly as she starts moving the spare barres placed around the room “Wha- what do you mean favourite fitness instructor? I’m your only fitness instructor.” Smirking over at Leigh as you roll up the extra yoga mats “That you know of, could’ve tried out other places whilst I was MIA” 

“HEY!” Leigh exclaims as she throws a cloth at you 

Laughing at her reaction as you catch the cloth “I’m messing, I’m messing you would be correct, you are the only fitness instructor I know and one that I go to.” You hear a quiet yet stern “good” in response as she goes back to cleaning, laughing and shaking your head in the process.

Since then you and Leigh have practically been inseparable, it was as if nothing had ever happened. She had explained to you fully what went and was going on with her and Danny currently..more like what wasn’t going on. Even though you had said to her repeatedly she didn’t have to that it was none of your business. But you reassured her it was for the better, she made the right decision, she’s doing better because of it and you could only hope the same for Danny. Leigh now had you over at her house….for what she told you would be a quiet night in with both of your favourite takeout foods and as many movies and TV shows as you both could handle.

Which now that you were here was not the case at all. Leigh had gotten the bright idea, the brainwave or as she put it a breakthrough. She felt that the whole house needed to be redecorated and refurnished as it reminded her of sad, difficult and complicated times and she couldn’t stand being reminded of those moments any longer. So who were you to say no to helping her out yet again. As you were sat on the floor dismantling all of the old furniture with Leigh, you saw her peak her head out from the other side “Again I’m sorry about this, it seems like none of my hangouts recently are that exciting and it involves you always having to work.” You laugh and shake your head “Leigh honestly it’s okay I really don’t care what I do as long as it’s with you. But hey it’ll be a nice bonding time for both of us, be a little glimpse of what it’s like if we were to ever live with each other I guess.” You scratch your head and hurriedly get back to dismantling the furniture as you realise what you said. “Did you just say living together?” 

“Psshhh me say that? No never? Must’ve heard things, Leigh.” 

“Mhmm okay sure.” What you didn’t notice was Leigh moving over to you slowly on her knees but jumping slightly as you felt her place her arms on your shoulders in an attempt to get you to raise your head to look at her. Glancing up at her you see the silly little smile on her face “I may not be ready for that yet but I’d like to think we’d end up living together at some stage in the future.” 

Staring at her wide-eyed “R-really?” Leigh grins and nods her head as she whispers against your lips “Really.” Grinning at each other as you both lean in to place kisses on each other's lips which quickly turn into little pecks as Leigh slaps your thigh “Alright let’s get back to work this house isn’t gonna refurnish and redecorate itself. And this furniture certainly won’t dismantle itself.” 

Chuckling to yourself you playfully salute towards Leigh “Aye, aye captain.” 

[ganymedesclock]

This might be extremely late and maybe you already got an answer about this and isn't in su anymore but if it was possible do you think Greg should reconcile with his parents despite everything they done to him?

TL;DR I think "should" doesn't really have anything to do with it in cases of personal relationships.

This may come at a contrast to a lot of how "redemption discourse" tends to get circled around but one thing I think that a lot of people don't realize is that when you are talking about specifically heroes and villains in actionized series, there tends to be an accidental blend of "are we going to personally develop a friendship with Badguy McStabs" and "are we going to pull Badguy McStabs off this railroad track before the train hits him"

Longer deliberation under the cut,

The thing is. In a lot of stories. protagonists tend to have, or acquire, or assert, a lot of say over the situation. To use SU as an example, if Steven decides he is not going to work with White Diamond in any magnitude, draw an us-vs-them line and not allow any of his allies to work with her either... White Diamond does not really have a lot of options besides dying- or getting exiled to the middle of nowhere in a 'technically not a death' death sentence. Steven, at this point, is functionally one of the ruling authorities of Homeworld and leading an active revolution.

What Steven Universe does that I think is particularly relevant to this topic is it points out that Steven can choose to let White Diamond have a functional life, while 1. meaningfully halting the threat that she poses and 2. not choosing to personally be her friend.

SU Future makes it pretty darn obvious that their relationship is strained. White has become, in no uncertain terms, the weird grandma that Steven feels some familial obligation to but is not sure he likes. Sure, as his weird grandma she's very enthusiastic about connecting with him but she's out of touch and condescending and a lot of things he doesn't personally like.

By contrast, the thing with Greg and his parents, is similar to the thing with Steven and Marty, or Steven and Kevin. If Our Hero does not extend an olive branch in this situation... nothing's directly gonna happen to these guys. We cannot say directly, unambiguously clear-cut, Greg's parents will suffer if Greg never talks to them again. They may miss their son, but, well, at that point, we're weighing their hurt feelings over Greg's hurt feelings at his upbringing, which we know he was miserable about.

Any time we talk about rehabilitating an antagonist, we're actually talking about multiple bundled concepts.

-Does the antagonist specifically stay in power, or remain unchecked?

In the case of White Diamond, the answer to this is no- while she is still ruler of Homeworld, her relationship with her peers has completely changed and Steven now directly has the public authority to put a check on her and be backed by Homeworld's own resources.

-Does the antagonist functionally get to have a life after this?

I would generalize this out from "does the antagonist die or not"- think about someone going to jail, implicitly for a life sentence, or as Vlad Masters from Danny Phantom, getting flung out into the depths of space for the rest of his existence. They are nominally alive but narratively they have still been put in a neat tidy box where they will never affect anybody's life again, the end goodbye.

-Does the hero or heroes personally keep the villain in their life after this?

That's what this question is getting at. And your intention may not have ever been to touch the other two- we KNOW Greg's parents have or had some kinda life and presumably didn't get fired or forced into destitution by their son running away. The thing they lost was access to Greg- and in time, to Steven. But I think whether or not you answer yes, or no, to this question, it's important to split it off from the other two- because that's where a lot of people can get into really intense arguments about this- where person A thinks that the answer is "yes, they should be redeemed", meaning, "obviously take them out of power and the heroes may not want them around personally but like, don't kill them or ruin their life, yeesh" and person B hears that yes and thinks that person A means "they should not experience ANY consequences for their behavior and in fact be directly coddled by people they hurt whether or not those people independently want to"

And when "is someone good or bad" is inevitably complicated as all hell even in media where it's the Happy Caring Friends Of Hug-A-Lot vs. The Hateful Nasties Of Mount Meanie, you can see where boiling things to imperfect extremes and then getting really mad at people is both an enduring pastime for the ages and also not a great way to read media.

To follow up my opener- at the point where it's just about who do you choose to keep in your life or not, no implicit threat of death or fantastical consequences... I don't think moral imperatives really matter that much.

At the end of the day, we're never going to know Greg's mind fully, even having a deeper lens into him than we'd ever have into a real-world associate given we've watched him as an audience. We aren't going to know his entire situation. And even if we somehow, perfectly did... we'd still have different answers on whether or not he "should" forgive his parents, based on innumerable factors, none of which are "are we, ourselves, Good or Evil"

So I just don't think framing it as a potential imperative, should he, is gonna get us anywhere. It's just not the knife to cut this particular question with. I'd be more interested in would he, or if so, what might that look like? good idea? bad idea? or even just, how did his parents feel about all this, what's their side of the story and how does that inform our read of Greg?

[lostinsaltburn]

Oliver and Taurus Chiron

Here's my little write up of the placement

Chiron in Taurus signifies a wound related to stability. Individuals with this placement may fear losing their pillars of stability and may unconsciously act against their own values if these pillars are threatened. This behavior can emerge during stressful times, such as relationship changes/breakdowns, financial difficulties, or housing insecurity. The Chiron wound influences many of our decisions throughout life, without us ever even being aware of it. Individuals with this placement are often greatly concerned with stability in life, while others may live happily without a stable job or home, a Chiron Taurus will crave this stability and function better with it. There will be this longing to have everything working smoothly and to a structure, built on a stable foundation.

It's an extreme bordering on absurd version of it for sure, a Chiron Taurus wouldn't make you murder people. I just find it interesting to connect astrology with different characters I enjoy. To think about their motivations from a perspective of an unconscious wound that underpins their choices. How that Chiron could create behaviors to the absolute extreme.

I don't believe Oliver from the get go was intending to kill anyone. I think he saw he was beginning to be welcomed into the family and thought, possibly through friendship (probably not after seeing the way Pamela was treated) or perhaps marriage (with Venetia, maybe), that maybe his social status would change, that maybe that constantly niggling fear in the back of his mind, fearing his stability would finally be satiated, satisfied and would leave him alone. Of course, subjectively we could say Oliver's life before was stable, but that is a matter of perspective. Maybe it didn't feel all that stable when he watched Felix never worry about an exam, about money, about friendships, opportunities, safety or his future.

"Only rich people can afford to be this filthy" "I'm not like you Felix. I can't miss the exams. This is all I have."

The absolute FEAR that would have coursed through his body when Felix found out about the lies would have triggered the Chiron so hard. Everything would come crashing down, the possibility of this stable future crashing around him. His behaviors then are coming from this fear that the stability he could have had, is now gone. The choice to murder Felix to ensure his lies didn't get out and effect other pillars (Oxford, career, future, lose of friendship). I don't really see it as an intensely malicious choice, I don't think killing Felix was something he particularly wanted to do/ took pleasure in (against his morals perhaps), but it had to be done to protect the other pillars, to ensure his life still had some stability.

Getting rid of Farleigh was again, him leaning against Oliver's pillars and threatening to push them over. Venetia was another version of that, once he realized she saw through him, he placed the razor in her hands.

The grave scene was true sadness, he lost a Felix shaped pillar from his life, at his own hands. He was devastated, the first true friend he had was gone, that part of him he was with Felix was dead too. In order to save his other pillars he had to get rid of his favorite.

[numbuhinfinitys]

Redesign for Reyna (Numbuh infinity-S)

TW mention of verbal abuse, scars, and isolation.

Name: Reyna Rossel

Numbuh: infinity-S

Nicknames: hothead (Numbuh 4), fire empress (DCFDTL), firestarter (Numbuh 86), little Rweyna (Numbuh 3), Rey (Numbuh 5)

Age: 10

Sexuality: pansexual

Gender: (born as)female, genderfluid

Sector: V (mostly), unknown

Occupation: planet destroyer (formerly), Global Spy

(Earth) Family: Sherryl Rossel

(Planet Ubryamic) Family: redacted

Weapon(s): holographic knife, S.P.I.C.E.R, S.C.A.M.P, S.P.L.A.N.K.E.R.

Abilities: Pyrokinesis/Extinguishing, Geo-Thermokinesis, fire/lava invulnerability, fireballs, fire sculpting, cloning/self-replication, shape-shifting, limb generation (phase 3)

Combat: 9/10

Intelligence: 8-10

Bravery: 10/10

Communication: 6/10

Phase 1:

Her eye is in silhouette form and her ponytail is engulfed in flames

Phase 2:

Full silhouette mode, ponytail still engulfed in flames, easier to agitate/make her angry/mad

Phase 3:

Danger

Full silhouette form, hair down, taller than her normal height, 4 arms, tail with the tip of it made of lava, looks calm but is VERY unstable

Friends/Allies:

Numbuh 1

Reyna has a silent bond/friendship with Nigel. Because they both are very mysterious, they have a good bond with eachother, and have eachothers backs when their on missions (secret or non secret)

Numbuh 2

even though Reyna almost always accidentally breaks his 2×4 technology inventions, they have a good friendship. Reyna may get irritated when Hoagie makes bad jokes, but in the end he sometimes makes Reyna laugh

Numbuh 3

Reyna mostly finds her loud and annoying, but Kuki is nice towards Reyna, and she's happy with that. Kuki even gave Reyna a Friends Forever Rainbow Monkey when she met Reyna

Numbuh 4

they are both great fighters and are basically partners in crime. Even though Wallabee didn't trust Reyna in the first place, they did eventually become good partners/friends

Numbuh 5

Reyna trust's Abigail the most out of the rest of Sector V. Reyna likes her coolheaded demeanor, and is mostly calm with her. Abby was the one that introduced Reyna to candy, Reyna didn't know what candy was before and when she came crashing down to earth, but she really likes them (almost as much as Abigail)

Numbuh 86:

It may seem like that they don't have much in common, but they fight good together. They made a good bond together when Fanny gave a sleepover

Numbuh 362:

Rachel was the one that got Reyna into the KND. Even though Reyna has these supernatural powers (and almost destroyed the Moonbase) Rachel trust's her and respects her

Enemies/rivals:

Father:

Reyna hates Father A LOT, she hates him for verbally abusing the Delightful Children and attempting to take down the Kids Next Door. After sge found out that the DCFDTL were the missing members of Sector Z she hated him even more. Even though they "look like eachother" they are very different.

Grandfather:

Reyna hates Grandfather for turning her friends into Senior Citi-zombies. (futher there's nothing much to say :> )

Oliver:

She's always annoyed at Oliver's constant flirting with her. Reyna ignore's Oliver mostly, but sometimes she snaps and Oliver sheepishly goes away. (yes, Oliver has a small crush on Reyna)

Galactic Kids Next Door:

Reyna absolutely HATES the GKND, they destroyed her home planet (with her family still on it), made Reyna lose her memories, and betrayed her. Thanks to them she had all these scars.

Love interest:

Delightful Children From Down The Lane:

Due to them being the KND's enemy they have a loving (almost secret) relationship. Before they crushed on eachother they mostly rivaled in class and fought eachother when Reyna was on a mission, but the DCFDTL most likely started to feel something for Reyna, and later on Reyna started to feel something for them too. When their alone they mostly go on secret dates or just play at their or Reyna's home. The Delightful Children sometimes give Reyna nickname(s) like, Fire Empress or Little flame, but normally they call her "Dear". Reyna normally calls the Delightfuls "Dorks" or Love's in a flirty way, but when she's angry she calls them by their normal name.

Info:

Reyna was born on planet Ubryamic, a planet made of water and plants, from all people there she was a special one, instead of having water or plant abilities, she was the opposite, fire. The adults on that planet saw her as a descendant of a past fire goddess, and they took advantage of that. The adults made her live inside a temple, isolated from the outside world, and called her the "Fire Goddess From Inside The Fire Temple".

At the age of 4-6 Reyna started to realise that she was being used, so she started to manipulate the adults into thinking she was on their side, and secretly gave info to the KND on her planet about the adults their plans. The adults gave Reyna a necklace with a blood moon sigil attached to it, they said it can steal bad aura's from any kind of species and make her fire and flames more powerful.

When she became 8, she was invited to join the GKND and named her "Numbuh Blood moon", but Reyna didn't know what to expect. The GKND ruined everything for her, they manipulated her into thinking they were the good guys, they destroyed her home planet before her own eyes and wiped her memories away of her family.

When Reyna turned 10 yrs old she made an escape plan, it went perfect until the alarms went off. She thankfully made it to one of the GKND ships, but got shot on her right shoulder when she tried to get in. Reyna flew away, but had the GKND's fugitive hunters right on her tail. Unfortunately, one of the fugitive hunters hit the ship she was in, and crashed down to earth, giving her a scar on her back and on her belly.

When Reyna was wandering through the city, she bumped into an adult women with mid-length blonde hair. Reyna thought that the adult women was a threat so she took out her holographic knife, pointing it at the women. The adult women calmed Reyna down and introduced herself as Sherryl Rossel, the manager of Help Children Inc. Sherryl meant Reyna no harm and asked if Reyna had lost her parents. Reyna told Sherryl that she had nowhere to go and had no parents here. That's when Sherryl took Reyna to her home and let Reyna live inside her mansion (the Kindful Mansion From Around The Block).

Later on Reyna joined the KND on earth, and it made her life better. Numbuh 362 made her join the KND faster because she thought that Reyna is a special asset to the organization. Reyna didn't join a Sector though and was given the position as "alone working Global Spy", but Reyna mostly chilled at Sector V's treehouse for if she was bored or needed a place to rest after a long mission.

(this took about 3 CRUDDY DAYS-)

[mo0nchi-ld]

La Donna - Michael Corleone x Reader

Summary: Michael Corleone, was a man not to be forgotten. It's true he was the most feared, most notorious, and the most unsettling man to be around with. To Michael it was all business. Yet a certain woman would remind him of what's best for his family. A woman who would knock down the stone cold facade to bring back his humanity. Known as La Donna.

Chapter 1

The Corleone Family and the others received an invitation to Miss Constanzia Corleone's wedding on Saturday, August 1945. Her Father Don Vito Corleone, has not forgot his old friends. Even though he lives in a huge house on Long Island, he still hasn't forgot about them. The wedding took place in that house. The Japanese war has ended; there's no doubt one soldier will make it to the grand party.

On that day, Vito's friends went to him for favors. Each of them respecting The Godfather. Don Vito Corleone would do anything to help his friends; he would never let his promises be broken. There's only one way you can repay him, and that's his friendship and good manners.

Vito Corleone greeted all of his guests that he trusted. Anything that was cooked or bartended by those people were his friends. Heck, even the band that was playing were his good friends. No matter if you're rich or poor, he always showed equal love with all of his friends.

His Eldest son, Sonny Corleone, was a tall Italian with brown curly hair. His muscular features made him look handsome. He was a lady's man of course. Some of the bridesmaids couldn't keep their eyes off him. He was married man with three children but that didn't stop him from fooling around with the maid of honor, Lucy Mancini. The young girl was stalking him like an animal would for his prey. Sonny noticed and did nothing to stop it.

Don's second oldest son was Fredo. He was a loyal kind-hearted man. Sweet and gentle. He was always there for his father when it came to tuff business. He wasn't the handsome one out of the bunch but he charmed his way with women through his good manners. He didn't have the strength or persona for a leader of men, He didn't seem like the type of man to run the family business.

The third and youngest son was Michael. Unlike his brothers, Michael Corleone did not want to get involve with his fathers business. He sat at a table in a secluded corner of the garden. Michael was different from his brothers, He wasn't as tough looking, like his brother Sonny. No, instead he had straight, jet black hair with olive brown skin and eyes that would bore into your soul making you feel like you've known him for a long time. When World War Two broke he volunteered for the marine corps. His father wasn't exactly thrilled with idea of his son fighting for the nations 'freedom' or simple lack of take over. After the war he went to College. For the wedding, he wore his military suit. Next to him was the American Girl everyone had heard but not seen until that day. Kay Adams.

He introduced her to everyone in the wedding. His family weren't too impressed with her. She was too thin and fair. She was intelligently naive and always seemed nosy. Michael noticed but pretend to not care by amusing Kay with his Family stories. Michael also noticed how Kay was curiously looking at a group of men huddled together. To fill her curiosity he replied, "They're waiting to see my father in private. They have favors to ask."

By now the wedding was packed indicating that most of the guests had arrived except one hasn't fully arrived yet. Don noticed but hasn't said anything about it yet.

Elena watched the scene before her from the corner of the garden. Sitting next to her is her young cousin Alejandro. She hasn't gone out to greet anybody yet. Still waiting for The Godfather She hated socializing with people. She found it amusing that all of these people were happy and joyful, and full of glee, not realizing what the other half of the family was doing behind their backs.

Elena came from an Italian and Mexican family. Her Father from Mexico and her mother from Italy. She was born in Italy but mostly raised in Mexico. She never knew what happened to her parents. But she'll never forget the day when her parents dropped her off at her aunts doorstep at midnight, hugging her mother as she sobbed on her shoulder one last time before they entered their car only to be shot and killed while driving.

That's when her Great Aunt on her moms side would step in and help raise her. Her name was Malena Torres. She was a small woman who held a lot of character and attitude within her. Malena owned a bakery in a small Town of Mexico. Etzalan. She taught her young niece how to cook and do house chores, and even learn how to speak English since her uncle was half America and half Mexican. At the age of eight Elena and her Aunts family moved to America. She said it was a start to something new for the family. She wanted her niece to have a better future than anyone as well as the family to have better job opportunities.

Then Don Corleone came. A man who knew her father very well and personal. When he heard the news that the daughter of the Costíana family was coming to America he immediately made arrangements for them to stay in New York and be a near his family. He wanted them to feel welcomed and loved, just as her father did for him.

After staying there for a couple months Elena got the chance to know more about the other three brothers, Sonny, Fredo, and Michael. Along with Tom as well. She didn't see them as much except for only family gatherings. The brothers always considered her as a sister. Teasing her and always sticking up for her when it came bullying from other people.

That's another thing Elena dealt with when she got here. The poor girl got made fun of in school for her appearance. She wasn't exactly the prettiest of girls. Often times people would point out her hairy eyebrows or the light mustache she had.

Sometimes, Sonny and Fredo would point it out, just to tease her a bit but it still hurt Elena's feelings, and though Tom was always there to stick up for her Michael on the other hand was the only brother she could properly get a long with. He was quite but pleasant to be around with. He taught her English and American food. So far she likes Hotdogs.

Then once Michael turned 18 he went off to college leaving 13 year old Elena by herself. She didn't think of Michael as brother but more as a companion she could rely on. Yes, his looks would sometimes catch her off guard but she knew he'd never look at her that way. All she knows is that she feels different when she's around Michael. A lot different than the two other brothers.

Elena watched her aunt dance with her Uncle looking happy as ever. "Mama looks happy." Alejandro said. Elena looked at him then back at her aunt.

"Yeah she does."

The wedding was packed. People were dancing on the wooden platform, and others were sitting at tables. Connie and her groom, Carlo were also sitting at the table with the maid of honor and bridesmaids.

Don's lawyer Tom Hagen, was discussing business with the Don in his office. Sonny Corleone kept whispering to the maid of honors ear. Hagen cringed at the sight. He didn't want his step brother to be in more trouble than he already was with his family. Tom picked up a piece paper with a list of people who want to see Vito. "Leave Bonasera to the end." He said to Tom. "I want to see Michael and Elena first."

Don went outside to greet all of his guests. He embraced the baker he was long time friends with. He spotted Michael sitting at a table with a lovely young lady sitting next to him. "Michael!" The old man shouted.

Michael turned around and saw his father approaching him with wide warms. Michael got up from his chair and hugged his father.

"Michael I haven't seen you in awhile. You should've stopped by and say hello." Vito held his sons face in his hands "My son," he smiled widely.

Michael smiles back "Sorry pops. I was too caught up talking to Kay. Have you met her? Kay this my father I've been talking to you about. Dad this my girlfriend, Kay."

The two shook hands while Vito was studying Kay's appearance. "How do you do." He wasn't exactly impressed with what he saw. "Michael." He turned to his son, "I see you've met everyone here but there's someone I want you to see." He guided his son to the other side of the party with Kay following behind.

"Elena!" At the sound of Vito's voice calling her name, the young brunette turned around and saw Vito walking towards her. She noticed he wasn't alone. She stood up and fixed her light pink dress at a decent height above her knees. "Elena it's so good to see you again." Vito lightly kissed both of her cheeks. Elena greets him back with a shy smile, "It's good to see you too Apa."

After hearing Elena's name being called Michael assumed he was to be greeted with a young girl he saw last time but boy was he wrong. In front of him stood a young beautiful woman. Her hair looked longer. Her curves appeared slender under her pink dress. No longer the little skinny girl he saw before he left, he was shocked to see how grown and stunning Elena looked.

After Vito was done greeting her he went to go hug her Aunt and the rest of her small family. Elena finally noticed the young man behind Vito, and like Michael, she was left speechless by the sight of him. Elena always knew he was the handsome one out of the bunch but she never expected him to be even more striking after years of not seeing him, especially the green suit he displays. Elena noticed how big his eyes were and she always adored when he looked at her. It made her feel like she was the only person he solely focused on.

Michael took two steps forward and and stuck his hand out for her to take. Elena looked down at his hand then back up at him. He wore his green marine suit making him look even more handsome. She finally took his hand, expecting it to be a normal handshake only to have her breath be taken away by the touch of his lips on her hand.

Michael being slow yet gentle, looked up at the woman in front of him. "Buenos Días, Elena." He said in a soft voice.

Elena looked back at him with wide eyes. Her heart beat so fast just hearing him use her native language almost made her weak to the knees. "Buenos Días, Michael." She smiled back.

Michael definitely noticed her change of voice. With a lower pitch, sounding more like a woman, Michael would be lying if he said he didn't like the sound of his name coming out of her mouth.

After a few minutes of gazing each other, Elena noticed a woman standing behind Michael.

Michael noticed and turned around to greet women next to him. "Elena this is Kay Adams, my girlfriend. Kay this is Elena, a family friend of ours." He said.

"Hello." Kay smiled and nodded.

After the women were done greeting each other, Elena heard her Aunts voice calling for Michael."

"Mijo!?" The older woman gasped. Michael looked back at her and his smile instantly grew upon seeing the older woman who has been more like a second mother to him.

Before he could speak the older woman engulfed him in a big hug. She pulled back and held Michael's face in both of her hands just like his father did. "Look at you! So handsome." She said with a strong accent.

Michael looked down with a shy smile then laughed proving the older woman right. "Gracías Señora Malena." He said looking back up at the woman, "It's good to see you again."

Michael looked back at Elena to see her laughing at what his father said. His smile growing at the sight.

[an-auspicious-evening]

Pile of letters.

Letters still in their envelopes are bound together by a single rubber band, and as you slip it off and free the historic pieces, you flip each one of them over to read the names they’re addressed to.

Three to Robert Ahlborn. Four to Margaret Ahlborn. Four to the post office of the Mayor. Three to William J. Barnum. One to Oliver Ahlborn.

Eleven to Marc Iplier.

The only one unsealed catches your attention, and you set the others down in favor of unfolding the paper. It’s discolored and brittle, some corners missing and small water stains on it. You’ll have to wash your hands afterwards from the dust.

You set it down on the floor and flatten it out.

You hunch over your desk and let the quill fall from your hand, holding your head in your hands as tears ruin the paper below you.

You’ve made a life for yourself. You found and made the family you should’ve had years ago. You developed a deep friendship with the woman you married. You can finally take care of your sister and give her the life she deserves.

Your life is what you wanted. So why is he still everywhere you look? Why is it that every time you think you’ve gotten over him, something reminds you, you wished you’d stayed.

Why does he have to be your entire personality, your every thought, your very mind?

You hear heels approaching the room, and you don’t have to look up to know who it is.

“Oh, sweetheart…” Catherine sighs sympathetically, making her way over to you and gently wrapping her arms around your body. “I know it hurts… it’ll be okay, I promise.”

Her words only make Oliver’s state worsen.

He clings to her tightly.

[thedreamworldlibrary]

Magia Chapter 1-A Mysterious Box

So for a while, I had this AU concept similar to Amphibia with the Founder Trio and Wiatt finding this mysterious box with gems, but I didn’t want to make it a straight up Amphibia AU, just the box concept plus the powers that came with it. I played it around with multiple AU’s some of which haven’t been shared yet, but nothing worked. 

After a while and a discussion in a Discord server I was on, I figured out what kind of story to use this concept, which I dubbed Soul Gem AU! (This isn’t a Madoka Magica-related AU. I just borrowed the name for this AU)

This AU is The Founder Trio and Wiatt (Who I call the Dream 4/Dream Quartet) are given powers thanks to a mysterious box.

BIG thanks to @gigilefache for being my beta reading.

Enjoy!

Wiatt Nicholson stared at his phone, took a deep breath, and pressed Lewis’s name on his phone. It started to ring as Wiatt put it up on his ear and waited for Lewis to pick up the phone.

“Hello?” Lewis asked on the other line.

“Hey, Lewis.” Wiatt replied.

“Oh! Darling hello!”

“Hey! How’s the facility coming along?”

Lewis sighed, “Well I’ve been trying to make the animatronics talk, but that’s the least of my worries right now.” He explained. “It’s about Sara.”

Wiatt groaned rolling his eyes, he never liked Sara. He felt something off with that girl. “What about her?” He asked.

“She locks herself in her office taking personal phone calls,” Lewis explained giving out a sigh.

Wiatt groaned in disgust as he was about to tell Lewis he was right about not trusting Sara, but Lewis continued venting about his best friend.

“I worry about her, you know. I don’t know if it’s the stress of the facility or if someone is pushing her away from us, but I’m running out of ideas on how to have her open up to me!” Lewis complained.

Wiatt sighed he couldn’t think of any ideas on how to help his boyfriend’s friendship problems. He wasn’t the best at giving advice, just support. “I wish I could help Lewis, but nothing comes to mind.”

Lewis sighed, “I’ve tried to get Eric, Oliver, and even Sara’s caretaker to talk to her but nothing. And I’m stressing out over this. At this point, I might have to speak to her myself again.”

Wiatt thought for a bit and had an idea. “What if I visit you this weekend?” He asked.

“Huh?” Lewis asked.

“Yeah, I’ll drive down there and we can just spend time together like we used to,” Wiatt explained.

Lewis frowned, “darling, I told you before I left that you can’t come with me.”

“It’s just for the weekend, Lewis.” Wiatt reassured him, “Just a little break from the stress and then I’ll head back home. Plus I do want to see what the facility looks like.”

Lewis thought for a second. It would be nice to see Wiatt again, but also the facility is about to open in a few months. However, it wouldn’t hurt to take a break for a few days plus it may help him figure out what to say to Sara.

Wiatt didn’t hear Lewis for a bit and asked, “You still there?” He asked.

“I am darling, I am,” Lewis reassured him. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt for you to come over this weekend.”

Wiatt smiled, “great!” He exclaimed, a little too excitedly. Realizing this, he cleared his throat and tried to act calm, “I mean…great I’ll be there Friday night and we can hang out Saturday.”

Lewis chuckled, “Sounds great! See you then darling.” He said.

The two hung up and Wiatt sighed, smiling and seeing he was finally going to see Lewis again. He hadn’t seen him in person in years and he missed him. Quickly, Wiatt got up and started packing for his trip to see Lewis.

He packed his backpack with stuff that would be important for the trip. As he was looking for a good shirt to wear, he stumbled across a jewelry box that was tucked way back into his closet.

“I've never seen this before?” Wiatt commented.

Wiatt removed and pushed some stuff out of the way before grabbing the jewelry box.

The jewelry box was wooden brown and rectangular. On the lid of the box were four diamonds painted in the colors of pink, blue, green, and yellow. The base of the box had a red jewel in the shape of an eye, and below was a pattern of gold and silver circles.

This piqued Wiatt’s curiosity. He knew his grandfather did some exploring before he went missing and wondered if this came from one of his travels. Though he wondered: what it was doing in his closet?

Wiatt decided to open the box and his eyes widened to see four gems that matched the color of the ones pictured on the lid of the box.

“Wow,” Wiatt whispered, as he saw the yellow gem shine. “Where did you find these, grandpa?” He asked. 

Shrugging it off, Wiatt closed the box and put it down before finding some clothes that he would wear when visiting Lewis. He zipped up his backpack and decided to get some sleep, that is, if he could sleep.

Wiatt was nervous seeing Lewis again. Heck he wasn’t sure if they would hang out and he’d just see him at the facility and that’s it. He sighed and decided to not think about it and get some sleep.

Not long after, Wiatt woke up at 4:15 am. He sighed and decided to leave a little earlier than usual. He changed out of his pajamas and put on a dark blue t-shirt with small, star-patterned, tan pants. He grabbed his backpack and was ready to leave out the door till he turned back to the jewelry box that was left on the ground.

Wiatt went to pick it up and opened it again, seeing the jewels before closing it and putting it into his backpack. He didn’t know why he brought it with him, he just felt like he needed to bring it.

“Alright, Lewis. I’m coming.” Wiatt said, leaving his grandfather’s mansion and walking to the bus station, heading to Happy Hollow.

What Wiatt didn’t know was that the yellow gem inside the jewelry box started to glow brighter.

[arcanekai]

Dear Detective | Chapter 5

-------------------------

cw | mentions of abuse, literally just the word, mentions of possible scars

an | I'm going to be gone next week for a wedding. School also starts next week. Wish me luck. ಥ_ಥ

Previous | Next

-------------------------

Now at the train station, standing on the other side of the turnstile is Heizou saying goodbye to her.

The week was over in a blink of an eye.  Spending most of his break hanging out with Y/n was definitely well spent.  He did try to get a little more information out of her when they met up for the movie, but he was met with a brick wall.  She didn't deny the fact that she went into the publishing house and said that she was delivering a letter to Guuji Yae from her uncle.  If Heizou didn't know any better he would have thought that was the whole story, but not wanting to ruin this new found friendship, he decided not to pry any further.  

"Well, I guess this is goodbye for now." She said with a small smile on her face, bringing him back to the present. 

"I guess so." replied Heizou, his light olive green eyes meeting her icy blue ones. 

"See you around?" 

"Sure.  Oh, and text me when you get back home.  I want to make sure you get home safe."

"Haha, okay mom!" She said in a sarcastic tone.  "Bye!" 

She turned around and ran toward the train, her hair flowing behind her. 

-------------

As the train left Heizou's field of view, he felt a small pang in his heart.  Was he really missing her already?  Did she make that big of an impact on Heizou to make him feel this way?  Or was it because she was yet another friend out of reach?  With Venti and Aether being in Mondstadt, Kunikuzushi in Sumeru, Xiao and Kazuha in Liyue, there was no one else in Inazuma.  Sure he had other friends, but why were all his closest friends so far away?  Perhaps this was because they had all become friends during college and after graduating, people are bound to go elsewhere when pursuing their dreams.  Then again, Heizou has no excuse for not visiting them.  Ever since his break up, he never took a break, so the only person to blame for his loneliness is himself.  Although the thought of showing up out of the blue would be funny, it would also be inconvenient to them as he doesn’t know their work schedules.  He wouldn’t want to impose, but perhaps this is a new goal he should work towards.  Hanging out with friends more often would definitely make him less lonely, not that he would ever admit that to them, and they could have valuable input on any cases he has.  

Speaking of cases, there is a personal case Heizou has been trying to solve this past week.  The subject: Y/n.  The reason: his intuition telling him that she is hiding something, something big. 

His initial observations of her was that she was hesitant and meek.  And that still stands true, but she was not one to cower when faced with problems.  That was already proven when he did the escape room with her.  However, he has noticed that she ever so slightly flinches when near larger men.  She even flinched one time at Heizou when he was reaching out for her in a crowd.  Based on Heizou's intuition, he deduced that it has something to do with childhood trauma.  Most likely some sort of abuse from her father maybe?  She mentioned her uncle as her only relative but not her parents, probably for a good reason. He knows the feeling well of how an overbearing parent can really dampen your life.  But he can't exactly complain that his father's teachings weren't a complete waste especially for his job. 

As for Y/n, her situation was a lot worse from the looks of it.  She was always completely covered, no skin showing besides her head and hands.  Most likely due to insecurities as she keeps fidgeting with the ends of her clothes, but covering up scars was also a possibility.  Her eyes would never meet his own for long either.  At most three seconds until she would avert her eyes to the ground or her hands.  Speaking of her hands, they were covered in bandages and it seemed like she also had a rope burn on her right hand.  

As much as Heizou would like to think he has her all figured out by now, there was still one thing bothering him.  Never in his life would he think this thing was attached to him this whole time.  

The red string of fate.  

A myth about a string that is attached to the soulmates' pinkies which bind their souls together. 

She knew about the string.  

She SAW the string. 

However, before Heizou could complete his train of thought, his olive eyes caught something coming towards him.  His heart dropped.  His ex soulmate.  Running in his direction only to stop a few feet in front of him.  

"Heizou, I know it's been awhile, but could we please talk?" 

"What is there even to talk about?" 

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for everything I did to you.  It was wrong of me and I want to be with you again."

"...You think I can just forget what you did.  We were together for six years and you decided to throw all of that away when you cheated on me with my friend.  I can never forgive you.  We are never getting back together.  That's final." Heizou said sternly as he walked past them. 

"But we're soulmates!" They called out, "We are destined to be together no matter what!  You can't just defy destiny!" 

Heizou turned around, anger evident on his face,

"Do you really think I care about that stuff after your little stunt?!  I don't want to be your soulmate!  I don’t want some stupid mark telling me I have to be with you.  I want to live my life the way I want to.  Preferably without you in it."

Furious and heartbroken, Heizou walked away, failing to notice the mark on his left forearm appearing once more. 

[theloveinc]

Can we know why she went from best friend to fat footed bitch please👀😂

No worries if not, I'm just up late

lol i actually think i called her a fat footed bitch BEFORE we stopped being friends (altho... probs not much before) becauseeeeee... the last year we were friends was rocky for me and her.

BUT, and prepare yourself: it's really LONG and convoluted because TECHNICALLY it was all a misunderstanding (and related to some unaddressed trauma she had), but basically... her and her sister INVITED me and a plus one (who ended up being my friend) to go see a concert with them and carpool to the train station together, where we'd all subway to the venue. This part all goes fine.

BUT, it's on the way home, after we've trained back to her car... when it's like 2 in the morning, that she (ex-best friend) tells us that she's not planning on taking me or my friend home. She's just driving back to her house where she'll leave us to do whatever for our own ride, BECAUSE, she says, "we never asked for her to carpool us back home."

And this is kind of a problem because... since we just assumed she'd give us a ride home, WE HAVE NO BACKUP PLAN, and neither my mom nor my friend's family is picking up the phone, and so essentially, if she doesn't drive us, we're stranded in the middle of the night.

Of course, as my friend argues (even though I know she'd never call one for herself bc she was terrified of men) we could've gotten an uber... but it's both really late at night and, because this was just after highschool and I WAS FRESHLY 18, just an awful idea.

But the thing that makes it even more weird... is like, as we're arguing, her sister (who literally co-owns the car with her) offers to drive instead... and it's only then that she finally agrees to take us home...

Except that, once we're on the road, SHE PURPOSEFULLY misses our exit and just goes to her house anyway??????? (and by this point, i'm crying, not really because i'm upset at the scenario as a whole, though that too, but because i think she's just not acting like a friend AND BEING hypocritical, as well as the girl who i invited is chronically ill and needs to get home for her medication and bathroom and etc. and I just feel so bad)

So we eventually get to her house... where, once arriving, she just fucks off!!!!!!! and leaves us outside!!! And thankfully, her sister (who is actually still my friend, I love her lol) offers to go back and drop us off at home...

But the whole thing just ends up spiraling because... WELL, there's a lot of reasons, lol:

I left a bunch of makeup and a jacket at her house and text her to make sure i can pick it up later... and she yells at me (over text) about always being selfish asking other people to do stuff for me

This starts another fight where I tell her I just want an apology for not driving me home and that i was never expecting her to drop off the makeup LOL

She doesn't apologize and instead texts a mutual friend trying to get her to talk to me too

and i just stop responding to her altogether

And by the time she messages me again, a couple months later (by which we're both in different states having started college), NOT WITH AN APOLOGY, just simply saying she didn't realize the whole thing would take such a toll, I'm still too hurt to talk to her.... and that's basically the end of our friendship.

OH AND THE WHOLE INSTAGRAM REPORTING THING happened bc her sister invited me to christmas dinner soon after that and she immediately uninvited me... and i made another post about her having made me cry, which her new friend sent, as well as all these other screenshots of posts I made, to her.

i also did eventually get her a birthday gift (as an olive branch) when i was finally not angry and hurt.... but she never ended up acknowledging it (which wouldn't have been super weird except... i was literally at her house celebrating with her sister and she never once spoke to me).

-

SO YEAH. You probably weren't expecting so much but... here it is!! took me like 45 minutes to type out and i'm pretty sure it's still not the best description but........... THAT'S HOW I GOT MY HEART BROKEN BY A FAT FOOTED BITCH (she's also a zionist now tho so lmaooo i really dodged a bullet there) !

HOPE THIS WAS A GOOD BEDTIME STORY ILY

[no-where-new-hero]

since I love your thoughts on Dean Priest I also need to know your thoughts (if any) on Leslie Moore

AHHH I love this ask! Anne’s House of Dreams was my choice of Best Anne Book when I was about 16 (alongside Rilla of Ingleside; when I told my aunt this, she made a face and was like, “but those are the saddest ones!” so I’ve wrangled a lot about why in the subsequent years lol and a lot for AHoD has to do with how LMM shapes the plot around Leslie). I will say that a lot of these thoughts did come from my 16-year-old brain since I haven’t reread the series in a while, but here goes.

Basically, I love Leslie because she feels like one of the most real women LMM ever wrote, despite the faint melodrama of her plot circumstances. LMM has written a lot of real girls and real older women (Judy Plum and Susan Baker are my special favorites) who exist as bold individual characters, but she often doesn’t explore that middle range (I am also incredibly interested in Gertrude Oliver from that point of view as well). Of course, she does it through Anne with having and then losing a baby, as well as taking responsibilities of house and home, but Anne still always has her Anneish halo of a charmed life and loving people around her. Despite the pain of her first 11 years, we don’t feel them in her quite the same way as we do with Leslie, who has always been trapped by the worst of society and continues to suffer the repercussions of it: a repressive family and then a frankly terrible husband. LMM is patently showing how we might love and want to be Anne, but being Anne simply isn’t an option for a lot of women. 

One thing I’m thinking about now as I write this is how much of LMM might have vented some of her own frustrations through Leslie and identified with her as someone who also had a husband battling mental illness and felt very alone in that position. Though not creative, Leslie has a huge passion for life that makes me think of Ilse, actually—her preference for wearing bright colors (I always remember some line where Anne notes she always wears some thing red on her clothes), her beautiful appearance, her friendship with Anne—that goes wasted because of what traps her.

I always feel like LMM has a “secret” main character in every book of the Anne series after maybe the original trilogy, and Leslie is definitely that for AHoD. If LMM ever set out to right that “book for grown-up people” she once talked about in the years before writing the Emily Trilogy, I feel as though someone like Leslie could have been the heroine of it (I personally have never found Tangled Web or Blue Castle to feel particularly grown-up, despite being marketed for adults. Blue Castle is still a Bildungsroman at heart, even if it does bring its heroine to the marriage bed, and Tangled Web comes closer but it’s also so much a comedy that I never feel quite sure LMM was taking any of those characters seriously. It certainly wasn’t the intense portrait of human nature she wanted that grown up book to be.)

I’d love to know your thoughts on her too! It is really time for a reread and focus on what I might have missed.

[ligovskaya]

if we were villains

okay so, im gonna start rambling about a book, you're welcome to ignore it. but i love reading. and i read if we were villains in january '24. and i still can't get my fucking mind off it.

more under the cut, i can't promise it's gonna make sense but aaaa. also spoilers

so backstory, the girls and i decided to start a bookclub back in november. we decided that we could start with if we were villains because all four of us had the book and then another friend join and there were suddenly five of us. we thought that a month would be enough for all of us to read it. it is now march and we're still waiting for one of the girls to finish. that's absolutely fine, life can be so chaotic.

ANYWAYS, another friend finished it today and we just started talking about it. and hello, this book is so good, im sobbing. i actually spent like an hour crying after i finished the book because it was so good and my heart was fucking breaking.

THE STORY WAS SO GOOOOOOOOOD AND THE CHARACTERS WERE SO FLESHED OUT I LOVE THEM. they had such a depth to them and all their flaws made them so much more human and they were such an odd friend group but i loved them nonetheless.

don't even let me get started on the love oliver and james had for each other. and like i don't even know what to think of the ending? like truly. IS JAMES TRULY DEAD? IS HE ALIVE?? DID HE FAKE HIS DEATH??? what's going on????

some part of me wants him to be alive. him killing himself 6 years after oliver was incarcerated would be so anticlimaticcccccc. like he's waited for oliver for the past six years, please wait for 4 more so you two can fuck off to get married in a church in the middle of fucking nowhere and stay in a forest for the rest of their lives.

but on the other hand, this wouldn't be a tragedy without it. i don't know how to explain my thought process but there's something so freeing about a character death, sue me.

after i finished the book i was crying so hard, i couldn't see the fucking book. and after i calmed down, i documented what was happening to the girlies (without spoiling ofc) AND THEN I GET ASSAULTED BY "STICK SEASON" BY NOAH KAHAN PLAYING ON ONE OF MY INSTAGRAM STORIESSSS. particularly THIS PART

LIKE HOW FUCKING DARE YOU NOAH. THIS PART IS LITERALLY JAMES AND OLIVER AND YOU CAN PRY THIS IDEA FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS.

believe me, i started sobbing even louder after that. how fucking dare. i think i was so numb the next day when i woke up, the book fucking broke me.

this book is a masterpiece. even though im not really a dark academia girl and i haven't read a lot of the classics and shakespeare's works, i loved this book. it was so easy to find myself in all of the characters and connect with them on a level. and their friendship reminded me of my own group and i couldn't be more thankful for them. hopefully none of us turn out to be richard. i hope.

i can't really say that i have a favourite character but i longed to discover more of the relationship between james and oliver, and i kind of missed more of wren and fillipa. love those two girlies to death.

im not going to villain-ise meredith. she did what she had to do and she was struggling with an abusive boyfriend and honestly, good for her. i need more of her confidence for myself.

i love this book to bits and pieces and i beg everyone around me to read it because it's so good.

this was kinda lengthy, my bad. if anyone read up until this point; HI BESTIE, DON'T FORGET TO DRINK SOME WATER AND GET SOME FOOD AND RESTTTTT, LOVE YOU, YOU STRANGER ON THE INTERNET

[aidanchaser]

This fic is owed to @valiantlyjollynightmare for the original and @ladyofthenoodle for a full 3 rounds of beta reading. I haven't had so much redrafting of a fic or intensive beta reader work since I was writing the HP AU. She was truly a phenomenal help, and her work paid off. Please drop her a thank you for organizing the @mlsquaredance event and all her incredible hard work on this one-shot.

Read the original work here.

Read the remix on Ao3 or below.

Marinette left her phone on her bedside table as she trudged downstairs. She was done checking messages and pictures, and she was done with tears.

Luka had made his choice. He was on tour again, probably having a great time without her, and there was no sense scrolling through his posts for any signs that he missed her. She certainly didn’t miss him. She’d spent too much of their relationship missing him. Just because she was a bit horny didn’t mean she had to be sad about it.

But the apartment sure was quiet without him.

The refrigerator’s magnetic rubber seal broke that silence with a reluctant pop, and brilliant white light flooded the kitchen. Marinette squinted at her recently filled shelves.

Alya, Nino, and Adrien had been lifesavers after the breakup. Nino had filled her fridge with fresh vegetables; Alya had stocked her cabinets with bottles of wine. Adrien, whose finances were still a legal mess in the wake of his father’s passing, gave her his time.

She’d seen more of Adrien in the past two weeks since the breakup than she had seen of him in the past year while she had been dating Luka. He’d sat with her through her BBC Pride and Prejudice marathon, through three watches of Pride and Prejudice (2005), and through one watch of Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies. He’d even offered to stay overnight, to keep her company, as if he knew that company was the way she coped, but she’d turned him down.

One of the challenges of being newly single was waking up at midnight with a very strong urge to be dicked down. She appreciated that Adrien was willing to hold her while she cried through romantic movies; she did not need Adrien to see her wrestling with the urge to roll her hips against his thigh, especially when she couldn’t even be sure that it was Adrien that she wanted. Adrien was a friend, and she wasn’t going to use him just to get some temporary fix. Yes, maybe she had liked Adrien once upon a time, but it was all too complicated now. Just creating a friendship with Adrien had been so much work. She didn’t want to mess it up and lose him.

Neither the vegetables nor the wine held any appeal, so she closed the fridge with a sigh. Marinette leaned against the cool silver door while her eyes readjusted to the dark of her kitchen. Maybe a cold shower was what she needed. She usually had no objections to a steamier shower, but she didn’t want to end up crying her way through an orgasm. She was done crying over Luka, she told herself. She was done feeling sorry for herself.

She opened up a cabinet and pulled down a bottle of olive oil and a jar of popcorn kernels. She’d just make herself a greasy, salty snack before setting into Emma (2020).

The stove clicked and sparked until the gas caught and the fire ignited with a woosh. Marinette poured in the olive oil and waited impatiently for it to sizzle with heat. As she picked up the jar of popcorn kernels, a thud on the small balcony patio of the apartment caught her attention, more muffled than the sparks of her stove, but just as sharp and sudden.

Through her gauzy curtains, silhouetted in the dim streetlight, she saw the shape of a person perched on her balcony. She might have been terrified, or at least startled, if it weren’t for the cat ears on the shadow’s head.

Marinette dumped the kernels into the sizzling oil then unlatched the patio doors.

“What are you doing here?” she said by way of greeting.

Ladybug saw Chat Noir for patrol regularly, of course. But Marinette had hardly seen him in the past year. When Luka had gone on his first tour, Chat Noir had held her while she’d cried, but once Luka had come home, he’d disappeared. Did he know Luka was gone again? Did he know that she and Luka were properly done?

“Making the midnight rounds,” he said easily. His voice was low, like a cat’s purr. “A hero’s work is never done.”

Marinette shifted the weight on her feet, unconsciously pressing her thighs against each other. It was irritating that even just the sound of Chat Noir’s voice was enough to warm her core. Maybe Emma would have to wait until Chat Noir was gone and she’d rubbed out the memory of his purr.

Chat Noir paused and his nose twitched. “Are you cooking in the middle of the night?”

“Just popcorn.”

“Midnight movie?” he asked.

Marinette crossed her arms over her chest and used her ankle to surreptitiously scratch an innocent itch on her calf. She tried not to think about Chat Noir on her couch with the low light of a movie and the weight of a blanket draped over them both. She tried not to think about scratching a different itch.

“Maybe,” she said. “Maybe I just wanted a snack.”

Beneath his mask, his green eyes glinted with a familiar mischief. One eyebrow quirked. “All for yourself?”

She wondered if he was simply asking if she was alone or if he was implying that he wanted to join her. She couldn’t help the icy edge in her reply as she said, “I don’t have a boyfriend anymore, if that’s what you’re asking.”

His perky ears seemed to flatten. It was his turn to shift his stance uncomfortably. He leaned against her patio table, but it wobbled uncertainly and he straightened. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Do you want company?”

There was something delicate in the question. Something in it nagged at her brain, and she recalled the text that Adrien had sent her that morning.

Do you want company today?

Of course she had said yes. She needed noise, she needed distraction, she needed to not be alone with her thoughts. And then she’d sent him home after dinner, because Adrien didn’t deserve to see her like this—sleepless, lonely, and horny.

But Chat Noir wasn’t Adrien.

She pursed her lips and quirked an eyebrow. “I’m certainly in the mood for company.”

His ears perked up again, as if they were perfectly attuned to the purr in her voice. He stepped closer. “And just what sort of snack are you in the mood for?”

“Something simple,” she said as the first kernel of popcorn popped.

The corner of his mouth twitched with a smile, but she thought—maybe she was just projecting her own heartache, but she thought—something in his eyes grew sad.

“I can keep things simple,” he whispered.

She pulled him into a kiss. It was sloppy and wet and she ran her hands through his hair to pull him against her as if she could consume all of him.

It wasn’t her first kiss with Chat Noir by any measure, not as Ladybug, certainly, nor even as Marinette. There’d been kisses done to break curses, kisses done under the weight of curses, kisses done and rejected—and one very wary, delicate kiss on Marinette’s balcony. Chat Noir had told her that he was in love with Ladybug, but, somehow, in the midst of his heartache and her longing, they had kissed. She’d apologized, promised him that it didn’t mean anything, that she was in love with Luka anyway. And a week later, she and Luka had started dating, and Chat Noir had stopped coming by Marinette’s balcony—at least until Luka’s first tour.

He seemed to have an uncanny sense for when she was lonely.

She rolled her hips against his thigh and moaned into his mouth as the popcorn on the stove began to rattle in earnest. His hand trailed down to her waist, but he hesitated as he reached her hip. That wouldn’t do.

Marinette grabbed his wrist and, without breaking their kiss, yanked him into her apartment. She backed into the kitchen counter and guided his padded leather gloves to the elastic waistband of her pajamas.

He took her invitation readily, slipping his fingers inside the soft satin of her underwear and into her damp folds. She hissed like the fire on her stove and moaned with a heat just as warm as his fingers pressed into her clit. She rolled her hips again, but he dropped his other hand back to her waist and held her in place. She whined as he set the pace of her pleasure and whined again as he broke their kiss.

He pressed his lips to her cheek and then to her ear. His hand continued to pump her as he whispered, “You’re letting your popcorn burn.”

She hadn’t noticed that the sound of popping kernels had ceased. She hadn’t caught the whiff of charred popcorn yet. And now that he pointed it out, she didn’t care.

“If you stop, I will kill you,” she hissed into his ear.

His laugh was deep in his throat, another purr of pleasure as he picked up his pace. She gasped and tipped her head back. He responded by pressing his lips against her throat. The sharp canines scraped her neck and she shivered. She was so familiar with those teeth, familiar with the way they scratched her tongue and now her exposed skin. It was those teeth that assured her that she had never met Chat Noir outside of their masks. She would know the shape of those fangs on sight.

If his claws had not chosen that moment to catch on her clit, sharp and poignant, it might have occurred to her that the canines were as conjured as his expressive ears.

Her entire body trembled and she bit down on her lip to hold in her moan, not because she was afraid to be loud but because she was afraid that her pleasure would break her if she indulged it too heavily.

Chat Noir, however, didn’t seem to notice her attempt at restraint. He flicked the tip of his thumb against her clit again and she choked on another moan. One of her hands tightened in his hair, and her other squeezed his waist like she was afraid he would evaporate. He sucked gently on her neck and curled his fingers up into her.

“Chat,” she whined and gasped as her fluids soaked his hand, as her orgasm rippled through her until she was boneless, pinned between him and the kitchen counter, and still he didn’t stop. “Chat,” she cried again, breath hitching as his thumb drew her up suddenly into another tight coil and release. “Chat, please—”

He dragged his lips back up to her ear, and his teeth nipped at her lobe. “I thought you’d kill me if I stopped,” he murmured.

“I think I’ll die if you don’t,” she gasped.

She felt the shape of his grin against her jaw. He pulled his hand out from her shorts and pulled her back into another soft, delicate kiss, just as wary and gentle as the kiss they had exchanged a year ago. Her first epiphany of the evening sparked without warning and she pulled away from him with a start.

He didn’t love Ladybug. He never had.

“You lied to me.”

“I would never lie to you,” he murmured, and moved his kiss down her chin, back to her neck. He nosed against the underside of her jaw like a cat insisting on affection.

“You told me that you were in love with Ladybug.”

His lips went still against her throat. “You said you wanted this to be simple.”

“I want you to be honest.”

He still hesitated. The sizzle of the oil hissed in the kitchen, but its delicate scent was overwhelmed with burned popcorn. If they weren’t careful, the smoke detector would force their kiss apart, but Marinette wasn’t going to let him go without an answer.

Finally, he admitted, “I was in love with Ladybug. Until we kissed.”

She swallowed, painfully aware of the way her throat bobbed against his lips. “And so this past year?”

“I’ve waited.”

“Chat…”

“You’re about to burn your kitchen down,” he murmured, and pulled away.

Reluctantly, Marinette turned off her stove and scraped the black scraps of charcoal that had once been popcorn into the garbage. Chat Noir scrubbed his gloved hands clean.

Hot tears, fueled by frustration as much as embarrassment burned behind Marinette’s eyes as she scraped the blackened mess into the pan. She’d sent Adrien away because she didn’t want to risk her friendship with him, didn’t want to need him in a way he didn’t need her. Now here she was, doing to Chat Noir exactly what she had never wanted to do with Adrien. As much as she might want to give back, as much as she might want to meet him where he was, she couldn’t, and that knowledge hurt.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” she asked. She was glad that her voice was hardly audible over the running water; maybe he wouldn’t hear the bitter anger. It wasn’t meant for him, anyway. It was directed at herself.

She tried to nudge him aside so she could clean the pan, but he wouldn’t budge. Instead, he took the pan from her and picked up a towel. She was forced to watch as he scoured the blackened pan. He looked so intent on the task, she wondered if he had heard her question at all.

Then he turned off the water and said, “You told me that it didn’t matter.”

Her hand was on the pan, ready to take it from him and dry it off, but she froze. Though a protest sat on the tip of her tongue, she couldn’t give it voice. She was the one who had said that their kiss a year ago hadn’t mattered.

“I’m sorry,” she finally said, unsure what else she could say.

He shrugged, as if indicating carelessness, but as she took the pan, he anxiously twisted the ring on his finger. Though the green, glowing paw print was dim, it seemed brilliant in the dark kitchen.

“I’m no stranger to rejection.”

Her heart lurched as it occurred to her that his familiarity with rejection was her fault on two counts. But she never knew what she was supposed to do with Chat Noir’s feelings. Somehow she always managed to misunderstand him when he did nothing but lay things bare for her.

“I guess I should make more popcorn,” she murmured.

As she set the pan back on the stove, Chat Noir grabbed her wrist. “Marinette—”

She looked at him—truly looked—at the flat shape of his ears and the slump in his shoulders, haloed by the streetlight flooding through her open balcony. Despite the darkness, his green eyes glinted like his ring and his jaw worked as he worked through his thoughts. He was always so quick with his wit in a fight, but in the quiet spaces like this, when he was with Marinette, when he was asked to be vulnerable, he was always so cautious and careful.

“It’s okay with me,” he finally said, “if this is all it is. I just want to be with you, and I don’t mind if—”

“Chat, I can’t—that’s not fair to you.”

“I don’t care.”

“But I do.”

The irony that she cared too much to do this to him, that she cared but not in the way that he wanted, was not lost on her.

He let her go and turned toward the balcony.

“Chat…” She didn’t mean to call him back, but she didn’t know how she was supposed to let him go like this. “I am sorry,” she finally said.

His hand lingered against her kitchen counter, and his claws clicked delicately against the tile. “Would you trust me if I said that it hurts less to be with you, even if I can’t have all of you, compared with the agony of being apart from you?”

If she was just Marinette, maybe she would have accepted his offer. Maybe she could have trusted him when he said that he would let it be simple, that he’d allow her to use him as she needed without ache or bitterness. But she was also Ladybug, and she knew the way her partner threw himself on swords for others. She could not fight beside him each day while also destroying him each night.

But Marinette couldn’t tell him that.

As he took her silence for denial, his hands flexed and contracted with his unspoken frustration. He managed a rather tight, “Good night, Marinette,” before disappearing into the night.

She swallowed as he left, waited a moment in her dark kitchen as the silence filtered back in, as the quiet settled into her bones and the ache settled back into her heart.

Maybe she did know what he meant about the agony of being apart.

In search of noise and company, she went back upstairs to her phone. Her thumb hovered over Luka’s icon for only a moment before she swiped away. Instead, she snapped a picture of her laptop screen with the streaming page for Emma open and sent it to Adrien. Then she left her phone on her bed and went to take a cold shower.

Adrien would get the picture in the morning. He’d offer to watch it with her again during the day, and she’d accept his offer of company and distraction. Maybe they would watch Clueless after, or even branch out their romantic film subgenres beyond Austen films and try 10 Things I Hate About You.

But when she got out of the shower, there was already a text from Adrien.

I’ll bring snacks.

She was still reading the text, still trying to make sense of it, as she stood in her room wrapped in naught but a towel and her hair still dripping wet, when a gentle knock sounded from downstairs.

A key jiggled in the lock—she forgot that he had kept the key she’d given him to water her plants when she’d gone with Luka on his second tour—and her door creaked open.

Adrien’s voice broke into her dark, quiet apartment. “Marinette? I brought cheesecake.”

She shrieked, “Adrien, I’m not dressed!” and slammed her bedroom door closed.

His laugh was a snort, muffled and distant. Hastily, she toweled and combed her hair and yanked on a fresh, dry pair of underwear and shorts. She didn’t know where her bra was and she didn’t have the time to look, so she simply threw on a t-shirt.

When she came downstairs, Adrien was standing in her kitchen with two forks in hand. She knew she must look a mess, but he beamed at her, despite her own scowl.

“I thought the picture was an invitation,” he said, head tipped to one side.

“I didn’t think you were awake! I thought—I didn’t know—”

He cut her fumbling protests off with another laugh. Adrien settled onto the edge of her couch and opened up a pale pink cake box to reveal a cake with red raspberry swirled into the cream. She wondered where he had gotten a raspberry cheesecake at this hour.

“I’ll go if you want me to,” he offered, “and leave the cake.”

“No—stay.”

The words were hardly out of her mouth before Adrien was already pulling off his coat and collapsing into her couch. Beneath his neat black peacoat, he was dressed in his own pajamas, like he had seen her text and merely rolled out of bed and into a jacket.

While Adrien plated two generous slices of cheesecake, Marinette dug through the couch cushions for the remote. She found it wedged between Adrien and the back of the couch, yanked it out, and clicked on the T.V. The pale blue light flooded over the two of them, and when she turned to get cheesecake from Adrien, she found him staring at her with an unfamiliar expression.

He was smiling, eyebrows lifted in his usual fashion, like something between expectation and excitement, but she thought—and maybe she was just projecting her own heartache, but she thought—there was something sad in his green eyes.

Then those strangely sad eyes dropped to her collar and his hand drifted to her neck. His fingers brushed against her skin and lightning lanced through her lungs. A dozen protests bubbled to the surface, all the arguments she had just used with Chat Noir—she only wanted something simple; she wasn’t ready for anything truly intimate after this breakup; things were always complicated with Adrien—but they all died on her tongue, as her words so often did when it came to Adrien.

But instead of pulling her against him like she thought he might, he asked, “What happened here?”

In her haste to dress, she hadn’t bothered to check herself in the mirror, but her heart pounded with the memory of Chat Noir’s lips latched to her neck. Was it only a bruise of blood drawn to the surface, or were there also scratch marks from his canines? Her face was hot with blush, but she hoped in the dim light of the T.V., he wouldn’t be able to tell.

“It—” Her throat lurched against Adrien’s fingers as she tried to swallow down a lie, but she wasn’t sure how to tell him the truth. “I don’t—I mean, it’s only—”

And then Adrien’s fingers curled around the back of her neck and his thumb brushed the underside of her chin so gently, so carefully. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

Her heart stuttered with a familiar agony. She had promised herself that she was not going to cry about Luka tonight, that she was done with tears, but they welled up anyway.

She and Luka had tried so hard; they really had. But he always wanted more of her than she had to give. He wanted everything, and Marinette could never give her partner everything—she had too many secrets that she had to keep. She had too many bits of herself that even she was still processing, that were still too raw and rough to share.

She’d tried giving Luka everything that she could. She’d even left Scarabella in charge while she went on tour with Luka once, but nothing had ever made it better. She’d wanted time—they’d needed time—and there had never been enough.

But here was Adrien, offering her the two things Luka never could: her secrets and his time.

The tears she had been fighting all evening finally burst out, and Adrien pulled her against his chest, as he had so many times before. She didn’t want to know how many tears she had soaked into his T-shirts in the last few weeks, how many wrinkles she had worn into his clothes by clutching at them with tight fists, how much of her snot he’d had to wash out of his laundry.

With Herculean strength, Marinette rubbed her eyes dry and pulled away. She fumbled for a tissue, but the box on her coffee table was just inches out of reach. Adrien pressed a handkerchief into her hand, like he had come prepared. It wasn’t fair to him to take so much, but it was so easy when he gave so readily.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured.

Marinette wiped her cheeks and blew her nose. “What on earth are you apologizing for?”

Without her to hold onto, his hands found each other. His thumb rubbed into his palm like he might be able to push his explanation out. Even in the dim light from the T.V. and the street, she could see his jaw working through his words, like he was turning the pages of a dictionary in his head to make sure he picked the right ones.

“I…” He paused again and swallowed. “I didn’t mean to make you cry,” he finally said, which felt like so small of an apology when weighed against the length of the pause.

“It’s not your fault,” she assured him. “I just…” She didn’t need to explain how lonely she was to Adrien. He’d heard it all before, and of course he must know it, or he wouldn’t have shown up to her apartment in the middle of the night with cheesecake in tow. “I just really appreciate that you’re always there for me,” she finally said, and even though it felt small, it was earnest.

“I would rather be with you than not.”

Her heart fully stopped, and she searched for something in Adrien’s eyes, some clue that the connection between his plea and Chat Noir’s question was more than coincidence, but he was no longer looking at her. His eyes were on his hands as he twisted his ring around his finger. The dull silver still glinted in the dim light from outside.

She felt like she was looking at her Lucky Charm at the moment it fell into her hands, knowing the answer was right in front of her but unable to put all the pieces together. She followed her lucky instinct, though, and placed one hand over Adrien’s hands, forcing them still. The other lifted to the back of his neck and pulled him closer into a kiss.

It was soft, delicate, gentle. It made sense for Adrien in a way Chat Noir’s kisses had never quite made sense for him.

Adrien, who was so willing to give her his time, and Chat Noir, who was always there when the people Marinette wanted weren’t.

Adrien pulled away rather suddenly, like something had yanked him away from her. “I’m sorry,” he said again. “I shouldn’t—you don’t want—this isn’t fair—”

It was unusual to watch Adrien flounder for words. Marinette, though, didn’t have it in her to be amused, not with the weight of this secret dawning. She waited a moment for Bunnyx to appear or time to reset, but Adrien continued to struggle his way through an apology, and the T.V. continued to hum its bright blue static glare.

There was no undoing what had been done, and she couldn’t exactly avoid it.

“I think,” she murmured, “that unfair is showing up on my balcony after I told you that I was ready to be alone.”

The panic in Adrien’s eyes was brief as he realized he’d been found out, but he crumpled into himself almost immediately. His hands raked through his hair and Marinette’s first thought was that she could be running her hands through his hair, but her second thought was how utterly broken he looked.

“I’m sorry,” he said again. “I didn’t want it to—I didn’t mean for it to turn out like it did. I just—I was worried about you. You know what it’s like at my house and—I know you think I don’t want to see you sad or something, but Marinette, being with you like this is a hundred times better than being without you.” He kept his eyes on his hands as he twisted his ring around his finger. “Please don’t tell anyone,” he whispered.

Marinette frowned. “I wouldn’t.”

“I mean it—I-I can’t let Ladybug know I’ve broken her trust.”

Marinette bit down on her lip. She wasn’t sure how to say the thing she knew she had to say next. Her throat felt tight with the secret she had kept for so long, that she had finally choked out to Alya after one terrible day.

But he looked so genuinely terrified to think he might hurt Ladybug, and Marinette had the power to assuage that fear. For once, she could offer him some comfort.

Marinette unhooked Adrien’s hands from his neck and pulled them into her lap. Then, she unfastened her earrings and placed them into his palm.

Though he did not move, did not look up at her, she watched the tension in his shoulders shift. His hand closed around the earrings and he felt the shape of them, the warmth from being fastened in her ears and from the magic that pulsed within them.

Finally, Adrien looked up at her. His eyes were still sad, but the longing was so much more prominent. His voice was tight as he said, “Are you… truly?”

She nodded.

Then his shoulders sagged and he looked away. “No wonder you keep turning me down. We have a job to do, and I suppose the job comes first. No sense complicating things, right?”

But Marinette’s need for simple had nothing to do with complicating Ladybug and Chat Noir’s relationship. It had always been about protecting her partner and protecting her own heart. But knowing that the boy she had fallen for long before Luka, the boy who was always there for her, and her loyal partner were one and the same? She was no longer interested in simple.

In fact, she felt like an idiot for thinking she could get away with only displaying the palatable parts of herself to Adrien. He knew her better than anyone, and she knew him, and it was never going to be simple when there were that many fractured pieces stacked together between the two of them.

“Adrien,” she whispered, “I think… maybe without so many secrets, it isn’t all that complicated.”

He met her eyes again and something in his posture perked; she could almost see the cat ears on his head lifting to attention.

“Marinette,” he said, so softly, so tenderly that Marinette could not help but lean in.

She leaned in until their lips were pressed together. The wariness, the gentleness, the tenderness—all of it was cast aside. This kiss transformed into nothing but want and need, as if she could draw all of him up into all of her.

Adrien’s softness and wariness evaporated suddenly. He turned his kiss against the corner of her mouth then to the underside of her jaw. “My lady,” he murmured into her neck, and his voice seemed to reverberate in her chest and curl into her stomach. He pressed her lips against the mark on her neck in a grateful, needy kiss and adjusted to sit on top of her, pinning her back against the couch as Chat Noir had pinned her against her kitchen counter.

Marinette fumbled for the remote and clicked the T.V. off. They didn’t need a movie to carry them through the evening, and they certainly didn’t need the glare of the empty screen. The dark was enough; each other was enough. The cheesecake would wait. Marinette had a much better midnight snack to get to.